World Tree MUSH

    It's a bright autumn day in New Neopolis. The leaves on the plentiful trees are just starting to turn golden brown. Buildings reach on up into the sky so high that it can be difficult to breathe on the upper roofs without adequate acclimation. Skywalks criss-cross between buildings, connecting everything to the point where some citizens can theoretically spend their entire lives without touching the ground. Everywhere one looks is a marvel of technology, magic, or both at once - little corner shops stocking minor blessed objects press right up against local Mango Stores selling all sorts of high tech telephonic gadgetry. All this, hundreds of storeys above the ground.

    Flying vehicles criss-cross the sky, and the areas between buildings. Peoples of all races mingle freely, from humans to goblins, demons, starfish aliens and everything in between. You're as likely to meet a student attending magic school as you are to meet an office worker.

    High up in the sky is a blimplike airship, made of solid iron, bearing a manically grinning face decal. The face has a pretty amazing moustache.

    Aboard the ship, Eggman makes one final check. Okay. This will be tight. The Gardeners will respond as soon as he makes his announcement and sends out the robots. But that's fine. He just wants to announce to the Tree that he's here to rule.

    Even if he doesn't quite have the strength to do so yet.

Anna is wandering around the city, with Spiral perched on her shoulder. "We really should head over to the Mushroom Kingdom soon, though," she says, a touch of worry in her fairly androgynous voice.

Spiral nods. "Yeah," the golden-furred catlike creature murmurs. "I know how you feel. We probably don't need to rush for Raven's sake, all things considered, but ..."

"I know, I know," says Anna. "It's just ... I'm the one who zapped her, y'know?"

Neither of them notices the airship just yet.

A literal sky high megalopolis with a thriving 'ecosystem' that differs depending on which district, altitude, and all the other fun attributes. Except it wasn't a reeking hellhole devoid of nature. Ash marveled at this when Ordis transitioned into this world. A place this densly urbanified with actual nature felt rare to him.It was a pity his Orbiter exceeded local skyway size restrictions. The lander? It was totally fine. 

Not ideal, but the Tenno managed. Oh FINE if he wanted he could buzz around using Archwing, but last time he ws through here the local cops kept hassling him. So his lander was nice and visible, meekly obeying traffic laws and pathing guidelines when Eggman's blimp drifted into view.

"Ordis isn't that Doctor Robotnik's sitil?" Ash would ask ust as he was dropped off at a corner music store. THird world he's been to and nobody's heard of this 'Nails under Nails' band. This place, that looked like a record store got turned into a funeralal parlor claimed to have everything gothic and black metal related.

He'd seen what Star Wolf had on 'Eggman.' Paid on time, minimal fuss customer in good standing. All well andgood, but Ash had this feeling in the pit of his stomach the 'good' Doctor wasn't here to go shopping. 

As Ash advised everyone to get indoors that he could reach. Ordis would try calling differing people in Ash's contact lists, or at least mass message them an image of Eggman's blimp. 'Unsure of intent. Will attempt to hail. Be ready for danger. Operator unable to get to Warframe quickly, Orbiter too far away. :C'

    "For the record, I was just leading them on. One more round and I would've doubled everything back I lost!" 

    So insists the humanoid form with the metal face as he is more or less being ushered along one of the spanning walkways by a smallish, red and gray star-like object with a blue core glowing as brightly as his own optics. Sundance says nothing to Cayde's insistance, but she does seem to grant him a flat look.

    The Hunter Vanguard tosses up his hands in a shrug. "....all right, all right. Half of what I got." Beat. "In maybe a couple more rounds. What can I say, their rules are all weird. If we were playing traditionally, I would've had them from the first hand-"

    But Sundance isn't looking at him anymore, her 'eye' swiveling as she tilts to look up, past the crisscross of buildings in this impossibly high city. Cayde scratches his head, then follows his Ghost's line of sight, squinting.

    "...is it advertising some kinda circus?"

     Who would have thought you could have such a fusion between Japanese Curry and Indian Seafood? One of the eateries with a great view of...sky and more buildings...finally manages to finish preparing their signature Food Challenge: The Curry Cauldron. Six litres of broth, five pounds of shrimp, five pounds of fish, squid, crabs, and tripe all populate the rather meaty slow-cooked massive amount of curry hot enough to light a fire. It took ordering three days in advance and it was a very expensive purchase, but there it is. 

     The giant stylized bowl is floated over on an anti-gravity cart to where a giant lionman sits in a chair (nearly too small for him) that has no accompanying dining table. A few onlookers watch. Big critters often take on the near-impossible challenge thinking that their size alone can help defeat it, but few ever actually manage. But this guy -- he looks very determined. A grand hunger is in his blue eyes as much as in his belly. He lifts an arm in cheer and a few people applaud while the timekeeper prepares to start the clock. Armed with chopsticks and a soup spoon, the white-maned brawler leans in closer... 

     "Thirty minutes. Aaaaaand... GO!"

The hubbub of the city meant little to one lone visitor that had decided it was time for a nap after sightseeing, and claimed a spot under one of the autumn trees to do so. The stranger sat leaning against the base of said tree, stetson pulled down over his face, and as this was a city use to non-human population most people barely paided the snoozing armadillo much mind. That is how it would of remained too.

Yet no hero is ever truely fully at rest. The airship passing over the city has yet to do anything hostile, yet something in its presence is enough to get a stirring from the stranger. He tips his head to the side a bit, one scarred eye peering from under the hat's brim. Maybe it's the airship itself. Maybe it's that ominous yet well moustached logo upon it. Maybe it's something else about it. But there's something that's just.... off-putting.

"Got a bad feelin' bout this..." One clawed hand reachs up to grab the hat and tilt it back from his face so Dillon can look up more clearly. Definately a bad feeling.

    Luke was a sucker for this kind of places, mix of high tech, or fantasy and magical stuff, especially when mixed with nature! Thus the 'boy' was busy just walking down the streets, gawking at different stands and shops, just another tourist really, he wasn't even walking with a pokemon at this time, since he was still a bit unsure on how they might react to them (or how his pokemon might react to such a crowded area!, he was a bit close to his limit on crowds as it was.)

    The boy certainly notices the blimp with the odd logo, thinking of the last time he saw a mysterious balloon just floating around, but... that one was an ominous balloon with a red R on it, this one has a neat stamp of a face with a glorious moustache!. He snaps a photograph of the floating machine to share later at home, wondering if it was some sort of advertisement.

    After double checking and triple checking everything was in order, Eggman pushes a button before him and pulls an old-fashioned intercom microphone down from its resting place above him. Leaning back imperiously in his chair - it's almost a throne, really - as Cubot and Orbot work to keep the machine in the air, he speaks into the microphone.

    Speakers built into the sides of the airship scream out, while many of the city's audio devices - those that function using radio, anyway - suddenly switch to a staticy frequency. And then comes a voice. "Attention, people of New Neopolis! High up in the sky above you is the spectacular visage of the Egg Carrier Mk. IV, and aboard the great Doctor Eggman. Remember well that name, for I am the one who shall bring this city - nay, this entire Tree - to its knees in my service!"

    The front, narrower half of the airship's 'balloon' begins to open up, hinging open like some ridiculous doll's jaw to reveal that it is not, in fact, filled with lifting gas. No. It's filled with car-sized, egg-shaped... things.

    The front section of the airship's cargo bay promptly tips forward, disgorging dozens - scores - of the polished metal ovoids across the city. They smash into buildings, and into skyways, causing horrendous damage to some and collapsing a few of the walkways entirely, sending people careening down to the streets below. The eggs open up, each disgorging a dozen meter tall, egg-shaped humanoid robots, made from iron and copper and each belching out smoke from two chimneys in their back.

    Luckily, most of the walkways have safety mechanisms for just this eventuality. The falling people find their falls arrested, slowly floating down as if by magic, while turrets pop up out of hidden compartments to open fire on the invaders! The invaders, meanwhile, begin to fire wildly - their guns only fire bullets, and somewhat crude copper ones at that, but... there's a lot of them.

    Eggman is cackling.

>> GAME >> Eggman uses a Free Edge for: I have an ARMY of course I can take on multiple opponents!

>> SUMMARY[Eggman] >> Suddenly, robots! Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7uHTaazsXo

To be fair? Ash would probably quite appreciate Eggman's sense of aesthetic and theatricality had he known about ye olden intercom setup in the man's personal throne. He in many ways admired the Doctor. Unfortunately right now was not oneof those times since 'taking over the worlds fully integrated into the tree itself' was, in a very real sense, impossible.

"Operator?" Ordis's voice over his comms sounded concerned. "We can do an immediate evac and be back in an hour with yoru frame."

"No Ordis," Ash looked about at people closest to him staring up in horror as the 'blimp' revealed its murderious cargo. "Coordinate with local authorities. See if you can use the lander to get above his blimp and give emergancy response an extra set of eyes." His voice sounded more confident in this plan than he felt.

"What about you Operator?" Ordis... did not like this. His entire reason was to protect the Operator. Yet the Operator's very nature meant he was thrust into danger constantly. THen, reclutantly. "Void Cloak stable. Repositioning Lander for surveilence of battlefield."

"Thank you...." Ash then looked about before stepping into the open, amost as if he were intentionally trying to make himself a juicy target of opprotunity. Outwardly he looked quite normal, though his brown tunik was.. quite strange compared to th fashion of many worlds. Its thick material barely rippled as Ash waved his arm to try getting a Drone's, ANNY dron'es attention.. Why was he doing this? Was he Mental?

"You can thank me by making it out of this alive," Ordis grumbled as he started hailinglocal autorities and advising them of his actions before requesting they patch the lander's sensor feed into their wider information network.

Spiral sighs. "Her crazy-mode almost killed you, Anna," she says. "You do remember that, right? You fell into despair so that your gem turned completely black? That didn't stop being a thing that happened."

Anna frowns. "Yeah, but Raven herself is my friend!" she says. "If I hurt her ..." Her phone buzzes. "What the heck?" She gets out her phone. "Oh! It's from Ordis!"

Spiral looks over Anna's shoulder at the message. There's a brief pause. "Uh-oh," both of them say at once.

And then Eggman makes his announcement. "Uh-oh!" says Anna. "Golly gee, I don't even have a Star Gem anymore! If only there was some way I could help using more than just Windrunner -- oh wait!"

Grinning widely, she gathers her energy into herself, and for a moment, she's surrounded by a pale blue light. Then it shatters, and she's in her sky-blue frilly costume with green and white trim and a bunch of heart emblems, and her hair is cobalt blue.

"You stay back here out of the action, Spiral!" says Anna. She then dashes towards the action at the speed of a car on the freeway, her entire body glowing with pale blue light!

>> SUMMARY[Anna Freeman] >> Anna transforms. Gotta go fast.

    Cayde exchanges a look with his Ghost before bursting out laughing. 

    "-Eggman-?! That's like, the worst name ever- why would anyone actually call themselves something like that?" 

    He barely catches the rest of the Great Doctor's speech, glancing back up to squint again. "...did he just seriously say what I think he said?" Before Sundance can respond, Eggman's showing just how serious he is about his declaration as both Ghost and Hunter watch as large objects begin to pour out from the airship.

    "Iiii guess that's a yes," he mutters, starting to take a few steps back, and as the first of oval onslaught begin to bust through structures he quickly snatches his Ghost from the air, and thankfully she takes the hint, dissipating in a fine sparkle of light into her Guardian as he turns and starts to run.

    Suddenly, this place does not seem nearly so appealing, what with the danger apparent. Bullets spatter across the wall in front of him as he nears the entrance of the casino, and his own weapon is suddenly in hand as he turns and starts firing at the nearest invader. Because it's only fair to shoot back at whatever's shooting at you!

     The first thing the lion guy does is dip a spoonful of broth to taste, taking his time, allowing the heat of the dish to really flare up. There's strategy to the action, however: a careful mouthful keeps one from being surprised, as that first contact is usually to most intense. 

     With a grunt and an approving nod, the spoon is placed aside and the chopsticks dig in. It's like pot luck! You don't know what treasure you'll pull up out the kingly meal fit to feed a couple families. First: a big white chunk of delicious savory fish, so properly cooked that the flavors remain and the delicious taste bursts forth with delectable juices. 

     "Om nom." 

     Some strings of tripe are fished up along with some squid. To the untrained eye they may look similar, but even an untrained tongue can tell the difference between the textures and flavors. Chewy, but not rubbery, soaked in the broth that compliments the (mostly) sea-faring meats and provides a fiery boost. 

     "It's good for blood circulation," says one older woman to another in a thick accent as they watch. Her friend nods along. 

     The next thing that happens involves the soothing elevator-style music suddenly swapping over to a hijacked message. Without a good view of the blimb from where this eatery sits, a few people look around at each other in confusion, after the message plays out. Then the elevator music comes back on. 

     "Well, that was strange," says the woman's equally older friend. The first woman nods along this time. 

     The lionman looks around to the others. At least one person laughs a little in anxiousness at how silly that was and it is generally passed off as nothing major. Turning attention back to the giant bowl and beginning to chow down even faster to make up for lost time, an explosion of impact interrupts the challenge yet again not too terrible far away. People begin to scream and yell; the other impacts across the city go unheard as the nearby situation plays out. Strange robots emerge just outside the eatery and begin opening fire. 

     Rez whips his attention about, steamed whole crab sticking out of his mouth, to see some of that wild fire shattering restaurant windows carving a horizontal line across the width of the eatery. Some people are quick to react, but those two old woman are far too slow to realize what's going on. Just as bullets rain upon them, a large figure jumps in front of them to take it all. Right to the chest. 

     The lion-hearted hero with a crab in his mouth. ...wait, did he forget it was there?

By the time this so-called Eggman has started his announcement Dillon has gotten up, dusted himself off, and straighted his cowboy hat back out. Only to pause at a staticy crackle, and from one of his belt pouches pull a battered old walkie-talkie. This being one of those so old that it's the size of a small housephone and works on radio, so it's picking up most of the broadcast. How annoying. Dillon just grunts in said annoyance and puts the walkie-talkie away again.

By this point the real chaos has started as buildings are smashed by egg-shaped pods that start spewing out mechanical steam-powered attackers. Kind of reminds him of smaller all-metal versions of Don Kong's barrel-mech. Not a good reminder to be given. Looks like the Red Flash is going to have to put his hiatus, on hiatus.

In a manner that's going to look -very- eerily similar to the overseer of those robots the armadillo curls up and spins in place, to the point that the gyroscopic force building up starts to leave scratches and skidmarks on the pavement. And an audible screech following it as Dillon shoots towards the nearest lander and the mecha malcontents disbarking it.

>> SUMMARY[Dillon] >> Blue blurr speeds b--No wait, this guy is tan and red, ignore me.

    Luke just stands there in the middle of the street, as Dr. Robotnik's speech is relayed by nearby speakers, blinking a few times, "What?" he mumbles. He quickly runs back for cover as the large 'eggs' drop from the balloon and to the ground, not too far from him actually!. The crashing noises and Luke's sounds of panic causing a reaction from one of the pokeballs on his belt!. 

    There is a bright flash of red light, as a massive, orange black and cream furred creature seems to teleport in front of Luke, shielding him from some of the debris, and eyeing the large eggs as they crack open. For now, Agni does not push for an attack, instead, it goes for a defensive maneouver, standing in front of Luke, an orange wall of energy materializing in front of the pokemon as it glares at the machines. Any bullets hitting the 'shield' seem to be slowed down drastically, but still remain dangerous, thankfully with the erratic shooting, most shots still miss the pokemon as it provides cover for Luke while the bear nudges the boy to a better position, it's priority, getting the dumb kid safe.

>> SUMMARY[Luke Gray] >> Luke panics, Agni appears, uses reflect, tries to push the staring trainer back to cover while basically being cover itself.

    All of Eggman's less sophisticated robots have the following three directives, in order of importance:

    1. Obey and protect the Doctor without question or complaint.
2. Prioritise targeting against any blue or ball-shaped supersonic object.
3. Don't criticize the Doctor's food choices even if you're SURE he's harming himself eating it.

    So it's only natural, really, that as soon as the Dieselpunk Egg Pawns spot the Heart Mage Anna Freeman, or the Red Flash Dillon, they immediately turn towards them and open fire! Of course, even if they're programmed to always respond to Sonic-like threats, it doesn't mean their bullets - they're barely supersonic for crying out loud - are likely to hit anything!

    In fact, the bullets don't seem to be hitting much of anything in general. Oh, sure, a few unlucky civilians are hit by stray fire, but mostly the robots seem to be firing wildly and erratically at everything and nothing!

    The local law enforcement is starting to respond, flying cars filling the skies. Some of them are opening fire on the robots, some of which even return fire, while others are launching upward to assault the 'blimp' in the sky. Meanwhile, floating ambulances and fire engines are helping evacuate the besieged areas, using the video feed provided by Ordis in order to help coordinate. Sure, they have their own surveilance, but any extra angle is a good one!

    As heroes begin to appear, the robots begin to automatically favour attacking them rather than just firing wildly. Bullets ping against Agni's shield and impact Rev's muscular chest. They're not very high-velocity and are rather fragile, so honestly they're fine for the moment. Concentrated fire might be an issue as more and more robots begin to converge on them... are they communicating with each other, or are they being directed from above?

    Ash's waving manages to actually catch the attention of one of the robots. Miraculously, it seems this one's gun isn't working - or maybe it's out of ammo - so instead it just defaults to melee combat and makes a grab for Ash with its grabby hand claws!

    Eggman is sitting aboard his throne, fingers steepled. Orbot looks up from a monitor to speak: "Doctor, scans indicate Gardener response teams are starting to scramble. I estimate approximately eleven minutes before the first strike force arrives. I would suggest evacuation in nine minutes to make sure we escape."

    The Doctor grunts. He's a little distracted by one of the video feeds to pay all of his attention to the rather imporant advice. "...Is that Mighty?"

Wait, this robot wasn't shooting? Ash smiled in spite of himself as he shifted his stance. His leg muscles tensed as it approached.

"Operator you have it's attention. Now what?" Ordis was only aware of what was going on because of the transponder in Ash's communications gear and the direct feed to the augmented reality glasses he wore. "Suggesting evasion operator."

"Negative. I want it to come closer." Ash took a breath to push out the jibbering madness fear that he was going t odo something terminally stupid.

THere was a moment where Ordis's communicatin was little better than a blurt of static. "You're going to do WHAT?!"

ash ran towards his attacker and lept, arms and legs streached out as he made a grab for the machine, an arm, a propulsion unit, it's face. He was simply hoping to latch onto the thing.

>> GAME >> Ash spends an Edge for: I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOOOIIIIIING! CAAATCH MEEEEE!

    The Exo covers the building entrance, or at least he seems to be, but a few gamblers stream out every so often when he tries to duck back in, and as much as he's annoyed at some of them for taking his money, he'd feel a little bad if they got hit. Especially by random gunfire. 

    Besides, he's a robot, so he's a bit more resiliant to bullets than organic beings.

    "Too bad I don't have my jumpship," he sighs, jerking his Ace of Spades to the side to eject its spent cartridge before slapping in a new one and continuing to return fire. Cayde won't waste his shots, and his handcannon packs more punch despite its old-fashioned look. 

    At least others are fighting back, and so the Exo abandons his thought to take cover in order to dash across the walkway again, find another target to harry.

Heart Mage Anna Freeman raises her eyebrows as the robots start shooting at her! "... Hmm!" She starts zigzagging back and forth evasively, though she does this a little bit less when it becomes clear that they're just really bad at aiming. One bullet hits, though, and her body flickers with a force field that seems to glow brightest around her costume. "Ow!" She grimaces, but there's only a slight break in her step.

"All right then, you eggheads!" she calls out. She thrusts her fist forward, and it begins to glow even more brightly than the blue corona around her, as she wraps a Heart Mage's standard offensive power around her fist. "Windy ..." And then she just charges forward fist-first, sidestepping to get all as many robots in one movement, if she can. "... PUNCH!"

     The old women are helped to shuffle away by others from the sudden display of violence as the gakuran-wearing lionman soaks any stray gunfire. This wasn't a joke -- this was something serious! The big guy doesn't have much time to look around for any casualties; his personal strategy is to take threats head-on. Sadly, the Curry Cauldron has been hit. 

     An unfortunate hole wounds the giant bowl halfway down its height. Its very lifeblood ebbs away, soaking the cloth covering the floating cart, exposing so much meat within and the squid that managed to catch and stop the bullet completely. It is a sad day. It barely had a chance to live, but it can fade away and grow cold knowing that somebody at least go to sample a taste of what it had to offer and, in the cooked whole crab still sticking free of the Bancho Leomon's mouth, part of its essence lives on. 

     Due to his GAKU-RAN, the magnificent coat draped over the seven foot tall lion's shoulders styled after a Japanese school boy's uniform, the bullets that strike him have a minimized effect. It doesn't mean they are harmless, but what little they do per bullet in a chaotic spray like that only serves to get the beast's attention. 

     The lion points a finger at the robot at some distance away, even if the mechanoid isn't necessarily paying direct attention, and speaks. "Nmm mmfm mnnum mfmllre mm." Crab interference. One moment. Please standby. 

     Rez bites through the shell of the red crab and what is remaining, including the legs, all fall away onto the ground. Curry juices run down the lion's chin as he crunches away before swallowing. How sad. How spicy. How delicious. You will not be forgotten, Curry Cauldron. At least, not yet. 

     "Don't you know it is rude to interrupt somebody while they are eating? Well?! This type of rudeness is not to go without repercussion! Fool." With a gesture that furls his jacket with a rustling of cloth, the lionman takes up an offensive stance before barreling forward with a fist drawn back. "Do you realize how much I had to save up for that?!" he yells in a battle cry intending to bring, well, fists to a gun fight. 

     He fires his own shot if he gets close enough. No punches are intended to be pulled. 

     Don't mess his Rez's food. 

     Ever.

    The 'bullets' apparently are not very strong, so after the 'reflect' shield destroys most of the energy in them, they seem to bounce on the fluffy fur of the tough 'bear' pokemon. It grunts, a mix of surprise and some light discomfort, glancing at the machines for a moment after Luke is shoved behind a resting vehicle, where it should be safe. "Ok, ok, go and attack those things, I promise I'll be safe." he reasures the big pokemon. 

    Agni is not supernaturally fast, but there is something about having a critter the side of a grizzly bear exploding into flames as it charges towards its quarry that likely might draw the attention of the robots nearby. "Flame wheel!" as he says that, the bear JUMPS and somersaults in mid air, turning into a literal fireball that rushes forward and crashes into one of the robots.

Most of the robots' fire goes wide, peppering the pavement around the certainly high speed and ball shaped Dillon. There's sparks of a few hits, but at the velocity Dillon is moving the copper bullets mainly just crumple against his armor-like shell and got skittering off in various directions.

It's not enough to stop Dillon from slamming at high speed into the first robot in his path... And that's the point that it becomes apparent this isn't exactly the standard 'Spin Attack' their master is use to. Sure on the surface it looks the same... but Dillon doesn't have long sharp spines like a certain hedgehog; he has a hard shell of ridges and spikes. So the inpact is less of the cutting nature and more like being hit by giant grinder on nitro. Then rebounds out of the attack and into the air as Dillon uncurls, only to come down with a trio of swipes with he claws to finish the job.

Then lands on his feet with spurs clanging briefly. As Dillon stands upright there is somehow a brief ominous breeze blowing by, just enough to flutter the bandana around his neck as he glares sidelong at the other robots with his scarred left eye.

"Still feelin' lucky, punks?"

    Punches are thrown - both magical and digital in nature - and robots are torn apart as if made of foil. It's not that they're fragile, really - they're solid iron! It's just... they're a bit slapdash. They have structural weakpoints due to low-tech spot welding being used to put the pieces together. Then there's the matter of their internal fuel resevoirs...

    The fuel may be the reason the robots Cayde-6 shoots almost immediately explode into moderately sized fireballs, tinted slightly blue as the refined fuel goes up in.. flames.

    Dillon and Agni both smash into robots, Dillon following up with some savage claw attacks. Dillon's target is shredded, while Agni's goes up in flames as again its internal fuel resevoir is set alight. That's a serious design flaw...

    Ash's target, meanwhile, flails about comically as the teen climbs onto it and clings on. Does not compute! Confusion, alarm!

    As the law enforcement bots fly higher, they start to open fire on the airship. Holes are punched through the hull, and an alarm starts to sound. "Drat!" Eggman fake-swears. "This armour is useless! Cubot, ready the Egg Eagle!"

    Explosions make everything better, and for each robot that erupts into such lovely-colored balls of flame, Cayde feels a little better about the bets he'd lost earlier. He lifts his hands theatrically amidst the flicker of firelight and the flying shrapnel, silhouetted by another bluish burst of flames as the burning wreckage plummets past the Exo and the skyway he stands upon.

    "That the best Eggboy's got?" he quips, spinning his gun about in hand, blue gaze skimming surroundings before tracking up towards the source of the sudden chaos. Ah, but if only he were carrying a grenade launcher.

    He pauses and shades his eyes as he sees one of the bots, more oddly shaped for its current burden, bobbing about wildly in the distance. "What the..."

Guess they're not very talkative. That's okay, neither is Dillon.

The Last Ranger adjusts his hat brim almost casually, then hunches slightly into the classic 'gunslinger' stance. Clawed fingertips wiggle as he sizes up the remaining robots in the group. You can almost hear that cheesy old Western leimotiff play in the wind. It's very much reminicent of that sort of movie showdown, right down to the gritty scowl creasing the armadillo's expression until it's finally the moment and "... Draw!"

Quick reflexes grab for his belts, but despite mimicking the motion Dillon doesn't pull a pair of guns. Instead he pulls some kind of small crystal spheroids and uses the upward snap of his arms to throw them at the robots. On impact the crystals 'explode' but not in a violent blast, but rather a surge of ice that rapidly freezes over fast enough to become hard and immobilizing.

Wow! Ash didn't die! Minor miracle given he doens't have all the fancy mobility his warframe gives! He wobbled, clinging to the egg-bot with his left hand while taking aim with his right. Just a quick...

There was hthe sound of inhaling. A soft vrrrRRRRRRRRRR. Between that moment and the next the poor robot might record some very interesting readings, almost as if power was being drawn from extradimensinal space.

Then a palm sized beam of energy first at one of the robot's limbs, then after a moment, the other. Each a short burst of wild and chaotic energy that from moment to moment was this chaotic soup of contradictory energies and forces all bundled up in a neat little packageof laser death.

"Now that you're not trying to slap me in the face!" Ash screamed, hoping the Robot was both ableto hear him and able to understand more than basic commands. "Take me to your leader!" As if to illistrate the point he would im at a nearby egg bot and fire at it. "I want to speak to your boss."

Anna blinks as the robots she's fighting against just get smashed apart. "... Huh," she says. Is she that strong, or are the robots just that shoddy? She honestly doesn't know which it is, or how to test it without doing more damage to the city.

Well, whatever. She's got a city to save. As she tears through more robots -- some damaged by Heart Energy, others just by the inertia during moments when she can't keep the Heart Energy up -- she starts making her way directly towards the blimp, even as holes start getting punched through it by the law enforcement. Even if it seems like this invasion was poorly-thought-out, she's the type of person who needs to see the end for herself.

Not that she has any idea how she'll get to the airship, if it comes to that. Run first, figure things out as she goes!

And then she comes across Ash, riding the robot like a bronco, and she skids to a stop as she catches the tail end of what he says! "Hey Ash!" she calls out. "Goin' up?" With a heart-gloved hand, she gestures up at the Egg Carrier.

     Rez's charge comes with an easy victory, it seems, as he literally Rock 'Em Sock 'Em knocks a chunk out of the robot. Honestly, there's a moment of a surprise in this that briefly interrupts the rage over lost food. Blue eyes widen as he sees the state of his opponent. Did he go too far? 

     That question is answered by the realization that one of those impacted pods nearby has released more than just the one crumpled before him. There are at least ten others wreaking havok terrorizing people and cause all sorts of property damage. Things are pretty smashed up already, though, so the the Leomon doesn't think twice about his followup action. 

     With a rage-fueled roar easily heard over gunfire, running engines, and the ever-playing easy listening tunes, Rez calls out a challenge. "Over here! Face me, shoot at me, I'm talking to you -- pay attention when you are being spoken to!" 

     "You need to learn a bit of-" A fist rises to the lion's face and there's a sparkle in his eyes. His elbows lock and shoot backward, the force causing his gakuran to billow like a cape behind him, as he enters a modified horse stance. His feet brace against the ground, he turns at the waist, brings his right arm up in a wide swing overhead, forward, and down. It takes on an energetic glow just before it impacts with the floor. 

     "Chivalry!!" 

     What is best described as a shock wave spreads forward in a very directed path toward the Tenpins (there are actually eleven) which has a force that seems to push upward, not backward. It's not only a damaging maneuver, but it can upset the balance of multiple foes due to its nature. 

     This is how you get attention. It's negative attention, but still attention. 

     So typical of a bantyo-styled individual, too. But, well, at least it's an attempt to draw fire while people get to safety and buys time until emergency services can respond. A tough Digimon he may be, but even Rez can only do so much amidst an apparent city-wide invasion.

    Luke can't quite see what Eggman is doing for now, just focused on the group of robots standing near him and Agni, watching the machines try to turn around to grab onto the pokemon. "Agni, Trash!." he calls, the bear roaring in response, rearing again on it's hindpaws, and simply attacking at the metal machines with it's claws, snarling angrily as it tears with it's sharp claws. The attacks seem a bit at random, switching targets between attacks, but otherwise, going all out, breaking limbs and more of the nearby machines. If one didn't know any better, one might think the pokemon went just crazy, a risky move to use without an actual target nearby. Luke has no real expectations to handle with the mess on his own, but might as well do what he can with the machines nearby, draw fire perhaps!. He has more pokemon.

    Eggman leans forward in his seat as sensors pick up Ash's Void Laser. His eyebrows are raised. "...Now THAT's interesting..." he murmurs.

    Ash's steed, even bereft of arms, does not seem willing to cooperate! It's not even clear it can understand him, as it just flails its body about trying to dislodge him. The area around him is free of robots for the moment - Anna's been doing a lot of work clearing out the horde, after all! At this rate they might not even last the full nine minutes...

    Dillon's foes are frozen solid, arms, legs and guns poking out of the ice at random, although they're far too cold to actually fire. That, or they've run out of ammunition. Dillon can take these things apart at his leisure now - or maybe leave them to try to find another group of robots that haven't been cut down by law enforcement craft or the other heroes.

    Agni tears its targets to pieces, scattering scrap metal everywhere! Fuel splatters, being set alight by the fire pokemon's sheer body heat, but that's not going to do much to it. Really, these robots are looking less and less dangerous by the minute. Over half of them have been dismantled by now!

    Rez knocks almost a dozen robots clean up in the air, the machines flailing about ahd firing wildly. A few actually manage to hit each other, saving Rez some of the work in dismantling them!

    Meanwhile, up above, the Egg Carrier Mk. IV is listing to the side and descending downwards. Parts of it are on fire now! Is the Doctor down for the count?

    Well no, he's not, as he promptly proves to Cayde that the robots AREN'T all he's got. The rear section of the Egg Carrier opens up, revealing a large aircraft - resembling a sort of plane-bird - with its wings folded up inside. The Egg Eagle Mk. II promptly leaps out of the Egg Carrier and into the air, letting out a mechanised screech as its wings flap to aid in lift. Cannons fire bullets at the response craft, sending several spiraling down to the buildings below.

    The Egg Carrier crashes into the side of a building and starts to descend, breaking apart, almost in slow motion.

Ash spotted Cayde, and even though he had no idea who the GUardian was he'd wave regaardless before turning his attention to Anna. "Think this one's at Capacity love!" He shouted while trying, and likely failing, to put on an approximation of a cockney accent. "'Fraid you'll have to wait for the next lift up!" He let out a mad laugh as he held on tight. THough he sounded jovial emotionally he had cacooned himself in a shell of emptiness lest fear and self preservation make him hesitate. He would feel later, but for nowhe playedthe part of the fool, laughing as he fired short bursts of Void energy as targets presented themselves. It was reckless. It was stupid.

It was exactly how Tenno tended to do things. Appear to be well within the madness place of nonsensical chaos while adhearing to some overal goal... even if the plan itself really was little better, and often quite a bit worse, than pure madness anyway.

"Ordis!" Ash shouted. Get the lander under me."

Anna as well as others might feel the rush of wind as Ordis dropped the fighter jet sized craft nose down towards Ash's position, narrowliy missing the flailing egg droid in the process. "In position Operator." A pause ust before Ash let go, "I have repositioned the Orbiter above Doctor Robotnik's current position."

Ash fell, letting himself pitch backward off of his unwilling steed. As he fell towards apparent open air he would fire at the limbless drone before landing on... Nothing? A safty mechanism? 

No.

He stood, holding his arms wide with his palms outstreached and face upturned towards Eggman's newest toy he would apparently glide upward.

His ascent would pause and he would look to Anna before offering a hand. 

Regardles on if Anna joined him or not Ash would slowly ascend to roughly the same altitude as Eggman's craft.

He would then point towards the rotunde would-be-conqueror before turning his hand palm up and with a quick curl of his fingers make what seemed to be recognized cross-culturally as a 'come here' gesture.

"Operator..." Ordis sounded thoroughly and utterly fed up by what was going on. "Must you really indulge in these theatrics?

    Once the robots near him seem be destroyed, and Agni stops... attackign the metal scrap, he reaches for his pokeball, "Agni, return, take a break." he calls outloud, changing pokeballs to a different pokemon, "Dynamo!." he calls, even as the round 'tiger' pokemon is brough out. The two begin to go down the road, searching for more of those small robots, or something to help with!. They run into some of the final stragglers, "Dynamo, tDischarge!." he calls outloud.

    The 'tiger' nods adn quickly builds up energy, electricity sparking from it's fur for a moment, growing brighter, before it is unleashed, several electric bolts shooting from it's body towards the machines nearby, shocking them!.

The robots were easy to defeat.... In fact, they were -too- easy. Which is actually a little unsettling in itself. It usually meant it was only the first wave of mostly harmless enemies. The stuff that's bigger, ornerier and more of a threat would come later. Or at least that's what Dillon's experiences would tell him. At least the robots, for how hodgepodge their construction seems to be, were more organized than a Grock invasion out of been. Grocks tend to only think with their stomaches.

So his toys may be easy to break, but this 'Eggman' is at least capable of actually controlling his minions. That's not a reassuring thought either, but as his main craft is going down and that bird-plane contraption is fleeing, not a thought to worry about at the moment.

Dillon walks up to one of the frozen robots, grabs the arm sticking out of the ice, and bends it up so it won't actually randomly shoot anyone if it starts firing. But otherwise, this is the city's matter to finish cleaning up. After that he dusts his gloved hands off, gives a tip of his hat to the local authorities getting the situation back in order, and then... just sort of wanders off without another word. Time for the Last Ranger to mosey on to the next town that might need his help.

    "...right. Spoke too soon," Cayde mutters, his attention shifting towards the airship thing as it dispenses another vehicle. He shakes his head at some internal comment from his Ghost, shrugging. "You got me."

    He winces as the main carrier is abandoned and promptly collides with another building. "And thaaat ain't good either. Okay, we let the kids do their thing. Better help with evacs."

    His gameplan laid out with Sundance, he looks down for the nearest pathway that'll take him in the right direction, and with a few steps back, he dashes forward and leaps over the side, boosting in midair and again- and then vanishing briefly. He reappears shortly upon the next span and without missing a step continues to run towards the building with the airship sticking out of it.

Anna jumps in surprise as the Egg Carrier starts crashing! "Shit!" she exclaims, eyes wide. That's gonna be hitting the city's repair budget, to say nothing of the potential loss of life.

She manages a lopsided grin at Ash's stupid accent. "Well, blow me down!" she says. "I ... uh ... yeah, I got nothing. Well, whatever, maybe I'll try to figure out if I can run up the sides of the other buildings or ..."

She frowns at the approaching plane-bird. "... something," she finishes.

Regardless, she watches Ash very carefully, sees by his feet that he's apparently standing on something, and just jumps off to land next to him. "Well, standing on something invisible is kind of surreal, but I'll take it," she murmurs.

She grins at Ordis's comment, before going straight into a ridiculous anime-pose next to Ash. "Of course we do!"

     It almost seems like overkill, or perhaps mercy killings, if you can even 'kill' such creations. The muscular brawler rushes over to the pile of robots in as quick a follow-up as he can and, once nearly there, leaps the remaining distance. In mid-air, the lion's left hand draws his over-sized tanto from behind his back (it's a short sword for -him-) and uses it to target the pile of flailing metal. It's likely a scene of savagery as the lion intends to brutalize the entirety of Eggman's Eleven. 

     The problem with this tactic is that using metal to cleave metal results in sparks. This is especially bad since fuel tanks are involved. It's hard to say how many the Leomon is able to target before the inevitable happens: a spark ignites leaking fuel and a massive firebomb explosion goes off. Glass shatters, people scream, shrapnel whips about. 

     A silhouette with the shape of a lion man can be seen being flung out of the side of the building. Ash and Anna, so occupied with their dramatic ascent from the side of the building below, may not even fully be aware of the object falling toward them. The Lander's ascension puts that much more force to the impact that large heavy body has against its very edge, an 'oof' can be heard briefly before the person is deflected back toward the building. The sound of metal, however, might prompt a bit of reaction from Ash or Anna...as a sword zings through the air straight toward them, spinning like a blender. 

     And then it disappears, just before it hits. 

     Further down in the building, a small lion cub crashes through a window and rolls to a stop. It doesn't move.

    Most of the robots have been taken apart now. And then Luke sends out an electric tiger to shock some robots. ... You'd think this wouldn't actually achieve much, but after a few seconds, the affected 'bots EXPLODE. That fuel is really very volatile!

    The ear-splitting explosion from Rez's ill-advised robot blender maneuver signals the end to the robotic army. They were taken down pretty easily, although there have been casualties. And might have been more, had Cayde not jumped in to aid the evacuation efforts - the Guardian is more maneuverable and durable than most of the rescue personnel, so he's put to rather good use.

    Eggman has noticed Ash and Anna. He debates internally for a moment - his time is almost up - but he decides to pay them a visit anyway. The Egg Eagle does a few complicated maneuvers in the air, weaving through the emergency vehicles peppering it with shots - it's way more durable than the Carrier was - and slowly almost to a halt by the invisible craft supporting Ash and Anna.

    The cockpit opens to reveal... well, it's Eggman. He's flying the thing himself! "Yes?"

    A voice comes from further back in the cockpit. "Doctor..." It has a warning tone.

Ash would smile as the Doctor took the offer peacefully rather than with all guns blazing. He would walk forward, smiling as he pulled a data pad from his tunic. "DOctor. This.." He gestured down at the building his airship slammed into. "I would have advised yo utake another route especially with your avalible forces." He would then toss the data pad to the Doctor. "I'm going to be busy helping with emergancy work and cleaning up the mess you made. I suggest you find somewhere else to be." There was an undercurrent of regret in his voice with those words. 

A quick skim of the datapad would show it mostly containing photoes and video of a series of fist sized chunks of rock and ore, their names, descriptions, and at least one of them needing weights to not float away and yet strong enoug to resist small and medium arms fire. Following these descriptions a simple text file. 'My craft uses very non-standard technology. I will give you materials samples for study at a convenietnt time. Please leave Ordis a message if you are interested.'

Then Ash's arms would Cross and he would look at the Doctor Stirnly before deliberately uncrossing his arms and aiming both palms to fire void beams at two different robots. "Neither of us have time or energy for a drawn out fight. Maybe another day."

Anna ducks and whirls around, just in time to see the sword vanish! "... well, that was random," she mutters, before turning back to the Egg Eagle as Eggman makes himself known directly.

Anna takes basically the opposite approach from Ash. "I mean, seriously, Egghead," she says, entirely too casually. "I dunno what you think you were trying to accomplish by attacking one of the best-defended cities on the Tree, but, I mean, really? Pretty much all you've done so far is made a mess of your own stuff." Her tone is devoid of rancor; she's totally willing to meet Eggman halfway, and maybe even make friends with him -- because it doesn't occur to her that not trying to make friends with someone she's getting into a fight with is even an option -- but for now, when he's being an actual threat, she's ready to smack him down. "And if you aren't gonna walk away ..."

She gestures vaguely, and her gloved hand glows with Heart Power. "Well, I can also fire lasers." She gives him a somewhat incongruously sunny smile. "You know how it is."

Oh, and she's also totally underestimating him.

>> SUMMARY[Anna Freeman] >> "Hey look! A giant talking egg!" except more, y'know, 'magical girl'.

    If it had been one of the round robot things that had run into the building, Cayde wouldn't have bothered too much. An abruptly abandoned airship however? That's plenty cause for concern, and if the kids up there can negotiate or stall Eggface, then the Exo's path of choice is a simple one to make out.

    It's a lot of building to clear, and there's probably no way that he'll be able to go through the whole of it, but he doesn't intend to. His aim is where the collision had been head on, help clear out who can still move, keep an eye out for those who can't.

    And when he can, a glance spared outside, if only to make sure that nothing more is incoming as his Ghost monitors the structural damage around them.

    Eggman snatches the data pad out of the air casually - quick reflexes for such a big guy - and glances at it for a moment. He then tosses it over his shoulder to one of the robots behind him - a cube-shaped one, who notably does NOT catch it in time and ends up thrown out of his seat instead.

    "Don't condescend to me, children," he chides, in a rather jovial tone. "I have accomplished everything I meant to here." He SOUNDS like he means it, at least. He pushes up his pince-nez sunglasses. "That energy you give off is quite interesting, Mister Tenno. I'll have to... study it, some time."

    "Doctor!" comes a raised voice from one of the robots behind him.

    Eggman glances down at the monitor in his control panel. "...And with that, I must bid you adieu." He gives a slight mock bow, then closes the cockpit and powers the craft up into the air and out of sight. That thing can really move...!

    A minute later, a response force from the Gardeners arrive. The search and rescue is going to go MUCH smoother with those guys around.

Ash frowned at the rather unsettling way the 'Good' Doctor mentioned studying him. He muttered darkly as he sat down on the now fading into visibility stingrayshaped craft.

"Wait... when did that happen?" Ash looked at a rather large dent in the left flank of the craft."

"Roughly two minutes before you -STUPID AND RECKLESSLY- attempted negociations with Doctor Robotnik," Ordis helpfully informed.

Ash would then look to Anna and sigh. "Hey mindif I drop you off somewhere so I can grab the tin suit so I can help with search and rescue?" Why did he sound tired? "Also... thanks for havigng my back. Appreciate it."

Anna waits until Eggman leaves ... and then exhales with relief. "Wow," she says, shaking her head, before breaking into a grin. "That ... was something, all right!"

She nods to Ash. "Okay, sure," she says. "Lemme know where you're going, I'll want to help with that stuff." Now that the threat is passed: it's time to get back out and help people!

... and probably find Spiral at some point, whoops.