Starline Files: Pride
Well...things could have gone better today.
Let's start from top: we won and it wasn't even close! I shall admit I had my worries about it, but we won!
Admittedly, the battle didn't start as great as it could have been: our starting formation was not half-bad, composed of the mercenary Canaan, the sky sailor Piastol, Isara in her Tiny Tank, and the newcomer Conquering Storm, who was a comrade of the Pronghorns as a Egg Boss, and led this "Egg Clan"...plus a horde of Badniks to close the deal. And Metal Sonic.
The addition of Metal to the formation against a foe who specializes in controlling machines was one I contested quite a bit on the one hand: on the other, Doctor pointed out that Zavok's commander of that unit was also the dumbest of the Zeti, Zomom. I bet if I opened a portal and threw a sandwich on the other side, he would follow into it without giving it a second thought, but alas, I only barely managed to get back on foot for this engagement and such a scenario is so specific that I would hardly manage to get it through. Either way, doctor's plan was very simple: have Metal get a piece out of the Zeti, and get his biodata to get the electromagnetism the Zeti are known for. In theory, this could lead to Metal being able to cancel their electromagnetism with his own application of the technique or at least be able to force some of their units under our force's control.
That plan went wrong so damn fast.
As it turns out, Zomom wasn't dumb enough to not notice a blue machine coming for his fat ass, so he naturally turned his focus to it. It's a credit to Doctor's programming that Metal Sonic didn't immediately became controlled, but he was disabled for a moment while the rest of the army began their attack, the weaker Badniks being wiped in the process. Unfortunately, this peeved Zomom enough to
try. And try he did, as Metal Sonic turned on us and began hammering Conquering Storm and Piastol. The ladies were thankfully skillful enough to hold him off, though he did seem to get their Biodata, as he suddenly began to move more like the former and used something similar to some spells I saw the Deathhound - as Piastol called it - launch in the battlefield. Still, it was a mostly victorious affair...but Metal Sonic was taken away when Zavok ordered Zomom to retreat.
Needless to say, Doctor Eggman was
not pleased. He barely managed to stop himself from pulling out the Darc-Egg to handle those savages personally. He only grunted for Clove to bring out a few more Badniks to replenish the losses in the field and leave Cassia behind, deciding to playing safe.
The next horde had both Zomom and Zeena - boy, how deplorable must Zavok's forces have been if those were his commander's choices? - and, despite reinforcements from the sky and the fact Zomom hadn't to handle keeping Metal in check...would you believe if I said that it was almost as easy than before?
Like, don't get me wrong, we lost most of our forces due to Zeena and Zomom turning them against us with their Magnetism, but it was like our forces were a typhoon, ripping through them like a typhoon of death. Highlights of that fight for me include Conquering Storm mounting on Zeena's back and pulling her hair around as if she was some sort of horse and Isara aiming a tank shot at Zomom that made him vomit out his...whatever feast, he always seems to be eating, not the point. Eventually, we managed to capture those two and bring them in shackles to the base...leaving only the big red, Metal Sonic and...Silver Sonic. Poor thing seemed out of place against it's modern counterpart...wait, that doesn't make sense right? Metal was made earlier...but Doctor keeps giving it updates...eh, tomato tomato. Anyway, Zavok dared Eggman to come out and face him. Doctor didn't seem to be very inclined to do it...that is, until he mentioned Sonic.
It was as if Doctor's whole demeanor changed. He was mad about Metal, but not enough to waste his time with that hooligan. But then he just calls out for the Darc Egg Robot...
Maybe part of it was due to my own near-death experience. But we were doing fine, Zavok was outnumbered. Heck, if he ordered, I would ride the Darc Egg gladly. But I just couldn't make sense of it. When he pointed out about my real fear, he said the following to me:
"If I wasn't ready to risk my life, I would have never built my first mecha."
And then he went on to say he would beat Sonic by his own hands and tools, not those of his minions...
I don't get it. Willing to risk his life? A genius of his caliber? Why? He could beat anyone with any invention he made. What is the point of putting himself into needless risk?
And what matters who defeats Sonic? If he's dead, he's dead. What is the point of being the one to do so? Just mere pride?
...maybe I will never get it. Doctor fought Sonic for years. As an enemy. As an ally. As his own power.
But does it matter who gets to claim the kill? Isn't it more relevant that's he's six feet under?
...
The battle began with a setback. Zavok ignored Eggman's taunting and grappled onto the Darc Egg and use his fire breath on it. Ragnite thankfully is pretty heat-resistant, but it still did some good damage on it. The other units handled Metal and Silver. Conquering Storm and Piastol managed to handle it with ease, while supporting Doctor's fight. Canaan, in particular, managed to shoot Zavok's eye enough for to wound the giant structure. Clove convinced this Honey the Cat to not throw herself at Zavok like some Berserker and put some thought into how to handle the matter.
Doctor decided to take a different approach to handle Zavok. While Honey distracted Zavok, he went on the offensive and further wound the eye with ragnite missiles. Conquering Storm had tried to trip him, but that didn't work but he still fell from being slaughtered by doctor and Piastol getting onto him. At this moment, a bunch of Badniks concealed by invisibility attempted to catch the army off-guard, but Doctor simply laughed loudly and let out all the missiles to handle them with the greatest of ease. Zavok, now at normal side, was brought to his ship as it retreated. He opens his cockpit for the world to see...
It was weird. It was as if the whole world had gone silent for an instant. Not a single sound except for three...
very...familiar...sounds.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
They were silenced, but I would never forget the sound of bullets hitting someone's chest.
I moved before the cockpit even finished closing, focusing the Warp Topaz to open a portal to the inside of it. Then, seeing the unconscious man, I opened another to where Piastol was finishing ending the Badniks and pretty much screamed for her to do something. She barked at her mutt to use some sort of spell and that seemed to help, but I still opened a portal to the base - I didn't trust myself to get a portal to the hidden base up with my altered mind state - and barked for someone to carry him. The ones to answer the call were Canaan and, much to my surprise for the speed, Agent Stone, who seemed deadly pale. Sage, having realized what happened, ordered a few Badniks to prepare him for surgery to remove the bullets in the chest while I brought out the remainder of our ragnaids in order to help him recover swiftly.
Thanks to this quick action, we managed to stabilize doctor's signs and he was up by the next day, if grumpy by how things turned out. After the event, I did some search in the surroundings, but the sniper was already long gone.
Pride...pride put me on that situation. Put doctor in that situation.
Is there any need for pride for someone who wishes to conquer?