Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Spiky, you are aware she's probably younger than all three of you, right? I wouldn't be surprised if a storm got the better of you at that age, and if she is, she's got nothing to be ashamed of. At least there's others around. Besides, as long as I'm around, someone's gotta be able to keep you four safe." Aden spoke up, his eyes narrowing for a second. "And when I'm not, that's gonna fall on you all. If it's just gonna lead to throats being torn apart, then it'll be hard keeping some sort of trust as a team."

"...Maybe I should've stopped while I was ahead. Still, we'll be fi-" Sure enough, Aden did catch a glimpse of the unusual figure. Didn't seem to be the cause for it, something like that was too unlikely. But it rose suspicion. "I think someone else's out there. You four stay in here, alright? I'll be back."

He bolted outside in a hurry, hoping to reach where that figure was...

Aden found himself freezing for a second at the thunder's booming, realizing that in the unlikely event he was struck, he'd be in a world of hurt with his current form. He kept onward to see if he'd find anything different, hoping he wasn't imagining things. "It looked like it was here... maybe it was just the shadow off a tree or something."

Shrugging, he gave another glance around to be sure.

He spun around when the lightning struck, seeing it again. Aden finally found it prudent to speak up. "Argh... who's there!?" This time, he didn't move, figuring whoever was around would only maintain distance.

At this point, Aden figured there was still some elements of a prank... meh, and here he was hoping there was more of a good reason behind it. "..." So this was how it was going to be played. Alright. He decided to keep himself quiet as he ran off to the cavern, if only to get himself out of the rain in the process.

"...!?" Another quick turn, only to see that he'd been followed here. "I thought I told you four to stay inside to be safe... why the sudden change?" He wasn't really confused by it, or all that surprised; if anything, he imagined at least one would've been a bit of a rebel and followed regardless. Probably Purple. But all four was something he didn't expect.

No one would've heard it, but there was a mild sizzling in Aden's brain. If one was able to actually look inside it, they'd see a music player beginning to overheat. Not only had rebellion been slightly averted, it was the last one he'd have thought of to want to follow that prompted it in the first place.

"I... see. Right. Thanks, really. Any of you four see anything on the way here? I know about the one that's somewhere around, that one came in here the last time I could see." He finally said.

"I think we'll be quick enough. Maybe you should've been dressed in red instead..." Aden mused, only to quickly dismiss the thought in his head. "Forget I said that. If he's not too far... alright. Spiky, I want you and Brown there to go deeper inside. The two of you seem to be a little quicker, so chasing him down should be a little easier." Admittedly, he knew it wasn't that big, but everyone sticking together wouldn't work too well if they were to corner someone.

"Blue, Yellow, stick around here. If he tries to make a run for it outside, you two will have the best shot at slowing him down so the rest of us can catch up. I'll stick around the center to keep an eye out and hurry to whichever party spots whoever's around. If any of you do spot him, though, speak up. I know it'll bring attention to you, but going after him by yourselves is unlikely to succeed."

In his mind, the idea was sound, and it'd generate the fewest tensions. "Any objections? I'm not against any better ideas."