Shining Prospect

[Echo]

[From cross country]


Amiroo pressed a small button on the ramp bringing up a ring of red holographic icons.

"Hold on to your butts" Amiroo said pushing his index claw through the top icon in the ring. It shimmered and took on an aqua coloration while simultaneously, several hisses could be heard as the cabin lost seal and the ramp began lowering to the deck. As the ramp came to rest on the deck below five raptors came into view just feet from the foot of it, their attention firmly on the new arrivals. One of them, Rog undoubtedly, was holding a small device on his back with a large lense on it, a camera of some kind. There was an awkward moment of silence but noone moved or said a word. Amiroo and Era stared and their crew mates simply stared back. The tension was so thick, you could have poured it over pancakes.

Suddenly, High above the stand off, a loud hydraulic moan could be heard as the massive hanger doors began returning to their closed position. Everyone jumped at the sound instantly breaking the mood. Amiroo smiled and made his way to the deck followed by Era. Era turned and motioned for the others to descend as well.

As the others would descend the ramp, A loud clap would ring out as the massive weights of the hanger doors above clamped shut together. Three red holographic spheres floating just below the doors turned Aqua as the doors achieved a good seal. All went silent a moment, another awkward silence. Era,Amiroo, and the Mobians were now completely surrounded by raptors simply staring in fascination at Nail and the others.

"Welcome, my Mammalian kin." One of the raptors suddenly spoke up. He was a dark blue with razor like golden eyes and stood a whopping 7 feet, seven inches tall at his eye level putting him much taller than their Mobian guests...and his own crew mates for that matter. While closely related to the others, he was clearly a different sub species...a much taller subspecies known to Mobians as Utah raptor. "My name is Tybe, I am the chief medical officer and highest ranking official aboard the Shining Prospect" He said stepping towards the Mobians. "I would like to personally welcome you all aboard the Shining Prospect and congratulate you on your first, friendly, contact with a civilization beyond your world. I'll let my crew introduce themselves and then you may introduce yourselves if you wish."

The other raptors cycled through their introductions fairly quickly as though this had all been rehearsed; Which it probably had been. Each kept their introductions brief and to the point all the while under the watchful eye of Tybe.

"...and that brings us to Amiroo. I take it you've become friendly with him so I let his introduction go unplanned." Tybe said gesturing for Amiroo to begin.

Amiroo stepped forward, his eyes shifting a bit in contemplation, his thoughts likely swimming through what exactly to say.

" You already know me, somewhat. I'm the equivalent of a Lieutenant in the Saurian republics Navy. My work rating is the equivalent of a Master at arms, also known as an GC, which stands for gold claws, or a Military police officer. My Job is to ensure that Navy regulations are enforced and our service members conduct themselves professionally and ethically at all times. I'm about the equivalent of 33 Mobian years of age and I'm on my second enlistment contract currently on my first tour of duty here on Mobious and I have no idea when this tour is going to be over haha. My home, where I was hatched and raised, is about 655 light years away And the closest translation of the name I can think of is Gulf Breeze, I am from the town of Gulf breeze located in the Manation space colony ring worlds. I would like to welcome you aboard as well my friends. and thank you, for trusting me I mean. You really don't know how much this will advance my career. A first contact under my necklace will look so good on my resume you just have no idea."

Era stepped forward next, while giving her husband a disapproving look. "I apologize for my husband, he's a bit excited about this whole thing. My name is Era, I am the equivalent of a Lieutenant Commander in the Saurian republic Navy. I serve as a pilot and senior mechanic aboard the prospect. The rest, maybe I'll tell you someday." She said with a wink.

"Is there anything you want to share with us about yourselves?" Tybe asked. The Raptor with the video camera stepped forward attempting to get a better shot of this historic moment. The other raptors, Era and Amiroo included, waited eagerly in anticipation of their response.

[Nail Strafer]

[I'm going to post this in time with Echo's last post in the Stratosphere topic, then move to this post.]

As Nail buckled himself back into his seat, the sense of wonder from weightlessness melted away rather quickly. In its place returned the anxiousness from being at the mercy of these dinosaurs. He buckled himself back into his chair, again closing his eyes in slight pain as the G forces hit them.

But as before, it was over rather quickly and now they were flying over icy tundra. Immediately a sense of memory and nostalgia slammed into Nail.

The icy north... My birthplace. When was the last time I saw it? I think it was over five years ago. Could never come back here with being married to Canma and all. I knew G.U.N. would be looking for me to return home. I wonder if Gerrant made it into this dimension?

However, his thoughts were interrupted as they descended into the dinosaur's secret base. As they descended, he couldn't help but feel like he was being lowered into a nest of vipers. Not exactly far off with these people looking like traditional lizards after all.

As Amiroo waved for them to follow, Nail discreetly unbuckled his pistol holster before doing so. Meanwhile, he slipped the Garand back into the bread bag and held it in his arms. Descending the ramp, he gazed first at the group of raptors. A brief flash of anxiety flashed over his face, before being replaced by his default neutral expression.

Nail's eyes then immediately began to sweep across the room, as he noted all exit points, cover, and potential improvised weapons. The hybrid did this in an extremely methodical manner, as if he were a robot analyzing the space. Nail was only halfway listening to the things Tybo said as he spoke, although he winced slightly when the utahraptor mentioned he was happy about this being their first "friendly" contact.

Some friendly contact if he had his gun unbuckled and ready to shoot. Although with the breadbag concealing the holster as he held it, it would most likely be missed by the raptors.

Even as he did stay on a hairtrigger, Nail couldn't help but feel a bit foolish for being so defensive. If he were the leader of this outfit and planning to kidnap Mobians, Nail would have subdued them on the ship or the moment they were sealed off inside this base. So maybe the raptors were sincere after all. There was no reason for them to be kind at this point if they really didn't want to be. But Nail still felt extremely uncomfortable being in a situation like this.

"Is there anything you want to share with us about yourselves?"

Gee...what DO you say when you are the first people to come in contact with aliens?

He honestly had no idea. Instead of saying something, he looked to his companions, hoping they might have something to say instead. Nail, with his clipped and succinct speech, was never much for profound words anyway. Better to let Giichi do it.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

"Are you all right?"

While Giichi had been having fun up in space, he couldn't help but notice what had happened to Terrador. Suddenly he seemed extremely sick. However, he didn't appear to be very strong at the moment, so the cat left him alone.

As they descended into the airbase, Giichi continued to show his sense of wonder as Nail's faded away. He and Terrador had been with Amiroo for much longer after all, so Giichi felt much more trusting that these raptors were a peaceful race, despite what he had seen in Cretaceous Carnival.

As Nail scanned the hangar from a purely tactical point of view, Giichi lapped the attention right up as he acted like he were about to meet the President of G.U.N. Feeling slightly nervous, he answered Tybe's question much more eagerly than Nail.

"My name is Giichi Twinkieland... I'm a former circus acrobat...turned to shall we say..." He thought for a second about how to put a positive spin on his thievery. "...wealth redistribution to the poor. A truly noble pursuit. I'm very honored to have met all of you today, and that was the very first time I've been in space. I never thought I'd be in a place like this, after waking up today."

[SOLIS]

Compared to the space flight, which was for the most part made uninteresting due to being in a pocket, this new location nearly overwhelmed SOLIS with new data to take in. Each of the dinosaurs gave their turn, and SOLIS made notes as it skimmed through all the data packets being sent through the air. After the others had taken a turn, it considered introducing itself, but Nails silence suggested it should hold its virtual tongue for the time being.

On the subject of dinosaurs, it knew a little about them from its default memory, in particular that they'd long died out. While it was interesting that they were 'alive again', it had noted that the same thing happened with the rifts popping up about Mobius, as well as the grey wolf and her escort, and was probably safe to assume strange things can and will pop up all the time.

Suddenly, one of the packets had caught its interest. Having had time to analyze those just coming from Amiroo, then later Era and their ship, it'd started to put together an idea of their packet formats standard preamble, including what seemed like a device identifier for both the source and a potential list of destinations, a length, and an error detection hash not unlike the well known CRC, the similarity of which was not much of a surprise as it's oft said that math is a universal language. Having figured out that part of the structure, it could identify which commands were going where, and found that one going nearby, sans the preamble, was surprisingly similar to one of its own subdevices. Given that it potentially couldn't harm anyone with this new toy, it began constructing its own pirate signal.

[Terrador Bellator]

Terrador ogled with infinite wonder as they made their way into the airbase. His current predicament appeared to worsen as once they landed; he looked down at his open palm and grimaced at the faded marking. It hadn’t taken on the gray hue as usual and the echidna was even able to partially see the brown fur underneath the green mark. Being close to possibly lethal creatures had escaped his mind and all he was focusing on was fixing his problem. The cold steel of this interior wasn’t helping any. He listened to the raptor’s speech with the utmost patience, waiting for the moment he could speak. They asked the group of their origin and while the gray canine was obviously uninterested, his tan furred ally was more than ecstatic. After Giichi finished with his speech, it was finally time for the Geomancer.

“I wish to skip the formalities for now.” He said dully and at the same time, mildly panicked. The Baculum Petra remained within his grasp and the once vibrant aura had begun to diminish the more his powers began to fade. “I must ask if you can provide any sort of earthen surface for me. I can give further information once I am given that.” He continued to say in the same tone.

[Echo]

Quote:My name is Giichi Twinkieland... I'm a former circus acrobat...turned to shall we say..." "...wealth redistribution to the poor. A truly noble pursuit...

Tybe considered this a moment as he eyed Gichii, “wealth redistribution? Hmmm, A noble pursuit indeed. We understand that your world uses a democratic state apparatus to regulate your economy, so we could see why that would still be necessary.”

Quote:...I'm very honored to have met all of you today, and that was the very first time I've been in space. I never thought I'd be in a place like this, after waking up today."

Tybe chuckled, “well, I'm glad you're enjoying yourself and I must say, it is an honor to know you as well, little brother.” he said before turning his attention to Terrador expectantly.

Quote:“I wish to skip the formalities for now.”

Tybes eyes widened with worry at Terrador's sudden panicked demeanor, “Little brother, are you alright? What's wrong?”

Amiroo stepped forward as he eyed Terrador nervously, “are you alright Terra? You don't look so good.”

Quote: “I must ask if you can provide any sort of earthen surface for me. I can give further information once I am given that.”

Amiroo twisted his head in confusion, “an earthen surface?”

“Amero and Amiroo, little brothers, I'd like you two to escort our brother here to the back of the facility into the cave system.” Tybe spoke up.

“Yes elder” they both said in near perfect unison bowing their heads in respect.

Since Amiroo was the most familiar with Terrador, he was the first to approach. He placed a clawed hand on Terra's back as he stopped to stand beside him.

“come on buddy, it's this way.” he said gesturing Terra to follow.

The other Raptor, apparently named Amero, took his place on the other side of Terra, though he kept his distance.

As they would leave, Era would seize everyone's momentary distraction to gently nudge Nail's shoulder affectionately with her snout.

“Please relax little brother, you smell of fear. Just remember, if we had wanted to harm you we could have done it by now. I promise you, you're safer right here than anywhere else on the planet.” she whispered to him before she resumed standing at attention as everyone returned their attention to Nail and Gichii.

“ So, I hear one you guys is interested in a procedure of some sort “ Tybe asked.

Era stepped forward, “Yes elder, our little brother Nail, is seeking to reverse damage done by the aging process.”

“Really now?” Tybe asked eying Nail. “ and just how far back does he want to go?”

“He hasn't specified, but I would guess 18 years old. The mobians seem to put a special emphasis on that age for some reason.”

“hmmm, “ Tybe Said approaching Nail, his height superiority would become bleedingly obvious as he stopped a mere 3 feet from Nail.

“Are you sure you want that?” Tybe said looking down at the smaller mobian.

“We could show you the process before you decide, if you want.”Era said “It's okay, there's no pressure sweetheart.” Era said smiling.

Meanwhile, another Raptor had been inching her way closer to Gichii. She was about 5'11' and somewhere around 150 pounds. Her neon green eyes studied Gichii carefully as she approached, while her black scales and yellow tiger like stripes shown in the artificial lighting of the hanger.

“h,hello?” She started nervously as stopped just a few feet from him, “My names Rye, I'm a scientist so I must ask your forgiveness for my enthusiasm, but what exactly is a circus acrobat?”

[Nail Strafer]

A chill ran down Nail's spine as Era nudged into him. She did it lovingly like a cat would to its owner, but the scales rubbing against his shoulder deeply troubled him. Her words were reassuring, although he would have felt better if she hadn't touched him like that.

However, it was quickly forgotten as the raptors began talking about the de-aging process. It interested Nail greatly, considering how old he was. While Nail still considered himself a damn good shot and in great physical shape for his age, his body was starting to catch up to him. He didn't know how longer he could keep doing the things he did. Plus, de-aging would have the side benefit of making him unrecognizable to the authorities. And he could finally get his tail back, nineteen years after he'd lost it on that one mission. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that would be possible.

Quote:
“Are you sure you want that?”

You might as well be asking me if I'd like one million rings.

"Of course I do," he said, cracking his first smile since arriving here. "Eighteen is the perfect age, because that's around where most mobians are at their peak physical state. Can you fix this too? Amiroo said you could."

He turned to the side, and held up the remaining half of his tail.

"This is normally a lot longer on my species, but I lost half of it years ago. Had to cut it off to escape a life-or-death situation."

[Giichi Twinkieland]

“wealth redistribution? Hmmm, A noble pursuit indeed. We understand that your world uses a democratic state apparatus to regulate your economy, so we could see why that would still be necessary.”

Giichi immediately felt tempted to do a fist pump and yell "SCORE!" at having pulled one over on the raptors. But of course that would draw suspicion, so he merely offered a smile at Tybe's reply.

While he watched Tybe go around to address the others, he couldn't help but notice one raptor off to the side approaching him very nervously. Unlike Nail, Giichi appreciated the attention and offered a reassuring smile to her, beckoning her to come closer and not be shy.

Quote: “My names Rye, I'm a scientist so I must ask your forgiveness for my enthusiasm, but what exactly is a circus acrobat?”

"Guess you don't have circuses then. An acrobat does physical stunts for an audience, like this."

And then Giichi promptly went into a backflip, landed on his hands, and launched backwards again with a backwards handspring. Then he landed on his feet, went into yet another back handspring, landed on his feet, and then did a THIRD back handspring, before launching into one more backflip and landing perfectly on his feet, arms outstretched as he smiled and bowed to the raptors.

"I know a lot of other tricks too, but the one thing people like seeing the most at a circus is the flying trapeze. Trapeze are bars in midair, suspended by ropes high above the ground. You do tricks on them like flips, hangs, and grabs. And then you have shows where two or more people swing back and forth, leaping between bar over and over again. I used to do more, but..."

The smile suddenly melted away, replaced by a frown as unpleasant memories resurfaced.

"...well, I didn't want to do only that all my life."

He had a flashback to the day when he announced to his parents he wanted to pursue his own life outside of the circus. While it wasn't a shock with how much displeasure he showed living as a circus performer over the years, the final announcement sent his mother into tears while his father comforted her. His parents weren't really bad people...he just didn't want to follow in their footsteps. Just a shame he ended up and leaving them over it.

Suddenly the cat wondered where his parents were in this world, and had an urge to try reaching out to them. Maybe the raptors could help...

[SOLIS]

[Skipping for now, since the group is moving about.]

[Terrador Bellator]

Terrador instinctively cringed in a defensive manner as Am approached him. It wasn't anything against the raptors and it was simply a state of mind for the echidna. Am had proved himself a worthy ally and he had a feeling if these creatures wanting to cause them harm, they wouldn't be so friendly. He sighed deeply and relaxed his body, giving his comrade a nod.

"Thank you." he said, looking briefly at the other reptile. He followed the two down to where the caves awaited. Wanting to reserve as much Geokinetic energy as possible, his staff was placed on his back and he tried with all his might not to focus on his rapidly vanishing powers. After due time, all that worry melted away once they reached their destination. Terrador's bare feet made contact with the cave's surface. His markings glowed dimly and began to regain their full shape. He exhaled deeply and curled his toes into the rock.

"I am much grateful for your aid." he told the raptors. "You have done a great thing for me and I will now keep my word." he continued, bracing himself for the torrent of words about to escape him. "My name is Terrador Bellator. I have the ability to manipulate the element of earth through both the power of my mind and magic force. I inherited this power through my parents. We have a belief that we are a physical personification of the spirit of the Earth, thus lending us its power. For 11 years I have honed my powers and I have become quite proficient." he stopped briefly, feeling the need to demonstrate his Geokinesis to an extant. They would see the green oval marking on his forehead glow. The circular ones on his right foot glowed as well as he applied a swift stomp. This created a fairly sized chunk of the cave slightly larger than his head to pop out and land in his awaiting palm.

"Even with this I have many tools to employ." he went on, placing his left hand on the top of it. The stone was separated into 3 smaller and evenly shaped ones that he proceeded to levitate above his right hand in a perpetual spin. "Of course with Am's ability to control fire, I assume one of you has a similar ability to mine and you are not amused by my demonstration." Terrador said. Truth be told, he wanted to not only show his power, but to also see if it was working in the first place. In an extremely uncanny act, the echidna grabbed one of the rocks and brought it to his mouth where he took a bite out of it and even chewed for a moment before swallowing. "With your permission, I would prefer to remain her momentarily and regain my full strength." he stated, taking another bite out of his apparent morsel. In actuality, this was assisting him in regaining lost power.

(I know that rock eating ability isn't in his profile, but it's a fun little extra I just added recently and I just couldn't help myself to do it here lol.)