LAL2: Return of the Missing - IC

Safyr3 dropped to all fours, ears flat and eyes wide to allow in as much light as possible in the dim environment. Faez cowered behind her, shivering so much he almost knocked the quaking Parell off.

This creature was huge!
It fairly dwarfed Safyr3, who was perhaps half of it's side. The multicolored stripes that flickered on her back turned white with fear.

"Okay," she squeaked, for the first time in her life feeling very small. "I think it's time to run!"

Kalia gulped. This was one of the times she really wished her brother was there. He had always been much better at the nature magic side of being a Chalik. She was... Not. Which meant no negotiating- Just running. Which she did.

Shaenn also ran, but in the meantime he pinned his ears back agains the sound of the creature roaring. He really needed something to throw at the stupid thing, though that would probably just make it more angry. He settled for shaking his fist at it.

"OH SHUT UP!"

By this point Opajik had scrambled onto Safyr3's back, something that had become instinct for him when this kind of danger faced them.
Vienna had followed suit.
The syratopes, being lighter and smaller than Invaders, seemed to be alright running on their own. For the moment.

Opajik snuck an over-the-shoulder glance at the beast.
It was gigantic; at least twice the size of Safyr3, and its wings were larger and stronger.
Their odds were not looking too good.

The creature continued to roar, close on their tails as they got farther away from the village.

Vienna couldn't help but think that the syratopes hadn't been too careful to preserve the lives of their "saviors" when summoning the beasts that were supposed to be tamed.
Inwardly, she groaned.

Safyr3 was too afraid that taking to the air would result in catastrophy, so she half-glided across the ground, hoping the Syratopes could keep pace with her.

Faez was doing alright in the mean time, though he knew he couldn't run forever. Usually, he didn't mind running- it was fun -but this was a little different from his friendly races through the woods back on Kerettoi.

"Where are we going?!" Safyr3 growled, hoping to lose the giant beast. "And where did it come from?! I thought they said they were tamed!"

"...Maybe they just meant the small ones," Faez mumbled through gasps of breath.

"Then they could have notified us in advance," Ekko hissed; then decided that it wasn't worth wasting her breath, and shut up.
Even though she hadn't needed to run this fast for the past several years, syratopes were naturally quite agile, and built for speed when it came to hunting or fleeing from predators.
It wasn't too hard for her, but if the monster kept up, she wouldn't be the only one to run out of breath.

In fact, the one that appeared to be struggling for breath more than anyone else was Opajik, who wasn't having to do any moving at all.
If Ekko had had the time, she would have rolled her eyes.

The group swerved around another pile of trash, trying to best the monstrosity chasing them in a mad game of agility.

Instead of simply swerving around the mountainous trash heap, the flying Dim Beast crashed through it. Shards of metal flew through the air, accompanied by a shower of plastic and newspapers.

It was beginning to get hard to see, the "rain" was so thick.

"I'm...I'm blind!" Safyr3 said, head low to the ground. "Someone direct me!"

Kalia kept her wings pressed against her sides so she could run faster. She would fly when she really needed to, but in the meantime she decided she would conserve her energy and just run on the ground. besides the closer she was to the Syratopes, the faster she could rescue them if the creature caught up. She looked up as best she could and attempted to figure out where some of the debris was going.
She jumped aside, letting a large piece of who-knows-what land harmlessly on the ground.. She had no idea where they were going, though, and was doing her best just to dodge things.

Shaenn, on the other hand was just running as fast as he could. he did not like that thing one bit, and he wasn't really so sure he wanted to own a smaller one anymore either. He just wanted AWAY. He especially didn't like sharp, metal rain. That was just stupid. He growled under his breath and kept running...

Opajik looked forward, while Vienna periodically glanced behind them, monitoring the closeness of their pursuer.
"I..." Opajik squinted. There was something up ahead. "There's something over there!"

There seemed to be a corner up ahead, but on the wall before the turn, something caught his interest.
What seemed to be a series of crumbling ledges created a makeshift stairway to a flat platform higher up. He couldn't quite see, but at the top there was definitely a shiny, bluish colour contrasting the dark greys and browns of the Dim's usual scenery.

It sparked hope in him, and excitement filled his voice. "I think there's a door!" he yelled.

"Huh? Where?" Safyr3 said, slowing down slightly so she could raise her head and look about. She spotted the "steps" almost at once, having a predator's vision.

"Should I go for it?" she asked, almost to a stop.

Faez ran into her, as he hadn't been looking where he was going. He was preoccupied with the giant thing behind them.

"YES YES KEEP GOING!" he called.

"Going!" Safyr3 shouted, springing foward onto the first step. Faez jumped after her, less nimbly. He also slid off the edge, but Safyr3 steadied him with her tailfin.

Opajik was gripping the metal of Safyr3's neck tightly.
It was risky. But they couldn't pass up this opportunity.
An opportunity to escape.

Seeing as Safyr3 had four legs, plus wings, it wouldn't be too difficult to make her way up the ledges.
The syratopes, however, were a little less lucky.

Ekko sprinted a bit faster, getting herself ahead of the fraethre. Rhey did the same, seeing her strategy.
If they wanted to make it to the top, they'd have to go first, before Safyr3 or Kalia's weight started to dislodge the stairs.

"Faez, go ahead of me," Safyr3 grumbled, giving him a shove that nearly sent him sprawling over the edge. He caught himself, narrowly avoiding Parell falling instead.

Faez was very afraid now. The giant monster thing had not attacked them yet, but he felt it would soon find them and start smashing things like all giant monsters did.

He scrambled ahead a couple more ledges, Safyr3 following at a short distance. She gazed upward, hoping desperatly that these ledges actually lead somewhere.

A glint of light on metal caught her attention....
Was that..no..yes...it was! A door! She grinned, showing very sharp teeth. Her wings slid out in the excitement, casting their bright light on the nearby wall and stones.

Ekko was doing as best she could, but with every springing step she could feel the ledges quaking under her feet. It probably didn't help that something huge was making as much ruckus as possible, every so often slicing the air with shrieks and roars.
It was very close behind.

Determination was written across her face in an intimidating glare, though no one was looking at her to see it. She leapt, again and again, and felt glad that she was light enough to be supported by the platforms.

She pricked her ears at the sound of Rhey, who was directly behind her, letting out a short yelp as he was, evidently, slipping.
In a split second, she made her decision, and chose to risk going down with him if these next few seconds were to go wrong.
She turned about halfway, and luckily for both of them, managed to grasp Rhey's hand as he was just about to be lost over the edge.
Using all her strength, she violently yanked him forward and kept running. There was no time to look back to check on him, but she could hear him panting behind her as a sign that he hadn't fallen.

But even a few seconds were a large sacrifice at a moment like this.
Safyr3 passed Ekko in a bound, leaping ahead and taking the lead.

Ekko felt the ledge shaking.

"I don't think...we're going to make it," Safyr3 panted, adrenaline coursing through her body. "I've got to fly forward...Maybe I can pick up the others."

Her wings flapped once, in preparation.

"Any objections?" she roared, rearing up.

In an instant Kalia was behind the pair of Syratopes. She knew that Ekko had already helped Rhey, but they were closer to the back and more likely to fall if the steps crumbled. As the seconds passed, she had to hover just to stay close by, but she wouldn't leave anyone behind. Even as she helped Ekko and Rhey, she saw Shaenn climb nimbly past her. He got above the crumbling section of steps, and continued up, hoping they wouldn't crumble any more.

Kalia heard Safyr3 speaking from up ahead, and nodded. "Go! I'll help Ekko and Rhey!"

"Don't forget meee!" Faez cried, "and Parell too!"
"Yeah don't forget us!" Parell said, digging his hands into Faez's scales. It hurt, but Faez didn't mind. He was too worried to feel it at the moment.

Safyr3 leapt off the stone, watching in crumble to the ground. She circled around swiftly, and snagged Parell in one claw. In the other, she snatched Faez.

Overburdened, she started sinking.
Safyr3 grunted, flapping her wings harder. The benefit of having mechanical wings was that they did not tire, but they would not do much if she was simply to heavy to lift.

The door neared as she tried to gain altitude, gasping and wheezing partly in terror, partly in exhaustion.

The beast gave another roar, reminding everyone that falling ledges weren't the only immediate danger they had to worry about.
Beating huge leathery wings that looked just a tad too tattered to fly with, the thing lurched towards the wall, screeching. One wing hit a platform, only to send it crashing down and smashing onto the ground underneath.

They all heard the sound of it, and realized what was going on. They had little time left.

The monster backed up and prepared to hit another ledge, this time focusing on the location of its fleeing prey.

"Opajik!" Safyr3 screeched, "shoot it or it will crush us!"

Faez, to no one's surprise, had turned his frown upside-down and was trying to convince Parell to do the same.

"But look at how high we are!" he said playfully. "Everything looks like little ants!"
"I like my ground full-sized," Parell moaned, covering his eyes. His ears stood flat against his face, and his tail was bushed out twice it's size.

It was a good thing that Safyr3 reminded Opajik that he was actually capable of doing things at the time, because he had completely forgotten.
Momentarily rediscovering his watch, he took little less than a second to remember what to do and aimed his arm towards the monster that was getting ever so close--

He aimed for the thing's face; eyes in particular, and fired the watch before he was out of time.
A thin beam of light blasted out towards the beast. It missed the eye, but hit it right on the forehead, which seemed to get enough of a reaction to hold it back for a second or two.
The pulse blast wasn't strong enough to kill it... But if he could get this thing in the eye it'd be sure to fall to the ground.
He yelled at Safyr3 to keep going and got ready to shoot again.

"We're almost there," Safyr3 roared, pumping her wings faster than she ever had before. The door loomed before them; an intimidating, circular metal door that almost looked like a vault. If the faded exit sign plastered on the wall hadn't been there, Safyr3 might have thought it was a safe.

10 yards...7 years...5 yards....

She fairly threw Faez and Parell at the door. They landed in a heap, stunned. Faez burst out laughing, but Parell looked a bit sick.

Safyr3 growled at them to move before her front claws connected with the ledge, and she pulled herself upward.

"Quick! The door!" she screeched.
She hoped Opajik had enough time fire again while they figured out how to open their newfound exit.

Opajik had just pressed the button.
He crossed his fingers without noticing it. If this missed, the creature could kill them al before they managed to escape out the door.
He bit down on his tongue as he watched the beam fly across--
Just... A bit to the left...

Instead of knocking out the eye, as he'd hoped it would, the beam hit just as the beast was rearing back, straight into...
Its throat.

The monster flapped backwards, let out a bit of a garbled yelp and threw its head to the side, disappearing from sight as it half retreated, half fell to the flat ground below.

"YES!"

Kalia clambered up onto the ledge with everyone else, then spun around and roared at the monster. She knew it probably wouldn't work, but she tried to tell it to go away with that. As if that would have worked on a deer. Shaenn, in his panic, was walking in circles, occasionally glaring up at the monster, or fiddling with a small rock he had picked up. He didn't intend to do anything with the rock, but he didn't have much else to do.

Kalia grinned halfway as the creature fell. "Ok! Ok how do we get these doors open?" she asked, knowing that if they didn't hurry the monster would recover.

Opajik leapt off of Safyr3's back and ran to the door.
He was more than happy to be standing in front of a sign of civilization, not to mention the gateway into one.
It was a civilization that would try to kill them, yes, but civilization nonetheless. Opajik was tired of dirt trails and cardboard houses.

He quickly realized, though, that this door was missing something.
"A handle..." he moaned, rolling his head back. "It doesn't have a handle!"

His fists clenched in utter frustration, and he slammed his head against the metal once before realizing it hurt and then stepping away.

The door had no handle.

They'd come this far, just to find a door without a handle. Safyr3 had been right; this was a vault. A vault locked from the other side. A vault sealing away those trapped in The Dim...

Safyr3's stripes reappeared, coursing over her like the tide on a shore. They were a bright, deep red of rage.

"...Mmmove," she commanded through clenched teeth. She gave everyone a split-second to get out of the way before launching herself at the thick metal door. She would have bitten it, due to first instict, but she had to settle for shredding with her claws.

Her claws enhanced with the same sort of metal that spaceships were built out of, would not break or dull when cutting other metals. Within moments, there was a decent-sized hole in the vault door. Shards of metal flew out behind Safyr3 as she worked.

Every so often a choice word of cursing would echo out. Safyr3 was furious, and she was not about to let a stupid DOOR impede their progress any longer! She felt she had been trapped down here for four months rather than a few days.

"Inanimate objects will NOT stop me today!" she roared.

Opajik stood back, a little shocked, a little proud, and - as he thought of what might await them on the other side of that vault - a lot nervous.
The hardest part was yet to come. There was no telling what they might have to face once inside that building... But whatever it was, they had to make it through.

They had come too far to fail now.

Once Safyr3 had carved out the hole to take up almost the entire vault, Opajik was hesitant to peek his head out.
Luckily Ekko did it for him. She ducked her head through, and looking around. After a second, she flicked her tail and said, "I don't see anyone."

Vienna then approached, Opajik following. They observed their surroundings.

Lucky for them, the vault was located in a dark, deserted looking hallway that didn't appear to be used often. It must have been for taking things in and out of the Dim during their rush of prisoners years ago, and solely that, because no one was guarding it now.

"Okay," Opajik breathed, glancing back at his friends. "Find Kydi, and get out, right?" He looked at Safyr3 for reassurance.

"Yes," Safyr3 said, still a little upset at the door. "You know cities better than I, lead on Opajik, Vienna."

Faez looked around. "It looks like no one comes down here...think there's a way up?"