[center][h1][color=f26522]Ghosts[/color] 'n [color=darkgreen]Moblins[/color][/h1][/center]

[center]Word Count: 2397 [/center]

[center][color=f26522]Level 2 [/color] - 11/20) + 3[/center]

[center][color=darkgreen]Level 9[/color] - (90/90) + 3[/center] 

[hr][hr]


[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/546056855978377216/823270229936832512/erferfwfd.png[/img][/center]

[center]Location: Hammerhead[/center]
[@Yankee][@Dawnrider]
[hr]

Yuri blinked a few times, trying to put together the image the mechanic had described. "I suppose." She said hesitantly as the woman led her inside the garage. That was quite the description, one she was ashamed to say she hadn't gotten before they had left. Her mind instantly shot back to [url=https://gamebanana.com/requests/16987]Mr. Arcade Bunny[/url], a person she had run all over Alchamoth for searching for badges that had been misplaced around the city when everything had become mixed up. Was this girl a rabbit like him? No, surely she would have described Linkle as a "rabbit-girl" in that case. 

"I'm afraid we've never met. She's gone missing. We're actually here looking for her and a few others that vanished in the Dead Zone. I think the bike may help in my investigation." She continued, trying her best to channel the air of professional confidence Hisoka maintained when speaking with a client. She was by no means the ace detective you read about in mystery novels, but it was always a good idea to see what information you could glean without using supernatural means. "You didn't happen to see anyone else pass through here coming from that way, did you? Besides the four boys?"

The Master Cycle Zero was sitting inside a nearby garage, the deft hands of Cid and Cindy having restored the piece of torn up scrap scattered across the highway into a pristine motorbike. Yuri took a moment to gawk at the unicorn head mounted on the front, almost alive and ready to whinny right in front of them. "May I?" She asked, approaching it, and at the mechanics nod she drew up beside the bike and tried to find the best place. She had never used a token this large before, if it even counted as one. She supposed the best was was...

Lifting her leg, she straddled the Master Cycle and sat down on the seat before reaching out and grasping the handle bars. She didn't turn it on. Truth be told she hadn't the foggiest how it worked, but then again she had no intention of roaring down the road with no protection like this. A ten speed was more her speed. No, she just needed to concentrate. Be where the girl she was looking for had been. Dig into the machine and find some Trace of her lurking within it.

Make a connection.

There was a sudden chill in the garage, inexplicable under the blistering heat of the midday sun, as Yuri spotted the ghostly white figure of a girl before her. Her features were indistinct, save for two long ears growing out of her head. Yuri's eyes followed it as the figure began to move, the odd gliding walk of the trace carrying it quickly out the open garage door and out of sight around the doorframe. Yuri hopped off the Master Cycle, making sure to keep one hand on it at all time, before turning back to Cindy. "Can we roll this outside, please?"

With the mechanics help they walked the cycle out into the sunlight. Yuri concentrated again, the chill less noticeable out here but still present as Yuri watched the Trace move through Hammerhead. It walked up the road a ways, and Yuri's heart sank as she thought it could be heading up the same path they had just used to return from the Dead Zone. It turned off the path, though, and started to trek out into the desert. She watched it go for as long as she was able, until it vanished into the heat haze. It never stopped moving straight north-west, only deviating when it had to avoid a scrub brush or a particularly large rock. When Traces moved they took the shortest unobstructed path they could to where they were going, as though they were living humans. She wracked her brain picturing the big map that had been shown to them, remembering what was in the direction it had so unerringly pursued. Neither of the teams had embarked in that direction. Peach's Castle could be ruled out, she understood it was connected my roadway to Hammerhead. It would have taken the road in that case. No, wherever it was going had been very far away to make it choose to trek across the badlands.

She let go of the bike and bowed to Cindy. "Thank you very much. It might not look it, but you've been a great a help. I've managed to narrow down the search area considerably, and confirmed she wasn't lost in that explosion." Of course, that search area was still a quarter of the whole world but she didn't feel the need to spoil the mood. She stood back up. "If you wouldn't mind, would you be willing to hold on to this bike for just a little longer?"

[hr]

Yuri returned in brighter spirits, though given how reserved she was it was nearly unnoticeable. A small, childish part of her brain enjoyed playing at detective. This didn't feel like Mt. Hikami, which she supposed would be counted as her last "big case". That had been less of an investigation and more of a war of attrition against the mountain, slowly chipping away at its defenses until she was strong enough to make it all the way to the top. Any mysteries she unraveled were more of a byproduct of her bullheaded pursuit of Hisoka. This time she felt like she was actually doing the job Hisoka had trained her for. 

As she arrived back at the Van she found the others waiting, pit taking the opportunity to sun himself on the roof like he didn't have a care in the world, and Nero ready to lay out a new mission from Vandham. For a moment she wondered how he had gotten in contact with the mercenary captain until she remembered the moogle network. Nero didn't look pleased, but Pit was all for continuing their investigation and it was hard not to get infected with his attitude considering her previous train of thought. As her started to head off, she piped up with a quick. "Um, speaking of investigating..." 

She stopped. "Mr. Vandham should hear this as well, I think. Moogle?"

The moogle that appeared before them was a morose looking fellow that Yuri noted, uncomfortably, had a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitaikakushi]Hitaikakushi[/url] wrapped around its head. "Kupoooooo?" it groaned.

Yuri straighter her shoulder. "I've confirmed that Linkle was not caught in the Dead Zone explosion." She said, delivering her report perhaps too formally given the circumstances. "I believe she is somewhere in the Northwest quarter of the world. So, The City Without a Name, the Frozen Highlands, The Swordland, or the northern part of The Under. Or the Empty Space. Anyone traveling to those area should be informed and rminded to keep on the lookout. This concludes my report."

"Pooooooo..." replied the Moogle as it faded away. Yuri desperately hoped it would be able to actually relay that as she relaxed and looked back toward the small rest stop. "Do you suppose any of these shops sell lunch boxes?" She asked as she watched Pit's back. "We should get something to carry with us, along with water. Some first aid wouldn't be unwelcome either." 

[hr][hr]

[center][h2][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h2][/center]

[center][h3][color=red]Merge Rate: 33%[/color][/h3][/center]

[center]Location: Frozen Highlands ~ Wildwood Glades[/center]

[hr][hr]

"Whoa, a whole bunch of people?" Linkle said as Albedo explained the concept of a Hospital to her. Linkle had gotten sick very rarely, but when she had gotten scraped up Grandma had been the one to take care of her. It was like that with most people in the village. If something really bad happened, like a broken bone or a fever that would break, they sent for a healer from castle town who would reset the bone or mix up some concoction out of herbs and monster guts to give them. Healer's had to knw all kinds of things, so a place where a lot of people got healed should be a great place to find something holding [u][b]All Human Knowledge[/b][/u]. Even if it didn't look like such a nice place according to Albedo she didn't imagine it contained anything she couldn't handle. She had been to the Dead Zone, after all. "Why don't you like the look of it? Is it full of monsters or something?" She asked as the pair made their way out of the cottage.

Of course, Freya had no intention of making their trip any easier. Around the third time a branch had snuck up on her and jerked her into the air she let it know her frustrations with an explosion. Now that this place was actively hostile to them it seemed like Linkle had no compunctions about spoiling the natural beauty. She continued on, crossbow in hand. If something looked ready to lash out at them, it got a bomb. If something rose up in their way, bomb. If they were doused in nuts and fruit, well, those trees got off with a warning. It was like weeding. If you let plants start attacking you eventually your field would get overrun with Deku Baba's. Even still, it took some doing to finally emerge from the goddesses territory and Linkle could stop eyeing the tree with suspicion. Linkle sighed with relief. She had imagined that the entire forest might have turned against them. She didn't want to spoil the scenery for everyone else that lived here just because one God was upset with them.

The Goddess Freya, it seemed, had no such compunctions. 

As Albedo had stepped forward to ask Mr. Tuley what is was that had caused this devastation Linkle stood stock still, looking at the briars. The knife. The kind little man. She just stood there, rooted to earth, listening to him talk. Listening to him cry. Shaking. Grinding her teeth. Clenching her fists so hard that, were it not for her gloves, she would have pierced the palms of her hands with her fingernails. When Albedo turned to look at her, to get her opinion, he was met with a great intake of breath. The sound before a scream of pure and righteous, the prelude to a volcano blowing its top, but it never came. The air caught in her throat, held there as Linkle became very, [i]very[/i] still. Slowly her hair changed. Not with a flash. Gradually, from the top of her scalp all the way down to the tips of her braids, her hair became icy blue and when she released that breath it came out as a cloud of mist that drifted down and settled around her feet. It was joined soon enough by mist that began flowing off her body as though she were made of dry ice. The air temperature dropped sharply in her immediate vicinity, and when she finally looked up her eyes did not blaze with any kind of emotion. She wasn't calm, however. Just cold.

"That brat."

She reached out and put her hand to one of the briar vines ensnaring the old badgers house like twisting serpents. Then, with a effort of will, it began to freeze. Ice burrowed its way inside, bursting from inside the plant as the water within froze and expanded. It raced along the vine, spreading down into the roots and then back up along every part of it until the plant was completely frozen inside and out. Satisfied, Linkle drew back her leg and kicked it. At her touch the entire plant shattered like glass, what remained of Mr. Tuley's house collapsing into the space it had once filled. Without even looking up she knelt down and began shifting the stones, searching the wreckage for anything that might have survived. 

"It looks like she's not so much of a coward she won't pick on the helpless." She said, even her voice cold, as she placed everything salvageable into a neat pile off to the side. It wasn't clear whether she was talking to herself or Albedo, but he next words were direct. "Albedo is right, Mr. Tuley. I don't think she's coming back. She's a liar. But you shouldn't be here if she does and finds out you didn't cut the rope. I don't know why she didn't just cut it herself."

[center][color=red]Do you wish to?[/color][/center]

Linkle looked up, spotting the vaguest impression of a shadow swirling in the mist in front of her.

[center][color=red]Had she cut it herself after taking her vengeance he could have lain all his anger and regret at her feet. But in making him choose he is now accomplice to his own suffering. To cut the rope and abandon your morals, or to remain steadfast and see everything you have built crumble forever? No matter which he choses he has inflicted a wound upon his own heart, and he will always be afflicted with those most accursed of words: What if? Presenting the choice itself is the goddesses true vengeance.[/color][/center]

"You're sure?" Linkle replied quietly, and she felt a certain sense of smug satisfaction from the back of her mind where the whispers lived. 

[center][color=red]It's what [i]I[/i] do. I quite enjoy seeing you in this state, let my insight feed your rage a little longer.[/color][/center]

She didn't reply, just kept at her work until she was done gathering what was left of Mr. Tuley's life. "I'll carry this stuff. Albedo, you have to carry Mr. Tuley. I can't right now." She looked down at her arms, a fine layer of frost falling off as she moved her fingers. "I'm sure the Goats would love to have your thumb." Carrying the load over to the stump, she knelt down and picked the knife up off the ground. "I'll be informing her mother about what she's done here." She said, slotting the knife into her her belt. "And I'll return this, when I see her."

It was at that moment that horrible realization hit her, though it didn't show as anything more than snap of her head in Albedos direction. "I told her where she could find Skadi." She said in a voice approaching urgency. Standing up she secured everything she had gathered and started for the rope line. "We have to go. Now."