"Did you all hear that voice?" Koto asked. Kokoro and Touyo responded with the same answer, yes. [Seems like the storyline is thickening.] *You have received a quest, The Desolate Woods weren't always so.. Desolate. There was an unknown witch that entered the forest, and placed the miasma onto the forest. Now you must defeat the witch and free the forest of the miasma. Witch Defeated 0/1* 

"You got the quest as well?" 

"Yeah!" 

"Alright, let's just defeat these last monsters and decide what to do next." They all agreed to Koto's plan, and quickly finished the monsters up. Killing all of them, but the Pendula. 

"Let's work together for this one, Touyo prepare some buffs, while Kokoro, you support me." Koto rushed towards the Pendula while it swung its arm's down at Koto. Koto dodged it and went in for it's back, but the Pendula reacted just in time and blocked. It then pushed Koto back while also attacking him. 

"Kgh" Koto was knocked back into a nearby tree, but he was prepared for the attack. He took a massive amount of damage but not as much as he would've if he wasn't prepared. 

"Are you Okay?" Kokoro asked. 

"Does it seem like I'm okay?" Koto said preparing for a counter attack. 

"I'll take that as a yes." 

"Water Terrain" The forest started raining, but only in a certain radius. The Pendula was surprised from the sudden rain, but still, it focused on it's current opponents. Koto rushed behind the Pendula and jabbed towards the body once again. However, the Pendula predicted this and swiped at Koto, but the swipe went right through Koto. The Pendula was confused and started looking for Koto. 

"Mist Mirage." Koto jumped up in front of the Pendula and has his sword by his sword, ready for the attack, 

"Horizontal Cut" Koto sliced the Pendula in half, and slowly descended down onto the ground. 

"That seems like a job well done." Koto said to Kokoro and Touyo.

"Yeah, it se-" Kokoro was interrupted by the movement of the Pendula. [This thing is still alive!?] Koto and Touyo prepared for an attack, but Touyo just finished her buffs. [Great timing.] 

"Kokoro you can deal with the monster now." Koto walked away, over to Touyo. Just to see how she was doing.

"What do you mean ME?" 

"Just, do whatever you do. It'll be fine." Koto said with a calm tone. As Kokoro prepared to rush the Pendula, you could hear her mumbling something about being the older sibling. Kokoro sprinted to the side of the Pendula in a flash, 

"Quick Jab" Kokoro started stabbing the Pendula in quick jabs, very quick jabs. The Pendula was overwhelmed by the amount of jabs she did, 5, 14, 27, 34, 43, 50. Kokoro did a total of 50 quick jabs before, finally, the Pendula was overwhelmed and died. The Pendula's giant body fell to the ground with a thud, and stayed still for the time period of them observing the body. Signifying it was dead.

"See, I told you, you could handle it."

"Yeah, after me getting some buffs. Thanks Touyo." 

"No problem." Koto's face turned serious,

"Now we should continue with the quest." Kokoro and Touyo nodded in agreement, and they thought of which direction to go to. 

"If we entered from the east side, then would should continue further into the middle." Kokoro suggested.

"I agree."

"So do I." They agreed to go deeper into the woods, and headed into it. They encountered some more monsters, but they really weren't worth their time. As they kept exploring the woods, Koto got a message from Jushima. *Sorry I haven't messaged you in a while, I've just been playing. Listening to what you said, and I just wanted to update you on my situation.* 

"Heh." 

"Did you say something?" Kokoro asked Koto. 

"No, I just.. got a message from someone else."

"Oh. Okay then, but you've got to focus."

"Of course, I just wanted to catch up with them." Koto said while smirking.

"Alright then, that's all you then." Koto decided to catch up with Jushima while trying to beat up some monsters. They had some fun messages sent back and forth, but they soon stopped as they no longer had anything to share. [Hmm, from I can tell. Jushima is feeling better, but it's not good enough.] While fighting, Koto leveled up. They soon searched about half of the woods, but didn't find anything.

"I think we should stop for now, we've been searching and haven't found anything." Koto thought about Touyo's proposal, and decided to agree with it.

"Is there a town nearby?"

"Yes, it's not too far from here." 

"Alright, then let's restock in our stamina."