Chapter 179 - Sunset

"Ughh, when is this going to end? The sun's already setting!" Gem said and stomped her feet in annoyance over the long wait.

"Guys! I just got the news from the commander, they have found Petunia!!" Venedette said excitedly while flying across Gem and to Fily and the boy's location.

"What?! That's great news! But how about my Salamandite?" Gem said as her smile faded from the thought.

"But there's a problem." Venedette's voice suddenly became serious.

"What is it?" Von said in anticipation.

"There are two of them."

"What?" Von said, "Two of what?"

"They found two Petunias," Venedette said with a blank face as if she was trying to read the kid's expressions..

"What?! How could that be?!" Fily said with a loud voice.

"We also don't know but we need to go there now if we want to save the real Petunia," Venedette said and looked in Gem's direction where she was still fidgeting around the floral disk while waiting for her gem to finish charging.

"Speaking about Petunia, I actually have a question, mom," Von said, tugging Venedette's shirt down from her flight.

"What is it?"

"Petunia's collar, her stat-hut. Do you know where it is?" Von asked the question he'd been meaning to ask his mother since earlier.

"Hmm, that's a great idea Von! Petunia's Stut-hut actually has all her memories embedded in them! I think we can figure out the real Petunia easily just by that!" Venedette said with her eyes sparkling from the relief.

"But you didn't answer my question, mom. Where is it?"

"What do you mean the Stut-hut has Petunia's memories embedded in them?" Fily suddenly asked after pushing Von slightly away from blocking her vision to Venedette.

"Oh, I haven't told you yet. Oh no, this is bad!" Venedette's emotions suddenly shifted from being relieved to worry.

"Why? What's wrong?" Fily asked, also getting nervous now because of Venedette's sudden shift of emotions.

"Petunia's collar, I don't have it with me right now! I actually surrendered it to the commander in chief telling him to put it to Petunia once they've found her!"

"And that collar has Petunia's memories in them, right? What if it goes to the wrong Petunia?!" Fily said, finally getting a wind of what was happening on the other side of the mountain.

"We have to go there, quickly!" Venedette said while almost taking off on her own if only she did not see Gem looking at them with pleading eyes.

"What about Gem?!" Von said, also panicking after realizing the situation that Petunia was in right now.

"Maybe you can stay here and carry her to the checkpoint while we go ahead?" Venedette suggested.

"We can do that. It's just like what we always do, Von. You carry Gem and Venedette will bring us to the checkpoint immediately," Fily said, trying to convince Von to agree with her.

"But we don't know how long that charger will take us!" Von said, now jumping around in frustration as he gets conflicted in his mind about staying for Gem or leaving her so he could go ahead and save Petunia for her already.

"We don't have much time! Who knows what that fake Petunia is planning?! We need to get there before the commander in chief decides to place the collar on either one of them. We'll need Lei and Fily for that," Venedette said and opened her arms to urge Fily and Lei to move closer to her so she could carry them.

"Ughh! Fine! You go ahead and save Petunia while Gem and I wait here for her Salamandite to finish charging. Now go!" Von said, acting like a hero that he never dreamed to be doing until lately.

"Okay, thank you Von. You're making your mommy proud. Come on Fily and Lei, we've got to save Petunia from that fake copy of hers," Venedette said and immediately scooped Fily and Lei away from Edelweiss without even saying their goodbyes to the elders.

"She could've just told the commander in chief to not give any of the Petuniases the collar… but then what if the fake one had an ulterior motive why he decided to copy Petunia? Ahhh, never mind! I'll just leave them to it!" Von shook his own head and messed with his hair before fixing his stance after noticing the elders watching him like ha has gone crazy.

"Sorry about that, we're going to go after sunset, by the way," Von said and even smiled at the elders, especially Elder Song to convince them that he's just okay.

"We understand, young master. Don't worry about the flower, we will protect it with all our lives until you come back with that Salamandite. How I hope the young miss would just tell me her story now so I can write it down in my collections," Elder Song said and even tried to crack a joke between him and Von that seemed to work just a little bit.

But instead of treating it as a joke, Von actually got quite embarrassed after realizing that all Elder Song had done to them was try and educate them of all the things that he knows about this place, yet he and the rest of his team were still just like an empty book for Elder Song and the others for not even bothering to tell them anything about the story of their lives. All except for Petunia who was seemingly potential headline news for tomorrow's newspapers for being a unique being with a very important mission and getting lost during that time. Even finding herself a copycat that probably has an ill intention to her and to all of Leviathan, judging from his/her choice of target that was the powerhouse team for the upcoming tournament for Clandamascarene.

"I wish I had more time to tell you about us," Von said while looking at Elder Song regretfully.

"It's okay, young master. We just want to serve you with all of our hearts, especially since you're the descendant of the great Dr. Lectric who saved our ancestors."

"And Gem could be Gyu and Iba's real descendant," Von whispered to himself which Elder Song heard.

"And that too," he said and smiled.

"Okay, it's getting dark. Wait, the flower's not glowing anymore! I have to go!" Von said and didn't even bother waving goodbye to Elder Song and the others.

He just swooped back to the flower where Gem was carefully removing her Salamandite from the receptacles of the gigantic Edelweiss flower with a big smile on her face.

"Right on time," she said and wrapped her arms around Von as he carried her immediately to the checkpoint where Venedette and the others were already waiting for them.

***

"Where are they?" Venedette said with a demanding voice as soon as they arrived at the checkpoint's headquarters.

She did not even mind leaving their Levi-yacht near the Edelweiss village just to arrive faster at the checkpoint's headquarters and the image of Petunia being treated like a king was the first thing that she saw.

"What the-?" Lei said in disbelief after seeing the army of females walking around Petunia- or Petunia's copycat, feeding her and seemingly protecting her from intruders.

"Where's the other one?!" Venedette said to the closest guard she could threaten with a pull on her collar.

"The other one? You mean the fake Petunia?" the guard asked.

"Yes," Venedette said while trying to calm herself down by taking deep breaths and putting down the poor guard who just suddenly got pulled in her collar.

"She's in jai-" the guard answered but was suddenly interrupted when Petunia, the fake Petunia, came striding closer to them with big teary cat eyes.

"Venedette," she said with a very familiar voice which almost convinced Venedette that she was the real Petunia, but the mere fact that she could remember her name gave her away and made Venedette look at her indifferently.

"Where's the other one? The real Petunia?" Venedette said with a cold voice and attitude which made the fake Petunia cry even more than aggravated all of the female guards around her in even less than a second.

"What are you doing?!" the guard who Venedette just threatened suddenly said and stepped forward bravely just to defend the fake Petunia.

"She's not the real Petunia!" Venedette said and was surprised when the rest of the female guards shot daggers at her using their eyes.

"What's happening? Why aren't they listening?" Lei said and stepped forward to act as protection if ever a battle suddenly commenced in here.

"I'm the real Petunia! What are you talking about?!" the fake Petunia cried which made the female guards charge at Venedette and her teammates.

"They're brainwashed! Run!" Fily said and held both Lei and Venedette's hands to run away from the female guards who weren't listening to them.

When Venedette finally got a hold of herself, she immediately carried the two in her arms and headed for the commander in chief's office while hoping for the best and that the collar should still be there and safe from the hands of that cunning fake Petunia.