As the female creature walked away, she made sure to give AREU as basic order, much like one would command a voice activated toaster. It was an understandable attempt. AREU was, after all, only a machine. Yet at the same time he was far more than that. He had no limitations that forced him to serve humans. He had a sense of choice.

As Snow continued on her way, the green researcher gently kicked off from the ground, rising up high into the air. Many of the townspeople continued their staring up at him. Once he had attained a proper height, he shot off in the direction of the nearest ball, in hopes of gathering them quickly enough so as to not run into any opposition. After all, he did not want to have to kill anyone to achieve his new goal.

words: 300

Outside, the changeling found that the android had done as instructed, and left on it's quest for a dragon ball. Another glance at her own radar revealed that he had gone due east, as requested, and as such she took off for the west walking on foot, preferring a more humble departure than the one the android had taken, leaving people staring into the sky as she'd exited the church, walking away from the recently risen sun and towards the hills at the far end of the valley.

Once she was safely out of view, Snow accelerated her pace, running swiftly, bounding her way up the hills, pushing and testing herself against the weighs constantly, favoring the security and relative anonymity of grounded travel to flight. For hours and hours she ran, her long strides eating the miles much the same as she would have in the air, skating around major roads and areas of homes, seeking the comfort of being alone. Besides... if she were to run into someone now, alone, she didn't know if she could reign in her urges, and there was no time to be butchering somebody now, while she was trying to track down those elusive dragon balls.

By the time the sun had risen to it's full height at mid-day, a beep in the chest of her clothes alerted her that she had at last picked up the signal of a new dragon ball. Withdrawing the device, the changeling gazed down upon the green screen, to find that this ball lay to the south west a goodly distance, in or beyond an imposing mountain range that stood in her way.

"It would take me days to try to get around those or find a pass..." she mutterred, shifting directions, angling towards the snow capped peaks. "But you know what, the ball might be inside them and that would waste even more time. No, I'm going to have to go through them. It's not like I can't handle the cold." And with that, she silenced herself, focusing on the task that lay ahead. Finding that dragon ball in there could be quite the endeavor. Who knew how bad the close range signal could be skewed by the peaks and various minerals in the stone.

In an hour she'd reached those mountains, finding they were far larger and more imposing than she'd anticipated before, towering over her like great giants,casting her in their shadow now that the sun was falling behind their peaks. Steeling herself for the task ahead, the girl began the trek up the foothills, leaping between trees, running along sweeping slopes, rising ever higher till she found herself at the base of a pair of twin peaks, bounding upwards between the the slopes, driving herself ever onwards into the range, between massive spires, occasionally finding herself once more in deep snow.

~Is it just me... or is this stuff colder than I remember....~ She thought, warm enough but less comfrotable than she had expected. Her time on earth had made her just a bit softer than she had been before, and after losing her extra insulation scales the night before she had less protection from the elements. Surprisingly, it didn't take her as long as she thought, and in time, she found the ball, storing it with the others in her clothes, and flying off through the mountains, in search of the next dragon ball.

OOC: Obtained the 3 star ball.

Added (03.06.2010, 10:19 Am)
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Finally clear of the mountains, another glance at the dragon radar revealed the final ball to be due North. "Good fricken grief how far north is that going to be if I'm closer to it now than I was when I started..." she mutterred, coming down for a landing and beggining the long, arduous run northwards. On and on she ran, her legs screaming and aching, begging her to rest. Gritting against the pain, the woman rushed onwards, lengthening her strides, fighting against the muscle fatigue that threatened to lock her legs out from under her, plowing through the pain until she found herself facing a massive body of water that stretched as far as her eyes could see.

"Looks like I'm going the right way..." she told herself, checking the radar again as she approached the water, returning it to it's hidden pocket in the chest of her training clothes before launching a mighty leap from the beach that carried her well into the waves, more than far enough to support her surface penetration, plunging deeply into the chilly water without missing a stride. Where her legs left off, her arms and tail picked up, powerful strokes that propelled her swiftly through the frigid sea, onwards to her goal at top speed.

Eventually, however, the woman found herself swimming between large chunks of ice, eventually coming to a point where the water was entirely 'capped' in a thick layer of ice. "Alright, lets see where we are in relation to the ball I'm after..." Reaching into her clothes, she withdrew the radar once more, to find that the ball was at a downward angle, still a long distance from her current location. "Great... another one under water..." she mutterred, pulling herself up to sit on the side of the ice as she began to prepare herself for the task that lie ahead.

"Breath, breath completely and totally..." She could remember her mother saying, teaching her the art of preparing to go without air for long periods. And breath she did, focusing on the task she felt her body completely fill with air, before releasing it again. More and more with each breath, filling her system with oxygen with each breath, storing up vast reserves for the time she would spend under the ice. When at last she felt confident she was ready, the changeling slid off the ice and plunged into the water, following the radar as she swam deeper and deeper into the cold blackness,

Deeper and deeper she swam, guided only by the glowing screen of the radar as she plunged towards the bottom of the sea, feeling the pressure building around her casually, wrapping snugly around her like a blanket of wet cold. Eventually, she reached the sea bed, but that was not deep enough, as her search soon proved, leading her to a massive crevace in the bedrock that led ever deeper and lower, until the water began to warm, and the radar finally registerred the dragon ball in close proximity. There, laying wedged into the skeleton of some strange great fish, was the dragonball.

Physically drained of her reserves, the changeling gripped the ball, sliding it into it's place next to the others, and proceeded to tap into her chi, 'flying' up out of the chasm, back the direction she had come till she could see light above the surface, breaking through a thin layer of ice into the frigid air above. "Just one more...." she spoke, grateful to be back out of that dark abyss. A glance to the dragonball showed that the final ball was to the south, in the same direction she'd been travelling north, and thus... she took off one last time, headed for the island that held the seven star ball.

OOC: 632 words, Obtained the 5 star ball

Added (03.07.2010, 10:15 Am)
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OOC: I neglected to remember that I had wanted to find this last ball in a new thread so we could handle our wishing and all that, so... yeah I'm reposting it in the new thread.