Finding Memories

"I hope you'll be well on your travels," Caen said to the wolf, also bowing slightly, before turning back to the forest "if we just go in a straight line, we should be fine."

Caen could see that Tala was visibly worried about something, maybe it was her captors? He spoke to her in a soft tone "hey, don't worry. If someone attacks, I'll deal with them, trust me." Of course, he was almost lying about that, as he had left his weapons at home, so his best bet would be using fire, and if that was the case, he hoped that if anyone did attack, that they went down easy.

The wolf simply nods to them.

"Very well then." he says, "Perhaps we will cross paths some other time. As I said before though, I'm stopping here for the night, so if you change your minds, you know where I'll be."

Tala waved with a sad expression. While she was afraid of company in the beginning, now she felt kind of like she had lost a friend even though she only met the silver furred Mobian a short time ago. She turned to the red hedgehog who was informing her of the direction in which they needed to travel in order to escape the foresty maze.

The female was very nervous. He spoke of the city. She had never been in public before, hell Caen and the other wolf were the first Mobians she had ever really met in person. She saw other Mobians before, but only in pictures and the occasional screenshot of a 'world hero' as the humans called them. That was the reason she was in this mess. 

"How far are we from your home, Mr Caen?" Tala spoke in a low voice, her tail once again in her clutches. It appeared she unconsciously went to petting her appendage when she was nervous. "Are you certain it wouldn't be best if... if we just went back? I-I've never been in a place made of metal and stone before and I don't want to attract attention..."

The forest had thickened up once again and the two were now completely covered by the branches and out of the way of any potential prying eyes. It still didn't help the unwavering niggling in the back of her mind that they were being watched. This was momentarily put to the side as the group of Chao began chattering amongst themselves and looking around as they floated around the two larger creatures.
Surely the Chao would know where is safe and where is dangerous?

Caen spoke in a reassuring voice "we're not far. About 4 miles from here. That should roughly take about two hours." Tala spoke of how she had never been in a real building before, and Caen raised his eyebrow, still continuing forward, so he would not lose his way "you haven't? You've never been indoors?" He waved his hand, and said "nevermind," so he would not panic the young wolf "I'd say it's a bit too late to turn back now, 'cause we're deep in the forest. If we so, that'll just raise the chances we got lost, right? Look, you'll be fine. I promise.

Caen also had the unmistakeable feeling of being watched, however, he did not make this feeling known, as he was trying to keep Tala as calm as possible. He scanned each tree's branches, ensuring there was noone watching.

The wolf watches the pair leave with all their little companions in tow. He then turns away and starts walking back the way he'd come from.

*Well... that was... odd.* he thinks, *Guess I can get some water and then pick a spot to sleep.*

He know it would take him several minutes to get back to where he'd started from, so he takes in his surroundings in case he saw a nicer spot to spend the night.


( OOC: Well... at this point I think much of what I'd do is just filler material that won't be relevant to the story since everyone else is gone. I guess unless something happens at the lake you can consider me out of the rp and just skip my turn. Maybe send me a PM if and when anything happens.  )

((yeah... Didn't really think about that. Will do!))

Meanwhile, far away from the wolf and the hedgehog, there was another figure in the forest. Cloaked in the night, he sat beneath the trees, his figure barely visible, save for what features were illuminated by the glow of a nearby laptop. The monitor's dim light illuminated the outline of a dark hooded sweatshirt, covering a pair of the latest in VR goggles. The figure sat, transfixed on his task. Clutched in his gloved hands was a controller, and with twitching fingers he delivered voiceless commands to... something.

"Oh? What's this?" he spoke aloud as he adjusted a knob on the side of his goggles. The question hung tensely unanswered for a moment, before a narrow, toothy grin cut through the darkness of the sweatshirt's hood. "Ohohohoh.... Interesting!! Let's take a closer look!" 

There was a soft whirring noise behind the wolf, the hedgehog, and the flock of chao. Whatever the noise was, it slowly grew in volume as it neared the pair. Something strobed with blinking red light as it grew closer. The object made a pass through a dim patch of moonlight, revealing a quadrotored camera drone. It hovered for a moment as its vacant, infrared heat-sensitive camera lense regarded them.

"Gotcha..." the hooded figure uttered to himself from his post, far away

((Sure thing C.S.O! if anything happens that might bring others together, I'm sure myself or Red will PM you if you're interested ^^))

Tala spun around at the whirring sound, to be met with a floating drone. Her eyes widened and she suddenly bounced into action. It wasn't a living creature, so she wasn't afraid of it. That wasn't to say she wasn't still wary of what it was, or how it came to be here so suddenly and quietly. She became the complete opposite of her former self in an instant and grew curious about the sounds the rotors were making.
 
"Hey Caen, you see anything weird about this thing? Its got a funny shiny bit that doesn't sit right with me. I kinda wanna smash it."

She peered right at the blinking red light and narrowed her blue eyes at what that blinking meant. Was it somehow alive and looking at them? It made her think of an eye, but she couldn't be sure. 
'I have no idea of electrical things, but this makes me think of those things the humans called helicopters. But its tiny!'

Caen heard the distinct sound of several motors whirring at a fast pace. The sound was unmistakeable to Caen, who was... Moderately tech savvy. A drone, no doubt controlled by someone within the forest, he turned around, spotting the light of the drone's camera gleaming within the darkness. Tala was very clearly wary of the quadcopter, and the potential danger it could give. He walked towards it, jumping up and trying to grab it , however, it flew just out of reach. He grunted, before speaking "that would be a drone... Otherwise known as a quadcopter. It's like a small helicopter that can be flown using a remote control from long distances. This one appears to have a camera. Obviously, this may just be anyone's drone, rather than our foe's, so, instead of smashing it, I'd prefer to just... Disable it. If I could just get hold of it..."

He stretched up, trying to grab it, and making quiet, irritated noises whilst doing so "rrgh, but I can't!" He turned, looking into the forest "who's out there? Stop hiding behind a camera and show yourself!"

((Not sure if Storms going to have any input or if he's going to pass this round?))

((Getting something sorted out with Red Blur. Sorry for the slow response.))

(Hi guys, I don't mind if I could join in too. Is that okay?)

((Not a problem guys, I'm crazy busy with work as well so take your time. 
If you feel the timing is right Shade, then jump in if you want ^^))

((alright. I've rewritten my previous post, and I think Storm's issue is resolved, so, hopefully we'll continue ASAP!))

Perhaps it was the distance, or maybe it was the hood and headphones covering his ears. But for whatever reason the quadrotor's operator didn't hear the demands of the leaping hedgehog. From his faraway vigil, he suppressed a laugh as the glowing infrared signature of the hedgehog leapt in vain. But something caught his eye behind the second figure. There were many smaller heat signatures. They were small, and round. In fact, they almost looked like...

"Chao?! HERE?!" the figure smiled his toothy grin underneath his hood as he veered the drone overhead and zoomed in on the small, rare creatures. Something whined progressively louder in the drone, as if it were charging some sort of device. It dropped down lower, right above the flock of chao, its glittering optics scanning them with sudden interest. Diodes glowed, and servos whirred as the quadrotor hovered above, its intent uncertain...

(My turn will include C.S.O's character so should I PM him to ask him to rejoin the rp?)

((If you PM him and see if he will, I'm sure he won't mind.))

The movement of the drone closing in towards the Chao spooked them a little bit and one began to cry for fear of something happening to them. Tala grew angry at the flying device upsetting the small creatures she was caring for and a dark aura began to emanate from her. She could feel the negativity in the area be drawn to her. Try as she might, she couldn't stop it, and she felt her energy levels spike.

'Those Chao were all positive earlier, how come suddenly all I can feel is the opposite? So much energy...'

"Caen... run... please." She held her head as she saw the edges of her vision greying out. "The negativity... it's too much!"

Tala began breathing heavy to try and calm herself down, but the Chao's sudden overload of upset hit her like a truck and she didn't have the time to brace herself for the impact.

Meanwhile back at the lake that Caen and Tala had left not too long ago with all the Chao, or so they thought, something extraordinary was happening. The centre of the lake began to create ripples of water that slowly enlarged until it disappeared. More and more ripples were created and the ripples became more violent until the ripples began turning into waves. The waves thrashed around the lake and even splashed onto the land beside the lake, moistening it.

Soon the water began to swirl in circles like an underwater tornado, throwing water everywhere. The dirt beside the lake began to turn mushy and marshy and the whole commotion was very loud, loud enough to attract unwanted attention from a nearby wolf just trying to find something to eat and drink. The tornado travelled to the bottom of the lake and a strange glow came from the bottom of the lake. The glow soon increased in brightness until it became to hard to see anything.

The drone began to move, straight towards the group of chao that tagged along with Tala, and a faint blue light was emitted from it. From the noise it was making, as well as the fact that the light seemed to move along the chao, outlining every detail, this light was a scanner of some type. In Caen's mind, this meant one thing- they were after the chao. "Alright. That's it, I've made up my mind, this drone doesn't belong to a good person." He shouted, summoning flames in his hands "last warning! If you don't show yourself, now, the drone dies!"

The chao were very clearly distressed by the whirring of the quadcopter'a motors, as well as the bright blue light, and Tala seemed to react badly to this. She told her to run, but Caen did not budge, and instead, he spoke in a soft, reassuring tone "it's just a toy, you needn't run, Tala."

Caen put out the flames, bending down to the chao "hey, there's no need to be afraid. Tala and I will protect you." He reached out, petting one of them.

All of a sudden, a bright light came from the direction of the lake, so bright that Caen could hardly see. He shielded his eyes with his arm "wha-?"

After the canine and hedgehog had left, the wolf made his way back around to the lake, close to the point he had arrived from. He moves back over to the water and has another drink, then refills a canteen he had in his pack. Once that was taken care of, he moves back over to the tree line, looking in the direction the hedgehog and canine had gone.

It wasn't long after that that he heard some sort of commotion being generated from the middle of the lake. When he looks over, it seemed that a whirlpool had formed in the center of the lake and was making all the water churn and it rose at the edge of the lake. Having never seen anything like this before, the wolf grabs his belongings and backs away into the forest, hiding behind some trees a short distance behind the treeline.

Then there was a glow that formed under the water. The wolf flinches and turns away from it, as his eyes were already adjusted to the dark. Eventually he has to turn away entirely and cover his eyes as the light grew more intense. Effectively blinded for the moment, the wolf hunkers down behind the tree and waits for things to settle down.

While the heavyness of the negative force in the area was a worrying situation for the young wolf, Tala immediately directed her attention to the light that seemingly appeared from nowhere. She knew it was a bad idea to try and leave. That lake held something special, she just didn't know what it was.

But it held so much energy she didn't want.

Trying to push the fact her body was now starting to overflow with energy, alongside her claws and horns beginning to grow, the female knew there were much more important matters at hand. She took another look at the drone still forever floating in front of them, then changed to Caen, knowing he was probably just as conflicted as she was. Narrowing her eyes while still holding her head to keep herself in reality she spoke aloud.

"We're going back to the lake, aren't we? That light...it isn't something to be ignored, is it?"

It was then that Tala noticed the absence of wailing and general organic noise. The chao!

She looked around, only to see they had fallen into some sort of trance like state and were heading back in the direction of the lake as if on auto pilot.

(Is it my turn? Or is it Storm's turn?)

((yours.
The current order is:
-Shade
-Caen
-C.S.O
-Tala
-Storm))

( OOC: Based on that listing... since Foreva is the last one who posted, it's Storm's turn. )

((Gonna pass for this round. Finalizing my move, and I kinda want to see what Shade has going.))