Iridescent Outshine

Chapter One

In an office, a woman with an icy glare walks up to a young man with a prismatic outfit and a younger man with a radiant outfit.

"The Rainbow Girl and her friends are going to Poire Desert to track down the Unicorn." said the woman with the icy glare.

"I'm assuming Olivier is aware these people are coming?" asked the Prismatic young man.

The icy woman nods. "He knows."

"Good!" said the Prismatic young man and then he turned to the Radiant young man. "Send words to Olivier to have the Leaf Wolf and his friend removed."

"Aren't they police?" asked the Radiant young man. "Our organization will be heavily investigated if we were to kill any of them."

"Tsk! Just make sure there's no evidence that can link the killing to us! Why do I have to think of everything?"

The Radiant young man mumbles something to himself and leaves the office.

Stella Lily Aron, her mom Cecilia, her childhood friend Harold Vernon and his partner Edgar arrive in Poire Desert sometime around noon. The sun is beating hot.

In the middle of Poire Desert is a large town with little vegetation. Most of the vegetation is pear trees and a few species of plants. The sands are a shade of yellow. The center of the desert town is a small body of water. Surrounding said body of water are residential homes. The commercial buildings are located on the outer ring of the town. This is because the geography of the desert town is built to look like a giant circle from above the sky. Stella and her friends enter from the western gate.

Stella and her mom Cecilia are on vacation. And while on vacation, they want to somehow obtain paints for Stella to commission a well-known artist to paint another self-portrait for her. The artist is meticulous and demands that the color of the paints be in shades of fluorescent colors. So far, the mother-daughter duo have obtained two colors: red and orange.

Harold and his Edgar partner are police officers investigating a case involving a missing journalist. Early on in the investigation, it was basically confirmed that the journalist had been murdered. Their goal is to find someone called the Iridescent Unicorn. Supposedly, this person knows details of the missing journalist.

Upon arrival in the desert town, Stella and Harold look for a place to eat. The destination chosen is an open bar at the edge of town. Stella and Cecilia don't drink alcohol. Harold himself also doesn't drink because he doesn't like the taste of it. Edgar can't drink because he prefers to keep pleasure from business.

Instead of alcohol, Stella orders a strawberry soda and a beef. Cecilia has the same thing. Harold and Edgar both have beef and coffee.

Harold looks around for anyone suspicious. "I don't see anyone keeping watch on us. I believe we are safe for now."

"Last time," Edgar said. "The enemies knew who we were and where to find us."

Harold nods. "Yeah, we can assume the same thing here, but I haven't detected anyone when we came here. They might not know where we are yet. But still, we need to be careful."

"I still don't know how or why they're after us, too," Cecilia said. "I mean, Lily and I weren't involved in the investigation and were still targeted."

"I'm sorry," Harold said. "I didn't mean to get you two involved."

Stella pats him on his shoulder and smiles. "It's not your fault, Harold."

"She's right, Harold," Cecilia said. "No one's blaming you. If Lily and I were to go home, they might go after us and we'll be on our own. Who knows how many people they'll send after us."

"And I still want another self-portrait. Hihi!" Stella giggled.

Edgar swallows the last of his steak. "So, what's the plan now? We're here for the Iridescent Unicorn. I believe that's the moniker?"

"Yeah," Harold confirmed and looked at Edgar. "You and I will need to obtain information." He turns to the girls. "Let's get an inn first."

With that said, the group leaves the open bar and goes to an inn which is closer to the center of the desert town.

During the walk to the inn, Harold tries to detect any surveillance and does not notice anyone following him. At the inn, he requests two rooms. One for the boys and one for the girls. Once settled in, Stella and Cecilia take a nap while Harold and Edgar leave the inn to gather information.

The boys walk around to the center of town where there is a small body of water. Harold asks the locals for any sightings of a creature called a Unicorn. Most of the locals just laugh at him. There is one local who claims to know something about this creature.

The local person wears a red T-shirt, black jeans and black shoes. He introduces himself as Bastien. His hair is brown with green eyes, and stands at five feet ten inches.

"Can you please describe the Unicorn?" Harold asked.

"Yeah, it's basically a horse with a horn on its head, you know?" Bastien said as he leaned against one of the pear trees. "It was a white horse with a white horn."

"When was the last time you saw the Unicorn?"

Bastien makes an upside frown and shrugs. "Maybe a few days ago or last week? I don't remember."

"Where at?"

"Here," Bastien nodded towards the small body of water. "It was drinking water. I was at home eating dinner and then I saw the Unicorn jump down from one of the roofs. I was very shocked."

"Oh, yeah?" Harold asked. "What were you eating?"

"Me? Dinner! I just said I was eating dinner."

"Ah, when do you think the Unicorn will come back?"

Bastien makes a show of thought. "I don't know. Maybe tonight around midnight?"

"Thanks for the information, bro!" Harold smiled.

"Anytime!" Bastien said and walked away.

Once Bastien is out of sight, Harold looks at Edgar. "He gave us too much information."

"Really?" Edgar said. "I thought he was very helpful."

Harold shakes his head. "No, Edgar. I don't think he was telling the truth. I believe he's setting us up for something."