Okay, this wasn't making much sence...it seemed just about everyone in the game had been told to go find the infernal frog! If this was Sega's way of getting people to interact, it seemed pretty dumb to him!

Anywho, he was part of Chaotix, and chaotix had been given a mission to complete. It was about time they started fulfilling their objectives!

Espio ducked down, and in a flash was once again invisable. Fighting the Badniks was fun, but they just kept respawning...it seemed like nothing much more would be accomplished in the game until someone had actually got a hold of Froggy, and Vector, while putting up a valiant effort, seemed to be a little dazed after his fall.

He ran forward, past the other dueling characters, his stealth hiding him from both them and the badniks. He saw Sonic turn and run after the frog too, but the Hedgehog was visable, and it wasn't long before he was being acosted by more robots. He was dealing with them quickly, but they were slowing him up enough to allow Espio to overtake!

As he passed Vector still floundering in the watter he muttered: "I'm getting froggy now...let's get out of here!" The crocodile looked around curiously, but realised he must have been invisable.

Froggy was hopping away down a long pathway between stalls, and Espio sped after the green form, rapidly catching up with it. As he passed, he reached down and grabbed the amphibian, getting a firm hold on it's slippery skin and lifting it off the floor.

One in the eye for all the others! he thought as he ran to a safe distance. It was out of character, but he couldn't resist...

He flushed his skin back to his usual color and spun round, looking back at the chaos behind him. "Sorry all..." he called, holding the frog up for all to see, "...Chaotix wins the day."

He had planned to turn invisible again right away and charge off into the crowd, but something unexpected happened! Froggy suddenly kicked his powerful back legs, giving him a nasty jab in the eye! In pain and shock his grip on the creature's slimy skin weakened, and the green frog slid out of his grip, quickly jumping off into a nearby circus tent!

Espio cursed as he rubbed his eye. Ugh...was that embarrassing! He gritted his teeth and dived into the tent after Froggy, casting round to see if he could catch any sight of the green form...

Vector got up and tried to follow Espio, despite the fact that he was invisible. He then saw the chameleoon when he became visible again. He seemed to have hopped into a near by tent.

Vector scurried into the tent and stared at the chameleon. "Great, you didn't loose the frog did you?" He said. Before Espio could answer, Froggy hopped right onto Vector's head. The croc grabbed at the frog, btu he hopped off once mroe, somewhere else in the tent.

Vector and Espio heard some noise above them. Looking up, they saw Rouge perform a roundhouse kick on a monkey Badnik, then throw the bomb it carried at another! Jumping from the railing, Rouge glided overhead to the other side of the room, aiming to fight another one! In air, she shouted at them, pointing to Froggy, "they're after the hopper! Hurry up and get him out of here, I'll cover you!"

Rouge was surprised at her own behavior! "Hey...I think I'm getting the hang of this!"

Last she had seen, the others were making their way in this direction, also aiming for Froggy! This was a big, confusing mess!

As she fought several more Badniks on the ramparts of the circus tent, she got slammed by a vicious attack! "Aaah!"

"Outta rings, and no time to get more!"

Using the moment she had, she finished off the Badniks near her, feeling the satisfaction of revenge! This was a rush! She really didn't notice the injury on her arm as she charged forward again, trying to be more careful this time...

Froggy slipped out of the tent in the confusion between Espio and Vector, and he hopped out into the main sidewalk thoroughfare of Station Square's park. It didn't take long for the Badniks to detect the frog, and all of the undamaged Badniks glowed in their eyes as they focused on Froggy.

But a certain blue blur whizzed by the Badniks and tried to get a grip on the bouncing frog, but the amphibian's slick skin made it impossible to get a proper grip on. "What the-?!" yelled Sonic as Froggy slipped free and managed to hop into a nearby pool, swimming much faster than he had ever done in any of the games he had been featured in before.

"Sonic!" shouted Amy as she whirled her hammer around, smashing another Badnik aside to allow her to run over to Sonic along with Knuckles. "Did you get him?"

"Not this time," said Sonic, frowning. "Man, it's like they don't want us to catch him or something!"

"Hold on Froggy, I'm coming!"

A loud splash later, and the large purple cat known as Big had thrown himself haphazardly into the water, his bulk somehow allowing him to swim more easily than what could be rightly expected. A weasel, also purple in hue, was nearby, keeping a wary eye on Sonic and the others as well as the Badniks that were also making their attempts to reach the frog first. "Go for it, big guy!" shouted the weasel, pulling out his handgun and popping off a shot that felled a Badnik. "I'll cover ya!"

"You're not the only ones after that frog!" shouted Vector as he and Espio came rushing out of the tent.

Amy's head nearly felt like spinning from all of the different players coming from each different direction. Are we supposed to be fighting each other, or working together? she wondered, thinking critically about the situation. I mean, the objective was just to get Froggy...if we could just corner him, maybe-

"Amy, look out!"

At Knuckles's deep-voiced warning, Amy raised her hammer to deflect a laser burst that had been aimed for her, and she swung her hammer in a mighty arc to smash down the flying Badnik that had tried to shoot her. "Thanks!" she said sincerely as she then jumped past Knuckles to smash another Badnik that tried to ram into Knuckles from behind. "Knuckles, I think you can swim; do you think you could reach Froggy?"

"Maybe, but-"

"BWA HA HA HA!"

The Badniks all suddenly changed direction and began to retreat; not even Omega, his arm's gun barrels blazing, could stop them all. The aerial Badniks however, flew up toward a single point, and Amy looked and saw that while she and Knuckles had been fighting, and while everyone else had been struggling for the center of the pool, a metallic claw had dropped down from above, gripping a special jar that scooped up Froggy and raised him high above everyone's heads.

And attached to that claw...floating in the air like a bulbous shiny orange-mustachioed lump...

"Eggman!" shouted everyone almost at the exact same moment.

"Brilliant observation! What was your first clue? The villainous laugh? The flagrant mustache? The fact that I've outwitted you again while taking this first step toward conquering the world?" asked Eggman, peering down from his round Eggmobile through those thick blue shades of his, his red and black uniform standing in contrast to the silvery and yellow vehicle.

"Yeah right, Eggman!" shouted Sonic, pointing up at the madly-grinning human scientist. "Put the frog down!"

"Not likely, hedgehog! I need this frog to start off my most brilliant scheme ever, and I'm not about to let you or any of your friends get in my way this time!" Robotnik stood imperiously and gestured toward the far end of the park. "And to make sure you won't be able to follow me to my new secret base-"

He was cut off by the sound of gunfire from Omega, but the scientist barely flinched as a protective forcefield rose up around the Eggmobile. "Primary target Eggman, detected," droned the robot.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," continued Eggman, ignoring the white flash of energy and the constant slamming of bullets, "I've prepared a little friend to keep you company while I make my getaway! Come forth!"

With these last two words of command, Amy saw a small building collapse across from the park, and a gigantic robot rolled forward on a massive spiked steamroller wheel. It was red and yellow, with alternating stripes of yellow and black to indicate danger, of which this robot seemed to have plenty of. It was at least five stories tall, with gigantic shoulders each bearing a large cannon turret on top. The robot's arms were connected to the front steamroller wheel, and its "legs" ended in a series of smaller studded wheels meant to propel it along. Its wide chest was pocketed with lots of holes, and it had a vaguely-recognizable face, its large almost cartoony eyes leering down at the collected crew as it rumbled across the street toward them.

Thank goodness all of the bystanders have left, thought Amy as she tightened her grip on the Piko-Piko Hammer. But are we supposed to fight that monster?

Then, another signal rang out to her out of nowhere. "Find Froggy: canceled. New objective: defeat mini-boss and track down Eggman."

"So long, hedgehog! Do enjoy my little toy!" laughed Eggman as he flew off and away with the jar, Froggy still struggling inside of it.

Amy could see, superimposed onto her vision, letters that came together to form the words:

"Looks like we'll have to fight this thing!" Amy said out loud, her heart beating fast as she realized how absolutely huge and impossible this seemed to be.

And all the more impossible it seemed to be as the holes in the Doomsday Roller's chest shot a barrage of missiles out at them, and everyone had to scatter to get out of the way.

OOC: Now, time to introduce our bad boy here along with the Boss Fight System. If you feel you don't want to know the weaknesses of this mini-boss so you don't "leak it" to your characters, then don't read this. What I want though is for everyone to work together to fight this thing - this is too big a boss for any single character to handle alone. Be imaginative in how you fight this thing, no one-shot kills of course, work it out with others how you might attack this thing. Let your characters have the fun experience of forming strategies and working together against a common threat! But don't be afraid to RP who they decide to work with either - maybe out of this will be formed the "teams" that will work together for whatever common goals they might have!

Name: Doomsday Roller

Personality/Strategy: Big and dumb. This is a dumb robot. It will try to do its best to crush and destroy the characters,

Powers/Weapons: This sucker is big, it's got a spiked steamroller wheel that will do lots of crushing/piercing damage, twin shoulder energy cannons that will do moderate burn damage, and missiles which will do moderate blast/burn damage. The gun turrets on the shoulders can aim completely around the robot while the missiles can hit within a certain arc in front of itself, and the roller of course can only hit head-on. Its armor is also thick enough over most of its body that only very powerful attacks at point-blank range could really do damage, of which most of the characters do not have.

Disadvantages/weaknesses: Though it can make sudden forward dashes, the Roller is unable to turn around quickly, and like most of Eggman's robots it's got the aim of an Imperial Stormtrooper. It could potentially be disabled at certain joint points if the characters try to aim for them, but this will work only if the Roller is distracted from the characters attacking the joints. The joint points are; the small rear wheels (at least half need to be taken out to reduce performance, 75% to disable it effectively), the "wrist" joints connecting the arms to the front roller, shoulder joints (disabling these would also disable the turrets)

These system messages were beginning to get annoying.

Oh well, right now there were bigger fish to fry...or rather robots. Espio darted forward immeadeately, straifing as he ran to avoid weapons fire. Most bosses on Sonic games had some kind of a pattern to them, and if he could work that out he'd be fine.

He launched a few stars as he ran. They bounced harmlessly off the robot's tough armour, but were sufficient to distract it slightly. He quickly ran in and jumped over the robot's spiked roller, slamming a fist into the body of the robot as hard as he could and letting the momentum bounce him backwards.

Pain exploded through his hand and he cried out! This thing was armoured like crazy...he hadn't even made a scratch! He laded on the floor in front of the Badnik, holding his hand and gritting his teeth. "Dang!"

Suddenly there was a loud BANG, and looking up, he saw a clump of missiles launch from the behemoth's chest, blasting towards him! He had no chance to move before...

The resulting explosion threw him clean across the road, impacting on a nearby building and cracking the masonry as he hit! Rungs went flying everywhere, and as he collapsed to the floor, his world was spinning! Ugh, that hurt!

Slowly he picked himself up, looking at the mighty beast ahead of him. His rings had dissapeared by now...he could do with finding some more. Also, it looked like this gargantuan robot was way too tough for him...maybe that's what this was all about! They had all been drawn together so that they would work together to take the beast down! He wasn't keen on the idea...somehow he would have fancied all the glory himself...but he could see the potential in it, it could be interesting!

He quickly became invisable again as he looked round for more rings. Better to be safe than sorry. He soon spied some on the pavement down the road and darted over to pick them up, then he spun round, looking at the others to see if they had anything in mind as to how to combat the Badnik. If they didn't, he was beginning to form some ideas himself...

(OOC: Just getting into character here, and also demonstrating the uselessness of a solo attack^^)

As Knuckles stood by, watching the futile attack on the rather abominably large Bot trundled on, two words kinda fell from his mouth with a growing sense of dread.

" Oh....Crap. "

He looks around at Amy, Sonic, and Tails...

" Okay, any of you guys got something good to use against this thing? " He looks back over his shoulder with a frown.
" Cause the power of the punch alone ain't gonna do squat here... "

Seems like the first thing needed to do first was to gather the active players an' somehow disable this hefty hunk of tin - There just HAD to be something there.

~TBC~

Knuckles, your strength lies in your mighty fists, so maybe you can do some damage to it through there! And Amy, I dont how powerful exactly your hammer is, but Im betting it can do some solid damage as well! Sonic said, eying the enormously huge robot.

What about us, Sonic? How are we going to get so close to that thing? Tails asked, hovering up and down slightly as his two tails continually spun to levitate him.

Tails, how about you airlift Knuckles up so that he can hit him high, and Ill take Amy round the back of it so we can see how effective hits are from behind him? Sonic suggested.

And after were where were meant to be, you two are going to distract it? Amy asked, slightly fearful for Sonic while mentioning it.

You know it! Were fast and manoeuvrable enough to stay out of the way of it, Ill be literally running circles around it! Sonic exclaimed, whipping out a genuine smile. Then we crack that Eggman wide open!

Heh, lets do it. Knuckles said, slightly more confident now that they actually had a plan.

Right! Sonic said, moments before his body came and blur and from the spot he was once at, he was now in Amys place, with Amy having been lifted up into the blue hedgehogs arms. Tails had started to ascend higher and his hands outstretched to grab Knuckles supporting him before airlifting him up higher to face the unfathomably huge boss from the front.

Sonic had once again disappeared, leaving nothing but a trail of smoke as the group of four heroes had all left their spots and were now busy on executing their plan into action, behind them were the erupting blasts of the badniks chest fired missiles. Although the other heroes, who were facing the Doomsday Roller couldnt see them through the large badnik, the two hedgehogs once again reappeared in a concise image and form, stopping behind the unaware machine.

Hopefully he wont notice you here, Amy, Sonic said, trying to reassure her as he let her down from her arms. Since me and Tails should keep him busy, but if this creep does, make sure you move out of here quickly. Or, at least scream or something so that Ill know youre in trouble and pick you up in a flash. Amy nodded slightly, and with that Sonic raised a thumbs up. Dont worry about this, weve faced things like this a billion times before in the past. If Eggman thinks he can beat us with only something like this, hes got another thing coming!

R-right Amy spoke, but was unable to continue as Sonic once again vanished, leaving to complete his part of the mission. Amy looked up, she was right behind the giant mechanical monster, and could barely see the full top of him, coated in the machines shadow. Good luck

He phased into appearance again, the blur disintegrating eventually and with it Sonic regained his form in front of the Doomsday Roller. Hey, ugly! Sonic called out, trying to address the badniks attention. Wanna see if you can hit me? The cocky hedgehog asked, ready to disappear once more.

Although the boss first assault was a general assault to everyone, Sonics loud shouting did not go unnoticed, and its sensors and scanners identified the enemy before him. Of course, the person in front of him was a figure encrypted into all badniks files as a necessary priority to destroy, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Another missile loaded into its chest compartment, before firing, aiming directly in an arc towards Sonic. But the descending missile was much too slow to actually hit Sonic, by the time the missile had hit the area and exploded, Sonic was all the way on the other side of the street, this time wildly waving his arms around to regain the machines attention.

Yo, slowmo! What do you call that? You think you can hit me with something wimpy like that? Sonic once again shouted out, all in the effort to maintain the machines attention.

Tails ascended into the air, carrying Knuckles by hooking his arms under Knuckles' armpits. "Alright, Knuckles! Let's see just how high we can go!" Tails motored his famous tails faster, and Knuckles frowned. "And what then?" "We figure something out!" Tails said, cheerfully. They were distinctly high over the robot by now, so Tails gave Knuckles a warning shout. "Ok, get ready! Here we go!" Tails let go of Knuckles, then motored to in front of the bot's sensors. "Nyah nyah nyah nyah NYAH NYAH!" Tails cried in a slightly out-of-character taunt, then was suddenly thrown several yards as missles came out of nowhere and blasted him. "Yaaaaah!" Tails fell to the ground, rings flying everywhere. He had no time to collect them, however, as the giant machine had fired yet more missles.

"Look at all those Eggman's missl-" Tails quickly clamped a hand over his mouth. "I know I did not just try to say that... Oh well." Tails leaped to his feet and motored away with Sonic, er.. Tails speed. It was up to Knuckles, Sonic, and Amy until he could get more rings.

Vector stared in aw at the large machine. He snapped out of his daze quickly, as a bunch of missles headed his way. He quickly did a ground pound to propell himself above the missles and out of the way.

He stopped for a brief moment and then charged towards the large machine. "Here we go!" he said as he attempted to attack the badnik head on. He was hit by another assult of missles on the way.

The large croc flew backwards and his rings went flying.
He landed, in pain. Maybe that wasn't one of my best ideas, he thought to himself. He too eyed the nearby rings and quickly ran towards them.

Well, the thing was uberly tough, but it didn't really seem that dangerous. It looked too slow to press the advantage against one of the group when one of it's attacks hit, and it kept getting destracted by others anyway.

Espio ran forward again, still stealthed, and jumped over the massive spiked roller, this time streatching his hands wide to land on the robot's flat chest. He attached himself, quickly shifting his initial grip to avoid any of the missile tubes, and hung suspended from the robot's front. He had no idea if the robot had some way of detecting him...pressure sensors or what...but Sonic and Tails were doing a good job of destracting it anyway.

He began to crawl over the gleaming surface of the monster, looking for any weakness in it's tough shell...

Nack had already reacted upon the visual sight of the large robot. He had relaoded his gun after he gave decent cover to Big and scaled a nearby ladder. The cold steel was mentionable. But if he didn't want to fall with this building he had to get to the roof before the robot bulldozed it into nothingness. He snorted as he thought of such. Nack's smug personality seemed to still be there.
Upon the reaching of the roof, Nack saw the robot comming at the heroes, he aimed at the robot's head and fired.

What a day.

Omega slides where Sonic, Tails , Knuckles and Amy are and helps by shooting at the big Robot to distract it.
"Giving aid to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy." Says Omega loud enough so they could hear him.

Espio had by now reached the robot's neck, and was hanging from it, looking round. The behemoth hadn't detected him yet...a good thing!

He had thought about trying to attack the Badnik's face, but now that he was here he could see that it was just as well armoured as the rest of the bot. Nothing doing there. Even the neck had thick metal plates around it, attached at the top and hanging down over the wiring, blocking it from attack! Robotnik had sure thought of everything with this baby!

He clambered up onto the robot's shoulder, next to one of the large energy cannons. The barrel of the cannon was swiveling independantly, firing bursts of energy at the heroes down below.

It was a great vantage point from up here, but it wasn't particularly useful...

PING sparks flicked off the metal by his feet! He looked up in shock to see Nack the Weasel stood up on top of one of the buildings taking pot shots at the robot with his gun! Espio was still invisable...he couldn't see him!

The chamelion quickly reverted to his normal color, raising his hand at Nack in an annoyed gesture. The weasel seemed supprised by his sudden appearence, but just grinned cheekily. Apparently he didn't particularly care how close he'd come to shooting one of his allies...at least, allies for the moment.

And dang, it WAS close! Espio looked down at the small scratch mark between his feet, narrowing his eyes...

...then suddenly his eyes flicked across to the base of the energy cannon next to him. He'd spotted something! The join between the main body of the robot and thearm leading down to the spiked roller wasn't armoured! The gap was barely a hairsbredth...since it was static, immobile, it could be closed tight, and apparently the old Egg hadn't thought anything could get in there...

...but maybe something could, something thin and sharp...like a ninja star...

He whipped one out and knelt down, forcing the star into the thin gap and pressing hard. There was a crackling noise, and a few sparks jumped out of the gap!

He robot's massive head swiveled round to face him, it's red eyes fixing on hin angrily! Espio looked up, his eyes wide. "Uh oh..."

Without warning the robot suddenly charged forward, jerking Espio off balance and knocking him over! The gang in front of the bot barely had tine to scarper as the beast roared past, impacting on a building with a CRASH and knocking a hole in the wall! Espio, already off balance, was thrown forward at the decelleration, hitting the wall and dropping a full five storeys to the concrete floor!

Somehow, hemanaged to stay consious for a moment. He watched the robot slowly backing away, expecting it to charge forward again any moment and crush him under the massive steamroller wheel, but fortunately Tails, still flying in the air, flew up to it's face again, distracting it once more.

His vision blurred, but as he watched he saw Sonic running round the front of the machine after jumping out of the way, and with a weak voice he called out: "Sonic..."

The hedgehog spun round. "Yo dude, you don't look too good!"

"I...think...I think I know a weakness..." Espio groaned, having trouble with his words, "...but I...dunno...how we could...use it..."

Blackness engulfed him and he lost consiousness...

(OOC: Up to anyone if they do anything here or not. I figure he'l regain consiousness again eventually, but he may be helped by someone dragging him over to a ring...hrm hrm...

but yeah, leave him to rot if you prefare lol^^)

Omega notices the unconcious Espio and scans he had lost his rings then decides to help him, he slides to him and picks him up carefully not to hurt him, he rapidly looks around and sees some golden rings, he slides to them and puts him over one ring, maybe that way he could show Espio he can be trusted.

OOC: Howdy Everyone.

I know that much earlier on i said that i was interested in joining the RP, and i also know that i have yet to post anything, but a lot has happened to me over the past lot of weeks, including family related issues, relationship distress (which is now thankfully solved) and of course, the terror of my exams, and all the preperation involved for them.

I am still interested in this RP and i would love to make a post as soon as i can, but i'm afraid there will be even more waiting required on my part, because my exams start this week, and run for two whole weeks. As you can imagine, i will be busy studying and preparing myself for next year, which will be my final year of highschool, and the year which will ultimately determine whether i have what it takes to get the career that i want.

I'm sorry for disappearing for so darn long and not telling anyone anything, but i've literally been so damn busy that i've never had a moment to explain myself properly. I've had too many other things to concentrate on, that posting up an explanation here got pushed aside often. i apologise everyone, but please understand that what i am going through is difficult to manage, and although i dont want to give up on any Roleplays, i do not want to be hindered in my studies, so i will need to spend yet more time away from the board.

i will be reading everything that has transpired in my abscense in the roleplay once i am able, so i will definitely make sure i know what is going on before i post anything.

Thankyou for your time everyone.

Note - Just having a small trouble dealing with how to approach the bot at the mo', heh - given it's been a good year or so since being immersed in RP, it's expected. Oo

I'll see if something comes up the next couple of posts I can use, 'cause forcing ideas never works!

<Thumbs up> Keep it up, you guys are great!

The battle against the Doomsday Roller continued, as the area around them continued to be a devastated area of rubble and ruins resultant of the wayward multi-shot missiles. Not only did the heroes now have to stay clear of the blast radius of the missile explosions, but from falling debris everywhere around, as chunks of buildings, and buildings themselves, began to collapse.

Up in the air, Tails continued to not only distract the Doomsday Roller, but offer assistance to Knuckles by catching him, re-lifting him higher in the area, and then throwing him again. What would end up happening was a pattern of Tails lifting Knuckles high enough, throwing the red Echidna to allow him to glide to the giant machine, and then once Knuckles had reached the metal monster, he would try his best to smash the machine to pieces, slamming giant fantastic power punches against the monsters metallic hide. It was working to some degree, there were small crevices being dealt into the machine, but for all intents and purposes, it wasnt as helpful as was desired. It caused minimal damage, but not enough to truly deactivate the thing.

Once Knuckles would have lost momentum by continually smacking the thing, he would fall downwards, only to be snatched back up by Tails to allow the process to renew itself again. It was a constant cycle, continuing in the hope that it would prove a satisfactory result and to defeat the machine. Perhaps it would eventually in time, but for now, nothing.

This isnt going to work! Sonic mentally shouted to himself, as he shifted from spot to spot, his tremendous speed constantly enabling him to avoid the various machines weapon fire. Espio said he had a plan, but hes down for the moment, at least until Omega helps him. Between now and him awakening, well need a plan to make sure that this thing stops moving! Sonics eyes suddenly widened as an idea sparked in his mind. Perhaps making the machine not able to move would be a good first strike!

Sonic finally vanished once more, setting off into sonicspeed as he started his plan into action. He quickly reappeared behind the Doomsday Roller, but only for a short enough time to pick Amy up and vanish again, dropping a safe distance away from the machine. When they came to a concert image again, Amys expression was filled with surprise.

Sonic, what are you- Amy began to say, but Sonics quick speed cut her off.

Canttalklonghadtomoveyououtoftheway,youllsee. Was all the blue hedgehogs reply before he disappeared again, leaving a perplexed pink hedgehog behind.

A blur suddenly started to form around the base of the Doomsday Roller. A never-ending circular blue blur, continually moving around it. For those around him, who were trying their best to slow down the machine, they managed to note the blur and assume it was Sonic, but as for what he was actually doing, they couldnt say, instead looked on incredulously.

The whirlwind-esque image stopped, as the blur broke out from his circular path and began sprinting up the side of a building parallel to the machine, the same building as Nacks.

Tails! Sonic shouted out, slowing down enough to keep going and not break momentum, but slow enough that he was more clearly visible as he continued ascending the building. Tails at this time had just recollected Knuckles and was beginning to throw him at the Doomsday Roller again until Sonic called him. Tails turned to look, surprised at the shout.

Sonic? he shouted back in reply.

Tails, I want you to fly as high as you can and throw Knuckles up as high as you can in this direction! Sonic shouted back to the two-tailed fox. Tails wasnt sure just what Sonic was planning, but if it was something that could defeat the machine, it was worth a try. He began to do as was said, flying higher whilst lifting Knuckles.

Tails, have you got a clue as to what hes thinking? Knuckles asked him, but he received no reply. Tails was silent, his teeth gritted as he pushed himself to carry Knuckles weight and to fly as high and fast as he could, all the while Sonic was sprinting up the side of the building.

Their conversation hadnt gone unnoticed. The Doomsday roller had identified them, and one of his shoulder mounted cannons swivelled into target, aiming towards the building with Sonic running upwards, however unable to hit him as every target he once had vanished through the blue hedgehogs speed. Instead, there was random, incoherent shooting which destroyed parts of the building, but never hitting Sonic.

At the same time, those left on the ground could see something was needed to draw attention away from the shooting at Sonic and to buy him time. Vector, having collected suitable enough rings, did his best to attract the machines attention, whilst Omega not only tried helping Espio, but fired some bullets from his arms at the machine as well.

Eventually, Sonic had reached the height of the building and zoomed past it, the momentum he had picked up flinging him high enough in the air to catch massive air. On his speeding past the top of the building, hed almost hit Nack, who had only managed to back away just slightly so as not to get hit, and then dodged by jumping to the right when a stray shot from the Doomsday Roller aimed his way.

Now, Tails! came a loud shout.

Tails, straining and pouring on more and more effort received the call, and then lifted his arms up high, his whole body in a way turning around as he lifted Knuckles form up and threw him as best as he could, the red echidna soaring into the sky, towards a distant blue figure also high in the air. Once Tails had completed his mission, he began to slowly drift and fall, tired and expended from such a feat and coming towards a landing on the building Nack was on.

Meanwhile, the scene in mid-air continued. Knuckles had made his body as slipstream as possible, shooting through the sky and air towards and ever-growing figure who came into his focus. A blue hedgehog coming towards the peak of his speed; Sonic. Knuckles speed would have almost made him zoom past Sonic, but Sonic quickly stuck his hand out and grabbed Knuckles, turning around in mid-air, both of them away from the ground and battle below towards the sky, continuing to move in an arc.

During this brief lull and sense of peace from the battle, Knuckles spoke up and asked the question he had been wondering. Sonic, what are you planning?

A raise of a mouth. A broad grin, and the reflection of the bright sun on his lips. As powerful as this guy might be, how about we ground him completely?

Knuckles looked slightly perplexed for a moment, confused. But suddenly, realization dawned upon him, and he nodded. Gotcha.

The arc continued, and slowly came to an end. The two heroes both now faced the ground and increasing battle below them again, explosions shooting up continuously. And it was now, the last stage of their plan was performed. Sonic let go of Knuckles, whose momentum continued so that the red Echidna was now hurtling downwards from the high sky towards the ground below at the speed of a jet, aiming right for the Doomsday Rollers head. Knuckles continued to make his body slipstreamed to increase speed and force, whilst Sonic himself spread his body out, slowing his descent, aiming for the same building Nack and Tails were on. Although the plan hadnt been completed yet, it seemed as though nothing could stop it.

In as short a time as possible, Knuckles had reached the battleground once more, exiting the slipstream form and pulling back both fists clutched together tightly, aiming for the top of the metal monstrositys head. Right before the last moment, Knuckles swung his mighty powerful fists, and the culminate force of them, and the speed from the drop from sky resulted in something extraordinary.

The machine was pushed deep into the weakened ground (created by Sonics rapid whirlwind-esque technique earlier, when actually he was speed eroding the ground) from the force which created a tremendous effect, almost as if the Doomsday Rollers head was forced into its body. In fact, the whole machine was sunk deep into the ground at around two-thirds of its body, and smoke and dust poured out as a result of the incredible manoeuvre.

The Doomsday Roller was virtually sunk into the ground partly, barring its ability to move and to use its chest and roller weapons. Knuckles had managed to (from the jump back from hitting the robots head) glide and land on the solid floor next to Vector (both exchanging a thumbs-up as a result), and Sonic managed to land comfortably on the building next to Tails and Nack, who looked over the side of the building in awe at the incredible display.

Woah. Tails stated.

The Doomsday Roller hadnt been completed defeated as of yet, its shoulder mounted cannons were still sufficiently active and it was still operational, but the procedure had managed to effectively take out some of the other weapons and ground it from completely moving. Espio had mentioned he might have an idea of a weakness, and this; this was something necessary just to buy time.

The explosions from the missiles had ended, and for a short time, there was silence in the air other then the loud constant booming. All of that would change shortly, but for now it was a welcome reprieve.

(OOC: Sorry for use everyone else's character, but I want to move it just slightly whilst still involving other's characters. Hopefully something like this is okay.)

As the chaos energy from the ring began to flow through his body, Espio's world returned. He could feel the pain slowly subsiding, and injuries inside repairing themselves. If was a curious feeling...!

"Are you okay?" grated a metallic voice from right next to him, and he would have jumped out of his skin, had he had the energy...as it stood he was too tired to even flinch.

He opened his eyes slightly and slid them to the side, meeting up with the glowing red pupils of Omega. Slowly he took a deep breath, wincing slightly as his chest protested at the movement, but he swallowed hard, and, thanks to the ring's regeneration, finally found the energy to sit up.

"Rings..." he muttered, looking round at two more of the glowing shapes spinning nearby. He glanced back at Omega, a slight smile on his face. "Thanks."

"You are welcome, however we have more pressing issues at hand."

Espio blinked and turned his head, supprised to see little more than the head and the shoulders of the Doomsday Roller poking out of a large hole in the tarmac of the road! He opened his mouth to ask a question, then decided not to bother and closed it again. He reached out to the two other rings nearby, feeling a tingling sensation run up his arms as their energy flowed through him, restoring his strength enough to stand. They'd have to be careful in the battle from now on...the ring supply in the area was running dangerously low!

"Okay, let's take this beast down." he muttered, his normal standoffish, serious attitude returning. He ran forward, joining the others who were dodging about trying to avoid the lazer blasts from the Roller's shoulder cannons.

Amy looked up as the chamelion returned, Omega close behind. "Espio, didn't you say you had a plan to kill this thing?"

Espio narrowed his eyes as he dodged a lazer blast that burned a hole in a car behind him. "I said I had an idea for a weakness, not a plan." he replied. "I don't know how we could exploit it. The shoulder joins aren't armoured...they may be vounerable somehow, but only something very small or very thin could get in there, plus those shoulder cannons can protect them."

"So what are you saying?"

"If we could find people who could attack in those confines...I could, and, I dunno, maybe Nack's bullets or something...maybe we could take it appart, but distracting the lazers wouldn't be an option. When I tried to do something it caught the bot's attention big time,,,whoever was doing it would have to be shielded somehow, or be able to dodge..."

Rouge stepped out from behind a corner. "I'll do it."

Back in Sonic Adventure 2, her boots ended in narrow, heart-shaped metal tips, and her legs were amazingly strong. As such, it was the ability to deal vicious damage with her legs that she was thinking of when she volunteered.

Nack snickered for a bit, as he looked at the damage the robot had caused thus far. Destruction never looked so beautiful. He rubbed his nose a little bit, before quickily going to the game menu and parting with the party he was in. He grinned mentally, and then leaped to another building, and landing smoothly.

He was in quite a far distance from the robot, and he blinked as he saw something before him.

It read; "TUTORIAL"

Nack clicked cancel but took the item that was on the floor of the roof. It apparently was a short, fiber scope. With red glass, and a slick feel to it. He grinned and attached it to his handgun. "Scope. Heheh." he snickered once more and looked at the robot before leaping to another building; away from the group.

There was no reward from defeating this peice of clank.

Knuckles looks in the direction of Rouge, and gives a small look of concern.

" You sure you wanna go through with this?"

The bat would shoot him a wholly confused glance.

" I mean alone - If y'need some help out there, I'm itching to go out there and do a little something myself...I've been hanging back here too long as it is. "

With that, he'd walk toward rouge.

" Looks like we'll be on the same side anyhow...so there isn't a problem to be had here."

Rouge folded her arms, closing one eye and stepping sideways. "Hmm, if I let you help me, then I'll owe you again..." She snapped her fingers. "I know! If you'll cover me, then I'll promise to not try to steal your big jewel!"

Without waiting for a response from him, she turned to Espio. "Hey, that was awful brave what you did before. But you should keep your distance and be careful this time; you're badly hurt. Let us take a turn!"

Turning to the Doomsday Roller, she bent her knees, ready for action! "If that's settled, then let's get this show on the road!"

She charged forward, focusing in on her target.

(OOC: I'm really sorry, everyone, for my dissapearence. I was half way through updating RPs on Saturday when my internet imploded, and it's only just been fixed now! Sorry for the delay, but now I'm back and ready to rock )

IC:

Espio snorted slightly. "Keep my distance huh...?" he repeated.

No chance, he wasn't missing out on this action! Besides, he was one of the few that could get into the bot's shoulder-weakness!

He shifted his skin color again, becoming invisable, and began to weave forward close behind Rouge. As he did he noticed her extra clothing, and almost burst into hysterics then and there, but he swallowed hard and concentrated on the matter at hand.

He could see the star he was using before, still poking out of the crack in the beast's armour. If he could get to it and fiddle about a little more...

"I will give aid in your plan too Espio, I think the pointy ends of my clawed hands can penetrate the shoulder joints if I slowly dig them in." says Omega following Rouge and Espio

OOC: Sorry I've been inactive...... just been out of ideas.
IC:
Vector sighed. It was obvious that he was too large to be of much service, so he simply continued to dodge atacks, as he watched ROuge approach the machine.

OOC: Great job folks, got some fine creative work done here. Now let's get to the finishing touches. Sorry that I haven't posted much, hopefully this can begin to make up for it.

IC:
The Doomsday Roller let out a low, rumbling echoing growl that shook the ground as it attempted to free itself, but its wheels simply could not lift it up out of the hole in the ground it was stuck in. Its mobility was cut to nil and the hole was deep enough that the chest missile launchers were useless. However, even with the damage done to it, it still had its sensors online and the shoulder-mounted cannons were fully operational as they swiveled to face the attackers who were swiftly making their way toward it.

Rouge and Knuckles both glided toward the robot, each of them clinging to one of the robot's arms and making their way up toward the shoulder joints. Espio and Omega also made their way onto the robot, Espio vanishing into invisibility as he climbed up the back of the robot while Omega used his jets to get to the robot's side, digging his claws in to climb up the smooth metal surface. Amy watched as they made their ascent, and worriedly realized that the robot was going to notice them if something wasn't done. Vector had started to move around in front of the robot, as well as Sonic and Tails, but the robot seemed to be prioritizing its opponents now that it didn't have the advantage of crushing mobility.

So how can we distract it? If only I could do something, but I only have my hammer, and that doesn't have that much range...

She jumped as someone large and purple stepped next to her, and she looked up to see the large round yellow eyes of Big the Cat. "We gotta do something," said Big, his voice sounding dumb by default, yet the inflection put in by his player somehow conveyed a more practical view on the situation.

Amy's eyes fell onto the fishing pole strapped to Big's back, and a wild idea popped into her mind, inspired by watching bungee-jumping on TV. "Big, do you think you could throw me as far as that robot's head?"

Big looked down at Amy, half-closing one eye as he judged her weight, then reached for the back collar of her dress and lifted her up by it. Amy was surprised at how easily she was lifted up, and Big seemed to be caught off-guard as well. "Sure," he said simply, blinking as he raised her to eye-level.

"Wait - tie me to the end of your fishing line first, then after you throw me get ready to pull me back," instructed Amy.

"I see...but, you sure you want to go through with this?" asked Big as he reached behind himself with his other hand and took out a length of line from the rod, wrapping it around one of Amy's booted ankles.

"Even if it messes up, I've got some rings from before," said Amy with a wink as she gripped her hammer in both hands. "It may hurt, but it'll keep me alive. You ready?"

"Ready!"

And before she knew it, Amy found herself being swung around once before catapulting into the air. The wind rustled her headquills as she flew, the line loosely following her as Big handled the fishind rod like a natural pro. The thrill of flight soon left her as she realized just how crazy this was, a realization only made as she arced back down toward the robot's head.

Only one shot, she thought as she kept her hands tightly wrapped around the handle, pulling back the hammer and ready to strike. The Roller's head suddenly came closer and closer, and Amy saw its wandering eyes snap up to track her motion as she came at it.

Now!

She swung with all of her might, and she felt the handle shudder in her fingers as the head of the hammer shattered right through the robot's left eye! Just when she thought she was ramming into the robot, she felt the line around her ankle tense up, and she was pulled backward with surprising speed, out of the way of Tails who flew past her, giving her a thumbs-up. "Way to go!"

"Thanks!" called out Amy, blushing a little, but then she was caught by Big and put down onto the ground, where she fell to her knees. Her legs were shaking after the adrenaline from that experience!

"Up to them now," said Big, and he and Amy looked on as the four climbers made their ascent...

OOC: Okay, everyone, let's finish up this battle. Work with each other to pull this off, be creative about who gets to deal the finishing blows and how they'll coordinate keeping the robot occupied. I'll pick this up as soon as the Doomsday Roller is disabled completely.

During all of Amy's derring do, Knuckles ascent towards the shoulder joint was about as smooth as it was ever going to get...

Sadly, that wasn't all that much as the echidna found himself slipping slightly and losing his footing part way into his climb.

" CRUUUUD!! "

Looking down was a bad idea, looking up was just as bad - overall, he felt like a flaking scab about to fall off.

*CLANG*

Digging against the metal surface with his heels, he punches another clingable hole with his fists...which he'd come to love with great affection.

" Too close... " He mutters, before hauling himself up another few inches.
" Rock Climbers get my respect after this... " He adds, wiping a bead of 'sweat' from his forehead.

Raising an almighty fist, he brings it to blows against the elbow joint he'd worked so hard to get to.

Amy's distraction was only temporary - And He still had major damage to inflict before his actions were noted and acted against.

No time to waste...as he again punches full-pelt against the tough metallic surface.

~TBC~

Espio had reached the robots other shoulder, the one that his ninja star was sticking out of, and had grabbed hold of the small metal object firmly. He began to pull, grating the star lengthways down the crack in the armour. More sparks flew and a crackling of electricity filled the air.

Suddenly there was a BANG and hot steam began to whistle from the hole! He let go of the star and jumped back in shock, but quickly grinned and resumed his attack when he saw what it was. It was working! The robot's systems were being damaged!

The Roller was still disoriented from losing an eye, and it's head was turning from side to side as though uncertain of what to do. Suddenly Espio froze as the lazer on the bot's shoulder spun round to face him! He was still invisible...how could the thing...?

He realised when he noticed the lazer on the other side...it was doing the same thing! The Badnik must be taking pot shots at them, hoping to score a lucky hit! Knuckles, on the droid's other shoulder, hadn't noticed the massive gun barrel behind him, so intent on doing damage. Espio cupped his hands to his mouth. "Knuckles, behind you!"

He didn't wait to see if the echidna had heeded his warning...he didn't have time to! The lazer on his side began to fire, flailing wildly as it blasted away towards the robot's own head! It couldn't see him, but it knew he was there...the robot's head had swiveled round and was tracking the movement of the lazer. It was all Espio could do to dodge the bursts of gunfire as he ducked and weaved!

Apparently the robot wasn't intelligent to have a sence of self...wasn't clever enough to co-ordinate attacks without looking at them. Espio suddenly blinked as an idea formed in his head! The Roller couldn't move, and could only co-ordinate attacks if it could see...and now one of it's eyes was out...

He jumped upwards, laning on the robot's head. Looking down, he saw Omega climbing the robot's back, almost up to the shoulder now. He called down: "Omega I have an idea! You take care of the joint, I'll cover you from the lazer!"

Omega couldn't see the chamelion, but he nodded anyway. Espio turned to the other shoulder, where Knuckles and now Rouge had landed. They were still there, dodging the lazer blasts for all they were worth! Fortunately for the Doomsday Roller the blasts that missed did little more than blacken the creature's armoured metal hide.

"Guys!" Espio called. "Knock the turret out of the way so that it's disoriented! I'll stop it getting it's target again!" This done, he shifted his skin to become visable again, anchored his hands on the side of the Roller's head and swung himself across and down, kicking the Roller's shoulder lazer on the way! The lazer spu from the blow, losing co-ordination for a moment. If Espio was right about the robot not having co-ordination, the beast would have to physically look at the lazer to canter it on a target again, and if it was unable to see...

He had aimed his swing well...he swung down onto the Roller's face, directly on top of the creature's eye! He quickly anchored his position there, blocking off the eyes vision completely with his body!

The Roller was completely unsighted, and completely lost! It began to spin it's turrets wildly in desperation, firing off random blasts in all directions! It shook it's head, trying to dislodge Espio from his position.

The chamelion gritted his teeth and hung on, the clinging pads on his hands and feet holding...just. He just hoped this thing could be taken down before one of those random turret blasts got lucky...!

Omega reaches the shoulder joint that Espio was damaging and rapidly proceds to insert slowly the pointy ends of his clawed hands in the gap of the shoulder joint, when he saw that his fingers got in the gap he tryes opening the gap wide enough to shoot inside and cause more damage, more sparks and hot steam started to come out as he slowly opened the gap.

Rouge looked up to see what Espio was talking about. The lazer cannon was having more trouble aiming right, but it was still too close to hitting them! She took a deep breath, and charged up the arm, jumping and gliding at the last to give herself the momentum she needed! At the top of her jump, she performed a spin-kick, slamming the cannon to the side with everything she had! "Hya!"

Upon landing, she nearly lost her footing! Looking up, she saw that she was holding onto the lazer cannon, and that it was still moving! Keeping a firm grip on it to keep from being thrown off, she tried to climb up onto the shoulder, so she could get a good angle at the joint.

There it was! Her target, the shoulder joint, was in plain sight. Flexing her legs to check their status, she decided that it would be better to go with her right leg.

And so, with the cannon diverted and firing randomly in the wrong direction, she lunged for the target, swinging her leg in a wide arc!

CLANG!

She hit with great force, and felt something give where she had hit! She stepped back behind the cannon, and looked to see...

Knuckles only managed to hear espio's warning mere seconds before a laser blast shot overhead...

"HOLY.... " was all he could say before diving to avoid the shot.
The laser blast sailed uselesly overhead, as knuckled pressed himself against the metal plating cursing his over-zealousness.

That was too close, and he knew it

Crawling back to what would best be described as a decent position, he lunges back towards his targeted weak joint, and continued pounding...'til with a metal crunch, he heard something groan and creak beneath him.

" It's giving...just a few more. "

The echidn winds up another punch, ready to give it all he had...

~TBC~

The Doomsday Roller shook under the combined assault, and the red and yellow robot started to crash apart at its different joint points. Rouge and Knuckles glided off while Omega used his thrusters to float down to the ground, and Espio ricocheted down the Roller until he was close enough to the ground to safely land and run to join the others.

Amy and Big were standing several yards away now as the others joined up with them - Sonic, Vector and Tails returning from their distraction efforts, and Rouge, Knuckles, Espio and Omega bringing themselves back from smashing apart the Roller. They all turned and watched as the robot gave a final shudder before falling apart into little pieces, crumbling into the hole made in the ground for it. The dust billowed out in a cloud that quickly dissipated in the sunny air.

"Yeah! We did it!" shouted Sonic as Amy and the others received a "Boss Defeated" message, which appeared as a translucent scrawl of words at the bottom of their vision.

"Showed that robot who's the boss!" growled Knuckles with a certain self-satisfaction.

"Target destroyed! However, Dr. Eggman target has escaped! Recommend pursuit to recover Froggy!" droned Omega.

"Oh no, you're right!" said Amy as she realized that the robot had been a distraction all along. She had known it at the beginning, but she had forgotten in the midst of the fighting why exactly the fight had begun, and now her heart sunk. "But how are we going to catch up to him now? He could have gone anywhere with Froggy!"

"Remember what Eggman said as he was leaving? He's going to his secret base, wherever it is this time!" answered Tails, proud to provide this vital information. "All we have to do is figure out where his base is, and we can infiltrate it, rescue Froggy and smash Eggman's scheme!"

"That's right!" said a squeaky, annoying, all-too-eerily-familiar voice from above that caught everyone's attention, and Amy looked up to see the white and blue vertically-striped yellow-eyed robotic Chao, Omochao, whizzing down through the air on the helicopter propellor it had on the top of its pointy head.

"Omochao?" blurted out Amy. I was hoping they weren't going to bring that thing back.

"Actually, this is just an avatar we're using to interact with you through the system," said Omochao, its tone changing from bright and bubbly to straightforward in an instant, though its voice was still robotic and oddly-pitched. "You've all done a great job getting this far, spectacular performance! But we're done with the demo for today, we've got your Avalon systems packed up and ready for you to use once you get home. All we need to do right now is log you out of the system and get you on your way! Thank you for playing Virtual Sonic, and we're grateful for your enthusiastic performance! To log out, just reach out and hit the glowing "log out" letters at this time."

Amy could see the words "Log Out" now in her vision, and with a sidelong glance at Sonic she let out a sigh as she reached forward with her hance to brush the letters. If it only could have lasted a little longer...

She could see the others doing similar motions with their hands, but her fingers only went through te glowing letters, and there seemed to be no effect. Puzzled, she reached forward again, trying to tap the insubstantial words with the tip of her glove-covered finger. She tried to grab it, jangle it, but it was like trying to grab air.

"Omochao?" asked Rouge, breaking the awkward silence that had arisen. "There seems to be something wrong, is there something else we need to do to log off?"

Omochao swiveled in midair to look at Rouge's questioning face. "Hmm...are any of you able to feel the log out letters? You should be able to feel like you're physically touching them."

Amy shook her head, and an odd sense of fear ran through her veins she she saw the others giving similar negative indications.

"This is a problem...hang on, what?" Omochao turned away from the group, and seemed to be addressing some invisible person. "Wait, you mean somebody reprogrammed it? They can't log out?!"

"Can't log out!?" exclaimed Amy, and she immediately regretted her selfish desire to stay in this fantastic world a little longer.

Omochao turned back to the players, reaching up with one stubby arm to scratch the side of his head. "I figure it won't help anything to lie to you all, so I'll tell it to you straight: someone has reprogrammed the game for this network, and has done it in a way that we weren't aware of it until now. We're still trying to figure out the changes to see when you can log out, or who is behind this and why, but until then you should probably keep playing as long as you can. On behalf of SEGA, I apologize for this inconvenience, and we'll do everything in our power to bring you out. In the meantime, it looks like Eggman has escaped, and he's got Froggy. The best course of action would be to return to Tails's lab outside the city and use his resources there to track down Eggman's current location. His sensor array is attuned to pick up the Eggmobile, which is powered by a Chaos Drive, so you should at least be able to tell what direction he chose to take to his base. I've got to go for now, I'll come back later. But keep in mind we're keeping track of you all the time, so if you need something, just shout out 'Omochao' and I'll come along to try to help."

The group was very quiet after this very serious explanation. What if they can never get us out? What if we're trapped in this game...forever? thought Amy.

That thought trouble her all the way to Tails's laboratory.

"Okay, according to my laboratory's computers, there are two different signals being given off by Eggman," announced Tails as the group stood in the open garage. "One of them goes through the Whispery Woods, a forest of gigantic trees, and the other signal went through the Dry Desert, which is a sandy desert like the name implies."

"What? What do you mean, two signals, there's only one of him," asked Vector.

"I know, he must have sent something else with a Chaos Drive as a power source in the direction that he didn't take," answered Tails. "They both end up at two locations that are fairly close to each other, but either one could be the target destination!"

"So we have to make a choice," stated Knuckles with a grunt.

"It might be better if we split up," offered Vector. "We could cover both paths that way."

"But what if one of them is a trap?" asked Amy, still disturbed by the strange turn of events that kept them locked in the game. "It's risky either way, I guess, but we should hurry! Eggman has had a real head start in front of all of us."

OOC:
Okay, here is the choice presented: do your characters want to go through the Dry Desert, or through the Whispery Woods? As people make their choices, imagine what the characters and the players would decide, especially when considering who their teammates will be. But also imagine their reactions to being trapped in the game, although at this point it's unsure how long they'll be stuck.

EDIT: Also note that your character can react in any number of ways, you are not strictly limited to these two options/paths.

Tails smiled as he punched a few keys on the computer. Amy walked up to him and raised an eyebrow. "You... you don't seem worried about this..."

Tails shrugged. "I don't really care for going back, actually. ...Not that there's much to go back to. Uh, sorry. You don't need to hear this. Anyway, I rather like this place... But I understand how important it is for all of you to go back, so I'll do whatever I can to help."

Tails smirked as he suddenly read an analysis of the two areas on the computer screen. "Just like I thought... my chara-er, I'm more suited for the forest, since there are branches to fly around to, and me being a fox and all. I'm heading for the Whispery Woods. According to this data, the forest also offers lots of hiding places, has a river cutting through the middle, and seems to be relatively robot-free compared to Twinkle Park. However, robot signals grow much denser around the Chaos Drive's energy signature, and there could be natural hazards, as well as robots coming into the forest on the way there. It'd be best to keep on the lookout." Tails frowned. Something about that... didn't quite sound like Tails. Oh, well.

"As for the desert..." he began, showing the room a readout on the screen.

Sonic sighed.

The prospect of being stuck in this game didnt quite seem real. And although it was best not to, he decided to simply blank it from his mind. If he couldnt get his mind around the unbelievable concept that all of them could actually be truly stuck in this game, he would forget about it for now. Instead, he imagined that the game was just about to begin after that relatively short demo. True, it wasnt a bright decision to be making, and ignoring a larger danger to himself was nave and foolish, but it was what made him get through this. So far.

Two locations, eh? Sonic spoke, his voice sounding the usual Sonic that everyone was familiar with. Ill take the desert. Should be easier to run through compared to all of those trees. Sand'll probably be harder to run on, but in all I figure it'll be the easiest." Sonic didn't even take the time to look at the data concerning the desert.

Omega was alarmed at first about the idea of being stuck in the game, but calmed down after Omochao told them they will do their best to get them out but still he was a bit worried of getting stuck in the game forever without being able to see his family again, Omega stoped thinking of those terrible posibilities and looked on the bright side, Sega at least where allowing them to play the game more, Omega heard what Sonic said deciding to go to the desert and thinks he should go as well.
"I will acompany Sonic trought the desert, it wont be a problem to me since Im a machine." says Omega and checks how much ring energy he had left in the ring energy meter in his vision and notices it had decreased more than half, "I need to refuel myself guys, im going to get some rings while you decide." says Omega while walking toward the door, just before getting out he turns his head toward Sonic, "I will get water bottles and food from the store for you and those who wants to acompany us Sonic." offers Omega.

With the groups deciding their chosen locations, Knuckles folded his arms and looked over at Tails.

" Looks like you need somebody to lend a hand...so I'll throw in both of mine. "

Walking over towards the Fox, he looks back at the group.

So, he was stuck here? Ah well, with every challenge came a chance to overcome it.
This was probably the most...interesting development he'd encountered in a long, long time.

" Anybody else wanna take a walk on the wild side? " He asks, leaning against the nearest wall with a smirk.
" 'cause I'm about ready to show that Eggman the ride of his life...seein' that's what I signed up for! "

Waiting upon the others to finish choosing, he yawns and crouches - He hated waiting around like this.

~TBC~

Rouge had been shocked into silence since the news. She had said nothing, following the others in a stupor. "Not...go back?"

Seeing that a decision needed to be made, she said quietly, "Um, I'll...wait for the rest of you to choose before I do."

She didn't know these people, only the characters, and both teams had people her character would be less likely to team up with. But, did the character matter anymore? She kinda wanted to go with him, the only one who seemed friendly to her, but...

She looked around, for something to occupy herself with in this interesting place, but her curiosity had diminished. A lot.

Seeing Omega leaving, a thought struck her mind. "Hold on a minute, Omega."

She stepped outside with him, and called out, "Omochao!"

Once the little mecha-Chao had appeared, she asked, "is this virtual reality real enough for us to be able to drink water and so on? I mean, will it really help us, or is this like other games where we don't need to worry about such things? What I mean is, can we get hungry if we don't eat here?"

She wasn't satisfied with how she was asking, and hoped he got the idea.

Stuck...in the gane?

Thoughts liek this filled Vector's mind, after Omochao's news.

This could be.... interesting....

After a long silence from the croc, he finally said, "I think I'll take the dessert as well."

Vector then crossed his arms and smirked. "Time to show that Eggman not to mess with any mission of the CHaotix Detective AGency."

OOC: Short post.... >.< It's all I could think of for now.

"Speak for yorself Vec!" muttered a voice behind him. The crocodile turned round.

"What do you mean Espio? We're going to kick his flabby butt!"

Espio had been leaning on the wall, arms folded, head down, apparently in thought. Now though, his eyes flicked open and he stepped forward off the wall. "Nuh-uh. Not a chance!"

"What are you on about dude?" asked Sonic, grinning slightly. "You know something we don't?"

Espio stepped forward, fixing the hedgehog with a stare. "No, not know something, but it appears I'm the only one here sane enough to think about it!" he spat venomously. "What are you, infants? Hasn't it occured to anyone just what this "trapped in the game" idea could mean???"

There was silence for a moment, so the chamelion continued. "Back when we were fighting the Doomsday Roller I got hurt...badly! I blacked out and it was only Omega taking me to some rings that brought me back. On the older Sonic games, when you ran out of rings, you died. I assumed that this game would just log you out if that happened, but think...we can't log out now, so what happens if we run out of rings here, huh?"

"What, you think it'd kill us or something?" muttered Knuckles sarcasticly.

Espio rounded on him angrily. "You make light of it, but if you stopped to think for a moment, maybe you'd realise that there is that possibillity!" he growled through gritted teeth. "Going against Robotnik is suicide, and I don't intend to throw my life away for you or anybody! Playing this as a game was fine, but the stakes have just been raised, and I have no intention of cheating death today!"

His eyes flicked over the gathering. "We can't risk going against Robotnik like this! I say we take a low profile...hide out somewhere until it's over! And if we end up having to fight, we do it on our terms! Now who's with me???"

Sonic and everyone had paused for a moment as they each deliberated what the Chameleon had said to them. Sonic was nodding to his own personal thoughts, and then finally spoke up.

No.

What?! shot out Espio.

I understand what youre saying and I realise that it is a very real possibility. Sonic replied, stepping forward towards Espio. But think about it. If that really is the case, then how do you think staying here or hiding anywhere is going to make matters any better? Ol Eggbreath is on a scheme to conquer the world, and judging from his past efforts, whatever hes got in mind is going to be bigger and much more dangerous then anything before.

We do have to take the fight to him, now, otherwise were finished, completely. Staying here or hiding just makes us an easier target then what you think. If we do nothing now, then he can easily build or complete whatever hes planning, and you think our chances of survival are higher after hes done that? No, we have to try and stop him now. Sonic glared slightly at Espio. If thats the case, and we can actually die, much better trying to fight for our survival now then staying and do nothing, while he finishes his next ultimate, and possibly unbeatable scheme.

Espio shot an angered glare backwards. Thats not what Im saying. We are going to do something, but on our own terms, take back the advantage and-

How? Sonic interjected. He was not only impatient in waiting for material things but in talking as well. He leaned back on a desk and folded his arms, his gaze constantly on Espio. Ill gladly rethink my own priorities here if you have any good ideas.

"Right now I don't know." admitted the chamelion, not backing down. "But if we go running off headfirst into two situations that are almost certainly traps it'll be game over, and there'll be no continues!"

Sonic didn't flinch, just staring at him silently.

Espio let out an exasperated snarl and pointed an accusing finger at his chest. "Okay lame brain, you wanna get yourself killed, be my guest, but do it on YOUR OWN TIME!" he shouted. He span on his heels and stormed out of the garage, calling over his shoulder: "Anybody who wants to live, come with me now!"

As Rouge was speaking with Omochao Omega hears the loud angry shout of Espio then sees him storming out from the garage.
"Is something wrong Espio?" Omega says walking toward the purple chamelion.

"You bet there is!" retorted Espio angrily. "Sonic and the others seem bent on a suicide mission, and I'm having no part of it! I suggest you come with me if you want to live."

Omega's red eyes regarded him for a moment. "Where are you going?"

"To hide out, and make plans that actually may work." Espio replied. "And if we can stay out of the way long enough, maybe Sega will sort all this out before we have to do any fighting anyway."

He looked up at Omega, and at Rouge, who was looking on and listening with her big, bat ears. ""Your choice guys." he muttered. "Go with Sonic and die, or come with me and live."

Without another word he turned and walked off across the fields, not waiting to see if either of them, or any of the ones in the garage, were following him. If they wanted to, they could catch him up.

Omega tought for a moment and saw that Espio was right if they where killed without being able to log out they will be dead for real, he looks at the group in the garage and hopes they will be alright, he then slides and reaches Espio.
"Im going with you Espio, I think my base could be the perfect place to hide, but I need to refuel first and just for precautions you will need some warm clothes because its snowy where my base is and I dont know if the cold could really affect you since you are organic." sugested Omega.

Before Espio leaves

"Well, we thought of that idea for other games, but for this launch title we only built in game mechanics for the use of rings and ring energy," admitted Omochao, scratching the side of his metallic head as he hovered in front of Rouge. "You have the option to do things like eat and drink, as well as to change clothes - as you've already discovered. We specifically created this game to be almost an entire world to itself. But we also didn't want people to be bogged down by their characters getting tired, especially when they need to pull off special maneuvers and things. However, you'll eventually get tired as your real bodies get exhausted, but hopefully this game will be over and we can unplug you before that becomes an issue. Oh, and don't worry about things like desert heat, it may feel real to you but you'll still be able to fight effectively if it comes to that."

As Espio is going

"Wait! Don't go!" shouted Omochao, but the little roboChao could not possibly catch up with how fast the chameleon was going.

"This is bad," stated Omochao as he floated back ont his yellow propeller to the others. "Look, everyone, I realize that this is bad and I'll try to keep you in the know of what's going on. Just stay calm while we figure this out, I promise we're doing everything we can. We're even working on solutions for what might happen if you're in the game for longer than six hours, as that might disconnect you automatically from the game."

I remember that part of the instruction manual, thought Amy as she thought about the warnings that had been contained in their "briefing" before the game. It's to keep people from immersing themselves in a virtual world and getting themselves killed from starvation and dehydration...then the system actually shuts down to prevent it from being used for at least an hour...but, if that happens to us...

"We're also working on solutions to make gameplay a little easier for everyone in the meantime," continued Omochao. "We can't seem to do much at this point, but there are things we can do to give you an added edge. I'll let you know about them as we develop them to help you..."

Omochao suddenly turned away from the group and waved emphatically at the open air in the technological garage. "Look, I know we aren't trying to scare them! But there's no point in hiding anything from them, they didn't ask for this!"

Omochao turned back to the group. "Okay everyone, it sounds like the bigwigs have come to have a major meeting here, they're going to figure out what the heck is happening in the main computer...as you know this network you're all attached to is our private one, so that means any changes would have had to be done inside this building - and that probably means someone in the company is behind this. We don't know why or who or anything yet, but there's something fishy about all of this. I'd encourage you to enjoy the game while you can, there isn't any evidence that supports anything like you dying, but if things start getting too dangerous then don't be afraid to retreat and regroup. This may be a game but this is a situation we never planned on, and your safety is first priority. But Eggman is programmed to carry out his plans if you don't do something about it, so you'll need to stop him before that can happen or else.

"Any other questions?"

Rouge shook her head to the chao avatar thing, indicating she had no more questions for now. It still hovered around, looking to see if it could help with any other concerns.

"I...I'm awful at video games...I can't do this!"

Rouge looked apologetically at Sonic and co. "Hey, uh...listen, I'm gonna go talk to Espio, see if we can work out a plan. Leave a note or something here that will let us know who has gone where, and we might try to join you later. And, please," she cast a glance at Knuckles, "be very careful."

She turned, and ran to catch up with the chameleon and Omega. "I'm not afraid...to admit that I'm a coward. I did well for a little while, but...now that I know the stakes, how can I go rushing headlong into danger?"

She stayed a few paces behind Espio, and for the moment she didn't say anything. She was too scared to!

Knuckles felt a twinge of something as Rouge's near-tearful gaze is cast upon them all briefly, but the small gaze she'd laid at him for a moment just made him feel worse.

Covering his thoughts, he merely gave what he felt was a typical 'knuckles' angered grunt and looks at Tails with a raised eyebrow.

" I guess some people just can't handle the pressure... "

And with that, he looks to the others and taps his foot impatiently, stealing just a little bit of the hedgehogs thunder.

" Are we all gonna sit here and quibble, or do the rest of you really WANT to get out there and do some damage? " He murmured angrily, punching at the nearest tree as quick as lightning.

" 'cause suddenly I feel a lot more like cracking some robot heads... "

Leaving that in the air, he turns and slowly walks away from the group in the direction of the woods, uncaring whether or not anybdy was following or not.

Damn it all...this was all going to hell in a hurry!

~TBC~

"Im going with you Espio, I think my base could be the perfect place to hide, but I need to refuel first and just for precautions you will need some warm clothes because its snowy where my base is and I dont know if the cold could really affect you since you are organic."

"I'll survive." muttered Espio, not looking up at the robot. It was only a computer game...how cold could it be?

"Robotnik know about your base?" he continued, a thought suddenly occuring to him. "If he does it may not be the safest place after all..."

"I do not know," replied Omega...it seemed like he was staying in character despite the problems, and that could become annoying after a while..."but even if he does, he will have no reason to suspect anyone being there."

Espio nodded slowly. "True." He sighed, and for the first time, glanced behind him. He hadn't heard anybody approach, and so assumed it was only him and the robot. He nearly jumped out of his skin to see the slender form of Rouge following quietly behind them, head down!

"Hey...you coming with us?"

She seemed embarrased and scared as he turned to her, glancing around warily. "I, uh...well...yeah, I'm kinda..."

Espio smiled slightly as her voice petered out into silence. "Thanks." he muttered, trying to sound disarming and calm. "At least someone made the right choice. I just hope the others reconsider too."

OCC Sorry for keeping you waiting, just so you know Wraith Omega has already got out of character since he heard they couldnt log out, I just want to point that out.

Omega turns to Espio a Rouge.
"Okay, if you are ready follow me" Says Omega then slides of in direction to his secret base, Espio and Rouge nods and follows Omega, on the way Omega made sure to get rings to fill his energy meter and left some to Espio and Rouge, when they finally reached the mountain and got up to the snowy area Omega stoped and detected the compartment under the snow, he removes some of the snow over it and lifts the metalic cover with the button and pushes it, while the elevator was getting to the surface Omega saw around the snowy sight and Station Square in the distance.
"This place is to calm and beautyful, dont you think Espio and Rouge?, it also has a nice view of Station Square from here" says Omega, the compartment opens as the elevator came to the surface and then the doors opened.
"get in please, the elevator is big enough for you two." says Omega politely to Espio and Rouge.

(OOC: As of DEC 14/15 2005, I will be unable to make regular visits here, for an undetermined (and probably large) length of time. As such, my involvement in this RP must stop. I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause, but I have no choice in this matter.

I will be able to check my account weekly, so feel free to PM me if you need any info on my character. Otherwise, do with her as you will.)