Belly of the Beast

[Chadin]

I stared back at Robotnik defiantly even despite the pain and his threats. The honest truth was though, I had no idea who else was out there, or if there were any other Freedom Fighters left at all. Answering the question wouldn't gain Robotnik anything so I saw no reason not to, if only to avoid becoming the latest bot in Robotnik's sweat shops.

I lifted myself higher and spoke through clenched jaws of pain. "I... don't... know?" My voice trailed off as I watched in bewilderment as Robotnik staggered around the room and suddenly crashed to the floor. I was a little too focused on the bloated walrus to notice the blow gun in the vent, but I did turn in that direction when the vent cover fell to the floor.

My ears shot straight up and a genuine smile beamed from cheek to cheek. "Giichi!!" I practically shouted with joy as I saw him. I was a bit surprised when the cell door opened without any real difficulty. I'd thought maybe the cell door was electrified. Guess I was wrong.

"God...what did Robotnik do to you? Hit you with a cattle prod a few thousand times?"

"Something like that I guess... I, I'm not sure..." I groaned.

"Can you still walk?

"I... think so..." My arms shook severely but I managed to summon up enough strength to rise to my feet. Even so, I had to brace myself against the cell bars just to keep from falling on my face again. "I don't think I'm going to be much good in a fight though." I was probably right too. I felt very tired and sore. I just want out of this place.

[Tails]

Tails feels excitement to see dulcy, however he keeps himself from hugging her. He knows that there's a task at hand.

Instead, he explains. "Believe it or not, I am all alone out here even at the freedom fighter base. Ever since the world rip, it seems like Sonic and all the others just magically disappeared. So I'm relying on myself for a change."

He checks around the room and knows he must finish this before the robots show up. His explanation increases in speed. "I was curious to see what Robotnik was up to and one thing lead to another. Then Robotnik told me that he had two hostages, so I'm here to keep them from being roboticized. I'll go up the elevator and I guess it'll be your job to keep the robots that are on their way down here occupied while I help them."

Tails immediately enters a frieght elevator and presses the prison transfer level. He prepares for the worst.

[Dulcy]

Dulcy nods to Tails and smiles, a bit proud to hear the young fox sound s self reliant. "Alright, sounds like a good plan. I'd hardly fit in those elevators anyway." The mere thought of squeezing into one also made her shudder slightly. "You go on ahead. I'll keep the bots busy as long as I can." She then moves toward the center of the room as even now she can hear the subtle hum of elevators coming up the shafts toward the large server room.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Giichi listened as he moved to shoulder and support chadin. "Well, maybe that won't be a problem. You heard Robotnik talking about the two intruders, right?" He chuckled a little. "I mean...besides us. A fox and a dragon. Do they sound familiar to you? Maybe they can help us. Oh, and do you want your weapon back or should I carry it?" The cat nodded to the crossbow on his back.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Elevator doors opened all around the room as Swatbots began to spill into the server floor. It wasn't hard for them to see the large dragon, somewhat silhouetted by the outer wall's hole.

"Large draconian creature spotted...moving to apprehend."

"Encircling target..."

"Preparing stun beams..."

They moved to form a circle around Dulcy.

[Chadin]

Leaning against Giichi I was able to keep my balance much better. "Yeah... he started asking me about how many 'other' Freedom Fighters are out there. That might mean these new intruders are also Freedom Fighters. If that's the case, I only know one fox and dragon that belong to the Freedom Fighters: Tails, and Dulcy. If we can find them I'm sure they'd be willing to help us escape. It sounded like they were in the same server room we were in."

Oh, and do you want your weapon back or should I carry it?" The cat nodded to the crossbow on his back.

I glanced over my shoulder and my eyes grew when my eyes rested on the sight of my crossbow. "My crossbow!! You brought it back!!" I really couldn't believe it. Even as I slung my crossbow back over my good shoulder I still couldn't believe it. Heck, I couldn't believe Giichi came back to rescue me at all. Even after... after the way I acted when I first met him. My ears slouched down beside my head with guilt and I looked away feeling ashamed of myself.

Just about then, the two of us were walking past Robotnik's bloated unconscious form. Seeing him like that filled me with a sense of gratification. Served the creep right after everything he's done to me; and to everyone else on the planet. I paused beside him, and lashed out at him with a hard kick to his overgrown gut. "Bastard deserves to die for everything he's done... but right now I just want to go home and rest."

I walked on, heading for one of the elevators with Giichi at my side. "What did you do to him anyway?"

[Tails]

Tails watches as the elevator goes up to the prison level.

Tails clicks the microphone button on the CT23 watch. "CT23, can you give me an escape route?"

CT23: I'll see what I can do. Loading.

Tails watches as the elevator gets closer to the prisoner transfer level and he prepares to take on Robotnik and fight off the robots. He just hopes that he doesn't end up a prisoner that'll head toward the roboticizer.

Tails smiles. "Almost there."

CT23: Escape route loaded.

The elevator doors open and he feels utter surprise and excitement that he finds the deer and the cat safe and sound.

Tails waves them inside. "C'mon guys. We'll do introductions later. Right now we've gotta get out of here."

[Dulcy]

Dulcy looks around as the express elevators open around the room and a rather worrying number of SWATbots practically pour into the room like a river of clanking metal feet. There is a visible bit of nervousness showing on her face as they all move to surround her and she hears their robotic speech rattling off what they are doing. She knows there are too many for her to face head on, she needs to take them a few at a time, and after a moment's thought, knows just what to do.

After a deep breath, the sound of a loud belch or two carries through the large room as smoke billows out from Dulcy's mouth and begins to fill the room. She then hurries around and smashes the bots to pieces while they are, hopefully, lost in the smoke. She then exhales a blast of stale air, blowing the smoke out of the room, so that she can finally breath again. Looking around, she hopes that Tails will be coming back soon with the people he was supposed to rescue, as she knew it would be only a matter of time before another squadron of SWATbots came up to try and subdue her.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

The cat's eyes widened at the mention of Tails. "I KNEW that plane looked familiar. Yeah...I know Tails. Sonic's partner in crime in saving the world right? So is Sonic a freedom fighter too?" He let out a little whistle. "Sounds like things in your world are really bad, if he was forced into the underground. I mean...that's where freedom fighters usually have to hide, like me..."

"What did you do to him anyway?"

Giichi smiled and withdrew a narrow metal tube from his cloak. "I used this. It's a blowpipe. I hit Robotnik with a sleeping dart from the air duct. Very handy when you want a zero bodycount when stealing something." The cat slid it back under his coat.

Robotnik softly groaned from the kick that Chadin had delivered, and Giichi's smile faded. "I wouldn't do that again. The dart'll only keep him out for a couple minutes. Not to mention..." He gazed around the room, at all the many entrances and exits. "I wouldn't be surprised if Robotnik's got some bodyguard bots close by. Sooner we get out of here the---"

An elevator door hissed open nearby, cutting Giichi off. He reflexively pulled out one of his sais, pointing it at the door.

Damn...I should NOT have said that...

The doors parted to reveal...a pair of pointy orange ears. The cat had fully expected the elevator to be full of gigantic behemoths of bots. Giichi lowered his eyes some. He let out a little sigh of relief.

"C'mon guys. We'll do introductions later. Right now we've gotta get out of here."

"No need Tails...I already know you."

From what he heard, Fox Boy here was pretty competent despite being so young, so Giichi felt like they were in good hands now. He couldn't wait to see the kid work his magic. Supposedly he was some kind of genius... In any case, he helped Chadin into the elevator.

[Chadin]

I didn't really have much to add to the conversation but I was more than ready to get the heck out of here. I was just more surprised to find out I was actually right. I didn't really expect to be saved by Tails of all people. But then again, as I took a closer look at the small kit while we descended in the elevator a number of things all became noticeable.

Tails seemed a bit taller than I remembered and his fur was also a much brighter orange too. When I saw him the for the first time in Knothole village he was more of a dusty brown than a vibrant orange. The Tails I remembered also seemed more... child-like somehow. Granted it was years ago I saw him so he may have changed since then and it was only in passing as opposed to a formal introduction. I already began to suspect that this Tails is from an alternate reality.

I didn't say anything about this though. We had far bigger issues to worry about and at the moment a rescue is a rescue. I suppose whether he's from my reality or another it doesn't matter, it just made feel a little... sad to know that I might be the only other person from my world besides Robotnik. All of the people I knew and cared about... they might all be gone forever.