Bah... Humbug.. And the Chase!

[akutare]

The young scout called Olber looked around the area. It seemed like he was on the run forever. He was trained by Shido and learned to stand up for himself when things come to a shove. However, something told him bad vibes were near. He could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He adjusted his bandana around his neck as he picked up his gun, loading it. He also fixed his goggles so that they stayed up on his forhead.

"Damn..." He muttered. "I mus' be gettin' a'paranoid.. I think I keep on' hearin' thin's!" He looked around, his purple eyes shifting around. He could hear something... Quickly, he pulled out his gun, holding it putwards with a shakey arm.

"COME OUT AN' SHOW YA'SELVES!" He yelled. He then pulled the trigger to his gun for out of spite. He then lowered his arm, clutching his gun to his chest. He was breathing hard.

"Easy Olber.. What did Shido tell ya? Keep calm? Keep cool? O'corse I never cry over bein' scared.. Eh heh.. like most kid demons.. I'm Brave... YEAH!" However, his ears perked up again, hearing some shifting off in the distance. He gave another Feeble laugh.

"Eh heh... Maybe it's a harmless monster... YEAH!"

[Ryuzaki]

Popo had arrived in the human world with his bumbling side-kick trailing behind. Ugh, the stench of these filthy creatures was enough to make him gag. Popo hated to have to deal with humans. He viewed them as weak creatures. They had short life spans, could not develop even close to the power that demons could, and they wasted their environment by polluting it until one day nothing would be left. What inefficient creatures.

Now it was simply a matter of locking onto the target's position and closing in. Popo was sure in his ability to defeat the said demon. From what Vulcanus had divulged, this young demon seemed like a novice adventurer.

"Hoek, let us begin in our search in the place the humans call Alaria. We will systematically move through the human world until we find this child."

[Zombie Jeff]

Hoek didn't like this demon. Of course, he didn't like most demons, he thought they were nothing but a blight on the universe. However, the most present thought on his mind was that he could relax some now that the Arch angel was not nearby. Despite his lack of a true face, it was obvious that Hoek was relieved.

"Hmmm... this reminds me of the old days"

Said Hoek calmly, he slowly kneeled to the ground and felt the soil between his fingers... it was... different than what he remembered, but he had been gone for such a long time... He swung his morning star around him a few times, and streatched slightly.

"Lets go demon, were on my turf now!"

Although at first it sounded like a threat, Hoek hoisted his sizeable wepon over his sholder and set of towards the town in the distance.

[akutare]

Olber's ears perked up as he heard voices. However, he decided to try to mingle with the crowds. By all means, He had to hide his ears even! His pointd, elf like ears would be a dead give away that he was 'Alien' to the human world. He took off his backpack and rumaged through it. He then pulled out a cap and placed it on his head, covering his ears.

"This should do.. but I hope I loose these.. guys or whatever they are. They sound near an' on m'tail... if I had a tail..!"

Olber didn't mind being around humans. He didn't care much for them, since they were odd creatures. Humans think he would be odd also. However... He ran into some heavy set human, munching on a hotdog. It was also cold outside. Olber wasn't dressed for the weather, either. He looked up at the heavy set person and gave a shrug.

"Sorry..." He mumbled as he tried to skitter away. However, some happy music being sang on a machine gave Olber the willies. He even gagged.

"What is this? And?" He saw a decortaed tree, "The hell?"

[Zombie Jeff]

Hoek had just made it into town, when he realised what time of year it was... Though it had been a very long itme since he was last at earth, and was taken aback by the size of the town, he recognized the signs imidiatly.

"Alright Popo, were going to have to dawn discuises imediatly. If we get seen like this, we'll be stoped for sure."

He began walking towards a lot filled with festive trees.

"So, is there acutally anything inside your stump?"

[Ryuzaki]

The continued ignorance of the armor was beginning to get to Popo. normally, it wasn't really his style to lose his cool, but honestly it was coming very close to that point. The combination of the festivities and his bumbling companion were enough to make any demon go mad. but he had a job to do, and Popo knew the importance of his job. he would put up with it all for now.

"Oh~ Wouldn't you like to know." Popo practically beamed at the armour. He figured if he could put up a decent front, this idiotic demon might ease up a little bit.

It seemed that they were having no luck in the city of Alaria. The town was fairly barren now, as apparently most of the humans had left to visit elsewhere for the holiday. Besides, there was no signs of any demonic energy flowing through the air. This was a dead end. Popo figured that they should move on to another place for now. Maybe soon he would pick up the trail of the rogue demon. "Come on Hoek, let's go."

[Zombie Jeff]

Hoek was shocked by the stump's response. He looked at it gravely.

"Never do that again. Ever." he shudered slightly as he said it.

He began to float away from the lot digectedly... he obviously thought his idea briliant. True though, he couldn't sense any demons other than Popo around.

"And even that ones to many..." he muttered silently.

He floated after Popo as he went, however he began to fall behind as he looked about at all the shops with their chincy desplays.

"When did such joy become this... money has nothing to do with joy and peace." he pondered aloud absentmidedly, the orb of light which was his head drifting about lazily.

[Ryuzaki]

As they began to continue on their way, Popo noticed the decorations that seemed to line every corner and pathway. Amazing that the humans were so committed to their little 'traditions'. While Popo knew that most demons actually did celebrate very similar holidays, he himself was not one to particularly care for those sorts of things. He noticed that his companion was falling behind. The armour seemed so interested in the decorations that could be seen everywhere. "Gah! What could be running through that oaf's head right now..."

Popo wasn't really sure where they should go next. There were only so many epicenters of human congregation... Hoek, any idea where we should head to next? I overheard some humans talking about a place called Tsuzu or something. Supposedly, there were humans vacationing in that area. Popo figured they should probably assume our target would attempt to assimilate to try to evade us for as long as possible. Of course this is assuming the target demon even knew that the two were out to get him...

[Zombie Jeff]

Hoek heard the stump say something and came to, hurrying to catch up.

"My experience is this. Either the target will seek out the largest group possible and hide in the crowd, or seek to isolate themselves from the groups in favor of greater mobility and afraid of being turned against" He continued on silently, the light growing concentrated and focused with thought.

"But, considering the target is a demon, I would figure they would favor isolation. Especialy if they are one of thekind that is suceptible to pleasant thought and good cheer." He began looking around for patches that were not decorated. "We should find a place that is thinly decorated and fairly deserted..."

His years of demon hunting were finaly coming to use.

[Ryuzaki]

Thinly decorated.... fairly deserted

There were no places that came to mind on earth that fit the description. Well... Popo had heard of one place-- however there were very few beings that existed there. In his readings of the old texts, Popo remembered that there was a portal of sorts that connected the earth to the netherworld, however, this was not a confirmed notion. There was the possibility that this could have been the method used by the culprit to come to earth. The only problem was the fact that it was unknown where the portal connected on the other side. There were no records of where in the netherworld you could gain access to this portal. Popo couldn't see this young demon being so knowledgeable that he could have used this method. Then again, he could have stumbled upon it by pure coincidence. Hah! Wouldn't that be a laugh! Either way, it might be a wise decision to check out that region, if only to be sure that the demon was not hiding somewhere among the endless desert. However, Popo was beginning to wonder exactly what the Archangel wanted this youngster for. It was very unlike Vulcanus to call out a 'hit' on someone, or on the other hand pursuing them in order to join his secret collaboration. Usually, he could not get away with such actions, because Lamington was especially observant. But lately, Lamington seemed to be off in his own world. Popo wondered how such a whimsical creature could rise to the position of Seraph of all Celestia. No matter. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Well ok Hoek, let's get going..."