[Freezair]

((OOC: Woah. Sorry, guys. XD))

I pulled myself up. Time to give 'em what muscle I had.

"Hunters, huh. We went lookin' for some o' dems once," Krii said. "Hopin' to help Jimbo here with her dog issues. Didn't meet any, but we did have some kuh-razy stuff happen..."

A blast of wind hit us from the back. "Not gonna help, Sky," I sighed.

"I know," she said. "But I want to help with SOMETHING."

"Little One feels a strange presence deep within these caves," Fluffy said, scooping rubble aside. "She won't say if it's Hunters or something else, though. I would love to meet a Hunter! They seem so grand!"

[340]

[Fallen_Snow]

Snowy smiled at Fluffy's enthusiasim. "Hunters are grand in a sense. They did come from the gods and all. But they're also a bit enclosed in themselves. And are you talking about when you guys met me when I was looking for a Hunter? That was odd." Snowy spoke quickly, because she was nervous. She always did that when she was nervous.

Orgen made an angry shrill whistle. He was tired of being held. It made him feel like a rag doll. And he was hungry. Where could he get food? This human wouldn't let him take his prey of the shiny move-y thing. What else could he munch on, other than the rocks(which earlier he'd discovered weren't so tasty)?

Lady Sho'ni watched everything progress quickly. She was antsy too, hopping from foot to foot. She wanted to know what was back there. Looking around the cave, she was reminded of the soul of her mother, Shi'hana. A tear was ready to form on her eye, but she blinked it away. She would grieve for her mother's death later. Right now she was to think about her position in this exploration.

[Ander]

"Enclosed within themselves?" It was El that turned curiously to Snowy, half-frowning in thought. "They aren't dangerous, are they?" She exchanged a look with the Hollowheart and Nyghtmare: for a rare moment, all of them were united in their thoughts of a single male. "I've a brother, a Temple creature, who is obsessed with the creatures."

Cidrelo chuckled, shifting another stone. "He'll be really upset when we find one without him. I mean, really upset. Really." He paused in mid-shift, the expression of sudden thought on his face almost comical. "Maybe I should go get him..."

Besides the look shared between them, Aether was basically ignoring her Terminal-mates at this point. She walked around the statue, considering it critically, only kicking aside or stomping on rocks and larger stones when they got in her way. She did take the time to level a lethal stare in their general direction. "She never said we'd find Hunters. She said, it could be Hunters. It could be something else entirely." Which would be bad, she couldn't help thinking. At least everyone here had some knowledge of Hunters. If it were some other terror? They'd be in trouble.

[Freezair]

"Hey, yeah! You were there with us, weren't you!" Of course! Snowy'd been part of the ensemble that went Hunter-hunting with us. That felt like years ago. Had it really only been sixth months or so? "We never did figure out what it was..."

"And I, for one, am glad. Nrrrrg!" Krii huffed as he hefted a bolder aside. He snarled as another rock, perched above, fell into the spot he'd just made.

"You little...!"

"Oh, don't make such a Sisy-fuss," I quipped. Heh! I can't believe I thought of that. Usually, I don't come up with those until much later.

"Oh Zu'hai, Jim, you're gonna kill us!"

"Hold on a second."

I felt a cold metal strip on my back. Fluffy urged me away from the boulder I was shoving at; Little One flew up in Krii's face. Startled, he fell back. I felt his paws on my ankles as he ran behind me.

A tentacle urged the rock aside. An arm snaked into the hole.

"Air," he said. "There's a passageway on the other side of this. We're almost through!" His voice was bright. "Come on! Let's hurry!" His arms started windmilling so fast, it was almost as though he were trying to swim in the debris.

"Boy," Sky sighed. "He really wants to meet a Hunter, huh."

"Or whatever," I shrugged. "The Nytemare's right. Could be anything." And I was getting a headache.

[341]

[Fallen_Snow]

Snowy frowned. "Well, that's too bad." she said sadly. She'd been pretty scared at first when it happened, and the fact that they hadn't found out about it yet made her wonder more. But the thoughts were distracting her. "Alright everyone. It seems that Fluffy's found something. Are we gonna help or what?" Snowy asked. Going back to her bag, she pulled out her canteen. "Anyone else bring water? I might need a bit more." she asked. Walking over to the boulder that Fluffy had found air behind. She emptied her canteen over it, coating it in H2O. "Alright, stand back." she said loudly, backing up a bit herself. Then, putting a palm forward, she waved it across the boulder. The coating of water around the boulder quickly froze to ice. Then, making sure it was totally coated in the cold substance, she clenched her hand into a fist. The boulder crumbled as the ice drove into its center, leaving a small heap of debris and ice in front of the air hole.

"There we go. After you, Fluffy?"

((I'm not sure if he actually moved it totally, so if he did... um... I'll fix it. XD))

[Ander]

"To think, all I wanted to see was a resting-place..." El had long since climbed off of Cidrelo's shoulder, perched atop of rocks that had yet to be shifted. "But, nooo, no, you have to be hospitable and spend the night in a cave, and now we're on an adventure, when we should be sleeping..." The Hollowheart rolled his eyes. Despite her irritable tone, El's ears her erect and twitched, her tail whipping spasmodically in classic signs of anticipation. The little creature was a warrior, no matter what her attitude; and Cidrelo smiled in the knowledge that she was as excited to know what lay down this passage as he was.

Aether stared down the passageway. Her ears flicked backward, eyes narrowing as she eyed the passage warily. She couldn't sense anything down the passage; in fact, her Spirit Sense had been rather useless for some time now. Her appearance returned to normal as she blocked out the ability. It was still there, of course, but not as strong.

"Hey, go ahead, Fluffy. It's your party."

[Freezair]

"Actually, Miss Jimmy..."

"Wha, ho? Me?" Not like there are any other Jimmies here, are there?

"Well, you are our leader--well, mine, anyway, and they're looking up to me."

"Well, you know what's going on here."

"Not much more than you do. I only know that there's something unusual out there."

I sighed. "Well... Alright. Krii?"

"Yeah, Jim?"

"A little light, if you please."

"Right." Krii spun a fireball around his tail. I ushed him forward with my hand. He crept into the crumbling passageway. I felt Sky flapping into place behind me.

"Thanks a lot, guys," I said to Snowy and Aether's groups. "Here goes nothing..."

[342]

[Fallen_Snow]

Snowy just smiled and nodded. She suddenly felt shy, and going into the cramped tunnel would not be pleasant for the claustrophobic ice-bender. She stepped back, waving Aether's group on. "You can go first, Sho'ni and I will hold up the rear." she said. She clicked at Orgen, who was sniffing at Sky's taloned foot. He toddled over to her, but was scooped up by Sho'ni before Snowy got a hold of him.

Orgen was again foiled of a tasty morsel to snack on. He wanted to know what that pointy moving thing tasted like... he instead decided that he would not go for the leg. Maybe there was something yummy up ahead, everyone seemed excited. Who wouldn't be excited about food?

[Ander]

El, Aether and Cidrelo were all eyes for the dark tunnel. El, a smile on her her pointed muzzle, bounded up first. She made no sound other than the skittering of small claws as she raced up and into the darkness, apparently trying to walk somewhere near Krii. Aether followed the Rattengan, her own hooves making little sound against the cave floor as she walked at her own, unhurried pace. They would find whatever they were meant to find down here - why rush?

Cidrelo was last of his siblings to enter the tunnel; he wasn't too excited about doing so, either. He had never been scared of enclosed spaces before, mind you; but this was a not a spacious passage, and he was a creature of considerable size. He turned and smiled at Snowy before he too headed off, squaring his shoulders and trying to make himself seem as small as possible.

[Freezair]

Have I mentioned before that I don't like small spaces?

I think I have.

The passage was wider than I expected, but not quite wide enough to avert that horrible squashing feeling. It was like being in a too-packed elevator.

Krii, on the other hand, was right at home. He and Fluffy walked in step directly in front of me. Krii had fire out for light, and I'm pretty sure Fluffy can see in the dark as well as Sky can, but I kept my hands on the wall.

"We all still here?" I croked behind me.

"Oh my goodness," Fluffy said.

"Hmmm?" Sky said. I felt her stick her head around mine.

"Woah," Krii added approvingly.

"What does everybody see up the--"

I felt the passage suddenly dip to my left. The cavern was widening. I pulled away from the wall and moved in close to Krii instead.

"Woah" indeed.

If I didn't know better, I'd say we were looking out at a city.

[343]

[Fallen_Snow]

Snowy twisted her Gyrraptor's bridle strap around her hand and led the light blue creature into the hole. She was a bit resistant at first, since she didn't like small spaces any more than Snowy or Jimmy did, but she finally obliged. The cramped tunnel was a bit too much for her, but she managed to ignore it enough. Suddenly the collective woahs made Snowy look up. "What, what is it?" she asked in a wavering tone. She couldn't see past the other pets.

Orgen slipped from Sho'ni's grasp, dawdling forward, walking around the Nyghtmare's hooves, slipping in between Sky's taloned feet, to come to a stop under Jimmy. He chirruped excitedly as he saw the city, and stepped forward to get closer-

And down he went. "Please tell me that wasn't Orgen."

[Ander]

"Well, I could tell you..."

The soft-hearted Hollowheart made an almost funny sight, wings bent out at odd angles as his claws dangled over the cliffs. He had clearly been in the middle of trying to catch Orgen and, having failed, was sort of... stuck in that position. Of the two, his Nightmare sister looked more upset, having had to Go Ethereal in order to escape being knocked over by the Imperial's large claws. She glared at him, her ghostly garnet eyes somehow icy.

She didn't get the chance to speak, however, before El piped up with the usual reprimands. "Cidrelo, get yourself together. And the both of you! Are you going to just watch the Dragony fall, or are you going to do something about it?"

She got a moment of silence from her penmates.

Ever impulsive, the Vanguard sighed. "Oh, honestly!" She squeaked. And then she skittered over the edge herself, trying to keep her footing as she plunged after Orgen.

[Fallen_Snow]

Snowy moaned. "Of course it was Orgen. Of course." She quickly followed the Hollow Rattegan, scattering a few loose stones as she tried to catch up with the quickly rolling Black Baal Dragony.

Orgen was not familiar with this odd sensation. His stomach churned and his scales were being pounded into his back. He felt... pain. He didn't know the word though, so he could not associate this feeling to the word pain. He seemed to think it was some sort of game. He tried to put out his clawed feet to try to slow himself, but his feet just bumped painfully against the ground, so he drew them in again.

[Freezair]

"Oh no!"

Fluffy peaked over the rim. "Poor little thing! Can anyone give me a hand down?"

"I dunno," Sky said. "Flying in here... Don't know if that'd work."
Krii, of course, just started clambering down rocks and was over the edge of the cliff in a flash.

"Well, we should at least TRY," Fluffy said.

"I'll do what I can," Sky shrugged. She started flapping her wings frantically as she darted past me. The bun in my hair went sideways.

Fluffy tested the rocks below him, and tried to wind his tentacles around the outcroppings. I sighed. "Well, here goes nothin'," I said, and I tried to find a good hand-hold with my feet.

[344]

[Fallen_Snow]

Snowy watched Jimmy's posse make their way down to Orgen, as she was. She was just hoping that he would stop soon. Sliding down the cliff side was making her nervous. She was always uptight and nervous, but she tried to hide it, because it showed how much she was like her dad. Anyways, she was making sure that she didn't fall when she heard a loud whistling call. She looked up to find that Sho'ni was struggling to find a way down. "Sho, just wait up there!" she shouted to the Gyrraptor. The female made a high-pitched bark sound, and circled and laid down. Snowy knew that she wasn't happy.

Sho'ni wasn't happy at all. She was in charge of Orgen, she was the one who was supposed to be catching him and taking care of him and making him more comfortable so that he could grow nice and strong. She gave out a huff of annoyed breath. Things were not going well for her.