With your battle complete, and your injuries sort of patched up, you're finally free to catch your breath... at least until the terminal flares to life again. Your brief conversation with the person on the other end may have left you with more questions than answers, but they are true to their world. Next to the terminal, a glowing golden portal suddenly appears - blinding in its light and large enough for only a couple of you to enter at a time. Regardless, it remains open, showcasing a strange, warehouse-looking building on the other side, with a long hallway and several closed doors. It's not entirely clear where this new location will be, but at least it doesn't seem to have spider robots or be out in space.
/// L O A D I N G . . .
I've got everything ready on my end.
I'll explain everything to you once you're here.
No more secrets, I promise.
Please watch your step, and make sure everyone comes along!
Staying behind is not an option. Whether you trust the person on the other end of the terminal or not, it seems this is your only path forward. Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and step through the portal.
THE BASE
The light begins to clear as the last of you enter the portal and come out unharmed on the other side. You'll notice immediately that the portal displayed the exact place you've ended up - a fairly run-down warehouse, with you all standing in a hallway that extends in front of you, lined with doors that are shut. Before you go wandering off, you might want to turn around - after all, you can hear the whirring of machinery behind you.
You'll find that there's another set of doors there - one that is closed and another that leads into a larger room that seems to be a makeshift lab and control room all rolled into one. There are monitors carefully (but a bit haphazardly) strewn across the room, the wiring capably done but rather unprofessional. One of the screens shows a diagram of a gemstone, another shows a list of coordinates that don't make any sense, a third seems to be showing security cameras... basically exactly what you'd expect for someone's base of operations.
And that base of operations is staffed by... well, you'll have to look down, as he's not exactly human height.
Standing before you is someone unfamiliar to all of you. He's not very tall, but he stands out from the crowd with his yellow fur, bright blue eyes, and twin tails. He's an anthropomorphic fox and he's looking at you all a bit nervously, waving a hand in greeting.
"Um, hi." He says. "I'm really sorry about the confusion. And the robots. And your missing memories. And your injuries. I really didn't expect things to turn out like this..." He trails off nervously, scratching his cheek before forcing a smile again. "But thank you so much for agreeing to help us. My name is Tails. I'm one of the members of the resistance.
"There are medical supplies here, for you guys to use. I'm sorry, I'm not a medic..." Sure enough, you have access to quite a few medical supplies present in this room! Go right ahead and patch up your friends with the good stuff. You've even got painkillers here!
He clears his throat and continues. "Like I said, no more secrets. I couldn't tell you everything while you were in that other world, because I was afraid of my transmissions being picked up by the Doctor. You guys are the only hope for this world, because the three of us can't beat him alone. So we had to turn to help elsewhere.
"Doctor Robotnik - or Eggman, as we call him - is a genius scientist. He's made a lot of robots and gadgets, but that's not the reason why we need your help. He's got an item of immense power - the Master Emerald. With it, anything he thinks and desires can become reality. He made a giant robot from pieces of cars, trucks, trains, you name it! And that giant robot alone is enough to pose a huge threat to the city, but he didn't stop there.
"The entire world is controlled by him. He even controls the minds of all the people native to this world. They can't fight against him. They act like mindless drones, going about their daily tasks with no way to fight back. And he's created a lot of robots - they might even outnumber the people, at this point! Everything and everyone is under his control."
A brief pause as Tails breathes and steadies himself. "But my friends and I are able to fight back. We have to fight back. And you guys agreed to help us. I'm sorry that you don't remember it, but my friend Sonic spoke with each one of you. He told you about what's going on here and he asked for your help. And all of you said you'd come help us.
"I'll do my best to answer any questions you have. But right now, I'm the only one here. I lost contact with Knuckles at the start of this week, and I've been trying to figure out what happened. Sonic's been trying to find help in other worlds, so communication with him has been spotty. But I'll let him know that you guys are here now, so he should return soon!"
Tails exhales and forces a smile. "Together, we can defeat Eggman."
THE AFTERMATH
Though it's a lot of information to take in, Tails will happily answer any questions you all may have. He tells you that this warehouse is their base of operations, hidden right under the nose of Eggman's forces. Unfortunately, they need to be very careful because robots are always on patrol - and are specifically looking for the three of them. For now, it's best for you all to remain near the warehouse and travel in pairs, if you do go out into the city for any reason.
You'll find that those closed doors lead to rooms that have been set up for all of you. They're a little lacking, with only two beds, two desks and chairs, and two trunks for you to store your belongings in. Though you do have some changes of clothes in the closets, the designs may not be to your liking. They were picked out for you by three animals who only wear shoes and gloves, so...
Get ready, because it looks like you've a lot of work ahead of you.
[Ah... yeah, that's a sentiment he understands well. It's exactly why he's out here himself, after all, so he can't muster up any further words of judgment about how she should go inside and get some rest for herself. Besides, it would be hypocritical and he knows it, given how she just pointed out the obvious. (He'd been trying to dodge that part; oh well.)
He pauses at the question, lifting his free hand to rub the back of his head.]
No, not yet. Some of the others need the rest more than I do, so I figured I'd take the first shift. ["Shift," he says, as though there's anything even remotely organized about this.] So, find anything useful out here?
...Nothing truly groundbreaking, other than various observations both out here and inside.
[Dorothy's just...going to join him there, at least for the moment.]
From what I've seen so far, the flight patterns of those robots do tend to avoid us rather readily. I've seen one or two in the distance...though for how long that will remain, I'm not sure. We ought to act with caution and be prepared for anything that could come our way; if we can act to give less reason for this Doctor to see us at all, much less as a threat, we may be able to bide our time and continue to hone our strength while he's none the wiser.
But I've taken tabs of our supplies as well, and we will certainly need to make a trip to gather more at some point; what we have for now is serviceable, but we're likely to deplete it quickly between the lot of us. Those boys thankfully have left us enough, but we should try to minimize our presence in this place. We don't yet know what we could face.
[It's not a very useful report, but it's at least what Dorothy has observed. Hopefully it's enough.]
What of yourself? Have you noticed anything of interest that we ought keep in mind?
[Ironically, it's incredibly useful in the sheer normalcy of it all. Giving and receiving reports and status updates is something Oscar is used to; it's something he knows how to do and how to respond to, and that in and of itself goes a long way towards making him feel that much more like he's actually doing something of value here.]
Nothing aside from what you said about the robots not comin' anywhere close to this place. It's strange, after those spiders and the way they almost seemed to be huntin' for us. Almost makes you wonder if these are lookin' the other way on purpose...
[Honestly, he doesn't feel like he can trust that they aren't.]
But you're right that we should try not to attract attention to ourselves. Given this group, I'm not gonna hold my breath on that, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't give it our best shot. It's most likely only a matter of time before they find us here-- we should make the best of it while we can.
[A beat, then:]
Might be a good idea for me to come along on supply trips. Lookin' at some of us, I don't think they'll be able to carry all that much, and if things go south, it'd be good to have someone who can take point in a fight.
[... he really doesn't think he needs to explain his reasoning behind these two things.]
At this point, I wouldn't be surprised. It's likely that they simply don't see this place as a threat.
[Yet, she doesn't feel the need to point out. Oscar seems to have a good idea of it anyway, after all. Still, she nods at the second bit, because well...she sure has seen the group and it leaves a lot to be desired, but Dorothy nods her head at the third easily.]
I am in full agreement. Knowing everyone here, someone's likely to end up trying to go after a robot and decide that they can take it on without heed...the more we can prevent that, the better, I think.
Do let me know if you need further assistance, however. I'd be more than happy to provide it, and I need to pick up a few things myself tomorrow.
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He pauses at the question, lifting his free hand to rub the back of his head.]
No, not yet. Some of the others need the rest more than I do, so I figured I'd take the first shift. ["Shift," he says, as though there's anything even remotely organized about this.] So, find anything useful out here?
[It's a diversion, but also a genuine question.]
no subject
[Dorothy's just...going to join him there, at least for the moment.]
From what I've seen so far, the flight patterns of those robots do tend to avoid us rather readily. I've seen one or two in the distance...though for how long that will remain, I'm not sure. We ought to act with caution and be prepared for anything that could come our way; if we can act to give less reason for this Doctor to see us at all, much less as a threat, we may be able to bide our time and continue to hone our strength while he's none the wiser.
But I've taken tabs of our supplies as well, and we will certainly need to make a trip to gather more at some point; what we have for now is serviceable, but we're likely to deplete it quickly between the lot of us. Those boys thankfully have left us enough, but we should try to minimize our presence in this place. We don't yet know what we could face.
[It's not a very useful report, but it's at least what Dorothy has observed. Hopefully it's enough.]
What of yourself? Have you noticed anything of interest that we ought keep in mind?
no subject
Nothing aside from what you said about the robots not comin' anywhere close to this place. It's strange, after those spiders and the way they almost seemed to be huntin' for us. Almost makes you wonder if these are lookin' the other way on purpose...
[Honestly, he doesn't feel like he can trust that they aren't.]
But you're right that we should try not to attract attention to ourselves. Given this group, I'm not gonna hold my breath on that, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't give it our best shot. It's most likely only a matter of time before they find us here-- we should make the best of it while we can.
[A beat, then:]
Might be a good idea for me to come along on supply trips. Lookin' at some of us, I don't think they'll be able to carry all that much, and if things go south, it'd be good to have someone who can take point in a fight.
[... he really doesn't think he needs to explain his reasoning behind these two things.]
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[Yet, she doesn't feel the need to point out. Oscar seems to have a good idea of it anyway, after all. Still, she nods at the second bit, because well...she sure has seen the group and it leaves a lot to be desired, but Dorothy nods her head at the third easily.]
I am in full agreement. Knowing everyone here, someone's likely to end up trying to go after a robot and decide that they can take it on without heed...the more we can prevent that, the better, I think.
Do let me know if you need further assistance, however. I'd be more than happy to provide it, and I need to pick up a few things myself tomorrow.