Digimon Decryption, Chapter 1: When the Lights Go Down on the City

[Agent_0042]

OoC THREAD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305747)

<7 P.M. PDT, 20 October 2012, Discovery Park>

The sun has set over Seattle, with traces of color lingering along the horizon. The hefty cloud cover and cool bayward breeze hint at rain, though precipitation isn't forecast until the next day. Still, most people have elected to remain indoors, leaving only a small number of individuals to walk the trails of Discovery Park.

With no warning, a frightful screech or whistle emanates from the center of the park, not seeming to have a particular source but steadily building in intensity. The wind intensifies, and the earth tremors very slightly. Eventually a distortion, much like a mirage or heat shimmer, appears about twenty feet in the air over the demolished remnants of old army buildings. This, of course, makes no sense with the temperature and the wind conditions, but nonetheless it is there. All of this is decidedly out of the ordinary for a Seattle evening.

[Failed Phantasm]

Half-sitting, half-leaning on a sturdy piece of driftwood on the park's south beach, arms folded over his chest, and messenger bag lying in a heap in the sand at his feet, Shawn stared out over the water and listened to the lapping of the waves on the sand. One might mistake his expression for one of Zen-like contentment: calm and placid, with a slight twist of his lips that could easily be a knowing, Mona Lisa-esque smile. To be honest, all the boy was trying to do was clear his head. In spite of almost three years having passed, there were still days where he was convinced that nothing he'd experienced since then had been real, that he'd wake up the next day and be a twelve-year-old boy in a foster home again, waiting for his eighteenth birthday so he could be thrown out like so much garbage into an uncaring world. It hadn't happened yet, though, so he was either still dreaming or this was real. It sounded real, at least, and it smelled real. Why not just believe that it was? Million-dollar question, indeed. His life was so much better now, but he was still just going through all the motions of being alive without actually living; his therapist had characterized his emotional state that way more than once. He was starting to wonder if there was anyone or anything that could change that about himself. It was safe feeling emotionally numb, but it wasn't very satisfying.

Shaking himself out of his reverie, Shawn glanced down at his watch. 7:00 P.M. He'd been there for nearly an hour, but hadn't come any closer to reaching a personal epiphany. He breathed a heavy sigh. If he wanted to get back to his home in Westermere before 8:30, he'd have to get moving soon since he had to take three buses. Picking up his bag, his life in microcosm — homework, binder full of sheet music, paperbacks that were school-assigned reading, and empty can of tea all vying for space — Shawn beat the sand off of it and then slung it over his shoulder before starting for the trail that would take him back to the bus stop. He had just started up the paved street, wondering if he should stop somewhere to eat before going home, when he heard it. It was like a ringing at first, a sound at the very edge of hearing to the point that he could barely make it out. Then it started to rise in intensity, a piercing, screeching noise whose source Shawn couldn't identify. He looked around to see if there were any people nearby — maybe a group of university students doing some stupid art project or whatever — but he was apparently the only one there. 'Where is that coming from?' he wondered, as he covered his ears with his hands. The wind was picking up, blowing most unusually towards the water instead of coming from it, and suddenly the earth started to shake, however slightly, beneath Shawn's feet. Since he had no idea what to do during an earthquake, he stood his ground for a few moments more before the tremors subsided and saw a strange haze rise up into the sky above the center of the park. It looked like it was directly in his way.

Shawn stared at it for a moment, pulling his duster tight against the wind which hadn't died down, trying to decide what to do. The sane part of him noted that he could always turn off the road and take the Loop Trail south to get to the east entrance; it would be a longer walk, but it skirted the edge of the park and was as far away from the weird phenomena as possible. On the other hand, he could always get clo— 'No. I don't even know what that is.' Shaking his head dismissively, he started walking back up the road again, intending to turn on to one of the side trails as soon as he got to one. And yet... he had a very nagging, persistent desire to go up and see what was causing that. It was a strange and very much out-of-the-ordinary occurence, and he wanted to investigate, which came as a surprise to him. After a few more minutes of internal debate, he came to one of the smaller trails that branched off to the south; glancing both ways, he dashed across the empty street to reach it, but then stopped just as he set his boots on the dirt path.

If he turned away now, he could be on the bus and headed for home before too long. But then he'd never find out what was happening up there on the hill. Why was that so important? He was turning a freak weather phenomenon into some life-changing event! It was just heat haze! ...wasn't it? But if that were true, why did he have this strange feeling that made his hair stand on end, that felt as though he were being called to it? He realized that there was something welling up inside him, a strange feeling, an instinct, a je ne sais quoi, that was exactly same thing he felt back when the Reinhardts first visited him, an unexplainable sense of anticipation, of... of destiny, such as it were. If he turned away now, he'd never stop wondering about what it is he could have missed, what it is that could have happened, what might have been. He'd done enough of that already. 'If there's nothing up there, then taking the long way out of the park could make me miss the next bus, and I'd be late getting home,' he reasoned. And even though he tried to deny it to himself with a firm, 'Don't be stupid, Shawn. There isn't going to be anything there,' he had a very strong feeling that there was indeed someone or something in those old army buildings at the park's center.

If he turned away now...

Spinning around, Shawn started marching back up the road, his pace quickening just a bit. Even if nothing else were to come of this, he would rather face the disappointment and vague embarrasment that he knew how to handle over the regret that he'd always have for not taking a chance on this. 'This is how you're supposed to change your life, right, Doctor Benavides? 'One step at a time,' just like you said.'

[AnimeKid]

Damian ran along the trails of Discovery park doing his usual thing. He had headphones in his ears listening to his favorite rock music and running along the trails, shadowboxing against an invisible opponent along the way. Since thier weren't any beaches in Seattle he took to exercising and training more and more lately. Well that and hanging out with Sam. His little sister was already starting to copy her big brother. She would be starting Kindergarden soon and she was already probably going to be taller than all of the kids there. Well she would make friends eventually, after all Damian did.

As he came to an end to his routine Damian's mind started to wander. It had already been 6 years. 6 years since the day his father died. His mother still hadn't remarried, worried about what Damian would think. If he were being honest he didn't know what he would think either. On the one hand no one could ever replace his father. On the other he wanted his mother to be happy. As he pondered this something caught his eye. a distortion, much like a mirage or heat shimmer, appearing about twenty feet in the air over the demolished remnants of old army buildings. Always the curious one Damian smiled to himself as he felt his old excitement taking place. Deciding that he had time he jogged off to see what it was about.

[tonberryking]

Not far from where Damian boxes at his shadows, Mic finally found a stretch of the trail with enough slant for him to appreciate traveling the area by razor as he put the scooter to the tests. His mom was a ways away on the beach; a single Saturday out of her life put her away from that nightmarish job she worked, and into the hands of some old friends sharing a get together with her, first one in years.

Even though it meant he'd been hoofing it around much of the trail and park while he left his mom to her respite. Well, it wasn't really that much of a bother because her old friends hardly knew her child and vice versa, and Mic didn't want things to get awkward. Still, Mic didn't like his hands getting idle, nor that it was starting to get dark. He'd been expecting his mom's borrowed cell phone to light up at any moment telling him to hurry back when the noise and effects started.

He was away from the trees when he noticed far off that the military ruins seemed to be the culprit. From afar he silently watched, head tilted at an angle as he ran over a limited number of possible answers to the rather large question looming...

He folded up his scooter and started towards the place. Someone may need to phone someone over...whatever it is that's going on.

[Chase_D]

<4:30 P.M. PDT, 20 October 2012, Charlebois Residence>

In the dark bedroom, resting in his bed, Thomas had his eyes closed and was listening to his music. He wasn't tired, he just liked the solitude that his room had from the rest of the world. Besides, it was a Saturday anyhow, he might as well spend it as he pleased.

He slowly sat up, and took his headphones out for a second. 'God dammit, this is getting real dull, fast...I'll go head out for a bit to wake myself up...' he thought, and got up from his bed. He grabbed his Black sweater and Camera from the desk he did his homework at and went downstairs.

His Mother was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping at her coffee she made a couple minutes ago. As he came downstairs, she says "Heading out?" as if she knew straight away what his intentions are. "Yep, I'll be out for a while." Thomas tried to avoid speaking a bunch to his mother, and wished he could just not talk to her period, but his luck wouldn't pull through in this case.

"Where are you going?" She was clearly being nosy, and Thomas picked up on that detail straight away. "Just...somewhere...I'll be back before 11." He said, making his way to the door. A small sigh is heard from the dining room, and then Thomas opens the door. "Alright, be careful...". He doesn't reply and closes the door behind him.

***

<6:45 P.M. PDT, 20 October 2012, Outside Discovery Park>

Thomas grabbed a few more pictures of the busy street, using his Digital Camera he got a few years back. It was a great camera, almost professional like with it's lens and flash. He managed to get a few neat looking pictures of a construction site with a half finished tower, a few old houses, and a few of the busy streets. He tried to avoid capturing people directly in his pictures, as it ruined the magic of certain shots.

His final stop was Discovery Park, he has come to this park a bunch since he moved here. It's quite relaxing taking pictures of the scenery as well as think about things, and he quite enjoyed the sight of the beach in the southern area of the park. He leaned up against one of the trees in the park. 'Let's see what I managed to grab today.' he thinks, flipping through the photos.

Suddenly, a screeching noise was heard, towards the center of the park, away from where Thomas was. He looks up immediately and feels the earth tremor a bit. When the disturbances stop, he notices a weird shimmering haze towards the abandoned army buildings. He had no idea what was in that area, since it usually a point of interest to people. Immediately without much thought, he takes a picture of the haze, but oddly nothing shows up on the screen and it remains black. "Stupid thing..." he says out loud, and sighs. He knew that he wasn't leaving the area, now that whatever was happening, clearly was important enough to intrigue him.

He began to make his way from the Eastern side of the park towards the old army buildings.

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

With a sigh, Luis looks up from the book he reading to see what was making that awful screeching noise. He'd come to the park that day to try and relax, get away from his mom and her constant diner functions, not to have to listen to weird inhuman noises.

He even considers leaving the park, maybe going to the library instead, but that thought vacates his mind quite quickly after seeing the weird distortion in the sky. Some part of him feels as though it has to know what's going on, so, against his better judgement, Luis finds himself steadily making his way towards the old army building.

[Bessebiscut]

Awaking after another particularly rough night of work/another failed tryout; Barrett’s sprits were not at their highest. Add in his massive hangover and the fact that once again this month he had found himself unable to afford a roof over his head and as such had taken to his old standby since moving to Seattle: living in a tent at Discovery Park. Arising from his bed/pile of pads and cloths he looked at his alarm clock and swore. Once again due to the moist sea air and his proclivity to forget to change out its batteries the damm thing was dead and he was sure he had slept well past what was an acceptable time. Rummaging around for his pocket watch, one of the few things of worth or use he ever received from his father, Barrett finally found out the time :< 6:38 PM >

“Christ on a cracker crust. I f*****g oversleep and missed workouts. Fan- f*****g-tastic.” Barrett stands ups and gets ready to get dressed, hoping to make it to at least make the end of workouts. As he stands, his leg seizes up. “OH GOD…CHARLIE HORSE.” Barrett tips over and falls out of his tent, ripping the seams on front of it in the process and tumbled, face first & half-panted, in the open air of the park. “Oohhoff…that’s my face….SHRRREEEHHPPP… AND THAT’S MY F*****G PANTS! CAN THIS DAY GET ANY WORSE?!?!” Standing up and dusting himself off, Barrett surveyed the landscape and his situation, a tall well-built Canadian in his underpants standing in middle of a public park contemplating his life and the decisions he’s made in it. “Huuuhhh…I don’t even feel like going anymore.” Barrett reaches into his now door-less tent and grabs a pair of jeans and his boots, gets dressed, duct tapes the door back onto the tent and packs up his stuff, readying himself to move once again and find a new spot in the park to live.

“I better get moving if I want set up before it gets too dark. What time is it even…<6:56PM> … lovely. Just bloody f*****g lovely. I might as well not even try to set back up. I’ll just sleep on a bench when the mood comes upon me.” As he headed out of the park, a loud screeching and bright flash catches his attention. “Oh Lord…what it is now?...Humph… I guess I should check that out. I think that’s were Bad-Beans Bernie lives and he’s a cool dude.” As Barrett runs off to check on the disturbance and Bernie he ponders his swing and how he could convince the Thunderbird’s doctor that he should be allowed to play despite the plate in his arm. Also the fact that he is missing a sock. Oh the joys of illegal alien status.

[Agent_0042]

The noise peaks shy of ear-splitting, but the winds continue to build and the earth pulses in some sort of resonance. The blur continues to shimmer, distort, warp, until eventually space itself seems to rip apart. The noise disappears, the winds soon die down, and the ground no longer vibrates, leaving what's effectively a hole in space hovering in the air. Size is hard to judge - ten feet? twenty? - and nothing can be seen in or through it.

It immediately begins to shrink. Before long, a massive ape with an arm cannon (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120106061241/digimon/images/d/df/Gorillamon_b.jpg), easily twice the height of a normal human, tumbles out of the portal, followed a few seconds later by a dinosaur with back tusks (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130911055236/digimon/images/thumb/a/af/Tuskmon_b.jpg/320px-Tuskmon_b.jpg) of comparable size. The two immediately lock themselves into melee combat, the ground trembling with every blow the two monsters take.

A number of smaller creatures also dart out after the two, and scatter off into the park. Due to their size, speed, and the slight distraction, it's hard to get a good look at them.

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

"Am I seeing this right?" Luis can't help but mutter as he sees the two hulking shapes fall out of the portal and begin pummeling each other. But, those aren't the things that keep his attention.

'Oh no' Luis think as he sees the small shapes running towards the park. 'One of those is running towards the playground'

Without paying any more thought towards the hulking monsters fighting in the middle of the park, Luis starts running towards the play ground in the hopes that he might be able to protect any kids from the mysterious shape he saw running.

[tonberryking]

Mic is not a brave boy. However, he is by nature inquisitive, so for a scant few moments he stands aghast; staring towards the two colossi with a gaping confusion. He got pretty close to the military ruins, too before they dropped down, curse his luck.

But bless his ability to haul some ass. After figuring that the monsters are REAL, and a REAL threat, Mic forgoes any pretense of calling the cops or anybody else and bails. He runs pretty fast for a small kid, too, unwittingly hurling himself back towards the park at an angle that would (eventually) put him into the path of the smaller creatures he DIDN'T see fleeing to the safety of the trees...

[Failed Phantasm]

Shawn staggered the rest of his way up the hill, hands clapped over his ears once more as he fought against the wind and the tremors beneath his feet so that he could reach the top. It was starting to seem like more trouble than it could possibly be worth, and every shred of rational sense he possessed was screaming at him to go back down the road and forget about the entire thing. Having convinced himself that he needed to do this, however, Shawn was determined to see it through, and so he kept putting one foot in front of the other until he crested the top of the hill, just as the wind and the noise and the trembling were beginning to die down. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked up at the distortion in the sky since he had a better view of it — only now it was less a strange haze and more a gaping hole in space. That was certainly different. Straightening up, he started walking towards it, though perhaps a bit more tentatively than before, trying to see if he could make out anything within its swirling maw. At a rough guess, he was still about a quarter of a mile away from the thing, and it was very hard to determine much of anything from that distance; if he hadn't seen the haze earlier, and if it hadn't looked a blot on the surface of reality itself, he might not have noticed it at all.

As he cautiously took another few steps towards the phenomena, it suddenly began to warp and shrink, pulsing and writhing for a few moments as if it were being forcibly squeezed into a smaller shape. After a minute of this, a giant ape-like thing and a dinosaur tumbled out, looking very much unlike anything Shawn had ever seen before in his life. Terrible science-fiction movies from the 50s excepted. He wasn't particularly eager to get any closer, a sentiment that was only reinforced when the two things started to do battle, crudely wrestling and punching and swiping at each other. Quickly stifling the inappropriate "King Kong vs. Godzilla" joke that sprang to mind, Shawn began trying to rationalize what he was seeing. Could it be a movie being filmed? No, the park would have been closed off. Could it be some kind of incomprehensible allegorical or metaphorical artistic stunt? A protest or a weird demonstration about the nature of man, how environmentalism and man's greed for oil would eternally be at war? He wouldn't put it past some of the university students who lived in Seattle, but this seemed over-the-top, even for them. Plus, they liked exposure. Downtown would have been the better spot. Also, after what happened last time in the park...

Perhaps the simplest answer was the correct one. Perhaps Shawn had finally lost his mind. Were the wind and noise and minor earthquakes and monsters appearing out of a hole in space merely figments of an imagination that had slipped outside the realm of sanity? His brain helpfully supplied a suspiciously specific mental image (http://www.ringdna.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Signs-Point-to-Yes-300x189.jpg) in response to that. There didn't seem to be anyone else nearby to ask if they were also seeing what he was seeing, so he couldn't really discount the possibility. Snorting at the thought, Shawn looked back up to watch the two creatures fight, choosing to stand his ground for the moment. He was close enough to see them, however vaguely, but far enough away that he could run if he wanted to. There was a part of him, however, that couldn't deny that what he was seeing was indeed real, at least as far as he could tell. 'What could that mean?' he wondered. 'What are they?' Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed several smaller shadowy shapes scatter swiftly throughout the park, but he didn't get a very good look at them, nor did he notice which way they were all going.

[Chase_D]

As Thomas approached the old army buildings, he began to speculate on what was going on. Was he going mad, or did something bend the reality near the site. The sound picked up as he got closer, reaching an almost unbearable pitch. He finally arrived near a hill overlooking the entire base.

That's when the sound suddenly stopped. It was like everything was frozen. He stood there for a couple of seconds, staring at the hole like it was something not ment to be seen by his eyes. His left hand burned ever so slightly. Immediately he tries to snap a picture, but again, the camera only makes the shutter noise, and shows nothing. He didn't care if it didn't work, he just wanted to prove that it was really happening.

Suddenly, a giant ape like monster appeared from the hole, and then another dinosaur appeared as well. He couldn't believe it, he just could not. His gut was telling him to run, and to not look back.

But, he couldn't. He had to watch, it was like a car accident, too horrible to imagine but something you couldn't take your eyes off of. It was, incredible, however that this was happening. Again, he took another picture.

*Click*

A fist went straight into the jaw of the Dino Monster.

*Click*

It responded with a well placed headbutt to the chest.

*Click*

Thomas catches something out of his eye as he watches the fight, a small blur, coming from the portal. But that wasn't the only thing. He could of swore he saw
another person...watching the fight unfold, a fair distance from him. He couldn't make out the detail that well, but he assumed that he was making his way towards the playground. Almost as if he was going to intercept something. Thomas decided to make his way towards a more heavily forested area of the park, trying to see if he can get a closer look at what those things were that escaped from the portal.

[Bessebiscut]

As Barrett made his way to old building that Bernie lived he noticed that disturbance seemed to be getting worse. As he neared the area he heard a loud noise of what sounded like two Mack trucks slamming into to each other except this was a constant crescendo of noise with a rhythmic beat, a beat that Barrett recognized as a the sound of knockout drag-out slobber-knocking cold-cocking brawl. This lead to Barrett increasing his pace and muttering under his breath about crazy old Bernie.

What Barrett saw when he arrived made him wonder how hard he actually hit his head earlier. “Damm. Did I give myself a concussion? I gotta be bleeding or bruised in the brain if I’m seeing s**t like this.” He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. But when he opened his eyes a 15ft tall gorilla with gatling gun arm still had a dinosaur with huge horn in headlock and was fixing to unload his gat arm into its face.

“………”. That’s all that Barrett could muster while he was staring at the scene unfolding before him. His glazed gaze and vapid stupor was quickly broken when he saw a couple of kids running towards the playground. Barrett quickly refocused and headed that way, not sure what was going on or what he could possibly do. All he knew it that s**t was going down and he was not going to idly stand by while a bunch of kids were in danger.

[AnimeKid]

When Damian made his way to the area his eyes widend at what he saw. To put it frankly it was amazing. These two creatures of impossible sizes, heck he was pretty sure they shouldn't exist, were fighting head to head. It was something that made you stop a stare for a while. However Damian's self preservation instincts flared up and he knew that just gawking would be a good way to get himself killed.

However his eyes then noticed something else. A group of smaller shapes that he could probably assume were creatures like the ones currently fighting. Interested in what the could possibly be, and thinking he should probably get away from the firing zone before that giant ape creature figured out that it had a freaking CANNON, he headed off to where the shapes were going. As he did so he noticed that it seemed like a few people had the same idea as him.

[Agent_0042]

Though it's dark, Luis's eyes are able to pick up the appropriate trails without much difficulty, with Barret and Damian following independently. After three minutes they reach the playground and its old-but-functional equipment. A trio of lamps, spaced equally along the edges of the rubber-chip pit, provide a harsh illumination, and the echoes of the conflict can be heard only faintly. The well-worn swingset creaks under the weight of two girls and a boy, who are conversing loudly in the way young children are wont to do.

"Jess, we should go home now."

"Don't be chicken. Do you want to see the ghost or not?"

"Not anymore, I don't."

"Well, shush. Not like the ghost'll come out anyway with your loud mouth."

"Are the ghosts cats?"

"What? No."

"'Cause there's two of them just showed up over there."

Indeed, two funny-looking felines emerged from the bushes, one lionlike but large (http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120623151227/digimon/images/4/48/Liollmon_b.jpg) and the other a little bit on fire (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130621043209/digimon/images/1/14/Coronamon_b.jpg), and stroll unhesitantly towards the children.

Mic obeys the call of self preservation and darts off westward through the trees, in the general direction of where his mother should be. The forest breaks, and he finds himself along the edge of the sewage treatment plant, a massive set of open-topped cylindrical towers which surprisingly don't smell that bad. A black cat with... power gloves? (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/digimon/images/7/73/BlackGatomon_b.jpg) stands panting and scrutinizing the nine-foot-high, barbed-wire-topped fence. It doesn't seem to have noticed the child yet.

Thomas also darts off into the trees, no stranger to going off the trails in these woods. Though unsuccessful in tracking anything himself, a manly shriek catches his attention, and he moves to investigate.

"The hell is that thing?"

The shrieker is a large, short Samoan-looking man, and 'that thing' is a caterpillar the size of a small dog, with decidedly uninsectlike eyes (http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130402191106/digimon/images/c/c5/Wormmon_b.jpg). While not aggressive, it certainly isn't skittish either. It looks inquiringly at the man, not moving from its spot on the trail.

As Shawn watches the brawl, indeed it unfolds much like something out of a King Kong film, complete with the ape eventually gaining the upper hand; a surprise punch to the jaw sends the dinosaur sprawling to the ground. As the dinosaur catches its breath, the ape begins to charge it's cannon arm, with a dubstep-suitable WUB WUB. Shawn quickly realizes that he is in the line of fire, immediately before he is tackled and sent flying out the way. The dinosaur rolls out of the way at the last moment, much like a seemingly downed wrestler evading his opponent's finisher, and the cannon discharges with a hearty drop. A blue energy pulse erupts forth, cutting a furrow six feet wide and the length of a football field and vaporizing the trees Shawn was hiding among before it dissipates. Shawn, the wind knocked out of him but otherwise unharmed, regains his feet and gazes upon his tackling rescuer, a lanky orange and white wolflike creature.

While the growls and impacts of the melee remain noticeable but become indistinct from a distance, the wave motion cannon was pretty damn loud.

[Chase_D]

As Thomas made his way into the woods, he felt slightly more comfortable since he visited this area often. The darkness however, wasn't too reassuring. Thankfully, not only was it bright enough to make out enough details to navigate, his camera flash provided an excellent way to check long distances. He walked on the trail for a few minutes before taking a shortcut to get closer to all the commotion.

The way contained a few bushes, overturned logs and a small meadow that was empty. After passing it, he ending up going back into the more heavily forested area. With the trees becoming thick and taller in this area, Thomas stopped using his flash and tried to rely on this eyesight alone.

That's when he heard it.

"UAAAAAAAGH!"

A scream, from what sounded like a male, about ten feet away. This could be something bad, he thought to himself. He quickly moved towards the man that screamed. He could hear him shout out "The hell is that thing?".

He finally reaches a small area, nearby the weird portal. It's rather close to the path, which might explain the man who just screamed, but what shocked him was what he screamed at. It was, to put it bluntly, a oversized green bug. This was one insect that Thomas had never seen before, and he was sure that it probably wasn't a local species to the park. He gets closer trying to stay hidden but not be far enough away to intervene if things go sour. He raises his camera up to his eye.

*Click*

It was quiet enough to not be noticed, thankfully. The creature just looks at the stout man, and tilts his head to the side, in almost a confused look. Thomas moves in a bit closer...

*Snap*

A branch or something snapped underneath his foot, and was quite loud. He froze, not sure if they heard him do that. He quickly held his breath. Half expecting someone to suddenly grab him from behind and hold him hostage. Both the man and the creature turn towards Thomas, the man utters a loud but slightly shaky "W-w-who's there?". Suddenly another loud noise is heard.

*Buaaaaaaaaaaaaa*

The sound of whatever that was, distracted the stout man, but not the insect creature. Instead it made its way past the man and towards Thomas, with a panicked look in its eyes. Thomas didn't move, and instead held his breath. Hoping it would pass by him without giving a second thought.

[tonberryking]

Stopping short, Mic stares. First at the cat, then back the way he ran, and then at the cat again, all very cautiously and a little slow. For the feline's part, it keeps attempting to climb the fence but the flimsy wire mixed with how hard she throws herself at it makes for an awkward try and Mic watches with a wince when it bounces off the ground again.

It's trying so hard, he suddenly thinks, tugging at his cap a little while a tug of sympathy suddenly plays at his heart. It confuses him, but now is neither the time, nor the place. Approaching cautiously, but fearfully expecting reprisal still, Mic clears his throat.

"*Cough*. Um... hey, uh, cat? You don't wanna go in there, really! There's a safer way to go, away from those big things, and um... why am I still talking..." he trails off awkwardly, seven words in struck with the sudden wonder if the cat can even understand speech...

[Failed Phantasm]

Unlike many characters in the scant handful of action movies he'd seen, Shawn was not the sort of person to scream or gasp or make a feeble attempt at a one-liner when he was in immediate danger. Also unlike the movies themselves, there was no adrenaline- (or special effects-)induced change in perception, no feeling as though time were slowing down, no sensation of his life flashing before his eyes as the swift realization came that he was about to die — there was only the gorilla-creature standing over its foe, charging its arm cannon and preparing to fire, and Shawn, unseen in the distance, about to become nothing more than mere collateral damage, killed without any intent on the part of his killer, without anyone to witness the end of his miserable life. Of course, Shawn was not without survival instincts: he was vaguely aware that his eyes were wide open with fear, that his heart was pounding in his chest, that his legs were tensing as he prepared to dive out of the way, desperately, not knowing if he had the strength to propel himself far enough. And yet, the only thought that came to the fore of his mind, one of the only things that he would remember of the next few moments, was the simple, horrible, inescapable question that he only ever asked himself when things were at their absolute worst: 'Would dying really be so bad?'

He leapt. Both feet off the ground. Saw the cannon's glow off to the left. Wouldn't make it. Couldn't make it. Falling back towards the ground. Then he felt it: tackled in mid-air. From behind, no less! Everything sped along beneath him. Dirt. Grass. Roots. Trees. Heard the wind rushing in his ears, felt it messing up his hair. Was he really... flying? How? Who...?

The beam scythed through the air over the spot where Shawn had been standing not two seconds before, as he and his rescuer hurtled over what felt like yards of terrain. He couldn't turn around to see what happened, but he could feel the searing, scorching heat behind him — almost literally beneath his feet now that he was airborne — caught a whiff of the acrid smell of burning, felt a ringing in his ears from the sheer noise of it as it roared past. Now it felt as though things were happening in slow motion. He felt weightless. The ground was rushing up to meet him again, the blessed, solid, firm, cold, hard ground! The impact was rather rough, knocking the breath out of him, and it was on a gentle slope, so he started to roll downhill. The person-weight that had been on-top-of-and-behind him let go as they hit the ground, and Shawn could hear him-her-it rolling along with him. His field of view was a chaotic kaleidoscope of grass, trees, sky, trees, grass, trees, sky, over and over until he finally rolled to a stop at the base of the small hill, staring up at the night sky. Between the dizziness and the adrenaline and the near-death experience, all that Shawn could do was lie on his back and breathe, listening to the pounding of his heart in his ears. He didn't have the strength to stand. He couldn't feel anything except for a stick that was digging into his back. There were tears on his face.

'I'm alive.' Were Shawn a normal, well-adjusted boy, he might have laughed, might have managed to haul himself to his feet with the sheer force of his will and the adrenaline still surging in his system, might have picked up his rescuer and pulled him or her into the tightest hug Shawn had ever given as tears kept streaming down his cheeks, unspeakably happy to still be alive. But he was neither normal nor well-adjusted. He managed to feebly whisper aloud the thought he'd just had, "I'm alive!", though with a bit more conviction and the barest hint of joy in his voice. He didn't know how far he'd been tackled, how far he'd rolled, or even how much time had passed, but he could still hear the sounds of the monsters doing battle off in the distance, as well as the scrabbling of his rescuer from somewhere behind him, and that brought Shawn back to the reality of his situation. As the feeling came back to his hands and feet, he wiped the tears from his face using the sleeve of his coat, and then struggled and strained to get into a seated position. After a moment, he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and then pushed his way back to his feet. He turned to look at his savior, not really knowing what to say or do, not that he would have remembered anyway once he got a good look at just who said savior was.

It was nearly as tall as Shawn was — about a head shorter, perhaps — and lithe, lupine in aspect, covered in white and orange fur, with eyes the color of amber and canine-like ears that were perked and alert, turned towards the sounds of the battle. Even more strangely, though, it was wearing clothes. It had a short white scarf, and white pants, and black gloves and boots from which its wicked-looking claws protruded, and lots of belts and buckles around its arms and legs. Had he not just been fired upon by a gorilla with an arm-cannon, Shawn might have thought that this being before him was just a person in a very convincing costume. But now, as they were staring at each other, eye-to-eye, Shawn somehow knew that he (and Shawn could tell that it was a "he") wasn't human at all. It was clear to Shawn that his rescuer, whatever he was, had never seen a human being before in his life, and it was equally clear that Shawn had never seen a creature quite like the one he was now staring at.

There was no clichéd "What... who are you?" that was stammered, no awkward silence as a million questions raced through Shawn's mind and as he struggled to pick one to ask first. There were no million questions - there was barely even one - because most of them had been already answered. Shawn had already committed himself to believing that this was real, and the brief moments of horrifying mortal danger he'd just experienced only reinforced that belief. It was real, and so was the person who had just saved him; to date, exactly three people had saved Shawn's life, and none of them in such a dramatic manner. And those facts were the most important ones now, the only thoughts that he had been keeping in mind. He doubted that his rescuer could speak English — How could he? Where would he have learned it? — and though Shawn was many things, he was not ungrateful. Whatever the strange wolf-like person was, Shawn owed him his life. Such as it was. At the very least, that was worth his gratitude. Still shaken, he swallowed, cleared his throat, and said, quietly but with all the sincerity that he could muster, "I don't know if you can understand me, but... thank you. Thank you for... for saving my life."

[AnimeKid]

Damian looked towards the kids in shock at the two creatures he was seeing. Wait, was one of them walking on two legs! And on fire! Figuring that this was a bad situation for the kids and from what he saw of the two unnatural creatures before he ran out to the kids and stood in front of them. "Listen here. I don't know what you are, but don't you lay a finger on these kids!"

[Bessebiscut]

Running with a semi brisk pace, Barrett heads towards the park where kids were heading. Upon arrival he saw all critters that ran there. Looking around he saw that they looked non-confrontational and many of the kids he followed there were verbally engaging the creatures. He stopped to yell something at them only to misstep and fall over a rock. He proceeded to tumble down the slopped side of the park and banged his head on a rock, knocking himself unconscious in the process, albeit temporarily.

[Yodas_Free_Boat]

AS Luis sees an older kid step better the two weird cats and kids, he decides to try and get the younger kids out of harms way.

"C'mon kids, we've gotta go. DOn't want to disturb the pretty kitties do we?" Luis tells the kids as he tries to shoo them away