Ch. II
Heroes Unite!
"YAHOO!"
Sonic the Hedgehog's cry of joy echoed throughout the Grand Canyon as he bounded down it, using his vacation to the best of his abilities. The Colorado River rippled below him as his wake upset the relatively calm surface. One last bounce and he was out on the flats, racing through the massive spires and other rock formations in this part of Arizona. High above, a blue prop plane sped along, trying its best to keep up with the blue blur below.
"Hang on Knuckles! The change to jet mode might take you by surprise!" Miles 'Tails' Prower yelled over the air rushing past the Tornado 2. The red echidna the comment was directed to paid it no heed, probably because he was not conscious at the moment. The transformation of the small biplane to jet mode however, remedies his condition, bringing him back to reality very violently. The claw that held him had plopped him back down on the hard metal of the jet. Knuckles barely had time to grasp the handholds below him before the Cyclone went into a steep dive, rushing towards the Arizona landscape below.
Sonic glanced over at his friends as they slighted into view. "Hey Tails! Red! Long time no see!" The blue blur called to the aviator and fighter. "We don't have time for formalities Sonic!" Knuckles yelled back. "Here Sonic, look at this!" Sonic leapt at the small paper Tails held out and bounced back to the dusty ground, running backwards. In his wake, he could hear the voice of the Doctor. "In three days I will conquer the world! You're welcome to try, Sonic Heroes." Signed at the bottom was the signature of Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
The paper was ripped out of Sonic's loose grip as he turned back around. "Don't worry Sonic, we got this handled." Knuckles lazily called to the blur beside them. "Are you kidding?! Let's crack that Eggman wide open- Yeah! Time to party!" Tails and Knuckles jumped onto the rocky soil and followed Sonic. "Let's head to Station Square along the Emerald Coast. Eggman seems to favor attacking California." The three disappeared behind a dust cloud as they raced off.
* * * *
The Darkness Gathers
The Final Egg was even darker and more threatening at this time of night. Rouge the Bat slinked through the shadows, deep in her element, searching for anything that GUN had missed in their less than perfect search of the Doctor's former lair. She had already passed any and all areas that were easily accessed and proceeded farther than Metal Sonic had. She knew the Doctor was crafty, but almost the entire base had been laid bare by Sonic's rampage through. Finding an elevator, she dug deeper, heading down through the numerous furnaces at the base of fortress.
Her search unfruitful, she headed back to the elevator shaft. Fortunately, the elevator had already gone back up, exposing a previously hidden emergency exit. The concrete behind the blast door was very new, almost as if Eggman had built it before right before he left. Or he never did. Rouge's train of thought was quickly cut off as the stairway abruptly ended and she dropped into darkness. The seductress fell for what seemed like minutes until she finally landed on diamond plate. Another blast door towered over her and by the looks of it had been under attack recently. Claw marks, plasma burns, and what looked to be the precision of a laser had all tried to bore into the behemoth of a security device, but looked to have barely scratched the surface.
Rouge quickly side flipped into what little shadow was left under the flood lights. A small keyboard sat off to the side, unscathed. "Well, the only password I know of Robotnik's is M-A-R-I-A." Surprisingly, the doors began to slide open.
5 minutes later. . .
After numerous doors had opened, and Rouge had had enough time to reapply her makeup after it melted in the floodlights, she finally glimpsed the inside of the sealed room. What awaited her was little more than disappointing. The room was sterile and sparse. The only defining feature was the capsule that sat in the center of the desolate area. Curiosity overwhelmed her and she bolted for the control panel. Little did she know, stepping in the room had released a monster.
All Systems Optimal. Proceed with Primary Mission.
E-123 Omega rose up from his dormant position in the shadows of the confined area. His steps were heavy upon the ground, scaring the comparatively small bat in front of him. The crack-hiss of depressurization startled them both, and Omega's optics turned toward the now open capsule. The creature within leapt out at him, ruby eyes burning with hatred.
Omega easily threw it off. But it quickly rebounded off the wall and disappeared in a flash of green light and a yell of, "Chaos Control!" With a cry of, "Destroy Eggman Robots!" Omega let loose with the twin gatling guns his arms had transformed into. Depleted uranium rounds flew into coolant pipes and all other sorts of machinery. Shadow reappeared in time to perform quite an array of acrobatic maneuvers, tossing the Yellow Emerald he had found on the shelf of the wall he had hit amongst them, along with the occasional Chaos Control. Pressurized water and air screamed out, sparks flew from ruined electronics, and Rouge watched with a slightly dazed look amongst the madness. Shadow is alive. . ., she said to herself, almost not believing it. Shadow IS alive!
Flamethrowers were already sprouting form Omega's arms to lay down a spread the hedgehog could not possibly avoid when the Ultimate Lifeform dashed at him, already curling for a Spin Dash. E-123 charged, trying to intercept the spiny ball of death before he could shred the robot to pieces. Both were intercepted by the leather clad hands of Rouge, yelling at the same time, "Stop!" Both floundered and dashed away, still circling like hunters.
* * *
When both hedgehog and machine had finally calmed down, Rouge tried to make sense of the situation. "Shadow, do you remember anything after you saved the ARK?" When the hedgehog didn't answer, Rouge asked again. After a second period of silence, Rouge changed things up. "Do you even remember Maria?" When that failed to elicit a response from the Ultimate Lifeform, she became worried. "You don't even know who you are, do you?" The ebony hedgehog turned his head from her and let out a grunt.
Too shocked, she turned to the silent behemoth, optics constantly rolling from side to side. "And what about you?" "Designation: E-123 Omega. Mark III E-100 Series autonomous Battle Mech. At your command." flowed out his rich baritone voice. Rouge absorbed this, and then a malignant grin brew on her face. "Primary targets?" "Dr. Ivo Robotnik, aka Eggman." "Perfect. I guess this means we all have a reason to go after Eggman now. This makes us a team!" With that, the hands of the Ultimate Lifeform, the Ultimate E-Series, and the Ultimate Treasure Hunter joined, united by their thirst for answers and vengeance.
* * * *
Flower Power!
The Emerald Coast was beautiful this time of year, with flowers in bloom and other assortments of pretty girly things, most of which had failed to occupy Amy Rose's mind at the moment. The small pink stalker held a newspaper clipping loosely in her grasp. On the front page of the L.A. Times was a fly-by shot of Sonic the Hedgehog, with the subject the one flying by. Grasped in the hedgehogs hands were one frog and one chao.
The wind suddenly picked up and ripped the clipping loose from her hand. She let out a cry and made a wild grab for it as she rolled out of her beach chair, struggling after the fluttering piece of paper. Once again, the wind picked up and the newspaper flew into the sky. Luckily, Cream the Rabbit saw the escaped article and leapt into the air from her perch atop Amy's beach umbrella. Ears flapping, the young rabbit also made a grab for the flighty ad. As with Amy, she also missed. But backup grabbed the villainous convict. Cheese the Chao fluttered back down to Earth along with Cream.
"Amy, please be more careful with our only clue. Chocola Chao will be hard enough to find with this newspaper." The wind, probably showing spite at Cream's words, picked up once again, bursting into a gale worthy of the barren area known as Montana. Amy remained on her feet, but Cream was swept into the air, large ears acting against her in a battle to remain planted. The sound of a reel filled the air, and fishing line shot towards the pin-wheeling bunny.
Big the Cat snagged Cream and ripped back on his trusty fishing pole, yanking the girl out of the small gust she had been trapped in. The small child landed on the umbrella Big had produced for just that purpose. "Now who's the careful one?" Amy taunted from down the pier. Just the same, the pink hedgehog walked to her friends, adventure gleaming in her eyes. "Well Big, are you ready to go?" "Yes, Miss Rose. The shack is all closed up until I get back." Big drawled out. "Well then, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" The trio set off, intent on finding their missing friends.
* * * *
PI Stands for Partially Insane!!
Today was a slow day on Angel Island. It had all the signs of being beautiful: butterflies lazily fluttering, the trees swaying in the warm breeze, and long shadows cast by the mushrooms perfect for lazing about in. Unfortunately, such was not the case for Espio and Vector. Both were stuck inside, acting as perimeter defense while Mighty, Heavy, and Bomb sat in the Hidden Palace as a last line of defense in the absence of Knuckles. The other member of the Chaotix was currently off the island, collecting mail and any information he could gather on the outside world.
Vector was reclined in his less than comfortable chair as he listened to his tunes, not trying in the least to not disturb the meditating chameleon across the room. Both were in their own little worlds, tightly focused and completely unaware, in Vector's case. The slightest movement of Espio's ear denoted a disturbance in his surroundings. Moments later, Charmy the Bee burst through the door, carrying a small bundle. "It's here! It's here!" screamed the child of six. The loud banging disturbed Vector and he overbalanced in his chair. Arms flailing, he managed to catch Charmy in the chin with a wild swing. The package flew through the air, Vector came crashing to the ground, and Espio finally opened his eyes. Instantaneously, a small throwing knife whistled above Vector's head. The small projectile sliced cleanly through the wrapping paper, dropping a small cellular phone into Vector's lap.
Seconds passed. The crocodile reached for the offending cell phone, and it rang. Quickly answering, Vector slipped off his headphones and muttered, "Hello?" A digitized voice answered, "Is this the Chaotix Detective Agency?" "Who wants to know?" "If you need a job, call me back when you reach the Emerald Coast. You will be well paid." The line went dead and Vector closed the cell phone. "You heard it boys, we have a job to do. Espio, head to the Hidden Palace and inform Mighty where we're going, tell him not to expect us for awhile." The chameleon nodded and disappeared back into the shadows, and the door opened and closed momentarily afterward.
A/N: If you couldn't tell, I feel this looks much better grouped as one. Finally back to writing with a lack of reading. Wish me luck!