Chapter 2 – A Botched Mission
Cynder, Draco, Percival and Torden flew as quickly as they could to North America with Tails flying his Tornado Z next to them. Sonic was on board the wings of the plane while Blaze and Bowser were inside. Earlier, they and the rest of their friends have attended a conference where they learned from some of the Anthro League's spies the location of Doctor Eggman's laboratory. It was the information they needed in order to recover the Chaos Emeralds, including the ones stolen from them.
"How much longer, Tails?" Sonic asked impatiently. "I want to crack that Eggman wide open!"
"Hang in there, Sonic," said Tails. "We should not be so far away from Alaska now, only in less than fifteen minutes or so."
"Fifteen minutes? That takes forever!" pouted Sonic. "I could have infiltrated Eggman's lab in less than ten seconds!"
"Just be patient, Sonic," said Blaze. "It won't be long now."
Sonic could only mutter to himself as the team continued their flight. Eventually, they reached land as they could see the snowy mountains ahead.
"At last, we're here!" exclaimed Tails. "Come on, guys, full speed ahead!"
Cynder relished at the cold air of Alaska as it felt very similar to her home land of Norway. "I just love how freezing this place is," she said. "And it's so wonderful to see the snow again."
"Maybe for you, but not all of us," said Percival as he and Draco shivered uncontrollably.
"I should have packed a parka if I knew it was going to be nippy," said Sonic. "A chili dog would also help to keep my tummy warm."
"I think it's nice," said Torden. "Lily surely would agree with me and Cynder."
This made Cynder feel content that she had at least one member on her team aside from Blaze who did not mind the cold weather.
"Right then," said Tails. "According to the spies of the Anthro League, Eggman's hideout is somewhere in the Denali Mountains."
"We better plan carefully as well, Tails," said Blaze. "Eggman probably has the place heavily guarded by armies of robots, and we can't afford to get caught since we know his penchant for converting anyone unfortunate to stumble on his turf into part of his robotic regime."
Sure enough, when everyone arrived at the mountains, they could see that below them were legions of Egg Pawns patrolling the area. Several Egg Knights were stationed all around, keeping a sharp eye for intruders.
Landing down to a remote location not far from the mountains, the team assessed the situation, and realised that getting into the laboratory altogether would be risky, especially without finding a way to sneak inside undetected.
"There must be another way in," said Draco. "The only question is, in which mountain and where could an alternate entry be at?"
Just then Sonic noticed something peculiar protruding from a certain mountain. "Check this out," he said. "It looks like some kind of air vent, and it's wide enough to fit a Koopa inside."
"So what's the plan?" asked Percival.
"I got it all figured out," said Blaze as she noticed a pair of broken down Egg Pawns. "Cynder and I will disguise as robots so we can penetrate the laboratory right from within. Sonic, Draco, Percival, and Bowser, you four will enter the air vent and wait for us."
"And what will I do?" asked Tails.
"I think it will be best that you stay outside, Tails," said Sonic. "We need someone to keep an eye out for patrols so that we can escape without getting caught once we get the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald from Eggman."
"Okay then," said Tails, secretly wishing that he could tag along with his friends on the mission. "Please be careful, all of you."
"We will do our best," promised Blaze, and she and Cynder managed to fit into the Egg Pawns. "Sonic, lead the dragons into the air vent, and we'll meet you inside the lab."
"Let's do this!" declared Sonic. "Follow me, boys!"
"Yes, Sonic," said Draco, Percival, Torden and Bowser, and they all entered into the air vent while Blaze and Cynder, disguised as Egg Pawns, hurried to follow a certain patrol returning to the main entrance of Eggman's laboratory.
Inside the mountain was a dark, forbidding base, complete with machinery and robots. The main entrance door opened, allowing the Egg Pawn patrol inside. While most of them made their way into another room, two continued to the direction of one of the air ducts. Blaze and Cynder approached the duct and searched for a vent, where they knew Sonic, Draco, Percival, Torden and Bowser would be.
Meanwhile, Sonic made their way through the air ducts and found a vent leading into the laboratory. They stopped and waited for Cynder and Blaze to arrive. When they saw two Egg Pawns making their way to the air ducts, they stood back trying their best not to get caught. The Egg Pawns opened the vent and scanned around the interior, before opening themselves to reveal Blaze and Cynder.
"Good to see that you're just where we expected you would be," said Blaze.
"Perfect timing, Blaze and Cynder," said Sonic. He turned to the other dragons. "Let's get this underway! Draco, Percival and Bowser, stay inside and keep an eye for any robots that might come our way. If you see them, give us the signal, got it?"
"Not a problem, Sonic," said Draco.
Sonic and Torden smiled and they jumped out of the vent to join with Blaze and Cynder. "Time to do this, girls!" he said. "Chaos Emeralds, here we come!"
"Please do take care!" called Draco.
"Best of luck, Sonic, Cynder, Torden and Blaze!" called Percival.
"Give it your best shot!" called Bowser.
Sonic, Blaze, Cynder and Torden made their way around the laboratory as they searched for the Chaos Emeralds. They sneaked quietly through the rooms, doing their best to avoid getting caught by Eggman's robots.
"They must around here somewhere," whispered Sonic.
"Finding the Chaos Emeralds is not going to be easy," said Torden. "We're like mice in a maze and wherever they may be, they could be far away from us, like in a distant room or something."
"What do you make of that over there?" asked Cynder as she pointed at what looked like a machine that held items.
"Let's have a look then," said Blaze, and slowly they approached the machine, but found nothing. There were no Chaos Emeralds and not even the Master Emerald contained.
"Perhaps we should try looking up where they currently are," said Sonic.
"Allow me, then," said Blaze as she typed away at the keyboard. "Good thing Tails has taught me something about computers, so I might have an idea of where we could find the Emeralds."
Several minutes of loading passed, and to their dismay, they discovered that the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald have already been shipped off, scheduled to be delivered to the Death Egg.
"Darn it!" pouted Sonic. "They must be already sent into space!"
"Hold on," said Blaze. "The machine states that they are about to be sent to Eggman's battle station, so maybe we're not too late."
"That's good news then," said Cynder. "I suppose we should find out where they're being shipped and hurry there before the cargo could take off."
Back in air duct, Draco, Percival and Bowser noticed some Egg Pawns patrolling the room, and they came dangerously close to their location. They stood back very still and quietly. When the Egg Pawns turned back, Percival sighed in relief. "Talk about a near miss," he said. "Thank goodness nothing bad happened."
But then, there came trouble.
The cold air of outside eventually caught up to Percival, and all of a sudden, he felt stuffy inside his nose. Draco and Bowser realised what was to come.
"No, Percival," they begged. "Please, don't sneeze."
"Aha, I don't think I can hold it!" stammered Percival as he tried to hold in the sneeze, but to no avail. "I could feel it coming! Ah, ah, ah… ATCHOO!"
With a loud sneeze, Percival blew the vent open, causing a loud clang and he fell off with a thud into the laboratory. The noise caught the robots' attention and they spotted Percival. Immediately, they opened fire, and the dragon flew quickly into the air duct. The alarm blared, and Sonic, Torden, Cynder and Blaze rushed out, realising their cover was blown.
"Cynder and Blaze," said Sonic. "Torden and I will distract the robots, and when the coast is clear, hurry into the air ducts!"
"Right," said the girls.
Sonic and Torden raced in front of the robots and goaded them into giving chase. While the robots went after the duo, Cynder and Blaze ran for the air ducts and leapt up where they found Draco, Percival and Bowser. They sped through the winding ducts as an Egg Pawn pursued them. Bowser realised that if he went with them, they will get caught outside, so he decided to distract the robot.
"Bowser, where are you going?" asked Draco as he saw the Koopa going to the opposite direction. "The exit's that way!"
"I'm going to make a diversion," said Bowser. "You four continue on!"
"No, you can't do that!" exclaimed Draco. "You'll get caught for sure!"
"Don't worry about me," said Bowser. "All that matters now is your safety and need to escape. Now quickly get the hell out of here as fast as you can!"
With no other choice, the group did as Bowser told them while he waited for the Egg Pawn, and then dashed off with the robot going after him.
It was not long until the team made it out of Eggman's laboratory. Cynder, Draco, Percival, and Blaze reunited with Tails, and soon Sonic and Torden joined them. Sonic checked to make sure everyone was present.
"Okay, that's about most of you," he said. "But where's Bowser?"
Author's Note: Oh, no. It seems that Bowser has been captured. What will happen to him now? Can the team save him? Find out soon!
