"A mummy? Really? Why not throw a jack o' lantern while he's aaaaa... aah, ahhh... hhaahh...!"

Whatever Ace had left to say, didn't seem like it was going to be said. The alley cat lurched back, arms apart like he was suddenly about being electrocuted, like every cluster of nerves in his body was suddenly set on fire. Then forward, then back again, and finally, whatever was going through his system suddenly brought him to his knees.

The huge-fisted silhouette of Knuckles marched forward like a gorilla protecting his territory, rapidly shifting his purple pupils from one target to another. Rock, Sheffer, Kaz, Tails... even Toby's little chao wasn't safe from his stare. But just before he seemed primed to make a move... he nearly tripped. Not over the ground, or his foot, but a bandage wrapped around it.

In a sort of rage, one hand thrust to his leg, and another to his shoulder, and not even in two seconds, a majority of the mummy wraps were torn to ribbons, dusty shreds flying through the air. A few pieces were left hanging loosely on his body, but nothing drew attention to itself like the patch directly on his back, a piece of blue glowing brightly underneath.

He let loose a giant roar, and charged the hell in. No one could be sure, but it seemed like he was headed for his own two-tailed buddy...

A series of high pitched, pained-sounding gasps and pants ensued as Ace's head rocked up and down. Gradually, the intervals between them grew longer and longer, but didn't stop.

The yellow cat tilted his head to Rock's direction, and he bore his fangs like a wild animal.

"MmmmmMMM. HmmMMM...!"

He stood himself up like an ill-constructed robot, as his brows furrowed deeply down. It was hard to tell if he was trying to say something, or just spewing out new ways to growl. Either way, his march to the monkey seemed something unreal. And that march suddenly became a ground-stomping sprint, his expression nothing short of livid.

"Poh-- eeeeEEESSSAAAAAHNN!"

Should the monkey be careless enough to ignore him, there'd be one hell of a tight-fisted haymaker to remind him.

There was something out and out alarming about being grabbed by one of these things; not in that its cold metal touch was particular painful or repugnant, but even in the flurry of other activity and general "should not be so" theme of the last couple minutes, Jam knew foreign tactics when she was slung around by them.

"Things things don't fight like normal Eggman bots!" she called to her compatriot as she whipped around in a fluid 180, and faced down her opponent once more.

The monkey's marionette-like movements had barely come to a stop from Sheffer's dismissal before she was on the rebound, coming in low and fast. Entirely unsympathetic to the spiny one's plight, she fired a hard elbow strike to his clavicle region, while simultaneously bringing the opposite knee up and forward in a literal gut check.

"And when the hell did they get so damn tough?!"

The innate problem with spindashing was one's lack of ability to really aim once committed, so when hedgehog-turned-buzzsaw unfurled to unleash his mighty double kick at the distant primate, he'd find her very simply, not there.

Officially having lost all preconceptions of whatever she was fighting, Jam gritted her teeth as the thing's apparently highly evolved combat AI dragged the brawl out further, increasing her desperation to end it quickly, and figure out what the heck was going on.

As the mysteriously agile clunker of an opponent dismissed her yet again, her frustration mounted, and she, too, was ready when it revved its engine for the jousting match it apparently aimed to start.

She surged forward simultaneously with Sheffer's start, but veered deftly off to the side prior to impact, and kicked hard off the ground, launching herself up and well over her would-have been attacker's head.

Inside the globe of arcing bolts, the strawberry-hued simian smirked without amusement. She was going to finish this. Violently, and decisively. Just before she began to lose altitude (not even a half second after her kick-off), she double jumped with a blinding flash of concentrated CE and --

Dropped to her feet uneventfully, looking slightly confused. She twisted at the waist, and began staring emptily in Toby's direction. Odd, but at least for the moment, she seemed uninterested in fisticuffs.

"What the f-- I saw 'em! Toby, did you see?! They're here! They're like -- In another dimension, or something, but I saw that green dude!"

The echidna had chosen his target, and it was made clear as day to anyone still watching him. His arms tucked into his chest like a boxer, his feet stomped their way in a straight, lethal line-- directly at the unsuspecting Tails. Normally, he wouldn't bother with the tiny ones first, but against his better judgment, he was certain this one could be taken out quickly enough to not be a problem for long. He didn't appear quite as teeth-gnashing enraged as the cat did, but there was no question he was not in a pleasant mood. So it was with a swift, tranquil fury that he did haul ass to the little fox boy, rear back his good leg, and aim to swiftly punt him through the cave's very ceiling.

Ace on the other hand, was clearly in a very nasty frame of mind. Even the biting jab in his side was met with fewer words than a throaty growl. His physical reaction however, was a bit different. The cat recoiled-- perhaps more than he should have for such a glancing blow, and stepped back, facing his back towards his target in apparent pain. It was in that fleeting split-second that someone whose senses were so attuned as the monkey's, might notice the pale blue glow in the pocket Ace stored his crystal in.

But he hopefully wouldn't focus on it too long, for as Ace turned around again, that view would be replaced by two broken blaster pistols being chucked at his head and torso. They glowed a similar color, and with such force that if they didn't hit him, would shatter the wall behind him.