Ch.6 Let the Hunt Begin

[Spectre’s POV] 

Now that Atom was awake we were finally able to get around to finding somewhere else to stay while we searched for the distress signal, but we ran into it a lot sooner than expected…. Much much sooner than expected…. There was a dead body on the ground… it appeared to be holding something. Phantom approached the small clayfox that was holding onto an object, and she nudged it gently with her paw, her expression being empty in the process. She looked at it for a bit before explaining that it was holding the device that sent out the distress signal originally. 

“We were too late…. My condolences go to the family of this clayfox…”

“Will you be ok?”

“I’ll be fine… I just need some help putting them to rest…”

Both me and Atom looked at each other before he moved forward to dig a hole for the small clayfox. We both knew that it’s something that Phantom did out of respect for those who passed whenever we were out exploring. It’s something that she’s been doing since her own death after she reincarnated as it wasn’t something that she herself had received. After Atom placed the body in the hole and covered it up, he looked at Phantom and allowed her to place a small flower on top of it before saying goodbye and signaling for us to continue. 

“What was she doing?” I heard Tidus ask as we walked, with Atom giving a response that consisted of the following “it’s her way of giving her condolences, but some people see it as her giving someone her ‘blessing’, as she never had anything like this when she was gifted with the ‘Administrator’s blessing of immortality” 

I was about to open my mouth to speak when we saw a small clayfox running out from a tunnel, followed by two larger clayfoxes. “That’s… that can’t be” Dr. Rutile started “that’s Yggdrasil…” Dr. Castelline finished as they looked at each other with worry.

“Someone catch him!” A distant voice said.

“Don’t let him get away!” Another voice said.

“Where did he run off to?!” Another one said.

“Something tells me that they’re after him, but I’ll go see what’s going on” Dr. Rutile told us before scampering off into the nearby cave where the voices were coming from. “That surely doesn’t look pretty, does it?” I mumbled before I heard a snarling sound coming from behind me. I turned around to see that Atom was agitated by the site. “You know… he’s the reason why I had to fend for myself…”

“Pardon?”

“I was left by myself because he has so much against any other creature that’s not a clayfox” 

“Atom calm down please” Tidus begged as Dr. Rutile returned. “Yggdrasil was chased off and now the other clayfoxes are looking for him. I said that we can help out in any way to track him down” 

“Then I’ll gladly help look for that bastard”

[Tidus’s POV]

“ATOM!” I yelled at him as his storm appeared to be growing stronger and more unstable, a sign that would indicate that he wasn’t happy. His eyes were void of any sense of control and all I could do was fear for the worst. And with that he ran off before I could even tell him anything else. “Damn it! Why won’t you listen to me?!” I cried as I watched him.

“I think he just wants to settle a grudge is all…” 

“But mother, it’s a grudge that could get him killed if he isn’t careful..”

“Then go after him, we will start searching for Yggdrasil as well, but focus on stopping Atom from doing something reckless”

And with that I followed him in the direction that he ran in. I made sure to keep an eye out for any tracks that might have been left behind in the process of the chase. I managed to find a few tracks on the ground, but they were spread out and too scattered around to even try making sense of where they were going. I just hope that I can find them before it’s too late, or else I’ll never forgive myself.

After a bit more walking I could hear talking in the distance. I could recognise Atom’s voice as one of the people talking, but the second voice was…. It was Yggdrasil.. my heart sank as I overheard them talking.

“What does a mutt like you know about what you’ve done to us?!”

“How the hell should I know what Cirrocanius did back then?! Do you expect an outcast like myself to know what Clayfoxes went through?!”

He was an outcast..? I never knew that before about him… the two kept going on and on at each until it got to a point where I couldn’t stand listening to them bicker anymore while on the verge of going for each other’s throats. “I think you’ve both said enough” I glared at them as I approached, a sense of momentary fear in them both being the first thing I noticed. “If either of you even dare to go for one another then it wouldn’t be pretty, would it? And as for you!” I said glaring at Yggdrasil “I’d advise that you come back with us without any issues, or else the consequences may be dire if you aren’t cooperative”

I couldn’t tell if he was cowering or if he was just faking it, but his attitude said otherwise. “I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere with you!” He snapped at me. “You are a traitor! Seeing as you choose to work with a Cirrocanius of all things”

“Just because they created us long ago, it doesn’t mean that we can’t simply work alongside them once again! You have twisted things over the years, and it’s all because of your own hatred towards anything and anyone who isn’t a clayfox!”

There was silence in the cave at that moment, however I wasn’t going to let Atom off that easily either. “And you, what the fuck were you thinking?!” He was stunned, standing in front of me in silence. “Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to run off your own like that?! All because of some petty grudge?!”

“I was separated from the people who actually cared about me because of him! I was made an outcast for a second time because of all of it!”

“Then why didn’t you come back to us…?”

“Because I was afraid that you’d get it in the neck if I came back…”

We were in silence once again as we looked at each other before turning around to realise that Yggdrasil had gotten away when we were arguing, but as long as nothing bad happened then it was fine… mostly… Yggdrasil was still on the loose…