FT Chapter 2: The Blue Bounty
"Axel, why did you get me to land us so far away from where Sonic is again?" Jack asked chopping down leaves in the path
"Well if we landed any closer Sonic would've ran, especially if he saw us coming" Axel replied looking at the map Eggman had left them to where Sonic was
As they kept walking the forest got harder and harder to get through with all the oversized leaves and trees. Axel was mainly reading the map and looking through what Eggman had left them in the package while Jack kept cutting down the leaves to clear a path when he came to a sudden halt.
"Why did I not bring the grappling hook this time" Jack said with a drawn out sigh
"What's wrong?" Axel asked
"A huge river, why is there a river of this size in a forest like this!" Jack exclaimed dropping the knife and rubbing his head in confusion
"I dunno, why not just use your rocket boot's to fly across" Axel asked looking for a way across
"I still haven't fixed them, haven't had the time" Jack replied quickly sitting down on the ground
"Really, we've had like months since our last mission and you still haven't fixed them!" Axel exclaimed in frustration as he decided to sit down as well
"If we were only more careful, we wouldn't be in this situation" Axel said furiously looking at the river trying to figure a way across
"It isn't your fault Jessabel has been kidnapped, he found us even with all of our systems down, once we get this done you'll see her again" Jack said trying to calm him down
"I wasn't talking about that" Axel said
"Then what were you talking about?" Jack asked puzzled
Axel drew his gunblade from his sheath and looked at it thinking of the past and what happened that un-fateful night
"You mean the orphanage?" Jack asked
"Yeah, how did that all happen, that one night and all of a sudden look where we are" Axel said in quiet tone
"It's still a puzzle to me as well but maybe it just happened because it did" Jack replied
"Maybe, but still I remember all my time there clearly, it's like it was only last week" Axel said looking up at the sky
"This isn't like you to be so bright" Jack said laughing a bit
"Yeah, I just want this to be over, settle down with you and Jessabel, live a little and just you know, put this behind us" Axel said looking back down at the river and its rushing waterways
"Would be nice to settle down a bit, travel a bit in a more casual way instead of going out and trying to pop a few heads" Jack replied
All of a sudden Jack felt a vibration coming from one of his Jacket's pockets, it was his communicator and it seemed someone was calling it
"Axel, I think this may be for you" Jack said throwing it to him
As Axel answered it and a voice he knew all too well came on
"How's the hunt going?" Eggman asked in a sly tone
"We've hit a road block and we can't exactly get past it" Axel replied
"Well get past it, remember your darling sister is on the line here!" Eggman exclaimed in a furious tone before hanging up
"God damn it, I hate working for this guy" Axel said
"Want me to put him down as a target to hit in the future?" Jack asked pulling out his notepad
"Please" Axel said as he stood back up
"Come on, we better figure out a way across"
"Better than sitting here I guess" Jack shrugged as he got as well
The pair of them continued walking along the side of the river looking for a sign of some way to cross it. Step after step they still couldn't find a way across and it seemed that the rushing waters went on for ages with no end of it insight. Axel became frustrated and kicked a tree in frustration but ended up hurting his right foot in the process
"You know, for a guy who's good with a gun you sure don't know crap about nature" Jack said walking past Axel while he hopped on his left foot
Jack suddenly came to a stop and looked back down and up at the other end of the River. He noticed something about the tree on the other side
"I think I might've just figured out a way across" Jack said as he pulled out a grenade from his pocket and a rope from the other
"You're not going to do what I think you're about to do" Axel said watching as Jack drew his arm back
Jack swung his arm around a few times before throwing it forward and sent the grenade flying to the other end. The grenade stuck to the tree and began to flicker a green light ever few seconds. Jack pulled out a detonator from his pocket vest
"You want to blow it up?" Jack asked putting the detonator in front of Axel
Axel hastily took the detonator from Jack's hand before pressing the detonation button. As the detonation went off the tree begun to fall over on to the side Axel and Jack were on. They both quickly dodged the tree by going left and right before it landed.
"Why didn't I think of this earlier" Jack said
"Let's just get moving" Axel said jumping up and began walking across carefully across making sure not to slip
Jack followed a moment later and noticed how fast the water was moving underneath his feat and wondered if the log would hold. As Axel proceeded to cut down a path through the forest, Jack was too busy looking at the map this time to notice where he was going and at one point strayed from the path and Axel was forced to grab him and turn him around.
"Hmm, this looks interesting" Axel said as bent down
"What is it?" Jack asked stopping
"A shoe print, looks like Sonic is around here, can you hand me the map?" Axel asked putting his hand out while looking at the shoe print. Jack passed the map to Axel
As Axel compared the direction of the footprint and where on the map Eggman said Sonic was going to be, he noticed that he was headed in the right direction. Axel drew his gun blade and switched into its gun form
"He's up ahead" Axel smirked
"So how do you want to handle this?" Jack asked
"Sonics main element is speed, now this area is full of branches and tree's which he can use to his advantage to jump around and strike us around from the back, but so can we" Axel said pulling out two magazines from his Jacket
"So what, you want to set them up as a trap or something? Jack asked putting the map in his pocket and pulling out his
"Yeah, I need you to get on top of them and then set up a few shock pellets, that way he won't be able to use them" Axel replied putting the magazine's in his gunblade, one of the bottom and one on the top before the blade split into two guns.
"Since when could Silvertooth do that?" Jack asked climbing up a tree
"I'll tell you later, now get a move on we don't have much time" Axel replied making his way towards Sonic's location
Axel's POV
As I made my way though the shrubs and bushes I kept making sure that Sonic didn't here as giving away my position would evidently end up with Sonic getting away and I can't afford that, not with Jessabel's life on the line this time. Sonic might be fast but I've got a surprise for him.
"Axel I've got my eyes on Sonic keep heading north, but he seems to have company with him" Jack said
"What, who's with him?" I asked still sprinting through the grass making my way north to him
"I dunno, they haven't said their names yet" he replied as I came to a halt after I saw Sonic was up ahead
"I see them Jack" I said
As I approached Sonic, I decided it would be best if I stayed back a bit so I could find out a bit more about the un-invited guests
"I wonder what Tails is up to?" Sonic asked himself out loud
"You can ask him when we get back" A female voice replied, obviously someone else was with him
"I know Sally, I'm just curious"
"Well could you stop day dreaming and help me and Bunnie out?" Sally asked in a grumpy tone
"Fine, what is it we're looking for again?" Sonic replied
Obviously Eggman's plan isn't going to be as easy I first thought it would be, epically with these two around. Now Jack and I have to think of a new way to approach this.
"Seems like we've hit a bit of a brick wall here" Jack said over the com
"Yeah, we can't use our previous plan" I replied
"Not wrong there, I'm curious to know who fitted out the cybernetics on Bunnie" Jack replied
"Yeah, those look like they can pack a punch, how did you figure out her name?"
"Sally, she mentioned that earlier"
Looking at the situation now, it just seemed like a good idea to rush in and confuse them, but then that's going to make it difficult to get away in time. Maybe if I picked them off one by one, no Sonic would make a runner before I could hit him. Great, looks like I'm going to have to use the only tactic that doesn't involve me thinking
"Have you got any smoke bombs or flash bangs on you Jack?"
"No, I thought we were going to be dealing with just one target"
"Great, I guess we're just going to have to resort to plan B"
"Ah plan B, what's plan B again Axel?"
"Simple, we rush in, take Sonic out and then ditch this place" I replied
As I got up I made sure to move quickly so that the trio of them had little chance of seeing me move around. As I moved closer I made sure to hide behind trees and use the cover to my advantage. I was only a few steps away after moving around for a few minutes and I proceeded to put Silvertooth back into its normal form.
"Jack, on my mark get ready to spring them"
"Ready when you are" He replied
I switched Silvertooth into its gun state and aimed down the sights at Sonic, as I proceeded to pull the trigger I heard something coming up from behind me which made me freeze half way. Before I knew it I was thrown out into the open in front of Sonic and his friends, I quickly regained my posture before pointing the gun at him.
"Don't even think about it, you're out-numbered four to one" Sally said
"Jack, where the hell are you" I muttered
All of a sudden Jack jumped out the tree and proceeded to throw down some shock pellets causing them to move back
"You should've told me you had some of those" I retorted
"Funny, looks like you were finally introduced to Knuckles" Jack said
"How do you know his name?" I asked
"Background research in my free time, I'll explain later"
As the field went down Bunnie aimed her hand at us which in fact was a cannon, she opened fire but Jack and I both dodged it before I sprinted forward trying to hit Sonic. His damn speed makes it nearly impossible to hit him, each attack I throw at him he just dodges without a care in the world as if it's nothing to him.
"Stay still damn it!" I exclaimed as each round I fired whizzed past him
Jack seemed to have his hands full with Sally and Bunnie while I was stuck with Knuckles and Sonic. Knuckles attacks were easy to block but Sonic keeps spin balling at me which is throwing me off balance. I eventually got my footing back and rebounded Sonic's spinball throwing him face first into a tree, before I could take the shot at Sonic I noticed that Jack was being over whelmed by Bunnie and Sally but also Knuckles had joined in on the fight
"Axel, finish him off already so we can get out here!" Jack exclaimed, he was being backed into a corner but was holding his ground
Before I could take the shot I witnessed Jack being hit by Bunnies hand cannon and knocked out, eventually they turned their attention to me, the barrel was aiming down at Sonic's head but I was hesitating to pull the trigger and I couldn't figure out why. Looking at my odd's I decided it's best to pull out leaving Jack behind but using that to my advantaged, I quickly sprinted off into the forest towards the Jet but surprisingly I wasn't being followed , I guess capturing Jack was more important to them than catching the person who just tried to take a life.
"You better hope this plan C will work, they're taking me back to where ever they came from" I heard Jack whisper over the com
"It will, I'll see you in a bit" I replied hoping into the Jet, thankfully Jack gave me a few flying lessons a while back I'm just glad I didn't crash the jet back then.