Firox had a breathing mask over his muzzle as he came out into the largest underground chamber he'd ever seen. He looked around, wiping the mask over his eyes like there was something blocking his vision. Red depths. Well, at least the advertisement was a lie. He thought briefly of igniting himself, but so far no one had come this far, so they didn't know how the red gas would react to anything incendiary. Aside from that, he might survive, but the mask certainly wouldn't. Then where would he be?
A buzz came on in his ear. "Firefox, this is Peg." Static filled the silence. "Firefox, are you there?"
With a sigh, Firox put a paw to the side of the mask and toggled a switch. "You know it's Firox. Stop with the ridiculous code names, Peg."
"My kid got me a glass that says 'Always remember the cup is half full.'"
"And what's that got to do with me?"
"You're talking awful half empty. That's all I'm trying to say. How are things down there?"
Firox went further into the domed chamber, looking for some sign of life. He squinted when he saw something in the distance glimmer. Was that ... A slide? "Uh. Well, it appears there's a slide here." Firox went closer. Sure enough, it was an old slide like the one they had in children's parks. It being here made the whole place seem that much more ominous.
The indicator on his wrist started beeping at him. When he looked down, he saw the little Oxygen level percentage was at 95. "I'm going to take off my mask."
Silence other than the scratching of a pencil over paper on the other end. "You sure that's a good idea?"
Firox had already taken his breathing apparatus off, inhaled the air. There was a certain spice to it that made him smile. Dropping the breathing mask, he inhaled more deeply and caused a small nova of fire to burst in front of him.
Immediately the red gas ignited, sparking and throwing flame everywhere. Closing his eyes, the explosions causing havoc with the sensitive communications devices, he reveled in the heat that bombarded him. It was all gone as fast as it had appeared. Touching the device on the side of his head again, he heard Peg screaming about what was going on and winced. "Easy there, Peg. You're gonna blow out my ears." A cold shimmer of water cascaded down Firox's fur, putting out the tiny flames and cooling his skin before hissed away in a cloud of vapor.
"Good gods, you incendiary ball of fluff!" Peg took a moment to catch his breath, then, "I hope it was worth it."
"Well, I can see now, if that reassures you."
"Oh, sure. As long as the haze is gone and you can see crystal clear, risking your life is completely fine."
Firox ignored him, exploring the now burnt park. The trees were all fine - must have been dead for generations. Putting a paw against the bark of one, he heard a hiss and turned. A giant ellipse of stone, something that looked like a gateway, was rising out of the ground. Firox reached up hastily, turning on a small camera attached to his head.
"Hey, Peg. You getting this?"
"It's a little fuzzy, but I sure am."
"Sorry about that." Firox smoothed his fur down, getting it out of the way of the camera lens. "Better?"
"Much. What do you think it is?"
"I think it's what we paid good money to get here for is what I think it is. I thought tree spirits were supposed to be like, all knowing and wise."
"You're thinking of water spirits. Tree spirits deal more with survival and protection aspects."
"Should have partnered with a water spirit."
"What was that?"
"I said I think this is the ticket." Firox looked over a pedestal next to the contraption, turning a knob and flicking a few switches randomly. Nothing happened. Concentrating, he put his left hand against the side and channeled electricity through the device. Lightning bolts flew from the stone, hitting the ceiling and sending large boulders to the ground. But the ring started to turn. "You got the key?"
"Yeah, hold on." There was a shuffling of papers, and finally Peg returned with "Blue, Yellow, Yellow, Green, Blue, Red." Firox touched the colors on the device in front of him as they were read to him. He was immediately greeted with a sudden intake of air into the portal. A beautiful scene of another world, with waving palm trees, sandy white beaches, and strange hairless apes swimming in the crashing waters. "You get it?"
"Oh, we got it. You might want to get the team down here. I'd say it's about time we showed ourselves to these primates."
"Good job Firox." Peg sounded ecstatic, and he could hear cheers faint in the earpiece from the rest of the crew as Peg let them know. "I think it's time we introduced ourselves to the hoo-mahns."
"Copy that, sweaty candlestick."
"That's not my code name, Firefox! And you know it!"
"What's that? Couldn't hear you. Static. Kssssssh." And Firox hit the 'end call' button to wait for the arrival of the rest of the team.
Post Merge: March 27, 2016, 11:15:08 AM
That was fun!!
Poll
Topic: furries den all welcome (Read 2479984 times)