OOC:WB! I can't believe you're back at school already, lol. You start the year in January, right? Like South Africa do...
Though I recall our holiday being about a month and starting in July 18. Also it was winter at that time of the year rather than summer... as opposed to the UK and other places >>;

Anyway, thanks very much ^^.
Cos it's okay . And yeah, don't be scared of Wraith. I'll allow any sort of, ' temporary conclusion' as it were depending on how people RP and write their posts.

IC:

Fang smiled at Wraith, before adjusting his hat. He looked at the younger hedgehog in a curious manner afterwards.
"Yeah, I do know of a Chaos Emerald nearby!" Fang answered when he cast his glance back at Wraith "but it's gonna cost ya! Heh!" he said shaking a finger.
Wraith rolled his eyes, not really concerned about that issue. After all, he could either just give him what he whatever the weasel wanted, or he could just kill him afterwards. After all, anyone that was carrying a gun around was obviously compensating for their weak outter strength so he thought.
"You get down to prices first then hmmm?" Wraith asked "I like your spirit!" he grinned.
"Thanks!" Fang sniggered, putting an arm around Wraith's shoulder and causing the hedgehog to suddenly scowl "I wouldn't get by without it, heh!"
"I'm sure..." Wraith muttered, pulling away and standing up straighter so as to appear like the most dominate figure in the ensemble.
"So where is a the chaos emerald and more importantly... what's the catch?" Wraith said folding his arms.
Caine in the meantime stood there, slightly afraid when he observed the two. The weasel was a shady character and Wraith obviously wasn't stupid enough to overlook that. He was becoming increasingly wary of the suspicious and somewhat 'backstabbing' vibes in this conversation. He suddenly wished more than ever he was back with the group where the individuals trusted one another. He hated having to live in fear.
"The Chaos Emerald is..." Fang began as he gestured towards Wraith, Caine and Roody to follow him "within that mountain there. The tallest peek. It's a fair walk but I'm sure it ain't nothing that fast hedgehogs can't handle..." he smiled.
"How did he know we were fast hedgehosg?" Wraith whispered harshly, exchanging a glance with Caine, thereafter the two looking at Roody, with Caine looking worried and Wraith looking angered.
"I didn't tell him! I swear it!" Roody whispered back harshly.
"And the catch? What's the catch?!" Wraith said looking at Fang in the eye squarely.
"The catch is that you have its guardian to face..." Fang smirked "and it's not going to be easy. I assure you. Heh."
Wraith shook his head, frustrated with the fact that the weasel was a little enigmatic in his dialogue.
"But I'll come with yers!" Fang said enthuasiastically. Wraith looked at him, about to protest.
"You need someone to tell you the guardian's weaknesses."
"You could just tell me now." Wraith said cooly.
"Naw! I want to journey with you people. You seem good companions... so why not?" Fang said, in the meantime, plotting to steal the Chaos Emerald Wraith had. Whether Roody had told him that Wraith had one, or whether he simply knew, was unknown.

OOC: Sorry to cut it short. GTG...

OOC: Sorry about the last few days, folks, I left Thursday for the wedding of my Missionary Training Center companion in Indiana/Ohio, and didn't really get the chance to get back on until today, and I've been scrambling to catch up with everything. I apologize for not letting you know I'd be away, I should have given that consideration. The wedding went well and I look good in a tux, that's really the sum of the event.

And yes, I liked SA1 tons, though I think in some ways SA2 handled the treasure hunting parts better, gave Knuckles and Rouge a bit more challenge despite the similarity of their challenges and abilities. Both of the SAs were good games that weren't terribly frustrating, unlike Sonic Heroes which I'm still working on after weeks and weeks of terrifying twists and turns like a rollercoaster, that game's intense, I'll give it that. And I'm getting way off topic.

And I just noticed that Alex is, like, going to be probably the only guy coming along so far on this main quest. XD I find that funny for some reason, while if it was mostly guys and one girl then it wouldn't be as funny, at least to me.

Ben, it's cool to bring in official characters, I haven't really given it much thought but I see no problem with it at all. I'd say anyone can bring in official characters, just use logic behind it and try not to bring in so many characters that you can't handle it.

But now, to RPing, which is both business and pleasure to me.

IC:
Taffy stared at Alex for a moment, then reached out and punched him hard in the shoulder. "Ow!" grunted Alex as he took the shot. His eyes looked at her with pain and confusion, asking the question his mouth didn't.

"I did that 'cause you're a crazy idiot for wanting to come along," explained Taffy as she started to walk back to the house, then she turned and looked back at him with a small smile, winking one of her bright blue eyes at him. "And thanks for that."

She headed back toward the house, leaving a somewhat confused Alex standing, still dripping though the warm forest air would soon dry him off. Eckli nudged Alex's leg with his nose, getting the rabbit to stop looking curiously after the raccoon and look down at the wolf pup. "Huh? What is it?"

"She likes you," Eckli stated matter-of-factly. "She's really happy you decided to go with her."

Susie put on a very thoughtful expression, and indeed she actually was thinking for a few brief seconds. The Boss told me to stick with Zee, but Clips here needs my help more, she thought, and in that brief impulsive moment she had made her decision, her expression shifting back to a goofy grin.

"Sure I'm sure! I can take care of myself, just about always have!" She reached up to her eye to flick off a tear that suddenly appeared there. "Never knew my folks or where I came from, in the first place...had to make my living stealing stuff in the city just to stay alive." Just as quickly as the tear had come, it was gone and so was any hint of sadness that came with it. Her tail flicked up happily. "But I learned a lot! Like how to run fast and stuff, you have to do that a lot in life and I'm good at it. So don't you worry your pretty ears over me, I'll watch your back."

She hopped down from the rock. "So, when do we get going? We gotta find your friend!"

Taffy returned to the house to find Bucky sitting at the table, her eyes dumbly looking at the crossword puzzle. Lena was leaning against one wall, her sword and her other things gathered together near her feet. Jim was finishing up the dishes, carefully washing them and getting them stacked away.

"Where'd Max go?" asked Taffy, looking toward Lena.

"He went outside," answered the fairy girl. "I'm not sure if he's coming with us or not."

"I wouldn't mind if he didn't come, but he does have a gun," snorted Taffy. "But that blockhead'd better hurry if he's coming, because we're going to head out as soon as we can. We've got to get started if we're going to make it to Danberg today." Her eyes softened. "Lena, can we step outside for a minute?"

Lena silently nodded, and followed Taffy just outside the door to stand next to the raccoon. "It's pretty scary, going off on some crazy quest like this," Taffy admitted to Lena. "But it's almost like this is what I was meant to do. Whatever Cipher has up his sleeve, I can't deny what I feel from the Chaos Emerald. It's just right, and now I feel like...like there's more to it than just living, right?"

The raccoon sighed. "I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but...I'm glad you came along. You're the only one I feel comfortable just talking to, like you know where I'm coming from. And that's important, I'm going to need someone who trusts me if we're going to find a place to stay in Danberg. It's an Overlander city where most of us won't be so welcome, you might be the only one who would look like you fit in there."

OOC: Credit goes to Pachamac for suggesting this particular part I'm putting down here. He also suggested the two assassins that I'm having the main villain bring in.

IC:
Somewhere far away from the heroes, in the heart of a fortress, a large circular room sat in silence. It was gray and cold, with a table dominating the middle of the room. In the shadows of this room, a single figure stood at one edge of the table. His eyes were visible, though it was only because his eyes seemed to grow darker than the darkness itself.

"Activate holoconferencing," came the figure's deep, precise voice, echoing from the corners of the room.

The center of the table rose up in a circular shape, and crystalline prisms extended themselves out from the raised platform. The prisms filled with light before shooting out beams of color, miniature rainbows of energy that formed into the shapes of several different individuals, all standing around the table in fully-formed 3-D images.

"Greetings, leaders of the Combine," greeted the figure, arms crossed in front of himself. "I need an update on the status of the Chaos Emeralds. Thanks to the bungling of certain agents who have been terminated, we have lost two of the Emeralds that we acquired, one to one of the Ultimate Life Forms we had created, the other to the traitor Cipher. The incompetence shown is not efficient, and you all are aware of the punishment for inefficiency."

The figure's dark eyes turned on one of the leaders, a tan-skinned human with bright platinum-blonde hair wearing a white labcoat and mirror shades. "Garos, what is your situation in Danberg? Have you found the Chaos Emerald detected there?"

The man calmly shook his head. "Not yet, my liege, but it will be found. My men are scouring the city for it, and it shall soon be ours for the taking."

"What of the Slayer project?"

Garos' shades glinted as his hologram shifted confidently. "He has done very well in disrupting relations between humans and Mobians, taking mercenary assignments of his own free will. He is being monitored, and he is actually on the trail of a group of Mobians who are headed toward this city."

"A group of Mobians?"

"A strange group. They appear to be a randomly-collected group, with one or two humans as well, but they appear to have been able to repel the Slayer. They might be after the Emerald, my liege."

The figure's eyes seemed to narrow into points of absolute black. "Do you think they will be a problem?"

"It is foreseeable that they might interfere. But they cannot fight both us and the Slayer, who is following them even as we speak. Our tracking device allows us to hear and see everything that he does here at the lab. My men rule the criminal element here in Danberg, we will be able to stop these people."

"Good. No interlopers should be allowed to interfere. Use as much force as necessary to terminate them. I will send you Bean and Bark, two of my most efficient assassins, to assist you. Do not fail me, Garos."

"Yes, my liege."

OOC: So there we are, setting up the stage somewhat more.

OOC: Yosh, both of the adventure games were great, but I think SA1 was better. It felt more old-school and natural to the Sonic feel then SA2, and I still dont think its right that you play as Tails in a mech.

And Terg, Alex isnt the only male in the group. True, Max and Factor havent said if theyre going or not, but there is Eckli as well, and Im pretty sure hes going, right? And Zephron, too.

IC:
Uh, shes happy? Alex replied back to Eckli. Although the pup had explained what had happened, he was still slightly confused by it. I like her too. Shes a good person. Alex went back to rubbing his head again, I still dont get why that means she whacked me around the head, though. Because Im a crazy idiot? Is that some kinda custom for people outside the forest to hit people around the head for being a friendly idiot?

The Outskirts of the Forest

He had sat there, awake now for the past thirty minutes, his back lying against the last tree on the border outside the forest, upon a hilly area that gave a view of the area below him and a short distance away. He was mostly relaxing now, recovering from everything that had happened to him, all the while paying close attention to the group he had encountered before. Some were familiar, some were new but nonetheless it seemed that they had all banded together. Or had they? It didnt really matter.

He had spent the remainder of the intense last night asleep, unconscious, drifting within his own mind and desperately trying to come to terms with what had happened before. His battle with the powerful Bat, his encounter with the swift and fast Hedgehog, and the devastating meeting with the three outside the wheat field, the rabbit, racoon and Overlander. And that had no doubt left a distinctive impression on him.

He was confused, lost he still is. There are pieces in his mind, his life missing. Everything doesnt add up what is his purpose? So many questions, too little leads on how to find answers. He sighed, closing his eyes and noticing how his perceptions changed from the darkness of the inside eye lids to a view a man could never be able to normally see. Flowing energy, the aura of every person and being. He could feel the energy in the wind and sky, the flow and aura of every single blade of grass and more specifically, the aura of each and every individual around the farmhouse below, even able to see through the walls of the building and identify what each person was doing, even feel a pen marking across a piece of paper, where the energy of the ink left an impression. He could feel it, even read it a crossword puzzle in fact.

His abilities had improved considerably in the last few days, although the strain was still there. He had pushed himself too hard, and although his abilities were incredible, he was still lost, confused, his mind at war with itself. He needed answers, a distinct purpose. Was the destiny he believed was his for his recent life, the death of all Mobians false? He didnt know. It was terrifying.

Although he couldnt quite be sure of what the group were planning, thinking or speaking in fact his aura ability hadnt been perfected enough to feel the energy of a persons sound waves and identify it as speech, he still felt confident, sure of where the group was going. They had been in that direction all this time.

They were heading for his home city. They were heading for Danberg.

And the Slayer would be following them.

OOC: I'm sure they'd be going...if someone asks them. XP Still waiting for somebody to talk to my two mobians at the momment.

OOC: I think I'd rather call him Nack. Sorry, I know him better that way ^^;. Anyway, thanks for allowing (:

IC:

Shortly after Nack had picked up and other assorted gear, he nodded towards Wraith and the group had thus began to make their way down the slopes and away from the Tavern. The landscape ahead of them was full of peaks and dips- where there were valley like regions in the dips and where the mountains become more bare with regards to vegetation and wildlife.
"Hmn. We'd probably be there by now if we didn't have to drag you along with us," Wraith said to Nack, kicking a loose stone as hard as possible which catapaulted it from the slope they were on towards the grounds below. Caine simply watched the stone faller deeper and deeper, until he lost sight of it as it faded from his sight range before hitting the ground below.
"What's the hurry?" Nack asked casually "when's the last time you took a walk, where you stopped to admire the scenery?"
Caine looked at the weasel curiously. He had to admit, that he found the panorama around him abseloutly amazing.
"What the hell is there to admire here?!" the frosty eyed hedgehog complained "all I see is bunch of obstacles in my way. Pah! If I had the seven Chaos Emeralds, I'd be able to bring down any mountain..." he added with a smirk.
Caine's ears perked, as he suddenly looked at Wraith and wondered what he meant by that precisely.
"Is that so?" Fang asked "you saying you'll be rich enough to bring down any mountain with the 7 chaos emeralds?"
Wraith frowned, wondering whether the weasel really was that naive, or whether he was putting on a front.
"So what kind of guardian guards the Chaos Emerald?" Caine asked for the first time, since having met the weasel. He kept his gaze away from him however.
"I would tell you, but I don't want to frighten you two... or three rather..." Nack remarked as he suddenly considered Roody as well, causing the Chao to give him a glare.
"Frighten me?!" Wraith scoffed "I've yet to be frightened..." the hedgehog said cooly, as he remembered that fight he had with Bucky, Karya, Eckli and Kohle. He also remembered his face off with Eclipse, the bat, before he fell unconcious to having had his energy drained by Riku biting him.
"Is he a psycho-scythe wielding overlander freak?" Caine asked.
Nack nearly stopped in his tracks when he heard that statement, but carried on as if it didn't bother him.
"That's a mouthful..." he laughed ever so slightly nervously.
"What?" Wraith replied.
"When I was with my group, this crazed overlander attacked us. For no reason. He had a scythe. And seemed to really hate us for being mobians... or something..." Caine shrugged "my friend Eclipse, the bat you fought- he defeated the overlander!"
"When was this?" Wraith frowned, picking up a sense of familiarity.
"About two days ago... he attacked us in this town building. When our group was heading to Danberg... can't remember what he was muttering. Something about us being a montrosity of mobian scum who needed had to die..."
"He sounds like that stupid freak human Wraith fought!" Roody said.
"Yeah... he does," Wraith agreed "judging from his dellusional statements and power-highs. Though I don't remember him having a scythe! Heh... pscho-scythe wielding freak..."
"That's cos we took his scythe when Eclipse defeated him..." Caine said, causing everyone to stop in their tracks all of a sudden.
"It's the same person," Wraith said lifting his chin, before smirking as he looked at Nack.
"You've been awfully quiet...." he said through thin lips.
"It was an interesting tale... and it's a small world, ain't it? heh..." Nack said forcing a laugh "but I assure you the guardian is gonna be more challenging than a scarecrow..." he said, as the group had finally arrived at the bottom of the valley, before progressing forwards through wildlife towards their destination.

Kari grinned at Alex, "So...you're joinin' us? Kinda glad mate...don't know many 'cept you, Bucky, Eckli, and Zeph." She patted him on the back and, her grin changing into a true smile. "It'll be nice to have some more familia faces around."

Eckli looked up expectantly. "So we're going Kari?"

The vixen nodded, laughing when the pup danced around, tail wagging so furiously his whole rear end shook. He danced around more, before yipping and running into the farmhouse to find Bucky and tell her they were coming.

I wonder if Max is still around here and coming, Alex said to Kari, after smiling from seeing Eckli bound off towards Bucky. He had decided to question about the red hedgehog after they had made a new found friendship, and since he was one of the only familiar ones he knew. And Lena, Riku and Bucky.

Max? Lena? Who exactly are they? Karya replied, not being too familiar with them.

Lenas and Overlander, the one who could use magic. Max was the red hedgehog with the gun, Alex explained. Karya nodded in response, understanding.

I think I saw him go around the building back there Kari replied, pointing in the direction. Alexs ears pricked up as he turned to look in that direction, and he responded with a Really? Yeah, by a tree.

Oh, thanks! Ill go ask him, Alex nodded, and then turned to run towards where Max was meant to be. The rabbit had arrived in seconds, and as he turned around the corner of the building to see him against the tree, he automatically spoke out to him. Hey, Max! Are you...coming with us?

Alex suddenly trailed off as he noticed the jet black furred Echidna near to Max. He was an unfamiliar face and Alex didnt know who he was, but he remembered seeing him in Midnights group earlier.

Hey there, Alex said, smiling. My names Alex. Whats yours? And are you coming with us?

Hey, Max! Are you...coming with us?

Alex suddenly trailed off as he noticed the jet black furred Echidna near to Max. He was an unfamiliar face and Alex didnt know who he was, but he remembered seeing him in Midnights group earlier.

Hey there, Alex said, smiling. My names Alex. Whats yours? And are you coming with us?

Factor turned to look at the rabbit, he didn't look threatening, and with that in mind he spoke. "The name is Factorea." he replied, "Factor ray, if you need help remembering it." the echidna turned to Max. "Going where?"
The red hedgehog nodded and began to speak but the echidna had asked a question. He turned to answer it. "Danberg, Overlander City - mostly for supplies in my belief." the crimson red hedgehog replied.

Factor nodded, "Ah, you will come in handy then." he muttered with a smirk. Factor has been the only one to see Max's secret. And Max glared at him to show his opinion on the matter. With another grin the echidna nodded. "I could go for some supplies. I'll come with you bunny." he said to Alex.

Alex raised a eyebrow. "The name is Alex." he said at the shady echidna.

Factor nodded. "I heard you the first time."

Alex then raised his eyebrow once more. "You called me rabbit."

Factor chuckled. "Are you a hedgehog, a fox, or a rabbit?" he laughed.

Max then turned to Alex. "Yeah, hes Alex, give 'em some danged respect 'idna." he spat in defense but then he spoke again. "And yeah, I'll come Alex. You know I need those parts to my plane." he grinned faintly.

"That's... true." Alex recounted the last few days, and how he had first met Max, and along with it the destruction of a good part of the forest with Max's crash landing. Although he still wasn't sure about Factorea, he decided to continue talking to Max.

"But that wasn't neccessarily what I meant. I was referring to what that guy, Cipher said in there, about the threat to the world and the Chaos Emeralds. Our first stop on this... 'quest'... is to Danberg. What I meant to ask was are you two joining this quest?"

Max shrugged. "I don't know." he said. "But I'll tag along as long as I can." Alex nodded to Max's responce and turned to the echidna, Factor. "And you?"

"Well as Knuckles says, quests need people to quest on. And I will gladly accompany you." he grinned.

Alex looked at Factorea with a confused and quizzical expression on his face. He didn't know who Knuckles was, but he didn't think it was that important at the moment. Instead he just smiled and nodded politely to the both of them.

"Uh, good to have you with us!" he said, smiling, but hesitating at first as he still found himself not comfortable with Factorea. "I'll go see how much longer we'll be before we... go."

Alex stopped in his tracks as he turned to go back into the building where the others were. What about Eclipse, and Suzie? They hadn't heard about what cipher had said, and Alex didn't know where they were, but they couldn't just leave a friend behind without explaining anything! "Umm..." he muttered to himself as he turned around the corner leading away from Max's and Factorea's visibility and walking towards the door of the building, his face visibly filled with concern and worry.

Taffy was interrupted in her chat with Lena as Alex came around the side of the building towards them. "Oh, there you are," he said as he approached them. "Have Eclipse and Susie come back yet? They didn't hear what Cipher had to say, and they don't know we're leaving soon."

Taffy shook her head, her expression softening as she thought of what brought Eclipse to leave the group. "I don't know what to do about them, Alex. They both ran off so fast that we didn't have time to tell if they were even coming back or not." Her expression hardened again as she looked at Alex in the eyes, a decision forming. "But they should be able to find their way back to this cabin, and Jim can tell them which direction we're going in. I don't like leaving them behind, but there's not much we can do if Eclipse feels he wouldn't help the group."

I I guess youre right. But its hard to leave a friend behind without even saying anything first to him, isnt it? I hope he and Suziell be okay wherever they are. They went in the direction of the forest and there are still some crazies out there, like that scythe wielding assassin Alex began to reply.

Eclipse can be a tough guy when he needs to be, Taffy replied a bit solemnly, but then perked up when she said. And I wouldnt worry about the Assassin. When we met before Eclipse managed to defeat him.

What? Alex replied, surprised and his eyes widened.

True, he was a bit strange then. I think he was being controlled by Lunaril at that point, but he still managed to beat him. Taffy finished explaining.

Thats still worrying, though. But, I guess Jimll be able to tell them if they come back, and maybe well meet back in Danberg. Alex finished.

Hopefully. Taffy smiled, and then turned to address everyone else in the room. Are we ready to go then? We might as well start this thing as soon as possible.

Lena dragged her foot in the ground. "I do hope he is okay. I mean I still don't know if I can trust him but I wouldn't want him to suffer any horrible fate," She said. She looked away toward the forest. "And then there is Riku. I just wonder what trouble she may get into. I felt something in her, like..." Lena hesitated. She didn't know how to say it but..."I think Riku's evil side isn't gone yet," She said.

Farmhouse

"Shiny, hard, ductile..." Bucky said reading one the clues of the crossword, straining her thoughts "...what you make helmets out of..."
"Metal?" Jim suggested as he happened to overhear Bucky as he passed through the kitchen. Bucky blinked drowsily as she noticed the stallion, preoccupied in putting cutlery and other assortments in their rightful place in the kitchen.
She glanced back at the password and smirked.
"Well it fits," Bucky replied, scrawling down the word before pushing the puzzle away "I hate problem solving. It's such a headache..."
Bucky suddenly noticed the black and white furred wolf pup, Eckli bound into the kitchen.
"Hey!" she smiled, bending down to pet him "how you doing puppy?"

Woods

As Wraith, Caine, Nack and Roody continued on their route, they found themselves entering a darker forest as it where in this supposed valley. The wood started to get darker, and mist began to pick up as they made their way.
A howling sound was heard, causing everyone's head to turn.
"What the heck is this place?!" Wraith asked, looking at Nack sternly.
"It's Shade forest," Nack answered, grinning as he turned to look at how Caine would react. The younger hedgehog's eyes drifted uneasily across the infinite number of dark trees.
The group continued to walk again, everyone keeping a wary look bar Nack.
"They say this place is cursed... well, according to the legend, or myth..." Nack explained, taking a moment to adjust his hat "wanna hear it?"
"No." Wraith replied.
"Alrighty. It began two thousand years ago..."
Wraith glared at the weasel in an unimpressed manner, which caused the sniper to laugh nervously.
"It might help you in your upcoming battle!"
Wraith frowned, before looking away and reluctantly kept silent as he awaited the weasel's story.
Caine in the meantime looked on as he awaited the story, a curious look on his face.
"Like I said, it began two thousand years ago. A knight and maiden passed through these woods one day. To their bad luck, they bumped into an evil echantress who threatened to punish them for passing through her forest. She was about to cast a spell upon the knight, when the maiden stepped in the way and caught the brunt end. And she was transformed into one of these trees..."
Caine opened his eyes wider, very interested in the story, whereas Wraith simply gave the weasel a cold look from the corner of his eye whilst pacing forwards.
"The knight became furious, and lunged in with a sword attack towards the echantress. Naturally she was able to draw the sword from the knight's grip through supernatural forces and to claim it for herself, and sent a power surge in his direction at the same time to tackle him down. And shortly after that... she took the plunge and drove the sword into the tree that was once the maiden..."
"Into thick wood?!" Wraith asked.
"No." Nack answered "the eerie thing here is that the tree began to bleed..."
At that mention, Caine shuddered somewhat. If the story was true, could that very still be around here somewhere?
"The knight saw this after recovering. Before he had a chance to pull the sword out of the tree... the enchantress cast a spell on him... and changed him into a grand stag. Beautiful creatures they are, but not very 'handy' when they have hoofs. Heh."
There was a considerable silence, bar the footsteps on the ground, with Caine staring at Nack as he anticipated on hearing the rest of the story.
"And what happened afterwards?" he asked worriedly.
"Legend says that ever since the enchantress cast those spells, the stag has been guarding, and mourning besides the tree as she continues to bleed. Even after two thousand years," Nack proceeded "the former human has ever since continued to stay by his maiden't side, surviving on thin hope that someone will come and 'be his hands and his strength'. Because legend says that once the sword is removed, both spells will be undone."
"Ha ha." Wraith replied.
"What's so funny?" Nack asked.
"The whole story. It's ridiculous."
"The stag and the tree could still be around here you know," Nack said simply.
"What, after 2000 years? I know trees can go on for as long as I grow sick and tired of the same bark, but that would have to make our stag friend immortal. Ludicrous. The only creature in the world that's immortal is me..."

OOC: The story was ripped off from 'King's Quest 7' XD. Sorry, I was in a rush >>

OOC: Going to push things forward a little, we're starting to stagnate again.

And I'm just going to assume everyone's coming back into the house.

IC:
"Well, let's just hope Riku doesn't cross paths with us again," huffed Taffy. "At least not until she fixes what's wrong with her."

"Y'know, Taff, for someone in such a hurry you sure ain't going nowhere fast."

Taffy turned and saw Max and Factor at the door, Max being the one who had just spoken. "So, are you coming too?" she asked, deliberately sidestepping the remark.

"Yeah, 'least as far as Danberg," the hedgehog stated. "I need parts for my plane, and supplies, so I'll probably break off from you then. Don't celebrate too fast," he added, smirking at Taffy.

"Not so fast, bubba," said Taffy with a scowl. "You're definitely not from around here, and let me tell you, Danberg is not a good place for a Mobian to pick up supplies. It's a human city, and most people there would spit you in the face sooner'd they help you out if you're a Mobian."

"Then how do we get on in without causin' a ruckus?" asked Karya as she stepped into the house, her cybernetic arm whirring just audibly from the repair job it had received earlier. "That'll make findin' that Emerald a rough job."

Taffy paused for a moment. Well, like it or not, I'll have to tell them about this sometime. "I have some...friends there. They're humans, but they're good people and I bet they'd let us stay at their place. We'll still have to be careful getting in, but they live near the outskirts so it shouldn't be too hard for us to get in."

"And once we get there, we'll start looking for the Emerald, right?"

Taffy nodded at Alex. "We'll have to be careful, but we can do it. We'll have to rely a lot on my contact to do footwork for us, them and Lena since she can pass for a human. That is, if you don't mind," she said, turning to Lena who nodded quietly. "Okay. And once we get into the city, I think I can use my ESP to try to track down the Emerald, but I'm not sure just yet how that will work out. In the meantime, we may be able to get supplies and other things as we need them, but we have to be careful not to start a riot or else we'll get kicked out of the city...or worse. No joke, one mistake and we could be killed for a lot less than a Chaos Emerald."

She looked around at the group. "I won't blame any of you if you don't want to go after hearing that. This will be dangerous, and honestly I'm an idiot for trying. But if even half of what Cipher said is true, then the whole planet is in trouble and we're in a position to change that. So who's with me?"

There was a brief moment of silence, where Taffy could feel her heart pounding. I just gave the stupidest speech this side of the Mobotropolis city council elections, thought Taffy, feeling everyone's eyes on her. Just watch me go by myself now...

Then the silence was broken.

"I do," said Lena, resting a hand on Taffy's shoulder.

"As do I," stated Alex boldly.

"Count me in!"

"Not about to leave without me now!"

As Taffy looked around and realized everyone was still coming, she fought back tears and stood a little taller. "Thanks," she said. "Now, let's get started."

"Goodbye, Jim! Thanks for everything!"

"Goodbye! Y'all come back here sometime, y'hear? And don't worry 'bout your friends, I'll let 'em know where you went if they show up heres again!"

As their goodbyes were said, with the group heading north towards Danberg and Jim staying behind on his far, Taffy felt a new glow of purpose inside of her. Just a few days before, she had been a cynical, self-absorbed college student studying to be a paramedic. Now she was with a group of new friends, off on an adventure to save the world from danger.

Who would've thunk? she asked herself, smiling broadly. And now I understand my ESP better. Maybe I can even control it...

OOC: Okay, the group is heading up to Danberg through the woods. This should be a short trip, but if anyone wants to talk about plans for what to do once they get there, or if anyone wants to ask questions or talk with each other on a more one-on-one basis, go right ahead.

Also, if there was something you wanted to do before the group left, and I know I didn't mention every character who is coming along, then go ahead and do a retro-post on it if you so desire. I'm planning on my next post answering any questions for Taffy and moving us along into the city, where we can begin to get into the main quest in full.

OOC: As i have told Tergonaut, the culprit for my long abscense is none other than a massive workload from my highschool, mainly maths stuff... gawd i hate maths >_<

I'm really sorry for that people, i thank you all for having the patience to put up with such unexpected lengths of abscense.

i hope this post of mine helps proceed Susie and Eclipse's travels a lot, so that we may remain on par with those who are leaving to Danburg, because Terg mentioned it would be a short trip.

----------
IC:

...So don't you worry your pretty ears over me, I'll watch your back." said Susie.

Eclipse looked at her and drooped an ear down to his left hand and felt around the tip, "...pretty ears?" he remarked, looking both shy and confused.

Susie hopped down from the rock. "So, when do we get going? We gotta find your friend!"

"oh, you're right!" stuttered Eclipse as he stood upright and re-focused his mind on the situation at hand.

He looked over at Susie and then placed a hand to his chin as he pondered. "only trouble is..." he looked up from his thinking and examined the many open pathways open before them, "which way?"

Susie mimicked Eclipse's thinking position before replying, "how about eenie miney moe?"

Eclipse almost laughed at that but a thought sparked within his brain, "wait a second!". he placed his hands beside his head, closed his eyes and lowered his ears, so although he appeared to be listening for something... his ears said otherwise.

"hey, whatcha doin'?" inquired Susie, curious of Eclipse's sudden pose-change.

"Shh! sorry, just a sec..." replied Eclipse.

Susie just stared with curioisity at him.

After a brief moment, Eclipse opened his eyes and faced Susie.

"well?" she asked.

"y'know that creepy hedgehog guy i told you about? that, 'Wraith' guy?" said Eclipse trying to explain.

Susie nodded, "yeah, that's the meanie that kidnapped your friend! i know that!" she spoke in the same manner that an impatient child would in the middle of a school lesson.

"Well, from what i can remember" started Eclipse, "he had a strange magical harmonic flow inside of him... i could, feel it. What i just did was try to see if i could pick up any trails of that same harmonic energy around here. it's complicated, but basically people all have their own magical harmonics, and so does everything that exists, but basically when something moves, a weak trail of their magical harmonics is left behind them that eventually dissipates. Now, this guy must be more poewrful than i thought, because his magical harmonic energy is quite distinctive, however there is something about him that blocks me from getting a clearer reading of him... almost like he's missing something... it's difficult to explain in words."

Susie blinked, "uhhh....."

"long story short, i think i can sense a slight faded trail of his magical harmonics somewhere around here." said Eclipse.

Susie blinked again.

Eclipse sighed, "i think he's this way" said Eclipse pointing with his thumb in the general direction.

"ohhhhh...." said Susie, "well, what're we waitin' for? let's blow this taco stand!"

"eh? what?" said Eclipse, puzzled, as they walked in the direction Eclipse pointed out.

Just then, Eclipse stopped walking and looked back at Susie he smiled at her, "Susie... i owe you one."

Susie smiled back, "owe me one what? a taco?"

---------------------------

Susie and Eclipse kept up their walk, Eclipse thought it'd be easier to travel by foot so as to not get seperated from Susie, and then bring more worry to their mission.

Eclipse still didn't even know whether Caine was still alive, for all he knew, Wraith had already murdered him in cold blood. Although he was sure of one thing, if any harm had come to Caine, then the person responsible would have all hell brought loose upon them.

Eclipse's stern train of thought was interrupted as he un-wittingly walked into a tangle of vines.

"gak! little help?" said Eclipse, struggling and getting himself into more mess.

Susie examined Eclipse's tangle and then simply pushed aside one vine, which untied the complex knot. Eclipse fell to the ground slightly and scampered to his feet.

"okay now?" asked Susie.

"hmm... yeah fine. ow! i thikn that one had a thorn..." replied Eclipse, pulling a thorn out of his rear.

Susie looked around, they were in a canopy of trees, the rays of sunlight piercing through the tree-tops made the environment almost serene. it was remarkably beautiful.

As much as Eclipse liked 'magical' locations, he had to focus on a different kind of magic, and thus 'listened for harmonics' again.

Susie tapped him on the shoulder, "found anything yet?"

Eclipse shushed her quietly and Susie nodded and then placed a hand on her head, she forgot that he needed quiet.

"okay.." said Eclipse, straightening up, "we have a problem."

"problem?" Susie went wide-eyed, "what's wrong? you're radar thingy busted? i'm a mechanic! i can fix it!"

Eclipse gestured for her to stop as she reached for her mechanic tools, "no no, i'm fine! besides it's not a radar, i'm using my mind to... oh forget it. anyway, the problem is that i cant sense any more trails of Wraith's harmonics around here."

Susie packed away her gear, "Well, where'd he go then?"

Eclipse shrugged, "i dont know. it's like he just vanished!" a spark of memory came back to Eclipse, he saw a series of images form Lunaril's fight with Wraith, and saw how Wraith had teleported and used an illusion type technique. "oh, that's right. he can teleport. well, that's just great."

"not really, that just means he's harder to find!" said Susie.

Eclipse looked around the environment in hope of answers.

Susie looked at Eclipse and noticed how anxiety seemed to be overpowering his ability to think straight. Eclpise appeared to be walking back and forth from time to time and ran his hand through his hair several times.

Susie straightened up, a serious look on her face, and she walked up to Eclipse.

"hey" she said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "do you know where the centre of the magic stuff is here?"

Eclipse pointed to a patch of bare dirt, "around there. that's where the trail ends."

Susie walked over to the location and kneeled down to look at the ground. She felt it and examined it.

Eclipse was puzzled as he looked over at her. "hey, what're you-"

"shhh! just a second" said Susie, keeping her eyes on the ground.

She stood up and faced Eclipse, "this was exactly where he teleported, his footsteps got a bit faster along here... and i can see the direction he was facing when he teleported."

Eclipse was amazed at Suzie's discovery, "but, what does it matter what direction his feet are facing? he can teleport anywhere i presume!" he replied.

Suzie placed her hands on her hips, "well, it's just a hunch. but if he was teleporting after what looks like a decent run-up, i'd say he'd be facing the direction of the place he'd be teleporting to, especially if he's in a hurry, like he would have been when he kidnapped Caine..."

"wow..." said Eclipse as he took in Suzie's explanation.

Suzie then placed her hands above her head, "but, it's just a hunch!" and her bubbly nature returned.

Eclipse laughed to himself, amused by Suzie. "okay, so which way then?"

Suzie pointed with her foot, keeping her hands over her head, "thatt-a way!"

-------------

After a short walk, Eclipse and Suzie came across a place where the trees seemed to be darker in colour, and a lot less green... in fact, barely any leaves, just a tangling mass of sharp branches.

Eclipse kept trying to focus and avoid being spooked by the path, while Suzie was walking casually, while humming the tune for 'the mexican hat dance', occasionally she walked backwards for a bit.

Eventually the two came across what looked like a graveyard. Although the place had obviously been left un-tended for a long time, as vegetation had completely covered most of the tombstones and even a section of the crypt.

"ooh... just like the movies!" exclaimed Suzie, more interested than spooked.

Eclipse looked out across the tombstones, it brought terrible thoughts to his mind... what if Caine was already buried in one of those graves? what if all these graves were for victims of that Wraith character? Just what kind of twisted individual was he to bring someone as young as Caine to the middle of a graveyard?

Suddenly he felt a sharp sting to his head and he tripped a bit before catching himself.

Suzie rushed to him, hearing him grunt. "Eclipse? yo, what is it?"

Eclipse's pupils went smaller before he shook his head and returned to normal stance. "i'm okay..." he said, looking at Suzie as he spoke to her, "it's... it's this place... the harmonics of this place are... just... evil. The harmonics of the earth here are disrupted to no end, trying to focus on the harmonics of this place is like trying to listen to... fingernails on a chalkboard."

"ow, that hurts!" said Suzie.

Eclipse began to feel a headache, "ugghh... sometimes it's not good to be connected to magic..."

Suzie became focused again, "so you cant sense him at all?"

Eclipse shook his head, "no. This place has such a strong disruption in it's harmonics that it interferes with any sweeps i try to make. but i cant try somewhere else, because this is definitely where he was, i felt a slight trail as we got near this place."

Suzie looked out across the place, it was quite big.

Eclipse looked at her, "think you can try tracking again? i'm going to take a look around. maybe i'll find something, i don't know what, but i'll look anyway."

Lena sighed. She wasn't looking forward to any negative reaction they might recieve in Danberg. She didn't even know if she could pass for a human, especially with her small size and her pointy ears but she trusted Taffy. "Err, have you been to Danberg before? Is it like a big city?" She asked to no one in particular.

OOC: Will post with Riku once they get closer to the city...

Unlike some of the others that were having reserved and not exactly warm thoughts or feelings of what they would have to encounter before them in the Overlander heavy city, Danberg, Alex for one was actually quite excited. True, he didnt really have much love for Overlanders before, but Gavin and Lena had corrected him about this and shown him that not all Overlanders were bad in the cases that Alex had experienced, only the crazed scythe assassin and the Danberg business men who tried to create a transport link throughout the forest, destroying it, were. No, Alex was excited because it would be an experience unlike any that he would possibly have had. He had never been to a city before he had of course seen the weird shaped buildings before in the distance from his forest, but he had never explored or properly explored one before, and that in itself would have been excited. No, there were even more then just that, such as the things in the city, the people itself, that Alex was interested in seeing.

The weight and effort that Alex had to commit and produce wasnt even dampening this subconscious feeling of excitement. As Alex was moving, he was dragging behind on a wooden and quite crudely made stretcher along the ground that was being pulled by a strong rope around Alexs body and hands, whilst upon it was the sleeping and still wounded young Overlander boy Gavin. Alex couldnt just leave him behind at Jims farm and had now resolved to help him and see him through back to his home, the city. Gavin had been injured for his own beliefs whilst saving Alex from that same crazy psycho assassin earlier, and if only for that reason was Alex helping him. But there was more to, Gavin had left a distinct impression on Alex, and changed the way he looked at things.

Alex was also helping him because the group, specifically Taffy and Gavin, had planned to go to Danberg in the first place, before they knew anything about the Chaos Emerald quest. Although he wasnt a fighter, and he still hadnt seen much action, Alex considered and valued him as an important person. He had saved lives, changed lives, and even brought a lot of the group together to begin with. And if only for that he had Alexs respect.

Please be okay, Alex thought to himself as he carried the burden of carrying Gavin to Danberg alone. His wounds were still severely urgent and bad although Taffy and Lena had stabilised him through their medical and healing skills, it was still pretty bad, and would need the looking after of from professional surgeons and doctors. Taffy was still in training, and Lenas abilities were both strange and limited. He wanted to be a writer, didnt he? Im sure everything that hes experienced in the past few days could make quite a good book, at any rate. Alex said, smiling slightly.

The trip to Danberg would be a short while, but even though he was still slightly excited, he still felt responsible and carried the burden of what had happened to Gavin.

Taffy considered Lena's questions as they hiked through the forest, the leaves creating a kaleidoscope effect of light on the grassy green floor of the woods. Birds sang sweetly above them, as if there were no grand trouble threatening the whole of the planet's existence.

"I've been there before," admitted the raccoon, her left hand fiddling with one of the straps of her backpack. "I had a very good friend who lived there until just a couple of years ago. It is a big city, one of the two biggest cities in the world. Mobotropolis is the other one, where I was living until this came up. But Danberg is, well, dirtier to be honest."

"Dirtier?" echoed Lena.

"Yeah. The place is a dump, honestly - most of the city is heavily industrial, so living space is at a minimum and only the really rich are able to afford good houses. Everybody else has to live in the outskirts. The place is infested with crime, and the richest people are also the worst criminals. There are still lots of good people there, but it's not even as safe as it was when I used to go there on a regular basis."

"And that's how you knew how to get to Danberg when you first found us," said Lena with new understanding. "That friend must have been very close to you if you went all that way to visit her."

"My friend was a guy," Taffy corrected the fairy girl, and then she lowered her voice. "But we were close friends."

"Close as in he was yer boyfriend?"

Taffy shot a deadly glance at Max, who smirked at her from the place he had moved to next to her. "None of your business, hedgehog boy," she said in a dangerously low tone.

Susie stuck her tongue out of the right side of her mouth as she crawled around on all fours, scrabbling about the cold graveyard. She was too focused on looking carefully for clues to really pay attention to the graveyard's features, its gray stone walkways and headstones, the skeletal trees that surrounded the burial ground, or even the fact that the sun did not shine as brightly here as it had in other parts of the forest.

"Clues clues clues," she muttered to herself as she bounced up onto a gravestone and peered around. Her eyes darted left, then right, then pointed straight ahead, blinking as she shivered from a chilly breeze that swept up her spine. Gone were her thoughts of being a master sleuth as she noticed all of the environmental details that she hadn't seen before.

Aw man, it's like Scream 15 or something! she thought with a frightened gulp. This is the part where the heroes, splitting up to try to search for clues, are attacked by GIANT reallyfreaky SPIDERS or monkeys or aliens or cat creatures...I've seen this a hundred times in the movies! It's usually the girl who starts getting scared the most, too...

Paranoia dominated her thinking as she slowly turned a tight circle atop the gravestone, her different-colored eyes peering into the gloomy graveyard. It was still clearly daytime, but there was something eerie about how still and quiet everything was. She could only imagine what manner of mutated monsters could gather in such a place, dancing above the graves of mortals and drinking the blood of innocent victims that-

"AAAAAAAAH!"

She shrieked as she felt something touch her nervously-twitching tail, and her fur bristled as she leapt off of the gravestone. She hit the ground running, not daring to look back as she made a beeline right for Eclipse. "Clips!"

"What's the-" started Eclipse as he whirled around just in time for Susie to leap right at him, her flying tackle sending them tumbling across the mixed pavement and unkempt grass. He attempted to get back up to his feet and opened his mouth to ask what had happened, but he stopped, his yellow eyes catching sight of a single footprint captured in a muddy spot between two gravestones. He followed the direction it traveled in to see similar footprints left behind in the grass and stone, the mud drying in the shape of a shoe.

"There!" he shouted, helping Susie up to her feet. "We found a clue!"

"Hah, see, I knew ya'd find it!" said Susie, trying to play off her momentary freakout. "I was just really excited 'cause I knew you would! Yeah, that's it."

OOC: Sorries if I'm just redoing some stuff that Taffy and Lena already talked about, I believe that part of the RP got eaten by the EZhack.

And yes, I do enjoy how you're handling Susie, James. ^^ Even with your huge schoolwork, you go above and beyond the call of duty. And Eclipse's reaction to Susie's ear comment tickles me.

Ben, didn't comment on this earlier, but as far as I'm concerned, using myths from old computer games is fair game. 😛 And actually I appreciate the use of it, I didn't really play the series myself but our family got the entire series if I remember correctly, still has it. Good use of mood, it really felt like I was listening to someone tell a story, like around a campfire or something.

And don't feel bad, you other peoples who are continuing to do such a beautiful job. We've carried this RP this far, I know we can do more.

"My friend was a guy," Taffy corrected the fairy girl, and then she lowered her voice. "But we were close friends."

"Close as in he was yer boyfriend?"

Taffy shot a deadly glance at Max, who smirked at her from the place he had moved to next to her. "None of your business, hedgehog boy," she said in a dangerously low tone. Max chuckled lightly, "Right..." he blinked as he looked as Factor also had caught up with him and Taffy. The self proclaimed 'leaders' of the group. The jet-black echidna smirked at this.

"From the way you two act, you two seem like what you just pointed out." he chuckled grimly. The echidna hadn't known the duo for long but he had just popinted out something that made Max clench his fists for.

"Why you dirty..." Max thought.

"...good for nothing.." Max muttered almost silently finishing his in thought sentence.

Factor only smirked awaiting the other 'leader' - the one that went by Taffy; her reaction.

Alex looked up from where he had been staring at the ground while concentrating upon his efforts to drag the wounded Gavin with them, where his gaze rested on Taffy, Max, and Factor. Already, he didnt like Factor his personality simply wasnt something Alex liked. He seemed brash and particularly cocky, and considering Factor wasnt a well known person to Alex or the majority of the party, it was a personality trait Alex thought would have been better off certainly not for now.

He smiled slightly. He knew how well Taffy and Max got on, so he could expect her reaction

Taffy was stunned by that remark. "What? Why I, I should," she sputtered angrily, and then she got right into Factor's face with a hot glare. "How DARE you suggest that I'd ever be in a relationship with that hot-headed, gun-toting, scruffy-looking, block-headed numbskull! If we weren't on a quest to save the world and didn't have time for this, I'd wrap your sorry tail around a tree!"

"Scruffy-looking?" echoed Max, already angry from Factor's comment. "You trash-talkin' bossy grouchy sassy woman, you wouldn't know handsome if it came up and bit you on your rear!"

"And you've already got a death wish from me, pal, so don't push it," said Taffy, her tone switching from hot to cold instantly as she turned and pointed a finger right between Max's eyes. "If either of you bring this up again, it's clobbering time, no holds barred, got it? Now let's just get to the city, it's only one or two more miles from here."

She grumbled to herself as she started to walk, her face flushing as she realized how big of an outburst she had just made. I can't believe that jerk said that! she thought fiercely. Now that idiot is going to think I've got a thing for him. Even if I did - which I DON'T! - there's no way I'd let anybody else know about it. Punk's got a lot coming to him...

OOC: Wow, I felt some pressure writing this post knowing that Taffy would have to impress. 😛 But I'm planning on bringing the team into the city on Monday or Tuesday at the very latest, so be prepared for that.

And thanks for remembering to bring along Gavin, Pach. Since Dirk isn't really playing anymore I think we'll just get Gavin to his family, or something. If you have suggestions on handling that, feel free to mention them.

Max also gave the echidna a deadly glare. "Boyo's got a fist comming for him if he keeps his mouth open." the red hedgehog spat as he nodded at Taffy's yelling speech after she had yelled at him as well. Though the hedgehog was sued to it by now, but it didn't dismis the fact that it irritated him.

"Commin' to meh? Bah." Max spat as he looked at Factor, the shady figure seemed just cocky at first but that large sword on his belt made Max grit his teeth. Max knew it well, he sucked at melee combat. Tis why he had lost so many brawls in the past.

"Anyways, lets get a move on and find what we need to find, eh?" Max suggested as he moved onwards.

(OOC: Sounds good, Terg)

OOC: Still here but my internet is being evil so I won't really be able to get on much or at all until I fix it...

OOC: Thanks Terg =)
It's a really good game! Well, it may look slightly dated now. Not too much though. The features are all animated and disneyesque in KQ VII so certainly it didn't detract me! I actually first played it at a friend's house when I was 12, then I had to get it for myself. I did end up getting a special deal for the whole series but left it with my mother...
But I love the game as it is mainly serious, but at the same time my friend and I cracked up at some of the 'out of this world' characters. Light comic relief with a serious story is my fav.

IC:
Bucky blinked slightly, raising her ears as she was aware of some cage rattling as it were at the front. For now she was trailing behind, casually carrying her bow and a basket of arrows of some sort.
"Uhm... er... can't we all just get along?" she muttered to herself.
Bucky suddenly found the answer as to what would be the next annoying thing to ask Taffy.
"Are we there yet?" is what she wanted to say, but decided against it, simply smirking.
She actually respected Taffy as an individual and a leader so she had no grudges or complaints.
Bucky then looked to her side, noticing that Karya and Eckli were somewhat sound and quiet.
"Everything okay with you two?" she asked.

______

Another howl broke out across the woods, as Wraith, Caine, Nack and Roody found themselves in some even darker wood.
"Hey Weasel! Was that a cause for concern?!" Wraith said, calmly, but tilting his head and scowling at the same time as he faced Nack.
"I... would've thought we would've been out of here by now..." Nack muttered, trailing off as he hesitated on looking around the woods.
"I don't recognise this place..."
Caine and Wraith had heard this statement, each shooting Nack a converse look. Wraith's brows lowered whereas Caine shuddered from fear.
"So we're lost?!" Wraith came in, picking up Nack by the scruff of the neck.
Caine looked on with a hint of fear, before shifting his eyes towards a certain patch of the sky which rapidly blackened.
"Look out!" he cried, leaping towards Nack and Wraith and bringing them down to the ground.
At that moment, a swarm of screeching ravens flew in chaotically, barely missing the three figures as they were ducked against the ground.
The shroud eventually dissepated, with a remaining few rasping ravens.
"I chose a better place to hide..." Roody called out, flying away from a hollow part of a tree.
Wraith got up, somewhat annoyed and unimpressed as he dusted himself. Caine similiarly, got up and looked down at the weasel with uncertainty- espicially seeing as he seemed unsure and with no sense of direction as of now.
"Weasel?!" Wraith growled.
"I'm sorry it's a minor setback... I..."
Before Nack could finish his sentence, the group suddenly heard a group of hissing and snarling which rapidly got closer.
As the whole group stood up, each of them facing a different perimeter of their guarded circle, they looked on to try and detect the source of the sound.
Their expressions suddenly changed to that of some disbelief, as they noticed a pack of wolves, forty to fifty of them, enclosing on them in a circular formation. Most of them bore yellow eyes, with razor sharp teeth as they snarled. Bar what looked to be the ringleader, who had one red and one green eye, had a gash across his eye and was the biggest looking one of them all- in fact, almost the size of a Siberian tiger.
"How about we chaos control outta here?" Nack asked.
Wraith suddenly shot him a fierce look, causing Nack to slap his forehead as he realised he let his guard down.
Caine also took a moment to turn his head and to observe the dumbfolding question Nack had asked.
"No." Wraith answered "we'll fight them now and here... to see what we're made of. After all... I never run away from my problems. Because in the long run, they'll always catch up with you." Wraith said with a smirk.
As he was busy talking away, however, he suddenly found himself bashed against a ramming form of a seemingly iron-steeled creature. He gasped as he found himself flying backwards, his back slamming into smooth barked tree and doing nothing to stop the ache that shot throughout his back and limbs. He clutched his head as he slid to ground, trying hard to stay afloat of his conciousness.
"Wraith!" Caine cried, turning to observe the rapid move, before turning to note five wolves slowly approaching him- they fierce growls becoming more evident the stronger they sensed his fear.

OOC: Sorry for lateness, every time I get online lately I get caught up with IMs. Bad habit of mine in a way, but ah well, I offer that as an explanation, not an excuse.

list of people in the "main" group (for my convenience as well as everybody else's let me know if I forgot somebody):
Taffy, Karya, Max, Bucky, Gavin, Alex, Eckli, Factor, Lena

I can't remember if it's been specifically stated about Karya's accent, but I've been assuming it's more of a Southern accent like Bunnie Rabbot's.

IC:
An uncomfortable silence descended onto the group as they traveled the last mile. Taffy had gravitated to one side, and Max the other, while Factor had somehow managed to take the rear. Time seemed to pass rather slowly to Taffy, so it was a relief to finally see the edge of the forest give way to a grassy field.

"Well, there it is," said Taffy as the group came out of the forest and stopped to gaze over the tall grass, "that's Danberg."

Even in the sunlight and at this distance, Danberg seemed gray. That was just the best way to describe it. Gray. Color, emotion, temperature. The closer edge of the city was broken down to the point of nearly being ruins, while the huge smokestacks and factories that dominated the center of the city looked much better maintained, but still dragged down, lifeless. A thin haze hung over the city, permeating it and making it appear even more haggard.

Taffy looked back at the others. She could tell that the mood of the city was already affecting the others, especially Alex. He's never been in the city before, she realized. Hope that doesn't cause problems down the road.

"Looks great. Love the view," commented Max with a sarcastic smirk.

"We'd better get to the city," said Taffy, beginning to make her way through the tall grass. "We can have more time to make smart remarks after we get safely in."

Karya motioned to the others from the corner of the building she was peeking around. "S'all clear, let's get movin'."

Taffy stayed near the cyborg vixen as the others went forward into the next alleyway, out of sight. "Thanks for taking point around here, Karya," thanked Taffy.

"No problem, it's a piece o' cake," replied Karya with a smile. Then the friendly smile dropped as she whispered. "We haven't seen anybody 'round here, though. Pretty awful quiet, too. That usual in these parts?"

Taffy shook her head. "Now that you mention it, we haven't seen anyone at all since we've come into the city. Even in the slums there are some people milling around in the open. We'll need to be careful."

"Shore thing, Taffy-gal. Y'all head on with thuh others, I'll take up thuh rear."

Taffy nodded as she passed Karya and followed the others into the alleyway, crossing the next street at a dash to catch up with the others, who pressed up against the wall of the alley. "Any sign of anyone?" she asked.

"Nada, zero, zilch," said Max, his Downunda accent thickly emphasizing each word as he tapped his open palm. "Fer cryin' out loud, th' place is deserted, Taff!"

"Karya just noticed that too, and that's not normal," explained Taffy. "We'd better keep out of sight until-"

"Psst! Hey, mobes! Whatcha doin' here?"

Taffy and the others all looked up to see the pudgy face of a little human girl, peering down at them from a second-story window. Her dirty face and dark eyes wore a suspicious expression as she pouted down at them. Brown pigtails hung off each side of her head in haphazard fashion as she leaned over the window sill.

Taffy was afraid that they'd been discovered and was about to tell the others to scatter when something about the girl caught her eye. "Hello there, Phyllis!" shouted Taffy, waving up as she smiled up at the girl. "Do you remember me?"

The girl's pout remained firmly in place as she placed one finger over her mouth. "We gotta be quiet," she hissed. "Come around to the front, I'll let ya in."

Phyllis disappeared into the window, and Taffy began to run. "She's family of my friend," explained Taffy quickly. "Come on, something must be up!"

"Long time no see, Taffy," sighed the tired-looking human woman who greeted the group at the door, Phyllis peeking out from behind the portly female. "And this time you've brought friends."

"Yeah," said Taffy. "I'm really sorry for barging in unannounced after so long, Mrs. Diller, but my friends and I need a place to stay."

Mrs. Diller looked past Taffy at the motley group, and they could all see a smirk edging its way onto her face. "You're ridiculous, you know that?" she scolded with a playful wink of one of her hazel-colored eyes. "You know you're always welcome here. And I'm glad that you have friends to bring. Do come in, it's not safe on the streets."

As the group came in and the door was shut, Mrs. Diller led them into a living room. The walls were a faded off-white, with patches where the paint was peeling. The couches and chairs had mismatched cushions of different shapes and sizes, with tears and patches in each one. The oaken coffee table in the middle of the room was supported under one broken leg by three books stacked onto each other. The windows were spotted with dust and impossible to see through. "It isn't much, but do sit down and make yourselves comfortable. There's much we have to catch up on, Taffy, and I'll have to get acquianted with your new friends."

Taffy sat down heavily in a vibrantly green armchair, placing her backpack onto the ground with much more care than she had herself. "I really wish this was a social visit, Mrs. Diller, and I'll introduce my friends in just a minute. But you've gotta know why we're here. It's important."

Mrs. Diller's face remained genuinely warm, but there was a certain foreboding in her eyes that anyone in the room could tell. "Don't tell me that it has something to do with a gemstone, what did they call it, a Chaos Emerald."

Taffy's eyes widened in surprise, and Mrs. Diller nodded. "A few days ago, some hooligans from downtown started rounding up the street folk and asking around for a Chaos Emerald. They've been getting rough, and they're beginning to search every block of the city. That's why nobody is out on the streets."

Taffy glanced at the others, seeing the common realization they all had: We're not alone in this quest.

"And now you show up. I really don't know what you've got to do with this business, Taffy, but it won't be long before those crooks come back around to here. You've taught our family about mobes, but that won't matter to these thugs, they'll try to kill you and all of your friends if they find you here. We-"

The door shuddered under a thundering barrage of knocks. "Open up in there!" shouted a lumbering voice.

Mrs. Diller pointed out of the living room down a hallway. "They're here! There's no time, hide yourselves in the house and don't let yourselves get caught!"

OOC: Now for a little fun...hide-and-seek in an old tall creaky house. The place has four flours, five counting the basement, and it's a run down sort of place, though Mrs. Diller keeps it clean and free of pests. You can have your character hide wherever you like, and you can have the thugs come in and start searching the place. Whether they find your character is up to you.

I felt really rushed with this post, more to just get it done than because there was any real time pressure, so apologies if I really skimmed over a lot of detail. Like Alex carrying Gavin around, I'm sure something could be arranged with the Diller family to get Gav to his family and whatnot.

Mrs. Dillers home

Alex was unsure on what to do. City life was completely new to him and he didnt know if this was usual or not, or how he should properly react. But when Mrs. Diller shouted Hide yourselves in the house! he finally found himself with a purpose at this particular time. The problem was he didnt know what a city house was like, and so would not know what would be a good idea or not.

The others in the group began to dart this way and that, each searching for their own hiding spots in the large and vast building. Alex was going to follow one of them, but he didnt know who he should follow, or where they might hide, and if space would permit it. Instead, he simply stood on the spot, dazed while watching the others, confused as to what he should do, and then he turned around, to behind him, and the wounded and injured Gavin, who was still lying on the crudely made stretcher for the Overlander. What about him would he have to hide or not? Could he hide?

During this time, Phyllis had been watching the group of Mobians moving about but had now specifically focused on Alex, who was standing around doing absolutely nothing. She glared at him, all the while keeping a short distance from the rabbit, before finally shouting out.

Go hide upstairs! she shouted. Just go!

This shocked Alex enough for him to look towards the girl and then begin to nod his head in response, and then turn to look towards where some of the others had ran upstairs. He followed suit and ascended the stairs two at a time, until he came to the second floor. He tried opening one of the doors but found it was locked (was it the room that the Overlander girl had been in before? He could recall, his sense of direction was lost) and then he turned to head towards another room.

The next door that he found was thankfully unlocked and with it Alex managed to open it and quickly race through, before turning and surveying the room for any good hiding spots. It was a pretty barren room though with few pieces of furniture and so Alex wondered where he could actually manage to hide in such a room. Sensing that it wasnt very satisfactory, he left, and then headed for yet another room.

He could hear the door downstairs open, and whoever had knocked was now coming in. He had no time left to deliberate on which room to hide in, and so just chose the next door that he came across, hoping that it would be unlocked as well.

It was, and with it Alex rushed in, before closing the door, and finding a lock next to it, he quickly turned it and secured the room. He sighed whilst breathing heavily after having to race across a set of stairs and a whole hallway whilst searching along three doors. He was grateful though that this room had a lock on it, but he wondered what made it so special compared to the others, and as he turned, he found out that this room wasnt exactly large, but it was certainly not barren. It was a bathroom, but Alex didnt know what a bathroom was at all, having never experienced one before. He simply looked at the various parts of the room, a bath, a toilet and sink and could only stare in wonder and disbelief at what they were.

What is this place? Alex quietly spoke aloud, before finally remembering his situation as he heard more footsteps climbing the stairs. He didnt know who it was or how many it belonged to, he just hoped they wouldnt come in here, especially if they didnt mean good will to the group.

Danberg streets

He had been trailing them for a short time, keeping a safe distance away from them as he watched the group finally leave the forest once and for all and actually make it towards his home town, Danberg. Before, he wouldnt have hesitated to kill them all in one swift, strike, but now things had changed and circumstances wouldnt permit it. Instead, he had watched with great curiosity from a distance, aware of their every single movement through his personal ability of being able to detect their aura. And, unlike the group of Mobians, he didnt have to hide and dart between alleyways and the shadows, instead he could walk freely within the streets. Of course, he was a bit perplexed with the fact that no one could be seen around the streets and this was something that bothered him, but it certainly wasnt the Slayers problem. He had more important things to worry about.

Hey, you! came a voice from down the street, which caught Carrion unaware as his aura range hadnt been projected that far and had only been concentrated on the group. He turned quickly and eyed the presence that called him and found it to belong to a group of rather oddly dressed people. Some were in various civilian clothes, others more associated with the darker nature of human society, and others in business suits, dressed smartly, an interesting contrast. Carrion simply gave one curious look to them before turning away. Hey, I called you! shouted the leader of them once more as the group came closer to him, and with it, Carrion closed his eyes to further his own concentration on the Mobian hero group.

We wants information, you here? spoke the ringleader of the group. Were looking for a Chaos Emerald? You heard of it?

Carrion didnt respond as he paid no heed to the group. This only helped to make the group, and specifically the businessman, more and more irritated.

Hey! You listening?! Answer me! The ringleader shouted, but again Carrion did not reply.

Hes got to be suspicious, boss. One of the others spoke. Look at the funny way hes dressed, and the fact that he isnt answering us. Id say he knows something.

Dammit! The ring leader shouted. Thats it, if you arent going to talk, well have to force the information out! The ring leader shouted, again his words being unheard from the Slayer, and then the smartly dressed ringleader brought his fist backwards as he prepared to hit Carrion in the cheek, but this was answered.

Although Carrion had not been listening to the group, he could still sense their presence through his aura visionary abilities, and with the group having surrounded him, he couldnt miss them. Every one of their movements, their breathing, could be detected and felt, and therefore the ringleaders preparation of trying to hit Carrion could be seen a mile away. Before the fist could ever come in contact, Carrion had shot his hand outwards and caught it, surprising the well dressed man. Before he could react, the bones in the mans hand suddenly snapped and it deformed, as Carrion crushed and broke it completely.

You are interrupting my business. Carrion calmly spoke, his eyes slowly opening once more as he stared down at the ring leader who had fallen onto the ground, cradling his ruined hand. Carrion then pulled from his back his weapon which he had tied around it with a rope he had managed to locate in his earlier travels, and then emphasised the large intimidating weapon that had gone unnoticed by the group before, and which automatically made a few of them step backwards.

Now it is time for me to interrupt your business.

OOC: Interesting scenario, Terg! And by the way, I might be wrong with this but Im fairly certain, SLs Zephron is with the group as well, isnt he?

As for Gavin, Im not sure what to do with him but I thought about having this Overlander family either get him to his home or a true hospital.

Lena found a small closet where she could hide on one of the lower floors. She ducked behind some clothes and hoped they wouldn't find her. She wanted badly to change into her fairy form but for some reason, this world seem to nullify that power. "Why didn't Riku come? She could have easily taken out those men," She said to herself.

"Uhm... uh..." Bucky blinked, standing there as she watched everyone scramble to their hiding places.
Mrs. Diller sensed something idol which was troubling her, rather than bothering her. As she sweeped around, she noticed a confused looking and to an extent, stoic deer, just standing there.
"Missy! Do you realise the danger you're in?!" Mrs Diller asked "get yourself hidden! Pronto!"
"But I don't really want to hide," Bucky said, shifting her eyes casually and blinking "I prefer to face the enemy." she said, pulling out a bow and arrow.
"What?! Do you realise what that puny bow and arrow is up against?!"
"Yeah... someone very sorry..."
"Just get..."
But before Mrs. Diller get answer, a hard bang, followed by a smash of wood and falling projectile smacking against the floor was heard.
"'Ello Mrs. Diller! Seeing as you're a kind mrs, we though we'd invite ourselves in..." called out a cockney accented rat from the hallway "you home and everythink?"
The rat suddenly appeared in the living room, his height somewhat tall and had a really nasty look. His ears were half shredded and bitten, topped off with numerous piercing which did nothing to ease the painful look of them. He had yellow sclerad eyes with red irises. Holding a cocktail stick in his mouth, he suddenly shifted his eyes towards Bucky and lifted an eyebrow.
"Aw ceeeome on! You shoulda told us we wos havin' guests!" the rat said, pointing at Bucky.
Mrs. Diller hesitated, a bit panicked that Bucky hadn't hidden herself by now and that the rest of the group members were probably in the house by now. She hoped to god that everyone else had hidden themselves well by now.
"Get out." Mrs. Diller said.
"You wot?" the rat replied rudely.
"She said get out, you idiot! Get your ears cleaned!" Bucky hissed, feeling sympathetic and angry about Mrs. Diller having an unwanted and uninvited guest in the house.
"That ain't gonna appen sunshine. Not until we's find wot we're after... The chaos emerald, ant there ain't gonna be no one standin' in our way, awrite?!?" the rat spat viciously, suddenly pulling out a clean looking handgun and pointing it at Bucky.
Bucky looked on at the rat defiantly.
"Even if we had a chaos emerald... and you managed to get one... then what?" she asked, nodding once at a firm angle. "you going to sell it for cash? Or maybe kid yourself you have a place for whoever you work for? Chances are your dealer has ulterior motives, and nothing for you. So what's it to be?"
"Core... I don't know nuthink abouts where you get your information from sunshine. But if I wos to tell ya if you were's correct or whether there's more to it... I'd 'ave to kill ya afterwards!" the rat sniggered, before cracking his neck, and suddenly donning a more serious expression.
"...of course... I'd rather kills ya now..."
And as the rat was in the process of pulling the trigger, a spontaenous projectile cut through the air swiftly, which resulted in a blood curdling scream and a gunshot within the short space of 2 seconds.
Bucky gasped, slowly opening her eyes. As she observed her surroundings, she found that the rat had fallen to the floor, with the arrow having pierced through one of his shoulder blades. He attempted to get up, but found the slightest movement just potentiated the pain of the arrow that stuck through him.
Bucky looked to the ceiling, and noticed a bullet shot, before turning to look at the morbidly still Mrs. Diller.
Thank god she was alright.
The woman turned to face Bucky.
"That was brave... but foolish. You've put yourself in slightly more danger..." Mrs. Diller explained, frantically checking the hallway to see if anyone was coming in their direction soon "I suggest you get moving... NOW!"
Bucky hesitated, before turning from the lounge and running through one of the kitchen doors into a small and cramped backyard.
She peered around her surrounding, noticing a small worn swing on a rotting tree, and a messy garden shed which was stocked up with junk.
Another thing she noted was a small celler like hatchet, which lead to the basement so she assumed.
She sighed, wondering whether she really ought to hide herself, or attempt to take on the gatecrashers without having any prior knowledge on their potential as a force.

Unknown to the rest of the group, a cloaked figure had followed them ever since they had reached Danberg. The figure had kept a healthy distance but had used a small tracking device she had slipped on the red hedgehog, a little device so small that he would never detect it. She stood atop a roof looking down at the house they had went into and had seen the rat come in and take quite a bruising. She knew there were more coming their way but she decided to bide her time.

OOC: Yeah, Zephron is still with the gang. Sorry for my absence. I blame dA. And Kari's accent is somewhat Australian, since she's from Downunda, but oh well. *shrug*

IC:

"Psst! Bucky! Up here!!"

Bucky jerked her head around, trying to locate the source of the whispering. From up in the tree she heard some scuffling, and Karya poked her head out of the leaves momentarily.

"Hey! Bucky! Get up here ASAP!" The vixen hissed.

Nodding hesitantly, the deer began to climb up the tree, and, once hidden amongst the leaves as well, saw that Eckli was laying stretched out on a limb abov her. The pup looked happy to see her, and bent his head to give Bucky a little lick.

"Quite a racket ya made..."

Bucky looked over to Kari, and cast her a sheepish glance. "How'd ya know it was me, brew?"

Karya chuckled, "I didn't."

----

Zephron smirked as he watched the whole fiasco from behind a dumpster. The bounty hunter had indeed followed Taffy and the others as he said he would, but had gotten distracted on the way there, and thus arrived a little late.

Oh well. He thought. Least I know where they are.

The cloaked figure had spotted Zerphon and smirked. She didn't know why he wasn't inside the building with them but assumed he had gotten lost. She swooped down next to him and tapped his shoulder. "So do you just want to watch or do you want to help me save them?"

The bounty hunter jerked away with a stifled yelp as he stranger swooped down on him, grimacing as he bumped his injured knee. Zephron blinked and opened his mouth, about to say something, before closing it. He repeated this gesture twice more, before resting his head on his hand, as if thinking.

"Well?"

The bat jerked his head up, frowning, shaking his head. "No, I-"

"Alright. Suit yourself." The mysterious figure was about to move away, when Zeph laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Wait just a minute, you...You didn't let me finish," He said, smirking as she shrugged off his hand. "I'd say that brute inside is taken care of; what say we act like dams and block the rest of the cavalry, eh?"

He waited a moment for her answer.

She laughed. "Fine by me but are you sure you are up to the job?" She asked. She wasn't all that sure he was going to be able to do it but she didn't care. If she showed up Taffy than her mission would be complete...for now at least.

OOC: Okay I'm posting from college and only have a few minutes, but I'd like to post this link to a topic on my message board:

p206.ezboard.com/fsonicth...D=26.topic

This is a topic I've set up for us to discuss OOC matters in a place where we can do it freely without cluttering up the thread itself. We can still have OOC stuff here in the thread, but this is something we've done for Evalc's RP with an entire forum dedicated to its development and it's worked fairly well. I also have posted an issue that I'm having right now, which is how much control I've taken over the general plotline, so please go to this thread and post your thoughts there as soon as you are able.

Of course, if you think it's pointless to have this kind of external OOC thread, then say so and let me know if it won't work out. I warn you that my board has pop-ups, it's a freebie, but since you already have EZaccounts it shouldn't be too hard to post there.

Also, Bentleee posted with a Mobian rat character being one of the thugs, and some of you might be wondering why that makes sense given that the city is mostly populated by humans/Overlanders. Well, we've already talked about nitpickiness killing threads, so what I'd personally suggest is that perhaps the reason racial tensions are so high is because the criminal element is a mixture of Mobians and humans, which naturally would cause serious problems between the two species as bad examples of each can be clearly seen. Also, the Combine is not strictly human - as the main villain's use of Bean and Bark, two clearly Mobian assassins, implies. So it does make sense that some of the bad guys in the city would actually be Mobians, so it's cool.

I'll try to post IC later, just wanted to make sure I posted this now so we could start it up.

OOC: An apology is in order on my behalf i believe, as i feel it is necessary after being away for so long... again... without a warning. Basically, as far as homework goes, i'm in a mess. There is so much to do and the clock is constantly ticking. I am typing this post at 1:30AM, i just finished a whole lot of my multimedia class work using the program 'Flash', i pulled an all nighter tonight. It's a lot of hard work to use that program.

Normally i'm dead tired after working so late, but strange enough, i have some energy and i feel like posting. So, without further ado, i make my contribution!

ah yes, i'd just like everyone to know that Bentleee is in the midst of her exam re-sits, so that is why she isn't around very much lately to progress storyline in any RP's. I'm wishing her all the best for her exams, and i hope everyone else is too!

Anywhoo, due to that reason, i don't want to be controlling Wraith or Caine until Bentleee gets back.

--------------------
IC:

"Hah, see, I knew ya'd find it!" said Susie, trying to play off her momentary freakout. "I was just really excited 'cause I knew you would! Yeah, that's it."

Eclipse shook his head slightly and smiled, Susie's personality seemed to go into shifts, it was most peculiar... but frightfully amusing.

"Okay, let's see here..." said Eclipse, kneeling down at the footprint that he had spotted out of pure luck.

"well, we know which way to go now. But we still don't know whether Caine is even ali-" Eclipse didn't finish his sentence as he felt a droplet of something hit his nose.

He looked up to see Susie standing beside him looking down at the footprint, and she was eating an orange, random droplets of orange juice squirting as she ate it.

"Where'd you get that?" inquired Eclipse about the orange, wiping face as a droplet of orange juice hit his cheek.

Susie turned and spat out a seed into the plants nearby, then she replied to Eclipse, "it was just over here, on the ground! perfectly good orange too!" And she took another piece and ate it.

Eclipse looked at where Susie pointed, it was right next to them, beside a tombstone.

He pondered for a minute, then stood up and walked around, looking out toward the surrounding trees.

Susie galloped after Eclipse as he moved in a world of his own, "hey! wait up! we're suppossed to be a team!"

"hmm? oh, sorry!" said Eclipse, turning back to her, "i don't see any orange trees nearby in any direction. And i doubt that anything could even grow properly in a place like this..."

Susie looked down at the remaining pieces of orange in her hand. It looked innocent enough, just a common orange! but now it seemed to appear to her in a different light. immediately she dropped it to the ground and a creepy feeling came over her.

"s-so where'd it come from?" she asked, hiding her shivers.

"Well," began Eclipse, "This is a large forest, so i wouldn't be surprised if fruit grew somewhere here, but the thing is, there aren't any fruit trees nearby... i don't even remember passing any on our way here, and we walked around quite a bit..."

He looked down at the sets of footprints. one large, one small. Obviously Wraith and Caine.

Eclipse's mind raced with thoughts, "Wraith... can teleport. He could easily teleport to a place with fruit and then teleport back... but the orange wasn't eaten... Wraith wouldn't gather food for himself if he didn't want to eat it... which means he must have gotten it for Caine. Caine might not have eaten it because he was too scared of Wraith. So now we know that Wraith isn't trying to kill Caine... he's keeping him alive... but why?"

Susie looked again at the footprints, "well, we're wasting time here! c'mon let's get moving slowpoke!" She immediately started walking down the suppossed 'trail' of Wraith and Caine.

Eclipse followed cautiously, he felt very uneasy about the whole situation. Something wasn't right here... A being as powerful as Wraith would have no use for a helpless child... there was something about Caine that interested him... just what was all that talk about Caine being a 'bio-weapon' before?

Eclipse shook his head and gritted his teeth at the memory of Caine being called a 'bio-weapon', the image of Caine's reaction was hurtful enough. Whatever Caine really was, it didn't matter. Whatever people may call him, he is still just a young frightened child. Even if he is a bio-weapon, that didn't make him any less of a mobian, he had feelings just like everyone else.

It was ironic how much Eclipse and Caine shared. They were both just normal individuals at heart, but they each had their own secrets that made them different... was it really that bad to be different? And just what is 'normal' exactly? can it really be defined?

Eclipse refused to believe that Caine was a weapon. No matter what power he may have, he still has the power of choice. He doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to, and that includes killing. Why was thought even occuring to Eclipse? Caine didn't even seem like the type who was capable of killing, as far as Eclipse could tell, the boy hated violence.

"If i can use my power to my own decisions..." whispered eclipse to himself, "then so can you Caine. I will show you that we all have control over ourselves.. everything about ourselves. I will not let myself be overwhelmed by Lunaril... i won't."

"you say something 'clips?" said Susie, looking at Eclipse as she walked backward along their trail.

"eh? no, no! just... humminga a tune to myself! an old one, you won't know it..." he replied.

"aw, come on!" gestured Susie, "hum it again, i might know it! then i can join in!"

"errrh...." Eclipse stuttered as he went into a slight panic, just what was he suppossed to do now?

"..........na na na na na nananana... na na na nananaaaaa naaaaaa... naa na" *pop goes the weasel*

"ooh i know this one! na na na naa na nanananaaaaaaa.." replied Susie.

Eclipse smiled, "pop goes the-..."

"WEASEL!" finished Susie. Her grin faded as she looked at Eclipse, he was staring at something through a thick of bushes along the side of the pathway. Looking down, Susie noticed that the footprint trail deviated to where Eclipse was looking.

"you didn't finish the song!" said Susie to Eclipse.

"sorry," he replied, "look over there! do you see that?" he pointed toward a raggedy building that was built on the slope of a mountain.

"i smell smoke" said Susie.

"hmm... me too, and i can see a trail of it coming from the top of that building. There's people in there!" said Eclipse.

"d'you think anyone inside has seen your friend pass by with that scary guy you were talking about?" asked Susie.

"my thoughts exactly!" exclaimed Eclipse as he began to walk toward the building, gesturing Susie to follow, "Let's go ask, come on!"

--

Upon getting closer to the building, it appeared to have a distinctive architecture. The laughter and such from inside also were a dead giveaway.

"It's a tavern." Said Eclipse with an uneasiness in his voice. His ears drooped down, "just great." The thought of going into a place full of such rowdy and rugged individuals wasn't a pleasant one for Eclipse. As bad a social person as he was, this location didn't help.

"okay," began Eclipse, gathering some courage, "Let's just walk in casually-" he stopped as he saw Susie already walking inside. "aw cripes."

Eclipse clumsily followed, almost tripping over as he went through the front doors of the Tavern.

Eclipse's eyes darted around the room nervously as he walked inside.

A few mobians playing cards stopped for a second to glance at Eclipse before resuming their game.

At another table, 2 mobians were talking to eachover while pointing and glancing at Eclipse and Susie.

"the people here smell funny" whispered Susie to Eclipse.

Eclipse just nodded and nervously approached the bar.

The barkeep was a Badger, and he was re-arranging a bunch of bottles on the bar wall, his back turned to Eclipse.

"*ahem*", Eclipse was trying not to sound shaky, "uhhh... excuse me?"

He got no reply from the barkeep, who kept fidgeting with numerous green bottles.

"excuse me? uh, sir?" said Eclipse again.

still no reply.

Eclipse turned to see Suzy spinning around on one of the bar stools.

"Susie! what are you doing?" whispered Eclipse.

"whoah, that makes me dizzy!" said Susie as she stopped spinning.

"those stools aren't toys missy." grumbled the barkeep.

This took Eclipse by surprise and he almost yelped.

"what's your problem?" asked the barkeep, towering over the nervous Eclipse.

"uhh... could i uh.. " he stumbled.

"spit it out kid, i ain't got all day, what's your poison?" said the barkeep.

"my.. my poison?"

The barkeep slapped his forehead impatiently, "what'rya want ta drink? Just dont say Raspberry beer, we're all out."

"oh, uhh.. no, that is uhhh.. i'm not... i'm not thirsty." Eclipse's ears twitched nervously.

"then why ya wastin' my time for?" growled the badger as he looked down at Eclipse.

Eclipse could feel many eyes watching him, he was creating a scene he just knew it.

"i was, just wondering if you... if you've seen a young hedgehog... about... so big, and another hedgehog, an older one... uhhmm.. real scary looking?" said Eclipse, no better descriptions forming in his head.

The Barkeep scratched his chin, "well, tha' depends... I only know things if ya's buy somethin'."

"i.. haven't got any.. any uhhmm... any money.. haven't got any... money...... no money.." mumbled Eclipse.

"Well!" announced the barkeep, "can't help ya then."

"are you even allowed to seel alcohol to people my age?" asked Eclipse, curious.

The barkeep slammed a fist down on the bar, "listen bat boy, you're startin' to get on my nerves, y'know that? If ya ain't buyin' nothin' then start flappin' ya wings and get outta here!"

Numerous sniggers rose from around the room. Eclipse hadn't noticed how quiet it had gotten throughout his 'conversation' with the barkeep. Now he was certain that everyone was concentrating on Susie and himself. It was scary.

Eclipse turned back to the barkeep, "please, can't you just tell-"

"Get outta my tavern!" boomed the Barkeep as he pointed toward the front door.

Eclipse was incredibly nervous, why was he even here? he knew he wasn't the social type! He felt like all these people wanted to kill him or something, it was all very scary.

---------
OOC: I'll leave the next continuation up to you Tergonaut, i'm interested to see what you come up with! hope i left enough openings for you.

EDIT: I've been typing this entry for so long that i missed Tergonaut's update!

good idea Tergonaut, i like it! only trouble is i need a new account for it, it wont use my RP forum one. so yah, its on my to do list.

I never really saw a problem with the whole mobian-overlander villain thing, personally i find it interesting to have a generous mix of both.

As for RP storyline control, not a problem, i personally just wanted to proceed with whatever storyline came up in the RP, as i had no clear storyline in mind for the whole group. Plus, you're not really setting the story entirely Tergonaut, as players we all have choices and we in the end shape the whole RP. Plus, why should it be a problem that you brought in such an interesting storyline? i like it, a LOT! and i'd love to see it progress.

oh yeah, HELLO EVERYONE! I MISSED YOU ALL!

Zephron shrugged in answer to the stranger's question, "More or less."

The bat stretched out his wings, wincing as he caught the stitching in his left wing. Folding his wings again, Zeph darted out from the cover of the dumpster, hoping to catch the other members in time. Just as he and the caped woman came around the corned of the house, they spotted four guys carting guns heading for the door.

"Not today boys..." The bounty hunter muttered, sweeping up a rock and chucking it at a scruffy-looking doberman. The dog dropped his gun and clutched his head.

"Yow!"

Zephron smirked and ran up to the canine, socking him in the stomach and effectively winding the brute. The bat punched the doberman in the face, causing him to topple over with a bloody nose.

Probably broken... He thought with a smirk as he ducked a shot aimed at his chest. As he kicked the gun out of the cat's hand, Zephron spotted the other figure having a go at another gang member.

Many of the group had already entered and began searching the house. The group only ever really intended to maybe rough the Dillers family up some, intending on obtaining information about a Chaos Emerald within the city, but the had decidedly changed now. For them, things had become way too suspicious at the house, what with the strange and curious number of Mobians in what was otherwise mainly an Overlander city. Sure, there were some Mobians within the city as well but it was a predominantly Overlander settlement although it did confuse and made it curious for some of the heroic group members to notice so many Mobians that were allied with this gang. The group had encountered a rat, a dog, cat, amongst maybe others

The gang had became much more suspicious as they encountered and sparked a fight with Bucky in the room and who fled into the garden. This, along with the fighting Bat in the streets outside made this extremely suspicious, and all of the gang that were within the area were now concentrating their efforts on the home. Whilst some were arriving from other homes and encountering both Zephron and the mysterious cloaked figure in what was otherwise an empty street, there were still plenty other gang members who were already in the house, searching the various floors for both the hidden Bucky and anyone else who would be within it. It was too suspicious not to warrant searching.

Mrs. Diller had been apprehended and refrained against a wall along with her daughter in the room where Bucky had fought some of the gang members. They were being held captive for now and information was desired from them after this whole situation had been rectified. They obviously had information, and the gang would want answers.

A group of the gang had already ran up the stairs and were now on various floors, searching the rooms for any more Mobians they could possibly find. Alex, who was still locked within the bathroom, was unsure on what was actually happening outside, but nonetheless he was concerned with the heavy, thumping footsteps of the gang members outside the room and the commotion outside, but he wouldnt dare to open it and find out what was actually going on. For one thing, he and the group might have just been better off with him staying inside, and he wouldnt be able to fight well anyway. He had no weapon, his bow had been destroyed by the Overlander Assassin who had used Maxs gun, and as for these gang members here he didnt know their capabilities, and if he tried to fight them, he could just be way too overwhelmed.

Suddenly, there was a rattling against the handle of the door, which suddenly jerked Alex back from his thoughts to his surroundings and specifically the door knob. Of course, the gang members were checking every room, and had just now decided to search the bathroom which was locked. No doubt there was someone inside. It couldnt have been locked from the outside.

Whoevers inside, open up and kneel on the ground, your hands over your head, now! The figure outside shouted.

Alexs pulse quickened, as he suddenly looked around in the bathroom to find anything that would help his current condition.

If you dont come out in 5 seconds, Im going to shoot this lock off and come in myself! The figure shouted.

Again, Alex didnt know what to do, deliberating to himself. Again he looked to the door handle, and a door tag which was hanging on it which read a single word. He didnt know what it meant or how it would fit in the context of this situation, but if it could help at all he would try it.

Occupied! Alex called out, which surprised the gang member outside. The gang members expression would usually be unreadable from behind his sunglasses, but it was easy to understand that he was surprised.

Are you kidding me? The gang member replied. Thats it, Im coming in!

The gang member lowered his handgun, and aimed at the lock, all the while on the other side Alex was deliberating what he should do, his head looking from left to right, looking for anything he could use as a weapon.

BANG!

The lock shuddered free of the door, the bullet fired having destroyed it, and then a second later a forceful kick from the gang member outside shoving the door open and slamming against the wall inside, almost threatening to drive it off his hinges. The single gang member professionally stepped in and moved his gun around, aiming it, searching for a target, for Alex but finding nothing.

What th? The gang member was about to speak, until he suddenly looked upwards to the ceiling, and to his mobian prey.

Alex had been stretching his body across the ceiling of the room, holding himself up as a last second attempt at trying to stay out of the way of the gang member, and it managed to work, for a brief moment anyway. The gang member was now looking up, and had found him, but now Alex had the advantage of surprise and would be able to fight half decently, even if the battlefield of a bathroom was exceptionally small and almost unbelievable.

Alex released his hold against the sides of the wall supporting him and began to fall down towards the ground, whilst the gang member desperately tried to raise his handgun in time, but failed. Alexs hand suddenly shifted from one side to another, and out escaped it several small, sparkling objects, which cut through the air, and into the gang member, knocking him to the ground in shock and surprise, confusion as to what it was or what had happened. He accidentally fired his gun too, but it was a wayward shot. He hadnt raised it enough and so it only hit the wall above the bath.

As Alex was still falling, he grabbed onto the shower railing, and pulled out of the wall with a great deal of force the pole which supported it, swinging it in his other hand and as he landed on the fallen gang member, the shower railing pole was now pressed and aimed at the gang members throat. Alexs foot pinned his hand and stopped him from moving his gun.

The gang member could only look on in agony at the wounds the sparkling metallic weapons Alex had thrown at him, and even with his sunglasses, it was evident that fear was running through the man. Justwh-who are you?! he shouted in anger.

Alex simply looked down at his fallen enemy, and without saying anything, swung the shower pole in an arc across the mans face, knocking him forcefully and out cold, unconscious. He took a moment to regain his senses. The last few seconds were hectic and took quick thinking in fact, it was mostly reflex, and he was only glad that his reflex was better. This was a strange room, one he was uncomfortable with, but still, he had managed to prevail even if there was distinct damage to the bathroom itself. Better that then being dead.

Alex ripped the curtain off the shower railing and folded it up, holding it in his left hand, where his other, sparkly weapons were. He thought that this material might make up being a good cover against the other gang members yet to fight in this home he could possibly throw it over them, masking their shot and visibility. The pole, which was quite large and not exactly desired, but would be used anyway, was held in his right hand and would make as good a melee weapon as anything. The sparkly weapons that were also in his left hand that he used to initially take the gang member down he had about five of them left. Small, sharp, and surprisingly deadly, they were razor blades, pilfered from an open cabinet atop the sink. Although there were only a few, they were as good a long distance weapon as anything, and he would make do with whatever he could get.

Alex stepped out of the bathroom as he decided to now take the fight to the other gang members running and hiding hadnt done anything, and he had to help whoever else that was in trouble. Although he had weapons, decent materials with which to fight with, Alex still mentally sighed to himself as he longed for a bow and quiver of arrows instead

The figure punched the gang member in his stomach and delivered a spinning kick to his face. Another gang member jumped on her shoulders but she grabbed his arm and flung him over her shoulder and into the ground. She smirked and looked around the bodies of the members spread around but she could see some more coming. "Great, just what I wanted," She said. She pulled out two large blasters from under her cloak and began to fire on them.

OOC: I've got finals myself for this week, so I'm gonna be trying to keep up but only after Thursday will I be good to go. And sorry about that, James, I forgot that some people made local accounts for this board and can't switch to other boards with it. If anyone else has this issue, we might just hold all OOC here. James, Ben, don't worry, just contribute what you can when you can, the rest of us will carry things as far as we're able and try to keep things open for you. After all, your contributions are just as important regardless of how often you post, it's the quality that matters. Good luck in y'all's schooling and tests.

I'm at college right now posting this, just trying to keep everyone updated on my end. But it seems like the RP is picking up a bit anyway. No IC right now, bit overwhelmed by stuff.

OOC:
That's okay Tergonaut, for the message board, it'd be a good idea to keep it if everyone is willing to create a forum account for it. personally i wouldn't see it as that much of a chore, but it's up to everyone else really.

Thanks for the understanding Tergonaut, really appreciate it. Sorry to hear that you too are a victim of the allmighty work-a-rama, but i wish you all the best.

Hoping to see you and Bentleee back soon, i will post whenever i have time.

OOC: Done with finals at last! Although I think mine were a ton easier than what y'all are going through right now, James and Ben, I just had two entry-level college classes at the local community college, so only two exams and it was all done in a snap.

And I'm making up the direction that Wraith, Caine, Nack and Roody went, sorry if that turns out inaccurate.

IC:
Susie and Eclipse

"Calm the flip down, old man, here's your money!" shouted Susie savagely as she dug one hand into one of the pouches on her belt and tossed several shiny golden coins onto the counter. They clinked and clattered over each other into a scattered pile.

Eclipse was doubly surprised as Susie took command of the situation in one swift move. But he also couldn't help but look around nervously, noticing that if they had been attracting attention from the rest of the bar before, now everyone's eyes were riveted onto them.

The badger's anger was replaced with wide-eyed shock as he picked up one of the coins and looked at it in disbelief. Susie smiled at him coyly as she leaned on the counter. "So, you were saying something about a hedgehog?"

"Now wait just a moment," the bartender said, holding the coin between two fingers and holding it up in the dim light of the tavern. "It says something here..."

"Yeah, of course it does," said Susie exasperatedly. "Gold coins always have stuff stamped onto the side, right?"

"But so do other kinds of coins," rumbled the badger as he flipped the coin at Eclipse, who caught it reflexively. "You must be stupid to think I'd fall for something that obvious, missy."

"Hey! Those are bona fide gold coins, I have it on good authority!" yelled Susie, her hands outspread on the counter as she went nose-to-nose with the bartender.

Eclipse put a hand on Susie's shoulder. "Eh, this isn't gold, Susie."

"What?"

Eclipse had already broken out into a nervous sweat, knowing full well why the badger was angry again. The side of the coin said, "Video Arcade Token, good for one play."

"I'll give you ten seconds to get out of my tavern," The badger growled warningly. "After that, your lives are-"

"Are what?"

Eclipse and Susie saw the badger's eyes fly open in fear after hearing the deep voice that had come from just behind them. Nervously, the two of them looked back to see the two Mobians who had been glancing in their direction earlier. One of them, the apparent owner of the deep bass voice that had just spoken, was a tall yellow-furred polar bear wearing a red stocking cap, a green scarf, large red mittens, and a pair of sturdy brown hiking boots. The other one was a green-feathered duck with a red handkerchief tied around his neck, and a somewhat mischevious grin across his bill.

Susie's fur bristled up all over her body at the sight of the two. "I-I-I-"

"Truth is, pal," interrupted the duck, whose eyes were locked onto the badger, "that we're interested in that hedgehog too. So why don't you be a nice boy and tell us all about him, hmm?"

As if to emphasize the point, the polar bear rubbed the knuckles of his huge fists together, a stern expression on his face with a furrowed brow.

"O-okay, no need to get rough boys," said the badger in a higher-pitched voice that would have been hilarious under different circumstances. "Saw ol' Nack, he passed by with two hedgehogs earlier today, I saw it out the window."

"When?"

"An hour or so ago, I'd say."

The duck looked Eclipse and Susie right in the eyes before turning his gaze back to the badger. "Which direction?"

"North of here."

"Thanks. We'll be on our way now, and we'll take these kids with us," finished the duck.

"You can have them," grumbled the badger.

With the bear right behind them, the duck led Eclipse and Susie outside into the light of day, shutting the door behind them. Eclipse noticed that Susie's fur still hadn't gone down, and it worried him to see her in such an agitated state. "Who are these guys?" he whispered to her.

Susie gulped audibly. "They're killers, 'Clips," she whispered back.

"You make it sound so bad," said the duck with a shrug as he crossed his arms. "We're professional hitmen, bounty hunters, soldiers of fortune...there are a lot of better names for what we are."

"You remember us, Susie?" boomed the bear, who had been quiet long enough to cause Eclipse to wince at the unexpected noise next to his large ears.

"Yeah...Boss hired you guys once," Susie said, her fur beginning to return to normal.

"Then introduce us to your friend here," said the duck with a creepy grin."

The white-striped cat sighed, and she turned to Eclipse. "Eclipse, this is Bean and Bark, two of the most notorious murderers this side of Mobotropolis."

"And now you'll be joining us to help find those hedgehogs," said Bean with a crazed grin. "We've got work to do in Danberg, but our boss also told us to keep a lookout for those hedgehogs, so you'll be helping us find them, see?"

"And what if we don't want to?" asked Eclipse, trying to sound brave.

Bean pulled out a stick of dynamite and a match, waggling his eyebrows suggestively as he lit the match. "Let's just say it'd be a blast if you didn't come along."

"This isn't good," said Susie in a really tiny voice.

OOC: I'll try to post again later for Taffy, I'm just feeling posted out for some reason. xx Plus I'm hungry.

OOC: ooh, cool! Tergonaut, that was a fantastic piece of writing! Those two characters are well portrayed, especially Bean, he's a bit of a pyromaniac i presume, but he's very interesting. ^^

Good job with the bartender too, i just knew you'd be able to have some fun with that character.

oh yeah, sorry, but i only just read that post today. i presume it's been up for a while. you all know why i'm not posting as frequently as before. Still, this weekend in particular i got a WHOLE HEAP of work done. but, as usual, the homework list goes on, and it is never enough. *sigh*
-------------------------
IC:

"This isn't good," said Susie in a really tiny voice.

Eclipse looked at Susie as she ran a hand through her hair in an expression of stress.

"Susie..." he murmured.

Eclipse was about to ask her a whole line of questions, like how did Susie get to know a bunch of killers? just who was this 'boss' of hers that supposedly hired Bean and Bark some time in the past. What was it that Susie actually did for this 'boss' of hers? if her boss was invovled with murderers, then it was highly doubtful that Susie's occupation was a personal secretary.

Eclipse pursed his lip as he looked over Susie's distrought figure. Was Susie a killer too? no, it couldn't be possible, Susie didn't seem like the type at all, so carefree, so friendly, bubbly in her nature, hardly fitting to the description of an assassin.

As much as he wanted to know from Susie, Eclipse didn't ask any questions. There was not telling what Bean and Bark might do if Susie revealed too much to Eclipse, suppossing that Susie knew enough about the two in the first place. Not only that, but the poor girl was already stricken with panic. She looked so helpless, one couldn't help but feel sorry for her. It wouldn't be right to add to her stress by asking too much at such an awkward time, even if Susie was a killer, which was highly doubtful, Eclipse owed her, she had helped him, just like so many people had on his time in this forest. He owed them all so much, possibly even his life.

Deciding he wasn't ready to make assumptions about Susie just yet, Eclipse placed a hand on her shoulder and gave a weak smile, all he could muster.

Susie looked back at him and then looked down at the ground, ashamedly.

Eclipse withdrew his hand and focused on walking again.

The more he focused on the situation at hand, the more distressing it did seem.

He and susie were in the company of two killers, they were steadily approaching the location of that powerful hedgehog Wraith, there was a possiblity that Susie was a killer too, but on top of all that, Eclipse knew that their rescue mission for Caine had failed. Instead of seeing a triumphant group of loyal friends coming to his aid, Caine would see Eclipse and Susie, two suppossed friends, walking with two killers toward him.

Eclipse shook his head, as if to try and shake away the terrible chain of thoughts that plagued his mind. He had to stay calm, for Susie's sake. She was already overcome by her own fear, so one of them had to be strong. Eclipse owed her, this was his turn.

Shaking his head caused the chain harness for Eclipse's Grimoire to jingle lightly. This caught the attention of Bark, who was bringing up the rear of the 'party'.

"And just what is that?"

Bark's voice pierced through Eclipse like a spear, breaking all other concentration. Eclipse slowly turned his head to face the polar bear, and saw that Bark was pointing to the Grimoire.

"Fancy book" said Bean, looking over his shoulder to see what his accomplice was inquiring about.

Susie remained silent and kept her head bowed down.

Eclipse did his best to hide his panic.

"this is.." stuttered Eclipse, he would have said 'personal diary', but then Bean and Bark would have probably taken it to look for any tidbits about Wraith, and that would mean that the Grimoire would no longer be in his hands.

"It's a poetry book." answered Eclipse, he answered with the first thing that came to his head so that he could make a fast reply and not look suspicious, he hoped it worked.

"i write poetry... and uhh.. i keep this book with me so i can write down a poem as soon as it forms in my head. I'm a poet."

Bean and Bark both chuckled, although Bean's chuckle sounded more like a wicked cackle and Bark's chuckle sounded like a deep rumble combined with a growl. needless to say, the pair were most unpleasant company.

"A poet eh?" mocked Bean. "You never told us that you knew a poet." said Bark to Susie.

Susie still remained silent.

"Aw, cheer up Susie, poetry is nothing to be ashamed of!" mused Bean, "it's not just for sissies y'know, in fact, we like a bit of poetry ourselves don't we Bark?"

"indeed" answered the polar bear with a smirk.

Eclipse felt a panic attack again, he knew what was going to come next.

"Why don't you start reciting some out of your book bat-boy?" said Bean, shooting Eclipse a malicious grin.

"uhh..." Eclipse was lost. "uh.. s-sure."

Bean clapped his hands, "and here i thought it'd be boring to have you walking with us."

Eclipse ignored him and picked up the Grimoire. He flicked through pages at random, looking for something that he could use.

Bark nudged Eclipse on the shoulder with a massive finger from his paw, "We're waiting." his voice almost made an echo.

Eclipse's eyes darted from page to page. 'This is stupid!' he thought to himself, 'I'm walking in the middle of nowhere with two killers, and i' looking through a spellbook for poetry! how the heck does this happen to me?'

Bean let out a sigh, "i'm getting boooooooorrreeeed...", he drew out a stick of dynamite and began twirling it in his hand.

"I'd hurry it up if i were you." said Bark, "when Bean gets bored, things have a tendency to go up in flames."

"just a second... there's a real good one in here..." Eclipse tried to buy himself some time as he raced through the Grimoire.

It was hopeless, there was nothing he could use in the Grimoire. Instead, he just settled on any old page and decided to make something up on the spot. His mind thought at a rapid pace, his entire vocabulary swirling together to form strings of sentence with rhyme. Looking about his surroundings, Eclipse began to see verses of poetry form on every object around him. there was much to be said about things like the sky, the trees, and especially the sun in poems... then his eyes settled on Susie. Then an idea struck him.

'Here goes nothing' he thought.

Eclipse spoke out his poem:

"There stood a maiden,
delicate and fair.
In her hand was there laden,
her tears and her hair.

For all to see,
the maiden cried there.
Not tears of joy,
but tears of despair.

She had been so innocent,
or so it would seem.
For there was a truth hidden,
beneath the flowers and sunbeams.

It was not known,
that danger followed in her wake.
She had kept that hidden,
perhaps for her friend's sake.

To some,
this information would scare.
But to friends,
it would only bring care.

Cry no more fair maiden,
whatever your strife.
Your friends shall save you,
banish darkness from your life.

All they ask,
is a helping hand.
For they too need help,
to negotiate this land."

Eclipse had hoped that Susie had listened and received the hidden message. Whatever Susie's situation was, Eclipse would understand. Eclipse himself carried a danger within himself, everyone deserves a chance to redeem themselves, everyone deserves a helping hand. Right now, Eclipse needed her help, he couldn't conquer their obstacles alone, he needed Susie.

Susie had made quiet noises while Eclipse was reciting his poem, but now she was silent.

Bean and Bark both took a moment to come back to reality, they had actually become absorbed in Eclipse's poetry.

Bean nodded his head slightly and smiledy slyly and Eclipse, "not bad bat-boy."

"What was it called?" asked Bark, it was impossible to tell whether he was genuinely interested or whether he was just musing with the tone of voice that he used.

Eclipse scratched his head, "oh, uhhmm... "Friends outside the dark" i suppose..." Eclipse actually impressed himself with what he was capable of producing under such circumstances, but now was not a time to let it go to his head.

"hah! how clumsy of me!" announced Bean as he stashed his stick of dynamite away again, realising he'd left it out all this time. His announcement was a sort of, 'don't forget what i got' sorta anouncement.

Eclipse put the Grimoire back at his waist and cleared his throat.

"Could i ask something?" said Eclipse, interrupting the silence.

Bark placed his hands behind his head as they walked, allowing Bean free-reign to answer Eclipse.

"Eclair right? watcha want Eclair?" said Bean looking over at Eclipse.

"uhh.. it's Eclipse." said Eclipse as a reaction, "why do you need us to find that weird hedgehog? You seem to already know where to go. And just what do you know about him anyway? all i know is that he's really powerful as well as rude... just what are you suppossed to do to someone like him?"

Bark growled, clearly annoyed that Eclipse was asking so many questions.

Bean scoffed, "you're asking a little too much there... even for a poet."

Eclipse awaited some answers to any of his questions, regardless of the repercussions it would bring. He had to be strong.

Eclipse glanced over at Susie briefly. He couldn't tell whether she was feeling better or worse than before.

'please have gotten my message Susie.'

-----------------

okay, before anyone says anything, i know i'm a terrible poet. i wanted to do the poetry bit just because i thought it'd be interesting plot-wise. i hope i succeeded there at least X3

Anyways, it's currently 3:00AM over here in Australia, and tomorrow is a school morning. boy do i love all 4 hours of my sleep XD

i been doing homework all weekend, this is some of the only free time i've gotten

by the by, hope i controlled Bena and Bark accurately. i think i had a bit of trouble with Bark in particular, my first time controlling those two in their current 'style'.

OOC: James, I have to commend you on that poem. It was brilliantly written and I think it reflects Suzie very well and is an interesting idea to add. Well done.

Danberg Streets

The last Overlander man, garbed in street hoodie gear, finally collapsed onto the ground in a bloody heap. It had taken only moments, but he and his allies had already fallen, and were now littering the streets in humps of badly wounded and newly deformed figures. They were only unconscious, since they were his own species and he only sought to kill Mobians (although had that changed?), but still many of their limbs were broken and placed into positions that were discomforting, but not to the man who done it. Instead, he simply concentrated on what he had been doing before, watching the group that were inside a home on the other side of a street, sensing as they were being attacked by a rather large gang. A gang who were slightly recognisable, after all, he had been living in this city his entire life. But recent things were fuzzy, familiar people had now became new, unrecognizable people. His head hurt, was at a battle against himself and he wasnt sure why.

He frowned. Why were these men after the Mobians? Sure, there were hostilities between the races, but was that it? Or was there more? There had to have been if two Overlanders in there were being held captive, and one cloaked Overlander was fighting against the others trying to enter the building. But why?

Mrs Diller's home: 2nd floor

He was unsure on what to actually to do at first when he exited the small cramp battlefield that was a bathroom and where laid one such member of the gang that was attacking the household. Of course, he knew he would battle against these people, despite his relative lack of knowledge concerning the situation where the other members of the group? Were they fighting of hiding? He was out in the open now, and he couldnt hide. He had to fight. Question was go upstairs, or downstairs?

A loud crash could be heard from downstairs, which led Alex to deduce that most of the commotion was occurring downstairs. The archer rabbit was fairly familiar with downstairs, at least the hallway to the stairs, entrance and main room, so it would be better for him to join the battle there, or would it? Again, he didnt know the situation, but he had little choice.

Alex ran along the landing from the bathroom entrance, holding firmly in his right hand the staff he had appropriated from the bathroom shower railing. In his left hand was the shower curtain itself, which he believed might come in handy some time, and also in his left hand were the last few remaining razor blades which he had used to defeat the previous gang members. They were deadly, and just hoped that his weapons would be enough.

Alex had finished the landing to where he wanted to, the stairs were just on his right. He turned to begin descending them, but already he was spotted by two guards at the bottom level who turned to face him and raised their guns. They were all dressed in business suits and had slicked back hair.

Freeze! one of them commanded, their guns still trained on Alex, but he didnt have the time to consider or hesitate, instead he continued to move on reflexes. He continued running down the stairs towards the bottom, and in that time he swiped his left hand in an arc in front of his body, letting go of the shower curtain which had spread out and now gave him limited cover in the form that the two gang members could not see him, and yet at the same time Alex didnt throw the razor blades. The men also began to react on reflexes and sensing the threat before them, and the fact that Alex didnt surrender and was instead planning to attack, fired towards where they thought Alex was.

A full round was fired by them into the curtain, showering it with bullet holes and even blowing it back slightly, but none of them had hit Alex. By this time, he had jumped into the air and was freefalling towards the men, who was surprised and stunned by the rabbit. Before they could even attempt to reload, Alex had landed in a crouch between them, and then swung the shower railing in a long arc before him, which caught both of their feet and knocked them over. Alex then continued to move without pause and brought the rod down across each of their faces, knocking them unconscious and out of commission and worry for the nearby future.

Alex didnt bother to retrieve the curtain which lay along the stairs, instead continuing to move on adrenaline and to take out the next enemy he met. He turned right again from the stairs, and un-expectantly into the main room he had been in before, where it was filled with more of the same men who had broke in, most of them Overlanders. A rat guard however, one unfamiliar to him was knocked out unconscious in the middle of the floor, his shoulder pierced by an arrow. It must have been Bucky since she was the only other one to use a bow or quiver of arrows, since all these men seemed to use guns instead. Alex had also found that Mrs. Diller and Phyllis were being held against the wall with their arms behind their backs and a gun trained at their head by another two men. And, just in the distance, Alex could see through a window and an open door the entrance of the building, more and more gang members rushing towards it but strangely enough being forced back. There was a fight at the entrance, and Alex could only assume it to be Zephron, he was trailing behind the rest of the group and must have only just made it. He was about to help him after rescuing the family, but was forced to a stand still, as his heart missed a beat.

It took him only a few seconds to scan the overly crowded and desperate scene of the main room, but in those few moments of pause, of hesitation, he had been defeated. He still held his weapons, he was still able to fight, but for how long that would remain, was in question.

A gun was placed at the back of his head. Alex couldnt move, or tell what type of gun it was, but it wouldnt matter anyway. He didnt know gun types, and they hurt either way. It sent chills down his spine though, to think that he was trapped like this.

The man who held the gun seemed an imposing figure. He was large, exceptionally large, and had dark skin. He, alike a lot of the other men, was dressed in a business suit and had thick sunglasses blocking his eyes. He was also bald, which would have overall projected an intimidating appearance, if Alex was actually able to turn around and look, but he was not. Whether he was the leader of the group or not, Alex couldnt say.

Dont you know its rude to hurt my friends? The man said, the gun still pressing into the back of Alexs head. He winced, frightened of what to do in such a situation. I think you should be taught a lesson.

All it took was the time of single blink, as the gun aimed at his head moved downwards and the trigger was pulled back an a loud and frightening BANG erupted from the device, followed by an agonising scream. Alex fell to the ground, his vision disappearing and being replaced by red, and then finally black.

OOC: I'm going to be gone a week to Texas so I won't be able to post until then so someone can take control of Lena and the cloaked figure (Who is Riku)

OOC: Thanks James, I've actually got to give credit to Pach for bringing up the idea of Bean and Bark in the first place to my attention, as well as showing me some references which provided the inspiration for the characters as they are in this thread. And yup, Bean is really on the edge of insanity, though I feel that Bark is going to turn out to be coldly philosophical, as a proper moment later on will reveal. Don't worry you did good. And of course, you're not a bad poet there either. But make sure not to die of sleep deprivation there! 😛

Good job everyone, we've been keeping this up well, hopefully this will bring another direction for the party to go in. And more hidden implications of the dangers of seeking the Emeralds...

IC:
Taffy let out a sigh of relief from around the corner she had hidden behind. A crook, a bigger human with a gun out, had just passed by and it looked like she was safe, along with the Emerald she kept safe in her backpack. The last thing we'd need is to lose this Emerald, she thought as she peeked around the corner.

Then her breath caught in her throat as she saw the big man behind Alex! She couldn't make out what he was saying, but he knew the man's gun was out.

And then the gun fired.

"NO!"

She dashed around the corner before she even realized what was happening, and she could see Alex tumbling to the ground just at the top of the stairs. The big man was whirling around to face the source of the loud shriek, and it seemed like everything was in slow motion.

No, I made a mistake, I'm letting my friends die, this can't be happening!

Her emotions went through an almost complete range from her former relief to shock to fright to rage as she planted her foot between the criminal's legs. He dropped to the ground with a strangely high-pitched yelp, but Taffy didn't give herself the time to be satisfied by the quick end to the fight, for in the next instant she was kneeling at Alex's side. "Alex! Alex!" she cried, desperately pulling off her backpack to get access to the supplies she had there as her eyes scanned the rabbit's prone body. Bullet through the chest...it looks like it went clean through, but if it's punctured a lung...

She grunted as she was struck across the face by a fist, and she was dragged to her feet by another goon, a Mobian, while she could now see her attacker, another human. "Oh now, wot's this? Looks like there's more o' 'em crawlin' out o' the woodwork, mate," sneered the trench-coated human as he bent down to the open backpack. "And wot 'ave we 'ere?"

"No!" Taffy shouted as the human pulled out the Chaos Emerald, it's yellow light sparkling even in the daylight that shone through the windows of the building. "Leave it alone, it's not what you're looking for!"

"Looks like a Chaos Emerald to me, and that's wot we were lookin' for," stated the human grimly as he polished the Emerald against his coat like an apple. "Right, our job's done 'ere, let's pull out before-"

"Darryl, you roj? We found the Emerald, here on the east side of town!"

The human scrabbled at his belt for a walkie-talkie mounted there, where the voice had suddenly come out of nowhere. "John, bloody bloke, wot're you talkin' about? I've got the Emerald right 'ere!"

"Then that's crazy, 'cause we found one here too! Maybe you should drop it before you go nuts like Ricardo here, he touched that thing and is going berserk right now!"

Another Emerald?! thought Taffy. They've found the one we're looking for! We've got to get out of this mess...

"Went berserk?" said Darryl nervously as he looked at the Chaos Emerald cautiously. "Eh, that doesn't sound good."

"You bet it don't! Look, Ricky's tearing us apart, you've got to let the boss know that-"

A bloody scream cut off the transmission, and Darryl dropped the Chaos Emerald to the ground like it was a snake about to bite him. "I didn't sign up to mess with stuff like this," he muttered. "And that plus the crazies outside are makin' this town too hot for my tastes."

"What do we do with her?" growled the Mobian holding onto Taffy, who was struggling to get free.

"Well, she is a looker," noted the human with a nasty glint in his eye. "C'mon, bring 'er with. She might make a good 'ostage or sumpin'. We'll need a ticket outta this place now..."

"I'll punch yer ticket!"

The human looked around in time to get a fist in the face from Max, and the Mobian behind Taffy felt a hard elbow to the back of his neck, releasing her and giving her the chance to kick backwards to knock the Mobian over.

"You keep gettin' yourself into trouble, Taff," muttered Max as he adjusted his hat. "Only lucky I'm around when I am..."

"Enough talk, Alex is hurt!" cried out Taffy as she turned to Lena, who had been the one who helped earlier. "Can you help him?"

"I can try," promised Lena as she bent down to the ground next to Alex. "But that will take time, and we're not in a good position."

Taffy felt helpless, and she knew it was only a matter of time until whatever was happening at the front door resolved itself and the goons would start pouring in again...but they had to do something. She reached down and replaced the Emerald in her backpack, closing it up quickly and putting it back on. "Take the time, I...<!~~EZCODE ITALIC START~~>we</em><!~~EZCODE ITALIC END~~> aren't going to lose anybody," she said determinedly. "We need to find the others, we shouldn't have split up like this. And we need to get to the east side of town, they've found another Emerald!"

Susie had listened intently to Eclipse's poem, tense under the pressure that Bean and Bark were putting them both under, but her ears were as sensitive as ever. After it was over, she wasn't paying much attention to Bean's casual behavior with the deadly explosives he carried, or to Bark's detached attitude. She was paying attention to Eclipse.

Did he call me a fair maiden?! she thought, and for some reason her heart skipped a beat as her mind fixated on that thought. Wow...he is kinda cute, now that I think about it...

But then she saw past her daydream to see the desperate look in his yellow eyes, and she shook herself free of her girlish thoughts as it struck her that there was something else he had been trying to say. Oh, what did he say again? Secrets, dark, flowers...daah! Oh wait, um, I know, something about a helping hand...oh crud. He doesn't know why I know these guys.

Even Susie's easily-distracted mentality could perceive the trouble that came out of this. He doesn't know my dreaded past, the shadows I've had to go through to come as far as I have... she thought melodramatically. But I'll have to tell him somehow before he thinks I'm gonna suck his blood in the middle of the night or something.

"Aw c'mon, you guys, he's just curious," spoke up Susie as she performed a lazy cartwheel alongside them as they continued to walk, fighting the real fear that she felt toward these two mercenaries they were now accompanying. "After all, it's not every day you get to wander about with two of the most successful bounty hunters on Mobius!"

"Now you're getting into the spirit," said Bean approvingly. "By the way, has your boss said anything since we left? He told us he was happy with what we did, but I wanna know how he really felt about it."

YES! Bean's easy to distract as always, he probably doesn't even remember that wallet I stole from him, thought Susie with some relief. She only finished the cartwheel halfway, leaving her standing on her head as she looked up at the duck in a thoughtful sort of way. "Umm...well, he did say SOMETHING about you guys..."

"Yeah, yeah? He wasn't such a bad guy to work for, being a ringleader for all the crime in Mobotropolis and all. C'mon, spill the beans gal!"

Susie finished the cartwheel and waggled a finger at Bean, winking at Eclipse who was listening intently to everything that was being said. "Not unless you answer a question we ask you. I'll trade info for info, I'm not stupid, ya know. And besides," she said coyly, "you obviously thought we were important enough to bring along, so you must need us for something, right?"

Bean's eyes changed from politely interested to dangerously angry. "Look kid, just 'cause your boss is cool doesn't mean we need your opinion on what we're doing now. I have half a mind to-"

"We agree to your terms," said Bark simply, his eyes hiding any spark of real interest there was in them.

"WHAT?!" squawked Bean as he looked up at his compatriot. "You gotta be kidding me, these kids're outta their league! We could just interrogate 'em here and-"

"These 'kids' have survived an encounter with the target," interrupted Bark, never raising his voice while he addressed his partner. "That fact alone makes them worth bringing along. And Susie's luck might serve us well as it has her."

Bean seemed to want to argue, and certainly Susie didn't doubt he was crazy enough to try, but he shrugged his shoulders and grumbled, "Fine, whatever. They'll make good body shields when we run into that hedgehog."

"Okay, first question, why's this hedgehog so special?" asked Susie, glad that her ploy worked. Hah! They make a good team, but Bean's not crazy enough to tell Bark no when Bark finally speaks up. Usually he just lets Bean get his way.

"Answer my question first, and then I'll answer that," Bean said, grumblingly.

"Boss thought you did waaay too much damage when you took out that bank," Susie said as the group continued to walk through the forest, leaves crunching beneath their feet. "You were supposed to take care of that crooked banker that was cashing in on those orphanage mortgages, not the entire bank. If I knew you were gonna do that, I would've spent less time distracting the bank guards. Boss couldn't complain since you got your target, though, so he was willing to let it slide."

"Well c'mon, was he paying us that much just for one guy? I still had lots of plastique after that job thanks to that. Oh well, his loss if he doesn't pay for us again."

"Your turn," Susie said coolly. Wow, I wonder if they really think I'm not scared right now? thought Susie as she sauntered along, moving next to Eclipse.

"Fine," growled Bean. "We do a lot of freelance work, but lately we've been taking jobs from this one guy. He's pretty high up in things, and he's got his fingers in almost anything you can name - terrorism, genetic engineering, messing with people's minds. And apparently those hedgehogs are one of his projects turned loose. If you've seen them, then you can probably guess why this guy wants 'em back."

Susie glanced at Eclipse, who glanced back at her, looking a little relieved but still nervous, and she didn't blame him one bit. I dunno what he means by that, I didn't see any hedgehogs when I was running around. But Clips knows! He met 'em before...so what CAN these hedgehogs do?

"It was kinda rough for a while there, but we got outta there. You should see what those hedgehogs can do!"

"Yeah?" asked Bean, one eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Yeah! They've got freaky huge muscles, giant blood-sucking fangs, and eyes that shoot freakin' laser beams, man! Scary! We only barely made it out of there," lied Susie. I hope Eclipse figures out I'm just trying to freak them out, she thought. Heck, he knows them better than I do, I hope my description wasn't too far off the mark.

OOC: It's still like two more weeks before Ben's resits, right?

Max kneeled down towards Alex and looked at the wound, course it was a gunshot wound and Max knew them so well. Hed got shot plenty of times in his day and hed given the wound to others as well. But Alex as hurt. The crimson red hedgehog gritted his teeth. Wed need to cover his wound if were going to go on the move. he muttered as he stood up looking back to Taffy. Ole big mouth was talking again and of course he had missed what she had said but nodded to whatever she said, he slowly joined her side as he brandished the gun.

So, when are more goons gonna come out? he asked.

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Probably soon.

Max nodded, that was a real accurate response. He couldnt figure the right time to leave or how much time they had to heal Alex. Real accurate. he muttered. So all the red hedgehog did was aim his pistol steadily.

Just tell me when to shoot.

Oh, I dont know about that said a voice from the doorway which surprised all of those within and made them reel with shock and fear at the newcomer who had arrived. Those that were fighting at the doorway, Zephron and the cloaked and mysterious Riku didnt know who this person was and only cautiously allowed him in. He was an Overlander and he was instantly suspicious, but he was noticeably different then from the others they had thought. Namely, he wasnt dressed in the same style and manner of the people who fought the group before, and his colouring of clothing was that of an, albeit dirty, white, compared to the henchmens black suited garbing.

His hair was a mess and fell each way around his head, and his chest was bare open, to reveal the long scar which ran along it. He was dirty, with parts of his body caked in mud and dirt, a testimony of what had happened to him in the forest before. Taffy and Max reeled back slightly as did Lena, but Lena was already on the ground, her hands above Alexs wound trying to heal him, whilst the others took a few uncertain steps back, before Max raised his gun once more and aimed it towards the familiar man. Towards Carrion.

You! Youre that Overlander assassin who hurt Gavin! Taffy exclaimed.

Why did ya let him in?! Max shouted towards Zephron and the still cloaked Riku, before realising that the cloaked form was also the shape of an Overlander, and wondered if that too could have been an enemy but whoever it was, they had helped fight against some of the people from before, so in that regards, they were an ally sort of. This person here he was far from a friend. He had hurt them before, and instilled a level of fear in them ever since the start of the journey. He was their first enemy, and one who wasnt so easily forgotten, especially since he had created lasting repercussions in the form of Gavins injury.

Hey! I dont even know who the hell he is! He didnt seem like he was going to hurt us and hes alone, so I thought we could capture him and Zephron began to exclaim, but there was another loud BAM across the room which surprised all of those that were within it, the group that had been formed before and the two owners of the home that had been rescued through the henchmens leaving thanks in part to Alex and Taffy.

At first, no one could tell where the blast came from, until it was painfully obvious to people that Max seemed like the only one to hold a gun, the laser type that Riku had given to him before her departure. There was a slight energy trail coming off it, and as people could see the angle of it, they could find that it hit the ceiling at a diagonal angle from where Max was. He had fired it towards Carrions face, but Carrion had simply dodged it, where it hit above them. His face was emotionless and expressionless, which became all the more intimidating for them.

Damn! Max said, before trying to fire again, but Carrions hand had swept across the air and knocked it out of his hands, where it skidded and crashed into the distant corner of the room. The group all tensed up, wondering what would happen next, and if they would live to survive it.

Id advise not to play with toys you know little about. Carrion said, which surprised them all once more. They had been expecting an attack, and for those that had experienced Carrions attack before in the ancient building they were even more surprised by the coherent and intelligent vocabulary. Before, it was nothing but madness like Death, Kill! And a sadistic look on his face, even when he experienced pain, now, it was emotionless. And that was even more scary.

Especially when they had two seriously injured people with who wouldnt be able to protect themselves. Alex and Gavin why did this guy have to turn up now?! At all?! Why Taffy began to think to herself but her thoughts were interrupted as Max spoke again.

What are ya talking about?! Guns are my speciality! Max began to argue, but Carrion slowly raised a hand that was outstretched, in a stopping motion. The mere raising of his hand made the party members jump in itself.

Yes, guns are your speciality. But ones with bullets, not energy charges. I do believe then that this would be more helpful for you. Carrion reached into a coat and pulled out a gun, Maxs gun, the same gun which he had picked up in the wheat field when Max had lost it to another enemy and Carrion had picked it up. The gun was in virtually the exact same condition as before, except for missing a bullet (as Carrion had used it before again Taffy and Alex, and which resulted in destroying Alexs bow) and the safety was on. Carrion lightly chucked it to Max who caught it in both of his hands, and stared down at it, dumbfounded, wondering why he had done that.

Carrion walked forwards, past the still body of Alex and the others, until he was standing in the middle of the large room that occupied the main fight within the home. He then turned to look behind him and continue addressing the still tense group.

I dont believe Ive introduced myself to you before. My name is Hermes Carrion, and you may refer to me as either name. Hermes spoke. I understand that, being in such a strange city, and against such strange, different people, you are confused and have plenty of questions, and not enough information. Just so you know, I live in this city, so information I may be able to give you. However, this operation that is after these Chaos Emeralds Hermes took a moment to pause and look towards Taffys bag, where he could sense the immense aura and energy of the gem within, and he knew it was one, especially since he had fought against a user with one before. Taffy noticed his gaze and stood in front of it, blocking his view, which just made Carrion smile slightly at how pointless that would be. He could still sense it, although none of the group knew his ability, so he couldnt blame them. He looked away from it.

The operation after the Chaos Emeralds, I do not know too much information about them. My mind has been cloudy for a while, and so I have not been kept up to date with the situation here. The best thing to do would be to take one of their members and interrogate them, along with the rest of your group which is in the back garden. Hermes explained.

That would be helpful, maybe Max spoke, whilst aiming his returned weapon at Hermes again. But none of them are here anymore! They all escaped together!

Oh, that is true, but there is one left. One who didnt manage to escape. They are still unconscious, upstairs. Within your, er, slightly ruined bathroom. He was dealt a number of terrible wounds so he wont be able to awake for a short time, but you have your information source there. Hermes explained in reply.

I I dont get this Taffy said, confused, raising one of her hands to hold her head which seemed to be overwhelmed with emotions and questions. Why are you doing this?

That is a simple question to answer, for you see Carrion smiled slightly, a strange warm smile compared to the sadistic smile seen before.

I wish to join you.

"Oh I can't wait to hear the explaination for this," Riku said under her cloak. She could still see Lena trying to heal that rabbit but she was more interested in why Carrion wanted to join them. Her stomach growled and she noticed her urge to feed was rising but she still wanted to hear what he had to say.