119 Mystery of Reef City

Several days later.

Ed and Carlos arrived at Florida.

"So." Carlos said. "How do we find your hidden Harmony members?"

"I've arranged some emergency meeting places." Ed replied. "Dupe probably has a clone stationed at a couple of them. We'll just check them one by one."

The duo spent half a day flying to several cities, checking secret meeting locations within sewers and locations hidden in plain sight at various offices. Unfortunately, they had little luck.

"Hmm." Ed rubbed his chin. "Maybe he's in Reef city... I thought for sure that would be the last place he hides, but Dupe tends to do unusual things. We'll check there next."

They flew south of Miami and slightly to the west, searching for Reef city. When they finally arrived, Ed's eyes widened in shock. 'Did the President do this?!' His fists trembled in anger as he stared at the ground below.

Reef city was completely gone. There was no debris or construction. No people or animals. It was as if somebody had scraped the entire slate clean, leaving only ugly brown dirt behind.

Carlos placed his hand on Ed's shoulder. "I'll give you some time alone." He sighed while shaking his head. He flew off into the distance.

Ed slowly flew down from the skies as he eyed the desolate wasteland. When he landed, he knelt down and scooped up a handful of moist dirt, feeling the grains slide through his fingers. "This... this is my fault." He sighed. 'The President must have done this as a warning to others. What would Dad think if he saw that our home had become this because of me?'

He slowly walked through the empty terrain, trying to remember where various buildings were originally located. But try as he might, he couldn't imagine it properly. After all, an entire city had been here. The squishing of wet dirt beneath his feet instead of asphalt disgusted him. This was his home, where he had spent the entire first fifteen years of his life. The only place he had ever had family in the world. The place he awoke his powers, and the place he had finally created a place he belonged. And now it was gone. 'Not even nightmare attacks can compare to this... they at least leave something behind.' He forcefully held his tears back as his eyes started turning red with anger. "I'll kill the fucker who did this!" He roared through clenched teeth.

"I'm afraid no one did this." A sighing voice interrupted him.

"Who?!" Ed yelled as he spun around. "Bolin?"

"Yes." World Walker nodded. "Dupe has been having me keep watch here in case you ever managed to escape the cage. I thought it was a waste of time, but here you are. To think I was so looking forward to this mana collar killing me in the near future!" He jokingly smiled.

Ed looked at the devastated landscape with a complicated look in his eyes. "What happened here? If someone didn't do it, then what the hell did?!"

"We're not entirely sure..." Bolin admitted. "After the final battle of the war, things took an interesting turn for better and worse. Come. It's best if Dupe explains it."

Ed nodded. "CARLOS!" He yelled towards the woods. A brief moment later, Carlos flew over and joined them. Bolin didn't question things as he created a portal and transported them.

The group appeared in a room decorated with fancy furniture, a long dining table, red carpets, white brick walls, and a fancy chandelier. "Where are we?" Ed questioned.

"The Governor's house naturally." Dupe replied as he walked down a set of stairs. "Welcome to Tallahassee."

"Governor?!" Ed replied in shock as he went on the defensive.

"Relax, relax." Dupe laughed. "You're looking at Governor Nick Kismet. Aren't you going to congratulate me?" He joked.

"Governor?! How?!" Ed questioned.

"I was pretty surprised too." He grinned. "Turns out my old man and the President were good friends. After learning about my powers and the fact that I have control over Harmony, he went ahead and rigged the election for me to become Governor."

Ed looked around the room, his eyes narrowing. "And what happened to Harmony?"

"I felt it wasn't proper for a governor to have an illegal force such as that one." Dupe sighed while shaking his head. "So I set them free, allowing them to travel to other cities and states to go about their own business. Even my beloved twin brother chose to leave me and go with them."

"Tsk." Ed clicked his tongue while grabbing a seat at the nearby table. "All joking aside, things are going as planned then? We've got our members spreading to other states to recruit from the shadows in preparation for the future?"

"Yup." Dupe nodded as he took a seat across from him. "Honestly, the President must know I planned to do this. But I guess he figured I'd be easier to control if I was on his side, even if only on the surface. Granted, I'm sure he never expected you to escape the cage. If you hadn't managed to do so, then things could have worked out really well for the President. Our forces would slowly fade into nothingness while I did the President's bidding. Man, that would've been boring."

"I see." Ed nodded. "I plan to head to China soon. It could be a very long time before I come back, so just continue growing our forces during that time."

"Sure." He agreed. "You need to take Flair with you, right?" He glanced at Bolin. "World Walker can fetch her while we talk."

Ed looked towards Bolin. "I think I might take Terra and Ray with me as well, so go ahead and get them too."

"Ah, that won't work." Dupe shook his head. "Terra explicitly told me she doesn't want to go back to Europe, which I know you plan to head to as well. Besides..." An awkward expression appeared on his face. "Other than the fact that Ray is busy training our forces... He and Terra started dating."

"What?!" Ed replied in shock. "How the hell did that happen?!"

"Well, you've been missing for over half a year." Dupe grinned. "What? Did you think she would never move on from her little crush on you? People change. Heh, I wouldn't be surprised if Yuki went and found somebody as well. Our poor leader, forever alone despite already being 17."

"Okay, fine. I'll just take Flair with me then. Now, cut the jokes and tell me what happened to Reef city. If it's the President's doing, then I swear I'll torture him so much in the future that he'll wish for death!"

"Reef city..." Dupe sighed while staring up towards the chandelier. "It wasn't long after you were imprisoned. I was even there that day leading some of the reconstruction efforts. As you know, we were in the process of remodeling the entire city when the war started."

"Of course." Ed nodded. "It was going to be our future base of operations. All that work and now it's nothing but a patch of dirt."

"Right." He agreed. "On that day, an earthquake started rocking the city. Buildings collapsed, and streets tore apart, but that was just the beginning. At first, some of us assumed the Earth Nightmare was attacking, though it would make no sense for the city to be attacked so soon after the Flame Nightmare. Unfortunately, the Earth Nightmare probably would have been preferable..."

"Out with it already!" Ed shouted. "What happened?!"

"There was a bright purple light..." Dupe's entire body shivered. "It flashed for only a moment, and then everything vanished. My clone died instantly, and when I went to check it out in person, everything was gone. Only the empty brown land remained behind."

A grimace appeared on Ed's face. "How bad were the damages to our forces?"

Dupe barely smiled. "Fortunately, we barely had any forces stationed there. I had already sent all of the important forces to other locations."

"Well, at least there's a silver lining." Ed sighed in relief. "So, I assume you investigated the land. Anything unusual?"

"Mm." He nodded. "We surveyed the entire area and found an unusual purple cave. Unfortunately, we couldn't make any headway in exploring it. Any espers that entered had their mana blocked by strange purple smoke, and we were attacked by unusual purple mutants. It was a freaken bloodbath. Since then, I've blocked travel to the area and legally marked it as a restricted area. Of course, espers could travel there on their own if they really wanted to, but who would want to enter such a place?"

An odd expression appeared on Carlos' face as he glanced at Ed. "Sounds like the cage, right?"

"Mm." Ed agreed while frowning. "We need to explore it. We might be able to secure a source of purple mana-cores and manullium. Even if we can't, I want to know what happened. It may be related to the unusually strong awakenings that occurred in Reef city during the Flame Nightmare attack."

Suddenly, Bolin stepped out from a portal with Flair behind him. "Are we finally heading out?" She questioned excitedly.

"Soon." Ed answered before looking towards Bolin. "Take me and Carlos back to Reef city. I need answers."

Bolin frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea. You're underestimating how dangerous that place is."

"I can handle it." Ed confidently replied as purple flames appeared on the edges of his eyes. "Let's go."

Bolin nodded and created a portal, leading Ed and Carlos back to the remnants of Reef city. "Over there." He pointed towards a small entrance that led underground.

"Thanks." Ed reached towards Bolin's neck, purple flames appearing on his fingers. He gripped the manullium collar and tore it off. "Thanks for the help with the President during the war. You're free now. Continue to help Harmony or go do your own thing."

Bolin's eyes widened in surprise as he nodded. "I'll... think it over. Thanks. I'll wait here until you two come out."

Ed and Carlos entered the cave and began descending underground. Soon, they ran into streams and rivers of purple lava. Not long after, the air was filled with purple smoke.

"Exactly like the cage." Carlos said with a grim face. "Maybe most manullium mines look like this?"

"No." Ed shook his head. "There are some similarities between here and an ordinary manullium mine, but there are also many differences. Ordinary manullium mines are supposed to be deep underground or atop high mountains. We haven't gone that deep yet, and we're already seeing manullium ore. Besides, I've been in a normal manullium mine before and it was nothing like this. A normal manullium mine has no purple lava or smoke, and instead has floating spheres of manullium ore."

"Maybe there are different kinds of manullium mines?" He suggested hesitantly.

"Maybe..." Ed agreed.

Soon, they entered a large cavern. A purple panther laid on the ground, resting peacefully. Upon hearing the intruders, its ears twitched. It immediately stood up and released a loud roar which shook the entire cavern.

"Doesn't look that strong." Ed commented as purple flames covered his body.

"Right." Carlos agreed as he released his purple wind. "Let's finish it quickly. I'll feed the fire."

Ed shot his flames forward and Carlos' wind caused the fire to grow even larger. The purple inferno rapidly swirled around the panther, spreading heat in all directions. A short moment later, the fire cleared and revealed a completely unharmed panther.

"What?!" Their eyes widened in shock.

Purple light glowed from the panther's eyes at it glared at them.

"Watch out!" Carlos shouted as he dodged out of the way.

Ed hurriedly dodged in the other direction as two purple beams of light shot past where they had just been standing.

"Do it the old-fashioned way!" Ed yelled as scales covered his body. Unfortunately, his chimera form now lacked claws and a tail, but it still strengthened him greatly. He charged forward and threw a strong right hook towards the panther's head.

Shockingly, the panther barely stumbled a few steps back. It had barely taken any damage at all!

'Why the hell is it so strong?!' Ed wondered. 'I fought mutants deep within the cage and they were way weaker. This makes no sense!'

Suddenly, dozens of purple eyes lit up within the darkness of some tunnels beyond the cavern. Various mutants stepped out. Birds, mammals, and reptiles of all types. Carlos hurriedly shot purple blades of wind towards the mutants, but no damage was done. He frowned. "The mutants here are clearly on another level. I think we should leave."

"Right." Ed nodded and began backing up slowly.

Suddenly, the horde of mutants rushed forward, surrounding Ed and Carlos on all sides.

"FUCK!" Carlos cursed. "They're freaken faster than Tai! What kind of hellhole is this?!"

A moment of silence slowly passed as cold sweat covered their bodies. They were completely on edge, ready to dodge attacks on a moment's notice.

Surprisingly, the mutants seemed to have no intention of attacking. Slowly, they began creating an opening towards the exit.

"Do you think it's a trap?" Carlos questioned Ed.

Ed frowned as he examined the mutants. "I don't know." He shook his head. "But they're obviously smarter than the mutants from the cage."

Carlos gulped. "I'll try." He took several steps forward, and the mutants made no moves. "I think it's safe." He sighed in relief as he kept walking.

'Good. Looks like we'll get out of here alive.' Ed thought as he took a step forward.

Suddenly, the horde of mutants simultaneously growled as they glared towards Ed.

'The hell?' He eyed them carefully as he took another step forward.

The mutants roared even louder and began closing in on him. Shocked, he took two steps backwards. Surprisingly, the mutants calmed down and retreated a bit as well.

Carlos watched with confusion covering his face. He took several more steps and the mutants had no reaction at all. He looked towards Ed. "Now what do we do?"

'What kind of bullshit discrimination is this?!' Ed angry roared to himself. He glared at the mutants before answering Carlos. "Just go. Tell Dupe and see if he can send some clones in to see how they react... assuming I'm still here when you get back."

Carlos hesitated a moment before nodding and continuing forward. As he neared the exit, the mutants were closer and closer to him, but none tried to block his path. Soon, he had left the tunnel completely unharmed.

As soon as Ed was alone, the remaining mutants moved towards the exit and blocked it off. The purple panther approached him, its purple eyes shining with intelligence as it looked up to him.