Launch Base Zone

[Tatsuhiro]

Tatuhiro looked at the SWATbot Rose was inhabiting as soon as she announced that the adversary was here. He didn’t have much time to ponder on the name Robotnik just called her, or even what Robotnik had to say about his plan. He didn’t seem to be fazed by the announcement, though, and quickly looked back in the direction he was looking into.


“Good, I can get this over with.”


He moved his head to the left, and then to the right; both movements made a large cracking sound as he did so.

“Girl…Don’t give him much trouble when he comes here. Just let him pass through. Don’t bother having the robots attack him, all you’ll do is waste your defense power for anyone else coming through.

He stood up and began to stretch his arms out, as he anticipated the battle ahead. Then he remembered that the Good Doctor still hadn’t figured out what he was going to do.

“The plan’s simple, really. When Sonic comes over here I’ll challenge him to a fair fight. It’s an easy game; whoever get’s put of the circle first loses. And to make it interesting, there will be a stake.” he paused, as he realized something vital. “ –Haven’t figured that part out yet, though. I’m sure I’ll think of a stake in time…”

He began to rotate his shoulder one by one. He obviously couldn’t do time, now he realized that. The hedgehog was too impatient anyways, and could probably say when the time was up when he felt like it. He had to think of something else; something that wouldn’t be too much to bargain ( like saying he had to get off the island) but would also be able to keep the hedgehog out of Dr. Robotnik’s hair.

[Alpha Omega]

Omega took of his jacket and shook it out, trying to get as much water out as he could, before repeating with his shirt, also wringing it out, and then reclothing himself.

"Kinda cold out here... Not so good while your clothes are wet, huh?" He glanced over at the feline as he said this, trying to keep an eye on her. "Wonder what Robotnik's got going on out here... Sure looks like a big project... Feel like telling us anything?"

[Dr. Robotnik]

Upon hearing Rose's announcement that the hedgehog had arrived, the doctor actually stood still for a second, as if unsure if he'd heard Rose correctly. He pinched himself, and realized this definitely wasn't a dream.

Promptly, the doctor brought up a small holographic image on his wrist communicator, and looked at the picture dumbfounded. His jaw dropped so far that it looked like it might extend down to his upper chest. The doctor followed this up by looking in the general direction of the camera, and he could just make out a little blue speck on the other side of the lake. Robotnik looked as if he wanted to say something, but the words simply didn't come out and all anyone heard was a variety of spurts and spluttering.

Eventually the confusion faded away to outright rage as the doctor clenched his fist and let out a scream to the skies above.

It was then that he noticed Tatsu's rather chilled reaction. Seething as he was, the doctor decided to allow him to finish explaining his plan.

"Tatsu... You are NOT going to fight him alone. You WILL fight with my robots backing you up. We CANNOT let him stop this plan before it's even begun! We can't--can't....AAAAARGGGGGHHHH!"

The doctor growled again, not believing that this was really happening to him. Sure he'd been foiled by Sonic before, but never this flippin' early into one of his plans. It infuriated him to no end. He literally quaked with rage, unable to move an inch.

---

The cat with Alpha and Sonic got a rather fearful look on her face upon seeing Robotnik's encampment. If Robotnik found out she'd been captured by Sonic, she knew what lay in store for her.

She felt so terrified by the possibility of being roboticized she literally did not hear Alpha's question at first. Once she acknowledged him saying something, all she could do was mutter things under her breath. Finally, she managed to articulate a coherent response.

"Please...don't take me over there. Robotnik will roboticize me if he finds me... I can't go there..."

[Sonic]

Sonic’s cheerful expression changed, as he stood upright and looked at the cat with a curious expression. He blinked before he smiled a genuine smile, as he looked at the cat with a sort of soft expression. He might have not known what she was talking about, but he knew she was afraid of Robotnik.

“It’s okay. There’s no need to worry with me around!” He said, very simply. “ I’ll make sure to protect you no matter what happens.”

It –was- his job, after all. If you counted running around and smacking into evil genius bent on world destruction a full-time job. If you did, well, he would agree it was an awesome job to have. He then smiled his usually cocky smirk as he put his hand in a thumb’s up position and tapped his chest with his thumb.

“No way I’d let Eggy hurt anyone- especially a girl. He never was one for manners like that.”

He placed his clenched fists on his hips as he gave a reassuring smile and a wink to the cat. He may have seen completely arrogant, but there was a reason for it. He soon though, looked back as his ears twitched when he heard yelling comeing from a far distance.

"...what was that?" he asked questionable as he scratched behind his ear.

[Rose Fox]

Rose blinked as she watched Robotnik’s large tantrum. The show he was giving off made her forget all about Sonic being on the way. She just looked questionable at him as she blinked, somewhat dumbfounded.

‘…isn’t…that supposed to be –MY- reaction?’


Back so many years ago when she was working for the doc, she was the one to get this mad, not the doctor. Hell, even the Doctor had told her to calm down half the time. And now, this new Robotnik was doing the exact same thing as her? She quickly shook the thoughts out of her head as she remembered what caused it in the first place.

Sonic.

She looked at Tatsuhiro and back at Robotnik. While the answer was obviously “listen to Robotnik” she couldn’t help but shake the feeling that she should also listen to Tatsu. He may be an idiot ( of some caliber) but at least he seemed calm enough to make ration decisions. Plus, she was curious of how his plan was supposed to pan out. She paused for a few moments before speaking up, in a quiet tone.

“Demon boy…just how sure are you that this is going to work…?”

[Tatsuhiro]

Tatushiro’s attention turned to the Doctor as his rage was being spilled out. He turned around slowly, and looked at Dr. Robotnik with a very innocent, curious face; like a child who doesn’t understand something. This would look strange because it’s the first time he was fully expressing an emotion that wasn’t just a dull-looking neutral expression. He blinked a few times, his tail swishing around in a curious manner as well (like a cat that was focused on a ball of yarn). After a few moments that the Doctor would have cooled down he looked towards Rose’s possessed robot and pointed his finger at the Doctor.


“I’ve never seen him like this before…” He said with a surprisingly light voice. He almost had an urge to poke him to see if he would explode, but shrugged it off.


He began to take off the blue part of his upper attire, as his expression went back to normal as he knew he had other matters to deal with.


“- the last time I did this I beat him-”

‘Barely.’

“So, you shouldn’t be worrying much. I am, as the Doctor said it, ‘Using his good nature against him’. Ah, that’s it. I know exactly what to use as the stake.”


He wasn’t going to say just how he won the last time. If he did, surely the doctor would get even more frustrated and prevent him from doing his plan. Even though it would technically help, but still. The last time he did it, Sonic never got out of the ring, but he collapsed first. Then five seconds later, he did. It may have been short, but it was a victory he treasured. Anyways, he could tell the Doctor the full truth later. He threw the top part of his uniform on the ground a little ways away from the make-shift ring. He didn’t feel like ruining his uniform for this.


“ When I win, he won’t be able to touch any of the equipment- not even the robots. He can still attack me, but that’s better than him attacking everything. You said you had someone else around. Where is he?”

[Alpha Omega]

"I think he would roboticize all three of us if he got the chance, so like Sonic said, we're not gonna give him the chance."

He stared out at all the machinery and grimaced, wondering what the area would look like free of Robotnik's influence. He sighed and looked a bit sad, knowing it was a sight that wouldn't be available in his life time, hating Robotnik all the more for it.

"I don't think we should stand around for too much longer. There's probably bots swarming all over the zone..."

[Dr. Robotnik]

The doctor didn't appear to acknowledge Tatsu's question at first. He still felt very emotional from this whole turn of events. But at long last, he managed to get out a response. "Rampage? Well...since his diversion COMPLETELY FAILED in distracting Sonic..." the doctor shook his head as he realized that. "...I suppose I can call him back. What do you need him for?"

---

The cat honestly wasn't sure if Sonic was being sarcastic or not about protecting her. She found Sonic talking to her like that to be so bizarre it completely removed the frightened mood from her. In the end, she just stood there completely speechless and felt unsure of how to reply. After a few seconds though, she muttered out one thing.

"Um...if you don't mind, I'll just go hide back here, ok?"

And with that, she crawled into a little hole next to the Hydrocity tunnel exit and scrunched up, trying to make herself look as small as possible as she cowered there.

[Sonic]

Sonic, once again with a bemused face looked over towards where the cat had gone. He scratched the top of his head as he did so.


“Uhh…I guess. If that’s what you really want….”

He really didn’t understand women. Shrugging off the thought he looked over towards Alpha. He held out his hands towards him, all the while tapping his foot impatiently.

“Does that mean you’re ready to go?” the hedgehog said cheerfully, anticipating for his friend to say ‘yes’.

[Rose Fox]

Rose let out a sigh of relief for two reasons. Firstly, that the Doctor had finally calmed down. The second was the answer Tatsu gave her. While she didn’t know whether to really trust him, many of the things he said were reassuring. He was right, after all, about keeping the robots off Sonic. She already knew all it would be doing is sending them to the evident demise. And considering the fact that there were more people coming, it was best to save the robots for people who couldn’t handle them as well. As for whether or not he really wined…well… she couldn’t be too sure about it. But, at the same time, his plan was sounding good. She knew exactly now what he was trying to do; and she had already tested the ‘using his good nature against him’ theory herself.


And it worked like a charm.


Or so she was told. In order to test it she had to get by Sonic; and a spindash to the stomach wasn’t something she could handle. But it wasn’t the point. She let out a sigh, feeling somewhat dirty giving a ‘hands off’ command to the robots in the vicinity. It’s not like the Doctor told her directly to do anything. When Rampage was mentioned she quickly changed views to see how things where going. She was expecting no renitence but instead found that Rampage was dealing with some rabbit.


“As a note, Rampage is a bit busy. Granted he’s only ran into some rabbit guy, but…”

She would rather have Rampage stick to where he was. She looked over towards he blasted knee and gave an awful looking face at his mental image. If it wasn’t for his stupidity, she’d be over there right now!