Mira cleared her throat and began to tell Jelo about her own experience in the Arena Nexus since she had passed through the portal. Her tone was matter-of-fact, but there was an underlying note of frustration and disappointment that she couldn't quite hide.

"Honestly, my time here has been pretty uneventful," she admitted, kicking a small piece of rubble as they walked. "I haven't run into any Dabba at all. Not a single one. I haven't had to fight anything or even exert myself really. I've just been… walking. Searching for Dabba to study, and searching for you to make sure you were okay."

Jelo glanced at her, noting the disappointment in her expression. He knew how much she'd been looking forward to this opportunity. Mira had always been fascinated by Dabba—their biology, their behavior, their evolution. She'd talked about it constantly back at the academy, how she wanted to observe them in their natural environment, study their hunting patterns, understand what made them tick. The Arena Nexus was supposed to be her chance to finally see them up close without the interference of academy protocols or supervised training exercises.

And instead, she'd spent hours wandering around an empty alien city, finding nothing.

"That sucks," Jelo said sympathetically. "I mean, the main reason you came here was to see Dabba and study them, and you haven't even encountered one. That must be really frustrating."

"It is," Mira admitted. "I had all these plans for what I'd observe, what data I'd collect, how I'd document their behavior in a natural hunting environment. And instead I've just been walking through empty ruins."

Jelo thought for a moment, then made a decision. "We should go look for some Dabba then. Actively search for them so you can study them the way you wanted to."

Mira looked at him in surprise. "What about the portal? Don't you want to keep looking for a way back?"

Jelo shook his head. "I'm fine. The portal will always be there, and we can always go look for it later. Besides, we don't even know where it is right now. We'd just be wandering around aimlessly hoping to stumble across it, which doesn't seem like a very efficient strategy."

He gestured broadly at the ruined cityscape around them. "So in the meantime, while we're here anyway, we should look for Dabba so you can fulfill your actual goal for coming here. You wanted to study them, so let's find some for you to study. I can handle any fighting that needs to happen, and you can do your observations."

Mira considered this for a long moment, clearly torn between her desire to get home safely and her genuine curiosity about the Dabba species. Finally, her scientific curiosity won out, and a small smile appeared on her face.

"Okay," she agreed. "Let's go find some Dabba."

xxxx

Meanwhile, back at the Military Academy, Atlas and Ken had been conducting their own search with increasing frustration.

They had gone around the entire academy looking for Mira, methodically checking every location they could think of. They'd asked around, approaching various students in common areas and hallways. They'd even tracked down some of Mira's known friends and acquaintances, hoping someone would have information about her whereabouts.

But none of them knew where Mira was. In fact, most of them seemed surprised by the question, saying they hadn't seen Mira for hours. Some mentioned seeing her earlier in the day, but no one had any recent information. It was as if she'd simply vanished from the academy grounds.

That's when Atlas and Ken realized something troubling: Mira was also missing.

Two students disappearing on the same day wasn't a coincidence. It couldn't be.

Atlas's expression darkened immediately, his jaw clenching with barely controlled anger. "I knew it," he said, his voice tight. "I know Mira is behind all of this. She's always been trouble, always dragging people into her schemes. Whatever's going on, she's at the center of it."

Ken was more level-headed, holding up a hand to calm his friend down. "Look, we don't know that for sure. But you're probably right that they're together. And if they are, that actually makes our job easier."

Atlas looked at him questioningly. "How?"

"Because it's easier for two people to be noticed than one person," Ken explained logically. "If Jelo was alone, he could slip through crowds unnoticed, blend in, go anywhere without drawing attention. But two people together? That's more memorable. Someone must have seen them."

Atlas considered this, then nodded reluctantly. "That makes sense."

"So let's go back through the areas we've already checked and ask specifically if anyone saw them together," Ken continued. "That should narrow things down."

They retraced their steps, going back to various locations around the academy and adjusting their questions. Instead of asking "Have you seen Jelo?" or "Have you seen Mira?" they asked "Have you seen Jelo and Mira together?"

The change in approach made all the difference.

Finally, after asking several more students, they found someone with useful information. A boy from one of the lower-year classes, someone who'd been wandering the halls during a free period, remembered seeing something relevant.

"Yeah, I saw them," the boy said when Ken asked. "Mira and that other guy—Jelo, you said? They were heading toward the portal room area. I remember because I thought it was weird. Students aren't really supposed to go there without supervision."

Atlas and Ken exchanged surprised looks.

"The portal room area?" Atlas repeated, making sure he'd heard correctly. "You're certain?"

"Yeah, definitely," the boy confirmed. "I saw them walking in that direction …They seemed like they were in a hurry."

Atlas and Ken thanked the boy, who shrugged and walked away, apparently unconcerned with whatever drama he'd just gotten involved in.

Once the boy was out of earshot, Ken turned to Atlas with a confused expression. He leaned closer and whispered, "If they wanted privacy that badly, couldn't they have used some other spaces? I mean, I've heard there are some dark corners around the academy that can be used for… you know, such activities. Why would they go all the way to the portal rooms?"

Atlas scoffed,. "Yeah, sure, you 'heard it.' Right."

Ken ignored the jab and continued thinking out loud. "The portal rooms though? That's really specific. And kind of risky. There are teachers who patrol that area."

Atlas's expression became more thoughtful, his anger temporarily set aside as he worked through the puzzle. "Actually, now that I think about it, the first time I noticed Mira and Jelo really talking—like, actually having a conversation beyond casual pleasantries—was when our class was on that educational tour. Remember? When we went through one of the portals for that supervised exploration exercise?"

Ken nodded. "Yeah, I remember that. It was a couple weeks ago."

"Right," Atlas continued. "So maybe whatever brought them together, whatever made them suddenly become friends or… whatever they are… maybe it's linked to something over there. And that's why they went back to the portal room area—because they're connected to something on the other side."

Ken considered this theory. "That actually makes sense. More sense than them just sneaking off for… other reasons."

"Exactly," Atlas said. "So if we want to find them, or at least find clues about where they went and why, we need to head to the portal room area and investigate."

"Agreed," Ken said.

They both set off toward the portal room section of the academy, their pace quickening as they moved through corridors and down staircases.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.