On the infinitely vast black canvas of the cosmos are long stretches of airy blue and purple nebulas, galaxies across space like strokes of a paint brush, blending color into the simplistic void. Like clouds, there are stronger concentrations that cover entire spots on the canvas whereas there are thinner regions that simply mix with the black. Even then the void is not all black but instead covered in glitter, tiny dots of bright white light some of which shine great while others are hardly perceivable. Such life surrounds and yet so far that it'd never be interacted with, or in fact it's unsure if such life exists, a question that may never be answered.
For as vast as space is, it's entirely silent. Despite all the sounds in the universe, there is not a single breeze, growl, clank, or whoosh in the great infinity. Even when not contained on a planet, there is no sound that emits from the engine of the vehicle that drifts across the canvas, the black underbelly mostly smooth albeit for a few subtle narrow bends that form what resemble a network of pipes connected to larger cylinders and boxes, only partially jutting out of the flat surface. It's just enough to provide dimensionality but nothing is exposed, for all the pipes are about halfway embedded in the underbelly if not deeper.
The back face of the pod has none of those embedded components, and in fact the black only rises not even halfway up the face as the base color of the entire vehicle is a flashy azure blue. The shape of the body overall has a sporty sharpness to it, an inherent aggression, but smoothened such that there's a steady flow to the curves rather than bumps. The vehicle itself isn't very tall given its sleek style, leading to a gradual ascent to the roof from the back. On the side faces of the vehicle are black and white trims to break potential monotony of a single shade, even the shapes of the pod sporting sharp bends in a manner that's simultaneously functionally aerodynamic and aesthetically exciting.
While the gasses and stars above have no perceivable movement especially from just how far they are, the pod clearly drives forward even without an audible engine. It glides across the canvas in a straight line, the only object with perceivable motion for as far as the eye can see in any direction.
Perhaps from the outside there's no discernable sound, but within the black leathery interior of the pod which carries that sporty aesthetic, there is an audible hum that resonates from the walls, one that is fairly strong as it has heavy accents at a higher pitch to signify greater output, but it's nothing like a belligerent roar as it's still gentle enough to form a calming atmosphere.
Sitting on the front seats that are designed as bucket seats with gaps beside the neck portion, both Meditat and Dana gaze forward, Meditat on the left side for driving. Next to both of them are window screens that display live views of the cosmic landscape, which Dana glances at while Meditat keeps his focus strictly forward.
Behind them are the backseats which aren't nearly as sporty, bearing some resemblance with the sharper curves at least for the head rest but there's no separation per person as instead the back seats function like a single long bench. While there is space for three, there's only Ekitai and Kokei, Ekitai behind Meditat. He watches over the driver's shoulder as Kokei beside him just stares at the window screen beside her, as there's two others to accompany them similar to the front's setup.
Ekitai's focus isn't on those, but rather the fifth screen and easily the largest, the windshield at the front which Meditat is also focused on, which unlike the other four is augmented with holographic widgets along the edges functioning as gauges to provide information such as a gyroscope indicating rotation as well as a speedometer. By the top corner there also sports a map, the center of which has a blue triangle which follows a line across the otherwise black background, along with smaller widgets within it such as fluctuating numbers.
Taking a moment to glimpse at the map again for a quick study with keen eyes, Meditat then resets focus back down and announces, "We'll be reaching Earth 92 soon, be on standby."
Ekitai blinks twice before unleashing a heavy yawn whilst stretching his arms, seeming to have been in a daze before but now gaining proper control over himself. He drops his arms to the side when his head perks up with a curious expression, suddenly wincing with the clench of his teeth. He chuffs and sighs before realizing, "You know we didn't actually eat anything before leaving, I probably should've said something about that earlier."
Kokei abruptly animates, turning to him and sitting up straight in that same revelation, her voice more erratic as she freaks out, "Oh no you're right, I should've made something earlier, how did I forget??"
At the head of the pod, Meditat just lets out a soft sigh before raising his right arm up, opening his hand with his palm facing up. From his palm splurts two small blue flames simultaneously which pulls Dana's attention as well as the two in the back, watching those flames refine in shape into pills which materialize fully to be encased in a translucent blue gel. He then pivots his shoulder and extends his arm to the back of the pod, positioning his hand between Kokei and Ekitai who just blankly stare at the pills, perplexed by the offer.
Noticing the lack of action, Meditat huffs before clarifying, "These will satiate you for the day at least, if you need water to help swallow it, let me know."
If anything, that explanation shifts the two's expressions to discontent and unease, though Ekitai is the first to reach his hand to grab one of the pills, assuring: "I'm a professional at swallowing pills, I should be good. I guess it's been a while since I've had to take one of these, so what flavor are they?"
At the front, Meditat's eyebrow raises before he asks instead, "Flavor? There's no point incorporating them, it'd have to be artificial regardless."
Kokei just frowns at that statement, softly moaning somewhat childishly, "So it's just…not going to taste like anything? You guys take these things? It just looks so…like nothing."
Beside her, Ekitai lifts his head and dangles his hand right above his opening mouth before letting go, allowing the pill to plummet straight into his mouth before he swallows once. He drops his arm and lets out a sigh, analyzing: "Yeah huh it really doesn't taste like anything, weird. I guess it's better than grape, nothing is better than grape, as in having nothing is better than having grape. God I hate grape flavor."
He lowers his head and turns to Kokei, and upon noticing her discomfort he offers with a smirk, "Want me to feed it to you?"
Chuffing at that jest, Kokei is coerced to pick up the pill for herself, allowing Meditat to reel his arm back to his side. She stares at the pill with a frown, silent and tense, clearly upset at needing to take this pill as a substitute for the extravagant meals she'd be used to especially for breakfast when she could've had warm, soft baked goods instead. Again noticing the repulsion towards the pill, Ekitai tugs on his overcoat and offers with a more mischievous smile, "If you want, I can try coating it in one of my solutions. Oh, did I ever tell you that the body slime solution tastes like battery acid? It has a sort of richness you might take a liking to."
That antsy frown on Kokei's face quickly becomes terrorized, and with sudden haste she lifts her head and hand, squeezes her eyes shut, and throws the pill straight into the mouth before swallowing strongly, excessively so. Watching that quick judgment, Ekitai lets go of his coat, observing Kokei frown gloomily before she gauges, "There really is no flavor, I think I'd have preferred it to taste bad actually. There's just nothing here."
At the front of the pod, Dana turns to Meditat and sighs softly before mentioning, "You know, you could make literally any food no matter the ingredient count or procedure complexity."
To that argument, Meditat turns to her and huffs before asserting, "It's standard for missions, Razi gave them all the time. Standard foods won't satiate them long enough, and are typically not as effectively nutritious as engineered pills. It's ultimately the best option in all operationally relevant attributes."
Dana opens her mouth to contend back, but he then faces forward before appending, "And they wouldn't have had enough time, we're approaching the Earth now." Dana's eyebrow raises in intrigue, pulled out of her argument, instead facing forward same as him to find that in fact on the windshield where the gyroscope visualizing the rotation of the pod indicates a downward dive, the dead center of the screen features the approach of an vibrant Earth, the blues just as strong as the greens that dominate the lands, swirls of white clouds embellishing the globe. In the distance from the planet is the gray Moon in orbit, currently sitting on the other side, only partially visible from the windshield screen.
In the back of the pod, Ekitai faces forward with intrigue as Kokei lowers her head and observes albeit still gloomily, "Huh…I do actually feel full now…but it doesn't feel right."
But curiosity strikes as the hum of the pod abruptly rises in intensity, transitioning into an aggressive growl that continues to climb, pulling her head up to turn towards the front which is what exchanges that disappointed look for astonishment, for she's snapped into the mission at an instant. Her pink eyes light up when facing the Earth that gradually grows to her perception, indicative of their approach.
Both her and Ekitai lean forward in anticipation, all eyes including Dana's glued to the front screen, watching that Earth quickly cover the windshield's view, the destination Meditat drives them towards, facing it directly at the front.
It takes seconds before not even the edges of the windshield show the black canvas, for the entire view is dominated by the Earth, and mixing with the roar of the pod joins a deep growling of atmospheric resistance, pressure that could ignite the pod if it weren't for shielding. That growl rises the same as the roar, the swirls of clouds enlarging, getting closer. A quick glance to the side window reveals the last visible edges of space, a few stars still visible at the edge, however the pure black begins to adopt a dark blue tone, the thin case of atmosphere. The deeper into the atmosphere, the more that black shifts to blue, the stars fading away beside the planet's rim which takes prominence even on those side window screens.
Back to focus ahead as the atmospheric growl becomes a full rumble that the pod's roar battles against, now it's the clouds that begin covering the screens as that's what's being approached in the center, the white heavens devouring the greens and blues, soon covering the entire screen yet again, the fine texture and detail growing prominence upon proximity. The side windows are quickly consumed in the clouds as the entire pod drives straight through them, momentarily shrouding the view from all angles in pure, fluffy whites. Kokei and Ekitai in the back take notice as they glance at the windows to their sides, but Meditat's starry stare remains fixed ahead, the first to witness the emergence from those clouds, clearing the white view to now give way to the green lands below, the blue seas too far to be seen ahead. With less local references, it's initially difficult to gauge speed, however that changes when there's a notice of black dots scattered amongst the green lands, dots that quickly grow as the roaring starts to subdue ever so slightly, directly calming the atmospheric rumbles concurrently.
Meditat's sharp eyes begin to widen in curiosity upon noticing those black dots, his forehead scrunching in contemplation, Dana next to him also taking notice. They watch those black dots expand and refine, revealed to not be solid patches but rather a nest of small strands that spring out of the center like branches, one of those centers straight on the path. Again now it's these black regions that grow to quickly cover the screen, but rather than watching it with awe, Meditat quickly shows concern to this development. His facial muscles tense and he clenches his teeth as the pod's roar more significantly subdues, rapidly dropping with a whimper down to a hum which cancels the resistant rumbles completely, and through the screen the pod visibly decelerates to a near stop as it approaches what appears as a cluster of titanic black tendrils thicker than the vehicle, from which thinner branches jut out from..
Dana leans forward from her seat aghast, Meditat's eyes remaining analytical albeit through a dreadful expression. Behind them, both Ekitai and Kokei also lean forward in horror, though Kokei has a hint of bewilderment. They just watch in total silence, the only sound inside the pod becoming the gentle hum that resurfaces as the pod drives forward once again though now at a casual crawl, driving beside the roots composing the cluster which they stare up to, observing it to be made of a strange slimy bark texture with edges that have a gentle white illumination, the same color as caustics embedded in the roots themselves which resemble veins, gently pulsing passively.
Meditat's eyes trail down the roots, observing both of them to have the width of great trees, their root-like nature only in reference to their general shape. After the brief analysis, he then begins to start driving along those very roots, maintaining a careful distance.
From the outside, day has come in full swing, the bright blue sky stretching to the horizons, puffs and strands of white clouds scattered around in replacement of the nebulas. The distant cyan supersun looms above, smaller than how it appeared back home, in fact nearly half the size. Beneath the blue sky, the azure pod drives along the cluster of roots, driving in parallel. The hum of the pod complements the natural breeze in the air, sunlight shining on the blue metallic body of the vehicle.
Approaching the green roof of the forest, Meditat allows the pod to accelerate just slightly, still making sure to keep a safe distance from the alien roots and its branches. Dana just watches in silence beside him, constantly turning from the windshield to the screen beside her and back, marveling in dread at the colossal roots, like a spear piercing the sky from the underworld through the earth.
Ekitai in the back focuses primarily on the windshield ahead, leaning forward and in fact grabbing the back of the leather seat to cling in anticipation. Instead, Kokei focuses on the window next to her, watching the roots be passed, her face nearly pressing against the screen.
At the front which Ekitai watches, same as Meditat who can't afford to drift his attention, the pod reaches halfway down the roots, his attention now focusing primarily on where those roots stem from as they do from the surface ahead, though there aren't plains or even visible grass, as these alien black roots have grown from another forest already present, one so great that there's no end in sight, making all that can be seen of the surface be just the umbrella of thick leaves.
At a crawl the pod approaches this dense forest, Dana observing that there are a few broken branches resting at the top of the umbrella surrounding the black roots as though it had punctured other trees from below, causing an upward burst of debris that would result in landing where she can now see. It maintains a distance of about five hundred feet from the tree, now able to keep it consistent in a smooth descent.
As the pod approaches the trees, just about two hundred feet away, it suddenly decelerates again but furthermore rotates upwards, lifting its nose.
From the outside, the azure pod rotates to stand properly upright relative to the Earth's surface, completely stopping its movement to a stationary hover. It levitates well above the tops of the thick green trees and below the bright blue sky, lingering next to the huge black cluster of roots, the branches of which casts a few shadows over the pod itself, catching sunlight and looming ominously over to cause separation from the sky. As the hum calms to near silence, the environment takes prominence on the soundstage, gentle breezes triggering the rustling of leaves which knock each other, sizzling tranquilly, the overwhelming nature of the area still allowing for a sense of serenity despite the threatening roots towering over it.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Meditat finally turns away from the windshield to face Dana, nodding to her before briefing while turning to the back where Ekitai and Kokei sit, "We'll land here first and investigate the area. Orial claims that he picked up transmissions that were sent from around here, I'm not sure if it was just a small group of hikers but we'll check it out nonetheless, then continue on the search once we're finished. The pod won't get any deeper so we'll be diving ourselves, I'll take Ekitai and Dana will take Kokei."
Kokei tilts her head before mentioning, "I mean I can fly, so I might be able to handle myself."
Dana turns to face her before querying, "We'll need to traverse the trees which will require tight turns in the drop, can you handle that?"
Doubts surface upon that question, leading Kokei to frown before changing her mind, "Good point, actually yeah do you think you can take me?"
Dana gently smiles and confirms, "Of course," leading Kokei to let out a relieved sigh, though slightly embarrassed as her face is left red. Next to her, Ekitai shrugs and admits, "I'm not even going to try doing that on my own."
That exchange handled, Meditat returns his gaze from Dana to the back to resume, "Given that we don't know what to expect, we must all be on high alert, prepare for immediate combat and maneuvering." He turns back to Dana to mention, "In extreme cases, we might need to do an immediate evacuation, again you'll take Kokei and I'll take Ekitai above the trees," to which she nods in acknowledgement. He faces Kokei and Ekitai once more to append, "Remember to exercise extreme caution, but understand that there may be civilians so judge the situation before escalating to combat. Because of that, avoid causing wide damage, stay precise, we don't want casualties. Everybody understands?"
Kokei and Ekitai exchange glances but ultimately turn to Meditat and nod in affirmation. He then turns to Dana, which prompts her to give a firm nod. He turns back to Kokei and Ekitai to conclusively state, "To make this easier, cross your arms over your chest." While at first the two show befuddlement, they slowly oblige, Kokei glancing over at Ekitai as if needing to make sure she was following the simple instructions properly.
They do both cross their arms as requested, letting Meditat turn to Dana and lastly commanding, "Reconvene once we're in the open."
Dana nods back and affirms, "I'll see you there."
Meditat nods back and takes one more glance at the back, both Kokei as well as Ekitai facing him with determination, albeit Kokei sheds slight nervousness. Still, Meditat pivots to face forward, staring directly at the windshield as Dana does as well, and he takes a deep breath. He reaches for the hood behind his head and grabs it as Dana closes her eyes just before her pupils flash gold. As Meditat throws the hood over his head, the skin of Dana's entire face begins to morph as if her individual skin cells change color and texture into a metallic gold, same as her own clothing the fabrics seem to melt onto the body to become one with it. The moment Meditat's hood has been firmly placed on his head, his starry irises flare brightly which are quickly covered by a horde of glowing blue streaks that crawl out of the mask, covering his face like webs. Dana's entire golden body begins to rise or rather change shape to become taller with broader shoulders as the clothing has fully integrated with the body which isn't simply a smooth golden texture but instead fragmented into individual plates like shards some of which sport gems shamed like diamonds embedded in them, all except her face which extrudes to become a flat, blank plate.
Between the blue webs on Meditat's face materialize white plates everywhere other than the eyes that are instead overlaid with parallelogram visors that glow blue like his irises, along with streaks that rise from those goggles up to the forehead before wider streaks illuminate on the edge of the hood itself, wrapping around the head as a continuation concurrently as another streak curves down his left cheek over his mouth like a microphone. Simultaneously, Dana's collarbone sports an arc of diamond fragments like a necklace, her new body defining details, her amber hair completely integrated with the golden armor as she has transformed into a different being, her body's shape itself changed.
At the exact same moment, the two complete their metamorphosis, and Meditat then declares in a voice modulated with a synthetic tone so much that it no longer sounds familiar to his own, given deeper tones that distance it from sounding human, "Bellators, dispatching."
At the next moment, the entire pod is set ablaze in blue, immediately losing solidity which lets all four of the passengers plummet with no structure to hold them. Both Kokei and Ekitai enter freefall, keeping their arms crossed over their chest though Kokei's expression becomes quickly terrified, but both Meditat and Dana enter action as Meditat reaches his hand back and projects a single translucent blue cable that attaches onto Ekitai's hand. At the same time, from Dana's back emerges a golden tentacle that crawls over to Kokei, wrapping around her torso which is when both her and Meditat dash downwards with separate thrusts that release bursts of residual energy toned gold and blue respectively. Both Kokei and Ekitai are pulled down with them by each of their tethers, keeping their arms crossed as both Dana and Meditat dive down, Dana's hands and feet now revealed to be transformed to claws, her limbs significantly more muscularly shaped.
They each drift apart before simultaneously diving into the floor of leaves which is when their tethers retract to pull the two others closer, as now Meditat begins tightly strafing with precise boosts in all directions to avoid the many naturally brown branches of the trees, each of them wider than his arms. He jerks his arm to help pull Ekitai as all over his body projects more translucent cables to tug him in different directions, moving with quick zips rather than steady swings.
Not far off, Dana similarly strafes with boosts of golden residual energy, but she allows her clawed hands to grab branches to swing off of, directly interacting with the environment to parkour down it more animalistically. Her tentacle intelligently swings Kokei's body between branches, following Dana's guidance as she switches between flips and swings to dive past other branches. While she interacts with the branches, none of them halt her momentum as she instead uses them to accelerate herself, her swings graceful enough not to snap any branches despite her greater strength.
Meditat spins around towards Ekitai and yanks his arm to pull the two closer as behind his waving cape projects another cable that pulls him down while his body boosts to the left and right to avoid a few more branches, navigating through the tight spaces with hardly any margin for leniency. Dana similarly grabs her own tentacle with her hand and tugs it, commanding the tentacle to retract slightly more to keep Kokei from drifting too far. She grabs and swings off a few more branches, her clawed feet grabbing onto one which lets her push off straight down into a dive just as Meditat projects multiple cables at once in all directions onto branches below which work in tandem to slingshot him downwards, dragging Ekitai with him.
At once, both Meditat and Dana pass the bottom layer of the dense branches, as while there are still more splintering off the trees, they can observe that the forest isn't as dense as they believed it to be, as while the trees themselves are shockingly thick as in fact they're about as wide as a suburban house, they are separated by distances of about a hundred feet or more. Sticking from the ground are also thick black roots of sorts though they're pretty sparse, however they oddly rise pretty high, almost as tall as the roof of leaves.
At least the branches of the natural trees are better spaced as well, much easier to navigate through as they hardly create obstacles, making it easy enough for Meditat and Dana to spot each other as there's also decent light that passes through the leaves although tinted green rather than the typical blue. Still, the both of them gravitate towards each other as they complete the final stretch of their descent, surprised to find that they're still decently high from the ground, looking down to find a distance of about forty feet before the grass floor.
The remainder of the dive simple, Dana completes a flip in the air to orient herself upright similar to Meditat who aims his hand at the ground to fire another cable which he pulls on by curling his arm while thrusting himself in a spin, upright as well.
His black boots land straight on the ground beside the cable just as Dana makes impact, crashing on her golden feet, both of their landings booming about ten feet apart.
Meditat pulls on his other arm once more to bring Ekitai down to the ground as his feet emit a burst that doesn't move himself but instead forms a current underneath Ekitai's feet which slows him down like an air cushion, allowing him to gently land on his feet albeit with a stumble. As both cables vanish, he turns to find Kokei still wrapped in the tentacle, but that tentacle slowly carries her to the ground beside Dana, orienting her upright. It places her on her feet before uncoiling her torso and retracting into Dana's golden back, leaving her free to similarly stumble forwards.
Both Meditat and Dana glance at each other and nod as Kokei and Ekitai do the same to each other, and they then turn away to examine the environment they've just dropped into, lit by the green-tinted light through the leaves.
What the four find around themselves is that forest of towering trees the heights of which are similar to redwoods, however there's greater distance between them though that's made up for the fact each tree is notably wider, about 18 feet in radius. The bark has tones close to orange similar to acacia, the trunks oddly smooth albeit the branches above are rougher. Upon a keener examination, the trees, while separated by about sixty feet, are interconnected by gray roads of pebbles which assimilate into larger roads such that the entire area has a layout similar to a suburban neighborhood. Like a tree in the ground, each branch leads to a standing tree or specifically an arched opening each has, and while many of them are closed off, they are not blocked by solid bark but rather translucent red barriers of energy that has become familiar to at least three of the Bellators.
What all four of them recognize, which is what draws their attention the most, is that emerging from the ground are constructs like roots but not made of the same orange bark, instead that unnaturally black, slimy material with gentle white veins, scattered randomly across the forest which splinter into smaller roots that splinter furthermore, some of them emergent from those natural trees in fact as though having pierced them. Many of these roots reach heights of fifty feet or greater, not reaching nearly high enough to touch the natural branches, but it towers over the four nonetheless. Despite this not being their first interaction with roots, the sporadic splintering over a natural environment like an infestation felt anxiously new, but it carries a familiar tone of dread in relating these anomalies to recent experiences.
Meditat is the first to move, taking a step forward, a gentle breeze reaching them through the trees which ruffles his cape similar to Kokei's hair and Ekitai's coat, that breeze being the loudest source of sound there is and the only other activity for the whole forest seems desolate, cold.
Through those parallelogram goggles, Meditat silently analyzes the environment as behind him it's Ekitai who first speaks to notify, "I've seen these neighborhoods before, usually the cities have a bit more going on but this looks about right for suburbs. I mean, ignoring the creepy…yeah."
Scanning with turns of the head yet still forward, Meditat assesses with hints of uncertainty even through the modulated voice, "I'm not…detecting any indications of human presence in this area. But you're right, this must be a home, and this was where the distress signal came from, this must've been the source. There has to be people here."
"Or 'had'," briefly suggests Ekitai, warranting glances from both Dana and Kokei, Kokei's visible face making a morbid expression to which Ekitai acknowledges the insinuations made and sighs. Dana shakes her head before raising it, staring for a few seconds before inspecting in a voice modulated intensely so, more than Meditat's as it has a heavy electric accent that completely distorts any semblance of human vocals, the only indicators being the concerned tone of, "This must've been…."
"Him," Meditat suddenly interjects, his gaze still in the other direction away from the three. He raises his head and chuffs, muttering softly to himself: "It wasn't enough?" Dana lowers her head to fix it on him, showing concern with the tilt of her head before she takes a step to approach him, reaching her hand out and offering, "Medit…," before he again interrupts with the calculated plan, "We need to search for survivors, there has to be at least someone stranded here. Fan out, search all homes, make sure to clarify your intentions and remain on high alert. Use the Link channel if you've found anything or if you need help unlocking doors, I can send drones for that task. Let's move." He raises his hand forward with a upward tilt which projects a blue translucent cable to pull him off his feet and drags him off in a direction normal to the road they stand beside, the initiation of the search, leaving the other three Bellators standing behind, dumbfounded.
Kokei and Ekitai glance at each other as Dana drops her arm to her side before she then turns to them before whispering worriedly, "Wait, I'm not sure if he knew about…what came out of that. I never had the chance to ask. I'm still not even sure what exactly he experienced."
Ekitai's eyebrow raises and he turns to Dana to ask curiously, "Wait, do you think they might've had something to do with this?"
Kokei frowns at that thought, lowering her head in contemplation though Dana just sighs and reminds, "Just stay careful, we don't really know what's going on. If anything suspicious happens, use the Link like he said, I will get there as quickly as I can."
Dana's body lifts in the air from a steady hum as gentle golden energy repulses her from the ground, emitting from her feet. She then thrusts off in the direction opposite from Meditat, leaving just Kokei and Ekitai left on the ground. They turn to each other and stare awkwardly for a few seconds before Ekitai asks, "Wait, can you open the doors yourself?"
Kokei glances around at the neighboring trees before assuming, "I think I can, I take it you're able to."
Ekitai begins to walk backwards away from her along the road as he remarks, "I mean that's just a normal life skill for me, but okay let me know if you find anything good." He turns around and walks off, leaving Kokei to sigh before walking the other direction of the road, all four of them diverging.
Already having bound far from the original drop point, Meditat jerks his arm back and relinquishes his cable, flinging his body forward before applying a braking backward thrust that halts his momentum, letting him land though he was only about a foot off the ground. He drops his arm to his side and raises his head, staring at the black roots hanging over him like a mushroom infestation, as while the amount of roots emerging from the ground isn't too challenging to handle especially as they're individually not too thick, the main problem comes from the chaotic spreading in the sky that makes it difficult to traverse in the air without getting caught. He sighs in understanding that his vertical traversal is being forcefully limited, highly restricting his movement which isn't the best in a situation where he feels little ease with the environment.
Without much option he can leave himself, he faces forward at the colossal tree he's brought himself to, specifically in front of an active energy door. He approaches it as his right hand suddenly ignites an azure flame, one that refines into the shape of what resembles a screwdriver in that it has a long handle he grips that's attached to a thin metal rod.
He stops right in front of the door, pausing to glance down at the rod in his hand, and then turns to face the door itself, the barrier of constant red energy designed for the protection of those who live behind it, and yet even then there's a sense that those who did once live here are no longer in a place of safety. He takes in a deep breath before carefully holding the rod's tip up to the energy wall, and upon contact the entire metal rod flashes blue which causes the entire red wall to flicker before vanishing completely, forcefully opened. He lets the screwdriver device set itself ablaze, vaporizing from his hands before he cautiously steps through the arched doorway, keeping that hand in a closed fist as the frosty crystals on his knuckles gleam.
Upon entry, Meditat finds that the entire trunk seems to have been hollowed out, or at least the base of it as there's enough space inside to make it resemble a suburban home, granted the circular shape leads to a unique interior structure. The walls are striped which gives them a brighter shade, the floor a darker polished hardwood though there are fabric rugs. The house is lit up by several yellow lights scattered around, though it's clear it's not emitting from the walls itself but rather objects inside the rooms, resulting in imbalanced lighting. The house has several rooms along the circumference which are separated by interior walls of the same striped wood, though only some of the walls reach the ceiling as others only reach up to the waist, for most of the house can be seen just from the door. Walking inside the house, he finds there to be couches though they are planted on the floor, a trio of them surrounding a dark wooden table standing on physical legs that hoists it to waist height.
He passes one of the rooms that are almost fully enclosed by tall walls, but notices a doorway that allows him to peek through, finding the room to have a long table that wraps around nearly the whole space except of course for the doorway. Inside the room are scattered papers among strange metal devices, some of which sit on a chair standing on physical legs, the frame wooden though it has a cushioned seat. After discerning no presence inside the room, he continues forward before introducing gently, "Hello? I'm here to rescue you, I have no intentions to harm you. If you're here, please guide me, there's no danger right now!"
However as he approaches the center of the house, he receives no response, and as he constantly swivels his head to scan the interior, he fails to notice anybody around.
In a different tree's interior though with similar striped walls and grounded furniture, the golden cyborg that being Dana slowly strolls towards the back opposite from the open door, passing a room to her right which features tables along the walls above open cabinets showing physical space inside which stores small boxes and jars of white powders and green liquids. The gentle yellow light reflects off her golden body and blank face that rolls from side to side in her scanning, though there's also nobody to be found.
She reaches the final rooms at the very back, turning her head to confirm nobody hiding behind any of the couches or beneath any of the tables. She lets out an electric sigh, shaking her head and turning around to face the other side where the open arched door stands, though her gaze drifts specifically to a set of physical stairs protruding from the walls next to the lobby, which climb up through the ceiling.
She walks back down the house to approach the staircase, still examining her sides to maintain high alert, however if her scans hadn't already picked up signals then there'd likely be no one there. She reaches the staircase, the wooden boards wide enough for her clawed feet to grab, lacking any railings with open space between each step as they are nothing but a single plank. They at least are pretty thick, not creaking despite her metallic musculature, leading her to an opening in the ceiling that brings her to the upper floor. Taking the final steps, she finds herself inside a short straight corridor that has an abrupt end though a visible sharp left branch, however her focus is shifted directly to her side to find an open door leading into an enclosed room.
Stepping through this door, she finds herself in a space that straight ahead has what is immediately associated as a king-sized bed, the solid wooden frame more like a box sitting on the ground itself, the foundation for the similarly tall mattress covered in a white cotton sheet where a samely colored blanket lays atop, although that blanket is disorderly clumped rather than being spread evenly. In fact from stepping in, the entire room is rather messy as cotton clothing scatters about the wooden floor, heaps of it beside wooden furniture that have extended physical drawers.
To further explore the room, Dana cautiously walks over the clothing which cushions her steps, nearly silencing her movements. Her head turns with snappy motions, glancing at bedside tables on both sides and cabinets along the walls as well as a desk beside the door accompanied with a chair that has physical legs to keep it at a proper height. From her back extend four tentacles that crawl towards the corners of the room, the heads swiveling to function as a new set of eyes, able to glance around obstructions, bending around the bed. As she turns around in continual examination, her tentacles bend to maintain their same positions, all working towards a single objective.
A different house contains a smaller room though with the same function as it too has a bed along the wall, albeit only about twin-sized as the frame and mattress are distinctly narrower. There are also not as many cabinets along the walls though there is a stack of drawers a few of which are open, as there are piles of clothing spread over the floor too, mostly concentrated by the drawers though some are scattered albeit more sparsely. The blanket isn't laid on the mattress but instead balled up on the floor, revealing the white cotton sheet that's not tightly wrapped around the mattress, for one of the corners has loosened which reveals a sliver of the gray mattress underneath. Gently kicking the blanket to the side with his long brown shoe, Ekitai clears his own path as he shuffles to push the clothing to the side, leaving a clear trail. His mellow yellow eyes sway around the room curiously, his posture better relaxed with his arms at his side.
He stops by the center of the room where he has a comprehensive scan of the interior, turning around to get a full panorama, confirming there to be nobody present other than him. He grumbles in this conclusion, shaking his head and turning to face the exit which he approaches as this room has been cleared.
Walking through the open exit door, Ekitai reenters the long corridor that has several other open doorways, one of which is across from him only slightly deeper. The door he departs through isn't the shallowest though as there's one other door in the direction of where he came, opposite from the other end of the hallway which cuts with a single doorway. He first walks into the door across from him, entering another bedroom though this one's bed has a larger size resembling a queen, taking up slightly more open space as the room itself isn't noticeably larger than the former. The blanket is in fact laid atop the bed, but so is a disorganized heap of clothing, littering the mattress rather than the floor which has substantially less clutter. However, just like the other room, as Ekitai wanders into the room and gazes with the pan of his head, there's no presence to be detected. He paces deeper into the room to its center right beside the bed, leaning towards both sides to peer at the edges for proper coverage, however neither side yields interest. After just a few seconds of brief glances, he just frowns and spins, strolling back to the door to check the next rooms, acknowledging this to also be empty like every other one he's explored.
Climbing down the staircase composed of flat boards attached to the wall like the other house, Kokei leaves the upper floor, cautious of her steps with her eyes fixed on her feet as if she had become unfamiliar with a physical set of stairs, perhaps spoiled by the technological luxuries she'd surround herself with. Without any railings to hold onto, her hands keep low to maintain balance, aiding her down to the final or rather first step before being able to reach the ground floor.
She stumbles forward a couple steps but catches herself, dropping her arms to her side and spinning around to face back up at the floor above which she unleashes a disappointed sigh towards, a wordless indicator of her findings or rather lack thereof. She swings her gaze around to the lobby, glancing over at the living room identified by the grounded sofas around the table standing on legs, the dining table not too far off surrounded by several chairs. While she notes that this neighborhood is definitely more comfortable than the dirt dwellings of the cave, at least incorporating multiple materials to allow for softer cushioning and intricate shapes, there's a lack of technology as there's not a single screen in sight. In a strange way there is a sense of calming with this interior, she does appreciate the natural material and there are even some resemblances of her own apartment in that sense, however it's clear she's alien to this type of physical architecture reliant on functional shape as opposed to technological augmentation.
After completing that final brief scan, she turns back to the open arched doorway and through it she departs the tree house, stepping back outside as the soft breeze immediately pushes her pink hair, the yellow lighting replaced with the green tint of the leaves that hover like clouds. She shakes her head after another failure, wiping her forehead with her white sleeve indicative of exertion as she had already searched multiple houses before this, yet not a single one produced results.
Before continuing to the next, she pauses right in front of the door to raise her head and scan the natural forest around her, the vibrant grass squashed beneath her feet and the colossal trees towering over her head. Yet it's the mix of those black roots that leaves her dreading the atmosphere, false trees poking from the ground, piercing through the genuine with one root entering from a side and many more exiting through the other as if growing inside the body like a cancer.
Her attention sways to find that further down the forest, the blue figure departs one of the other trees, the black cape waving in the forest breeze as he too surveys the neighborhood. His gaze doesn't linger to hers though but instead fixes deeper into the forest, locked onto another tree unmarked given that the red energy door is still active though in truth by this point most of the trees in their visible vicinity have marked open doors. Continuing the search, he extends his hand towards this barrier before projecting a blue cable onto the bark beside it, pulling himself to that tree within seconds, detaching to then poke the barrier which disables it, allowing him quick entry.
Vanished from sight once again, Kokei turns her head over to another tree down her side, in fact right beside the one she lingers ahead of, which too has an active closed door. She rolls her shoulders before beginning her approach, not taking a straight line as she instead has to walk around a large black root protruding from the ground between the trees. As she circles the infestation, she raises her head to examine it, observing the splintering that turns one large root into a few slightly smaller ones that then splinter into more, each branching leading to a thinner root but in a larger cluster that would make aerial movement challenging. Stuck to the ground, she makes her way around the root before hearing a thought that echoes in her head, one not of her voice but oddly enough Dana's which isn't modulated but instead sounds natural, "Link Network, update, I haven't found any survivors, in fact I haven't found any bodies. Most of the houses I've searched are in a mess which leads me to suspect that there were people here in a mass evacuation, but I can't find anyone."
Kokei pauses her advance for the next house, instead just stopping beside the black root and contemplating with a frown before she thinks in words, letting them echo to herself: "Link Network, same here, it's weird. But hey, maybe that just means everyone did evacuate? I mean I guess it doesn't look like what happened here was…fatal or anything, I mean maybe these branches just appeared and everyone left safely?"
She raises her head and turns around to face the roots, staring up at it curiously though maintains caution as she takes a couple steps back. While creating distance, she hears another set of thoughts but this time in Ekitai's voice in a tone more disgruntled, "Link Network, maybe that's the case, I don't know, every house is just the same thing. I'm not finding anything here, and I don't really think I'm going to find anything. At this point I don't think it's really worth going to every house, if someone was here they would've noticed us by now and done something. Didn't Meditat say there were other places we needed to hit up? It'd make more sense if we just did that now."
Kokei frowns at that defeated statement, though she can't find an argument against it, just lowering her head in acknowledgement of the reasonable logic. She sighs, that breath only heard by herself, though she then hears Dana's voice in her head accept, "Link Network, you honestly might be right Ekitai, as much as I don't want to accidentally miss something important, there's no presence I've scanned thus far and there are still groups out there who need our help so it'd be best we switch focus to them, we are pressed for time so we should make sure to use it most effectively. Medit, does that sound good?"
There isn't an immediate response though, leaving Kokei somewhat puzzled as her eyebrow raises, and even Ekitai thinks through her head, "Link Network, hey Meditat…you uh…did remember to connect right? Can you chase him down Dana? I wouldn't be surprised if he was in another neighborhood by now."
"Link Network, all of you, come to my location, I'm pinging it on your Connects," suddenly orders the voice of Meditat unmodulated but instead natural like Dana's, unresponsive to the question as instead it leaves many more for Kokei as her eyes widen in surprise. She jerks her head up as a holographic screen projects in front of her with pink borders, presenting a flat map with a central triangle indicative of herself and a line functioning as a path leading her to the new destination. Her shocked eyes sharpen to concentrate as she slowly spins until the triangle is facing the path before then nodding her head, signaling the screen to vanish. She then breaks into a jog, swinging her arms back and forth with heavy pants, a sense of haste provided through that bold command, avoiding the black roots covering the forest in a path mostly straight, bright enough by the tinted light of the green sky.
Far on the other side of the neighborhood from where she was searching, requiring her to shift to a sprint to cover the distance more quickly, Kokei races through the forest, her attention shifting to the left after hearing a roar akin to an engine pod, instead finding the golden body of Dana soaring through the forest in a similar direction, though her body is only about two feet from the ground to remain beneath the sprawling roots, still needing to evade the stems poking from the ground as she exhaust a golden ray trail. It takes only a few seconds for the cyborg to surpass Kokei, approaching an open doorway before swiftly cutting off the flight to transition into a roll that she springs up from onto her feet, smoothly shifting to a run that is continued into the arched entrance. That house isn't too far from Kokei at least, taking her only a short final stretch wrapping around another root to then reach the entrance which she runs into, however the very instant she sets foot in the house her white shoes step and slide over a small brown puddle, causing her to slip uncontrollably given her initial momentum, resulting in her being launched forward with a shriek only able to reach her hands forward to catch her fall. She's grabbed by a golden tentacle that wraps around her torso right before making contact with the floor, holding her still as she frantically pants heavily. That breathing calms quickly though as the tentacle hoists her back up and reorients her body upright before gently placing her back on her feet in front of the puddle, that tentacle coming from ahead in the house near the center, attached to the back of Dana's body who faces back at her before hastily prompting, "Are you alright??"
Kokei takes in a deep breath to fully pacify herself, nodding and thanking gratefully, "I'm fine now, thanks. I uh…didn't catch that, huh…."
The tentacle gripping her loosens, uncoiling before retracting into Dana's back where it fully reintegrates into her body. She lets out an electric sigh of relief before alerting, "Just be wary about where you step, there's more spillage." She then turns around and strolls towards a room to the right of the center, following what are indeed a series of small puddles of that same brown liquid.
Kokei follows behind though with slower, steady steps, head low to focus keenly on the floor, cognizant of every step she takes. She walks past the living room indicated by the sofas and tables, a brief glimpse of curiosity in her eyes before she sniffs strongly, followed by another stronger sniff as though her nose was congested. Instead however, that curiosity grows with the rise of an eyebrow before she reports peculiarly, "Huh…that's weird…this kind of smells like…deer, venison? I want to say at least…it's been a really long time since I've cooked it but it feels like that, or at least some kind of meat if I'm wrong, at least it smells like food. It's actually pretty good." She then frowns before her mind wanders, "Why couldn't we have eaten an actual meal or something? It's like I have an appetite now but I'm not at all hungry."
Her attention is swayed again right after this depressive thought upon reaching the room Dana had entered, finding what resembles a kitchen in that there are open cabinets along the walls with countertops, both of which are full of various boxes and jars, along with a table in the center functioning like an island. Her eyes lock first to Dana, but then to the focus of Dana's lowered head, that being Meditat who is currently kneeled down beside one of the open cabinets, inspecting not a puddle but a ring of that brown liquid, about the radius of the other jars around the room. He hums as Kokei slowly approaches the two, walking around Dana as she briefly scans the kitchen, noting pots and pans laying around the countertops, a few of them uncleaned as there's visible grime likely from prior cooking though it's since cooled off and hardened.
"These people must've sought to carry food for the evacuation, it's logical given they wouldn't know the next time they'd find food elsewhere and this area is still rather rural. Improper sealing would've left this spill, likely due to the haste of the retreat," Meditat sternly deduces, his hand placed at the rim of the cabinet, one knee on the ground.
Standing behind Meditat, peering over his shoulder, Dana shrugs her shoulders before considering, "Judging by the mess of clothes everywhere I go, I guess people were trying to pack all they could in the little time they had. It's..unfortunate…they really had no idea what was coming."
"It's kind of weird though," chimes in a raspy voice right behind Kokei who jumps forward and spins around, finding Ekitai just standing in the kitchen, his arms at his side and his keen yellow eyes fixed on the cabinet. Ekitai then appends, "I don't get why people's first instinct would be to stock on clothes, food makes way more sense. Then again they were probably too busy freaking out to think straight, it happens." He does take a single sniff followed by two others, raising his head before commenting, "I wouldn't be opposed to a bite of whatever that is though."
As Meditat turns his head to shift his gaze from the ring to the small puddle in the kitchen, Kokei weakly smiles at that repeated thought, relaxed now after the jumpscare. She sighs and opens her mouth to agree, "Heh yeah, if only-."
"We've analyzed the product, there are traces of venison meat made in a broth, best interpretation is it was a stew," Meditat interrupts with an explanation, drawing Kokei's attention back around to him. The three watch him stand up to his feet before reporting, "Fortunately it's specific enough to generate a fairly reliable tracker based on that composition, it appears to be functioning here." He then raises his head towards the three to at last announce, "We should be able to use the spill as a trail and follow where these people went. It's our best lead, assuming detection strength remains at the requisite threshold."
"Share me the tracker algorithm along with the data analysis," Dana requests to which Meditat turns to her and nods with a brief, "It's sent," to which Dana nods back and immediately confirms, "Got it, I'll tune my sensory modules."
Meditat then begins marching out of the kitchen, passing Dana, Kokei, and lastly Ekitai all of whom watch him as he declares, "We'll find these survivors, all of you, come." He continues on down the house towards the exit, leaving the three to follow his guidance, Dana passing both Kokei and Ekitai which leaves the two of them to exchange glances before following in the back. Kokei catches up to Ekitai's side, following Dana close behind as Meditat strides to the open doorway, walking over the spill, the search truly now begun.
Strolling out of the tree house, Meditat keeps his head at a slight downward tilt, his parallelogram goggles glowing bright as his head slowly raises along a path. Dana steps outside and stops by his side, followed by Kokei and Ekitai who too exit the tree just as Meditat confirms, "I'm registering the composite in a directional trail, this is working." He continues ahead in strides, his cape waving in the light breezes, leading Dana close behind as well as Kokei and Ekitai who follow side by side. Kokei tilts down to the ground with keen, intrigued eyes, attempting to notice the spills of the stew on the grass, curious about the workings of the tracker whereas Ekitai just keeps his head up, staring aimlessly at the trees with his hands in his overcoat's pockets. Kokei only grows more perplexed as she's unable to detect the stew, however ahead of her Dana declares, "I'm picking the same trail, it's matching with my sensors, this should be right."
Further on the four walk, passing gigantic trees that loom shadows and leaves above the infestation of black roots they avoid, leaving no discernible glimpse of the supersun as it's difficult to even catch a spec of the sky over the umbrella. There's little to indicate covered distance as the trees aren't too distinguishable and there aren't other landmarks to gauge relative distance traveled off of, as they just seem to be walking forward with subtle left and right tilts along the path.
Kokei's eyebrow raises though she keeps her head down, straining to try picking up on what the two can see. She concentrates stronger, her eyes tightening to a glare, all while Meditat observes ahead, "Hmm, do you register that stronger concentration here?"
Kokei catches up to the two ahead, not having realized that they paused close to a black root. She walks around them in greater intrigue before her eyes widen upon noticing that a patch of the green grass in front of her is shaded brown, dropping her jaw as she excitedly discovers: "I can see that!"
Both Meditat and Dana glance at Kokei, neither of their faces visible, however just their postures indicate an awkwardness which is quickly picked up on as Kokei raises her head and frowns with a shy, "I mean…yeah…sorry…." Beside her, Ekitai sighs, though Dana turns back to Meditat before theorizing, "I do, perhaps some sort of altercation leading to excess spillage. The trail has a sudden sharp turn too, there must've been a conflict that required them to change direction."
Meditat nods to that assessment and compounds, "That's plausible, erratic movements might be harder to trace but ideally it'll iron itself out. Let's continue," before he does just that, resuming his advancement with Dana by his side, not continuing straight but instead with a sharp right turn as they had discussed. Ekitai flashes a smirk at Kokei after her somewhat childish declaration, leading to her being buried in shame, turning away to hide her face and just continue behind the leader, keeping her head up in a silent admission of quitting her little game. Leaving her be, Ekitai raises his head back up, though that mischievous smile shifts to a curious stare before he comments, "Huh, what is that?"
Ahead of him, Meditat suddenly stops to turn around, Dana stopping as well as both show intrigue to the observation. Kokei follows interest as the three of them follow Ekitai's gaze up to the branching black roots, or rather to a small device nestled within it, resembling a remote of sorts, difficult to discern due to the dark gray color blending with the black of the branches. Meditat slowly approaches the area beneath the device as his attention has been absorbed, his goggles fixed to it. Standing below the roots, he tilts his head while staring at the small device as beside him Dana wonders, "Why would that even be thrown up there?"
"Wait, that appears familiar," Meditat analyzes keenly before deciding, "I'll retrieve it, could help guide us to find the survivors." He raises his hand, though Dana steps forward and hastily advises, "Wait Medit, I can reach it," though Meditat assures, "It'll be easier for me to pull it," followed by Dana's warning, "But I don't think we should-," however he already projects a blue cable straight up, attaching onto a surface which lets him reel himself upwards, pulling the attention of the other three.
His hand gripping the translucent energy cable emitting from his palm, Meditat pulls himself up near the black root that his cable is attached to. He focuses straight ahead to find that remote device just a couple feet in front of him, the shell a dark gray though the face of which features a physical dial beneath a few buttons and a small switch. The remote also has a small rod sticking out of the top, though it's pretty short, just a couple inches. The device is balanced perfectly on a single thin root, though there's a couple roots in between it and him, each at least separated with just enough space to reasonably reach through.
So while he keeps one hand gripping the cable holding him up, Meditat uses his free hand to reach for the remote, cautiously inserting it between two of the roots that are about parallel before slightly angling his arm down under another root, finally free to grab the remote. His open hand gently grabs the face of the remote, lightly holding the edges, and he carefully picks the device up from the branch.
Below, Kokei, Ekitai, and Dana all watch in anticipation, Ekitai showing some excitement as he had in fact spotted an interesting object though Kokei has a hint of anxiety from the delicacy of the operation. Dana seems similarly anxious, watching in silence, her knees bent as if ready to spring up.
Slowly, Meditat pulls his arm back through the roots, dragging the remote beneath the first root before raising his arm to bring it towards the two roots in parallel. With the awkwardness of his arm's contortion, he tries to slightly adjust his grip on the device to more easily guide it between the roots, though the gap was already not very wide when he was just reaching his arm. Focused on retrieving the remote, he steadily adjusts his position to slowly pull his arm through the crevice, successfully carrying the remote between the roots, just slightly bumping the back of his hand against the bottom of the top root.
Tunneled in on the retrieval of the remote as the caustics of the root he grazed brighten, Meditat brings the device close to his mask for inspection, silently analyzing the contraption that was so nearly missed. He asks not to the others below, "Orial, are you still registering the signal?"
The following response is emitted from his own body in the form of the British artificial intelligence, indicating: "I am currently not, the signal was open for only a brief six seconds before being closed off."
Meditat doesn't immediately respond back, but rather after a few moments of silent processing as all the other branches of the root before him begin to flare, he flicks the small switch on the face of the remote. He then asks again, "Are you registering the signal now?"
As other roots behind Meditat all brighten, Orial answers optimistically, "I am in fact registering the signal, and it appears to have the same identification values as the original signal I had captured. It would be logical to presume that this was the device used to cast that broadcast."
Below him and difficult to hear as it's softly spoken, Kokei's voice observes worriedly, "Uhm…is something happening?"
After a couple seconds, Dana's voice responds with a similar anxiety, "Wait, oh no, we need to get out of here." She then speaks again though far louder in an announcement directed upwards: "Medit, we need to get out of here!!"
Still studying the remote, Meditat answers back though keeps his head fixed: "We'll start moving soon, I'm trying to inspect this device to see if I can register any residual identifiers, something to help strengthen our direction."
"At least come down here Meditat," Dana pleads, "We really should-," however her voice is interrupted by a sudden hum emitting from in front of Meditat, not in the tune of a pod's engine but something that carries the roughness more aligned with a deep growl. That growl breaks Meditat's trance, bringing his gaze up to the roots that aren't just brighter but are actively pulsating, however seconds later he hears that same growl behind him, leading him to spin around to find that all the other roots for as far as he can see are similarly pulsating, now all emitting that growl.
Perplexion above all, Meditat remains attached to his cable but simply asks, "What's…going on? Is it because I touched it?"
That growl grows louder but furthermore the sound itself contorts into a clearer rasp, to which Dana shouts again the most desperate: "MEDIT, WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!"
At that very moment, Meditat hears another growl from behind, however just slightly different as it sounds more like a creepily deep gargle, prompting him to spin around just as a pair of pure black arms protruding from the roots like additional branches pulls up the slender black body it's attached to, the tall head emerging with no discernible eyes or nose, for the only feature is a mouth in the middle of the face which doesn't merely have a roof and floor of teeth but instead a spiral without end down the throat, each tooth black though with an illuminated white outline. The body pulls itself at him as that long head begins to bend upon the jaw mechanism that widens the mouth, expanding freakishly wide enough that it'd be able to cover his entire head.
At once, Meditat's chest flares blue before releasing a residual burst of energy outward which repels him backwards just as the blue cable attaching him to the root vanishes, pushing him away from the creature as his feet both project cables straight down, pulling himself towards the ground with a promptness greater than natural gravity.
Landing on the ground with enough speed that it nearly shakes off Kokei's balance, Meditat frantically turns around as does Dana and Ekitai, the four of them forming a circle each facing out, finding that all around them the black roots have been activated, and crawling from all of them are those same dark figures, some of those further away managing to pull not only their waist but their samely black legs, fully emerging until their bodies freely fall into the ground. They however quickly crawl up to their feet, turning to face the four and slowly creeping towards them.
Dana, Kokei, and Ekitai glance at Meditat around the same instant to seek his next command, however he just stands there blankly, watching the humanoid inhumans approach him, his stance not even defensive but rather disoriented. Next to him, Dana gently brushes his shoulder though to no response, leading to her to repeat the gesture and urge: "Medit, come on, plan."
It's then that all the monsters approaching them break into a deranged sprint and release a screech through their open mouths that's abrasively grating to the ears overlaying the garling. From all directions the beasts charge at the four, immediately prompting Meditat to command: "Repel them," as he acts on the defensive, firstly glancing down at the remote in his hand to which his goggles project a blue light onto the remote, wrapping it before the device vanishes completely. After the light subsequently deactivates, he faces forward and extends both hands together which blaze same as his shoulders, equipping his hands with two firearms resembling uzis which rapidly fire blue bolts, same as the constructs from the flames that were released from his shoulders, those being four small black spherical drones, however the rain of bolts gets simply absorbed into the body with no sign of damage made or even effective resistance to their charge. Automatically the drones raise the intensity of the bolts as indicated by the rise of brightness and size along with the screech of every shot, however there's no notable difference in impact. Meditat takes a defensive stance by squaring his legs, however the three around him don't follow his command in fighting back as instead Dana desperately shouts, "WE NEED TO RETREAT, TRUST ME!"
Meditat immediately turns his head towards Dana as though finally listening to the warning, however he turns around to find that the front line of monsters have closed in on them in a circle of ten feet, making escape impossible given the immediate low ceiling of the roots. While he finally processes the situation around them including his reaction as well as his team's, there's no simple solution, leaving him to yet again freeze in place, however that's when it's Kokei who stands behind him motions a step forward as her entire body begins sparking with whitish pink electricity initially wild yet weak however it concentrates to only emerge from her arms, each spark a longer arc which is then focused on a direct discharge forward in a fan. The pink lightning doesn't directly strike any of the monsters but rather swarms around an entire subset of the horde in front of her, resulting in them immediately freezing, allowing Kokei to pull her arms back before thrusting them forward which reflectively thrashes that entire cluster back off their feet.
For just a moment, a single window has been open, the last to be taken as Meditat spins and lunges towards it, boosting himself forward as three cables project from his back, each attaching to an ally's chest. They're all concurrently swept off their feet and pulled through the opening the very moment before all the monsters converge in the center, colliding into each other, many of them falling and getting trampled as if uncoordinated.
His feet just slightly hovering about a foot from the ground, Meditat soars through the forest both from the continuous boosting discharging from his back as well as swift cables projecting from his hips that zip him forwards, using the natural trees and dark roots to propel himself. Behind him, the three Bellators are also airborne just slightly so, Ekitai's feet in fact just subtly grazing the grass, the tensity of the cable precisely adjusted to ensure perfect drag. Kokei grips the cable holding her as Dana turns around to watch the monsters chase them, however struggle to catch up, more so as Meditat abandons both of his firearms after acknowledging their ineffectiveness, instead using his hands to project more cables for zipping. That said there aren't only monsters behind them but more crawling from roots ahead, sprinting at them which complicates their path as they don't move in a straight line but make constant tight turns to avoid mobs.
The grass beneath his feet bend down just from the propulsive force he's exhausting, but his focus remains forward, using the roots has his primary anchor points to swing between to ensure no collision, using two parallel roots to attach cables to from his hands though holds onto them, curling his arms before flinging himself forward in a slingshotting motion which gains the four a significant boost of speed. He extends both arms in opposite directions and expels flames that form solid steel walls, however just as quickly as they're built, they're scratched straight through as the beasts reveal their clawed hands to easily tear through the thick barriers.
In fact, one of the monsters that break through the wall manages to leap onto his leg, clinging to his knee to which Meditat instinctively raises his right hand to manifest a plasmic blade resembling a machete in shape, using it to slash not at the monster but his own kneecap, slicing off his lower leg which drops the monster as well. He's quick to regenerate that knee with flames that crawl out of the gaping wound, grunting in the pain of the amputation he did feel. Greater subjects are at focus though as he burns away the energy machete in order to return his hands to the primary function of releasing more zips, focusing exclusively on speed as neither attack or defense seems viable.
Accelerating now that he's dialed in, the four zoom through the forest at blistering speeds, making tight turns so quickly that they move in a zig zag akin to a lightning bolt, yet the tensity of the cables constantly readjust to prevent the Bellators from suffering significant strain. Focused ahead, Meditat notices an end to the root infestation. His goggles flare with determination, swinging between roots with evasive boosts mixed for precise turns.
Reorienting upright, Meditat fires a final four cables from his hips and hands onto the bordering roots, yanking himself beyond the root infestation and away from the low ceiling, allowing him to immediately boost upwards in a high jump, free at last to use the tall branches of the natural trees as his anchor points, far higher in the sky than the tops of the roots that are left behind.
Still intent on distancing from the horde but no longer in immediate danger, Meditat stops the continual boost and chooses longer swings over quick zips, more graceful movements smoother for the three behind him who all just watch the horde in the distance by the swarm of roots, all becoming harder to observe as they pass more trees that obstruct their view, all until that view is fully covered.