[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/546056855978377216/858843614732615700/hgtrfed.png[/img][/center] [center]Word Count: 1112[/center] [center][color=00aeef][b]Level 5[/b] [/color] - (73/50) + 2[/center] [center][color=darkgreen]Level 9 [/color] - (55/90) + 2[/center] [hr][hr] [center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center] [center]Location: The Bottomless Sea ~ The Maw[/center] [hr] Don't be cruel. That was a laugh, Link thought. Here was this big lug trying to eat them, out right telling him that it was his job to terrify people weaker than him, and he had the gall to beg him not to be cruel. Beg. That's what he was doing as he dragged itself across the floor toward Link. For just a moment Link found the monster pitiful, but then it reared up far faster than he had expected. All at once Link's vision was filled with slimy grey flesh, and he sprinted to the side to try and avoid it. Like a tidal wave the monsters crashed down on the platform that had just been supporting him, ripping it from its mooring and sending it clattering to the floor under his bulk. It took a last second leap for the next platform in the line to avoid being crushed. He landed in a roll and then took off running. The monster came after him, as though following the sound of his feet pounding across the metal. Link felt the platform under him start to pull away the moment he made it to the next, the monster wrapping its teeth around it and yanking it down. Link scanned the route in front of him as he ran, trying to find one that both lead the monster away from Junior and eventually circled back around to a way back up to safety. With the way the monster was able to move even out of water he didn't think there was any way to outrun it on the ground, but he slowed down every time he reared up to try and get at Link. He heard it again, the monster rearing up and slamming down to take out the platform he had just left. So long as he kept moving and regulated his bursts of speed to maintain his stamina, though, Link was confidence he could keep in front of- There was a another slamming sound behind him, but not the one he had grown used to. It made him glance back for the fist time to see one of the rusted piles of junk machinery flying toward him, driven forward by a strike from the monsters tail. He skidded to a stop as he noted the arc of its flight, slipping on the still wet metal as the junk slammed into the platform in front of him and tore it to pieces leaving only a quartet of hanging chains. Not even taking the time to think he scrambled to his feet again and ran full tilt toward to the edge, making his leap as that platform to was ripped away. He managed to wrap his little fingers around one of the chain, swinging forward even as he began to slide down thanks to its dampness. He slipped from the end at the apex of the swing, landing clumsily on the next platform. Getting his feet under him and shot forward, climbing up a short set of stairs on all fours like a monkey that led to the next platform where he could keep running. All the while he felt the rumbling in his gut, and had a sudden appreciation for how hard this must have been on everyone that had crossed the scaffolding earlier. This was a nightmare. [hr][hr] [center][h1][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h1][/center] [center][h2][color=red]Merge Rate: 31%[/color][/h2][/center] [center]Location: Frozen Highlands - Alpine Skyline[/center] [hr] This was going to be so fun! After hearing about the magic of the flaglines Linkle had taken the chain she had ridden in on and weaved it through the mandibles of her beetle, clamping the jaws shut to keep it in place. It was a major relief that they would be able to just ride back up after they found Freya. Maybe when they did they could bring the girl to see her mother. The other important piece of information they got was that, despite their otherworldly appearance, the masked figure was apparently on the up and up. Just a merchant, if a rather twitchy one. Some of those badges on offer were pretty tempting, but it looked like they only accepted these green stones that were apparently scattered around. "All right. When we get back, we'll have a sack full." She said, patting the bag tied to her belt. Then she stretched out before dropping to a runners start. "On your mark." She said, grinning up at Albedo. "Get set. GO!" With that she sprinted forward across the dry brown stone. She didn't pick a route, choosing mostly the method that looked the fastest. For her, that meant a nearby springboard. She jumped toward it, kicking downward to land hard. An instant later she was sent flipping high into the air toward the roof of a nearby house. She landed in a roll, dashing forward. There was a rope connecting this house to another, and she could see another springboard sitting enticingly on the opposite roof, but she didn't have the balancing skills to make use of that. Instead she kept forward, jumping off the roof and catching ahold of a latter going up a nearby cliff. She scrambled up the latter like a monkey. Reaching the top pulled herself up and took off again. She almost ran into one of the wandering goats, but spun around the big guy and spotted a pile of hay bales stacked up against the side of a cliff. She broke for it, jumping up the hay bales as though they were a giant set of stairs before jumping up and grabbing the lip of the cliff above. She pulled herself up and, spotting a rope connecting this cliff to a small one with a cute windmill, undid the chain around the beetle and wrapped it around the rope. She slid down to the windmill and grabbed onto one one of the passing blades, letting it carry her up to the roof in an effort to reach the village peak. She spotted another thin cliff edge from the roof and jumped for it, grabbing on and sidling her way along the lip until she could find a place to pull herself up. Along this rout she was, of course, keeping a look out for pons and bagging them at every opportunity. This slight delay might have cost her the race, but it definitely wouldn't. She was going to lose for another reason entirely. Linkle had lost the plot somewhere around where she had avoided the goat, and every exhilarating acrobatic maneuver she had employed since then had been taking her farther and farther away from the goal.