smash_logs | One divided by zero

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One divided by zero

Who: Zero, Knuckles, anyone who wants to be attacked by a robot
What: The newest and forcibly reprogrammed member of the Eggman Empire's way of saying hello
Where: Final Destination City
When: May 31st and onward
Warnings: Fighty fight fight

Through some rather hasty experimentation and considerable memory blocks, Zero had become an obedient - if laconic - servant of the Eggman Empire. While he was completely different in design and capability to the other Eggbots, he didn't question why. There was simply no need to. Zero had a mission to fulfil, that was all that bore thinking about.

The red reploid watched the paths into the city from the rooftops. The school in particular... all he knew of the place was that it was out of his jurisdiction. It was an unknown, and it didn't exist under Dr. Eggman's rule. That posed a certain security risk he had to keep an eye on.

From afar, there would often be glimpses of a small, humanoid figure with long hair and what looked like a horned helmet silhouetted against the skyline - but he never stayed one place for long. Some of the students may have gotten wise to the patrol routes of the other machines after curfew, but this new enforcer was subject to no such patterns. If you ran into Zero, you were in for a hell of a fight.

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Knuckles was no stranger to brushes with the Eggman Empire as of late. Frankly? He didn't know which he hated worse - the fact that everyplace was filled with Eggbots? Or the fact that it... was. Well. It was WORKING. Crime was down, violence was down. There hadn't been any riots recently. The last notable thing he knew of was Max and that one guy he still owed a punch in the gut getting arrested and released the next day.

He'd enjoyed Prom, as he did every year, and he had decided to head home a little early. There was still a sour taste in his mouth as he stalked down the street, having reverted to his Echidna form and with his rental tux slung over his shoulder. It was after curfew and SO FREAKIN' WHAT? A guy can't walk home after a school event, now? This was supposed to be a free country. And anyone who tried to tell him different was going to regret opening their mouth.

Surprisingly enough, however, he wasn't ambushed by packs of eggpawns or swarms of buzzbombers. Heck, there wasn't even a lowly caterkiller, crabmeat, motobug or coconuts.

"....I hate a cliché but it's quiet. A little too quiet."

He knew it wasn't Eggman's style to give his minions paid time off. Or any time off at all. Even on Prom night. ESPECIALLY not on Prom night - allow everyone to have a good time without any kind of hindrance? Surely not!

"So just what are you doin', Eggy? And why do I feel like I might not get the deposit back on this monkey suit..."

No sooner had the words left Knuckles mouth did the sound of robotic footfall break the silence that had made the echidna so suspicious. The noise came up from high above, at the edge of an adjacent rooftop. There was just enough time to look up to see the source of the steps push off the ledge and casually jump three stories down - landing with a resounding THUD in the middle of Knuckle's path.

Despite the distinctly humanoid form and long, flowing hair, it was definitely a robot standing in his way. But this couldn't be anything of Eggman's design - too sleek, too streamline, and admittedly rather petite. If anything, the helmet was a bit closer in model to something else...?

Unaffected by the fall, Zero stood up and stared down his target coldly. In a grand gesture of stating the obvious, he deadpanned, "You're out late."

This guy sure had the Dramatic Entry thing down.

Definitely not an Eggpawn. And it wasn't a G.U.N. Robot, either. It actually reminded him of Rock and some of the other Robots from the Capcom High Football team. And then there was that one guy at school right now - Pulseman, wasn't it? Kinda similar in design. Obviously sentient.

"Yeah. And what of it, Bub?" he asked. "You got some kinda stake in me gettin' to bed on time?"

His hackles weren't up too far, yet. Being this wasn't an Eggrobo or anything, Knuckles didn't figure he was here to enforce the curfew.

Zero narrowed his eyes slightly in response to the echidna's tone. There was no fear in Knuckles at all, despite being organic. An... admirable strength, Zero observed. This red reploid certainly wasn't as expressive as Rock or Pulseman, though it was hard to tell whether that was by limitations of design or a matter of personality.

"...Yes." There was a pause as Eggman's coding regained its chokehold on Zero's higher processing functions. With a flicker, the look in his eyes turned dead. A visible tension ran through his fingers, ready to reach for his weapon in the blink of an eye.

"By order of the Eggman Empire, you are under arrest for violation of curfew. Surrender, and you will not be harmed." By him, anyway.

Edited 2013-06-02 01:25 (UTC)

"Rrriiight..."

This was a surprise.

"Either Robotnik has SERIOUSLY been workin' on his designs or you found employment with the worst boss you coulda asked for." Knuckles replied, his brows furrowing. This was wrong, either way. He knew that the robots who looked like this (Reploids, wasn't it?) generally had free will - they were people. And people made poor life choices sometimes.

"Look, Guy, whatever he's offerin' you? He's gonna stiff you. Speaking from experience here. You turn around, let me get home and we'll act like this never happened. Sound fair?"

He wanted to give Zero a chance to back out of this.

With utter seriousness, Zero could only answer, "I can't do that."

And there was a very heavy implication in his tone that despite wanting to let bygones be bygones, he simply couldn't walk away. This wasn't just a job for him, it was a more insidious form of control. Something was wrong, but in a way that Zero could neither describe nor fight against.

A green glow began to emanate from the triangular crystal on his helmet, pulsing faintly in the darkness. Correspondingly, the mechanical seams in his palms lit up as well.

He knew there was only two ways this stand-off could go. Charging the (coincidentally named) Z-Knuckle was a precaution, and a threat. It was down to Knuckles whether he wanted to end things peacefully and surrender - but the reploid very much doubted it was going to play that way.

The word choice and tone indeed stood out to Knuckles. He was no real robotics expert. The only interaction he'd had with them was either smashing them or befriending them and really not much inbetween. But there was something there...

"You really can't, huh?" he asked, raising his fists. "Can you tell me why? He got somethin' on you?"

The green lights were a dead tip-off that this guy was getting ready to fight. So, he either got through to this 'Bot that there was another way? Or he smashed it up a little and figured out the rest later.

"One last chance to back out, man. If you need help, I might be able to give you a hand outta whatever's going on with Eggman, but if you try and fight me, buddy, you're gonna regret it."

He slammed his fists together with force - the resulting noise was more than a little loud. Hopefully that would be as good a cue as any for Zero to stand down.

"...No."

No, Zero couldn't tell him why.

No, he wasn't backing out.

No, Knuckles wouldn't be able to help him.

There was no way out of this situation that didn't involve fighting, no other possible solutions that either of them were able or willing to take. If there were no alternatives, then it was pointless to regret the inevitable. Some things were beyond the power of words. Whoever walked away from this would be the one to decide it.

Zero rushed forward, closing the distance between them. While his dash capabilities only came in momentary bursts, it was enough to render him a red blur as he moved.

"Alright, bub. You're goin' do--"

WOOSH.

Damn. This guy was FAST. Knuckles barely had time to sidestep as the red robot zoomed at him. That was a crazy burst of speed that he had definitely NOT been expecting from the reploid. He was surprised enough that he missed the opportunity to counterattack and wound up simply moving aside, his teeth clenched and his eyes wide.

"OK, so, you got some moves. I can work with that."

He took up a defensive stance, hoping to have another opportunity. If Zero was going to play it fast, Knuckles would play it defensive - It worked with Sonic (Sometimes.) and this dude couldn't possibly be as fast as the Blue Blur.

The echidna had just managed to sidestep a powerful thrust of the Z-Knuckle. The energy that Zero had been charging released itself in a powerful burst that exploded out from his palm like a blazing strike. Once he realized the attack had missed Knuckles, the combat reploid turned on a dime to re-orient himself and face his target.

The enemy had adopted a defensive stance, but there was only so much you could defend against while bare-handed - Knuckles could still be cut. And so, Zero drew his signature weapon: a beam sword with a thin, triangular blade.

Relentlessly, he came at him again, this time slashing.

This robot was just full of surprises, wasn't he? Knuckles had dealt with bladed enemies plenty of times before. But whoever built this guy got it right - he was fast and powerful. Knuckles' hands were tough, but not tough enough to deflect a blade like that so for the moment, he was stuck with crafty footwork and upper body flexibility to avoid the slashes as best as he could, his poor rental tux tossed to the side to land in a planter. He needed to be unencumbered to avoid those blows. He had the idea that if this guy landed any? Knuckles was going to wind up in hospital or worse.

Of course... that was the thrill, wasn't it? He'd been in so few fights lately that this was like a breath of fresh air. His adrenaline was pumping, heart rate rising, vision starring - hey, forget your stupid lollipop drugs. This was the real deal. The kind of natural high you could only find in combat with a worthy adversary. It felt Good.

His fists glowed momentarily before he started to swing back. He didn't want to hurt the guy past the point of no return, so, he was going to try for some body blows for now. See how well this attack focused droid could take damage before he aimed for the jaw.

He just couldn't help grinning.

Knuckles' size right now was really a boon as he managed to slip into an opening between a combo of slashes to land a blow to the reploid's chest. The sheer force of the impact threw him back, and Zero's eyes widened with some mild alarm at the disproportionate power in the creature's punch. This organic hit as hard as some of the largest reploids he'd ever fought, like...

Like who...?

His memory was a blank. Even though his body remembered the heat of those battles, his mind could access none of it. It was like a wall had been erected inside of him. The Eggman Empire was the only purpose he needed, it reminded him constantly.

The impact-absorbent vest soaked up some of the damage, enough so that his systems could compensate and redirect to preserve his combat aptitude. But sparks still flickered from Zero's torso, indicative of cracked armour.

The reploid leapt back in order to prevent Knuckles from getting a second hit in while he was still close. Once he had a bit of distance, Zero began charging his weapon again. It filled him with a pulsing light, but it still needed a moment more to reach full strength.

Knuckles wasn't going to waste an opportunity to strike while the iron was still hot, or while the bot was still sparking. He dropped into a crouch and revved in place, becoming a spinning red sphere. It took a moment, but the burst of speed it gave him hopefully made up for that and would see him collide with Zero before the Reploid was done gathering energy.

Sorry, bub - this is gonna sting.

Zero's outer casing was pretty tough - He was used to Egg Pawns that popped after one good left hook. Hopefully they could fight for a while and then Knuckles could take him to school and get him fixed up. If he broke the guy for keeps... well. They'd never get to fight again.

He zoomed forward...

Zero noticed the echidna's rapid spin attack a split second too late. He began to take another jump back, only for the high-speed spiny mammal to slam into him while he was off his balance - sending the reploid flying. Oh yeah, it stung like hell.

He crashed to the ground, skidding to a stop on the hard pavement as the electricity flew. But Zero couldn't allow himself to stay down, not in the midst of battle. System reroute. Bypass. Continue. Robots felt no pain. If their functions were damaged too far then they suffered errors and were impaired, yes, but pain was a thing of the organic mind.

So despite taking such a hit, Zero was up almost immediately. Up until the very moment his injuries were so severe that he could no longer move, he could still keep fighting.

And now? He was fully charged. Taking a hit did nothing to dispel the energy building up inside him.

Knuckles came out of the spin, landing on the same pavement though a distance away.

He's still charging? That didn't phase him as much as I woulda hoped.

He could see the sparks from Zero's chestplate and at least knew his attacks were doing some damage. The 'Bot was tough, but not invincible. Just fast, strong and durable.

"You wanna keep doin' this? For real?" he asked quickly, keeping an eye open for any launched attack. "Eggman's really got a hold on you if you're willing to get this smashed up."

....was it that, or was there something else? Did Eggman mess with this guy's code? There had been conversation about reprogramming Vivian. Shadow had volunteered to do it. Remove some of her violent tendancies. But, if Eggy was involved, probably the opposite was true. More than likely Zero had been forcibly drafted.

Still, did he really have time to worry about that stuff right now?

Knuckles really didn't. Rather than reply, Zero whipped out a buster gun and began spraying the echidna with yellow energy bullets. There was nothing less than complete determination in his eyes - once Zero had a mission, he would see it through. The risks paled in importance.

If suppressive fire was able to keep Knuckles from taking back the offensive, then that meant Zero could get in closer without risking another frontal attack. He advanced, keeping a continuous spray of bullets while conserving his stored up energy.

"Oh shi--"

That was an impressive spray of projectiles. So impressive in fact that Knuckles was hardly able to dodge them all. He felt the energy slam into his chest and sides - his nose wrinkled at the scent of singed fur. One? Two? More? He wasn't sure. But one thing he knew was that they hurt like being doused with boiling water and he had to get away from them.

So, he did what any similar mammal would do in this situation. He dug. There was a loud cracking noise followed by a rumble as he punched and bored his way through the pavement with his fists. Soon, where he'd been standing, there was just a hole, roughly two feet in diameter.

The moment Knuckles disappeared into his hole, Zero knew he had to get off the street. There was no telling where the burrowing creature would burst out of the ground, and most likely he would come out punching. He was not going to let the echidna get in a surprise attack like that.

Zero dashed over to the nearest streetlamp and, in a few deft jumps, climbed his way up in a parkour-like combination of kicks. He clung onto the pole with his left hand and held his sword ready in the other as he watched the pavement for any hint of where the enemy would reappear.

Knuckles was still, trying to feel out where Zero might be. But there was no movement from above - no, he was off the ground. And that made the Echidna worried. His plan had, indeed, been to erupt from the ground in a surprise attack and punch Zero into next week from below. Obviously he'd been anticipated, however, and Zero had either left, was flying, or had climbed something. None of these options were particularly good for Knuckles' plan.

I need to freshen up my style. Guys I never fought before gettin' wise to my moves.

He had a few other options left to him at this point but without knowing where the robot was, it was hard to say which was best. And he didn't plan to spend much time thinking on it, either.

There was another rumble from the ground as Knuckles dug his way to the surface - right through a water main. He'd noticed the sparks and electricity fly whenever he'd managed to land a hit. Maybe he could cause some kind of short circuit if the area was soaked. He burst through the ground, a torrent erupted after him. However, the water and grit in his eyes made it hard to spot where the robot was, and he didn't notice Zero up the lamp post.

Perhaps the plan might have worked against any of Eggman's robots, but Zero designed for a different sort of warfare. He'd fought incredibly tough battles underwater and continued to function at full capacity - and even though he couldn't remember the specifics, there was no hesitation ingrained in him for fear of short circuiting.

Zero spotted the bright red of the echidna through the gushing water immediately. Having just emerged from underground and likely disoriented, it was the perfect opportunity to go on the attack. He let go of the post and propelled himself towards Knuckles with a dash jump off the lamp: a mid-air strike.

It wasn't with the edge of the Z-Sabre that he was attacking with. Instead, he brought the blade down in a long arc - all the stored up energy burst out in a tall, explosive surge. While it wasn't a cutting force, it was arguably even more powerful than a simple swing of his sword.

Edited 2013-06-04 20:36 (UTC)

And by the time Knuckles noticed it, it was way too late to block or dodge. He felt the heat and impact of the strike, and felt his feet leave the ground immediately. The pain was intense and he instinctively rolled into a ball to help prevent further injury, and to soften his impact upon landing. Or, in this case, flying through the wall of a nearby building.

So. Water doesn't do a damn thing. Good to know, I guess.

No real time to lament this fact, however. He was currently buried by a small pile of bricks and an impressive coating of drywall dust. He shoved himself to his feet and lurched forward, wiping a little blood from his lip. He had to locate the 'Bot and he had to end this.

Zero ran after his target, intent on finishing this while Knuckles was down. He didn't want to kill this formidable organic creature, but if he didn't surrender, then...

He didn't want it to come to that, he really honestly didn't. But it was hard to think of an alternative - or think about anything past the mission objective that Eggman had given him. There were many things that Zero didn't understand about the city, the enemies he fought, even about himself, but he found himself unable to question why.

Cut through anyone who stood in your way. That was the only path of action he understood.

He approached the hole that Knuckles had smashed through, dust and darkness obscuring his vision. Using the glow of his sword to light the way, he searched for the echidna's form amongst the rubble.

"...This is your last chance. Give up."

Knuckles saw the robot approaching and ducked back as the light from his sword cast itself around the inside of the building. Give up? He was hurt, but he wasn't a quitter. And he could never, EVER, resign himself to submitting to one of Eggman's minions.

"I can't."

He gathered his legs under himself and dashed out to meet the robot again, swinging his fists and not pulling his punches. He still had a few tricks up his sleeve and he was going to pull out all the stops to make sure he walked away from this. Of course, he intended to help his opponent do the same - Zero was a person, and Knuckles wouldn't kill.

"I'll fight you till I got nothin' left but I can't lose!"

So that was how it was going to be - the path of the warrior. While regrettable, Zero would honour the integrity of the fighter he clashed with by giving no less than his all, no matter what end it led to.

He threw himself backwards to lessen the force of Knuckles' blows, back out onto the open street. The sword gave Zero greater reach which kept his opponent further away, but his enemy's high speed punches definitely struck faster. The Z-Sabre was now both his offense and his defense in this skirmish as both reploid and echidna had their skill and speed tested.

Edited 2013-06-05 00:18 (UTC)

Zero definitely had the advantage in terms of reach and height, but any shot that Knuckles landed was sure to do some damage. He didn't have the luxury of powering up big punches, so fast jabs were the order of the day.

"It's a shame you're one'a the bad guys. You're a real blast to fight with."

He wanted an opportunity to use his Deep Impact move. It caused his punch to explode upon impact, but it took longer than he had and required some concentration. If he could engage this guy in some banter, or make him pause for a moment... just a moment...

"You know Eggman is one of the bad guys, right?"

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