Take back the city (1-2)

Sheff · Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:01 pm

"Dang, little guy, you are quick!" Sheffer said out loud as he hopped to the side, the chao's uppercut barely missing his gut. He spun around as the jello-like creature zipped by, light on his feet as he watched Kyle's movements.

The hedgehog came to recall something as he watched the chao face him again. He swore he had seen the flying blob with a certain kangaroo rat before, almost following him around like an obedient pet. Things began to click together, then formed into one realization.

"Alright, here me out, your friend attacked me! I didn't mean to hurt him, I just didn't want to have a foot to my face, alright?" he said to the chao, trying to calm it down as best as possible. "I'm not going to harm him, or you. I promise."

Greens · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:21 am

(OOC: Cool-ab with Matt)

Ace simply lay on his back, his pitching arm caught mid-air in an awkward pose. He was breathing heavily and rapidly, blinking frequently. He was even sweating a bit, as if he was caught in the very first moments after waking from a nightmare, and trying to deduce if your reality is actually real. And while he jerked his head left and right, Rock was by far the one who got the weirdest looks.

"Wha, wha, sh-she... what the hell?"

"Ooh-ooooh, ffff**k my head..."

"Tell me about it," muttered Rock as he grabbed Ace by the forearm ("y'sonuvabitch") and gave him a little boost back to his feet. "Help get those crystals off and stop Jam and those chao from killin' everybody, wouldja? I got Big Red."

"Thanks," said Ace, and offered his own forearm in return, standing himself up. But he was still trying to gather his bearings, even as Rock gave him directions.

"So it was just an illusion...?" he added, and gave an ambiguous sighs. It was hard to tell if he was graciously relieved or terribly disappointed. Either way, he made it clear he was doing his best not to let it get to him, pressing his palm against his temple and wiping it off as he gathered a better understand of the chaos suddenly surrounding him. He had apparently figured out that the crystals were bad news but it was still a lot to take in.

"A'right, a'right... damn. Okay, I'll go-- ho-lee S**T that is Knuckles!"

Rock was already trotting away, but somewhat... tepidly called back: "Yeah. I know," perhaps hinting at his dread in dealing with a guy who could lay him out flat with a single punch. Physical fatigue really was mounting, but he still felt mentally sharp, and that was what really counted when going up against a beast like Knuckles, because there was no way raw brutality would win.

"I'm comin', fish!"

Ace simply looked to the others, and blew a sigh through his teeth.

"Hhhhhaahh, crap."

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:37 am

Soon enough, Rock was chasing along behind Knuckles, who was chasing the shark, and there was just a general train of chaos looping around the various storage tanks and containers in the relative darkness. For a fish out of water, Mako was actually putting on a pretty good run, and the erratic, harried, pisslessly-scared nature of the pursuit made it almost hard for Rock to catch up and help him, but it did give him enough time to crunch some ideas in his head.

He soon had his idea figured out, and was digging into his jacket's inner pocket for his trump card, but still hadn't managed to catch up. That meant he had to use the same technique the shark had used; as such, he jumped up on top of the nearest tank, and yelled, "Hey!" as he drew out tubular item of some sort, removed its cap, and began fussing with it.

Immediately after yelling, he realized he didn't know what would be a good way to get a raging, possessed echidna guardian's attention. "Hey" wasn't gonna cut it. The quip that resulted could have been thought out a little better, but Rock was short on time.

"... I sure do love stealin' some Master Emeralds! Pay attention, damnit, I'm gonna steal me some emeralds and break dat sh** up, come on, look at me already."

David · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:40 am

They say actions speak louder than words, and in this case, watching Toby get tossed into an eight-trillion ba-jiggawat (like Kyle knew math or units of electricity? Psssh.) lightning storm was all Kyle needed to set his sights on wrecking the hog. It certainly didn't help his credibility, either. Despite Sheffer's efforts, Kyle wasn't buying any of what he was saying.

"Gggrrriie, SE JU!!"

The top of Kyle's head started glowing just like his tiny fists before Sheffer even finished his speech. Without warning, Kyle stopped his volley of punches and opted for the more primal approach, shooting directly at his face, attempting a chaos-energy head butt.

The apple apparently didn't fall too far from the tree.

Mie · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:58 am

Somewhere in the far back of the raging monkey's head, her fatigue gently simmered, reminding her that with each progressively more formless, but still brutish slug, her arms felt heavier and more tired. Tucked even further away from conscious consideration, was the nagging concern that wailing on metal like this should have been taking more of a toll on her knuckles than it was.

But none of that mattered to Jam. All her brain had the capacity for at the moment was a short, endlessly blinking marquis that read, "Just me now."

And quite frankly that pissed her off; beyond the point of recognizing any of those should-have-been red flags.

What else she didn't recognize, by the way, would severely cost her. Yup, Tails probably could have been blasting an airhorn, and squealing "CHAAAAAARGE" at the top of his lungs, and Jam wouldn't likely have noticed. So the two-tailed one-fox cavalry struck solidly, right on his mark, and totally un-dodged, -deflected, or even -prepared for.

She buckled forward at the waist on impact, very nearly slamming her forehead into Toby's, and after a moment's horrible, rabidly homicidal grimace, the purple-tinted primate collapsed atop her punching bag.

Totally.

out.

cold.

Fizzling in sleepy protest, her Lightning Ring recalled its troops, and also blacked out.

Sheff · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:15 am

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" yelled the hedgehog as he ducked, the CE charged gelatin blob of fury rushing past in its downward arch. Peaceful negotiations seemed quite useless apparently.

Sheffer had had enough of this. Even though it was tempting, he did not want to harm the chao, dashing away with his head tucked low. He knew why it was attacking him, but he didn't find it necessary at all, for multiple reasons. Maybe if he managed to find Toby, he'd be able to put a stop to this-

His chain of thought was interrupted by an obstacle in his way, his foot tripping over something upon the floor, nearly falling flat on his face. Catching himself before painful impact, he flipped over into a seated position, finding the body of Jam just below his leg. He instantly reacted, shuffling away from the girl as fast as possible, remembering quite clearly what had happened the last few times he had made contact with the monkey.

But strangely enough, he felt unaffected. No electric shock, no rage induced attack, nothing. Being wary, Sheffer gave a prod with his foot on the primate's side, recieving no reaction what-so-ever.

Sighing in relief at the girl's unconscious state, something caught his eye then. A blue glow, not unlike the light he had seen from the surrounding walls of crystal within the cave, except now a slightly different color. Investigating further, he discovered the source of light coming from within Jam's side pouch, the glow seeping through the material of the bag. Hastily opening the pouch with intent curiosity, he pulled out a crystal, shining brightly.

As he held it, he immediately felt a strange pull on his brain. It began to grow, but before it could go any farther, Sheffer had tossed the crystal far away, watching it bounce off. Whatever he had felt from the rock must have affected some of the others greatly, possibly causing their insane actions. The hedgehog just hoped that Jam and Toby were the only ones...

Diluss · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:06 am

Tails had frozen and was staring at her with a mildly aghast look on his face.

He reached forward, and then hesitated. Crouched down on ground level, he waddled over to Jam's prone form, and gazed intently upon it, before reaching forward and very, very gingerly feeling her pulse.

David · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:24 pm

The fox kid's hesitant prodding would be met with an almost zombie-like groan from the kangaroo rat his current patient just happened to bury when she fell. "Oooooogh...." The charred daredevil underneath Jam looked like he had seen better days. An aching jaw, a burnt arm and a charred, smoldering body made scooting the monkey off of his person a task that wasn't exactly what the boy would call fun. In a few moments, though Toby had freed his body, and was attempting to stand again.

"...She okay?" Toby didn't even look at the fox he was addressing. Instead, his attention was occupied by the fact that there were absolutely no robots anywhere to be found. "Sonofa..." Now, he was looking at Tails. "Where'd the bots go?!" The look on his face was one of genuine bewilderment. "...And where's..." His second question would be answered before it ever left his mouth. Not too far away, Toby spotted his faithful chao chasing down the green dude they had just met. At least, he assumed it was Kyle. It looked like he had absorbed somebody else's attributes - probably Rock, from his white coloring.

"Kyle, waddaya doin'?! Leave him alone!"

Almost immediately, the chao's unrelenting assault on Sheffer subsided as Kyle spotted the object of his undying affection, up and standing. "AH!! Toba!" The tiny powerhouse began to fly happily away from the hedgehog, but paused. Before he left, Kyle shot Sheffer a soul-piercing glance. It was unnaturally frightening, and very much conveyed something to the degree of "You got lucky this time, punk." The chao huffed, and then was gone, speeding towards his big buddy.

Before Kyle number one ever made it to Toby, however, something else wrapped around his arm. "Chi baji?" The tiny pink-eyed chao's eyes closed, and the ball above it's heat took on the distinct shape of a heart.

Seconds later, the blue-eyed chao was mirroring his counterpart's movements, latching onto Toby's other arm. "Miji Toba!" Cue the heart.

"...What?"

Greens · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:42 pm

Ace's heels practically skidded across the metal floor, grated screeching and all at the speed he ran (and subsequently stopped running) at. He stopped hauling ass just in front of Toby, Tails, and everyone else, and barely bothered to introduce himself with a wave before he took note of the felled primate on the ground.

"Hey," he blurted, and quickly bent down to one knee next to Jam. "Ah, damnit," he mumbled, and lightly bore his teeth. He knew Jam was a tough girl (first hand, actually), but that didn't stop him from worrying. Even from a cold, impersonal stand-point, she could've been a great help in a fight against big red. Even so, he had to shake it off, and at least inform everyone what the hell was going on in the first place. He looked to the hedgehog.

"Okay, good move! Those crystal things? Those are very bad! They were screwing with our heads, and they're screwing with Knuckles over there right now!" He pointed in the appropriate direction-- prompting the most appropriate opportunity for everyone look and go 'oh, crap'.

"Rock is fighting him now, and we gotta help!"

And there was Knuckles, gliding smoothly and confidently along to his fleeting target, when suddenly there came a certain kind of ringing in his ears (wherever they were). It was that sort of lightning flash moment, where one experiences a split-second epiphany. Somewhere, through all the bedlam surrounding him then, came a flash of two words: 'Master Emerald'.

Quite suddenly, the echidna leveled his feet to the ground once more, his expression unreadable as small puffs of dust expanded from his shoes hitting the ground. He held his chin up high and paused for a moment, his fists and his sides... before he turned around, and giving Rock one hell of a glare.

Oh, he'd gotten his attention, alright.

And if he wasn't quick on his feet, Knuckles would give him something else, too. Like a stunningly quick, leaping straight that could crush rock (the actual stone, as well as the monkey), directly into his gut.

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:56 pm

Just as Knuckles started toward Rock, there was a quiet hiss; the wild, streaking punch whizzed past as he rolled off the side of the storage container he was standing on, using it as cover. When the echidna inevitably pursued, he'd find that a bright light had blazed to life in the monkey's hand. By far the brightest thing in the whole cavern, the road flare—Officer Steel's "borrowed" road flare, from back in Central City—crackled and spewed as it grew brighter and brighter.

Why did Rock think it would do anything? It was an idea that occurred to him in the middle of the fight: Those same gems had lined the inside of old, broken robots, and allowed the strange, ghost-like specters to control them. Light stopped them in their tracks, and seemed to deter specters for a while, and there was a chance it'd do the same thing for Knuckles. Rock could only stand his ground, hold the searingly bright flare high, and hope for the best.

"We're on your side!" he called out, silently hoping he wouldn't remember that... bit about the Master Emerald.

Mie · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:18 pm

It seemed that Ace may very well have inadvertently found Jam's personal "Master Emerald" button, for at the very mention of Rock tangling with the red juggernaut, the aptly appraised tough girl stirred with a groan of a thousand hang-overs.

Moving with a stiffness that belied the brevity of her time on the floor, the pummeled primate sufficed to simply flop over onto her back after two weary, failed attempts to get up.

"Which one'f you bastards hit me?" were the first, charming words out of her mouth, as her hands pathetically crawled up to her head to nurse the volcano-sized lump throbbing at her crown. She stared blearily at the ceiling with filmy gaze that lacked sentience.

Greens · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:24 pm

Ace quickly jerked his head in Jam's direction.

Paused for a moment.

...And quickly thrust an accusative finger in Tails' direction.

Mie · Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 11:32 pm

Dragging a deep breath in through her nose that audibly lacked smoothness, the light-tinted monkey forced herself into a sitting position, still looking, sounding, and behaving like she'd been run through a food processor, as she nodded to the fox, responding with a gruff, "Thanks."

Then, wobbly at first, she rose to her feet, gradually regaining locomotion as she began walking towards the red and white fight. Through the static-y crackle of her shield being unwillingly roused, one might hear a grumbled,

"S**t, I feel like an eighteen wheeler drove over my head. With each, f***in' wheel."

Diluss · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:06 am

Tails stared at her for a few seconds as her expression of thanks sank in, then he grinned in slightly sheepish relief.

The relief was of course, short lived, as the fight once again began to make its presence felt in the rest of the world. Tails hopped to his feet and raced around to Knuckles' far side in a flanking move as Rock's flare began to light up the room.

As Tails lightly jogged into position, he hunched down and braced his feet against the ground. He slid to a stop. From his position around the perimeter of Knuckles and Rock's personal space, he stared at the ongoing fight with all the intensity of a first-base-man waiting for the batter to come racing at him.

Kazz · Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 2:22 am

It was only some time after Knuckles had stopped chasing him that Mako actually understood this fact. Not stopping his sprint, he looked over his shoulder, and his mind only had a couple seconds to register that the echidna had gone after Rock before he promptly tripped over his very own bulky tail and did a quite impressive somersalt, smash, into the nearest tank.

He was hitting his head a lot today, he thought as he lay on the ground for a second, and one could almost see the tweeting birds flying around his head.

Mako groaned and rubbed the back of his head, sitting up as he adjusted himself to watch the proceedings.
He probably owed that monkey something, now, he idly thought as he pushed himself to his feet with a low whistle. ... yeah, he was going to stop trying to help, at least where Knuckles was involved.
He had learned his lesson, that's for damn sure.

The shark gingerly, carefully tiptoed closer to the site of the battle, not wanting to miss a minute of the action. ... annndddddd so much for learning a lesson.

"... please tell me none of you were watching that?" he muttered as he looked around at the assembled, still rubbing his head to ease himself of the throbbing pain.

Take back the city (1-2)

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