Mission #131 - Twisted

[PlatonSkull]

Mission #: 131
Twisted: Part I
On Amino Island, North Blue there have been some rumours of some Vegapunk-wannabes digging up graves for twisted experiments. Find their secret hide-out and

Cyrus Odin felt cold. He wasn't used to that feeling.
His home town lay on a cold island, so he was accustomed to the chilled summers and freezing winters of coldly acclimatized locations. He wore warm clothes wherever he went, only taking off his overcoat when the weather was very warm. He didn't think he would be needing the coat, since Amino Island, the festive nightmare of an overblown, pretentious, party-hat infected intellectual wasteland had been shined upon by the baking sun from dawn to dusk. This didn't mean safety from the cold at night, Odin had learned, as his arms became covered in goosebumps from a chilling breeze.

Needless to say, Amino Island wasn't Odin's favourite island in the entire world. It might actually be his least favourite of the ones he had visited, since he hadn't been away from home very much in the past.
What made Amino Island such a sorry place in his eyes was how little it sparked his interest with its festivities and glamour. How nothing mattered but dancing and singing in celebration of nothing in particular. Maybe the people were so happy that the sun managed its arc above the skies once more that they couldn't help themselves every night, but no matter the reason, the party went on until dawn.
Odin was happy to be out of earshot of the loud noises of Seline City, the capital of mindless quote unquote "fun". He quite enjoyed the silence of the graveyard.

The reason the young viking had found himself here, was because of an intriguing talk with a bartender from the outskirts of the city. The man had told him, that graves had been dug up. In the cover of night and benefiting from the distraction of the parties, someone or something had been digging up graves and taking away the corpses that lied within. The most curious and unsettling thing about this was how every dug up grave had been that of relatively newly demised people - they wanted them fresh.
Even creepier, there had been sightings of bipedal creatures walking around near the graveyard in an uncanny fashion. Very odd and uncontrolled steps did they take, like corpses with marionette strings attached.

Odin didn't believe in any ghost stories. He hadn't seen a ghost, he hadn't read of anyone who had, and there was no real logical explanation to the phenomenon.
But there was still something fishy going on around the graveyard, so taking a look and helping out wouldn't be a bad idea. Better than staying with the drunken and overjoyed crowd of the city, at least.
He spotted a dug-up grave. How long had this one's owner been gone from his resting place? He crouched down and examined the soil. It probably wasn't recent, but it was definitely a clue of sorts. He looked at the tombstone - a marine that died a few months ago. He didn't live long, so he must have perished in battle. Odin pondered whether the man died heroically, or if he was sent unwillingly to die in battle, and he noted that there might be other graves belonging to marine soldiers somewhere. Perhaps the abundance of fresh bodies had been just what the culprits were looking for.
He continued his search for robbed graves and grave robbers.

[BlacKitten]

Sipping a cup of hot, steaming white tea, Maru, a human disguised as a panda, sits patiently in this café shop. Warmth spreads throughout his body in a feverish sensation, an appropriate feeling in the chilly climate of the North Blue. Settling his little teacup down, he carefully picked up the teapot as he tilts it at an angle for the tea to flow back into his cup. Placing the teapot down, he picked up his teacup again with one hand as he gave it another sip. Afterwards, he let out a sigh of relief and relaxation.

A well-dressed formal waiter crosses by with another teapot, “Your green tea!” Settling it down, the waiter left the scene.

After sipping his tea, he poured the freshly boiled pot of green tea into his cup. Gulping down the new flavored tea, it tastes quite similar as the white tea. Despite its name, white tea didn’t appear white at all. It appeared a little reddish than the green tea, and it possessed a slightly stronger taste to it. Both types of tea originally came from the same type of plant.

Silence roamed through the air. After placing the white pawn to E4 on the chess board, Maru gently shoved his cup of tea across the flat wooden table onto the other side.

Shifting off of his seat, he stepped adorably to the other side of the table as he takes his seat. Facing in the opposite direction, he played as the opponent. Picking up his teacup, he sipped his steaming green tea.
The same formal waiter approached him from the side as he held a teapot of another batch of tea. “Your jasmine tea!” After settling it down, he left again.

Pouring the newly boiled jasmine tea into his cup, he began sipping it. The color of this particular tea was barely any different than the green tea. It possessed a more fragrant scent than the other tea, and it was at its highest quality in terms of tea.

Placing the black knight at F6 on the chess board, Maru shoved his cup of tea across the table as he sat on the opposite seat. Throughout the whole game, Maru was facing his ultimate opponent, himself! Who was going to win, Maru or Maru?

There were very few humans within this face, keep everyone quiet and calm, and there were very few pandas here too. Actually, Maru was the only panda here, playing chess by himself. Everyone else constantly eyed at him curiously as if they had never seen a panda drinking tea before. What was more ridiculously unusual for them was that this bear could walk on two legs when moving from one seat to another and it could play chess.

---

Meanwhile…
“NYAHOHOHOHOHOHO! It’s ready! IT’S FINALLY READY!”A mad scientist shouted with little sanity. Dwelling in the darkness, there was a single source of light hanging from the ceiling, casting shadows throughout the room. Suddenly, wide lifeless eyes opened widely as the humanoid shaped creature raised itself up from the flat operation table. Wearing tattered marine clothing, the man clumsily took his first step to the world of the living.

“The new Zomborg to our collection!” The assistant doctor commented in a ominously dull voice.

“I, Dr. Zomborg, shall surpass Vegapunk!” The insane scientist proclaimed!

[PlatonSkull]

As Cyrus walked around the graveyard, empty of people and creatures alike, he quickly took notice of several graves, dug up, probably by the culprit. Though an act such as this should be chaotic and disorganized, there seemed to be a pattern involved - none of the big, impressive tombstones with winged figures or long speeches carved in stone, had graves dug up. The empty graves tended to showcase a small rock with name and date, or even just a simple wooden cross.
Looking even closer than appearances, Odin found most, if not all, of the robbed tombs to be the graves of perished marines, many from the same year or around the same date. A battle must have taken place near this island, where at least a dozen marines were killed, or died from their wounds some days after.
Maybe it was just healthy flesh that was sought, or maybe there was some other motive involved. Whatever the intention of the tomb raider was, he thought to himself as he strolled along a path in the graveyard, no audible sound to hear except that of his boots hitting the gravel beneath, the guy didn't care about the sacredness of graveyards or the honor of fallen marines. That was a weird thing to feel disgusted about - digging corpses out of the earth. Why was it considered to be so wrong? Even people who believe in the afterlife don't believe the "soul" stays with its owner, that would just be boring, so there's no consciousness to disturb by digging in the dirt. What exactly made these empty vessels sacred, and what, if anything do we owe the dead?

Lost in thought, Odin didn't notice there was a wire in the way. He had come to a cross-section in the path, trees on each corner, that would look very pleasant in daylight, but became inherently threatening due to the darkness. In the shadow of these trees was a perfect place to put a wiretrap to scare away the curious, and here Cyrus was, already a bit frightened and very curious. The perfect unsuspecting bait.
Fire.
Flames spewed out of the ground in front of him, nearly hitting him if he hadn't been quick enough to duck, and he was only quick enough to duck because he was a fighter, a swordsman, and a traveller at sea. Had anyone from the nearby town tried their luck with the centre of the graveyard, they wouldn't have been so lucky.
Not that the heat wasn't strong enough for him to sweat when it was over. The brightness of the fire was still burned firmly into the back of his eyelids, and it took a little while before he could see the dark path properly again. Then he heard something move, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow. Someone was there.

"Hello? Still alive? Of course you're not, you cute little thing..."
Odin hid behind a tree. The speaker obviously thought someone had met his end in the blaze. He didn't blame him for assuming that. The creepy, eery voice went silent for a moment.
"Is someone there?" he sounded scared, perhaps nervous that his trapped had failed.
The sweating young man behind the tree thought it over - the man didn't seem confident, and sounded like he had some grey hair at least. A surprise attack would be a good option.
He held a firm grip on his sword as he rose up and charged towards his opponent, intent on tackling him, but the shadow was further away and moved more swiftly than anticipated. The bright light from a flashlight struck his eyes, forcing them shut, making him stumble and fall in his confusion. He quickly sat up and got ready to draw his sword, but he could already hear footsteps going away from him, followed by silence. He felt disoriented as he stood up again, unable to pursue his enemy as he wasn't sure which way he had fled.
Odin decided to head to town again with new information and questions. Whoever that person was, he had had enough time and resources to set up a flamethrower-trap. Now would be a good time to head back to civilization.

As he stepped into the café at the edge of town where he had rented a room, he got quite a surprise. He locked eyes with what seemed to be a bear. A panda, more precisely. A panda sitting down, playing chess, if you want to be exact. A panda drinking tea and playing chess with itself, to be completely specific.
Odin walked past the thing, joining the glances of people around him, all staring at this anomaly of daily life. He passed the chance to talk to this curious creature, because he had some mystery solving to do. Then he remembered, it wasn't every day you met a bipedal panda drinking tea and playing chess with himself.
He walked to the panda, "excuse me," now everyone's eyes were pointing at him instead, "can I have a game with the winner?"
Not that Odin was any good at chess. He had been beaten tons of times. Though most of the games he had played were against the most clever girl of his home island, so he might stand a chance against this weird animal.

[BlacKitten]

Note to readers: This game of chess was based on an actual chess match between Platon and me as a fair way of determining who would win the game.

A thin looking male figure has approached the young Maru. He appeared to be about five inches taller than the panda, but he also seemed to be the same age as Maru. However, since it was almost impossible to determine the panda’s age by his appearance, only the peculiar adorable bear knew that fact. As his new challenger over here challenged him into a duel between wits, the panda accepted and embraced the offer.

Arranging the chess pieces into position, the game began with Maru playing as white, meaning that he should make the first move. Everyone in the room silently stared at the match between a panda and a non-panda in a chess match, and they all were curious of what the outcome would be. Just exactly how well can a panda play in a strategic game such as chess?

The epic showdown between two unusual players had begun with the panda placing his pawn to E4, in front of his king. His opponent has begun his move by placing his black knight to F6! Making the first threat, the panda moved the same white pawn from earlier to one space forward at E5. In this position, the pawn can attack the knight on the next turn unless something was done to prevent it.

Completely catching the panda off guard, he never would have expected his opponent to place his pawn to E6, disregarding the knight’s safety completely. Why? That wasn’t a logical move at all! Maru shift his pawn to take down the knight at F6, taking his first victim of the game! Afterwards, his adversary ate the white pawn with the black queen, using the most powerful piece of the game this early in the match. “Chu either planned to eat me with your queen, or you didn’t saw that obvious move? Perhaps chu is going easy on me?” The panda’s first time speaking had caught everyone’s attention! HE HAD SPOKEN! THAT PANDA CAN TALK!

The white pawn advanced at D4 as the opposing pawn advanced to D5, face to face. A white knight was unleashed at F3 as the opposite sided black knight retaliated at C6. All of the sudden, Maru launched his bishop to G5, targeting the queen while being backed up by the knight behind! His opponent avoided the obvious threat by shifting the queen one space forward at F5. The other white bishop moved to B5 before the black queen checked the panda at E4, aiming at the white king! This was not good!

As the king retreated to F1, his adversary moved his bishop to D7. The tables has turned as Maru retreated his white bishop to D3, aiming at the black queen! It was a trap! The poor black queen shifted to the side at G4, but a pawn threatened it at H3.

“Maru can predict what your next move will be, assuming you see it, not that you have much of a choice.”

Just as the panda predicted, the queen retreated to H5, being the only safe place left, but another pesky pawn moved to G4, cornering the black queen to a trap. “MAHAHAHA! Maru is mercilessly ganging up on your queen! TEAMWORK!”

The moment of truth had arrived when the queen retreated to its death spot at G6 before being eaten by a bishop hiding far in the distance. “Operation ‘Eating the Queen’… success!” Everything went just as planned! “IT’S NOT OVER UNTIL IT’S OVER! DON’T GIVE UP!” Maru cheered!

A black pawn ate the white bishop that ate the queen as revenge, but it was all worth it for Maru since he took down the most powerful piece in his opponent’s arsenal. After moving the white queen to D3, a black pawn moved to B6. As the white knight advanced to C3, a black pawn moved to F5 with the possible intention to eat Maru’s pawn.

“YOU CAN STILL WIN!” Maru cheered loudly for his opponent while relocated his knight to B5 as his opponent moved the rook to C8, foreseeing the intention.

“DON’T LOSE HOPE! AND THINK WHAT A PANDA WOULD DO TO COUNTER IT!” The panda shouted while both players placed a pawn one space forward in the ‘A column’.

“GO! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!” The panda continued shouting as if his opponent was miles away while retreating his knight to C3 as the black bishop advanced to D6. When Maru ate his opponent’s pawn at F5, the black rook moved up to H5.

The bear ate another pawn again at E6, “WHICH WILL IT BE? EAT MY BISHOP AS I EAT YOURS? OR WILL YOU EAT MY PAWN INSTEAD?” His pawn was currently threatening a black bishop, “THE SUSPENSE! OH THE DRAMA!”

After his opponent ate the pawn to play save, Maru shouted, “SO YOU CHOOSE THE DEFENSIVE SIDE! WELL, IT JUST SO HAPPENS THAT EATING MY PAWN LETS ME AIM MY ROOK AT YOU!” He dramatically slid the rook across the board to E1 in the position of firing the gun straight across. “What shall you do NOW?”

The black king hid for safety at D7, but the Maru’s queen mercilessly ate a pawn at G6, approaching ever so closer into the enemy’s territory, “MARU CALLS THIS: ‘THE QUEEN EATING THE PAWN TECHNIQUE!THE SITUATION HAS REAPTED ITSELF! WILL YOU EAT MY BISHOP AS I EAT YOURS? OR PERHAPS LET THE KING ESCAPE?” Like before, both sides threaten to eat each other’s bishops. “CHU HAVE DONE WELL SURVIVING AGAINST A PANDA IN WITS, BUT WHAT WILL CHU DO NOW?”

After a tradeoff on both sides, they each lost a bishop with the white queen at E6, “The panda gasped dramatically, “CHU HAVE FINALY DONE IT! CHU HAS FINALLY TAKEN THE OFFENSIVE! PRAISE THE LORD! BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! YOUR KING! MARU HAS CHECKED YOU!”

Just as the king retreated back, the queen advanced forward, ending this game once and for all, “AND THAT, my friend, IS CHECKMATE!” He had done it! The panda had won the duo! He is victorious… well he was a panda after all, so it was expected!

[PlatonSkull]

As the silver-haired viking sat and played, he slowly realized that he wasn't really that good at chess. That's what you get from only having one opponent to fight - you don't get a good sense of your own abilities. He felt kind of bad about Valkyrie, his childhood friend, telling him he was pretty good, but that might just have been a friendly gesture from her part.
Nevertheless, when he saw his knight being threatened by a pawn, he knew he wouldn't be on the winning side.

See, chess isn't like combat, where you can dodge your opponents attack and counter-attack. Any time you dodge, they get to keep attacking you and eventually you'll be worn down. Odin stayed quiet the whole game, but the panda sitting across from him sure didn't - every time anything vaguely exciting happened, the creature would make the entire café jump as he declared, shouting, what had just occurred on the board and what enormously important decisions had to be made in this battle of epic, godly proportions.
It didn't surprise him in the slightest that the panda could talk. It had to have bought the tea somehow, and speech was a quite practical tool to convey your craving for warm beverage.
He himself didn't especially enjoy tea, coffee or anything of the sort. It wasn't for lack of trying - Valkyrie had certainly given him tea to drink quite often, and he had really wanted to enjoy the fancy stuff, but he eventually had to realize that it just wasn't for him. He deviated from his viking village's expectations in many ways, but cheap alcohol and meat seemed to be a permanent and inevitable part of his genes. He didn't mind too much - mjød was almost proof that a God exists in this world, and that He enjoyed watching drunk and happy people.

A tea-drinking panda with a weird spear beat me at chess today, Odin thought to himself, chuckling at the thought of Valkyrie reading that in the letter he would send that day, even before he was actually defeated. There was almost no way around it, though the exited, talking, bipedal animal wouldn't give up trying to motivate him to win even with most of his important pieces gone after being on the defence the entire game.
As the chess game progressed, he found himself looking up at the opponent almost as often as he did the board. Logical thinking would deduce that this curious person was obviously mentally challenged and/or a great annoyance to anyone around him. But for some reason, in spite of his judging character, he grew quite fond of this panda during the course of their little war. Maybe it was how happy he was over the smallest things like a game of chess, maybe it was the nonchalant way he acted while simultaneously being a damn walking, talking panda, but Odin just enjoyed his company.

The match came to a close as the panda check-mated him. Odin sighed and leaned back, feeling the gazes of the entire café upon him and the board. He looked his opponent in the eyes and extended his hand for a shake, "good match. You deserved your victory, my fellow bear," he said jokingly as he rose up, "I have to talk to the bartender about some happenings, but can I have your name before that?"
Oddities in the graveyard weren't an everyday occurrence, but neither is being beaten by a panda in a game of chess.

[BlacKitten]

It was over. About as long as a typical chess game, it lasted just about right. For every second his opponent spent time thinking, he spent his time planning out his next move, organizing and categorizing branches of possible moves that his opponent would do next for the panda to cleverly counter it. In the end, Maru won the board game through the classic checkmate where his opponent’s king was cornered, unable to move at all.

“Good match. You deserved your victory, my fellow bear,” Maru’s opponent finally spoke as he was silent throughout the entire game. He was being a good sport, accepting defeat like a real panda… man! Rising up, his opponent stood up from his seat, “I have to talk to the bartender about some happenings, but can I have your name before that?”

“Maru’s name is Maru! Me is a panda!” He placed his paw on his heart, proudly claiming his name and his race of talented intellectually bright pandas who were masters in the art of chess and in the field of pandaology, the study of pandas. This made Maru an expert in pandas. Still… Maru’s new companion mentioned “happenings”, meaning that something had happened recently! Wonderful, what could be less amusing than drinking a verity hot tea and playing chess by himself? It was time to explore like a panda!

The black and white bear waddled away adorably out the tea shop, jerking his head left and right for any signs of the “happenings.” With a sudden shift in temperature between the tea shop and the frigid outside climate, a surging wave washed over his body in pure refreshment! The hot tea managed to warm him up, and the cold air managed to sharpen his mind. Nothing new so far but the regular citizens were all minding their own business in their typical every day human lives until they all started gaping in utter surprise by a random bipedal panda standing in the sidewalk. What was wrong with them? Had they never seen a walking panda before? If not, they should explore more.

Adventure mode had been activated! He took his first step to the right as he began strolling down a linear path with no particular destination in mind. Hundreds of eyes gawked at him as Maru traded glances back at them, observing these creatures as if they were from another planet. Analyzing and scrutinizing every detail his eyes were set on, the building, the human, the sky, the ground, he paid a lot of attention to minor details that served no purpose at all. But, who knows? Even the hints that appeared meaningless may prove useful in the future as he shall uncover the mystery of what the mystery was! What was this “happening” that the young chess player had spoken of? And, whatever it was, why speak to the bartender? Could it be… no… it can’t be… TEA HAS BEEN DISAPPEARING?

Nah… he drank lots of tea just a few minutes ago… that wasn’t a problem.

[PlatonSkull]

The barkeep was still staring expressionlessly at the panda, whose name, apparently, was Maru The Panda, when Odin walked up to him and ordered a beer. Beer is the closest thing to mjød you could get outside of his hometown, so it was kind of the second best thing in the world, except for juicy pork perhaps.
"So, how did your little midnight trip go?" he asked, pouring a glass for him.
"Well," he said, pondering how to properly explain everything that happened, and deciding to keep his encounter for himself, "the graves that have been dug up seem to be that of marine soldiers, most of them dead a few months ago. Does that mean anything to you?"
The barkeep's eyes focused, as he forgot everything about the walking, talking, drinking, playing, shouting and spear carrying panda that had just exited his shop as quickly as it had left. He was quite still for a moment, and then continued his work of pouring and cleaning glasses. That seemed to be the only thing bartenders do: pour some alcohol or rinse a glass previously occupied by alcohol. And talk.
"Well, you might want to check out the marine base, assuming you don't fear getting caught for something," he eyed the silver-haired and odd stranger the way you would eye someone you suspected to be lawless.
"Will do, directions?" Odin emptied his glass faster than it'd been poured and gave the barkeep a coin.

The law-enforcement of Amino Island was a very effective and professional business, since the partying and happy tourists and citizens wanted safety and loudness. They provided themselves with noise, but the safety at night as well as day was granted by the Marine Base located near the middle of the crescent harbor. Two docking bays were located at the far right and left of the harbor, where Marine ships were prepared to block the exit to any low life pirate attempting to leave the city's perimeter untimely. Cyrus Odin was headed not for the Marine base, but for the docking bay on the east side. He wouldn't stand the city center of this city, so that situation suited him perfectly. There had, as a matter of fact, been a battle a few months ago - a pirate ship had gone for the escape and gotten blocked, but to the Marine's terror and bewilderment, backup from a much stronger pirate ship was already on its way into the harbor before the blockade was prepared. The marine were victorious in the fight, but the big ship managed to flee.
A devastating battle, and though the Marines had recovered, their training had become harsher, and their defenses more prepared.
Having a chat with the marines didn't seem like a terribly good idea to Odin, as though he wasn't wanted yet, his appearance screamed "pirate" at the top of its metaphorical lungs. He decided, instead, to board a patrolling ship and see where that got him.
Part of the reason why he thought that was a good idea, was that he was longing for action and was very, very bored.
-----

"Did you plant it, my pupil?"


"Yes, doctor, everything is going according to plan. Have the Marines received the," the man coughed secretively, "anonymous notification?"


"Of course they have, and they'll be after them any minute,"


"Excellent,"


"Yes," Dr. Zomborg had a big grin on his face, "excellent..."

[BlacKitten]

His chess opponent sure did make a silly mistake back there. From the beginning, he hesitated if what he saw was for real, but his opponent really did gave away a chess piece for him to gobble up. It was because of that one mistake, Maru clung tightly to his advantage to the very end. Well, the important aspect of that match was that it was quite fun; though it was a bit easy. Surely, if they had a second match, his opponent would be more of a challenge. Maru loved certain challenges.

Well… it couldn’t be helped; that young man’s opponent was a panda after all, so defeating his royal fluffiness in a strategy game was quite unlikely. Perhaps, it was the tea that the panda drank that calmed his mind to achieve the level of concentration for him to win.

Right after that chess match, Maru still hadn’t figured out what the ‘happenings’ was all about. However, that puzzle of uncertainty could possibly be solved now that the panda caught the glimpse of someone he knew in person... sort of. During his time in Amino Island, he had encountered a mysterious, sagacious human who possessed the intelligence that rivaled that of a panda!

Tiptoeing silently, the bipedal caped panda rushed forth as soon as he reached a close enough distance. At blinding speed, the panda opened his arms wide open before he knocked the human into the ground with his powerful tackle hugs of doom!
“…M-Maru?” The female was caught in surprise by the affectionate entrance of the panda. As always, this black and white bear was unpredictable. This was the first time she had been tackled to the ground by a panda, but this was just one of the many ways Maru greeted people.

Back onto his feet, the panda waved, “Hello Jasmine! Maru just had Jasmine Tea! Hehehe!”

“You’re unpredictable as always…,” the girl got herself back up while brushing the dirt off of her.

“Has anything happened lately?” The curious little panda asked, expecting some news of ‘the happening’.

“Maybe…, there are rumors being spread like wildfire about a crazy experiment around the graveyard. Something along the lines of zombies and cyborgs but it’s probably just people’s imagination.”

Crossing his arms and tilting his head, Maru repeated the location, “graveyard? Maru didn’t know there was a graveyard here!”

“The island isn’t very big, so it’s actually quite close by,” the chocolate-colored hair girl informed the talking black and white bear while civilians gawked at the ridiculous scene as they strolled by. Then, she received an idea in her mind, “Maru, I’m still not clear about your ‘powers’, but could you accompany me in case it’s something dangerous?”

“You need Maru to protect you?”

“… no… just that if anything bad happens, I could use you as bait while I escape!”

“Ah, okay!” The panda paused for a moment, “WHAT!? MARU IS NOT A DECOY!”

Jasmine giggled, “I’m just kidding!”

With Jasmine being smart, Maru believed that she could very well do as her joke implied, “…this is animal abuse…”

Grabbing his paw, the female dragged the panda along, “come on, don’t be a scaredy-panda!”

Later...

As Maru and Jasmine encroached towards the rumored area of where the sightings had taken place, both of them sharpened their senses while being extra vigilant.
The panda glared towards the sky as he noticed snowflakes drifting like little angels, “YAY! IT’S SNOWING!” Maru childishly cheered while flapping his arms like a penguin. As soon as he stepped forth, prepared to enter the graveyard, Jasmine extended her arm to block his path, “Hold it, Maru!”

“Huh?”

“If it’s snowing, our footprints would be exposed if we stay too long. Better if you do it since your footprints looks like that of an animal. I’ll stay by the tree to keep a close watch.”

“Oi! Maru thought you were joking about Maru being bait!” The idea sounded a lot like him doing all the work while Jasmine escapes if there’s danger.

“Don’t worry, I doubt there’ll be any dangers,” the female reassured him.