Helooooo everyone! I'm back from the dead to say that I really liked this fanfiction thing so, I'll keep doing it! For you that don't know me, I already made one fanfic as a kind of test. Since people seemed to like it, and I also got fond to the art of writing (not that I'm a master or something), I'm starting a new sequence of stories, starring two characters that I fell that don't receive much attention. Personally I think Cream and Marine could have a lot of sinergy so, here I go again. As usual, except for the fanfics, I don't own anything related to Sonic the Hedgehog. These rights belong to SEGA. Now, lets get on with the story. Hope you enjoy.
Act 0 Start
On the outskirts of Station Square, between the flowery meadows, a sweet scent emanated from a house, and a white smoke left the chimney. On the kitchen of the light brown house, a little rabbit stood on top of a crate so she could reach the balcony where a lot of ingredients where being mixed. Cream woke up early in order to prepare everything in time. She had put the cake on the oven and was done preparing the chocolate cover. A head with long ears bending down popped from the backdoor that lead to the garden.
"Cream, dear, do you need help with the frosting?"
"It's okay mother. I made it right after I put the cake on the oven. Right now I'm finishing the cookie dough. Umm, have you seen the chocolate chips?"
"They are on the higher shelf. Here, I got it"
Cream had grown up a lot, but she was still a little short. Vanilla reached for the box full of chocolate chips and handed it to her daughter. Seeing her making all this effort made her heart fill with happiness.
"They will surely be surprised, dear". She said with a gentle smile.
"I hope so. Ms. Blaze doesn't come often so I decided to make a little party this time. I'm really happy!"
"I can see you are, but don't forget about the oven" Vanilla said pointing to it. Cream quickly looked at the watch and ran to the oven. Putting the kitchen gloves, she opened the door and looked at the cake.
"Whew, it is safe! Thanks mom!"
"You're welcome"
Vanilla walked back to her gardening as she watched her daughter running back and forth on the kitchen. Not that she didn't had fun with her friends here, but Cream had a special friendship with Blaze, just like with Amy. You could say she admired the cat just like she admired Sonic.
Once done with all the baking, Cream cleaned the kitchen and went to the bathroom. She was already a sweet girl so the sugar on her fur was unnecessary. A quick shower, teeth brushed, her orange dress and she was ready to go. Vanilla packed everything on a basket and handed it to her daughter.
"Take care, Cream. And have fun"
"I will. Bye mom!"
The little rabbit left the house and walked peacefully by the meadows. The wind blew softly by, letting her notice the scent of the grass and flowers. The sun was bright and there were no clouds in the sky. 'What a beautiful day'. As she walked, she heard a sound in the distance, similar to an explosion. She grabbed her dress knowing there would be a strong gust of wind soon.
Just like that, a blue blur passed near her, and with it, a rush of wind, letting up leaves of grass and some dirt. In four seconds the blur made a turn and stopped right by her side. She looked up and saw one of her friends, Sonic the hedgehog.
"Hello Cream. Good to see ya!". He waved at her with his trademark grin.
"It's nice to see you too Mr. Sonic! Doing a morning run?"
"Yep, that's right. Going somewhere?"
"Oh, I'm going to Station Square. I'll meet Amy and we will get ready for Blaze's arrival"
"Oh, Blaze is coming to our dimension?"
"YES! She said she was here for vacation because everyone is always after her with royal things on her world. And I thought that this would be an awesome opportunity to spend some time with her and have fun!". Happiness emanated from Cream.
"You are really looking forward on this, right? So, what about having a lift?"
"Just make sure not to let my basket fly away" Cream said as she leapt on Sonic's arms.
"Don't sweat it, kid" He held her firmly and dashed away to Station Square.
In no time they were at Amy's door. The pink hedgehog was just leaving the entrance of the apartments and watched the blue blur skidding to a halt in the sidewalk, holding her friend and a basket. She could not stop a small thought of envy crossing her mind, but simply shrugged the feeling and waved at her friends.
"Hey Cream! And Sonic! What brings you here?"
"Well, Cream here just told me about Blaze and I thought I could also pass by to say hello"
"It's been a while since we last talked to each other. I thought the interdimensional communicator would let us keep more in touch, but she's a pretty busy girl"
"Blaze is almost always working, so she wanted to go to a place where she was not a princess. That's what she said"
"When did you talk to her?"
"Yesterday"
Sonic and Amy looked at her waiting for an explanation.
"Oh, right. Tails made me a smaller version of the communicator"
She showed the machine that looked exactly like a smartphone, with a yellow cover and two tails painted on the back. "It also makes local calls if you two are in doubt"
They laughed a little and then proceeded to walk to the west side of the city. There was the machine that allowed the travel. Tails was finishing the calibration after a week building everything.
They arrived just in time. Tails just turned the thing on and the portal started to open. The structure was formed by two tall metallic arcs connected by thick cables to a generator. The generator started whirling and a small purple dot appeared in the center of the arcs. It started to grow and soon the dot became a huge oval hole. A bright light shone and when it dimmed, Blaze was standing.
"Hey guys! It's been a while"
Cream was the first to greet her. She ran and jumped on her, almost knocking her back to the portal.
"Blaze! I missed you so much! Welcome back!"
"It's nice to see you Cream, I missed you too" The cat felt the strength on the hug and returned equally. She really missed her company.
"Welcome, Blaze"
"Good to see ya again"
"I hope the trip was okay"
"Hello Amy, Sonic, and yes Tails, the trip was completely okay"
"OOOOI! Get out of the way!"
Another light shone and from the portal came a flying raccoon, which made a flip in the air and landed on the floor like a gymnast. "Oh yeah! Ten out of ten! Someone put the replay, I wanna see it again!"
"Marine… What did we agreed before the trip?"
The raccoon flinched a bit upon hearing her name. This was a tone of voice that meant problems for her, and she knew it pretty well. "It's ok, mate, just wanted to make a nice entrance… hehe"
"At least say hello properly" Blaze pointed to her friends who were welcoming them.
The orange raccoon ran to them and let out a big smile. "Wha'sup mates?"
"Good to see you again Marine"
"Oh, so this is the 'Marine' you and Tails told me about"
"Nice to meet you, Marine" Cream flashed a bright smile to Marine.
"Oi… those big ears… ain't ya that cream girl Blaze talks so much with? So, what is your name?"
"Umm, this IS my name, you know…"
"Really? I thought it was a nickname for sheilas that bake cakes and those things"
"Says the girl that wants to be a captain" Sonic had a sly grin on his face as Marine was caught off guard.
"For your knowledge, I'm ALREADY a captain, with ship and everything! Have you forgotten?"
"All I remember is a short raccoon that could barely reach the helm"
"Oh, come on Sonic!"
"Wow…"
The two looked to Cream, who seemed to be in a state of completely daze. She then jumped out of dream world and held Marine by the hands.
"You are a captain? And you have your own SHIP?! That's incredible!"
Marine got a little surprised with the overreaction, but it soon transformed into a huge mountain of pride.
"Ha! Now, SOMEONE recognize my qualities and nature awesomeness"
"Cut that out Marine. We are not here to show off. Which reminds me, Tails, how is the portal on the docks? Marine soon will start to talk about the ship"
"All done and packed. Just give the portal some minutes and the Ocean Tornado will be on the sea ready to go out"
"Thank you very much Tails"
"Don't mention it"
Sonic clapped his hands, drawing the attention.
"So, I was informed there would be a party here. What are we waiting for? I can't wait to see what Cream baked today"
"Sonic! It WAS supposed to be a surprise!"
"Ops… Sorry Ames…"
"It's okay. Let's go, it's been too long since I ate a piece of Cream's cake"
They set the table and soon started to eat and chat. In no time Marine and Cream where playing at the garden, the raccoon leading the way while they 'explored the wild forest' in search of a big treasure. The more time they spent together, more questions Cream would ask about Marine's life a captain. For the little rabbit, this was the highest point a kid could reach. Just imagine, sailing through the seas on your own ship and by yourself. Marine, off course, could not get her ego higher.
Everyone was having a good time when suddenly an alarm started to ring. Tails looked at his computer and his face turned into one of shock.
"Sonic! Problems! We need to get to my lab right now!"
"What happened?"
"The security system locked everything. Eggman is attacking!"
"Eggman?! Alright, let's go"
"Lead the way"
Blaze was already following them, but Sonic stopped her.
"You don't need to come. We can do it fine"
"It's been a while since I got into a real fight. I could use some practice"
"Okay then. Cream, Marine, keep an eye on the portal. If you see anything suspicious, call us by the tPhone"
"What?! We will stay back?!"
"Not now Marine, this is serious"
"But-"
"Stay here with Cream and keep out of trouble, understood?"
"…fine"
As the group left the park, Cream and Marine watched them go. Most of the time, they would be left behind because of their ages. Yes, they already helped a lot on fights, but if things got just a little worse, they had to step back and leave to the rest of the crew.
"It's not fair! Tails is barely older than us and he is going fight big fat baldy mad doctor"
"Well, he actually has much more experience in battle than us. Not to mention all the 'young genius' thing"
"Well, I'm not going to just sit around"
"Where are you going?" Cream had a worried face as Marine looked around for something that would show the way to the action.
"What other place could I go? To Tails' Lab!"
"Do you know how get there?"
"Don't have a single idea. And that's why you are coming too"
"Wait, this don't seems like a good-"
Marine was already pushing Cream. If Blaze was going to kick some butt then she would not be kept out of the 'fun'.
On Tails' lab, the young fox was already thinking about the costs to rebuild everything. Eggman's newest invention was a floating saucer with a big drill attached to its bottom by a thick cable. The said drill was breaking the underground floors and breaking his house in the process.
"I swear, you are going to literally pay for this!"
"HAHA! Shut it, fur ball! You and your pesky friends will have much more problems to deal with when Eggman Land finally comes to be!"
"Again with the theme park, egg face? Do you ever reconsider this thing?" Sonic was already dashing by the streets with Blaze right after him.
"It's a matter of principles, Sonic. A man has to keep his objectives in mind"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's end this show, shall we Blaze?"
"You bet, hedgehog"
"Don't think you already won just because you've got some help! Launch barrage of missiles!"
Missiles started to rain from the sky and Sonic dodged them while Blaze detonated some with fireballs. They leapt on the nearby buildings to reach the flying saucer while Tails and Amy reached the drilling point. Tails opened the door of his house but it fell from the doorframe. His room no more existed and the living room was lacking it's roof.
Amy put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll help you to rebuild"
"~sigh~… I know…"
They moved to the hole in the floor and Tails got even more pissed. "He already reached the first floor. I don't know what he wants but it's down there"
"Then let's make sure he doesn't get his dirty hands on it" Amy summoned her hammer and jumped on the hole, hitting the motor that made the drill spin.
On the outside, Sonic was already getting on Eggman's nerves. "So, how do you call this machine? Destroying Disc of Destruction?"
"Actually, I named it Egg Carnival. Now stay still so I can explode you!"
Sonic dodged the missiles and bullets as he moved around. Since the saucer was floating above Tails' house, he had to jump from nearby buildings to spin-dash on the thing. Blaze was also running around and throwing fireballs on machine, but it had a considerably strong shield.
"Blaze! Got an idea! Run over here!"
"This cannot be a good idea"
"Just do it. Thrust me!"
Sonic got on a roof near the saucer and Blaze was almost reaching it.
"Get up in there and toast the egg head!" He planted his hands on the ground and readied himself. Blaze got the idea and dashed to his direction. When she jumped forward, Sonic made a handstand and Blaze stepped on his feet. Sonic then acted as a spring and launched Blaze up, high enough to land on top of the saucer.
"Oh, I see. The shield is only working on the bottom" Blaze said with a small smile.
"Do you even imagine how expensive this thing is?"
Blaze rolled her eyes and ignited her hands. Eggman gulped and soon there was a giant inferno surrounding the glass dome he was. The glass was reinforced, but it would not last longer. Fortunately for him, the drill reached the second floor.
"AHA! Too late, kitty. I already won this!"
The drill stopped and opened in three parts, forming a claw. "Now, easy there… a little to the right… some to the left… and… gotcha!"
The claw dived into the hole and then got up bringing something with it. It was the Aleatory Probabilistic Generator (A/N: this name thought…). The Machine consisted of a large metal box with lots of displays showing numbers and three curved poles converging on the top. The generator could be seen through a green window.
"Ohohoho! Just look at this beautiful prize. An all-new energy source for my evil plans!"
"Sonic! He cannot have the Aleatory Probabilistic Generator! This power source is virtually infinite!"
"I don't get it but I've got this. Leave the crazy bingo machine egghead!"
"On your dreams hedgehog! OHOHOHHOHO!"
"Hand over the giant whatever-it-is, eggbrains!"
Marine was screaming from above as Cream carried her.
"MARINE! I told you to stay away!"
"Don't worry mate, me and creamy here will end this before you can say-"
"ONCOMING MISSLE!"
Cream barely dodged the attack and ended bumping into the top of the saucer. Since it was pretty damaged due to Blaze's flames, it shattered upon impact and Marine knocked Eggman from his seat. The raccoon looked at the controls and her brain jammed. How could the baldy scientist control this thing? Maybe he was crazy after all.
"I don't have time to discover where it is but one of them must be the power button"
Pressing all the buttons and levers at the same time, outside, Marine was causing much more damage than Eggman.
Missiles and bullets covered the area without a target, the shield turned on and off repeatedly, and there were even fireworks and lights coming from the Egg Carnival.
"DON'T USE THE 'VICTORY CELEBRATION SEQUENCE' YET!"
"Ya won't need it so soon, weird man" Marine poked her tongue out as she kept pressing everything on the controls.
"Marine! What in the world are you doing?!" Cream finally managed to land on the cockpit after evade the chaos outside and got thought the hole in the glass. A metal pane closed it.
"I'm stopping this oversized crane game"
"Then stop stopping! You are going to get us hurt!"
"No, my darling, I am going to HURT you two!" Eggman grabbed Cream by her ears and Marine by her tail, holding both in the air. "Orbot! Cubot! Set course to the base! We've taken too much damage already"
"Are you sure, sir? Sonic may be in disadvantage with you having two hostages"
"It pains me to admit but that cursed hedgehog has an undeniable and infuriating ability to reverse the most dreadful situations. We are leaving now!"
He kept holding the girls until the saucer started to move away from Tails' lab. Sonic and Blaze rushed for Tails and Amy, who got stuck in the role the machine made. "Hurry up, Tails, he took the girls with him!"
"I'm going, I'm going"
"Do you know where the base is, Sonic?"
Sonic looked straight into the sky, seeing the saucer getting higher and higher. He could easily catch up if the machine was close to the ground, but this was not the case. "It could be anywhere in the planet, Blaze. Eggman knows how to keep his schemes under covers for the necessary time"
They all shared worried looks as they cared for the well-being of Cream and Marine. In order to free the girls, they needed to find them first and then cut to the chase, but how? Suddenly, Tails remembered something.
"Guys, I know how to find them!"
Everyone looked at the young fox, which ran back inside what was left of his house. They followed him inside to see what he was talking about. Tails opened a metal chest and started throwing parts and pieces of machinery to the sides until he found what he was looking for. "Yes, found it"
Everyone looked at the device Tails had on his hands. It was his classic hand computer, yellow and with the black and green interface.
"Isn't it your old handheld, Tails?" Sonic was used to see his bro with the thing, normally completely absorbed on whatever task he was doing.
"Yes, it is. I need to adjust somethings but we can find them with this"
Blaze looked at the thing and cooked an eyebrow. "How are you going to find them? Some tracking device?"
Tails walked to one of his working tables and started to tinker with the computer. "Basically, yes. Eggman has equipment that impend me of finding him by common ways, but this time I can target on something else: Cream is with her tPhone"
The crew started to connect things. They could not track Eggman directly, but it seemed that they could find Cream by tracking the phone she had with her.
"The tPhone is like an upgraded version of this handheld, and both have a very unique emission signature, so…"
"So, we can follow the device's signal!" Amy clasped her hands as the plan was pretty clear right now. They looked at each other and then at Tails, who finished the job.
"Finding the phone, we find Cream and Marine"
"And we kick some eggbutt. Let's hurry up, then. I'd hate to make the kids wait for too long". With that they left the place and went to the hangar where the Tornado was kept. Tails and Amy were on the cockpit while Sonic and Blaze (with some difficult) stood on the wings. In no time they were up in the sky.
Back to the Egg Carnival, Cream and Marine were tied in ropes and watched the mad doctor shouting with his robotic assistants was they had to do many repairs to the machine. Due to the damage taken, they had to be near the ground now.
"Approaching the coast in 15 minutes, sir"
"Hurry up with the energy leakage, or else we will end in the bottom of the sea!"
Upon hearing that, Marine started to thrash around. Cream was worried with the entire situation she was in, but she had been on this place before. For some reason, she was kind of at ease because she was sure her friends would come to her aid. Marine though seemed to get more anxious by the minute.
"Keep calm Marine. They are coming to save us, I'm sure of it"
"I know Cream, but I'm not gonna just stand still and wait for the rescue" She kept shifting in her place, trying to loosen the knots. "Do you really want to wait for them?"
This seemed a very strange question to Cream. It was obvious that sonic and the crew were coming after them. It was like common sense. Cream looked at the raccoon with a confused look. What was she talking about?
"I don't understand well. They ARE going to get here and-"
"Yeah, yeah, they get here, save us and then kick the baldy fat man. I know the drill" Marine's eyes darted around, looking for something sharp enough to cut the ropes.
"What is your point, then?"
The raccoon noticed a small dent in a near wall. The steel plate on it had a sharp edge poking out, so she started to drag herself towards it. "I'm tired of this. I don't wanna be the sheila-in-danger anymore. What about you?"
Indeed, even though she already had her amount of adventures, most of the time Cream had to be rescued or was put on the side lines, where it would be 'safe'. Not that she was ungrateful, but looking backwards this was almost all that she did. Once again came this feeling that no one truly thrusted in her. And they had their reasons; after all she was a kid. Still, the feeling would keep coming and she would keep pushing it away because she cared for her friends and knew they cared for her.
Seeing Marine wiggle around like a worm trying not to draw attention made Cream think a little more about it. For the first time she really in doubt: did she wanted to be saved once again? Marine was doing what she could and she was barely older than her, so, why was Cream so conformed to the problem right in front of her?
Her mother always taught that Cream could rely on her friends, but she also taught that she should do her best to help others too. So, what could she do? Not being a hostage could be a good start. With that in mind, Cream looked at the ground and found a little scrap of metal, which she quickly hid on her hand.
Marine was almost reaching her goal but Cubot spotted her. "Hey! You should be standing over there with your little friend"
"Don't try anything funny. My patience has already got thin because of the button mashing you made on the controls. Keep quiet. Otherwise you'll learn how evil an evil doctor can be" Marine stuck her tongue out as she was dragged back to her place near Cream. She sighted and looked to the ground. Maybe this was not the brightest idea she had.
"Sorry to involve you in that mess Cream dear. I guess I really overdone this time" She never wanted this to happen. Marine only thought that she could make a difference for once. She wanted to stop the bad guys, not being the clumsy one causing problems to both sides.
"Look, I know I'm just a little older than you, but trust me, we can get out of here… I guess… Maybe if we… actually, forget-"
"Of course I trust you, Marine". Marine got surprised. Cream was behind her, free and untying the ropes.
"Wait, how did you-"
"Shhh, be quiet. We still have the element of surprise". Cream showed the metal scrap and untied Marine. They got up and hid behind a vault.
"So, what is the plan?" Cream asked Marine, but the raccoon kept looking down.
"What do you mean? Stay put and wait the rescue. What else can we do?" Marine was really down. She couldn't think of a single idea that would not end in more troubles, for her and Cream. But she got off her inner thoughts as Cream grabbed her hand.
"Oh, please don't give me that. Not after all the craziness we already did". Cream understood that her friend was afraid after all that happened, and could relate pretty well to the feeling of being always the helpless endangered one, but right now this wasn't an option to wait for the others. As far as they knew, Eggman could do something really dangerous with Tails' machine.
"Here, get up. Maybe we can delay him by pulling some wires or-"
"Stop it, Cream!~whisper screaming~ We can't do a thing by ourselves!"
Cream looked at the raccoon and could see the tears forming. Marine had a lot of things in her mind. She was sad because once again she messed up, angry because they were trapped, frustrated because she didn't know how to fix things, and mostly confused because of Cream's actions.
How could this girl, which was always left behind because of the danger, and some minutes ago was willing to wait her friends come; how could the same girl want to take action? And why she was being such a coward? When did they switch holes?
"We don't have super speed, strength, or fire powers. We are not geniuses to fool this mad man and we don't have anything to use as a weapon… How do you expect to make something useful… heck, can we even protect ourselves?"
Cream put her hands on Marine's shoulders. "Now, quit this sad story, okay?". She looked round the corner and spotted Eggman and his bots working on some tubes that glowed. Turning back to face Marine, she made the most confident expression she could at the moment. "I know this pretty well"
"But it doesn't matter. We have to do what we can, because that's what everyone always does. I think I can't hang around my friends too much because at any time something can happen to me, and they'll need to save me. I don't want to keep feeling like this, so this time I'll do my best, but I'll need help. Are you with me, Marine?"
Marine was in awe. It was completely crazy, but it made sense, to some extent. If the dear sweet precious rabbit girl was going to put up a fight, how could she not? She rubbed away tears, sadness and sanity.
"All right mate. You wanted me, you got me. Let's kick some egg butt"
"You're already talking like Sonic"
They looked around the corner again and watched the glowing cylinders. There were cables coming from it and spreading through the ship. "This must be the power source of the ship"
"Are you sure, Marine?" Cream was motivated but was still afraid of what could happen. Marine felt filled with determination.
"Yeah, sort of. I've seen somethings similar back into my world"
Cream then remembered the doc saying something about leakage. "Those batteries must be worn out. The doctor said we are flying low. If so, we can crash the thing and get off, and I'll take us to the ground safely"
"Seems a nice plan to me, but they are not leaving those batteries alone. We need a distraction and something to break them…"
"Hmm… hey, look up" Cream pointed to a piece of the inner hull, barely hanging on its place, and just above the batteries. They could drop the thing and get out quickly.
"Ripper! So you get up there and drop it on the batteries. I'll distract the fat guy and open the wind shield so we can jump off"
They nodded and started to sneak around. Marine as behind the control panel and Cream was ready to fly and knock the thing from the ceiling. Suddenly, Marine jumped of her cover and whistled. "Hey! Fat man! Guess who is going to use the victory celebration sequence again?!" Eggman got startled and turned around, only to see marine dancing on the controls of the ship. The saucer started shooting bullets and lasers at random, and of course, the victory celebration sequence was triggered.
"What the-! Your idiots! You only had to keep two little girls tied for half an hour!"
"Sorry boss, but they seem to be smarter than they look". Cubot received a heavy punch on the head, locking him on the cube form. Eggman was definitely furious with his excuses for assistants and with the raccoon messing with his ship.
"A pet rock can be smarter than you, you two short-circuited imbeciles! As ALWAYS, I'll be forced to PERSONALLY deal with the problems". The doctor got up from the batteries and walked into Marine's direction. He would fire lasers from his eyes if he could.
"Oh hohoho, he's mad! Tell me broom mustache, what happens if I do THIS?". Marine stomped her foot hard enough on the controls to make some buttons keep pressed down. The saucer made a barrel roll and Marine fell on the floor. Eggmann was thrown to the back of the ship and Cream ended on the pilot's chair.
"You stupid rat! You just activated the plasma cannon AND the full deflective shield!"
"And this is bad?"
"THE PLASMA SHOT WILL KEEP RICOCHETING INSIDE THE SHIELD AND REDUCE US TO DUST!"
"So, it is bad. Cream! We need to go mate, like, NOW!" Marine got up and ran to the front of the ship. She grabbed the emergency lever and pulled as hard as she could. The lever came down and the wind shield that covered the cockpit of the saucer went off. At the same time, Cream flew up and knocked the loose piece of ceiling and it hit the batteries, making a huge crack on it, but not exactly breaking it.
"Problems Marine, the batteries didn't break!"
"More problems Cream, the shield will not let us jump out of this thing!"
"The only problem you should worry about is ME!" Eggman came after them like a lion hunting a zebra at the savanna. The girls started to run around the ship with the doctor right after them. This didn't last much though, because soon he started to lose his breath.
"Cursed… ~wheeze~ little… ~pant~ fitness… ~gasp~ brats…" The mad scientist barely made two laps around the ship and fell on his knees, heavy breathing. And the saucer wasn't that big at all. The girls even found a little pity for the fat man in front of them.
"You know doctor Eggman, it's important to make some exercises in a daily basis"
Orbot rolled in and popped up fanning his fallen boss. "We actually made a diet and an exercise program for him, but doctor Eggman keeps skipping it because of his 'work'…"
"I'm too busy… conquering the world… to make stupid exercises…"
The girls looked at each other with confused looks. Stopping to think about it, fifteen minutes ago they were tied and the evil man was doing his evil things. Right now the man was down and they were free. Plus, the saucer seemed to be losing its functions by the minute. Marine inquired Cream.
"So, does this count as a victory?"
"Well, the ship will shut down eventually and we got Eggman exhausted to the end. I guess we won then"
Cubot gave thumbs up while Orbot confirmed the situation, even though Eggamn tried to protest. "Indeed, it fits with every time Sonic has defeated the doctor. The only thing left to do is retrieve the generator and escape alive" As he said that, red lights started to flash and the saucer started to come down. The plasma cannon drained too much energy from the defective batteries and collapsed on itself, causing a lot of damage. At this rate they would crash.
"Cream… it's time for us ankle-biters to go!"
"Agreed, but we need to shut down the shield. Here, help me break the batteries"
They got some pipes and hit the cylinders, making it crack more and more, until they stopped glowing. The ship shook and the shield went down. Eggman finally got up and saw his power source depleted. "You crazy girls! This power cells had a very unstable fuel in them!"
"This is your problem to worry about, baldy. We are out!" Marine jumped and held on Cream's hands. Cream made an effort since the shield was disabled, letting a strong wind blow inside. They managed to jump off the saucer and saw the sea bellow them. They were already at the coast. At the distance, a small plane was coming at their direction. Cream looked for some moments and recognized the Tornado. "Look! Its Tails and the crew!"
"Even Blaze?"
"I guess so"
"Wow. To think she would let her fear of heights aside and come this far for us"
The raccoon also noticed the Ocean Tornado near the place they were going to land and pointed to that direction. It was half way through a huge portal, similar to the one she and Blaze crossed, but much bigger. Meanwhile, the saucer made a turn and came back at their direction. "Don't think I'll let you do what you want just because you are kids! No one calls me fat and lives to tell the story!"
The doctor was really infuriated. To small kids managed to ruin his plans. Not Sonic, but two little girls. His pride was at stake now. His goal would be out of reach, but it would be worthy if at least he could cause some damage to Sonic and his friends. Erasing the raccoon and the rabbit should do the trick.
Said girls just landed on the Ocean Tornado and looked terrified at the smoking ship coming after them. "He's going to blast us with the bloody damn saucer!"
"He's really mad, isn't he…?"
"We need to stop him" Marine ran around, pulled some levers and a turret surged from the front deck.
"What is it, Marine?"
"A new toy we installed recently, but I never got the chance to use it". Marine mounted on the turret and spun it to aim at the incoming ship. "Set fire mode to impact only. We don't want the baldy to get too much hurt, right?" Cream nodded, even though she wasn't sure about this course of action.
"Do you think this is a good idea? We already did something awesome and Sonic is here too". Marine looked at her with a grin plastered on her face. She was damn serious.
"I'm gonna end this with style! There's no way this duster-for-mustache will hit MY ship!" The cannon started to charge. In the sky, Tails was flying as fast as he could. He could not believe Eggman was going to do such a maneuver. The hover pod could be an escape route, but crashing the ship because of Cream and marine was too much even for him. Then again, doctor Eggman WAS an evil being. Maybe they just never triggered him to this point. Which begged the question: what did the girls do to get him so upset, and how?
That could wait for later. At the speed the saucer was coming down, he would not intercept him in time. He was using the thrusters at full power, making it hard for Sonic and Blaze to hold on the wings. On the coast, Marine was aiming at her target.
"Come on doc, keep on this straight line…"
The cannon hum grew louder and louder. When Marine locked on the target, she fired. The blast went fast at the saucer. Even with the distance, Eggman only managed to lift the ship a little, making it 'bounce up' like a rock on the surface of a lake. The whole machine shook a lot and more smoke came from it. Due to the impact, the crane-like arm snapped from the saucer, letting the Aleatory Probabilistic Generator fall.
And where it landed? Right in the Ocean Tornado's deck. Marine and Cream jumped to de sides while the thing half crossed the first floor. It took a while to the two to process the whole situation. Let's see, they managed to stop Eggman and his plan, break his machine, and retrieve the machine with a complicated name. Plus, they just jumped from a flying ship and Marine got to use a huge cannon. All this completely alone. Seems like a great deed for me.
"Oooooohhhhh!" The two screamed up to the sky and at each other. Just how cool was all of that? Now there was no excuse to be left behind on a fight. They ran to each other, gave a big hug and hi-fived.
"Cream, can you believe it?!"
"I would not if I didn't make this myself!"
Suddenly, Cream's phone rang. She answered and heard Tails' voice. "Cream! Do you hear me?! Are you and Marine okay?!"
"Loud and clear Tails. We are fine. More than just fine!"
"What happened up in there?"
"We'll tell you everything later. I think that we need to get this generator thingy out of Marine's ship first"
"Yeah! Thins thing made a hole on my precious baby!" Marine's voice could be heard in background. "By the way, should this thing be sparking?"
"What is it Marine?"
On the other side of the call, Tails' face palled. "Wait, sparking?"
Cream and Marine approached the machine. It was covered with fluid of the power cells in Eggman's machine. Some sparks flew from it and it kicked on. "Umm, Tails? How do we turn this thing off?"
"The generator started itself?!"
"Yeah. It should not?"
"Not at all!"
"What is the problem Tails?"
"Well Blaze, I designed it to work only if I use a password AND my biometric signature"
"And what are the chances of it turning on due to the fall?"
"I'd say zero, but as you can see, it happened, which is precisely the problem. Marine, Cream, get away from the generator, and fast!"
"We can't"
"What?!"
"Well, we are stuck"
The deck out of nowhere turned into a sticky surface, holding the girls in their places. Not only that, things where shifting form and color everywhere around them. The water was floating and turning into snow, gavottes transformed into bats and Cream's ears turned into wolf ears.
"Tails! What is happening here?! Tails?!" Cream looked at her phone, but it transformed into a toast with the numbers drawn on it. Marine was freaking out, for all the madness they were into and because her ship was being warped in ways she once thought impossible. Back to Tails and the crew, they were surrounding the area and could not believe in their eyes.
"What the heck in going on down there Tails?!"
"I don't know Amy! All I can say is that the Aleatory Probabilistic Generator is malfunctioning"
"Forget the explanation; we need to get them out of there before the whole thing explodes! Just fly above the ship and I'll-"
"I can't!" Sonic looked at Tails as if he had a third eye.
"Are you serious?! Look at this mess! They will get hurt"
"I know! But you will be caught by the warping effect of the generator too. I suppose the generator is messing up with reality itself"
Everyone wanted a better explanation, but there was no time now. They had to get some distance in order to be safe and then landed the plane. The signal of Cream's phone came back online and they tried contact. "Cream, are you listening?"
"TAILS! Thanks God you are still there! Everything is shifting here! What do we do?"
"I know this will be hard but, stay calm and tell me how the generator went on"
"I don't know. It fell on the deck and seemed broken, but it suddenly- oh my gosh, Marine!"
"Cream? Cream?! Damn it!"
"That's it, I'm entering"
"Sonic! Wait!"
Sonic dashed to the docks and went straight to the bay where the Ocean Tornado was, but the ground in front of him morphed into some kind of quicksand and he got stuck. Blaze jumped over the light poles, but one of them twisted itself and grabbed her leg like a snake. On the back, Amy pulled out her hammer because a car with sharp teeth came after her, and Tails had to deal with a swarm of razor sharp letters. On the ship, the situation only got worse.
Cream just saw Marine being thrown off the ship by the cannons. She ran to the border of the deck and felt relieved that Marine managed to hold on the edge with her new hook tail. She helped her friend get back to the deck, but the problems kept coming. Giant oysters jumped on the deck and chased them, trying to lock the girls inside them.
"Can this get even stranger?!"
"Don't say it Marine! It probably-" Now Cream had a tentacle where was her right arm and Marine fell on the ground due to her new mermaid tail. "will get stranger…" As they fought to not be engulfed by oversized seafood, the tPhone rang again. Cream answered it with her normal arm while holding the oyster shell open with her legs and tentacle. "Tails, we could use some help here!"
"I could say the same. Cream, is there anything different on the generator? Something that seems off?"
"Everything here seems off Tails! What should I look for?" Cream didn't mean to be rude and scream, but they were really on the edge right now. What are the chances of Cream act without her polite way and manners?
"Don't think on the things warping around. Look at the machine. OUCH" A letter folded like a dart just hit his back. As for Cream, she tried to notice something, but it was hard doing so while being food of a clam. "Oh, enough of this shit!" She used her tentacle to wrap the shell shut and threw it back on the sea. Cream then ran and kicked the one that was halfway of swallowing Marine. The shell opened up and Marine managed to get out and flip the thing out of the ship.
Now that they had some time, she and Marine looked closer at the generator. Indeed, something was off. It was covered with the fluid of Eggman's power cells, the one that was very unstable and all. "Tails, the generator is covered with battery juice from Eggface's saucer. Does it help?"
Tails got pretty surprised with her new language, but that aside, it seemed to explain why the generator kicked on and was acting up like this. If so, they would need to wait the energy flow stabilize and clean the thing. Hopefully, the changes wouldn't be permanent, but again, there was still a chance of things ending really bad. To be honest, he could not trust in the numbers anymore.
The crew was finally breaking free and they started to make some progress toward the bay, fighting off the most bizarre things they could imagine. On the ship, the girls heard Tails talking about cleaning the machine and decided to start it already. Marine ran and got a bucket, which Cream filled extending her right arm to reach the water. But, as they were on it, a strong sound came from the portal. It started to spin faster and glow brighter, while purple lightning came from it. "This can't be good" Cream said.
On the docks, the guys heard it and Tails' pupils shrunk. "Oh no…"
"What is happening, Tails?!"
"The portal, Blaze! The portal is being affected too!"
Blaze turned to the ship and saw it flickering, like a glitch in a game. The fiery cat lost her mind a little. Her friends were in real danger while she was occupied fighting off a mail box with horns and frog legs. She launched a flame stream at the thing, melting it, and kept running ahead. She was desperate to save her friends. She never felt desperate, but the smallest though of Cream or Marine getting hurt was enough to throw her reason away.
Sonic tried to follow her, but the heat was too much to get near Blaze, so he had to keep some distance. Even though she was advancing, it was painfully slow. What if they did not make it in time? Sonic shook his head. 'Don't even think about it, Sonic. Keep your head cool as always'. But this proved to be a hard task as he was getting more nervous by the minute.
Back to the ship, Marine and Cream came back to their normal selves, but they were now flickering and fading, just like the Ocean Tornado. The generator started to whirl its core faster and faster, and the portal let out more lightning. These arcs hit the ship and wherever they touched, the matter seemed to fade. An arc came at their direction, but Marine pushed Cream away, getting hit in the process.
"MARINE!" Cream got up and ran to her friend, who was surprisingly well. "Wait, are you okay?!"
"Yeah, I guess so. I fell funny, but I'm not hurt"
"You are transparent all the way down your waist!"
"Talk about losing weight"
"This is no time to jokes Marine! We need to avoid-" Another arc hit Cream. "those strange lightning…" Now Cream was also kind of transparent. The glitching became stronger and they blinked out for a second. Blaze was almost reaching them with Sonic right behind her. Amy and Tails where a little distant, but still close. Then, the portal flashed and started to pull the ship back into it.
"SHIT! Cream! Marine! I'm almost there, get out, hurry!" Blaze could see them on the deck, but they weren't listening. She waved, jumped and even threw some fireballs up. Once she caught their attention, she pointed to the portal and then to the bay. The girls understood and ran to the front of the ship, but when they jumped, they got kicked back, as if there was an invisible barrier around them. Blaze managed to reach the bay and jumped to the ship, but was also blocked. She started to blast waves of fire, but to no avail. Sonic also got there and instantly made a peel-out, hitting the barrier hard; he also got knocked back.
"No, no, NO! Get back here you stupid ship!" Blaze was still firing when tears came from her eyes. "You cannot leave! You cannot leave with them!" She made a huge flame orb and threw it, making a huge blast. The metal around got red with the heat, but the ship was intact. Exhausted, she dropped to her knees. She kept looking at the ship being engulfed by the portal while Sonic kept spin-dashing at the barrier and almost falling in the water.
He took some distance, dashed and managed to reach mach-1, making a huge blast. He landed the hit with full force, and deformed the barrier, but he got repelled up into the sky. From inside the bubble barrier, the girls watched their friends doing their best to save them. It seemed to be the end. The generator was making a sound of overload. Maybe it would explode later.
Looking at each other, they held hands and walked to the front so they could see the bay. On it they saw Blaze reaching out her hand, still on her knees; Amy just smashed a moving chair and looked at them with the saddest face they ever saw. Tails was trying to fly after them, but he was being restrained by snake-like chains. Up in the sky, they saw Sonic falling. He was going to fight to the bitter end, just for them.
The girls took a deep breath and screamed goodbye the louder they could. Blaze, Amy and Tails couldn't hear, but they understood as the girls waved their hands. The tears would not stop coming. From above, another cry came. Sonic went pretty high so now he had a lot of momentum. He deformed the shield. Maybe it got weaker. It had to be weaker. He would break it. He had to. Getting into his spin-dash form, he revved up as fast as he could and descended like a comet.
Another bright light shone and in a flash, they were gone. The Ocean Tornado was gone, and it took Cream and Marine with it. Half a second later Sonic hit the water, making a giant splash. Just like that, the snake-chains transformed back into normal chains and Tails was free. Everything came back to normal. Amy ran and jumped on the water to rescue Sonic. Blaze just stood with her hand stretched out, looking at the point where they were not seconds ago.
Tails landed on the bay and helped Amy to drag Sonic off the waters. Amy was panting while Sonic coughed some water. He hit the ground in frustration. He, Sonic the Hedgehog, was not fast enough. Tails felt completely guilty because his invention was the cause of all this problems. Amy could only imagine how Vanilla would handle this news. How could she face her now? And Blaze, well… she broke up.
Act 0 Complete