It's a fuzzy invasion.

[monotreme_101]

Who: Knuckles, Blaze and maybe Shadow a little later?
What: Oh Where oh where has our Eggsman gone? Oh where oh where can he beee~~~~ With his head so bald and mustache so long, oh where oh where can he beee~~~~ AKA Infiltrating the Egg Carrier to try and find clues as to Baldy McNosehair's whereabouts.
Where: The Egg Carrier
When: Night time.
Warnings: Probably violence against robot kind and lots of bad egg puns.

So, they'd made it to the deck of the giant airship. Knuckles left his Extreme Gear tethered to one of the many railings surrounding the windswept deck and looked around.

"Man.. this takes me back. Last time I was up here, I had to do a lot of fighting. I don't know if this time is going to be the same."

He surveyed the area - still plenty of turrets and flaps that could potentially open to reveal turrets or eggbots or any number of Badniks - Knuckles expected the ship to be armed to repel intruders. Eggman wouldn't exactly leave it here for anyone to just board without something to stop them. He was kinda dumb for a smart guy, but not THAT dumb.

"See those green lights up there? There's a door there. We have to make it along the runway, up those ramps and over that deck. Once we get there, I'll 'Knock' to get us let in."

He cracked his knuckles.

"Be careful - there's a lot of traps and potential spots for defense systems and I'm sure he's learned a thing or two since the last time I was here so, my info may be a little dated."

Comments

[vela_nova]

"I'm hoping we didn't trigger any alarms when we arrived," Blaze suggested.

A moment later, hatches started to fly open.

Robots started to pour out of doors, armed with guns and lances and shields.

They did not appear friendly.

"I might've known..."

[monotreme_101]

"Well, no-one said it was going to be easy." Knuckles replied with a wide, mean looking grin.

"It has been way, WAY too long since I got to do this!"

He launched himself forward, running at the biggest gaggle of bots, fists flying. He'd learned a thing or two since his first Adventure on this flying fortress and he was keen to show off.

[vela_nova]

Blowing away Eggman's robots was old hat for Blaze too, as she made clear when she took off like a fireball into oncoming robots, flaming kicks and punches blowing holes in her enemies.

"Remember, our goal is to find Eggman!" she shouted.

[monotreme_101]

"You're right! But I don't think these guys are the talking type so askin' 'em ain't gonna do us much good!"

His fists were a white blur as he rammed them through as many bots as he could get within striking range of. They were still slow even after all these years - Eggman needed to beef up the speed on these things.

And slowly but surely they were making their way across the deck.

[obfuskate]

Thankfully, the opportunity came for them to go at an even faster rate. A large chunk of the robots suddenly fell from an inexplicable force, one that revealed itself at the end of his Chaos Control. He stood among the smoke, eyes scanning the area proudly as he witnessed his planned carnage.

The plan was all too simple. He'd bust in there, get what he had to, and then he'd get out, his entrance and escape quick as quills. A ghost of a smirk rose, feeling just a touch conceited. His power was unmatched.

For Shadow, this was all going according to plan.

[obfuskate]

... or not.

His expression fell so, so fast, clearly dismayed by- by them. This was not on the agenda. At all.

"What are you doing here?" He timed it so that he would be here far before them! How could this be? Did they tamper with anything worthwhile yet? As long as they didn't, he could send them off and take it from here, but boy, this sure was going to slow him down.

[vela_nova]

Blaze paused at the sound of the explosion nearby, and when she had a moment to look, she turned to see what had happened.

Oh. It was Mr. Sunshine.

"We're here to find Eggman," she said, her tone making it clear she was not impressed with that condescending slant to his voice. "I assume that's why YOU'RE here too."

[monotreme_101]

"Hey man - You're early. Was gonna call you once we were inside." Knuckles said, lobbing a lance through the nearest bot, spearing it in place.

He dusted off his hands and looked at Blaze. Frankly, he was going to bring Shadow in once they'd taken care of any robots or turrets or canons. That stuff was best handled by a team, and while he knew he could work with Blaze, he had difficulty believing Shadow was going to play well with others.

"Hey - Question. You know how to fly this thing Shadow? I mean, you and Eggy worked together for a bit. He ever give you any Egg Carrier Piloting 101?"

[obfuskate]

"I'm... early."

Did Knuckles not remember what Shadow told him? Wait... did Shadow tell him he wanted to get here before them? No, no he didn't, did he? Shoot. In that regard, he had no one to blame but himself.

He groaned, annoyingly conceding defeat. He really didn't have much of a choice now.

"Hmph. I never worked with the Egg Carrier, nor did I know he had one until I'd arrived, but I could attempt it."

His eyes darted to Blaze at that moment, and he gave her a small nod, eyes thinning out at her tone. The feeling was mutual here, it seemed.

[vela_nova]

"We don't need to pilot it," she reminded them. "We just need to search it for Eggman. If we split up we can cover the ship. If he's not here, he must have left some indication of where he's gone."

[monotreme_101]

"My plan is pretty simple - if we can't find anything, we take this thing for a joyride. It will probably lure him out of hiding and it will DEFINITELY make him mad." Knuckles replied to Blaze with a shrug. "As much as I'd just love to sink this barge... I don't wanna wreck the environment wherever it lands. Plus, it's likely he has animals stowed in this thing someplace for his experiments."

He turned to look in the direction the robots had been pouring out from. There were still a plethora of them to deal with, even with Shadow's Chaos Control Hijinks and Shenanagins.

"Let's go. We still have a lot of deck to cross. Splitting up once we get inside might work pretty well. We'll stay in contact by cellphone I guess."

[obfuskate]

A strange idea can have a surprising amount of reason behind it. Granted, Knuckles wasn't quite the most intelligent animal on the block, but Shadow could see a reason for it, one that was soon uttered. Luring Eggman out of hiding was, to put it simply, the easiest way to stop what was happening. He was not going to let him get away and slip from under his nose, that was for sure.

"Excellent. That plan is solid," he admitted, giving the echidna a small smirk. For someone who didn't seem to be very bright, he impressed him. That said an awful lot. "We can rendezvous in the control room."

He didn't stick around long enough to hear their answer, as those robots were absolutely pouring out. He skated along the metallic deck and fired up a nice, hearty Chaos Spear for those little trash heaps to stomach. How about them apples?

[vela_nova]

"Agreed. Be careful. We ARE in the heart of enemy territory, after all," Blaze warned as she took off, flame kicking oncoming foes into each other.

[monotreme_101]

"Huh.... Shadow actually paid me a compliment. Damn." Knuckles muttered as he followed Blaze forward. "Must be an apocalypse tomorrow no-one told me about."

He dropped into a roll and spindashed forward, sweeping the legs out from underneath any bots that were unlucky enough to be in his line of fire. They were close enough now that some of those mounted canons were starting to sound - not the best aim on those guys so the large projectiles were easy enough to dodge.

It took a lot of work, but the door was coming closer and closer.

"Just gotta get me to those double doors and I'll smash our way in!"

[obfuskate]

Shadow took a similar route, yet he opted not to go so literally low, taking to homing attacking Badnik after Badnik to make his trip to those double doors easy. Of course, given he was getting there first, he wasn't about to wait on those two. He fired a nice, heaping amount of Chaos Energy straight at that door, blowing it wide open. Another wonderful thing about this plan: frustrating Eggman meant he had no remorse at all in blowing some shit up, as long as it didn't cause any damage to important information.

Inside laid many a path and corridor, different methods of reaching the control room and other areas spread out before them. Shadow knew the good Doctor, doubting that his design would be anything conventional and predictable. He had to take a path that he felt was least likely to have any fruit, which, given the logic behind Eggman's mind, made it the most likely. At least, that was what his analysis told him from temporary alliance with him.

"I will go for the upper pathway," he told them, sparing them only a momentary glance back. "Remember the rendezvous point!"

He then busted through, making his way down endless flashing lights, machinery, and guardian bots.

Soon enough, Sonic.

[vela_nova]

Blaze raised her hand, concentrating on the cannons training on Knuckles. Explosive shells... And she could control their flame. As the guns fired, Blaze caused them to backfire in their barrels, blowing up the cannons.

"There's your path," she called to Knuckles.

[monotreme_101]

"Right!"

He sprinted as fast as his legs would go down the alleyway created by Blaze. The doors were open now - thanks to Showboat the Hedgehog. (Damnit - he'd wanted to show off in front of Blaze by punching them down. Oh well. He'd punch other stuff later.)

He ran inside and took the path suggested by Shadow - the lower pathway. Blaze could catch him up pretty easily, and he knew that well enough. Her top speed was much higher than his.

There were a lot of panels and ports and blinking LEDs. Knuckles just wanted to break everything!

[obfuskate]

Shadow was breezing through the area in the meantime, as if the barrage of killer bots were harmless, the lot of them. As he continued though, he realized the proportions of the ship directed him for the sky deck. Great. A perilous pathway of endless pitfalls at every turn? Fun.

Whatever. He'd be fine. He had exceptional balance, evidently so by the way he easily carried himself on windy fans upward. It took some massive control to be able to do so without falling out of the trajectory of the gales and plummeting.

This would be cake. He had to wonder, would the lower pathway send them the same way or would it leave them in totally different places? Only one way to find out. He just had to go a little further. The view of the sky around them was already just a few feet ahead.

[vela_nova]

Blaze used her excellent mobility to leap around above deck. Between the three of them they could do a lot of searching, or a lot of damage. One of those.

But then she made a terrible mistake.

She looked down.

Blaze didn't like to advertise she had a fear of heights, but there it was. Oh she shouldn't have done that. Boy were they high up...

Immediately deciding that joining Knuckles was a far better idea, she took off in the path he blazed.

[monotreme_101]

His trail would be extremely easy to spot - He'd put on a shovel claw and was dragging deep, twin grooves through the walls and panels. Things sparked and flashed, and sirens were sounding. He was pretty sure most of the damage he was doing was superficial - there wouldn't be anything worth breaking properly until later.
By the time she caught him up, he was mashing his hand through a numberpad, opening a large steel door.

"See? Chivalry ain't dead - Opened the door for you and everything."

[obfuskate]

Ah, yes, upon further investigation, it did lead to the sky deck. Unfortunately, the terrain to traverse was unstable, swaying in the wind, displaying just how aged the Egg Carrier was. Nothing was broken, sure, but it was flimsy. It made walking about difficult, for sure.

Not only that, but once Shadow saw what was up ahead, he was sure his blood ran cold.

Those were a lot of Buzzbombers over there.

[vela_nova]

"I can see that... Thank you." Nope, not gonna tell him about the fear of heights thing. Nope...

"How much further do you suppose it is?"

[metalscratchin]

Buzz Buzz, motherfucker.

These Buzz Bombers were not fucking around with you Shadow.

They gave him a proper greeting. With their guns.

[monotreme_101]

"Still a ways yet - we got some acrobatics to perform."

As the door opened, it opened on a somewhat familiar scene for Knuckles - the lower portion of the sky deck.

"When his ship is in this mode, you gotta get to the main control room and all the other fun stuff by navigating this area. Lower part's easier than the upper part, believe it or not. More big support structures to get around on."

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a rope.

"Let's tie ourselves together so we don't get seperated. Trust me - it works better than you'd think."

Or so his adventures with the Chaotix would have him believe.

[obfuskate]

Unfortunately, Shadow was quite a ways up, and for him, that meant trouble. Those Buzzbombers were going insane on him, and while he was fairly adept to acrobatics, it was still a bundle of tight fits. He leaped about the metal railings and girders, flipping and twisting to avoid enemy fire. His best bet was obvious: homing-attacking his way to the end.

Yeah, easier said than done. Once he began, he felt a gust of wind rush through, mainly from the turbulence of the ship. It threw him off-kilter, leaving him careening for a nearby pole, and...

SMACK. Right in the kisser.

That was going to leave a mark.

[vela_nova]

"You're... serious, aren't you?" Blaze asked, looking down at the rope. "Won't we slow each other down like that?"

[monotreme_101]

"A little. But it's safer that way - worst comes to worst, I can glide us both to safety. Or climb us upwards if we need to get up someplace high."

[metalscratchin]

Good golly trousers those were a lot of robobugs.

Buzz Bombers used SWARM!

[obfuskate]

Oh, not good. They were wailing on him endlessly, not to mention that he'd been stunned by the smack to his noggin. Shadow grunted, trying to move in time, yet he failed. Overcome by the Buzz Bombers, he felt surprise wrack his being as he started to fall, descending down to Earth.

Well, that wasn't good. He was going to have to pull out the big guns.

"Chaos Control!"




CLUNK.

Enjoy that hedgehog face-planting at your foot, Knuckles.

[monotreme_101]

Well that was.... unexpected.

"Hey man - you uuuhhh.... you alright?"

1/2

[obfuskate]

"Nnnnhh-- yes... yes. I'm fine."

Shadow nursed the nice, big bump on his forehead as he began to pull himself up, and--

2/2

[obfuskate]

Ah.

"... What are you doing."

What was with this rope thing what. Did they plan on bungee jumping here THIS IS STUPID.

[vela_nova]

Oh. Hello Shadow. So much for handling things on your own.

"Knuckles was asking if he could tie himself to me," Blaze explained. Nope, no way that could be taken wrong.

[obfuskate]

".................................. What."

[monotreme_101]

"I think we'll all find that a good way to do this. Shadow, you want in? There's enough rope and I should have enough stamina to deal with both of you at once."

Way to make this sound MUCH BETTER.

[obfuskate]

.
.
.








"No."

He looked fully and utterly disgusted.

[vela_nova]

Blaze just rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Come on, between the three of us we'll be fine," she suggested, starting off in the previously indicated direction. She'll be fine, just as long as she doesn't look down--

Well, too late for that.

Blaze immediately latched on to the nearest piece of hull she could, heart racing.

[monotreme_101]

".....Blaze. Are you afraid of heights?"

[vela_nova]

"I'm FINE!" Blaze hissed back defensively. Yes, clearly that was very convincing.

[obfuskate]

"How believable."

Yeah, no, and the whole tying-people-up thing as soon as he fell from above was really fucking weird guys stop that why does he have 'friends' like you people.

[monotreme_101]

"You're not fine. Look at your tail."

Scared cats had puffy tails. It's a known scientific fact.

[vela_nova]

She took a look back at her treacherous tail. She gritted her teeth. "It doesn't matter! We're here to help Sonic, so that's what we're going to do! And I will NOT let something like this stop me!" she declared, more angry at herself than at them. Of all the times for her to feel weak, now when she was needed.