The ring deposits you all safely outside the base and seals up afterwards. Neo Metal Sonic doesn't chase after you, which is something of a mercy.
What's significantly less of a mercy is the sky - it's gone dark and ominously stormy, though the clouds spark not with lightning, but with that same green Chaos Energy you've been facing this entire fight. Worse still, there are now far, far too many robotic planes filling the sky - the Egg Fleet seems to go on endlessly, as far as you can see. Though perhaps it would be more accurate to call it the Neo Metal Sonic Fleet.
Sonic and friends arrive shortly, looking pretty banged up but otherwise still healthy enough to make it here, though they stare up at the sky with obvious concern.
"O...kay, this is definitely not what any of us were expecting."
"We will have to take the fight to them, it seems."
"Easier said than done, I'm afraid... I'm not sure how to pinpoint their leader's exact location to send you all with a ring..."
A jolt of green lightning flashes across the sky and Neo Metal Sonic's voice rings out.
"I expect to see you onboard my fleet in one week's time. That includes you, my loathsome copy."
It seems you don't really have much of a choice. For now, tend to your wounds and try to regroup; you've earned a break after today.
You know... [Cautiously sitting up with a wince and trying to catch his breath.] I was brought one of your grenades to examine, a lifetime ago. The construction was brilliant, especially given the resources available. I thought that kind of genius would do magnificent things applied constructively.
But...now that I consider it, perhaps the application does not matter. I believe you can do great things as yourself just as things are. Just...so long as you know what you're aiming at, hm?
[At the name, he tilted his head slightly in a lack of recognition.] Hm? Who's that?
...Heh. Probably. Maybe if... I got into one of those ritzy piltover schools I wouldn't have spent all my time making bombs in abandoned air vents. But I just got to be me, and I love the colors.
[What could have been. Maybe if it were different... things would probably still hurt.]
Hmm, he said the same thing. Sorta. [For once, Jinx smiles as she thinks back.] Oh, the boy savior. Leader of the righteous Fireflies. Zipped around on one of those hoverboards you like so much.
...Pretty sure he could travel through time. With this... weird gizmo. He wasn't big on the details.
Oh, you would have despised the Academy, trust me. [A shrug, which Viktor immediately regretted by the pained look on his face.] A week at most, and you would have left a rocket under Heimerdinger's chair.
[Something about that description got Viktor to pause, narrowing iridescent eyes as he tried to recall something that had still confused him.]
Wait-...wait. White hair, hourglass painted on his face?
[Viktor dropped back onto the ground with both hands pressed to his face and just started laughing, the wheezing sound of a skipping disc drive on its absolute last legs.]
Of course--of course, only one of yours could completely blindside me like that-
[Which was probably the opposite of a problem, for how funny he apparently found it. It took a second for him to actually recover, huffing out another quieeter laugh as he did.]
The Firelight with the wild magic--that's where I got the idea to recreate those hoverboards here, but I never knew who he was. That boy savior of yours almost singlehandedly stopped the end of the world.
In hindsight, actually quite impressive. Flew straight to the top of the Hexgates and threw some device full of primal magic at my head. [He pressed a hand to a spot on his forehead, because...actually, that had hurt a lot.]
Destabilized my internal structure enough to quite literally knock sense back into me, and then I ended up here. So I guess he did both, in some measure.
No, gods forbid we let our respective heroes get all egotistical about it.
[Viktor huffed out a quiet laugh, staring up at the endless fleet of airships.]
...I'm curious. If we live through this, where are you planning to go next? Because I was thinkng--well, it might not be the worst thing, to stay here.
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But...now that I consider it, perhaps the application does not matter. I believe you can do great things as yourself just as things are. Just...so long as you know what you're aiming at, hm?
[At the name, he tilted his head slightly in a lack of recognition.] Hm? Who's that?
no subject
[What could have been. Maybe if it were different... things would probably still hurt.]
Hmm, he said the same thing. Sorta. [For once, Jinx smiles as she thinks back.] Oh, the boy savior. Leader of the righteous Fireflies. Zipped around on one of those hoverboards you like so much.
...Pretty sure he could travel through time. With this... weird gizmo. He wasn't big on the details.
no subject
[Something about that description got Viktor to pause, narrowing iridescent eyes as he tried to recall something that had still confused him.]
Wait-...wait. White hair, hourglass painted on his face?
no subject
[She shifts, as much as she can, to face Viktor.]
...Yeah? Coloured up, like I am - the crop top was my idea.
[She wanted to wear a belt but he was all like Noooooo]
no subject
. . .
[Viktor dropped back onto the ground with both hands pressed to his face and just started laughing, the wheezing sound of a skipping disc drive on its absolute last legs.]
Of course--of course, only one of yours could completely blindside me like that-
[Which was probably the opposite of a problem, for how funny he apparently found it. It took a second for him to actually recover, huffing out another quieeter laugh as he did.]
The Firelight with the wild magic--that's where I got the idea to recreate those hoverboards here, but I never knew who he was. That boy savior of yours almost singlehandedly stopped the end of the world.
no subject
[And Jinx laughs. Like Viktor, it's a bit of a wheeze, pained, like a puzzle piece finally slotted into place.]
I had no idea what the hell happened. Of course, he's the one who saves the world.
He... likes that. He's good at saving things. Or people.
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Destabilized my internal structure enough to quite literally knock sense back into me, and then I ended up here. So I guess he did both, in some measure.
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Probably good that I cut and run, then. Wouldn't want him getting a big head about saving the world and me.
no subject
[Viktor huffed out a quiet laugh, staring up at the endless fleet of airships.]
...I'm curious. If we live through this, where are you planning to go next? Because I was thinkng--well, it might not be the worst thing, to stay here.