Eggmanland - Foxhunt

[Topazia]

A small figure bundled in a large hoodie and baggy pants wandered in the streets of Eggmanland, seeming listless and ignoring those around him. If anyone were to follow his weaving trail however, one would notice he was clearly heading towards the citadel of the city.

He had been through a series of rough and confusing events as of late, and after having come to his senses, he decided that he wanted some answers. Right now, nothing seemed to make sense, and his logical mind struggled to wrap itself around any of the theories that popped up in his head. All except one. And that was the craziest theory of them all.

So, he planned to sneak into the citadel and hack into the system to see if there was anything he could find. He didn't want a confrontation - just confirmation. If he was caught, he'd flee, and they would likely chase him down and so he'd get his answer either way.

A knot twisted his stomach. He wouldn't be satisfied until he could understand why Metal Sonic was suddenly running around in a body which had fooled him, and others, into thinking he was organic, and... and... befriending him.

The wind suddenly kicked up, and the figure's hood blew back long enough to expose the orange and white face of a young fox, sky blue eyes startled out of his internal musing. Quickly he brought the hood back over his face and continued walking. Although, while he was able to hide his suspiciously familiar visage behind a hoodie, pants, and boots, he couldn't quite manage to disguise his twin tails, which were intertwined tightly behind him.

[Jammerlee]

"WHOA!" a voice cried as the wind continued to kick up. Without warning a tiny black figure slammed directly into Tails, knocking both of them to the ground. Bokkun groaned, rubbing at his small noggin. The poor little messenger robo had been on his way to make a delivery when the speed of the wind threw him off course.

"Sorry 'bout that miste--" he paused, he lemony eyes growing wide at just who's face was staring back at him. "WhhaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!" he shouted, zipping into the air and placing several yard's distance between him and the young fox.

"EMERGENCY! SOUND THE ALARM! TAILS IS IN THE CITY!" he shouted, grabbing a couple of pots out of his hammerspace and banging them together loudly. He then whirled around, pointing dramatically at Tails. "You're in BIG TROUBLE!"

[Topazia]

Oh this was just peachy. He hadn't even reached the citadel before he got caught by someone - a bumbling little oaf no less - who was annoyingly familiar.

"Shut up, you!" Tails hissed, chucking his hoodie at the badnik's face without aiming and bolting for an alleyway. Time for Plan B: Run like heck until they stop chasing you, then infiltrate the citadel.

[Jammerlee]

"Oh no you don't!" Bokkun cried, dodging the garment as he tore off after Tails, hovering high enough above him as to avoid being grabbed. He was still banging the pots together.

"HEY! HEEEEEEY! HE'S OVER THIS WAY!"

[Dr. Mechano]

Up in Eggman's office, on the top floor of his citadel, everything was peaceful as usual. Dr. Eggman was seated in his luxuriously comfy chair, sipping a cup of tea and flipping through a particularly cheesy romance novel. His right leg- now in a cast after a nasty accident involving one of the base's escalators- was propped up atop the small table in front of him as he relaxed.

"Ah, what a splendid evening," Eggman remarked out loud, despite being the only one present in the room, "I do enjoy my maliciously maniacal schemes, but it is nice to take a break and enjoy a little me time every now and again."

He took another sip of tea, smiling, "It just doesn't get any better than this-" BLAAAAAAAIIIIRR~![/I] The alarm suddenly sounded, interrupting him in mid-sentence.

"Wa-ha-HA! Wh-what the?!" He glanced out the window, noticing the highly visible spotlight signal bearing the Eggman insignia against the night sky, as a fleet of Egg Flappers were taking flight through the air. He knew what that meant- There was an intruder.

He turned on the large monitor mounted on his wall, which displayed Eggmanland's current alert status. "What's this...? Tails has been spotted in my city? Well, whenever that nosy fox shows up, that annoying hedgehog can't be far behind!"

Shaking his fist at the air, Eggman yelled, "Think you can get the drop on me when I'm injured, do you, Sonic?! That's low; I can actually respect that, well played... Grrr, I mean-! How dare you, Sonic! I'll show you what happens when you take EGGMAN on!"

He awkwardly hobbled over to the door, his leg still aching a bit as he made his way through the room, heading out to the hall toward his Eggmobile hangar.

So much for a relaxing evening.

[Topazia]

An annoyed look crossed the kit's face as Bokkun continued to follow him "out of reach." Yeah, right.

With the hum of a propeller, Tails shot up towards the pesky bot.

"I said quiet!" the fox insisted, grappling the tiny badnik and covering his mouth. The next dumpster he comes across he's gonna trap the little brat inside and move on. Let's see him obnoxious his way out of that.

[Jammerlee]

"WHOOMPH!" Bokkun cried, dropping the pots as he began a mid-air struggle against his assailant. Oh right, Tails could do that! Muffled cries emanated from the fur of Tails' chest as the little badnik struggled fiercely to free himself.

And then he abruptly stopped, grabbing a bomb out from his mailbag.

ssssss.

At the moment Eggman exited his office, Metal was jetting down the hallway. Spotting his creator, the metallix began to slow down, touching his feet down on the floor and motioning to begin speaking.

"Sir, Tails has--" he paused, double-taking when he noticed the cast on Eggman's leg and blinking. "--What happened to your leg?"

[Dr. Mechano]

Eggman rolled his eyes, "...Long story. And yes! I've received the report about that interloping fox boy being spotted! Doubtless, the news of my accident was somehow leaked, and those opportunist cowards are striking while I'm incapacitated. Weeeell, it will take more than a run-of-the-mill household escalator accident to keep Dr. Eggman down!"

He glanced out of a window in the metallic corridor, observing the Flappers mobilize.

"Tails isn't usually the type to act on his own, so I suspect Sonic is here; If not others as well. Who knows? We may have an entire team of-" he cringed, "-Sonic heroes to deal with, so be on your guard and get ready for a fight!"

He continued hobbling off toward the Eggmobile hangar, calling back as he went, "I'm counting on you, Metal Sonic! Let's show them just what the Eggman Empire is made of!"

[Jammerlee]

The metallix canted his head to one side as Eggman shakily gimped off without anything to support him. Awkwardly glancing out the window, he debated with himself for a moment, before following after.

"My Liege, do you... ah..." the direction his head was tilting switched sides. "... Do you require assistance?"

[Topazia]

Dumpster Check! [dice=6]

Thanks to his superb sense of hearing, Tails heard the muffled hissing noise coming from the little badnik, and rocketed towards a dumpster he saw at the end of the alley.

The kit quickly tossed Bokkun into the depths of the dumpster and slammed the lid shut. He wasn't even able to turn around before he heard an explosion from within.

"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb." Tails said, dusting off his hands and quickly moving on. The nuisance had been taken care of for now, but now he had an alerted city to contend with. At night.[rand=8912663291555643137704594141819133475830055635142760179402984967]

[Dr. Mechano]

"Er, uh..."

Eggman looked down at his leg, which admittedly wasn't in the best shape for walking on. Turning to Metal, he spoke quietly, a bit embarrassed at his own predicament, "...sure, thanks. I just need to get to the hangar."

[Jammerlee]

"... Right then..." Metal answered, approaching the doctor. The awkwardness of the situation was practically tangible. "Er... apologies, my Liege, but in light of the emergency... this should be a lot faster..."

Having said that, the metallix lifted himself off the ground with his engine, looping his arms under Eggman's shoulders and hoisting him into the air. The duo then proceeded down the corridor at a moderate pace - at least, moderate by Metal's standards, which in fact was quite fast for most people.

A moment of silence followed as steam drifted out from the dumpster. Inside, Bokkun rubbed at his hull in a dazed reverie, trying to figure out just what the hell had just happened.

Passerbys outside would then hear very angry, very muffled yelling that was accompanied by loud banging from the inside of the dumpster.

[Topazia]

Tails continued to run, getting ever closer to the citadel. While the city's lights shined all around him, it was still difficult to see where he was going now that he was off the beaten path and flitting between alleys. Luckily, dead ends like chain link fences or tall partitions didn't pose much of a problem seeing as he could fly.

Despite the darkness, Tails looked around as he ran, clearly nervous. Aside from running into Bokkun in the first place (and being lucky enough to, ah, misplace him) this was proving surprisingly easy. Even for Eggman.

[Dr. Mechano]

"Wh-what?! Metal, wait-" ZOOOOOOM![/i] "Whoaaaah!"

After getting his bearings, Eggman crossed his arms, frowning as he was carried through the hall. This was a little embarrassing, and it was a good thing no one was around to see him like this.

[Val]

@serk@

Above the two tailed kit, standing at a window six stories up, stood a scarlet metallix staring out at the mobilising robots. His neon green eyes moved down, scanning the environment, seeing everything perfectly, despite how dark it was, and there was Tails, running for his life.

RK’s original programming, what little still worked, kicked in, telling him to get down there and capture the young fox boy and deliver him to his father; Dr Eggman…but how to get down there?

Of course! It was obvious what the simplest way down way. RK took several steps backward, pausing only to ready himself before flinging his steel body through the window. The glass shattered into pieces and flew out into the night before it and the ruby machine plummeted down into the street.

RK landed in a heap, crashing into the concrete ground, making a small crater.

After a few seconds of lying there, letting the dust settle. RK clambered to his feet and brushed off the shards of glass lodged between his joints.

“Sup Tails dude!” He yelled cheerily, “You gotta come with me, bro. Dad wants to see ya.”

[Topazia]

[dice=6]

Tails never saw the robot coming. He heard the shattering of glass, but could only assume it was part of the cacophony of the alert system. So when about 130 pounds of metallix dropped towards him at incredible speed, he only had time to register the rushing sound of air before he was smashed on impact.



@serings@ OH GOD THEY'RE EVERYWHERE![rand=0647477370836918603427307504516552466388422527580593001302532122092]

[Val]

@serk@

Why was there Gold Rings bouncing everywhere? RK grabbed as many as he could, dashing around the area until all of the Rings faded and disappeared.

Ok, now that he had the shiny things he had to take care of Tails. He grabbed the young kit by the scruff of the neck and began marching back towards the Citadel, practically dragging Tails along behind him.

When he reached the stairs, RK realised dragging Tails up there…probably would hurt. So he slung the boy over his shoulder and began running up the several dozen flights to reach the highest point. Kicking down the door to Eggman’s office, “Daddy, I got ‘im! I got the Tails dude you wanted!”

…

Where were the cheers of joy? Why wasn’t Eggman praising him?…Oh…he wasn’t there?….Crap.

With a shrug, RK turned and walked out of the office and headed to the prison cells. Hurling Tails into one and locking it, deciding to keep Tails there until he found Eggman, before running off.

[Topazia]

Along the way, the vulpine swam in and out of consciousness, but never fully recovered. On occasion he would shift slightly in RK's grip and make a noise that sounded kind of like "Gurglehghghlhl..."

But quickly fell back to silence.

[Jammerlee]

Racing through the corridors, Metal eventually began to slow down as he and Eggman began to reach the hangar. The entire time, the hedgehog metallix mused over the nature of the emergency.

Eventually reaching their destination, Metal came to a stop, gently lowering his creator and allowing him to get his bearings once back on the floor. Landing beside him, Metal remained at Eggman's side until he was sure the doctor required no further assistance. He sheepishly glanced aside, realizing that Eggman was... prooobably not happy about his having done that.

[Dr. Mechano]

Still a bit shaken from his impromptu flight across the base, Eggman grumbled, "You know, it isn't as though I'm ungrateful or anything, but you could have warned me that you were going to do that..."

He shook his head, shrugging, "Nevermind that; There's no time for our usual banter! We have a hedgehog to hunt. I'll be able to take it from here, so you're free to head out. Let's do this!"

[Val]

@serk@


The sounds of heavy, metal footsteps sprinting down corridors echoed around the top floors of the citadel as a ruby metallix frantically searched for his “father”

“Dad! Yo, daddy, where are you!?!?”

The thought to call in that he’d captured Tails hadn’t occurred to him, neither did he think to ask any of the other robots if they’d seen their creator.

He grinded to a stop on a balcony overlooking Eggmanland…..ok, think RK, think….you need to get Eggman’s attention from…wherever he is…how do you do that?

For a minute or two the scarlet robot just stood there. One hand on his hip, the other tapping his finger into his faceplate as he strained his mind to conjure some idea.

Just then a flock of Egg Flappers flew by. One, a magenta coloured flapper, was carrying a large, red ball-like bomb. And in that instant RK had his “brilliant” idea.

“Dude! Toss me that thing!”

The Egg Flapper stopped and hovered in mid air for a second before obeying the command and flying over the balcony and releasing it’s explosive cargo. The ball dropped into RK’s arms.

“Ok so, now like..back up some, k dude?”

Again, obeying, the Flapper flew back away from the balcony, hovering several meters out.

“Ok, perfect. Thanks man.” RK gave a quick thumbs up before hurling the ball bomb out into the Egg Flapper. Instantly it exploded, destroying the Flapper in a brilliant ball of fire. This would get Eggman’s attention, he was sure of it.

[Jammerlee]

Metal cringed the tiniest bit. "Apologies, s-" he snapped to attention when he spotted a bright explosion outside a nearby window. "-sssssshoot, they are in the citadel!"

[Dr. Mechano]

"What?!" Eggman shouted at the news, before addressing his right-hand robot, "Metal Sonic, take care of the intruders! I will go and take care of the situation outside!"

And with that he ran- er, walked... He moved into the hangar.

And the sight before him was magnificent. Some of his best mechs were parked here, and the doctor grinned giddily as he perused his grand gallery of gears and guns.

"Oooh," he said, clasping his hands with glee, "The Egg Viper's always a good choice. Or perhaps the mighty Egg Emperor! I could use the classic Hammer Ball, for old times' sake... No, no, no! I need something more practical."

His eyes settled on a lone mech in the corner, a grin creeping upon his face, "Perfect."

And then, a short moment later, a large mech burst out of the citadel's top floor and began to plummet to the streets below...

RUSTIC ROLLING ROBOT:
EGG SAUCER

...and began rolling forward as soon as he hit the ground, "Mwa ha ha! I knew it was a good idea to take this machine for a spin! Let's see you out-roll me, Sonic!"

[Jammerlee]

"Yes sir," Metal answered, turning as Eggman hobbled off. With a roar of his engine he raced back down the route he had just traveled, seeking to find the source of whatever had caused that explosion.

[Val]

@serk@

Waiting was boring!

This was the conclusion RK had come to in the time since blowing up that Egg Flapper. He’d just been standing around waiting for Eggman to come to him and it hadn’t happened yet. Why hadn’t he come yet? He must have heard that explosion.

Wait, what was that noise? Sounded like a turbine engine….METAL!! RK spun around on the spot and ran off to meet his big brother. He would know where Eggman was, he always did.

WHAM

All he’d seen was a flash of cobalt blue before falling to the floor. He was beginning to notice that was happening a lot.

[Jammerlee]

Tumbling across the floor as momentum continued to drag him along, all the hedgbot had gotten to see was a split second of red unexpectedly leaping out in front of him. With a yelp of "WHA--" of a thunderous crash of alloy against steel, Metal eventually found himself resting a ways down the hall in a pile of limbs.

Growling in fury, he began to lift himself up, checking for damage in his armor. He looked up toward what had gotten in his way. "YOU!" his eyes lit up angrily. "Why did you... gah... you idiot!"

[Val]

That voice. It could only be one person. Jumping to his feet, RK yelled excitedly, totally unaware of how irritated Metal was, “Big bro! I’ve been looking all over for you and dad!”

He ran over to his fellow metallix and pulled him to his feet, “So like, y’know that Tails dude that snuck into the city? I totally found him and kicked his ass! It was so easy too, I got him locked in a cell. So now I’m looking for dad to tell him about this most excellent victory! So like, do you know where he is??"

[Jammerlee]

"He is out in the city somewhere looking for Sonic... or any of his other friends if any are around," Metal grumbled as he was forcefully yanked up. Getting his balance, he waved the other metallix away from him. "I saw an explosion somewhere in this direction. Did you see what caused it?"

[Val]

@serk@

A proud laugh escaped RK, “Yeah. That was me. I figured it’d let dad know where I was. I guess it didn’t work but hey, I got your attention, right? Kay so like, I need to find dad to tell him about that fox dude but if he thinks Sonic is here somewhere I can totally put it on hold to kick s’more ass. Maybe I’ll be two for two, huh big bro?”

Of course he’d admitted he caused the explosion without ever considering that information would anger his creator or Metal. Why would it? It was a sign of his ingenuity after all, right?

“So do you have a ride or something’ cause I dunno if I can find Sonic on my own. What say you and me go double team?” The metallix asked as he scratched the back of his head even though it was impossible for him to have an itch.

[Jammerlee]

"You... caused that..." Metal paused mid-sentence, groaning and facepalming as the very thought of that threatened to hurt his hard drive. "Why does anything you do surprise me anymore."

Still, if Tails was in custody... however unlikely it seemed for RK to have been able to accomplish this... Metal couldn't help but wonder. Hide nor hair of Sonic had been seen since the establishment of Eggmanland over four months ago, and while it seemed incredibly odd for Tails to be acting on his own, what reason was there for the hedgehog or his friends to go on the offensive? Contrary to Eggman's beliefs, it seemed incredibly unlikely news about his master's injured leg could have gotten out before even he had known of it, and the other plans Eggman had currently been scheming where, at that moment, strictly between the two of them.

Something didn't add up.

He shot an aggravated look at RK. "What do you expect me to do, let you ride on my back?" Metal snapped. "Go leap out the window if you are that desperate. I am going to go interrogate Tails and try to find out what this is all about."