Crim merely gazed at the empty lot of landing pads. People whose Lucanaships were also stolen, either cursing themselves, still shocked, or went off to grab officers from the Omisodaldo quarters.
Skysin sets his hand on Crim's shoulder, "yo, you good?"
Crim had flinched a bit, out of the deep pits of his thoughts. He scoffed, looking back to Skysin, "bastards stole my ride. I'm alright, but I gotta get it back."
"Alright, well, I'll chip in then."
"…For what?"
"Dunno…" Skysin shrugged, "but you're a pretty cool guy. So why not?"
"…" Crim blinked a few times as he stared at Skysin. The gears in his brain are shifting like a car, "dude…you're a bit odd."
Skysin closed his eyes and, strangely enough, showed a proud smile, "yep!" Skysin agreed, "my mom and gramps say the same thing to me."
Crim chuckled, "either way, thanks man. Means a lot."
Skysin lightly punched Crim's chest, "don't thank me yet. We still gotta find your ride."
"Right…" Crim pondered, rubbing his chin, "they didn't just take mine though. Others too. It must be a vestige."
"The thingy-things?"
"Yes. The thingy…things?" Crim slapped his own face, "how the hell do you not remember what a vestige is?"
"Uhh…" Skysin rubbed the back of his neck, "well, my mom explained them to me when I was a kid. Completely went out the other ear, though. Not gonna lie…"
Crim sighed, "vestiges were first created by divines and numens of the omiverse. Basically, gods and demigods. They wanted to gift all the mortals who had faith and respected them, giving them something that helped with their daily lives, or something more.
There's really a countless number of 'em for different uses. Whether it's cleaning, creating weapons, armor, summoning, war, or even some that could destroy worlds or something higher." Crim explained.
"Oh, right," Skysin clapped his palm onto his fist, "now I remember! They're usually sold at guilds, coalitions, or vendors." Skysin relayed, looking around the empty spaces, "and it looks like the ones they used are for storage then."
"Yeah, that's the only way. Maybe a dimensional vestige. You can practically fit anything inside of it."
Skysin and Crim suddenly paused, their thoughts running backward to when that cloaked individual had dropped that instrument, a circular tablet, glowing a violet hue.
"AHAH!" Crim and Skysin pointed towards each other, having an epiphany.
"It was that person we ran into! There's no other way," Skysin responded, looking to the exit from the landing pad.
"For sure, especially when she literally dropped it in front of us." Crim clicked his tongue, "damn, I'm such a dumbass."
"Let's not worry about intellect right now," Skysin waved it off as he and Crim walked towards the sidewalk, "we gotta figure out where she went."
"True…" Crim added, unsure, "but the planet's big as hell. She could've gone anywhere by now."
Which is what Crim had stated is, in fact, true. Most planets in the omiverse have a diameter of at least 250,000 miles. These globes within the omiverse are ludicrously huge, and simply 'looking' around sounds so much easier than it is.
Skysin raised a finger, "ah, but Grazanopolis is huge. And it didn't really look like she had a ride either, unless she used one of the ships."
"Right…and that's if the ships are unlocked. And she'd have to find a place closed off to even get a ship out too…" Crim's resolve had shot through the roof, "we gotta find her ass, fast!"
Skysin made a devilish grin, "I got just the idea."
"What?"
Skysin took a hold of Crim's wrist under his large sleeve, his smile apologetic, "just brace yourself."
"Wha—HOLLYYYY SHITTTT!!!"
Skyisn took off as he held onto Crim, moving like the wind at nearly an instant. Passing by people at breakneck speeds, and quickly scaling the humongous buildings, running across them, searching for the thief.
**
Back at the Omisodaldo quarters, front office, Zeris stood before a multitude of citizens, victims of the thief who stole their Lucanaships.
It was an uproar, many people aggravated and angered, speaking all at once.
"My ships gone!!"
"Someone stole our rides!!"
"You're a captain, aren't you?? Can't you help us??"
Zeris rubbed the back of his neck, cringing, 'I can't even understand these people….' Zeris thought to himself. Until his blue eyes went onto Nebula, quickly marching forward, her sharp emerald eyes unreadable, gazing at everyone, still rambling on in sync.
'Here we go…' Zeris sighed, knowing exactly how Nebula would respond.
"ONE AT A TIME!!!" Nebula had unleashed her voice, and the entire building had shaken as if an earthquake had erupted. Citizens and other officers had cuffed their ears tightly.
People grew quiet, and a little girl no older than ten at least had slowly approached, "…excuse me…" She meekly spoke, raising her hand.
Nebula took a knee, giving a small smile, "can you tell me what the problem is?"
"Uh…someone stole the Lucanaships from the landing pads… all of 'em are gone."
'I see… so it was obviously a vestige used to do this, more than likely,' Nebula thought to herself. Nebula looked the girl into her big brown eyes, "don't worry, we'll find all the ships that were stolen," Nebula smiled, winking to her.
"Thank you, pretty lady," the girl giggled softly, bowing.
Nebula stood, her expression hardened as she gazed towards the other civilians, "if anyone has information on this thief anymore, it'll assist us in finding them. Anyone?"
An older gentleman with a cane rose his hand, "I seen 'em! It was some person in'a dawg'um cloak!" The man's expression had fell a bit, "erm…just'a…couldn't see his face…"
As others explained, it was pretty much the same story: a person in a black cloak, yet no one here could catch the individual either.
After the citizens exited the building, Nebula was left with Zeris and the other remaining officers.
"So a person wearing a black cloak, hm?" Zeris asked.
Nebula nodded, leaning against a desk, arms crossed under her chest, "yes…although it's not very helpful information at all."
Nebula paused, eyeing all the officers around her, giving a huff, "okay!"—Nebula clapped her small hands—"We'll just have to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity, anything that seems odd or out of the blue. We'll also keep a watch for the outer perimeter of the city too. Understood?!"
"Yes ma'am!!"
"Good, then let's get to it!"
The sky shifted toward evening, turning into a blend of deep blue, orange, and pink brushed across the clouds. On the top of a gigantic high-rise, Skysin and Crim sat along the edge, overlooking the entire city, from the sand dunes to apartment homes, casinos, restaurants, businesses, people walking along the sidewalks, cars driving across the busy roads, nearly the size of ants. Lucanaships are flying only a few meters lower than them.
Crim was baffled, still trying to understand what had happened, "dude…how the hell do you run so fast?"
"Oh! Uh…dunno, my mom told me my pops could do the same. Pretty sure I got a lot faster now, but I've been able to do this since I was a little brat."
Crim eyed Skysin, his expression dull like he wasn't even surprised anymore. "Y'know what, that makes sense…" Crim shook his head, giving a sharp breath of air, "still couldn't find that person though…"
"Where else could he be?"
Crim grew silent, his grey eyes moving like a hawk, scrutinizing everything of the city. Anything that could raise a flag about shady business. "Wait…" Crim softly spoke, standing straight to his feet.
"What?"
"The Sandy Sun Dunes," Crim relayed, "that's the only spot we haven't checked out yet. It's a guess… but it'd be the perfect spot to hide too."
Skysin hopped right to his feet, "well, let's go check it out then."
Crim and Skysin hopped from the high-rise, free-falling, letting their feet slowly ride across the windows of the building at high speeds, and leaped forward, hastily moving to their next destination. The Sandy Sun Dunes.
Underground, back in the dark, cool lair, a large group of cloaked individuals stood together. A man wearing a hood over his face, clenched his fists, knuckles letting off noise like small bones being cracked open.
"Our plans are almost finished, everyone," the man growled. "Once Geiz gets back, we can take our asses off this damn planet, once and for all."
The man gritted his teeth, his piercing orange eyes sharpened, staring into the darkness, 'we could've left this place years ago…until that damn…monster came and killed half the crew, and took all our cash. We got lucky to even make it this far.'
Footsteps were heard, echoing through the rocky lair, grabbing everyone's attention. A single person wearing another cloak was seen approaching them.
"Fender," the person called out, yet one could tell it was a woman's voice.
She slowly pulled a violet tablet, a vestige, from the inside of her cloak, "I got the lucanaships, just as you asked boss."
Fender finally removed his hood, revealing a glorious, bald, and shiny head! Showing a wide grin, a large scar on the bottom of his chin. Those orange eyes widened as he rubbed his hands together like an evil leprechaun, "perfect!! All we gotta do is hotwire these puppies, and we're scott-free!"
One of the many underlings raised his hand, "how long do you think it'll take boss?"
"…depends on the year and model of 'em. It could be easy, or annoying as shit…" Fender looked over to Geiz, "how many did you manage to snag?"
"Twenty boss. All the ships are compact."
Fender sat his fingers together, "that's perfect, we'll take out seven, get those started, and resale the others once we land somewhere else."
Fender looked to everyone, "let's get started, I'm sure they've already caught onto us."
"Right!"
Night had now arrived.
Nebula stood atop the Omisodaldo quarters building, overlooking parts of the city. Zeris was standing at her side as the wind blew through their hair. Until an officer comes from a door leading to the ceiling, holding a piece of paper.
"Ma'am, just as you requested. Information on the Fender Bender Gang." The male officer handed Nebula the paperwork.
Nebula took it, giving the officer a curt nod, "thank you soldier."
"Yes ma'am!" The soldier stiffened his stance, standing straight. He rendered a salute and bowed.
As he walked away, Nebula read the information on the paper, giving light hums. "Fender Bender Gang…" Nebula spoke aloud, "specially known for grand theft, assault, even some cases of killing, yet not as much as the others… They were widely known in the year of 2006x."
Nebula continued, "Later in the year of 2007x…"—Nebula's emerald eyes had widened, pulling the paper closer to her face— "Fender and his gang were defeated by Jupiter??! Wait-! Killing half of his gang and returning 1.2 million ruphes stolen from many banks across Grazanopolis…"
Zeris whistled, "…didn't know the General was so bad ass."
Nebula shook her head as she thought to herself, confused, 'if that was in 2007x…that means she must've been sixteen at the time. Which means she's from here. I didn't even know master was born on this planet.'
"You okay Nebula?"
Ye-yeah, just trying to follow this…" Nebula sighed, deciding to put that thought behind for now, "anyways, I'm sure the one's causing a ruckus right now is that Fender gang."
"Definitely looks like he's back to his old calling. Where could he be, though? We've already checked everywhere in the city. Where else could they—"
CRURRRRSCHHHHH
A colossal explosion rocked the entire city. People along the streets are screaming or hanging onto something. Cars stopped, everything paused, and it had nearly gone silent as everyone eyed the humongous mushroom cloud in the skies.
"The Sandy Sun Dunes!" Nebula had quickly relayed, looking back to Zeris, "let the other know for me??"
Zeris smiled, "you got it Captain."
Nebula nodded, and her body had grown translucent, like water. She quickly zipped into the air in a line of violet liquid, heading straight to where it all happened.