Mystic Ruins Jungle - Absolutely NOT lost

Artemus really wasn't too sure himself, but every now and then he paused to pick up the trail of the Sol Emeralds once again. Spending a moment to re-align himself with their resonance, he turned and made his way towards the direction he sensed them in.
"We'll find our way to them sooner or later." He looked back at the lemur and grinned a bit. "What, you're not tired already, are you?"

Ace trudged along behind the two, not used to walking so much.

"Hey do you guys think we could take a break or something, my feet feel like lead"

Ace completely forgot he could fly due to his tired feet, but he decided not to explain his stupidity out loud. Ace rubbed the back of his head.

"Well...ummm...becuase I-I just felt like walking, thats all! But now I feel like flying"

Ace took out his wings a took off but still close to the ground and caught up to Artemus and Aaron.

Artemus couldn't help but chuckle when Ace answered and began to fly towards the two. Once he'd caught up, the wolf turned around once again and begin walking once more. He turned his head towards Aaron when he heard his question, giving a little shrug.
"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest...however I got here, it must have jarred my memories a bit."
His eyes turned forward. "...which is why I'm after those emeralds. I don't know why, but I feel like they hold some answers."

"Crazy? what do you mean by Crazy? And what kind of emeralds are these anyways?"

Ace looked at Aaron and Artemus quizzically, thinking that there might be more to these gems.

Aaron shrugs. "Well, we'd better find a way to just get rid of em all, then."

The lush jungle environment around him and the ancient ruins that went with it would've normally been a tourist trap of epic proportions, but Rush was not here to enjoy himself. In fact, he wasn't sure why he was here at all.

He'd gotten separated from Flex by a large rockslide and had concluded that trying to force his way through it would be prohibitively draining on his energy resources, so now he was looking for a way around it. So far, his luck could be best measured in negative numbers.

All sorts of hostile widlife inhabited this area, it seemed. And, annoyingly enough, each one gave him an odd and ultimately useless ability upon defeat.

A hissing snake lunged at him from his right. Automatic battle reflexes kicked in as he grabbed its head in one hand and easily crushed it. Then he looked at the limp coiled body and realized what he'd done. "Aw, cra--"

DUN DUN DUN, DUN DUN DUN, DAA DAA DUM DUM DUM DUUUUUM!

Rush stood there in complete and utter embarrassment as the triumphant music played from hidden speakers somewhere on his body, just like it had with all his other "wins".

Then, the expected dialog box appeared in his peripheral vision. You got: Hunting Serpent!

Rush blinked. Just for kicks, he activated the weapon. The armor on his arms and legs changed colors to green with white highlights as he pointed at the ground and fired.

A tiny robotic snake with two small round red eyes popped out of the end of his cannon and went slithering off ahead of him. It located another animal -- a squirrel -- and did: nothing. It sat there staring at the squirrel, looking cute. The squirrel stared back. This exciting exchange continued for several seconds before the squirrel scurried off in search of a more engaging conversationalist.

Rush watched this silently, then slapped himself in the forehead. Another weapon slot wasted.

Aaron blinked. It was apparently some kind of... corgi. With... music.

He formulated a witty observation by using all his language skills to express his emotion.

"Uwaaah chiptune Corgi?!"

The mechanical snake slithered up to Artemus now.

AND STARED AT HIM.





Rush stared at them all, looking even more embarrassed and uncomfortable than he had before. He sweatdropped and gave them a half-hearted wave. "Hello. Er, sorry about the noise. I'm Corgibot Unit R-10, designation "Rush"."

He blinked, looking around at them. "You three wouldn't happen to know a way around that mountain back there, would you?"

Aaron was more interested in the fact that that person was a ROBOT. He thought that robots of that realism were quite a ways off... he heard vaguely of a robot designer giving a robot sentience or something, but it was just an oddball rumor.

"Are you a creation of.. Dr. Eggman?"


---




A small voice crackles in Rush's ear. "Rush, Flex came back and you aren't with him. Is something the matter?"

"If the organics present any trouble, or get a little too curious, then take care of them."

A pause.

"Also, I wouldn't scoff at Dr. Eggman. He's a real genius. I'm sure if it were his interest, he could create robots as lifelike as you."

The mechanical snake targeted Ace next. It moved over to place itself directly in front of him.

AND IT STARED. OH, HOW IT STARED.





Rush finally managed to calm down, sobering when he heard his Master's soft chiding. "Understood. And perhaps you are right about Dr. Eggman, Master, but I simply found the idea of mistaking me for one of his robots quite...amusing."

Then another thought occurred to Rush: there was something he'd been meaning to ask Resson. "Master, I have a couple questions for you: Why can't I control when I obtain abilities from defeated enemies to prevent getting useless weapons that do little more than take up weapon slots, and why did you program me to play that ridiculous victory song?"

He turned to Artemus. "If you will please wait for me to finish this call, I would very much like to go with your group to get out of this area. It shouldn't be much longer."

Ace wiped away a tear after is laughter.

"Yeah ok, I ready"

He noticed the snake staring at him and he STARED back!.After a bit of staring Ace got bored and it gave it a little nudge with is foot, then picked it up.

"I believe this is yours..." he looked towards Rush.

"We should let him tag along, I think."