~Dawn of Darkness RP~

[DanteEX]

I helped untie his mouth first. Then I untied the rest of him. "I'm guessing Hitchargo tied you up in there?" Buu asked. I grasped my no-fingered hands. "This guy is really getting on my nerves." I said trying to sound tough.

[red.yoshi]

Red nodded as he fell to a heap on the ground. "We've got to stop him before he does something awful to these innocent town folk." Red was great full that Hitchargo didn't snatch his sword or his wear. "Liko. . .you look tired. You should stay here for the night. I'm going hunt down Hitchargo." She shook her head in protest, but red was already by the door. "I want to come too" she whined.
"I don't want you getting hurt" said red sternly. He scowled as she was soon beside him, but flushed as her hand found his under the cloak.

[DanteEX]

"Buu and I will search the east and south, you two search north and west. Lets go!" I jumped out the window and started running. "Hey ShyGuy," Buu called, "That's north..." I spun around. "Yeah I know. Just seeing if he was around the inn. I went around to the other side of the inn. Buu followed.

[red.yoshi]

Liko showed no sign of leaving red. She didn't want to split up. Red was all the more happy at the idea of having Liko ride on his back under his cloak. He hid her carefully and burst out of the Inn. He tried running swiftly and steadily which wasn't hard as the ground was flat and cushioned. Liko soon feel fast asleep on his soft shoulder with her arms clinging around his neck like he was a big teddy bear. The cloak blanketed Liko as red swiftly kept his pace, already knowing what happened between the faint mind contact of Wyvern Lumiere, but nothing else. For some reason, he could feel the Wyvern's emotions and thoughts when they weren't so far apart.

He decided to go where he had last seen out of Lumiere's eyes. He focused on a field not to distant from the town itself, but this must have been before the fact of the assault since it was much to bright out. He tried to remember now, from Lumiere's point of mind, the present. He saw her clawing at air inches before Hitchargo.

Red suddenly stopped as it hit him. Liko stirred silently in her sleep, a small dribble running down the side of Red's shoulder. His faced turned red at how well Liko slept next to him. Maybe she is just very tired. . . he thought to himself as he spun around, and began heading back towards the Inn. His awareness of Lumiere grew as he returned towards the Inn, and he saw Hitchargo (from Lumiere's perspective) hop down an orifice in the ground. He was prepared to do the same, but the awareness was fading. Glimpses of an underground labyrinth. Glimpses of a cavern with water leading out to deep sees. Lumiere must be on the chase he thought as he began searching for the opening in the ground.

[DanteEX]

I looked around the east side, while Buu searched south. I didn't see Hitchargo, but I did see Red's Wyvern in the sky. After looking all over, I ran back into Buu. "Did ya find anything?" She asked. I shook my head. We then noticed Red looking around as if he lost something. "Hey Red. What are you looking for?" I asked.

[red.yoshi]

"Theres a secret passage around here" he muttered, keeping his voice silent as not to wake sleeping Liko. "Its where Hitchargo escaped to." He kept searching, and dug up a suspicious plant which was burried in the ground. It revealed a steel trap door. "Over here!" He whispered again, curling his fingers over the latch.

[DanteEX]

Buu and I went over to help him pull the latch up. It revealed a staircase into darkness. "A-after you two." I said stepping back.

[red.yoshi]

Red crept down the stairs as he held onto Liko. It was very dark once he alighted the last step. "Does anyone have a light source?" he whispered back to the group. "It's pretty dark down here." Red felt the narrow passage way and found what felt like a torch. He lifted it into his hands and shifted it around. Liko began to stir. "Red . . ?" she murmured dreamily. Red blushed as she snuggled into his back. "Why can't I see anything?" she asked. "We're deep underground. We're still on the hunt for Hitchargo and we believe this is where he has escaped to."

[DanteEX]

As we kept going down. The crystal started glowing under my tunic. "Huh?" I took it out. It was glowing a bluish color. "What's that?" Buu asked. Her voice echoing of the narrow walls. "It's some jewel we got earlier. I wonder why it's glowing." I mummered.

[red.yoshi]

"The jewel of truth. . ." red muttered under his breath. Liko stared at it in shock. "We must be in the right direction. I wonder. . ." Red held the torch to the jewel. The torch caught a blue flame illuminating the narrow passage into the maze. It was very old. The walls were crumbling and the air was dusty. "I wonder what this was used for?" Red wondered out loud as he began navigating the tunnel. He let Liko stay on his back, secretly liking her this close to him.

[DanteEX]

I put away the crystal then started around. I could see faded drawings on the walls. One looked like a yoshi fighting a rex, and another just had a caveman dancing around fire. This must've been a cave on the surface a long time ago. Weird how there's stairs leading down here, I thought. I looked to the door on the other side we came. It had cob webs hanging down the border. It seemed as if some one had just been through here. I made my way over to the door. Passing skulls and bones lying on the floor.

[red.yoshi]

Red's heart thumped fast whenever they rounded the next corner. Occasional sounds of unfamiliar movements startled him much too easily. He listened intently for the tiny scurrying feet of Hitchargo which sounded a little different than Shy Guy's but heard nothing out of the ordinary. He pulled his cloak and Liko closer on his back as if to blend in with the darkness.

~~~

Hours of corridors went by. Red felt as if the group was traveling in circles. Every path looked the same. Every turn seemed to repeat itself. The pictures on the walls never varied much. Liko played with the laces on red's trousers absentmindedly. She was bored out of her mind. Red began to feel fatigue. Carrying Liko wasn't a difficult task for him. But, as with carrying anything for such a long duration, ones muscles begin to feel shaky.

"Guys?" croaked dry mouth red, trotting along. He took a big swallow to refresh his voice. The group hadn't said much during this venture thus far. "I think Hitchargo lead us into a trap. I can't feel my Lumiere anywhere. We must have gone too far or too deep." Red refused to stop walking. His legs carried him onward. He felt Liko's confused face in the dim darkness. "Lumiere is my companion Wyvern." Responded red, answering her question.

Red finally stopped after rounded the next corner, realizing that they wouldn't get anywhere. He held the torch up to reveal his surroundings. The corridor in front of him lay in front of him. It was just as welcoming as all of the last. Dark and dreadful. Red sighed. He turned around, looking down the hall he had just come from. Five corridors branching off in opposite directions. No way to tell which one they had come from. Red sighed. "I suppose going back is out of the question."

He continued to walk into the preceding tunnel which was very short. He began to hear his footsteps echo. Once again, Red held the torch high above his head to reveal his surroundings. A very, very large cavern. Red couldn't see towards the other side of the massive cave. He stood there, shocked. After snapping himself out of shock, he scanned the area around him more carefully.

The floor had many tiles which were square in shape and looked as if they hadn't been stepped on in years. Each one was very large and sinister looking. Red was afraid of booby traps and other things that might happen if one stepped on a tile. He scanned the wall, finding pictures of brutal deaths. He then found a large statue of a Yoshi holding a giant torch. He lifted his arm up, illuminating the giant torch the Yoshi held. The room burst into color as the giant torch lit and illuminated immediately. Red scratched his head confused. He began scanning the walls again for some formula the group could use to cross the room to whatever the other side might have in store for them.

[DanteEX]

I pulled out my bow and a few stones for . Buu didn't touch anything. She just floated there waiting. "You should get a weapon just in case we get ambushed or something." I told her. Buu flicked her hat. "If the ceiling crumbles or arrows shoot out, I'll be safe under this large hat. If we get ambushed, I can poison them with my breath. If we fall into a hole, I can float higher for about five seconds." I blinked. "Okay... whatever...
"I still think you should get a stick or something." I leaned against the dusty wall, waiting for everyone to get ready. Ever since I got my memory back, I thought, I've been a lot braver.

[red.yoshi]

Pictures of people suffering from wounds and other fates were portrayed on the old walls. Red shivered as he stepped silently. Liko held tightly on his free hand, frightened that something might happen to Red and hurt him. Red then went to go and examine the tiles.

They were twelve wide, and who knew how many long. Each tile was about four or five feet in diameter. He got on his hands and knees. He brought the torch carefully to a tile and scrutinized it. Each tile had a different symbol on it. Red carefully ran his finger across the sleek surface of the tile and the symbol, very gentle as not to press the tile down. An earthy blue light illuminated from the symbol as his fingers etched across it. A loud slam echoed from the other end of the room sending red to jump back far in shock and fear. He waited. The tile stayed illuminated.

Red checked the walls more carefully, his heart still beating too fast. He discovered small inscriptions. A Koopa, drawn very rustic, was holding a sword pointed to a list of maybe fifty different symbols. Red squinted his eyes, making out the first one. It was identical to the tile he had stroked with his fingers. Each symbol was more detailed then the last until the symbols started to resemble different species of Koopas, Yoshis, Goombas, and the likes. "Hey, guys, I think I've found something!" red said excitedly, picking up a sharp rock from the ground, copying the symbols onto his blade, mapping out what he thought might be the route to the opposite side of the room. He drew them surprisingly accurate. He was surprised to find that the first symbol he had drawn on his sword began to glow the same color as the tile.

[DanteEX]

"Whoa..." I stammered. "Write the rest on a this." I pulled off a piece of my tunic and gave it to Red.

[red.yoshi]

Red took the tunic and began writing down the symbols in the correct order. It looked as if he had gotten each and everyone of them in the correct order. He dropped the rock when he was finished. "Should we take our chances, and follow this path?" red wondered allowed as he began stepping towards the glowing tile. Liko whimpered, and pressed herself up against red's chest in protest, but he carried her.

[DanteEX]

Buu and I agreed. "It must've been drawn for some reason," Buu brought up, "And how it glowed like that makes the more reason to follow the path..." She had said something else, but I wasn't paying attention. I looked over Red's elbow and tried to study the map. "Ah forget it. You lead the way, Re-" I stopped when Buu thomped the back of my head. "We still don't know if Red or Liko want to use it." She yelled quietly.

[red.yoshi]

Liko looked at red and sighed. She didn't want to do this, and cuddled closer to Red. "Liko, I'll be here with you all the way, nothings going to hurt you, I promise." She nodded, shivering quickly in red's arms. "Let's do this."

Red stepped on the first tile. It sunk in deeply, making an eerie cement grinding cement noise. A large boulder slammed down where their entrance was, blocking any means of leaving. Red almost jumped out of shock to the adjacent tile, but caught himself just in time. He stared at his sword and the piece of cloth he had, and then he began searching for the next symbol. He soon discovered it three tiles away, and gulped. He wouldn't be able to make the jump, and turned to Shy Guy and Buu.

[DanteEX]

I turned to Buu. She sighed, "I can't even touch the floor." I turned back to Red, "Try throwing me." I said. I jumped into Red's arms. I was scared if I was going to land correct or if I'd go too far.

[red.yoshi]

He held Shy Guy with great care, afraid that the slightest movement would trigger a wrong tile. He aimed Shy Guy just right, and released him from his arms. He watched intently as Shy Guy traveled through the air. At least the next tile isn't as far away. . . he thought nervously to himself as he looked at a tile diagonal from where he was standing. It matched the next symbol on his sword.