Wayfarer thought for a moment. It's not like anything really important had happened, so he wasn't in a hurry to get back. But, maybe there was a hidden clue somewhere that the others could see that he couldn't? And what was up with Ultra, leaving him on the roof like that?

Way hadn't gotten a chance to explain what we meant by his body not being solid and real, but now was as good a time as any to demonstrate. Jumping from the roof, Way curled up into a bandaged ball, his arms and feet and head disappearing completely. Falling the great distance, he landed, and his body fell apart, dozens of bandages folding out across the ground! For a moment, nothing happened. Then, all the bandages pulled themselves together, retaking his human form. He began to run back to the cemetary, prepared to make his report, and thought to himself, "I wish I could've helped more, but at least everything seems to be alright. I hope that Justin and the others can use this information..."

OOC: I don't wanna contribute to dragging out the cemetary scene, so I'm open to just cutting to a later time. Wayfarer would just report, and then head back to his residence for the night. He'd be out and about the next day.

Camden had set up already, she had had the photograph scanned and photocopied, blown up and had printouts of data from all the various sightings.
There was a pattern; he had been everywhere.

How you doing? she asked Swiftbomb casually as he stumbled in through the doorways, standing up to embrace him.
He shrugged and told her about his encounter with Camden last night, he hadnt been particularly worried about things before then but now his interest was piqued.

How long till we set up?
I asked Justin to come along in about half an hour, and Ive ordered some posters to be put up advertising for anyone who knows anything to report in.
What else have we got? he asked annoyed, We havent got anything to go on at the moment

He a planar, she replied quickly, Hes from off world, didnt originate here.
None of us did, he replied ironically, We all come from somewhere.
I know that, she replied testily, But the admins have found a signal, its a small one thats been playing for years. No ones noticed it till now She put her finger to her lips at Bombs interested look, Ill tell you when I tell everyone else, whatever this is its got True Red worried, and she wants us to investigate.

Us?
Me and Justin, thats if he agrees to come along. She laughed patting him on the shoulder, And were also going to recruit some helpers, so I guess you can come along.

He didnt smile as he took a seat at the front of the hall, before climbing to his feet again and pouring out a coffee. I hope theres a decent turn out, thisll be very boring if theres just the three of us.

After the Camden incident was over, the shadows turned all of their attention to the two hedgehogs.

Ultra Shadow 007 on the ground.

Redley on the rooftop.

The shadows were absolute in their darkness. They were otherworldly in their darkness...as if no light could ever pierce them.

In a way, that was true.

The assassin within both of the hedgehogs knew of these shadows...as to how...

Well, that was a subject for a different time...

Redley calmly stretched his right arm; the left hand suddenly began charging with electrical energy, creating a taser of sorts out of his metallic appendage. "Are you ready?"

Ultra Shadow calmly chuckled as he pulled out his blaster. "Always am."

Then the shadows suddenly bent outward from the alleyway and soared into the air, coming down towards them at high speed.

Justin had been so stunned by Ultra Shadow jumping onto his head that he hadn't really been able to reply with much but a muttered, "Uh, no." Blazes, good thing only a few people saw me out of the suit the first time I was around here, he thought gratefully that he hadn't been a complete nitwit. And even those who knew me before wouldn't recognize me now unless they knew me really well...like Inirikooc, or Cookirini...

But it didn't take long to finish up what they could of the investigation, and Justin decided it was time to head back to his apartment. 'Bout time I got outta this monkey suit anyway.

Justin stood in his apartment's kitchen, dressed in cargo shorts, a tan T-shirt with a green SEGA logo across the front, and his typical red-white-and-gray sneakers and gloves. His brown leather jacket was hung on the doorknob, ready for him when he left with its twin gun holsters hidden mostly out of sight on either side. The answering machine had a message still on it that he hadn't deleted yet, the one where he was asked to assist in the investigation by Rachel. He had called back to let her know he was into it.

And on the counter in front of him, were a pair of Glock handguns, having been pieced methodically back together after being cleaned, and now the brown-haired human was examining the different clips he was bringing with him.

Vector's been busy making new stuff, thought Justin as he slapped a clip into each gun and examined the other clips that were scattered on the countertop, the bullets visible with different colored tips. Robot-busting EMP armor-piercing, electric stunners, grappling hook shots, even freeze bullets. Can only carry a clip of each though, and Vector said he hadn't tested them all.

Picking up his jacket and flinging it on, he swiped up the handguns and slid them into their places at his side, followed closely by the extra rounds of equipment as well as his belt-mounted tool kit. Looks like I'll take 'em for "field testing" he thought with a grin as he opened his apartment door. Whatever the heck is going on, I'll be ready for it! Justin Hobbes is on the job!

With a twinkle in his turquoise eyes at the thought of action, he left to meet with the others.

OOC: Not trying to make Justin sound like a walking arsenal, his gunmanship and other fighting skills are really mediocre compared to others, it's his talent with mechanics that he really shines in.

As Justin Hobbes walked out of the Sega City Apartments, he immediately heard the sounds of battle. He glanced to a nearby alleyway to see two familiar hedgehogs fighting...shadows. Huh? Ultra Shadow? Ultra Sonic? What are they fighting...?

The humanoid shadows lashed out at the two hedgehogs, beady eyes glowing and claws outstretched.

Ultra Shadow quickly spun backwards, firing his blaster as he did. The red laser bolts slammed into the oncoming horde, barely slowing them down. Man! These guys are tough!

No surprise...

Like you'd know how to fight them!

As a matter of fact...

Meanwhile, Jonathon Redley's red eyes gleamed as the shadows neared him. The shifting mass of darkness was oddly disconcerting...because they made no sound. No shouts, no screaming.

The first one leapt at him.

Redley calmly thrust his electrically-charged left hand into the shadow. It jerked momentarily before spasming...and then it exploded into hundreds of tiny blobs.

The rest of the descending horde fell en masse.

Redley jumped upward into the flood of darkness, his taser-hand clearing through the creatures relatively quickly. By the time he had come out through the other side of the horde, he had pulled out his blaster and began blasting the descending shadows.

The shadows, after landing on the ground, shifted from side-to-side, trying to disorient the blue hedgehog.

Redley, once landing, instead ran out of the alley, coming into the open street. The shadows followed.

However, one of the creatures stopped...and turned its head, its yellow eyes wide.

Eyes that now saw Justin.

Without hesitation, the creature charged.

"What the heck?!", The Shadow stopped and turned to see Silver standing slightly down the street. It charged at him, suspecting he was unprepared, it was wrong. in an instant, Silver pulled out one of his fireswords and the figure burst into flame as it was sliced in half, it melted away, and seemed to creep back to the rest of the shadows. "WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE?!", Silver yelled, freaked out, as he had never seen anything like this hapen in this part of Sega City.

The shadowy creatures sensed Silver's presence now. The massive group that was attacking Redley suddenly split into another faction that charged at Silver the Hedgehog.

Meanwhile, the group facing Ultra Shadow split into a second faction as well, this time aiming for Justin Hobbes.

Four different groups of shadow beasts.

Redley.

U-Shadow.

Justin.

Silver.

All of them each against at least one hundred shadow monsters.

Ultra Shadow grinned. "Heh...this'll be fun."

"I don't know!" shouted Justin in reply to Silver's frantic question as the human stepped back into a fighting stance, his fists raised. "Just hit 'em with all you got!"

The scrabbling shadows crawled swiftly down the side of the building, massing as Justin stood waiting for them. The only sense of life coming from them were their burning eyes, which stared greedily at Justin as if he was a tempting meal.

Justin smirked, then laughed out loud, unable to contain his mirth. The laugh was a natural one, not harsh or forced, but the kind one enjoyed with friends. "You have GOT to be kidding me!" exclaimed Justin.

Then the shadows attacked, their whispery screeches piercing the night.

"HA!" shouted Justin as he punched the first shadow in midair, reaching his fist through its outstretched claws to connect between its fiery eyes. He felt resistance briefly before the shadowstuff dispersed forcefully, and he found himself going through the swiftly-dissipating shadow.

There wasn't time to think, only to act and react as other shadows leapt at him. He had already punched through another one before throwing himself backward to catch another shadow on his foot. He rolled down on his back as he threw the shadow backward across the street, then he whipped his legs forward to bring himself back to his feet, one of his Glocks swiftly pulled from his pocket.

One of the shadows slipped under his arm and raked his bare lower leg, and he kicked it forcefully sideways as he shot three times into the oncoming crowd. The bullets made a shattering sound that echoed in the near-empty street as small groups of shadows were punched through by large spiked balls of frigid ice, and Justin had a moment to look down at the scratch wound.

Huh, looks like the freeze rounds detonate prematurely, thought Justin almost conversationally with himself as he threw himself recklessly forward, whipping his fists into the crowd of shadows. I'll have to let Vector know about-

He was struck by a fist to his jaw, and he staggered back, the sweet rhythm of battle disrupted for him as he blinked back the tears of pain that formed in his eyes. But it was too late as he felt hands scraping at his wrists and ankles, restraining him, trying to pull him down...

"Not today, punks!" he roared as he wrenched his gun-hand free and blasted away at point-blank, more bladed chunks of ice spinning through the shadows. Despite the scratches that now covered his arms and legs, he was feeling more alive. The thrill of battle invigorated him in a way that no mere stimulant could, and he was enjoying it ever so guiltily...

"So you still want some?" he asked the remaining shadows, who were still plentiful but were not as thickly packed as they once had been. Justin used his free hand to beckon the shadows. "Then come and get it!"

The shadows leapt at him as he rushed forward with renewed enthusiasm, the beat of the music of combat sounding in his ears...

The shadows roaring towards Justin, their ferocity matched only by their speed, suddenly vanished in a flash of red.

A super-sized red laser beam, that is.

The Moderator blinked; the number of enemies he had to deal with had been decreased considerably. He glanced over to see Ultra Shadow, holding a laser blaster.

A ruined one, that is; the barrel had been melted by the overcharged laser bolt.

"Feh...I hate that little detail," grumbled the black-and-red hedgehog as he a shadow creature slashed at him, leaving trails of blood etched across his side. "Oh I don't think so!" roared the hedgehog as he activated his jet shoes, flying backwards in the face of an increasingly ferocious horde.

Justin turned his attention to the 20-odd shadows that still glared at him, when a voice came from behind him.

"They're weak to electricity."

Justin Hobbes glanced behind him to see Ultra Sonic (who he THOUGHT was Ultra, but it was actually Redley), his left hand pulsing with the charge of a taser. Facing the blue furry were over forty shadows. "If you have anything capable of an electric charge, I suggest you use it." With that said, Redley charged at his faction of the shadow horde.

At the same time, the shadows Justin faced charged at him.

The Moderator quickly aimed his Glocks, the back of his mind faintly wondering why Ultra Sonic had sounded so...emotionless...

Justin shrugged, pushing aside his thoughts as he exchanged guns and fired a spray of electric bullets that scattered the shadows attacking him. I technically don't "know" Ultra anyway, he reminded himself as he ran to the side toward where Silver was contending with more of the creatures. He looks like he's changed a lot.

His barrage had only kept the shadows from attacking him until he could join up with Silver, going back to back with the young hedgehog as they held off the combined might of the two armies after them. Silver and Justin shared enough of a glance that they knew that they were watching each others' backs; they didn't know each other that well, but the situation was dire enough that to survive, they had to!

Meanwhile, Ultra Shadow was in a bit of a bind.

See, his laser blaster had been his only means of attack, aside from spin dashing, punching and kicking. His punches weren't much to speak of, and his kicks only affected the shadows if he activated his jet shoes at the last moment, sending searing exhaust into their bodies (akin to having fire put on your skin for about five seconds). His spin dashes were useful...but the shadows were more than capable of injuring him while during a spin.

So that really only left him a hit-and-run strategy.

"STOP ATTACKING ME!!!" yelped the Evil Forumer as he kicked one shadow in the head before bursting off; the shadowy horde trailed him like ravenous hornets: unrelenting.

Meanwhile, Redley tore through the shadows with his electrically-charged left hand, his adamantium arm glistening amongst the sea of darkness that surrounded him.

Despite the heat of battle, his emotions...were nonexistent. The ice-cold blood of war. It allowed him to fight at peak efficiency.

As he ran up the side of a building, he saw five shadows suddenly disappear from behind him before emerging in front of him.

Redley held his hand forward.

He charged straight through them.

The five shadows were destroyed...but Redley had cuts along his side. No matter. It was nothing.

He quickly leapt off the side of the building, flipping in the air, and firing off several shots with his left arm's built in laser cannon. As he landed, the wall of shadow creatures on the wall turned their eyes to him before leaping at him.

Redley was silent as he awaited the oncoming horde.

As an enormous black shape descended from the shadows above him Silver felt something very strange happen in his gut, something that suggested that...
Suddenly he wasn't standing in the street any more, someone he grabbed him from behind and... They were running across the street, as least it felt like running, the air was pushing against him as if resistant to him moving at all...

"How are you going so fast?" he asked the man who had grabbed him, a cloaked figure bristling with energy beneath him. The cloaked figure shrugged, pointing down at his feet where they could clearly see he was just strolling along at a casual rate.
It wasn't them who were moving fast everything else had slowed down, everything else except. Slowly the Shadows started to move again, speeding up as if to compensate and with a worried groan everything else clicked back into place.

Ultra, Redley and Justin found the two strangers in their midst and the group of them were completely surrounded by the black creatures.
Everyone paused to look at the claoked figure who adjusted his hood to make sure they couldn't see his face. "They won't stop attacking you untill the morning light comes or the one who summoned them here dies," he warned them ominously. "If you want to live the night I suggest that we get out of here as soon as possible..."

The ground was practically swimming with the creatures, hundreds upon millions of them were swarming around the group and forming a tight circle.
Pulling out his weapons from his cloak, two short black sticks from his cloak the stranger dived into the battle. With effortless grace and ease he swerved his way into the middle of the mellee and joined Redley an Justin in the battle...

Jonathon Redley remained silent as he started at the cloaked figure. HE was the one they had been trailing earlier. This figure was of particular interest to the blue hedgehog...as to why...

The assassin converted his hand into a blade, still keeping the electric charge of the taser intact. The hedgehog began twirling around, swinging the charged, one-foot long blade into the mass of darkness. Even so, he knew that continuing the fight was futile; there were far more creatures now than there had been before.

So he decided to cut the fight short.

As Ultra Shadow began panicking - after all, the shadowy creatures were clawing at his feet - Redley stopped beside the cloaked man, his red eyes staring at his blank face. Finally, he said, "I know of these creatures you fight."

This seemed to cause the man a bit of unease. As he slammed his two black sticks into the nearest group, the man said, "Is that so."

Redley nodded as he slashed through one that had been going for his back. The hedgehog fired with his handheld laser blaster, speaing as he did. "The people here a bit curious as to the nature of these beasts...but as you can see, we're at a slight disadvantage. So I suggest we take your advice and leave."

"AAAAAGGGHHH!" yelped Ultra Shadow as twenty of the creatures leapt upon him.

SHING.

Less than a moment later, they had been cut down by a sweeping slash by Redley. Confused and disoriented, the black hedgehog could only grunt as Redley picked him with his right hand.

The blue hedgehog's red eyes stared quietly into the blank eyes of the cloaked man.

All around them was chaos.

But in that momentary gaze, there was a sense of order amidst it all.

Redley nonchalantly said, "Shall we depart?"

Silver fired off a fire beam he had been charging up a bit for. "Yeah, that should slow them down a bit.", He said as he noticed that the shadows had decreased in number, and a few had caught fire, and with the rest so close, caused a chaos effect. "Let's get out of here before they recover!"

"Follow me," the stranger replied as he thrust his way forwards, cutting a path through the swarm that surrounded them...

Suddenly things started blurring around him and he reached out to the others, "Come through, they won't follow us here."
A light was shining through the ripple, a glimmer glowing out from his fist; and holding one hand in the air he urged them to reach out and grab him. "Take my hand..."

Silver was the first to reach him, and as his fingers touched the gloves fist he felt something tuggging on him. Something in his gut was twisting, and he collapsed and fell onto the soft mossy grass.
"What..." he frowned as he rolled onto his back, "Where am I?"

"Welcome back to the RP Guild," the strangers haunting voice echoed from above him, "Have you ever seen Lord of the Rings?"
In the distance Slver watched as an army of orcs and humans were riding towards each other, two vast opposing armies preparing to do battle at the gates of an enormous gate leading into the forbidden land of Mordor. "I'll be with you in a second, untill then enjoy the view."

----

Back outside...

"Where did he go?" Justin asked as Silver shimmered out of existance...
"Somewhere safe," the shadow replied, falling onto one knee in dispair. "Look, I can't keep the gate open long," with his other arm he threw his long sword like weapon like a boomerang and it cut through six or seven of the shadows, cutting them to shreds as it circled though the air and came back to him.

Redley calmly leapt over the nearest shadows, having U-Shadow touch the stranger's hand. The black-and-red hedgehog suddenly disappeared...but Redley hadn't left. Yet.

"The others are not as combat proficient as I. Get them out first," calmly said the hedgehog as his foot-long, electrically-charged blade slashed through the shadows around them.

xxxx

Silver suddenly grimaced as a massive weight fell on him: Ultra Shadow.

"Ooww..." muttered the black-and-red hedgehog.

Justin caught that remark about his combat skills. What the heck? When did Ultra get so arrogant? No time to think about it now, nobody's a good enough fighter to handle an army like this. I hate teleportation...

He pocketed his gun just as he reached out with his free hand to the stranger's...and there was a brief moment in time where he felt completely weightless, suspended in emptiness, but then reality caught up with him as he fell onto a grassy slope somewhere else.

He immediately got to his feet and braced himself as his stomach caught up with the rest of him, nausea making him break out in a cold sweat. "I...hate...teleportation," he spat, the sour pain beginning to go away almost immediately and was replaced by the stinging of the many scratches and cuts he had received during the fight.

He looked up to see Ultra Shadow and Silver nearby. "Hey, where the heck is this?"

Redley calmly stared at the maelstrom of black surrounding them. Only the blue hedgehog and the cloaked stranger was left. "Let us depart."

Redley clutched the man's hand.

He felt a sense of vertigo...but nothing compared to when he had journeyed through the space between Demiplanes on his trip from the Archie Star Forum World to the Mobius Forum World.

In seconds, the teleportation ceased.

xxxx

"Lord...of the Rings...RP..." grumbled Ultra Shadow in reply to Justin as he resisted the urge to hurl. Now was NOT a good time for dry heaves.

You're hopeless...

HA! SAYS YOU!

Nausea is merely a body reaction. Easy to suppress...

Whatever...

Suddenly, Redley dropped into their midst. He glanced at all three of them. At the same time, Justin looked up at the blue hedgehog.

That's when the human finally saw those red eyes.

"They won't follow us in here" the stranger groaned as he appeared behind them... "Shadows are the absence of light, but in a virtual reality like this even black is a colour created by pixels of animation..."

"Who are you?" the concerned forumers asked almost at the same time, but he only answered to Justin.
"A friend," he shrugged, "I wanted to stay hidden but it looks like that will no longer be possible, not thanks to the publicity after that funeral..."

"What were you doing there?" Justin asked surprised, "I heard about..."
"I came to Sega City after I heard about your friends death," the stranger replied clutching his head, "I came to the funeral and examined the corpse, but that wasn't good enough. I needed proof that the Shadows had come here so I travelled back to his death to watch what happened, and after the recent attacks I've got no doubt now that Sega City is their next target."

He crossed his arms and pulled down his hood, the empty face that Ultra had seen before bristling with anger. "My name is Thomas, who are you?"

Ultra Shadow grumbled, "Ultra Shadow, Evil Forumer and pig-pal."

Redley paused momentarily...because Ultra Sonic was ready to get back in control of the body. The assassin had no such intentions...so he willed Ultra away before answering. "I am Jonathon Redley. Assassin." Needless to say, this answer - coupled with the red eyes - shocked Justin.

OOC: I'm unsure how time is flowing right now, so if there's a problem or whatever, lemme know. I'm assuming that the thing involving the 007's and Silver and Justin happened last night? Clarification would be nice, but I'm not pressing to make this a big deal.

IC:

Wayfarer stopped, not far from where Rachel and Swiftbomb were waiting. He had been having trouble sleeping, knowing what lurked out there, somewhere. He decided the only thing to calm his mind was to participate.

His hesitation came in that he wasn't sure the reaction he would get. His thinking was that it could be awkward to be there before anyone else showed up. Shrugging, he walked to the door, and knocked. Did he have anything to fear? "I don't want to answer that..."

OOC: Yes. Everything involving Thomas, U-Shadow, Justin, Silver, and Redley happened last night.

"Justin Hobbes," answered Justin as he turned his eyes from Ultra and looked at Thomas. Ultra is really starting to give me the creeps now, what's he calling himself Redley for? I thought I recognized him, but maybe I'm not too sure now...

After Silver had also introduced himself (OOC: not trying to cut you off Silv, just trying to move this along a bit), Justin turned back to Thomas. "Okay, so what's up with these shadow things? You mentioned that they're targeting Sega City, but what in the heck are they, where do they come from?"

And how come you know so much about them? he was tempted to ask, but he dismissed it, giving another sideways glance at "Redley" before turning his full attention to Thomas.

"I already know of these creatures," said Redley as he looked at Thomas, his expression not changing.

Thomas said nothing. Ultra Shadow yelled, "HEY! How do YOU know these things?!"

The assassin calmly looked at the black hedgehog before saying, "I never fought these shadows myself...but I do know of them. My home world's creation is linked to them."

U-Shadow, Justin, and Silver arched eyebrows out of surprise. Thomas said nothing. Hobbes finally said, "Is that so...then tell us, 'Redley'."

Redley walked away a few yards, staring at the LOTR battle going on in the distance. He finally said, "Many centuries ago, the ancestors of all those on my home forum world fled their Demiplane of origin. The reason was because of these shadow creatures." He flexed his fingers as he continued. "They eventually found the empty Demiplane that would become the Archie Star Forum World, my home. They found 12 empty planets revolving around a large star...so for protection from the shadows, they settled down on the first planet nearest to the star. However, the shadows threatened to consume this still...but needless to say, using an artifact of great power, the shadows were driven and banished from the ASFW, in what the oldest records described as 'a wave of lightning, purging all darkness from the realm'..."

The assassin turned towards Thomas. "That was a long time ago...but needless to say, I'm in the dark as to why they've come here."

xxxx

OOC: I've already spoken with Swift; this little explanation of Redley's is fine with him, as it only offers a little light on the shadows as a whole.

"Hmm... well, then isn't the simplist thing to do is once morning comes, we head over to the newbie distribuation center?", Silver asked, but Redley shook his head. "Even if we found it, it might take the shadows from here, but they might be able to go back there, or another world." Silver hadn't thought of that. "Well then... anyone else have any ideas?"

"I have plenty," Thomas shrugged, "None of which you'd like, but we do need to leave the RP Guild." he turned and started walking away but Ultra reached out and grabbed him...

"Hang on," he frowned, "I told you how I know the shadows, now it' your turn."
"My turn?" Thomas repeated slowly, "All right, fine, on my homeworld we also fled from the Shadows. Our original home was destroyed by them, so we set up a barrier from which we could defend ourselves from, then after many centuries of isolation we extended a hand of friendship and ventured back out into the universe. We have various ambassadors on hundreds of worlds, some official and others not. We trade technology and resources and have built a vast empire, but we never stop looking for our enemy. Whenever we find them It's my job to investigate, discover if they are indeed here or not and if they are, then to warn my superiors."

"And they'll help us to fight them?" Justin asked with raised eyebrows, "You're going to start a war on these... things?"

"No, we'll simply evacuate all of our people from Sega City. Unknown to the admins there are at least two hundred of my people here, no one official but Sega City has always been a popular holiday destination. When my report is finished all of them will be evacuated and we'll seel all acess to this world to stop them from spreading to any others." with a frown he bit his lip. "I'm sorry..."

Gasping Redley had to let go of Thomas's arm as if a wave of burning energy and seared through him, they all fell backwards and they were caught in a blinding flash of light. Silver was the first to open his eyes again and he blinked in confusion, "Where'd he go?"

"To file his report..." Redley replied grimly, "To get out before they come to kill him as well."

OOC: I haven't had much chance to post recently...
After this can everyone make their way to where Wayfarer, Rachel and Bomb are and I'll try to get online as much as possible, whenever possible.

OOC: When you say Ultra, do you mean Ultra Shadow?

Redley = the assassin.
Ultra/Ultra Sonic = the normal guy you all know.
U-Shadow/Ultra Shadow = the evil nitwit. 😛

xxxx

Upon hearing Thomas' story, Ultra had been so shocked that he had wrested control from Redley to regain his body. Thus, there was the gasp.

As Thomas left, Ultra's green eyes narrowed. "Darn it...this is great..." As he turned around to face U-Shadow, Justin couldn't help but blink at the sight of his green eyes and the sudden change in his tone. What's going on with him?

U-Shadow muttered, "So...what exactly just happened?"

You know what it means...

U-Shadow frowned as the voice of Redley echoed through his head. So? I'm in denial.
...

Ultra answered, "We've basically been abandoned...abandoned to face these shadow monsters until they overwhelm us."

You forget one thing...

Ultra's eyes narrowed as Redley's voice came to mind. What?

That man mentioned two ways to defeat the shadows...

...to wait until morning...or... Suddenly, the blue hedgehog gasped out of realization. "Wait...there might be a way..."

"And that would be?" asked Silver.

Ultra Sonic glanced down at his adamantium limb before muttering, "...the one who summoned these shadows to Sega City...we have to find him...or her...or it..."

"And out of 30 million people in Sega City, we're gonna find the one guy who's bringing these critters here?" asked Justin incredulously. "Look, we should meet up with Swiftbomb and Rachel - they're investigating this situation too, maybe they've found some clues that'll help us out. I was headed over there when those things attacked us."

I hate being used, but I also hate being abandoned, thought Justin in righteous anger at Thomas. I can understand why they'd just run, why they'd leave us to our fate, but that's just cowardly. If they don't face these things, they're going to run out of places to escape to...

Justin looked up the hill and held out a gloved hand. "Computer, shut down RP situation and log us all out. Open door."

"Acknowledged, Justin Hobbes," tinkled a female computer voice that seemed to emanate from the sky itself, "shutting down RP."

The environment around them suddenly changed, black appearing all throughout the background as everything except the forumers dissolved into basic wire-frames, and then vanished, leaving a grid of multicolored lines against the black. A light appeared, forming a door-shaped portal at one edge of the darkened room, which now had the appearance of a dome shape that the forumers stood in.

"There we go, let's get out of here," said Justin authoritatively as he walked out into the RP Guild.

U-Shadow grumbled as he looked at the others with a casual glare. "Feh, you guys investigate if you want. I gotta go get my blaster repaired." And get my wounds healed.

This pain is nothing...

Says you.

"Ta ta, losers!" The evil forumer let loose a stereotypical 'evil laugh' as he dashed out of the RP Dome, leaving the others behind.

Ultra sweatdropped. "Idiot."

As Justin began walking away, Ultra quickly ran up to his side. "So, uh...Justin right?"

"Yes?" replied the Moderator-in-disguise (:P), his mind acting a bit suspicious of the hedgehog; after all, his personality had taken a bit of a 180.

"Well...I'd like to apologize for anything I did. It's just...I sometimes tend to...lose control." Perfect. He just said the truth...without revealing too much.

Appeasing your conscience will do you no good...

Shut up. "So...need some company on the way to Swiftbomb's?"

Justin stepped out of the RP Dome with the others; as he expected, the RP Guild itself was dark inside, the main Dome Room illuminated only by the glowing neon signs that indicated direction in the maze of domes. He glanced sideways at Ultra, and was curious about the changes that had happened and particularly about Ultra's apology, especially since Justin didn't feel like an apology had been really necessary. Something's funny about him, he thought, and maybe it's connected to what's going on with these "shadows." Better keep an eye on him.

"No worries, man," he responded, flashing a lop-sided grin at the blue hedgehog. "And I was actually thinking that we should all go, since we all fought those critters," he said, looking at Silver and nodding at him. "Chances are, we'll need all the hands we can get. 'Course, Silver, if you don't wanna come, that's fine too, but it might be safer for us all to stick together. Swiftbomb and Rachel don't live too far from here, we can make it in just a few minutes if we hurry."

OOC: Sorry about that, Ireally am pressed for time at the moment but here goes...
I'll be able to get on tommorow and sunday so...

IC:
The Next Morning
"So what do we know?" Swiftbomb asked annoyed as he and Rachel pooled everything they knew.
During the night a report had come from the Admin Tower, and True Red had had very little good news. That coupled with what Justin had been able to give them when he and Redley had arrived had all ammased to not very much.

"What are the shadows?" Swiftbomb repeated, glancing at Ultra, "You said you'd seen them before."
"Their shadows," the hedgehog shrugged, "Darkness is the absence of light, and somehow they've become sentient."
"Their being summoned," Wayfarer pointed out, "Our visitor definitely said that?" he had heard everything that they had said from the nights experiences and Justin nodded in agreement.

"Yes. For some reson, they're weak to electricity. Fortunately for us," Ultra tapped his adamantium arm. "We had some electric firepower to help deal with them."

Swiftbomb frowned as his brow was creased, his mind deep in thought. Something was egging him the wrong way...why had they been summoned in the first place? Who was behind it?

Meanwhile, Justin was speaking to Rachel. "Have the Admins had any luck trying to track the source of these shadow creatures?"