Disclaimer: I do not own Maple Story or the NPCs in it, I only own my characters and the plot. The original characters are mine.

Italics = Thoughts

WildOrion: Thanks for the review! Yeah, I have some issues with punctuation; I'm working on it though! And maaybe there will be one from every class, who knows? You missed out Karamel, actually, he has one too. Again, thanks for your review. :)

Chapter 6: Investigations and Hidden Street

Sunlight streamed through the glass windows on Replex's room and shone on his face. He covered his eyes with his hand, blinking a few times sleepily.

"Is it dawn already?" He yawned, stretching and getting off his bed, taking care to arrange the blanket and pillow back properly. He stretched his legs and arms a few times, before putting his glasses on and taking a small shower in the bathroom, washing his face and hair. He took a glance at the clock. "7am? I have some time to clean and dry my clothes, I guess." He took off his clothes and wrapped the lower portion of his body with a towel. Replex then gave his clothes a quick wash, squeezing most of the water out of them and letting them sun on the bed. Meanwhile, he sat down on the chair in the room, staring at the clock.

A knock on the door made him turn his head. "Come in," he called out. The door opened with a creak and Weniry walked in. Upon seeing Replex half-naked with just a towel around his waist, her cheeks started turning a crimson red and she immediately turned around in embarrassment. Replex gave a small chuckle. "It's alright, Weniry, there's no need to be embarrassed."

Weniry started stammering. "S-Sorry for intruding... I-I didn't know."

Replex gave a modest chuckle. "I said it was alright."

Weniry shook her head. "I-It's not right for me though. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you that I needed to take a shower as well, so I was thinking that we should meet downstairs for breakfast in an hour's time?"

"Very well; take your time, it's no rush." Weniry immediately ran back to her room, closing the door behind her. Replex gave a quizzical look. "Why is she so embarrassed just seeing me without my top? Maybe the guys in Ellinia don't take off their shirt after a hard day's work of training like we do in Perion..."

An hour later, Replex was sitting down at a table in the inn, waiting patiently for Weniry. He heard someone rushing down the staircase and turned.

"I'm sorry! My clothes took longer than expected to dry!" Weniry called out to him, bowing repeatedly in an apologetic manner. Replex smiled.

"It's alright. Come on, let's get some breakfast." He said, grinning. Weniry blushed softly, taking some mesos out to order their food. Luckily for them, they managed to get some pancakes with maple syrup, much to Weniry's delight, surprisingly.

"You like pancakes with maple syrup, huh?" Replex asked, watching as Weniry poured a lot of syrup over her pancakes. Weniry blushed a little bit, embarrassed by her behavior of pouring so much syrup.

"Yes. However, we don't get access to pancakes that often in Ellinia. Well we do, but the syrup is hard to make just right with the correct amount of sweetness," Weniry explained, scratching the back of her head. "I love pancakes for some reason... Master Grendel said I used to ask for pancakes a lot... Hehe." Replex grinned, putting his hands together.

"Let's eat!" He said out, picking up his utensils to start eating.

As they were both digging into their meal, a bowman dashed in through the doors of the inn, arriving at their table. He was panting heavily as if he ran an entire round around Victoria Island.

"Whoa, chill dude. What's up?" Replex said, offering his drink to the bowman, who pushed it away with a gloved hand. His entire face was red from running.

"Mistress Athena summons the both of you! It's urgent and she wants you to see her as soon as possible! Erm, after you're both done with your meal that is. She says it's regarding Leo, he's gone missing!" The bowman said amidst his pants, waving his arms in an exaggerated manner

Replex and Weniry both glanced at each other, wolfing down the last bits of their pancakes before rushing to Athena's house. As they approached the tree house, they saw Athena debriefing a group of bowmen, and watched as that group saluted her and scattered. Athena turned and spotted the duo, waving at them to hurry up. The duo stood before Athena, panting a little.

"Good morning, Mistress Athena. What's wrong? What happened to Leo?" Weniry asked, holding her side slightly in pain.

Athena had a worried look on her face. Her hair was in a slight mess, as if she did not have enough time to tidy it before meeting them. "This morning, Leo didn't report for the morning briefing as he usually would. I always give a morning briefing to the bowmen that patrol around the town. When he didn't appear, I had a small group search around Henesys for a bit, and they found this." She took a small, metal, rectangular military necklace out and showed it to Replex and Weniry. It had Leo's full name carved on it.

"This pendant was a gift from me to him when he was younger. He wore it with pride and never takes it off no matter what. The bowmen found it lying in the grass near West exit of Henesys, near the Henesys Hunting Grounds." Athena's eyes showed great concern over this issue.

"I know this may be a bit too much to ask of you considering you have just arrived in Henesys, but could you please assist us in finding Leo? I fear he may have been captured by the robbers, but that is but a mere hunch."

Replex frowned, his eyes blazing in anger. "No problem, Mistress Athena. If it really was the robbers who took Leo, we'll make them pay." He then turned to Weniry. "Come on, let's make haste, Weniry!"

Weniry nodded, following Replex. There was a puzzled on her face though. When they were out of earshot, she pulled at his sleeved and asked, "Why do you seem so agitated by this? I thought you didn't like Leo all that much."

Replex opened his mouth to reply, but paused, closing his eyes. "Yes, I don't like Leo's stinkin' attitude one bit at all. In fact, I really dislike it. However, no matter how much his attitude stinks, he's disappeared, and could be in some danger. When that happens I don't care, I just want to help him. We can sort out the differences later."

Weniry looked at his face. He seemed very deep in thought and very serious. She smiled softly. "Well then, let's go looking for clues then," she said, pulling Replex along with her.

It was only a five minute walk from where they were to the entrance to Henesys Hunting Grounds. As they approached the entrance, Weniry grabbed Replex's sleeve to stop him. "Replex, Mistress Athena said the pendant was found around here, wasn't it? Let's look around. I'm pretty sure all the other hiding spots in Henesys would have been checked out by the scouting teams."

Replex nodded, staring to look around. He observed his surroundings; there were two really huge trees that stood out in town, and a few mushroom houses which already had occupants. It would not make sense for them to go barging in on the residents there, declaring that they were looking for a missing person. That would be too rude and abrupt, Replex thought. He gave a shrug, climbing onto a stack of hay which surprisingly managed to withstand his weight. He looked around and saw more flowers and grass, as well as more houses. There was still no sign of Leo or the robbers, sadly.

"Have you found anything, Replex?" Replex looked and saw Weniry, her clothes already slightly dirtied. He gave a small chuckle.

"Did you try finding a hole in the grass or something Weniry? Your clothes are dirty again." Weniry blushed, holding her staff close to her.

"Erm, I did, I guess..." She murmured shyly. Replex laughed, but frowned slightly. He leaned against the tree, pulling the ends of his hair slightly.

"There really isn't a single trace left except for that pendant. Damn, those robbers are really good. Damn it!" Replex slammed his fist against the tree in anger. Weniry's eyes opened wide as she pushed Replex away from the tree. "Hey, hey! Weniry, what's gotten into you?" Replex asked, surprised.

Weniry was looking at the tree, her gaze going from the base from the base of the tree to the top. She raised her hand to touch the bark of the tree. "Feels like a normal tree," she says. She suddenly rapped her knuckles sharply on the tree. To Replex's surprise, it produced a loud, hollow sound.

"A tree making a hollow sound?" Replex said, flabbergasted. Weniry gave a wide smile.

"If this tree hides a hidden passage... I believe this will lead us to where Leo is," She said confidently. She jumped onto the nearby stacks of hay, trying to reach for one of the lowest branches. Replex gave a sigh, and climbed behind her, holding her by the hips gently and lifting her up on his shoulders.

"Aaah! Replex, what are you doing!"

"I'm giving you a hand! Stand on my shoulders and you should be able to reach the branch!" Replex yelled slightly. Weniry blushed, slowly getting up on Replex's shoulders. She barely made it up on the lowest branch, climbing onto it and sitting on it. Replex smirked to himself as he bent low and jumped, hands outstretched as he reached for the branch and grabbed it, pulling himself up.

Weniry fanned herself slightly with her hand. "I'm not used to physical work," she groaned. Replex chucked as he leaned back onto the tree, only to let out a surprise yell.

"Woah!"

Weniry turned to see Replex gone, and that there was a large carved out hole in the tree where Replex should have been. She peered inside and saw a slope down. "Well, well, well. I wonder where this leads." Without a second thought, she slipped in as well, holding onto her belongings tight as she slid down the slope. All she saw a bright flash of light before landing on her rear painfully. She groaned, getting up and rubbing her rear gently.

"Had a fun slide too, Weniry?" She heard Replex's voice coming from behind her. She turned and saw Replex sprawled on his back on his grass, looking at her. "Fell backwards and landed like this. Thought I would lay here for a bit and stare at the sky, even though we fell into a tree trunk," Replex said jokingly.

Weniry looked around. Even though they had fallen into a tree trunk, there was grass around and blue skies. A rope ladder dangled beside her, leading upwards into another tree where there was another small hole. There was a small mushroom house in the distance.

"I think I read about this before. I believe this is a Hidden Street."

"A Hidden Street? I heard Karamel mention about it before, but I wasn't really paying attention to him," Replex replied, getting up while rubbing his back.

"A Hidden Street is a different location that can be accessed by an entrance. For example that hole in the tree trunk that we fell. That bright flash I saw just now was probably the magic that teleported us here," Weniry explained, then pointed at the rope ladder leading to the other hole. "This is probably the way back to Henesys. Hidden Streets are everywhere, but like their name, are really well hidden."

"So this is one spot the bowmen didn't know about. I'm surprised Athena doesn't know about it either, but then again, it IS well hidden." Replex continued to rub his back gently as he tilted his neck in several directions. "Well, let's investigate that house. I'm willingly to bet all the mesos we have that Leo and the robbers are inside that."

"But Replex, the mesos are ours, even if I win the bet, it's still ours..."

"Oh sheesh Weniry, have a joke!"

After a rather long walk across the flowery plains, Replex and Weniry reached the mushroom house they saw. Replex shushed Weniry, ducking below a window. He points inside, and the both of them peep in to get a view of the house through the glass while trying to remain unseen.

The room was dimly lit, but bright enough to get a good view of whom and what was inside. Objects of all kinds were piled up in one corner, some being gems, some being antiques. Replex could hear some voices, and shifted to the door and pressed his ear on it to listen. He could make out a male's voice and a female's voice, as well as Leo's.

"The two of you will pay dearly for robbing the citizens of Henesys!" That was Leo's voice for sure, Replex thought. A loud slap was heard followed by a cry of pain from Leo.

"Try us boy. No one knows of our hiding location. How do you think we've evaded capture from Athena Pierce and you this entire time?" Replex frowned. A male voice now, he thought.

"..."

"You know, you were beginning to become a big pain in our neck, boy," the male voice continued.

"Me? You two are already a big pain in the citizens of Henesys's ass- Ack!"

A loud smacking sound was heard, followed by a cry of pain from Leo.

"Shut up or the next slap will hurt even more. Be glad that we aren't torturing you that bad, little bowman," the male voice said in a taunting voice.

Silence fell in the house and Replex could not hear anything else. He motioned Weniry to come to him. "Listen Weniry, I'll ram the door down alright? See if you can stun them with your magic for a bit."

"Isn't it a bit reckless?"

"Reckless is my middle name, Weniry," Replex replied, backing off a bit. "Here goes nothing!" With a loud cry, Replex charged forward and rammed the flimsy wooden door down, drawing the attention of the people inside. Weniry followed him quickly.

"Seems like we have company," the male warrior said. He had red hair that was brushed back, and deep blue eyes. He wore a simple t-shirt and jeans, carrying a red spear in his hand.

"Apparently we do. How did they managed to find us, I will never know." This time, a female magician spoke. Her curly green hair reached her shoulder, curling even more at its ends. Her dark green eyes shone with a wicked glint, and her fingers twirled a yellow and blue wand nimbly. She wore a blue skirt and shirt, tilting her hips slightly in an arrogant manner.

Behind the two of them was Leo tied up in a chair. He had several bruises on his face and his arms, and his pants were ripped in several places. He had a look of utter disbelief when he saw Replex and Weniry, as if he just could not believe they were just standing in front of him.

"A Serpent's Tongue... A spearman!" Replex exclaimed.

"That's a Wizard Wand... Are you a magician from Ellinia?" Weniry asked.

"My name is Derelia, little mage. Yes, I'm a magician from Ellinia, what's that to you?"

"Likewise, to the warrior over there, I'm a spearman from Perion. You seem like a complete newbie though. My name is Hakru."

Replex gripped his sword and shield tightly, shaking in anger.

"Why? Why are you robbing the people in Henesys!" He demanded angrily.

"Why? We don't need a reason. It's kind of a pleasure to steal stuff. Since Henesys is the business hub, there are plenty of priceless artifacts here to pillage," Hakru said, tapping the edge of his Serpent's Tongue on the metal part of his gloves gently.

"Well, no matter what, you two have to be stopped!" Weniry spoke out. She gave a loud scream as lighting crashed down on the ground before her, narrowly missing her.

"The question is, do you two beginners have the skills to stop us? You are aware we have already progressed to the second job at least." Derelia grinned wickedly, twirling her wand and cackling loudly.

Replex growled, anger building in his veins. "Don't be too cocky just because you're of a higher job tier than us!"

Hakru gave a cocky smirk, widening his stance and holding his spear with both hands.

"Then just try and stop us!"

A/N: Quite a short chapter, not much except on what really happened to Leo. The two robbers' names are made up on the spot and have no meaning to them... Hehe. As usual, I love constructive criticism~ R&R!