Find those puppies! [Job]

Another contract made Leila visit Magnolia once again. This time, it was a job that involved higher pay and something that interested her personally. Apparently someone lost sever puppies and they were now running all over the town. The poor things probably don't even know what's happening around them. Even if someone feeds them on a whim, they could always be marked as strays and hurt by disgraceful pranksters or authorities. That was something Leila couldn't allow, hence why she accepted this mission without a second though. But first, she had to visit the client and ask him for clues. Simply looking for a bunch of lost doggies would taker her days, if not weeks. Following the canal, she eventually arrived at a small, yet lovely looking corner house. The address matched the one she received and upon few knocks, a middle-aged man opened the door. With a small bow, Leila spoke: "Greetings. Name's Leila Vergious and I'm here about the lost puppies." She didn't have to say no more, the man instantly knew, grabbed her hand and pulled her inside, pointing at a open window with an empty pen underneath it. "Finally, I was starting to think that no one would shop up! Took you long enough." With few complains, he moved closer to the pen and kneeled down in front of it. "They were inside... but it would appear that they managed to get out..." His voice was sad, truly sounding like a man who went through a tragedy. He stood back up, facing Leila with a stern look. "I absolutely need them back! The transaction was ready to be made and I will not loose this deal!" With that reveal, Leila realized that he didn't want them back because they were his pets, but because someone wanted to buy them off him. With a sigh she nodded. Perhaps their new owner would be a nice person, giving them a better life than the one they would have on the streets. "I'll investigate and return later when I learn something new." She tried to reassure him and kneeled in front of the pen as well. Her client went off somewhere else to leave her work in peace. Upon closer inspection, it was quite clear how the dogs managed to escape, too. The little hook that was supposed to keep the gate into the pen shut was moved to the other side, indicating that their owner wasn't paying any attention when he closed the gate, accidentally leaving it unlocked. From there, the pups climbed up the furniture that was near the open window. And that very window was their gate to the wide open world that they call outside. It also seemed that they have knocked down few flowerpots when they jumped out. Concluding that these were all the clues inside, she looked around for her client to report. And when she did find him, he handed her a piece of paper that had names and description of all the pups that she had to find. With that, she grabbed a basket that was big enough to host seven dogs and moved outside in front of the window.

There, she quickly spotted several small paw prints made out of dirt. As the pups knocked down the flowerpots, the dirt inside of them spread across the pavement outside the house. Wet from watering the flowers that were inside, few trails were left behind, all leading in different directions. Thanks to this, Leila was capable of tracking them down by herself for now. And so she did, following one of the dirty trails, she eventually arrived at a dark alley that housed few homeless people. Slightly nervous and unsure, Leila carefully stepped into the shadow of this alley, making sure to properly scan her surroundings and not miss a single clue. Everyone who was in this place looked at her suspiciously, some people quickly starting to ignore her while others were perhaps contemplating if they should approach the young girl. And one man finally did. He wore a torn business suit, his hair of dark color short and messy. "Hey there missy. Looking for something?" His approach stunned Leila for a moment but then she nodded and replied: "A small puppy." It was a short answer, but plentiful. The man looked around and smiled. "Oh yeah, one ran through here. Right there." He pointed further into the alley. Leila nodded and moved along, hoping that it wasn't some kind of trick or a trap with ambush laying ahead. Thankfully, she only found another man who was sleeping on a ground and the little doggie who was sniffing him. She squatted nearby and waited for a bit. The pup, probably named Alexander, since the description fitted, quickly noticed her and got close to investigate. Leila had another advantaged during this mission, animals seemed to like her. Especially the harmless ones. She grabbed Alexander and put him into the basket, leaving the alley as fast as she possibly could. That was one down.

Glad that nothing happened, Leila returned to the house to deposit Alexander and follow another trail of dirt footprints. This time, they led her towards more populated area of Magnolia, near the market. Observing the paw marks, it seemed that two of the puppies moved through here together. They looped around several houses and stopped and every lamppost and patch of grass. They were clearly exploring the place, those curious little rascals. And according to the clues she got from the client, someone fed dogs that matched the description around these parts as well. Though she didn't know who or where exactly. She was following the trail for several minutes before she saw a small shadow in the corner of her eye. Quickly turning towards it, she saw a small tail disappear behind the corner of a building. Not losing any time, Leila started pursuing whatever she saw. And once she was behind the building, she saw one of the pups, running on his small legs towards an open door. She wasn't fast enough to catch up and he entered, someone closing the door behind him. Without even thinking about it, she knocked on the door loudly, hoping that the one who just closed them would open again. And they did. It was an elderly lady, her hair already completely gray. "Oh? Hello there young lady. What can I do for you?" She ask with a gentle and calm voice. Before responding, Leila took a small peak inside of the house, but saw nothing. "Excuse me... I just saw a dog enter this building..." Not even having to finish, the old lady understood completely and opened the door as much as she could. Behind her, in the corner of the room, were two puppies eating from a small bowl. "Are they yours? They are too clean to be strays, yet they looked so hungry..." Leila nodded and with the lady's permission, she took the pups into the basket. After properly thanking her, she left.

Wanting to return to the house and deposit these two, Emilia and Rooster, Leila started heading back. But sudden screams coming from the market stopped her. Even though she had a mission, there was no way should wouldn't investigate screams that close to her. Keeping the basket close to her and balance, she quickly ran towards all that noise. When she arrived, she quickly looked around for the source of all that commotion only to see another one of the puppies running around the stalls, knocking vases and baskets with fruit and other objects down, breaking nearly everything in it's path. For something so young and innocent, this one sure had strength and speed of a devil. Leila quickly began her pursuit, trying to evade shards of broken goods and smashed tomatoes on the ground. She had to capture the pup, but she also had to make sure no one would see it. Because if  they saw her picking him up, they would probably assume that she's his owner and would require a compensation for their damaged goods. She was already poor as it was and if her client was to be charged for all this, he would surely remove jewels from her reward. Pushing few people that were in her way to the side, she finally saw a window of opportunity. Asterix, which was the name of the puppy she was currently hunting, suddenly ran into another darker alley that seemed to partially work as some merchant's storage. Quickly following him, they both reached a dead end in form of a pretty short fence. She swiftly grabbed Asterix, putting him in the basket with the other two, and jumped over the fence. Now she had to run from the crowd of people that were also following the pup. Thankfully, she managed to get away without anyone really seeing her carrying the little devil, and thus her reputation remained unchanged. With that, she managed to recover more than half of the lost puppies already.

This time, she managed to return them all to the house safely. And thankfully, she didn't even loose one of the puppies when she was running through the market, that itself was fairly impressive. The bad thing, however, was the fact that she still had three puppies left to find and rescue, but there was only was last trail of dirty paws to lead her. Hoping that all three of them went the same way, Leila began marching fort once again. Though she soon stopped. The trail led down few stairs next to the canal and right through an open gate to the sewer. Feeling shivers going over her spine, Leila gulped and slowly entered. It was dark, wet and strange sounds echoed everywhere. Thankfully there was a lit torch near the entrance, not glued to it's holder and thus free to take. Of course, she was planning to return it on her way back. With this little light, she began moving forward again. Only, this time she had a small problem. The ground was full of small puddles. And not only were they made out of gross, smelly water, they also washed away the dirt from pups's legs and ended the trail that was leading her. Left with no other option, she had to brave up and continue searching at random. Not exactly in high spirits, she tried to check every nook and cranny. But instead of pup, she only found swarms of bats that flew into her, sending the poor girl into a mild state of panic. She was almost about to give up when she heard a splashing sound. Turning another corner of these slimy sewers, she finally spotted the fifth doggy, Zerfeus. The owner sure had a strange naming ideas when these guys were born. She approached him slowly, getting his trust, and placed him into the basket. Out of them all, this one definitely needed a shower the most. He was also the only one in the sewers, meaning that she would have to use rumors to locate the rest.

Returning to the house for the third time, she handed over Zerfeus with a remark that he might need a shower before anything else. The owner didn't exactly look happy, rather, he looked a bit disgusted when he smelled the pup. Looking over the paper, Leila sighed and scratched her head. The remaining two puppies were named Odeus and El. But where she could find them, she had no idea. Reading over their descriptions, it seemed as if nobody ever saw them in this town. Or at least they haven't reported ever seeing them. Lost, Leila decided to head into nearby park where she could think in peace, maybe even putting some clues together. Nearly every park was a serene place of escape for her and this one was no different. When she entered, she quickly headed to a nearby tree and leaned against it, sighing. "Sure hope those doggies are okay..." She muttered to herself when a magical blue light escaped her bag. That light being Ori who just transformed back into his animal form. In town, he had an order to hide, but since they were in a park now, he was free to move around. Leila simply smiled at him and sighed once again. The fact that she had absolutely no idea where those dogs could be bothered her. Closing her eyes for a moment, she tried to concentrate. Maybe there was something that she missed?
She was quickly torn out of her concentration by a scream. It sounded like a little child, calling for help. It sure seemed similar to the scene from before, when she visited the marked. And just like then, she had no intention of just standing where she was. She quickly gestured at Ori, who jumped to her shoulder and ran towards the child's call. When she arrived, she saw the little boy, crying and looking at a giant tree in front of him. She wasted no time and asked: "What's wrong?" The boy looked at her and then back at the tree, pointing at a branch high up. "My cat... that dog chased her up there..." He forced those words out of his body, his face filled with tears. Only now Leila noticed that at the bottom of a tree was the sixth pup. How... did that little thing managed to chase away a grown up cat? She asked herself for a moment but quickly abandoned the thought. She approached the tree and proceeded to move Odeus into the basket, trying to calm him down so he wouldn't do anything when that cat gets down. Leila looked up and located the cat. It wasn't terribly high up, but it would still be quite a pain to climb. Thankfully, Leila had just the magic. "Time commandment." She whispered and prepared herself. Branch that the cat was sitting on started to age rapidly until it fell apart and the cat fell down with it, right into Leila's prepared arms. She gently carried the surprised feline to the boy, letting him know that everything was okay. Once he calmed down, she asked him if he by any chance saw another puppy like the one that chased his pet. She was greatly relieved when he nodded. He pointed towards another tree in the distance. They bid each other farewell and Leila proceeded to investigate the tree. And just like the boy said, the final pup, El, was peacefully sleeping near it's trunk. It made a small bed out of fallen leaves and was taking a big nap, as it appeared. With a smile, she gently picked her up, trying to no wake her, and fitted her into the basket. With a lively step, she started going towards her final destination.

Finally, she had retrieved all of the puppies. They were now happily playing in the pet once again, safe under their owner's room. Compared to before, he looked way more happy now. "You did it, you really did! You managed to find them all!" He happily shouted, waving his hands in the air. Leila simply blushed a little and nodded her hair. It seemed that the owner was a bit displeased with her modesty, but he did give her the reward non the less. A lovely pouched, filled with jewels to the brim. But mainly, the satisfaction of saving seven little puppies from a certain doom. Or not, there was always a possibility that someone would have adopted them from the streets. But those wore only theories, they were unnecessary, since she succeeded. With a smile slapped on her face, Leila left the house and stretch after a long day of searching, Ori back inside of her bag. Time to head out... She though as she started walking towards another adventure.