I Know the Monster!

CHAPTER 22

"Man, I thought this was supposed to be a secret mission but with this baboon with us, we'll probably get caught before we even get to put our plan to play!"

Harry complained as he continued to lead the way. They were currently inside a type of tunnel with metal walls. It was surprising since the entrance to the tunnel was right in the dining hall. And judging from how well it was hidden, they were impressed that Harry knew about it…and the lock. But then Harry was one of the earliest people to arrive here, it was no big surprise.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

They were all moving as slowly and easily as they could, yet the whole tunnel still shook with each time they took a step. No, each time he took a step – Bab Boon, that is.

"Shut the fuck up and keep moving." Bab retorted and pushed Harry from behind. "It's not my fault that this thing is so fragile."

"Seriously, you call this fragile?" Harry jumped a few times but the tunnel didn't vibrate one bit. "Dude, I think you should work on your weight. And your voice. And your breath. And your appearance. Heck, you just work on everything about you. Before I would have suggested you do plastic surgery but now I'm even starting to doubt if that will work."

"Harry seriously Har; just leave the poor guy be."

Bab slowly turned to the person and pointed at her angrily. "I'll kill you soon, you'll see!"

Harry suddenly stopped and since he was the one leading the way, the others also had to stop. The tunnel l was now split into three different routes and they now had they had decide which route to pass.

"I suggest we just split up and group together later."

Four different pair of eyes was stuck to the person that made the suggestion but Bab just shrugged.

"What? It was only a suggestion and you're all glaring at me like I stole your babes."

Harry and the rest could only shake their heads and sigh in utter defeat. It would seem they had all come to understand that no matter how big the head of a person can be, it doesn't mean the brain was equally big.

"I would have suggested we check them one by one, but after seeing how long the path we just passed is…we'll just have to guess which way to pass and hope we arrive in the right place." Harry said his mind.

"Well, I think we should take the right path." Alex pointed out, "Since…the right path always lead to the right place. See that, ahah?"

"Where'd that come from?"

"My head, duh! One lesson, never underestimate the power of rhymes."

They continued to argue back and forth and in the end, they all took the right path since no one had any better suggestion.

"If I remember clearly, you said if I wasn't of any help, you'll instigate plan B." Harry instigated a conversation as they crept along, "Can I ask what it is?"

"You already did, Harry."

"Well…I'm actually quite curious."

"Well, it's nothing much. We were only planning to capture one of the Shadow Ninjas and get the information out of him." Dylan said like it was nothing and so didn't notice the looks others were giving him.

After that, they continued to tread silently, well except one person.

And finally they came to the end of the tunnel without encountering any problems.

"Let me check it out first." Kate offered and soon came back with a nod.

But before she could even say a word, Bab already jumped out.

"Hmm." He stood up and dusted his palms. "Nothing is – What the fuck!"

He raised his fist to punch the monster in his face but stopped when he realized the monster was in a cell.

"What Is this place?" Alex looked around in disbelief at the endless cells containing different types and species of monsters.

"This must be the monster facility. I mean where they get the monsters we use for our evening games." Kate said the only thing she could think off. "But to think they were this many?"

"Guys, guys, I think we should focus on the task at hand? We have to find the secret way out." Harry called to them.

"How sure are you that there is a secret path here?" Bob folded his arms.

"If this is the monster facility as Kate said, then there has to be one. After all, we got here through the dining hall but the monsters come out in the Battle Arena."

"…here!"

They all joined Kate and looked at where she was pointing to.

"There's a lever here, should I pull?" She asked.

"What are you waiting for?" Bab pulled it with suck force it broke. At least, the door opened up if not their entire mission would get ruined.

"I already knew this Ape guy would only cause us trouble!" Harry mumbled. "What else could we expect from someone named after an animal if not this?"

After all of them passed through the door, they were once again welcomed with another endless cage of monsters.

"Man, so what we saw just now wasn't all?" Harry looked back, "Just how many monsters do these Shadow Ninjas have in their reservoirs?"

But soon someone realized something different about these set of monsters.

"Wait. These monsters are different. They're the monsters we fought yesterday."

The others also agreed to this with a nod. So this time, they took their time to examine them, since all of them were curious about them.

"W…what! How is this possible?"

They stopped whatever it was they were doing and gathered around Harry who to their bewilderment was busy hugging a cell.

"What are you doing here? What –." Harry kept o repeating the same set of words to the female monster confined in the cell; who wasn't even paying him any attention.

Like every other monsters there, she just stood there and stared at…nothing. It was like their brains were shut dead and they couldn't process a single thing.

The monster Harry was speaking to, like every other monster there, and the ones they fought before, looked very human. So human you could mistake them for a perfect human in the dark. She had long black hair, blood shot eyeballs, long nose and abnormally high shoulders; shoulders that went higher than the longest strands of her hairs.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Bab tapped Harry a couple of times on the shoulder. "I know she's beautiful, but to believe you'll actually fall for the monster at first sight?" Bab taunted.

Normally, Harry would reply with an even insult but this time was different. He just continued to bang hard on the bars.

"W…what did they do to you? Why are you in a place like this? What of Amy and Jojo? Answer me!"

Even with all his shouts, the monster didn't even turn to look at him once. So were the others, the others who didn't know how to react to this sudden attitude of his.

That was until Dylan moved closer to him and whispered softly in his ear. "Do you know this monster?"

"Monster? This is no monster." Harry's words came out as a shout. "This is my Aunt. This is Aunt Rose!"

"AH! Now I'm completely convinced that this guy is mad." Bab laughed.

"I'm serious, this is my Aunt Rose!" Harry then took out his necklace and pointed to the monster's neck. And sore enough, they could see a similar necklace o nher neck. "It's been four years since I last saw her, but I can vividly recognize her. Definitely this is Aunt Rose!"

It was after hearing Harry speak that they began to realize there were actually some similarities between them. The black hair, pointed nose and the abnormally high shoulders. Perhaps, it was their brains feeding them wrong information.

"Come on dude. This is a monster" Kate spoke. "What is wrong with your head?"

"You guys really have to believe me, I'm not mad. This is my aunt." Harry then faced the monster again. "What did they do to you? Who did this to you? Was it the Shadow Ninjas –?"

Dylan let out a very short but deep sigh. He already had his suspicions about the facility and now he was sure they were doing something…something dark.

- - - -

The he night was quiet and peaceful. Although cold, it still held a hint of comfort in it. The sky was very clear and if one looked up they would be unable to could the countless number of stars in it.

It remained peaceful…until a white light appeared in the sky. It first appeared as a dot; a dot of light in the dark night, but slowly it began to expand until it took the shape of a human being; that was when she landed on the ground.

One of the most noticeable things about her was White…no silver. Her long silver hairs flicked to the side as she looked up at the great wall in front of her before walking toward it.

The once silent night became even more silent…and cold. The moonlight that bathed the whole area now left the other areas in complete darkness as it focused all its light on the woman and followed with every step she took like a spot light.

The woman stopped about five meters from the great wall and closed her eyes. When it opened, it was completely silver, no hint of black visible in it.

"I can sense gods, not one, not two. But among them, I can sense yours, though very faint…there's no way I would not be able to recognize your aura." She said to herself. Even though it was a whisper, it still travelled miles like the air itself decided to transport it. "You've hidden for too long Apollo, it is high time you come back to us; your family!"

* * * TO BE CONTINUED * * *