Scene #8071: Trouble at Egg Base Sigma

Owner	Pose
Surge and Kit	EARLIER, hill overlooking Egg Base Sigma: "So, you all done with your tappity tap tap?" Surge glares over Kit's shoulder, to peek at his datapad. "A-Almost. There's some help coming, just in case. I won't be able to cut the comms for this place until you take down the s-saucer over there. By then the alarm is already going to be ringing," Kit says, already a bit defeated. "Whatever. Good work kid. I'll take it from here. You focus on trying to get into Eggbutt's network, I'll make the noise. Then we bring this whole place down, and that damn duck can't use this place on us. It's a small splash, but it's a start. With any luck, we even get the mustache here and kill him. Then we're DAMN sure we've done our job," Surge says, slamming her fists together and girnning wide. "W-What about Sonic?" Kit asks, glancing back at Surge. "I ain't forgotten about him. Don't you worry your little head, they'll ALL pay. Just gotta smash up what's in front of us first!" Surge heatpats Kit. "Right!" Kit nods. Tapping his datapad, Kit sends the signal for the Watch to know things are about to go down. And importantly, where to go! NOW, Egg Base Sigma: A modest industrial site, or so Eggman would say. It's not as grand as some of his other projects, but a several city block wide complex of factories, refineries and databases is nothing to scoff at either. Plain blocky grey buildings litter the area, connected by countless brass and copper tubes that relay all manners of materials from one factory to the next. The Eggman branding is strong and visible, especially on the central control tower, whose top floor is pretty much a big Eggman face. Smog and smoke have turned the land around it a sickly green and the air overhead an industrial brown-yellow. Various makes of Eggman machinery patrols the area tirelessly. In short: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/idwsonic/images/4/40/Egg_Base_sigma.jpg But all of that changes in an instant. Several back-to-back claps of thunder rock the base, as a supersonic blur breaks the sound barrier multiple times to reach the communications tower. It's not long after that explosions chain together and bring the tower down, the lightning-blue streak then heading towards one of the defense perimeters. Not fast enough to avoid Eggman being alarmed, but fast enough to make sure all he gets is that a blue streak is knocking his precious buildings down. "AHAHA! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT BUT I ACTUALLY MISSED THIS!" Surge yells, pinballing between Eggman drones like a ball of sawblades. "Heads up, all the alarms are sounding," Kit warns his partner, as he makes his way (much more subtly) to the control tower, avoiding as much of the fighting as he can on his way.
Karlan Nobles	Few people from Kjerag have ever seen robots, never mind an entire industrial zone dedicated to them. Although the siblings arriving there to aid their new companions have some passing familiarity with robots, to see so many of them in one location is a bit of a shock. Pramanix: "How does anyone avoid cutting themselves on all these corners?" SilverAsh: "Care and attention, I imagine. Such shapes are rather difficult to miss." "If you're paying attention, sure. But if you're moving around in the middle of a battle, then..." "A fair point. Fret not, then, as you should be alright if you simply climb atop one of the larger platforms and make it your stage." Seeing Surge charging on further ahead with Kit trailing behind, the two join up with the latter. Pramanix is actually quite handy at sneaking around herself, sticking to corners and waiting in the shadows to watch for the more obvious signs of patrol while SilverAsh just sort of looms ominously behind her. "What's the plan, friend? When do we get to start hitting things hard?" "You sound almost excited about such a prospect." "I do not."
Forte	Inside Forte, there are two wolves. One wolf wants to seek out strong opponents, absorb powerful data, and punch the megamans (and megamans-adjacent) of the world. The other wolf wants to enact societal change, take down corrupt ruling organizations (by definition most ruling organizations are corrupt), help those who were unjustly scapegoated like he was, and maybe punch megamans (and megamans-adjacent) if there's some time left over. There's so few chances, like right now, for him to get to let both wolves out to play. If Surge is going in loud, Forte's going in quietly - he's never been one to announce his presence, and especially right now, he's not feeling particularly like triggering whatever perimiter base defenses are there waiting, not when there's juicer foes and the juciest data potentially waiting towards the center of the base. So he heads inwards in Surge's wake, keeping to the shadows and around lines of sight, doing short-range 'areasteal' teleport hops as needed to stay in cover, as he starts his search for any sort of main control center of the base.
Xion	The best thing to do after an exhausting, all-or-nothing sprint is something relaxing. Like time in the pool, or relaxing on a beach, or sleeping on grass under a tree. Or, when you are a magic sword wielding lunatic, you browse GoFightMe. From the people that brought you AdvenTinder, sometimes you really just want someone looking for a brawl. Real fist capital was hard to come by, and people couldn't count on available scuffleabouts in their local circle in the modern age. But with GoFightMe, people could donate their idle urge to cause violence onto worthy causes! Kitsunami's postings - accomplished around Surge's bullying for their typety-typing - had attracted professional-grade help. From a black portal a column of streaking shadow lands next to Kitsunami, up on the hill, blobs into a ball, and puffs in smoke as Xion resolves besides the water-weaver. "Hey!" She greets, with a hand-wave. "I saw your post. Is this, like--" Her head turns to the badnik-filled industrial center belching out weapons of mechanical mayhem, the passionate stormcloud in a green-spike, and Mega Man of Darkness already on their way inside. "Oh. Actually I think I get it. Good luck with the control tower, huh?" She grins, patting Kit on the shoulder, and hops down the hill to heel-surf down on the approach to catch up with Forte and Surge. "Hey, wait up! I'm not at my usual pace today!"
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Robots. Pollution. Heavy industrialization. To say that any of these things are unfamiliar to Bercilak or Phreak would be a lie. Two more shapes join the frantic streaks racing through the zone. One is green and gold; bulky, hard to miss for the roar of his heavily armored hoverbike. The other, in a sand-rust gradient with a splash of blue, moves differently. Erratic, dynamic, moving around or up obstacles rather than straight through them. They split off--the heavily armored Green Knight accompanying Surge, providing the benefit of his healing cloud even as he boisterously challenges her to see who can 'quell' the most 'devyses.' He's not as agile, or as fast, but his mastery of the armored bike and the extreme reach of his axe do much to recommend him. Phreak, then, zig-zags his way to Kit, Pramanix and SilverAsh. The visor he wears scrolls with command lines as his fingers race across an AR keyboard. "GSF, coming up," he announces. A strange sensation of lightness overtakes the siblings, and, to a lesser extent, Kit (who is likely plenty fast and agile already). "And a Hack-n-Quack. Sit still a sec." The vision briefly swims with a logo for a software cracking community, before a glitchy message asking for credentials is dismissed. A cracked emergency surgery program directed towards the three of them, to keep them in fighting shape should they take any nasty hits.
Eggman	EARLIER EGG CARRIER GARDEN "Honestly, I don't see the appeal," Eggman says as he holds a little blue-and-yellow creature at arm's length with a squint behind his goggles. "Sort of..." He shakes it. It giggles. His brow furrows, and his moustache bristles. "...cute, I suppose. Appeal to the masses. Maybe if we painted it red. Gave it a little moustache. What do you think, Cubot?" "Uh...sounds...marketable, sir?" The yellow robot ventures. "Yes, I can see it now. I could sit it on my shoulder and teach it to smile properly. Sounds amusing. Orbot, go have some clothes made for it." The red robot bows low. "Yes, Doctor." The robot picks up the little blue thing and rolls off, rocking the creature back and forth. They vanish through the teleporter, leaving Eggman and Cubot alone. "Well. Now that the mystery of the egg I didn't make has been solved, time for some proper relaxation." Eggman adjusts his swim trunks and kicks back on one of his chairs. "Wake me if anything important happens. But don't wake me otherwise." With that, he falls asleep instantly, to the envy of every insomniac in the world. "Uh...okay, boss." Cubot scratches his head. "Important, huh..." The yellow robot sits down in the sand. "Hope nothin' important happens..." NOW, BUT LIKE TEN MINUTES AGO NOW, FOR NARRATIVE CONVENIENCE EGG CARRIER GARDEN "Boss, wake up!" Cubot shakes the Doctor furiously by the shoulders, "Somethin' important happened!" Eggman grabs Cubot by the stand. "Is it that hedgehog? I just came up with the most brilliant scheme. Where is he?" "E-Egg Base Sigma, boss!" The Doctor stands and tosses the yellow robot aside. He grabs his red-and-yellow-and-white Hawaiian shirt off the back of his chair and throws it over his shoulders like a cape as he stalks through the teleporter back into the Egg Carrier proper. Alarms are blaring everywhere. Red siren-lights flash and flare. The Doctor sits down on the monorail and taps his foot impatiently as it takes him along the ship deck. "Why I didn't build a teleporter to the bridge I'll never know," he mutters, "It seemed like a good idea at the time." He peers out over the side at the robots assembling below. "Ah. Yes." His lips split in his standard grin. "The view." NOW, BUT A MORE RECENT NOW, PROBABLY CLOSER TO FIVE MINUTES AGO EGG CARRIER BRIDGE Eggman sits down in the massive mechanized chair. Cubot rolls up alongside as Orbot joins them, with the little blue creature in hand - now dressed in a tiny red-and-yellow coat and black waders. The creature sits down in Eggman's lap. He immediately pats it on the head. "All systems, full power. Make for Egg Base Sigma immediately. I'll crush that hedgehog this time for sure." Eggman rubs his hands together eagerly. The little blue creature does the same. "Alright," he says as the ship pulls away from the gleaming glass-and-steel towers of Eggperial City, "I'm beginning to see the appeal now." The Egg Carrier vanishes through the warpgate.
Eggman	NOW, BUT ACTUALLY NOW, PRECISELY THIS MOMENT The Egg Carrier has arrived. The massive warship casts a shadow over Egg Base Sigma. It is a mobile base unto itself, practically a city in the sky, swarming with interceptor drones that swoop like fighter jets this way and that in coordinated loops. Turrets pop up from every meaningful angle, ready to fire on anything getting close - or rain destruction down on the landscape below, should it suit him. But at the moment, it doesn't. Instead a group of little...flying...televisions?....descend from the Egg Carrier, seeking out the sources of the disruption. They flit up alongside the Watch members, then turn on. Eggman's evil face, split in a wide moustachey grin, fills most of the screen. Peeking in from the bottom is a little blue creature with goggles and a similar (fake) moustache. "Greetings, Sonic and friends! Your timing couldn't be better! I've just come up with the perfect scheme to rid myself of-" Eggman pauses. "Wait." He squints. He adjusts his goggles. His big white glove fills the screen as he taps the camera. He rubs his eyes. "...you're not Sonic the Hedgehog. Or Tails. Or any of his numerous friends." Eggman flops back in his chair and waves his hand. "Well, here I was, all excited to deploy my latest scheme to crush that sapphire sap, and it turns out it's just some fakes and some terrorists. Not even interesting fakes. And one of Albert's boys...I ought to give him a call. Should've exchanged Christmas cards this year, but I was so busy it slipped my mind." He sighs and pats the little blue creature at his side. "Oh well. No Sonic, no Rock, no Tails, no Roll, some terrorists - though admittedly terrorists with some very impressive hustle - and a pair of fakes. Take all the wind out of my sails why don't you." "Oh well." Eggman sits up. "Cubot, Orbot! The slot machine. Might as well have some fun with it." He pats the little blue creature. "How about you spin the wheel for me, hmm?" "I never get to spin the wheel," Cubot mutters to Orbot as they wheel a giant slot machine over into the picture frame. The little blue creatures hops up onto Eggman's knee (its red-and-yellow jacket and black waders are now fully visible) and then hops up to grab the lever. It falls down as it pulls, landing in Eggman's lap. The machine starts to spin, until the lights start flashing and a loud mechanical voice starts shouting: AIR AIR AIR THREE AIR! JACKPOT! EGG VESPER! OHNO!!!!!! "Ahhh, look at that! His first spin and he's already got a jackpot! That's my boy!" Below, in the foundries and factories of Egg Base Sigma, machines that were pumping out standardized mechanoids and badniks suddenly stop. They shift. They begin assembling something new at a rapid pace - something new and deeply unpleasant. It takes all of thirty seconds. The thing bursts out of the factory and into the air. It zooms forward, leaving trails of lightning in its wake. With great maneuverability it darts through the streets towards the Watchmen and Watchwomen and Watchthem. It is sleek and swift and resembles a bee in all the wrong ways - yellow-and-black paint, two terrible eyes, two massive wings, and a stinger. However, it is also blocky, mechanical, and jet-propelled. And, of course, trailing lightning behind it.
Surge and Kit	"S-Surge! We've got incoming! It's...!" How pointless it would be for Kit to even finish, when Eggman makes a point to announce himself anyway. Not even Xion's reassuring pat does much to help him now. This just got a lot harder! "YEAH I SEE IT!" Surge rumbles, screeching to a halt to glare up at the ship. And then clenching her sharp teeth and glaring at the doctor's voice. "Well I got NEWS for ya, scrambled brain! I'm BETTER than Sonic, and I'm going to get up there and hit you so hard your glasses come out the other end!" Well, at least who she gets her attitude from is plain and obvious. "I don't care how ya'll decide to help, just stay out of my way!" she demands of her company. The Egg Vesper doesn't change her mind. Lightning blasts against Surge, and if she's hurt, she refuses to show it, instead pumping out a vast quantity of her own in response, trying to swallow all of the Vesper's own. "JUST CHEAP TRICKS AND LAME SPEEDBUMPS! I'M NOT IMPRESSED!" Surge screams; impressed, maybe not, but utterly rattled, that much is obvious. She blasts forward, up a building, suddenly arcing at the very last second into a full ninety degree angle like a bolt of lightning. She's not just aiming to bounce into and off the Egg Vesper, she's planning to make it all the way up to the Egg Carrier with the bounce! "H-He really got under her skin... a-all the more reason to hurry up then." Kit, meanwhile, begins ascending the main control tower. Kind of hard to miss with its giant mustached logo at the top. Maybe if Eggman thinks they're all out there fighting, he'll have a clear shot at the computers.
Karlan Nobles	Kit gives his plan to disable the control tower, and Pramanix nods in affirmation while bringing out her bell. "Good plan! It should be easier to crack if I freeze it over, then." "Then I suppose I'll be joining Madam Surge in creating a ruckus, then." SilverAsh concludes, one hand angling the sword at his waist while it's still in its sheathe. Before they break off, however, Phreak arrives to give them that notable boost in their step, and Pramanix even smiles warmly at all the familiar faces as the pair's confidence grows with each additional arrival. "So good to see you again, Mister Phreak! And Bercilak, too." "And I believe that's Forte and... Lady Xion over there as well. Something seems different." As they break off to start hitting their own targets, the shadow overtakes them, and they both look up at the ominous sight of the Egg Carrier and the face appearing in the flying televisions it dispatches. They stare right back at Eggman's face when he greets them, looking mildly confused at the choice of name and his own confusion at their appearance. "No, we're... Who is a Sonic?" "We do have quite the fine tails, if you would permit a moment of ego-stroking." The big slot machine appears, and their sense of self-preservation clashes heavily with their curiosity to see what the heck that's all about. Even if the odds might be rigged, Pramanix still claps politely when Cubot gets that jackpot! And then the lightning bee thing arrives, causing quite a stir with its initial assault. Pramanix draws up a quick sheet of ice to dampen the impact, although it still knocks her flat on her ass. She springs back up to her feet moments later, though, then starts stepping about while ringing her bell to begin... THE SNOW RITUAL. For now, she's just gathering snow around, calling it from the sky to gather in a steadily accumulating blob just outside of Egg Base Sigma. SilverAsh, meanwhile, brings up his sword and sheath against his shoulder to push right into the Vesper's strike without losing his own balance. After letting the initial sting of the hit heal over, he lowers his stance, then starts sprinting at the bee machine. Once he's at juuust the right angle to see the Vesper between him and the Egg Carrier, he draws his sword with an excessively loud shwinging noise, sending a massive slash through the air! It won't actually go far enough to reach the Egg Carrier, but it's certainly large enough to look like it might.
Forte	Forte looks blank, or at least as blank as one can look with the poncho covering half of his face. "One of Albert's boys?" he says, looking up at the monitor. MUCH, MUCH EARLIER "Ah, this is where you've been working on your little pet project, is it Pavel?" said an unfamiliar voice A much younger Bass.EXE looks up and out through the computer's webcam. There's a pair of scientists standing just inside the door to his father's lab, one he recognized - Dr. Hikari, and one he didn't. "Yes - the autonavi system, and the get-ability system. Bass, say hello to Dr. Albert Wily - who I used to intern under." "Hello, doc-" Bass started to say, but got cut off. "I'm not at all that interested in talking to your little Bonzi Buddy there," Wily said, speaking over him. "But how about when the board approves my funding proposal - and shuts this fly-by-night 'SciLab' down - you come work for me again, Pavel?" "Hah, well, that's assuming a lot of things, old chum," said Dr. Hikari, slapping Wily on the back (a gesture that clearly wasn't appreciated by the recipient). "Here, let me keep showing you around - the funding board meeting isn't for another hour..." BACK IN THE PRESENT "(It can't be the same Albert,)" mutters Forte to himself. And in the time it's taken him to have that flashback, something new has emerged from the carrier. Something... bee-shaped, but wrong. Forte recoils a bit - at first from the initial assault, and then from looking at it. "What-" He instinctually goes to reject it. Literally. AUTONAVI SLOT IN - PROHIBITON C - EXECUTE! "NO." he tells it firmly, a red (\)-shaped energy bolt blasting out of his mouth when he says it, made out of pure psychic rejection energy. "NO, NO, NO," he repeats, peppering it with further rejections as he gets moving.
Xion	Maneuvering through a base that doesn't arbitrarily drop force-cage gates around rooms' exit is exceedingly undifficult for Xion, and even creative use of base bastardry can only slow her down by fractions of pace. To rooms of enemies, she simply dashes and traverses through at a tight acrobatic pace, already in the wake of Forte and Surge. To rooms with locks and gates, a swipe of Starlight passes any barrier - and a portal-hop travels her through less lockable sorts. Which is why she makes good time even at the back of the pack, finding Eggman's massive screen looming overhead. "Woah. Moustache." She murmurs, and listens. 'No Rock, no Roll' complains Eggman on-screen, causing the noirette in black to glance around, slinging her star-toothed keyblade over her shoulder. "If it's more of the same but bigger, you know, I don't think I'll need to rock and roll at all." She shrugs, raising the keyblade high across her shoulders and hanging her elbows off the top, kicking out a foot. Half stretch, half idle-pose, she arches her back, straightens, and then pivots. "Oh hey, a jackpot." Unfortunately, the JACKPOT deploys... a blocky, mechanical, jet-propelled killer bee-hornet-bot in short order, and Xion barely has her keyblade off her shoulders and readied when the lightning strikes. "Ooo-kay, giant bee. That's not... new, but I like the robot!" All her quips come due when she immediately starts getting bullied by the Egg Vesper's absurd ground electricity ground burst timing, and lack of available handholds that aren't hurtboxes in the air. Unable to immediately close with the thunder in the way and her body not up to ducking between bolt-forks, she falls back. "Alright, doctor. You were right. It is time to rock!" She announces, trading Starlight out for a medallion in her right hand bearing a blue-helmeted head and a red forehead gem. "X!" She invokes (pronounced 'Ecks'). The medallion blooms into a chunky cyan arm cannon about her fist and adding a segmented arm-guard up to her shoulder. The cannon-barrel glows yellow-white, crackling with plasma energy, before she starts jumping and shooting.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	"Hey, guys. Good to be working with you," he offers back to the siblings. He has good hustle? "I appreciate it," says Phreak back to Robotnik via the TV-drone. At least the guy whose stuff he's breaking believes in his hustle. "Even if I'm here trying to blow it up, I respect the face thing," he says, jerking a thumb backwards in the direction of the control tower. "That's dedication," he adds. "Whoop!" A backwards handspring is made just in time to avoid the scouring trail of lightning, Phreak's legs carrying him up the wall of the nearest blocky building. He pushes off, making a barrel roll in the air, twirling and threading himself between arcs as the giant vespid robot passes. "The name's Phreak," he says on landing. Bercilak, occupied with the challenge he'd issued to Surge, fares less well. The lightning strikes his hoverbike and explodes a portion of the center console, sending a plume of acrid black smoke blowing against the T-visor of his green bucket helm. The craft dips as he reasserts control, and a hearty laugh escapes him. "LENG HATH I LEST TO FRAIST THEE, EGGE!" It's rather hard for Bercilak to stay 'out of the way' even when he's not operating at max-hype. He is seven and a half feet tall, clad head to toe in advanced machined plate, some sort of exoskeletal harness, an axe every bit as tall as he is, and, of course, riding a massive armored hoverbike built for a Bercilak-sized rider. Fortunately for Surge, there is a very large, very dangerous thing in his immediate vicinity. "LET US ESPY IFIRST THE DIGHTENING OF THY DEVYSES!" With a one-handed swing of his axe, Bercilak directs a cloud of nanites towards Surge just before he splits off to attack the Egg Vesper. With increased bone strength and muscle elasticity, she'll be able to hit that much harder; and the barrier formed around her should blunt the impact of attacks that manage to catch her. In the sky, Bercilak cuts left, axe raised. His immense strength and piloting skill are employed to make a number of passing, raking blows with the weapon's monomolecular blade. Weaving under, around and over the robot's wings and legs, he is joined by Phreak. The more limber of the two, that gray, lightly armored space elf has taken to the skies on a performance hoverboard, armed with a massive, blocky-framed submachine gun in each hand. While Bercilak batters it, Phreak goes for midair bursts against specific weapons systems--the lightning mechanism, if he can get a shot, elsewise at whatever point-defense options reveal themselves.
Eggman	Surge's lightning is met with the Egg Vesper's own. It has one of those awful lightning bubble shields - the type that attracts rings and also does damage. In this case, that lightning field impacts Surge's own when she tries to bounce off it and soar up to the Egg Carrier. Hers is a hell of a lot more powerful - on contact the thing shorts and sputters, forcing it to powercycle the thing off into 'touch damage' mode and out of 'deflection' mode for a minute before it takes serious damage to the shield generator. The Vesper spins around as she tries to go up, moving to smack her with its huge thrustered wing and the sheer force of 'her going fast in one direction' and 'it going fast in the other direction.' On the hovering televisions, Eggman strokes his moustache slightly. "Better, eh. You're going to have to do better than some cheap imitation to convince me that I should drop a lifelong rivalry and pivot onto menacing you. I'm fairly committed to beating that hedgehog. You, I'm thinking I indeed could just carpet bomb." "Then again, I am a sporting sort..." He says thoughtfully. The two furry people get a snort from Eggman. "Not the tails I meant," he says, muttering something about animal-people and the bane of his existence before he waves a hand forward. The Vesper takes the hit from the slash hard - but the lightning shield absorbs it before it gets anywhere near the Egg Carrier, consuming the shot entirely. "Swords are, admittedly, a novelty for me. Nobody uses swords where I'm from. Nor..." He squints. "Magic bells?" "Magic bells," he says, "Huh." "Sir, the temperature's dropping rapidly," Orbot warns. Eggman shrugs. "Crank up the smog, then. Let's let global warming work for us." "Yessir." Pramanix and the others are suddenly subjected to every functioning facility in the area venting smog into the sky. Superheated smoke pours out of every possible avenue of ventillation to blot out the sun. The smog consumes the ground - and hides the Vesper in the process. The only lights are the Egg Base's spotlights and the lights of the Egg Carrier. And, then, the red blasts from Forte.EXE, blasting smog away from the Vesper as it comes charging directly at him. It maneuvers quickly but it can't help but take one of the hits dead on, straight in its eye, smoldering and flashing. Xion utilizes her own knowledge of robot-themed platformer bosses to shoot it and it hits the same eye. The Vesper starts flailing and whirring with an awful whining noise, careening towards Xion and Forte almost out of control. "I didn't really feel like pulling out new for this," Eggman says to Xion, rolling his hand, "There's a time for innovation and invention and a time for phoning it in, and a fake Sonic and Tails is definitely not a time for innovation and invention. Have to save the good stuff for the rivals. Sonic, that obnoxious little Paladin pratt who moved into my city...you know." "It's not an insult. It's a rival thing. You understand." The Vesper swings around as it attempts to gain control and move to intercept Surge, only to be cut off by Bercilak and Phreak. Attacks against the stinger prove to be difficult (the robot just retracts it when people shoot at it - that's not a glowing weak point, sorry!) but attacks against the damaged eye are entirely more effective. Even just suppressing fire to make it hard for the Vesper to maneuver is worthwhile, and Phreak's good at that. The axe comes down into its back and another spark of lightning erupts as it spins and crashes into a building - intentionally, to smash Bercilak and Phreak against it at high speeds. "A pleasure. I am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, the greatest supervillain the world has ever known. Please. Call me Doctor Eggman."
Surge and Kit	"FAKE? You think we're some fakes you can just ignore and knock aside?!" Angy increases. Tunnelvision also increases. The Egg Vesper smashes into Surge. She catches its wing with her stomach, grinning wide as she tries digging into the wing with her fingers rather than let go or get knocked away. "I'm TOUGHER! I'm FASTER!" The shield around the Vesper doesn't seem to bother her as much as it should. Actually it might well be feeding her. Her own lightning starts surging out, trying to overwhelm the Egg Vesper and give it a shock even Eggman couldn't have made a defense against. "I'm STRONGER!" Hardly satisfied by just that, she suddenly curls up into a ball and shoots across the Vesper's wingspin in an instant, looking to buzzsaw through it and disable the darned thing's ability to fly so fast. Or at all! "And I'm WAY COOLER! First you, then I'm tracking that damn duck down, and then I'm gonna kill that hedgehog too for good measure! You're ALL JUST AS BAD!" She's not just angry, she's been driven to make a show of it by Bercilak's challenge indeed. Not that anything Eggman is saying is helping!. (Kit is totally busy offscreen climbing that tower we swear. He's probably having to like, water-crush some generic badnik guards or something.)
Forte	AUTONAVI SLOT IN - AREASTEAL A - EXECUTE! Forte blinks out of the way of the careening Vesper - it's a near thing, and he ends up getting clipped a bit despite the quick teleport. "Your reputation precedes you, doctor," says Forte. "However-" He teleports again, trying to get right behind the Vesper, and place one or both hands on it if he can, and tries to hold onto it, maintaining physical contact for as long as he can by whatever means he can. Grabbing onto it and hanging on, flying after it, teleporting after it, whatever works, so that he doesn't lose it again in the thick smog. If he can make contact, it becomes clear what he's doing pretty quickly - that is, it becomes clear to Eggman. He's trying to force a pathway open - using whatever connection there is between the Vesper and the Egg Carrier to force open and keep open a digital route to the Egg Carrier, one computer system or security lock in the chain at a time. "This - doesn't do that reputation much showing," he adds, a bit more inflection coming into his previously flat tone. "I was told the great Doctor Eggman was one to be feared!" He says 'feared' in the same way that someone would talk about an appealing quality. "Is this all you have?"
Karlan Nobles	"This Sonic fellow sounds like quite the jerk." "Indeed. I wonder if perhaps things would be solved more simply by their cooperation against a common foe." With the smog starting to blanket the sky and fill the air with concentrated garbage, the pair from the snowy mountains are finding it rather difficult to breathe normally. Pramanix's advance prep of snow ends up having to be called in early to start fighting back against the heated smog, trying to suppress it with her own cooling and supernatural winds. Although the snow hasn't built up to blizzard levels just yet, it is starting to pick up speed even though the ice is quickly turning into rain from all that heat (and possibly providing Kit with extra water to work with). While Pramanix take her time to get back into her rhythm after that untimely diversion, SilverAsh focuses instead on the mastermind behind this facility. Eggman introduces himself, and SilverAsh actually sheathes his blade to dip into a formal bow while facing one of those floating televisions. "SilverAsh, President of Karlan Trade Corporation. A pleasure to meet you, Doctor Eggman." "... Pramanix, Saintess of Kjerag. Likewise." "Styling yourself a supervillain... Quite the bold statement. Perhaps we might find our goals aligning someday." "Wh... Really?!" "You must know the saying already, Saintess. 'Today's enemy-'" "'-could be tomorrow's ally' yadda yadda yes, I get it. But NOW? Really?!" "You sound upset." SilverAsh, eager to avoid getting doused with melted icewater, starts sprinting and springing about with his sheathed sword bouncing lightly at his side. When he sees where the Vesper's attempted to smash Bercilak and Phreak, he leaps upwards to meet it in the sky, drawing his sword with a quick slash before following it up with a whole flurry of them to try and slash the machine to ribbons.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	Phreak twirls those massive SMGs, spent clips dexterously ejected and replaced midair. His hoverboard touches down upon the chassis, sparks flying as he grinds away from the impending impact with the building. He has balance only for a split second. "Oh shit!!" He cries out as he's thrown from the robot, towards the rapidly approaching drab grey wall of the building. One gun caught, holstered. One hand makes a scurrying keystroke. Phreak's body is gone, replaced with a virtual blue wireframe constructed in facsimile. A last-minute lateral 540 on the hoverboard squeezes him through a shattered window. As the roof caves in above him, rubble smashes through that wireframe--but the last few physical particles of his body bounce around erratically within it, making for a death-cheating escape as random chance, speed and vehicular skill carry Phreak out the opposite side of the building. The Green Knight takes the blow in earnest, smashed, laughing, into the building dead-on. He has no digitization to avoid the bone-crushing impact of rubble. He doesn't really need it--what doesn't shatter against his armor or the bikes simply piles up on top of him, burying him, charred and scorched by the impact of the ramming robot, beneath a sizeable mound of shattered building. He is, necessarily, a few seconds behind Phreak when the two of them change tracks. "Yeah?!" Phreak, banking around the building he'd been forced through, flickers back to normal, the wireframe 'armor' vanishing in polygonal piecemeal. "Well I'm the greatest fixer there's ever been!" Feeling himself after that escape, he soars over Surge as she attacks the wings, going for an unnecessary kickflip to shoot between his spinning board, down at the robot's eyes. "I KNOUE WHO THOU ART, DOCTOUR! KNOUE THAT I AM BERCILAK OF THE HIGH WASTELAND, SO ALS THE GREEN KNIGHT!" Bercilak, howling with the laughter of someone who's having the time of his life, hooks the beard of the axe 'round one of the robot's legs. Using the axe to pull a tight, stomach-turning loop with the bike at full speed, before a sudden wrench of his hand alters his trajectory and sends the speeding bike ramming into the wasp robot's midsection, just below the wing.
Xion	Pchoom! Pchoom! Pchoom! wepwepwepwepwepwepwepwepwepwepwep Xion blasts away with her Buster, leaning on the power of Lemons and Leaping to keep her mobile and safe as she directs shots towards the large optic weak point. "Oh, I get a good rival situation. I understand hating someone." "There's a lot of hate in this world, actually." The air fills with poison from the industrial factories, thick clouds of eventual-death. Xion tries to maneuver, firing blind for a moment into the haze, and the whole bulk of the damaged Vesper breaks through the tar-fog to crash into her. Bouncing off, she tumbles into a building-wall, falling through a portal that deposits nearer to the ground underneath the Vesper's careening path. "And I don't think putting out the most toxins makes you the greatest supervillain, Doctor!" "It just makes you the biggest mess - and messes get cleaned up!" Drawing another medallion, Xion touches the Chains Knight medal to her Buster's side, her color pallate switching to a chrome silver and black. Overcharging the buster, she aims up, from the ground, and aims for the center of the Vesper. Plasma charge surging with molten-silver magic, she fires the globuole-shot, which trails streamers of links. Down, down, metal cilia fall like lightning in slow motion, and the glob sticks like glue to the base. It detonates like a bomb of clinking and metal sussuration, a spiderweb of metal bindings gripping up the vesper for Big QTE Combos.
Eggman	"Yes," Eggman says to Surge, "I do." He's got her personality pinned, now, and it's a lot easier than Sonic. His lips twist upwards into a grin. "So what?" "You think you're stronger, faster, better, et cetera." He waves his hand, because now he's actually Interested, but not for the right reasons. He's not Interested in the challenge - he's not taking her seriously, not yet. No, now he's Interested because he's figured out how to have some fun with it. "Yes, yes. Everyone says that sort of thing. I'm better, I'm stronger, I'm faster." Eggman taps the side of his head. "But you haven't got the it factor. You're too...angry. Too...mmmm...." "Boring." "No, no, that's not it." Eggman strokes his moustache as the Eggchao does the same. "Not boring..." "Aha! I have it!" Then his hand goes up. The Eggchao's head-bobble turns into an exclamation point. "One-note." "Yes, yes. That's the term. You're one-note. Angry, angry, loud, loud, inferiority complex, trying hard to be the biggest and the loudest so everyone notices poor little...whatever your name is. Rage against the machine, punk rock, all that sort of thing." He rolls his hand. Again the Eggchao does the same. It's getting into the spirit of it. "Not really my thing. I'll find you a better antagonist. Consider it a favor from me to you. You went to all this trouble to get my attention." Surge goes right through the Vesper's wing. It goes spinning off-track, ramming directly into a wall and plowing straight through it. One of the factories lies exposed amidst the smog that Pramanix is slowly ringing away. And then the Vesper is just pulled onto the factory floor, its wing replaced, its eye replaced, and it's sent right back out. Phoo. Forte gets a raised eyebrow. "Of course this isn't all I have. I wouldn't send my best out for this. This is a base defense, and a non-critical base at that." Eggman rolls up his sleeve to look at one of several watches. "As a matter of fact, once I realized it wasn't Sonic and friends, I set the place to blow. I'm not even sure what Sigma was building anymore." As the Vesper wheels towards Forte, lightning trailing behind it, Eggman adds, "You've got about, oh, I'd say two minutes before the whole place goes up in flames." So probably two rounds. Wuh-oh. As Forte.EXE starts hacking into the system, Eggman raises an eyebrow. Alarms flash on the screen. Turrets turn and open fire on the Egg Carrier's own defenses. Defense drones explode, flashes of light in the smog. Eggman snaps his fingers. "Cubot, Orbot, have something take care of that." "Yes, Doctor!" Cubot flicks a switch and makes a face at the Eggchao. "Now I get to flick the switch! Hah!" The Eggchao sticks out its tongue at Cubot. A rivalry is born. Suddenly, Forte everything Forte sees is a badnik. Everything. The television, the Egg Carrier, Surge, Kit, Xion...everything. For a brief moment - and a brief shot from Forte's own buster at Kit - Forte is under Eggman's sway. What an awful feeling. "Oh, I'm not really into that sort of alliance thing," Eggman waves his hand at the two nobles, "I've already got an organization, thank you very much. I'm not really the greater good sort." Mostly. The rising Vesper is met with a flurry of blades from Silverash. Flash, flash. The swords carve along the side of the bee in tandem with Bercilak's kamikaze bike crash. The bee goes up, putting its underside directly in Xion's path - and making it all too predictable for her to just hold down. The bee struggles, but cannot free itself. Eggman sighs very, very loudly. "Well, it was a novel toy, but such is the way." "My dear lady, I am not the greatest supervillain because I make a mess. I am not the greatest supervillain because I pollute. I am the greatest supervillain because I have three things that no others do." He raises three fingers. The Eggchao raises its hand. "First: no illusions about myself.
Eggman	He raises three fingers. The Eggchao raises its hand. "First: no illusions about myself. I am not doing this for some misguided reason or some desire to prove my righteousness to the world. I do not care that the world does not understand my genius. I have no fools to show. The fools cannot comprehend me, and I don't care to lower myself." He lowers a finger. The Eggchao pokes the air for emphasis. "Second: self-awareness. I am what I am and I revel in it. My goals are for the benefit of me and me alone. I am not Albert with a dream for his children to rule the world. I am not Mr. Bowser hoping desperately for the love of a woman who barely pays attention to him. I will rule the world not because I should but because I can." "Third:" He waves his hand. "Branding." He checks the watch. "Well, that's about all the time we have, I think. Normally I don't do this sort of thing but wasting resources defending this outdated outpost is really just playing into your hands." "So, fair warning. The place is going to explode, oh, about now. I suggest you teleport or run or whatsoever else you happen to be able to do." And, true to his word, Egg Base Sigma begins to collapse in on itself. Buildings start falling. Power sources start detonating, billowing more smoke into the air. Half-finished machines explode in their docks. The whole place is going up and real real real fast. That could be bad.
Surge and Kit	"ONE-NOTE?! YOU... YOU...!" Surge actually reaches the point of being so unnerved and rattled she's not processing the words correctly anymore. He'll find her an antagonist? She doesn't NEED one! She's already got a big bucket list of people to put six feet under! Oh things are blowing up. "Shit! KIT!" Surge blasts off like a bolt of blue lightning, streaking through the impendingly exploding complex. Kitsunami fares... not very well. He thought getting to those computers was the good and easy part. He couldn't have known Eggman was that good of a hacker and would turn his new ally against him like that! He's shot, knocked to the ground without a fight. Silver lining: at least it wasn't a high-powered shot or anything, and Kit's... unusually sturdy for a little guy. If Forte doesn't snap back to his senses and drag him out to safety, Surge will finish the mandatory railgrinding section and pick him up in the nick of time.
Karlan Nobles	'Oh, I'm not really into that sort of alliance thing.' 'I've already got an organization, thank you very much. I'm not really the greater good sort.' "Nor do I, but I commend your ability to stick to your principles. It is an ability in sorely short supply these days, I've noticed. Do give your partners my regards." "Why am I not surprised?" "You've learned better." The Egg Base starts to fall apart, and it's time to get on out of there! Pramanix throws her bell into the air, and it hovers in place while the ringing continues despite her no longer holding it. It's almost as though it's being held up by the very winds she's calling down as she finishes the last steps of the ritual. Even as she has to leap around to avoid getting crushed by falling debris, the ice and snow summoned by her ritual reach a fever pitch, the blizzard practically fighting against the detonations while trying to reinforce what she can with walls of ice. Some of the sturdier ones even double as high platforms for her allies to do sick platforming and parkour stunts across before they collapse into the explosions around them! SilverAsh, meanwhile, mostly just has to rely on doing his own stunts. He leaps over to Pramanix's spot as the bell lands right back into her arms, and he gets a startled noise out of her while just lifting her over his shoulder and continuing to run and jump and trail somewhere vaguely behind where Surge is escaping from.
Forte	Badniks. Badniks everywhere. No allies, all enemies - everyone's finally turned on Forte. It's such a believable thing. He barely needs any prompting to turn on Surge. Thankfully, mercifully, it's only for a moment - but that's still a moment too long. Forte blinks. His normal vision and threat assessment returns. His awareness of the situation returns a moment after that, along with the awareness that he's done the exact thing he'd been worried others would do to him this whole time- -Worry about that later. Forte goes to grab Kit and fly out with him, arms wrapped around him tightly to shield him from as much of the exploding base as he can. Apologies will come second, trying to keep his mistake from getting worse comes first.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants	With the Egg Vesper defeated, this would normally be the time to storm Robotnik. Phreak is hooked by the ankle with Bercilak's axe, drawing a stream of profanity from the would be pursuer (and a bit of friendly fire) before he's made to see what's really going on. "That guy... he's talking to her all wrong." "Thanne let us atscape anau, to lattermo ilern him--for if we unk bothe remein, oure frends shalt, so als." Phreak stops trying to accelerate. "Yeah. ...and we can't keep 'em fighting with the place falling down around their ears. Okay." Hovering in the air, he's released. He and Bercilak both turn and make their escape. A building explodes, rubble slamming into Bercilak and breaking against his armor as he simply powers through obstacles in his way. Grinding on the armored chassis, Phreak pops the hoverboard off the nose of Bercilak's hoverbike after it plows through an explosion. Dipping low to the ground to outrace a falling support beam, Phreak pops the board a little higher to weave in and out of the supply tubes wound between the buildings. He and Bercilak both cut daring corners, one relying on reflexes, the other on sheer armored bulk, the both of them masters of their respective 'steeds.' Sparks fly from the rear of the hoverboard as Phreak grids across the lip of a collapsing building. This is one thousand times too hot to just shunt everyone into cyberspace--but he can do the next best thing. "Heads up! GSF! Run like hell, people!" As Pramanix and SilverAsh have already benefited from it, Phreak runs the program on Xion (finishing the last line of code as he pops an ollie overhead), then Forte, increasing his allies' speed and agility as he passes. Bercilak, meanwhile, extends his axe to allow a nimble boarding action, offering a ride to anyone brave enough to stand on the blade of his axe as it races by, sparks flying from the edge as it cuts into the ground with his roaring exit.
Xion	"Giant messes aren't a brand!" Side kaboom? Slide kaboom! Surge is extremely, screamingly furious, and burns in a crackling way as she crashes through the Vesper, sending it tumbling down with extra help. But the whole PLACE is an Egg-Base, and a badnik bustling burgh, to boot! Crashing through the shop floor on a large dispenser with two crossed-out eyes and a smoking segment of grinder 'teeth' where an access grille should be, Xion holds a debris-clearing block as she crashes past Forte to grind through a pile of awakened power cabling all trying to eat him. "Forte!" She calls, but he's off after Surge like a bolt. "Dang, he's really fast." She grunts. "Or maybe I'm just slow. Hhh..." Bustering away at the closing ranks of base-Badniks that swarm her as Forte gets clear, Xion calls Starlight to hand as her buster falls to charge. Getting tied up would be bad, but with Phreak and Bercilak riding high -- literally -- she's... "Wait, I'm the last one out the door?!" Xion worries, musou sweeping with her keyblade at four smoke-belching coal boilers with attitude leading small appliances and bottles. Raising the Chains Buster up, she fires another sailing glob of link-trailing silver. Shooting up to the Megaman Two Hill that Kitsunami had been operating from, Xion leaps after her creation, following the dipping trail out and up, in a gravity-defying make-her-own-rail segment. "You really--" Pants Xion. "Are the fastest! Sorry, I got lost in there when he said 'Sigma' and I started checking faces for a minute."