Ring of the Artisan

Act IV Ch. 3: "You Left Me Behind."

edited 12/07/22

~

You wanted to head down there. You wanted to chase after the kidnapper and save your friends.

Yet, you couldn't.

You don't know what you're dealing with.

Kai urged that the two of you leave, and you took what you could. You had taken both of the strange figures while Kai had taken your friends' Elemental Blades.

Whoever was doing this was dangerous.

You hadn't even realised that Zane was missing until it was too late.

And now, you're missing two friends.

Kai ran far ahead. You had a hard time keeping up. Kai had his phone and was calling someone. You had to assume it was the Bounty.

Something scratched at your hand. You glanced down at the two figures within your grasp. The ice figurine you held onto hadn't melted yet. Was it really ice? It felt just as cold, yet it seemed dry. The wire figure's arm had been curved, its end gently scratching against your thumb.

You suddenly crashed into Kai. He reached out and steadied you.

"Sorry, sorry—"

"Hey, it's okay," Kai reassured you. "The Bounty'll be here any second."

You gently nodded. Once you're with the others, you'll figure something out. You'll figure out who's doing this.

You'll figure it all out.

The Bounty arrived no later than expected. You and Kai quickly boarded the ship and entered the Bridge.

Lloyd and Harumi were the first to greet you with hugs. You did your best to hug them back with your hands full. Sensei, Nya, and Cole were all in the room, though Dr Julien and Echo were absent.

"Wait, wait," You looked up to Cole. He glanced between you and Kai. "Where's Zane?"

The icy figure within your grasp seemed to grow colder.

"He's gone," Kai growled. "No doubt the same person."

"No, I..." You pulled out of the group hug before nervously holding out the two figures. "I think our two friends are right here."

Right when you finished speaking, the wire doll's arms slowly moved upwards.

"No, way!" Lloyd exclaimed. "What happened to them?!"

"I don't know!" You were distressed. "We found Jay like this and Zane had somehow—..." You stopped yourself before you could begin to panic. It wouldn't do you any good, right now. You needed to stay calm. "We need to figure out who's doing this."

"We don't even know who's capable of doing this," Nya interjected. "And no one's reported any disappearances, recently. I don't think this villain has done anything else, yet."

"Jay and Zane are the only ones?" Cole asked.

"That we know of," Nya reiterated. "I've contacted the police department to let us know of anything suspicious, but they haven't heard of anything recently."

"What are we supposed to do, until then?!" Kai hysterically asked. "We're just supposed to sit around and wait until someone else gets kidnapped?"

"They aren't getting kidnapped," You interjected. "They're being turned into little figures..." You didn't have a good explanation for what was going on. No one had any good explanation for what was going on.