[Guild Quest] - Approach on Diamond Dust

Pyra scratches the back of her head as she looks at the hole, curious and a little uncertain. Felt a little claustrophobic, but she was sure someone could crawl through it. They'd probably have to crawl through it...


"Who wants to go first?" She asks, thinking about what might be on the other end, putting a wing on her hip. 
She certainly didn't want to go first. She suddenly felt very self conscious about her shape as she thinks about going down a hole made by fairly small robots followed behind by three dudes.

Rez looked over to Darken as he said,

“Oh, you’re right. That could happen.” He placed a hand to his beak in thought before shouting,

“Hey Spiral! Come on back down!”

Spiral quickly flew back, his small beanie almost falling off as he came back.

“Well, who should go first Darken? I’m fine with going first, but you’re technically the team leader, so it’s your call.”

Slash was about to shout, agreeing with Darken that a wisp out in the open in a former Egg base was a pretty bad idea, but was too late.

Soon after, it seemed like they were going through the hole and now must decide who's going first.

Darken, to be frank, did not look like someone who should be tunneling in his condition, especially when he pulled out that hiking stick.
Rez might be a good idea, but there was once again the problem with his wisp, might get snatched by a potential trap on the other side.
And then Pyra... She'd likely do just fine, but it didn't seem like she wanted to go. After looking at her again, Slash could deduce why, which brought forth a chuckle from him.

"I'll go first, if there are any obstructions in the hole, I can deal with them easily. As well as the obvious..."
Slash poked what would be his eyesocket, and activated a sort of headlight function from his eyes, already starting to make his way inside.

The small, white wisp heeded his companion's warning, which at least soothed Darken's nerves a little. He didn't want members of the group disappearing. Mostly in concern for everyone's general safety, but also - perhaps selfishly - because he didn't want to get into a fight in his current state. But for now, it was just a relief that nobody was hurt.

There was a short walk by the group, and a brisk hike by the bandaged fox to get to the hole. And now, as they were all gathered around the small entrance to what was apparently a garbage chute, discussion began on who should go first.

"Slash is right." He didn't want to say it, because it would be blatantly rude, but a robot's arm could be replaced a lot easier than one made of flesh and bone. At the same time, should the tunnel be crawled through to begin with? An ambush would be all the more dangerous if they were trapped on their hands and knees. It didn't matter much, since Slash was already leading the way.

"I don't think You should be at the back Rez. No offense, but given that you are the smallest of us all, an attack from behind could hurt you a lot more than it might hurt myself or Pyra. Not to mention I don't want Spiral to get snatched either."

The tunnel ahead of Slash was angling upwards, a slight ascend up through the mountain, but nothing too steep. Who knew where it led, or how long it would be... Or when the Badniks were gonna be back.

Maneuvering around what remained of the bush, the fox devised a plan. "Rez, I'll go in after Slash, you come in behind me, and Pyra-“ he turned over to her- “If you're alright with it, you'll come in up the rear."

She couldn't help but notice Slash seem to snicker in her direction. She didn't bring attention to it, simply raising her brow but otherwise keeping to herself. No need for in-fighting. 
She'd get back at him somehow, anyway. 

Darken discussed a plan of action with the group shortly after Slash decides to go first. 
"I'm perfectly fine with staying behind everyone. Honestly sounds like a great idea." 
The first and last line of defense from behind the much more fragile Rez and his valuable companion. It'd be hard to get past her from behind, and not just because she could shoot flames. 
Plus, less chance for embarrassment. She was completely on board, and was now just waiting for her turn into the tunnel. 

You know what they say, birds of a feather... uh, crawl together...?

Rez nodded towards Darken to confirm. 

“Sounds like a plan!” they said while they waited to enter the tunnel.

Once it was their turn, Rez scooped Spiral up and placed him on his chest, then zipped up his coat to where just Spiral’s spherical head, er body… Whatever it was, was sticking out right under his head.

“You ready buddy?”

Spiral made a determined squeak before Rez crawled into the tunnel behind Darken.

Seemed like everything was set! Slash was going purposely slow until they figured it out, so now he could quicken his pace.

The hole was quite small, and he was prepared to spin if they needed more space. But all he could hope right now is that no issues arise.

The tightly wrapped fox felt a little sorry for Rez. Not because of any sort of weakness, but because of the chance the falcon was of the opinion that everyone thought he was weak, which would be hard not to take as a little insulting. Darken wasn't there to offend anyone, he's there to work with a team. He just always tries to make sure everyone's protected properly.

That being said, it seemed everyone was A-OK with the plan, and so he crawled into the tunnel after the already-moving robotic hedgehog. The close quarters of the roughly hewn rock walls was a little uncomfortable for the bandaged vulpine, the doctor certainly wasn't going to recommend he be making as much contact with his hands or knees as he was. Thankfully enough the tunnel was just wide and round enough for everyone to make their way through without brushing against the walls, but it would be hands and knees for everyone for now.

As they continued forward through the slight upwards incline, a distant rumbling began to emanate from somewhere outside of the tunnel, somewhere at the other end.

"Slash, what do you see?" Darken asked, trying to look up over the android's metal body to no avail. Unfortunately for the hedgehog as well, a curve in their ahead path blocked any view of what the source of the noise could be.

Pyra couldn't help but smirk when she heard Rez's wisp companion squeak. It soon softened into a genuine smile.
"You know, they are absolutely adorable." She muses out loud as they crawl.

As the five move along, Pyra hears Darken speak up near the other side of the tunnel, as well as the distant rumbling.
First thought? They were probably about to get ran through with a drill if they didn't stop sometime soon. Still, so far forward was the only way...
She stifled a chuckle as she calls out "Hey, that was not me."

Spiral had a happy look on his face when Pyra called him cute. "Can you tell Pyra thank you Rez?"

"Of course buddy! Hey Pyra, Spiral says thanks for the compliment." 

Rez then feels the rumble and stops crawling for a moment. He chuckled at Pyra's joke, holding a hand to his beak in amusement.

"Whatever is causing those rumbles must either be big, or there are a lot of small things making one big rumble."

Slash listened to the vibrations above them, coming to the conclusion that it may be more burrobots doing their jobs if he remembered correctly, they tend to go in a back-and-forth pattern at a certain elevation, though, who knows how outdated that data might've been.

"Nothing, but we're coming up at a curve going slightly upwards, be ready to turn."

Pyra's musings, on the other hand, were humorous, though he chose not to comment on her retort.
Spiral was cute though, he wasn't going to lie.

"Might just be more Burrobots, so likely sonething in the middle."

A slight smile tugged at the side of his stiff lips as he overheard the Phoenix and Falcon's exchange. He didn't want to interrupt, but it was some niceness he hadn't heard shared in a long time. Refreshing to say the least.

While Slash's report on the tunnel itself was at least slightly comforting in the knowledge that there wasn't anything dangerous ahead, that small reassurance was cut short by the slowly growing rumbling. If it was burrobots, then he only hoped it wasn't going to cause a tunnel cave-in- OR it was going to be some more badniks hauling scrap metal down the tunnel.

If either were the case- which it likely was, given they'd just seen two lumps of trash tossed down the mountain- then they needed to figure something out, quickly. 

"Rez and Pyra are right, whatever the rumbling is, isn't just indigestion."

Before Darken had finished talking a small bundle of metal legs came into view for the hedgehog android in the tunnel ahead of them. A spider badnik. It was some distance away in the tunnel, but it was clearly active, and moving towards the group.

"Heh, you're welcome little dude." She responded, glad she could at least help lighten the mood, when she heard the rumbling get a bit louder.
She can't see too far past everyone, so she wouldn't be able to tell what was near the front, nor could she help from so far back.

Starting to regret staying behind a small bit.

She furrows her brow and slows her crawl a little bit, hoping Slash and Darken could handle whatever was coming...

Rez was slightly concerned for what was up ahead. In a confined space like this, he would not have room to use Spiral’s power to outrun the danger. Spiral was getting a bit scared from the rumbling now, sliding into Rez’s coat a bit more.

“I think we should try to hurry up and get to the end. If there’s robots with drills coming this way, we wouldn’t want to get blended up. So probably best to get to the other opening to this tunnel quick.”

Slash spotted the robotic spider, gritting his teeth, so they were going to have issues down here.

"Spider badnik approaching us, keep vigilant and crawl quickly, I'm going to spin!"

Slash curled his robotic body into a ball, and proceeded to spindash down the tunnel, likely creating a slightly wider hole in his wake.

The grey fox was about to agree with Rez, before Slash gave them an update of what was coming towards them. It seemed like there was going to be some company. Although he hadn't seen many badniks in person before, the amount of research he'd done through GUNs archives told him enough.

It was difficult to recall specifics, but a Spider Badnik was certainly something they didn't want to have to crawl into inside the tunnel. So, again before he could make any comment it seemed the robotic hedgehog had already sped off to deal with the incoming threat. As lumps of stony soil were flung back at the bandaged fox in Slash's spindashing wake, he had to prop himself up with one hand and cover his face with the other.

"We've got company guys, get moving!" he relayed to Pyra and Rez in case they hadn't heard Slash. Especially considering the sudden upheaval of tunnel's inner lining could be very alarming. 

Indeed, they now had enough crawl space to shuffle through the tunnel a little quicker than before, though getting significantly dirtier given the packed earth was now disturbed. So Darken rushed after the rapidly moving hedgehog.

By the time the spider badnik could react to the incoming ball of metallic death, it was far too late. The large arachnid tried to scramble its several spiked, spindly legs around the width of the tunnel to flee but the impact of a hurtling, titanium hedgehog did the job for it. Slash collided with the side of the Spider badnik, shredding its well-constructed but ultimately weak legs and just about tearing the robot's body in half.

From within the freshly formed pile of scrap, a panicked chirping could be heard by anyone who was close enough. Which was... all of them. The chirping seemed to echo down the tunnel, as the cacophonous overbearing noise of the rumbling had- at some point- stopped.

The situation seemed to be getting slightly more serious. She covers her face with her wing - wide enough to be really good at blocking debris - as it comes flying at her. Gladly, being in the far back there wasn't much to block.

Did become a tiny bit harder to breathe for about a minute though.

Once the rumbling stopped and was replaced by chirping, she thought back to their mission, as well as their earlier discussion.
"So uh... guys? Think there'd be anything worth a damn in these things? Or like, should we... not even for the mission, I'll admit- but should we get the poor little things out and out them somewhere safer or something?" She really sounded concerned for the flickies.
At least their prisons were being destroyed.
Plus, thanks to Slash, the tunnel wasn't as snug.
She crawled faster after Darken and Rez, taking a look at the remains of the spider badnik as she passes by, specifically looking for what's making tbe chirping noise...

Rez pulled his scarf over his face when the dirt started being kicked up. He was about to continue crawling past the remains of the badnik, when he heard the soft chirping as well. He turned around, now helping Pyra look for the flicky.

“Pyra is right. What if those little guys are trapped, and they can’t get out? We should at least try and help this one that was in the spider badnik.”

After Slash destroyed the badnik, he came to a stop, making sure everyone was alright.
Seemed to be the case, but...

"Everyone alright?"

They then started talking about the flickies, which prompted Slash to think for a moment.

"If we come across any badniks, we destroy them, part of the mission, after all, just have to keep an eye out for that cryo-fluid."

Slash would also find the flicky, as he had just wrecked the robot, and try to comfort it, holding out his hand.

"Oh, hey little guy, sorry if I spooked ya, we're going to get you outta here, okay?"

He says, in a much more soothing voice than he had been speaking in before, before immediately returning to the usual.

"Of course, we're freeing any animals we find, they aren't supposed to be here, at all." "The ones topside should be able to find their way out once we get them out of the badniks."

Absolutely. Rescuing the flickies definitely seemed to be the most appropriate course of action. Even if it distracted from their main purpose here, leaving Empire droids in commission meant leaving weapons in the enemy's arsenal. And the fox was tired of Empire ambushes. And that wasn't even taking into consideration the humane necessity of freeing the flicky prisoners. The lives of the small creatures were in their hands.

"Agreed. Although I'd appreciate staying back at least somewhat from the fighting, given my condition, we should not be leaving these guys here to suffer." Darken concurred, pushing scraps of the beaten-up badnik off to the side of the tunnel so that they could continue crawling forwards later, and also so that everyone could move up ahead and introduce themselves to the new critter.

"We're going to rescue as much of your family as we can." He said quietly to the little guy in Slash's robotic hand. 

It seemed to be a bit cautious of the hedgehog, and tried to keep its eyes away from him as the other mobians moved forwards to greet it. The flicky chirped upon seeing some fellow avians, however, and was then at least a little more trusting of the android.


"Wait... It's quiet." The fox added, "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Pyra was certainly glad, even a little surprised, that everyone was on board. It's not often people go along with her ideas.
Guess it helps this was a humane issue, but you could say she's not used to being listened to.

As the four look to the little bird, Pyra couldn't help but smile as it chirped cutely.
"It's alright little dude, you and your friends are safe with us around." She says, before going back into 'serious mode' when Darken commented on the sudden quietness.
"I would hope that'd be a good thing after what just happened. Doesn't it mean nothing else is coming down the tunnel at least?"

Rez smiled that the flicky seemed unharmed. When Darken mentioned the sudden silence, Rez had a bit more of a serious look on his face.

"Could be, Pyra. It could also mean that the badniks know we're here, and are waiting at the exit. I don't know if badniks are advanced enough for planning a trap like that, but I say we tread very lightly as we get to the end of the tunnel."

Slash didn't have anything to add, and simply nods.

"Right, let's get a move on then."

And thus, he turns back around and gets to crawling.

While the fox concurred that it was possible the badniks might have engaged some sort of retreat, Rez was right. Empire droids varied in their levels of intelligence, but it was definitely possible for there to be an ambush waiting for them at the end of the tunnel. That being said, Slash's destruction of the Spider 'nik was demonstration enough of his ability to take care of anything that may be lying in wait.

"A few months ago, a group of badniks made a surprise attack on a GUN site where I was stationed. The level of skill involved in that just has me worried there might be something similar going on here is all."

That being said, now that the wreckage had been cleared and the flicky was safely in their possession, the end of the tunnel was in sight. Slash taking point meant that he was the only one- now that the tunnel was back to it's normal width- able to see ahead to whatever was at the end.

Unfortunately not much was visible beyond the opening, though it didn't appear like there was any sort of natural light. They were going to exit out into some sort of room, one that had a sizeable pile of scrap built up against the far wall. The good news was nothing seemed to be moving just yet, though they still had a short ways to go before they reached the exit.

Pyra heard them and understood the concern, but paid no mind regardless. They needed to stay positive.
"I mean, even if one of us isn't in good shape right now, Slash has more than proven to be really good at fighting these things, and I'm sure Rez and I could help if needed." Of course, she joined specifically to take a break from fighting after that recent shit show, but she wouldn't complain if she had to.

Once the group starts crawling, she takes note of the tunnel narrowing again...
Ugh.
Oh well.