Must be a hundred and nine (1-3)

Sheff · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:40 pm

Sheffer took Toby's helping hand willingly, letting the kangaroo rat pull him to his feet. His legs were shaking, but most of the previous tremors had managed to disappear. But, he just felt spent, as though he had ran a marathon with a hundred pound pack. Whatever the crystal was had drained his own energy to stay intact, and when that had been depleted, it lost its grip on its host.

"Thanks, man..." muttered the hedgehog quietly, steadying himself next to Toby. "And trust me... you don't want to know how being surrounded by the stuff feels..."

Before he had a chance to continue, the almost-literal earthquake occurred, revealing the doctor himself emerging from the earth below. Immediately came his request, Sheffer's shoulders slumping farther then they already had been.

"Oh, f*** me..."

Without a second thought, he pushed himself away from Toby, forcing his legs to be steady as he moved forward, bending over and picking up the trouble-making rock. With the emerald now in his possession once more, he gathered up his pack and board, throwing the rock into the bag and tossing it onto his shoulders.

Leaning against the nearby brick wall of the police station to regain himself, he looked to the others.

"Okay... he probably doesn't know which of us has this blasted thing, so our best bet is to get far away as possible... probably lead him out of the town's borders for everyone's sake." Something came to mind then. "And before any of you start again, I'm keeping the emerald for now. This side effect, or whatever the hell it is, didn't kill me, so the energy this thing is giving off I'm probably immune to about now... or I hope so."

"Anyway, that's my two cents..." he looked to Jack. "What's your plan, Sheriff?"

Admin · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:45 pm

Unbeknownst to Sheffer, a laser targeting dot appeared on his head right around the second he said "he probably doesn't know which one of us has the blasted thing."

Mie · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 10:28 pm

In the moments following the aftermath of her playtime, Jam had gone AWOL. She didn't return to the lobby full of people whose stuff she just ruined at worst, and momentarily disabled at best. For once, she actually took note of her surroundings, and the odd way they began to rock and rumble beneath her shoe soles. With an exasperated roll of her eyes and a half-second sigh, she shook her head, and jogged off a few feet, jerking this way and that, trying to get a feel for the general proximity of whatever monstrosity Eggman had dug out of his killer toy box.

After a few moments of what looked like really spastic pacing, she shook her head, deciding they had at least a few minutes, and began to head back towards the YDPD. The sudden exit of the hot-headed Sheriff out an apparent back entrance caught the monkey's unusually observant eye before she had committed to the front door, however, and Jam slowed to an inconspicuous trot as she swung around the side of the station to investigate.

Sure enough, more followed, but she'd certainly be hard-pressed to say she was expecting any of it -- First, Crystal-zilla (whom she'd later recognize with a twinge of repulsion) burst from the same exit, and collapsed on the street, where he was hastily assisted by the good-natured yellow guy. Then out came Rekk, authoritative guns a-blazing, which fired mercilessly into Jack.

Before things could get too insufferably dull, though, the too-local-for-comfort courthouse erupted with a giant, drill-handed scorpio-bot a la Eggman, cackling with his infantile glee, and making his fussy demands with no shortage of clichés or theatricality. But the punch-red primate now knew first hand that even he didn't amuse himself too long, and quickly formulated a terrible plan that she knew she'd regret, even as she took off running towards the familiar sound of chaos and destruction.

Kazz · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:23 pm

Oh, conflict-avoiding Mako; he had merely been slinking off to the side and being irate until the eggman robot had turned up. Then "irate" turned to "muttering curses under his breath" as he stepped out to see what was going on.

After a moment, the shark sighed; he would have agreed with the 'hot, dusty, and ugly' thing, but he wasn't going to be the one caught agreeing with Eggman of all people. After what Sheff said, he turned to look to the green hedgehog.
"... huh." He blinked a few times, raising his eyebrows, as though trying to confirm what he was seeing-- this morning had gone so insanely, he wasn't entirely sure.

"I think he knows who has it, dude," he pointed out nervously, pointing at the dot without realizing that Sheffer very well couldn't see his own forehead, let alone the laser-aim.

Rachel · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:46 am

Jack exited out the back entrance. There wasn't any way on earth she'd go out the front with Sheffer the way he was, seeing the reporters still hungry for a statement. So once outside she waited with crossed arms and an utterly blank expression as Rekk laid into her. Honestly, she had it coming for sticking them on him. "Uh, I went out the BACK door, fer that very reason. Ya'll just made an excellent distraction is all. Thank ya." She said in the sweetest voice she could muster.

She watched Sheff with a pained expression. The crystal, on him or in chunks on the ground worried her deeply. "An I didn't know about the crystal 'till about five minutes ago, We ain't stayin' in town with th-" Aaaaannnnd she didn't get to finish that thought.

The golden griffin stood motionless, her eyes wide with an expression of sheer terror. The city... HER dusty little city, in the midst of another attack. She turned to Rekk, motioning towards the robot. "We can't let him destroy the city!" She said suddenly, her priority was the people she was sworn to protect. Even if it meant giving over the only bit of power the group had managed to keep from Eggman.

"Sheffer, Give. Rekk. The. Rock. NOW!" She wasn't asking, she said everything as clearly, and firmly as she could given the situation. For once, she prayed someone would listen to her. It was obvious the sheriff wanted the rock gone, and she wanted it in the right hands. But not at the expense of the city and its people.

The deputy's in the station had to rely on Tiny to organize them. The building was being evacuated as soon as they'd realized what was going on. Deputy's hurried to get the reporters, criminals, and anyone else out of harms way. Jack could see deputy Target coming around the other side of the building looking up at the robot. For once, the squeaky CT was struck speechless.

Seafarinhare · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 1:24 am

Hoji looked from the griffon to the snazzy dressed cat. National Security! Well, that was great. Yeah, then Sheriff, speaking a little bit like she was tone deaf, lured a swarm of reporters from seemingly nowhere. Not to be stuck in the middle of it, he snuck out along with the griffin, where they re-united with the cat after he fed the wolves, and... Sheff's armor broke off. And before everyone could get comfortable and talk, the inevitable attack from Eggman appeared. A deployed robot, fixed on getting the emerald back, of course!

To be honest, Hoji was still a bit lost, but he was putting the pieces together. Eggman was obviously after an emerald, as made clear by his colorful dialogue.

"Okay... he probably doesn't know which of us has this blasted thing

Aaaand, apparently, he had the emerald in question. He noted mentally when the robot wasted no time in putting it's sights on the green hedgehog's forehead. Then Jack chimed in with her plan of handing over the gem to Rekk. Hoji seemed a bit...restless, standing around.. a laser dot on Sheff's head, and they were still quarrelling over the emerald. Perfect. Just what they needed.

Without thinking, Hoji ran out in front of the big scorpion mecha, grabbing the first thing he could pick up between point A and B -- which happened to be a rock -- and threw it at the cockpit.

"Hey!" He shouted, coming to a stop in front of the bot...but remaining a safe distance away, of course. There was a bright flash of light from him and when it dissipated a second later, his clothes changed. Helmet, scarf, spandex -- the whole shabang.

A dramatic finger was pointed at him, "You are an affront to justice and must be stopped." He said, then pointing a thumb at himself, "I am Super Vigilante Officer..." He said as he shifted his body, with his arm thrown across his chest, into the air with his other arm at his hip in a balled fist, his scarf flowing in the questionably existant breeze. "WILD BADGE" He said, the gems on his gloves and boots began to glow faintly as he did this.

One part introduction, one part distraction, 3 parts showing off.

Sheff · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:19 am

Sheffer only seemed to ignore Jack at first, his eyes crossing up, trying to see whatever lay upon his head. Without success in that method, he darted his head to the side, staring towards the wall behind him. He managed to see a small red dot before it vanished, now knowing what the shark was talking about. Looks like he had some sort of weapon pointed at his head.

Happy happy, joy joy.

Jack's words finally worked their way to him though, looking over to Rekk. He truly didn't want to give the emerald to him... but it was blatantly obvious why that red light was pointing at him. So much for attempting to keep the emerald's radiation away from others.

"Alright, fine," he said to Jack, suddenly tossing the emerald to Rekk, looking to him next. "You can have it... but don't come crying to me when you yourself go all golem on us."

Directing his attention away from the group then, he watched Hoji and his over-the-top, right-out-of-a-saturday-morning-cartoon superhero act. Sheffer appreciated the 'coon trying to be a temporary distraction for the doctor, but he silently wished that suit of his was more then just for show.

Sighing lightly, his mind racing on what to do next, he took the chance to glance down... then froze. His arm was showing signs of the crystal again, running down like veins. He had thought he had ridden himself of the rock... the evidence was still right there, laying only a few feet away. His disbelief was pushed away by sudden anger though, his fist clenching.

No! Just stop! I'm not going through this again! he thought, and strangely enough, the crystal almost seemed to obey. Just as his burst of rage and strong thought occurred, the crystal suddenly fell from him, clattering onto the ground. His mouth agape, he looked between the fallen rock and his arm for a few moments.

Could... could he actually control it? There was only one way to find out.

Raising the arm that had just been about to be covered once again, he stared at it, holding it before him. If that one thought had managed to stop the crystal, then it should work the same the other way around, or so the hedgehog thought. Sheffer immediately began to concentrate, focusing on his arm, remembering the feel of the crystal surrounding his body. He imagined the arm being covered in the rock, encasing it in its grip...

And it began to happen. It was nothing drastic, but crystal was beginning to form slowly, working its way from his shoulder down. It was painfully slow at first, probably due to his still fatigued self, but it was working, Sheffer urging it on. This could possibly come in handy...

Admin · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:02 pm

It wasn't that Eggman was particularly unimpressed by Wild Badge, no—The fellow had certainly gone out there, stepped forward alone, made a striking entrance, and with technological flash and panache and all that good stuff to boot. It's just that Eggman wasn't... interested in him at the moment. At all.

"... Oookay," he mumbled with a couple blinks. The left drill arm clunked and made a few noises, then some vents opened up on its top and bottom. Then... rather than lunging for the raccoon, the arm just went "Phoooooooofffff" and belched out a gigantic, wide-spreading, obscuring cone of dusty dirt all over the superhero's general direction. The mad pilot of the machine then returned attention to what interested him.

"Now, about that emerald we were talking about," said the Eggman, grinning broadly as his huge insectoid robot crawled quickly over. He took out a gas station sign, two power line poles, a street lamp, and about four cars by purely by accident in the four second process of moving over there. The targeting laser meanwhile followed the gem to its new owner, while some suspicious heavy-metal clunking and reconfiguring noises came from the scorpion's huge, mechanized tail.

psikeout · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:26 pm

Rock, meanwhile, was still not far from Ace, near the front of the sheriff's department. He had climbed up on top of the small building to get a better look at the threat (and stay clear of Eggman's messy greeting to Wild Badge). He was a pretty fearless guy, but he wasn't hasty. He didn't draw particular attention to himself, and didn't make any moves, staying crouched on that hot roof as he observed the situation. His mental analysis:

Two arms with drills instead of pincers. Eight legs, sturdy looking, held the body approximately one to two stories off the ground. Highest point of the body itself looked to be two stories, with a tail that could reach five times as high, or higher if it stretched for it. The tail had greater reach in all directions than any arms or legs. Cockpit located at the end of the tail, with armored glass bubble windshield; most weapons and munitions also located there, clustered heavily in a crowded mass. Missile pods visible, along with cannons of some kind. Not the best design choice. Eggman must have been immune to motion sickness, judging by the way the tail swayed and swooped. Judging by visible edges and guards, the armor appeared nearly a foot thick at its thinnest points on the body, but was probably considerably thinner on the tail's tip. The head of the machine looked mostly decorative, but may have housed some additional weapons.

In short, Rock quickly had a decent idea of what he was up against, but until he had a rocket-propelled grenade or missile launcher in-hand, he had no idea what to actually do to the thing.

Mie · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 3:51 pm

Jam more than appreciated that she wasn't the only one on board the "hey, look at me, not the emerald" train, even if Hoji's particular ticket might as well have been rainbow-colored, and covered in sequins for all its razzle dazzle. In the pressed primate's opinion, if it did the job, she'd look into a lycra catsuit at the next opportunity.

Fortunately for Jam's fashion sense, but unfortunately for Rekk and Yellow Desert, SUPER Justice Officer Flash and Flare, or whatever was quickly dismissed like an irritating fly, and Eggman's eyes were irrevocably on his prize.

With a groan, and an overwhelming sense of "I have a very bad feeling about this," the once again sparking simian moved into striking distance, and stepped up to the plate, shaking out her pitching arm. Just as she was preparing for the wind up, however, she caught sight of the whiter primate, perched atop the station rooftop, and very deliberately not doing anything.

After chewing her lip in a moment's deliberation, she went against her better judgment, popped out her retractable wheels, and swung around to the hulking machine's backside, where after a succinct skid stop, she unfurled a volley of three of four consecutive, rapidly charged and dispersed lightning balls at base of the scorpion's tail; not enough to cause any serious damage, but sufficient for testing waters and getting attention, which she was already certain she didn't really want.

Greens · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 5:03 pm

At the moment the drills first began to split the Earth, Ace's expression said nearly everything he felt needed to be said, lacking only a woeful cry of "aawww, here it goes" as he blew a puff of sigh from his cheeks. He could not wait to get out of this place. At least the fact that the doctor was coming out for the gem himself said he was starting to take them seriously. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. When the blast of dirt ~~hit~~ enveloped Wild Badge, the cat actually stepped a step back in surprise, and decided it was most likely for the worse.

"You don't mind if I get back to you on--" he started, but then realized that the monkey he spoke to no longer stood where he did five seconds ago. "Right, 'fcourse."

When Jam stepped in the fray, Ace knew that was when things were about to get wild, and he found himself without a plan of any sorts, let alone some form of weaponry. His eyes darted back and forth rather frantically, before he got himself... an idea. "Hey, Tiny!" he called back to one of the deputies (with the correct usage of his name being entirely coincidental), racing in his direction. "D'you have cards, like playing cards in your station!?"

David · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 8:57 pm

When Toby set out skimming across the ocean, he was looking for adventure, to solve a mystery, for something exciting. Out of all the things he had come up with in his wild imagination, this hadn't been one of them. Toby was literally about to tackle Sheffer to the ground before the emerald changed hands, but the group still had a massive problem. The cat may have been a big name in the government, but that wasn't doing them any good against the hulking drill-beast that was laying down some serious hurt on the tiny town.

Without a word, Toby twisted and ran for his pack and board, throwing the satchel on his back and board under his feet. The boy stepped on the power, and with a whir, the New Leaf began to hover gently off the ground. Cotton's head turned back to his two chao. "YO KYLES, stay here and watch the others!" With that, Toby shot over to the cat, skidding to a halt right in front of him.

"Wreck!! Pass it over! Lemme get that thing out of here!" There was a sense of determination in the boy's eyes as he held out his hand. "Quick, you just gotta trust me!"

Diluss · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 9:44 pm

Tails ran up to Toby as he hovered in front of the stranded aide who now stood without reporters or cameramen of any kind, in the middle of the plaza.

"No, wait," Tails said.

"Give it to me."

The tiny fox held out his hands expectantly, looking from Rekk to Toby, every possible meaning of the word 'grim intent' written on his face.

Sheff · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:04 pm

As the game of "toss me the emerald" occurred, Sheffer was lost in his own world, standing to the side. Apparently oblivious to the hulking metal scorpion that was about to bring it and all its weaponry down upon them, his eyes had only stayed on his arm, now covered in crystal from his shoulder to a point just halfway to his elbow. The process was inching along, but his concentration was working.

Until, of course, a jolt of fatigue shot through his system, the crystal losing its grip upon his arm. As the rock disintegrated and fell, he slumped against the wall yet again, his eyes closing. With his breathing coming in pants, he fought to stay on his feet. Obviously the decision to try to create more of the crystal had not been the most greatest of plans, sucking any energy he had regained right out of him.

Giving out a quiet groan, he took the time to open his eyes and look forward, finally noticing the approaching scorpion-bot. Frozen in place for a moment, he realized he wasn't in the most safest of positions or actual state of his own body to stay where he was. He would be screwed over if he was still around when the doctor decided to start throwing punches, especially the drill tipped ones.

Gathering any strength he had left, Sheffer began to half walk, half stumble his way down the wall in the opposite direction of the mechanized scorpion. Using the wall as support, he picked up the pace, his movement probably being considered cowardly in another person's eye... but really, he just didn't care anymore. He'd had enough of the consistent dangers that had been placed before him, and this was the one time he would simply retreat. No way was he staying around feeling like he did.

Eventually, he reached the corner of the building, immediately turning down the next wall. His board was being dragged behind him, grinding against the ground. When he felt like he had reached an optimum distance, he slid down the wall to the ground, breathing heavily. He would stay there for a moment before continuing on, retrieving more of his strength, or until at least the chaos had passed.

Admin · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 10:44 pm

"Hah," Eggman laughed scornfully at Jam's attempts as her blasts pelted the machine, but ultimately did nothing but blacken the spots they hit. "Hah," he added additionally and with more emphasis just for good measure. "That won't work today! This machine is well grounded—Just like you brats will be if you KEEP IGNORING ME."

Somewhat hypocritically, he then completely ignored Jam. The tail of the scorpion flipped back and pointed skyward, and a loud "thoomp" noisily disrupted Tails and Toby's bid for the emerald. A large, round projectile soared up in the air, as if fired from a mortar, arced over, then speedily plummeted straight at their position. Where it landed, there was a huge explosion...

... of slime? Yes, a watery, black, oily, iridescent mess was all that came out of that gigantic mortar round, but, man did it fly. At first, it didn't seem like anything particularly harmful. It defaced the back side of the sheriff's department (which at least shielded some of the block from its mess), coated everything for about a block's radius from it, and may have been a little blinding to anyone whose eyes it dripped down into, but it didn't seem to do anything in particular.

Oh, except make even the grittiest ground about as slick as a well-buttered pan, difficult to walk on, and virtually impossible to run on. They'd be lucky if any of them could even manage to maintain any kind of hold on the emerald with that gunk on it.

"I would just be rid of you, but I'd rather not risk hurting my emerald."

The machine's tail stretched forward, extending the bubble-domed cockpit nearer as Eggman visually looked around for the jewel. (A pair of windshield wipers were busily cleaning off his windscreen. It had gotten his own robot pretty nasty.)

Must be a hundred and nine (1-3)

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