Meiou dashed forward from where Katy had left him towards a bot near the one katy
was wrapped around and jammed his sword through its chest "Don't worry too much bot brain. I'll be sure to put your parts to good use."

  Joe would offer a bigger knife, but picks up on the fact Johnny is trying to avoid attention.

  So to keep said attention off the mouse, he wastes a few extra seconds on pointless showboating.  Throwing one of said bigger knives into the chest of the SWAT brought down by Katy, only to jump down and stomp it clean through.

  "That would be impressive, except now have to dig that knife back out afterwards if I want it back, like an idiot."... Joe feels he's forgetting something.  Oh right, exaggerated shrug.

Pyrus is so wowed by the awesome grownups being all amazing and cool that he almost forgets his mission - protect Johnny.  And the others too, of course, but chances of their needing help from a kid are slim.  He trots after JB to stay close - sling still at the ready for any immediate threat to his friends.  Should any of the SWATs manage to catch one of the others unprepared, or try and radio for more, they'll get a swift rock to the face!

JB successfully removes a panel from the robot's back. There is a menagerie of wires and circuit boards.

Joe's knife has utterly disabled the downed SWATbot. But as Joe just mentioned, it is also thoroughly embedded in said bot.

The bot Meiou stabbed twitches and shakes with electricity dancing all over it before it stops moving entirely.

The last remaining bot says, "Mayday! Freedom Figh-URK!" rock to the face from Pyrus! And it goes down.

Katy says, "Good job, everyone, but I doubt we're out of trouble. If you can, remove the back panel of a bot like Johnny just did. Then connect the yellow wire to the red wire and hide."

In reply to Katy Coloflower (msg # 41):

"I haven't heard of this Robotnik for more than five minutes," Johnny Briz said, as he located the wires, "and I'm already disappointed in him.  I could've removed that panel with my tail.  And this rat's maze of wires and boards?  I've seen better organizing in nerd's bedrooms!"  He looked up to Kathy as he got up to join her in her hiding spot.  "When I do meet with this so-called evil scientist of yours, we're gonna have...words."

Before anyone could do as Katy asks he speaks up "Just give me a few moments if you will first please" the rabbit put away his sword and started to remove parts from his swatbot and then started to do the same on the others. once finished he looked to everyone "Alright all done. Carry on."

  Joe in fact, did not spend two minutes standing around doing nothing on request.  "You know Meiou, it's faster to loot things with help."  MMOs have been gone for years, but old habits die hard for people who smash the need button on everything?

  But if the rabbit wants to do all the work, Joe lets him save for getting his knife back.  "Glad you're already into cover, though In case it wasn't clear Johnny, Katy is saying to take cover after because then they will explode." People not yet familiar with taken for granted destruction is the bigger reason Joe delayed his wire crossing until everyone was good and ready.

"Yea-heah!" Pyrus cheers when the last of the SWATs goes down.

He then proceeds to claw off a panel from the back of one of the SWATs as Katy instructed, but then hesitates.  He's not sure if he's allowed to do wiring 'cause that's always grown-up stuff.  But Katy told him to so he then goes ahead and begins stripping the wires with his teeth, enjoying the zap he gets out of it.

"I'm glad you don't like Robotnick, Mr. Johnny.  It's everybody's favorite thing to insult him!"

With the wires twisted together, Pyrus flies to a safe distance.

Katy takes cover and says, "We are fortunate his SWATbots are easy to take down. But Robotnik makes his SWATbots cheaply so he can mass-produce them and overwhelm his enemies with numbers. It's one of the reasons he took over this entire planet. Insult him? Yes. By all means. But do not underestimate him or you will find yourself another one of his robot slaves and witness yourself do atrocities while you helplessly stare out your own cold, robotic eyes." The tone in her voice suggests having either experienced this first hand, or knowing others who have. There is a mix of terror and anger in her voice.

Katy quiets down and more robots can be heard coming. Katy looks at her watch, timing the approach.

This time, when the SWATbots enter the area, there are twice as many. Katy keeps her hand held up to indicate to the others to hold off any attacks. She gives Joe a hand-signal to fetch backup.

In reply to Katy Coloflower (msg # 46):

"...aaaaaand we get to the Mad Scientist portion of our antagonist," Johny muttered as he heard what Katy said, listening more to the tone of her voice than the words.

"Just great, Johnny.  This is just great," his inner muttering continued as he saw the other Cheep As Bleep robots arriving, his voice turning to his thinking.  'Is this supposed to be what happens to us after we get forgotten?  To be sent to this whatever this place is to be hunted down by machines?  To have to wait with all-encroaching dread for our eventual eternal punishment?'

Katy heard Johnny sigh.  She could sense that he still is struggling to grasp what happened to him, how he came here, and just what in the Heavens did he do to get all of this.

'What I wouldn't give for an orbital cannon right about now,' he thought.  'Reduce this Robotnik to giblets and be done with it.  Maybe after that, I can actually enjoy whatever this place is.'

With Joe's help he finished just before the other bots were heard. Moving back he hid in some bushes nearby. As much as more parts would be nice he had rather get to a safe place so he could begin his work.

  While technically easier, avoiding killer robots seems to always stress people our more than fighting killer robots.  Funny how that works.

  At Katy's request, Joe sneaks off to make some rather generic bird calls.

  What, you were expecting roadrunner sounds?  Johnny's the cartoon character of the group.

Pyrus freezes up and gulps from Katy's nightmarish warning.  But he's still got a job to do: Keep Mr. Real safe.  So while he may be shivering with eyes darting about every which way, Pyrus is keeping close to Johnny like an overprotective pet dog.

Joe can hear a familiar bird call soon after his own that accomplishes two things: it confirms that Joe's signal was heard but it also passes the signal on to the next person.

Meanwhile, more SWATbots arrive. About six more, with sounds of others in the distance coming. Katy was not kidding about the numbers. She readies her attack.

The SWATbots pause at the sight of fallen comrades. They say nothing, paused for a moment, and then look like they are about to search the area when the fallen bots EXPLODE from overloaded circuitry!

"Mass Produced, Check,"  JB muttered under his breath.  "Cheap as bleep, Check."

Then the explosion.

"Easy to blow up, Double Check."

However, he still has his own problems processing it all in.  He has a sneaky suspicion that this world is worse than he thought thus far and started feeling cold all over again.

"What in Hades did I do to deserve this,  What the bleep did I do?"

Meiou remained still and silent even after the explosions waiting on Katy's signal to move.
Oh one never knows what they did to deserve anything Johnny but maybe just maybe you pissed off some omnipotent deity or in some alternate universe pushed you luck a tad too much with an in love rabbit. The universes work in mysterious ways after all.

  Sorry Johnny, turns out global suffering is because your jokes are terrible... Wait, that can't be right, Joe's jokes are often worse.

  He refrains from coming back into sight just yet, as it would be best to be sure how many robots were destroyed by previously destroyed robots first.

Pyrus winces from the explosion, even knowing it was going to happen and covering his ear holes.

"'Bleep?'" Pyrus asks in a hushed voice, trying not to sound rattled.  He reaches to comfort Johnny again, "Is that a measure of cost from where you come from?  And what's that got to do with your deserving something bad?  Around here it's just a sound that some gizmos make."

At his age, Pyrus has never seen prime time TV.

When the smoke clears, the SWATbots who recently arrived are quite damaged. Two are prone and not moving. The rest are wandering around at random like they are blind and running into trees.

The sounds of explosions cause the other SWATbots that were lagging behind to pick up the pace towards the scene, however. Katy keeps her hand up, but the moment the other SWATbots arrive, she gives the signal to attack while attacking one herself, using her slingshot!

Johnny just ducks back to Pyrus when the battle is joined, but then he heard what the dragon said.

"There are some things, my friend, that does not exist in your philosophy.  Don't ever change."

The rabbit leapt from his hiding spot towards a bot wildly swinging his sword before landing replacing the sword into its sheath. The bot would fall to pieces in a neat little pile. After this he drew his shock pistol and fired at another that was near Pyrus and Johnnys location to stop it in its tracks.

  Joe could certainly get used to treating flashy combat as a distraction for himself, instead of being a flashy distraction.

  This means a metal claw drops from the treetops, and tears a SWAT head off to reel it back up out of sight while Raygun Rabbit and explosion induced sensor errors take all the attention.

  Isn't teamwork wonderful?

Pyrus grins to Johnny's affirmation then waits obediently for Katy's signal.  But his own slingshot attack misses the mark.  He's not the marksman the grownups are, and then there's nearly jumping out of his skin from Meiou's shot whizzing so closely by.  Pyrus soon discovers why he was being shot at and gives Meiou a frightened but grateful smile.  "Thanks!  Nice shot!"

Three SWATbots down! Three more attacking! Keeping distance seems to be the thing to do, though, as the SWATbots open fire with their arm-mounted lasers! They seem to be more cover fire than anything; to prevent the freedom fighters from closing in.

However, a paintball gets splatted on one of the SWATbots and Katy yells, "Stay away from the painted bot!"

A rock about the size of the SWATbot's head comes flying out of nowhere and slams the bot into a tree, utterly crushing the SWATbot's torso and leaving it a pile of scrap.

Another SWATbot seems to collapse on its own as if it just died of shock.

The last remaining SWATbot suddenly finds Katy rushing between its legs, delivering a kick to behind the knees to force it to fall, and then side-flipping to land on top of the bot before ripping out the wiring that connects the head to the torso, effectively looking like Katy is ripping the bot's throat out.

Shortly after, a gorilla walks into the area alongside a hamster with a paint gun. To which, Katy says, "Backup has arrived."

At the same time, multiple SWATbots can be heard in the distance suddenly firing off lasers that then quickly turn into the sound of smashed metal and the lasers stopping.

"Ah, the cavalry," Johnny muttered, "Always arriving some time later than they're needed.  Some things never change."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:24, Mon 13 Aug 2018.