Launch Base Zone - Infiltration

[Sonic]

[Yes, skip me at the moment. I'm afraid my frustration isn't going to let me post so soon. It's hard when you read through the topic and still end up missing stuff; and having you're character seem like a complete idiot. So as of right now I'm trying to think of some way as to why Sonic didn't seem to see the stupid ships. Other than the fact that I didn't see any of it when I was skimming through. ]

[Espio]

[Hey, it happen's to the best of us. If it wern't for you earlier actually, I woulda assumed the group was in a cave, not one of the dropships. And sides, Sonic does have his aloof moments naturally. Also, sorry Nail, my bad on that. I'll edit that out if you like as it seems no one responded to one of the explosions in particular if you like.]

Espio had managed to sneak past the approaching group (to his knowledge), and arrived at the permimter of the fleet of ships. A few of them appeared to have been trashed already, seemingly destroyed by one of the doctor's many "fans". One of them in particular seemed to catch his eye; smoke pouring from the side of one of the larger ships. To Espio, it may well have been a beacon saying that the main attraction in this area was inside.

On the other hand, a group of swatbots was approaching the entryway of one of the ships; little did he know the group that caused the mayhem was inside. This also caught his attention as it was THEIR ship, so why were they approaching so cautiously? He quickly made up his mind as to which ship to explore first, staying close to the sides of one of the aircraft at all times if he could help it to make his way closer. He would attempt to take in the scene as he crept about, to try and get the big picture as to what was going on as he tried to sneak behind the group of swatbots nearing the others.

[Jijeka-Te]

((...My turn's going to come off a little goofy without Sonic taking his turn, but I suppose it can't be helped...))

Ji let out a small sigh as Jaoku protested. She looked him square in the eye, trying to look sympathetic, her hands together over her chest.

"Jaoku, please. I know you don't like turret duty, but this is important to everyone. Just get out there and do our best, for me and my people... and for yourself. Please."

She turned her attention away from Jaoku as footsteps reached her ears. The Parthians had gained ground more quickly than she'd anticipated.

Perhaps she'd have to get her hands dirty herself. She drew out her crook and pointed it dramatically at the approaching army.

"It's time."

Anu, confused, looked to see what Her Majesty was pointing at... the approaching swatbots. Oh dear.

[Gail Strafer]

[Ahahah...just misunderstandings all around in this topic. Espio, we're not inside a ship. We're inside the ruins of a building from when Robotnik first built the Launch Base zone. But it is near the fleet of destroyed delivery ships so I can work with it.]

Gail only felt more confused when she replied to him as if they were still doing this little roleplay session. Was she just playing pretend or did she actually believe what was going on in her head was real? Gail continued to watch Jii as she strutted around their little hiding place like she was some sort of general commanding an army. Just what the hell was she doing?

And then she stood up, moved to stand right in front of the hole in the wall, and pointed square the the SWATbots with her crook. She might as well have held up a sign too that said "Shoot us, we're right here." That's pretty much exactly what the SWATbots decided to do, as they brought their laser rifles to bear. The wolf's huge jaw dropped wide open as he observed the scene.

Ignoring his injuries (although they were mostly healed at this point), Gail launched himself at Jii, to tackle her out of the way as laser blasts came pouring in through the hole like a hard rain.

[Sonic]

He had fummed when Gail called him an old man. How the hell was he supposed to know they took the ships out already? It’s not like he –saw- any of them! Or if he did, they were so beyond repair that he mistaken them as just part of the scenery.

But he’d soon stop as he realized that the gig was up; and that the metal patrol had found out where there hiding spot was. As soon as the barge of shots ended, he shot himself out of the door; all the while flanking the swatbots.

“Yo bucket heads! Over here!” he taunted, as he was going for circling around them.

[Espio]

[Derp, silly me. I can react to this though, so I'm good with this as well.]

The ninja was determining if he should take out the small group of bots in front of him when he heard a familiar sound. "Blaster fire! Someone's under attack!", he exclaimed aloud in his head. He took one last look at the group of bots ahead of him, then at the nearby building choosing to assist whoever was under fire as he dashed towards the main entrance. It was a simple ninja clan law his logic chose to follow; "the enemy of my enemy is my friend". They may well have been the ones to wreck the majority of the shuttles, and may provide information if he saved them...icing on the cake.

That was about when a very familiar blue blur came shooting out the entryway. "You've got to be kidding me...", he muttered to himself. Now he KNEW something big was going on here. Bringing his focus to more immediate issues, the nearby group of swatbots would be looking at Sonic and not him, so now was his chance to end this on the spot while they were at least partly distracted! He quickly reached into his invisi-pack, choosing to go big. He deployed what looked at first like a hooksword, but then the floating tool took on its true form in one swift motion. If any swatbots saw this, they may well have a brief moment of confusion as a floating shuriken quickly came into existance, it spinning rapidly soon after and then rushing towards them!

[Whirl Dash]

Espio's form became visable right around the moment he spun forwards, a whirling dervish of death consisting of purple, white and black with large shuriken in hand. The swatbots could attempt to sidestep him as the easiest countermeasure, but they would need to act fast as the tool in his hand extended his range. He knew he probably wouldn't destroy them all, but he had the potential to take out a fair portion of the enemy in one go- and perhaps escape to a preferable spot after the damage was done. Which was the best plan as he considered that a sudden mass loss of swatbots reporting in at a location may alert the horde...

[Jijeka-Te]

Jijeka-Te was unafraid when the Parthians readied their weapons. At their distance, even if they fired at her she could easily dodge without--

"Oof!"

Getting tackled by Gail broke Ji out of her flashback. She blinked as she came to her senses.

(Ji) "Wh... what happened?"
(Anu) "You tell us, Your Highness... after that gong, it was like you were possessed!"

[Gail Strafer]

"ALERT ALERT! PRIORITY ONE BLUE HEDGEHOG SIGHTED!" one of the SWATbots squealed in alarm when it sighted Sonic. Although its on board computer only calcuated a 90% probability it was him, due to his strange appearance, the bot's parameters considered that sufficient to raise a much bigger alert.

By this point though, Sonic had began running around the bots in circles. They started blind firing all around them, hoping to score a lucky hit on the blue blur now extending all the way around them from Sonic's sheer speed.

It was then that another of the SWATbots spied the purple tornado now heading straight towards them, down the hill.

"New threat detected! Spread out!"

The SWATbots quickly broke out of their pack formation, not really caring if they collided with Sonic in the process. Alas, two SWATbots were too slow. One got its head taken clean off, sending it flying off somewhere as the SWATbot crashed to the ground. Another got very deeply gutted on its chest, spitting out sparks and wires instead of blood and guts. The SWATbot tried to resume fire, but then the entire upper body simply tilted backwards, finally splitting off from the strain suddenly put on the remaining part of armor still holding the entire thing together.

--

Meanwhile, the decapitated SWATbot's head flew in through the opening of the building the others were hiding in, landing neatly next to Gail's face. Suddenly being face to face with a SWATbot (or it's head, rather), was enough for Gail to suddenly launch out of the position where he lay on the floor after catching Jii. He immediately put his back against the wall, before finally realizing it was only a SWATbot's head and not the entire thing.

"Oh...where in tarnation did THAT come from?!"

He looked back towards the hole, and could just make out a purple blur cutting the SWATbots up. Unbelievable...Sonic and now some other powerful newcomer? Although Sonic was instantly recognizable just from his color, he didn't know who this new visitor was. But from how powerful he was, he just might be an acquaintance of Sonic as well.

Gail grinned as he stood up, holding the blaster arm from a SWATbot he'd amputated back on the beach. He couldn't wait to get back into the fight. While the others were distracted by Sonic and his purple friend, Gail jumped to the hole and began firing off shots with his improvised weapon. Alas, all he hit for the moment was the one decapitated SWATbot as it was already falling to the ground.

[Sonic]

Sonic side-stepped as a few shots got too close for comfort. But he’d dealt with worse, though he cursed a little under his breath as the SWATbots began to spilt up. He was hoping to knock down the entire group with a swift kick; but he had to contend with one coming at him. Getting himself low by bending forward, he turned in the SWATbot’s direction. As he’d get up close with his sheer speed he’d gracefully roundhouse the SWATbot at its side.

It would be then that he’d notice Espio presence. But he wouldn’t bother to call him out during the fight. Unless Espio didn’t notice something.

[Espio]

If Sonic looked close enough, Espio had a rather...sadistic expression on his face as he tore into the second swatbot, reveling in trashing the belongings of the one who threw him off the path of pefection. His inner demon was shown for just a fraction of a second as the tornado halted, Espio taking a low crouching position on his fours with his shuriken raised up defensivly. He looked to Sonic with a nod accompanied with a grunt, acknowledging his presence. He had to admit; he was pleasantly surprised as the hedgehog usually stopped to chat mid combat from what he had seen in the past...something that annoyed him when it wasn't needed.

As he flung the oversized shuriken at a swatbot in the building's direction with the intent to get it stuck to a wall for easy retrieval later, he had a brief moment to analyze the field as the swatbots semed to hone in for the most part on the hedgehog. On the outer layer of the battle zone were several hard to see figures inside the building he figured were allies, given where those scattershots hit. "Supporting fire...", he thought to himself rather amused. Then there was Sonic at the defensive perimiter, aiming to keep the other swatbots away from the building from what he could tell. He reached each hand into the opposite arm bracer, a shuriken at the ready in each hand. And then there was him dead in the center. A dangerous, yet profitable position among the ranks of the enemy, even moreso as he was presently ignored. He let fly his shuriken, one aimed at the back of a swatbot's neck area facing Sonic, the other at the visor of the swatbot nearest to him wanting to see if he could cause any malfunctions and in turn sow confusion amongst their ranks. There were now three shuriken left in each bracer at the ready; a mental note he made to himself.