DOPPELGANGER
I see Jenika gulping, her eyes shaking, after witnessing my ability.
"Who are you?" she asks again.
"We told you, we're from the Academy and we have these abilities," I say as I touch a portion of the rope wrapping around Pain's body. That wasn't really a direct answet, but we can't tell her our names either.
"Thanks," Pain mutters and gets freed from the rope.
"Now, if you want to find your mom, you'll let us help you," I say in a convincing manner.
She clenches her jaw and as if beginning to believe what she's seeing and hearing, she nods.
"W-What can I do to help?"
I mentally sigh out of relief. She's finally believing us.
"Give us that picture, that's all," Pain answers. "We'll find your mother through that."
Jenika hesitatingly gives the portrait of her mother to Pain. She's probably still in shock.
"Don't worry, we promise to save your mother no matter what," Pain says, making Jenika look slightly relieved.
"C-Can I come with you?"
"No," Pain says sternly. "We can't afford to put anyone else in danger. But you can help us by information. Do you have any idea where that man who took your mother might be? Any lead?"
"Unfortunately, none. I've been searching for almost a week now."
Almost a week?
I close my eyes in disappointment. We're back to zero. But at least we now have that picture. I hope it helps.
"Then, sorry. But I have to..." Jenika yanks and yelps when Pain injects the sedative on her arm. "...use this," he continues.
"What did you just..."
Jenika's eyes begin to lose consciousness and when she starts to crumble, Pain immediately catches her and lets her sit on the chair.
"That was such a smooth move," I mutter.
Jenika didn't even have time to take a defense. Pain was able to swiftly draw the sedative out and point it on Jenika's arm.
"Brought by experience," he says. "Let's go."
And just like that, we went out of the warehouse. That annoying—Harry was it?—is probably still there at their restroom, dealing with the diarrhea-like sensation in his stomach. It made the job easier. Pain is really good at missions. He knows just what to do.
"Is she gonna be okay?" I ask Pain.
"She will be okay. Probably all groggy when she wakes up but she will be fine. She just won't remember us, that's all."
I still don't get how that sedative works. As far as I know, there are two kinds of sedative that Redsnow uses: the one that can only put you to sleep and the one that erases a part of your memory after putting you to sleep. I wonder what kind of chi is behind the invention of those sedatives.
We walk towards the center of Archendale again.
"Now, what?" I ask Pain.
"Now, we have to find two people. Each will lead us to the other one. I promised that lady we'd find her mother for her. Though she wouldn't remember that anymore, we still have to keep that promise."
I smile. "Of course." But my smile fades when I realize something. "But what if...what if Arastus already drained out her chi and she's already..."
Pain heaves a sigh. "Then we can't do anything about it anymore. That's why we have to hurry. For now, we have to meet up with Bloom and the others in Marshland. It looks like Arastus was only here to take Jenika's mother."
"You're right. That's possible."
"There's also a possibility that Arastus won't drain out her chi. Instead he will use her to predict the future."
"Won't he be able to do that when he takes the chi?" I ask.
"No. Arastus can only steal the capacity, not the ability. He became strong, capacity-wise, by draining out chis from other users. And then, he became a monster. But he was never able to have the ability of the other users."
Okay. Now, I get it. Arastus can only steal the capacity or the volume of chi present in a user's body. But he won't be able to manifest it just as how the user does it. So, even if he drains out Jenika's mom's chi, he won't be able to predict the future.
We'll just hope that he takes advantage of that and doesn't kill Jenika's mom. If he's interested in knowing the future beforehand, it could mean that he now knows we're looking for him.
We're on our way to Marshland. It's a few kilometers away from here. The subway is the mode of transportation to transfer from one village to another here in our city. So, we ride another train towards Marshland Village.
This time, we were able to have seats for ourselves. I suddenly remember Pain's gesture a while ago, when he held my hand to provide me support. I banish it from my mind since it somehow makes me feel weird, in a way that I can't explain.
"You okay?" asks the guy beside me.
"Y-Yeah," I say to him.
"You still conscious about your chi?"
"No. N-Not anymore."
I'm now more conscious about you. I'm just probably not used to you having that nice attitude.
He just nods in reply and then faces the window, where a wide meadow can be seen from. The train then passed through a tunnel, giving the surrounding a short dim. The end of the tunnel marks the entrance to Marshland Village.
The train stops at the marketplace. The moment we stepped on the place, I instantly notice the people having separate commotions, talking about a very strange thing that had been happening in their place.
Pain and I exchange looks, and to end the misery of endlessly solving what the issue is about, I blend in with one of the gossip group and try hard enough to catch up to whatever they're talking about.
"I saw her! A doppelganger!" says the woman whose hands are shaking while relaying her experience to the group. "She looked just like me, exactly like me. I rushed out, thinking I was only seeing things. But when I got back, all of my money and jewelry were gone!"
A case of theft? And what, a doppelganger?
I immediately go back to where Pain was but he's gone. I run my eyes around the area, but there are no signs of Pain.
I see a man having the same back profile as him. Thank goodness. I hurriedly run to him, afraid that I might lose him again.
"Hey," I call.
The man faces me. It's not Pain.
"S-Sorry," I say to him.
Where is that guy?
I look around, go back to the place we lost each other, and literally search the whole marketplace of Marshland.
But I couldn't find him.
