A Grim Eclipse

The fox could now see the menacing figure circle around her, and it made her feel a bit uncomfortable. The rapidly spinning eyes only added to the fear factor, but still she remained unafraid. Rather than feel scared of the current situation, she felt rather...tense. Despite all of this, she needed to remain calm. Oh, if only her beloved were here...

"I uh... I didn't look in this room. I didn't plan this far ahead, uh..." Sam admittedly, using her other hand to rub the back of her neck, "So I have no idea what the layout is. Whoops...?" Whoops aside, she didn't want to make a fuss here, or accidentally trip. "Okay... okay I'm gonna try and light up the room for a sec and see what we have to work here. Should be an exit out back I think...?"

With a deep breath, the wolf extended her arm forward. A flick of her wrist, and her gloves lit up. A point forward, and electricity crackled and exploded from her hand in a flash of light. But would it be enough to banish the darkness for a second?

With a flash... The room was dimly lit as a result of the electricity. The two could see. But only for a moment. The cat grimaced, not much to see at all. "At-at least if we go in here and close the door we can probably get away with using some kind of light right?" Ebonia whispered. "Let's just - go in."

She waited for the wolf to make the move however.

...

"I'll make thissss... fun." The demon pretty much was right up in the fox's face... "...Run." He hissed, before snapping his fingers, and the whispers not only got more aggressive, but turned into roars and screams around the hazel fox as the things all charged at her... giving her leeway to run in the opposite direction however.

The longer she was around the demon's presence, the more tense she became. Before she knew it, the whispers had turned into roars and screams, adding to the intensity of the area around her. The fox didn't have much of a choice... Suddenly, the moment he snapped his fingers, she broke out into a sprint, careful not to trip as she began running as fast as possible. She really needed something to fend the impending forces with...and she needed to find it quickly.

A sigh. "Yeah... yeah that's a good idea...!" she tried to sound optimistic, but her voice cracked at that last note, "H-ha... ha..."
It was quite a simple storage room. A large-ish room with a staircase to the side, probably something that lead to more electronics. She didn't fancy going up and checking. There were various broken electrical appliances around, and wires trailing across the floor. A broken TV was in the corner of the room. She liked to think they broke it in a rush. Regardless, the unnatural darkness swallowed up what little light she had created, and she had that to go on.

With that, she took a step inside, and pressed herself to the right side of the door, sliding down the wall and sitting down, her hands patting the ground. "Close the door when you come in - that's... that's important. H-hah.."

The consuming darkness was definitely eery. Frightening.

The cat shuffled nervously behind the wolf, the door slowly closing with a creek as her hand firmly grasped the handle. With a click, it closed fully, and the cat looked around the room. She wasn't able to see anything, but that was about to change.

A few taps on her wrist device, and it suddenly lit up, coming to life, a dim glow coming from the screen. It wasn't a lot but it was definitely a lot better than pitch black darkness.

She shuffled down beside the wolf, not getting too close, just to not be awkward, and finally caught her breath a bit. Being able to see. In a spacy room. That was far better.

"...Okay... okay I think we're alright now. At least, we should be if we're just... quiet, right?" The cat questioned. She sounded very unsure.

"Sorry about... being a trouble, by the way. I'm just... well, claustrophobic. Really bad." She explained, tapping her fingers together and proceeding to twiddle her thumbs, the LCD screen moving a little bit with every single gesture. She shuffled her feet a bit, before looking over to the wolf.

"...What do you suppose we should do to pass the time?"

-

Footsteps. So many footsteps. Panting, screaming, breaths and more, all kinds of horrific frantic sounds echoed across the night, around the hazel fox, as she was chased down by a massive mob of those... things. They were after her. And there weren't going to stop.

There was nothing to see. Nothing to do. Where could someone run blind? Not very many places, that's for certain...! But... there had to be something, right? There just... there had to be.

"You! Over here!" Suddenly a voice called out in the dark, to the hazel fox. "Move to the side!" The voice was masculine, and suddenly a bright light lit up the dark for all but a second, his form coming into view for a splitsecond, a headlight on a helmet shining across the street as the figure aimed a rifle straight at the incoming horde of... whatever they were. He was standing beside some kind of warehouse, the metallic door open.

"Get inside, unless you want to get caught by those things!" He commanded.

There was nowhere the fox could go...until she saw something bright in her path. A source...?! she thought, immediately hearing the unknown figure's response and dodged over to the side. She heard the figure speak again, and she immediately darted towards the building that had come into view. At last, she could breathe... She removed her mask and breathed a sigh of relief; she was probably sweating under that thing!

The light made Sam breathe a sigh of relief that she was holding in all this time, and she brushed a hand through her bangs with a quiet, nervous laugh. It was suddenly a lot less constricting like this. The darkness was no longer like a noose around her neck about to pull, but instead it just remained a mystery creeping at the walls.

"H-hah hah... it's okay," she replied steadily, taking a gulp. Finally, her nerves were starting to calm, and she shoved a signature smile onto her face, "No problem anyway! Even if there were monsters, which there isn't, I'd beat 'em up in a pinch just for you!" She gave a thumbs up and a wink, though her ears twitched to a downwards position, "Just wish there was some music or something. It's so quiet without my jams."

A sigh.

"So uh, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself for all the lovely ladies and dudes at home? ...That uh. That being me."

A small chuckle from the cat as she fiddled around with her device a little bit out of subconscious... drifting of her mind. She slightly shifted some more, before glancing over to Sam.

"I could probably try and tap into a radio signal or something if the stations are still up, but I doubt they will be." The cat said. However, she simply put her hands on her lap, tapping some more. She had to move to keep herself somewhat not feeling stiff and awkward.

Needless to say, she was a bit... unsure how to take her whole 'radio presenter' personality, but she didn't exactly judge. She just kept going with the conversation like she wasn't bugged out at all. "Well, first thing's first. I'm Ebonia Roxas, but you can call me just Ebony if you don't want to be all fancy about it." She said. "What about you?"

-

A sudden whir, and lasers spewed out of the rifle, piercing the demonic things that were rushing over, approaching in waves. The hedgehog kept backing further and further away, slowing them down, trying to keep them at bay, before immediately slipping inside and pressing the button to slam the shutter closed, the immediate sound of claws and banging on the steel shutter going through the warehouse.

The hedgehog took a moment to breathe, glancing over. He was quite hard to make out, but it was clear he wasn't just flesh or anything; he was in an entire suit of pretty bulky armor, his visor slightly lighting up the dark. "Lucky I saw you, that's the most I've seen out there yet." He quietly said, "Didn't you know this eclipse was happening today?"

The fox couldn't help but watch as the demonic forces that continued to appear in waves. It wasn't long, however, until the door closed and she looked over to the hedgehog. I'm thankful knowing that this occurred...I would've been torn to shreds! she thought. "I know the eclipse was going to occur... I was planning on getting rid of those things myself," she replied and added, "Thank you for the assistance."

"Honestly I don't think the radio would be a good idea in this situation. If something comes sneaking in, the last thing we want is it poking its nose into here cause it heard some jammin' tunes," she argued, but smiled at the motion of Ebony trying to cheer her up. It was appreciated, "Unless it's scared off by autotune or somethin'."

She grinned, pressing her thumb against her chest again with an additional wink, "And ha ha, I'm Sam! Sam Andre! Also known as Fra- actually it's best I don't do my standard introduction to the waves here, uh, ha ha..." The hand faltered from her chest, and her ears followed suit and she pulled her legs up to hug them. There was a vague hint of a frown there, but she did her best to hide it.

"...So... what... er, brings you here? In this section?? Of town????" Smooth. Good. This was going well. Clearly.

"...Hehheh, probably not so much of a good idea as I thought, then." She agreed with the wolf, and smiled slightly to herself upon noticing that the mood was being lifted a bit.

"Sam, huh? Nice to meet you." She spoke, very... nicely. Something about her voice was just gentle. She took note of the whole gesture, leaning back against the wall, her head resting against it instead of copying. "I was just wandering through when people started to speak about the eclipse. Yeah, that's one heck of a reminder." She said, awkwardly smiling at that, a small giggle following.

"...I was just swinging by really, nothing big. Part of me wishes I came a bit more prepared though, I was just expecting to pick up a few groceries and be done with it, straight back home. ...I was out of my own town for a little bit by the way. Not like I came all the way here to get some shopping when Falcon Square has it's fair share."

...

"Well, you were doing a great job out there." The hedgehog said, sarcastically, before glancing to the door, which was still being clawed at. "I doubt that door will hold forever, though. We should move into the backroom." He suggested, removing his helmet, green eyes lingering on the hazel fox.

"The name's Doctor Charles Metallic. Leader of the Doomsday Squad. High ranking officer of the City of Independence. I stationed myself here to try and save a few unlucky people from the eclipse, but there hasn't been that many people outside. Either that, or they're all REALLY unlucky." He adjusted the brightness of the light to help guide the way a bit better. "In case you didn't get the message from that, it's a pleasure to be able to assist. Skip formalities anyway, you don't have to call me sir or anything, sweetheart." He said, relatively blunt, as he stepped through the warehouse, slinging his rifle onto his back, and unholstering the smaller pistol. He got right up beside the door, ushering the fox over.

"You know how to use a gun by any chance? I've got a spare laser rifle incase of an emergency, and enough ammo to last us at least half an hour out there. We might not be able to take down all of them but we can sure as hell save some people. What do you think?"

The fox glanced over to the door, which was still being broken down, sadly. She then looked over to the hedgehog, who suggested they would have to move to the backroom. She nodded and replied, "My name is Helena Temes; though, I prefer to be called Lena for short." As he spoke, she listened as she was ushered towards the room. When asked if she knew how to use a gun, she answered, "Of course," she replied and added, "Your offer sounds convincing; since you asked, however, I'll help you out."

"Falcon Square, huh? Fancy. Think I've broadcast there a few times and had some meetings with some big-shots there. I mean, I could be wrong. There's lots'a cities everywhere that I tend to just assume I've been everywhere like... at least once? Twice? Thrice? Quice? ...Is Quice even a word? Whatever. That's not relevant!"

"Well, uh, at least you're safe here!" Sam commented, crossing her arms for a few seconds, her legs easing to slide across the floor in a lazy manner. She smirked, brushing her hair back with one of her hands that she'd just uncrossed, "I mean, if you don't mind being stuck with me. Cause if you do mind, then sorry! And if you don't, then same to you!"

"Alright. Pleased to meet your acquintance, Lena." The hedgehog gave a small smile, before simply unslinging the laser rifle he already had on his back. He gently passed it over, "Here, use it carefully. It's a dangerous weapon to use, point it at something, it likely puts a hole through it, easily. Meaning don't point it at me, or yourself when the safety's off." The hedgehog took a small glance into the room they were just about to enter, before slipping his helmet back on, nodding to the fox and immediately slipping on in, pistol raised. He turned sharply left, sharply right.

Nothing.

...But suddenly there was a black figure immediately on his back, "G-AGH!" He yelled in surprise, through the muffled communicator, stumbling a bit.

The sound of more whispering suddenly came into the room as it turns out, there were plenty waiting just behind the door.

An ambush, almost.

Out of sheer instinct, Metallic quickly pointed his pistol backwards, pulling the trigger, the whole room flashing green for a splitsecond as a very hot and dangerous burst of plasma completely vapourized the creature on his back. He stumbled forward a bit, before quickly turning around, getting pinned to the floor by three of the figures, dropping his pistol which was smoking a little bit from the sheer heat.

He put up a very good unarmed fight, struggling quite hard against their grasp!

...

"Yeah, Falcon Square. Surprised you heard of it, actually! It's a big city, though, so I'm not too surprised. I just don't know many people around these parts that have shown their faces in Falcon Square. Then again I don't pay too much attention to it." The cat however raised a brow. "Bigshots? Wh-"

Not relevant. Uh, okay.

"Nah, I don't mind at all." The cat said with a smile. "If anything it's great to be able to get to know some new people." A small thumbs up.

Helena nodded and took the laser rifle carefully. "All right. I'll make sure to operate it thoroughly," she replied, following Charles after slipping her mask back on. Suddenly, she heard something lunge at the hedgehog, causing her eyes to widen as she shouted, "Charles!" She watched as the hedgehog managed to vaporize the creature that was on his back. As she hesitantly gathered the rifle that was in her possession, Helena saw three more figures pin Charles to the ground. That was when she quickly but carefully aimed the weapon towards the creatures.

"Hey, if you managed to pay attention to every singe face you saw when you were walking down the street, and knew 'em all off my heart, that'd be sick impressive, yo!" Sam replied with a smug smirk, giving a firm stretch with an additional flick of her tail, "But hah, nah, don't kick yourself over it, 'kay gurl? Hell, I tend to go by voice and not faces, and even then, yo, I'm awful at names!"

Despite her happy tone, her ears will slight slightly flat against her head. And not even her confidence could mask the uneasiness she felt. The wolf was admittedly on-edge, it felt like if she were to extend her hand to the darkness, it'd be bitten off. Thankfully, the whispers had died down, so it was just the two of them. Even so, she occasionally glanced at the stairwell leading upwards, that led further into the warehouse side of the building. She was just... paranoid of something coming down them, and they'd be trapped. She exhaled a breath that she'd been holding in without realising it.

Seeing Helena aim the weapon at the creatures, Metallic quickly did a little bit of a roll to the side, taking the creatures surprisingly with him a tad, making it so the creatures were the only things that she could really hit.

...

"Yeah. It really would be, huh?" The cat mused a little bit, before she gave a small smirk, "Yeah names are hard to remember sometimes. It's like, there's hundreds of people you see everyday, nevermind billions in the world, there's only so much my brain can take." She said, before noticing the whole state that Sam seemed to be in.

She glanced to the device on her wrist, before looking to her feet, slowly swaying them back and fourth... something to distract herself. But that didn't last too long as she finally just outright spoke up, the moment after Sam had exhaled. "Hey, look." She began, "I've handled a lot of crazy stuff in my life. These things? I don't know exactly what they are, but if they can be punched, then they won't be getting past me, meaning they won't be hurting you, you got it? One of them comes in here, just get behind me."

The cat always had been quite selfless.

Immediately after she saw Charles roll to the side, Helena fired the weapon, hoping to eliminate them in the process. Once she saw that they were gone, contentment replaced her fear as she asked, "Are you all right?" She was relieved to see that she could return the favor of helping someone out in a desperate situation.

"H-hah! Nah, gurl, you'll have to stop me from getting in front of you! Me? I'll be the one defending you, cutie!" she smirked in return, giving a thumbs up and a wink, taking a moment to flicker her head back to sweep her bangs to the side of her face, "Hell, none of us will be going down tonight, y'hear? Heck, if we work together, nothing can stop us!"

She laughed, but there was an uneasiness to it. She'd heard stories, but didn't know what she was facing. She, like Ebonia here, hadn't been part of something like this. And there was a guilt on her conscience - she'd trapped them in this room, this building. What if it wasn't as safe as she thought? Her teeth chattered for a moment, but she remained her composure with an exhaled breath. No. Best not get paranoid. They had an entire night to wait out, after all. Well, maybe not that. After all, eclipses didn't last long, right? Usually they were only about 5 or so minutes. But if this one was unnatural, supernatural, downright wrong, then she worried. How long did it go on for?

"A-anyway, heh, how about we play some sort of game then? I'd say 'truth or dare' but 'dare' isn't something I wanna carry out, y'know?"

The recoil was surprisingly low, too, so the shots went where they were hoped.

The hedgehog grit his teeth under his helmet, as the lasers impacted the creatures and set them all firmly alight, lighting the entire room for a moment as they burned into nothingness, the hedgehog rolling onto his stomach afterwards, glancing up. A moment passed, and Metallic dusted himself off, and slowly got to his feet. "I'm absolutely fine, no worries. Good to know I can trust you with that thing."

He typed a few things into the wrist device he had, before his attention slowly moved. "The room's cleared at least. Now... we shouldn't have to worry about those other creatures getting in. We're safe for now." Firmly, he shut the door, before slumping down into the corner, removing his helmet again. "Best enjoy the peace while you can. I'm catching my breath a little before we go out there, but when we do, it's going to kick off, big time."

...

Ebonia couldn't help but just... love the spirit. Even though there was a clear uneasiness... she seemed to be pretty selfless in saying that. And that's something the cat could respect a lot.

However, her concern was starting to gradually grow for Sam. She could feel the nervousness. The uncertainty. It was... very foreboding.

The idea of a game was music to her ears in the awkward silence, however! "...Well, I mean, I don't know what kind of games we could play." She said, before truth or dare was proposed. A small snicker. "Yeah, I don't think doing dares in this situation is a good idea. ...But hey, why don't we just do truths or something? Find out more about eachother?" The cat backed down a bit. "...Er, I mean, if that's not awkward to you or anything."

Helena watched for a brief moment as Charles got to his feet, knowing that he was all right. I knew I was careful enough to use that thing... she thought. Once the door was firmly shut, she replied, "All right." She removed her mask afterwards, allowing herself some fresh air. All there was left to do was wait until the time came...

"Well!" The wolf leaned forward, a mischievous glimmer in her deep crimson eyes, "Ooookay~! Let's start with somethin' simple to warm us up a bit!" She wiggled her fingers in Ebonia's direction, then propped her head up with her hands, elbows on her knees.
"C'mon, Eb'! Tell about your first smooch~"

Metallic stayed there. Stationary. He'd scooped up his plasma pistol, and was messing around with it, removing his backup storage which was practically a backpack, but more firm. From it, he removed a rather compact looking pistol with a handle, and with a sudden tug and a beep, he pulled it apart, and rather than breaking, it became a full scale laser rifle much like the one Helena had.

He holstered the plasma pistol, checking the charge the rifle had, observing it's condition thoroughly. "So where are you from?" He asked, glancing up for a moment, as he was still checking all of his equipment.

His gaze went back to the rifle soon after, a look of focus in his eyes solidly fixed upon it. "..."

...

Ebonia blinked a bit. She noted the sudden... tone change, almost. And she was a bit taken aback by the suddenness of the question. "...Well, I... uh... I..." Her face slightly reddenned. Visibly, actually. She scratched the back of her head, awkwardly, "Well... I mean... I don't... I don't remember much, because... I was pretty drunk actually." An awkward snicker, "I mean, it wasn't much of a passionate one, it was more a joke than anything, but it's the only one I remember even vaguely. Basically got a big smack on the lips by one of my friends, er, Jessy." A small smile came to her face upon reciting that name. ...Before it slowly changed into a bit of a frown.

"...It... it's nothing much anyway." She said, "Since you probably don't want me to ask the same question... what's the most fun thing you've ever done?" She asked. Her question being a lot more... light.

"GAH what are these things...I can't see them!" I trip on an exposed root. *whispers* "maybe they might not notice me if I turn the gear off" I shut down my levitation gear and press up against the tree and hold my breath.
I hear sniffing and snuffing of something huge...
Finally it gives up and walks off in I don't know what direction.
*releases breath* "gah...I need to find somewhere safe before they find me again...I'll just creep along the floor untill I find civilization" I crawl off into the darkness blind as a bat.