Prelude to Infiltration, the path to Robotropolis.

[Chadin]

Quote:"So then who, pray tell, should we trust to hold onto them until such time as we finish here? If I were the one to grab them, then I wanna know I'm not gonna be shot for trying to evacuate Robotnik's playing field with them, and I'm sure everyone else here feels the same."

I hadn't considered that angle up until now. The first place I'd think of to take them for safe keeping would be Knothole. But if Robotnik can track them, taking them there would be like putting up big sign saying: "Knothole, right here!!" But if I couldn't safely store them there, then where?

Quote:"We should only worry about who carries the shards should we get in, and out without alerting the horde. And I'm giving a.... 6% probability of that scenario playing out. " "In all honesty given the size of the group, we will likely be fighting our way out, and if we don't watch each others backs...we all won't be making it back out of Robotropolis.", he bluntly stated. The last thing he needed on this mission was for everyone to be paranoid about one another, fighting for themselves. "If you don't want to wind up taking a trip to the robotisizer, Chadin...I suggest you calm your spirit, and leave your issues behind in this swatpod before your paranoid nature gets you into a corner by your lonesome with a swatbot patrol moving in for capture. Don't be a loner."

I groaned, rubbing the bridge of my muzzle, too pained to admit they were right; and I know it. Heck, I even admitted I needed some help. Mostly that was my shattered nerves talking, but deep down I knew I can't do this alone; much as I wanted to. "Ugh... alright, alright. Fine. We'll worry about what to do with the shards once we get them and are safely out of Robotropolis."

Quote:"Two minute warning till we reach Robotropolan airspace. Get ready..."

My ears perked up at the sound of the console beeping long before Espio spoke up. Just like that, my brain drained itself of all my tumultuous emotions, leaving my mind clear and focused on one thing: The mission. I pulled my crossbow up and expanded it to its full size before checking the remaining power cells. Only three shots left. Checking my pack, I only had one extra power cell clip left, plus about three of the stun round clips. Not much good against bots unfortunately. I'd need to restock soon. With any luck I'll find a lone Swat-bot on patrol, bring it down and scavenge it for more ammunition. Maybe even give Gail the replacement arm. Come to think of it...

"Just a thought, but I'm starting to run low on ammo. My crossbow uses the same power cells the Swat-bots do. If we ambush one of their patrols, I can stock up, and we could potentially scrounge up some of the bot's arm blasters or maybe some hand-held weapons they might be carrying while we're at it. If we hit hard and fast, then disappear just as quick, we ought to be able to sneak off before they realize they've lost a patrol and send reinforcements to investigate." I stated, never really making eye contact with any of them as I spoke. I couldn't help feeling a bit guilty of so opening declaring I didn't trust any of them. Sure, I wanted to be honest, but I could have certainly done so in a kinder way. I certainly didn't think my parents, or even my friends from the MFF would be too proud of me for that.

[Whip the Rabbit]

(Three day rule I suppose, sorry Alpha~)
More stuff he didn't understand or care about. Whip was seriously turned away from the conversation when the topic became mistrust. He didn't even know what they were doing there, he was hungry, Espio was still ignoring him...
...
And then Whip's mind clicked. What was he doing here? At first, he had thought that maybe his idol had recognized him and sent for him to be saved, but suddenly, all this talk of plans and fighting suddenly registered to him as a concern. They were planning for some kind of... infiltration, it sounded like, but now his apathy towards their conversation was biting him back. Out of worry, Whip raised his hand.
"Oi, question." He called out, before he could be interrupted once more. "So, when you say 'We're going to infiltrate Eggman's base', you mean like, that park, Eggmanland, right?" He began scratching his cheek with a single finger. "Because, as much as I like rushing in and fighting deadly robots for no reason twice in a week..."

[Jijeka-Te]

At the two-minute warning, Ji found herself peering out the window, ignoring the rest of the crowd. Anu joined her.

(Ji) "Wow. I've never seen anything like it before."
(Anu) "I suppose that's to be expected. Don't forget, we have a job to do here."

[Gail Strafer]

Gail gazed out the window as they mentioned Robotropolis had come up. Despite them charging towards certain danger, the young wolf couldn't help but take a fascination in this place. He'd seen it in newspapers and magazines since coming to this world, but never in person.

As he first set eyes on the city, the view certainly did not disappoint. Massive industrial buildings covered the skyline, while multiple aircraft dotted the skies above. That certainly made Gail hold his breath for a second. He had to remind himself they were disguised with an enemy ship to keep from showing his fear to the others. The pictures did it no justice, although not in a good way. For one thing...

The others might notice Gail visibly wrinkling his nose, not to mention his mouth peeled back slightly in a small but disgusted snarl. As a wolf, he had a very sensitive nose and the smell got to him a lot worse than the others.

The stench! I feel like it's just washin' over me!

Toxic sludge and noxious smoke from chimneys played together with the overall scent of the place's filth to make a truly bile-inducing medley of smells. It looked really bad in the news, but the smell truly made you realize what an awful, awful place this was.

Quote:"Just a thought, but I'm starting to run low on ammo. My crossbow uses the same power cells the Swat-bots do. If we ambush one of their patrols, I can stock up, and we could potentially scrounge up some of the bot's arm blasters or maybe some hand-held weapons they might be carrying while we're at it. If we hit hard and fast, then disappear just as quick, we ought to be able to sneak off before they realize they've lost a patrol and send reinforcements to investigate."

"That...sounds fine to me..." Gail spoke rather haltingly, as he found it hard to breathe like this. It would take him a little time to adjust to the stench. "I like my gun but I don't think the bullets will last too long.."

Up ahead they'd see one large skyscraper that stood out very distinctively from the rest of the buildings. That was mostly because the tower was egg shaped instead of being like a rectangular box. It certainly looked more important than the others. Gail guessed that was the command center. He waited patiently for Espio to give his next command.

While he'd been excited about this up until now, he wasn't sure about being able to deal with this smell...

[Ok Espio, take us in.]

[Espio]

[The topic in Robotropolis is all set up.]