Chaos Within

[Mammoth Mogul]

[Yeah, go figure... Never a good guy around when you need them...]

Mogul watched in amusement as Robotnik's mecha picked itself back up and promptly held out his hand, creating his barrier once more to block the table dead in it's tracks. Once again, Mammoth did not appear impressed by Robotnik's futile efforts.

"When will you learn, Doctor, that your pathetic efforts are only delaying the inevitable.

[Dr. Robotnik]

With a hollow thump, the table hit Mammoth's barrier and fell to the floor. But right behind the table, Robotnik rocketed across the lab directly at his opponent. The doctor hadn't meant for the table to hit. He'd only used it as a distraction to get in close before Mammoth could try that telekinesis trick again.

As the robot closed in, the doctor brought one of the robot's oversized fists to bear. He used both the momentum of his charge and the arm being thrust forward to make the attack more forceful than it would have been otherwise. Robotnik had no idea if this would work with that barrier, but maybe it would put Mammoth off balance.

At least surprising Mammoth for once would be a slight improvement over how Robotnik had been doing so far.

[Mammoth Mogul]

As the table fell to the floor, Mammoth only had time to briefly see Robotnik's machine leap over the table and smash it's fists down onto his barrier. While the barrier held, Mammoths outstretched hand shook from the force as if he'd blocked the blow with his own arm.

Mogul sneered and swiftly dropped the barrier once the fists momentum was halted to launch his own chaos slash attack right into the centre of the mech's torso.

[Dr. Robotnik]

Grinning in triumph at seeing Mammoth struggle to deflect the attack, Robo brought one of his oversize fists around.

"Now I got you--AAAAHHH!"

He took the full force of the slash attack straight in the torso, which sent him flying back across the room and through several more tables. Robotnik briefly looked down, only to see that the slash attack had left a very sizable, deep cut extending about six inches to a foot inside the body. Sparks blew out from the cut, causing the doctor to wince.

However, he did not have long to mull over the damage. All of the contents from the tables spilled across the floor. Broken glass, pieces of metal, and plenty of chemicals. In fact, some of the chemicals came together to form rather volatile reactions. A red liquid and a blue liquid splashed into each other on the floor, and when they came in contact they instantly got set alight. Now there was a small fire right in the middle of the lab.

The doctor suddenly went into a total panic as he saw the fire beginning to spread. His eyes went so big that they could be seen behind his sunglasses, and his lip quivered in terror. In fact, he appeared to briefly forget Mammoth was even in the room, as he suddenly steered his mecha straight towards a box labelled "OXYGEN" hanging from the wall. The reason why would soon become apparent, as an electronic voice boomed out over the loudspeakers.

"Warning! Fire detected! Halon systems will engage in 30 seconds!"

The halon system was designed to put out fires in the lab without destroying precious equipment, unlike the typical water-based fire suppression system. But it did this by reducing the oxygen in the room.

[Chadin]

[sorry for the delay, I'm just having a massive brain fart over how to deal with a gas fire extinguisher system XD]

[Nail Strafer]

[Oh, I'm sure the lab would have more than one box if that's your concern. Or Mammoth could just put out the fire somehow.]

[Mammoth Mogul]

At first Mogul didn't know what to make of Robotnik's cowardly retreat. Surely a person capable of waging global war, and having repeatedly faced a certain blue hedgehog time and again wouldn't run in terror from a simple fire. But when Robotnik reached for an oxygen mask and the ominous tone of the fire warning left Mogul concerned. He didn't know what a Halon system was, but judging by Robotnik's reaction, it couldn't be a good thing. Glancing over to his left he spotted a similar box on the wall opposite to Robotnik labeled OXYGEN and, while maintaining as casual an appearance as possible to maintain his dignity, made his way over to it. After all thirty seconds was plenty of time. Mogul calmly opened the box and affixed the oxygen mask to the end of his long trunk.

For now he would follow Robotnik's lead and wait for whatever this Halon system to finish whatever it was supposed to do. He could finish dealing with Robotnik then.

[Dr. Robotnik]

The doctor quickly pulled out his own oxygen mask and affixed it as fast as he could. Meanwhile, a loud alarm droned through the lab, while red siren lights started flashing. A white gas started to hiss out of nozzles in the ceiling. As it reached the fire in the middle of the lab, the fire began to go out. However it looked like it would need a couple more minutes as the fire was chemical-based.

"You know..." Robotnik wheezed out, his voice muffled by his own oxygen mask. "That mask wasn't designed for someone of your size. You'll run out of air before I do. Guess one of us will need to open the door to let in my combot friends to help, eh? Hahaha."

The laugh came out sounding more like a sick cough through the mask's filter. Of course, Robotnik failed to mention that the fire would probably be out before either of them ran out of oxygen. He only wanted to create a sense of urgency so that Mammoth would stop playing defensively and give Robotnik an opening.

[Mammoth Mogul]

From his place at the other side of the room, Mogul considered Robotnik's threat carefully. He honestly had no way of knowing if he was bluffing or telling the truth. That thought troubled Mammoth considerably. For perhaps the first time in this encounter, he didn't have an answer to Robotnik's threats. Of course, he made certain to carefully control his facial features so as to not reveal his inner thoughts to Robotnik.

If he was telling the truth, then he faced the real possibility of being forced to face the horde of robots outside the lab. Such a daunting prospect would have been of no real concern before. But now, without the power of a Chaos Emerald to draw upon, his powers are significantly diminished. His powers were still formidable to be sure, but limited. Without the emeralds, he doubted he'd be able to stand against the numbers Robotnik boasted of awaiting him.

But just as things started to look bleak, Mammoth realized something. The emeralds! Why should he have to battle the bots anyway. Not when such an obvious course of action was still available to him. Just goes to show, Mammoth thought to himself, clear headed thinking will always triumph over brute force.

"Is that so?" Mammoth replied, allowing a smug smile to curl up past his thick trunk. "Then perhaps it is time I take what I came for, and depart."

With that, Mammoth held out his hand towards the box holding the Chaos Emerald shards. An eerie green glow soon surrounded the box and began to levitate of the table towards Mogul.

[Nail Strafer]

[Say, do you want to keep roleplaying this out? My fear is that all of the action would be over before the good guys even made it here.]