Roval Arms

[Giichi Twinkieland]

[Sorry Jav, but you've had plenty of time to post. I'll just post Giichi's part of the fight for now.]

"Huh?!"

The woman skidded to a halt, just touching the new wall in front of her. She actually moved a hand across it, as if sure it wasn't real. Then Terrador called out for her to surrender. Whipping around, the echidna would visibly see an expression of surprise, even behind her sunglasses.

Regardless, the woman still appeared determined to escape with the statue. Instead of giving up, she struck a fighting stance with the statue in one hand, and motioned with her free hand for Terrador to come attack.

"Come at me if you dare. You'll have to kill me before I'll give up this statue."

---

Giichi clambered back up to his feet, both sais drawn. His two attackers definitely didn't look ready to back down, as they charged across the lobby right at him. But suddenly, they stopped right in their tracks. Giichi noticed they seemed to be looking at something behind him, so the cat turned to look as well.

Brucie, who seemed to have finally woken up from being knocked out, stood there holding his gun with one hand while he nursed a wound on his muzzle with the other.

"All right. I've had enough of this kung fu foolery! I want you two to tell me what's going on RIGHT NOW!"

While intimidated by the gun, the two of them clearly didn't seem ready to talk. They simply stood there mutely, waiting for Brucie to make another move. In fact, one of them even pointed this out.

"We can stand here all day and all night if you wish. We have taken an oath not to reveal our order's secrets!"

"Your order?" Giichi actually couldn't help but spare a small chuckle as he said that out loud. "What kind of secret society wants some old Tikal statue?"

[Terrador Bellator]

Terrador raised an eyebrow at her. Was she really willing to die for a seemingly worthless statue? Fighting here on this ledge could prove to be extremely dangourous. After wobbling around a bit to find his balance, he raised his arms up in a non-threatinign matter.

"I do not wish to fight. I only wnat to know what's so important about that statue." he pointed out, popping a glance at the Tikal statue she held like her newborn child. Something wasn't right about this whole thing and the echidna was determined to get to the bottom of it.

[Echo]

(The probe that rediscovered the planet gathered some information before they arrived. They know some things. They’re there to study the planet in detail. Srry guys I’ve been away from internet access for a little while unexpectedly. )

Am dodged the glasses by simply moving his upper body to the side allowing the glasses to fly by him. As he began to spring he felt a sharp pain in his stomach as he was kicked back to the ground by the man. Am slapped against the ground with a thud knocking the wind from his lungs.

“am *static*going on*static*..wn there *Static* ead me?*static*”

As Gichii and Bruce ‘talked’ things over with the men Am pulled himself back to his feet and stood up straight. Am was angry, very angry. His hands burst into flames as Am readied himself to fight.

“Shut up Sarah I’m busy. This is the last time I’m going to say it”

Am aimed his hands at the men before him.

“tell them or I, will, end, you”

[Giichi Twinkieland]

"This statue is the most important artifact in the world to our order! Giving it up to the likes of you would be blasphemy! It is our way into paradise!"

And without giving a single thought to her own safety, she charged straight at Terrador down the narrow ledge.

But while headstrong, she clearly hadn't anticipated the difficulty of the task. One of her feet wandered too far to the edge of the platform, and she half-stepped on the ledge and half-stepped on open air. It wasn't much, but it was enough to cause her to lose balance as she ran. Terrador would briefly see the woman's astonishment in her eyes, as she fell headlong and the glasses levitated off of her face from the sudden fall. She took a spill onto the ledge, before rolling off.

If Terrador had a quick enough reaction time, he might be able to grab the woman's arm before she fell down to the next level of the pyramid below.

---

"Hey you! Fire boy! Stop it! There's no need! I've got them at gunpoint now!"

The man who kicked Am just then halted his attack to look at Bruce, but at the same time kept a wary eye on the disguised alien. The one with the fire extinguisher did the same.

"He's right! Stop it please!" This time the voice came from Evan, who was sitting in the corner with Lizzie, trying to get her to wake up. After calling out to the room, the brown dog turned back to his mother. "Mom...these green guys. Aren't they with that Secret Order that Granddad founded?"

"Yes...dear..." she stammered, still not completely in it as she tried to watch the fight. "But I'm afraid...the order's become more like a...a...cult now since he died."

"How dare you insult the order that Lord Roval founded!" This time it was one of the men who'd been attacking Giichi. "As his daughter, you should have been next in line to lead us!"

"Cult?!" This was coming way, way too fast to Giichi. He turned back and forth between the green guys Bruce had held up, and the meek-looking brown dog sitting in the corner. "Adam Roval founded a cult?!"

"Lizzie," Bruce growled, angrily joining in. "I want some answers right now, or I'm moving out of this joint. And I know you can't afford me leaving."

Lizzie returned Bruce's growl with a petite little one of her own, but she seemed reluctant to get the words out.

[I thought it'd be good to have a little plot advancement. Sorry for halting the fight. But we can start it back up again in a bit if you want ]

[Terrador Bellator]

Terrador listened to her words very carefully and many questions formed into his mind. However, before he could even speak, the crazy woman began her fall to her inevitable demise. Thankfully, she closed enough distance to make approaching her alot easier. With a coulpe quick steps, he reached his right arm out and firmly grasped her forearm. He had forgotten the momentum would bring him down and his formidable strength would not have time to react.

His heart sank as he he began to slowly tilt forward. Despite the situation, he kept remained calm and was thinking of a way to save both his life and hers. He twisted his body back to it's farthest extents and pointed his left arm at the wall. With a surge of Geokinetic energy, a pillar formed from the wall that appeared to fuse with his arm.

This halted their movement and the echidna took this oppurtunity to pull both of them back onto the ledge. He made sure she was on the side with the obstacle just in case she aftempted an escape.

"Are you okay?" He asked after a long sigh of releif.

[Echo]

[is okay, I dun mind :B]

Am simply ignored his companions and kept his aim firmly on the guys in front of him.

"ya know, I would but I've known too many people that are sleeping with the stars now because they thought they had control of a situation. They got careless and lost their lives needlessly so I think I'll just keep my guard up okee dokee?"

Am slowly backed away from the men to take his place beside Bruce and Gichii.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

The woman screamed as she went falling over the ledge. However, she got quite a shock when she suddenly stopped falling. Looking up, she couldn't believe that this echidna had bothered to save her, after what she'd been doing before. Gratefully, she accepted her help, and climbed back into the ledge.

Once back to safety though, she considered hitting him in the head with the statue and running, but then thought better of it. After all, he was an echidna. Perhaps he simply didn't know the story of his heritage and should be told more about it.

"I am fine, thank you. You seem to be a fine example of your kind, and you have a good heart. Our order reveres your ancient society...that of the echidnas. Tell me...how did you come to be here? I should not have attacked you the way I did before."

---

"It's a long story..." Priscilla started, mumbling a bit through the details. "My father, Adam Roval, loved ancient echidna archaeology. With permission from some Master Emerald guardians preceding Knuckles, he had professional teams dig up artifacts around Angel Island. Dad became well known in academic circles for his work in documenting ancient Echidna culture.

"Over time though, he came to learn so much and love the culture so much, he fancied reviving it and attracted some of his peers to his vision. They started calling him a reincarnation of past Echidna warlords. It's part of why he built this place the way he did."

Giichi chose this moment to butt in a bit. He thought it a bit rude but this question had been burning in his mind since they found that statue.

"So why do they want a Tikal statue so much?"

"When the Echidna culture became corrupt with wanting power and unleashed Chaos, Tikal fought hard to convince her father and the others to stop. She represents a pathway to peace and prosperity...a way to overcome the past failures of the civilization. From what I understand from father, they like to collect icons of her."

Evan chose this moment to add in his comentary. "The statue itself doesn't have any real power, they just want it for her image." He shrugged and almost spared a laugh, since he apparently believed this was all rather silly. "Really... Just get it back to me. I'll melt it down and we can put this all behi--"

"How DARE you suggest destroying such a sacred icon!" one of the green men pointed a shaking finger at Evan, clearly boiling over with rage at what he wanted to do. "You are a blasphemer and you too should be participating in our cult!"

"Screw off, you wacko!" Evan barked back, giving him the finger. He resumed talking to Bruce. "So yeah...these are just some nutjobs who thought Granddad was some sort of prophet. It'd be cool if he really was, and I'd like to believe that, but it's really nothing but a fairy tale."

"Fairytale?!" the same green guy screamed. Apparently he simply could not take all of this criticism of his secret society. Ignoring the cease fire, he charged straight for where Evan sat with Lizzie on the floor. However, he'd have to run past Am to get there.

[Terrador Bellator]

"Despite your actions, nobody deserves death. I'm glad to see your okay." He replied. After reducing the pillar to sand he distanced himself from the questionable female. Although he showed concern for her well-being, he remained on guard and ready for anything.

"I appriciate you perspective of me. To answer your question, an ally of mine hy the name of Giichi brought me here. He is that tan sand cat you encountered breifly before your attempted escape." He went on, narrowing his eyes at her.

[Echo]

Am, itching to fight as it was, opened fire at the attacker's mid section and legs.

"I TOLD YOU TO BACK OFF!"

[Giichi Twinkieland]

The woman sighed and shook her head as Terrador explained, literally, how he'd gotten here today.

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean where did you grow up? Where are your parents? Echidnas are supposed to be almost extinct. I actually didn't believe you were one when I first saw you. We thought the only true one left was Knuckles."

Clearly, she appeared to be interested in a whole lot more than Terrador himself with her questions. With the nature of her secret society, it wouldn't be much of a surprise.

---

"AAAAAH! Aaaaah! AAAAH! AAAAAH!"

The man's truly horrifying screams filled the lobby as his clothes caught on fire. Giichi couldn't help but widen his eyes and let his mouth hang open with terror as the man ran around the room with the flames licking all over him. Thankfully though, the decorative fountain in the corner again saved the day, as the man jumped right in.

Everyone else in the room appeared too stunned from the display to do anything for a minute. Even the normally stoic green guys appeared set back from that display. In fact, one ran for the door. Bruce turned around to shoot at him, but then the other two he was holding up took that opportunity to brush past him and Giichi, bumping them over in their desperate flight to safety.

As they left, Evan in the corner spoke up to AM, very timidly at first although his voice became more stern as he did so. "Listen...man," he sat up off of the floor, looking at Am very scared-like. "I appreciate what you did there...and these guys are wackos...but that was just plain cruel. Please don't burn them like that, okay? They're not bad guys. They're just confused and brainwashed."