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The Reservoir (4) : The Destiny City Reservoir opened about two years ago and is an easy escape from the big city. It's a five minute drive outside of the Eastern side of town and features clear water and sandy beaches--although, the sand here is notorious for squeaking when you step on it. It's a hot spot for all fun summer activities, but it's been in the news for mysterious reports of some strange, aquatic monster. Some accounts say they've spotted a twenty foot long, snake like creature capable of rearing a long neck high above the water. It's hard to tell if the videos are doctored, but there are too many rumors to dismiss easily. Something strange might be lurking deep in the water. Or it's just a hoax to get people out to the Reservoir!
But–Sometimes, people feel like something is grabbing their ankle, even if they are just wading in the shallow end. In the deeper parts of the water, it gets a little more intense: something has been said to grab onto ankles and pull. People have been warned about dangerous pranks, but so far no one has been caught. In the shallow end, anyone unfortunate enough to be targeted may feel themselves being knocked off their feet and tugged into the water; anyone in deep water may feel a firm grip on their ankle, tugging them lower and lower. Somehow, anyone it targets is freed--either by wriggling and fighting, or because someone intervenes and pulls the would-be victim up. No one has drowned in the lake. Yet. It's impossible to see who, or what, is doing this, but it usually gives up after one failed attempt. Usually.
While you may find yourself harassed by the supposed cryptid, or see something visibly odd in the distance, you cannot take any pictures of the creature. Who knows if you're even being attacked by the cryptid–or just another youma?
The Reservoir (4) : The Destiny City Reservoir opened about two years ago and is an easy escape from the big city. It's a five minute drive outside of the Eastern side of town and features clear water and sandy beaches--although, the sand here is notorious for squeaking when you step on it. It's a hot spot for all fun summer activities, but it's been in the news for mysterious reports of some strange, aquatic monster. Some accounts say they've spotted a twenty foot long, snake like creature capable of rearing a long neck high above the water. It's hard to tell if the videos are doctored, but there are too many rumors to dismiss easily. Something strange might be lurking deep in the water. Or it's just a hoax to get people out to the Reservoir!
But–Sometimes, people feel like something is grabbing their ankle, even if they are just wading in the shallow end. In the deeper parts of the water, it gets a little more intense: something has been said to grab onto ankles and pull. People have been warned about dangerous pranks, but so far no one has been caught. In the shallow end, anyone unfortunate enough to be targeted may feel themselves being knocked off their feet and tugged into the water; anyone in deep water may feel a firm grip on their ankle, tugging them lower and lower. Somehow, anyone it targets is freed--either by wriggling and fighting, or because someone intervenes and pulls the would-be victim up. No one has drowned in the lake. Yet. It's impossible to see who, or what, is doing this, but it usually gives up after one failed attempt. Usually.
While you may find yourself harassed by the supposed cryptid, or see something visibly odd in the distance, you cannot take any pictures of the creature. Who knows if you're even being attacked by the cryptid–or just another youma?
Ever since her conversation with Elias and the theory she’d put forward regarding the cryptoid, Lavendulan had become determined to prove or disprove her own hypothesis.
Since its first appearance, she returned to the reservoir and repeated the same routine.
She would search the shallows first, patiently sifting through the sand before diving into the deeper areas inaccessible to anyone without diving gear. A mesh bag rested against her hip, slowly accumulating rings, inexpensive necklaces, the occasional cell phone, and other trinkets carelessly lost by visitors throughout the day.
The scavenging was never the true objective. It was little more than busy work while her real purpose for being here was far less innocent.
Lavendulan was bait.
Every trip to the reservoir was an invitation, a calculated gamble meant to tempt the creature lurking below into choosing her as its next target.
It held no signature and could not be tracked, leaving her no choice but to let the creature draw her closer to it.
However, this time, instead of expecting to find the cryptoid that had been terrorizing the citizens during a time of celebration, Laven had wondered if she would instead be met with a portal that it had been reaching through instead.
As far-fetched as it sounded, the theory wasn’t without precedent. The Calamitous Hollow was dangerously close to destroying Earth when it was intercepted by nearly every Senshi, Knight, and Negaverse Agent that lived in Destiny City. Although the fight had been won, the sky serpent was by no means defeated. Its physical body was merely imprisoned in a place they could not easily travel to without the help of Almadal. Yet its influence still managed to reach their world with strange electrical storms that felt oddly out of season.
For more than an hour, Lavendulan had moved at an unhurried pace, stirring plumes of sand behind her as she knelt to overturn large rocks in search of anything wedged beneath them. By now, the mesh bag hanging from her shoulder had grown heavy, nearly full with the day’s discoveries.
She paused to consider the two options that lay before her: return to the beach, tuck everything away in her subspace and sort through it later, then continue playing the role of treasure hunter, or she could finally concede defeat, head home, and try again tomorrow.
Neither choice satisfied the instinctive urge to sink claws and teeth into the thing that had eluded her for so long. Of all the anomalies she was uniquely equipped to investigate, this one remained maddeningly out of reach, as if it delighted in her frustration.
I suppose I can spare another hour…
Give herself the chance to quell this growing irritation, so she didn’t unintentionally direct it toward Wolframite by mistake.
Turning towards shore, she made her way to shallower waters. When Lavendulan had finally reached a depth where she could finally stand, she felt the familiar sensation of something curious brushing against her leg. Rather than remaining still, she remained acutely aware of its presence yet pretended not to have noticed its closeness.
The tip of her toe sank into the sand, and just as she was about to come up for air, something unseen wrapped tightly around her waist. Her youma instinct demanded she slash at it with claws, but rational thought and careful planning tempered her actions into a struggle before going limp so it believed she had drowned.
Water rushed past her as she was dragged back towards deeper depths where the hunter would soon become her prey.
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