Crossover Escape: Gotta be more than Lucky to survive

1.44 The plan

[Tails: I’m going to pick somewhere snowy all year round set up a nice cabin with good heating and insulation fill the property with heat sensors and binge watch all the shows I never have time to see, just me and a good TV.]

[Rӓv: Your vacation plan is to be a couch potato.]

[Tails: No different than a lab hermit.]

[Holly: Wow, you guys have really thought about this.]

[Tails: You haven’t? not contemplated what you’d do when you got away from the underworld’s clutches?]

[Holly: Until this contest I never thought I’d get away. Unlike you guys who were dragged in I was born to it I didn’t really hope I’d get an out. The offer came completely out of the blue to me. Though I suppose when I’ve thought about being able to anything I’d like to travel see all the ins and outs of places not just the airport and a competition sight.]

[Rӓv: Ghost?]

[Ghost: Romance, a relationship that occurs more than just in bed.] Luca smiled as the others talked. In particular he had to chuckle at Ghost’s answer. He had to pick the hard one as if relationships were that easy to fall into.

[Holly: Lucky?]

[Lucky: I’ll be going back home, a house in a small outback town, a pool set up to be used all year round and all the books I could want to read on my k****e just a sleepy little town and a sleepy little life. Maybe after few years I might go out visit some theme parks and scenic places and then back home to peace.] None of them had extravagant dreams, Holly’s probably set to be the most extravagant though Luca expected Ghost’s to be the most expensive. Luca just hopped they managed to get out of here well enough to fulfill those dreams. He really hoped that the Roach was the main monster in here.

Finally the RAL reached the main cave with no other chambers in between so Luca pushed to his feet from where he’d stretched out on the floor. As he dusted his palms off he shivered slightly. It felt like it had gotten colder again. Luca noticed that both Holly and Tails had pulled their coats on tighter while even Rӓv and Ghost who were more used to the cold had done their jackets all the way up.

[Lucky: Let’s go wrap this up.] Luca moved off in the lead as the group resumed their starting formation. The brisk walk allowed the muscles to warm up and Luca felt the chill dissipating as they progressed. He almost decided that it must have been just the lazing about that allowed them to get cold. That was until they stopped just before the end chamber and Luca’s breath created a white fog in the air. It had definitely gotten colder, significantly colder.

Luca stopped the team five metres back from the entrance to the main cavern. Thus they stayed in the shadows beyond the reach of the light spilling form the main chamber. The white mist from each breath made Luca glad that he had worn so many layers. After he checked that Help was still sleeping peacefully Luca shifted to peer into the chamber as best, he could and compared the view  to the map.

[Lucky: It seems like it will be difficult if not impossible to get the gems and come back out this entrance.]

[Tails: Agreed, plus we know that the traps will activate on the way back. Not sure about the rooms though.]

[Rӓv: I don’t think the rooms will activate.] Luca tilted his head from side to side he tended to agree since it seemed the activation sensor was on the entry arches. So if it activated it would be after they passed through a room on the way back.

[Lucky: Are we willing to bet on only needing to run the traps on an exit path? Are we willing to risk it solo?]

[Holly: I think we’ll have to. At the very least as only single people we can run faster.]

[Lucky: Not Solo, Duo’s I think then there is someone to watch the back. Ghost you want the solo or the pair?] Luca had the better flexible movement while Ghost was stealthier so with the odd numbers one of them would need to go solo.

[Ghost: I’ll go with Rӓv I better at playing her back up.] Luca nodded at the decision before he had Rӓv bring the map up on her tablet. Luca checked trajectories before he divvied out targets.

[Lucky: Rӓv and Ghost the two on the left, Tails and Holly the two on the right. I’ll take the centre. You guys follow the swing around and exit out the sides. I’m going straight out opposite. If someone else gets a gem just ignore it, we’ll mop up later.] Luca received firm nods from the group. He had somewhat expected there to argument about who would go solo, but he supposed the challenge in getting inside had made the decision for them.

[Rӓv: Before we go in though you take some of these.] Rӓv held out some of here step knives.

[Tails: That’s a good point, you use them more and better than us better for you to have a proper stock especially since you’re going solo.] Tails held out two as did Ghost and Holly. Luca thought about it, but he really might need to expend some to get out alone and to be fair the others hadn’t used any of theirs yet.

As they stood and approached the chamber Ghost reached out and grasped Luca’s shoulder. He looked at Luca with a rare serious expression before he glanced back over his shoulders. Then he turned back and mouthed ‘Don’t go under.’

Luca nodded in response this wasn’t a blood game there was no reason for him to go under. Even if the others had only been dabbling in the shallows Luca had been treading water since his dad died, he wouldn’t go under for a competition where the other participants weren’t trying to kill him.

With a last focused look they moved leaping into the cavern and firing their hook wings at the same time as Luca swung out into open space, he felt like he’d entered freezer as the chill brushed right through him.

Luca swung out over empty space hand outstretched for the crystal. Then a lot of things happened at once. Declan’s, Zeno’s and Derek’s teams burst from different tunnels and lunged for the crystals on the side. Ghost and Tails each grabbed a crystal when Luca grabbed his, but Zeno and Derek got the other two.

As Luca closed his hand around the largest stone in the centre the world was washed white. Luca didn’t need to see to finish his landing retracting his hook and rolling to come up in the entrance of the tunnel he intended to exit. However as he started to stand a sense of heat in front of he cause him to shift to the side as his vision cleared.