(Ok, since Count Drakupo isn't responding, it's likely he's busy or something. Allow me to continue the story.)

"Coming with you, Gardon!" Silver said as he headed out with Gardon, his gloves now bathed in a light blue aura.

"Nya?" Aaron said, his ears perking up. Finally, hopefully some action around here. Maybe if he can get to the second shaft of the underground, he can take his new "defense system" for a test drive!

Seg immediately followed his adopted father. Like his gloves, Seg's gloves lit up, the gem in the center of the pair emitting a pale blue light, ready to unleash an energy projectile or to emulate.

"Suni, stay here. I got a feeling that whatever's happening outside isn't for anything positive, nya" Aaron said to Suni, giving her a kiss on her cheek. He headed out with Seg, claws out and ready to scratch some....whatever's out there.

Once the group got outside the main castle hall, they saw a most horrible sight.

A familiar foe....with an army of robots....and an armada of flying and land machines.

Eggman Nega.

(Apologies. Chronic writers' block. It's what happens when one has to deal with a dozen events at once.)

The menacing mechanist hovered above the moat with a venomous smirk poorly concealed behind his mustache. "Today's quite the momentous occasion, is it not?" Nega began, his amplified voice dripping with disingenuous camaraderie. "Still, I couldn't help but notice that you forgot to invite me!"

Meanwhile, Taylor and Conrad were watching the situation unfold from the door.
"That's a lotta machines. Think they shoulda warned us," Conrad commented.
Taylor shook his head. "That's an archetypical villain up there. They're notoriously unpredictable. Get ready. We're holding fire until any machines pass the line our hosts have formed," he instructed, the air around him beginning to ripple with what might have been the ghosts of magic runes.
Conrad nodded, the wisps of phantom script beginning to swirl around him as well.

At some inaudible signal, the robot army began to advance upon the castle towards its defenders.

(No problem, Drakupo, we'll wait. I think I started this sad trend of "waiting for other player to post" tho)


"Aaron-kun!” Suni yelled at her brother. “Where are you going? Don't leave me alone!” The young girl couldn't let Aaron just dissapear in a moment like this. Big bro Aaron wanted Suni to stay safe, sure, but what if Aaron got injured and there was no one to help him? What should she do now? Hide? Look for help? 

Few seconds passed until Suni heard nightmarish sounds from outside the castle: dozens of robots marching at the door and shooting at them. The kitsune glanced over a window to see the beggining of the assault. "Oh no! Mechas are attacking... Iie, iie, IIE!!" 
That was the call. Staying there wasn't safe anymore. And Aaron couldn't take all those machines by himself. Even with the help of others, he would have a very hard time taking down those robots. 

So Suni had to venture herself and overcome her fear. 

"Aaron-kun, just wait for me! Your onii-chan's on her way!”  Suni rustled to herself, clenching her fists. Still scared by the events, the kitsune girl ran in the same direction Aaron went.


Meanwhile, Gardon and Silver made their way into the main door of Castle Sol. 
"That power-hungry mischieveous madman again?!” Gardon exclaimed, looking at the imposing armada and the robotic army. "I'm getting too old for his childish villainous schemes. Mister Silver, how should we enforce?" the royal guard asked, drawing his sword and looking at the robots determined to slash them.

(05-08-2022, 11:43 AM)ChaosKaiser Wrote: (No problem, Drakupo, we'll wait. I think I started this sad trend of "waiting for other player to post" tho)


"Aaron-kun!” Suni yelled at her brother. “Where are you going? Don't leave me alone!” The young girl couldn't let Aaron just dissapear in a moment like this. Big bro Aaron wanted Suni to stay safe, sure, but what if Aaron got injured and there was no one to help him? What should she do now? Hide? Look for help? 

Few seconds passed until Suni heard nightmarish sounds from outside the castle: dozens of robots marching at the door and shooting at them. The kitsune glanced over a window to see the beggining of the assault. "Oh no! Mechas are attacking... Iie, iie, IIE!!" 
That was the call. Staying there wasn't safe anymore. And Aaron couldn't take all those machines by himself. Even with the help of others, he would have a very hard time taking down those robots. 

So Suni had to venture herself and overcome her fear. 

"Aaron-kun, just wait for me! Your onii-chan's on her way!”  Suni rustled to herself, clenching her fists. Still scared by the events, the kitsune girl ran in the same direction Aaron went.


Meanwhile, Gardon and Silver made their way into the main door of Castle Sol. 
"That power-hungry mischieveous madman again?!” Gardon exclaimed, looking at the imposing armada and the robotic army. "I'm getting too old for his childish villainous schemes. Mister Silver, how should we enforce?" the royal guard asked, drawing his sword and looking at the robots determined to slash them.

(🎶 Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition: Mechanical Rhythm 🎶)

"Simple. We take them out the only ways we know how" Silver replied, stopping a robot dead in its tracks and then using that as a weapon against it's metallic brethren. "We break these things and turn them into junk."

"R-right!" Seg said, quickly touching his father and gaining his psychokinetic powers, joining him in batting back the advancing forces. 

"Now this is what I call a party, nya!" Aaron said, launching into the air and curling up into a ball. He then spun like a buzzsaw, plowing into a few robots on the way down. 

Blaze soon found herself outside as well, having shedded her royal gown and was now donned into her usual garb, backing her son and husband up with some fire blasts and bolts, incinerating any and all 'bots that dared get close. 

Hopsy had took to the skies in the Enigma , the plane that the Genesis Detective Agency used for their mystery expeditions, shooting down any air forces that she came across with the plane's built-in Volcan Cannons. 

Indeed it was a sight to behold, seeing the Castle's most prominent inhabitants taking on this menace like they did so many times before, but....this felt...too easy. 

This almost felt like a lull into a false sense of security.

Almost like a trap.

Taylor turned to Suni as she ran out. "Child. Stop," he warned, as Conrad moved to block her. "Shockin'ly shoddy," he mumbled as he cast a blade of light into the robotic horde. The bird scoffed. "Obviously this guy went for quantity over quality... Wait," Taylor commented as he scanned the skies for the robot army's leader.

Nega had managed to use the fracas below to proceed above the castle wall, when suddenly one of the visitors pointed at his hovercraft and a bolt of lightning narrowly missed. The following blast of thunder pushed him back a fair distance from the parapets and sent his craft wobbling violently. Bah. It would have to be close enough to deploy his latest secret weapon.

“I’d say that was impressive, mister Silver,” Gardon said right before slashing a robot’s arm like it was butter “but I’ve seen those moves enough times to know you’re not making any significant effort to take these enemies down.”


Suni stopped her run in front of Cornad. The mysterious hyena seemed imposing, and his impressive skills only reinforced that feeling. But once Taylor and Conrad turned to face the army, Suni looked at them, worried.

“No, sir… listen… my onii-chan might need help!” she said, in an almost whispering tone, before trying to slip away from the crow and his apprentice.

Meanwhile, something lurking between Nega's fleet looked down to the castle. A strange figure, a small blue-ish tinted dark flame that would stop before one of the ship's cameras, waiting to be seen by the doctor...

Seg and Aaron had tracked Nega's movements and cornered him.

"Time to give up Nega, nya!" Aaron said, claws drawn.
"Y-yeah!" Seg said, getting into a boxing-like fighting stance. "Haven't you learned anything by n-now? You'll never g-get the Sol Em-meralds!"

It seems that the Catboy and Hedgehog didn't notice the light blue-ish dark flame beneath Nega's feet....

"How you plan to help your brother, you been in a lot of fights like this?" the hyena asked Suni. His tone was genuine, maybe they had been too quick to write off the little one as a burden.
The raven clicked his beak at the hyena. "Not without a chaperone, regardless. If you're backing her play, you are responsible for her safety, Conrad," Taylor chided as he began to float and gather power for a renewed assault.
Conrad looked like he wanted to say something mean back to his teacher, but kept quiet. He looked back to Suni, waiting for her answer to his question.

"Oh, is it really? I believe I haven't even begun my plan yet!" Nega replied to the pair. Spying the flames on his monitors, he smiled. "Bedlam? Engage!"

Suddenly, Blaze felt a shock of dread rocket through her entire being.

No.....No it can't be....She can't be awakened.... there's no way in this dimension that Nega could know how to awaken her....

Seg, Aaron....be careful!

"B-bedlam?" Seg questioned, his gloves now emitting a pale blue glow. "S-so you're naming your ma-machines now?"

"Hey Seg it's like I said before, everyone needs a hobby-NYOA!" Aaron said before suddenly backflipping away from where the entity launched her surprise attack.

"What is that thing?" Aaron said, his claws now retracted and now gripping a standard issue short-beam sword.

"She l-looks like m-my....mom," Seg said in a confused tone, fighting stance somewhat dropped.

“I… I might not know how to fight…” the kitsune girl replied. “But I will definitely find a way to help him!”
The imposing powers and determined attitude of the duo made Suni see them with both respect and awe. Both Conrad and Taylor seemed quite capable of taking down killing machines like Nega’s robots, so they might as well be royal guards she didn’t know. Heroes from a distant land, even?

“Still… have you been in any fight like this before?” she nervously asked, wondering if these people’s previous experiences could be of use in a situation like this.

---

The shadowy blazing figure slowly approached Seg, every step sounding like the crackle of a bonfire. Her shining pale blue eyes looking at the pair of heroes with curiosity made it feel like she was harmless, but her overall appearance was still eerie to say the least. 
The creature approached Seg, and gently caressed his face,

before attempting to punch the hedgehog in the belly.