Rocket Knights: The ancient ruins

[Kohakuchan19]

Kaji could hear the chattering of the workers they had passed by, Most of them were still intrigued by the presence of the Rocket Knights. It wasn't exactly an everyday thing for them, so it made sense for them to be at awe to some extent. The ones that really bothered Kaji were the ones who seemed to be purposely avoiding any sort of eye contact with him or the others. The moment they got too close, they would instantly avert their eyes as if to avoid being identified. Kaji simply hummed and continued onward with his allies. Once they arrived at the entrance of the mine, Kaji felt slightly unnerved by the sudden lack of atmosphere.

Sparkster listed off the order of which they would enter the corridors and caverns within the Mine, and as far as Kaji knew it was either life pulling a cruel joke on him, or just a coincidence, but being paired up with Namid couldn't have been a worse pick. It wasn't like Kaji didn't want to be around Namid, but he didn't want to be the kind of guy who just steals another man's woman. Kaji couldn't let it bother him now, He and the other knights had a job to do, and it was more important than worrying about flirting or anything like that. As ordered, Kaji stood close to Namid as they continued through the mine. The deeper it got, the darker it was and eventually they were ordered to turn on their lamps, and then continued further.

There were several strange scents in the air.. None of them were very pleasant,

"Ugh... It smells atrocious. The gasses in here are fowl." Kaji complained. "I'm not sure we should have come in here without oxygen tanks.."

Sooner or later, Kaji and the rest of them came to a fork in the path, and Kaji hears Namid ask about what they should do.

"I strongly advice against splitting up..." Kaji said calmly "If anything were to happen to one group, the other may not be able to get to them in time to do anything about it.."

While the others continued to discuss plausible course of action, Kaji's ears twitch as he heard the sound of a stone hitting another from a distance. Kaji looks over in the direction it came from.

"Uh... Guys...? Did anyone else hear that or was it just me?" He asked as he pointed down one of the tunnels.

[billysparkz]

Vincent was glad that Armor rested well. It always made him happy that his friends rest well. He then saw that Namid wasn't happy that everyone was eating but her. Vincent felt bad that he forgot about Namid. However Vincent couldn't say anything about it since Sparkster began going on with the mission overview.

Vincent listened to what Sparkster said, and the mission objectives: Investigate the ruins, make sure no one gets hurt, and find out what's going on. Vincent can agree with that, they needed to get to the ruins to see what is going on. Vincent couldn't agree more, the sooner they get could get this resolved, the sooner he could go home to his wife. Vincent then followed the others outside and headed to the mines. There he saw several miners and researchers looking at them. This made Vincent nervous because he hardly knows this place and the people who reside there. As he walked cautiously he overrheard several people chattering to each other about the knights' arrival. This bothered him because he doesn't like it when people talk things behind another's back. He just looked to the others in complete disapproval as they entered the mines.

As they entered, Sparkster advised everyone to turn on their lamps. Along with everyone else, Vincent complied. After Sparkster gave the orders of the team's formation Vincent paired up with Armor. Vincent didn't mind that pair-up at all, it was always good for him to be partnered up with old friends. As they moved along, Vincent kept his eyes open for anything suspicious. As they moved onward Vincent could see the instability of the walls. Using his blaster was completely not an option. Although the others could smell the mixture of scents, Vincent could not because of his helmet, which not only covers his face but has a built-in air filter. After hearing Kaji complain about the smell Vincent responded.

"Well I don't have the same problem." Vincent said calmly. "Although it would have been a good idea to bring oxygen tanks."

Soon the group came to a forked path, which left the team confused on where to go. Vincent looked at the forked path in dismay. "Now what do we do?" he thought to himself. After hearing the others talking about wheather they should split up or not, he heard the noise Kaji heard as well. After Kaji pointed out that he heard something Vincent responded.

"I heard it too." Vincent said in a cautious tone before looking to Sparkster. "What should we do?" He asked Sparkster.

[metalbyakko]

"I'm sure if the gas would be that bad, someone would had warned us. Except the spreading gas is unknown to the workers," said Sparks in a calm tone, while they went through the tunnel. Sure he clearly knew he shouldn't take it too lightly, still he didn't wanted to go back because of every little problem. If they don't find anything at least he wanted to explore far enough to get at least enough information to prepare better for the next time. Armor knew about the fowl smell in mines and tunnels and explained "No, no. Don't worry. The air is bad in deep tunnels. We shouldn't waste too much oxygen and just talk if neccessary." The path forked and Sparks shook his head. Now things got even more complicated. Like all the other knights Armor also protested against splitting up "I'm also against it. It's bad enough we have to stray around to find some missing people. I don't want to search for the rest of you guys too. By hindsight I'm wondering no one came earlier to maintain the tunnels. Maybe the people who vanished here didn't got kidnapped, but rather the tunnels collapsed over them." Eventhought Sparks didn't like to imagine just finding some crashed corpses, he was at least happy about the decision the others made. Even if they wanted to split up with all might, Sparks would had never allowed it. The band of knights really had to stick together. The sound of a stone clacking on another stone was heard first by Kaji and then by Vincent. Sparks was also listening without saying something, just to make sure there wasn't another noise. Nothing else was heard. Was it just coincidence or did someone tried to hid his present? "Armor," said Sparks looking at the armadillo. First Armor wasn't sure what to do, but then he went some steps into the tunnel. He knocked lightly against the walls several time until more stones fell and the armadillo quickly went out of the tunnel. While he leaned against the wall across the tunnel, Armor looked at the others and shook his head, telling them that they it was not safe to go in there. Sparks nodded and drew his sword. After that he tested how stabil the other tunnel was by hitting it's walls with the pommel of his sword and listened if he heard something. With raised eyebrows he looked at Armor "Safe?" askes Sparks and the armadillo just answered "Safe!"
After giving the others a sign to follow him, Sparks went further into the tunnel. After sometime they saw something at the end. "Looks like a metal door," said Sparkster and examined it further. The door didn't had a knob or anything else visible to open it, but it was left ajar open. The gab was to small for Sparks to fit through and he didn't wanted to ask Armor and Vincent to open the door by force. Even if the walls of this tunnel was stable, Sparks didn't wanted to risk it. He peeked through the gap, but wasn't able to see much. There was one person who would fit through the gap. "Namid you're small enough to squeeze through the gap. Do you think you could go into the room behind this door and maybe find another way to open it? I don't want to use force. I'm sure there is a button or something to open the door."

[KokoaMinto]

Unlike the rest of the group Namid kept her calm. She knew that the only way to check the stability of the tunnels will be possible by playing around on the walls, and it didn't surprise her when Armor shook his head as a warning not to enter this path.

She crossed her arms once the group continued to follow Sparkster's lead, only to be stopped by another hindrance. As the smallest of the group it was out of question to be used as the one to squeeze through the little open spot on the door, but there was still one question that kept her busy: WHO left the door like this? Was it malfunctioning? Was it used not too long ago? Or was someone trying to open the path by force?

Without saying anything she was getting rid of her jetpack, leg protection and Katars. It was risky leaving everything behind, but it was no use; if she kept her stuff with her she wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the door.

“Wait a second.” Namid said while pulling her gauntlets up a little bit more and approaching the door. She had a little struggle to get through herself, but after a few minutes she managed to get inside.

It was not only dark but also cold, and the room seemed to be flooded as well. There was no sound of heavy flowing water, but there were some cracks on the walls and the ceiling, causing water to drip down on the ground.

“The room is in a very bad shape.” The young opossum started, carefully walking around in the hopes to find something like a button or anything else that could help to let the other knights inside “Water found its way into the room and flooded it. You need to be careful once you enter; here are some steps which explain why the water hasn't been inside the tunnels yet. Either that or someone was already inside this room and released the water... Of course this would explain why this room feels so moist and cold, and why the door isn't closed entirely.”

She came across something that looked like a button, but after trying to activate it several times she only gave a loud sigh from herself “No luck. It seems like the mechanism to open the door was damaged by the moist decades ago. I wonder who was able to open the room... nothing makes sense. If the only way to open this room is from the inside... then someone tried to open it by force, probably got surprised by the water that was released and fled. The cracks inside the walls and ceiling pretty much prove my thoughts. Water is running down from every side. Maybe this room is near to a lake or rain was filling it entirely.”

The dark furred female went back to the closed door “Sparkster, are you really sure you checked everything around the door? I can't imagine that they were stupid enough to put a mechanism inside of the room only. There must be a way to open it from your side.” She paused for a moment “...Would you four please find a solution? I won't squeeze myself through this gap again just to risk ruining my armor... So hurry up and move your tails or I'll give all of you a good reason once I'm out of here!”

[Kohakuchan19]

Kaji was a bit nervous when Armor was inspecting the safety and stability of each tunnel. Perhaps Armor could better handle a few chunks of rubble falling on him by curling into his shell, but what if the whole roof came down on him, as well as the others? He couldn't imagine that it would end well for any of them, even Armor.

However, Kaji continued to follow with his chest lamp on, and cautiously looking around while listening for any strange noises. When they got to the door they all inspected the door, and after noticing the door was just barely open wide enough for Namid to fit through, Kaji and the others had waited for Namid to go inside and inspect the room. She described the room as being wet inside, and in terrible shape. Kaji and the other three soon heard Namid demanding the others to find a way to open the door, so not to risk ruining her armor.

Kaji took a walk around the area where the door was, to see if there wasn't some sort of control panel for the door, or any other way to open the door. He looked up to the ceiling, and down to the floor, it wasn't long until he found some sort of crank that could be turned, though he was 100% sure it was to the same door.

"I found a crank...!" Kaji said as he put his hands on the bars and tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge for him "ggrrrr. This thing must be rusted... Hey Guys! Help me turn this thing would you please?"

Kaji continued to try on his own as he waited for his comrades to respond.

[billysparkz]

When Sparkster ordered Armor to inspect the walls Vincent stood still and silent, not wanting to cause any noise to startle Armor as he checked the stablity of the walls. When Armor gave the response that the tunnels were safe Vincent sighed a silent breath of relief. He didn't want to imagine that they could be crushed just from a faulty engineering. As they kept going they stopped at a metal door which was partially open. Vincent did not bother asking to try and get through due to the gap being too small for him, so he just kept silent. When Sparkster asked for Namid to try and squeeze herself through, Vincent looked away as she took off her jetpack and some other gear and made her way through the gap to the other side.

"Hope she can find something..." Vincent thought to himself as he waited for a response from Namid. As overheard her, she stated that the room was in pretty bad shape and was even flooded. He pondered for a bit and thought to himself. "How ccould it become flooded?" Vincent thought to himself.

He then heard Namid say that they need to find a way to open the door so she could get back out. He began looking around, however he found nothing useful. Then Kaji stated that he found a ccrank and Vincent turned to see Kaji trying to pull the crank but with no luck. Vincent then rushed to Kaji's aid and tried as well, but still the crank hardly budged. He then looked to Armor.

"Damn thing is stuck really good." Vincent said letting go of the crank. "How about you try it Armor?"