Scene #8059: The Eggman Returns

Owner	Pose
Ishirou	The Calamitous lands are a series of somewhat connected land masses experiencing a dramatic shift in elemental polarity and losing stability. However, a pole has been reestablished, and this new geomagnetic pole is currently centered on a mountain. This mountain is large, /extremely/ large, and seems to be tied mostly to the element of earth (duh.) Currently, Ishirou is trying to take measurements on the ground, trying to figure out the mystery as to why this world was trying to shatter itself apart, and why its pole was so distorted as to be lost. He notices though, in one direction that the element of fire is becoming more prominent there...which means that a source to the mystery could be perhaps located in that direction. Currently, the mountain is in what one might consider an eternal spring. The weather is calm and nice, the sun is shining, and it is very peaceful. However, surrounding this mountain are storms, raging and dangerous. Ishirou is definitely worried if these might start fighting the artificial pole established.
Ishirou	Robotropolis is...well it's Robotropolis. The air is polluted, and the land is a series of concrete and metal. Greys, blacks, and other dull colors are the main features of the city. The vibrant city this once was is long gone. It was replaced by something that was more or less a giant factory. Ishirou was here, trying to find a better way to remove the control over the mobians who were robotized. With him is an older hedgehog-looking fellow, who also is a robot. Though Ishirou has put enough work into the city to get most of its security features to not go nuts and try and harm him or people who help. This has given him an opportunity to try and research the dilemma and try and provide a solution. Of course, it's going to take time, all the while the mobians will keep working. Keep mindlessly producing...all without a Robotnik to lead them.
Eggman	A shadow falls across the polluted land. The elderly robot hedgehog might be having flashbacks right about now. Once upon a time a similar shadow crossed this place, when it was still bright and joyous and full of life. Once upon a time that shadow transformed this land into what it is now - a polluted, wretched hellhole, a factory-city populated by machines and mechanized creatures. Once upon a time a shadow like this was the image of terror. It was a different shadow. It was a different ship. But it is the same man, in every way that matters. The Egg Carrier is a vast red, white, and yellow fortress. It is long and curved, a triumph of both form and function, an aircraft carrier in the supertech sky. From atop it soar robotic drones in the shape of bombers and planes - launched into the air by high-speed electromagnetic catapults on the cutting edge. Below, it projects spotlights, sweeping over Robotropolis to search for movement. Those spotlights cast a very particular shadow. The Eggman Empire logo. Within the control tower the man himself sits upon a vast egg-shaped moving throne. It rumbles and thrums like a massage chair as the mad Doctor Eggman surveys readouts. A pair of little robots - Cubot and Orbot - scrambles around the command center. "It's definitely your work, Doctor!" "Yeah, the robots are a little more, uh..." Cubot scratches his head, "...primitive, I guess...but the robotomization is way ahead of yours! No shell! Organic to robot!" The Doctor adjusts his glasses. "Is that so? Good, good. All robot, you say?" "Uh...yes, sir?" Eggman stands up. He walks over to one of the control consoles and types in a code (E-G-G-1, because of course it is). "Then let's see if my alternate was as skilled at programming as I am." The Egg Carrier lights up. Across Robotropolis, an Egg Network signal spreads from the Egg Carrier. It reaches outwards with sinister invisible tendrils of data into the minds of the Robians. In one fell swoop they are linked into the network - and in another, with the snap of his fingers, Eggman begins harvesting data. Memories. Knowledge. Loves. Connections. Fears. Lives. "Well, the download will take a while. The Egg Carrier's connection isn't the strongest. So in the meantime, to ensure it's not interrupted..." He snaps his fingers. A microphone emerges from the console. Eggman leans on it as he picks up the microphone. His voice erupts through Robotropolis. "Attention, squatters. I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik. You may call me Doctor Eggman. It has come to my attention that this otherworldly outpost is of my own design, and I would very much like it back." He snaps his fingers a few times. "Fortunately it's come pre-loaded with an army." All across the city, Robian eyes suddenly turn red. "Go and sweep the place clean of any freeloaders, squatters, or do-gooders, will you?"
Kukuru	The atmosphere of Robotropolis doesn't agree with Kukuru. It's dirty, it's depressing, the colors are dreary, and most importantly of all... "Where's the food? It's too hot here." Kukuru asks aloud as she trudges along, dragging her feet for the first stretch before giving up and just settling for teleporting onto, then into the Egg Carrier on the way to the industrial hell. She pauses in her gawking through the windows when Eggman speaks, and it takes a while for her to process it before she finally speaks up. "... Wow. You made all this?" She sounds genuinely impressed, clapping her hands together with a light chuckle once he issues his declaration to those below. "Amazing... Oh, are there people down there that shouldn't be? I'll help get them out, then..." She murmurs and covers her mouth with one hand while yawning, then waves at Eggman lightly before disappearing into a dark purple cloud. Down below, Kukuru reappears out of another cloud, joining the Robians and taking a moment to figure out who she's actually helping/evicting. "Hmm.. Oh. He-llo, everyone! If you heard Mister Doctor's voice up there, make to get your food and stuff together before you go! Just don't take too long, because that'd be impolite after Eggman's giving you a chance to leave on your own!" Clearly, she hasn't quite figured it out just yet.
Chains Knight	Chains Knight gets offered a ride, and takes it. "Quite the flotilla. Points for theming and branding," he comments, wandering around the bridge to look at various displays. "And considerable points for effect," he adds. "Though perhaps I should stop admiring and grading and give you a little support. Not that I think you need it..." He reaches into his belt pouch and draws forth a small Eggman minifig. "But why not see how well you can shine, with a little more polish." Handfuls of figurines, terrain tiles, and scenery pieces are pulled out of the belt pouch and set up, rapid fire, on top of one of the consoles. It resembles Robotropolis in abstract - not every single building or feature modeled, but enough of the important ones. There's even a large Egg Carrier mini, lifted up above the battlefield by a clear plastic gunpla action base. "Your battlefield, Doctor," says Chains, taking a step back and gesturing at it. As he does, the pieces shift slightly - updating their own positions to match the data coming in.
Staren	Staren's in her human-size Delilah armor again today, although this time it's painted black instead of white, still with the distinctive Concord Orange glowy bits and three-horizontal-line helmet visor. There are obvious energy weapon barrels on the forearms and a missile launcher rotated into storage position behind the right shoulder. The faceplate is retracted at the moment. She's on the bridge with Eggman, having just delivered navigational data to assist him in finding his way here. It's all information he could have found through Syndicate systems and Concord records -- she just saved him time. She didn't realize he was going to use it immediately, though, and is left to stare thoughtfully at the viewscreens as they make their way through Secundus to Robotnik's city. This is all moving very fast. And then he takes control of the robians and the blood drains from her face. She just commited to stop listening to the Paladins and stick by the Concord, and said as much, but... this... is horrifying. <B-anter> Ishirou says, "What in the...son of a..! What are you doing /here/?!" Staren tries to find her voice, <"He... he said what he's doing..."> She's seriously questioning her life choices right now. Ishirou and Eggman continue talking in the background, but what grabs her ears next is... <B-anter> Ishirou says, "...Really Staren?" That. That disappointment and judgement. It's the exact same, from Ishirou and Lilian, every time, no matter what she does. A reminder of why she must never cave in again. She clenches her fists, and takes a deep breath, steadying her voice. "...You'll never accept me. The Concord is where I belong." Eggman, genuinely, says "Thank you, Staren." All she can reply with is a sort of small "Mmh." sound. <B-anter> Ishirou sounding more furious than anything, "I absolutely can not believe you! They're /not robots/ but victims of your other self and you're treating them like they're property! Robots need a purpose! My ass!" <B-anter> Dr. Eggman says, "How can you not believe me? I do believe I'm quite clear about my nature every time I've ever introduced myself." <B-anter> Dr. Eggman says, "I feel like this would be very believable behavior." Now, of all times, something about Eggman poking at the difference between Ishirou's literal words and his sentiment is something that forces a humorous reaction out of her. Despite how she feels right now, she can't help chuckling, a chuckle that drags on for a few extra seconds, and raises in pitch like the distant echo of a mad laugh. <B-anter> Ishirou still furious, "Fine, that's on me then. Let me fix my mistakes." <B-anter> Ishirou says, "Also beat the shit out of Staren." She takes a breath. Flexes her fingers, eyes watery. <"Y-yeah. You always were going to."> She tries to put a hint of confident menace in her words: <"Bring it on. Today I have friends."> She deploys the faceplate and strides off the bridge. While walking through the halls of the egg carrier, she briefly opens the faceplate, wipes her eyes with a tissue from her bag, and blows her nose before closing it again. Standing on the deck of the Egg Carrier, she looks down at the city descending into chaos. No... descending into order. She finds Ishirou's signature and steps off the edge, thrusters guiding her fall towards him.
Ishirou	The city lights up in response to Eggman's code. The passive Mobians, turn hostile to anyone, not Eggman or his allies. Warnings go across the city, as the machine that was dormant starts to turn again. Ishirou looks confused for a moment, trying to get a scan on the network and figure out what is going wrong. Charles is just as confused, but unlike the other Mobians isn't currently linked to the network...a small favor as he's still retaining his free will. "Go, hide. You can probably fit in while I see what I can do about this," Ishirou says, firmly. Charles was likely the savior of this world, someone who could turn this travesty around. If he was lost... Ishirou calls for his armor, which was still in repair by Blemishine. He's still hurting, he's strained more than a little...and now this happened. Worse is that Staren has once more done this thing...or maybe she has decided what she really is. Who knows, but he knows that he's going to try and take his frustrations out as much as he can. He can hear Kukuru already, he shakes his head...of course. Loyalty to the Concord first, eh? The armor arrives, landing before him as he exits the warehouse, and he climbs in. He orders any Paladins reserves out, he doesn't need THEM being dragged to that horrible device, or worse. Scanners are showing something falling towards him...and it's Staren. Good. "AVCS activate. POD, connect my sensors directly to the interface, I want all data routed through me. Don't give me the warning I know already..." he says, and his eyes start glowing brilliant blue as the data starts coming through. He's going to have to do a /lot/ and he doesn't have the time. The AVCS rises into the air, changing into flight configuration. The first order of business is to capitalize on the fact that the Eggcarrier is transmitting a signal. There is a way in, and Ishirou is going to use that...and perhaps he can cut off that signal. He attempts to connect to the Eggcarrier first, attempting to scramble and confuse its systems, causing issues with IFF. Kukuru gets a hello from Ishirou in the form of a barrage of energy pellets as he soars by her, aiming to litter her area with them, before turning back around wordlessly towards Staren. Missiles are fired in sequence, each one trying to track her position and then try and blow her out of the sky.
Eggman	Chains produces a miniature Robotropolis. With a wave of his hand, Eggman calls down some scanners from the ceiling. They immediately begin circling the little thing to hunt for the source of the sudden interference flaring up on his monitor - an attempt to disrupt his control signal, no doubt. Well, that was fine. Two could play at that game. Once Ishirou's been located, Eggman purses his lips. "Interesting," is all he says as he brings up the screen, examining the former robot carefully. Well, he had suspected from the voice, but that clenched it. Oh well. A shame to throw away such precision craftsmanship in exchange for humanity. Something, something, no one could understand Ivo's vision, and so on. His finger hovers over a button. He could do it. He could do it right now. He could make Ishirou's nightmares come to life. But first... Eggman asks a few questions. He wants to know exactly why Ishirou did what he did. Chose what he chose. While Kukuru goes down to help the Robians fight with occupying forces, Eggman leans on the console, talking calmly as the scanner continues rotating around the little model, hunting. Hunting for something in particular. He leans back as Staren falls into the city and tilts his head at Chains. "My battlefield indeed." "Get a load of this!" Eggman throws himself back down in his chair with a 'whoof'. A red button pops up. Orbot and Cubot move away instinctively. "When he gets excited, we move away," Orbot tells Chains nervously, "Never know what he might do." Eggman slams his fist on the big red button. As the Robians close around Ishirou and Chuck, as Kukuru and Staren move in to, the Egg Carrier's lower chunk suddenly opens. The stuttering Robians caught in Ishirou's counter-hack, unable to go one way or another under the competing signals, are suddenly struck with a sweeping beam of light that carves straight through them towards Ishirou. The Robians struck by the beam are undamaged, but the ground around them... What wasn't already mechanical in Robotropolis is transforming under that beam. The light mechanizes everything in its path. Puddles of bubbling pollution become mechanical, the bubbles floating upwards under Eggman's control and bursting near Ishirou's assault. The ground becomes conveyor belts without direction, going this way and that, aggravatingly difficult to deal with while the Robians are present. The Robians bumble and fumble about - they might be a big danger to themselves, too - as they swipe at Ishirou, but the real trouble is the field.
Kukuru	It takes a while longer for Kukuru to figure out who it is she's supposed to be chasing out and who she's supposed to leave alone, and that delay is enough for Ishirou to engage the Concord from within his AVCS. She squints briefly as she sees that unfamiliar machine sweeping by, and she gets an arm up just in time for those energy pellets bombarding her position. She yelps as that sudden barrage batters her back and leaves several lingering burns on her skin, hissing for those moments before her healing kicks in to close those marks back up. She holds back her reflex to cheer him on. She had heard enough on the radio, and even someone like Kukuru knows there's not much she can say to soothe his rage that wouldn't just make things worse. Instead, she keeps quiet, and she looks for some way of striking at him while he's still so high in the sky. She finds a large sign, and she tears it out of the ground, pole and all. Kukuru tosses it up and down a few times to get a good feel for its heft, then rears back before launching it like a javelin at Ishirou's armor. Her aim isn't the greatest, but it gives her enough of a frame of reference to use as she fades into another purple cloud, then reappears in the sky next to Ishirou and the sign. Kukuru remains silent, although Ishirou might catch the slightest of nods from her should they make eye contact. She snatches the sign post out of the air, then swings it hard at him from above to try and bring him to the ground. Whether she hits her mark or not, though, she'll start falling back down to the ground to (presumably) figure out her next course of attack.
Chains Knight	"Ah..." says Chains, looking at one of the readouts. "Looks like more than just local resistance..." He reaches into a pouch and pulls out an I4 figurine, which he is about to put on the board he's assembling, but then pauses and peers at it. "Wait, this is last year's series..." He puts the I4 figurine back, and gets out the Ishirou figurine. "There we go. I really should put the other one in a collector's box..." With the right figurine in place, he watches it progress across the battlefield - and he frowns a bit (it's not visible through the helmet, but he's clearly frowning). "A very high powered unit," he comments. "Not one that I'd count on lucky dice rolls taking out..." He gets out a deck of cards, and shuffles it. "Perhaps not your battlefield for too long," he comments, and then looks confused when the robots move away. "Why is-" WHAM The impact of fist on button causes the miniatures on the console to jump, and become disorderly instead of Chains' neat precision placements. There's another suggestion of a frown. "I see." "Well, then," he says, after rearranging the figurines into neat grids. "Let's see what can be done about this miniboss that's appeared before us..." He draws seven cards, and starts playing. "I activate Timely Ranged Rangers, and Heart Seeking Arrows..." In addition to the robots arrayed before Ishirou, a squadron of archers appear suddenly on a nearby rooftop, taking aim!
Staren	Staren's pleasant sky-dive is interrupted by missiles. The launcher on her shoulder snaps up into position and fires minimissiles, blasting most of them out of the sky, but Ishirou is damn persistant. And even just a couple of them hitting directly already puts large spider-cracked dents in Staren's armor, making her grunt at the impact. But the cracks begin to seal up, and the impact is distributed so as to hurt the flesh inside less. She's using Evehime's armor technology again... A spray of comet-shaped plasma projectiles hails down from the left arm cannon at Ishirou as Staren's thusters kick in, slowing her down. The armor's right arm expands, briefly exposing the arm underneath as electricity arcs between the bits of metal before it closes again, now glowing and arcing ominously with electricity. Ishirou wants to punch her? Yeah, well, she wants to punch him too, so that's exactly what she's gonna do. She tries to correct her course just right and SLAM that armored fist into him as she drops out of the sky, channeling what momentum the thrusters didn't bleed off, and a whooooole lot of electricity from the compact nuclear reactor in her backpack, into, hopefully, Ishirou.
Ishirou	The beam is the first thing that Ishirou see's, instinctually he starts moving to avoid it. The flight unit's thrusters burn, though he looks in horror at what is left behind in its wake. "Jesus.." he says, absolutely exasperated by what he sees. He tries to keep calm, data enters his mind as he sorts through every variable. He fires a grapple at Chuck first, aiming to give him a way out, before he fires blobs of sticky substances at the remaining mobians. Aiming to try and limit their movement before once more focusing on the battle for control again. If Eggman is going to make it hard for him to keep them free... Then he'll focus his efforts on the Eggcarrier itself. This time, the hacking focuses on the Eggvehicles defenses, aiming to turn them against itself so Eggman has a new problem to deal with, while he's forced to deal with the ground itself. In the air, Kukuru throws her sign like a missile. He sees it coming, and moves to boost right, but then changes his direction by dashing downwards...so that right as the sign swings he is simply out of range of it right at the last moment. It's a near thing, and the force of the swing still forces him to course correct. In response, he lifts up an arm, and a beam of energy fires from the end of it. A large and focused beam of energy, aiming to try and weather through her defenses and try and push her away. Though it might be futile, with that ability to teleport and all. While this happens, his eyes meet hers. Those glowing blue eyes aren't full of rage. They're not /happy/, they are very angry, but they're full of purpose. Warning lights up on his screen as the archers come into existence. He recognizes the summoning, something he's seen before, in fact, it was used here. Ishirou is forced to time his movements perfectly to those arrows. Each shot fired forces him to twist and turn, spinning with high-speed grace. A few are getting close enough to force him to sweat, and to chip paint. This time, he tries to fly off to get out of their range of fire and fires a storm of missiles to fly down and cover their entire zone with fire missiles. He doesn't spare firepower on this, wanting to try and get them off the field as soon as possible...because there was another contender! This time it was Staren that launches her attacks on him. He's forced to stay at range because of the shots, moving back and forth trying to stay one step ahead of them. However, her charge forces her to deploy the large laser sword, and parry her attack with the weapon. The two collide, even as electrical energy is disbursed around him thanks to some careful grounding. The Laser sword holds just long enough to take the force out of the blow...which causes Ishirou to breathe a little easier. Ishirou spins, right after the exchange, aiming to try and put Staren off for just a moment, before he draws the laser sword...and launches a large and powerful swing. The attack aims to strike Staren's armor suit and send her flying in the same direction as Kukuru. If he's going to win this, he's got to get to the Egg ship and chase it off. He's breathing heavily in that armor, focusing everything he has on every single bit of information that comes through his unit's sensors. He calculates every important variable and piece of data, trying to best predict the future based on what he knows.
Eggman	Warning lights flare across the Egg Carrier's controls. The soaring jets keeping air superiority suddenly turn, sweeping around to fire on the Carrier itself. Explosives rock the command center. "Hmph." "No one breaks my toys but me." "Open fire!" The Egg Carrier's turrets turn upwards. Sprays of laser fire erupt all over the Egg Carrier. It's a light show in the sky - though, granted, not a light show Ishirou particularly wants to see. Yellow beams dancing everywhere. Briefly the sky above Robotropolis shines like a new sun has been put in the sky. But that's automated. Cubot and Orbot are controlling that. Cubot and Orbot are controlling the ship's cannons, the ship's defenses. Eggman snaps his fingers. A hovering robot touchscreen flits over to Eggman. Little arms are clinging to the screen. A pair of eyes peer over it at Eggman. He presses his thumb against it. "This little game of hack-and-counterhack is getting irritating," he says idly, "Perhaps I give him something else to worry about." Click. A bunch of Robians in the immediate area suddenly snap out of it. Confused and dazed, they're set upon by the mob, but that's sort of a side-effect - Eggman's really not directing them individually. No, he's just diverted the signal. To Robotropolis's central controls. Ishirou is one person. Eggman is an army. And Robotropolis is a factory. With a snap of Eggman's fingers the whole city begins to stir. The lights come on. The spotlights punch into the sky, illuminating the jets and making it easier for the turrets to shoot them down. Long-dormant machines start to pump smog into the air. Doors open with clangs and whirrs. And out comes the army. It's aimless, mindless. He's barely controlling it. It's just doing what it was made to do - get rid of anything organic in Robotropolis. All Eggman did was plant a signal excluding Kukuru, Staren, and Chains from the system. Swatbots stomp out in their helmets and bodyplates. Where once they looked goofy and abnormal now they are lit by the Egg Carrier's lights and cast threatening shadows. Grinder tanks roll out into the city streets to start rolling over resistance. He's just stacking as many problems for Ishirou to deal with as possible while he downloads what he's looking for, really.
Chains Knight	Chains Knight reaches down onto the battlefield, and uses an armored fingertip to flick over the archer figurines he'd just put down. "Ishirou is being quite the issue," comments Chains, looking at his own broken toys. "If this is a game, I would want to speak to whoever tuned the balance of it." He looks over towards the launch bays. "I think I should go make an appearance in person here." --- A few moments later, another machine launches from the Egg Carrier - a spare Egg Wyvern that Chains has borrowed from Eggman. It beelines for Ishirou, Chains Knight at the controls. "Ishirou!" He swings his chain around in circles a few times, building up speed, and then launches it at him - if it connects, Chains tries to use it to grapple Ishirou and slam him towards the ground. "Show me what you're made of - show me your RESOLVE!"
Kukuru	He's doing well. Even against all odds, Ishirou's actually doing well. Despite being in immediate danger from being on the other end of his weaponry, Kukuru still can't help but feel some sense of pride at getting shot at with that massive laser. Burning, too, and a painful impact against the side of a building as a misguided attempt to kick off the sign just results in Kukuru getting blasted point blank with little room to maneuver and only her claws brought up to shield herself long enough to get hurled into the path of Staren's armor and bouncing right off of it before crashing through the side of a factory. "Oh, that's... That's much better than before. He's... This really means something to him." Kukuru chuckles and grimaces simultaneously as she peels herself off the interior floor, wincing when some of the rubble hits her head on the way down. She stares at the rubble, then through the hole towards where Ishirou is once again engaged with her family from the Concord. Her eyes follow that hole to the door, and she gets another idea on how to proceed. After extracting herself from the factory entirely, Kukuru clamps her claws against the damaged wall of the building. She tears off a huge section of wall, then inhales steadily while focusing on opening a large enough portal to fit all of it. She drops it and herself in, and then she reappears above Ishirou once again. It's just as he predicted. Her ability to teleport means she's going to be a persistent nuisance in this battle, and she's even learning to adapt to his evasive maneuvers. She's once again trying to pull him out of the air, but not like before. Rather than trying to catch him with her claws or a precise blow from a sign, she's opting to instead swing an entire section of wall right at Ishirou and his armor with both hands!
Staren	Staren tries not to think too hard about the discussion of Free Will on the radio right now. This whole situation is unsettling. Ishirou grounds her attack. Behind the faceplate, she's impressed, makes a mental note to be extra careful before trying THAT on him again, and also pats herself on the back for the umpteenth time for upgrading it a year ago so that it uses a bit less power but also doesn't leave her helpless for seconds while everthing cools down and recharges. If that had happened this time, he'd surely-- The laser sword comes around again.The way it blocked her arm, it stands to reason she can block it with her arm too, right? Wrong. When she tries to parry, the laser sword --goes right through her arm, though it barely bleeds before the medical systems in Evehime's armor technology are closing it off. The second impact, against her body, doesn't cut, and instead sends her flying with a scream of pain. She goes through the same broken window in the same half-rubble factory that Midway exploded her through the first time, but this time the angle is lower and she smacks into the wall of the next building, bounces off, and falls into the river of molten slag that is just running openly right there because in no universe does any version of Eggman care about occupational safety building codes. She manages to fire a grapple and pull herself back to the wall of the ruined foundry, collapsing for a moment and finally stopping screaming. What the hell. What the HELL? How is Ishirou so strong? Is it because he's a hero? A part of her mind that she is telling 'shut up, it doesn't really work that way' notes that joining the dark, villainous side is supposed to give you strength, though that's not why she's fighting at Eggman's side today, but the heroes always win in the end, don't they. She tried to be a hero and failed. And even like this... Why does Ishirou get to succeed? What does even he have that she doesn't?! Tears well up in her eyes. Well she's not out of it yet. Do NOT GIVE UP. THAT mistake... she's not making it again! Staren missiles the wall in front of her. Steps through the smoke and releases a charged plasma blast at the next wall. Steps out of the smoke, her damaged armor half-coated in bits of cooling slag. The glowing lines on her faceplate flicker and go dark, and part of it, broken by an earlier impact, falls off, baring one eye glaring with rage. "You." She steps forward like she's going to charge into melee again, but instead the missile launcher snaps into firing position and fires a full half-dozen mini-missile salvo, plasma warheads that will strip the electrons from the air's atoms, turn those conveyor belts to ash, and slag the metal ground beneath. "WHY DO YOU GET EVERYTHING?! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS WIN?!"
Ishirou	The ground below him lights up. Not just with the lights of things turning on, but the automated defenses turn on. Above him, the Egg Carrier starts to glow. "Oh no," Ishirou says. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. He breathes... "I have to be big...I have to be big...these people are counting on me," he says, almost like a mantra to himself. The laser sword swings once, creating a bit of a crescent beam that shoots some things down. Once more the data floods his mind, and he moves to the calculations he has. Each movement takes as little energy as he can afford. Ordinance explodes around him, rocking the sky and trying to blast him out of it. He's just barely ahead of it, each movement was done as if it was his last. A chain is coming, and Ishirou just BARELY manages to flicker right, moving with enough speed to avoid the chain. The laser sword moves to deflect it at the same time, trying to keep him free of any commitments. Sorry Chains, but he's already got a boyfriend! However, he does speak, "I've been doing that this entire time...but I'm not here to impress you or anyone else." The light above him darkens. Did the Egg Carrier stop...? Oh. Oh no. Oh no no no... Kukuru tries to land an entire wall of a building on him. He pulls back, there was nothing in his data that said she could do that! He tries dashing, he tries transforming...but there just wasn't enough time! He does however get to the edge before it hits him, spinning him around and forcing him to make enough piloting checks to keep someone with dice busy for thirty minutes. Right at this time, Staren fires the barrage of dangerous weaponry. Still off balance from Kukuru's attempt to ZA WARDO him, he just barely manages to stay ahead. That's not going to be good enough with exploding weaponry though, once more knocked for a loop, but managing to keep things from blowing him out of the sky. Ishirou doesn't have time to just stare at Staren for her statement. He's got too much on his mind to focus on the petty complaints. He's done trying to bandage her ego, and he's especially done with what is happening here. Ishirou dives for her, aiming to just try and ram her into the air. Aiming to bet her as close as he can to the other Concord Elites. He transforms back into the humanoid mode and points a hand at Staren. He tries hacking her suit directly, aiming to try and make the power source go critical...and explode. While also trying to detonate her on literally everyone here.
Eggman	Everything goes sideways. The Egg Carrier is a huge ship. It literally requires a monorail to get from one side to the other, for God's sakes. And it's very, very heavy, and very, very durable. Heavily-armed, heavily-armored, heavily-guarded. The explosion rocks the ship nonetheless. The ship literally tilts sideways as missiles explode and jet robots under Ishirou's control come crashing into it. There's more explosions across the ship as turrets burst and pop. The Egg Carrier lists and tilts; Eggman scrabbles to hold on to his chair as Cubot and Orbot go tumbling down and hit the other side. "Blast." Eggman bites his thumb irritably, grinding his teeth against it. "I refuse to admit defeat." "..." Then he releases his thumb from his teeth. He flicks on the radio, and he makes a deal. The Robians, as one, suddenly stop glowing. Countless mechanical animals start looking left and right, confused, concerned, at the devastation. The robots of Robtropolis that are not and have never been meat start marching, grinding, and rolling out of the city as the factories shut down and the city turns itself off once again. The Egg Carrier rights itself as it begins dropping dropships to pick up the machines. Eggman flicks his fingers across the console. It takes him a few iterations before he nails the password. I-H-A-T-E-T-H-A-T-H-E-D-G-E-H-O-G-3. Some things never change, he muses as the database of Robotropolis begins downloading into the Egg Carrier's databanks.
Staren	Staren kind of didn't actualy have a PLAN past shooting everything. She tries to dive out of Ishirou's way but she's tired and not at her best right now, getting knocked back towards her allies. And, this is key: Hacking, for Staren, means trying obvious security holes or getting physical access. Infosec has never been in her wheelhouse. And as they've worked together, Ishirou is pretty familiar with her technology... The solid-state nuclear reactor in her backpack goes critical. And then it goes EVEN MORE critical. The ensuing meltdown is not itself a nuclear explosion, thank goodness, because that would level the city and everything around it for miles around. But the runaway energy released into the other components of the suit makes a lot of things, including the replacement missile ammo that just warped in, EXPLODE ALL AT ONCE. There is nothing left of Staren or the suit larger than tiny, unidentifiable scraps of metal or weird metamaterial. Also everything that explosion touched is kinda radioactive now. But it's the Multiverse, people have really effective ways to clean that. ...She'll be back. She is the immortal labcat, after all.
Chains Knight	EXPLOSIONS Chains attempts to fly the Egg away from the explosions, while reeling in his magic chain. He's only somewhat successful. "... Certainly resolved, then..." Back to the airship! "Will have to keep my eye on Ishirou..." muses Chains as the carrier picks him back up. "Possibly hero material..." "... Just needs to be tested, a bit more."
Kukuru	"If you aren't doing this to impress anyone..." Kukuru fights the urge to try and stroke Ishirou's ego, but it's kind of clear from the slight gleam in her eyes that she's very much impressed at his fortitude and drive at this very moment. Despite that, however, she's still showing no signs of stopping in her own attack, and that detonation winds up catching her just as much as his laser did. Luckily, there's no armored suit to bounce off of this time, and Kukuru lands atop a different building before skidding across it and leaving quite the painful-looking stain across the top. It takes a fair bit longer for her to pick herself up off the roof, and it takes longer still for her to heal herself back up enough to be vaguely presentable rather than bleeding everywhere. Kukuru hisses lightly after having to set her arm, and then she looks up once again at the carnage unfolding above her while half of her glasses frame dangles off her face. She considers how to approach next, looking towards the bloodied roof and the damaged structure... Wait. Eggman is calling for a withdrawal. Kukuru, perhaps more than anyone, knows just how pointless it is to keep fighting when there's no reason to put more effort in. She teleports herself back onto the Egg Carrier, takes a spare shirt out of her pockets to keep herself decent, and then finds a nice spot in the control room to lie down and take a load off. "He did really good today, didn't he?"
Ishirou	Ishirou holds steady...he is expecting the worst to come now that Staren is exploded. He imagines that they'll treat him without any restraint. He doesn't imagine that he's actually pushing hard enough to make Eggman reconsider the resources he's putting in here. He doesn't have the luxury, he's just trying to find the future where he's alive. However, there was hesitation from Eggman. A call for a deal, and Ishirou brings the flight unit steady and listens to the offer. The way he see's things, getting the Mobians free for the price of the data in the database, that's something he can accept. Continuing this fight puts the people at risk, the city at greater risk...but with this, they can be free and he can figure out a way to make sure they can't be hijacked again. He'll pay that price. He looks to Chains as he starts to leave, but gives him that message. He will be watching him, which causes Ishirou to mentally sigh. He really didn't need more himbos (well okay he can't tell if Chains is like Berc, but with how hard that chain was thrown..) "Please, exit my city," he says, trying to keep himself together long enough for the Concord to leave. Kukuru gets a glance too. Is she being exploited by these people? Does she know what he was doing, or are the details lost on her..? Or is his development so important to her that she's willing to do this? He really can't stay mad at her...but he is very frustrated by this situation. Ishirou waits for the carrier to leave. The moment it's no longer visible...he simply starts trying to navigate the flight unit down to land, which it barely manages. Its leg snaps due to the stress he's put on it, and Ishirou falls out onto the hard, dirty streets of Robotropolis. Chuck runs, turning over Ishirou and trying to apply some first aid to the clearly over strained and exhausted boy.