-krssssssht-

[KonokoHasano]

--Chisame, Chronicle of Art--

"Friends?"

Pulling back up, the girl spins around--flinging a scalpel at Chisame's neck!

"...Sure. Friends!"

Chisame slips, falling onto her butt and dodging the scalpel. "Oooowwwwwie..." She sniffs for a moment, but smiles. "Glad we can be giganto friends!"

[Mendi-chan]

*His eyes widen, looking at her in surprise...*
I thought that you might be... but... How?
*He shakes his head, speaking with a subtle urgency*
Entropy, you know me... And you know you don't belong here, don't you.

[Blaze]

Blaze covers her mouth in shock as the girl is slammed trough the building! Forgetting that she's as helpless as... well, a schoolgirl right now, she runs out of the class and heads towards the impact zone!

"PLease please please be all right..."

[Jello Shot Mischa]

--CTC, A Rational Response--

The trail is secured without too much trouble! It appears to be normal enough, save the mystery of its creation! That...and a small sign sitting on the edge of the trail some ways ahead. It's a pale pastel white and reads simply 'Welcome'. Closer inspection may reveal that it is made of plastic...and is marking where the path breaks off into three routes.

The CTC team makes their way along the path, moving cautiously and sticking to the vegetation on the sides when they can in order to avoid any potential hazards or traps that might have been laid along the path proper. As they arrive at the intersection, however, the team halts just short of it, gathering together to discuss the situation.

"Well, doctor, what do you think?" Sergeant Meinhard asks, and the doctor's eyebrows furrow as she considers the situation for a few long minutes, finally prompting the sergeant to ask her again. "Doctor?"

"Oh! Sorry..." The woman from the URD frowns. "I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It appears to be plastic..."

"Preliminary spectrographic scan confirms the sign has a polymer construction," the EDU robot confirms.

Doctor Serilde nods. "Anyways, that changes the situation rather dramatically. If this were a 'native islander scenario' like I postulated at the beach, we'd be looking at a sign made of wood with the message carved or burned into it. This... this suggests that whoever is on the island has a certain degree of technological sophistication."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Hard to say. At the very least, the presence of technological equipment increases the chances of us getting a signal back to command, and finding out more about just what that distortion was and how we got here. On the other hand... we're probably looking at a scenario where this is some kind of hidden base."

"A hidden base?" Private Leverett asks.

The doctor nods. "You know, typical technothriller trope... the evil villain/mastermind sets up an island fortress for himself. Conveniently remote and pleasant climate, all in one tidy package."

Sergeant Meinhard nods. "Well, at least that'll be somewhat more conventional, if it's true." He glances at the three pathways. "Which route do you think is best?"

"That depends on what you want to achieve," Doctor Serilde replies. "At least that part's easy to analyze. Any rationally-design complex, whether a native village a hidden superbase, would be designed so that the most vital and essential components are located in the center, both for reasons of practical convenience and for maximum defensiveness. In this case, the central path is the most likely to lead towards anything of critical importance, while the other two paths likely lead to areas of secondary value. Potentially resource or logistic centers."

The sergeant considers the pathways. "The central path is likely to be the best defended, if that's true, and we're best off getting more intel first." He glances at the other two paths for a moment, and then nods. "All right, let's take the right pathway. Keep the same formation, and don't let your guard down. The fact that there's a sign here means we're on the outskirts of whatever society is inhabiting this area... and the fact that it says 'Welcome' means they expect guests to arrive at some point."

With Meinhard's words on their minds, the group starts heading down the pathway to the right...

[Vomica]

Merah gives the man a head long look, "...don't give me that little girl bit! I'm a teenager, not a kid." She narrows her eyebrows, and relaxes a bit upon realizing who she is dealing with "...I could work in the kitchens. But I can also do other stuff." She frowns, "...I'm sure you could use a skilled mechanic, or something. ...don't judge me by my appearance. I'm capable of far more than..." She trails off at that, and blushes "...what you'd expect..."

[Anonymouse]

--Chisame, Chronicle of Art--

The girl raises a quizzical eyebrow, looking down at Chisame. "Ah...you'll make an interesting piece of art..."

--Mendo, Chronicle of Chance--

The woman blinks...clearly not have been expecting that response.

"I--sorry sir. You must be confusing me with someone else..."

--Blaze, Chronicle of Magic--

Running out the door--against the yelling of the teacher--Blaze finds unfortunately...that the movement seems to attract the attention of the black creature--which whirls around with wet growl. It seems to be a lot faster then it looks!

Despite the situation...something glints at Blaze's feet--the purple orb. It's glowing--brighter then before.

--CTC, A Rational Response--

Away the team goes! Their formation holds steady as slowly the trees start to thin out--a little at a time...and those left are...different. It may not immediately be obvious, as one by one they're...replaced by realistic, but fake trees--plastic, again. And as they thin out...what seems to be a town becomes apparent, in the distance--a small settlement, probably no more then a small smattering of streets and buildings. They're a ways off still, but there's a few figures moving about. They don't seem to have noticed them yet.

--Merah, Chronicle of Smoke--

The man gives a small blink, looking her over. "A mechanic...?"

Glancing down at his papers, he exhales tiredly. "Well, it would be as easy work, but if you're really interested, I think they could use an assistant. What's your name?"

[Blaze]

Blaze spots the creature approaching and starts pancking! The rational side of her realizes it's vision must be limited, but it percieves anything that moves as a target, but the rest of her is on the verge of a breakdown! She immediately lies flat on the ground, hoping the creature ignores her... when she spots the orb!

Despite the danger, she picks it up between thumb and index finger and examines it.

[KonokoHasano]

The girl raises a quizzical eyebrow, looking down at Chisame. "Ah...you'll make an interesting piece of art..."

"A piece of art-- oh! You mean I can help you?" Chisame smiles and grabs a bucket of paint. "Watch, I call this splatter art!" Tosses the contents of the bucket~

[Mendi-chan]

*Smiles to her as an old friend might*
Come on Entropy... Even you don't believe that.
*At least, he hoped she didn't... This may be his only chance to figure out how the hell this place worked.*

[Vomica]

Merah smirks lightly at that, "Of course... assistant..." She giggles at that, as if something is amusing -- then ahems! "My name is Merah Pelinga." (Or something like that... I'll look for the notes on her name and edit later. >.>)

[Jello Shot Mischa]

--CTC, A Rational Response--

Away the team goes! Their formation holds steady as slowly the trees start to thin out--a little at a time...and those left are...different. It may not immediately be obvious, as one by one they're...replaced by realistic, but fake trees--plastic, again. And as they thin out...what seems to be a town becomes apparent, in the distance--a small settlement, probably no more then a small smattering of streets and buildings. They're a ways off still, but there's a few figures moving about. They don't seem to have noticed them yet.

(( Bah, always things getting in the way... ))

The small squad of soldiers stops at the edge of the forest. Private Leverett glances down as he brushes against one of the plants, and pauses in surprise as he realizes that it's actually plastic. "Sarge... the plants..."

Sergeant Meinhard simply nods. "Yeah... I've noticed it too. It's pretty strange... any idea what it implies, doctor?"

Doctor Serilde shakes her head. "This place is getting more confusing by the minute. It's getting hard to try and predict just what's going on."

The sergeant nods again. "Well... we've at least found some of the local inhabitants," he murmurs, his attention shifting to the figures visible moving about the settlement. "Hmm... it's organized with streets. Doesn't seem to be the kind of 'tribal' thing we were speculating about earlier."

"A local community isn't consistent with a high-tech base, though," Leverett points out. "Maybe it's something like a company town?"

Meinhard chuckles. "Let's hope we don't have to go upriver to find Colonel Kurtz, then."

The doctor pulls a pair of binoculars out from her satchel and tries to get a better look at the figures moving about in the village. "No obvious signs of defenses, I think... perhaps I should approach them?" She grimaces slightly. "I hate to admit it, but I'm probably the most expendable at the moment."

Sergeant Meinhard shakes his head. "Don't say that, doctor. Everyone's important on this team. At the very least, once we get a handle on things, we'll need your expertise to figure out how we can get back home." He tries to get a better look at the village and its inhabitants. "Nor do I like the idea of splitting up the squad -- that's just asking for some of us to get ambushed. No... we'll go together, once we've got a better idea of just who and what we're looking at dealing with." His gaze shifts to examine the area around the village. Is it open ground, or is there enough cover for them to reach the outskirts of the village unnoticed?

[Anonymouse]

--Blaze, Chronicle of Magic--

The creature stomps forward, and she can hear the class back away as one as the windows behind her crack!

Somehow though, time seems to slow around her as she focuses in on the shiny gem. Across its surface, she can see a phrase flutter past--'hibana ni naritai...'

--Chisame, Chronicle of Art--

The girl acks, and stumbles back, thoroughly splattered!

"That--this is not art." Her voice rises as she pulls herself up from the ground, a low rumbling starting as her eyes flicker orange.

--Mendo, Chronicle of Chance--

The woman gives Mendo a quizzical expression.

"...You seem familiar."

She hesitates, and shakes her head.

"But that's all--I could lose my job for chatting too much, you know."

--Merah, Chronicle of Smoke--

The man gives her an expression bordering on the lower extremes of quizzical, topping it off with a shrug, marking down her name.'

"Alright, Merah--head down to the garage, and someone'll find you something to do. Be careful though--the machines sometimes still have some kick in them. There's a ramp down there by the way you came in, if you got here by driving..."

--CTC, A Rational Response--

There seems indeed to be brush more or less to the edge of the settlement! Plastic brush, of course, shifting slightly in the breeze. As far as the town itself, there are only a few figures moving around right now--A rather buxom young woman of average height with bleach blonde hair and a tight sundress--pink--that goes down to her mid-thigh. The man is fairly tall with a smile that's dazzling even through the binoculars, and short-cut brown hair. He's holding a bag of groceries.

As for the town itself--though the people seem normal...or, normal enough, it too appears to be artificial--plastic cars, plastic buildings, plastic streetlights. The closest buildings appear to be a few private homes, though presumably there's a grocery store nearby.

[Blaze]

Blaze isn't terribly familiar with the language that appears on the gem, but she's a smart cookie, and breaks it down into syllables, sounding them out to herself.

"Hi-ba-na nee na-ri-tai." she murmurs to herself, the monster seemingly a million miles away now

[KonokoHasano]

The girl acks, and stumbles back, thoroughly splattered!

"That--this is not art." Her voice rises as she pulls herself up from the ground, a low rumbling starting as her eyes flicker orange.

"B-- But art is in the eye of the beholder! Giganto amazing art is often weird and simple... right?" Tilts her head before wobbling. "Ah! Earthquake!"

[Vomica]

The girl gives a flash of a smile! She says, "Oh trust me! I won't let you down!" With that she takes a step backwards... and skitters down towards that ramp. She peeks back over her shoulder, "Promise!" Hey! For the moment at least she's filled with energy!