[Mr. Game & Watch]

The underground cavern, known as the Buried Agon Wastes, was a bizarre specimen. Despite being located deep within the catacombs of the Zebes Depths, Aether’s skyline was still present in its upper atmosphere, causing it to seem like a dome-like structure. Commoners of the Life Sphere would probably be used to the notion by this point though. Those familiar with Aether would be caught off guard by entering the landscape as it seemed like it was almost perfectly extracted from the planet side and neatly placed into an underground oasis for safe keeping. Like a model ship inside a pristine bottle.

Well, it was perfect before a certain F-Zero racer slammed their vehicle through one of the ancient ruins, a pillar shaped like a Luminoth crumbling to dust as the Blue Falcon revved through the air. In a matter of seconds, the race car impacted into the sand like a car crashing into a snowbank, but it was only a minor set back. Almost instantly, the vehicle leapt into the air with a mighty burst from its thrusters. With a slight amount of rattling to clear the debris and sand from the windshield, the cockpit sprung open and with it a Captain Falcon, as though the aircraft was a spring-loaded toy.

The chief of police stuck the landing, obviously preforming a strong man pose as he did. He didn’t want anyone forgetting about how ripped he was after all. With a missing child on the docket though, there was no time to show off, so this time he only kept his composure for five seconds. A new low for certain, but duty called.

Captain Falcon put on his investigative face, quickly searching the surroundings to get a head start on his allies, who may or may not have been riding with him. He stroked his chin inquisitively and then crouched, scooping a lump of sand into his palm. “Hrm, sand… it’s the residue of rocks, so we must be close!” he announced as he crushed the sand within his grip and threw it back down. Being reminded of Moundo’s anecdote about how his son was created, he quickly offered a hand of apology and a face of remorse in case those particles were indeed sentient. “Oop! Sorry…”

“Well, that and the SOS beacon was detected in this general area” he added with a plain face as he pulled out a tracking device of some variety to verify his statement. Of course, the display didn’t pinpoint the location of the beacon, that would have made the process far too easy. Not to mention that a whole team wouldn’t have been required otherwise. Either way, it was time to do detective stuff, as soon as his allies caught up with him that is.

The area offered a lot to investigate, so they might be at it for a while. Outside of their meddling, the landscape looked to be rather untouched, outside of a set of footprints in the sand that were slowly being buried by the wind. In addition to that, there looked to be a portal of some variety nearby, though it looked more like a transparent whirl of energy. Outside of that, many ancient ruins for a scared rock baby to hide out in or perhaps something to catch the eye of an archaeologist. “Hm, we may need to split up and search for clues!” he thought aloud as he adjusted his scarf.

[Deleted]

After that bumpy start to the journey which was the result of Tomoko deciding to go with Falcon to the ruins instead of walking there which meant riding in his F-Zero. She had finally arrived at the ruins, although she looked a little bit worse of wear thanks to the journey, she quickly cleaned herself up as she climbed out and when she was at the front of the car jumped out of it to look around at the ruins. "Woah, these ruins look amazing. I wonder what they were like before all of this happened?" Tomoko wondered, before noticing that Falcon was inspecting the sand. Seeing as how the child they were looking for was a rock, he was right that it was related to rocks, but then again Tomoko can list off five other things that are related to rocks.

Tomoko walked close with Falcon, holding her book and making sure the sands don't get into her heels, or else this mission was going to be hell for her. "Or not, for all we know he could be hiding under one of these sands or disguised himself as a rock. He could also be hiding in one of these ruins around us." It was then when Tomoko noticed the portal from a far and pointed to it. "Or fell into that portal over there." The girl theorised.

But her thinking soon turned to slight worry with the suggestion that the group should split up to cover more ground in the ruins. "Are you sure that's wise? What if something comes out from under the sand and attacks us?" She asked her ally, slowly looking back at the portal that was slowly bugging her.

[Mari]

Arle arrives riding a giant flying squirrel! Only, she's looking a bit short for a hero today herself. After arriving though, she found herself immediately enamored with ...sand. Her eyes shifted back and forth from Captain Falcon to the sand he'd been talking to. You could just see her quietly debating something with herself. After a good, long moment of the gears appearing to grind in her head, she smiles with satisfaction. Seems she'd figured something out, right? "...Das okay. You in' Captin Falcin can go ahead. I'll stay here and ihvesgigate the sand!" Little Arle enthusiastically suggested before turning her attention to the rock grain about their feet. Was it okay to stand on perps? ...Probably. The perps were the ground, after all. "Where were you las'terday at five-a-clock??" Arle went on to ask the sand in an accusing tone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[Mr. Game & Watch]

The wisp like winds reverberated off the destroyed stone structure that the Blue Falcon had crashed through. It swirled through the ancient arches, passing through the dents in the structures, creating a whistling or whispering noise. The Captain could have sworn that someone had said something, but it was merely the wind. A strange thought to have considering that they were no doubt miles underneath the surface of Li, how could there possibly be wind? Then again, how could there be a skyline either? He merely shrugged it off. Those were questions for a scientist to figure out, he was here to punch things and save a child. If the latter couldn’t be done, there was going to be an excess of the former.

His eyes dwindled on the ‘portal’ momentarily, but then cut to Tomoko as she approached his side. He heartily laughed at her deductions, proud that she came to the same conclusions as he did. “Yes! Plenty of places for a little rock guy to hide around here! That’s why we split up to cover more ground! We should all stay in the same general area though, that way if anyone gets attacked, we can get the drop on any kind of hidden beasties!” he hollered with a triumphant raise of his fist.

As the suggestion of the portal came up, Captain Falcon was quick to turn his head back to the interdimensional rift. Considering that they already had so much ground to cover and the fact that he already had a hunch about the swirling portal, he immediately broke off into a full-on sprint toward the portal. He tightened his fist and punched straight through the rift, his knuckles colliding with the stone structure behind it. The ruins crackled, and a small number of pebbles sprinkled onto his helmet. He analyzed how half his arm was through the transparent whirl, yet it remained in their dimension.

Pulling his fist back, he quickly joined the group once more. “As I suspected! Reports of this area said that those portals were inactive. So, unless he figured out how to active them, I don’t think he went that way” he energetically explained.

Once he returned though, the curious child that decided to tag along had figured out her own plan of action to find Moundo’s child. While interrogating the sand that might have broken off from Moundo Jr. would be a sound plan, especially if they were sentient, however, Captain Falcon had a suspicion that even if they were his children they wouldn’t know how to speak right from the get go. The display was still a bit charming, almost bringing a Falcon tear to his eye. It was always good to see children taking interest in adventures, even at a young age. Not wanting to spoil the kid’s fun, he decided to play along, crouching to the same level as Arle and gazing at the same sand pile as her. “We have ways to make you talk!” he exclaimed in a bubbly manner to appeal to the child’s little game.

Accompanied with a burning fist, Captain Falcon punched at the ground as though he was doing so to an uncompliant perp. It caused the sand to explode into the sky, revealing a stone floor underneath with a series of inscriptions. Unfortunately, no one would be able to decipher the inscriptions as they remained in sight for a mere two seconds before they crumbled under the pressure of the mighty punch. It revealed an underground tunnel, though one far too small for Captain Falcon’s size. He blinked once or twice, not really expecting that to happen, but regardless he looked to the child and gave an ecstatic thumbs-up. “Excellent find!”

Whether it had anything to do with their investigation had yet to be determined, but there was still plenty to be explored regardless. Arle deduced that she could handle herself while the other two went off to find their own clues, so they could easily go on with that plan. Captain Falcon had seen her battle prowess when she fought Sonic in the arena, so he had no doubts that she could hold her own, at the very least until they could back her up.

[Deleted]

While Falcon did have a good reason for him and Tomoko to split up, there was still one thing that was bugging Tomoko. "What if one of us get kidnapped by someone that lives here?" She said, raising her eyebrow. Unfortunately her question was most likely interrupted by the appearance of the third member of the group. Arle, or at least one who was a younger version of the girl Tomoko saw a few times at the Life Sphere.

"Hi girl who somehow made it to Li without time screwing up because another older version of her exists also." Tomoko waved slightly to Arle, who started to play by the sand, interrogating it. Falcon joined in the fun while Tomoko just stood there and watched the two, she decided to go start looking around the area since the portal was revealed to be broken. She turned and walked towards some ruins to investigate them, holding her book and reaching her gun if she hears something odd in the area. While looking around she would often look back to see if Falcon and Arle had found anything before continuing her search.

"I wonder if these ruins have old messages that I can try and decipher?" Tomoko thought in pure wonder, always wanting to translate something since it looks fun, if a bit difficult.

[Mari]

Arle looked up for a moment to question Tomoko with her eyes. What did time have to do with anything? Why was she screwed up? Did she win a race or something? Before she could start bothering Tomoko with an endless barrage of annoying questions before Captain Falcon's incredible assistance dragged her attention back to the seemingly fruitless interrogation. The tiny tot was thrown a bit by the shockwave from Captain falcon's punch, nearly falling all over herself as she squirmed for her balance.

A moment later, Arle settled back down and began brushing at her hair and dress in an attempt to free all the loose sand she'd just become familiar with. Oh hey--she just remembered she didn't like sand! It was course, rough, irritating--and it got everywhere! Now she felt like she needed a bath, somehow. Even once the immediate irritation stopped, she still felt like there was probably sand hiding somewhere, just waiting to bother her. However, she quickly lost interest in the sand when confronted by Captain Falcon's praise. With a beaming smile, she turned up to him and greeted him with an enthusiastic "I knew it!" and a little giggle of amusement. Well--That was clearly a sign from the sand right?If not, it was a sign from God. She was supposed to go down that hole. ...Holeeeee'd up a moment.

"...Das a wheely small hole." Little Arle remarked, momentarily unsure how safe squeezing herself into dark spaces was. What were the odds of there being a hungry monster chilling in there waiting to gobble her up when she started nosing around?

6 + 4 + You're Arle, so = 75%

"I'll go in inside n'see if I can fine'anymore clues! Then I'll me'dup with you wif a report!" Arle enthusiastically remarked, holding up a tiny fist. ...She was offering him a fist bump! Looks like Little Arle was picking up a habit or two. After parting ways, she'd go ahead and squirm her way into the hole. Hey look at that, the ground kidnapped Arle! ...Tomoko was right.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

While Captain Falcon and Arle continued to play in the dirt, Tomoko broke off into her own investigation of the area. Her curious eye would find plenty of stone murals and ancient alien transcripts inscribed on the area around them. Some were half destroyed, making them near impossible to decipher unless they were fluent in whatever language it was, but there was a decently in tact mural that would be quite eye catching. The painting showed a creature that resembled the statue that the Blue Falcon had crashed through, a giant bipedal moth-like being. Its arms were pointed skyward, a light shining upon it as a crowd of similar creatures watched.

As Tomoko approached the ruins, the inscriptions underneath the mural began to glow. It flickered like it was faulty machinery, but eventually a holographic symbol projected from the stone wall. Again, the symbol was not incredibly recognizable to Tomoko as it was of a language she couldn’t have possibly known about, the projection was interactable should she be curious enough to reach out and touch it. The symbol was capable of warping and stretching to Tomoko’s desire. As she interacted with it, it would setup prompts to aid her, however, it seemed somewhat complex.

bifINC4Vp_1d6 + p_1d6 = 8

INT CHECK!:
Roll 3* d6s and choose the results of 2 of those rolls and add them together to try and match the above number as closely as possible.
*If INT Mod is lower than -2, roll 2 d6s instead.
*If INT Mod is higher than +2, roll 4 d6s instead.
*If INT Mod is higher than +4, roll 5 d6s instead.

The fist bump was received and returned, though Captain Falcon made certain that he withheld his strength so that he didn’t harm the wee lass. With that done though, Arle crawled into the cubby. “Roger that, scout!” he called out. The minute that she was out of sight, the Captain absently looked around and realized that he was left on his own. The plan was to split up, but the child was in a compact space, so if anything happened he would have to be nearby to respond quickly. That also meant that he had to stand around and do nothing, which was easily his least favourite activity.

As he did so, he felt the air rush by him once more. His face quirked once more. Unlike before, he could swear that it said something. It was words this time, not just air currents rushing through hollow structures. They were clear and distinct, but in a language that Captain Falcon couldn’t recognize. Bizarre. He couldn’t see anyone else in the area. Who could possibly be trying to talk to him?

Meanwhile, within the tunnel that Arle decided to go spelunking in, the catacombs remained rather dark. The only source of light was the hole that Captain Falcon punched open. From that bit of light though, Arle would be able to notice that the tunnel was merely made of dirt and sand, so it was clearly not a structure that was designed to compliment the ruins, it was a burrow of some kind. A very expansive one at that. There were pits and corners just about everywhere, but without a light source it would be difficult to navigate, some would dare say fruitless.

She didn’t have to stay long before there were sudden movements. Particles of dirt began to nudge off the wall to her left until a talon pierced through its surface. A scattering of claws came soon after until the wall was demolished and the creature that stood on the other side revealed itself.

1d6·1d6

[Deleted]

Tomoko soon entered the ruins and looked around. "I guess I was right about this place being interesting." She looked over at the murals and languages that she couldn't possibly understand. It appeared to be long and forgotten, however the murals interested her more, particularly the one with the moth like monster. She touched it with her finger. "That ain't good. Something tells me that this thing is probably still alive somewhere, maybe even in the sands of these ruins. What if it got the kid were looking for? And...Did it do anything to anyone that lived here?" Tomoko guessed in her lonely thoughts, before moving onto the next thing that interested her.

Which were the inscriptions, Tomoko took a few steps back as it began to...Glow and showed an interaction projection of strange symbols. "Woah, I didn't expect the people who used to live here being so technically advanced." She touched one of the symbols and found that she could move them around. She tried to figure out the meaning of these symbols so it might give her something else to tell Falcon and Arle about when she got back to them, besides the whole possibility that there's a certain moth creature flying around.

Io9ZUcoyp_1d6+1(First roll.)

p_1d6+1(And this role equals = 11)

p_1d6+1(Dud)

After a bit of difficulty, Tomoko feels like she solved this short puzzle. "Ok mysterious holographic projection. I followed the prompts, now tell me the hidden message?" Tomoko asked the projection.1d6+1·1d6+1·1d6+1

[Mari]

Little Arle squinted, peering into the darkness and feeling her way around. Just before she began to consider using a light spell to help illuminate the place, though, movement that wasn't her own caught her attention. And then--...And then... a terrifying, hideous mole monster revealed itself! From her position on her hands and knees, the tiny magician looked up in wonder, her golden eyes gleaming in the low light.

"...Hi! My name's Arle." she innocently introduced, oblivious to the danger she was in. --Hey, monsters on her planet were people! "Are you a we-air... we're... wereturtle?" she went on to ask rather curiously, struggling with her words a bit. She didn't seem scared at all, regardless of whether she probably should be.

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Through her own skills of deduction, or perhaps purely by blind luck, Tomoko perfectly deciphered the ruins’ puzzle. The hologram took form of another symbol and began to flicker until a bright light struck her eyes like a camera’s flash. Once the world was visible to her again, the symbols were instantly understandable to her, like she had just been taught the language. The symbol floating in front of her meant ‘understanding’, though it faded away so that she could properly feast her eyes on the text the ruins had to offer.

While the Luminoth were born of stars, it was X-Qar who founded our home world of Aether. She built the foundation for our peoples, reigning in our golden age. Upon arrival, she graced us with a speech that our race shall value for the rest of eternity. “While we have had the luxury to bathe in the light of a thousand stars, the light has provided us with a land to call our own. The light will guide us into a brilliant new beginning. An ally of the light is an ally to the Luminoth, so let us welcome all into our light.”

The other stone tablets were left in pieces, so there wasn’t as much of a solid message to decipher. What became more apparent though was the wisps of wind that were blowing by her. While it was subtle, Tomoko could hear the Luminoth’s phrases for “leave” and “please stop”, though they were not directed toward her. Following the direction of the wind, it seemed to be funneling toward Captain Falcon, as evident by his leaning against yet another ancient structure.

The arachnus creature stood relatively tall in the stout tunnels and gazed upon the intruder to its burrow. As the little girl began to speak, the creature began to scratch its head in response. “Another kid?” it questioned itself aloud. The creature backed up a bit, as though it didn’t want to be seen too close to the minor. “I don’t know what that is” it answered the little girl “but you best be going home now.” The arachnus pointed back the way the child came, further cementing its instructions.

After hearing the noise from the burrow though, Captain Falcon’s bucket head popped through the entrance hole like a reverse mole. “Little bro, don’t talk to strangers!” he relayed with the intensity of the ending slogan to a PSA. While there was little light to show the police chief much of what was going on, he didn’t need much to go by as he saw the fangs and claws from the beast Little Arle was speaking to.

His head quickly retreated, though the sounds of his mighty stomps overhead were enough to reverberate through the catacombs, each echo denoting that he was getting closer to their position. “Now you’ve done it!” the creature outburst in panic. Waddling backwards, the creature attempted to get even more space between them, though its attempts were completely in vain as they were no match to Captain Falcon’s speed and blatant disregard for property damage.

Once he was atop the two, a muffled “FALCON” could be heard from the surface. At a moment’s notice, the man’s splayed hand crashed through the stone ceiling and he completed the sentence with “BACKHAND!” The attack just barely whiffed by the creature’s bodice, though now that it was under attack, it retracted itself into an armoured ball and began to roll off back through the tunnel it was first found within.

[Deleted]

Tomoko managed to successfully decipher the puzzle and began to read. "So there obsessed with light, just like regular moths. Did these people actually start out as moths?" Tomoko began to wonder before standing up and looking around. There didn't appear to be anything else in these parts of the ruins and she was about to leave, when a wisp began to tell her a secret message, causing her to stop and look around. "Hello?" Tomoko called out, taking a few steps forward.

"Leave, Who?" Tomoko got out of the ruins and figured out that the wisps were referring to Captain Falcon for some reason. She began to run towards Falcon and quickly reached him. "Falcon, stop!" She called out to the captain as she stopped by the entrance of the hole and looked down it.

"Something very strange is going on here. I don't think were the only ones here. I think there might be something living here, and it might have taken the person were here for." Tomoko revealed to him, and Lil Arle should she be nearby. "And for one, there obsessed with light, so I don't think they would be down there." She soon informed.

[Mari]

"W-Woah!" Little Arle blurted out, falling on her bottom as Captain Falcon punched through the roof of the tunnel she was in. She quickly recognized the hand once she got the dust out of her eyes, though. "Sorry Captain." Arle apologized, reconsidering what she'd done. She didn't seem to mind being called a boy--or even acknowledge it really. She probably wasn't even aware it had happened. "But I found a clue! That mmm...-- mmmmonster said they saw another kid! Tat must mean Mr. Mounda's son is down here!" she announced rather enthusiastically, giving up on trying to figure out what the heck the creature she'd just seen was. "He wran away... But I bet if I give chase I'll fine wherever he saw him!" Arle continued on to explain, squirming to look into the tunnel the creature had created with its entrance, going ahead and beginning to meander down it. She wasn't sure if that monster would appreciate her presence, but then again why should that stop her from completing their mission?

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Captain Falcon reeled back his fist with an expression of success. That was quickly whipped away as his other teammate commanded him to stop, exchanging his stoic countenance for that of an innocent puppy dog. He couldn’t help it if he had an addiction to smashing things with little regard, or perhaps that wasn’t what she was shouting about. As she got closer, she began to explain her position, at roughly the same time as Arle began to exposit her information as well. Perhaps this was something far deeper than the rescue mission he signed up for…

He took a moment to Falcon Think, which took just as long as it sounds like it would. Moundo Jr. couldn’t be in two places at once. Considering that Little Arle had already scurried away to chase after the beast, he couldn’t really exchange notes with her (though how effective that would have been was questionable to begin with). That left Tomoko.

Captain Falcon peered around the relatively blank landscape and then scratched the back of his helmet. “This place is a ghost town. Even if there were other people around here, how would we find them?” he briefly quizzed as yet another updraft began to flicker his scarf into the wind.

Once again, the currents of the wind were laced with the ancient language that Tomoko recently learnt, the gusts saying “desecrator” and “you have been warned.”

Gaze shifting over to where Tomoko came from, Captain Falcon continued to rub his chin. “Weren’t you looking at a bunch of ruins? How do you know that those guys are even still around here?” he continued to question curiously.

As the meeting of the minds continued, Little Arle pressed forward to get a few answers of her own. The tunnel was winding and quite the trek, but it eventually lead to an opening, a dark underground cavern that she had difficulties seeing anything but a black void without a source of light. If her senses were good enough though, she could still detect movement. “Eh, would yah quit following me” the void stated back, the voice sounding exactly like the creature she met earlier. “Look, kid, you’re cute and everything, but that’s two strikes against yah. If people you hanging around me they’re gonna start thinking I kidnapped yah or something. So, scram” he added. Little Arle would then feel light flicks from the creature’s claws, like he was trying to gently shoo her away.

[Deleted]

While Little Arle was off mercilessly hunting down that creature and will probably fight to the death with it, Tomoko was left with Falcon to theorise what happened to the moth people. For now she had two theory's, which she was about to explain to the confused Falcon. "Well, by the looks of it, I have two theory's. One, something that's not obsessed with light killed them all and that's why everything here is abandoned or the second and more possible lighthearted theory depending on the alignment of the moth people is that they have the ability to move the light, in which case they could be hiding anywhere, just not here in this dense landscape. Unless they have the ability to breath under all this sand were standing in." Tomoko felt the wind blow again and turned towards it's direction.

"There's the wind again, it's saying, that we have been warned. That mean's there's at least some people still around, probably watching us and warning us with what's ahead or the voices are just pre recorded messages. Wait a minute, isn't that girl supposed to be chasing after a creature, what if they meant that?" Tomoko theorised what the voice said.

"In that case, we have to warn the girl." Tomoko jumped down in the hole and realising it's the only path that the three can only go down on as there's no other such paths. Tomoko moved forward to search for Arle. "At least we do have a path. For all we know the kid were looking for could of went down this same hole also." Tomoko called from behind Falcon as she continued down the hole to find Arle and warn her about the voice.

"By the way, did you hear what they said just now? The voices that I was referring to. It was from the wind." Tomoko turned to Falcon, wondering if she wasn't the only one who heard them...Or maybe she's going crazy? She really doesn't want to act like the Cassandra of this group.

[Mari]

Little Arle's eyes were wide as saucer dishes as she gazed into the darkness. The small mage squirmed as she was flicked at, barely restraining the urge to giggle at the sensation, shuffling back a couple of steps. Naw those claws weren't going to hurt anyone. Riiiight? However, the actual conversation at hand wasn't worthy of giggles. Not from the master detective, no sir! "Sorry, mister. I didn' mean it. I don' wanna get you in trouble..." she replied somewhat awkwardly. "I'm lookin' for that other kid you saw. I got's'ta gettim back to his dad. Can you help point me in the right direction before I go?" Arle asked, hesitating a moment to consider what she'd just asked. "Light!" Little Arle went on to incant, summoning a ball of white light in her palm to illuminate the area. She then began blinked rather hard and wobbled a bit, dazed by the sudden light exposure. She closed a single eye and began to rub at it with her free hand as they adjusted. The poor thing hadn't really thought that decision through, or the decision to hop in the hole in the first place for that matter. Better light than never though, right?