With a seemingly innocent ear-to-ear grin across his face, the Gossip Kid sped off towards the unfamiliar woods like his life depended on it. 

The angler had gone missing! And by golly, HE was going to be the one to find her! And, if all went right, he was going to look really cool, and she was going to be SUPER impressed and flattered by it! And then... He hadn't planned that far ahead, but he was fairly confident that he could think of something totally smooth to say.

At inhuman speed, he strode amongst the trees, deeper and deeper into the woods. 

He thought about what might have possessed the angler to run off into the woods like that... Grigor said that she was chasing something, right? If it was enough to get her to care, it must be REALLY tough! Awesome! Finally, something worthy of sinking his teeth into! Oh, how he longed to tear something that actually has a chance of fighting back apart~ He only prayed that it wasn't already dead by the time he got there.

Then again, that would imply that the angler is in actual danger, which wouldn't feel very good.  He frowned at the thought.

After a minute or so of running, the Kid realized that he didn't have any idea which direction the angler ran. Oops. Good thing he realized that when he did.

He looked around. No footprints or other obvious signs of movement.

He tilted his head up, and sniffed the air. He's no S, but he and his beast were confident in his nose. He sure was confident in a lot of things, when he thought about it. That's a good way to be.

...

Plenty of scents on the wind. Grasses, leaves, trees, small to medium beasts, faint traces of humanity... He wasn't sure if it was the girl. He hadn't spent time memorizing her scent. He definitely thought about it, but he figured that'd have been creepy. And not the endearing kind of creepy he hoped to project. 

He'd detected another scent, as well. One far more potent then the rest. One with the distinct taste of something dark. Something mad.

He licked his lips, then his fangs. Ooh, that feels good... A tough little thing, so it seemed. 

He didn't know where it was, or even what it was, but it was here, and he wanted it.

His claws twitched, darkness seeped from his hands and teeth, his dark blood boiled, and his head darted around rapidly. He leapt upon a tree, and started to climb, to get a better-

He stopped himself.

Nonononononono! That can wait! The girl, find the angler first! 

He and his beast conceded. That's a worthy priority. And, if they're lucky, they might just be related, anyways! 

To that end, he ran deeper into the woods, his purposeful gaze darting back and forth, repeatedly searching for any sign of life. 

At this point, he did notice a few things. Some broken branches that had fallen to the ground, small cuts on the bark of the trees. Signs of a struggle, or just regular forest goings-on? Impossible to say. Still, better than nothing. He'd follow.

'Least, he tried, but the cuts and debris was erratic, leaving little sense of direction. 

For a fleeting moment, his confidence faltered. He shook this off of course, and raised his head to sniff the air again...

. . .

That pungent scent of darkness assaulted his nose before anything else could. When his gaze fell back to eye-level, he found himself staring at a fallen, leafless tree in the distance. 

It was blackened in parts, likely burnt, and lacked any remains of a stump. The bottom of the tree that remained looked as if it had been melted. The ground and flora around the tree had random splotches that told a similar story. Bits of grass had disappeared, leaving only blackened dirt behind.

It was an intoxicating smell. His claws danced in his hands. 

He looked around once more... No other leads.

Haaah... Should he? He had nothing else to go on... Yeah, but... But nothing else... Heh...

He'd indulge.

Getting closer, several other trees within the area told a similar story. Bits of blackened bark, entire sections of tree just missing, as though some giant beast had taken haphazard bites out of whichever tree he felt looked at him funny. And also his teeth were made of lava.

Exciting. Worth indulging.

"Where is it?" The Kid asked, blood boiling, his heart beat-beat-BEATING away, letting himself hunch over, bringing the beast out to play. "Where? Where do you think it is?" He paused, and nodded. "Yeah yeah, close, close..." 

Beat-beat-beat-beat... Excited, sure. Also short of breath. Been running too hard. Beast likes to pounce, but humans prefer endurance. Should work on pacing self. After this. After. 

He moved ahead, leaping after each blackened tree and bush, searching for the culprit. Oooh, he was going to be SO MAD if this just turned out to be some freak arsonist!!!!

Deeper into the forest he went, following the dark. The patches of dark he was coming across eventually let out a faint sizzling sound, which grew with each step he took.

"Closer?" He questioned, though he knew the answer. "Closer!" 

The angler, at this point, was in the very back of his mind.

He kept going. The sizzling splotches of dark had become blobby, weirdly goopy. Before long, he could see, in real time, the affected plants oozing and melting away. He detected a nearby squirrel with a similar fate. The rest of the animals around here must have evacuated ages ago.  

At the edge of his vision, he caught a glimpse of an unnatural crater, cutting deep into the soil. 

The beast within him growled. It was dark. He was close.

He smiled.