[SP-F4] The start of an investigation

[Mars 0]

Gazing forward from his shop he lets out a low annoyed growl realizing that his rival hasn't shown up for the past few weeks which means he either got himself killed, or that idiot somehow got himself caught by that ridiculous self-righteous frontliner. Getting up from his shop with a sword in hand he looks towards his familiar and snaps his finger as the creature quickly goes towards Mars as the duo of fire liger and katana user makes their way across the planes of the seventeenth floor of Aincrad the man goes on what most might consider a suicide mission for someone at his level. 'Only i can be the one that will kill Pinball. Not this world, not some monster, and not some player. I am certain that their will be a point where we will duel to the death and i would want that moment to be when we're both pushed to our limit and have no reservations about ending the other.' He thinks to himself in a amused fashion at the thought of being able to do that while making his way forward. The idea of facing off against the spear user to a match to the death in a battle worthy of being the end for him or that man. He could only hope that whatever death that occurs it would be worthy of being talked about, and being one that would shape the world around him in some fashion for the better or worse.

[Mars 0]

Arriving at the main settlement of Athenea he starts thinking through the events that had occurred that would've caused his rival to disappear as he thinks upon the timing of such things. Thinking through the timing he starts mentally jotting down the notes in the sense of just making sure he can remember all the facts by the end of his little mental evaluation. That he had gone missing during the new year season, and that according to how last year functioned there was some kind of event where one could get a item for themselves to use that was actually quite useful in some functionality or the other. That last year his rival was green in cursor color so that meant he had to know about the end of the year event that would occur as well and that he seemingly got that fancy spear of his from said event. Which leaves a easy trail to follow as it means to follow his most likely spot of being it is just following the steps of where he would've gone and finding the place where the event had spawned this year. 'That is my only trail at the moment since otherwise he could've been anywhere on any floor within Aincrad training against mobs.' He thinks to himself while passing by the glorious marble buildings of Athenea that the floor had given to this city. To make it some shining little beacon of civilization compared to the rest of this floor as some kind of marvel.

[Mars 0]

Stepping upon the teleport pad he would close his eyes and quickly say the simple command phrase to start his investigation to the location of his rival of which he would not rest till he found that annoying spear wielding man that infuriated him with his stupid antics. Teleport, Snowfrost. With the simple command phrase a blue light enveloped the katana wielding man and his familiar as the warm and sunny day of the seventeenth floor of Aincrad switched to the unforgiving cold and forever snowing lands of the fourth floor within Aincrad. Gazing forward at the dreary building that had warmer insides he just made his way through the floor at a steady pace gazing at the ground and finding that the footprints that most likely would've been left by players have been long since covered up. Meaning that the easy option for trying to find his rival is already taken out of his hands from the forever falling snow of this cursed floor.

[Mars 0]

With a frustrated sigh he can only either try to talk to little bits of programs about whom they have seen or where his rival could've gone which would be a fruitless effort most likely since the coding most likely doesn't have that much advancement to it that they could carry on such conversations and wouldn't be built into them. Which also means that his efforts would have to be directly player based talks to where the man could've been dragged off to and than try to find out through that way one way or the other. 'That is going to be the difficult part since i bet they don't want their little police station found out to where he could be to stop any jailbreaks.' He thinks to himself casually as he goes and sits on one of the snow covered benches and closes his eyes in thought. Going through the list of players that would have to know the location of the rival and those that could possibly know based on who would maybe go to that kind of event.

[Mars 0]

A slow nod of his head as he thinks through each player and starting with the most obvious the self-righteous tank herself that Hestia woman would have to know where his rival went if he was captured by her since she is meant to be some kind of police chief. Which would mean that he would have to find her and possibly even catch her off guard to land a sufficient hit against her if he would try to break his rival out of that jail wherever that could even be to begin with. Than their is possibly Hazado and Neo might have done something to his rival due to his not so great impression of stabbing the heavily armored tank Hazado during their quest to try and kill the horseman of the apocalypse quest. Than their is some worse case scenarios like the killer of killers having got to Pin and having killed him or decided to capture him for some kind of fate worse than death situation that the man could've thought up of. Those being the obvious targets from what he could deduce based on his past that he knows about with his rival since anyone else really wouldn't be enough possibly except anyone who could've decided to help that Dustin kid Pinball stole the sword from.

[Mars 0]

'I have my suspects now it is just a matter of if i can manage to find the one among the four that would be the most likely and where i could most likely try to find them to get some answers out of them for where Pin went last from what they can remember.' Going through the list the most obvious would be to find Neo and Hazado since he has at least some idea where the pinkette's shop is due to the fact her business is quite popular from the fact she is used for frontline buff giving to help them out with their raid exploits. Which means if he can find Neo he would find Haz shortly after from the two being a couple or something within this virtual game. 'At the very least it gives a buff besides that though seems like a waste of time to try and do that kind of nonsense.' he thinks idly to himself while giving a quick glance towards the liger that is just waiting seemingly irritated by the snow constantly hitting his flame covered body as he just gives a smirk of amusement at the sight of the familiar's misery.

[Mars 0]

After spending a few seconds to enjoy the look of annoyance on the familiar's face he looks back towards the ground in front of him while thinking through the next suspect on his list. The Dustin kid would be the next easiest to find from what he can remember. 'Has that same drive to get stronger but none of the actual strength seemingly to do anything by himself if i can remember correctly from that event. He craves death and is seemingly fine with the idea of dying so facing off against Pin seems like a dream come true to him, but having those like his guild leader to protect the little runt would most likely make things unnecessarily difficult for Pinball if said guild leader brought others with him to take Pin down.' Which means he would have to find Stryder and ask the man if he had seen what happened to Pinball which might bring more complications than solutions since if Stryder knows anything about Pinball's more friendlier allies he would know that he is most likely going to save him rather than just ask for simple query.

[Mars 0]

Than that leaves the police chief herself Hestia which would be the worst case since he would be entering a losing battle in which he could only hope to free Pinball soon enough for the duo to make the fight a two on one fight which should allow for the both of them to escape in the end since the pure DPS power should be enough to bypass her defense to some degree. 'Though i don't know if we could actually win that fight it would be more so for show of trying to stun her and than run rather than anything else really.' He thinks to himself as he opens up his inventory and starts swiping through the menu looking to see if he has any TP crystals on hand to help his friend out of the jail he could be in. Seeing that he is entirely empty on such a item he lets out a soft sigh and just nods his head knowing that it means that he can't simply just go in guns blazing immediately and will need to find a merchant to buy two TP crystal off of for a jailbreak to work effectively.

[Mars 0]

Getting up from his bench he starts making his way towards the teleport gate with a singular goal in mind on what to do from here without much fear in what he is going to attempt to do for the safety of his rival. 'This will be the stupidest thing i have ever done in my life i think. I can't believe i'm going to risk myself for that idiot...probably zero risk in doing so really now that i think about it. Haven't heard from Cosi or Black in awhile so i think i'm fine in saying those two have went off the grid as well.' He thinks calmly to himself while standing upon the pad that is used for teleporting and says the simple command phrase that will take him to the first person he is going to need to ask about when it comes to Pinball. Teleport, to floor seven.