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| (Ch. 6: Day 4) http://sonic.spindash.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=483 |
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| Author: | psikeout [ Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:57 pm ] |
| Post subject: | (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Angel Island was a fantasy land torn straight from the pages of children's books. It was enormous, wondrous, and impossible, but also somehow real. A gigantic mass of the stoney bedrock of the Earth itself was just there, hanging in place in the sky, unperturbed by the notion that it was some tens of thousands of feet above where it rightfully should have been. Rivers terminated into waterfalls straight off the side of the island, dissolving from streams to mist and finally vapor in the seemingly never-ending drop to the ocean below. A desert lay juxtapositioned not all that far from snow-capped mountains, while on the other side of that one could find jungles, forests of gigantic mushrooms, and all manner of other improbable geology. The island didn't get many visitors, though. It was a dangerous place, supposedly, swaddled in reams of stories of missing adventurers and disaster-consumed exploration parties. Some of it had to have been made up—there were some people living there, even, so it couldn't have been the inch-by-inch threat to life and well-being it was reputed to be. But those stories seemed to have succeeded in keeping it secluded, and the patron figure of the island, one red echidna with a very foul temper, liked it that way. (He was the inspiration for some of those stories, some say.) Today's visitors were not concerned with leisure or exploration. Unromantic as it was, they were on an errand, a sort of peculiar stop on a laundry list, and, if they could find what they were there for, they'd like be on their way as quickly as they came. Things could never be so simple, though, or Angel Island would have run out of dire stories to tell. The Orca, the huge, black-and-white, aquatic-looking airship, approached the island from on high, and descended steadily toward one feature in particular: a volcano. The inactive volcano, home of Lava Reef, was deceptive in its appearance; what looked like an innocuous, crater-topped mountain turned out to be a gaping maw of the island, perhaps even more than a mile wide, and all the deeper. In the AM hours, as it was then, the interior was cast in stark, inky-blue shadow. Fortunately, there was no glowing magma to light their way. Crewing the ship, in addition to those who swiped it, were some extra hands. A proper helmsman, a navigation officer & radar operator, and some engineers had all been assigned to help keep the ship in the air, since, frankly, GUN could not entrust this matter entirely to a one-armed pig and a police-officer-panda technophile, after all, and to leave it entirely in the hands of the robotic crew seemed... unwise, especially after how easily their allegiances had turned in the first place. "Looks like this'n's been inactive a while," commented the aforementioned hog, Casey, leaning against a console, and staring into a screen that depicted the rocky terrain below. It was a mix of stone (including marble), various crystalline substances, and lots and lots of black lava rock. "Shouldn't have any trouble gettin' around. We ready to disembark?" *** The airship wasn't meant to actually land on solid surfaces, so it simply drifted above the drop zone. It wasn't long before the crew was dropping down. The fall was not immense, so some of them could have probably withstood just jumping. Alternatively, there were Egg Mobiles they could hijack, but Casey opted to drop in old-school by fastroping down. (It wasn't actually that easy with only one hand, but he did well, all things considered.) It was quiet and still so far—just lots of whistling wind, glimmering crystal, and plenty of shaded darkness, with only the blue dome of the sky far above to give indirect light. searchindextag chapter6search |
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| Author: | Zaka51 [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:19 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
The thud of heavy boots hitting the rocky ground accompanied Paxton's landing, the dog having opted to simply hop from the ship. He had underestimated the force of the drop, and ended up crouched over on one knee when he hit the ground harder than he thought he would, but Pax was quick to right himself and stand, brushing off the small bits of dust or dirt on his pants. Soon enough, he was looking up and around at the surrounding crater they were in with a sense of quiet awe The brief lay-over in the UF gave him ample time to switch up his outfit and equipment. The canine sported a different brown vest that matched his pants, and a pair of binoculars hung freely around his neck, which he was soon holding up to his eyes to idly scout the distant rock as he waited for the others to arrive. There wasn't much to look at, but Pax looked content enough staring at a horizon made of dark stone. "Ever been to Angel Island before, Mr. Casey?" he asked, briefly lowering the binoculars to turn his head towards the hog. "I haven't. Heard things, though--interesting things." |
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| Author: | Tony [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:24 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
The sound of a chopper followed Pax all the way down, and shortly, Fenn landed inbetween the canine and the hog. Once feet were firmly placed on the rocky surface, the panda's miniature helicopter was switched off, as blades came to a stop and folded down, then retracting back into their chamber worn on the bear's back. He didn't seem to be dressed any different than the norm, though he was actually wearing the goggles over his eyes this time, contrary to the last mission. As he tugged on the end of his gloves to tighten them around his hands, he tilted a head towards Paxton with mild curiosity. "Interesting things, huh? Like, stories? -Well-, I heard that a giant mushroom ate a guy. Yup - true story. Totally took a seat underneath a cap, and then suddenly... numnumnum or however a sound of a mushroom eating a guy would sound like... That's why I swore that someday, I would come to its home island and deal swift revenge on the one that committed such a horrible okay i lied, i just really want to chop one down and grill it or something because I freakin' love mushrooms, can we do that after the mission, can we, can we? I'm a good cook, I promise." Fenn ceased his ramblings as he gazed around the gigantic crater they had landed it, quietly admiring the look of everything around them. "... though, seriously, this is actually quite beautiful. I would love to take some pictures before we leave." |
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| Author: | Nuzlocke Griff [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 12:10 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Another candidate opting to simply jump out of their now hovering craft, Desmond slid out of the exit hatch towards the rocky patch of earth they called ground. It being a bit of a farther fall for him, the ferret hit the ground and performed a short yet uncomfortable body roll to dissipate the impact force. Getting himself back on his two feet, the ferret became audience of the panda's rambling of sorts, something about a carnivorous shroom? Despite his lackluster tale of dangerous fungi, the scene as a whole was something else entirely to behold. A mixture of ancient architecture with large plant life adorning the rest of the land untouched by civilization... That and the parts messed with by the Eggman Empire during one of his multiple "take over the world" schemes. Letting out a short whistle of appreciation, the ferret gave his team a short "inspection" to see who they had left. Glancing between faces, the ferret was satisfied by their numbers and turned his attention to the canine. "What have you heard about this place?" Interested by the agents mentioning of "interesting things". Oddly enough, something buzzed in the ferret's pants, momentarily breaking his attention from anything further said by Pax. "What in the..." Desmond inquired as he checked his pockets to obtain the source of the vibrations. Finally finding it, he held an old cellphone in his hands that resembled a miniature brick in a sense of shape.The front screen had the words One new event labeled on it, and with a few clicks and button presses, the ferret would realize what the buzz was all aboutOh yes, very punny. Now on the screen, the words "Natalie's birthday" danced around the screen with the current day's date to the side. A small sigh accompanied the news. "Dammit..." A short grieved looked passed on his face as he then turned back to the task at hand. "Sorry, you were saying?" |
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| Author: | Zaka51 [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:14 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Paxton couldn't help but stare at Fenn with great bemusement and an eyebrow raised high. The canine was silent for a few seconds. "Yeah, sure, we'll go see about picking some wild mushrooms later, if you can identify the non-toxic ones..." Turning to Desmond, he opened his mouth to speak, and was promptly cut off by the buzzing cellphone. His jaw hung open for a moment as the ferret dealt with his call, slowly closing as he waited. He cleared his throat and actually looked a bit concerned by Desmond's brief moment, but now was not a good time to call attention to it. "Well, I was just gonna say that I've heard stories about disappearances and the like. Nothing quite like carnivorous mushrooms...actually, I think that was just an old sci-fi B-movie...but any remote area can be dangerous if you don't know how to move around." Pax looked off to the side. "I'm honestly...not much of a outdoorsman," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "But, um...we'll be fine. Kinda forgot what point I was tryin' to make, heh..." A pause. "Just don't eat anything that looks weird, I guess. Like mushrooms." |
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| Author: | NPC [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:36 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Misfortune struck early, and with nearly artistic timing, as it so liked to do. No sooner than the words had left Pax's mouth—specifically, "any remote area can be dangerous if you don't know how to move around. [...] I'm honestly...not much of a outdoorsman"—a single stone shifted under the pressure of one of his footfalls, and, like a precarious stack of marbles, a big patch of the rocky ground itself gave way utterly. It dropped him, Desmond, Fenn, and Casey into a plummet down a steep, rocky incline (the bumpiest slide they'd ever experience the displeasure of being tenderized in the posterior by) that led deeper underground, and eventually ended by planing out and sending them (and the mass of roundish stones they fell with) rolling toward a group of innocuous, but completely-misplaced-looking little pipes sticking three feet out of the ground. |
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| Author: | Sheff [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Geoff had been late from departing the whale-ish battleship (a process involving his own free fall drop and an easy roll of a landing), ending up easing himself into a slow, standstill circle as he took in the massive chamber of inactive rock. The crystal lining the area held enough familiarity that the hedgehog could potentially become camouflaged beside them, and the entire area brought forth aged memories of a similar cavern on an entirely different island. This particular floating rock had always been some distant place he'd never expected to set foot on in his lifetime, but now, with the expedition a solid reality, he was silently awed by the scenery. Unfortunately for him, though, his sightseeing managed to get cut short with the sudden plummet. Having been facing opposite of the initial slide, Geoff went a-tumblin' backwards with a cry of surprise, bouncing and rolling at awkward angles. At first he tried to stop his momentum altogether with grasping hands, but when that effort proved futile, he just let the slope drag him down, throwing his body into the downward slide. A second later, a tight green ball of quills was rolling rather effortlessly down the earth-made ride, skipping every so often with the bumps. In the end, though, the hedgehog was unaware of what awaited at the end of the trail, bursting out of the tunnel like an enraged, spiky pinball straight towards the aforementioned pipes, whatever they were. |
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| Author: | Seafarinhare [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:32 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Late to the party, by the time Ivan borrowed Casey's rope to slide down, the ground was already gone. He slowed his descent, tightly gripping the rope with both hands, and then tried to gently touch down on the inclined rock. Sadly, the footing was not there, and he was sent sliding with the rest of them. Actually, because of his attempted resistance, the correct word was tumble. First it was deadliest water slide, and now it was a tenderizing rocky slide. The fun never ends, does it? As he came to the end, he rolled to a stop with a groan as Geoff barrelled passed into those unassuming looking pipes. He didn't yet have the will to pull himself to his feet, his body still protesting to the prospect of moving just yet. |
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| Author: | NPC [ Tue Sep 11, 2012 11:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
The pipes sat there, motionless. Each had a single robotic eye on top that stared half-lidded at the approaching crew. The so-called Toxomisters blinked once, dully, and stared. With the softest and most delicate of farting noises, all in unison, they began trickling a noxious purple gas at a rate that would be hard-pressed to fill the chamber in any appreciable manner. It was truly one of those moments that exhibited the... weaker aspects of Eggman's design. Novel? Yeah. Effective? Not really, but maybe if they stood around and voluntarily breathed it in long enough they'd choke or something. Assuming the party refused Death by Modestly-Accelerated Natural Causes and continued forward, they'd find a rocky corridor that led toward something a little more akin to their intended destination—a stone-built but clearly mechanical door that actually looked like it went somewhere important. They'd have to get it open, of course. |
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| Author: | Zaka51 [ Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:36 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
The gray-blue canine didn't notice the ground moving beneath his feet until the ground was no longer beneath his feet. Without even the time to exclaim a warning or a yelp of surprise, Pax was sliding down the rough and rocky slope. Out of basic reflex, he tried to dig his hands and boots into the rocks to slow himself, but there was no solid footing to find; all it accomplished was gaining him an unsteady ride against the painful and multiple stones all the way to the bottom. He sat there against the ground for a while, staring straight ahead. It seemed the sudden fall had a poor effect on him, as the dog looked highly tense and nervous. But a small displaced rock falling down the hill and smacking into his head snapped him out of it, though the sharp pain left him wincing. Slowly, he climbed back to his feet while softly dusting himself off, trying to ignore or shrug off the aches. "Is everyone okay?" Paxton asked, sparing his surroundings only a glance before he focused on the others with him. |
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| Author: | psikeout [ Wed Sep 12, 2012 12:46 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Casey was in pretty much the same boat as Ivan and Pax, except his particular means of stopping was less dignified, and involved rolling floppily like a soft lump of dough before coming to rest completely flat on his back with all limbs splayed out in opposing directions. Imaginary flickies did loops around his head for a moment before he shook it off and sat upright. He met eyes (eye?) with one of the Toxomisters, and stared at it. The Toxomister's lone, useless eyeball stared back, and glared a glare most determined and fierce as it tried ever the harder to poison them all to death by seeping some miniscule amount more of none-too-potent gaseous toxin. "Yeah, m'alright," grunted Casey. "... Stinks like sulfur 'n snotrags down here." The hog picked himself up; the Toxomisters' eyes followed him as he walked past them, waving the wafting stench away from his face. |
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| Author: | Tony [ Wed Sep 12, 2012 7:34 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
Fenn was so deep in thought about his prospective giant grilled mushrooms that he failed to realize the ground had completely crumbled out from beneath him until he was about in mid-fall. With a yelp, he messily tumbled down the steep, bumpy surface, shouting more noises of pain and grumbled expletives until he finally met the end of the drop with a resounding FWUMP. The panda just kind of stayed there for a moment before picking himself up, looking a bit embarrassed, perhaps even mildly disheveled, but otherwise, okay. "Friggamuffin... f...flgh...I'm... I'm alright, but I could've happily stayed in the dark about what dusty old volcano tasted like. Pfhth. Pthuh..!" Looking ahead to the odd gas-spewing canisters, the panda frowned, and took out his frustrations on one of them by chucking a scoop of dirt at it, because he had to teach it a lesson for being there. He was certain that behind that soulless eye, it was laughing at him. Surely. With a huff, the panda set off at a brisk trot to catch up with Casey before matching his pace with the hog's. "Y'might say we got off to a rocky start there, huh..? Nyuk nyuk." |
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| Author: | Heart [ Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:22 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
"Why didn't anyone tell me that we landed?" The teen bolted towards the exit of the ship. Out of all the places and times she could have slept, her body had to choose this time and place. 'It was just a quick cat-nap' her head had told her, 'You'll wake up in time.'. She growled at herself as she ran outside. |
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| Author: | NPC [ Wed Sep 12, 2012 10:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
The airship was still hovering some thirty or so feet above ground, hence all the others' careful departures. If the piranha indeed bolted out the "exit" in her harried state, she would actually find that she ran into open, empty air like a cartoon character, and plummeted to join her cohorts all the more harshly. |
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| Author: | psikeout [ Thu Sep 13, 2012 12:02 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: (Ch. 6: Day 4) |
The hog looked dully at the panda as they walked. "Tell me you didn't really just say that." Still, Casey's deadpan looked a little forced, like he was forbidding himself from looking amused. He stopped in front of the peculiar, stoney door and stared up at it. It was taller than him, and pretty sturdy from the looks of it; he shifted around and adjusted his bright red jacket, straightening its collar and admiring his reflection in its lightly polished surface for a moment. The door was framed in metal, and decorated with a yellow disc above; the entrance seemed to have some sort of mechanism, but he had no idea how to operate it. He instead turned and looked expectantly toward the resident tech geek (and shameless punster). After all, Casey was just paid to be big, ugly, bossy, have a gun on his arm, and shoot the bad guys. Solving puzzles cost extra. |
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