FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"So tell me," asked FG while walking, "how good was my landing in that dump?" "Uhhh bad?" said Scratch. "You came down yesterday like a freaking bomb an' just crashed into the ground from outta nowhere!" "An' there wuz this BIG light," said Grounder, "like a really really big light, I thought something wuz gonna blow up!" "Hahaha sorry I scared ya," said FG, "I'm just trying to work on my teleportation, got a lot of kinks to work out." "Huh? Whut's teh-leh-poor-tay-shun?" "It's being able to go from one place to the other really fast, like instantly." "Ooooh you mean like Sonic?!" "No doofus!" argued Scratch, "that's just bein' really fast! Sheesh it's like...like...like a vanishing act he does!" "Oooooh...OH, are you a wizard mister FG?!" "Uhm, no?" said FG. "Awwww! I love magic tricks! My favourite is the one of sawing the robot in half!" "That's not a magic trick," said Scratch, "that's being a robot, come on I take your head off loads of times and you STILL won't shuddup!" "Heeheeheeheehee!" "I can see why Dr. Robotnik kept the two of you together," said FG. "Makes it all the more easy to grade you at least." "How we doing on that mister FG?" asked Grounder. "Too early to say, but...hold up...I think we got company." Strolling down the path before them was a gang of three little pillbugs around four feet tall with a single large treadwheel underneath each of their bodies. Blue bug-like faces with wide eyes and tiny fangs, each one with two pairs of small mechanical claws in front of their half-circular red forms. They slowly wheeled up towards FG with a sneering expression, the leader asking: "Hey-ey, where ya goin' huh?" "Wood Zone," said FG, "we got business with Dr. Robotnik." "Aw no ya don't, you gotta pay the toll first." "What toll?" "Rings maaaan, come on, you just came from dat scrapyard back there, gotta be a lotta rings down there." "I don't have any rings," said FG with arms crossed, "and if I did, I don't think you're official toll guards." "Woaaaah watch the attitude pal." One of the pillbug-bots wheeled up to beside FG, the little claw poking at his leg before he slapped it away. "You don' wanna mess wi' us, we're the Motoras, the meanest Moto Bug gang this side of Green Hill." "I don't care if you're the meanest fuckwits this side of the moon, get lost." "You wanna start sumthin' brobot?! What are ya anyways?!" "Check this guy out," said another bug poking Scratch, "he don't even got wheels!" "HEY BACK OFF!"

The rooster kicked at one bug hard enough to send him flying, which of course meant a fight was soon evident as they revved up their tires and brandished their tiny claws. "Awww you asked fer it pal, now yer roadkill!" "Just try me!" FG brought out his scissors ready for a fight, while Scratch and Grounder braced themselves also as the raptor commanded them: "I want two of you to take on one guy, wail on him with everything you got. Consider this your first chance to get better at fighting, got it ?" "Got it!" said both. "Let's take these punks down!" All three of them charged straight in towards the gang, the raptor readily charging at the leader who screeched towards him hard. Seeing the motor bug bear down on him, he slammed the flat of his blades down upon its head to stop it in its tracks, the sound of a screaming tire kicking up dust behind it making James smile before he swiftly pulled away. The robot bug in its increased revving speed, simply went tearing past him without control, before turning round and speeding back towards him. As soon as the Moto Bug was in range, he flicked a small rock-sized block of sharp bright colours towards it, flickering from his fingers in a blue light of nanos. The tetra block made the wheel bounce, the bug losing control as it went careening wildly before falling to the side of its body. The raptor took it out of commission with a hearty plunge downwards straight into the wheel, stabbing brutally into the tough leather to disable the machine. Scratch and Grounder however were struggling against one alone, the chickenbot trying to either scratch or peck at the simple steel carapace whenever the bug zoomed past them. Grounder was too slow to even hit it, his drills revving up in turn as he tried to stab out at the one-wheeled robot with no luck. The motor bug was too fast to hit, and Scratch wasn't even able to score a proper hit with his simple wingslaps or slow kicks. His best weapon however was his rapid peck attack, using his beak to try and pierce the bug's metal shell.

But of course it was too fast for him, causing him only to end up with his head buried in the ground, metal tailfeathers behind him flapping wildly in his attempt to free himself. Grounder tried to help, but he found himself being slammed into from the side by the third pillbug-bot, the two remaining taking their time in screwing with their foes. Scratch was slammed into from his rear, causing him to somersault forwards with feet planted, head buried, feet planted, head buried again like a perpetual motion machine. The drill-tank Grounder was trying to get up from being rolled over onto his side, his treads spinning uselessly in the air as he flailed with his drill arms. Eventually, the two pillbugs were taken out in one blow by FG striking upwards with a powerful scissor slash, hurling one Moto Bug into the air before smacking it down onto its friend like a bat to a basketball. But much heavier. The grinding crunch of steel on steel signified the two round robots being knocked out of commission, at least for a while as FG pulled his friends up from their respective places. "D-did we win?!" asked Scratch. "I won, you guys...sucked." "...aww." "You two are DEFINITELY not good at fighting are you?" "...no?" Scratch looked down at himself with shame, his large chicken feet curling up their two toes as well as the third back toe on each as Grounder slowly wheeled up alongside him. James said nothing more, leaving the Moto Bug gang to wallow in their crippled state, groans of frustration coming from them as they tried to repair themselves. The raptor however was now concerned about his two allies and their incredible lack of fighting skill. After reaching the boundaries of the Wood Zone itself, he stopped within the shadow of the grand towering trees and turned to Scratch and Grounder. "Guys." "Yeah?" "...I think before we go any further into more unknown territory, you two need to know how to fight." "Huh?!" said Scratch. "Whaddaya mean?!" "Well...not to be rude but I've seen kids in wheelchairs fight better than you. Seriously." "Wh-wha?! But...those bugs took us by surprise, that guy was way too fast fer us!" "I know, but then you had to fight me before that, you couldn't even get a hit on me." "I...we...what you want us to do then?!" "Yeah!" repeated Grounder. "Whut you want us to do?!" "Simple, I want to train you guys up to be a little better. It might take a while, and honestly it's not the best conditions but every little bit'll help. There's gonna be a lot of tougher enemies ahead of us, probably, and I don't wanna see you guys get wrecked to pieces just because you can't fight properly." "But...but we're not built fer fightin'!" "Didn't Robotnik say in his message that you had to adapt to all the elements out there?" "Uhhh...yyyyyeah?" "Then you got to adapt! Luckily I know all about fighting and I'll gladly give you guys a few pointers." "You will?!" said Grounder. "Gee, thanks mister FG!" "Believe me, it'll do me some good too, I need to make sure I can rely on you two for any rough times out there." "You can count on us mister FG!" said Scratch with a salute. "We're ready an' waiting!" "Good! Alright let's find a nice spot to practice for, I think a few days, maybe a week at least should be enough...barely." "A week?! But...that's a long time!" "Trust me, I'm giving you a good opportunity and there's no rush. A week is the least amount of time I can give you, in fact I kind of expected this considering how long out of practice you two are. Besides you're robots, you should learn this stuff fast right?" "R-right! Yeah uh...we can handle it no problem right Grounder?!" "...ohhhh nooo," replied the drilltank. "What?" "I forgot my SHOES!"

Scratch blinked with disbelief before balling up his wings into fists of utter contempt "...those...you...you mean your-YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FEET YOU BOLTHEADED MORON!" "They get cold at night!" "YOU'RE A MACHINE, YOU DON'T FEEL COLD!" "I FEEL THINGS! LIKE SAD!" "I'LL MAKE YOU FEEL SOMETHING IF YOU DON'T SHUDDUP IDIOT!" "Ohhh god," thought FG aloud while turning briefly away, "I should have just left them there when I had the chance, these fucking idiots...no...no come on, you were this stupid once too, back when you didn't know how to fight, they know where their boss is, you can do this. Besides, you trained a fire lizard and a giant wasp in a day, you can do the same for these two...yeah...just like pokemon training. HEY!" The two stopped arguing briefly at the raptor's outburst. "If you two are gonna get pissed off then I'd rather you do it while fighting. Now come on, let's do this." "Yes sir!" "Yes sir!" As much as he would rather not waste time, he knew the importance of having two capable allies able to fight back against any further dangers along the road. Knowing that enemies not made of flesh and bone would become an obstacle to both him and his scissors, he needed the potential of brute mechanical force that the two badniks could bring. He had to convince himself even that a week would be enough training, compensating for the two ineffectual robots and their complete lack of fighting prowess. At least pokemon learnt it by natural means. With that in mind, he began to cast his mind back on how he trained with his team, gauging first at what strengths that both Scratch and Grounder had. Grounder was obvious, his bulkier weight and hefty drill-arms giving him a good deal of strength even normally, but all he had to do was unlock that potential to become a real powerhouse and apply it more practically. Scratch was the real problem, the lanky rooster about as sturdy as a pile of papers and just as dangerous. But he had his wings which could act as punching arms and perhaps even able to slice at something if given enough speed. James remembered the wingslap he got upon first arriving and how it stung slightly, but he wanted to make that into a real deadly weapon. The first thing he had them work on, was simply punching. Grounder was able to throw quite a bit of his own weight behind his heavy arm, but Scratch was jabbing the air rather pathetically for the first few hours or so.

The first day itself was nothing but punching and building strength. Grounder was given a large rock to punch at repeatedly with his drill-arms, while Scratch was given a dead log. Being they had fists of metal, they weren't able to hurt themselves as badly while punching solid wood or stone, which allowed them to build their strength more and more. For the rest of the week, the mornings would compose of solid punching exercises, with the odd occasion of Grounder scraping the rock hard and smacking his nose hard into the stone painfully. The second day FG dedicated to blocking attacks, using his scissors to strike at their arms while they guarded sternly. Posture, force and resistance was what he taught them, giving them proper etiquette while still building their arm strength with punching exercises. Scratch could feel his wings throb after enough blows, whimpering with twitchy hands at how scarred they were becoming from the repetitive blows. Grounder's drill-arms were perfectly able to guard anything without a scratch, which soon brought a new rivalry between them. On day three, James began to teach them fighting combos using fists only, uppercuts and roundhouses given to both of them. This time Scratch had an advantage with his height, able to go straight for the face with wild swings to the point of spinning too hard and keeling over onto his face. Grounder, being at belly height, had to rely on another avenue of fighting altogether which FG had to ponder on. Scratch however lorded his great height over his shorter friend, pretending to hit above his head and mocking him constantly for it. Day four was their specialisation day, the rooster given further opportunity to train his punching combos, whilst Grounder was given a lesson in charging attacks. Despite the fact he was essentially a tank-robot, James still found a way to teach him on how to rev up his treads powerfully so, but not to the point of spinning out, patiently teaching him over and over again on how to control his speed. Even after he seemed to constantly target Scratch in running him over repeatedly to the point of looking slightly mangled. Day five came special attacks, with Grounder working on his charging moves whilst Scratch learnt how to kick at last. This was something FG especially wanted him to learn, his absurdly slow kicks being due to inexperience more than anything else. Briefly remembering how Koopin learnt his own kicks, the raptor tried to guide the chicken through the various kinds of kicks available, making him go through all of them until his legs nearly fell apart. Even when Scratch accidentally extended his own leg around his neck and kicked FG hard in the face.

On the sixth day however, there came one last round of using all of their attacks to the maximum potential against him, as well as learning some all-new potential attacks. Whether they were fast learners or just able to adapt quicker as robots, they made a surprising amount of progress. But considering their constant arguments and blindingly stupid observations, James assumed that it was the latter. He tried to remember his training ways back in Kanto in utilising the best potential out of both robots. For example Grounder could easily use the ground to his advantage through the power of digging, tearing through the soil with his mighty drills before coming up underneath a potential opponent, like when he drilled straight up into Scratch's rear to make him squawk with fury. Scratch himself tried to utilise his aerodynamic wings in order to create a blast of wind, learning from FG as best as he could while also working on his rapid-fire pecking power, with the speed of a pneumatic drill. After a rigorous day of mixed fighting and strength-building to the point that they both managed to break through both stone and wood, they were finally ready. Or as ready as they could be. The seventh day came, and they would finally traverse into the mysterious Wood Zone. The forest upon entering was a strange but wonderful place, oddly serene considering its location near the scrap yard with shafts of sunlight creeping through the thick canopies so green and bright above. The trees had also grown very oddly, creating pathways amongst the branches that sometimes looped or went straight ahead that one could perfectly run through with the swiftest of speed. For now they decided to stay on the ground for sake of ease. "Wooooow," said Scratch in awe, "whut are these cranes?!" "They're...trees," said FG. "You never seen one before? They're made of wood and they grow out of the ground." "Whuh?! Ohhhh so THAT'S why it's called Wood Zone!" "Yes...that's why." "Wait, ya mean these aren't made by Dr. Robotnik?!" "Uh, no, they're natural...are you serious? Did you really not know what a TREE was before?!" "I-i-i never seen one before!" "Me neither!" said Grounder, "I thought this wuz a bakery!" "They're not made of bread you dummy!" "B-but they're brown! And crispy too, see?!" He snapped a small twing to prove his point, eating one part of it with a crunch between his steel teeth. "Mmmmmm...crunchy!" "Idiot!" Scratch slapped him across the face to make Grounder's head spin once again. "It's wood, not bread, sheesh pay attention will ya?!" "...I can see my back now!" "Why dontcha show me it so I can KICK IT for ya?!" "GUYS!" James made them turn back towards him, with Grounder turning his head by himself. "...you robots got like IQs, right? You ARE smart enough to know not to waste time right?" "Uhhh yeah?!" said Scratch sarcastically. "I know mine!" "Me too!" said Grounder. "It's my PIN number!" "Wha-It's only got TWO numbers in it numbnuts, how can it be a PIN number?! You need four numbers fer that!" "Whu-bu-yer IQ's only got two as well!" "It's smarter than yours buckethead!" "Beakbrain!" "BOLTHEAD!" "Dumbot!" "FUCK'S SAKE BOTH OF YOU!" The raptor forced them apart with a sigh of frustration welling up in him. "Look at you, I thought you were robots, not fucking kids." "HE STARTED IT!" shouted both. "I DON'T CARE! You're being graded here and you don't wanna disappoint Dr. Robotnik OR me. If you two can't behave I'm turning us around and it's BACK to the scrap heap with you! Do you want that?!" "NO, NO!" shrieked Scratch. "PLEASE, WE'LL BE GOOD, WE'LL BE GOOD I DON'T WANNA GO BACK! DON'T MAKE ME GO BACK!" "Alright, good. The two of you have to work together in order to survive, and if you can't do that, you are no good out here. Alright?" "Okay," said both badniks. "Good. Now let's keep going."

Stiffening up their nerves and cooling themselves with a deep breath, the two badniks walked on after Scratch wiped his eyes slightly from relief. The forest was still inhabited by other badniks besides them, mainly robotic wasps able to shoot photon energy shots at them from above, as well as small stegosaurus-like creatures with the same single wheel of the Moto Bug gang. The little dinobots were somewhat more dangerous than their bug counterparts, having the three extra horns to make their charging attacks a lot more deadly. James however still employed the same tactics in disposing them, either bursting the tire or crushing their sides with a hefty slam. Scratch and Grounder in turn started fighting a lot more effectively, using stronger punches and more-focused charge attacks. The wasps however were more of a nuisance flying far above them while taking pot shots at the three travellers. Scratch however employed throwing rocks at them to make them go away, or to antagonise them into coming close for a killing blow from either him or FG. "Stupid buzzheads!" said the chicken. "Get outta here already, what's yer problem with us!?" "You sayin' sumthin' to me?!" said one wasp robot. "You don' mess with a Buzz Bomber an' live, reject!" "WHAT YOU CALL ME!?" "Woah calm down!" said FG, "we just wanna pass through this place, no need to mess with us." "Yeah?! Not what I heard from up top. You three come from the scrap heap right? The chicken an' the moletank." "Yeah, so what? Why you fighting us anyway, we're badniks like you!" "Well yeah, but even a badnik can turn bad." "...what?" "You ain't getting outta this forest alive pal, I got orders from higher up to make sure o' that!" "What orders?!" "Ain't none of yer business!" "THEN I'LL MAKE IT MY BUSINESS!" Blasting off a shot of fire towards the metal wasp, it responded with a small blasting shot of its photon energy, the raptor dodging it easily before the wasp ordered: "BOMBERS, BRING IN THE BIG T.!" Suddenly a swarm of wasps all flew together at once, some of which more resembled dragonflies than anything else as they all hummed with their wings through the air. The buzzing sound grew, a cacophony that shook the very forest with its strong vibrations. At first James was rather confused by this, until he felt a sudden tremor grow from beneath his feet. A stomping trembling feel that shook the ground more with each step. Puddles around him shattered his reflection into a dozen murky colours, before reassembling once more.

All of them felt the sudden urge to run. And run they did, for the moment they turned and ran the other way, the quaking of the earth had grown towards the trees themselves, until suddenly something burst forth through them. They did not want to turn their heads at the sound of a mighty roar, followed with the screams of a dozen sawblades shearing into the forest around them. Running fast as they could, they found an opportunity to duck hard into the undergrowrth and turn, before seeing an almighty red tyrannosaurus rex, made of metal with sawblades for arms, mouth and tail. "WH-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" cried out FG. "IT-IT-IT'S A MONSTER!" said Grounder. "AND AN UGLY ONE TOO!" squawked Scratch. "HE'S TEARING DOWN THE WHOLE FOREST!" "Well that shit's not cool," said FG, "some kind of sawbladed Tyrannosaurus, what's up with that?! ...still not as big as that elephant." "What elephant?!" "NEVER MIND, JUST RUN!" The tyrannosaur had heard them well enough to guess their location, and stomped the undergrowth just after the three had fled, dodging between the trees as best as they could. The sounds of scraping blades and cracking wood remained constantly behind them, trees ripped through left and right as the 17-feet tall monster chased them through the woods. Its lower jaw was composed of a single large blade, as well as three smaller ones upon each of its strong shortened arms. They did however extend large enough to tear through the trees themselves with ease. Occasionally the beast would bite onto a tree and saw through with its extendable lower jawblade, before hurling it straight at its prey with a devastating crash, knocking over other trees in the process. Sometimes when it caught up, it would swing its tail which also had a giant sawblade at its tip, which ripped through every tree in its path as the sounds of forest devastation grew greater behind them. Woodland creatures shrieked and chittered as they desperately tried to flee, some of which ended up captured by badniks in the process. "WHAT DOES THIS THING WANT WITH US?!" roared FG. "I DUNNO," said Grounder, "I NEVER MET THE GUY!" "ME NEITHER!" cried Scratch, "BUT HE SURE DON'T WANNA BE OUR PENPAL!" "...MAYBE I SHOULD GIVE HIM SOMETHING!" "GROUNDER NO!"

The drilltank stopped and turned, reaching into his chest which seemed to have a compartment for storage as he pulled out a letter. The monster however did not care and simply brought its foot up high upon Grounder, trapping him within its ginormous shadow. But not before James charged in with a tremendous fire blast straight up towards its face, stunning it briefly as the Sawrannosaur roared with frustration. "COME ON!" James grabbed Grounder and pulled him hard back onto the trail, gaining some space between them and the dinosaur who shook its head clear of the cloud of fire before charging. This time it lowered its head and simply ran forwards, its metal skull slamming through wood like it was paper before it caught up to them. James however had an idea, seeing it come closer amidst the wake of destruction behind them. "BOTH OF YOU, SPLIT UP!" "WHAT?!" "DO IT!" The two ran in opposite directions as the raptor slowed down briefly to let the beast catch up. Swiftly turning round, he leapt onto the steel tyrannosaurus' head as it tried to shake him off. But the sawblade arms were not flexible enough to reach FG on top of its head, and neither was its tail as it began to turn and spin with fury at the little pest. Seeing how the fire had affected it before, he had an idea come to him as he brandished his blades high and set them on fire with his nanopower. With scissors burning he plunged straight into the top of its head. The hot blades managed to carve into the skull itself, the monster roaring with some understanding of pain as it tried to shake FG off harder. But the raptor was impossible to throw off now that he had a hold, stabbing the scissors in deeper with the heated sharpness breaking through the steel itself. Ripping open a new hole within the tyrannosaur's head, he managed to reach into the badnik's brain and began to tear at the wires within. Somehow this was easier to deal with than a zombie elephant, possibly due to the absence of tusks to gore him with, or a trunk to restrain him. "I'm gonna skullfuck you SO BAD you giant freak!" With one final plunge, he stabbed straight into the nerve centre as hot wires violently flayed from within, ripping apart from the electrical overdrive of its sudden malfunctioning. The monster without a CPU soon found itself falling, screaming its last as the raptor jumped onto a nearby tree just in time to see its head blow with an electrical flame shorting out of its top. With the T-rex down and no longer moving, a flurry of animals suddenly burst forth from near its remains, squirrels and birds all fluttering away back into the forests. "Woah where did they come from?" said FG to himself. "Hope nobody got crushed when this thing fell...SCRATCH! GROUNDER, YOU THERE?!" "YEAH!" "HERE!"

The two popped out from two trees nearby, looking over the beast before them now slain upon the forest floor. As James hopped down once he was sure it was dead, the rooster ran up to the side and kicked it in the crotch area. "UNH! YEAH! YA LIKE THAT?! WE ROCK THIS PLACE! BU-HA HA-HAAAAAAA!" "Uhhh yeah WE did nothing," said James, "that was all ME...but I don't expect the two of you to be able to handle a fucking tyrannosaurus rex with sawblades so let's just ignore that alrighty?" "What the heck was that thing's deal?! I thought badniks didn't attack each other?!" "Considering the way you two act towards each other, I wouldn't say that." "Uh...m-maybe." "Did it not want my letter?" said Grounder. "What's with you anyway, you almost got squashed Grounder!" "I thought it was mad cuz it didn't get a letter, cuz we mighta been penpals..." The letter Grounder had was in fact an empty envelope thrown away in trash, not even given the chance to deliver anything judging by the lack of an address upon the front of it. The sight of an empty unaddressed envelope was strangely sad for FG. He threw it away into the woods before saying: "Grounder...that was fucking stupid. Don't ever do that again." "Okay sir." "But that still doesn't change the fact that that thing attacked us. Why was it mad at us, why did those buzzing things wanna attack us?" "I dunno! Maybe they don't like us?" "Maybe, but I don't think Dr. Robotnik would approve of this infighting between subordinates, or minions or whatever he calls you...us." "I think he called us minions," said Scratch in pondering, "sure called us a buncha other names." "That buzz bomber guy from before knew we came from the scrap heap...he mentioned orders from up top so it looked like he was trying to stop us...did you guys do something that I don't know about?" "No! No nothing, we didn't do anything! Sure we screwed up a buncha times but who hasn't right?!" "Hmmmm...come on, let's get out of this forest while we still can, I'm sure Dr. Robotnik can explain this himself when we get to him." The three headed out to the other end of the Wood Zone, passing underneath the strange winding passageways that laid from tree to tree while avoiding Buzz Bombers and Stegos. Strangely enough, neither of them wanted to come near the raptor after seeing him take down their apparent leader with such swiftness. James smiled at the fear he was exhibiting in them, grinning his wicked teeth up towards them in order to shoo them away. Soon they made their way out of the forest itself, and they could soon see a large mountain range rising high above them in the distance. Two paths now laid before them, one of which had a sign firmly displayed in front of it with an arrow pointing left, towards a pathway splitting off from the main trail. Scratch almost immediately recognised it, saying: "HEY, that's the Hill Top zone!" "Looks more like a mountain than a hill," added FG. "Well yeah, but that's the way to the Metropolis Zone where Dr. Robotnik last was! I remember heading through here when we got carried out over towards the scrap heap." "How did you two get there anyway?" "We got carried, in a big metal capsule!" "We were like a big egg!" said Grounder. "And we both like hatched out of it! Like brothers!" "...can I smack him again?!" "No, now come on, we gotta get through this mountain range."

He didn't even acknowledge the sign until a voice called out from behind it, a cocky burly voice that almost surprised him. "Woah woah woah woah!" "Huh?" "Where ya think yer goin' pal?!" "Uh...someone there?" "Maaaaybe." Walking out from behind the sign was a small robot of brown and grey resembling a monkey, a black moustache upon his nose with some sort of police siren on top of his head. Scratch and Grounder walked up to the creature, the robot rooster saying: "What's the deal pal?!" "Road down here's broken! Ya can't go up thatta way!" "Huh?! Why not?!" "Cuz it's BROKEN that's why! You hafta go another ways." "B-but...but...we have to get to Dr. Robotnik, it's real important!" "YEAH!" said Grounder, "real important!" "Can't help ya sorry!" said the monkey. "You can still get through if ya wants, through there." He pointed towards the alternate path along the underside of the mountain cliffs. The way was not as green as the hilltop, its lush verdant lustre replaced by a more searing arid pale, the three looking at each other in disbelief as FG said: "Seriously? That's the only other way?" "Mmhmm, sorry pal! It's longer I know, but you guys look like yous can get through no problem! I'm just here for uh maintenance, yep, fixin' up this ol' pathway here so we can all gets through to Robotnik faster. Unless ya wanna wait a week." "A WEEK?!" squawked Scratch. "Screw this, I'm walkin'!" "Oh I'm not that worried," said FG, "it's just important that we meet with Dr. Robotnik no matter what." "Yeah?" said the monkey with arousing suspicion. "...sayyyy...I don't recognise yous anywhere." "Neither do I recognise you...are you really one of Robotnik's goons?" "Wha-whu-COURSE I AM! What you think I am, some kinda shyster?! What about you?!" "I'm a model, recently introduced, that's all you need to know and if you wanna know, ask your boss." "I talks to him all the time and I dunno what the heck you are!" "Do you have a high-enough clearance?" "Huh?!" "Your clearance. What is it?" "I...uh...high enough, that's none of yer business!" "Really?" said James coolly. "Then you'd obviously know all about me and the latest F.G. 01...technically I'm making you commit an illegal act by even allowing you to know about this...restricted information, unless you're part of it." "You...guh...you jus-yer not goin' through here anyway!" "Fine, fine, the bridge is out, then the bridge is out, we'll just go around. You have a good day now...oh, and don't try to tell Dr. Robotnik about me, he'll just deny anything about me until I'm ready to roll out of the showroom...and then probably fire you somehow, in his usual way. You take care li'l guy." With a chuckle and a patronising pet on the monkey's head, he walked out towards the other path with Scratch and Grounder, the two rather impressed by the cool professional manner of their guide and instructor. James however found himself secretly surprised at how incredibly dumbstruck that these robots could be, finding himself able to trick not one but six all in a row. He was however still concerned about what the wasps in the woods had been saying, as they made their way into the arid badlands of this strange world.