The Seven Unite
Part III: Race To Crisis
Tails had awaken, bored from the endless voyage through space his father dragged him into. He saw Ron asleep on the bed across from his. "Hm, must be Sunday." Tails muttered to himself before entering the hull. He found Sonic asleep in his station, like he has been the entire trip. Tails assumed the others were in the back, so he decided to satisfy his curiosity of the technological marvel that is the Typhoon.
Tails entered the cockpit, and was barely able to contain his excitement at the sight of the controls. "Looks simple enough." Tails thought to himself. He was well aware that his I.Q. was higher than his fathers, so learning the controls to this machine would be simple. He reached for one of the handles that controlled the engine power. He checked every meter around to make sure everything was stable. He slowly pulled the handle back expecting to feel the power of the Typhoon. He noticed not one change. He pulled the handle all the way back, and still nothing happened.
Tails tried using different controls, and found that none of them worked. He heard the door to the cockpit open behind him, and froze in fear that he knew it was his father. "What are you doing?" Ron asked, still half asleep. Tails turned around and gave a slight nervous grin, hoping his boyish charm would get him out of this situation. Ron gave a big yawn, and apparently gave no concern to Tails's curiosity. "The controls don't do a thing when they're locked." Ron said, sleepily.
Tails reached for the button that would unlock the controls, when as he touched the button, and flashing alarm went off. Tails was scared stiff, thinking he had done something terribly wrong. Ron gave a slight chuckle and reached for the alarm. "It's only the hyper drive unit. We're coming up on our coordinates." Ron informed. Tails slowly made his way to the back room.
Ron cut the hyper drive and everything came to a steady speed. He looked around for any signs of a space station, but found none. He checked the coordinates on the panel, and they were correct. He was about to scan the area for a magnetic fluctuation when he spotted a Federation Flagship slowly making it's approach to the Typhoon. He unlocked the flight controls and was about to make evasive maneuvers, when his panel signaled an incoming transmission.
"Greetings, Mr. Prower." McFalen's voice taunted over the speakers. "It's time we got down to business, wouldn't you say?"
"If it's a fight you're looking for, I'm ready any time!" Ron shouted. He thrust one of the boosters forward, but nothing happened.
"I wouldn't try maneuvering out this, Mr. Prower. The Federation has the most advanced technologies in existence, much like the tractor beam your ship is caught in." Ralph bragged. Ron saw the his ship was moving closer into one of the docking bays of the Flagship directly in front. "Don't worry, Mr. Prower. We'll negotiate on board, if you would so kindly be my guest of honor." McFalen explained.
"What is it that you want?" Ron snapped back.
"Patience. I simply want you to not try anything funny. Because if you do, you'll find that the odds are very much against you." McFalen warned before signing off. He turned around to his radio crew. "Radio that ship and alert them of my arrival." He ordered to a nearby radio operator. Ralph entered the elevator and was shortly in the right hangar of his flagship. He stood on a conveyer belt, and was on his way to one of the many Federation Star ships at his disposal.
It was rather small, compared to the size of the Typhoon, but it's small size was because of the fact that is was meant for dogfights, not long distance travel. It's hull was like an over-turned pyramid, only elongated and wide on the top and bottom. It had a pair of engines at each side, with a wing in between. The guns were folded back, in their standby mode, to prevent misfire. McFalen chose the nearest one that was readied and fueled up.
He glanced over to the other end of the hangar and saw some sort of construction. It resembled something of a bird, but wasn't quite yet completed. "Soon, Mr. Prower. We will see whose bird is better." McFalen assured himself as he entered his ship. He slowly made his way out of the hangar, and headed straight for the nearby flagship, which had just captured the Typhoon.
The crew of the Typhoon couldn't believe the size of the hangar, let alone the entire ship. Only Ron was anxious to exit the Typhoon, everyone else was watching in awe. The Typhoon came to a complete stop in the middle of the hangar, with guards lined up awaiting the bird's arrival, as well as McFalen's. Ralph was on his way, followed by the captain of this flagship. "Were they any trouble?" McFalen asked.
"No sir. Everything went perfectly, as you ordered." the captain replied. "I'm sure you'll be pleased when you hear we're nearing Crisis II, and will be in range for invasion within hours."
"Excellent! By then the Raven will be operational, and Crisis will belong to the Federation." Ralph laughed amidst all his glory. Ralph finally made it to the other hangar and waited for the crew of the Typhoon to exit their ship. The exited, one by one, with Ron in the lead. Ron walked over to McFalen, while observing the immense size of the hangar. The two finally met face to face.
"Welcome, Mr. Prower. Please, follow me, and we will negotiate like gentlemen." Ralph led the way to the control tower. The elevator stopped at about two rooms under the bridge, as McFalen introduced the next field of battle. "This facility, should be fit to someone of your style, Mr. Prower." McFalen explained. "I understand that you have remarkable skills with a sword. I'd like to see this for myself." The two made their way to the center of a huge empty room. Their was a rasied portion of the floor where the other six would have to watch.
The red tint of the room seemed to disturb Ron. He couldn't figure out what was so intimidating about the room. He had never been this uncomfortable in a fight before. "You know, Mr. Prower, for a man who is rumored to have significant swordsman skills, I find it strange that you haven't a sword to speak of." McFalen pointed out. Ron held out his hand and formed his blade with confidence. Ralph was a little surprised "I've seen a wide range of swords that use laser technology, but yours seems to just come out of nowhere." Ralph commented.
"It's a little something called the power of the chaos." Ron answered. "And this will cut right through that sword of yours." Ron quickly charged, thinking that he could end this in a flash. But when Ralph drew his sword in an attempt to block, Ron was too shocked to speak. He could have sworn he made contact with McFalen's blade, but there was not a scratch. Ron was trying to convince himself that he simply missed and made a mistake in the heat of the moment.
He made another charge, this time he could see Ralph's blade ready block. He made his mightiest swing, but was stopped hard by the block. Ralph took advantage of Ron's shocked state, and made a nasty scratch on his arm, and kicked him away. Ron fell to his back, still trying to figure out why Ralph's blade withstood his own. "In case you haven't noticed, this sword is unbreakable. Even against your so called, power of chaos, it'll withstand your strongest blow." Ralph informed. Ron got up and readied himself. He figured it would be best to take an offensive approach.
"Damn that McFalen!" Tails ranted. "How can anything stand up to the power of the chaos?" Knuckles was confused as well. "We can't just stand here and hope for a miracle. We've got to do something about this." Tails complained.
Robotnik was busy planning some kind of retaliation. "We need to take this opportunity to try to bring this ship down." Robotnik proposed. Everyone else was astonished at his bazar idea. They had absolutely no resources, and no idea where to go to accomplish such a task. "It may not be as hard as you think. We just need to pick the right job for each person, and we'll be out of here in no time."
Sonic was losing interest already. "So what do you propose we do, genius?" Sonic remarked sarcastically.
Robotnik started thinking hard. "Well, if I know McFalen, he has some sort of backstabbing plan up his sleeve. He's probably going to play along with the Federation until he feels like pulling his sinister ways again." Robotnik elaborated. "Tails, we need to hack into this ship's computer system to see if we can find any of his plans. At the same time, we'll need to find a way to bring the entire ship down, maybe find some blueprints or something."
"And what would we do in the meantime?" Sonic interrupted.
"The rest of you will have to come with us. More than likely we'll need Sonic's and Rebecca's Speed." Robotnik explained. "Let's go now, we probably don't have any time to waste." Robotnik led the way along with Tails.
Ralph saw the others leaving through the corner of his eye. "Hmm, looks like our performance is boring your friends." Ralph remarked. Ralph took a slash at Ron's side, tearing up the scar he received from his own robot years ago. Ralph punched Ron to back him off, Ron's breath became heavy with the pain on his olden scar. Ron was about to concede defeat. He had no idea how to battle an opponent with this much skill.
Robotnik was still trying to come up with a detailed plan as to how they would manage to escape, and rid themselves of the ship the were trapped on. "There should be a computer terminal pretty much everywhere on this ship." Robotnik alerted Tails. "We should avoid having to invade the control tower until later. Otherwise, this plan is dead."
"Well, the hangar was a great choice!" Sonic remarked sarcastically. "If they don't find out we're hacking into the computer systems, they'll think we're trying to fly our way out of here!"
"You there! You're not supposed to be in this area!" an operator at one of the computer terminals barked.
"Way to go loud mouth!" Tails said under his breath.
The operator came closer, pointing his gun at the group to make sure they don't run away. "Let me handle this." Rebecca volunteered. Rebecca stepped forward, trying to intimidate the operator. "We've been traveling a long way, and we're all very tired." Rebecca took more of a feminine tone on her voice. "None of us want to have to stand around forever. After all we're guests of honor here." Rebecca had here eyes half open. "Would you be a gentle man and get a good room for us." Rebecca gave a discreet wink to the uptight Federation operator.
The operator was shaking and blushing nervously. Not knowing what to do, he just walked off to see about fulfilling Rebecca's request. Rebecca turned around with a smile. "Go ahead guys." the other five were speechless at what they just saw. Robotnik grabbed Tails and they went over to the computer terminal to begin their work. They began their search for set courses, plans, and anything else useful that might be of importance to the Federation.
"Hey, I found something." Tails informed Robotnik. Everyone watched the plan they had found. The screen displayed the outline of a plan to land on a planet and to dispatch roughly one hundred ships to destroy a superstructure that looked somewhat like a skyscraper. "A hostile take over. The Federation plans to invade a planet." Tails concluded.
"And the name of the lucky contestant is..." Sonic said impatiently.
"Crisis II." Tails said with dread on his voice. "Dad's home world."
"Exactly where we need to go." Robotnik commented. "If we can find our present coordinates, we can escape and have enough time to battle the invasion, after we wait to get close enough."
"Okay, we can wait, but then we'll have two, probably more flagships to battle afterwards. We need to bring this thing down somehow." Tails suggested. "Let's find those blueprints shall we." Robotnik and Tails got back to work searching the entire computer network for blueprints of the flagship. After minutes of ceaseless typing, Tails finally stumbled across blueprints, but of a different kind. "Hey Robotnik, what do you suppose this could be?" Tails pointed the blueprints displayed on the monitor.
Robotnik studied the design. "These are some of the most incredible technologies I've ever seen." Robotnik scanned to the finished design. "This can be bad."
The other four were anxious to know what the two were talking about. "It's a bird. And according this, a much more advanced bird than the Typhoon." Tails explained. "McFalen used our own blueprints, modified them, and used them to design his own bird."
"He may have the designs, but what if he hasn't built this thing yet? If this thing is on this ship, It'll be destroyed with this ship, if we can destroy it in time." Rebecca proposed.
"All the more reason to bring this thing down." Robotnik commented. "Now let's find the blueprint we really need." Tails and Robotnik got back to work, but both were distracted with the newfound terror of the new bird. Sonic was pacing now. He had become so impatient, and felt like he needed to help Ron so badly. Minute after minute went by, and to the surprise of everyone, no one showed up to try and stop them from their investigative work. Tails finally let go a heavy sigh of relief when he found the blueprints they were looking so hard for.
Tails went through the designs to spot any crucial weaknesses, and was both excited and filled with dread when he finally found the weakness. "I've found the weak spot, but it's bad news." Tails announced to the others. "Their main weakness is the control tower, where everything is done, in terms of information that is. Every command, message, control. Everything goes through here. If destroyed, the rest of the ship will follow." Tails explained.
"Great. Now how do destroy it?" Sonic asked impatiently.
"Well, it's defenses are set for outside forces, since they never count on having problems on the inside. Lucky for us, a couple of bomb charges, and this thing will be history." Tails exclaimed.
"Good. Rebecca, Sonic, this is where you come in. You two can make it to the tower the fastest. I'll stay here and monitor the security to make sure you're not in danger." Robotnik planned.
"I'll go with you guys, I know where we can get weapons." Tails stepped forward. The three were headed for the elevator, when Knuckles stopped them.
"What should Miles and I do?" Knuckles asked.
"Stay here, we may need you for something else." Robotnik answered. Rebecca, Sonic and Tails entered the elevator and were soon on their way to the weapon supply room.
Ron was already behind in his fight against McFalen. He had suffered several strikes from Ralph's sword, but the one to his scar was the hardest. He noticed the others leaving, so he assumed they would have a plan to help. He figured he would have to play the defensive until he saw some sign of assistance.
"Mr. Prower, I must say this fight is incredibly boring." McFalen insulted. "I was looking forward to a challenging duel with someone of the legendary Prower Family line. And after all the training and searching, I find this. An unskilled swordsman with no pride to his name, despite his ancestors. Truly pathetic."
Ron took about all he could stand. He was enraged and completely forgot about taking the defensive. He had never been offended by insults before, but he was too blinded by pain and now pride. He had never felt pride before, not until his ancestors were mentioned. He took a deep breath and concentrated his aim on McFalen's hand, the one with his deadly sword. He threw his blade askew from his target, in order to distract McFalen, and it worked.
McFalen followed the shot that was terribly off aim, and was about to give another insult. Ron took this opportunity to shoot for his real target, and was successful. Ralph went from proud to furious in a split second. He saw the blood running endlessly down his black glove, the one he wears traditionally for duel of high magnitude. He grasped the blade, but found that the other end was just as painful. The absolute cold of the blade was burning like a raging fire, severing Ralph's hand in a gory mess.
Ralph made his way slowly to the nearest wall and pounded on end of the blade to force it out of his hand. The pains was ever more immense, but was well worth removing and prevent him from losing his ability to duel, but Ralph was beginning to think it was too late. He reached down for his sword with his bloody right hand, but once he tightened his grip, the pain grew to sharp. He couldn't even hold his sword, at least not for a good while.
"You bastard! How could you stoop so low as to take away my ability to even hold a sword!" Ralph was now struggling for breath from the pain. Ralph finally caught his breath, then started snickering, which eventually progressed into a maniacal laughter. He grew silent with a sinister grin on his face. "You have no idea, how futile your attempts are. You may have ended this duel by disabling my incredible skill, but even as we speak, the most advanced of all weapons is being constructed." Ralph began.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ron was now convinced that McFalen had gone crazy.
"That bird of yours. Such a beautiful creation, I have to admit. But your own technology will be used against you! The idea of creating a mighty bird for battle was always looked on as impossible because no one was ever able to conceive the genius it takes to create such a marvel. But now, the bird has finally been resurrected, and now, Mr. Prower, the downfall of your bird shall proceed, as well as the downfall of your home world. The mightiest of all artificial planets, once the largest space station in the entire universe. The rebirth of the battle scarred wasteland, known as Crisis II." McFalen was now beaming with confidence.
Ron was now very nervous, and afraid of what might happen next. Ralph drew a pistol from his side and pointed it at the door. "By now, your friends should have discovered the main weakness in the ship, and headed for the bridge. But don't worry, that information will never get out." Ralph said eerily. He fired at a switch by the door, and soon a support beam from the top of the room fell before the two rivals. "I would run now, Mr. Prower." Ralph said before a giant portion of the ceiling fell, cutting off Ron's sight of the sly sophisticate.
Ron ran for the door, trying to think of where the others might be. He decided he should head for the hangar, just incase they were already back in the ship. He activated the elevator, and was safely away from the collapsing duel room.
Rebecca, Sonic and Tails were about to enter the control room when they overheard an announcement coming from inside. "Our orders are to abandon ship! Send the message to all sectors, then head for your assigned escorts immediately!" a voice boomed over the intercom. The three scattered to quick hiding places, until it every last crew member had abandoned the control room. Once the three had placed several charges all over the room, Tails looked over at Rebecca.
"Hey Sonic, go ahead, Rebecca and I will finish up here." Tails suggested. Sonic didn't put up any fuss, but instead just smiled and went on to exit the room. Tails walked over to Rebecca and reached for her hand. Rebecca didn't say anything, but just let Tails take her hand. Both had no idea what to say, they had no idea what the other wanted to hear. Tails looked out the window of the room. "There it is. Crisis II." Tails observed. "Soon this will be all over."
Rebecca finally came away from the moment. "We should get going. We don't have much time left." She alerted. They both left the room, looking forward to victory. But in the hangar, Robotnik was becoming impatient.
"They're taking way too long. I'd better find out what the hold up is." Robotnik complained, hoping Knuckles and Miles would hear. He headed for the nearest elevator, when he was overrun by a herd of crew members, making their escape of the ship, soon to be decimated.
One of the crew members grabbed hold of Robotnik. "You need to come with us."
Knuckles and Miles saw the approaching crowd and instantly knew they were in trouble if they didn't hide. Miles saw Robotnik being taken away and rushed after him without thinking, Knuckles failing to hold him back. Sonic, Tails and Rebecca were making their way through the crowd, trying to make their way to the Typhoon. Rebecca noticed Robotnik following a crew member, having no choice with a gun pointed to his head. She also noticed Miles running to help Robotnik, and Knuckles running to help Miles.
By now most of the crowd had made it to escape ships, but the ship was now crumbling apart. "Stop! Let him go!" Miles's voiced wailed in an attempt to free Robotnik.
"Get out of here kid." The Fed pointed his gun at the helpless child. "This is adult business." But before he could fire, a large portion of the wall fell, crushing the crew member, and crushing Robotnik, waist down. He was trapped, only Miles was trying to save him, but Knuckles was holding him back.
"We have to help him!" Miles cried.
"We cant help him! He's done for!" Knuckles shouted back. "There's nothing we can do!"
Miles bit Knuckles on his hand as hard as he could, so he could be let go. Miles's eyes were tearing up. He couldn't comprehend why Knuckles wouldn't even bother to help Robotnik, after how he had proven his friendship and trustworthiness. "Miles, You came to help me?" Robotnik was barley able to say anything with the pressure on his body. "But why?"
"Because you're our friend now. Friends need to help each other, or at least try to, not abandon each other." Miles responded. He gave a his mightiest pull on Robotnik's arm, trying to free him.
"But after all I've done to you, you still want to help after all those years?" Robotnik was now emotionally confused.
"Friends forgive each other." Miles quickly explained. Robotnik could barely see out of his tears. Never once had he received such kindness from another. And he was even more touched when thought about all the terrible things he had done to the boy. The years of torture and pain, waiting in the darkness, and the boy was still willing to give everything he had to help the sobbing genius.
But after all the attempts, Tails forced Miles away from his kind deed. Miles and Robotnik were in tears, as Robotnik became engulfed in the fire of the dying ship. Ron had made his way back to the Typhoon and was hollering at the others to hurry. Sonic and Rebecca were rushing back, Knuckles holding his hand from the bite, and Tails dragging his little brother to safety. Ron switched everything on in a hurry, and soon the Typhoon was away at a safe distance from the ship seconds away from total destruction.
On board, knuckles was tending to the bite, Miles was sobbing, Tails was somewhat frustrated with what went on in the past few moments, Sonic was confused, and Rebecca was making a decision. She went to the back room and sat down on her bed, waiting to see who would come in from emotional trauma. She overheard yelling between a young voice, and two older ones. She knew who was coming next.
Miles walked in, confused and frustrated, crying his heart out at the yelling of his older brother and his so-called master. Rebecca embraced him, and hugged him as a mother would a child. "You tried to help him. And I never thought I could have the courage to do so." Rebecca said to the young fox. Miles sniffled, trying to dry up his tears. "You showed me a lot more than you know."
All was quiet. The Typhoon was now headed for Crisis II, when it was brutally knocked out of the way, by a dark blue blur. Ron checked all the radars and scopes for any signs of enemy targets, and finally found one directly behind him. He turned the Typhoon around to get a better look at what attacked them. Ron was scared like never before when he saw the terror he hoped he would never have to face.
It was a silver bird with blue wings, blue tail feather-like structures, and a long sharp beak. It's red eyes gleamed a sense of evil, and below, on the chest, the red diamond shaped glass, in the cockpit, sat McFalen. Eager to achieve victory not only for himself, but for the Federation. "Get ready Mr. Prower! Get Ready to witness the power of the McFalen Raven!"
Black Feather...
To be continued...