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The gerbils made their way slowly across the ice for a few seconds before Steamtrain Express started to make a break for it. Tevini's heart soared. Yes! Be free, she screamed internally. This is what they both wanted. But then the event staff started shouting for her to chase it down and she realized that maybe right before a huge performance when the spotlight is on you isn't the best time to try and escape. Feeling terrible she scrambled after the gerbil and apologized to it several times. After this was all over she would let him free, please just hang on until then.

It was time to start the music! Tevini bit her lip and hoped that her choice of electronic music would work out. She'd picked something that she personally enjoyed because she was getting tired of all the party pop that was playing around the festival. Her head still hurt from falling over at that loud dance booth. She wasn't into romantic songs either, what was the point? It just made single trolls feel bad and she didn't want to make the audience depressed. So electronic music had been the only choice she felt comfortable making. Why not the victory music? Well that could play after she won!



"Yeah, hang on." Pulling the supplies out of his pack, Nucleo hoped they'd be able to brave the cold alright. Focusing on starting that fire so they'd warm up, he wondered how everyone else was doing. It'd been a long night and he'd been lucky to have some company, had the rest of the trolls gone solo? He hoped they were all traveling safe. Carefully he got the fire going and huddled next to Amonee for warmth. The boy smelled sweet like flowers and it was always nice to cuddle.

"'Cold tonight." Stating the obvious, Nucleo used it as an excuse to pull Amonee a little closer into a hug of sorts. He was a little winded from climbing the mountain and all the energy he'd been using to pop out clones to run his booth. This little break was just what he needed to stop and recharge. Being back on a mountain felt right after all those nights in the city and while he loved the flash and crowds he also liked the quiet stillness of moments like these. Closing his eyes, the boy simply sat there and let his mind go blank, grateful for the reprieve out here.

"Thanks." Several minutes passed before Nucleo murmured these words and pulled back. He gave Amonee a shy smile and shifted to lean against their makeshift rock wall while warming his hands by the fire.

Keionx was actually rather enjoying her hike amid the snow and wet. Alone, yes, but she could almost feel the presences of the other trolls seeking the beast. That was company enough for a hero... and competition enough, as well.

Unfurling the map she held, she scoured it with her sightstalks, frowning as she decided the next place to check out. The valley? Perhaps. The ponds? Also a good option. Both had ample resources and hiding places for a beast, and apparently it had an affinity for water and stone. To be expected – such things were important.

However, when she set out, she went towards neither. The blossoming river delta, instead, called her. Such places were fertile for both plants and for adventure, breeding monsters and botanical treasures alike. And mud. MUCH mud. Keionx was not a fan of mud, but she was also not afraid of being dirty, a good thing to be in the middle of a swamp. Moreover, she was willing to tromp through it in search of adventure. Still, it wasn't her favorite thing to walk on...

At the very least, though, even if her search there proved to be unsuccessful, she would find herself a lovely view of the delta and the ocean. So, she went along the river, following it's flow as she minded the puddles and dark pools that swirled quietly near the edge. Such places were not to be trusted, after all.

As planned, the gentle slide across the ice had gotten her two winning gerbils right where she wanted them to be, right in the eyes of every single audience member by the ice. Not a part of the plan, however, was Euryale beginning to doze off during the trip to center ice, as if there was nothing for it to even worry about! She almost started to panic, because no way would the judges approve of sleeping gerbils. She didn't even approve of gerbils sleeping instead of skating during a competition! But as it turned out, she needn't have worried!

Stheno was not about to sleep on the job! Lorata honestly wasn't convinced that Stheno ever sleep, really, but for once it was really paying off for them all! As Euryale drifted off, Stheno kept moving, sliding them around and hopping around and rolling over her sister until finally even the smarter gerbil was up and at em. Then they were both ready to perform! Lorata let out a sigh of relief and then suddenly realized she wasn't done yet. They still needed something...Music! Oh my glub, they needed the perfect music!

Lorata rushed over to fix this, choosing the most victorious of tunes.







Hands on her hips, Etsali frowned down at her surroundings from where she stood on a ridge near the tip of the plateau. She'd been so sure that all the clues seemed to point to the winter beast living somewhere in the area, or at least passing through fairly regularly, but it was impossible to tell now because apparently she hadn't been the only one to notice it all. Any tracks she might have followed had been obscured and destroyed by what were without a doubt troll footprints. This place had given up everything it was going to, she was beginning to realize, and she would have to go further out into the wilderness if she wanted more.

The thief had been just about to finish working her way down so she could cut across to one of the further points on her map when she heard movement from the side. She tensed, going quiet as she waited, and then relaxed with an easy going smile as she recognized the voice that rang out. So, Ephias had come hunting too, had he? She couldn't help but be relieved. It was kind of cold and tedious working her way through the terrain out here, and his company was always a bright point of any ordeal.

"Ephias! I didn't realize you were out here." She gave him a moment to catch up to her fully, grinning all the while. "Did you manage to find anything good before this place got picked over? It's nothing but troll tracks now, what a mess." Being on opposite teams, they probably ought to split back up again to keep their winter beast findings separate, but really who was she kidding? She held out her map with an easy shrug and pointed. "I was thinking we might be able to find more over there, looks like the best spot if we wanna get in some scavenging first thing, don't you think?"

"Little buddy! Hey! Get back here!" Dianea called, torn between laughing and getting a little frantic. Li'l Cap had veered severely off-course at the last second. Oh no! She had thought the potato could handle her efforts to nudge them forward; guess that was a bit of a no-go. After her previous efforts, she refused to believe it would be anything more than a slight hiccup, though! Pennii was just fine, for instance. So at least half of the duo was doing okay. Luxara hoped that would be a stabilizing factor.

Time went on. Barring that moment, the gerby-gerbs started to look like they would make it without further incident. Great! Awesome! It was all good. Now, onto the next part! Music. She'd have to select ambiance. Well, they made it this far, and that was a lot already. Might as well pump it up! Luxara chose victory music to accompany Li'l Cap and Pennii's debut on the rink.

She wasn't super into music, but thought it sounded appropriate. She could also hop and clap along, trying to boost the little guys further. Heck, if all went well, this would be one of the easiest events she'd ever been in.



Mountains were hard on foot on the best of days, much less in heels. She should have brought Stagdad along. Though she wouldn't have the faintest idea of how to disguise him, but it would be nice to have the chance to rest while moving ahead. Ohhhh well.

Unsurprisingly, Luxara was a little sore in the legs the next night. Somehow she was still mobile at all at this point. She kept a chipper attitude, though, because she expected it to be grueling. And, and! She found something. This thing had horns. ...Also there was troll food. Kind of weird. She kept her chin up, if only because she hadn't come out of any venture empty-handed so far. But she would probably need to rest when she got back to the swamp. What an intense hunt!

The following night, she wasn't keen on doing more mountain-climbing. In fact, if might be useful to go into the thick of the woods! She had checked out a handful of different locales, and looking over this area could help her figure out the thing's preferences. The lake was eh, the flatlands yes, the mountains kind of okay. So this could be anything, really.

"Nooooo!" Elidae cried, rushing over to the stand where her gerbils skidded. She knew Twinkie Heart to be a little too ambitious! It was okay though, Janderbilt made up for it by their adorable display on the ice. Their sweaters and twirling were a huge hit with the crowd, she noticed, and that was good. Great, even! So this was just a small hiccup! Filled with determination, Elidae gently pushed them back to where they needed to be, and jogged over to turn on some music to really get the performance going.

Chewing on the side of her lip, Elidae looked over the music selection. She glanced over at her gerbils. The two did make a rather nice pairing. They almost seemed like they were made to be! A perfect match, so cuddly and adorable. Elidae blushed a soft yellow as she thought of that special troll she wanted to be with and picked up the romantic music. No... the yellowblood thought to herself, Chiara would never go red with her... she was all about the black. A different kind of romance. Elidae squinted. And she was just too mean! With a sigh, Elidae placed the romantic music back and chose her preferred choice, the party music. Couldn't go wrong with something a little poppy and upbeat, right?! It was sure to be a crowd pleaser!

It took Malice some time to get out of harms way, but she managed to climb into a tree and out of sight from the grizzlebeast wanting to maim her. Her lusus, on the other hand, seemed to simply watch. It was cruel, but the child needed to watch where she was going and learn to handle herself in these situations. Despite Malice believing not, he would have intervened if something did happen. But it didn't. She shouldn't have got herself in the situation in the first place, though. After climbing down from the tree, Malice straightened herself and continued the hunt.

It wasn't a very long trek, but somehow Malice ended up at the end of the river with a ******** ton of logs and no winterbeast. Hands placed firmly on her hips, Malice glowered down at the logs for a full minute. Then, she sucked in and blew out raspy breathes from her flared nostrils, not even bothering to compose herself in front of her lusus. As her chest expanded from a sharp intake of air, Malice's face turned slightly bluer. Then, she unleashed a bloodcurdling scream at the top of her lungs, her shrill voice echoing off the entire landscape.

"THERE'S. NNNOOOTHING. HEEEEEEERRRRREEE!" A few birds flew up into the sky as Dragondad's laughter filled the silence afterwards.

Points: 2

"THAT'S RIGHT! DO A BARREL ROLL, SNAKE!" Leeroi cheered, clapping from the sidelines. There were his star gerbils. They just needed the chance to actually perform for the audience. Cute clothes and grand show be damned, there was raw talent behind these gerbils and Leeroi was going to make it shine through.

Only, something was missing. Ah, music. The gerbils needed some sick tunes to dance to, obviously. Thankfully, Leeroi had the perfect song in mind. Only the meme-iest of dance songs would show off his gerbil's perfect prowess. It would match their awesome, energetic dance moves and their equally funny but magnetic personalities. Leeroi had thought a lot about this. Leeroi thought a lot about memes.

After setting the music up to play, Leeroi's attention went right back to his gerbils, and he was whooping with excitement like before. "GET THEM GOOD! SHOW THEM WHO'S BOSS" He hollered, shaking a fist to emphasize. Would he get extra points for bloodshed on the ice?

Beside Leeroi, his lusus watched on with mixed concern and enthusiasm. Her charge's intentions were pure but she was always concerned with his... overeagerness. Seeing Leeroi throw the gerbils onto the ice was definitely a frightening sight. He really was testing their limits, but they were turning out to be incredibly resilient pets.




"Diddly squat!" Stemma complained, sitting down on a stump to enjoy a lunch break. She shimmied over, making room for her lusus. Tonight wasn't a total loss, though. She really did enjoy being out here, eating lunch in the snow. As long as she wasn't being chased by a grizzlebeast, she felt fine. It was tranquil, peaceful here.

It was a shame that there were hardly any corpse finds on their search, though. The fresh snow probably covered it all. She wondered if that counted as a burial. Like nature's burial, in a sense. Then again, the snow did melt when the other seasons came around. What of the bodies then? What of the bodies in space? What of all the bodies of seadwellers in the ocean? Between the bites of her lunch, she questioned Krampa on the matter.

Snow is not thick enough, dear. The bad spirits can still lay claim and pull the bodies from the snow.

Krampa stroked his beard. It was certainly an interesting thought. He congratulated his charge with a pat on the head. Stemma beamed up at him, pride evident in her eyes. Finishing her food, Stemma stood, feeling energized. "Alright!" She cheered, raising her hands. "Let's go find that winterbeast!"

"It seemed like it might be worth looking into. An interesting way to pass the time anyway." Ephias replied. He looked down and kicked at the snow. "So far I haven't found much of anything though... There was... a salamander village. I kind of thought this whole thing might just be a hoax to encourage tourism." He gave her a blank stare. Anyone who had mastered the art of reading Ephias' muted expressions however would note a trace of disapproval.

When Etsali pointed out the coordinate on her map, Ephias nodded. "It's a long ways from here, and in the mountains it looks like... Not very hospitable territory. Most won't bother going that far... or at least that's what one would think." An idea occurred to him just then. "Ah... I found a raft up the river. I left it by the shore when I went to go investigate the coordinates from the other night. We might be able to use that for an easier journey with a few modifications." Scratching his chin he examined the map once again. Finally, he pointed at a place just north of their position. "We would have to backtrack a little, but it would save us some time."