Yoko had kept her encounter with the sentient Invess and all that transpired there a secret from both Takatora and the Professor. She wasn't sure why she did that. Learning of such a creature would change everything as far as their research was concerned.
It wasn't only that, but the Invess could turn into a rider too. There was just too many unknowns. Yoko hated going in blind and decided to gather some more intell and then present it all to Takatora.
In the dead of night, she sneaked into the main lab and traveled through the Crack into the forest of Helheim.
Marise rarely slept. Even if she *retired to her room* she was rarely there. In Helheim, it was quiet, peaceful. And as the shrouded figure stood atop a branch of a top tree, her ears perked up, her features tensed. Someone was here. In *her* home. A huntress, it would seem.
A small smirk comes to the humanoid's face. Who would hunt whom?
Yoko had abandoned her business suit for her black skintight stealth suit. It hugged her body in just the right places and was perfect for recon and assassinations, or the old "in and out" as her late uncle would call it. With her infrared goggles and a sheathed katana completing her ensemble, she scaled the first tree before effortlessly leaping from one to the next.
The huntress approached, unknowing of what lay ahead. Marise blended into the shadows of the night, having no scent, or little other way to be tracked. But she could track Yoko. When the woman finally came into view, she found herself taken for a brief moment with how the other looked...but it wasn't anything deep.
Instead, she waits to see how perceptive the other really is, while readying herself mentally..
Yoko halted her advances, she had an eerie feeling that she was being watched.. She looked around but saw nothing, even with her goggles. Not a creature in sight.
Yoko didn't have time to blindly wander through the forest. She needed to bring the target or targets to her. Reaching into her pack, she pulled out a grenade and tossed it while taking cover. It exploded after coming in contact with a tree, toppling it over and setting several of them on fire.
It drew some of the minor Invess, but Yoko had no such interest in such meager fish. She was fishing for a much larger prize.
As the fire continued to spread, one of those creatures was bound to appear. They could not bare the destruction of their own habitat, especially if they are intelligent.
The anger would build, but after a bit, Yoko's persistence would pay off. First, the fire would be put out by rain and energy. Second, the destroyed fauna would be regenerated. And third...vines would shoot out for Youko from all directions..
Yoko smirked, it worked after all. Well, she should be happy about that, but she was being attacked by freakin vines. In one swift movement, she unsheathed her katana and sliced through vines as she attempted to escape them.
While the vines distracted the huntress, Marise approached from the opposite direction...outstretching her hand. The vines cease, and an overbearing sound is heard now, high-pitched. Normal to Overlord ears, not so much to a human. "You have found what you seek...Speak, but do not waste my time, huntress."
She crossed her arms, but kept her grip on her sword, "I work for a research organization and am doing just that - research, into the forest, into the Invess, and into you."
"You'll find little information here...I will let you leave alive if you turn back through that Crack that you came through. Try to take me by force, and you will be sorry."
Yoko shook her head, "I am not here to capture you, at least not yet, I merely came here to observe. I respect your power over the forest and wish not to fight you, but I'll have to decline your offer. I'm not going anywhere."