Launch Base Zone - Infiltration

[Gail Strafer]

[From Angel Island Beach]

Sweat roiling down his face and wetting his fur, Gail clambered up a rocky hill as fast as he could. He paid little heed to if the others were falling behind, and to the blaster wound he'd gotten in the last fight on the beach. The wolf gazed up at the top of the hill and watched the black smoke roiling out from behind it. Whatever was on the other side of this ascent, he really wanted to see it.

They also really needed to catch that demon guy and make him talk. However, Gail felt concerned they'd lost him. They seemed to be following a pathway someone had taken recently, judging from fresh footprints in the mud and the grass that had been stomped on by said feet, but Tatsu hadn't entered their sight in a while.

On the other hand, it might not mattter. He'd noticed the longer they followed the trail, the closer they got to that large trail of smoke rising from the middle of the island. If this was Robotnik's base camp on the island, then they might even get lucky and just find Gerald there.

Finally, he crested the hill, the sun briefly blinding him as it came back into view. Blinking a few times, he waited for his vision to adjust. As what lay in the crater below came into focus, his jaw dropped open wide.

So this is where all those ships I saw went. Damn.

The huge aircraft were docked all over the crater around a gigantic lake, with hundreds, maybe thousands of SWATbots trooping everywhere. SWATpods buzzed around the whole setup like a giant cloud of flies.

In the center of the operation stood a large ship that looked like a big factory, with lots of holding tanks, smokestacks, and buildings jutting out of a platform with rockets on the bottom. All of the smoke they'd seen before belched out of those smokestacks. It clearly looked like the focal point of the whole operation. Dump-truck-like bots appeared to be going into it full of mining ore and coming back out for some reason. The wolf followed the trail of dump trucks and noticed a small hole in the crater's wall off to the side. The vehicles came in and out of it at a steady pace.

Gail realized that standing up here would be a good way to get seen and get shot from multiple places, so he ducked back down to hide behind the hill's crest. After Chadin and Ji would catch up, the wolf would point to the factory ship, the dump trucks, and the mine entrance.

"It looks like Robotnik is mining for something here. I wonder what it is. Not to mention we need to find Gerald still. I think we ought to start by checking around that factory ship. Maybe if we find out what's going on we can find out where Gerald is too."

[Chadin]

It didn't take long for me to catch up to Gail. I've been loping through the woods my whole life and didn't have the luxury of driving wherever I needed to be like the city folk. Plus, all the years fighting Robotnik makes it kind of hard for you to stay out of shape long.

Admittedly though, Gail was already lying prone on the incline of the hill when I caught up with him. Taking the hint, I got on my belly and crawled up beside him to see for myself. Annoyingly no matter how stealthy I try to be, one disadvantage to being a stag is that you ALWAYS have a tell-tale set of antlers sticking up out of your head and far above whatever you might be trying to use for cover. Fortunately, most times people just mistake my antlers for a dead bush or something so long as their not paying TOO close attention.

"He's here looking for this." I stated as I pulled the tiny emerald shard from my pouch. I made certain to just allow Gail and Jii a look, but under no circumstances did I let them hold on to it or let it out of my sight. I still didn't fully trust them yet. Least of all Gail. Something about him just made me fearful that he'd sell something valuable like this just so that he can afford to have a 'good time' or something.

"It's a Chaos Emerald shard. Robotnik is looking for them here because from what I understand this island is ripe with them. We CAN'T let him get away with them. Finding Gerald is important, no question there, but if Robotnik gets his hands on enough emerald shards it could be the doom of us all!"

"Hmmm, with all these Swat-bots hanging around, it would be suicide to take them head-on. But even trying to sneak in won't be easy with all that security. Worse yet, they're bound to be looking for us if that Tatsu guy managed to warn Robotnik.

[Jijeka-Te]

Ji and Anu took a bit longer to catch up with Gail and Chadin. Anu had taken the healing device after it'd finished its work.

They both stood wide-eyed at the sight of all the activity beneath the crater. They'd never seen anything like it in their lives.

(Ji) "...Wow."

Neither of them really listened to Gail or Chadin.

[Gail Strafer]

"Emerald shards...they're from the Chaos Emeralds? The ones that gave Chaos enough power to destroy Station Square?"

It sent a shiver up his spine to think about what a brilliant, evil scientist like Robotnik could do with them. Chaos was, as his name implied, pure chaos and destruction. But he was also somewhat random and unpredictable without a focused agenda. Now imagine if that same power had a guiding hand in the form of that mad doctor...

"You know, I think we should 'ave gone an' got for Vanessa after all. But if we don't move now Robotnik will get away with them shards. We can't let these here ships leave the island. Maybe we can sabotage their engines somehow. That might slow down Robotnik enough for someone like Sonic to show up an' finish the job."

Chadin mentioning that Robotnik would be looking for them sparked an idea.

"Maybe we should let him find us then. Or at least, something he thinks is us. A distraction is what I'm getting at here, in case you don't know what I'm saying," Gail paused to give a slight chuckle. "They're down in that there valley. Maybe we can cause a little...avalanche. That'll rustle his britches."

[Chadin]

"Hmmm... that's not a bad idea Gail. Heck, we might even be able to seal that tunnel where Robotnik's mining trucks are coming in and out of and stop his operations cold. The only trick though would be finding a way to start a big enough avalanche to do the job."

I took a long look at the layout of the scene below us and noticed what might be a potential flaw in the Swat-bot's search patterns. "If we get up high enough on the slope we'd avoid the Swat-bots patrolling. Only question then is how would we get on board and start sabotaging the ships if we're up on the slope starting the land slide."

[Jijeka-Te]

By now Ji and Anu were paying attention.

"Her Majesty and I could probably cross the gap by air from the top of the slope," the beetle suggested, "but there's no way we'd be able to carry your additional weight."

[Gail Strafer]

Gail whipped around at Anu's suggestions, looking at him like he was crazy.

"Are you nuts?! If you go flyin' out there, all of them bots will shoot you down! If we're gonna go towards the mine. We need to walk along the ridge and out of sight."

The wolf returned his gaze to the mining operation.

"But...I think we could do with splitting up. You two could start the avalanche somehow, while me and Chadin sneak in. Like the deer says though, we needs a way to get them rocks rollin'. What we need...is fireworks."

Gail had a look at the pocket where Chadin had his extra energy packs stolen from the SWATbots, before looking up at the deer and nodding back to the packs.

"Maybe if we tape 'em together, you could shoot it. You got good aim with that thing." He gestured towards the crossbow. "Might be enough to get a chain reaction going. It's either that...or we have to snoop around down there for something bigger."

[Chadin]

"Hmm, it's possible I suppose. I've never really tried using these power packs as an explosive though so I'm not sure what might happen. In theory if we can get at least one big rock moving it will keep building on its own. These power packs might have just enough kick to get that first big one going.

I think Jii has the right idea though. If she can start the slide on her own, I wouldn't be surprised if the bots are so distracted by the landslide that they'd hardly notice her floating down towards one of the ships. The only trouble is what can we use to detonate these things. I'd need to be fairly close to use my crossbow since the range is somewhat limited. I could loan you my crossbow for the time being, Jii. Give you a quick run down on how it works and such.

It's not like I'm going to be trying to pick a fight for the time being anyway so my knife should work just fine. It's better for a stealth infiltration anyway. My crossbow is pretty light, and compact-able so it shouldn't be a problem for you to carry while you glide down. All we'd need to do then is figure out where to meet up once the Swat-bots are distracted." I couldn't help feeling a little bit of excitement building up in me. A plan was rapidly starting to take form. In fact, it was starting to feel like the old days with the MFF.

[Jijeka-Te]

Jijeka-Te and Anu both seemed to be listening.

(Ji) "So... let me see if I've got this straight. We find a massive rock and you plant those 'power packs' behind it, then you lend me that crossbow and the two of you sneak into the Swat-bots' territory together. Then I fire off a shot to blow up the packs, starting the avalanche, and glide down to one of the ships with Anu while the Swat-bots are panicking over the landslide. Then we reunite... somewhere down there. Is that it?"

Meanwhile, Anu passed the healing pack back to Gail, since he and Ji were done with it.

[Gail Strafer]

Gail accepted the healing pack. As he did so, he couldn't help but realize some blood still oozed through his fur from the wound on his shoulder. Might as well, he thought, as he applied the healing pack to the blaster wound. The feeling was...wonderful. He felt as if he could take on a million SWAT-bots, instead of a mere thousand. Or at least that's what he felt inside his head. As the pack did it's work, he kept talking.

"That there's pretty much the run of it, Ji. How about designate a meetin' point to get back together later?"

The wolf turned back around, thinking about what might make the most sense. Before long, he was pointing a finger at it.

"How about those little ships that look like they're for taking back the shards? The ones near the factory ship?"

A set of shuttles sat at the ready near the belching smokestacks, with the cargo doors open and ready to take their precious goods back to Robotropolis. In fact, Gail thought he saw a very large, heavy-set SWAT bot carrying a case, flanked by several equally-large bots. They stood out quite a bit from the run of the mill bots for sure.

"Damn! I think he's loading the first of the shards now! We've got to vamoose!"