[Mr. Game & Watch]

The Essence Extraction Point. Perhaps the most mysterious and dangerous area on Li. Few have ventured to this point, even fewer have came back to tell the tale.

After the Life Sphere leaders were kidnapped by Black Shadow, a small group of operatives managed to infiltrate his base to spring them back out. A tale that carried throughout the Life Sphere, of how a hand full of their greatest heroes managed to best the forces of the Starvia when life itself seemed to be at its most grim. Now, an even smaller task force was called upon to carry out the same mission and expected to succeed when the stakes were made even higher.

The island that housed the Essence Extraction Point seemed no different from anywhere else on Li. Its landscape was rather unintimidating. Flat plains of green grass, the occasional collection of craggy rocks strewn about, even a few acacia-esque trees here and there. It was the unassuming nature of it all that made it feel… strange. An eeriness about how normal it all seemed despite the fact that it was an area of such storied danger.

In one section of the landscape, underneath one of its trees, the air began to spark. It took form of a few stray static bolts before expanding into mighty crackles of electricity, launching every which way until a hole formed in the air, a warped tear in the fabric of reality. The electrical storm grew in intensity, charring bits of the grass and lashing scares into the bark of the tree. Finally, a humanoid figure fell from its maw, plopping on the ground below. Once the man touched the ground, the tear in reality swirled back in on itself, quickly and suddenly repairing the fabric of reality.

The man was Steve, Lusamine’s right hand man, decked out in his usual gold and white gear, though now outfitted with one of E. Gadd’s patented Past Packs. “Oof” he breathed out as he rubbed the back of his head and lifted himself back onto his feet. As his eyes searched to the sky, his visor reflected the eerie glow radiating off the sky. A strange orange energy that just seemed to be part of the natural atmosphere of this area, like some kind of aurora borealis. That’s when the air felt heavy.

Steve almost couldn’t avert his gaze from the strange look of the sky, but he was here on a mission, one that couldn’t be stopped by some sightseeing. He gazed down at his holographic tablet and began to tap on its screen. “Miss Lusamine, we’ve touched down in the Essence Extraction Point. By the looks of it, we’re a couple minutes ahead of schedule. The Black Bull and Blue Falcon should be in position soon” he instructed to his tablet.

Static read through the speaker, though after a lengthy few seconds it settled as Lusamine’s voice set in. “Excellent. Ready the electro harpoon.” Steve nodded to his orders, putting the tablet away and pulling two capsules from the pockets of his lab coat. He clicked the button on one of them and threw it to the ground. From the capsule, a metal sled-like object exploded into existence, one that looked to fit four people exactly.

The other capsule remained in Steve’s hand, expanding into a large harpoon gun, the barrel of it radiating electric energy. He held it over his shoulder like a bazooka. “I think the electro harpoon might be my favourite invention” he muttered to himself as he climbed to the front of the sled. He steadily aimed the barrel of his harpoon gun to the flat plain ahead of him, his head looking up and down the length of the savanna as if he were watching two race cars speeding down a track.

As soon as his allies warped in behind him, he would turn around, slapping the space behind him on the metal sled in an inviting fashion. “Hope you guys are into tobogganing!”

[Coolshaymin]

A woman suddenly flipped into existence with a Past Pack of her own with ripples before landing on her knee and looking at her environment... So this was the Essence Extraction Point, or at least where the enemy's home base sat when the Leaders were kidnapped. This was her first time in this location and she was... expecting something chaotic like the rest of Li but this felt more like home than most places... which was not a fact she appreciated.

She held her Portal Gun in front of her, looking down at the gadget for a moment to make sure the jump through time did not do it any harm. She listened to the conversation between Steve and his boss as she did so. She didn't have much to say so she chose to stay quiet. Once she was done with the Portal Gun she looked over her Thermal Discouragement Rifle and her glove. Everything seemed to be in working order. Which was good, who knew what kind of traps and dangers lined the enemy's base. Only a few select heroes.


She glanced over to Steve as he produced capsules that put forth a metal sled and an interesting looking invention... Huh, those things looked handy to have on hand. She should consider having some... The capsules although the other two things were interesting too. "... Electro Harpoon, huh?" the quiet girl spoke up before taking up her spot to kneel on the sled. "Can't say I have tried it before but I'm a quick learner," she remarks, keeping her focus on the mission as she awaited for their golden ticket.

Chell HP: 165 Shield HP: 55

[heirtothemonado]

Shulk's entrance into the past was...a lot less graceful then Chell's was. Give the kid a break, this whole time travel thing was new to him! He stumbled a little as soon as he warped into existence a little ways away from Chell and Steve, but managed to catch himself before he completely fell on his face. Looking around, Shulk...only barely recognized this place as the Essence Extraction Point. He'd been there only once before, but the place was a lot more...dark. And foreboding. Perhaps something happened later in the timeline that changed how it looked?

Regardless, Shulk made sure his things were in order. Most importantly, that the Monado was strapped onto his back. He'd overheard that  another group was going back to when Shiya had made copies of the mystical sword, and while Shulk felt that he should have gone with them, he also felt that things might take a severe turn if they ended up running into his past self. No telling what effects that might have on the current time. As Steve finished the conversation with his overseer and set up what looked like their main mode of transportation, Shulk looked it over with a bit of a wide-eyed wonder

"Impressive." he commented, noting at how convenient the capsules these machines had sprung from were. "I wonder if we could reverse-engineer those to..." he trailed off, already starting to make notes in his head. Not really the time for this, Shulk, but whatever floats your boat. Speaking of, when Steve invited them into the sled, Shulk nodded and knelt down behind Chell, preparing himself for launch. "Never really had something like this when I was growing up. Though I've been on similar things before." Did sliding down a gigantic slide made of ice with nothing but your shoes count as tobogganing? Maybe, but this way felt a little more sturdy. Not much, mind you, but a little more. 

---

Shulk
Health: 145/145
Shield: 45/45
Status: Normal

[Glimmericious]

Time travel's a complicated one for Lea.  Really, his only experience with it was Xion being tossed into the future and the knowledge that good ol' Xehanort had abused it maliciously, somehow, so it's a little more on the concerning side that he's now the bad guy using it himself.  Well, 'bad guy'.  Look, he doesn't have entirely positive connotations of the ability.

But he's got a job to do, and he can't let bias get in his way and slow him down all that much.  He'll pop in with the rest of the group, landing with the amount of grace that you'd expect from the assassin, and looks around with muted interest.  Seems his body was still intact, which was a little more than could be said for Xehanort's time travelling shenanigans, so that's certainly a good start!  His Keyblade and Chakrams are summoned shortly, just to make sure everything's in order.

...Of course, honestly, with the big warning signs that got thrown around whenever the Essence Extraction point was brought up, he'd been expecting something more dramatic, sort of like the Realm of Darkness or something.  A real shame that didn't seem to be the case.  Exploring some alien geometries or some shit could've been fun.

Of course, now there's people discussing some important mission stuff.  He's a bit of a goofball, but he's not dumb enough not to listen in and get briefed on what their first stop is.  

In any case, seems we're all boarding and getting ready to launch.  He'll take his stop on our lovely toboggin, next to Shulk and behind Steve.  "Nah, this was never part of the job description.  I was always more fond of big ol' portals to get around."  He seems to settle into his spot and get ready to roll fine regardless, though.  "Looks like it'll be a good time, though!  By the way, for those of you I'm not acquainted with - Axel.  Get it memorized."  Seems this one's a little chatty before shit hits the fan.

∙∙∙

Bubble Shield: 45%/45% Status: "Never thought I'd miss big portals of darkness."

Actions taken: 1. Embark the toboggin. 2. Make friends!

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Steve turned to Chell as she got on the sled. “Heh heh, when this is over, you can try out my Electro Harpoon anytime” he spoke slyly with an added set of finger guns. Though, once everyone was settled in, he sat up tall, as if he was about to make a speech. “Good to see we didn’t lose any of you in the timestream! Grab-” before he could continue, the ground shuddered suddenly. Cursing under his breath, Steve turned himself about once more, both hands slamming against his techno harpoon.

In the distance, a section of the ground began to raise, a metal structure bursting from the earth and scattering dirt every which way. The rumbling of the F-Zero vehicles in the distance grew significantly louder, a black streak of light crossing the wide-open field ahead of them. The emerging garage door opened and in a flash of a second, the Black Bull was safely cradled within its walls. It was the blue motion blur follow close within its dust that Steve’s eyes latched onto, firing off his weapon. From the barrel, an electrical stream exploded forth, like a line of pure energy. It latched onto the back of the Blue Falcon, only just barely. Immediately following that, Steve pointed the barrel down, firing it again, quickly anchoring the two vehicles.

Steve’s whipped around really fast. “Grabontosomethingbeforeyouflyoff!” he prattled out swiftly before diving forward, hugging the bow.

Without a moment’s notice, the metal sled was jerked forward with amazing speed, going from zero to a hundred in a split second. Trailing behind the Blue Falcon, they were barreling toward the closing doors of the pop-up garage, slipping and sliding left and right like a precarious boogie-board behind a boat. It was only then that it occurred to Steve, based on the reports, the Blue Falcon only just barely made it through the door in the original mission. And just as it had before, the Blue Falcon slipped through, its exhaust ports just barely missed getting clipped by the closing door. Just like that, the electro tether was cut and the sled continued to torpedo toward the door.

Steve covered his face with his arms. However, due to the speed that they were traveling at and the pointed bow of the sled, it speared straight through the door, sailing directly over the chasm that was the elevator shaft that was hidden within and right through the tip of the door to the first floor, flying directly over and past the crash point of the Blue Falcon.

The sled busted through and into the first floor, skidding along the long empty hallway and against the graded steel floor. Its momentum ceased after they traveled a good couple feet, Steve flopping out of the sled and onto the ground haphazardly. “Don’t-” he muttered to himself “don’t barf in your helmet.”

The hall was rather barren, three sets of doors along both walls, with one door at the complete opposite end. The walls were a sleek steel, shiny surfaced. It wasn’t artful in the slightest, a facility that served function over form.

As Steve got to his senses, he leapt to his feet and gazed back at the elevator door they just punctured. “Uh oh, we need to get to the other side, fast! Shade’s already on the move, we’ll lose him if we don’t hurry!” he uttered as he pointed to the door.

The entry point they made on the door was fairly small and at the tip of it. Only a limber and agile person would be able to slip through and get to the other side. It would be an easy slip, but unless everybody made it through, they’d be on their own (Must succeed a DEX roll of 16). Conversely, Chell could shoot a portal through that opening, give everyone an easy work around (Must succeed a DEX roll of 14). In addition to that though, two of them could open the elevator door manually (Two people must succeed a STR roll of 14).

[Coolshaymin]

Ah, Chell sees Axel is a fellow Portals enthusiast. As Shulk is a fellow capsules container enthusiast. Still, probably the thing that drew Chell's attention the most in her party was Axel's keyblade. She didn't bother checking hers because she had a feeling it was connected to her on a level that time could not dictate whether it existed or not... Although maybe she should consider checking to make sure Dual Discs could be called to her before it technically existed... Did it always exist or was it created for her actually?... Questions for another time. "... Memorized. Chell," Chell introduced herself to Axel in very few words before glancing back to where the formula cars should be coming from.

"..." Chell silently rolled her eyes at the finger bang. Nice to see Steve had his morale but not exactly professional.... And came they did and they were exceptionally quick at traversing the plain soil as they zoomed by. Chell figured since this thing had no seatbelts and they were about to go that fast themselves very quickly that she should hold onto the front of the high-speed wagon before it suddenly started gaining momentum as Steve connected them to the Blue Falcon.

"... This might not end well..." Chell noted as she was kind of enjoying the high speed trip before they were about to crash into the door that the other two just entered. She braced herself for impact as they bursted through to the other side and crashing into an empty hallway. Chell is so glad that she does not get motion sick. That might of made her sick to her stomach if traveling at terminal velocity without protection wasn't a normal Tuesday.

Unfortunately that still left a sled shaped hole and a couple of them to squeeze through if they were going to follow their target. She got up and examined the door, most prominently the hole as she tried to make out a good angle at the other side. "... Relax, I have just the right tool for the job. I'll get us through this door quick," Chell replied to Steve's concern as she took out her Portal Gun and aimed at a solid surface on the other side, the blue light on the gun currently on.

1VUZwQo4p_1d20+2(Portal Gun creation on the other side of the door, success!)

Chell's aim rung true as she managed to shoot through the gap and hit a surface, a blue oval being stamped onto it. She then stepped back and aimed at the floor before switching the portal creation device's light to orange and firing another portal. This time it left an orange outline but instead of being filled in like the blue portal was it showed what was opposite the portal she just created. In addition the blue oval went from being filled in to showing the ceiling of the hallway they were in. "You aren't the only one with fancy guns. Now come on and watch your step," she instructed before stepping down into the portal herself to end up on the other side, ready to track and follow this professional ninja for hire.

Chell HP: 165 Shield HP: 55

1d20+2

[heirtothemonado]

Ever the engineering mind, Shulk had been admiring the construction of this toboggan more then he'd been listening to Steve talk. Which was just as well, cause Steve didn't really get much out of his mouth before something very fast and blue sped right by them. That must be their target. Shulk barely managed to grab onto the sides of the toboggan before the line went taunt, and they shot after the Blue Falcon at Mach 10 speeds. The wind blowing through his hair, Shulk was focusing only on keeping his grip, or else he might go flying.

As they sped toward the now-closed garage door, Shulk ducked down into the toboggan to avoid any debris that might come flying toward him, and it was a good thing he did, because he the toboggan had not only gone through the garage door, but over the chasm beyond and through the door on the other side. Once the sled had finally come to a stop, Shulk slowly and shakily crawled out. "Th-that was.....intense..." he muttered as he tried to get his bearings. Looked like your typical hallway at least...how were they gonna get out of here?

Fortunately, Chell solved that problem for them before Shulk or Axel could begin worrying about it. As Chell shot a portal through the gap in the door that they had made, Shulk peered into the portal on the floor. He'd seen Chell use these things before, but he still wasn't sure about them. They were the only way forward right now though, so it looked as if he didn't have a choice. Still was gonna let one of the others go through first though.

---

Shulk
Health: 145/145
Shield: 45/45
Status: Ready to follow Steve's lead

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Steve stumbled forth, running at the metal door with all that his lanky legs could muster. His torso flopped back and forth as he increasingly closed the distance, however, just as he readied himself to dive through the hole in the wall and transition to the other side, a beam of light flashed overhead. Peering through the hole, there was suddenly a blue oval shaped energy gate on the outer wall. His head swung back as Chell spoke, halting all momentum. He wagged a finger at Chell, “ah, see, I knew Miss Lusamine picked you for good reason.” He quickly speed walked over to the next portal that the woman summoned. “I mean, besides the obvious” he shrugged.

Chell went through first, Steve was close behind, but before he took the plunge, he turned to the Monado boy. “You know what they say, ‘things are only gonna get worse’” he stated in a chummy manner with a pat on his shoulder. With that, he took the plunge to the other side.

On the other side of the portal awaited the seemingly endless chasm, an elevator shaft that could have easily been a mile long in terms of the drop. The bottom floor couldn’t even be seen by the naked eye. Needless to say, a single misstep would be quite costly.

The troopers from the original mission were already on their way, moving toward the second floor, the sun moth descending down the shaft with Sheik upon her back. It offered the group a bit of illumination in the otherwise dark tunnel.

Such things didn’t distract Steve though. His hand pressed up against the side of his visor, as he quickly surveyed the area, carefully pacing his eyes. His head froze, pointing down across the way. It seemed like an ordinary wall to most people, a metal slab with a mess of dangling wires, but Steve’s visor allowed him to see beyond what most could. “Peh, just some run of the mill cloaking device. Rookie mistake, little… man” he muttered aloud. He peered up at his compatriots. “Give me a minute, I’ll come up with a better insult.” With that, he pulled out his electro harpoon once more, aiming it at the wall he spotted Shade at.

In the meantime, adjacent to the portal that Chell had made, the Blue Falcon was resting, its front end unmistakably flattened after smashing against the elevator door. Captain Falcon himself, fresh off of waving the infiltration squad, Team Sneaky Snake, was back to repairing his vehicle for their upcoming escape from the base. He had a wrench in hand, smashing it against the hull of his F-Zero racer violently. Miraculously, the random basing was somehow reverting the machine back into its original state with every swing.

The space where Steve had deduced Shade to be became all the clearer when suddenly a portion of the wall slowly began to dissolve, as if the metal wall was being erased from existence. A small, man-sized hole was left.

“Gotcha” Steve uttered confidently as he fired off his harpoon. The spear-like end of the weapon stabbed into the wall above the hole leftover by Shade’s exploits. The tether draping over the chasm like a trapeze artist’s magnum opus. Tethering the electro rope atop the portal, he readied the harpoon gun like a zip line. Just like that, he pushed off, racing down the line with magnificent speed.

The sounds of the gun going off suddenly got the attention of Captain Falcon, his head darting toward the portal made across the way from him. Astonished, he froze for a moment. The four that were standing there, who were they? If they weren’t part of their infiltration team and they were in enemy territory, that could only mean one thing, they were the enemy. If Captain Falcon didn’t do something quick, they’d give away their position, the leaders would never get saved!

With fiery justice, Captain Falcon launched himself at the portal, foot first as his body suddenly engulfed in flames. The sudden burst from his Falcon Kick rocketed him at the team, just before they could follow Steve’s lead.

Quick Time Event!:
Dodge Captain Falcon’s incoming Falcon Kick. To successfully dodge, roll a 12 or higher. If your character has a counter move, they may use that instead. If Captain Falcon’s attack is successfully countered, no one posting after the successful counter will need to succeed this roll and Captain Falcon will be successfully fended off. Should you fail to dodge or counter Captain Falcon’s attack, you will be dealt 18% damage and initiate combat with Captain Falcon.

Following a successful dodge, you must make a zipline down the electric tether and follow Steve into the tunnel made by Shade. This requires a special balance of Strength and Dexterity. You must make a STR and DEX roll. If the difference of these rolls is greater than 5 + STR Mod + DEX Mod, then you fail to use the zip line, plummeting down the chasm. Your character won’t die, but shenanigans will certainly ensue. Alternatively, if your character can fly or has an ability or item that allows them to fly, then you can completely ignore this check. The hole left by Shade is not big enough to fit a portal though, sorry Chell.

[Coolshaymin]

Chell gave a nob as her credentials were clear before pausing as she took a second look through the portal. On the other side was who she recogonized as the police chief. She could just jump and land with her long fall boots with no injury but no guarenteed that'd take them to Shade.... In addition the original group was passing by. She knew that them not being here meant what is technically their allies could be easily preceived as their enemies.

"... Just don't take too long, we are on a strict time limit," Chell pointed out as she crossed her arms and followed his gaze... the detail looked unimportant but sure enough the wall revealed an entrance they could use... Clever. So he took a different route... Seems teamwork was getting them places but it also gave away their position. Just as she was concerned the cops were onto them. Unfortunately for Captain Falcon, Chell had a thing or two she wanted to say to the police force. And she preferred action over words.


DkR5noOMp_1d20+3(Countered with Chell's Foresight)
p_1d20+3(The Gut Punch Free Action of 18%)

Chell shifted her body away from the kick before and held her fist back before using the Police Captain's forward Momentum with her position to land a devestating gut punch. She doubted it'd take him out of commission for long but she just needed him out of the way for a moment. Wasting no time after releasing a fraction of her frustrations at law enforcement Chell ran towards  the zipline and spawned her Keyblade to use as a hold onto the Zipline and zip down it so she did not waste too much time with Captain Reckless. 

(Chell entered Keyblade Stance)

p_1d20+5(Zipline Strength)

p_1d20+3(Zipline DEX, Chell's STR is +5 and DEX is +3, 5+5+3=13 so the allowed difference is 13. She got a 11 difference so cleared)

Chell in her haste fumbled a bit but managed to catch herself with her other hand and realign herself on the way down with her weapon.

Chell HP: 155 Shield HP: 50 Foresight (2)

1d20+3·1d20+3·1d20+5·1d20+3

[heirtothemonado]

Well, Steve's parting words to Shulk before jumping through the portal didn't exactly calm his nerves at all. Even so, there was no other way forward, so in he went.

To meet nothing but a sheer drop. Good thing they managed to find some kind of footing, or all four of them would have plowed straight off the edge. Didn't stop Shulk from hugging the wall pretty closely. There didn't seem like there was anything down there to break his fall, so probably best not to risk it. 

Although, they didn't really get much of a choice. Because no sooner did Steve set up a rappel to the other side of this drop, someone caught notice of them. The driver of the vehicle that they'd followed in here! And it didn't look like he was too happy to see them, because as soon as he noticed them, he launched a flame-engulfed kick directly towards them, with very little room to maneuver!

(Due to Chell successfully countering Captain Falcon, Shulk does not need to dodge the Falcon Kick)

Luckily, Chell was first in line, and with a few quick maneuvers of her own, she blocked Captain Falcon's kick and countered with a punch in the gut. Taking advantage of Chell's distraction, Shulk held the Monado across the top of the zipline and grabbed the end of the blade before pushing off and trying to zipline to the other end of the chasm.

(Maximum difference: 5 + 0 + 2 = 7)
4X9zsKzMp_1d20 (Shulk's STR check)
p_1d20+2 (Shulk's DEX check)

(Difference = 1. Success!)

With almost no problems at all, Shulk managed to get to the other end of the chasm unscathed, letting go of the Monado and dropping to his feet right next to Steve.

---

Shulk
Health: 145/145
Shield: 40/40
Status: Successful ziplining

1d20·1d20+2

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Captain Falcon’s flaming kick ripped through the air, barreling toward the group with a fiery vengeance. Due to Chell’s sudden and quick maneuvers though, his ridged body merely flew directly past her. His confident triangular eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he soon realized the cost of his reckless pursuit of the interlopers. No sooner that he was in their space that he felt a pang in his gut, a blow not even his rippling abs could ignore. Like an expertly utilized judo throw, Captain Falcon’s own momentum was used against him, knocking him backwards. With a mighty “OooOOoo!” the chief of police’s buckled body descended through the bottomless pit of the shaft, disappearing into darkness as his voice echoed.

In the meanwhile, the original infiltration crew had successfully made their way to the door of the second floor. Just as they were walking inside, the sound of Captain Falcon’s plummeting body whizzed by. Curiously, Tails’ head whipped around, gazing back into the darkness in the elevator shaft. “… Did you guys hear something?” No one gave response and merely continued walking forward, scanning their new location. Tails scratched the back of his head. “… Right, probably nothing” he whispered to himself, figuring that it might have just been his nerves getting to him. He promptly turned back around and caught up with his group.

Back at the hole in the wall though, Steve tumble rolled inside. The opening was decently small, but beyond it was a slightly larger corridor. Upon attempting to stand, Steve quickly realized that hunching down was his best bet to deal with the height restrictions. He peered back out the hole just in time to catch sight of Captain Falcon plummeting into the abyss, followed by Chell’s arrival. He made way for his partners to get through, having a hard time holding back a snicker. “Kudos on killing the police chief, always hated the guy” he added casually. He shrugged. “Sucks that he’ll still be alive in our timeline” he spoke simply as he continued forward.

As Lusamine’s lieutenant paced down the hallway, the wall directly next to him suddenly opened. The steel plates and tangled wires shifted and re-allocated themselves independently revealing a bug-like creature standing on the other side. Steve leapt backwards in surprise. With his body out of the creature’s way though, it simply continued walking, the opposite wall opening in the same fashion as the first, allowing the creature to continue along its straight path.

SPOILER: Click to show

After the creature briskly walked away, Steve’s head followed curiously. “Ah, so he didn’t just find any hole in the wall, he found the Keeper tunnels” he mused aloud. He turned his head back to the group. “Might want to keep close, these things are known to open and close tunnels on a whim.”

Steve once more tapped the side of his visor, looking to the ground and continuing forward as if he was following a trail of bread crumbs. “Y’see, this guy’s actually the least impressive of his brothers. He likes to think he’s good because he can keep out of sight, but he leaves vapour trails worse than a Skuntank” Steve scoffed with a wave of his hand. Immediately following this assertion, his head slammed against a wall.

Stepping back and rubbing his head, Steve suddenly got a better sense of the room they stumbled into. It looked no different than the path they were already walking upon, only that it seemed like a hub point of sorts. The space was octagonal in shape, some of the edges had a flat wall, others had a tunnel leading off in a different direction. Steve looked back at the wall he bumped his head against. “Well, his vapour trail says he went through here. One of those bug things must have closed the tunnel.”

Upon knocking his fist against the wall, Steve didn’t hear the hollow echo back that he was expecting, proposing that the wall might be much thicker than he’d hoped. Of course, that didn’t rule out brute force as a possibility, but Steve was hardly capable of busting it down with any of his gadgets. Or, at least, nothing that wouldn’t prove destructive in their cramped position.

There were four tunnels available to the party though. Tunnel one lead back to the way they came, which wouldn’t prove to be much help, unless someone wanted to chase after the first Keeper they saw. Tunnel two was a mystery, a blind path forward with a corner further down the hall that could reveal just about anything. Tunnel three held another Keeper, completely the same in appearance as the first. It was a dead end, the creature was stationed at a holographic terminal, completely absorbed in its work. Tunnel four was a dead end as well, except there was a grate-like vent at the end of it and a vacant holographic terminal next to it. A closer inspection of the vent might reveal what’s on the other side.

[Chell]

Chell glanced back at the lingering cries of the Police Chief... She might of overestimated him with how much force she put into that counter... Ah well, wasn't their timeline's Captain Falcon. Pretty sure she can't be held liable for what she does in this timeline considering this whole mission was messing with the space-time continuum for their own benefit anyway. Not like they said they couldn't kill the Past Police Chief. Got to love temporal loopholes.

"... Yeah," Chell simply nods before returning her focus to the mission. "Keeper Tunnels?... Some kind of burrowing bug creature?" Chell asked, watching the thing scurry by. "Understood," she adds to staying close as she continued following Steve. So the ninja they were following was actually a rookie. Well, that made this easier in any case than if they were tailing a pro.

Just their luck though that their way forward was blocked off just in time. She observed their options for a moment... Well there was a Keeper in plain sight. Chell went to check the vent but paused to look at Steve first. "... Do you know if these things can read English?" Chell asked since she did not know much about these Keepers. "If they could we can trick them into reading a note. With a pen I found I can make anyone obey one command they read from it... apparently. With that we can just get them to reopen this tunnel," she honestly never tried it before but if they can it's worth a shot. If the answer was a negative she'd check the vent.

[heirtothemonado]

Shulk more or less kept silent as he followed after Steve and Chell. The cries of Captain Falcon as he fell into the abyss still rang in his ears slightly. While he wasn't at all comfortable with what had just happened...Steve was right. That wasn't their Falcon. So he really shouldn't let it bother him too much...despite it bothering him quite a bit. Trying to block out those thoughts, Shulk followed after his two partners

When the group came across the Keepers, Shulk suppressed a shudder. He wasn't too fond of most insects, but hey, they gave them a decent route forward, so he wasn't complaining. Though that route soon came to a stop as they ran into a wall blocking the way forward. Shulk looked around the room for another way. There were a few options here...

"..I don't know if we should disturb these Keeper things if we can avoid it." Shulk answered. While he didn't know whether these things would be hostile, and therefore wanted to exercise caution...he also just didn't want to be near them in general. "I vote that we check out the empty vent. It seems like much less of a risk then the other options. If we don't like what we see on the other side of that grate, we can always turn back."

---

Shulk
Health: 145/145
Shield: 45/45
Status: Unnerved

[Mr. Game & Watch]

Steve paused at Chell’s questioning of the Keeper creatures. “Something like that.” He pulled out his holographic tablet and presented it forward to the group. A small holo-projection of the bug creature popped up on the surface of it. “The last team that infiltrated this facility reported seeing one of these guys crawling around. No signs of Starvia infection, just carrying out its tasks. When Miss Lusamine was pulling this mission together, she brokered some information from a guy who shared a universe with these things. Apparently, they’re ancient bio-engineered creatures that specialize in maintaining megastructures, like this base. Well, specialize in that they literally don’t do anything outside of maintaining the megastructure they’ve been assigned to. Don’t know why they’re not infected though, maybe the people running this place don’t want them to, might mess up their primary programming and make them less efficient at their task. Miss Lusamine has her own theories about it.”

Suddenly, in the midst of Steve’s information dump, a small flashing light appeared at the holo-pad’s top right corner. A feint blip sound effect rang before an image of Lusamine appeared before the three. The miniature Lusamine turned directly toward Steve. “Would you mind telling me what happened to Axel? The tracker on his Past Pack showed he was falling at near terminal velocity down a chasm.”

Very slowly, Steve turned his attention away from his tablet and peeked down the hallway they just came from, a noticeable lack of their red maned companion. “Whoops. Guess he didn’t make it across the zip line” Steve casually reasoned with a shrug. “Don’t worry, he’s probably with the police chief by now. He’s in good hands” he assured with a nod.

Lusamine put her head in her hand. “Did you kill Captain Falcon?”

“Well, not me. One of us did, but scout’s honour, we don’t kill and tell.”

“Dandy. Hopefully Mr. Prower can figure out how to drive his Blue Falcon, otherwise their escape might not go as well as it did in our timeline. Regardless, the only person Axel will be meeting up with is us. We transported him back to the lab before he could have an unfortunate arrangement with the pavement. We might be able to transport him back, but it’ll take some time before his Past Pack is in working order. Where are you now? Your location doesn’t show up on the Dual Scream schematics.”

“We’re in the Keeper tunnels. I doubt these things stay in one shape long enough to keep track of. There’s also…” Steve looked around the cramped space as he reported. “Not a lot of space. I barely knew the guy, I’m not looking to fuse with him”

“I’ll figure something out. Until then, Steve, I preferred that you stuck to the technical work, but it seems like you’re going to have to keep toe to toe with your partners in case some… unpleasant work comes your way.”

Steve saluted the hologram as it fizzled away. Placing his tablet to his side, he glanced over to Chell as she presented the pen. His hand fell to his chin as she explained how it work, then turning to Shulk as he presented his thoughts on the matter. “Well, they’re barely aware of us. I mean, they can see us, know we’re here, but they won’t do anything about it.” Steve threw a side glance to one of the bug creatures as they worked. “Or, so I’m told.” He scratched the back of his helmet. “Not sure if they can read though. One sec.” He pulled the tablet back out and pressed on it once more. “Ey, while I still have you on the horn, what does your source know about them understanding English?”

The hologram of Lusamine appeared once more, a curious quirk on her face as she leaned over, as if she was interacting with a computer. “Hold on. These things were last stationed on the Citadel, an alien embassy that had humans on its council. While they didn’t answer to the council, they would probably have gotten themselves familiar to English speech and writing for the sake of maintaining the Citadel, in which case, they would likely be able to read English, but they wouldn’t respond to it. Why?”

“Chell here has a pen that can make anyone obey one command they read from it.”

“Interesting…” she trailed off, looking up thoughtfully. “In theory, that could work. Tampering with Keepers will usually cause them to explode or melt on the spot, but that’s physical and technical tampering. By the sounds of it, this is a magical item, that creature comes from a universe with no such thing, so it probably doesn’t have any safeguards from anything magical in nature. It might be a gamble though. That’s your call to make.” The feed cut once more, Lusamine’s tiny holographic body fading away.

Steve’s reflective visor turned to Chell once more. “So!” Steve began, rubbing his hand together as if he was hatching a scheme. “I got a plan, how ‘bout me and Monado boy here go check out that grate, you test your pen theory and see if that thing blows up in your face or opens the wall for us. You have portal stuff to work with, I’m sure you can find a safe way to do it.” With that, Steve confidently stepped forward, throwing up a peace sign as he walked away.

Upon entering the hall, the faint sound of voices could be heard further down the way, but they were echoes of words, garbled by the distance they traveled. All that could be extrapolated was that one was deep and boisterous; the other was robotic and cold. Perhaps closing the distance would make what they were saying clearer. Whether Shulk and/or Chell were curious enough to follow Steve to get the scoop was up to them, they could try to safely get the Keeper under their command. The faint tones of voices could only be detected if they went through the hall with Steve, otherwise they would be a bit too out of range to detect the murmurings.

[Coolshaymin]

So, they were a worker species then... Makes sense especially them apparently not having much focus outsider their work. Unfortunately they were also down a team mate by the sounds of it... Oh right, Falcon was their getaway pilot... Oops. Oh well, not her timeline. She respected Steve not selling her out though... Alien Embassy, huh? Well, if it was any Earth Language they knew, highest chance was English.

From the sounds of it it is a biological failsafe so it wouldn't have measures it wasn't programmed for... And if there's no magic compulsion such as a ghost pen. "... You do that. If this fails I will be with you," Chell replies before thinking of how to do this... First she takes out some paper and writes the message "Re-Open the path" on it. 

Alright, now she just has to get them to read it. She looks back to the Keeper engrossed in his work... Chancers are if something is dangling there he might take a second to read it. Might be work related. She shoots a portal above the Keeper before firing one in front of her. Summoning her Keyblade she attaches a magic line to it with Magnet Magic before lowering it down in between of the Keeper and his terminal. With her free hand she grabs and holds her portal gun out to her side, aiming where the grate was ready to fire a portal should anything happen, connecting it to the one she was standing in front of incase her or her allies needed it, carefully watching with narrowed eyes.