Gigan Mountains - Ultimate Power

[Xeric]

Gigan Mountain. Home to many oriental villages and one of Gaia's many Extreme Gear race courses. Now the crash site of the humongous Battle Fortress than belonged to the Battle Bird Armada.

Gust looked up at his legacy in flames. Numerous groups of the armada were flying around in their small ships attempting to combat the blaze and repair any damage sustained by the still unknown enemy that fired upon the fortress.



His mind was elsewhere though. Somewhere in this mountain range lay a power like no other. Not even Dr. Fukurokovs equipment could estimate it's power level. He reached into his hammerspace and pulled out the Arc of the Cosmos, the very core of the Battle fortress, and the only thing aboard that could possibly help them locate this mysterious energy.

He looked back at the cargo hold of the Fortress.

"Are you about ready, Zavodnoy? I'm not getting any younger!" he cawwed.

[Val]

From within the damaged cargo hold lay crates and steel containers strewn about like a child’s building blocks, tossed about in the crash. The darkness was pierced by a pair of bright green lights soon revealed to be part of the good Doctor’s headset. Mechanical grey wings spread wide as the ancient bird dove from his roost and floated in the air above his Leader, the ominous whirring of the engines keeping him aloft.

“Nor am I, Augustus.” Zavodnoy rasped, his voice carrying even more of a robotic twang to it as he spoke via the headset speaker, “The repair and damage control teams should be well equipped to contain the fire and begin salvage operations. I suggest we press on before anyone else gets wind of this…power source.”

[Xeric]

The Battle Lord lifted his arm towards the entrance; the Arc of the Cosmos around his wrist began to glow.

"Zavodnoy, the arc can give us a general idea of where the energy source is, but not a precise location. Any suggestions?"

He began to walk into the entrance, and turned on his torch. This wasnt gonna be as easy as he thought.

[Val]

Whirring of hydraulics and the scraping of metal was all the Doctor heard for a moment as his impressive wings folded in to allow him to land and step to his Leader’s side. “Through extensive research of the energy the Arc radiates, I’ve been able to devise a way of scanning for such energy.” Zavodnoy explained as the pair entered the cavern, “Whatever power source is hidden within the mountains repels the energy from the Arc. It is a simple matter of scanning for the Arc’s power and searching for a blind spot it cannot penetrate.”

[Xeric]

"Very well.." the Battlelord nodded as the pair proceeded into the cavern.

As they continued his mind wandered what this power source could be. The obvious conclusion was a Chaos Emerald, one of the most sort after mystical items on Gaia. Or could it be..

"I'm concerned, Zavodnoy. Would the ark react to the power of, say, a Chaos Emerald? I'm finding it curious considering the Ark of the Cosmos do not originate from this dimension.."

Augustus pushed his spectacles back up his beam and focused back on his wrist.

[Val]

Heading into the entrance to the mountain temple, several readings flashed over Fukurokov’s headset but the one he was interested in was the pulsing radar of the Ark’s energy. Sure enough, there was something inside the mountain that repelled that energy. From inside his helmet, the old bird grinned. This day would not be a loss but a stepping stone to the Armada’s inevitable victory.

“Whatever this is, old friend.” He replied, “It is no Chaos Emerald. I have studied their energy in the past well enough to where I could identify it easily.”
His massive metal wings reached out to their first obstacle; the stone door barring the way into the network of ruins that honeycombed the mountains. With a groan of effort the door began to fold inward, stone grinding against stone.



Well this sucked.

That stupid robot knock-off had dragged him into the portal and then vanished to Solaris knows where and he’d been dumped in some boring dusty ruins.
Scourge idly tossed his yellow Sol emerald into the air and caught it again as he wandered about, trying to get an idea where he was. It was an expansive cavern filled with stone walkways and some remains of temple-like buildings. The entire place was illuminated by the soft purple glow of crystals clinging to the walls. All in all though, the place seemed abandoned and for all he knew, was nowhere near anywhere.

“Tch. Just my luck.” He grumbled. “This gig better pay off.” Scourge continued to walk and complain to noone until his ear twitched. A heavy shunt as light began to spill into the cave from somewhere ahead. Quickly the green hedgehog ducked behind a pillar, peering over to see what was coming.

[Xeric]

The Battlelords arm flinched as the door slowly grinded open.

"Hmm.. the Arc appears to be reacting to the energy of.. whatever it is. We must be getting closer."

He clenched his fist in determination and excitement as they entered they ruins. Soon the world would know the power of the Battlebird Armada.

[Val]

Behind his visor scans and numbers flashed over Zavodnoy’s heads-up display. The world tinted yellow as he scanned the massive chamber the pair of birds had just entered. In the top right of his vision, a small radar pinged, showing the dark spot off in the distance where this new energy source lay…

There were two now.

Narrowing his old eyes, the owl cautiously extended a robotic wing infront of the Battlelord to keep him from pressing forward. Two blank spots. Two objects capable of blocking out his scanners.

“…I don’t think we’re alone.”

The second blank spot was much closer. In the same chamber. Turbines screeching, Zavodnoy launched into the air, swooping higher to get a better vantage point and looking about the room for where it was coming from.




Great. Juuuust great Perfect! He’d been dumped in a cave with no way of knowing where he was or how to get out and now the only exist was blocked by some nutcase flying around.

Screw it.

Diving out from behind the pillar, Scourge sprinted right for the source of light. Some tall bird was standing in his way but who cares? His body began to give off dark cubic particles like a smoke exuding from his body as he dove and attempted to glitch past and into open freedom.

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[Xeric]

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The Battlelord froze in place as he noticed the green, smokey blur diving towards his direction, the Ark of the Cosmos around his wrist giving off more and more energy as the stranger got closer. Without hesitation, Gust flung his huge out in front of his, grabbing the blur by the throat and smashing it into the ground.

"Huh.. leaving so soon? I think you have something I want, young man." he smugly grinned.

[Val]

WHAT THE HELL?!

Scourge tried to let out an angered scream but found any air trapped in his throat by a crushing grip. The sudden impact of hard stone against his back and head stunned him for a second as he coughed violently, flailing his limbs.

“Get off me you &%$#ing psycho!” He demanded in a rasping tone as he took a blind swing for the battlelord’s face.




Behind the mask the old bird was grinning. Not just at this revelation that could see their task completed all the more expediently but for how dominating Gust was. It was…a sense of pride to see the battlelord was still formidable.

Swooping down on his great mechanical wings, Zavodnoy landed on a nearby broken pillar, crouching like a vulture as the wings folded back in. The scanners didn’t lie.

“He has one of the power sources we are looking for. The same kind I detected from deeper inside the mountain.”

[Xeric]

The large grin on the Battle lords face suddenly turned into a look of determination as he stared at the Green Hedgehog struggling to get out of his strong grip.

"It appears young man, that you have something we're very interested in obtaining.. we can either come to some sort of deal.. or I can beat it out of you! he cawwed as he dodge the blind wing at his beak.

[Val]

This was a serious pain! Whatever that dumb robot was dealing with, he bet it was easier than this. Wherever he’d ended up already HAD an emerald somewhere around? He couldn’t give up the one he had, right? They were meant to be scattered.

Whatever. He wasn’t exactly going to go out of his way for the Doctor’s plan, he just wanted this loser off him. Reaching into his hammerspace, the hedgehog withdrew the yellow Sol emerald. Of course as humiliation burned him, he knew he wouldn’t leave these two to whatever they were after. Not now.



Scanners went crazy as the gem came into view. This was it, the power source. Or one of them it seemed. A jewel like the Chaos Emeralds, but different. Curious. Zavodnoy leaned closer, still crouched on his perch. His rasping tone rattled through the speaker on his armor, “An emerald…” a tingle of excitement began to grow in him. “You are not from this world, are you?”

A question Scourge chose not to answer, instead just scoffing.

[Xeric]

The Battlelord's eyes glistened at the slight of the Yellow Emerald. His attention then turned to Zavodnoy, still keeping a tight grip on the Hedgehog.

"This emerald is indeed not from this world, old friend. This.. is from the Homeland. Now I understand why the Arc of the Cosmos have been reacting so intensely to the power emanating from the emeralds here.. the Arcs were crafted from the Energy drained from them eons ago!"

His attention turned back to the silent hedgehog.

"Give me the emerald child, you have no idea what kind of Power you're playing with!"

[Tony]

Apparently, the Battlelord also had no idea what he was playing with. Neither did the punky upstart he held within his grasp.

The cavern began to rumble and growl, rocks and soot from the chamber’s ceilings fell all around, an amount and density which began to dangerously increase as the tremors began to intensify.

And then; it appeared. A gigantic mechanical worm of unforeseen proportions suddenly burst out from the ground before the intruders, hurling boulders and debris out of its way as it reared up to make itself known to its enemies, a static-filled roar reverberating off of the cavern walls.

Leering down from a mountainous height, the antennae atop the Uber Caterkiller’s spherical head blinked with such rapidity as it appeared to scan its current foes. Locking on to a favored target, the Caterkiller leaned backwards, before violently striking forward like a snake, a certain hedgehog perilously within its sights.

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