Westopolis - Fo Rizzle, my Hedgehizzle?

[L]

While Shadow the Hedgehog was a respected hero throughout the city of Westopolis, on this one particular occasion, his presence had disturbed many residents there. Not due to violent actions, or inappropriate behavior, or anything of that sort; but mostly because he'd seemed to have lost his grasp on the English language. "C'mon, wigra, where be Area Twenty-Sizzle?" He asked a befuddled and unnerved passerby.

"I'm sorry sir, but... I don't know what you're saying." The man answered.

Shadow, of course frustrated, had broken down into nonsensical slang at this point. "HaZIZZLE, homie! HA-ZIZZ-EL!"

[Leedzie]

Also in Westopolis at that time, still doing her best to not only track down out-of-place Mobians, but also a spare Chaos Emerald, was Rouge the Bat. As she soared over the city, her mind buzzed with ideas (most of them bad ones) on how to find the lost residents... and none of them were good ones. There just seemed to be no real reusable method for finding them; she'd just have to get lucky.

But in the meantime, her eye landed on a certain hedgehog that also had a reputation for keeping a Chaos Emerald around. Rouge smirked and pulled her wings tightly to her body for a dive. Just before she would have completely flattened him to the ground, the bat's wings stretched back out to either side and began to flap, suspending her in the air just over Shadow's head -- though close enough for her to look like she was standing on him. "Heeey, Shadow! Long time no see!"

[L]

The hedgehog turned quickly to examine the person who'd just addressed him. He didn't happen to recognize her, though he did wonder how she knew his name. His best guess was that someone was attempting to play him for a chump. "PLEASE, gurl, don' even act like you know me." He replied. "A hundred dollah ho' like you might think you able to pull some'in like dat off on me, but you must be trippin'. Just cuz' I'm from the ghetto don't mean I don't know snap."

Having made his rebuttal clear, he cut straight to business. "Now tell me, foxy lady; Where in the heckizzle be Area Twenty Sevizzle?!" He asked, crossing his arms sternly.

[Leedzie]

". . . . ." The expression on Rouge's face was roughly that of a cerebral short circuit. After a moment of blank staring, the bat eventually dropped to the ground and pressed her hand to Shadow's forehead. "You didn't lose your memories again, did you? Y'know, if you got into fewer fights, you'd probably take fewer blows to the head."

[L]

... Hand. On the quills. Don't nobody touch the quills. The hedgehog attempted to shake off the bat and regain his personal space. "Don't you be tryin' to play with me, ho!" He proclaimed demandingly. "I ain't no patsy!"

He jumped back, raising a hand to point in the bat's face. "Now, you best be spillin' the goods, gurl." The ghettohog demanded. "Where be Area 27? Where be the other Freedom Fighters? And who da HELL are you?!"

[Leedzie]

"EXCUSE ME?!" Rouge shouted furiously, her previously benign expression quickly gnarling into one of rage. "You did NOT just call me a ho, you stupid emohog!! If you weren't immortal, I would KILL you for that!!"

The bat growled and folded her arms. "And what the hell do you mean by 'Area 27'? Is that a G.U.N. base? You know that I require a bribe to release restricted information."

[L]

Shadow raised a brow. "... Whatchu talkin' 'bout, ho-ness?"

[Leedzie]

Narrowing her eyes, Rouge's arm whipped through the air in a white flash as she slapped the hedgehog across the face. "Watch your mouth, buster," she growled. "I've already got enough on my hands right now trying to round up people that I can't even tra--"

All of a sudden the bat blinked. Wait a minute...

[L]

It was at that moment that moment that a portal opened up beneath the disgruntled and confused ghettohog. The creature let out a loud desperate cry as he fell into it. "HAZIIIIZZZZLLEEEE!"

[Lans]

While Rouge was probably still reacting to the disapearance of one Ghetto Hedgehog, a commotion broke out at a nearby storefront as a half naked(by this world's standards) female mouse came crashing through a display of coats, screaming hysterically as a pair of human security guards pursued her.

[Leedzie]

". . ."

Rouge sighed and rubed the bridge of her muzzle. Well, I suppose THAT worked out well. Just as she'd come to the conclusion that the Shadow she'd be interacting with was not, in fact, the Shadow of her dimension... he apparently spontaneously got sent back to his own. "If nothing else, I guess that saves me a headache."

Just as the bat was raising her wings to take to the skies once more, a loud shriek offended her sensitive ears, and Rouge clamped her hands protectively over them. She turned to glare at whatever troublemaker had caused her pain, and was surprised to see -- or not see -- how the terrified fleeing mouse was dressed. Rouge's expression immediately flattened. I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess this is someone not accustomed to this world's norms.

Springing into the air, the jewel thief's wings took flight as she caught up with the chase, eventually diving and scooping up the mouse around the waist. "Having problems?" she asked blandly.

[Lans]

Lindy twisted around in her grip to see who had her, her panicked mind not taking the time to notice the differences between the two bats as her eyes lit up with relief. "Rouge" she said grabbing her as best she could in a clinging hug, "Thank Aurora! What the heck's going on!? One second I'm out with the search party looking for you guys, the next I'm in the middle of some overlander city! It's like a nightmare come true!"

[Leedzie]

"Oooooooone moment," Rouge mumbled distractedly, weaving in and out of streets and alleys as she gradually gained altitude, managing to throw off the trailing guards. When she was sure that they could land safely, the bat touched back onto the concrete in a narrow alley, making sure the mouse had her balance before releasing her.

"You didn't happen to experience something like a bad acid trip before suddenly finding yourself in that shop back there, did you?" Rouge curtly asked before offering any explanation of things. Before she was going to go through all of that, she wanted to be positive that this was a misplaced Mobian.

[Lans]

"Well...there was this flash of light, then it felt like I was falling for a moment..." Now that they were out of sight, Lindy was calming down enough to notice a few...things. "Um Rouge...did you do something different with your...everything?"

[Leedzie]

Okay, how to explain this. She obviously knows the other me. Rouge tapped her right temple as she stared at the mouse, resting her elbow in her free arm. "Hrm. Allow me to start by saying that, while I am Rouge, I'm not who you think I am. You're..." She paused to cough. "You're not on Mobius; you're on Earth, which is sort of an alternate version of Mobius. I'm the alternate version of your Rouge. She and some of your friends are back at base of our government, and don't worry, they're safe. Ish.

"It's a lucky break that you arrived here near me," Rouge continued with a sigh, "because I was put in charge of finding the people from your that have ended up in ours because of those weird portals. I'll take you to your friends."

The bat started to turn, then stopped and looked again at her companion. "...By the way, what's your name?"

[Lans]

"Um...Lindy, I'm Lindy..." the mouse responded hesitantly. "How...how am I supposed to know that you're telling the truth? This could all be some sort of trick of Iztal's."

[Leedzie]

Rouge stared on at her companion with an unamused expression. "Want to disbelieve me? Go ahead. You won't get far in this world without even the slightest bit of knowledge about where you are or how this place works. As I understand it your world is very, very different from this one." At that, the bat turned and began to saunter away. "Good luck feeding yourself or putting a roof over your head without any rings."

Sure it was a bluff. But hopefully Lindy didn't realize that.

[Lans]

Lindy just glared at the bat, though inwardly she briefly wondered what the heck rings had to do with food or housing.

"Threatening me isn't exactly helping your case," she said, taking a slight step back.

[Leedzie]

"Who's threatening? This was your idea. If you'd rather do it yourself, go for it." With that, Rouge's wings began beating at the air, lifting her from the ground and sending her soaring out of the alley and around the corner. Rather than leaving all together, however, she quickly pulled up and circled around to the roof of one of the two buildings forming Lindy's alley. She'd keep a distant eye on her from above.

[Lans]

Well great, she'd apparently just chased off her only source of help. Well, it wasn't like she didn't have experiance sneaking around a city...alone. "...Looks like it's time to dust off the old skills," She said aloud with a sigh.

The first thing she did was look around, and then quickly spotted what she was looking for: a manhole cover. The best way to sneak around a city was to not use the streets. SHe quickly jogged over to it, and using a small screwdriver from her belt, quickly pried it up and a second later was dropping down into the sewer tunnel.

[Leedzie]

Rouge's expression dulled bitterly as she watched the mouse drop down below the street level. "Oh for the love of-- Are you KIDDING ME?!" It was times like this when Rouge wasn't quite sure why she worked so hard for GUN. Whatever the unidentified motivation, the bat grunted and dove back off the rooftop.

She wasn't going to come after Lindy straight away; there was no point in bluffing if you folded two minutes later. Rouge lingered near the manhole and listened to the mouse's movement as she trudged through the tunnels. Only when Lindy's sound started to fade did the bat begin coaxing herself to descend after her. "Oh geez..." Rouge muttered as she swung her legs into the hole and felt for the ladder. She'd had to do dirty work before, but this was seriously pushing it. "There's not enough bath oil in the WORLD for this!!"

[Lans]

Meanwhile, Lindy jogged through the tunnels, following the flow of the water, hoping that it would lead her to an exit she could use to get out of this city and maybe try and figure out where she was.

[Leedzie]

Rouge liked to consider herself a fairly tough person; if the going got tough, she responded by getting tough herself.

However, this situation wasn't tough; it was just gross. So Rouge found no need to force herself to swag through the sewer's contents, and instead flew above it. She kept her arms and legs tucked rather tightly to her body to avoid touching anything unnecessarily.

Lindy had gained quite a bit of distance ahead, but the bat's keen ears tracked her every movement. Rouge practically had treasure map to follow as she trailed behind the mouse, hoping with every beat of her wings that Lindy would surface soon.

[Lans]

The mouse's footsteps continued ahead of Rouge, stopping occasionally as she changed directions at intersections, until, at one intersection, they stopped completely...

[Leedzie]

The bat grimaced silently. Ugh, what are you stopping for?? Surface already!! In the meantime, she decided to close the gap between them somewhat, but continued to make sure she was well enough behind to remain out of view.

[Lans]

However the intersection ahead remained stubbornly quiet save for the faint dripping sounds of the tunnel itself.

[Leedzie]

The bat huffed quietly to herself. She now began to suspect that her target wasn't just pausing, but there wasn't enough evidence to be sure. Rouge was at least sure that Lindy hadn't gone back up to civilization; she would've heard the noise of Westopolis through the open cover if she had. However, the mouse had clearly stopped for one reason or another. The thief's face scrunched. Hope she didn't hear me after all...

Tightening the muscles in her throat, Rouge let out a mild sonar screech, in an octave that most other people weren't sensitive enough to hear.

(1 = she finds her, 2 = she misses her)
[dice=2]

But there was nothing in the great cavern of the sewer for her wave to bounce back off of. Her jaw clenched; either the mouse was hiding, or she'd somehow managed to lose her. Attempting to keep to the darker shadows, Rouge gradually closed in further.

(for whether or not Lindy heard her sonar and/or sees her approaching)
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[Lans]

[dice=6]

Lindy was waiting. She had heard the bat following her, though she hadn't been sure who it was until just now. She had climbed up a ladder, hiding in the small vertical tunnel just below the manhole cover, which is why Rouge's radar hadn't found her. She waited until the bat drifted right under her, her white fur really stuck out, even in the dark, then suddenly slid down, swinging a booted foot at the back of Rouge's head.
[dice=6][rand=6277144483672852713845135351399839689060863576254533162873880349]

[Leedzie]

[dice=6]

Lindy's ears may have been sharp, but Rouge's were sharper. Before the mouse's boot could meet its target, the theif dodged aside and allowed Lindy to plummet into the murkey water below their feet.

Internally, Rouge grimaced. Dammit... I hate my job. Clenching her eyes in preparation, the bat also dropped into the sewer water to prevent Lindy for making further attacks. "Hey, HEY, HEY!!!" she screeched. "COOL IT ALREADY!!"

NOT. ENOUGH. BATH OILS. IN THE WORLD!!!

[dice=6][rand=8229213087625451472767214036540652564852321518691410888063657994396]

[Lans]

[dice=6]

In response Rouge recieved a fist to her mouth. Lindy was well aware of what the 'real' Rouge could do, and wasn't about to let this fake try anything on her. "Right, I'm gonna just give up and let you capture me..." she suddenly dropped and attempted to sweep the bat's legs out from under her, "...NOT!"
[dice=6][rand=6157717470153485321442721740270940739369299230775437853497051288703]