Chapter 40: An Unexpected Kidnapping

"Mari? Mari! Where are you?" I shouted, my voice echoing across the mountain range.

There was no response. I looked to the others to see if they knew what had happened.

"Maybe she fell off the side? She is pretty clumsy after all," Yuri suggested calmly, looking over the edge of the path.

"How can you say that so calmly?! For all we know, she could be dead!"

"You would think that she would know us better by now," Touwa muttered.

"What are you talking about? Why aren't any of you worried?"

"Hana, we're not worried because we know that Mari isn't dead."

"How… How could you all possibly know that?"

"Because we're all connected. As you know, we come from Shizin, a planet with only plant based life. Like a forest from Earth, everything in that forest is connected. The girls and I share a special connection. Because of this connection, we know if any one of us dies. Does that make any sense?"

"I guess that makes sense. But that doesn't answer the question of where Mari is."

"That's true. Unfortunately, we are unable to discern each others' location with our connection. My guess is that she was taken to Iwa Town."

Since it was likely that Mari was taken to Iwa Town, we continued our journey down the mountain. The trip itself was pretty uneventful. We ran into a few monsters, but easily dispatched them. Once we got to the town, however, things changed…

As we neared the town, I heard a familiar voice shouting. Since we were still a ways away, we couldn't make out what the voice was saying. When we could finally make out what the voice was saying.

"Get away from me! Someone save me from this crazy monster! Hana! HANA!"

"That's Mari's voice! That monster must be pretty fearsome if Mari's scared," I said, my voice trembling at the thought of a monster that even Mari's afraid of.

"There's only one way to find out. Are you all ready?" Yuri asked us, taking charge.

It was time to get back our friend!

To be continued…