Satisfied that Kim was safe, Jonas left the shadows, unsure how much he'd have to use that ability. It was useful, but he didn't exactly have the much MP to work with and each use cost 10 MP just to activate it. Although, at worst, he'd have to activate it twice more, since he'd assisted Kim in eliminating two of the doppelgangers.
"Where'd you co from?" Kim asked as she caught her breath, leaning against the wall, clearly worn out from all the fighting she'd been doing that night so far.
Jonas rely shrugged. "I just happened to be in the neighborhood and heard that there were four doppelgangers in the area, and that you'd probably encountered two of them," Jonas answered casually, as if thi is the kind of thing that happens on a daily basis.
Kim couldn't help but laugh. "Don't make laugh," Kim complained. "I'm too tired."
Jonas nodded. "Well, I hate to do this to you then, but I think Elmo was on the trail of another doppelganger and I know Elin was fighting one herself," Jonas replied, his tone turning serious.
Kim stood up straight, her eyes blazing with restrained fury at the news. "Elin's fighting one?"
Jonas nodded. "She told Elmo and to go on ahead. Neither of us could tell which Elin was a doppelganger, since we didn't see the transformation occur. So, we had no choice but to let her deal with... uh, herself, I guess," Jonas finished, unsure how to phrase that.
Kim nodded. "Was there any clue as to which Elin was the doppelganger?" she asked, sheathing her sword, just so she could give her arms a little bit of ti to rest.
Jonas shook his head. "One of them told us to go down a hallway and Elmo wasn't sure we should until the other Elin urged us to take the sa hallway, both of them saying that the other doppelganger went down that hallway."
Kim chuckled. "Yeah, that would make it difficult. They do seem to be masters of imitation."
"When I left Elmo, he was still going down that hallway, but I stopped when I ca to a room that I noticed had another door that turned out to lead to this smaller hallway."
"So he could have caught up with the other doppelganger since then, right?" Kim asked.
Jonas nodded, suddenly feeling uneasy. Not just because he was worried about how the others on his team were doing, but because he was truly worried about Elmo. Why, he couldn't say, just that the concern was there. Which made him more than a little confused. He'd never worried about others like that since he was in high school, when he was forced to drop out due to circumstances beyond his control. Yet, here he was, feeling like if sothing happened to Elmo that it'd turn his world upside down again, like when he had to leave high school.
"Jonas?" Kim asked, startling him out of his thoughts. "You in there?"
"Sorry," he apologized. "Just sothing brought up an old mory. I'll be fine now."
Kim nodded, not looking like she really believed him, but he wasn't worried about that. What mattered was taking care of the other doppelgangers as fast as possible. Though, he suspected that Elmo might be in a worse position than Elin, as at least Elin had healing abilities, although from what Jonas could rember about Elmo using magic in their fights, especially against the goblins, that Elmo had a lot more MP, or was able to sohow replenish it. Yet, he suspected that Elmo would be in greater danger from the doppelganger than Elin was. He couldn't say why, although he couldn't help but wonder if the concern he felt for Elmo helped him feel that way.
"Let's go back the way I ca," Jonas suggested after a minute. "I think Elmo might need help more than Elin does."
Kim sighed. "Alright, but you better be right about this," she replied, her tone letting Jonas know that she wasn't giving him an idle warning.
Jonas rely nodded. He completely understood that fact. He wasn't going to treat it lightly, but he couldn't help but it wouldn't matter. Although, he couldn't dismiss the idea that his worry for Elmo was what made him feel that Elin wasn't in as much danger. Not that he planned on sharing that with Kim. He didn't expect her to take that idea as well as he did. If anything, it probably would make her want to go to where Elin was first rather than Elmo. Even if it ant that they had to split up again, and Jonas felt that would be worse at the mont.
He began to retrace his steps, which only took a few minutes to get back to the hallway, though he couldn't be sure. In the dark, without a watch to help him out, he couldn't be sure that it really only took a few minutes or just rely felt like it had. He hadn't been good at telling how long sothing took, even before he'd gotten brought to this place and since then, it wasn't like he had much opportunity to work on it.
Still, as they reached the hallway, Jonas looked around. He was pretty sure which way Elmo would have gone, but he couldn't see any light source that would tell him that. Although, he also realized as Kim walked right into him after he stopped, that she couldn't see in the dark.
"Why'd you stop?" Kim demanded, sounding rather annoyed by that.
"Just getting my bearings," Jonas replied, turning the direction he was pretty sure Elmo had been heading.
He certainly didn't want to admit to Kim that he wasn't sure which way to go. He doubted that she'd be as patient with that as she had been so far. Though, he doubted she'd get any better until they were able to get Elin's fight stopped.
However, despite the urgency he felt about Elmo, he started moving slower, so he wouldn't lose Kim. He couldn't be sure that she wouldn't think that he'd gone in a different direction than he had or that soone hidden might attack.
It was entirely possible that Elmo hadn't encountered the doppelganger and it was waiting for one the others to co along. While Jonas didn't think that was likely, he couldn't dismiss the possibility. Especially with how much there was that they really didn't know about their enemies. As far as he knew, their enemies knew more about them than they realized.
Kim walked with her hand on Jonas' shoulder, mostly so she wouldn't walk into him again, or so she claid and Jonas considered that a completely reasonable possibility. Especially with how he knew about how she didn't like n. Which he had occasionally toyed with the idea of trying to get her to explain her rationale on the subject. Though, he couldn't be sure that she wasn't a radical feminist, so he wasn't sure if he'd be able to get her to explain it in a way that would make sense to him, if he could get her to say anything about it in the first place.
As they moved along, Jonas felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. While he could see perfectly fine in the darkness, sothing was starting to feel off. He couldn't say what, but he did notice burn marks on the walls, a hole in a door, and broken furniture.
He couldn't say what had caused the destruction, but he had a feeling that he was nearing where a battle took place. Likely between Elmo and the doppelganger. However, even though he could see a distance down the hallway, he couldn't see anything that even looked like bodies just laying on the ground. Though, the sll of brimstone in the air was another good indicator that the Brimstone Fire spell had been used recently, which could explain the burn marks on the walls.
"Who's there?" Jonas heard a voice call out. It was muffled, and while it sounded like Elmo, he couldn't be sure it was him.
"It's . I found Kim," he replied, not wanting to give more information than he had to at the mont.
"Did you bet the doppelgangers she was fighting?" the voice that sounded like Elmo's asked.
"Yeah, she took care of them," he answered, feeling sothing wasn't right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on the reason.
"Is she with you?" the voice asked.
"No, she left to help Elin," Jonas lied, feeling more and more certain he was talking to the doppelganger. "Where's the lamp you were using? I didn't think you were here anymore since I didn't see a light."
"Uh, I kinda lost it," the voice replied, sounding a little sheepish about the subject. "After the fight, I crawled into a room while waiting for soone to co."
As Jonas neared where the primary battle location was he noticed the lamp just sitting on the ground, but also a spray of sothing that he couldn't be sure what it was, although there were chunks of sothing that he couldn't quite make out that looked rather unpleasant and actually made his stomach turn a little. However, the sll suddenly took on an elent that he couldn't quite place, but it suddenly made him nauseas. If he had to bet anything, he would bet that Elmo threw up at so point.
"What happened in the fight?" Jonas asked. "Did the doppelganger flee like you said they would?"
Jonas thought he heard a kind of growling sound from behind the door ahead of him to his left. "No, the doppelganger left after I let it think it got . I pretended that I was dead and it moved on," the voice said.
Jonas tapped Kim's hand twice, hoping that she would get the ssage that he needed her to stay where she was. He didn't dare say anything to her just in case the sound traveled to whoever was talking. While he suspected that it was the doppelganger, it was entirely possible that he was letting his nerves get the better of him and it really was Elmo talking.
"Which way did it go?" Jonas asked. "I think I have a way to see the doppelgangers, even if they've changed into soone else."
"Seriously?" the voice asked, sounding rather surprised.
Jonas smiled grimly. That last response was the most 'Elmo' the voice had been up to this point. He quickly entered the shadow world and didn't respond. While he couldn't exactly pass through solid objects in the shadow world, he could at least easily move through cracks in doors and things. Which made looking in the room where he was sure the voice was easier.
What he saw was an Elmo sitting against the wall, holding his chest which was bleeding freely. A hole so big and in just the right area that Jonas wasn't sure how he was able to breathe, let alone talk at that mont.
He also could see another Elmo laying on the ground, unmoving, aside from slight breathing, indicating he was still alive. Jonas couldn't be sure what he was seeing at first. Just that the doppelganger hadn't killed Elmo, even though it clearly had ample opportunity to do so. Even if he didn't see the other Elmo in the room, he'd be able to tell that it was a doppelganger because it had a kind of shadow over it. Not exactly a shadow, but Jonas couldn't figure out how else to describe it.
Ignoring the real Elmo for a minute, he carefully examined the doppelganger. Was there a reason why it hadn't killed Elmo? It couldn't be because it didn't have ti. Even though the doppelganger was able to talk regularly, it didn't look like it was at full strength. It almost looked like it was at the edge of its limits.
At the mont, even though there were questions Jonas wanted to ask, he didn't expect the doppelganger to be very cooperative, and so decided to end this quickly. He didn't want to give the doppelganger any reason to think Jonas was on to it, so he moved over to the doppelganger and had his hand with one of his daggers co around of the shadows and before the doppelganger could even notice the dagger, he'd quickly slashed an artery on the side of its neck.
Jonas hoped that the blood wouldn't land on Elmo, as he was pretty sure the hole in the doppelganger's chest is what had made Elmo throw up in the hallway. Whether he passed out then as well or not, he couldn't say. Just that he was sure it would help Elmo the most to not have to deal with that again. At least for right now.
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