Malware Mall

It's a fairly nice Fall day in the beach city of Sapphire Bay, with cool winds from the nearby, blue-lit ocean blowing toward land and counteracting the warm sunlight. Thusly, everywhere shaded was cool, and everywhere lit up was warm. For most people, this was comfortable. Some of this city's citizens might find it too cold, but the young royalty with the thick plumage felt quite the opposite, sitting at a café, drinking a Mocha Frappé, and waiting for the three heroes who signed up for her quest. 

A few blocks from the Chaos Café, is a fairly large building that appeared to be a shopping mall, and is surrounded in yellow tape, some GUN Officers, and their cars. The young Princess would look toward the building occasionally, though she would rarely stop drinking from her Mocha. 
There was something in that building. They needed to try and get inside, then find the treasure. 

But first, go to her and discuss the mission...

Well, this place again. It seemed like only yesterday that he had met that Gizoid, and now something's going on again.

The quest had been submitted by someone that called themselves royalty... Can't be all that bad... Not like he has to impress anyone.

Still, he floats over to the Cafe and sees the person in question, making sure to turn into his physical form as he does so.

As he approaches the table, he says

"Are you Ms. Skylar Stone?" "I'm Slash Kopis, one of the people who signed up for the guild mission."

Sapphire Bay. Cynthia could not recall hearing about the place before, but as she walked towards the meeting point, she thought it looked really cool.

As she walked, she thought about the mission details.

'The contact said she needed help with getting some sort of magic crystals. I wonder if they are anything like mine.'

Cynthia then saw a building with a sign reading 'Chaos Café,' along with a woman and a hedgehog next to a table.

'Chaos Café. This was the place!'

"Excuse me, are you Princess Skylar Stone? I'm Cynthia Wilson."

It felt... Strange to be like this again. Caen was struck by this thought, as he was walking through the streets, his heavy boots thumping rhythmically against the pavement. Why was it so strange? Well, Caen had practically given up adventuring for a while after Alastor’s death, and decided to focus on his acting. While it meant he could argue that he was a better actor for it, he felt bad that there were probably people out there needing help that didn’t receive it, while he was on set.

While it was a little too warm for his liking, he did not dress for the weather, as his long coat billowed behind his form, following his movement. The pommels of his swords gleamed in the sunlight as they were revealed for split seconds at a time, before being obscured by his coat once again. He wasn’t dressed for summer, because he was dressed for combat.

As he passed the mall, he slowed down to look. G.U.N. officers were already on the scene. Whatever this mission was about, it was big. Really big. He hurried along to the café, to which he saw two people, both of which he was sure he recognised from somewhere, surrounding a woman, who honestly looked like royalty, from the way she was dressed. He was indeed looking for a princess, supposedly, so this must be the girl he was after. “Uh... Hate to overwhelm you miss, but... Hello. Caen Flare, at your service,” he bowed deeply, before adding “I’m from the guild.”

And now, the heroes arrive. She sips from her drink for a little longer, while the three grouped together, and became a little self-aware of how long she'd been drinking, likely out of anxiety.
She had to force herself to stop, parting her beak away from the straw with a short, somewhat... awkward chuckle, as if to break the silence.
"H- hello," the young woman chirps before standing up from the chair and readjusting her dress, "It's nice to meet you Mr. Flare, Mr. Kopis, and Ms. Wilson. You know my name from the Guild Quest I'd assume, but uh... I am Princess Skylar Stone of Helios, and I've been looking for some special stones that are very important to my island's safety."

After a bit, she takes a deep breath, still trying to collect herself. Though a Princess, she seemed an anxiety-ridden mess. She was a bit on the soft side too, which also didn't seem too fitting of a Princess.
Hey, at least she was hu- er, Mobian. Point is, she wasn't some pompous, spoiled brat or overly serious and mature and 'proper'.
If they knew what she'd gone through, the... almost literal Hell she's been through because of these stones she's looking for, her anxiety would be understandable as more than just quirkiness.

"To uh... t- to get to the point, I suspect some of these stones, Feignite Crystals, are the reason the Mall has been closed down. I don't think GUN will just let you in on my behalf, they would hardly budge for me, though they did talk with me about it- but uh, you'll likely have to find a way to sneak in?" She stops herself for a bit, feeling as if she's been rambling. "I- I'm sorry, uh- if you have any questions, I wouldn't blame you, ask away." She puts her gloved hands together in front of her, looking around at the three. She didn't want to keep them for too long.

A very anxious princess... Interesting, but not as interesting as GUN wanting to deal with these Feingite Crystals.


"Greetings, Ms. Cynthia, Mr. Ka- -ahem- Caen." "It's nice to meet you both."

Sneaking in won't be too much of an issue for Slash, in his "ghost" form, he could easily squeeze himself in a vent or other narrow space, but that leaves the actual crystals...

"What do you know about those crystals?" "And ow come G.U.N. themselves dropped in for them?"

'I could probably cause a distraction using the technokinesis powers of my necklace, but I would need to figure out some way to hide its powers.' Cynthia thought to herself as the princess explained her seemingly dire situation.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Slash. And you as well Mr. Caen." Cynthia said after Skylar was finished. "And if I may, I'm pretty good with machines. Perhaps I could cause some kind of... I dunno... 'Diversion' for the G.U.N. agents?" 

Cynthia then waited patiently to hear the others ideas as to how they could get inside.

“It is nice to meet you both, too,” Caen replied to Slash and Cynthia’s greetings. He bowed his head to them both, before listening to Skylar as she spoke. With each word, he grew increasingly concerned. Ratio wouldn’t be able to do much if he was to be caught and arrested by G.U.N., even if it was on official guild business. “I... have to admit, stealth is not my strong suit. Upsetting G.U.N. probably wouldn’t be fantastic for me, either...” He put his hand to his chin, thinking for a brief moment.

“These... feignite crystals, forgive me for being impolite, but if they are dangerous enough to get G.U.N.’s attention, why should we trust that you are not looking to use them for some sort of nefarious purpose, your majesty?”
He honestly expected her to get angry, threaten to report him to the guild, or just simply fire him... but if that was the case, well... he’d know never to consider allowing her to take the crystals. He could tip off the G.U.N. agents, or go after the feignite himself... Or he was just overthinking things.

Skylar felt almost bombarded by the sudden influx of questions, but she really should have expected this. Gladly, none of the questions were too complicated to answer.

She first looks to Slash, then Caen, figuring she should address them first - especially Caen, who seems suspicious of her...
"W- well... The Feignite Crystals belong to my island," she begins, turning and pointing toward the beach where a flying landmass was above the ocean, before turning back to face Caen and the others, "and they are the keys to releasing a p- powerful entity, only known by us as..."
She takes a deep breath, worried she might come off as rambling, or that this stuff might be too much to drop on people. There was a high likelihood she's maybe come face-to-face with this 'entity', and that thinking about it makes her uncomfortable.
Still, she continues...
" 'Tiranus'. Tiranus' forces, the Nightmares, escaped into this world after an... a- accident, and are trying to find the crystals to release their leader."
She gives a sidewards glance at the GUN Officers and shakes her head lightly with a small pout. "Honestly, I don't think GUN knows anything about the crystals, and I don't even think they want them for any special reason. They're just officers doing their jobs, trying to confiscate something dangerous so that the Mall can begin business as usual. B- but, the thing is, as I said, they belong to my island and its people - I need to retrieve them so I can keep them out of the hands of Nightmares or anyone who might try and misuse them. I... really don't trust them in the hands of GUN anyway, since for as well meaning as they tend to be, I know they've had a fairly bad track record."

Ah, yes.
Exposition.
Gladly, it's over.
She looks to Cynthia with a sheepish smile. "W- what do you have in mind for a diversion? I'm up for the idea, maybe if you can create a diversion, you can make it easier for Mr. Kopis to sneak M- Caen inside...?"

Damn, that's uh... A lot to take in, these crystals were serious business, but then again, what gemstone in this world wasn't a big deal?

"I see, hopefully, we can stop any weirdos he might've sent to grab these crystals."
"As for sneaking in..."
Slash spots a vent on the side of the building, just as he suspected. And with that, he cooks up a strategy.

"I can pass through the vent and get inside without any noise, assuming the doors are locked, I can probably unlock the back entrance for Caen and later Cynthia." He says as he points towards the vent.

"While I can be silent, I can still be seen, and unless there's something I don't know, Caen likely can't stealth himself, so a distraction is necessary, perhaps to their left at least." He then points towards the GUN guards.

"In case something goes wrong, if I find a computer inside, I can mess with some electronics for a secondary distraction."

He then turns to his two cohorts.
"Does that sound good with you both?" "Feel free to add anything."

'Wow! A floating island!' Cynthia thought as Skylar explains why she needs the special stones. Cynthia then listens to Slash's plan and once he is finished says,


"Sounds like a plan. And as for the diversion..." She then looks around for some ideas on how to distract the G.U.N. officers.


'Hmm... What would make a good distraction?' She thought to herself. She then sees an led sign hanging in front of a store. "That's it!" She exclaimed quietly.


"Alright. I can try fiddling with the curcitry of that sign over there." Cynthia said as she motioned towards the sign. "I could try to overload it, causing it to explode. That would surely make a distraction big enough to give you two time to get inside."