The Spectrum Jewel Crisis - Of Gold and Sapphire

Alex knew something was off and he was right, for the most part...

Though he was sure not to find anyone to help him, he was dumbfound to see that a small society of anthropomorphic beings had made a home in the midst of a great valley, some growing crops and tending fields while some minded their own business as Alex walked through, amazed that such beings had made a living here in the town of Oaken Drop.

He had taken to asking about to confirm his answers, where money is still likely to be used, and what to expect in the town. Fortune held as regular dollars were used in the human cities further about the place and the type of currency that is used in Oaken Drop and many others are Rings, much larger versions of the classic gold rings that he was familiar with. As for expectations, the town was hidden away to prevent a 'Doctor Ivo Robotnik' or 'Eggman' as they call him from attacking them in full force with his robotic legions which explained the robots that Alex found attacking in the ruined town's security systems. 'What is worse, some of these civilians have seen the destruction that Eggman caused could and his plans to rule the world which in most part, he does succeed.' But in recent days, Eggman has been capturing a number of people and even now is hiding them somewhere that no one has a clue to.

Before he could press for more information, he was quickly found by policing members who, taking up the impression of the blue hedgehog called Sonic, have taken to investigating any suspicious activities and a blue fox asking about is very suspicious. Not wishing to inflict any pain on them as they were just doing a job, Alex decided to follow his trade plan: to run as he sprinted off from the fruit stand that he was at, booking down the road as he cut corners and jumped across gaps as he started to throw off his pursuers before planting himself against a wall and peering out to see if there were any others to which he ran off again and ultimately found himself in a scrap yard of sorts, piles of robotics assorted across the area and served as decent hideaways as he started to sort through the pieces and parts so that he could easily fix the Mancer further, unaware of the hidden security cams that littered the place. As Alex finished up, his senses went haywire and he dropped down, just in time as a dart flew overhead and planted itself into a pile and a grump voice spoke up. "Darn vermin, stay still!"

"Yeah, I SO want a dart protruding from my skull!" Alex grabbed his right pistol and trailed against the pile's cover as he walked across the edge and keeping a eye out in case for the next attack, not disappointed as he rolled out of the first cover for the second as a dart flew in the middle and struck a further pile, Alex watching with interest to if he could bait the old coot. "There is no need for this violence, sir."

"Stop trying to mess with my head, robot!" Alex listened and could detail the type of weapon being used, a old model of a pipe rifle for the near silent reload and its ammo consists of darts designed to pierce light plates of armor, the contents being some form of electrical magnetic gel that can both cripple machines and knock out individuals for a good few hours. Timing was everything now as he needed a opening and getting close range was out of the question as he had no clue of how close the coot was or that he was on a perch and was using a sound system to project his voice across the yard so, using his Mancer to hack the system and finding him on the cam display, Alex quickly turned the cam to find the shooter, finally finding him to be actually hanging from a crane's arm, a wizened opossum armed with the arm, goggles on to scope Alex out, meaning that Alex had to dodge behind the piles so that he could get to the crane controls and pull the opossum down from his perch. "Come out and feel the sting like a actual man!"

"Says the coward on a arm!" Alex knew he had one chance to do this and little time to accomplish it so he moved with a plan, rolling out of the cover and firing a warning shot, glazing the opossum at least and throwing him off of shooting for some time, not expecting that the opossum rolled onto the top and crouched on it, firing at a faster rate, giving Alex only enough room to move up two piles, but that was not needed as the crane controls were close and he only needed one more dash to get to it with the risk of the rifle's successful hit large if he could not come up with a distraction. 'This coot is going to kill me at this risk, I need to think quick!'

Looking about, he was running out of options until he spotted a robotic head that seemed to be sparking and smiled, grabbing the metal extension fast before modifying it into a effective distraction with several pieces before shouting out. "Hey, Coot, shoot this!" With a great hurl, the head went flying and the coot was quick on it...
...Only to realize too late that it was a flash bomb, unleashing its payload of short energy in a big flash and blinding him for a second, howling from the trick as Alex manned the controls, lowering the crane down and caused it to jerk short of ninety degrees, dropping the opossum on top of the hut there and Alex, shutting the controls down, jumped out and scaled the crane as he made his way over to the roof, landing on the metal as he readied his weapon once more, moving the gun away from the sniper who glanced up with angst as the barrel lined with the temple, but instead of pulling the trigger as expected, Alex instead asked. "I am looking for no trouble, I just ran in here to avoid your law-enforcement for my own reasons, but not for being a robot which I am not."

"Remove your gun before I bust your arms."

"No, I am calling your bluff." Stomping on the barrel, Alex caused it to fly into the air before he grabbed it in midair and brought it up to bear. "You are packing ammo suitable for stopping robots and people, but you would never hurt a single person, your shots were adjusted to hit my shoulder or leg, never in the vital parts of the body." Putting the gun down and pulling a earpiece out of the opossum's ear, Alex just smirk as he recognized the basic design. "This thing is not only a comm piece, but also has a thermal vision display which would explain to you who was robot or biological." Tossing the piece back to the sniper, Alex simply shook his head as he stood back up. "I don't have the time to deal with you, nor do I want to as you are just defending your turf and I respect that." Jumping back onto the crane which was tough, Alex looked back to the opossum with a sad look. "Next time, call out to me instead of shooting me down."

Alex headed back down the ground as he headed out, certain that the opossum was watching from the roof as the fox left the scrap yard to find a new place to hide.

__________

The opossum just stared out into the town, his eyes searching for the blue fox that had dropped by in a attempt to hide from the policing civilians, doing a certainly great job at it as he has been discovered only twice and both times, he vanished out of there without warning. He watched it up as he took note of a approaching horde coming, all Badniks to say the least, and decided if the blue fox helps out, he might give the fox a chance to hide out in the yard, but it was not his decision to make, activating the comm to another with the same. "...It's me..."

"...What's up?"

"We have a incoming horde hitting for Oaken, need some aid help..."

"Alright, on my way." The link died and the opossum returned to his scope, measuring the exact size of the horde and noticed that the blue fox was in the same area. 'Here's hoping that the kid has what it takes...'

__________

Alex was fast on the run as he tore through alleys and streets to stay one step ahead of the police, taking refuge on top a store roof and staying low as they went through the route before he got back up and looked out to the valley. "Well, I guess that this place has some charm to it, but this... isn't my home of darkness and isolation..." He continued to watch the area with minor interest when he stopped with his trail into the town where a cloud of dust was coming closer and closer as if...
His concerns only increased as the cloud yielded to robotic drones, the same ones that he saw in the security cams meaning that Oaken Drop was next on the list. He glanced away and tried to walk away, but realized to himself that if he leaves this village, he is no better than those that he conflicted with in the past. Angry at his own behavior, the pistols came free and he dashed, jumping off the edge of the building as he charged into the fray, unleashing rounds into the bots, adapting as he saw that animals were emerging for the drones and destroying without aiming for the animal cells.

The pistols then started to jam, causing Alex to glare at both of their respectively before engaging another feature that he installed in the ruined village, a pair of combat batons which he reversed to serve as kaiser blades and charged into the drones, his will and focus far better than the robots that tried to stop him, only to end up broken as he clubbed them hard. The next wave faced a similar position as a yellowish echidna dive bombed into them from the air and started to smash them with his gloved fists as they quickly were routed for the other waves to come pouring in, no sign of any air support making the job simple to complete. Alex flipped the weapons back to their pistol form and started to unload on a flanking force as he was pressed closer to the echidna. Soon, they were back to back, glancing at each other before dashing back into the fray, parts and pieces flying about the place as the animals escaped out of sight.

To the amazement of the townsfolk, Alex and his mystery ally had completely stopped the flood of robots and were even laying to waste the many bodies that were coming at them until there were no more and both slumped against the other before the echidna spoke. "So... Got a name, stranger...?"

"Alex... You...?"

"Kent, but I prefer... Striker." Alex chuckled as they just laid against each other's back in the sun that was starting to set. Neither wanted to move as the moon started to come before Striker spoke. "So got any place to stay?"

Alex glanced back and breathed as he started. "No, I had just recently arrived and was planning to moving on as I would like to find out more before I locate myself in a proper position." Glancing back, Alex looked back and spoke again. "Is it possible to live here for some time?"

"As a matter of fact, you can stay with me, after all, I am not truly sure of you and my partner said that you laid him out."

"And your friend is...?"

"The opossum." Alex would have said a counter to try and convince Striker that it was not the best of ideas, but then he took in the situation in a different set, understanding that it was better that he had a place to rest, to develop his tech further so that it would work better and adapt to new situations that he may face later on as right now, he had immunity for a time...

__________

The opossum observed as the pair got up in the nightly light and start heading toward the scrap yard, sighing as he looked out of the scope and laid down with his rifle off to the side as he mused. 'With both of them here, things will be a bit better all around, but now this is a concern that the kid... was firing projectiles that I had never seen before...' There was also the fact that his weapons reversed into combat batons for a few seconds and back, suggesting either that the fox was quite skilled as a gunsmith...
...Or that he had them as part of his body, like a robot...

The opossum shook his head as he returned to his watch, curious as to who or what the fox truly was as the duo headed closer to the yard, hoping that it wasn't all a trap...

__________

"And this is your room for a time until we can settle you in properly."

"No, this is perfect, I needed something like this..." Alex smiled as he entered a massive garage and looked about the place with wonder and joy as Strider leaned on the frame. "Give me an hour and you will be impressed."

Strider chuckled as they bumped fists and he waved to Alex in farewell. "Still, call me for anything, alright?"

"Got it." The blue fox was left as the door slightly closed before he reached in and grabbed the jewel that brought him to the world and stared at it as its light glowed in the garage like a firefly as he just smiled at the gem, now with a home to use. "...Alright, we are never going to learn anything if we don't build up, so let's get started."
He started to search the piles, sleep evading him for now as he began his work of building a base of operations and coordinating with the two residents for advice on how to make it better as a social outpost...