The two boys continued to go around the settlement, and Kyle continued to pay no attention to those around him. It wasn't that no one had the answer, but most of the people had no clue who Kyle was talking about.

  The main reason being, the girls were only there for such a short amount of time. A lot of the people there preferred to mind their own business and had no such interaction with the girls.

  While they continued to ask, Harry was making note that they were starting to get a lot of attention and it was from the wrong type of people. He could see the guards stationed everywhere whispering and talking to each other while looking in their direction.

  However, Harry didn't know whether this was really a good thing or not. Perhaps it would be a quicker way for them to find the girls.

  "Yeah, I saw them." A man finally replied.

  'Really!" Kyle said, surprised that his plan had worked. He had been going around asking blindly and most of the people here were giving him the cold shoulder.

  "The last time I saw them, they were bothering the man that used to live there." He pointed.

  "Used to?" Kyle replied.

  "He's out of here. He requested to leave and I saw them take him away not too long ago."

  Stomping his foot on the ground out of frustration, it looked as if their one and only lead had disappeared. The man they were talking to just seconds ago eyes widened, and he had suddenly gone back to his room.

  "What was up with him?" Kyle thought.

  When the two boys turned around, they were greeted by a few of the guards with a nice smile. Harry knew something like this would happen sooner or later. All they could do now was go along with the flow.

  "We saw that you two young boys looked quite strong.' The guard said.

  "That we are." Kyle replied with a smug smile.

  The guards were thinking this was all too easy. They were right about their initial thoughts.

  "You see, the research centre is looking for some strong people for a new test they're about to do. While you're here, you will need to do a test once in a while. So you might as well get it over and done with now." The guard said. "I heard there are also some extra rewards as well for completing this one. I just thought I should give you two a heads up, let you know before they post it on the bulletin board over there."

  To Harry's surprise, after telling them this little bit of information the two guards walked away without saying anything else.

  "Well what do you think?" Kyle asked.

  "About what?" Harry replied.

  "About what they were talking about. Do you think it's a trap? Maybe they did the same thing to the two girls before. Come on, you must have noticed everyone looking at us when we were asking about the girls. This place is extremely fishy. Like fish left out in the open air on a summer day fishy.???

  "I thought you were meant to be the master white knight. I thought you would have at least noticed this much."

  Harry was stunned, absolutely stunned. Of course he knew that, he just wasn't aware that the whole time Kyle knew that as well.

  'I guess there was a reason why he was chosen to replace Monk as the black sash master knight after all.' Harry thought.

  "There's nothing else we can do, we have no leads. It's the only thing we have." Harry replied.

  It was decided, the two of them would venture into the research lab. When they had entered the facility, it appeared as if some of the guards recognised them. For as soon as they had entered, a few of them started whispering to each other.

  They tried to be discreet about it, but for trained knights such as Harry and Kyle, it was easy for them to spot. When they eventually turned up at the desk, the person behind the counter had given them a different list compared to the others.

  Usually the list would have different clinical trials one could do. But this one had only one option on it.

  "Unfortunately all the slots for the other trials are filled up now, but we were told beforehand that someone offered you a more practical one. So we left these last two spots for yourselves." The pretty girl behind the desk said. She had a sweet smile behind her face.

  Harry felt disgusted, that they would use such an innocent looking person to fool people. 'Things like this don't actually work, do they?'

  However, once again he was proven wrong as his partner was blushing with a red face.

  "We'll take it." Kyle answered.

  "Hey hey," Harry whispered, pulling him in close. "Are you sure about this? It's clear that they made this trial just for us. I was fine if we were going to go in just like everyone else, but I have a really bad feeling."

  "Stop being such a wimp." Kyle replied. "Do you think Ray would refuse to do such a thing?"

  Harry thought about it for a second. If Ray was here, he probably would have ignored everyone in the facility and marched right in looking for the girls.

  With their petty disagreements over, they were led into what appeared to be a plain white room. There was no one else inside, but the door was left wide open. It made them feel like they could leave at any point and time.

  "We'll be back in a second." One of the doctors in a white lab coat said, as he went off.

  "So, what do you think they're doing here?" Kyle asked.

  A few moments later though, and the door was slammed shut.

  Harry let out a big sigh and was shaking his head.

  "Why do I let you make me do the stupidest of things?"

  Strange mechanical sounds were being made, and as the two listened carefully they could tell that it was coming from directly beneath them. Part of the white flooring started to open up, and pushed to the top a strange looking beast had appeared.

  "Duck!" Harry shouted, as he dived to the floor.

  "Duck? But that's a frog."

  In an instant, the frog had whipped out its tongue, aiming to attack the two of them. Before it had completely come to the top, Harry could sense something was wrong with the beast, and he could tell it was infected by the shadow.

  The tongue wrapped around Kyle's forearm, and then using all it's force tried to yank him towards him. His arm was pulled a few inches until it had suddenly stopped.

  "You're going to have to be a lot stronger than that to stop me." Kyle said, as he focused his Ki, pulling on the tongue and moving the frog through the air towards him.

  While it was mid air and defenceless, Harry saw this as his chance. From the floor, he jumped up like a spear and uppercutted the frog right in the stomach. The force was strong and it flung the frog into the air, with green liquid shooting out of its mouth.

  The frog's tongue was still attached to Kyle's forearm and continued to pull it to himself. When it was finally close enough, Kyle had focused all his strength into his fist and had punched it with his bare hand. The large frog was no longer moving and was dead.

  "It seems like these two are quite strong indeed." A man was watching them through a camera that was hidden in the room. He had seen the two defeat the intermediate tier beast that was infected with their bare hands. "I wonder where these people came from, and what exactly they are doing here."

  "Should we send in the advanced tier, sir?" The man sitting at the control desk asked.

  "No, let's not waste any time, I can tell they will defeat it. Let's put in a king tier infected beast for them." The man said.

  The other man at the control desk gulped. For he was worried that maybe another incident would happen. Still he followed his orders.

  Once again, the two could hear the sound of movement coming from below. This time they were both prepared for whatever was to come at them.

  However, when they met with the next creature, they knew that with no weapons and just the two of them it would be a huge challenge.

  "Harry!" Kyle shouted. "I think it's time for us to make as much noise as we can. Maybe Ray will find us then."

  Harry was a little confused by what Kyle was suggesting, but then he saw it. Kyle was no longer holding back. He was transforming into his beast form and Harry soon followed after.

  *****

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