Chaos Within

[Mammoth Mogul]

As Robotnik continued to lob fireballs at him, Mogul kept apace, shooting back what he could and redirecting what he couldn't, all the while waiting for a his opportunity to strike. That moment came not long after as the first of many laser strikes hit Robotnik's ship. The initial strike's actually took Mogul by surprise, right in the midst of him about to hurl another of Robotnik's own fireballs back at him. Following the stream of fire back to it's source, Mogul grinned smugly with delight as he beheld the populace or Robotropolis coming out in droves to depose him.

Though the shots appeared to have little effect on his ship, the sheer quantity, the sheer presence of them had put Robotnik completely off balance. He soon retreated, probably for fear that since he was absorbing ALL of the incoming fire that a lucky hit might be enough to take him down. Even so, he could easily have turned his own weapons upon the citizens in order to quell this uprising, so the fact he is fleeing is no doubt to seek aid from more of his mechanical minions. Truly, a cowardly and foolish move. With Robotnik now gone, Mogul was now free to pursue his original agenda.

And, as he turned around to see what became of the fleeing shadow birds, he saw his golden opportunity to strike as he watched Rampage's pod dropping like a stone in pursuit of a falling emerald shard. Alas, the pilot of the craft managed to pull up before he saved Mogul the trouble of retrieving the shard from the twisted wreckage, but that is easily rectified. After all, Mogul still had one of Robotnik's fireballs in his telekinetic grasp.

A cruel smile graced the ancient mammoth's face as he hurled the fireball into the unsuspecting target. The fireball exploded against the side of the ship, already dealing considerable damage as the pod was never designed to resist such an attack. But the finishing blow came scant moment's later when, still dazed from the initial attack, Mogul ensnared the pod in his telekinetic grasp and hurled it down into the ground.

The pod came apart at the seems from the force of the impact. The hands of the pod fell open, scattering the gems onto the pavement. Mogul grinned with delight. The shards were precisely what he needed. He quickly reached out his grasp to the shards, and whisked them into his awaiting hands with glee.

All three shards glimmered with the same, glowing green colour as the other two he possessed in his hand. "AT LAST!!!" Mogul bellowed jubilantly. He clapped both hands together and a near blinding green light erupted from the gaps between his hands. The sight would be impossible to miss. A few seconds later, Mogul opened his hands, revealing, not shards, but a whole and completely rejoined, green, Chaos Emerald. Sparing only a moment to bask upon it's faceted beauty, Mogul then slammed the emerald into his chest. Once more a near-blinding light erupted from the emerald, this time the light also seemed to be emitted from Mogul's own body. When the light dimmed, an ugly, glowing green scar remained where Mogul struck the emerald against his chest.

"YES!!! ONCE MORE I FEEL THE CHAOS ENERGY FLOWING THROUGH MY VERY SOUL!!! THE UNLIMITED POWER COSMIC ENERGY OF THE CHAOS EMERALD IS MINE ONCE MORE!!!!!"Mogul shouted, his voice given unnatural volume, his eyes aglow with the same green light.

"STAND BEFORE ME IN AWE ROBOTROPOLIS AND TREMBLE, FOR YOU BEAR WITNESS TO THE BIRTH OF A GOD!!! Mogul cast his glowing eyes across the multitude, musing to himself how easy it would be to swat all these petty mortals aside and claim dominion over this fester cesspool of a city. But no. That will come in due time Besides his dominion deserves far better than this stinking pit. His eyes then fell upon the lonely figures standing above a decrepit building above the shadowy dragon beast.

The Freedom Fighters.

What of them? He pondered. He ought to smite them now, lest they foil his plans in the future. No. They may right come in handy, if directed the right way. After all, even a venomous snake can be useful when used to exterminate a rat. And besides, there is still one small matter to address: "FREEDOM FIGHTERS!!!! THIS VICTORY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE IF NOT FOR YOUR TIMELY, THOUGH RELUCTANT ASSISTANCE. FOR THAT, I GRANT YOU YOUR LIVES THIS NIGHT!!! BUT KNOW THIS, I GRANT YOU MY MERCY THIS ONCE! IF YOU ATTEMPT TO STAND IN MY WAY, I WILL CRUSH YOU UTTERLY!!!"

With that, Mogul's entire body began to glow, then in a flash of green light, he vanished in mid-air.

[Exit Mammoth Mogul]

[Chadin]

Wiping away more of the blood leaking down my face, I rose to my hooves and collected my crossbow from the floor. Right about then Jii came down to land beside us, expressing concern for my injuries I think. "I'm fine, I'm fine." I groused more in frustration with the throbbing pain in my skull than with her specifically.

The ground shook as the dragon beast slammed into the ground, prompting me to grab hold of the railing to keep my already tenuous balance. I then noticed Espio and Alpha heading our way. "Come on, let's regroup with the others." I suggested, as I slung my crossbow over my shoulder and retrieved the rocket launcher from the floor, just in case we might yet need it.

Once I got down the fire escape, I jogged over to meet with Espio and Alpha. Their presence only served to highlight the fact Gail wasn't among them and since Anu had come back for me, I could only hope that the wolf was alright.

I listened intently to Espio's plan, nodding adamantly when asked it I was still able to fight. "I'm still good to fight. Anu, I suggest you take that thing to Gail if he's still around. He's hurt worse than I am. Espio, I know this place better than you do, if you take out that dragon and get away with the shards, I'll swing around and keep Robotnik busy. I have a score to settle with him anyway."

But before either of us might have a chance to argue about the plan, my ears perked up to the sound of laser fire. Peeking over the side of the building we were all standing on, I could see a huge crowd of civilians filling the streets, many of whom armed with confiscated Swat-bot laser weapons. They were proceeding to attack the dragon en mass. Further down the broad boulevard that surrounding Robotnik's headquarters, I could see that a similar crowd was attacking, then scaring off Dr. Robotnik.

"Uh... guys...? I think we might need to re-think our-" I never got the chance to finish before my mouth fell wide open as I beheld Mogul somehow use his powers to obliterate Ramage's craft. But what truly stole my breath away was when a blinding green light erupted from Mogul's position not once, but twice. I can't explain how or what exactly I felt, but all at once a feeling akin to an electrical surge coursed through my body, followed by a tingling sensation as though I'd just been pulled from a tank of freezing water, minus the cold. I didn't even realize myself, but my scars also briefly flashed into brilliance before fading back to nothing once more.

Then came Mogul's bold proclamation. I bet I could have heard his voice clearly even from the outskirts of the city. I don't know how much of what he said was true or merely power-mad delusion, but I found myself deeply thankful when he seemingly disappeared out of existence.

That, however, served to remove only ONE of our problems. The dragon, although taking a beating from the combined assault of the citizenry, was still a serious and very lethal threat. And now, with the civilian population out in force casualties would mount rapidly if they didn't act quickly. More over, Robotnik will never stand for this uprising. There will be huge reprisals for this, and I very clearly remembered that the citizens also bear tracking chips. Robotnik will no doubt be able to find and punish every single citizen take part in this revolt. Being killed might actually be a better outcome for many of them compared to Robotization. Robotnik wasn't normally one to squander what he can use, but he also is an absolutely brutal dictator. He will not hesitate to make examples of each and every one of them if he so chooses.

"Oh man... this is BAD, Espio!" I stammered, my mind reeling with the implications of what Robotnik will do to all these people. Even if Robotnik lost a fair number of his forces due to these Chaos creatures, I just couldn't imagine Robotnik not having substantial replacements stored someplace for such an eventuality. Call me a pessimist, but I just couldn't fathom this uprising succeeding. Not without a plan in place and significantly more resources poured into it.

"All those people down there... There's no way Robotnik won't have a stockpile of bots and weapons tucked away in case of something like these. Robotnik put tracking chips in all the civilians trapped in here. Even if some of them escape, he'll be able to find them and punish them for this. All those people are going to be killed or worse if we don't do something!" Screw the emerald shards, I can't let all these people suffer!

[Jijeka-Te]

(I hate it when things get this complicated. It's so difficult to keep track of everything.)

Things had gotten crazy to say the very least. Between the budding revolution, Mammoth powering up, and Robotnik fleeing, Ji and Anu had no idea what to pay attention to. Still, the plan seemed good, and briefly remembering her own past, Ji couldn't help but sympathize with the civilians.

(Ji) "Wait... but what will I do? ...I suppose I'll do what I can."

As Anu took Espio's flask and left to catch up to Gail again, Ji jumped and glided for the dragon-thing again. This time, she wasn't going to fight it; she just intended to distract it so those with better weapons could do the damage.

...also, she wasn't keen on leaving without her royal crook.

[Espio]

(D'oh! Minor correction.)

Espio would take a glance around; seeing the entire group accounted for sans Nail. He would hear Chadin out; agreeing with his idea...the first half anyway. He wasn't going to leave anyone behind with that madman. He was about to raise his brief objection when...chaos struck. A loud series of laser shots aimed skyward at the doctor; an uprising breaking out bidding the doctor a momentary retreat. Then came the explosion as the Big Arm was reduced to scrap metal. He gritted his teeth as that green flash shone brightly a short ways away. With Robotnik gone Mammoth had assembled an entire emerald. He would quickly move to the front of the rooftop facing Mogul; prepared for a showdown. But it seemed Mammoth was satisfied for now...and vanished as quickly as he probably appeared.

"....gone.", he said...half disappointed Mammoth made off with an entire emerald...but relieved they still had a chance to make it out in one piece. The laser fire below soon got his attention; as well as Chadin's warning. A smirk crept across Espio's face; he had a plan. "Remember that hangar from before?", he asked Chain, " We lead the rebels there to capture the district before the city's power returns in full. We may not be able to evacuate them; but we CAN arm them to put up a fight and take up defensive positions, and then use the ensuing chaos to flee.", he says killing two birds with one stone. But there wasn't much time left to talk; those civilians wouldn't be able to take down the dragon without taking losses.

"But first- we strike down the demon!", he says as he enters a full sprint to leap off the building. He was going to use his recall scroll to procure a potion; but time was of the essence now with civilians involved. He lands on the ground below after cushioning his fall; taking on a combat ready stance.

[Alpha Omega]

[I greatly apologize for my lack of posting. I haven't been home to have internet access beyond several short minutes. Beyond that, I really have nothing to add this round, so please just skip me for now, and I'll jump back in next round.]

[Gail Strafer]

As Mammoth bellowed out his speech, Gail's ears once again bent backwards and grit his teeth, as a pathetic little whine escaped his mouth. He simply couldn't take loud noises like that very well.

What have we done? Espio said that guy was nothing but bad news and he got an emerald because of us. What're we gonna do?

Oddly, even the shadow dragon seemed enchanted by Mammoth's. It probably sensed his power radiating through the air. Maybe the dragon felt drawn to it, as if it wanted to absorb it.

It was then that Anu arrived with the flask for Gail.

"Oh, for me? From Espio? Thanks!"

Gail quickly gulped it down. The potion took effect very quickly. Immediately he felt like he had a lot more energy. However, he wouldn't be able to do much if he didn't have a weapon of his own.

As Mammoth disappeared into thin air, the creature shrieked as if broken out of its trance. Shaking its head a few times, it started to attack the crowd. It continued to eat laser blast after laser blast, but that wasn't enough to slow it down. It simply pushed through the fire and swiped one of its oversized wings into the citizens, sending them flying like dolls.

One of the people knocked aside by the dragon landed at Gail's feet, with his rifle clattering across the ground. It looked like the guy hit his head pretty hard on the pavement when he fell over. He groaned and shook his head. He would probably be okay later aside from a headache, but otherwise he was out of the fight right now.

"Someone look after him! I'll help!"

Gail promptly snapped up the laser rifle, adding his fire to that of the others. He focused his fire on the creature's belly, hoping he might get a lucky shot on one of the shards still within it. Maybe that would cause its form to destabilize and weaken.

Espio landed nearby, where Gail could see him. However, Gail decided not to call out right now. The chameleon looked focused on this fight, so he figured it would be best not to distract him. Say something at the wrong moment and the creature might crush him.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Robotnik felt just plain humiliated having to run from a fight like this. But what could he do? It was the only sensible option right now. He'd just have to try to get the emerald back later. A large part of his army was destroyed, but he had reserves. A quick check of his scope showed that the air base was mostly intact, along with the Egg Carrier. That's where he was headed now. Even with Mammoth's power now, Robotnik doubted Mammoth could go toe to toe with an aerial battle fleet.

If the emeralds boosted his power, Mammoth had to be stopped as soon as possible. With more shards, Mammoth would be able to take shards more easily and he'd be harder to kill at the same time. Finding Mammoth's hideout would be Robotnik's first priority, once he brought Robotropolis back to order.

The bright flash of light from Mammoth absorbing the emerald almost blinded him, with the surprise almost causing him to lose control and crash. The doctor grit his teeth, growling as Mammoth made his big speech. So the bastard had finally secured what he wanted. Robo glanced at his radar, and noticed that the birds and Rampage were now off the screen. He promptly stabbed the microphone button to call up the badger.

"Rampage! Where are you? Did he get the shards from you?"

Someone casually observing the conversation might notice Robotnik didn't seem to care if Rampage was dead right now or not.

[Rampage]

The wreckage of the death pod sparked and sputtered impotently as it lay in a crumpled heap upon the cold, unforgiving asphalt. Yet from out of the twisted pile of scrap metal, a metallic arm burst out, scattered many smaller fragments of the once menacing ship. Moments later, Rampage's cybernetic eye appeared at the darkened hole; illuminating the adjacent scrape in a menacing orange glow. At last, with a loud, twisting screech of metal, the cybernetic badger emerged from the crashed hulk, streaks of blood marring his grey coat and striped forehead. His uniform was torn in several places, and clearly his struggle to free himself from the crashed ship had inflicted numerous cuts and gashes across his legs and his one organic arm. Even his cybernetic arm appeared to show some small signs of damage, though by far it fared better than the rest of him did. Reaching back into the hole from which he'd freed himself, Rampage pulled out his MALR laser rifle and stepped away from the wreck with murder in his eyes.

"On the ground, Boss. That dumb elephant did something to my ship and I crashed. Fair to say he got the goods. Looks like I'm stuck in the middle of your fan club though. Want me to smoke 'em till you get back?" It's as if Rampage didn't even conceive that he was completely and utterly out numbered. Then again, to Rampage, it would at LEAST take this many civilians to make the fight a challenge for him.

[Chadin]

Lead the citizens back to the hangar, arm them, take up defensive positions? There's a few holes in Espio's plan, but I couldn't deny that it was at the very least a plan. Who knows, maybe we could even secure some aircraft and evacuate as many people as we possibly could. Women and children and that sort of thing. We could maybe take them to Solenna. They may have taken a hit from the last time Robotnik attacked, but at least they have some defenses; and medical facilities to remove the tracers.

I bitterly didn't like the idea of asking these people to stand up to Robotnik. They're all just average citizens. They don't have any combat training. Then again, neither did I before becoming a Freedom Fighter. Guess everyone has to start some where... Still, I didn't have to like it.

"Okay, I got your back Espio." I nodded as I reached down and hefted the rocket launcher onto my shoulders. Normally, I'm not a big fan of hauling around such a huge, and bulky thing. I usually prefer the size and mobility of my crossbow, but considering that we're fighting something the size of a small building, I'm not going to really complain too much about considering all the extra firepower this thing is packing. I rushed over to the side of the building and stood in awe for a moment at just how many people were really down there. All of them, fighting against what they must know are impossible odds. Even before the shadow creatures formed, these people must have realized that rebelling against Robotnik would be a daunting task. And yet here they are. Fighting for their freedom.

It's actually kind of humbling really.

But I shook my head free from those thoughts. Now wasn't the time to be awe-inspired. Those people down there need help, and I have just the thing to help.

"STAND CLEAR!!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as aimed the rocket launcher for the centre of the dragon's torso. I only have two shots left with this thing. I have to make them count. More importantly, I don't want anyone getting caught in the blast.

[Jijeka-Te]

"STAND CLEAR!!!!"

Ji didn't need to hear THAT twice. She abandoned her circling motions and landed a distance away from the dragon, not sure what would happen but figuring she didn't want to be close by when it happened.

Anu, meanwhile, ended up taking care of the person who'd fallen near Gail.