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Post by Leedzie on Mar 10, 2007 21:25:38 GMT -5
Swirling lights, melding colours, and incoherent images overtook Rouge's realm as she felt herself falling. Despite the intense beating of her wings, she, along with Manic, continued to tumble through space. The bat's heart pounded furiously in her breast; was this what had happened to Rob? Would this phenomenon lead them to him? What if they ended up somewhere else entirely? She noticed that the robot had not come along with them; if he'd been responsible for this occurrance, and it didn't take them where they needed to go... They could be lost forever. Rouge clenched her jaw and increased her grip on Manic's arm. At least they had each other in this bizarre place. But just as she was wondering if she would ever see solid ground again, it appeared out of nowhere and smacked her in the face.
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Post by Lans on Mar 10, 2007 21:46:46 GMT -5
Manic had his eyes tightly shut, whimpering "Oh crap, oh crap," over and over, partially out of fright, but mostly from the pain of having his hair almost yanked out. His landing was slightly better, but that was also mostly because he bounced off Rouge's body, and landed a bit less harder beside her afterwards. After his head stopped spinning the first thing he noticed was a distinct smell of...fish? He sat up and looked around, noticing they were in some sort of room, with a mirror making up one whole wall. A basic bed was in one corner of the room, but it was sparsly furnished aside from that.
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Post by Raki on Mar 10, 2007 21:57:02 GMT -5
And standing not far behind Manic stood... well... calling it a hedgehog was debatable. But it was at least hedgehog like in form... however, the scales, fleshy 'spines', and reflective gold eyes betrayed the fact that it was, in fact, not a hedgehog, and, maybe, not even a mammal. It was, however, apparently rather confused. It stared at the two newcomers for a moment, then turned it's gaze up to the ceiling, where the two seemed to have fallen from. It continued to stare at the ceiling, tilting it's head to the side and becoming lost in some train of thought or another.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 10, 2007 22:17:28 GMT -5
"Ugh..." Rouge's eyes partially opened, and a throbbing pain in the left side of her face was the first thing to welcome her to the waking. The ringing in her ears still hadn't quite gone away, either. The bat groaned and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. Her face twisted; the distinct taste of blood filled her mouth, and touching her lip, the pure white fur of her fingers gained a dark red stain. Her surroundings didn't offer many answers, nor much comfort, and Rouge's ears folded backwards. The setting definitely didn't have the ring of Mercia, but... it certainly didn't look very inviting to visitors. Glancing aside, the bat spotted Manic beside her, and let out sigh. "Are you okay?" she whispered. Suddenly Rouge heard a shuffling sound from behind, and turning hopefully, the bat quickly recoiled and fell backwards onto her hands. "Wh-what the...?!"
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Post by Lans on Mar 10, 2007 22:27:23 GMT -5
"AUUGH!!!" Manic shouted. From his tone one might think he had spotted 27, however he was looking in the giant mirror, an hand holding his severed bang. "Aw man, he wrecked my DO!"
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Post by Raki on Mar 10, 2007 22:33:51 GMT -5
Manic's girly shriek scream snapped the creature out of it's daydreaming, and it's gaze fell back down to Rouge. It stared for awhile, before it's muzzle pulled into a twisted smile of pointed, slightly yellowed teeth, and then simply stated the following single word: "Bat." And then it lunged at her. [dice=6] (Note, this is NOT an attack. This is just so see if he gets a hold of her.)[rand=8199502302243591365328080200588647480696290500786006730507876874]
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 10, 2007 22:39:09 GMT -5
[dice=6] Normally such an obvious dive that she'd seen coming well in advance could've easily been dodged. Buuuut after a screech that affected her equilibrium back in Mercia, and a rough landing in the current location (not to mention a certain hedgehog landing on her), Rouge's reflexes weren't exactly up to par. Before she could so much as roll aside 27 was on top of her, and the bat's normally emotionless exterior was betrayed by a startled shriek.[rand=2621446436054294432648876753070943976999976031291449139398677227186]
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Post by Lans on Mar 10, 2007 22:49:12 GMT -5
Manic turned to look at Rouge, and "AUUUGH"ed again! "Gah, what the heck is THAT!?"
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Post by Raki on Mar 10, 2007 22:50:17 GMT -5
AND THE FEARSOME BEAST... hugged... her. ... hrm.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 10, 2007 22:57:56 GMT -5
Not that it was really interpreted as a hug; Rouge gasped with fright as the beast wrapped its arms around her, and letting out a panicked sonar screech, the bat frantically struggled to free herself of 27's grasp. In the midst of her frenzy, she eventually had the presence of mind to cry, " Manic!!"
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Post by Lans on Mar 10, 2007 23:09:12 GMT -5
Manic snapped out of his brief shock and immediatly rushed to her rescue, unslinging his board from his back, he tried to bash 27 with it from behind. "Get off her you...thing!" [dice=6] Frank thought that he had a pretty cushy job. All he had to do, was sit in this room and monitor some weird genetic experiment until the higher ups finally decided what to do with it. At first, it hadn't sounded so cushy. But he'd found that as long as the thing was fed a steady supply of fish, it seemed just content to cool its heels for as long as it would be in there. Thus Frank had quickly adopted his favorite past time: napping. However he was startled out of this pasttime by shouts comming from the thing's holding cell. He blinked, seeing the sight of the experiment 'attacking' a white bat while a bright green hedgehog tried to bash it with some sort of blunt object. After a moment of that, he slammed the alarm button.[rand=047235724601432449786043376241162416599993328549348015224950712]
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Post by Raki on Mar 10, 2007 23:12:05 GMT -5
[dice=6] The creature happily snuggled the bat, regardless of her flailing- until Manic's board made contact with the back of it's head. It wasn't hurt by the assault, however, perhaps due to a remarkably thick skull. But in any case, it then blinked, let go of the bat, and turned to face the hedgehog. "Eh?"[rand=4168799191273539952817565903975278144814665929554294564300049569]
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 10, 2007 23:30:12 GMT -5
The moment that... whatever it was release her, Rouge was already scrambling out of its reach, hyperventilating with terror. Rushing over to the only door, the bat struggled to get it open, but as her side lacked any kind of handle, it was useless. She turned back to Manic, and though she was relieved to see that he had not also been attacked so far, her voice still trembled as she called, "Manic, do you think you can open this door??"
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Post by Lans on Mar 10, 2007 23:42:04 GMT -5
Manic took a quick look at the door before returning his attention back to the...thing. "Maybe, but I don't know if I wanna take my eye off this long enough to try!" he responded, holding his board defensively. However the point would be moot as the door slid open, revealing a squad of GUN soldiers with rifles at the ready, one of which shouted. "FREEZE!"
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Post by Raki on Mar 10, 2007 23:45:24 GMT -5
The alien creature just... stared at Manic blankly for awhile. Until the GUN soldiers burst in. At that time, it simply turned and grinned at them with a somewhat expectant expression. "Fish??"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 10, 2007 23:52:12 GMT -5
Rouge couldn't contain the surprised, fearful yelp that escaped her when the soldiers rushed in, raising her shaking hands as she stared down the barrel of a rather large gun. Her vision grew blurry, and the bat closed her eyes, focusing on controlling her eratic breathing. The bat gulped forcefully. Rob... where are you??
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 0:46:32 GMT -5
Manic, in the face of what looked like, to him, more firepower than a similar sized group of SWATbots, immediatly dropped his board and reached for the ceiling. In no time flat the two were quickly grabbed and shuffled out of the room, leaving 27 to his own devices once again. They were escorted to an elevator, which they rode for a few seoncd before being led down another hall, and then shoved into a small room, the only furinishing in which were a plain table and a few chairs.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 1:02:11 GMT -5
Rouge had remained absolutely silent the entire time, her breathing only slightly elevated, but especially labored. Upon reaching the room, she slowly crossed to the nearest chair and sat at the table, shaking uncontrollably.
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 1:20:39 GMT -5
Manic wasn't exactly a poster child for courage at the moment either, but he wasn't QUITE as close to a nervous breakdown as Rouge was. "Was I seeing things or were those guys overlanders?" he asked her.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 1:27:04 GMT -5
There was quite a long pause before any response came. Rouge leaned her face into her quivering hands, fighting fiercely to get a grip. After a minute or two, the bat released a slow breath and leaned her elbows onto the table. " I think they were," she finally answered, sniffing once.
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 1:41:14 GMT -5
Manic blinked. He wasn't used to seeing Rouge act like this, at all. "Are you all right?" he asked her. However before she could answer the door opened again and two GUN soldiers took up positions on either side of it. Then in walked an older man wearing an obviously military uniform. He glanced at Manic for a moment before settling his gaze on Rouge. "Well well. I know we keep you on a rather long leash agent Rouge, but I think attempting to steal the Project Shadow prototype is overstepping things even for YOU, don't you think!?"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 1:56:25 GMT -5
Rouge's face remained buried in her hands, her shaking growing more violent as the commander shouted at her. Once again, a complete and utter stranger seemed very familiar with her, however crazy the information may have been. She gulped and did her best to settle down, but the shakes just wouldn't stop, and the corners of her eyes burned threateningly. As a result, her reply didn't come out quite as calmly as she'd wanted. " I'm sorry," she whispered, " but I'm afraid you're mistaken, sir."
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 2:00:51 GMT -5
The commander raised an eyebrow at that. He was expecting a bored, or playful response from Rouge, but instead she sounded...afraid? Maybe she had realized how badly she'd screwed up this time. "I don't think so. Now...in light of your past services to us, we might see about lightening your punishment for this, if you'll tell us one thing. The energy portal you used to get inside matches the same one that appeared here earlier. So my question is, what have you done with Sally Acorn!?"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 2:07:16 GMT -5
" Ah-I... I don't know her... n-not personally..." Rouge struggled to reply. She sniffed again, her ears folding backwards as she mustered what remained of her courage. "H..Have you seen... a h-hedgehog named... Robert Hedge?"
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 2:35:53 GMT -5
"The only hedgehog I've seen is you accomplice there," he said, gesturing to Manic. "Which reminds me, don't you usually run with Shadow..." he suddenly squinted at her a moment, "...And...are you dyeing your fur?" Not a particualrly relevant question, but as he looked at her he was noticing a lot more differences in her appearance too.
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 2:47:35 GMT -5
No sign of Rob. Rouge seemed to wilt in her chair as her heart fell with disappointment. Taking a moment to get ahold of herself, the bat rubbed her hands over her face, her right hand traveling up and through her bangs. Rouge began to desperately wish that this whole day had just been some horrible dream, and that she'd wake up safely in her lodge, and Rob would just be a short walk away. No disappearances, no frightening creatures, no strangers that apparently know all about her. The bat straightened up in her chair at last, hugging her arms around her trembling body and staring dully into the table with puffy eyes. " I'm afraid you're mistaken, sir," she repeated wistfully.
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 18:58:31 GMT -5
"Hey, leave her alone already!" Manic said, placing himself between the distraught bat and the human. "We didn't even plan on ending up in there with that...thing!" The commander looked like he was about to give the hedgehog a snap about speaking when spoken to, when the door opened again and a chipmunk in a technition's uniform came in. The Commander turned to speak with her, talking in low whispers, before she turned and left. "...Well now, it seems I have a mystery on my hands here. Apparently your airboard is using a technology not only completely unknown to us, but maybe even a little more advanced. Now in my experiance that only means one thing: Dr. Eggman."
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 19:06:16 GMT -5
Dr. Eggman... didn't that robot that had shown up at her door mention that "Eggman" was an alias of Dr. Robotnik's? Rouge looked up at the overlander in Manic's defense. "Sir... we are not associated with Robotnik. We weren't trying to steal anything, either... It's a mistake..." She closed her eyes and bowed her head, muttering softly to herself, " It's all just a big mistake..."
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Post by Lans on Mar 11, 2007 19:32:58 GMT -5
"Yeah, like we'd want to work for a loser like him!" Manic agreed. "And you guys better not have busted my board, it's a pain to fix since Lindy won't do it anymore since I kept getting it tore up so much on missions!" "Missions?" The commander asked, "What sort of missions?" Manic immediatly clammed up, realizing he may have said too much. "Someone better try to explain what is going on, or you're both going to find yourselves here for a very long time!"
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Post by Leedzie on Mar 11, 2007 20:48:04 GMT -5
"What's going on," Rouge said softly, "is that we're trying to find a friend of ours, and have gotten lost ourselves." Her shaking had begun to subside, and for the most part the bat had managed to calm herself back down. Leting out a preparatory breath, she continued, "Our leader, Robert Hedge, seemed to disappear into thin air. A robot that had apparently come looking for me -- Silver, I believe it called itself -- said that a similar thing had happened to it as well. Since it said it needed a satellite uplink, we decided to try helping it find one, so that maybe it could help us retreive Rob, but..." Rouge clenched her jaw. "...I can't explain what happened next. We were falling, I suppose just like Rob did. The next thing I knew we were in that room, with... that thing..." A long sigh escaped her. " I had hoped that maybe Rob was here too, since we seemed to have the same experience, but apparently not..." Suddenly Rouge raised her eyes to the commander. They looked apprehensive. "....Sir, I'm sorry, but I have to ask... How do you know my name?"
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