With none of their non-human features showing, the duo strolled side by side down one of the few flat dirt roads leading out from the quiet village. A trail of small ice fragments trailed behind Yokuza as the thin layer of ice covering his body flaked off. Lola turned to glance back at the village with a mute stare.

"Even for a village in the countryside, isn't it oddly quiet?" Lola uttered as she returned to looking forward. Yokuza moved his eyes in Lola's direction before apathetically rolling them and shaking his body like a dog to remove his icy outer layer.

"You're overthinking it, Little Miss High-Octane," Yokuza stated.

"You think so?" Lola mumbled while placing her fists on her hips and lightly grinding her fists against them. Yokuza begrudgingly sighed, raising a finger at Lola and bopping her on the forehead. Lola yelped from the boop and covered her forehead as a faint blush formed on her face.

"Perhaps a low-energy activity will do you some good," Yokuza said, snark oozing from his voice. Lola shuddered at hearing Yokuza's tone, itching her cheek to counteract the rising shame in her body.

"Are you still mad?" Lola said meekly.

"Noo.. I'm soo grateful you dunked me in the river-". Lola lightly elbowed Yokuza in the side, silencing Yokuza's sarcastic retort, while amusedly smirking.

"Don't be an asterisk, Yozu," Lola remarked, a chirp entwined in her voice as she saw the smirk on Yokuza's face. The two couldn't help but snicker at each other while lightly nudging each other.

"Haaa... we walked past our destination," Yokuza mentioned half-heartedly. The two gradually brought their walk to a halt before defeatedly sighing together and dragging their feet as they walked back in the direction of the village. They took two steps and immediately stopped. Lola doubled back, walking over the same spot multiple with swift but confused vigour. Lola scratched the spot on her head where one of her kitsune ears would be, humming apathetically to herself.

"What gives?" Lola said. Yokuza stared unamusedly at Lola as she paced about. When she walked in front of him, Yokuza grabbed the top of Lola's head and pulled her back to make her look directly upward.

"Oh!" Lola announced as she spotted the floating crystal cage above them. The cyan crystalline cage hung high in the air, cyan TV-static-looking energy slowly spewing out of it. Lola giddily grinned, her anticipation and excitement palpable as her eyes radiated her emotions. Yokuza stared down at Lola, her dilated pupils staring straight into his soul, sending a chill through him.

"So much for low energy activity," Yokuza uttered disapointedly. He removed his hand from Lola, and she instantly took her chance to leap into the air before nabbing the crystal cage. Lola dropped to the ground and stared down at the cage with Yokuza putting his hand on her forehead to stop her from moving her face too close to the cage.

"...hurm...". Lola inquisitively stared at the cage taking all of its features in with watchful eyes before nodding her head.

"Yep, I've got no clue what this dodad is," Lola stated. Yokuza glanced at the cage with a stoic glint in his eye.

"I think I smashed my face through one of those when I fell from the sky," Yokuza remarked, closing his eyes as he recalled bursting free from the pitch-black sea, only to suddenly appear in the sky and smash face first into an orange crystalline cage.

"Oh. So that thing on your face was just a black... eye?" Lola uttered perplexedly as she looked at Yokuza's face, seeing the pitch-black mark around his right eye had grown into the shape of flames. She slowly stuck her tongue out making Yokuza turn his head at her and place his hand on her face to keep her at bay.

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"If you dare to try to lick my face again, I'm going to-". Yokuza darted his gaze past Lola, a stern scowl on his face as Lola head-bonked Yokuza's hand away. Lola slowly spun around with a lost stare in her eyes and her tongue slightly stuck out.

Heavy footsteps boomed through the still air as a tall silhouette marched in the duo's direction, obscured by the moonlight. The female agent raised a hand to her ear, a low beep chiming from her earpiece as she contacted someone.

(Sumantha "Stargale" Zanokuzi is a young adult woman with an hourglass figure; she has long black hair tied into a braided hair bun, dark grey eyes, tanned skin, and slightly wide thighs)

(Zanokuzi is wearing a white tuxedo attire and black sunglasses)

"Headquarters, there appears to be..." Zanokuzi whispered into her earpiece, a faint hint of confusion on her otherwise stoic face as she looked at the non-human duo.

"Agent Stargale, do you require extra forces?" a voice on the earpiece asked. Xanokuzi shook her head.

"Negative... for the time being.". Zanokuzi lowered her hand before making her way over to the duo. As Zanokuzi reached casual talking range, Yokuza turned to Lola and requested for her not to do anything idiotic. Lola huffed, angrily puffing up her chest.

"Good evening, young one.". Lola raised an eyebrow with an amused curl to it.

"Young ones? Isn't that usually reserved for someone old enough for ret-". Zanokuzi blitzed her finger to her earpiece to silence the snarky voice coming through it.

"Ahem, as I was saying, I would kindly request you hand over that... cage.". A smug grin formed on Lola's face as she concocted an idea; however, she swiftly slunk back as she felt the frigid glare of Yokuza piercing into the side of her skull.

"Ok...," Lola muttered. She held out the crystalline cage. Zanokuzi mentally sighed in relief at getting civilians who didn't put up a fuss, at least for the most part as she looked at Lola.

"I appreciate your cooperation...," Zanokuzi stated, her voice beginning to trail off as she noticed the flame-looking mark around Yokuza's eye. She raised her hand to her sunglasses using two fingers to push them up and readjust them, in a somewhat startled manner.

"You wouldn't have happened to see another one of these cages would you?" Zanokuzi asked earnestly while crossing her arms sternly. Lola apprehensively turned to Yokuza, making Zanokuzi wave her hand at the duo.

"Oh, don't take it the wrong way. I'm not mad, I'm just concerned the mark on your eyes is what I think it is," Xanokuzi explained. Lola exhaled loudly, her body slumping forward at her easing her muscles.

"If that's the case, then he broke it with his face," Lola explained slothfully, leaving Yokuza to awkwardly look at Xanokuzi, the two giving each other deadpan stares. The silence between the three was eventually broken when Zanokuzi apothetically sighed.

"And do I dare ask why?".

"Fell off a roof onto it," Lola and Yokuza stated in unison.

"I see," Xanokuzi murmured as she rubbed her eyes from displeasure. While the trio focused on their current situation, an orange crystalline-textured scythe blade swung down from above and pierced the crystalline cage. The trio was left speechless with Lola even lifting the cage to her face.

"Huh... surprised it didn't explo-". Right on cue, the cage exploded into a small cloud of TV-static-looking gas which engulfed Lola's head. Lola hacked and coughed at the sudden intrusion upon her lungs, frantically flailing her head back as she caught her breath. Rolling his eyes, Yokuza raised a hand before striking Lola's back and making her cough up a small chunk of cyan crystal.

"Thanks... though I was done for," Lola said with a somewhat unfazed tone.

"Given how you eat, I'm surprised this hasn't happened before," Yokuza remarked semi-amusedly. Lola grinned at Yokuza's remark, only for her to scowl at registering it wasn't a compliment. She raised her fists before lightly pounding them against Yokuza in a poutful manner.

"Headquarters, reporting: the two Xykou Cages were destroyed and I'll be needing some backup for the Xykouna," Xanokuzi stated into her earpiece. With a puzzled look, Lola turned her head away from Yokuza while still playfully hitting him.

"The what?". Lola managed to say before a loud crash rumbled from nearby as a towering semi-humanoid creature landed on the dirt road, launching dirt into the air which obscured it from the trio.