Scoping out the building showed that in the main storage area it has only been the goon we took down, the rest of the people were towards the front keeping an eye on the happenings out the front. This gave us a chance to move forward with no one to see us creep up on them, making it to the edge of the offices.

Thinking about our next steps I figured I might give my aura abilities a chance, I had made some progress with the ability, and maybe using it in a serious situation would get me over the line and past the initial hurdle.

Closing my eyes and finding the energy dwelling inside I focused on it and attempted to pull it forward, getting some push back, I renewed my efforts and managed to get ahold of a small part of the source. It was miniscule compared to the much larger reservoir that remained behind, though that small part still had some effect on my surroundings. I could feel some sources of energy around us, Cinder’s orange warm energy was like sitting inside on a snowy night next to a fire, very comforting.

I couldn’t sense much past that, just the general feel of the energy, I know that aura users were able to sense emotions and other deeper pieces of information of the target so I still had room to improve. Looking out with my senses I could get the faint hint of some other individuals, trying to count the number I managed to confirm 6 or 7, though somehow I knew that there were others further away.

My range was only about 5-10 metres and there was about double that to the entrance of the building so there was no saying how many more goons there were. We had a confirmation of at most 7, and if they were centred around the boss who I was pretty sure was in the office then it was safe to say there would be a smaller number towards the entrance. The building wasn’t too big and if there were too many people in the building who hadn’t come forward when the police got here, it might be suspicious.

They wanted to avoid drawing attention and there was a good chance that those individuals had moved off to keep the attention away from the building. This was probably my best chance to take down this operation while they were distracted by the fire. Thinking back to what I sensed I recalled that there were a group of 3 off to the side, most likely in a security room or break room. I would guess that the larger group would be the boss and his guards.

Motioning for Cinder to remain silent we crept along the corridors towards the smaller group, making sure to check each corner before moving down a corridor. My brief attempt of aura usage used all the energy I had gotten a hold of so we were moving blind, just relying on our normal senses. Not hearing any disturbance leading up to the room I remembered we split up on either side of the door, I could hear some mumbling inside the room but the door was too thick to hear anything clearly.

Moving to Cinder we went over the game plan, “alright Cinder, here’s what I’m thinking, I’ll pull the door open, I want you to then jump into the doorway and use a wide blast ‘growl’ to catch the guys inside in the area of effect, I will then move into the room and take down any one still standing, or if not then tie up the guys on the ground.

If for some reason they haven’t all been knocked out by the growl or disoriented I want you to hit them with another growl, make it targeted though.”

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“Char Charmander Char”, getting acknowledgement and a nod.

“Alright, ready?”,

“Char”,

“3, 2, 1, GO!”, yanking the door open Cinder sprang into the opening and with the goons turning to see who it was, they copped the full blast of ‘growl’ in the face getting knocked back a few steps falling onto their backs, with two hitting their heads and going glassy eyed. One of the other guys rolled onto his front and proceeded to stand up, though he stumbled around not being able to keep steady on his feet. I ran up to him and with a quick blow to the head he went down like a sack of flour, rolling him onto his front I tied his hands up, before moving to the other two. I made sure they were gagged as well in case they woke up and tried to call for help.

As I was nearly done Cinder ran up to me, “Char char Charmander Charmander char”,

“Woah hold on buddy, what’s that? You hear something?” getting a nod in response. “Shit, the other guys must have heard the commotion, I thought the sirens would block most of the noise, I’ll quickly move these guys behind the couch, give me a hand and then let’s get out of sight.”

Dragging the goons out of view of the doorway we proceeded to crouch down behind the same cover. Moments later I hear the footsteps stop right outside the door, it sounds like 2 or maybe 3 people outside the door.

“Oi, what’s happened here? HEY! Get your arses out here right now, what do you think your doing making so much noise while shits going down! Hey, you better have a good reason you idiot’s! Where the f&^k are you?!”

“Ah Gus? I don’t think they’re there, looks like something happened, and that sound earlier didn’t seem like it came from any of these guys.”

“I know that you idiot, what do you think I am, stupid?”

“No, no of course not, just that we can’t find them and they were told to wait here. So….”

“Ah I can’t be arsed checking; you guys go in and look around.”

“But. But, what if what made that noise is still in there?”

“I don’t give a shit, get your arses in there before I beat the life out of ya!”

Hearing some grumbling from two individuals, who enter the room slowly, I can tell they are highly vigilant in the current situation, moving right next to Cinder I whisper into his ears, “focus on the two entering the room, hit them with your strongest ‘growl’, I’m going for the guy at the door. Wait for me to exit the cover and draw their attention then go for it.”

Waiting for them to enter the room a bit more I glanced at Cinder and giving him a nod, I sprang from the cover running towards the door. “Hey….” Hearing noise from the two in the room, they are drowned out my an alrighty ‘GROWL!!’, hearing Cinder unleash his move sending them flying backwards.

I tune the occurrence out and draw closer to the goon, ‘Gus’ I believe he was called, seeing his eyes widen and he started moving to set himself, though I came on too quick sliding in low and taking him out at the knees. I spin to my feet and see him on his knees quickly raising himself from the ground.

Moving in raising my arms I faint a left hook making him commit to defend, raising his arms protecting his face, yet at the same time it obscured his line of sight. At the last second I shift lower and collect him in his ribs and see him grimace as I feel bone shatter under my punch. Taking a step back I spin around and complete the sequence with a roundhouse to the face knocking him out as he spun two or three times on the way to the floor.

Quickly restraining him and dragging him into the room I see Cinder standing over the two goons who are unconscious. I tie them up as well and we leave the room closing the door behind us. Catching our breaths, it felt like the whole ordeal took hours yet not only 5 minutes had passed, checking the poke gear.

“Alright Cinder all we have left is the boss and his last goon to take down. IF no one else had come by now then everyone else is probably outside. Lets go then we can get home and maybe take the night off after this whole thing.”