Express flight to Soleanna

[Dulcy]

[Enter from Knothole Village]

Once Giichi points her in the right direction, Dulcy cracks the whip once more and zooms off at high speed toward the city-state of Soleanna. Her three passengers would likely notice, or at least, Giichi and Chadin would, that she was moving slower now than during the trip from Robotropolis. This is partly because she's weighted down by three people now, but mostly, she was trying to pace herself a bit more, figuring the trip would be longer, and she didn't want to be flying into a battlefield exhausted. "How's everyone holding up?" She calls out to everyone else, still keeping her attention fully focused on her flight.

[Chadin]

"My stomach keeps trying to jump out of my mouth everytime you crack the whip but otherwise I'm fine!" I called back to Dulcy while maintaining a tight grip on Falina. The experience of flying might be a thrilling one to me, but it was still too entirely foreign an experience for me to feel totally comfortable with the sensation. I guess some people just aren't meant to fly.

[Nail Strafer]

"Um...fine I guess!"

Honestly, Giichi didn't know what else to say. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine himself being in the position he was now...riding in a pouch of a dragon. But then again this whole day had been nuts. It didn't feel that much weirder than what he'd been through. If he didn't have to worry about his home being destroyed today, he would have liked to stop and have time to think about his situation.

Speaking of worrying...the sun was going down. They'd been at Knothole for so long that night was now on its way. It was a gorgeous sight from this high up, but it felt like a mockery of what they were going through right now. Many lives were at stake, not to mention quite possibly the fate of this world.

"I really hope we're not too late. It's gonna be dark soon. I hope you don't mind flying at night Dulcy, because we know that Robotnik won't be taking a break."

[Falina]

Falina was gripping the harness tightly. Her knuckles would be white if they weren't covered with fur. She did look over at Chadin though as he clutched her for dear life, even though there was a spot on the harness for him to grab since it was just the two of them up on Dulcy's back. She blushes a little, but takes one of her hands and places it atop Chadin's and squeezes gently as she looks back at him with a smile, her eyes slowly drifting up to the beautiful night sky. "I'm fine Dulcy, thanks for the concern."

[Dulcy]

Dulcy was happy to hear that everyone was doing alright. She was feeling ok with their current pace, as she felt she could continue at this speed for quite a distance before she really got so tired that she'd have to land and rest. As for the darkening sky, she had already noticed it before Giichi mentioned it. "Me? Mind flying at night? I'm not afraid of the dark." Though beneath her brave words, there was a tone of worry. She'd never done much night flying, and she was worried that the decreased vision would make landing tougher, and she knew that she'd have to drop everyone off somewhere before she went about helping to fight off Robotnik's fleet.

[Chadin]

My ears shot up in surprise when I felt Falina's paws squeeze my own. A faint blush appeared on my cheeks, which I was grateful that my fur hide such an expression. I loosened up my grip a little. Having now been flying at this speed for some time, I was beginning to get accustomed to it and I began to feel more at ease.

"Good thing most of us can see in the dark." I said, as I gazed around the dusky horizon. I didn't know if dragons could see in the dark the same way a deer or cat could, but I sure hoped so. This could get real ugly if we ended up flying right into the side of one of Robotnik's warships.

Although, that thought brought up a good point in my mind. "Um, not to cast a shadow, so to speak, over this little operation, but what exactly is the plan once we DO reach Solenna?"

[Giichi Twinkieland]

"I've been thinking about that."

I've got the most to lose here if Soleanna is destroyed, after all...

Giichi gazed at the setting sun. It started to dip below the horizon as it bathed the sky in gorgeous shades of orange, red, and indigo. However, he could see heavy cloud cover up ahead too. They'd have to fly through it to continue their journey.

"If they haven't made it to the city yet, I'm thinking we try to disable at least one of the airships before they can make it to Soleanna. To do that, we take advantage of the incoming darkness and the cloud cover to covertly land on one of Robotnik's ships. From there we head to its engine room and use our weapons to destroy the engines. I saw Robotnik take off with five giant ships, so that'd leave him with just four for the attack. A full 20% reduction in his firepower. Then the Soleanna military should be able to handle what's left. Sound okay?"

Giichi wanted to be able to look at the others as he was telling them all this, so that he could see their reactiosn. But considering he was riding up front, that was kind of impossible.

[Falina]

Giichi talking about the plan to get inside one of the ships in flight and take it out, really brings home the reality of the situation she's now in. A look of nervousness now shows on Falina's face, and she squeezes Chadin's hand harder now, even her tail twitches a little. She finds it hard to believe that she's about to finally go up against the forces of the very same man who destroyed her home, and captured or killed everyone she knew, save Chadin, years ago. "So, any ideas on how were actually going to get inside one of these ships in mid air? I don't think Robotnik is going to leave the door open for us." She says in a small attempt at humor despite her 'stomach full of butterflies.'

[Dulcy]

"What should I do while you are all inside? I don't think I'll be able to come in with you all." Says Dulcy as she continues flying onward into the clouds. She slows down even more now with the limited visibility, wanting to avoid crashing right into one of Robotnik's ships, or anything else.

[Chadin]

"Maybe not, but we have the perfect door knockers." I answered Falina's question with a reminding pat on the sack of scorcher plant-filled balloons she was carrying.

"Wait... scratch that idea, I know that Robotnik has hovercraft he can use to escort those big ships. He's bound to have them protecting his fleet. As soon as we move anywhere near those ships he's bound to have them all over us; and with three of us weighing down Dulcy I doubt we'd be able to dodge all of it. My ears folded down to the sides with despair. There has to be a way to infiltrate that fleet... wait... INFILTRATE. That's it!!!

[b]"Come to think of it. I remember hearing about something the Knothole Freedom Fighters did once. They stole one of Robotnik's swatbot hover craft. Then they used it like a a wolf in sheep's clothing. If we sneak up on one of the trailing hovercraft we might be able to get close without alerting the rest of the fleet. Falina and Giichi could then use the hovercraft to get close to those ships while me and Dulcy run distraction. We keep any air cover and Robotniks attention on us while you two get up to one of those ships. Then we use some of those scorcher bombs on the outer hull near the engines, plant some of these explosives with a timer, get out and BAM down goes one of Robotnik's ships. Rinse and repeat. What do you guys think?"