Without saying a word, I started the car, reversing out of the parking lot. We needed to track down the Mind Walker, and if there was anyone who knew anything about anything in the whole of Yolo central, it would be Tonji. A five feet, twelve inches, nineteen year old kid who possessed the brain of a genius inventor. Well at least that's how I view him.
He had a shop south of the city, at the edge of Ekos town where most of the foreigners from the planet of Ekos live and also do their business. It was like a tiny city on its own, a tiny city which gave a purple glow when the day's gone dim. What made Ekos town even more beautiful were the yellow and blue vines that wind up round most of the buildings which looked like hourglasses by the way.
The Ekos people were practically Jaguars with the features of humans. They had arms, legs, feet, breasts and hips for the women, chest and muscles for the men, their face resembled that of humans but their nose and ears were exactly the same as that of a jaguar and they had long tails.
Some had black fur while others had yellow fur with black spots. Their way of dressing was especially peculiar because it resembled how characters from fantasy stories usually dressed—some wore white hooded cloaks, some dressed like bounty hunters, while others dressed like guild adventurers and gypsies with very short outfits.
We had to cross the old Brooklyn bridge and pass multiple suburbs before we got to Ekos which was down the road, close to the seashore. Lemon had said nothing since we left the Coroner's Morgue. I reckoned she was probably thinking of all the ways she was going to kill Halo when she laid her hands on him. But then again, do we stand a chance against that man?
We drove down into Ekos, heading to the edge of the city, where we found Tonji's store. It was a small gadget repair store which also happened to be his home if you go in deeper. I pushed the door open, and the doorbell at the top alerted our presence. After Lemon walked in, I closed the door and we walked up to the counter.
Just like any old gadget store, the store had devices hanging around every corner, from Bandphones, to computer mouses down to devices my paycheck could not afford. There was no one at the counter. Lemon hit the bell repeatedly until he finally came out.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming," he said as he walked out the door behind the counter. The boy was a little more bulky and muscular than I remembered. "Welcome to Tonji's Screwfix, how may we be of service to you today?"
Lemon smiled for the first time in hours. "You look different Tonji, have you been working out?"
Tonji took off his glasses and cleaned them, then he put them back on.
"Well if it isn't my two favourite Troopers," he smiled. "So, you two here to give me a wedding invitation? Or you are already married, you two rascals, when's the honeymoon?"
"Dude, chill," I replied. "I thought that idea was off the table?"
"Yea…yeah," Lemon stuttered. "You should stop saying things like that."
He cleared his throat, pushing the glasses towards his nose bridge. "So, what's the 501?"
"We need information," I replied.
"Yeah duh, no kidding Sherlock," he replied sarcastically.
"Hey don't start with me pipsqueak!"
We glared at each other as if ready to fight, but Lemon wasn't having it.
"Hey!" She exclaimed, "there's no time to waste on petty squabbles!"
We simultaneously turned our heads towards her face, her glare was much scarier than ours. We immediately stopped, I exhaled and he cleared his throat.
"You're right, we should hurry," he said. "I was busy before you guys got here."
"Busy?" I asked, "busy doing what?"
Right at that moment a very beautiful, endowed Ekos girl opened the back door, walking into the scene. She wore pink shorts and a white crop top hoodie.
"Babe, it's starting," she said. "You're going to miss the best part."
"I'll be over in a sec baby, okay?" Tonji replied, he gave her a kiss. "I've just gotta finish with my friends here."
She purred, looking at us as her long tail played with his face.
"Hi," she smiled.
"Hey," we waved, smiling politely.
Then she pouted looking at him. "Five minutes, after that I'm starting without you."
"Please don't start that movie without me," he pleaded as she caressed his black hair and looked at him in a very…seductive way.
She walked away slowly like a graceful princess on the runway of a fashion show.
"Better hurry up then babe."
And with that she left the scene. Lemon and I were speechless, we just stared at the boy, heck, the man! For almost five minutes.
"Try not to drool on my counter," he said, adjusting his glasses.
"Dude!" I smiled. "When you said you had a fiancé now, I didn't know it was gonna be an Ekos girl, an extremely beautiful Ekos! Are you a furry now?"
"Whoa, whoa!" He exclaimed. " She doesn't like being called that, none of them like that word."
"How the hell did you score that?" Lemon asked, "she's twice your size!"
"Uh, excuse me, I'm five feet, twelve inches tall, she's just four inches taller than me," he replied. "Besides, she doesn't mind. She calls me her glorious short king, and loved it when I—"
"Whoa!" Lemon and I stopped him immediately.
"That's too much information kid," I said.
"Yeah," Lemon chuckled. "That's not the information we came for."
"So what is it?" He asked.
We gave him the breakdown of the situation, and he was completely terrified when he heard the Halo the Reaper might be back. Then after a few panic attacks and some comforting on our side, he gave us the information we needed.
"Yeah I know a few Mind Walkers in the city," he said. "Fun fact, Mind Walkers are hated in Yolo central, because of what they can do. Statistically, there are more Mind Walkers in New Australia or Austrolo as I'd like to call it, than there are in the rest of the world, especially Yolo central."
"We came for information, Tonji," Lemon said. "Not a trivia tutorial."
"I'm just saying," he replied. "There are basically twenty-five Mind Walkers in Yolo central and only five percent of that number have legal work, the remaining ninety-five percent are into the shady form of employment."
"Any idea where we can find the ninety-five percent?" I asked.
"Yeah. Fallas Haven."
"The Drainiac night club?" Lemon asked.
He picked a nearby rag and started wiping the counter clean.
"The exact one," he replied. "Drainiacs are telepaths and empaths, they're the only people unaffected by the powers of a Mind Walker and so, they feel safe there."
That was our cue. Lemon and I shared a short glance, then we smiled at the kid.
"Same bank account, right?" I asked.
He nodded in reply.
"Oh by the way," he said. "Mind Walkers always lose a large amount of ATPs after using their powers to the max. So look for the guy with a lot of food and energy drinks on his table."
"Perfect," Lemon said, opening the door. "Smell you later Tonji."
"Yeah, and keep that damsel of yours happy," I winked.
"Will do boss," he replied, watching me walk out the door, "oh and make sure you come to my wedding!"
I smirked, giving him a side nod. I slid my hands into the pocket of my jacket while I crossed the road. When we got to the car, Lemon stretched out her hand.
"My keys," she demanded.
"Oh you're ready to drive now?" I replied pulling the key out of my pocket.
She grabbed them, getting into the driver's seat.
"Let's go get this son of a gastach!" She grimaced.
I reckoned 'gastach' wasn't a word they taught kids in Zoar. The moment I put on my seatbelt, she zoomed off…Fallas Haven was about to see hell.