Upon hearing the kerfuffle, Lokki started looking around to try and determine the matter, but before he could, he suddenly found himself floating for the second time that day.

"Hey! Put me down!" he ordered the massive, scaled arm that seemed to be supporting him - he recognised it as belonging to the gargantuan lizard. "What's going on, anyway?"

"We're being attacked," Maize swiftly informed him, "Overlanders."

"Hmm... perhaps I could attempt to negotiate with them?" suggested Lokki, then he turned as best he could to face his carrier, "Unhand me at once." He winced as the creature acted contrary to his command and tightened its grip.

"No," denied Nightshade, "It's too risky; we still don't know that we can trust you."

"Very well," resigned Lokki. Since his arrival he had obviously been thrust into some kind of conflict and it was becoming increasingly pressing that he choose a side. A myriad of thoughts rushed through his head.

On the one hand, there was his present company: these beasts - no, it was not fair to call them that. Beasts would not have spared him; as much as if baffled Lokki to admit, deep down beneath their curious, furry exteriors, these were people he was dealing with. However, they still seemed to loathe him, mainly as he looked like the enemy.

The enemy: the humans - or Overlanders as they were known. He could side with them, though if they discovered him cavorting with the animal people, they might render him guilty by association. He could claim - without stretching the truth - that they had taken him captive, but he did not exist here - until earlier today there had been no trace of him in this world - which would make these Overlanders awfully suspicious.

Another thought struck him. Really, he was no more under obligation to the Overlanders than to his captors. As far as he knew, they were human in appearance only and, as he had learned today, appearances could be deceiving. In any case, he was essentially an alien to both sides.

Finally, he remembered some of the things that had been said and done.

"...if we killed him, we'd be as bad as Overlanders," the panther had said.

He remembered the message on the tree: "TOO DANGEROUS".

He remembered the female cowering from him.

All of a sudden, the nature of the conflict became clear to Lokki. They did not hate him. They feared him. They were being opressed. He knew which side he would take for now.

Though this had taken Lokki only a minute or two to consider, the camp was already on the move. Not content to sit idle and be carried along, he muttered something under his breath and burst into flames. The sudden heat and absurdity of the situation caused the reptile to loosen his grasp enough for Lokki to break free and distance himself from his captor. (OOC Note: these flames are quite real, though they do not harm Lokki. The longer he holds them up, the more taxing they are, so he tends to only use them breifly and sparingly).

Extinguishing his own magical flames, he unstrapped the shotberd, pumped the barrel and took aim at the oncoming Overlanders. He had eight shells in it already and had counted ten, maybe eleven in his pocket.

"You all continue ahead. I'll provide covering fire!" he cried, backing away from the attackers as he did so. He did not expect to hold out for very long: the shells were less effective at longer ranges and he was tired and battered from the day's events.

OOC: Ack, another long, Lokki-centric post, sorry about that. : Uninterrupted, he'll probably only let off four or five shots before turning to flee with the others. Still, it's up you other RPers what happens now, not me. ;P

Sparks stood back next to Lokki. "He has a point. I'll hang back here. Go!" He revved a fireball in his hand and pitched it straight at the Overlanders.

IC:
Raoul had just informed Selena and Captain Meeka about the situation and had just returned to see Sparks and the captive firing upon the oncoming foes. Hesitating for only a moment he joined them,
"Can you cover me?"
They nodded, so he charged in, the Overlanders were not quite so prepared for this, but they started shooting at him, most of them got hit with a fireball in the chest, another was shot in the head, both died relatively instantaniously.
Raol punch an Overlander in the face, and slashed anothers arm. He soon lost count of his apponents, but guessed there to be around 30 armed humans, give or take a few.

Now he was surrounded by a small group of them, they hit at him and tried to get close enough to shoot at him without hurting someone else on their side.
Growling angrily he tried to fight his way out of his position, surcumming to rage and fghting with every part that could hurt.
The Overlanders tried to block all the fierce attacks from the young panther...
TBC

For a moment Xan had considered grabbing Lokki and breaking his neck. He had been right...the creature, Overlander or not, was too dangerous.

Then the Bard drew his gun and began firing, not at them, but into the trees! The thought crossed Xan's mind that it was simply a cover to gain their trust, until he heard an Overlander cry out in pain from the shot. He was actually aiming for them!

Xan had seen enough. Lokki couldn't be on the side of the Overlanders if he attacked them!

The Komodo Dragon spun round to face the oncoming army. Raoul was already in the thick of the fighting, being supported by the one who could control fire and Lokki. As Xan saw the Overlanders running in from all sides, his face darkened. He wasn't missing out on a chance like this!

He began to sprint towards the group, throwing all of his considerable weight into the charge...

As Lokki loosed off his fifth shot, he saw the giant reptile charge past him towards the attackers. He had three shells left in the shotberd and fourteen in total. Knowing he would have to conserve ammunition, he ceased fire.

"Terribly sorry, but I can't keep shooting any longer," announced Lokki, knowing that he could not engage the Overlanders in mle either, given his current condition. "I do, however, have one last trick up my sleeve..."

Focussing carefully on the humans, he bowled several of them over with a powerful gust of air. Unfortunately, he forgot to ground himself against the reaction force and was sent hurling back into a nearby tree.

"Oww..." he groaned as he dragged himself slowly to his feet. Turning tail, he half ran, half limped after the fleeing furred ones.

IC:
Nightshade had managed to round up all the others rescued from the Lunar lab, and was now trying to get them to move at a fairly fast pace in an organised fashion, but about one third were panicking, another third was running off into the trees and the last one was being thankfullt trusting and fairly calm.
"Come on, keep together, sfaety in numbers, try not to panic, that's what they want us to do, break and run. It'll be easier o pick us off one by one." She ran around the lage group like a sheepdog, feeling slightly ridiculous but knowing it was a necessity.
She came to the front of the mass and cried loudly,
"Follow me!"
In her arms she had Serenity, whom she had picked up and carried with her, she'd need the child to tell her the way to the Freedom fighter base, but she also couldn't just leave her there on the ground.
Knowing she had a lot of people counting on her to get them out of there alive, she kept her pace equal to the oe she'd set, and hoped she was going in the right direction...
TBC

Panic. That's all she felt.

For the first few minutes of the attack, Selena had felt nothing but sheer panic. Overlanders were coming to attack them, kill them. John Meeka had dashed away, claiming that he should help those others escape the attackers. And Selena had been alone for a brief moment. An Overlander came crashing into her, bowling the she-wolf over, sending her sprawling into a thorn bush. Yelping in pain, Selena could only watch as the man got closer, aiming his gun.

"Heh...bye, bye, scum...." He whispered, smirking.

And then she snapped. A feeling of pure, undaunted anger unleashed itself, causing Selena to lunge at her attacker, snarling.

"Scum!?!? YOU'RE THE SCUM!!!" Her eyes flashed as she tackled him to the ground, relishing in his shout of surprise.

Picking up his gun, she pointed...

And fired.

As she stood there, panting, a battle raging around her, a silent tear slipped down her face. Without so much as a glance at the dead Overlander, the she-wolf darted out from the cover of the forest, immediately spotting Raoul. He was surrounded. Using the ammo she had left, Selena took out three of the men, allowing the panther to recover briefly and finish off the remaining Overlanders around him.

"You alright?" Selena asked, watching as Sparks hurled another fireball.

"Yeah...thanks." Raoul looked at her in a concerned sort of way, before mentally shrugging it off.

They immediately found themselves immersed once again. This time there were less attackers.

---

Maize winced at the sound of a gun being fired as she ran around camp. A thick burlap sack hung from her shoulder, filled with some of the food rations. Furries who were working on shelters dropped what they were doing and followed the designated leaders. The fire was stomped out, dirt being spread over its embers.
On the run again! Thought Maize, herding a small family over to Nightshade.
What a fun welcome home party this is.... The wolf wrinkled her nose.

"Nightshade! That's the last of them!" Looking over the group, the purple female watched as they anxiously whispered to one another, some whimpering in fear.

The gunshots in the background certainly didn't help much.

"Alright! ALRIGHT!! Calm yourselves, quickly!" She called, waving her arms. John appeared beside her, breathing hard.

A hushed silence fell.

"Where are we going?" Someone from the crowd asked.

"Let's hurry up and decide! I don't want to be killed!"

The last statement caused a panic wave. Children clinged to their family, and adults leaned on others, worry and fear etched into their features.

"You WON'T be killed!" Nightshade bellowed.

His first charge had bowled over some of the attacking army, and now Xan was fighting hard, attacking the crowds of Overlanders with all his strength. He noticed Raoul a few meters away in a bit of a predicament, surrounded by a group of the soldiers, but before he had time to intervene some of them collapsed dead, shot from behind, and the panther escaped.

He felt an impact strike the back of his neck (there was little pain...he had felt so much in his life that he was almost immune) and he spun round to see an Overlander trying to hit him with the butt of his gun. Xan's eyes narrowed and he traded the soldier a square punch in the face, throwing him against a tree and shattering his jaw. The lizard stepped forward and delivered another blow, crushing the man's head against the tree with a sickening CRUNCH.

Xan withdrew his bloody fist from the remains of the man's face, his own face completely expressionless. There was no pity, no remorse.

Pain. Immesurable, insatiable pain. The chemicals in his bloodstream speeding up his metabolism to fifty times it's normal rate, filling his every nerve with a searing burning. The sharp, shattering jabs of electricity running through his body, forcing his muscles to wrench and twist convulsivley.

"You are special! You are the first in our new series of experiments..."

The pain, increasing, turning all thought to dust before it's relentless advance. His body's natural reaction was to black out, to protect his sanity from the unimaginable agony...but thanks to the cocktail of steroids the Overlanders were using, he was unable to lose contiousness, unable to escape the all-consuming fire...

It was a curious feeling...losing one's mind...

Another of the Overlanders was leveling his gun at Xan's head, but before he could pull the trigger his skin began to melt, glowing slightly with heat. Xan ignored the man's screams and spun round, to see Sparks stood behind him, grinning widely.

Xan gave him a respectful nod, then turned back to the fray, looking for any other Overlanders that weren't currently being delt with...

OOC: Sorry for vanishing there...Oh, and Reni isn't EXACTLY a child...she's her normal age of 19 here, as is Surge.

IC:

Reni was, in fact, panicking. Quite a bit. "Leave me! I'll destroy us all! They made me their involutary spy! I'll destry us all!" This was what she WANTED to say.

What she actually said was quite different. "Don' let them get me! Please! They're gonna hurt me again! Don' let them get me!"

She tried to squirming out of Nightshade's grip, determined to lose herself in the woods in the middle of all the colective panic. She flailed about, heedless of where her metal claws were digging in to her benefactor's body.

She was, in fact halucinating a little. The panic flooding her mind was causing her to see herself held firmly by an overlander instead of Nightshade. "AAAAHHH!!!! LEMMEGO LEMMEGO!"

Surge trotted besided Nightshade as she struggled to hold the barely-manageable princess. He kept trying to calm Reni down by whispering calmingly to her, but it wasn't working.

TBC

IC:
"Thanks Selena," Raoul said briefly before chargig back into the pile, the fierce fight put on by the furries and Lokki was taking its toll.
Now quite a few had run, but several still remained. Raoul tried to stay cose to lots of them so they would be wary of firing at their own troops, but someone got lucky.
He cried out in pain as he took a bullet in the shoulder. He clutched it in pain with one arm and brutally slashed his attacker with the other.
Biting his lip he let go of his arm, wincing as he felt blod trickle down his onto his arm.
He growled and tried to get out of the crowd, a difficlt thing, then he saw something useful. He ripped it off the belt of the human and pulled out the pin.
"Fire in the hole!" He cried and charged out of the way, tossing the frag grenade ino the ranks of the Overlanders. They cried out as it detonated. When the smoke cleared, only one rank was left standing.
"Okay guys! Lets finish them!"
TBC

IC:

"Gimme a sec!"

Raoul turned to Selena, shielding his eyes as he was met with a bright flash of light. The she-wolf was collecting a giant ball of magic, bright light to be exact. With a grunt, she raised it over her head, turning to give the panther a look saying "Move...or else".

"From us to you all...WITH LOVE!!!" Selena smirked as she released the energy she had been harboring, sending the ball into the last rank.

The light covered the Overlanders in a bright, shiny dome, causing them to cover their eyes, momentarily blinded.

"Sparks! Raoul! Now! While they can't see!" She shouted.

They waisted no time. Raoul, Sparks and Xan all converged on the small group from different angles, cutting off their escape.

Xan grabbed a couple of the Overlanders and threw them across the clearing, smashing their heads against the trees. Then he dived to the floor and spun his body round, tripping some of the group up with his powerful tail. A couple of neck-snappings later he stood up again, looking to see how the other two were doing with their adversaries...

Lokki carried on his way to catching up with the ones fleeing the attackers, only once looking back when a he caught a sudden, bright light catch the corner of his eyes. He did ponder going back to help fight off the Overlanders, but he reminded himself that he was too tired and weak right now. Perhaps if they were attacking again on the morrow he would be of more use, though he would probably still be sore from his earlier fall then. There was always magic, but he was not sure how long he could keep it up or how strong it would be in his current state - he was fatigued and had not eaten for several hours.

"Sorry for not lending more aid to fend off the attackers back there," he called out as he approached some of those he recognised: the panther, who was carrying the hedgehog, and Maize. "Whither are we headed, anyway? Are we merely distancing ourselves as much as possible from our assailants, or have we a specific destination?"

IC:
Nightshade lost her patience and tightened her grip, Serenity couldn't struggle anymore in the Panthers strong grip.
"I'm sorry Serenity, I can't let you run away, we need you here, besides, the Overlanders would catch you easily."
TBC

IC:
Raoul looked a little stunned at first but got his act together and started hacking at them with hsi claws, kicking them and punching them while they were disorientated, he felt a little dizzy himself, he was wondering blurrily how much blood he'd lost.
He slashed his side vicously and stood back, only Sparks part was left to play.
TBC

IC:

Selena noticed Raoul, stumbling a little. She wondered at first if he was just tired from the fight, until she spotted blood trickling down the panther's shoulder. Running to catch up with him, she steadied her feline friend.

"Raoul! Where did you get that wound?" Selena didn't wait for an answer as she tore off part of her skirt. "It must be treated quickly!"

---

Maize noticed Lokki come running up, asking for specifics on where they were to go. She ran a hand through her long bangs and sighed before turning to their guest.

"Right now we're trying to calm everyone down so we can actually get somewhere. No destination has been chosen as of yet, but we are hoping to put a little more space between us...." She looked toward the battlefield and sighed again.

Maize, frustrated, turned to the large group of furries before them.

"ALRIGHT. You will NOT die, so keep any such thoughts OUT of your heads! We WILL get moving, once you all calm down, and SHUT UP. Got it?" She glared at them all.

"We're not trying to be mean, we just ask that you cooperate. Okay? Good. Now, move out!"

IC:
Raoul tried to push her hand away,
"No, we don't have time for that, we have to get rid of these guys then get the mob over ther to safety. Then we can worry about minor wounds."
I just hope that I don't do anything stupid like collapse from blood loss He thought grimly trying to force his vision to be normal again.
"Come on, Sparks can handle this, we have to get back to th main group and help keep them in order."
TBC

Sparks nodded. Forming a ball of fire in his hand, he clenched his fist around it, encasing his hand in flames. He leapt at the closest Overlander, which soon became the next two Overlanders as the being was sliced in two by a fiery lash from Sparks' hands. He leapt at the next one...and the next...and the next...

IC:
Nightshade looked over her shoulder, she was certain that through the trees she could see flames, Sparks work no doubt.
Then she looked back at the front and spotted a different shade of colour through the foliage, grey.
"Come on, I think I see a city, we can hide better in their."
Nightshade looked down at the Princessm still vainly trying to thrash out of her grasp.
"Serenity! Please tell me how to contact you're father or get to the Freedom fighter base, we need to get their pretty fast!"
TBC

"A city...?" pondered Lokki. It could certainly be a good place to eat and restock, but he had no money and no past here. Also, a lot of places do not exactly react in a friendly fashion towards people walking around with six and a half foot weapons on their back.

He turned to the panther. "Are you absolutely certain a city would make a better hiding place?" queried Lokki, "Surely such a place, having a far greater concentration of these so-called Overlanders, would be even more perilous? 'Tis akin to mouse hiding from an housecat by concealing itself within the cat's basket."

(OOC: We're finally back! But with a lot of posts missing >< How are we going to continue Gerbil and Ferrit? Posting a recap and picking it up again, or what?)

OOC: I don't know, hopefully it'l be restored. I guess we could do a recap...okay.

IC:
So far the furry fugitive escape vessel has crashed in a forest near a city after being damaged by Earth/Mobious defense systems. They evacuated and made camp, a few were killed. Lokki Galansbane a human but not an Overlander, happened to be in the area and tried to salvage stuff from the ship which promptly exploded, sending him flying through the air and he landed in the middle of the camp. He was captured by Xan and what they would do with him was debated about. In the end he was allowed to live but he was a prisoner among them, not tied up or anything, but not allowed to leave their company, Xan the mute komodo dragon is his keeper.
Then Overlanders came to try and either kill or take the furries captive, and any humans among them that were under suspicion of aiding their escape. While the main group ran to safety but Xan, Sparks (the lynx with a control over heat/fire), Lokki, Raoul (a panther) and Selena (a wolf with magical powers) held off the 30 or so humans armed with guns. They have so far been killed off but Raoul was shot in the shoulder and is losing blood.
The group lead by Nightshade (brother of Raoul and effective leader) carrying Princess Serenity Alicia Acorn Hedgehog with Surge at her side and Maize (a wolf with magical powers and teacher to Selena) close by. They are near a city and Nightshade thinks it would be safer to hide their, furries can split up and go to where they want to, while she intends to meet up with the freedom fighters by getting Serenity to tell them the way.

OOC: That's all I can do for now and there's probably bits I've missed and stuff I coul've skipped. But I don't have much time at the moment.

(OOC: Seems pretty thorugh to me Nothing springs to mind as missing.)

IC:
The last of the Overlander force defeated, Xan had commenced running after the rest of the group. He had temporarely lost sight of Lokki, and was scanning the crowd ahead for some trace of him. Not that he particularly expected him to be dangerous anymore. He had fired at his own people (wether they were or not...he protested they weren't) after all. But even so he wasn't a Mobian, and therefore was still better watched. Besides, Xan had been assigned as his guard.

He cought sight of the man up ahead, running next to Nightshade. Good, he wasn't up to anything. His curiosity satisfied, Xan simply began to follow the crowd, not really bothering where they were headed so long as Lokki was in his sights.

Selena frowned at Raoul's words, before grabbing him by his good arm and leading him away from the battle Sparks was finishing. When the panther began to protest, she silenced him with a fierce glare.

"It wouldn't do us any good to lose such a valued member like you Raoul..." She reasoned. "You NEED to be treated, and Sparks can finish up for us."

---Meanwhile---

Maize turned her attention away from the group of furries before them as soon as she heard Nightshade speaking to Serenity. The wolf bit her lip momentarily, before coming closer to Nightshade. Her ears flicked back and forth, trying to catch any seemingly dangerous sound.

"Nightshade...a city might do us just as much harm as good," Maize whispered, so as not to alert the crowd.

Nightshade didn't bother looking up at her. "Still, it's safer with places to hide than being here....plus, more Overlanders are bound to come looking for their missing posse."

Maize pondered that for a moment. "Yes..I suppose." She paused. "Want I should check it out?"

"Can? We already DID." Sparks touched down near the rest of the group. "I agree. in the city we can at least get supplies if we DO have to keep moving. I doubt the Overlander rations I stole'll last us long."

IC:
"Besides, wouldn't they think that we'd stay in the forest? As faaaaaaaaar away from the city and Overlanders as possible? Either way, at the moment its all we've got, though I agree, we'll have to be VERY careful, and I don't think we should stay there very long, just enough to rest up, and to figure out where to go next."
TBC

IC:
Raoul tried to struggle against Selena's grip, but a bout of dizziness temporarily prevented him as he tried to not black out.
Once the dizzy feeling passed he tried to object to being dragged all the way.
"Okay okay, I can run myself though," he looked at the doubtful epression on Selena's face,
"Really I can."
He tried to pull away again.
TBC

It seemed the rest of the group did not agree with Lokki's reasoning. "Well then, in that case," he began, "Since I'm Overlander in appearance, I should be capable of infiltrating the metropolis without arousing too much suspicion. Of course, I'll have to do something about my armament."

He promptly unstrapped his weapon and detached the shotgun from the end, carefully catching that the shells contained along the inside of the rest of the shaft and pocketing them, and concealed the firearm within his long coat. He then removed the blade from the other end and hid it in a similar fashion, leaving only the bare shaft. This he returned to its place on his back. This arrangement was not entirely casual, but nonetheless a lot less threatening than having a six-and-a-half foot polearm on display. He just hoped that he would not encounter any of those magic gates he had seen elsewhere that could detect metal.

"As one might imagine," he continued, "I lack any form of valid currency or background. Perhaps I could sell my lute as an antiquity and claim myself a tourist or holiday maker, but I'll cross those figurative bridges when I arrive at them. Do we have any proposed course of action?"

OOC: Sorry for not posting in so long.

OOC: No problem.

IC:
Nightshade thought it over for a few moments then agreed on something.
"Okay, you seem to be fairly trustworthy, we could let you scout out the area and find somewhere for us to stay, but I still think someone should go with you. The best bet would be the tallest person here who isn't panicking. All they'd need is a cloak or some form of clothing to hide the fact they're not an Overlander, hopefully they'll be over looked if they're tall enough. What do you guys think?" She asked looking towards the others.
TBC

Xan, once again stood in the shadows at the back of the group, raised an eyebrow at Nightshade over the heads of the others.

IC:
Nightshade saw the expression on Xan's face and rolled her eyes,
"Xan, would youlike to volunteer?" She asked, not without a trace of sarcasm.
TBC

Xan reached out and once agaon calved a message into a nearby tree.

"INSANE"

He folded his arms again and met Nightshade's gaze calmly, waiting for a reaction...

John Meeka raised his hand slightly, "I'll go with 'em. I already have a cloak...." He gestured vaguely at the cape around his shoulders. "Not that I have much to hide."

Lokki glanced over at the big lizard's message, which seemed to indicate some doubt as to the wisdom of the plan. At last, the two had something to agree on. Still, the female panther that seemed to lead the group had stated her plans and most were in accordance.

Then someone else spoke up and Lokki naturally turned to the source of the voice. "I'll go with 'em. I already have a cloak," John gestured vaguely at the cape around his shoulders. "Not that I have much to hide."

"Makes sense to me," commented Lokki to no-one in particular. "Neither I nor this fellow are likely to be detected as too out of the ordinary and this way there needn't be any concern that I'll go gallavanting off and join the Overlanders, since he can keep watch over me." He hoped this would satiate the reptile, who did not seem to trust Lokki entirely, but then again was not too keen on the current strategy either. "That is, so long as he doesn't mind," Lokki added as an afterthought.

"Not I," said Sparks, chuckling. "I'm kind of on every wanted poster board in every Overlander city, the bounty's high and I tend to burn most Overlanders on sight."

IC:
Nightshade shrugged, "Fine with me," she ignored the message on the tree, she knew the risks well enough.
TBC

IC:
Suddenly annoyed that she wouldn't let him go he pulled forcefully away and slipped free of her grip. He staggered away towards his sister to ask her what they were doing now.
TBC

OOC: Okay, this seems to be going really slowly so I'm going to have to give this a bit of a push. All those who were in PS9 will know what I'm about to do.

IC:
It had been a hectic day to get where they were now, in the Freedom fighter base at last. It had taken a lot of time to navigate the streets to reach here. There had been several close calls and a few more fugitives left the group, preffering their own way of survival, trusting in smaller numbers than the lot we had. But surprisingly we manage to get away pretty quietly, our "scouts" had done a good job and somehow managed to make a distraction so we could slip down a manhole and into the sewers. From there it took a bit of time to get Serenity to tell us where to go, the poor child seemed under the delusion that we were Overlanders trying to get her to tell us the location of the furrie rebels.
Eventually Surge managed to get through to her, but in the time more furries had trickled away, disappearing down the sewer paths, making their way to find a different way of life. Finally with the knowledge of where to go we had to hurry, the base was mobile and very hard to predict its next location, so we had to hope it hadn't left the vacinity already.
But now we were here, at last! All the others we'd rescued were taken away to some kind of residence block where they could find and make a home for themselves in relative safety.
But for the few "ring leaders of the operation" as they put it, there was no time to rest...

"So, you managed to escape from your cells on Prison ship nine, take control by knocking out all Overlander personel, then docked at the Lunar camp which was really more of a Lunar lab and managed to escape capture and not only steal a ship and bring all the non edited or dead furries with you, but you also destroyed the moon base as you left. I also understand that you were fired upon by the Earth defenses but managed to crash the ship with only a few casualties. I think we would be happy for you to join us in our fight to free our people, but only if you wanted to, your unique talents and skills would come in handy." The grey raccon spokesperson for the freedom fighters looked over the group.
The furries, Maize, Selena, Nightshade and Sparks.
And the Overlanders, Captain John Meeka and Lokki Galansbayne, both watched by their four gaurds, with them was Xan who'd refused to be left in the residence block and had followed them here to watch Lokki.
On entry to the freedom fighter HQ everyone had been ordered to hand over all weaponry, then after that they were patted down. If they refused, they were forced to hand their weapons over, if they struggled, they were taken away to be interrogated, the Freedom fighters weren't taking any chances. But for a few people, it wouldn't matter if they didn't have a gun handy.
"Also, Queen Sally would like to thankyou for the return of her daughter. Unfortunately, King Sonic doesn't know that she has returned yet, he is still at a military base organising the capture of one of the shuttles. We've already dispatched a messenger informing him of the good news." The racoon paced around them, looking at them each in turn.
"Where have you sent Raoul and the others?" Asked Nightshade watching the gaurds for Lokki and Captain Meeka.
"Raoul? Oh yes, now I remember, he was taken to the hospital tunnels, along with Princess Serenity Alicia Acorn Hedgehog, some red hedgehog called Surge went with her, something about taking care of her. The cat called Bridget Loranski has also been stationed there while our medics take a look at hre leg, she'll be up and about in a couple of days." The racoon finally finished his pacing and sat down in a chair, motioning for the group in front of him to sit on the chairs to his right. The group did so. Lokki and Meeka were also allowed to sit, but they were still surrounded by the guards, Xan seemed to prefer standing, leaning against the wall of the tunnel, even if it was fairly spacious and had been decorated a little with a dry floor, lighting and furniture, it was still obvious that this room was meant for mobility.
"Now, I offer to you the chance to join us and help us fight, or stay and live here in some form of safety. I'm afraud you can't leave now, for that would be to great a risk. I'm sorry. I'm afraid there's no other way. Make your decisions now for there's to be a meeting in fifteen minutes wether you're with us or not. The offer will be extended to your friends in the hospital as well, also including the others you rescued. I'll give you some time to make your decision." The green eyes furrie looked at them patiently, waiting for their reply...

OOC: Sorry for this but I really did think it was necessary. I'll take any complaints but this will make it easier and also cuts down the time'til we reach the action.

(OOC: No probs with me Gerbil. You're right, it was moving pretty slow.)

IC:
Xan immeadeately stepped forward and saluted smatly, nodding respectfully to the spokesman.

"You wish to join? Thank you. I'll inform them of your choice." He turned to the others. "Anyone else?"

IC:

Maize stood up silently, followed by Selena and John Meeka. The she-wolf looked tired and slightly weary, and Selena had a blank expression on her face. John looked more comfortable than most Overlanders would in a furry rebel base, because of his close connections.

"We will join your cause. As it is...we have nothing else left of our old home," Maize spoke quietly, before sitting down, a solemn expression on her face. Selena just nodded in response.

Meeka dipped his head, "I have nothing to agree to, since I am already bound here by loyalty to the cause." He paused, gazing at the raccoon that stood before the small group.

The spokesperson looked startled, but jotted some more things down on a clipboard that lay near his seat.

----Meanwhile----

He breathed a sigh of relief as both he and his companion climbed out of the ship, thankful they met no setbacks. However, he was startled to see that, a few yards away from their landing sight, there was another clearing. The ground was charred, and debris littered the area of singed grass and trees and shrubbery. The two furries glanced worriedly at each other, before running to inspect the area.

"Definitely looks as if another ship came down before us," He said, flicking his tail and shooting his partner a troubled look.

"Yup...however, I don't see anything that says the occupants didn't make it out." The bat's eyes glittered as he steadily gazed at the other.

"Which means..."

"...they're around here somewhere." His friend looked around, hopeful.

IC:
Angelo and Kamtaz walked cautiously through the forest, searching for clues, finally Kamatz smelt his sister, even though the explosion had covered many scents, he managed to pick out hers.
Moving cautiously they walked through to a clearing, with a few traces of life like burnt out fires and food scraps. Then they saw the blood.
They were in patches and after further investigation they found an Overlander corpse armed with a gun, the being seemed burnt.
"This place smelles of death." Muttered Kamatz, looking around at the remains of battle, obviously someon had come and taken the other bodies away.
"It looks like death too," stated Angelo, looking back to see trampled grass headed towards the city they'd flown over.
"I guess we head that way."

OOC: I just wnat everyone to do there thing before we get going again. So hurry guys/gals

Sparks let out a grunt of displeasure at the raccoon's announcement. "So...we stay and help or we stay as prisoners? Doesn't sound like you're giving us much of a choice, friend."

IC:
"I'm sorry but those are your only options for now. I'm afraid we just can't risk any people being captured and interrogated after finding our...HQ so to speak." He looked around them again.
"Once again I am sorry, to get permission you'd have to ask King Sonic and Queen Sally. But for now I'd say the likely hood of them letting you go is about a million to one."
TBC

The raccon suddenly grabbed a walkie talkie attached o a belt round his wasit and put it to his ear, he listened for a few moments before muttering some sort of reply and turning back to the 'guests' in the room.
"I'm afaraid the meeting has been pushed forward, we'll have to run to get there."
The group, some reluctantly, followed the furrie to the meeting room, and were given seats and then what seemed to be the important people came in and took the seats at the front. After a few more people arrived the meeting commenced.
"As you know, we're under constant threat of being discovered by the cursed Overlanders, we live in a form of paranois fear that somehow they locate us. Now we have an answer, we have made a decision to tackle this problem in a different way, it is going to be a difficult journey, but we need to succeed, for the sake of our people, and furrie rights. We're going to have to threaten the president with death, of course this will be a bluff, but it will at least make them listen, our conditions will be the immediate release of all furries, furrie entitlement to properties, equal rights for furries and overlanders and a portion of money for each of our kind, so that we may make a path in life, even thought I hate to admit it, if we tried to do what they did to us, we would be as bad as them. I know this is our main goal, but it will still take time, but this is how we have planned it-"
"Why didn't you do this before" Cried someone in near the back, Nightshade craned round to see who it was but she couldn't make them out. So she turned back to face the front.
"Because we didn't have detailed plans of the HQ, we needed to make sure there was a chance of them getting out alive, and a better way of getting to the leader of these Overlanders. We'll be going in through the roof with one team and through an underground entrance through another, the job of the roof team is to be a distraction and to attract the main defenses away from the president without obviously being a decoy, ie. too loud or clumsy or slow. I knwo this will be a hard task, and I kid you not when I say there's a chance that you will not come out of it alive, but its worth a try."
There was a brief silence as this news sank in, then,
"If you're interested stay behind after the meeting, and now to the next order of business."
The badger vacated his position to let a mouse with a headset and googles onto the stage where he coughed before speaking, she couldn't have been more than 14,
"Okay, we intercepted part of a message, its a kind of warrant or soment, I think it could be important, I just think people should hear it, you know, it might make more sense to others than me, ya see. Well, here it is."
The mouse padded over to a machine and fiddled around before a voice started to speak.
"...yes sev.ral..ve.esc...d.I'm.n.t.su...where.they.are..ut...eres.
a.certa.in..urrie.I.want.al.ve..t..as.br.ght.purpl.." then the voice was cut off by static adn then was cut off all together, the mouse came back.
"That's as much as we could get then it just faded away in static as you heard, if anyone knows anything please tell the code crew. Thankyou for your time." then she left, but she'd made an impact, especially on those who'd escaped from the Lunar lab, for the voice was obviously Dr. Regnads.
TBC

Maize grunted, before leaning in to speak quietly with Nightshade. "You don't think he means Serenity? I clearly heard 'bright purple'."

John Meeka said, "Yes, but look at you Maize...you're purple! It could be any one-"

"John! I hardly doubt it's me! I never did seem to be as important to Regnad at the princess was," The she-wolf hissed. She then turned back to Nightshade, "We should warn them...I'm pretty sure he means Serenity. She is the one he decided to experiment on."

Selena, meanwhile, had remained silent, taking in the news of an attack on the Overlander president. Right now, she was still bitter toward those hairless apes (save John) and she could care less if they were really going to kill the president or not. The blue wolf thought she had no problem for avenging her brother. No problem at all. But she knew that if she wanted to blame someone, it was Dr. Regnad, whom she knew had been the one to speak on that recorded message.

Whoever he wants....She thought, We'll keep him from getting to them...

Lokki was incredulous. He simply could not believe this overly ambitious, simplistic, idealistic excuse for a plan he had just heard.

"You may accuse me of cynicism, and there is the possibility that I've miscomprehended some detail or other," he spoke up, "But this plan - or my understanding of it - is sheer lunacy. Do you truly intend to waltz up, take hostage of the enemy head of state and demand complete social upheaval? Even if, for the sake of argument, the practical part of your machination goes as intended, they would never submit entirely; even just the first demand is a huge concession on their part. I have no idea of how long this struggle has been maintained, but revolutions do not go from nothing (which is what it seems you currently have from your extensive list of demands) to victory in one fell swoop. Besides, if you did by some incalculably huge twist of fate succeed in carrying out this contrivance, legal and political equality is not the same thing as a social equality. These Overlanders would simply find novel means of oppression within the new regime, twisting the laws if they had to."

His rant over and his opinions thusly voiced, Lokki relaxed and assumed an altogether more cheery disposition. "That's not to say I won't render assistance to the scheme if neccessary. I like a challenge."

OOC: A little note on my writing style. Except when begining "OOC:" or in an OOC paragraph, parantheses in my narrative are in character and parentheses in dialogue are spoken (asides and soliloquies are represened by entire sentences of italics).

Xan was nodding his head slowly as Lokki was speaking, and as the bard finished his eyes flicked to the faces of the Freedom Fighters, observing any reaction...

Selena blinked, before nodding slowly, watching the reactions of her mentor and friends. "Lokki is right, you know. Even if we did manage to take the president, the Overlanders would only agree to a certain amount of rights. Heck, they might not even go through with it...empty promises, that's what they'll be! And if, by some miracle, they do agree to certain terms, there's no guarantee that they'll stop making us miserable...."

Maize sighed, before rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Hmm...that is a good point, Lokki. And I'm sure the Royal Board has had the same doubts."

"But at this moment," John said, sighing as well, "Hope is all we have. And if the Overlanders do manage to surprise us all and agree to the terms we've set, I think that's all the Board really expects. I know my kind, and I know that they don't give up grudges easily."

IC:
The badger came up to the back of the hall and approached the group,
"Well we know this as well, we have some other plans, this is just to slow them down and get our people out, I know the plan sounds pretty much insane but there is some point behind it, we have to slow up these Overlanders so we have time to bring in our actual plan, its almost too late now to make Overlanders and Furries equal, but there is still a chance, but that will take time, and we don't exactly have an abundance in that. So we're doing this until the plan is operational."
Before anyone could ask he added,
"And don't bother asking me what the plan is, ts classified information. Only the top people get to know."
Then the badger walked off abit and stood around waiting for some recruits.
Nightshade thought through the plan that they'd been told and looked to the others.
"Well? Shall we try this? I know its askign a bit much after all we've been through but..." She stopped, there was no point really in continuing. She got up and went over to the badger to ask about the basics...

Selena just nodded toward Maize and got up, following Nightshade over to the badger recruiting volunteers. The purple wolf bit her lip, fully understanding the purpose of her apprentice's actions. Maize knew that Selena might make foolish mistakes along the way, so the she-wolf got up and followed the apprentice. John just threw his hands up in the air, before following suit as well.

"John? Are you sure you don't want to stay here and be a base operative?" Maize asked, as they came closer to the badger.

"No, Maize. I know what you're thinking...if Selena does something foolish, you won't be there to help her unless you go as a volunteer. And I know that you yourself could do something foolish trying to save Selena. So I'm going, like as not." His face was firmly set, but the purple wolf knew he was smiling inside.