Swatpod Refueling Hangar- 7S

[Chadin]

I almost cringed when I saw that familiar twinkle in Gail's eyes the moment I mentioned him taking the rocket launcher. "Just be careful with that thing, okay? It packs a wallop, and I'd rather you not catch any of our allies in the blast radius. Oh, and please, make sure you know which end of that thing is the right one, or else you might end up firing it off backwards." I warned Gail with a friendly pat on his good shoulder before following after him.

[Time skip good to me]

[Jijeka-Te]

(Sure, timeskip. Why not?)

Ji blinked at Gail's sudden change in personality. She also saw his eye color flicker, but ignored it for the moment.

(Ji) "First that woman who gave everyone nicknames and now Gail. How is it that in every group, there's one overenthusiastic lunatic who does more harm than good towards the group's mission?"
(Anu) "I wouldn't have said that out loud, Your Highness."
(Ji) "...never mind. Hey, wait up!"

Anu and Ji both ran after Gail and Chadin.

[Gail Strafer]

[Would you guys like some mood music?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyjxJRwigas ]

With the power acting strange, the group decided it would be better to take the stairs rather than use the elevator to reach the ground floor. If the power went out again, they'd be trapped in the lift until who knew when.

Just as Gail reached the ground floor, the lights all flickered on and off again, before they went out completely. Emergency lighting sprang onwards immediately, but it only provided just enough to see by. There wasn't enough light for the average person to look at anything in detail.

"I'm gettin' a really bad feelin' here guys..." Gail said, whispering. Even with the rocket launcher and his rifle, this was giving him the creeps.

Just ahead of them would be the door leading onto the building's ground floor. Despite being unsure of what might be ahead, Gail reached out to turn the knob.

A shrill shriek suddenly echoed through the hallways and rooms ahead of them. Gail quickly withdrew his paw, before aiming his rifle at the door. What made that scream didn't quite sound human or Mobian...or like any kind of natural animal for that matter. The scream possessed a somewhat unearthly tone to it. It was definitely somewhere on this floor, but the acoustics made it impossible to place the specific source location.

After the shriek, the group would hear laser fire from SWATbots. Whatever made the scream, it sounded like they were shooting at it. More screams answered the shots, before the lasers went quiet.

"They stopped shooting...but what does that mean?" Gail spared a glance at the others to see what they thought. "Who won?"

[Chadin]

Even after years of fighting Robotnik, even I couldn't deny the incredibly ominous atmosphere. Ever since glimpsing the unusual storm outside, I'd had a bad feeling in the pit of my gut. Now, with in the dim red glow of the emergency lights, I felt like I was back on board Robotnik's factory ship and that unease felt even stronger.

My ears shot straight up at the sound of the haunting screams. I'd never heard anything like it before, but the scariest part was that I couldn't tell where its coming from. I spun around and snapped my crossbow up, covering the hallway we'd just come from; just in case.

"W-What is making that sound?" I said, unable to hide my trembling voice.

I gulped as the laser fire fell silent. I could only hope that maybe it was Espio and the others that brought down those bots. But with everything else right now... I just couldn't be sure. "I-I-I don't k-know... I'm n-not s-s-sure I want to know..."

[Jijeka-Te]

Both Ji and Anu had fallen silent when the scream occurred. Everything that had just happened caught them by surprise. They, too, wondered what had happened, but Gail and Chadin said it first.

Finally, Ji went firm. "We won't find out what that commotion was about by cowering in fetal positions. Let's go."

"Your Highness..." Anu began quietly, but left his concern unfinished.

[Gail Strafer]

"We won't find out what that commotion was about by cowering in fetal positions. Let's go."

A frown crossed Gail's face when he heard that, although in the dark it was hard to see that. Getting upstaged by little ol' Queenie? He didn't think so. So, being a moody teen with swings and all, he immediately went to the door he'd been terrified of before, let out a deep gulp, and pushed.

Something immediately pushed back, slamming the door closed in his face and knocking him backwards. As he got up, whatever hit the door started hitting it again, and again, and again, and again. The metal bent inwards, as a large indentation started to form in the center. Finally, when the indentation formed a point, the metal at the end of the point simply burst outwards like flower petals.

Through the new opening a black mass swirled inside, long and tube-like. It swished around the room and all around the freedom fighters, snaking along the walls and the ceiling. Gail opened fire, but between the dark and the confusing movements of the black creature he couldn't hit a single thing. Finally though, the serpent-like creature slithered to a stop on the ceiling above them just briefly.

It definitely looked like a long, sleek black snake. But instead of appearing solid, Gail swore he could see the wall right through the vaguely shadow-like texture. Around the "head" area (if it could be called that) small sparkles in several colors could be seen about where the brain would be in a regular snake. They looked like little jewels...or even the emerald shards they were after. In any case, they gave off a faint glow in the same colors as the chaos emeralds.

While the "head" appeared to simply be a solid spike, the "spike" opened outwards into several more spike-like lips, and then the creature let out the same shriek they'd just heard a moment ago. But at close range, Gail couldn't help but wince and flatten his ears in pain. For a second, he literally could do nothing but cover his pointy ears.

[Chadin]

As the creature slammed itself against the door, I spun around and gaped in shock to see a huge dent in the steel door. Quickly followed by two more massive blows before the it punched a hole clean through and the oily black essence surged through. I too panicked and fired a quick shot at what I thought was the creature, but no sooner did I squeeze the trigger than the indiscernible mass shift and my shot struck nothing more than harmless wall.

After it's initial flurry of motion the creature stopped upon the ceiling, staring down upon us. (or at least, that's what I guessed it might be doing given it's lack any recognizable eyes) I stared back in shocked awe of the strange beast. It resembled nothing I have ever seen before in my life. The faint twinkling of light and colour within the creatures black mass caught my eye, and I could feel a strange pull somewhere deep within myself. As if I somehow felt a kinship... no that would be the wrong word. A feeling that somehow the two of us shared a common bond; as strange as that might sound. It was such an alien feeling, that it distracted me from taking any real action until it let out it's shrill cry once more.

I scrunched up my face as I pressed my hands to my sensitive ears to block out the shrieking wail. I think I may have even screamed out in agony for my suffering eardrums, but the truth is, I couldn't hear anything over that monster's scream.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji jumped back when the creature busted in. She and Anu huddled together, then dropped to the ground when it cried out.

(Ji) What IS that thing?

[Gail Strafer]

"KILL IT! KILL IIIIIIIITT!"

Gail screamed, as he simply turned his rifle upwards and fired on full automatic. However, without thinking about it, he'd used his injured shoulder to brace the butt stock. The stock hammered into his hurt arm over and over again, which caused him to immediately stop firing as he clutched the wound with pain.

The shots that did hit the black mass left behind holes and gashes. However, since the creature looked to be more liquid or gas than solid, the small wounds merely patched themselves up within seconds. All Gail appeared to do was make it rather angry instead of seriously hurt it, as the creature hissed between its split lips from being shot. The lips formed together to make the solid spike again, before it hurled itself at Gail like a javelin from the ceiling.

Gail only just managed to scoot backwards out of the way. However, the creature looked like it had an uncanny ability to change direction at a moments notice. Instead of planting itself into the floor, it immediately turned its head upwards and smoothly glided along the ground. Gail turned to shoot again, but got whipped in the back of the head by its tail as it snaked past. He did manage to stay standing, but the blow really took him by surprise and he had to clutch at the hit for a moment.

[Chadin]

"I'M TRYING!!!" I shouted back as I too unloaded a couple shots into the creature's, um... belly? Shooting just did NOT seem to have any effect on this thing. It was like trying to kill that stupid water creature Gerald gave me... wait a second!!! Last time I beat it by electrocuting with my weird chaos emerald powers. But, in my panicked state, good luck trying to focus well enough to actually bring them. Last time, it was a last minute gamble at best and it left my so drained that I could barely stand for several minutes. Not an experience I eagerly wanted to repeat. Nevertheless, I tried to channel turn some of my fear inwards, to help fuel my powers and it did seem to be working, slowly. But no telling if this thing would continue to focus on Gail or turn it's attention to the rest of us.