"Sally, we have got some news that I think you will want to hear," Rotor the walrus says.
Sally turns away from the map and towards the walrus. Her brown chipmunk fur with dark auburn hair waves from the wind coming in through the window. Her hair connects to a stripe going down her back and ending on her tail. Sally's face carries a lighter brown patch in which her large blue eyes are settled. Her clothes consist of black shorts with white rimming, dark blue boots with white outlines on the buckles, and white gloves with her Ring-Blades. She also wears a closed blue vest with a black crop-top hidden underneath. Her tan-colored underbelly can be seen in her midriff when someone sees her a certain way.
"And what is that? Another opening, maybe?" Sally asks while looking over the frantic body language of Rotor. Rotor is a mobian walrus and is generally larger than most of the other members of the Freedom Fighters. She sees he has violet fur with darker toes and fingers, peach skin on his front torso and muzzle, large tusks, and green eyes. Rotor is slimmer and noticeably taller than what can be expected of walruses. For his clothing, he wears black and white shoes and yellow socks. He is wearing yellow gloves and also has yellow goggles. He also wears his signature green tool-belt across his shoulder.
"We just intercepted this order," Rotor says, passing her the wanted list update where Kuro was added to the top next to Sally and the rest of the freedom fighters.
"He must have done something to piss them off this bad," Sally guesses while looking over the rest of the wanted list.
"Look at the notes," Rotor informs.
Sally looks back down at what this new guy has for notes. "Teleportation powers and stealth," Sally reads.
Rotor looks excited. "We have to find him. If he made it to the top of the list, he must be useful to us."
"Try to get Rouge and the Chaotixs to track him down," Sally says.
Rotor nods and smiles. "Don't worry, Sally. We'll save him," he assures and rushes back out of the room to find the four mentioned.
"Any news?" a certain fox asks, walking in.
Sally sighs before placing the paper down. "No. Just the wanted list has been updated. It seems someone is causing trouble out there, and they could be helpful for us," she explains while going to the computer and starts to look for anything about this new wolf based on the description listed. "We will find her," Sally assures the female fox after a while once she notices that she isn't leaving.
Sally briefly looks back to Tailsko with a smile and sees the mobian fox with two tails instead of one. Tailsko's mostly orange fur is ruffled heavily, possibly from working in cramped quarters of her machines. Even the white fur around her muzzle has some oil stains, the white hair on her front torso and the tip of his tails also had splotches. Though, that isn't to say those lean muscles of Tailsko weren't just for show. She can lift even her glider if need be for something quick despite the smaller and thinner appearance. Those younger blue eyes look to her with both worry and hope, which Sally prays will change to being hopeful and happy again. Tailsko's attire, consisting of white gloves and red shoes with white toes and a set of air goggles on her head, were also scruffed and stained in both oil and chemicals, which made her look like she had a run-in with a mad scientist's lab…which isn't far given their current predicament.
"I hope so," Tailsko says.
Sally stops what she is doing and walks over to Tailsko. "Sonica is one tough girl. I bet she is boring Eggman at this point with so many requests and driving him mad," she giggles, and Tailsko laughs a little along with her. "See? Now come on. We need our favorite fox back up and running," Sally reassures and hugs her.
"This is getting ridiculous now," Kuro thinks, looting yet another of Storm's ninja. It had been nearly a month since he escaped from Abyss' base, and these guys were still on his ass, and he hadn't stolen anything from them since. Other than his attackers. That should be noted among them.
When Kuro finishes looting the poor bastard, as he knows the ninja has to face the wrath of Storm, Kuro leaves him tied up to be found by the others chasing him. Kuro then runs off and keeps heading where he was going, hoping to sell off his new loot and move on just as fast. As he had learned from the last time he stayed in a town and got caught with everyone else, which lead to all this. So best sell and run before anyone questions him.
'There must be another town nearby. It's too much forest around here to be none,' Kuro thinks while looking around the dense forest. 'And with so much thickness and dense foliage, it's perfect for hiding a secret village or outpost,' he summarizes as he continues through the thick trunks of the trees.
"You are a tough one to hunt down," a new voice says.
"Really? Another one? One of you idiots isn't enough a day," Kuro says before throwing a kunai he had looted at the source of the voice.
Kuro turns and is surprised that the new sound isn't one of Storm's ninjas or Abyss's crew, but a bee who dodges his kunai throw easily. "Shit…okay…who are you with? Storm? Abyss? Eggman?" he guesses in utter confusion.
"On guard as to be expected," Espio says.
Kuro blinks and looks around, trying to find the new voice. "A ninja that knows invisibility. Storm is stepping up in the world," Kuro comments before throwing a smoke bomb at his feet.
"Wait! We aren't with Eggman!" Vector calls running out of the forest.
"Really?" Kuro says as the smoke cleared, and he had Espio in a sleeper hold.
"How did he find him?" Charmy asks in shock while Espio struggles against his hold.
"He casts a shadow in the smoke. Now talk," Kuro says, not letting go of Espio, not trusting that this isn't a trick yet.
Vector rushes in front of him, looking a bit frantic. "We're with the freedom fighters. We're here to help you and get you away from Eggman's forces," he tries to plead. "You know you are on the top of their wanted list, right?"
"No, you don't say. I just thought Conquering Storm had upped her stalker approach," Kuro says a bit sarcastically, letting Espio go.
Espio coughs and gets his air back as he pants. "No, it's for all of the empire. You are even above Sally and Sonica, the two top freedom fighters."
"I know that is a lie. One, Sonica was captured, so is off the list, and two, Sally is still a higher priority. Trust me, Storm's ninjas talk after a bit," Kuro assures and waves them off.
Vector slowly leans over to Charmy. "We got an updated list, right?"
"Well, you match the description, so you must be the Chaotixs, correct?" Kuro asks.
"Yep. I'm Charmy," the bee introduces. Charmy, as Kuro notices, is an anthropomorphic black-and-yellow striped bee with yellow-and-black striped antennae and golden eyes. He is wearing an orange vest with a bee emblem on the left, white and orange shoes, white gloves cuffed with black rings, a black pilot's helmet with a dark pink rim and flight goggles. Kuro thinks he should be a pilot if that's the outfit Charmy is going with.
"Vector," the alligator greets. Kuro looks over the enormous, green-skinned crocodile with spiky red scales down his tail and goldenrod-colored eyes. Vector sports a thick body that resembles that of an S-shape when Kuro sees him turn to the side, with a large upper body starts, including his long arms, which gets slimmer towards his tail and legs. His belly, snout, and arms are light green, while the rest of his body is dark green. He is currently wearing small, black shoulder pads, white gloves with black-and-orange cuffs, embellished with gold buckles as well as black shoes figured with white and orange colors. Kuro then spots a gold chain around his neck, thinking that it is his trademark accessory alongside his pair of black-and-grey wireless headphones around his neck.
Episo coughs one last time. "Espio." Espio, as best as Kuro can figure, is a purple chameleon with a yellow horn between his gold eyes and a ridge of three black scales down his spine and a coiled tail. He wears some dark purple and black shoes with elaborate cuffs, white gloves with a purple back, and studded bands around his wrists and ankles. There wasn't anything else of note, but Kuro can guess his gear might be invisible too.
"So what does the resistance want from the guy that one of the egg bosses has such a hard-on for she mobilizes her entire ninja clan?" Kuro asks.
"She did that? Geez. You must have pissed her off," Vector remarks, scratching his head.
"No, she wants to take me to the altar," Kuro corrects, causing Espio to lean over, looking at him wide-eyed.
"…oh," they all say together.
"This is what I get for letting myself get captured to sneak back into their base, clear out a safe, and steal the hat right off her head before escaping," Kuro says more to himself than them.
"Damn…you must have got to her," Charmy responds surprised and in some awe.
"She has been after me ever since," Kuro says.
'Oh, Constant Vigil will want to hear about this,' Espio thinks.
Kuro hums before shrugging. "Well, you aren't attacking me, so I don't care now. I'll be on my way unless you guys have a place to sell some loot," he points out, smiling and hefting his bag of loot and treasure over his shoulder. "No to you for trying to steal from me," Kuro says, suddenly slapping a hand away.
"I consider it the testing of my skills," the bat says in a small sultry tone.
Kuro stops and immediately leans in front of her. "Name, speed, how good you are, and are you available for dinner?" he asks in one go while looking her over, even her pronounced chest size a little longer than the rest. He notices that she is an anthropomorphic bat with white fur, tan skin, teal eyes, and being a very endowed girl. She has large pointy ears, small fangs, a bare muzzle with a little black nose, a short tail, and a pair of black wings on her back. Only her head appears to have fur. Her short white hair flares out at the back, and she typically wears blue eyeshadow, as well as lipstick. Kuro notes that her outfit consists of a black skintight unitard with no sleeves, a pink, heart-shaped chestplate-like top with white trim, and tall white gloves and boots with pink cuffs. The boots are high heeled and feature hearts on the toes.
"You have to ask th…" Rouge starts.
"Then I stole your wallet," Kuro says, walking away with her money.
Rouge pats down her pockets before frowning. "Interesting. So how are you going to get far without a communicator?" she asks and shows she is going through the list of contacts. "Sexy squid?"
"You give that back right the fuck now, and I won't end you," Kuro informs deadly seriously.
Rouge hums while holding him back with an arm and still going through his communication. "Strange. No other name listed. Just 'Sexy squid.'"
Kuro puts her money away and pulls out two kunai, which he moves and shows multiple kunai as he had just unfurled his hands of cards.
Rouge smiles and tosses the communicator into the air for him to drop his kunais and catch it. "Seems you have a sweetheart you talk to," she says, smirking while crossing her arms under her chest.
"I would rather you not call Abyss of Eggman's egg bosses," Kuro informs while making sure she didn't call out.
Rouge raises an eyebrow while the rest of the Chaotix team drops their jaws behind her. "You slept with her? Strange. Didn't peg her as one to romance. More…needy," she says playfully.
"I have the decency to not talk about such things. And I rather not make it easier for them to track me," Kuro points out.
Rouge smiles. "How about sticking with us? At least you can sell that stuff," she offers, pointing to his loot bag.
"Yeah, that sounds like a grand plan. Team up with those who are always fighting who I am trying to hide fr…" Kuro stops when his communicator starts beeping. "Let's leave right now," Kuro says, immediately changing his tune.
Rouge smiles as he walks by to where they came from. "Glad you see things our way," she says, smirking while they start to follow him.
"You better run because I am not saving any of your asses from Storm!" Kuro calls as he ran in a dead sprint.
Rouge sighs and then groans while the rest of them looks shocked at what he said. "Let's go. I am not in the mood for fighting today," she says before flapping her wings and flying after Kuro.
Minutes later, Storm lands, finding the left behind kunai and the unconscious ninja on the ground.
Kuro sighs as he finally sits down and takes a break. He looks over to the team that got him talking to the famous leader of the freedom fighters, Sally. From what he can hear, it is about him and what he can do from their encounter, but it wasn't much since their meeting was quick. And it doesn't help matters that they had to run from Storm's tracking expertise.
Kuro sputters and starts to look around the room. If he didn't know better, he would guess this command room is for Eggman or one of his minions. But it lacks his face on it, so he doubts that. It seems a little bare with just a giant computer on the wall, a holographic table in the middle, and a few terminals lining the sides. While only a few boxes littered here and there with some supplies in them.
'No, don't steal. You owe them for getting you away from Storm this time,' Kuro thinks while eying the supplies.
"So…a thief," Sally says as a matter of fact while she walks up to him. "You could come in handy if you want to work for us."
"I would rather not truthfully. I work alone and working for you just going to give them more reason to sic more of their forces on my ass," Storm says.
Sally smirks. "Besides already having two of Eggman's forces on you already?"
"One, Abyss is still plundering," Kuro corrects.
"And two, Storm is endlessly chasing you. We can get you places where they can't find you," Sally offers, smiling gently.
"Yeah, sure," Kuro says, a bit skeptical.
"How do you think we stayed hidden this long?" Sally retorts.
"You didn't have Storm on your asses. Seriously, I never encountered a girl with such a hard-on, but I digress. What's the job?" Kuro asks.
Sally sighs. "We need more information on where and how to get Sonica out. So we are going to steal from an outpost and see what we can grab," she explains as she then notices Tailsko peeking in around the door, but doesn't say anything as she turns her attention back to Kuro.
"Give me the location and any relative data you have on it," Kuro says.
"Confident," Sally states before going to the table and brings up a map to find the base.
Kuro sighs and leans back against the wall. He closes his eyes and tries to rest up before noticing a yellow fur peeking around the doorway and opens his eyes again. When Kuro looks to it, he spots a young-looking fox watching him and the rest. He hums before shrugging and looking to Sally as the others left to deal with whatever they need to. "How long has this resistance been active?" Kuro asks, trying to break the silence.
"As long as Eggman has been trying to take over the world," Sally answers.
"I asked the resistance, not the freedom fighters themselves," Kuro corrects.
"Almost two months," Sally informs.
Kuro sighs. 'Well, I wanted a challenge, but here I am on the losing side again.' He then looks to her and starts to get up. "I guess I have nothing else to lose. I'm in until this crisis is averted or I'm dead, I guess," Kuro informs.
"I guess that's the spirit," Sally remarks as she presses a button, and a data chip comes out of the table. She takes it out and walks over to him, holding it out for him before flicking it out of the way of his fingers. "Do this job; we will find a place for you to hide until the heat dies down. Deal?" she asks, holding it in his way again.
"I said I was in it till the crisis was averted; besides, let's be real. Storm would eventually track me down," Kuro says, taking the chip.
Sally smirks. "I never said you had to leave. You can go now. All we have is on that thing. See Tailsko about getting the computer to plug that chip into," Sally explains before walking back to the table and working on it.
"Tailsko?" Kuro questions raising an eyebrow.
"That…would be me," a voice says behind him.
Kuro turns and sees the fox from before walking up to him, though, she seems more tired and ragged than the rest of the fighters. "Wow…" he could only say as he keeps looking over her stance and form.
Tailsko blushes and looks while rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah. I look like a mess. I am always working to keep everyone up. Come on. I got your computer in my workshop," she says, walking away and looks back at him to make sure he is following.
"Before I get the briefing, I am going to resupply. I lost all my gear to Storm a while back," Kuro informs.
"Tailsko?" Sally asks, smirking, knowing this would make him a little more impressed than just stealing everything.
Tailsko smiles back to Kuro. "I'm the girl to come to for gear and supplies to. Armor, weapons, vehicles, you name it. Come on. We are wasting time," she says with a slight jog now.
Kuro tilts his head before following the happy little fox. His ears then perk up and angle towards Sally as she gives a heavy sigh, and then some muttering is heard from her. "Finally got her mind off of her…even for a little while." Kuro doesn't show a reaction before continuing to walk. Though he does question who Sally could be talking about.
As he walks outside, he takes a more mental note of everything. Every single room and building seems to be embedded into trees and rocks, while some fake foliage and nets cover the open areas in the trees above. Some of the fighters were milling about, talking, or eating and relaxing as they go about their day. It seems everyone is on edge. But he notices that Sally has the foresight to keep her worries hidden while Tailsko has it written all over her body and seems not to be that worried about hiding any part of it. Whoever this person is, Tailsko might seem to hold her in high regard to make even Sally worry about her. Kuro looks to the side and sees some arguing happening between some of the fighters at a dining area, and everyone is watching the spectacle unfold. Kuro quickly hurries after Tailsko to a large hanger-like tree door before slipping into a side door with her.
"Is everyone on edge like this every day?" Kuro asks, seeing Tailsko now tenser than before as she stood in the small hallway.
Tailsko grunts when she pushes a piece of metal out of the way of the door. "Yeah. The threat of Eggman's forces does that to everyone. We live with it. Everyone calms down by the next day even…if we are lucky. Now, where did I place that thing?" she asks herself before digging into a nearby desk.
Kuro starts to look around the room and sees it is like a hanger, complete with an airplane that he can guess is Tailsko's based on the double tails logo branded on the side. He then looks to the other areas and sees a workbench with some armor and other things littering it. Another table in the back that has some more valuable and possibly dangerous tools around it, maybe for bigger jobs. And then he sees a ladder on the wall that leads up to a living area based on the sink and bookshelf with a bed in the bed. Some small windows lit up the room as it lets the evening light in and wash down on the two occupants.
"Here we go. This should do it," Tailsko says, pulling out a small tablet and tosses it to him. "I'll get some clothes and gear for you. You can see the briefing in the meantime," she explains before walking away to the workbench.
"Can I use your bench? Got some custom gear I need to make," Kiro says.
"If it can be helped, sure," Tailsko agrees while he steps up beside her. She smiles a little and grabs a set of clothes before putting it to the side. Kuro then notices her grabbing some sort of metal ring and starting to work on it.
Kuro takes out the kunai he had gathered and sets them on the bench and looks over what tools he had at his disposal. From there, he starts working on them.
Tailsko starts to notice what he is working and then keeps her eyes on her work. "Daggers, huh? Is it ion for the robots?" she asks curiously.
"Got any robotic test dummies that are still functional?" Kuro asks, starting to do something to a few like hollowing out the base of the daggers.
Tailsko shakes her head. "Sorry. If that is for the robots, guess you will have to take a chance out there. But I am making you something that I think can count as a backup for you," she remarks, smiling while opening a small panel on the ring.
"I mostly just need accurate schematics with distances on them, and I can get you anything not nailed down if need…I take that back. Even if it is nailed down, I can get it," Kuro corrects before clicking what seems like a trigger and ice blue like sparks start coming from the dagger, beginning to send nearby machines on the fritz.
"Hey!" Tailsko complains when she sees her plane also being affected.
"This will do," Kuro says, clicking it again before starting to work on another as Tailsko looks at the dagger interested now. If it can do that without contact, then what can be made for a field generator might be better.
Tailsko sighs and touches her wielder to one more spot. "Gear is ready. Here, try it," she offers, holding out the metal ring to him. Kuro doesn't seem as interested while reaching out to grab it until the ring becomes engulfed in hazy blue light and aura. "It's an Ion edge. Very useful for those that can't fight that well in hand to hand or as Sonica does." Kuro quickly notices a twitch of her whole body when she mentions that name. Kuro hums and takes the ring before looking it over. "Try it on," Tailsko says, a little excited to see his reaction. Kuro smiles a bit at her enthusiasm and slips the ring on his wrist.
"So…do I do something?" Kuro asks curiously while moving the ring around on his wrist.
"Flick your hand," Tailsko simply explains, still excited.
Kuro tilts his head and flicks his hand before almost swinging his arm back when a solid blue blade comes out and becomes affixed to his arm and ring. "Wow. Now that is nice," he admits as he swings the sword around.
"Glad you like it," Tailsko says before taking one of the knives he made to study.
Kuro starts to practice and swing his blade around, getting his practice in to use it. "So, this thing can cut through metal easily, huh?"
"Depends on the metal and watch the charge," Tailsko advises.
"Charge?" Kuro asks before his ring beeps, and the blade disappears. He blinks and shakes his wrist around to get it to activate again, but the ring falters before shutting off completely and leaves him with a metal ring. 'So, like blink, huh? Well, nothing I ain't used to,' Kuro thinks before getting Tailsko to teach him about it.
Tailsko sighs, showing him what to do while contemplating to start writing instruction manuals. After this, she tosses him a few pieces of clothing and smirks when he catches them off guard. "Better get dressed up. It's going to be cold tonight," she offers, smiling and continues to study the daggers.
"Y…yeah…these yours?" Kuro asks.
Tailsko snarks. "Course not. It's just some other clothes the others have left here."
"I see," Kuro says, starting to get dressed. 'I probably have a day or two before Storm tracks me down, given her current track record,' Kuro contemplates.
Tailsko finally turns to him with one of the daggers in hand. "Can you teach me how you do this when you get back?" she asks, very interested in all the details of the dagger.
"We can start now. Besides, might not make it back," Kuro says, sounding very morbid before starting to take one of his ion daggers apart to show her.
Tailsko smiles while listening to his every word, but can't feel something else is wrong with Kuro. Especially when he mentioned about not making it back. However, she doesn't want to question him at the moment and press the issue.
"And that is why no matter how much defense a machine has, you stick this directly into them and it's fried. You could tell what happens to the unshielded ones already," Kuro says, referring to the Tornado.
Tailsko smiles and starts to piece whatever is left undone with his example dagger. "How's this?" she asks, holding it out to him.
"Keep working on it as that one would overload within a few moments," Kuro says, noticing she crisscrossed a few wires.
Tailsko hums before working on it again. "Seems you have been at this for a long time."
"I know how to make these daggers as my master taught me how to for many years, I never could figure out the rest before…well, my apprenticeship was never completed," Kuro admits, recalling that day he lost his master.
"Oh…" Tailsko tries to start before looking and sees him staring at something else interesting in the workshop. "It's getting late. You should get going and get that job done before it's late over there."
"I can't because no plans have been given to me, and I need to plan this out," Kuro says, making Tailsko sweatdrop in embarrassment.
"You have that chip…I gave the computer for it…" Tailsko slowly explains and points to the tablet in his hand.
"…I don't know how to use such a small computer," Kuro admits a bit ashamed and looks away embarrassed.
Tailsko smiles softly before walking up and takes the tablet. "Guess you haven't been around this stuff a lot. Want me to make it easy to grab the information from the base for you?" she asks, smiling while setting up the tablet.
"That would be good," Kuro says, blushing a bit.
Tailsko giggles. "Alright. Give me some time, and I'll have something ready for you," she promises before taking the chip out of his hand and putting it in the tablet. "Okay. Here you go," she says, giving the tablet back to him and starts to explain how to go through everything.
"I see," Kuro says, taking it all in and then staring at it intently when the blueprints were brought up. "Do these have exact feet measurements?" Kuro asks.
Tailsko nods. "Yeah. It should be fine unless they did some renovations. Why? Planning to make a hole in the wall?" she asks jokingly.
"Nothing so loud. Tell me, I just need to stick this into a terminal, and it will do the rest?" Kuro asks.
"Correct. Look for a port like this and do this," Tailsko says, putting it into a slot on her console. "It will then show the download progress," Tailsko informs while showing how the screens work.
"Got it, I will be back soon if I am not caught," Kuro says, grabbing it and collects most of the daggers he modified and headed out.
"Nicole, you keep an eye on him from that, right?" Tailsko asks, looking at the screen.
"Of course. It will be quite easy," a feminine voice answers back.
"Good, now to work on these and the ideas they gave me," Tailsko says, going back to the ion dagger disassembled on the table.