Sonic the Hedgehog
#248* - A Plot Reformed
'So... The world has changed it seems... In a way that seemed unlikely, yet... Here I see it... For so long, I have been away... And yet, here it stands as an ultimate dictator prepares to erase everything in history. We can't very well have that, now can we, fat man...?'
Meanwhile in the Arctic, Sonic, Team Fighters, and the Arctic Freedom Fighters had bested Mecha Sally and the Egg Swats guarding the area. Everything seemed to be stopped though as things were quiet. Eggman especially as he had his finger on the button to initiate another Genesis Wave.
"What!? Again!? This isn't happening again! I have fuel! I have resources! Why isn't the button working!?" Eggman shouted in his frustrations as he slammed the button until it broke.
"We're not sure, Doctor. Checking the statistics, the Genesis Wave should have happened...and yet nothing came out," Orbot analyzed as he was checking the monitors.
"Ah reckon there be some kind of glitch in the system, boss," Cubot reasoned through his broken voice chip.
"If there is some kind of glitch, then fix it! I don't want to lose after this much preparation!" Eggman roared angrily before his Death Egg 2's alarms blaired throughout the station. "What now!?"
"Sonic, sir. That's 'What'. And he and his furbitten friends are taking the station by storm and no Mecha Sally is in sight..." Orbot said, turning to Dr. Eggman.
"Grrr... Take off! We need to leave now!" Eggman ordered as he slammed a fist.
"Not this time, Ro-"butt"-nik," Sonic said, standing in front of the door as he had ran his way through the security. "What ever you had planned, it stops here. Your ship is done-zo and so are you!"
"Blast you, hedgehog!" Eggman shouted as he pressed a button, letting him escape through a trapdoor going down.
"'ey! Wait fer us!" Cubot shouted as he and Orbot fell in with Eggman.
"Time to crack this egg, once and for all," Sonic said as he jumped in, ready to confront Eggman at last.
Tails, Amy, and the Arctic Freedom Fighters go to work on the Death Egg Mk 2 from the inside, aiming to blow the whole thing up with charges. "Okay! Within 15 minutes, this whole base will be nothing but a bad memory. Guntiver! Is everyone else ready?" Tails asked as he finished up himself.
"Yeah! Time to give the Eggman a fireworks show he won't forget!" Guntiver cheered as he placed his last charge.
"We should be leaving though! Things are about to get pretty cold here!" Flip shouted as more Egg Swats were approaching.
"Right, let's go!" Tails shouted as the group formed a tactical retreat. As they ran, Erma opened an escape door under camoflage, allowing the group to leave, with Erma close behind.
"I hope Sonic won't need our help," Amy said as they looked back at the Death Egg.
"Its Sonic... He's got this," Tails reassured with a smile.
Sonic landed in the heart of the Death Egg, looking around for his long term foe. "Come out, Eggman! Unless you're chicken!" he taunted as he heard the sound of an engine.
Sonic turned to face one of Dr. Eggman's much deadlier creations. "You will pay dearly for what you have done, Sonic! I don't know what you did or could have possibly done to stop my Genesis Wave, but I will erase you from this planet if it is the last thing I do!" Eggman shouted from his cockpit, very clearly angry.
"Uh huh. Heard one of these speeches, heard them all, Robo-butt," Sonic said as he seemed really confident.
"Fine! Prepare to die at the hands of...my EGG DRAGOON!" the mad scientist shouted as the wings of his monstous creation spread.
Eggman aimed his cannon arm and fired from the six barrel machine, while Sonic ran, jumping to the walls to observe how he was going to bring this tyrant down. As Sonic ran, Eggman switched and aimed his drill before stabbing toward the hedgehog. Sonic jumped and ran along the arm, smiling as landed on Eggman's cockpit.
"When will you learn that you can't beat the best hedgehog around?" Sonic asked, smiling as his foot tapped on the glass of the cockpit.
"You will lose, Sonic! And then the world will be mine! Your interference this day is only a minor one! I will be back!" Eggman announced angrily.
"We'll see." Sonic smiled before jumping and using a Spin Dash as he busted the glass of Eggman's cockpit and smashed the controls of his machine.
As the robot began to malfunction and soon blow up, Eggman flew out on his Egg Mobile, turning to Sonic. "This isn't the last you'll hear of me!" he shouted before returning to his control room above.
"Okay. That's one less problem to deal with. Now to get out of here before she goes 'ka-boom'," Sonic said to himself as he busted through the nearest exit and proceeding to jump out of the Death Egg as it was making its departure.
Tails and the Arctic Freedom Fighters were waiting to hear back from Sonic, hoping he'd make it out in time. Within only mere seconds, Sonic skidded to a stop in front of his buddies. "Hey! Did you miss me?" Sonic asked with a thumbs up.
"Sonic!" Amy shouted as she went to hug Sonic tightly.
"I knew you'd make it!" Tails shouted with pure excitement as he hugged his bro.
"Thanks, little dude. Are the charges ready?" Sonic asked as he saw the Death Egg leave.
"Yes. They should be ready to blow in...now," Tails calculated as the Death Egg Mk 2 exploded spectacularly.
Eggman, Orbot, and Cubot were in the Egg Mobile as they escaped, covered in soot. "Grrr..." Eggman growled, seeing his precious work undone.
"Well, that's a bummer," Cubot said very bluntly.
"I really really really really REALLY HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!" Eggman shouted into the wind with pure rage.
"I don't know about you guys, but I think he likes me," Sonic joked as the others laughed.
The group returned to Tails' plane where Silver still had Mecha Sally restrained with his psychic powers, T-Pup working to disengage Sally's violent tendancies so they wouldn't lose her again. "Thanks for bringing that nightmare to an end, Sonic," Guntiver said as the two shook hands.
"It wasn't much. Just us doing what we do best," Sonic said with a smile. "And hey, you guys did great too."
"Will we zee you again?" Sealia asked as she looked to the duo.
"Definitely. Despite how cold it is, I really enjoyed meeting you guys," Amy said with a polite smile.
"Everything is a-go, Sonic! Sally is strapped in and any weapons she has on her are disabled," Tails said with a thumbs up.
"Yip yip!~" T-Pup added as its tail wagged.
"Sonic, if you don't mind, I'd like to join you on the trip back to New Mobotropolis. Just in case Sally escapes, I'll at least be able to catch her," Silver requests as he approached the blue hedgehog.
"...And you promise that you'll drop this whole 'traitor' nonsense afterwards?" Sonic asked, being very wary of Silver's obsession.
"I promise. No more traitors. Looking at it now, it wasn't exactly obvious who it could have been, but hopefully once Sally is restored, my future will be better at long last. And...I'm hoping you'll forgive my previous assumptions on your other friends," Silver said, feeling guilty over the whole mess.
Sonic tapped his foot as he thought about it. If driven to desperation, would he go as far as Silver did just to protect his world? Probably not, but considering what Silver went through and what he added on top of that, Sonic nodded and smiled. "Hehe. I forgive you. You weren't exactly being selfish, you were just jumping to the wrong guys. If this does fix your future, then I hope you'll see the sun and stars on a nice comfy field soon," Sonic said supportingly as he let up a brofist.
Silver looked at the offer before smiling, fist bumping the fellow hedgehog, Tails and Amy happy to see the two make up.
Meanwhile, at Mobotropolis, Rotor and his Team Freedom were dealing with the Tails Doll as it was beginning to destroy the building they were in. "Nicole! Tell me you can get rid of the nanites this thing is using to keep this form!" Rotor shouted as he and Heavy were dealing the most damage while Big was pushing at it as hard as he could.
"I cannot! The nanites the Tails Doll used are under its control! But I detect the nanite disruptor as a potential weakness!" Nicole shouted as tried to control the Tails Doll's nanites.
"Got it! Heavy! Toss Bomb at the crystal up there!" Rotor ordered as he continued to fire beams at the beast.
"I will try! C'mon, Bomb! Up you go!" Heavy shouted before tossing Bomb at the crystal, Bomb exploding.
The Tails Doll immediately retracted, turning into an iron ball as the robot exploded. "No effect..." Heavy said as he took a step back.
"This isn't good. A direct attack won't work... But maybe..." Rotor said before looking at a newly dispensed Bomb. "Bomb. Find Cream. Her flight abilities might just come in use..."
"Ping!" Bomb immediately ran to find Cream hiding behind something she considered safe.
"Huh? Mr. Bomb? What is it?" Cream asked, looking as Bomb began to 'Ping' a lot. "...Oh! Sneaky approach. Okay." Cream grabbed Bomb before looking at Cheese. "Stay here, Cheese. I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Chao..." Cheese said, very worried but trusted Cream's bravery as she flapped her ears as she flew behind the Tails Doll.
"Keep this thing's attention, gang!" Rotor ordered as he and Bomb continued the push.
"Okay," Big said as he punched the Tails Doll only to be slapped away. "Ow! That hurt..."
Cream slowly flew above Tails Doll, trying to position herself just in throwing position. "Ready, Mr. Bomb? I'm going to throw you," she said softly as she got ready.
Tails Doll's back opened as a massive eye glared at the bunny girl. It then began to charge up a laser and fired. Cream froze as she saw the laser come at her, her eyes wide. Cheese saw this and immediately flew at the laser, taking the full brunt with his body before collapsing from the damage.
"CHEESE!" Cream screamed as she extended a hand, tears coming out of her eyes, catching everyone's attention. She then clenched her hand into a fist as she had a look of pure rage. "How... How dare you! Cheese was my friend! How could you do that to Cheese, you monster!" Cream then flew at Tails Doll, dropping Bomb onto the big eye as it charged up to blind the monster. She then flew at the crystal on top and used what strength she could to pull off the anteanna, ripping it clean off and causing the nanites on the Tails Doll to deactivate, reverting the monster back to a regular doll. Cream, still in blind rage, grabbed a metal pipe and began to beat the doll wildly, ripping it apart in blind fury. Even this scared Rotor as the team watched in horror.
"Cream! Cream!" Nicole shouted, grabbing Cream's shoulder as the girl swung at her. Thankfully, just a hologram, Nicole was unharmed, but it was still shocking to see Cream swing at a friend.
"Miss... Miss Nicole... Cheese... He..." Cream said, still crying as she held onto Nicole as tightly as she could.
"...Rotor. Please get Cheese to the Tommy Turtle Hospital..." Nicole ordered as she stayed to comfort the bunny.
"R-Right!" Rotor shouted as he ran over to grab the horribly damaged Chao. "Don't worry... You'll be okay..."
"Will Cheese be okay?" Big asked, feeling genuinely sad.
"I...I don't know..." Cream said, going with Rotor as they rushed to the hospital.
Once at the hospital, Cream and Rotor waited outside, Rotor having that look of guilt. "...Cream... I'm sorry... I made a really bad play back there..." Rotor said, putting a hand on her back.
"No, Mr. Rotor... I made a bad play... I froze up when I saw that giant eye stare at me... All I saw was...nightmares... Scary nightmares of that mean Doctor burning all of the world and building machines over them... I froze and...Cheese got hurt..." Cream admitted as her ears drooped more.
Doctor Quack came out, looking a bit sad. "Well?" Rotor spoke up, being hopeful.
"We...tried what we could. Cheese was hurt pretty badly and...I'm afraid there isn't much more we could do..." Quack said, his tone saddened by this fact. "I'm sorry, Cream..."
Cream began to cry as she stood up, moving into the room to see Cheese. After she did, Vanilla appeared, having heard the news. "Mr. Rotor! Where is Cream and Cheese?" she asked, very worried for her.
"Ch-Cheese...?" Cream called as she approached the bed with a heavily bandaged Cheese on top. "Cheese... I'm so sorry... I should not have froze like that... I hesitated and you took the hit for me... I guess being a Freedom Fighter is much harder than I thought... Mr. Sonic and his friends make it seem so much easier... But I guess they are just used to this...huh...? I'm very sorry Cheese... Good night..." Cream kissed Cheese on the head before moving away.
As she moved away, a bright glow caught her attention. This glow came from Cheese as the bandages unwrapped themselves. In the Chao's place was an egg which shook and popped open, revealing a white Chao with blue tips on his nubs, feet, and points on its head. Floating above was a blue halo and on his back were two white and yellow wings. "Ch-Cheese?" Cream called in amazement.
Cheese bowed politely, his voice more serene and gentle. "Chao chao," he greeted, still in Chao language.
"Mr. Rotor! Dr. Quack! Come quick! Cheese is alive!~" Cream called, bringing the two and Vanilla inside as Cream was playing with the newly evolved Hero Chao.
"Well, I'll be..." Quack said with astonishment. "I didn't think I'd see it myself, but your Chao has evolved!"
"Evolved, Dr. Quack?" Vanilla asked, now confused.
"Oh right. Chao, depending on who raises them, may evolve into a different form of Chao if given enough care. This one is a Hero Chao, raised from Cream's eternal love toward Cheese," Rotor explained with a relieving smile. "When you work at a computer, you tend to get some free time."
"This... This is the best day of my life~" Cream said as she hugged Cheese.
"Cream... I'm happy you and Cheese are safe, but if what Rotor told is true... Cream... I want you off Team Freedom..." Vanilla said, kneeling down to Cream's level.
"What!?"
Back with Eggman, floating over in the middle of nowhere after his defeat, he was contemplating the events that transpired. "I don't understand... I had everything in place... Sonic aside, my resources were optimal, my fuel was full, and the Genesis Wave was ready to ready to reset everything... So what went wrong?" Eggman asked as he was rubbing his head in confusion.
"Perhaps it was the twin tails one? Maybe he hacked the Genesis Wave to fail?" Orbot assumed with a shrug.
"No... Its possible, but no... Someone else must have caused the Genesis Wave to malfunction. And with the Death Egg gone, there's no hope in creating another one, so its back to the drawing board! But then...what happened to my blue Chaos Emerald after the first Genesis Wave?" Eggman asked, unaware that unknown eyes were watching him.
'Worry not, round one... MY emerald is safe...with me... Hmmm... But now that I have one, let us look back at the others... The Gray Emerald is with the one called Mammoth Mogul... He will be an interesting challenge considering he is an immortal... The Red and Green Emeralds are in the Federation's hands thanks to the black hedgehog... They will be dealt with shortly... The Purple Emerald is with a skunk... I sense a dark force with this one... Fun~ The Blue Emerald was meant to go to through dimensional travel, but with my Chaos abilities, I was able to intercept it... That leaves the Yellow and Cyan Emeralds still in Feist's furry hands. He will be dealt with soon... Just a matter of patience... And time is all I have~'
Who is this strange voice? What will Eggman bring next to attack New Mobotropolis? Find out next time on Sonic the Hedgehog!