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Already FG began to regret coming through this way. Hugging beneath the tall tall mountains of rolling greenery high above, was a scorching desert of brown and yellow blinding him in all directions. Tall grand rocky mesas stood far off in the distance, pillars as old as time to forever stand against the elements. Cacti occasionally sprouted as an unrefreshing green and prickly addition to the desert, and already the three wanderers could see both gators and snails roaming the desert, their steel hides glinting in the harsh sun. "Okay guys," said FG, "let's see how you did on your geography tests. Who can tell me what this place is?" "OOH OOH I KNOW I KNOW!" "Yes Grounder?" "It's...a beach!" Both Scratch and FG turned towards him with utter disbelief, the raptor trying not to be snarky as he replied: "...no. Close, but no. Scratch?" "This is the Dust Hill Zone!" answered the chicken, "an abandoned dried-up wasteland as the result of deforestation, environmental disaster and just plain ol' lack of rain." "Not bad! Where'd ya learn that?" "It's all in this guidebook I found back at the scrap heap!" The rooster brought up an old worn leather guidebook from his backpack, entitled "Beta Zones of West Side Island, a scrapbook for scrapped areas of former interest to Dr. Ivo Robotnik". James was rather incredulous, though rather glad to know the name of what he now knew was an island saying: "...Ivo? That's his name?" "I dunno, I never knew either." "Whatever, a guidebook's always useful so keep that thing close at hand." "Yes SIR mister FG!" Scratch poked his tongue at Grounder childishly before putting the guidebook back in his pack, the drillbot staring jealously at his friend as they soon rolled on behind FG. The desert was littered with rocky formations of all shapes and sizes, thick and reddish-brown against the burning light above. He had to wonder how or why such a place could exist so close to a forest as well as beneath what he assumed was a fertile mountain land above. He briefly remembered Koopin's lectures on habitation, various titbits on photosynthesis and plants growing taller than others to steal sunlight from the ones beneath them. The lack of a shade from the mountain hilltop did not seem to prove this to the land's current condition. Thankfully, there were some areas in the shade, mainly underground regions deep within giant rock tunnels, of an immense coolness that was also more filled with badniks than the outside was. Surprisingly however, they were quite relaxed compared to the ones they had met before.

"Hey brobot," said one gator with a single tank tread, "new here?" "To this place yeah," said FG. "We're just passing through, don't mind us." "S'cool dude, don't sweat it. Heh...sweat, geddit?" "Shut up," said one snail bot with spikes and one giant wheel underneath. "Ignore 'im, bad puns are like his thing." "No prob," said James. "What's with this place anyway?" "Just a dried-up old wasteland, nothin' bout it, just used to be a nice big forest before Dr. Robotnik needed all that sweet lumber...then he went diggin' fer the minerals under the earth, that killed a lot of the roots that'd be around here." "Shit...that sucks." "Ehh, don't harm us...birds an' squirrels all moved to the wood zone nearby anyways, not like they're homeless forever." "Heh...Iiiii guess, is there a way through here to the uh...where was it we had to go Scratch?" "Metropolis Zone!" said the rooster proudly. "It's a ZONE!" added Grounder eagerly. "That starts with the letter Z!" "Good fer you," said the snail, "yeah I think there's a way through here, but you gotta get through Cyber City first which is near here." "Cyber City?" asked the raptor. "Yeah some old abandoned dump outside of Metropolis Zone, I don't even know if there's anybody left there now so, shouldn't be a problem for you guys." "Well, alright then thanks guys. Try not to overheat alright?" "Don't worry...we haven't moved from this spot for six months...I think. I don't have a watch so I don't know how long it's been." "Maybe an HOURGLASS might help," said the gator. "We got all this SAND around us, might as well use it!" "...dude no that's stupid." "Aw come on, don't be like that, else you won't get no dessert." "...why...was I not made with hands?" "Wha?" "So I can beat the crack out of you, you boltheaded moron." "Hhhhhahahaha...aaaah yer funny when yer mad brobot." The snailbot rolled his eyes and simply shrugged, or at least the best he could do with but a shell and no actual shoulders to shrug with. Scratch and Grounder simply glanced at each other swiftly before moving on, but before the raptor could move on through the underground shade, the snailbot added: "O-oh hey hey, almost forgot!" "Wha?" "Watch out fer the tunnel scorpions way out east, they're a bunch of junkheads an' they don't take kindly to strangers. Alrighty?" "Alright, thanks man." Heading further east, they passed through the underground tunnel with some relief as James drank up some water from his bottle. He tried not to feel nostalgic about the arid atmosphere, the last time having felt the hot sands beneath his feet being beside the one he loved. Everytime he looked down at his feet, once they had re-emerged back onto the burning sands, he almost expected to see a pair of green boots beside them. Instead, he saw a large set of tank treads and a pair of chicken legs. Which tried to sneakily kick at Grounder's back by stretching the leg behind FG. "S-stop iiiiiit!" whined Grounder. "What I'm not doin' anything!" said Scratch. "Yes you are, yer kickin' me!" "Wha?! No I'm not!"

James waited until they neared a cliff, blocking their way forwards as he swiftly kicked upwards behind him straight into Scratch's groin and knocked him forwards into the cliff. His beak slammed straight into the cliff base with a clucking squawk, whimpering as he slapped the rock with his wings whilst Grounder pointed and laughed at him moronically. "NNNNGH! N-NNNN-NNNNMMMMGH! GRNNNN-NNNNNRRRR!" "HUHUHU! Yer all, s-stuck in the wall, like a rock thingy, huhuhu!" "That's what you get for being a dick," said FG. "Come on, get out of there." The raptor pulled Scratch out of the wall by the neck, his head jerking back with a slight ringing as his pupils rolled like marbles. Shaking his head clear, the three looked at the impassable cliff now before them, the rooster raising a wing up to shield his face from the sun. "Jeez that's pretty dang tall, how we gonna get past that?!" "We climb," said FG. "How else we gonna get ahead?" "Uh, you sure we can do that?" "Course we can, I got claws, Grounder's got drills...you can fly." "I-i can't fly!" "What?" "I never done it before, I-i-i never got the right upgrade fer it!" "Oh come on, you're a chicken, you have wings, you can fly!" "Nah-uh! I can like, flap my wings real fast an' get a li'l boost off but I can't go flyin' like a bird! I don't even got claws like you do!" "God...okay, guess you have to climb the hard way, your feet seem pretty good for it and we got no other way forward, so come on." "Yeah come on Scratch!" said Grounder. "It's not so hard, IF you got drills like I do, heeheehee!" "Which is why," said FG, "...actually, Grounder, that's a good idea." "Huh?" "You drill some holes into the wall while you climb up, and Scratch'll climb up behind you using the holes as grapples, that sound good?" "...gee, that's a good idea! Yer really smart mister FG!" "Thanks dude!" "Teacher's pet," murmured Scratch jealously. James was first to climb the rock, testing it to see if it was good enough for his claws as he began to ascend, whilst Grounder started climbing after as his drill hands began to whir. Once they were fired up, he slammed his drill hands straight into the rock wall, tearing into the harsh stone as shards flew harmlessly upon his dull thick armoured body before sinking in enough. Then he reached upwards to make another hole, then another and another, all the while pulling his body up from underneath with some effort. Scratch followed his lead and began to climb up from behind, his smooth-fingered wingfingers snugly fitting into each of Grounder's newly-drilled holes. It was a slow tortuous climb, the blinding heat merciless upon the heated stone combined with the slow pace of the drillbot digging each new hole he could make before hoisting himself up a few feet more. His arms were a little more stretchable than expected, but the strength within them was a little lacking.

It wasn't until they got more than 12 feet off the ground that the drillbot was starting to feel the burn in his robot arms, his treads hanging uselessly beneath him as they spun wildly in instinct for purchase. "UUUURF! Boy I sure am heavy, I gotta get on a diet!" "Are you serious?!" squawked Scratch. "You're made of metal!" "So?!" "You don't EAT anything!" "That's not true, I made you that nutmeg salad once and you liked it!" "...oh yeah, ya did! Heh, it was pretty good actually!" "See?!" "But that don't mean nuthin', you don't even weigh that much ya weakling!" "Hey, I'm stronger than yous anyway!" "HAH, you?! You couldn't even lift that potful of oil back at the dump!" "I DON'T HAVE HANDS YOU...YOU..." "WELL!? Come on holehead, whatcha got?!" "YER A...STUPID-" "GROUNDER!" Briefly forgetting where he was, the drillbot had pulled his arms out of the rock wall to threaten a gesture at Scratch, finding himself suddenly experiencing the harshness of gravity until FG grabbed at him. But the drill was too smooth for him to grab fully, and in his haste he found himself falling from the cliff along with Grounder, who in turn collided straight down on top of Scratch. All three of them crashed down onto the hard desert ground, the raptor winced as he laid on top of Grounder, who in turn rubbed at his own head while crushing Scratch underneath him. "Owwwwww, whut happened?!" "G-GET OFFA ME YOU REJECT!" shrieked the rooster as they swiftly got up. "You took your arms out of the damn wall you fucking dumbass!" cried out James. "Guys, seriously, can you at least go a mile without taking shots at each other like fucking kids?!" "Not my fault he's stupid!" said Scratch. "Yer stupid too!" replied Grounder. "You forgot how many toes you had once!" "THE SUN WAS IN MY EYES!" "THAT'S IT!" James had enough and grabbed both of their heads to clonk together hard, both of them crying out and grabbing at their own heads wincing. "I was patient enough to give you two some time out in training, but you are SERIOUSLY making me lose it! Why are you two even together if you keep acting like this?!" "...I dunno," mumbled Scratch and Grounder. "You don't know?! Why don't the two of you ever just leave and go your separate ways or something?!" "I-i just-" muttered Scratch desperately, "I dunno! ...why don't we ever do that?" "Cuz we were stuck in a scrap yard together?" replied Grounder. "I mean, I got nowhere else to go cuz that big door was locked." "Yeaaaaah..." "So why do the two of you stick together now?" asked FG.

He received no reply for a solid two minutes, the wind shifting across the sands eternally so all around them. At one point, a ball of tumbleweed even rolled right between them yet none of them would ever notice, before James simply rolled his eyes and turned back towards the cliff saying: "It's official, you two are complete retards." "Huh?" "If you don't have an answer then you might as well stick together, seeing as how you got nothing better to do other than take yourselves back to Dr. Robotnik, and-" "OH YEAH THASSIT!" "Huh?" "That's why we're together!" said Scratch. "Cuz YOU told us to lead you to Dr. Robotnik, right mister FG?!" "...that...is true yeah." "And we gotta stick together," said Grounder, "cuz yer grading us together, right?!" "Right! Hey, there ya go see, the two of you are good together." They both smiled with pride in themselves before returning to the big climb, back up the cliff they would go with a more determined pace. Grounder put his drill arms back into the same holes he had carved before, with Scratch following up behind him safely. The climb itself took somewhere around 40 minutes before they reached the top, as the two badniks struggled not to speak too much for the long trek upwards. While the beating sun did little to dissuade the robots themselves, who simply felt irritated by their metal bodies heating up to a burning touch, James was feeling the burn on his own neck as he kept drinking water. A brief moment of paranoia ran through him, until he remembered that he had never even touched the water in Raccoon City thanks to Roy's wisdom, and he had never refilled his bottle at any point during that. Nothing but fresh water from the sweetest Kanto rivers, as Scratch began to ask: "Why ya drinkin' water anyway?" "Huh?" "Cuz, yanno, robots don't DRINK water right?" "Uhhh new model, hello, it's part of my upkeep thank you. Water's free and all around us, unlike oil which is why I'm low-maintenance." "Oooooh fancy!" said Grounder. "Do you guys like, rust or something when you drink water?" "Naaah," said Scratch, "it just sits inside us doin' nothin'." "...so...how do you get it out then? I mean, water all inside you that long can't be good for you." "OH, we got these drainage pipes down here betwee-" "OKAY that's all I need to know thanks, moving on!" Before Scratch could show him exactly where his drainage pipe was, the raptor turned and walked on ever further into the desert hills. The heat still seared across his shoulders, each drop of sweat that barely peaked out of his scales felt like acid down his neck. The land expanded far beyond them, with little cover for shade as the sand threatened to scorch his bare feet. He wished for once in his life to have shoes that fit.

Eventually they found themselves at a clearing, where there lied beyond the threshold of the desert a series of metal structures blinking faintly in the afternoon. Scratch noticed them asking: "What are those?!" "No idea," said FG, "look like oil rigs to me." "Oil rigs? ...HEY, that must be the Oil Ocean Zone!" "Oil Ocean?!" "Yeah! Just one whole sea of black and oil far as the eye can see!" "...what is that even for?" "Uhhh is that part of the test?" asked Grounder. "...you know what, let's say yes, tell me." "OH NO, I knew I shoulda studied! Nobody told me there wuz a pop quiz!" "Relax, this is uh...extra credit." "Oh! Um...can I phone a friend?" "Uhhhhh-" "HANG ON!" Grounder reached for his backpack before pulling out an old unplugged green phone, the kind with a rotary dial as he made a call. "Hello? Scratch?" "Um...what?" "Hi Scratch! I uh, got a question here you MIGHT be able to answer-" "I'm right HERE you doofus!" "I know, sheesh don't have to yell at me, I just called you!" "I'm right next to you, right HERE, how can you be THIS stupid?!" "...well that's the last time I ever call YOU fer a friend, I-" Scratch took the phone and cracked the receiver over Grounder's face, swinging it hard enough to make his head spin a few times, the short drillbot blinking as he found himself staring straight towards Scratch to the left of him. "...OH, hi Scratch!" "DOH you-why do you even have this phone!?" "It's fer making calls, DUH! That's whut a phone is for!" "IT'S NOT EVEN PLUGGED INTO ANYTHING!" "It's WIRELESS. Geez, yer way behind the times Scratch, get with the program already." "YOU-...GRRRRRR!" The piercing eyes and fists ready to choke a bitch indicated it was time for FG to step in, saying: "Alright alright, enough of the fucking double-act, let's just leave this desert already okay?" "Oh you'd like that wouldntcha?" A voice came from beneath the sand as something burrowed up out of it. A red metal scorpion, steely-eyed with claws to match, pincers the size of James' neck tucked close to its treadwheel and body. A large mace for a tail hung threateningly above it, as well as the other four scorpions that burrowed out of the sand. James however was not intimidated. It's hard to be intimidated by anything else after a giant tyrannosaurus comes chasing after you full of saw blades.

"Heeeeeeeey you guys must be the tunnel scorpions right?!" "Yeah," said the first one. "You heard of us?" "Oh yeah yeah, you guys got a fierce rep around here, keeping up the work for Doctor Robotnik as one of his best creations." "Heh, you got it in one. The heck are you, new scrap?" "Yeah I'm a new model, just on a scouting mission to bring these two chuckleheads back and uh, sort things out. Anything to report?" "I don't answer to you bub." The Skorp leader swung his pincer towards James threateningly. "Nor anyone else. What are you really doing here?" "Um, passing through? The bridge is out at Hill Top Zone so had to reroute around here." "Yeah? Way I see it, you just became an intruder." "Woah woah woah, chill out, I'm on a mission for Robotnik, so let's not-" He was cut off when the scorpion swung its mace tail towards FG, who swiftly deflected it with his scissors as the mace swung up high on a strangely elastic length, before it would come crashing down on the sand and swing back to its place above the scorpion. They started to rev their treadwheels in preparation for a fight, as the leader said: "You ain't never gettin' past us, I may not take orders from anybody, but I know who to trust more. And I'd rather trust the monkey over a freak like you." "Monkey huh? ...well...you just made the worst mistake of your life. Scratch, Grounder, let's do this!" "UHHH you sure?!" said Scratch nervously. "They got maces!" "And you got training so front and centre now! Consider this part of your test and pray to god you don't fail!" "Yes, sir!" The two hopped forwards as they readied themselves to fight, putting up their wings and drills like boxing gloves as the scorpions rushed all at once. The leader went straight for FG, who braced himself for the swinging tail to come crashing down once more, either dodging or deflecting it with a solid swing like a baseball bat. The stretchy-looking tail went wildly high, pulling back straight down onto the sand yet again as the Skorp leader dodged his own weapon. Scratch and Grounder charged in together, trying to let their fists do the talking rather than actually look at their enemies in case of flying maces coming right at their faces. Scratch piled in on top of one scorpion, slamming his fists hard onto the top of its hardened back before hammering his beak with a rapid drilling peck attack. The pincers grabbed at his legs in annoyance and pulled him right off, before swinging him down hard onto the sand over and over again like he were a beach towel, kicking up the same amount of dust as one. Grounder stormed through two of them before steering hard on the sandtrail, piercing straight into one's face with his drill as it grinded fast with sparks flying. The drill wasn't sharp enough to pierce the robot, but it did enough damage to crumple in the eyes before a mace would come crashing down on his head and whack it down into his neck like a whack-a-mole target. He backed off with a yelp, clutching his head hard while whimpering before the Skorp charged him in fury. But Grounder wasn't looking where he was going and somehow dodged by careening to the left.

The scorpion as a result steered straight towards FG, who leapt over him before grabbing at his tail hard and pulling it far back. With a power similar to a giant elastic band, he fired off the tail to watch it come crashing down onto its owner, cracking the shell hard and disabling it from the fight. The leader however was not so easy, his wily treadwheels much more souped up than that of his minions as he steered back and forth, dodging the raptor's swings while occasionally trying to grab at the scissors themselves. Everytime he did however, the raptor would force him back with his nanos, firing off little tetra blocks or using the wind to storm up the sand around him in order to disorient the machine. It did the trick somewhat, allowing him the chance to grab at the tail and pull it hard back before sending it right down onto the Skorp. But its shell was not fully cracked enough, and it only made him more mad at FG before charging to him with renewed fervour, his wheeled treads grinding hard on the sand with pincers flying like punches. Scratch meanwhile was finding it hard to break through the tough shell, the lone Skorp he faced having thrown down the rooster once more before raising its steel mace high above. But the chickenbot had a little more strength in his arms since last fight. Tthrowing up a huge flurry of sand with the force of a conveyor belt on high-speed, the sound of many smacking granules all over the steel carapace was that of an annoying sting, the pincers loosening slightly to try and clear the sand off of it. The chicken however used this opportunity to kick free and karate kick at the face, smacking the robot back hard with an extended leg that pummelled straight out towards it. It was a successful slam, the scorpion looking rather furious before coming right back towards the rooster. With his dander up, Scratch readied himself into a boxing pose, swinging his wing-fists with wild abandon as he slammed both pincers away before cracking right into the Skorp's eyes. Surprisingly it worked, before the tailmace came hurling down towards him. But before it could crack onto his smaller head, a mighty clang resonated through the hot desert air next to his air. James was right beside him, smacking the mace back straight towards its owner before stabbing straight into the face between the pincers. It managed to go in quite deep, enough to make the robot malfunction and stutter back in panic. But they now had something even more frightening to contend with than just an unusual creature's resistance. A quaking of the earth beneath their feet. Or wheels. "Awwww NOW what?!" cried out FG. "SH-SHOOT!" cried out one Skorp, "EVERYONE SPLIT UP, WE GOTTA GO!"

As the scorpion gang tunnelled its way out of the area, burrowing from out of sight, the shaking soil further intensified beneath their feet. The raptor almost lost his balance in the uneven firm sand, the rooster and the drillbot wobbling with each other slightly as they looked at each other with panic. "WH-WH-WHAT'S GOING ON?!" squawked Scratch. "I DUNNO," cried Grounder, "BUT IT'S A DOOZY!" "YOU CALL THIS A DOOZY?! WHAT YOU CALL A REAL BAD SITUATION, A FREAKIN' METEOR!?" "THERE'S METEORS TOO!?!?" "NO YOU DOOFUS I-GAAAAARRRGH!" The sand suddenly rose up behind them, torrents of which began to flow down on top of them as a mountain suddenly formed that overshadowed the very sun above their heads. As both raptor and badniks tumbled down the hill without warning, they struggled to get a glance up towards the dreaded beast that now stood before them. A colossal mechanical creature, with pincered crimson head and vile gold eyes glaring down at them, its body segmented like a huge insect to be at least 60 feet tall. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" roared FG. "I DUNNO," said Scratch, "SOME KINDA HUGE ROBOT ANTLION!? "LOOK OUT!" The sudden sight of an unearthly mass crashing down upon their heads made them split up like rats, the blast of sand erupting from all around the burrowing mecha causing all three of them to become blinded temporarily. Stumbling across the shifting sands, Scratch found himself suddenly slipping back towards a sinkhole caused by the giant antlion, a deepening well of darkening yellow with a surging mass from within. The grand pincers came forth from the bottom pit, clashing upon each other like giant swords eager for their meal. "H-HEEELP! HELP MEEEEEEEEEE!" Scratch clawed at the slipping sand dune, the steepness it had suddenly become now turning into a greater obstacle of fear for the young-made rooster as he screamed at the antlion behind him. The constant clang of its pincers above a whirring vortex of a mouth, filled with razor-steel blades that could easily cut anything up into a dozen pieces, made him panic more and more as he felt some sand shower onto his head in a small explosion. "GRAB ON!" A solid steel drill shined whirring up above, with Grounder's head urgently looking down on him as Scratched grabbed before being pulled in. The sand tore through his vision before he was taken away from the slippery slope, and pulled upwards back to the more solid area. But the beast of the desert was not so easy to evade, even for its size as it began to close up the sinking sandfill, burrowing back into the earth. James stood with them, trying to use all his senses on where it would strike next. "You two hear a single thing from below us, say it. Don't move a muscle." "...we don't have muscles," whimpered Scratch. "Not the point, don't. Move." "Wh-why!?" "If it burrows in the sand, it can detect your movement from above. Just like that movie me and Koopin saw." "Wha-who's Koopin?!"

The moment Scratch turned with fearful curiosity, his claws scraped into the sand as the rushing force began to approach from underneath. James grabbed both robots and hurriedly pulled them out of the way, just in time before the monstrous maw surged straight upwards into the air. While it never fully left the earth, its body was large enough to only need most of it to intimidate them before diving right back in, desperate to bury them alive within a sea of sand and steel. The very desert itself seemed to shake and howl with the fury of this colossus, the mechanical roar of the antlion resonating across the air even after it buried back into the dusty dunes. James was struggling to think of a way to fight it, looking all around until he saw a large rocky mesa near their location somewhere around 30 feet tall. It was one thing at least, an idea forming in his head while shouting: "HEAD OVER TO THAT ROCK!" They followed without question, too scared for the unearthly mass that crawled beneath their feet, hunting them down, seeking them out, the monster trying to create its trap through a large sinkhole once more. But the raptor kept his robot friends ahead, pushing them onwards and out of range as the ground gave way from behind them, eaten away by the force of the machine. They managed to rush their way up to the rock, the raptor climbing to the top demanding: "STAY THERE AND STOMP EVERYWHERE!" "WHY!?" "WE NEED TO MAKE THE ANTLION COME HERE SO I CAN CRUSH IT, NOW STOMP THAT SHIT!" "...HEY! HEY OVER HERE!" Scratch began to stomp on the firmer sand around the rock, while Grounder began to rev up his wheeltreads and screech around the stone in a circle, the rooster shouting: "OVER HERE! COME OVER HERE, OVER HERE YA JERK!" "YEAH CUMMERE," said Grounder, "WHY DONTCHA COME HERE AN'...AN'...WHUT ARE WE DOIN' AGAIN?!" "WE'RE MAKING THIS WEEDY LITTLE BUG COME AT US, UNLESS HE'S TOO CHICKEN TO DO IT! HEY! YA HEAR THAT?! I SAID CHICKEN!" The rooster began to live up to his species design, buck-bucking and clawscratching while Grounder had no idea what sort of animal he was based on. So he just decided to run wheeling laps around the rock itself, forming a circle as the dust began to build slightly. Scratch was feeling more cocky, having the right idea as he began tapdancing suddenly, his clawed feet surprisingly good at being quick-witted enough to clack and scrape against the rockier soil. "BADADA-BARRRA-BAAAA, DUDU-DOO-DOODOOOOO, OVER HERE YA STUPID ANIMAL...THING! COME ON! COME OOOOOOOOON YA LAZY FAT LUMMOX, WHAT ARE YA?! YOU DON'T SCARE ME! ROOSTER AIN'T NEVER GONNA RUN AWAY FROM A FIGH-OHOHO NONONONOOO!"

The sight of the burrowing mound of serpentine length grow before them made Scratch run in panic, scrabbling up onto a higher place on some rocky pedestals while he waited in fear. Grounder was oblivious, rolling his way round and round the large stone that FG sat upon. Then the vibrations turned the entire world around them into a shaking fault, the tankbot realising as he sped away screaming with panic right before the antlion mech reared its ugly head from the desert dunes, screeching its searing sawblade-filled teeth at the raptor. James leapt off and summoned a dry wind around him, blasting through the air to land back down onto soil. The rock teetered as the monster crushed its head against it, before falling back down. Before the avalanche of rocks came with it, crumbling off the mesa as they crashed down on top of the mecha, a shrieking roar crying out from underneath. Boulders piled up in a cloud of dust, swirling with the wind in a brief sandstorm as the unceasing volley of red rock crunched hard onto steel, crumpled and beaten until it no longer moved. The raptor stood with the two badniks uncertain, scanning for any signs of movement that could come. The occasional small rock would roll down the new-formed pile of red stone but other than that there was nothing. Not one single groan of metal came from underneath. "Did we get 'im?" asked Grounder quietly. "I think so," said FG. "I don't hear anything coming from it." "Did we...like, crush it?" "Like a BUG!" crowed Scratch. "BUHA-HAHAAAAAAAAA! THAT WAS AWESOME!" "Jesus calm down!" said FG. "LOOK AT US, we're the baddest of badniks and ain't NOBODY gonna tell us not! We just wrecked him like he was TRASH! YA HEAR THAT WORM-BREATH, YER JUST TRASH!" "Scratch, fucking chill a minute-HEY!" Scratch ran off straight towards the pile of rubble with glee, victory surging through his feet as he stomped onto the rocks, climbing up to the top and crowing with joy. The past few string of victories he had, or at least participated in, had left him feeling rather invincible, as he proclaimed to the sky: "NOTHING CAN STOP US NOW, YA HEAR ME?! I'M COMIN' FOR YA DOCTOR ROBOTNIK, I CAN TAKE ON ANY OF THESE LOSERS YOU CALL BADNIKS, AND I'M GONNA SHOW YOU WHAT A REAL BADNIK IS! RIGHT IN YER FAT FACE!" "SCRATCH FOR FUCK'S SAKE GET DOWN!" "NO WAY, I'M THE BEST!" "Hey I'm the best too!" Grounder rolled up as best he could on the rubble, his treads finding it to be a problem until Scratch tugged him right up to where he was, the two fistpumping up towards the sun as they rooted for their "victory" that they completely had done themselves, forgetting about FG who looked up at them with disbelief. "WE'RE THE BEST! WE'RE THE BEST!" "WHO'S BEST!?" "WE'RE BEST!" "BEST BADNIKS!" The only thing to stop their cheering was a rumbling deep down below, a rising crushing noise that came closer and closer to the surface. Scratch and Grounder started falling over from their place, the rocks soon tumbling away as a mighty chasm opened up underneath them. They didn't even have time to see the yawning sinkhole of nothing beneath them, sand pouring in deep as all three fell with the monster's remains. Screams echoed deep into the darkness as the hole began to fill up again, with both sand and rubble closing up completely. Whatever strange underworld they fell into had more problems than they would expect.