Outskirts

[Chadin]

I listened to Giichi quite attentively as he told me about how much the world has changed. When he finished, I nodded and spoke. "Fine. I'm used to working in a team, I can give you that much. Just remember that if you double cross me in there you're going to have a lot more to worry about than Robotnik."

Quote:He turned over to look at Chadin...and then spotted the square. "Uh...what's that metal thing on the back of your neck? It looks like its connected to all your markings...is that what makes you glow?"

My ears drooped in disconcerted grief and my hand unconsciously drifted to the metallic plate and numbly ran my bony hoof tips over the smooth metal; my expression blank and forlorn. I remained silent for several minutes as haunting memories flashed through my mind. Horrific things, pain, fear, helplessness, betrayal; it all came rushing back like a tidal wave.

"No." I answered finally. "Its just a reminder of a past mistake... One I don't plan to make again. Nothing more."

[Nail Strafer]

Giichi smirked at Chadin's threat. He covered his mouth with his hand as he mouthed Oooh, scary without saying anything. If the law couldn't keep him down he doubted one person could.

And then the deer had a sudden mood swing upon him mentioning the metal. What the hell was that about? Chadin had just gone totally silent for about a minute. Giichi felt a little embarassed. He didn't realize he'd struck a sensitive nerve or anything. "Hey...are you ok?" he said at about the one-minute mark, not getting any reply.

The cat just stared at him, not really sure what he should do as the minutes ticked by. While Chadin's answer wasn't very informative when he finally spoke, Giichi was just glad the silence was finally broken. He thought about probing a bit into Chadin's reply, until he reminded himself that he probably wouldn't see this guy again after this. "Okay...I won't pry."

Giichi turned back to the city. He thought it'd be best to turn the topic back to the conversation at hand. "Uh...so...is it about time to go? You said you were waiting for that patrol to pass again."

[Maybe we should move into the city now? Unless there's something else you want to have them talk about?]

[Chadin]

I took a long, slow breath as I dismissed the painful memories from my mind, and my eyes once again took on the appearance of a determined hunter. Gazing across the open expanse, I saw exactly what I'd been hoping for.

"See that Spy Eye?" I said while pointing out the tiny hovering object passing effortlessly at the edge of the dark city. "Its going to stop, turn around and scan the forest edge, then move on. Stay low and wait. Once it moves off, we have about five minutes before another one comes from the other direction. Run for that building with the large pipes running along the side. I'll meet you there. Don't fall behind, because if you get spotted I'm not jeopardizing my chance to find out what Robotnik is up to just to come back and help you."

I didn't wait or really listen for the cat's reply. My focus was now completely on that Spy Eye. My ears folded back with anticipation. The Spy Eye paused, slowly swiveled a full 180 degrees, across the forest's edge, and then resumed its course.

"Go!"The instant it started to move off, I sprang up to my hooves and dashed as hard and as fast as I could. Dust and stone flew up behind me as I ran across the dusty, barren wasteland. No turning back now. I'm now in... Robotropolis.

[To Robotropolis...]

[Nail Strafer]

In contrast to how dead serious Chadin was, Giichi seemed to have a faint smile on his face. To him, it was just another heist. He really did love his job, after all. Giichi wondered what he might find in there to steal. Some kind of new fancy technology, maybe? Perhaps a prototype weapon? Maybe some sort of exotic metal Robotnik had developed.

As this Spy Eye departed, the cat sprang up just as quickly as Chadin and dashed after him...easily keeping pace. Agility was Giichi's strong point after all. He couldn't wait to start climbing those buildings.

[New topic?]

[Novus]

After a rather long trek, the road, now surrounded by greenery that covered even the sun, seemed to run into a ruin of a city.

"Finally, some hint of civilization", Novus said aloud to himself.

As he ventured into the ruins, he noticed the smog billowing from some unknown source in the distance and decided to follow it to it's source. When he got to the wood line, he hid behind some shrubs and observed in secret. He saw a perimeter studded with cannons and guarded by some manner of floating machinations, he recognized this as a fortification.

"This must be the Robotropolis I was told about, it's certainly the most imposing fortification I've ever seen", Novus said again to himself, but in a hushed voice.

[Byrain Fox]

This venture was beginning to turn out a lot more difficult than he thought it was. He had managed to evade some weird, floaty eye-ball-ish-things-whatever-the-hell-they-were. He wasn’t going to take any chances and get caught; and ruining such a perfect opportunity.

His truck was left far behind as he began to enter what was originally was Station Square. Now all was left was buildings abandoned and wrought with signs of war. As much as he wished to burn an entire sky-scraper with people; an abandoned one would have to do. The later was too risky, and would need more materials than what he has. At least with something abandoned, it would be much easier. Though he did doubt he would be able to manage to catch the entire thing on fire. Unless, there were some abandoned bombs, weapons, or gasoline around. Bombs would really make his day. The least he could hope for is a decent sized blaze and a few stupid squirrels and pigeons get burned. Maybe a dog or cat if he –really- got lucky; he highly doubted it, though.

Having a bit of a difficulty climbing some boxes, Byrain soon pushed the thoughts out of his mind. For right now, he had to focus on not being seen and not being caught. Nothing would happen that way. Once he managed to get up, a window was waiting. Looking out, and seeing a short roof down below, he took a leap over, and landed. Though it might have been too far of a drop for his legs to stand. He felt as the muscles in the lower part of his leg pull and be stained.

“mpit!”

There was a pause in his action before he continued on ignoring the pain. There was a wall that was only a few feet away from him with three windows on its side. He scaled up onto another window and drop only a slight distance as he landed on a catwalk on the other side. He stayed crouched as he walked over to the end, going over towards the closest window. Slowly, he peeped over the edge, looking down.

SWATbots. He didn’t know that, but he did know he saw a bunch of tin-can people around some weird looking cannon. Ducking down quickly, hoping he wasn’t seen, Byrain scorned. He thought this was going to be easy, but it was turning into just the opposite. He had seen some trees nearby when he was passing; maybe he could heave a napalm grenade over and distract them. But, it seemed to far of a throw for him to risk it. He could just set this place on fire, draw them in, and take them out one by one.

He crossed his arms as he cracked his neck. So many choices…

[Novus]

Somehow, Novus would have to get into the city, how to do that was debatable. Rushing the fortification would probably get him blown up by the cannons, so getting caught by the flying machines would probably be the best option, but Novus wasn't about to get caught easily and fighting them out here in front of the cannons wasn't an option.

So Novus decided that he would get the flying machines' attention and lead them back to the ruins where he could fight them in closer quarters. Getting ahold of their attention would be easy, but first Novus had to scout a suitable area of the ruin for the little skirmish.

Novus started heading back to the ruins towards what appeared to be the tallest buildings, these would be hardest for the machines to fly around making it harder for them to surround him. Novus was already grinning maniacally at what he was going to do.

[Byrain Fox]

Byrain looked down below him. To his everlasting luck, there were a stack of crates below him. But how far would this luck go? He looked around at the bottom floor, searching for hiding spots. Sure enough, there were a few. One was a corner; adjust to the one with crates; with boxes he could easily hide behind. There, he could light the fire and when the SWATbots came around the bend to investigate with their backs turned he could easily fry them and they’d fall into the fire. He could also stake himself out at the level he was on now, but it would be risky as there wasn’t much cover. There was also some rumble on the other side; but that was a little risky too. He wouldn’t know where the bots would be coming from, since he would have to wait for them to search the building. But it didn’t mean it’d be a good spot for him to run too.

Still crouching as he quietly sneaked over to the other side, he peeped out of the window. There was another building adjustment to it, with a small ally-way; the building on the other side had a fire escape and some windows. He smirked. It was perfect, if he had to ambush any more enemies there would be some places up ahead for him to do some more ambushing. Confident that he had a good plan, Byrain dropped slowly down. He got into the position to quickly hide behind the steel boxes which looked like they had once held supplies. As he hid Bbehind those boxes he found another exiting point. A window that was hidden from the spot he was at. Perfect, he could go right back behind the crates and exit through there to get the jump on them. Ready for action, he took a napalm grenade and threw it; making sure it wouldn’t be seen as he threw it above the door way. As soon as it was above the crates, it exploded, spreading the instantaneous flammable liquid all over the crates; bursting them into flames while there was a loud bang sound that would catch anyone’s attention.

How easily the building would catch on fire, he didn’t know. But at least he was protected. He hide behind the boxes, his body became relaxed and incredibly still as he waited to hear the sound of footsteps enter the building as he clutched his flamethrower in hand, read to strike.

[Novus]

On his way over to the taller ruins, Novus heard an explosion in the distance. This would definitely change his plan, so he would have to think and act fast because likely all of the guards would be swarming on that spot, and Novus had no intention of missing out on that kind of party!

Novus dashes to the area where he heard the explosion come from. Novus wasn't sure where the blast had originated from exactly, but one way or another, the machines would be in the area before long. Novus picked a high building, 4 stories tall, with small windows near the top, and dashes through the entrance and up the staircase to the top floor. From there he draws a single revolver with his left hand and his sword in his right and watches out the window in secret for the inevitable advance of robots.

[Dr. Robotnik]

[Changing my post after Rose corrected me on how this area's laid out.]

When the grenade exploded, the SWATbots manning the cannon all turned towards the sound. Simultaneously, their weapons went up. However, they didn't see anybody to shoot. Rather, it looked like a fire had just started in one of the abandoned buildings across the street. Since it'd be highly unusual for things to just spontaneously combust out here, the SWATbots were curious, but also cautious.

"You two stay here to watch the cannon. The rest of us will investigate. Call for backup if we don't return or if we confirm there is an enemy around."

A group of four SWATbots approached the building.

"Building's structural integrity....45%. Need for preservation...0%," one of them droned. "Suggest we check the area around the building first. This building is a ruin and of no importance to save. And if anyone is in the burning building, they'll have to eventually come out anyway."

"Agreed. Start spreading out."

Byrian would hear all of this.

The SWATbots moved in pairs, with one taking the alleyway that would lead them behind Byrian's hiding spot. Fortunately for him, the window's glass was so dirty they wouldn't be able to see him well. The other pair moved to check the alleyway on the other side of the building.