"South Island. Oh, I would never have guessed to look for an emerald there," mused the gritty voice of one Dr. Eggman, in a faraway command center, seated comfortably in a posh chair that would have looked like a throne if it didn't have so many high-tech components. On the screen in front of him, a satellite image zoomed level by level, until it centered over Yellow Desert, then the town, then the town square itself. "Hm..."

There was a lot of chaos still going on. It was hard to make things out, but somewhere in the mess of people, vehicles, and embers, his eagle eyes picked up something familiar.

"Track right," mumbled the doctor. "Zoom 300%. Enhance." Did he really have to say that? He seemed to be typing the commands... Well, anyway, the image on the screen soon showed a pair of individuals walking across the road, one of whom wore a familiar jacket. "Hghm," he grumbled aloud, straightening up in his seat like a rooster ruffling his feathers. "Them. I'll need to patch together something resistant to EMP for her, and something resistant to... ... MacGyve--"

"Reconnaissance drones have arrived and triangulated the source of Chaos Emerald radiation," said the computer. "Receiving target coordinates."

"I don't need the coordinates, I'm looking right at them, for crying out oh."

The precise coordinates didn't match where he was looking. Soon, the image readjusted, and showed a snapshot of the diner from above.

"So, one of the others has it... But who? And what should I use to retrieve it?..."

He bit his lower lip and grinned like an excited child as he looked toward the ceiling in thought, and pressed his hands together eagerly. His remaining foes were likely pesky, but none of them were a walking, electric killswitch for robots, so the livery of wonderful machines he could safely and successfully deploy to retrieve the Chaosol Emerald was expansively widened.

"Something fast, so that it'll get there soon... Flashy... Hmm... I've already used Mecha Sonic, so Metal Sonic might be redundant—Unimaginative, really—even if it would draw Sonic out... Bah! What a dilemma."

He spun restlessly in his chair for several revolutions, then snapped back to the console. "Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's just see whose evening I have to mangle up first."

A hovering, pod-like recon robot, its propeller blades spinning with the most quiet of hums, paused directly over the diner and dropped a mess if tiny, insect-like machines, which then proceeded to scurry in every available opening on the roof. It was only seconds before he had a grainy (but clear enough) shot of the crew and their tables spread across his numerous monitors, recorded and transmitted from an inconspicuous vent over their heads. The centermost monitor held a large view of the green hedgehog.

"Of course...! I should've known instinctively that the hedgehog member of the party would grab the emerald. He has a lot of friends, too, don't they always..."

He clucked his tongue and rocked back in his chair for a moment, then lunged forward (to the point where he almost hit his face on the screen) and blared a loud "Haaaaaaah!" as his long fingers blitzed across the keyboard like tap-dancing spiders.

"I have just the thing!"

He rared his arm dramatically over his head, then stabbed his finger down in a triumphant final button press, with all the flourish of a soldier planting a flag in enemy turf.

*Beep!*

For a brief moment, the cat looked like he just might have had something else to add, but his synapses were clearly interrupted in the middle of it by the appearance of one Wild Badge. Ace turned around and faced him with a friendly, if utterly incredulous look over his shoulder.

"...Wild Machine," he uttered in flat-as-a-board deadpan. "That's what'cher goin' with?"

He glanced back in Jack's direction, blew a puff from his nose and slumped further into the booth. "Alright, whatever," he breathed, conceding tonight's defeat. He had more important things to worry about anyway. "Tell Rock I tried." So with that, he sat properly, finally started digging into his ample-ass burger as a vibration in his jacket caught him mid-chew. (Actually a pretty damn good burger, by the way.)

A text. With a yawn, Ace whipped his cell open and started indulging himself in it as he ate.

In fact, so indulged was he that he somehow failed to notice the five-hundred pound lucha libre tortoise come strolling on in, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the entrance through the front door. Oddly misplaced for his flamboyant attire was his sickly-stern appearance, as if he was being scolded by an invisible military drill instructor. An appearance that quickly changed, when out the corner of his masked eye, this hulking frame gazed upon a raccoon.

"Whhyuld Badge!" he exclaimed through a foreign spice, hoisting his arms in the air as he stepped towards the crowd. "Aye waz whondering wherelyou had gone to. Aye shuld hahve expected you would flai to the most quality food ven-dor een town." The tortoise paused for a moment to catch a glance at the other citizens eating around, one of whom was giving him a rather concerned look from the corner of his eye as he continued texting under the table.

"Haye take it theese are new frliends!" he said, and stretched out his arms like he was ready to give them all a big hug (and he probably could with an armspan like that).


Elsewhere, in Central City...

Caz's brows furrowed deeply as she leered into her phone, as if doing so would make the message she'd just received less ridiculous.

im fine, but i think im abt 2 b crushd by a giant luchador

"..."

taktaktaktaktak

[]SUPAH TYME SKIP POWAH. Sorry its so long.[]

If anyone had warned the sheriff she'd be up so late at the shiny diner with some of the strangest characters she's ever seen in her jurisdiction (though that mostly applied to Tank and Hoji) she might of tried harder to get more sleep the night before. She also would have been more attentive to her apple pie, and maybe of actually eaten at the diner. Instead she got to involved in the group, and their indecision on what to do.

Eventually the conclusion that it was too late and they where all too tired to really make an informed choice regarding the their immediate plans to farther disrupt whatever Eggman was doing. So the sheriff once more extended her offer to let the group stay at the station. Getting in the station became a problem when she saw a horde of reporters outside the front door, with a grimace she lead the group up the emergency stairwell threw the impound lot. Those that accepted her invitation where probably pleasantly surprised to find she offered them the dorms in which the deputy's would often crash in when time wasn't forgiving enough to offer chances to get home. The dorms where painfully simple, a large room with now windows with three rows of bunk beds, offering a total of 12 beds to sleep in. She also offered the locker rooms, anyone who wanted a shower she even had some sweats to change into while washing their dusty/crispy/bloody/dirty clothing. A washer and dryer was a necessity if you wanted your officers at least looking respectable in the sandy yellow desert.

The group how ever wasn't unsupervised. The odd CT deputy, still in his cowhide vest, new t-shirt and cowboy hat stood just outside the dorm. He was clearly tasked with keeping an eye on the members of the party and making sure they didn't touch anything they didn't have any business touching or run off.

The sheriff didn't get to bed as soon as she'd hoped, she had a stack of reports sitting on her desk in her office, with a groan she went about the paper work. Once she'd emptied her inbox she promptly passed out on the leather sofa in her office, that being the entire reason it was there.

It wasn't long before one of the largest deputy's on her staff came to wake her up in the morning. The sheriff who had been soundly snoozing shot up right, still half asleep starring at the bright red reptile that woke her. "Urgh...mmmnhfgh hrgh." She managed.

The large deputy just chuckled handing his boss her morning coffee, which she happily took as she grabbed her hat and started to right herself. Morning came too swiftly, but she'd have to get a jump on things if she had any hope of quickly wrapping up this Eggman business.

"You leavin' sheriff?" The reptile asked, watching the sheriff tuck a few necessities into a leather pack.

"Yeah, I'm callin' it a manhunt. I'll let the higher-ups sort it out when I get back." She said, only after finishing half the cup of coffee. "Ya'll gonna hold down the fort without me?"

"Oh we'll manage." He said chuckling.

"Thanks for the coffee, Tiny." With that she approached her deputy who waved happily, she envied his lack of need for rest and relaxation. She walked into the dorm, opening the door and mercilessly turning the lights on in the pitch black room.

"MORNING!" She yelled, somehow sounding cheerful and jarring at the same time. "We've got some coffee brewin', Lets get a move on boys, we ain't got all day!"