Mansion of Terror

Travis' robotic arm didn't really seem anything special. It mainly seemed as though it was there after some sort of accident. Whatever that accident was, Travis didn't seem all too keen on talking about it. The interior of the robotic arm, however, was actually very advanced to maintain. Only Travis and people who understood the study of bionics knew how to maintain such a unique contraption. Travis right arm was muscular but nowhere near as powerful as his left due to obvious reasons. Carefully observing and detailing every little thing involving the puzzle, Travis thought back to the clue. The mansion opened at seven, the roman numeral V means five, II meant two, five plus two equals seven, so stomping on the "V" stone and the "II" stone should open up the mansion.
But then what were the others for? X means ten, IV means four, III is three, and I was obviously one. The other symbols didn't mean anything. Was there math to be done here or was it that simple? Did they have to add up and then subtract down to seven? What was to be done here? There weren't any clues indicating math was to be done here, but there was always that possibility that that was what they needed to do. Travis' head was spinning around this problem which perplexed him mainly because he thought too much about it.
"Sammie," Travis called out to his sidekick. "Go stand on the II stone." Sammie, knowing that she was protected by JC, shot back, "Why don't you go do it?" Travis, understanding why Sammie was rejecting his orders, grumbled incoherently and trudged towards the stone. He then stood upon it so to apply pressure to it. "It shouldn't be that complicated, I hope," Travis assured himself, waiting to see if the doors would open.

"What the hell are you-?" Sora quickly shot at the shark, being cut off by the stomp.

And suddenly, as the shark's foot collided with the 'V', there was a rumble. The V suddenly started to glow, and with Travis putting constant weight on the II, that too kept it's glow, and suddenly right afterwards... everything on the pendilum lit up.

A massive clunk was heard.

And just like that, the side of the mountain lifted up slowly... revealing a hidden entrance of sorts! It looked like it led straight into the mansion.

Sora jawdropped. "W...Wow. Girl, you rule." It took a moment for just what the puzzle actually was to sink in. How was she so stupid? Of course! "Oh my god. The cross was a plus sign, and V and II made SEVEN. ...I feel like an idiot. ...Bleh, whatever, good job and all, but let's actually GET INSIDE now we have a chance." The fox quickly urged, immediately picking up the pace and leading the way.

The gap for them to go under was just above shoulder height, and it was... surprisingly thick. It didn't feel very safe for certain, as if the whole thing could come down on top of them. But hey, turning back would be stupid at this point.

Arriving in what turned out to be a cave leading downwards, the fox grit her teeth a bit as soon as the doorway behind them had closed, right as the last person got inside, leaving them in darkness.

There was the sound of shuffling, and suddenly a light flicked on as the established leader had brought a torch with her.

For a splitsecond, there was a flash of what seemed to be some kind of translucent creature, but it was gone before Sora even noticed; she was simply glancing back. "Well, let's get moving then. Not gonna let no light slow us down."

She gave an almost playful wink, before leading the way down the slope.

...And what came into view next made Sora sick to the stomach. A massive... lake of sorts.

"......." A nervous sweatdrop as she practically froze on the spot.

The water seemed uncrossable for the most part. There wasn't anything big in there to cross over and who knew how deep it was. One thing was for sure, they couldn't see the bottom.

However, there was a boat... to the left of them. But that involved crossing over a bunch of stepping stones. ...And they didn't look particularly stable.

...

However, having something to prove almost, the mink had dashed across the stepping stones like he was born in the cave, not making them move down even an inch, and being across them, to solid ground, right next to the boat. Glancing up at it, he raised a brow, before looking back to the group.

...

Sora meanwhile was still kind of just... stood still. "...Well, this... this is something." Her tone of even slight confidence had immediately vanished.

The duo watched as the land from earlier shifted to form some sort of entrance. "Wait, it was a hidden entrance all this time?" Alexis commented.
Oblivion nodded. "Whatever happened must have triggered another way in," he replied.
"Well, we can't turn back now, so we need to venture on," Alexis stated. Oblivion nodded, and the two began to follow the group once more. It wasn't long until they reached the inside of the cave, stopping as they heard the door shut behind them. It's gotten dark in here... Alexis thought and frowned a little. The duo followed the vixen down the slope, and what came into their view almost sickened them. "A...lake?" Alexis managed to question.
"Looks like it," Oblivion replied.
"What is it doing here?" she asked and looked over to Oblivion. He didn't completely dismiss it, but he wasn't completely sure why it was there, either. One thing was for sure, though; even if they continued onward, it would be impossible for them to turn back from here. Suddenly, they saw the mink nimbly dash towards solid ground, which was right next to the boat. How did he...? Alexis thought, realizing her thought trailed off. However, she decided to leave it as that after some realization.

Okay, now JC was having a good time. The young Sammie answering back to Travis was a good start - only improved by seeing the 40+ man grumbling under his breath and actually backing down. Good, good start!
Things were only made better as her idea was proven correct. One 'girl you rule' later, and she was grinning and puffing out her chest;
"Hell yeah I rule!" she declared proudly, before actually taking in what had actually been achieved.

It was... a cave. Not the door, it was a cave. In a mountain-side.
"...The hell?" she declared, "I signed up for a haunted house, not to go spelunking! That isn't even remotely the inside of the house! ...Hey where are you guys going?" It seemed her protests were falling on rather death ears as the group began to head inside. She wasn't liking this, she wasn't liking this at all.
Still, she followed them inside. Though it seemed she hadn't quite ran out of things to say as they moved;
"Also, isn't the house - which we're not even going in I remind - meant to be haunted?" she noted, "Like, why the hell would a ghost lock the door with an addition puzzle? This supposed to be the ghost of a maths teacher?" there was a brief pause for thought, "Even then, why would they set up a bunch of elaborate puzzles? This doesn't make sense for ghosts! That's not a thing ghosts are meant to d-"

Her entire thought process seemed to cut short as they reached the water. Her mouth just sorta hung open. It slowly sorta... opened and closed slightly, but no words came out. Close observation might even notice her going the sliiightest bit pale.
Of course, JC was a shark! She wasn't scared of anything! Especially not water! I mean, who's ever heard of a shark who's scared of bodies of water? They can BREATHE the stuff!
"...You go first," she mumbled to the close-by figure of Oblivion.

"See? You bozos didn't need MY expert help at this dumb do-dad!" Wicked remarked, crossing her arms against her chest with a wide smirk like she'd actually helped in any way, which she blatantly didn't. The bear too took much pleasure in seeing Sammie talk back with confidence, and the man who had threatened her had slumped in defeat over a child. Good. But she didn't remark much, instead she slipped her earphones back in, and walked along with the rest of them. Of course, at the very back, like she did earlier. She seemed to be delaying actually helping a lot, preferring to watch than actually put any sort of effort in, "Awww yeah, let's go cave exploring! Bet you're all scaaaared in your boots! L.O.L," yes, she did actually state the letters for that. And no, I wasn't happy writing that up.

But when she entered, it closed behind her. She made a jump and stumbled a little into the person on front of her, with a "Whoa! Rad! I didn't even know it could DO that! This is so spoooookkkyyy~!" I wouldn't blame anyone if they were getting fed up with her remarks at this point. But even she seemed to get a little bored of making comments with no reaction, so she simply wandered on.

And then there was something that flashed in front of the light - some sort of creature in front of Sora. Her eyes narrowed for a brief second in contemplation. A ghost? Potentially. But the shape didn't seem very mobian. Under process of elimination, however, that was all she had to go on until it revealed itself again. But she made no comment - after all, no-one else seemed to take note of it. What was the point of bringing it up if she wouldn't receive any feedback or information?

And eventually, they reached the lake. But unlike the others, Wicked's heart didn't sink. Rather, it jumped with excitement, and she pumped her fist into the air, "GUYS DID YOU KNOW I GOT A CERTIFICATE IN SWIMMING ONCE because I did before I quit school cause it was lame BUT HEY I BET YOU'RE ALL JEALOUS NOW! But don't like fall in or die or anything cause like, that'd be stupid and oh my god I'd laugh forever if you did something that dumb oh my god."

She placed her hands on the shoulders of both Alexis and Oblivion, before patting them on the back, "But hey, since I'm the expert, I think you two should like... go ahead and y'know, be awesome! For practice! Yeah! I mean I could totally do this by myself though but I gotta let other people have the spotlight, I'M SO GENEROUS." Please stop.

Sammie and Travis followed the others into the dark, hidden passage. When the translucent creature appeared before the group, Sammie didn't see the creature. Travis didn't see the creature either. When Wicked went on another one of her.. outbursts, Travis noticeably bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. In his mind, Travis was throwing out every dirty word he could think of. Suddenly, the image of a small, robotic chao popped up in Travis' mind and, as a result, his desire to shut Wicked up was gone. "So uh... Anyone remember a small, robotic chao by any chance," Travis asked, trying to make conversation with the group.
When they reached the lake, Travis wasn't really all too surprised. "I wonder if somebody is overcompensating for something," Travis made his dirty, inside joke. Sammie apparently didn't catch the joke and said, "Come on, even you should know that they have this lake to keep us out." Travis shook his head over the fact that Sammie didn't catch his joke. Then again, it was probably for the best that she didn't understand it. "When you're older, I'll tell you why people overcompensate," Travis told Sammie. When everyone recommended that Oblivion and Alexis step across the stones first, Travis started to wonder if the boat would hold all the weight especially with Travis being as heavy as he is. "Samus, hold my clothes," Travis ordered as he began to strip down to his underwear. "Wh-wha," Sammie exclaimed out of surprise. Sammie was further caught off guard when Travis threw his clothes at his sidekick.
On Travis' back, chest, and legs were a ton of scars. Most were scars from bullets while others were from cuts, burns, and several other wounds. "Stop showing off," Sammie told Travis. Travis retaliated by saying, "Stop being a prick." Without further ado, Travis jumped into the water and tried his best to keep afloat. "My g- This water freezing cold," he exclaimed. "I'm following wherever you guys go in the boat. And uh... Any chance you could go fast, please? I feel like there's a squid or something stalking me."

"Well, I imagine this is a different way into the Mansion." Sora had explained, "Just hang tight. Why do you think that the door would have a note that said 'opens at 7' and a puzzle that wanted ya to put '7' in if it didn't lead inside?" She was a bit irritated, clearly, but she wasn't letting it show as much as she could be...

...However, things soon took an even worse turn.

Sora felt herself starting to lose it. She was under quite the bit of pressure at the moment, and Wicked was the last thing she wanted to hear. Clenching both of her fists, she suddenly turned around, and with a loud yell "I GET IT! Now SHUT UP already!" She practically barked, before almost immediately regretting the snap. She grit her teeth, no doubt having lost a bit of respect from people there. ".....God damnit, sorry, but could you PLEASE be a bit more quiet? This is ACTUALLY important." She rubbed her temples, before she tried to quickly push on a bit.

"...We... aren't using that boat are w-Oh my god what are you doing." Sora immediately felt herself very slightly flush red out of awkwardness and embarrassment at the display of Travis stripping down. "We have a PERFECTLY good boat, what are you even do-?!" And just like that she was splashed by a whole bunch of water. "....."

An eye twitch, before suddenly there was some weird... ...jingle? ...It sounded ominous. Aquatic, almost. Like a spiritual... tune. And suddenly, there was a slight movement in the waves. As if something was in there with him. The tone got a little bit louder as the force neared... and then fell entirely silent. The force was still very much there...

...And it slowly crept up towards Travis...

The fox backed away from the edge a bit, not wanting to get anymore wet than she needed to be from that rain. ...And definitely not wanting to fall in. Who knew how deep it was?

She certainly didn't want to find out, and she took a moment to just walk over to the wall, and have a bit of a breather before she flipped out.

"...I-... It's for... it's for a good cause. I can do this..." She quietly spoke to herself. If someone was listening they'd be able to hear it no doubt.

...

The mink however, was busy scaling the boat using some VERY good climbing skills. It was a bit small, but hey, he was doing something useful! He scratched his head, looking at the 'controls' to the boat, stumped.

It wasn't like a normal boat, it seemed. There was only one 'lever' thing, and he hesitantly reached out. ...And just like that, his hand grasped it, and pulled. There was another rumble sound, much like before, and the boat jerked forwards, towards the group.

Well, if they didn't notice the very subtle force creeping up on Travis, they'd surely notice the boat about to crash into him.

The duo looked at JC, then to Wicked, and then to each other with a somewhat confused expression. "Do you think they want us to go out...there- where the boat is?" Alexis questioned.
Oblivion dismissed it once more, not because he didn't know, but only because he was unsure if going over there was a good idea. "I'm assuming they want us to check to see if it's safe to cross," he replied. Just as Alexis was about to respond, the two heard what seemed to be like a jingling sound. "Did you...hear that?" she asked, but no response came from Oblivion. "Are you-"
"Listen," he interrupted. "It sounds ominous..." After a moment, it came to note that it was some kind of force that moved the waves. Was it...getting closer? Maybe not, but the duo could certainly see the boat moving closer to the group. Despite this, they were on edge, especially with the mysterious force that was creeping closer towards Travis. Once they saw him in the water, Alexis turned to Oblivion and replied, "I think we'd better get up there..."
"Agreed," he replied and nodded. The two carefully but quickly bounded towards the boat, landing on the inside of the watercraft. The duo looked out towards the rest of the group, but it was Oblivion who stated, "Be careful when you cross over."

Oh my god of course the kid had a swimming certificate. Great. Good for the kid. JC was half tempted to push the girl in just to find out how far that certificate got her.
'No. No, bad JC. You're better than that, don't lose it with the kid. Don't lose it with goddamn infuriating GODDAMN MOUTHY LITTLE-' The shark's thought process was cut short as Sora somehow managed to snap before she did. Hah! So much for their resolute leader! Who'd lose it over a little thing like that? I mean, admittedly part of JC thought that she should still be stepping in to defend this kid. ...The other part of JC instead decided to let this one slide.

Her thought process was cut off once more, this time with a huge 'splash' as Travis dove on into the water. The hell did he think he was doing?
"It's cold?" she blinked, "Of course it's goddamn cold, it's bloody cave water, I thought you weren't meant to be an idiot!" This seemed to be... perhaps a little harsh, but it was blatant that the shark was severely uncomfortable here. She really did not like being in this proximity to such a large proximity of water, especially when it was as murky and indefinable as this. What at some point could've been assumed to've been the outside rain was becoming increasingly evident as sweat-drops running down JC's currently quite pale brow.
If she could take comfort in anything at least, it was the fact that she was taking things much better than Sora appeared to be right now. At least she wasn't leaning up against the wall muttering things to herself at this point. That was always something to be proud of.

Suddenly, the boat sputtered to life as it charged towards Travis. The need for action overcame her desperate concern as the shark leapt into action towards the water's edge, extending an arm out to the human, intending to hoist him out if he would just grab on;
"Move it!"

Wow, everyone looked pretty awful with her constantly hollering, and her yelling, and overall incredibly obnoxious attitude. She grinned widely with a smug sense of satisfaction on her face, more so with Sora's breakdown, the clear irritation on the Shark's face, the aggressive lip biting from the buff human. It was great. Though the lack of ANY sort of reaction from the two siblings got her, well, curious. Because the two of them just seemed two overly absorbed in themselves. The bear pouted.

And that expression shattered when Travis stripped down to leap in, and her face crinkled up with a "EW! G-gross, dude! No-one wants to see your-"
Splash.
Oh wow, he was actually doing it. That took guts. "W-well... I could do that too..." she muttered, finally taking her earphones out of ears to instead slip them into her pockets. Things were finally getting interesting, after all.

A... jingle? Yes, there was a definitive sound in the air. And her sharp eyes noticed the ripples of water, the movements increasingly getting closer and closer. It was very foreboding - she had no idea what to expect from this.

But before she could come to some sort of conclusion to rationalise this out, a whirr of motors snapped her head to the boat that had just whirred to life. And, as if it were haunted and feasting for blood, seemed to be directing itself riiight towards Travis. She grit her teeth, and her eyes narrowed for a mere second. This was all too much of a co-incidence - something was at play here. But what WAS it? What was beyond this underground area? Where WAS the so-called mansion? Too many questions, not enough answers. But it'd all be unravelled.

...Oh right, that dude was gonna die. Best actually react to that.
"DUDE WHAT THE HELL DO  YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she yelled, "Oh my GOD YOU'RE SO FUCKIN' DUMB OH MY GOD you goddamned LOSER!" She grabbed at JC's waist, intending to pull back the moment Travis grabbed hold, "There's something in the fuckin' water you dense piece of... ARGH NEVERMIND! But like if you DO die THEN I GET YOUR ARM. But like don't cause that's dumb."

Travis didn't seem all too bothered by the fact that he did something drastic. When the others, except for the twins, expressed their disgust and horror by what Travis did, Travis simply countered, "Oh! Okay then! So it's all fine and dandy for Mobians to walk around naked but when a human strips then all Hell breaks loose." Sammie hid her blushing face away from the rest of the group by holding Travis' heavy fur coat in front of her face. There were times that Sammie was proud to be associated with such an awesome partner like Travis and then there were moments like these. "Travis," Sammie whined. "Mobians have fur, you don't." Travis, thinking that what was happening was unjust, further tried to strengthen by stating, "Cops don't arrest Mobians for public indecency, yet they're all too willing to arrest humans for having their pants off in public. What's so far about that?"
Now, things were becoming uncomfortable for everyone. Sammie blushed even more from the inappropriate conversation. "Just... Just stop talking," Sammie blurt out, dropping Travis' jacket to the floor. "I ain't dropping this."
"You also didn't drop the whole Santa Claus matter when you thought he didn't bring you presents."
"That's because Santa Claus is real and he never even gave me coal as a kid, Samus."
"Just... Just... Why are you still talking?"
"Because I have a mouth, vocal cords, and other biological necessities for talking."
When the roar of the boat's engine occurred, Travis' survival instinct kicked in. First, he had to identify the threat. Once he saw the boat going full speed at him, Travis had to analyze the threat. Then he had to analyze the possible solutions to his problem. Third, he had to quickly run through each scenario in his mind. Fourth, he had to test his hypothesis in his mind. If the solution failed the test then he had to refer back to step three until he found a solution meant to work. It was actually pretty much complicated how Travis absorbed and processed all the information he was taking in. He finally came up with the perfect solution in grabbed JC's hand with his ACTUAL arm. He then tried his best to pull himself up and away from his impending doom. "Travis, hurry," Sammie exclaimed as she attempted to help by pulling on Wicked's waist as well.

The plan worked at least...

...And the boat narrowly missed Travis. Wow, close call. A bit of a splash from the boat as it came to a surprisingly fast halt, the mink toppling over on the deck of the boat with a thud. "OW!" He blurted out, high pitched.

He was on his face for a moment, the boat rocking a bit, but he got to his feet pretty easily despite the clear issue. The handle had went back up. Apparently it was able to be... activated again? The mink pieced together, "Well, what're yer waitin' for? This boat'll take us across to the other side!" He said, almost proud of his actions to get the boat there.

...

"..." Cursing to herself, the vixen was wondering why she had to deal with THESE people of all. And suddenly, the proposition of a boat came way too soon for her comfort.

Sora looked very, very reluctant to say the least. But, she took a deep breath. And within a few moments, her entire... reluctance seemed to have vanished. She climbed onboard to the boat, quickly, and gave a thumbs up to the mink. "Awesome job kid, knew there was gonna be something good t'bringing you along." She said, giving a smile, before turning around to the others. She knelt down. The gap between the boat and land was... bigger than she remembered, but she held her hand out.

"Well, all aboard, eh?" She gave a smirk. If you were to look closely into her eyes, you'd see she reaaaally didn't want to be on that boat. "Look over there." She nudged her head slightly backwards, pointing back with her thumb as well, as if to say 'across the water'. "There's a small hallway. I'll bet that's a way on in~"

Regardless, she kept her hand out, and helped anyone board the boat that took it.

...

The mink meanwhile took that as a job well done, and stretched. There was a moments pause as he just waited for people to get on. He peered over the side of the boat, the side that no-one that hadn't boarded the boat already could see. In fact it was probably the mink checking.

"...?" He saw very smal ripples in the water. But there were no... drops? ...Odd.

"Hold your ground," Oblivion advised as he looked over to Alexis, who nodded and dug in her heels. He did the same, now knowing that the boat was coming in for a crash landing. The duo lost their footing slightly upon feeling the boat crash on the land harshly. After it answered after a moment of silence. With a sigh, Oblivion replied, "All right." Suddenly, he looked over to the side to see small ripples on the side of the boat. "Alexis..." he murmured.
"Is there something on the side on the boat?" Alexis questioned as she walked over to Oblivion's side.
"There is. See for yourself," Oblivion implied, and Alexis peered over to the side of the boat.
"There really is something on the side of the boat...ripples, maybe?" Alexis pondered.
"Indeed," Oblivion replied, "but there aren't any drops. This is strange..."

And so, with an almighty tug, JC managed to pull Travis up from the water. Leaning back to add more weight into the pull, she found herself stumbling backwards into Wicked, before tripping up backwards over the smaller figure of Sammie, releasing her hold on Travis as she wound up upending herself over the back of their bizarre make-shift rescue conga-line with an 'oof'.
Groaning on the floor for a few seconds, a cloud of dust settled down, having been kicked up from the impact of her fall. Abruptly, an arm shot up, hand pointing to the sky;
"For the record!" she swung up into a seated position, arm lowering down now to point directly at the recently-shored form of Travis, "We don't have a problem with you taking off your clothes," speak for yourself there JC, "The problem is you diving into the water like an idiot! And before you object to the idea of you being an idiot, you proved it was an idiot move, by almost getting killed like an idiot! So stop making dumb decisions!" Retrieving her hand from that pointed position, she brushed some dust off her top; "God!"

Clambering up to her feet, JC seemed to finally come to awareness that some of the group were clambering their way onto the boat. Staring first at the boat, then down at the edge of the platform it had previously crashed into, she raised an eyebrow.
"There is no way in hell you're getting me on that boat," she crossed her arms "Nuh-uh, no way, not happening!"
Admittedly it was more the water than the boat she was worried about. Still, the boat was ON the water. And it didn't seem... trustworthy.

Well, the rescue attempt was successful, but the whole 'toppling backwards and being sandwiched between two girls' was probably something Wicked didn't expect to happen today, "EW NO I DON'T SWING THAT WAY!" she said to no-one in particular, giving JC a weak push before standing up herself. Nice actual concern for Travis there, "I'M NOT GAY!" she again said to no-one in particular. It was really quite worrying when THAT was the first thing they came to a conclusion to.

Thankfully, the boat had arrived. And not paying much attention to JC, Travis or poor Sammie (the poor thing), the bear took a running start and clambered up clumsily into the boat, outright refusing to take Sora's hand. Rude. So she stood on the boat, with her hands on her hips, until she noticed the others peering into the water from the other side, and she joined them.

"The hell are you staring at?" she asked sharply, draping her arms over the edge to join them all, "I didn't expect this to be so booooorriiiing! Like, so what? The water's MOVING oh NO! Like, heh, you're all so dumb oh my god you actually don't know that water moves. Wow. Am I like, the smartest person here? Hell YEAH!"

Travis was about to express his gratitude to the whole entire group that had rescued him. In fact, he was on the verge of saying thank you. Then JC started to voice her disapproval of what Travis did. He had never ever met someone who infuriated him to the point where he burst out in rage until JC and her choice of words. "First of all," Travis started his rebuttal. "I don't trust Mobian tech. It has a tendency to fail or is obsolete compared to human tech. Second, those are my only clothes that I have and having to clean them is a bitch. Third, I absolutely love the fact that you just called me an idiot when I had no prior knowledge that that boat would just all of the sudden malfunction. How the hell does that make me an idiot? Fourth counterargument, I've been having to deal with a goddamn crazy sixteen year-old anarchist who constantly tries to label me as a promiscuous man who's into best-"
That last word almost came out and would've made Travis look pretty bad. Travis groaned as he knew that the stress of this mission, along with the contrasting views and morals of the group, was breaking him down piece by piece. He needed to finish this mission as quickly as possible. "All you need to know is that I've had a fucking crazy week dealing with such extreme people. I've haven't gotten much sleep. I can't think straight." explained Travis as he attempted to corner JC as part of an intimidation technique. Travis then began to digress, "I've had it with people like you telling me what to do, what not to do, who to date and who not to date, and what is right and what is wrong." When Wicked expressed her sexual preference, the Raven side inside of Travis was unleashed. Travis' eyes changed and seem to contain a raging fire within. "Shut up! Shut up!! Do you even know what love is, you little, annoying brat?! Do you even know how I got this?" Travis continued his meltdown as he pointed to his robotic arm. "I got this because I-"
Travis' rant was interrupted by the cries of pain from Sammie. Those fiery eyes of Travis' changed back. The Travis McGable side seem to reappear as concern and worry grew across his face. Without wasting any further time, Travis rushed to the aid of a distressed Sammie. "Samus," Travis exclaimed with worry. "What's wrong?"
"My arm," cried Sammie. "I think it's broken." Sammie grasped her left arm tightly while she writhe in agony. Travis huffed out of frustration, not because Samus had gotten hurt, but because he knew that he had to do a technique that would hurt Sammie a lot more but would ultimately help her. Travis searched for something inside his clothes which would aid in the procedure to help put Sammie's arm back in place. Once he felt something solid and rough, Travis pulled out a piece of wood. How was wood going to help Sammie? "Samus, bite onto this as hard as you can," Travis told his partner who was still crying from the pain. Sammie held the piece of wood with her sharp teeth. "This is going to be over before you even know it, Samus." said Travis. He placed his hands around Sammie's broken arm and grasped it firmly before Sammie could pull away. With one swift, powerful motion, Travis put Sammie's arm back in place which caused Sammie to let out a blood-curdling, muffled scream as she bit down hard on the piece of wood. The loud cracking sound of Sammie's arm was enough to make someone cringe. Sammie still let out a few distressed cries of pain. The discomfort from having her arm broken was still present. Travis felt bad about what had happened to his companion and felt fully responsible for the result. "Here," Travis offered a few pills taken from Sammie's backpack that would numb Sammie's pain along with a bottle of water to swallow the pills down. Sammie swiped the pills and put them in her mouth and washed it down with the bottle of water. The drugs would soon take effect. "Come on, kid. You'll be fine," Travis reassured as he helped Sammie up. Sammie hugged Travis as tears rolled down her furry, now bright red cheeks. "Th-th-th-thank you," she cried as she hugged Travis tightly. "You don't have to thank me," Travis said. "I'll always be around to protect you, kid. I'm your guardian angel."
Travis patted Sammie's head and pulled away from her to put on his clothes. "Go ahead and get on the boat. I'll be there soon," stated Travis.
Sammie nodded and proceeded towards the boat. Maybe Travis wasn't as bad as a guy as he seemed. "Sorry about my reckless behavior," Travis apologized, feeling bad for causing Sammie's injury. It seemed like Sammie was the only person that made Travis sane. When the twins pointed out their observation, Travis seemed confused as to what they were talking about the water. "Ripples yet no drops? What in the world are you two on about," asked Travis while he picked up Sammie's backpack and whatever else equipment was laying around. He then took the equipment aboard the boat and sat beside a drowsy Sammie. The drugs must've taken effect faster than expected. "Listen," Travis told the twins. "There's a reason behind everything. Those ripples are most likely caused by someone we can't even see. Besides, that vixen over there did put up posters all over town. What's to stop someone from trying to get to the treasure or whatever is contained within this death trap first?" Travis' concern seemed like something that would happen, but there was always that possibility that something extraordinary would happen.

"Oh, for the love of... NO-ONE gives a DAMN about your sexuality!" Sora barked out, ticked off. "Travis is fine, that's what matters right no-" She trailed off, rubbing her temples.

The vixen was a bit sick of their lack of... teamwork. Their lack of communication that went beyond aggravating each other. She definitely noticeably cringed at the sickening crunch of the bone being snapped into place, even looked a bit worried about Sammie, but it didn't distract her from the matter at hand. She tightly clenched her once extended hand into a fist, feeling a bit... neglected as no-one even gave her offer a glance. "That VIXEN over there has a name."

She looked as though she was about to have another outright outburst, but she contained it. Barely. But it didn't stop her entirely it seemed; she hopped off the boat, landing in front of JC, and glancing between the people on the boat and the shark.

"...Aight... look! Before you start yappin' MORE at each other, could you remember we're trying to get inside of the mansion? That's the POINT of all this." She spoke, with a loud voice but it wasn't exactly shouting. "I'm paying you guys to do this stuff, and I NEED you guys to all work with me here, okay? I'd have done this on my own if I COULD. But I can't. I can't do this by myself. I'm just a 17 year old girl trying to find answers, not some super hero like I wish I was." She said, sounding suddenly... a lot more humble.

Her eyes lingered on JC. "If you don't want to come with us, for whatever reason, if it's me, the others, whatever, that's fine. But as far as I can see, you're stuck in this cave. The only way we're going to make any progress is forward." She simply rubbed her arm awkwardly. "If it helps..."

She grit her teeth together, before sighing, "I can't swim a stroke. I'm terrified of getting on that boat, but I have to keep moving." She said, quietly, specifically to JC. "If I can do it, so can you, aight?"

...

The mink however, unlike HOPEFULLY everyone else, seemed to be focused on the water however. The rippling was only getting more and more frequent as time passed.

The water also slightly shifted, a bit unnaturally for definite. Nothing was in there as far as could be seen.

The duo's sights remained on the water until they heard Travis speak, causing them to turn to face him. Once they did, however, they listened to what he had to say. They looked at each other for a moment, but it was Alexis who asked, "I think he's right... Do you think it's possible that some powerful supernatural force, even more powerful than the ones we've encountered, will appear soon?"
Oblivion appeared to have some confusion crossing over his expression, but nevertheless, he replied, "Listen. You heard what Travis mentioned earlier, didn't you? Those posters were posted all around town, but who can stop anyone from getting to either the treasure or the death trap first?" His expression grew stern as he added, "You know as well as I do that something far more powerful will occur, so you need to be prepared if anything disastrous were to happen. Are we in agreement?"
"Y-Yes..." Alexis murmured, seeming to be distressed about something as her eyes welled up with tears.
"Come here," Oblivion replied in a assuring tone, embracing her in a hug. She willed herself to return the hug, holding it for a few seconds before returning to her position. However, she seemed to be smiling as her attention shifted to Oblivion, which usually wasn't normal when she was in tears. He laid a hand on her shoulder and added, "It's going to be okay. We'll get through this together, no matter what the situation may be; I promise."
"I know..." Alexis replied, seeming to feel a little better after her brother's reassurance.

Oooh boy she was gonna crack Travis upside the head. She just knew it. She was gonna take his goddamn head off if he kept it up!
First of all, he didn't even thank her. She just saved his life and he didn't even thank her! Even when it was his goddamn fault!
His listed points certainly didn't help either. If you're gonna tell someone you don't trust mobian tech, you sure as hell don't tell the mobian mechanic. She'd see how well that human-made arm faired against the spanner she was alredy unhooking from her belt.
The potential for violence was slightly halted by him talking about wanting to keep his clothes clean. That... more baffled her than anything else. She'd made it clear she had no issue with him de-clothing.
The comment about him not knowing the boat would malfunction however managed to bring the rage back. Of course he didn't know the boat was gonna malfunction! That didn't make diving into the water like that any less stupid!
As for the complaint all having to deal with Wicked... That wasn't an excuse! I mean, he was entirely right, she was literally the most annoying thing to've existed on this hemisphere, but they ALL had to deal with that, so he wasn't gonna get any special behavioural privileges due to it!
Growling beneath her breath, one hand on the neck of her vest, she tensed up that arm with the wrench... aaand then stopped as Travis monologue took a new route entirely.

Complaining about everyone telling 'what to do' and 'what not to do' - well, there was a reason for that it seemed, after he'd almost got himself killed. After that was when it got a little... weird though. Like... JC didn't particularly care he was dating, the moralistics of 'what's right and wrong' in this case didn't seem particularly relevant.
At this point, the only thing stopping her fury was sheer confusion. It was like she was stuck in the middle of watching the poor man have some sort of bizarre meltdown. She was pretty certain she'd never asked to hear all this - she had problems with him because he was a jerk who'd dove into the water like an idiot and then was pretending that somehow he was in the right over the whole matter!
Before she could tell him as such, she found herself being shoved - quite ineffectually - by Wicked, who was busy babbling something about not being gay. The hell even was this party?

Of course, that was when Travis completely exploded, ranting and raving at the young teen. Previously, JC had said that she'd step in if Travis bullied any of the kids anymore. On top of which, Travis was pissing her off - using his metal arm as some sort of excuse now for his continued behaviour. Stepping in between the small bear and the raving man, she opened her mouth, raised her wrench-

And stopped, as she too noticed the whimpering. Oh crap. She must've caused that injury to young Sam when she'd tumbled over her. Oh goddamn, now she wished she wasn't wearing all these tools and things, any one of them could've caused an injury...
Before she could do anything to assist, Travis leapt in. The shark could only watch as he did all he could to help her. The whole series of events was enough to quell the fury she'd be holding in her belly. She was still mad at him - oh boy, she still didn't like him at all. Still, she was... immediately furious, and she had to at least appreciate what he'd just done. Even if she wasn't so sure about how genuine the apology was, and how much it was just him realising he couldn't defend his actions right now. Still, she responded with a small;
"S'fine," before he went on to have his own conversation with the kids.

JC wanted now to step in and check on Sammie for herself. It was increasingly feeling like the journey was perhaps too dangerous to be bringing the younger members of the group on... Still, before she could get a word in, Sora came out to give a speech of her own;
"...I NEED you guys to all work with me here, okay? I'd have done this on my own if I COULD. But I can't. I can't do this by myself. I'm just a 17 year old girl trying to find answers, not some super hero like I wish I was..."
Oh god, Sora wasn't having her own meltdown now too was she? She swore to god, if Wicked gave a speech now about how she was secretly deeply insecure about her own sexuality, and the twins started babbling about their own dark and troubled past and all the expectancies the world has on kids today, she'd throw herself into the lake.

Speaking of being thrown into the lake, the vixen seemed to be addressing her directly now. And she was saying aaall the right things to get the shark onto that boat. Even if... not for the reasons Sora neccesarily intended.
"Wh- Of course I can do it!" JC declared, apparently outraged by the potential implication that she couldn't, "It's just getting on a boat, of course I can get on a boat, anyone can get on a boat, and especially me! I mean, we're just going across the water, and why would that be a problem? I mean, it's not a problem for me, I'm a shark, who's ever heard of a shark who's got a problem with water? Not me, that's for sure, I can breathe the stuff, sharks come from water! I can get on that boat any time I want! I'm going to get on that boat, right now!"

...

Aaand she just stood there, staring at the boat for a few seconds. Not quite as 'right now' as she was claiming.
With a disgruntled grunt, she pulled a cigarette out from her top, shoving it in her mouth. She didn't light it - in fact, it looked like it would be rather hard to, considering the rain outside had soaked through it. Instead she just... rolled it back and forth, grinding it between those sharp teeth of hers.

Eventually, with a loud declaration of a single word in quite some colourful language, she spat that cigarette out into the long lake, and stubbornly marched onto the boat. Sitting down, she stared off one side of the boat. Theeen she shifted to the opposite seat. Finally, she shifted one last time, lying on her back on the base of the boat, glaring up at the ceiling.

And of course, once Wicked sat down and got settled, there was that resounding snap that echoed off the cave's walls. And the bear shot up instantly, jogging over to the side of the boat with her ears flat. Had someone done something stupid? The girl, Sammie, she'd broken her arm? Already? If anything, that was impressive considering they hadn't even been there that long. Wicked expected this sort of thing when they got there, running away from spooky scary skeletons, but here? From people falling on her? She had to resist the urge to applause.

Instead, she called out; "Oh shit, is she okay?" though her voice died partway through upon seeing Travis leap to the scene to save the day. What a hero, "Well, whatevs. I could have done that but whatevs." And then the rant from Sora began.

...

.  .  .

She sighed.
"Okay fine. Fine I'll actually try, okay?" she huffed, leaning her head far back to stare at the roof with an over-exaggerated groaning sound, "Swear I have to do everything myself, don't I? I know I'm pretty fuckin' wicked and cool and the best here, but shit I expected some people to be fine without me," a smirk followed, "You losers are pretty damned lucky to have ME here!"

Ignoring the angry shark on the floor of the boat, blatantly trying to think about not being on a boat, she stormed up to the controls of the boat, rubbing her hands together. "Alright, alright..."
She pulled a lever.
"ALRIGHT~!"

"Travis," Sammie called out to her partner. "I'm feeling... pretty... sleepy." Sammie rested her head against Travis' side and closed her eyes in an attempt to sleep. Travis looked down at his partner and felt something strange inside. This feeling was something that Travis hasn't felt in a very, very long time. Peace. That feeling was peace. Ever since Travis joined with the Slayer Squad, peace was a prohibited emotion. The only feelings that Travis was taught to embrace were prejudice, self-importance, and have a God-complex as well. Mistakes were not to be tolerated. Some of those battle scars that Travis acquired were not battle scars at all.
Those scars served as a reminder to not make mistakes. On his back, although it has faded with time and could barely be read, was the word "FAILURE" which was branded on him from a time long ago. What other scars did he receive? What other past mistakes has he made? That outburst from earlier, while Travis won't publicly admit it, was a result from thinking about the Slayer Squad and what he had to do to join them. Travis began to remember a forbidden love. A love that could never be achieved. Why did he love Bliss, the robotic woman that he rescued and developed a crush on? Did he feel lonely? Did he feel as if he needed someone who could get him through the tough times because he was emotionally weak? The answers were hidden in a box that Travis couldn't open.
It didn't matter. What mattered now was this feeling of peace. A peace that had been forgotten. Travis yawned and soon found himself falling asleep. Before he went to sleep, Travis used his heavy fur jacket as a blanket to wrap around Sammie. Travis smiled at the cute sight of Sammie sleeping. "Such a trooper, huh," Travis commented, even though he knew that Sammie was quickly falling asleep. "You always were a lot stronger than me and you don't even know how much I admire your ability to push on." Travis put his arm around Sammie and thought about the time When he first met her. Sammie was a troublemaker and was quite proud of that fact. Another memory flooded Travis mind. This memory was of when Sammie accompanied Travis on a mission. She was so nervous for her first ever mission but after a few words of inspiration from Travis, Sammie was able to press on. Sammie was like the daughter that Travis never had. Before falling asleep, Travis would offer a few more powerful words to Sammie, "You know, I would show you the scars from where I've tried to kill myself but they've faded." After that, Travis closed his eyes and quickly went to sleep.

"Yeah yeah, you've got plenty to show, ki-"

And the boat suddenly moved, without the vixen fully onboard.

Sora had since secured a vice grip on the side, in sheer surprise, her feet just barely being above the waters below. "WHOAH WHOAH! SLOW DOWN SLOW DOWN!" She shouted as it jerked forward with surprising speed as she climbed on. Her face was utterly full of terror for those few moments she was at risk of actually falling in, but once she hoisted herself onboard, that face soon changed to relief, "Ahghn... A LITTLE WARNING NEXT TIME?!" She grimaced, getting up to her feet as they all chugged along the water.

There... was surprisingly a bit more distance to go than anticipated. They spent a while going across the water, long enough for Travis and Sammie to fall asleep it seemed.

That last comment from Travis made her just - blink. "...What." She couldn't help but voice her confusion. She could see they were having a bit of a nice moment, but she didn't recall asking for some kind of happy analysis of his life. She instead took a moment to look to the others, clear uncertainty on her face.

("Right, so, we have... the... the mink. He knows what he's doing. ...Wicked... dead weight. Maybe there's some use I don't see. Travis and Sammie... Travis is... maybe useful, maybe, but I don't see Sammie being much. And JC and the other two seem to be dealing with other stuff too much.") She sighed gently.

...

The mink looked around the boat as well, analyzing who he was with. He had a much more excited face than everyone else except maybe Wicked, looking forward to going inside. He seemed to be confused to an extent, but he really didn't do much other than shrug a tiny bit.

He didn't seem to be too keen on speaking over anyone however, and just remained... almost cutely quiet in the corner, like a well behaved kid at a meal.

...

"Well. This is probably the calmest things have been and will be for this whole trip, so I'd get comf-" And suddenly the whole boat jerked slightly upwards, "OH FOR THE LOVE OF...!" She tumbled across the boat a little more than she'd hoped as a result, slipping across it, before she managed to steady herself a lot more. "Why'd I have to open my damn mouth...?" She grumbled to herself, before glancing up.

Suddenly, there was a loud splash, a bunch of water pushing the boat some more, making it tip and jolt again.

...

The mink had since jumped to his feet long before, and had steadied himself at a perfect spot, not showing much of a struggle. Seems staying stable on unstable things was a specialty he had.

His eyes were wide, "What's goin' on?!" He asked - to noone in particular.

And that question was soon answered...

...As suddenly, the water and mist that had been thrown up cleared slightly, revealing two glowing yellow eyes in it. It cleared more, and more, to suddenly reveal what looked like some kind of watery, entirely translucent sea monster.

It was more than possible to mistake it as the beast that attacked Station Square at first glance, but it was nowhere near THAT colossal, and a lot of details were different.

...But it certainly looked terrifying.

The mink's eyes widened some more, "Whoah..." He quietly said to himself, more in awe at the display then terrified it seemed.

...

Sora just - sort of froze in disbelief. Before she shook her head, and quickly dashed as fast as she could to the lever, staggering as the boat tipped some more from the slightest movement from the creature. She fell flat on her face, but not before securing a grip on the lever, pulling it down entirely.

Apparently that kicked the boat into overdrive, and it sped up like there was no tomorrow, flying across the water, practically skimming it. It didn't take long before they reached the other side of the whole cave, and the boat came to a rather sudden halt. Not instant, but it was enough to launch everyone that hadn't got any sort of stable grip prior flying off the boat and onto the ground, where a grey hallway of sorts awaited them.

Sora landed hard, with a loud 'oomf', feeling a sharp pain shoot through her body at the bad landing. She immediately got back to her feet however, staggering slightly, her eyes fixing on the impending dang-

It was gone.

The mink had landed on his feet after being launched, and he glanced back to also see the monster thing again. ...It was literally just - gone. As if it never appeared to begin with.

The fox just fell flat on her backside. "...What... the hell... was that about...?" She needed some clarity, honestly.

Regardless, the next thing that should catch someone's eye was the passage way. A long, dark passageway with a very strange inscription. On the wall, it was written; "The light banishes the darkness."

"Hold on!" Oblivion warned Alexis, immediately grabbing her hand and pulling her towards him. The moment he did so, however, the duo felt the boat rock onto the waters, causing them to lose their footing slightly. Once they recovered, Alexis chided, "What was it?"
"The boat's on the water, apparently," Oblivion replied, his tone of voice changing to a stern one. "We need to be careful from now on. Agreed?" he added, and Alexis nodded.
"Yes," she replied. They remained silent until the boat sped up again, and Alexis had to grip onto Oblivion for support. It seemed like he had gripped onto the nearest but stable thing that he could find. It was at that moment that the siblings spotted a mist from the waters. I knew something like this would happen... Oblivion thought, shaking his head in disgrace.
"What is it?" Alexis questioned.
"See for yourself," Oblivion replied, soon motioning for her to come see what he had his sights on. Alexis obliged and went over to her brother's side. Upon doing so, her eyes widened. "Is that...?" she trailed off.
Oblivion looked over to Alexis and replied, "It is." Upon hearing her brother's response, her eyes widened, seeming to be both shocked and pleased by what she had her sights set on. As quick as it came, however, it disappeared. "Where did it g-?" Alexis started, but Oblivion interrupted her with, "It doesn't matter now. What matters is getting to the treasure." She nodded and looked onward to whatever was next to offer them. What caught their eye next, however, was an inscription, which when looked at, seemed to be ominous... What did it mean? They were to find out soon...

Those few minutes of JC's life were not ones to be listed under 'remembered fondly'. One could go as far as to suggest, perhaps, that the shark was having a 'rather unpleasant time'.
It started off simply enough with Wicked babbling about how she was obviously the best at everything. She was slowly learning how to phase that out. Right now, she was really doing her best to phase everything about the world around her - even Sammie and Travis little conversation (in combination with their soon-following falling asleep).
JC was an island of tensely focused calm. Everything was fine...

Aaand then Wicked jerked the boat forward.

JC's eyes bolted wide as Sora was left shouting and screaming over the side of the boat. This subsided briefly as she made her way in, only for more shouting and panic to occur as something seemingly shook the boat from beneath. And then shook it again. And again.
The shark attempted to ask what was going on through gritted teeth, though it came out more like; "Wssgngern?" Even if anyone heard what she was saying, there seemed to be a general preoccupation with something over the side of the boat.
In the water.
There was something in the water.
Slowly, the shark began to ease up to try and see it - only to collapse straight back down onto her back as Sora ran and bolted the boat forwards, almost rolling all the way backwards as her legs also went up with the motion, making an almighty thud as body met boat. Dazed and aching, she had no way of holding on before the whole thing came to a sudden stop at the opposing shoreline.
Tumbling from the minor crash, she made quite the acrobatic display of two full rolls forward, before splaying out on the ground with a meaty slap. From that position, she just lay there, groaning.

She hated water.