1.35 Punishment level
1204 Words
[Tails: Rather than tell it was more like show, a movie played in my head with the end objective displayed. Apparently somewhere in here is a people sized teal rock in here somewhere with a climbing rope on it that will take me back to the obstacle course.]
Tails moved carefully down and around his rockslide until he reached the remains of the camp fire. Reaching out a hand to place it atop the ash he paused for a moment before he straightened a looked more around the site.
[Tails: Looks like three people. Left about half an hour ago.] Luca frowned at that. All the teams that entered the cube had been five or more people. If Tails was only seeing signs of three that could mean that the entire team didn’t go together, Which was possible considering what had happened to Tails. Though the other option was that there were only three people left in that team.
[Lucky: Are you going after them or going to search around for the rock?] Luca was curious as to what Tails intended. He speciality did lie in the area of tracking others, topography, geography and botany were some of his strongest skills.
[Tails: The tracks head in from here and judging by the density of the trees in that area and the position of the light source from the visual I got the stone should also be in that direction so I might as well do both.] Luca couldn’t fault the logic in that. Still when he considered the shredded jacket Luca felt the need to add a cation.
[Lucky: Be careful then, something shredded that jacket and I don’t think it was a tree.]
[Tails: Yeah, pretty sure the unpleasant things I buried were the cause. Hopefully they stay buried. Still I’ll pay attention.] Luca didn’t really like that explanation he would prefer a description and assessment of weakness of the attackers. Still Tails was both attentive and cautious when he worked so he was arguably the best team member to have there.
Luca would have preferred to have all his team together, but he couldn’t guarantee that they would all be sent to the same place if they had followed Tails. Which ranked Luca did not like this sort of surprise and unpredictable happenings. Which left him in they annoyed position of being stuck watching without being able to do anything useful. If he never ended up in such a position again, he’d be a happy soul. Please and thank you.
Tails moved away from the campfire and into the trees not affected by the rockslide. From the smooth view through the display Luca could tell that Tails placed his feet very carefully but the music and filter on the coms made it impossible for Luca to hear any sounds besides what Tails said. That was an oversite.
[Lucky: Rӓv can you adjust the coms so I can hear the sound around Tails.]
[Rӓv: Sure I can just change all the programming and hardware of my coms system from a distance without any tools or parts.] the sarcasm that dripped from Rӓv’s tone was uncalled for.
[Lucky: I was only asking. It wasn’t an honest expectation.]
[Rӓv: Hmph, you underestimate me. I planned ahead.] Luca couldn’t see what she did as he continued to watch the forest around Tails, but he heard several sharp taps before the music in his coms vanished to be replaced by the sound of rustling leaves and a distant sharp screech.
[Rӓv: The new mode means that Tails will only be able to here Lucky, and Lucky will have to rely on his actual ears to hear us. Though we’ll here you guys fine.] Luca nodded in understanding as he realised that her voice failed to come through the coms, though the message conversion worked if with a significant delay.
[Lucky: As impressive as always.] Luca stopped talking after that as he focused on looking at and listening to all of Tails surrounds. The leaves of the trees swayed gently, and Luca realised there was also some form of air circulation in the room. He supposed that could be a result of the size of the room, but he suspected it wasn’t that simple. There was a loud crunch of dead leaves to the right and Tails stopped in place.
The sound came again but closer this time. While Luca would have gone up into the trees Tails stayed close to the ground crouching down to let a shrub and the trunk of the tree obscure him. Luca suspected that the reason was because Tails was not as confident in manoeuvring in the air the way Luca was. Though while Tails wasn’t as good at creeping into places as Ghost, he had one outstanding ability that no one else could match.
The crunching approached and a figure appeared just in front of the next tree over. There was an ethereal glow to them and the had pale green hair that fell past their waist. They turned as they stepped past the tree and looked around the area slowly. There features were androgenous making it difficult to distinguish a gender. Though Luca thought it might be possible for them to not have one at all.
“It is unfortunate that even after all this time the trees here are still to young. They cannot tell us the way.” The voice was gentle, but it sent an uncomfortable chill down Luca’s spine. It was like a dog’s growl. Not loud in noise but with a chilling intent.
“It matters not, we shall just go to their destination and catch them then. While we cannot approach the stone while the gate is closed it is simple to stop them from ever reaching it.” The person spoke as if they were having a conversation with someone but there didn’t seem to be anyone else around. Still without waiting for a response they turned away and headed deeper into the trees. Luca wanted to follow but Tails remained still.
It wasn’t until the crunch of leaves sounded again that Luca realised the noise hadn’t come from the person. Rather it came from the large bear that trailed behind him. The bear turned its head from left to right as it cleared the tree and then slowly followed the person. Luca restrained the urge to speak. He was glad that Rӓv’s separation meant that the muttered conversation the others were having to the side didn’t transfer over. Not even the text appeared which likely meant that Rӓv had separated another channel anyway for them to talk. Still Luca didn’t want to take the chance that a careless sound could endanger Tails.
[Tails: At least it’s a beast I recognise.] Tails messaged rather than spoke and Luca almost snickered in response though it did re-spark his curiosity as to what Tails had spotted before that he felt the need to bury the problem.
[Lucky: Are you going to follow them?] Luca took to messaging as well just to be safe.
[Tails: Naturally since I think they are headed to my destination.]
[Lucky: How?]
[Tails: The same way I tail anyone. Very carefully.]
- Writer
