Recon mission

[iridescentdreamer]

The crashes were faint in the distance as kai pulled Erian along, voided blue eyes searching for cover.

Please be safe Kaji...
hopping over a fallen tree trunk. Kai's ears perked, finally finding what she was looking for.

In the rock wall, there was an indentation, something barly visible to the naked eye, but it shined like a beacon to her. It would be something a grown man would have to crawl to get into, but it would surely open into a larger pocket.

Perfect place to hide.

"This way!" She squeezed his hand, hearing a strange rustling behind them, and in response, rushed foward, and inspected the opening, before ducking through easily.

...some times it paid to be small. Easy manueverability.

"Come on! It gets bigger when you go in deeper!" She urged, poking her head out.

"Kaiji should be able to find it easy too."

[issunboushi]

''easier said than done''
grumbled Erian squeezing his way through the tunnel.
when he finally reached the exit he found himself in a complete darkness.
his eyes turned green as he switched to night vision.
so...
the cave gave back a pretty clear echo.
*whoa! must be bretty deep. i wonder what's at the end...*
''ehm... it's pretty dark in here... do you think it was a goood idea to come here?''
the shriek of a bat, amplified by the echo-effect of the cave, almost made him jump out of his shoes.
''man! i hate caves''
he whined
''the signal is bad, i can't see a thing unless in night vision and the echo makes it impossible to tell where the noises come from''
he sat down, leaning against a wall, and pulled a spherical glass gizmo out of his pouch. he shook it a bit and it suddenly lit up with a cold white light.
''gah!''
Erian shut his eyes and shook his head.
''how stupid must i be!? i turned on the light orb with the night vision engaged! ouch...''
he massaged his eyes and slowly opened them again.
''by the way''
he said when his sight was back to normal
''i know it might sound kind of rude, but... what are you?''

meanwhile, Kaji had managed to take down the wolf, the lynx and even the eagle, but the remaining ones were the toughest.
he already got hit twice by the gorilla, and the cheetah just kept dodging all of his attacks.
he lunged once more at the gorilla, but somehow the cheetah dashed against his sword and knoched it off his hands, sending it at least ten meters away.
taking advantage of his moment of distraction the gorilla landed another clean blow, sending him flying in the opposite direction.
this is no good. if it keeps up like this i don't know how much longer i can hold on...
thought the fox, staggering back on his feet.
the man laughed again.
''that all you got?! where did all that thingyyness go, huh? bah! i shouldn't be waisting my time with you! i'll just send some replicas after the other two and...''
''oh no you don't!!''
Kaji's tiny frame was being completely covered in flames
''and you think i will give you a chance to do it!?''
with a fierce snarl he dashed towards the man on the panther, summoning a fireball in each hand.
immediately, the man pressed a few digits and the gorilla plaed himself in front of him in a defensive stand.
''think that will be enough!?''
the fireballs dissolved and his arms were covered by a thick coat of fire. Kaji then modeled the fire in the shape of blades and used his ability to crystalize them.
when he was at about five meters from them he suddenly increased his speed, becoming for a fraction of a second faster than the eye can see.
before anyone could realize what had happened Kaji was standing right behind the man and pointing one of the blades at him, and both the gorilla and the panther were cut clean in half.
''alright, you've won...''
grumbled the man
''i won't follow you... just let me go''
''you're lucky''
said Kaji, dissolving the fire chrystal blade and picking up his wooden sword.
''also i don't have time to deal with the likes of you... but i'll tell you one thing''
he turned back to look at him. his eyes were filled with nothing but rage... the eyes of a demon.
''if you had hurt my friends you would be dead by now''

[iridescentdreamer]

Normally in pitch black...she wasn't able to see, but her long ears guided her, picking up the gentle, and sudden sounds, ducking when the bat flew. Though, when light illuminated, the blues of her eyes seemed to widen, taking in as much light as possible, making it seem as if her eyes were glowing, giving her a distinct view of the cave.

"Silly." She smiled lightly at his antics, though, her smile dropped off a bit at the question. Really...she was actually surprised he didn't ask sooner...but...things happen.

"Oh no...it's fine..I know you're a curious person by nature." She sighed, sitting down on an obtrusive rock....and seeing some flowers growing in the cracks...simply plucked one up and bit off the head of the flower buds, chewing deftly. Mmmn...been awhile since she ate something...

"....my people, are popularly known as ice faerie....." She said lightly. "-a small winged tribe that lived up in one of the mountain ranges a bit farther from here. "An extremely cold place.....very different from here."

She swallowed hard. looking to Erian again.

"I don't know if it's familiar to you or not...but I suppose we're also referred to as 'Fair Folk'. imps...pixies...the works." She shrugged, flashing a wry smile.

"However....I believe I'm the last one of my particular tribe. We're all scattered due to an incident a couple years back...haven't found another like me since." she plucked another couple of flowers up, odd, purple and spotted...probably a rare sort seeing as it seemed to need no sunlight, and flicked it into her mouth.

"....funny how humans can be quite violent towards people they fear, just because they are different. I don't really blame them though, just because they ARE scared..." Though...remembering that one comment made by that one researcher back there....aparently they knew FULL well what had happened...

...and when she thought about it, how they were planning to experiment on her....and Erian. Suddenly she had a very feeling to what JUST might have happened to the others....

Not wanting to think of it...she shook her head wildly, glancing up at Erian again.

"Anyways...what were in those blue prints back in the conference room that had you so spooked?"

[issunboushi]

''oh, right, the blueprints!''
Erian pulled out of the pouch and looked at them again. there was no doubt about it...
''i have no idea how those guys got their claws on these... they are the blueprints of the Nova station... my home...''
he rolled the papers again.
''that's right! i never told you anything about it. well, you told me about your origins, so...''
he explained how he was built by a team of researchers from another solar system with the only goal of gathering information, then he talked about the researchers, especially the oldest of the team, Gozu. it was thanks to him, he said, that he now had something that could be called a heart.
his explanation was followed by a long silence.
''i wonder if Kaji's alright...''
sighed the android all of a sudden.
''i wouldn't worry too much about him''
''yeah, you're probably right... after all, he's pretty... KAJI!!''
the fox triumphantly walked out of a dark spot.
''the one and only''
he sat closer to the two and asked
''so, what's the plan?''

[iridescentdreamer]

Listening curiously she smiled self conciously.

"Gozu sounds like a wonderful man...I'd like to talk to him sometime...though it's probably next to impossible." She laughed a little.

When Kaji came, she was both relieved and overjoyed.

"You alright?" Before she paused.

Eyeing the blue prints again she blinked.

"Shouldn't you contact that station and inform them that the prints have been compromised? So they are prepared if something DOES happen?"

She suggested first.

[issunboushi]

''yeah... i better inform Delta right away''
Kaji looked at him with wide open eyes.
''what, you didn't infirm him yet!?''
''well, i had a lot on my mind, you know!? anyways, let's get out: i can't get any signal from in here''
he stood up and headed towards the exit.
as soon as he popped out of the way too small hole he established a connection with HQ. he also pulled a pair of headsets for Kai and Kaji out of his magic pouch, so that they could hear and talk to Delta too.
soon enough, a familiar synthetic voice made its way to the three riding on the radio waves.
<Erian!? why in the cosmos did you call me?? if it isn't it for your dayly data upload, then just get lost and leave me alone: it's not like i'm turning my thumbs up here>
''hello, Delta... happy to hear you too...''
was Erian's sarcastic but 'trying to be polite' answer, yet you could clearly hear the sound of his teeth grinding.
''hey, iron giant, is this your boss? man! no wonder you didn't call him sooner''
Delta, hearing an unfamiliar voice, asked
<and you are?>
''name's Kaji Shiranui. pleased to meetcha''
if he had any, Delta would have rolled his eyes.
<given the fact that i'm speaking to you, i must suppose you're Erian's friend, so i guess you too know the reason for this unscheduled call...>
''well, in fact...''
''we found the space station's blueprints in an underground research facility''
there was a long moment of silence, then Delta burst out with a
<you what!?>
Erian couldn't help but grin
''surprised, Delta? that's not like you''
the computer immediately regained his self control
<keep your sarcasm to yourself, will you? rather than that, tell me what you know about those men's intentions>
Erian grinded his teeth again
''that's the point: we don't know! i just warned you so that you would keep your guard up and stay on the lookout. we're going to investigate further on the matter''
he made a small pause and looked at the other two
''that's ok for you?''
the fox was as always the quickest to answer
''well, no complaints here. i've been wanting to go to the bottom of this from the moment that panther started chasing after me. how 'bout you, tinker bell?''

[iridescentdreamer]

Her giggle was slight over the line, before she gave a grin. "Of course. I can't let this go by.."
she paused, nodding a bit.
"Besides. It's not like after the last one, they all wouldn't be AWARE of us...my guess is that both facilities are going to be looking for us because of what we took...and I doubt they want any Joe Smo knowing where they are either."
She added derisively, patting both Erian and Kaji on the back with a good smack.

"Sorry guys, you're STUCK with me." She gave a weird grin.

[issunboushi]

both the android and the fox laughed.
''well, it's settled then! Delta, you...''
<i know, i know... ''keep an eye out and leave an active channel to keep in touch''. well, good luck you three. HQ over>
Kaji threw a punch at Erian's leg
''see?? also your boss's got a codename!''
Erian rolled his eyes
''well... technically 'HQ' isn't a codename...''
''aw man... you sure are the ultimate funkiller''
muttered the fox
''fine then! anyways we better get going: i don't want them to find us before we can find them''
in the meantime Erian had loaded a GPS map of the area on his 3D holographic projetor and was updating it with the location of the first facility, the cave they were just in and other minor tweaks, moving his hands in the air like a pianist.
after a few moments he stopped and pointed at a blue spot on the holographic map
''if the results of the environmental scans Delta just sent me are correct, their main research facility should be hidden under this lake.''
he paused for a second and placed his other forefinger on the map
''we're here, so to reach it...''
a bright yellow line connected the spots touched by the two fingeres and some strange symbols appeared right above it. Erian took a moment to read them.
''...it's going to take at least a day. so...''
he touched a corner of the map where there was a red 'X' and the projector turned off
''...since it's already getting dark i suggest we find a suitable place nereby and camp there for the night, then we'll start tomorrow in the morning''
he picked up the projector and stored it back into the bag.
''any other suggestions?''