Avoiding Trouble

"Aaahhh!" "Aaiiee!"

Screams and yelling drifted out of the mouth of the cave interrupting the moment. Knives eyes got big and round as she blinked. "Uh... What was that?"

"Mood killer," Roman rolled his eyes and seeing her look confused he shook his head. "Nevermind. You're a fighter type, yes?" Seeing her nod he did too. Looking over the pod he saw that a side panel had opened up. It likely held her additional gear. "Best arm yourself and get ready for trouble then."

Knives reached inside and found a small backpack and- "Yay! My daggers!" She said pulling out two large and sharply pointed daggers.

"Wait," Roman said. "Hold up. Your name is Knives' and you're a knife fighter?"

Knives pulled on her backpack and nodded. "My dad's a weapon fanatic," she explained as she pulled out even more copies of her signature weapons and started stashing about her person. "I'm okay without them and can fight with other stuff too but I like my knives." She gave him a quick look.

"What?" He asked as he felt it even as he was looking over the pod. He really wished he had time to scrap it for parts to use. He sighed giving up. There wasn't time for that. "Let's get out of sight quick."

She shook her head and hands comically I'm a cute way. "Oh, it's nothing. Do you not like fighting?" Following him as he surprised her again heading towards the side of the cave instead of away from it. "You look... different?"

"What's that supposed to mean? And actually I don't mind fighting at all," he smirked and tapped his temple. "But I prefer to fight with this first. Stand up against the wall here and stay still."

She did as instructed and nodded her understanding. He was one of those guys. Not a straightforward brawler. A thinker who believed a fight started in the mind before the action started. He was different from what she was used to and way different from Scott Pilgrim that way... She shook her head. She didn't want to think about Scott. She had finally gotten over him. This was possibly going to be good for her. "I mean your dressed... differently? No, unusual. But in a good way! A little like an old timey adventure guy! It's... cool!"

Roman couldn't help but smile at the awkward but genuine compliment. "Thanks. I just know what I like and I like this." He said acknowledging his attire. He smiled at her. "I like your style too. Very lowkey modern ninja. Very cool but also cute." He watched her blush and said, "Speaking of stay very still and quiet. I need to concentrate."

Knives was glad to follow that particular order as she felt flustered... again. She knew she was being awkward... but Roman seemed like he wasn't annoyed by her. Infact she thought he kind of... Maybe... liked her. And that made her happy. But did he like her or "like" liked her?... And why did that thought make her nervously happy too? And what if...-!

She lost her train of thought as something started to happen. The colors of the world became washed out and a bit faded... or so it seemed for a second but then they started coming back as something unexpected happened. "Wow!" She quietly mouthed.

Roman concentrated. The trick to creating a good illusion was to make it realistic and detailed. He wasn't as accomplished as his mother at it... not yet. But she assured him he was just as talented and time and experience would only make him even better. He crafted and wove an illusion of the rocks over them and made sure to include the small details like striations, dirt, lichen, moss and shadows to hide them and make it believable. Espescialy that last part because that was the trick to illusions, and "magic" in general, to make them believable you had to believe in it yourself...

...And not go too far. He was tempted to blanket the whole area. Make an illusory pair of them running away. He certainly could. His mother could do it easily. But he had also learned that less was sometimes more. Simply cloaking themselves should be sufficient and would be less of strain and easier to maintain. Neither of the others had seen Knives. A drone had already collected their compatriot. And from the sound of their screaming getting closer and the thundering footsteps now of something pursuing them they certainly were distracted and didn't need further convincing to overlook a seemingly ordinary section of rock. He just held his breath, and Knives did too unconsciously, hoping that it fooled whatever was pursuing the other two.

A moment later the two previous guys burst out of the mouth of the cave screaming and running full tilt as if for their lives. They certainly didn't notice anything a miss at all in their distracted state.

The reason for their distraction followed shortly after with a deafening roar.

First the huge saurian head full of teeth like knives appeared then the rest of it's massive body as the dinosaur excited the cave. It's huge taloned hind legs and lashing tail in sharp contrast to it's spindly clawed fore legs.

Knives gulped as the dinosaur paused a second and sniffed the air. One of it's massive eye's seemed to look right at them... but it was distracted by more screaming from the prey directly in front of it. It bellowed a roar and leaned forward, it's body flattening out as it went now that it could run after its prey faster, and charged straight ahead after the fleeing duo. It kicked and stomped the pod Knives had been in flattening it to the ground with nary a thought in its pursuit, slowed only by the bigger rocky Boulders.

Roman waited patiently listening as the sounds faded into the distance, and no more came from the cave, before dropping the illusion. "Sucks to be them. Oh well."

Knives swallowed, her eyes large. "W-Was that a d-d-dinosaur?!"

Roman nodded looking down at the footprints and then into the cave, nodding. "Yep. A Tyrannosaurus. But just a cave one so smallish. Kind of lucky actually." He looked through the smashed wreckage of the pod. Some bits were totally destroyed but the whole thing had busted apart quite nicely and others had been stomped flat. He started grabbing pieces of flattened metal and even more importantly the cushioned material Knives had been laying upon thinking it'd make for some nice bedding material. He turned towards the cave and nodded. "Help me grab some of this stuff and let's go."

She gulped and stared at him. "You mean in there?!"

Roman nodded pulling out some wire and spooling it up. It'd be useful for tying things together. "Yup. I only see tracks for one and it's quiet in there now. Pretty perfect really. It'll chase those two for a longtime if we're lucky. They can be pretty viciously territorial."

Knives did as he directed but was clearly nervous about it. "But isn't that dangerous? When it comes back... if we're still in there we'll be trapped!"

Roman nodded but then shrugged pointing towards some other useful scrap. "Grab those? Potentially, Knives."

"Got it. Potentially?" She asked grabbing the stuff that he'd pointed out.

He nodded trying to pry open the internal battery compartment then smiling seeing it was intact. "Yes! Come to papa little fusion core! Potentially trapped... maybe we will be but I'm betting that we won't. It's all a gamble but it's one I'm willing to make."

"How?" She asked rethinking her previous assessment and wondering if he was actually crazy.

"Gravity," Roman said paxking the precious power source away and then contemplating a twisted broken piece of refuse in his hand before then tossing it aside as junk. He started taking some of the glass shards.

"Gravity?" She questioned stuffing her pack and helping him gather more odds and ends like screws, nuts, bolts and pieces of metal.

He nodded as he worked. "Exactly. Natural cavern systems are generally formed by water. Water follows the law of gravity and flows downward. That's basic fluid dynamics. If the cave up here is dry enough to make it a comfortable lair then the water is getting out. Likely to the sea below. Which means..."

"Which means there's another way in and out!" Knives said catching on. "Awesome!"

Roman grinned. "Potentially. Potentially awesome but worth betting on. That's what we call taking a calculated risk. There's no guarantee that we'll be able to get out that way but it is possible. The waves and sea itself will have worked on the other end. And if she's made her lair up here it's likely that she can't go too deep and few other things are in the other end. If we're lucky we could have a nice little ocean villa with a big reptilian guard dog... and if we're unlucky. Well... that's why they call it a gamble." He shrugged.

Knives nodded and closed up her pack. "I hope we're lucky!"

Roman nodded hoisting his pack and the newly acquired one onto his shoulders using the newly acquired spear to balance the double load across his shoulders. It was a bit awkward but manageable with his cane. "Shall we find out?"

"Let's!" Knives said excitedly feeling lucky.

[Roman Stark and Knives Chau

Will Return In

Into The Caverns

Coming Soon]