revivalproject | And Frightened Miss Muffet Away

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And Frightened Miss Muffet Away

WHO: Donnie and Various
WHERE: The wiiiiilderness beyond Temba
WHAT: Trouble, what else?
WHEN: Um. Now. -ish. Time is fluid.
WARNINGS: Possible violence and all the things that come with it. Oh right, and 8-legged freaks in the other thread.

I. Wild Robot Chase (For Stu and maybe a Billy if he is so inclined)
Scuttle is a robot. Scuttle's name is actually supposed to be Slashtag but Scuttle doesn't particularly like it. But the Purple one insisted that it was much cooler. Indeed, Scuttle can slash things, theoretically- well no, he can slash things rather well because his appendages are nice and sharp in the front, but he hasn't been running around slashing things as often as he simply...scuttles.

Scuttle is a cute name. Scuttle has conveyed this to the Purple one. The Purple one only made a face of [displeasure] but hadn't said anything more on the matter, so Scuttle had taken it as an acquiescence.

The Purple one was not the one who built Scuttle, but he'd Fixed him. Now instead of being stuck watching things in a tree all day, or sitting on a rock to do pretty much the same, Scuttle was free! Now he can wander the woods and look for things and... Hm. Well, anyway, he can wander! And...okay, play a signal booster for the Purple one's other not!scuttlebots (who are not nearly as cute as he!)

Cute may not necessarily be what one would choose as a descriptor for the robot. While Donnie had initially intended to replate the skeletal structure with something better suited to camouflaging with the local fauna, he rather liked how edgy the former Robotnik-bot looked shape-wise when stripped of the original exterior, and so simply reinforced the frame and gave it a snappy paint job- metallic purple, of course. What resulted was a spidery-looking crab-like bot, 3 feet high and 4ish in length if Scuttle splayed his legs out (but if he does that then he can't move very well.) Each of the six legs ended in sharp points, with an additional two that were slightly bulkier than the rest, shaped more like scythes that opened up in strangely angled pinchers.

Scuttle thinks that this exposition was highly necessary.

Of course, who would know that such an unseeming (?) robot is under the employ of (one of) the resident engineer(s)? And certainly its lurking by the fringes of the woods is not suspicious at all! Indeed, he's waiting, having received some positive feedback from one of the scout-bots. The Purple one is just taking his sweet time in coming to meet him! Surely this "pizza" can wait!!

II. Finder's Keepers (For Leo)
Some of the robots were unaccounted for. Even if they aren't Donnie's original creation, he's not about to let any resources go to waste around here. He'd said as much to Robotnik when the doctor had still been around, so surely the man can't fault him for repurposing any of the things he's left. But that's besides the point.

"I lost the signal on two of them somewhere out here," he explains to his brother as they make their way through the woods. At least there's plenty of shade, the ever thickening foliage providing at least some shelter from the heat that's been slow-roasting Temba, and the ground isn't going to threaten to burn their feet with every step.

"They probably wandered into a spot with bad access to sunlight for their backup charger."

An annoyance, but at least if they'd run out of power, then it shouldn't be difficult at all to find them at the last spot that Slashtag had picked up a signal from. All they'd have to do is drag the bots back to a spot with some reasonable solar exposure and let them charge. It'd certainly beat trying to bring them all the way back to the city, anyway.

Donnie pauses to set another tag on a tree, a digital and physical breadcrumb trail so they can find their way back if they get turned around somehow.

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Donnie starts nerding out about the robot and silkspiders? And Leo tries to listen, really, but...

Something moved in the forest. Leo is sure it did, and it catches his attention, his eyes flitting to the trees beyond them. Whatever it was, it went too fast for him to actually see what it was. Just an animal? Maybe an alien deer, or something like that?

"...Uh-huh," he says to whatever Donnie just said. He's pretty thoroughly distracted now.

"Well I'm not getting anything from this one so it's highly likely that the other one's just as dead," Donnie grumbles, not that it stops him from pulling up a map with the last recorded locator signals.

"Hm. That's...odd. The last location should have been back up there, at least for this one." He frowns again as he looks back at the spider-webbed bot, brow knitting in growing concern. How it could have possibly gotten down there is getting pretty obvious for the stuff attached to it.

There's no further movement so far as Leo can see, but he might not be able to shake that feeling that he's being...watched?

"-oh wait!" Donnie looks back at his screen then. "I'm picking something up. It's faint- but I think the other robot should be down that way." He points towards the deeper wood.

Leo is still looking at the woods closely, so Donnie’s shout startles him. He manages not to shout, just moves his arms and shoulders in surprise.

Looking where Donnie is pointing, he sees the deeper woods. He has… a very bad feeling about this. But no way is he scared! Just… cautious!

“You’re not at all concerned about what could have made this web, huh?” he asks, still not moving away from the bot.

Donnie hesitates. As much as he hates to admit it, Leo does bring up a good point.

"So long as we don't walk into any giant webs we should be fine, right?" He wishes he didn't sound like he was trying to convince himself there. Mouth twisting in a growingly uncertain pout, he looks towards the woods again.

"Wow, it is really dark over there. The signal is...roughly twenty feet from us. Just a quick in-and-out. We can manage that, right?"

Sure, just don’t walk into a web. No problem.

Leo isn’t one to back down from a challenge, though, and Donnie’s words count. So he psyches himself up, reaching for the hilt of his sword just in case.

“Sure thing. Zip in and out. Wam bam.”

So saying, he walks toward the tree line.

No turning back now! Donnie starts after him, consulting his scans just to make sure it really is only that far.

At least it doesn't feel like they're frying out here. It's actually kind of nice. The ground is nice and soft for the thick grass and the fallen leaves, and that it's not warm is a bonus. It's like walking into a cavern made up of greenery for how dark it actually gets, the trees above seeming to have grown in so close that the branches have interwoven with each other, blotting out much of the light.

But there's also something eerie. There isn't much other sound than the soft crunch beneath their feet. No birds, no insect sound. Weird.

Is it? Leo is so used to the city the woods were always going to feel quiet by comparison. But he still gets the eerie feeling even if he can’t put his finger on why…

Come on, Leon! It’s just a bunch of trees!

The coolness from the canopy overhead is nice. If the vibes of these woods weren’t so bad, they could have a picnic.

“This forest is getting so dark I can’t see the trees! Thought it was supposed to be the other way around.”

"Yeah, it's pretty dense out here. I know some of the woods up where Todd lives gets pretty dark but not like this..."

But even when they thought they were being stalked by the Spine-breaking Bandit it had never quite felt like this. Donnie isn't sure what's making the experience so different, but he's not exactly a nature expert.

"It should be just ahe- EYEW!" He jumps back, brushing frantically at his face and the strand he'd walked right into. Just one line at least, not a full-on web. Surely not worrying!

“Snrk! Thanks for taking one for the team, bro.”

Unsympathetic, Leo walks over and claps Donnie on the shoulder. Not only did he get to avoid walking into the web, but he got to see a hilarious reaction from Donnie to boot!

“But it sure is starting to look like spiders are the monster of the week here.” He rubs his chin. “Hey, you think it’s like those spiders in Australia? One bite and you’re toast! Crikey!”

He says the last part with such a terrible Australian accent I won’t try to convey it through text.

The web floats around, still stubbornly sticking to Donnie's fingers as he continues to wave his hand about.

"Hah. Well, I'd hope not, because if the silkspiders in the warehouse are anything to go by, then I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be too difficult for one bite to do it. Have you seen how huge they are?"

He finally gives up trying to shake the web off and wipes it on Leo instead. "Anyway, as I was saying, it's just right over there..."

They both hear it. A sudden rustling in the leaves above them. Or is it in the bushes right next to them?

No, he hasn’t seen how huge they are.

He makes a face about the web suddenly applied to his person, but before he can do anything about it, there’s rustling. And oh, he doesn’t like that.

“…Bigger than whatever’s making that noise?” he asks, raising his sword.

"Iiii...am not sure," Donnie says as he looks around with growing concern, likewise pulling out his weapon. The tech-bō springs to full-length with a tap of his thumb.

The rustling doesn't cease, the nearest bushes finally parting as a large arachnid-ish creature emerges. It's big, roughly the size of a wolf, and it isn't alone as several more appear from the other side and drop down from above.

"Oh- oh, that's much worse," Donnie says unhelpfully, and it's not two seconds before the things advance, forelegs rising as they let out a hiss, lunging at the pair of turtles.

Oh, great. He knew he had a creepy crawly feeling.

Leo just barely has time to knock the closest arachnid aside before more are coming out, and he scrambles back to put space between him and them.

“This is definitely bigger than those Australian spiders!”

Donnie's too busy yelping as he spins his staff to knock away another one. "These are sooo much bigger than the ones in the warehouse," he not quite whines, keeping his weapon moving as he tries to keep the things in sight. It's tricky to do considering how dark it is, the spiders easily blending into the shadowy backdrop with their bodies.

They don't wait long to strike again either, and although they aren't nearly as aggressive as they'd been when many of them plagued Temba for several nights, they're still aggressive enough, and not at all afraid that their potential prey is fighting back. Two lunge for Leo, fangs bared, one attacking from the front and the other trying to get in from the side.

Donnie gets knocked down by another, grimacing as he tries to hold the large fangs at bay.

“Dee!” Leo calls as Donnie gets knocked down, but he can’t come to his rescue right away when two more are after him.

He fights off one with his sword, but that doesn’t stop another one from coming for his arm. He’s just barely able to escape without getting bit, jerking his arm into his shell just in time.

“Get off!” he yells, opening a portal that the creature drops through. Then he turns for his brother, scrambling his way. “Donnie!”

Arms shaking under the continued pressure of the spider on the other side of his staff, Donnie struggles with trying to twist it to activate its rocket mode. But he doesn't have too many options unless he wants a face full of fangs, which admittedly is not ideal. He hears Leo and can only hope his brother's doing better than he is.

It's not a fun angle when his arm's still giving him trouble since the shock, so when he feels it start to give, he tries to twist out of the way of the incoming fangs as they press closer. "Rrrgh...!" He feels something sharp graze his arm before the spider pulls back a bit to try for a better angle.

“Get off!”

The blade of Leo’s sword cuts into the spider, knocking it, shrieking, off of Donnie and getting ooey gooey bug guts everywhere.

“Euuugh, it’s on me-“ says Leo, but his complaints are quickly cut off by a yelp of pain. One of the spiders has his shin and yanks him back, away from Donnie.

At least Donnie's got his eyes squeezed shut by the time he finds himself being spattered by spider guts. He doesn't have time to complain when he suddenly hears his brother in pain.

"Leo-??" he gasps, hastily wiping at his face as he rolls onto his side so he can push himself to his feet. He winces at the unpleasant sensation throbbing in his arm- it was more or less a scratch but why was it feeling like it was on fire? Donnie quickly decides he hates these things even more- but working out that scale will have to wait.

With a twist of the length of his staff, the upper half unfolds and reforms into a mallet as he brings it around to swing at the other spider. Or at least that had been the plan, but he finds his momentum abruptly jerked back with such force that he finds himself on his back again. "Wha-"

His weapon is wrenched from his hands, entangled in spider-webbing, and as he scrambles desperately after it he finds another spider getting between him, rearing menacingly. Just behind it he can see Leo as he's about to have more company of his own.

Leo tries to fight back, but the bite on his leg is a bit more than a scratch, and the burning sensation that follows has him actively checking if he’s actually on fire. He’s been hurt before, but why does this burn so badly-

He’s distracted when more of the spiders descend.

He tries to get away, but there’s too many of them. His weapon is knocked from his hands, and he’s left to defend himself with his limbs. At least his shell is protecting his most vital parts… except his head.

Leo loses sight of Donnie in the fray, out of witty quips as he just tries to keep from being bit again. His leg hurts so badly he can’t even kick with it.

Panic won't help him here, but these things are keeping him from getting to Leo and that makes him mad. Donnie swings his foot up and then out, managing to nail the spider in the face just before it can strike. It reels back with a shriek, and Donnie hurriedly tries to get to his feet and grab his weapon.

He sees it, strung up by webs and effectively barred off by another pair of descending spiders. Just how many of them are there?? In his frantic look around he catches a glimpse of his brother who's swarmed with his own problems, seeing Leo's sword much too far away from the turtle to do any good. For a good solid second Donnie blanks on what to do. And then he feels something smack heavily against his battle shell and start to tug him back into the present.

"Leo-!" he shouts, but there's no help there. But Leo is there, which is so much of a difference than being alone, running from some horror trying to eat you or drain you dry. Back then he'd felt like he was reaching out into a void, but there was nothing there, no one to connect with. That isolation just made things so much worse.

It's a subconscious thing, but he knows there's something, something that's always been out of reach in those moments when he just needed his family. It's the thud of a heartbeat, scraping past the emptiness of desperation, clawing past blindfolds and walls that he'd just gotten used to, reaching out for the truth of the matter.

He's not alone.

And he's not letting anything keep him away from his brother.

Another heartbeat. Maybe Leo feels it, that point of connection. Donnie's markings blaze in brilliant magenta.

Since coming here, Leo had been able to feel it - a dull, buzzing feeling where a connection used to be, a missing piece of a whole. It was there on the very edges of his consciousness, and he’d put it aside, because Donnie didn’t remember it, the evening Raph let himself fall and they all dove after him.

Now, struggling under the weight of the spiders and desperately trying to wriggle free, he feels it snap back into place.

Welcome brother, it seems to say.

Leo can’t see Donnie, but he sees the purple light fighting against the dark of the canopy. For just a second, he pauses in his fight to admire.

“Whoa…”

But there’s no time for that, because the arachnids are still attacking. Hopefully Donnie figures this out fast…

It's strange when you feel something that you hadn't known you'd been missing suddenly slot into place. It toes at a dangerous line marked 'Emotions' but these are at least the warmer, fuzzier kind than the cold, uncertain feelings he'd become so accustomed to.

It's like a hand's been outstretched, waiting, this whole time, and he's finally been able to find and grasp it.

Donnie doesn't waste another second. He's already had practice, he already knows what he can do thanks to those strange caves, but that had always left him feeling empty and exhausted, a battery charged but for only a certain amount of time. This is different and he can feel it. Lines trace around him, complex parts of machinery layered over until they form complete weapons of pure energy. A barrage of glowing rockets fire at the spiders around Leo, sending them flying. A drill manifests beneath the one in front of Donnie, splattering it into oblivion.

The light's sent the remaining spiders in a panic, skittering uncertainly while others mindlessly throw themselves at what was supposed to be an easy meal.

Well, look at that. Donnie always has been a fast learner.

The arachnids on Leo scatter or splatter, enough to free himself and get to his feet, grabbing his sword as he goes. He’s limping hard, his leg still lit on fire and weighing him down, but he’s able to snap two of the arachnids through a portal before they get any closer.

He makes it back to Donnie’s side, his own markings lighting up bright in response.

“Oh yeah, we are so back!”

Donnie's grin is pure manic adrenaline, and although he has concerns about Leo's injury, his brother otherwise is up and moving and they've got the upper-hand of the situation. He yanks his tech-bō free, taking up a defensive stance by the other turtle.

As much as Donnie hates to leave the robot behind, that just sounds like it'll invite more trouble if they have to go any deeper into this spider nest. Leo's hurt and his own arm isn't feeling that great either, not great odds when he knows he's riding some weird...ninpō high or something.

"Yeah, but I think it's time to bug out!"

He must be delirious, he's making puns.

A pun!? Oh, this is truly an amazing day for Leo. Well, minus the leg injury.

“You said it, bro. One way out of this sticky situation, coming right up!”

So saying, Leo opens another portal just behind them, this one taking them to the edge of the forest.

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