Chapter 3 – The Lion and the Dragon
Seething with anger at losing the Chaos Emerald thanks to the Pyre Squad, Doctor Eggman stomped into his laboratory in the mountains. He was certain that Tails, Blaze and their dragons took it, which made him felt that they must have already found Sonic.
"I was so close to achieving my goal," he muttered to himself. "And those three fools have ruined it! Well, now they have made it into my list of sworn enemies!"
While the robots continued their work in the laboratory, Eggman went to his computer, figuring out his next course of action for world domination, but he was more interested in discovering more about the Pyre Squad.
"Computer!" he barked. "I want you to analyse the names of Ciara, Scorcher, and Cronk!"
After typing in the names, the computer started loading and searching for information. It took some time before it finally found what Eggman has been looking for. Squinting at the screen, he read the background on the Pyre Squad.
Ciara, Scorcher and Cronk, a trio of dragons from a dragon supremacist organisation called the Obsidian Devourers. Status of which is unknown, as apparently it is hiding somewhere after the Dark Queen Vildouleur was destroyed and is currently under the leadership of Lord Sardius. Ultimate goal is to achieve global dictatorship under a dragon regime.
Eggman smirked after reading their profile information.
"Ha! Fat chance that they will conquer the world!" he scoffed. "Only I have the privilege to rule this planet, and there's no way that anybody, not even a bunch of giant fire-breathing lizards, will take that away from me! No matter, the Pyre Squad wouldn't even know how to use the Chaos Emeralds properly, and speaking of which, I've got six more to find before those miserable misfits can, especially that blue hedgehog! That failure was a mere setback."
Doctor Eggman stood up from his seat and as he thought about his next move, a sinister grin crossed his face when he figured out what he was going to do.
"Doctor, what is your command?" asked one of the egg pawns.
"Assemble all aerial and ground fleets!" ordered Eggman. "The time has come for us to attack the unsuspecting nations! The next phase of our hostile takeover is at hand!"
"Affirmative," replied the egg pawn, and they went back the opposite direction.
Eggman climbed onto his Eggmobile and started the engine, feeling more confident that his next plan was not going to end in failure this time.
It's only a matter of time, he thought to himself. Soon after I get all the major cities in panic, they will be greeted by my latest superweapon. Everyone will have no choice but to grovel at my feet if they know what's good for them!
"It shouldn't take them that long to get back here now. What's keeping them?"
Torden grumbled impatiently as he, the dragons, Charonus, Jimmy and Hero waited for Cynder and Tails to return with Sonic. Amy, Cream, Bowser, Jeremy and the Kremlings were also with the group. It had only been a couple of hours after the conclusion of the Anthro League meeting, but to Torden, he felt as if he had been waiting forever.
"Patience, Torden," said Blaze. "It is a bit of a flight towards Scotland, so they will take some time to finally come back."
"I just want to really crack that Eggman open for all the atrocities he's doing right at this moment!" declared Torden. "That kind of deed is unforgivable!"
"We won't be going anywhere being too rash," said Charonus. "Now, we really need a plan on how we'll hold him off while hunting for the Chaos Emeralds."
"That should not be a problem," said Jimmy.
"What do you mean?" asked Draco.
"After taking some thought on the Eggman and your quest on finding the Chaos Emeralds, Hero and I have decided that we will handle these tasks individually," said Jimmy. "In other words, one of us will accompany you into finding the emeralds while the other will be leading the fleet to counter Eggman's robot army."
"So, who's going to go with us and who's going to lead the fleet?" asked Jeremy.
"We have already decided, amigo," said Hero. "Jimmy has helped me learn how to pilot aircraft, though I still decided to use my wings to go around, and I'll be the one leading the aerial feet."
"As for me, I'm going to accompany you on your hunt for the emeralds," said Jimmy. "Aside from being a pilot, I'm also pretty good at searching for treasure, so whenever you need some assistance in finding something of value, like gems, stones, and all that, I'm pleased to be at your service."
"That's good to know," said Lily. "We're going to need all the help we can get!"
"I better hurry to catch up with the air fleet to Alaska," said Hero. "It's going to be one tough mission, but I will do my best in fending off the robots, Jimmy."
"Good luck, Hero," said Jimmy. "Please promise that you will come back in one piece."
"I'll try, amigo," promised Hero and he shook his lion friend's hand.
"See you when you get back, Hero!" called the dragons.
Hero nodded as he took off into the sky to meet the Anthro League airfleet.
"Now then," began Jimmy. "Where are we going?"
"Well, Jimmy, we have to wait for Tails and Cynder to come back with someone who could really be of great help to us," said Draco. "We don't know if they have managed to recruit him into the Anthro League, though."
"I'm sure he will," said Amy. "My Sonic would never back down to challenging Eggman, you can bet on that."
"Sonic the Hedgehog?" asked Jimmy. "You're talking about the Sonic who saved the world from the dictatorship of Eggman twenty years ago?"
"Yes, that is correct," said Torden. "How do you know about him?"
"He has been a legend among us anthros," replied Jimmy. "Although he never was part of the Anthro League, I can safely say that he has the qualifications to become an honorary member."
"Wow," said Draco. "It sounds like he has accomplished a lot to lay an impression on you."
"Indeed he has," smiled Jimmy.
"One thing, though," said Percival. "Tails still has the Chaos Locator 5000, so we can't be able to carry on the task of finding the emeralds without it."
"I wouldn't say that," said Blaze and she took out of her pocket the very machine they needed. "Tails considered that we might be starting the search right after the meeting, so he gave the Chaos Locator to me before he left."