Artificial Byway

[Biker]

This type of terrain was never ideal for riding on, especially with a J-Type extreme gear model that could use plenty of upgrades. The thick ropes of sand cast up from the propulsion system generated the illusion of a cloud following the green hawk as he glided smoothly over the dunes. Fog rolled in, tall natural stone anomalies began to appear in the distance as he approached the outermost ring of Red Mountain’s treacherous landscape.

His feathers bristled, tail feathers lifting as the board tilted accordingly with his momentum. Soon, the air became uncomfortably thick and humid; it was growing difficult to control the sharp turns necessary to navigate the stone towers. Jet had second thoughts about failing to notify his team-mates of his excursion, this was beginning to feel a bit dangerous compared to the open streets of the city.

Deciding that the best option would be getting out of the relentless fog, he quickly urged the extreme gear to elevate, suddenly boosting up into the air with a whir of mechanics. In moments, he was riding smooth again along the tops of the stony mountains and darting around abandoned construction equipment--

Wait, construction equipment?!

He stopped in midair, the board humming and wind blowing in tandem. What could be going on here that needed construction? Wasn’t this area volcanic? That couldn’t be safe for anybody to build in the vicinity, especially not when there was such dense air and heat- it was like a deathwish. Yet, it appeared there was a hole blown into one of the stone mountains created by explosive charges. The hawk landed at the mouth of the cavern, staring inside with narrowed eyes. For a few moments, he simply waited to see if any life would stir within- but grew impatient quickly.

“Hello?” His voice cracked, echoing in the unnatural space. "Anybody there?"

[Sterling]

The bird was greeted with the fine hello of a treacherously large hunk of the mountain whirring just past the visitor's crested head. Of course, the trajectory and the way it did not so much touch the ground until it came to a crashing halt meters away from the entrance it was catapulted out from meant that it certainly was not just a stray boulder that naturally fell from the inside of the cavern. That generously sized stone was no doubt flung from the cavern with immense force.

After a few moments, it was clear that whatever forced the over-sized debris from the gape in the mountain was not going to follow. The only sign that anything else was going on was the hint of stirring within the hollow walls, the sound of stone shifting and crumbling echoing the hollows as if the hole itself was the growling maw of a large beast.

[Biker]

A resonating squawk of shock erupted from the teenaged hawk as he tumbled backwards, fearfully scrambling from the mouth of the cavern after the boulder all but shot forth from within. “What the heck?!” He caught his footing just before tumbling down into the cloudy depths below, realizing that there was no safe way down from here without that darn board he left behind.

“I’m not going back near there.” He told himself, nervously glancing over his shoulder to where his board lay; precariously close to where the incident just occurred and clearly in the perfect location to be rolled into a sheet of metal by another boulder. Jet waited and watched, as birds tended to do in situations like this. His options slowly whittled down to the single most unpleasant one- get his blasted gear back from the caverns opening.

Jet crept forward with both hands on the wall, peeking into the cave’s jagged edge once he was close enough. It was a comical sight, the bird being so nervous of whatever horrific creature dug a gaping hole into the mountain that he didn’t even stop to consider his ego’s tenderness. Surely, the blue hedgehog and company would be laughing at him, were they to see him now.
Inhaling deeply and holding his breath, the bird darted forth and snatched up his extreme gear in a burst of uncharacteristic speed!

… only to slip and fall flat on his beak as he attempted to make a quick turn. Alas, grounded avian reflexes.

[Sterling]

The gravelly grinding from within the cave ceased as if surprised by the cry of the wold-be victim. The silence was quickly broken by the sound of grumbling rock that sounded to be quickly closing in on the entrance where the feathered mobian had made a dire mistake in such a situation. Footsteps faded in louder and echoed less as the owner moved in closer to the cavern's threshold. The supernatural glowing of a pair of eyes that accompanied the steps kept a consistently visible shine even deep within the mines.

A plume of dust and gravel preceded the stranger in a gust, as if being blown from the throat of a dragon. As it settled down, the owner of the glare and footsteps that skulked the shade of the cave came into view, his body revealed as he stepped from the blanket of the earth's shade into the light that bled into the entrance.

The figure that had shown himself was quite anticlimactic in comparison to the build-up. "Who are you?" It was a fellow mobian, though he did not share the species of said 'visitor'. The hedgehog that looked down on the hawk was sterling shade of white, well.. he would be if not for his once bright sheen of quills being stained with dirt and soot.

[Biker]

Once the rocks ceased quaking and settled into place, the bird tore his arms from where they’d snapped defensively over his head to glance around the immediate area. As if he hadn’t been jarred enough for one day, the visage of a pale colored Mobian hedgehog appeared in the place of some horrible imagined cave creature. Jet felt his confidence come back in a rush after seeing the other; he was up on his feet with his gear clutched beneath his arm and an arrogant smirk on his beak.
“Who are you? I’m Jet the Hawk, leader of the Babylon Rouges!”

The other didn’t appear to know, nor care who he was. The avian quickly began talking again to avoid being insulted, “Why did you open a big hole up in this mountain? I know you ground-rats like to do your digging, but it’s a little overboard to scale it up so huge.”

[Sterling]

The hedgehog ticked an eyebrow partly from intrigue from his introduction, but also partly in annoyance to the bird's rude comment. "The name's Silver." He replied in an insistent tone, clearly not flattered by the name of 'ground-rat'. "But I can't take credit for all of this, sadly." The last word was laden with sarcasm, his weight shifting into a more casual stance as he crossed his arms.

"And forget what we're doing here. What is a parrot doing up in the mountains anyways? Perching on cliffs and talking to your own echoes?" He turned the question around, apparently unwilling to answer the one that was already inquired of him.

[Biker]

This hedgehog was beginning to seem eerily familiar, there wasn’t an identity to be placed on him yet though- certainly he couldn’t have any relation to the hedgehogs the Rouges met prior. Jet simmered quietly over being called a parrot, temporarily disregarding the uncanny situation in favor of giving Silver the worst stink-eye he could muster.

“It’s hard not to talk to yourself when huge boulders are falling in your direction!” His feathers fluffed awkwardly around his neck and he pushed the shades on his forehead upwards, leaning slightly forward. “It had to have been you who moved it, too. You’re all dusty and suspicious.” The poor lighting was only making it more difficult to peg an identity on this stranger, but the rider was determined to get his question answered. “Still, what are you doing in here?“

[Sterling]

The hedgehog reflexively glanced over to the rock that seemed to have gotten the verdant feathers on the newcomer in a ruff. "Yeah, I moved it." He turned his head back to the hawk, the reply being awfully casual considering that the said object had to have been at least a ton's worth of mountain.

"Sorry, I didn't think anyone came around here." He moved one arm to rest his fist on his waist while the other lifted up to wipe soot and sweat from his forehead, though this only made it worse as it just smeared it across his fur. Despite the apology sounding to be genuine, it was still gilded with a chuckle as if almost being crushed by a boulder was an affable accident.

However, the hedgehog digressed. "But it sounds like you've already seen what I'm doing here; moving some rocks." He said dryly, knowing full-well that his answer would not be sufficient. Thinking of the familiar name he heard the bird classify himself as earlier however, he thought about reconsidering his initial plan to tell this stranger as little as possible.

"I may be inclined to tell you a little more if you tell me what a Babylon Rogue is and what one is doing out here."

[Biker]

The soot smeared the vibrant white fur of the stranger in a way that caused the avian to cringe. Fur like that must’ve been awfully troubling to maintain when spelunking!

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Jet based solely on this observation. Why was there soot on this rodent when the cave they were in appeared to be situated within a stone mountain? Having flown around the perimeter before spotting the construction equipment, he was almost positive that this particular location wasn’t part of the volcanic field. Indeed, he intended to stay far from the cluster of active volcanoes upon planning this endeavor- the silver hedgehog had to have come from the very central area of Red Mountain or worse, the volcano itself.

“So either you’re part of the invisible construction crew, or you’re lying.”
Having not a single second thought about being asked what the Rouges were, the bird happily started his shpiel. “But since you asked, the Babylon Rouges are my team of Extreme Gear riders- we’re the best there is; unbeatable in the sky!” He gestured to his own extreme gear, tilting the board for Silver to get a fine look at the dents, scuffs and faded paint job.

“Uh,” Jet quickly lifted it back up with a side ward glance. “-given that we haven’t been doing too much racing lately, I came here to train myself. Different terrain freshens up the skills.”

[Sterling]

Being called a liar drove the hedgehog to exasperation. What did this bird expect from him anyways? He didn't say anything to give reason to believe he was lying, at least that he knew of. This emotion was short-lived however by the stranger's successive answer.

"Extreme gear?" He repeated as he finally took notice of the board. Admittedly, he didn't take stock in it before simply because this piece of tech looked unremarkable to him, but looking at it seemed to jar something in his memory that he had been trying to reach since he found his feathered friend here.

With his hand to his chin in thought, something clicked in his head, shown visibly with a tick of his brow. "You mean those Babylon Rogues? The civilization that died out two centuries ago?" The hedgehog forgot to speak in the context of time that he was currently in as he mistakenly thought out loud. After this realization, the white hog regarded the bird more like a dodo than a hawk. Well, it's not a very elegant comparison, but it was an accurate one in regard to someone seeing something referenced only in the past tense. Though admittedly, a person who's practically made 'time-traveler' into a profession really should be numb to such a thing by now.

[Biker]

“My family descended from the original Babylonians. The team is named after the first Extreme Gear riders.” Seeing the expression of shock and bafflement, Jet wasn’t sure if he should appear proud or hurt. His expression remained neutral and he shot another inquiry Silver’s way upon the comment of extinction. “Not too many people know about the existence of the original Rouges, but the race didn’t die out. We’re still here!”

Those silly feathers ruffled again as Jet pondered, surely making the egotistic hawk appear to actually be a dodo bird. He took a couple of steps to the left, looking into the cavern’s dark expanse. “What would make you think they all died, anyway? The internet lies about that kind of history.” As if that sort of information would be on the internet, he shook his head in disdain.

[Sterling]

"Ah-" The stained hedgehog stammered, realizing his mistake in speech. "Well, you see, I'm not from around... here.." He spoke as if he were unsure of his own words. "I guess a better way to put it is that I'm not from around now." He pointed a finger down, gesturing his emphasis, but the vague correction was hardly any less confusing. "And I'm not supposed to be now, I'm supposed to be later." The future dweller explained, although this explanation was unintentionally cryptic.

"I'm from two hundred years in the future." As silly as such a thing sounds going into any ear other than his own, he decided to just go blunt to clarify and avoid any confusing speech, eyes closed casually with assurance that he had put it as as simple as possible. "And I'd say my sources are fairly credible." He said with a strange amount of confidence considering he used the word 'fairly'. He opened an eye to glance over at the bird who was occupied with craning his neck to look just past the speaking hedgehog into the abyss that he, admittedly, was enjoying the break from.

Silver wasn't exactly careful with his spoilers, and in fact didn't take the significance of whatever information about the future he leaked into consideration. Quite the bad habit for someone who often acted as history police, the irony compounded by the fact that he didn't seem to be any more of a history buff than the average person.

[Biker]

Characteristic of the rider, he didn’t seem moved one inch by Silver’s bizarre confession. Instead, Jet studied his expression and movements as if reading the honesty of the situation- someone with a sharp eye could see that the hedgehog was indeed truthful; down to his body language and quirky manner of dress. It was not too far fetched for Jet to believe that time travel was a factor here, judging from the ridiculous range of time travel related abilities the chaos emeralds could grant those who simply caught them.

“What are you talking about? How could you be from the future?” The explanation that Silver provided evidently wasn’t enough, the bird being too dull to figure out he wasn’t lying without more obvious reasoning. “This is just some crazy earthquake stuff,” The gear fell to the stone floor of the cavern as Jet gave it a sharp kick to switch it on. “-what, you’re going to fly up in the air and zip back to the past, too? I can’t believe that!”

He leapt onto the machine and gained balance through a quick wobble, giving the time-traveling creature a curt nod of dismissal. “Have a great time playing around in these mountains, I’ll go ahead and find the exit.” The J-Type hummed forward with a whirr, sending him off into the depths of the strange cave.

Surely there had to be a way out, as the construction should have created an actual byway through the mountain onto the other side. Now was the chance to see if there would indeed be an exit, or if the both of them would be in serious trouble… or so the avian thought.

[sterlingmod]

Silver was off-put by the avian's questions of disbelief, so much so that he didn't even have time to explain himself any further even if he wanted to before the visitor whirred off in a flash of green feathers into the cave he had looked so tepid about just a few moments ago.

"Hey- Wait!" He responded to the hawk's hasty dismissal with an outstretched hand, although it would do no good. "Geeze." The hedgehog remarked to himself with an exasperated click of his tongue before taking pursuit of the rider.

There was indeed a pass through the mountain, but the way the tunnel was constructed didn't make it inherently obvious. The way that the cavern flowed sent anyone who didn't know this fact down deeper into the earth instead of through it. As the hedgehog followed, it quickly became obvious that his footwork was not going to cut it, unlike a couple of other notable hedgehogs of this era. After that realization the psychic shifted his feet off of the ground into a hover, the force that kept his body aloft softly illuminating the walls of the dim cave as he passed.

Although this was just your average mountain on your average outskirts of a lava field, the deeper you went into the decline the hotter it became; not something that happened normally when you went underground. After going far enough, an orange glow threatened the prospect of there being magma awaiting, but it became clear that the threat was mostly empty when a string of lights that decorated the wall came into view. The cavern became more reminiscent of a mine than a road, the walls marbled with a dusty black that veined through the stone.

[Biker]

The construction was marvelous, going deep beneath this mountain and forming into a literal tunnel. It seemed to be suited to some kind of robotic mining mechanism versus manual mining, for within the walls there appeared to be an expansive metallic conveyor. The cobalt hawk tried to see if the conveyor was moving, but the board was speeding too quickly downwards for a good look to be had.
In fact, Jet felt he was moving too fast for the ride to be safe. The passage had some fairly steep drops, one being near to vertical in decent. He was puzzled as to how this was supposed to lead up and out of here, but something within his erratic mind disallowed him from backtracking to that platinum furred stranger. Something about Silver was just off-putting, and what it was exactly; the bird couldn’t quite say.

Strange cyclical patterns began to appear on the tunnel walls as the entire path shifted upwards again, mechanical structures now bulging from both sides of the narrow way. The gear slowed to allow the bird better navigation through these obstacles, but the lighting seemed to be growing dimmer by the moment. “C’mon,” He huffed to himself, noting that somehow, lights behind him were becoming brighter.
With a grumble of curiosity, Jet gave a glance over his shoulder to see what exactly was generating the vibrant light source. It was small, a robot perhaps? Nearly floating within a sort of ‘bubble’ of its own illumination.

He watched in awe as the mysterious light followed along the same path, only to realize with a shock that it wasn’t a robot at all- but Silver, floating!
“No way.”