The Great Swamp- Swamp Thing!

[DB]

SPLAT.

That was the sound of a body hitting the muddy quagmire of the Great Swamp, followed by a gurgle as said body tried to breath under mud.

Mud is not breathable. Let that be a lesson for all.

And whoever had just fallen into the mud quickly found that out, and lifted their head from the muck with a gasp, wiping the goo from their face and gawking at their surroundings.

Some GUN agents may have been able to tell you who this was, many, not. Certainly no one on Mobius had ever seen anything like it, at least. Well, something somewhat like it, keeping red and black hedgehogs in mind, as the creature did somewhat resembles those, in some regards. A black and red hedgehog covered in scaly skin, with almost metallic gold eyes, and three fingered clawed hands.

Some GUN agents may of even been able to tell you what this creature was- a failed prototype of Project Shadow.

Of course, no one Mobius had ever heard of that either.

So, instead, it would be easy enough simply to call the creature a monster, and leave it at that.

Regardless of what it was, it was now sitting in the bog, confused, and covered in mud. It poked at the gunk a bit, puzzled, and obviously not having seen something quite like it before. After awhile, a wide grin broke across it’s muzzle, realizing how fun the texture of the goo was. It gave a harsh, barking laugh, then dived back into the muck, rolling and generally acting like a very young child would, playing in the mud.

[Lans]

Overhead, a pair of objects flew by, one trailing smoke as it lost altitude.


"I think we need to make an emergancy landing!" Nicole shouted, already wrestling with the controls to try and land safely. Apparently, despite how well built the rocket glider was, it just wasn't made to make a trans-oceanic flight. She slowly banked around, aiming for a large clearing, as the engine finally sputtered and went dead. She managed to touch down softly, but still slid messily through the mud of the swamp, causing herself to be covered in it by the time she stopped. She crawled out of the glider, grimacing at the unpleasant feelings the mud in her fur was giving her.

[AnT]

The other flyers in the gray sky was Tekno...who rode on Dulcy. Like her glyder, she too wasn't built for long travel with her wings, and she took a ride on the dragon an hour after they left the base.

"Eeee, I feel so pity for the dove." she muttered after she watched that landing.


"It almost beats my crash landings. Speaking of which...GOING DOWN!!!" and the dragoness swooped towards the muddy soil between the strange trees.

Just before she touched the mud, Dulcy aimed her feet at the floor and carefully planted them while in flight. But pilots NEVER try to land on such surfaces, and the reason why is what Dulcy demonstrated as she was slipping.

"WhoawhoaWHOA!" she cried as she sliped on her face and slid through the mud.


"Um, this is my stop!" Tekno leaped off the dragoness and whipped out her wings from her arms.

As she safely hovered, she winced at the dragon's harsh crash. "Ooooo...thank yooooou, winged arms."

[Lans]

Nicole continued gramacing as she dug as much mud out of her fur as she could. "I would be really pleased to hear that Knothole is close by," she said, speaking to Dulcy.

[AnT]

The young dragon was arched against a tree, buried in mud. Lifting her head, her eyes rolled around. "But maaa...I don't wanna be a Pokemon trainer go to school."


"Well you ain't gettin anything from her now, luv."

[Lans]

She sighed. "I don't suppose you brought along something that can carry large weights? I certainly can't carry her, and she's, unfortunatly, our guide."

[AnT]

Tekno shook her head, "Nah, but I'm sure she'll come out of it. She told me this happens to her everyday."

[Lans]

Nicole just looked at her. "...That's not very reassuring."

[AnT]

The bird shrugged, carelessly. "Well that's what she said, luv, and-"

Her eyes spotted something in the darkness between the creepy and musty trees.

"Was that...something...?"

[DB]

Indeed, there was something. Something covered in mud, and trudging right for them.

[Lans]

Nicole turned to look in the direction Tekno was and froze. She glance at the canary, "You don't suppose this is one of the Knothole Freedom Fighters do you?"

[AnT]

"I seriously doubt knothole trees exists in swampy regions, luv."

She searched through her pouch that was clipped on to the belt-loop of her black overalls and pulled out some type of grenade that had wires wrapped around it.

"At least I finally can use this knock-out gas bomb." she tossed it at the mud monster, hoping to put him to sleep.


[dice=6][rand=93909366969929242085335421125156239558335069251778795497910299942]

[DB]

[dice=6] (Yeah, saw that coming)

At having a strange object thrown at it, the muddy figure paused, gawked at the object, and then picked it up out of curiosity.

However, that was not a wise idea, because at that point said bomb went off.

And, for moment, as the gas expelled and cleared, it had seemed like nothing had happened. The figure turned towards the group, took what appeared to be the beginning of a step... and fell forward right into the muck.

And all was still. ... Except for the bubbles coming out of the mud. ... Which still wasn't all that breathable since the last time.[rand=5709719799803467515393333479129172591290960655898459085685617633]

[Lans]

"...Well I suppose we shouldn't let it lay there," she said to Teckno, as she moved over to roll 27 face up, "Give me a hand."

[AnT]

Doing so, Tekno grabbed the creature by the bottom of its shoulders and flipped his heavy body over.

Her eyes narrowed when she noticed something. Her hand unintentionally wiped some of the mud off the monster's face, and she could see black quills with a red triangle-tatoo. Curiosity took over as she cautiously wiped the mud.

But after a moment of wiping, Tekno flinched away in fright. Not because of the monster woke up, which it didn't hopefully, but what the face looked like.

"Shadow?!?"

[Lans]

"Not exactly," Nicole said, recognizing the creature. "This is PS27, a Shadow prototype that we've been holding for study since we were able to capture it. Obviously a portal must have formed in its cell."

[AnT]

"A prototype...of Shadow?!?" Now she was getting a little suspicious. "Why in the bloomin hell were you making a Shadow copy? Please tell me you didn't make this thing!"

[Lans]

"...I'm venturing a guess that your Shadow isn't a product of genetic engineering?"

[AnT]

".........What a wacko world you live in, luv. Next you'll be telling me that Shadow there is a Goth-boy...which would be an improvement for-"


"Uuugh..." Suddenly, the dragoness arose, coated in mud. "...but ma, I promised I wouldn't play in the mud again."


"Aaaand she's up. Well then, now that she's up in wakey-land, what are we gonna do with this..." she gave a brief glare at Nicole. "...'Product of genetic engineering'? I don't have anything that can be used to tie him up."

[Lans]

"Hmm...do you have any fish?" she asked.

[AnT]

Her brow twitched at such a strange answer, "I'll take that as a no, then."


Finally coming to, Dulcy walked through the muddy floor and noticed the strange hedgehog on the floor. "Hey, is that Shadow?"


"No, luv. Apperantly, this imposter is..." she briefly glared at Nicole, "...a product of genetic engineering, from her world. Since that is the case, we can't leave this thing here, and it'll be a matter of time before it wakes up and go wacko on us."


"Oooohhh. That's easy."

With a deep breath, Dulcy blew cold white wind through her nostrals, covering the sleeping hedgehog. After it parted, the hedgehog was encased in ice.


".......Smashing!"

[Lans]

Nicole opened her mouth to say something, but before she could Dulcy had already frozen 27. "...actually, our monitoring shows it's not really all that dangerous..."

[AnT]

"...um....opps."


"Well after the way I gassed it, better safe than sorry. Alright, dragon-dove, saddle up the iced cargo and lets get back on the road trip to Knothole."


"Right!" Picking up the frozen 27, Dulcy paced him on her back. "Wooo...c-c-cold!"


Tekno meanwhile sighed at her demolished glyder. She hates it when her inventions fail, and there's no way she can carry it back to her lab. Plus this glyder was found in the abandoned base before her Freedom Fighters turned it into their HQ. No way she can make another one with their limited resources. Shadow is gonna be bloody mad about this.

"-sigh- Well, Nik, you might as well suck it up and ride the dragon. The Glyder is pretty much in the gutter now."

[Jamie Lee]

Not far off, a large rift suddenly opened up in the air, and sailing out of it at an alarming speed was a small aircraft. It crashed through the tree branches, sending debris, dirty and junk flying before it finally slammed into the murky swamp floor and skidded to a halt on its side within a junk pile.

From inside the downed vehicle, Finitevus groaned at the sudden impact and slowly removed his face from the airbag. He motioned to rub his head, and quickly realized his hand wasn't responding the way it should have been. He squinted at the appendage as he held it up to his face, but his blurred vision made it impossible to make out beyond a vague blob of color.

"Where are my glasses?" he groaned angrily.

[DB]

[dice=2]
(1= wakes up, 2= stays asleep)
The experiment, thankfully, stayed in it's icey slumber. Thankfully, as otherwise, it'd be quite unhappy with being frozen solid.



And not too far away, another strange figure sat on yet another of the swamp’s many junk piles. The figure’s crystalline head tilted in the direction of the sound of the crash, and yet it’s acid green eyes looked the other direction, toward the group with the dragon and such.

Another stranger to this world.

It… he… whatever gender it was supposed to be, had been wandering the swamp for a while, since accidentally finding himself in this world. And not too long ago, he had sensed the presence of one of his few remaining kin, and had gone to investigate. However, said kin was now unconscious. This could mean any number of things- for example, that there was danger ahead. And, knowing nothing of this world, the figure was not entirely comfortable with simply wandering blindly into what could be a dangerous situation. So, instead, he’d decided to sit here and wait, to see what may happen.

And so it seemed fate had decreed a crash would happen.

His gaze shifted away from where he sensed his kin to where he’d heard the crash, pondering. After a few moments thought, he’d decided that it couldn’t hurt to at least take a peek.

[dice=2](Control roll)[rand=887593721301213601720614148067312402810574378964404982961678274378]

[Jamie Lee]

[dice=2]

I should complain of being bored more often, a voice in the back of the creature's mind spoke, a pique of curiosity in its tone. It makes interesting things happen. [rand=261657678362905778434100125787354471656058657896955232951290231806]

[Leda]

"Sonuva..." Julie groaned lowly, rubbing her muzzle. Those airbags prevented more serious injuries, she was sure, but it still packed a punch. The pangolin squinted one eye. I think I can hear my brain sloshing around.

"Your glasses?" she grunted, taking a look around. It turned out to be in vain; the ship's power was strobe-like at best at this point, but furthermore the doctor's eyewear could've been thrown anywhere. Julie sighed. "Stay put, I'll find--"

She couldn't seem to unbuckle her harness. It was a few more seconds before she realized that it was because her mechanical left arm was completely unresponsive. Julie's face twisted into an irritable grimace as she let out a short growl. "Oh great!"


Further back in the ship, Princess Sally rested limply in her seat, held in place only by the seatbelts strapping her in place. Upon impact, the ground squirrel's head had struck the wall just behind her seat, temporarily rendering her unconscious.


And Julie noticed. The pangolin cringed and glanced at Finitevus. "...Um, Doc..... the princess..."

[Riyami]

There was an audible flickering noise as Isis's cloak deactivated. There was a small stream of blood running down one side of her face as she looked down to her robotic arm which trembled slightly and spasmed ocationally, it's circuitry having been affected by the EMP pulse.

Giving an annoyed scoff, she stowed her arm back underneath her cloak and bent down, picking up a small pair of violet tinted glasses that had fallen under one of the seats, and placing them back onto the Pangolian Dr.'s face.

The Female Jackal turned to face the rest of the passengers, glancing to the princess but not taking any action to help. Instead she turned to the ship's hatch and opened it.

"I'm going to survey the area."

With that Isis stepped out of the ship and looked around.

[Lans]

"I guess so..." Nicole said reluctantly...right before the area erupted in what sounded like an explosion as Fini's ship crashed. "What was that!?"

[AnT]

Without a word, Tekno pulled out some kind of hi-tech binoculars and scanned the sight afar. After a few moments of zooming in, night-vision adjustments, and setting the camera-mode, Tekno spotted a black jackal woman peaking out of the trashed ship.


"Um...Tekno..." said Dulcy, trying to keep the iced experiment on her back. "...this thing is shaking. I think he's starting to hatch."


"Just keep him frozen, luv." Tekno ordered as she studied the figure near the ship.


And Dulcy blew icy wind at the iced 27.


Tekno took a picture of Isis and left it in the binoculars. She handed it to Nicole. "I don't recognize that kind of ship, and my mini computer in my pocket detected some kind of energy surge. So, you recognize that gal, luv?"


---


And like Sally, Shortfuse was still out, but on the floor.