Launch Base Zone

[Dr. Robotnik]

Robotnik felt like clapping for joy at this sudden turn of events, but decided to keep his emotions in check for the moment. The REAL Gerald, the one he idolized, appeared to have come out. The doctor felt so relieved. He'd been afraid that Gerald's company was simply going to be miserable from now on and his image of his mentor completely tarnished forever.

"We'll worry about that later, Rose," making a little dismissive handwave.

Of course, they'd need to find out just how this had happened, but for the moment the doctor wanted to introduce himself to his idol. Even if this operation completely failed, the doctor didn't really care with his greatest hero standing in his company.

"Why, it's me, dear grandfather," Robotnik gave a small bow. "I am Ivo Robotnik, your grandson. Surely you can see the resemblance, if you know what you're supposed to look like. It sounds like you already did from your earlier words."

The doctor let out a little chuckle at the last remark.

[Gerald Robotnik]

“By gods, grandson?” The Professor was sincerely surprised. He hadn’t quite expected that revelation. Sure he had known he would have another grandchild, but not suddenly grown up before his eyes.

Not like it really mattered though.

“Yes…I –do- see the resemblance. My, this is all very strange. I’m suddenly young, my grandson is much older than me; what next? My parents are suddenly going to pop out of no-where as children? I…I do believe I need to sit down….”

And so he did. He appeared to look a little overwhelmed as he sat into the chair near him slowly. He brought his hand up to his forehead and looked away from the doctor for the time being.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Robotnik eased him down into the chair.

"I know...it's a...very long story. And that would be putting it lightly. Just relax for the moment. For now, I'll just mention there's been an accident with the Chaos Emeralds, and time and space have been disrupted. If you want to know anyth--"

Dr. Robotnik's communicator suddenly crackled to life with static, interrupting him. As he was pulling it out of his belt, a SWATbot spoke urgently. Or at least as urgently as it could manage, being an emotionless machine.

"Dr. Robotnik, there's been an accident at the mines."

Frowning, the doctor quickly answered back. "What sort of accident? Have any of those pesky do-gooders made it this far yet?"

To be honest, Robotnik felt surprised at how quiet things had been since Sonic and Knuckles had been here. This day really was going too well.

"Answer ambiguous right now, sir. A landslide has sealed off the mine's entrance. We are clearing away the rubble now."

Robotnik did not believe that was a mere accident, as he went to a nearby terminal to check on the status of his operatives. Within a couple minutes, he'd found out that Tatsu had retreated back here from the beach, and Rampage was requesting help in the Mushroom Forest Zone. The doctor growled a little under his breath. He had been so wrapped up in talking to his idol that he'd completely forgotten about his very own operation! How foolish! His forces had been on the run for who knew how long and he had no idea about it. He really should not have made such a mistake.

"Double the security around the mine's entrance and watch over the delivery shuttles closely! Security may have been compromised! And get that mine operational again! We need to finish before more troublemakers show up!"

"Aye Robotnik."

Shaking his head, he turned back to Gerald.

"Apologies, but we'll have to cut this short for now. Some problems have come up for me to take care of."

Then he snapped his head over to Rose.

"Rose...is there anything you can do to help?"

[Rampage]

[From Mushroom Hill Zone...]
Rampage's ship soon slipped into the massive factory ship's hangar bay. The bionic badger stepped out of the ship, in a slightly worse mood than usual. It wasn't bad enough that he'd basically lost the fight because he was about to be out numbered. He'd lost one of his Com-bots in the process. Sure, it was expendable like every single Swat-bot he'd ever encountered, but still. They are powerful and expensive robots to create. They came from Rampage's world, so they're a little hard to replace. All in all though, the most frustrating thing was that the battle had been a far cry less grand than he'd hoped it to be.

That annoying rabbit coming along and screwing with things being no less of an annoyance despite the fact he KNEW he'd shot that rabbit in the head once already. The fact he seemed to keep coming back offered the possibility of a constant opponent, but that rabbit was no where near his league. He was about as challenging to fight as a Swat-bot.

Oh well, with any luck Robotnik's had as little satisfaction as well so at least the misery can be spread out evenly. After exiting the ship, that was exactly where he was headed.

[Dr. Robotnik]

[How about we just speed up to where Rampage meets Robo in his little lounge?]

Dr. Robotnik was definitely experiencing about the same level of misery as Rampage had. The mine entrance had been blown up and sealed. That had annoyed him enough, but then he thought he heard the dull rumble of an explosion outside. Frowning again, the doctor had a look at the security feeds, and growled under his breath as flames appeared to have engulfed several delivery shuttles and many SWATbots. He hit the general alarm immediately thereafter.

"Attention security! I'm just about positive we have uninvited guests now! Sweep the area around the delivery shuttles! Let no one slip away!"

Just then the entrance door to Robo's quarters slid open behind him. The doctor looked surprised to see Rampage standing there. Obviously the bionic badger seemed to be unhappy about something, so he suspected his little melee in the Mushroom Hill Zone hadn't gone well.

"How did it go against the freedom fighters in the woods?" the doctor blinked a moment, and then realize he didn't really care. "Never mind, I think I could use your help here."

He waved at the footage of the burning shuttles on the security feed.

"Find who did this, and make them regret the day they were born."

[Gerald Robotnik]

Gerald sat back in his chair, watching the chaos ensue about him. He didn’t say anything for there wasn’t much to say. His elbows rested on the arms as he clasped his hands together. Nothing had changed. His own ancestor had proved it. Any regrets of wanting the world to be obliterated were washed away with just watching his grandson’s actions. He was obviously mad; then again everyone was. Why couldn’t he see this before? It certainly would have said him a lot of trouble. But at least he realized than never at all.

But then again perhaps his grandson would understand. Perhaps he’s just underestimating his intelligence. Maybe he would give him a chance to redeem himself. Though this was certainly not the time for that. If he wanted the time for it, he’d have to sit around or do something; and Gerald doesn’t like wasting his time. Unclasping his hands, he put his left arm on the rest and brought his right hand to his glasses. He pushed them up closer, as they were slowly falling down the bridge of his nose. Once Rampage and Robotnik would be done speaking, he would speak up.

“Anything I could do?”

[Dr. Robotnik]

[Rampage, I'll wait for you to post first. So Robo, Gerald, Rampage.]

[Rampage]

"Eh, not as satisfying as I hoped, but I kept 'em plenty busy at least." Rampage answered with a barely enthusiastic tone.

Quote:"Never mind, I think I could use your help here."

He waved at the footage of the burning shuttles on the security feed.

"Find who did this, and make them regret the day they were born."

Without even moving from the doorway, Rampage activated his cybernetic eye's zoom feature to glance at the monitors; just as a lone deer dashed past one of the feeds. "Friend of yours?" Rampage nodded his head toward the monitor in question. It was Chadin on the monitor.

"Looks like he's not even trying to be stealthy. Either he's trying to get himself killed or he's trying to draw your forces out, I'd say." It was a tactic that Rampage had seen all too many times. Deception and misdirection were classic Freedom Fighter tactics. But most often it was Sonic who served as the distraction. He at least presented a significant threat if left unchecked. One lone deer with a crossbow wasn't much of a challenge or threat as far as he was concerned.

As Rampage waited for a reply from Robotnik, his other eye caught sight of Gerald. He quirked his real eye at the sight of the Doctor's guest. The two looked eerily similar, glasses and all. "Who's the chump, Elvis look-a-like?" He asked Robotnik with a dismissive pointing of his thumb.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Robotnik blinked when Rampage appeared to be looking at the monitor and then mentioned a friend. He whirled around and saw a deer running past the monitor.

"Him again? I remember him..."

The other two in the room might possibly detect a little bit of rage, boiling just beneath the veneer of Robotnik's frowning face. Oh, that was a bitter memory. He'd been so close to roboticizing that deer, when he'd felt something prick into the back of his head. Then he'd been unconscious, and then the deer and his friend were gone. And then they were the ones who'd probably warned Soleanna in advance before he could launch his attack.

Curse that deer and that cat! The deer had to pay! The doctor whirled back around at Rampage, looking rather peeved.

"I don't care what he's doing! I'm going with you! He and I have a score to settle!"

But then Rampage mentioned his grandfather in the corner. He'd been so enraged by this turn of events he'd totally forgotten he was sitting there. The doctor put on a small, thin, nervous smile.

"It's a long story. This is Gerald Robotnik. My grandfather. He was my inspiration to become what I am now. We'll talk about it later. For now I want to stop my operation from being disrupted."

Quote:“Anything I could do?”

The doctor looked at Gerald very curiously. He honestly wasn't sure what Gerald could do at the moment, but the question intrigued him.

"Well, what were you thinking of doing? Maybe you could fly one of my spare egg pods or something?"

[Gerald Robotnik]

“Hmmm, no I don’t think so.” Gerald commented, pushing the thought to the side. “But if I am seeing things right that deer has one of my Artificial Chaos’s. If you have any kind of intercom near the area, I could give it an order and take care of it.”

The Professor’s demeanor of a nice elderly man was starting to diminish. He was sounding a lot colder than he was a little while ago. He wasn’t too found of the farce, but he’d have to play it to keep his grandson’s trust. Though wether he’d even notice such a change he would be unsure. After all, Dr. Robotnik didn’t know him very well.