15 Years Later Chapter 1: Rising Evil

Chapter 6: Escape from S.T.I.N.G.

Fang had been awake for a while now. She had come to from her being knocked out by Sonic earlier just after the aforementioned hedgehog had left with Sally to rescue Zoe. The rattlesnake had quickly realized what was going on and what had happened upon noticing her surroundings. She was in a cell, a huge metal square of three walls and a glass door separating her from the outside world. There was only a bed, a sink and a toilet for her to use, nothing more. If the word "boring" had an image to sum it up, it would look like this cell.

There was only one person watching the cell, and that was Balto the Wolf. He had been watching the moment Sally had assigned him to keep an eye on her. He was instructed to interrogate Fang and make her tell him where S.T.I.N.G. was located if Sonic and Sally needed him to. He had watched as Fang had used the sink to wet her hands and wipe her face clean from the dried up blood just under her nose. The villainess was seething with anger to herself. Why hadn't she killed Sonic when she had the chance? Why did she let her sexual tendencies get the best of her?! Now she was stuck in a cell with no way of calling for help! If she ever got out of this cell, she would rectify her mistake. Next time she had Sonic unconscious, she would just kill him already.

In the time that the king and queen had spent looking for S.T.I.N.G.'s base, Fang had remained silent, never once saying a word to Balto. Balto kept his eyes fixated on her, never once letting his attention divert from his task at hand. He hadn't received any calls indicating they needed that Plan B yet so he was still standing and waiting, treating Fang as if she was a bomb waiting to go off. The rattlesnake had tried to use her rattle to knock him out so he could stop spying on her but the glass muffled the effects of her rattle power. While it wasn't sound proof, it was enough to make her weapon useless. Fang seemed irritated at this, realizing that in order for her weapon to work, there had to be nothing muffling the sound so her victims could hear it clearly.

After that, she'd just slumped on the bed, hoping that Balto would go away. The wolf did not leave. He was still watching her. He was secretly impressed at how long Fang had been keeping quiet for. It was almost as if the reptile wanted to show that she wasn't intimidated and was maybe even trying to make him feel uneasy by being silent.

This woman sure is a creepy character... he thought, But I won't let that deter me. My duty to the crown comes first...

Balto often prided himself on his loyalty to not only the Royal Fighters Service, but the king and queen of New Mobotropolis. Any treason committed against the crown was considered unforgivable in his eyes. And hearing about S.T.I.N.G. and their plans to kill Sonic whilst also worshiping the king's long since passed arch-enemy was enough to make him want to declare war on the group. As long as he was around, he would make sure Fang did not leave this cell.

Then suddenly, to his surprise, the rattlesnake sat up and walked up towards him, a cold smile on her scaly face. This was the closest she had gotten to the sergeant wolf the whole time he'd been watching her. Balto braced himself, preparing for whatever was going to happen next.

"Can you kindly piss off already?" Fang snorted, "I feel violated with you watching me like that."

The tone of her voice didn't exactly match her words. She sounded almost like she was taunting the wolf. The R.F.S. sergeant frowned.

"You're one to talk given you attempted to rape his majesty the king..." he snarled.

Sally had been generous enough to tell him that important fact. Fang seemed almost amused that he knew about that.

"Can't say I'm surprised that your precious king blabbed about that..." she sneered, "Just like that self-righteous hedgehog to complain over nothing."

"Actually, I came to know about that from her majesty the queen, who had been told by Sonic." Balto corrected, "And you're sick if you think the fact you almost raped him is "complaining over nothing"! I swear I could just open up this cell and hammer you into the ground right now!" he snarled.

"Oh good, I like a man who can give me a good banging." Fang jeered, "It's more fun for me when I end up breaking them that way."

Balto could feel himself losing his temper and he had to force himself not to go out of control. This pervert was just trying to agitate him, make him lose control and do something stupid because of it. He wouldn't let Fang get to him. Composing himself, Balto spoke again, his tone a lot softer now.

"So Fang, tell me. Why does your group, S.T.I.N.G. I believe they're called, worship Eggman?" the sergeant asked, "Do you even realize what Eggman did when he was alive?"

"He roboticized us all and made us his personal slaves, yes, we know all about that." Fang said casually, "So what?"

"So what? SO WHAT?!" Balto shouted, "You mean to tell me that you seem perfectly fine with the fact that Eggman wanted to enslave us all and take away our freedom?! You think that's OK?!"

"The enslaving part is the only thing we took issue with." the rattlesnake retorted, "Otherwise, we think Eggman had the right mindset for a perfect world. Can you imagine the many benefits of a world where everybody is a robot? Disease would never take away innocent lives, we would live forever, we would never be victims of tragedy again and anything that breaks in us could just be replaced. Why is it the Royal Fighters Service is too self-righteous and sanctimonious to realize that Eggman's vision of a perfect world is the right one? Are you really all so blind to the facts that rather than beneficial, you see a world of robots as nothing more than what you perceive as "wrong"?"

Balto could scarcely believe what he was hearing. He had known Dr. Eggman as an evil, dictatorial man with delusions of grandeur and had always supported the R.F.S. in its attempts to stop him. He had even fought alongside many fellow soldiers before he had been promoted to sergeant. And now he was listening to this freak of nature actually saying the R.F.S. were wrong to fight against Eggman and Eggman's vision was the correct one all along?! He was sure that he was dreaming or at least hearing things. Nobody in the world could be this blind to reality could they?!

Balto places his hands against the glass, his face contorted with hate. Fang didn't seem to care. She just seemed to think the whole thing was a game for her. She was riling him up and enjoying it.

"I won't deny you do make fair points in what you've said." the wolf growled, "But why worship Eggman? He wasn't interested in benefiting us at all! Just enslaving us! Did that important fact ever cross your mind at all or is it about time I took off your fangirl goggles?!"

"We know that and we don't worship Eggman for wanting to enslave us." Fang retorted, "You must've heard me wrong when I said "the enslaving part was the only thing we took issue with". Me and my fellow S.T.I.N.G. members worship the late doctor for his great vision, not his dictatorship. We believe a world of robots is what Mobius should be. We could be the greatest race in the entire galaxy and nobody would ever be a match for us. Remember the alien invasions we've had to endure? Three if I recall. If we were to be invaded again...ha, ha, ha...we would be invincible if we were all Robians."

She paused for a moment, running her forked tongue over her scaly lips.

"Don't you see you short-sighted clod? Sonic is the one who deserves to be locked up, not me or anybody else I'm affiliated with." the reptillian woman hissed, "We could be greater than ever before what with Eggman's great view of a perfect world and he's holding us back. Sonic and anybody affiliated with him are true dictators, they're the ones who think they know what is best for us. They're just like all the idiots who opposed the doctor. They just don't like what they don't perceive as..."natural". You're all scared of change, all scared of what you don't agree with. And all Sonic has done is taken advantage of all of your fears, blinded you with his own arrogance and self-righteous beliefs and manipulated you all into believing that he is right and everybody against him is wrong. So tell me wolf boy...why do you worship a king who's in a sense, thrice the dictator Dr. Eggman ever was?"

That did it. Balto finally lost his cool and banged against the door in anger. Several guards who were watching over the whole detention centre looked up, wondering what was going on. One guard in particular, a Mobian mole with golden fur and buck teeth, looked nervous. He was directly behind Balto, watching over a cell facing Fang's, and wondering whether to get involved or not. The sergeant gritted his teeth as he thumped the button on the control panel that would open Fang's cell. The glass door rose up and Balto then thumped the close button as he rolled into the cell so Fang wouldn't be able to escape. The door slammed shut, trapping the villainess snake with the enraged wolf. Balto grabbed hold of Fang and threw her straight into the wall at the back of her cell. Fang hit it and came down with a thud onto the bed. She scrambled onto her feet only for the wolf to then grab her by the neck and slam her head against the sink. Fang was disoriented by the slam and blood started trickling out of a slight wound in her forehead. Balto then pinned her to the wall, his face a snarling mask of fury with his eyes tiny pinpricks of rage.

"DON'T YOU EVER, EVER BADMOUTH HIS MAJESTY, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" the sergeant bellowed, his voice so loud that even the glass door couldn't muffle the volume of it. Every prisoner on the block heard him bellowing and just considered themselves lucky Balto wasn't in there with them.

"Careful sergeant, your loyalty to the crown will only get you killed..." Fang taunted.

Balto drew his arm back, ready to land a killer punch to the snake's throat. If anybody asked about it, he would lie to them, say that Fang was trying to kill him and he only reacted defensively. He had no choice, it was kill or be killed. Balto's punch would slam straight into the middle of the snake's neck, crushing her windpipe and suffocating her. Fang deserved to die and that's all he cared about. But then suddenly, an ear-splitting bang was heard from directly behind Balto. And following the bang came a spray of blood leaping out from behind the wolf's head. Balto's eyes widened upon being hit. Then he crumpled, collapsing down onto the floor dead. Blood began to pour out from the wound in his head, forming a grotesque red puddle underneath him. Fang didn't even look shocked or surprised that had happened. It was as if...she had ANTICIPATED this to happen! She smiled, pleased to see the foolish sergeant dead at her feet.

"Well done Ramirez." she purred, "Your loyalty to S.T.I.N.G. will be rewarded once I get back to base.

Ramirez was the mole who had watched Balto lose his cool and storm into Fang's cell. He had opened up the cell once Balto had closed it and had shot the sergeant before he could kill the rattlesnake. Ramirez wasn't even a real guard working for the Detention Centre. He was a mole in every possible meaning of the word, his loyalty not to Sonic or the crown. He was with S.T.I.N.G., one of many hidden agents they had around the world. He had been pretending to be a guard for over a week, waiting for the right time to reveal his hand. That time had just come. Ramirez walked up to Fang, his expression blank as he raised his arm and turned a dial on what looked like a watch he wore. It wasn't a watch, it was a highly sophisticated gadget that produced a hologram around the person who wore it, a holographic emitter.

His true species was not in fact, a mole, but a chameleon with dark green scales and a tattoo of the Dr. Eggman symbol on his forehead. Ramirez was S.T.I.N.G.'s "chameleon man", his job being to disguise himself as anybody he could and slip in, mingling in with the crowd until the time was right for him to reveal himself. He also had a crush on Fang and would do anything to keep her safe. The rattlesnake embraced him, grateful for his save.

"You truly are the kind of man a woman dreams about..." Fang purred.

"My loyalty is to you and anyone you're associated with." Ramirez declared, "All the idiots who opposed Eggman will pay for their bigoted behaviour against him!"

"And wolf boy here has done just that..." the snake crowed.

Fang and Ramirez then walked out of the cell together, side-by-side, as all the other guards formed a defensive wall to keep them from leaving. A few of them had witnessed Balto's murder and were quick to inform the others. Now they were together, determined to stop the two reptiles from leaving.

"Halt! Stay where you are or we will open fire!" snarled one of the guards.

Fang instead just shook her rattle. The loud sound pounded around the room and the guards all clutched their ears in agony. The noise was disorienting them and they were all finding it hard to stay focused. Fang continued shaking, Ramirez just standing by and watching with a sick smile on his face. Then, one by one, all the guards in the prison began to collapse on to the floor, completely unconscious. Satisfied, Fang and Ramirez walked on out of the Detention Centre and into the open city outside. Fang found herself feeling a twinge of excitement. She was there, right in the heart of Sonic's kingdom! New Mobotropolis itself was all hers! She wanted to get back to base but the serpent woman had other ideas. Why leave now when she could take advantage of this situation?

"Ramirez, before we leave...I have something I want to do." Fang purred.

"What is that then m'lady?" the chameleon asked.

"We could easily leave our mark in New Mobotropolis, let S.T.I.N.G show this pathetic city that it is to be taken seriously and we are no hollow threat." the snake suggested.

"What do you have in mind?" Ramirez asked.

Fang glanced over at Castle Acorn, standing tall and proud in the middle of the city like a king overlooking his kingdom. Seeing it made her smile a sick smile of delight.

"What better way to take a shot at the king than to destroy his own castle...?" Fang hissed gleefully.

Ramirez nodded, knowing exactly what his love was talking about.

"Then let's do it." he said enthusiastically, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small, spherical object...


Meanwhile, Sonic and Sally braced themselves as Breakdown came charging towards them like an aircraft performing a dive-bomb manouvere. The sheer size and speed of the Robian barracuda was enough to make the two dive for cover before they could be hit. Breakdown slammed into the ground, kicking up chunks of soil and stone as his narrow, javelin shaped jaws scraped the surface. Before he could attack again, Sally leapt onto Breakdown's back and plunged her laser blades straight into his back. Breakdown let out a horrible, metallic screech as he was penetrated. To him, the stab hurt as much as a stab through flesh and bone would normally hurt. The Robian writhed around frantically, trying to throw the queen off of himself. Sally's blades were still in his back, making it hard to shake her off. The queen then pulled her arms upwards, leaving two large gashes across his back. Breakdown screeched again, feeling a mixture of both pain and anger. He turned his head and opened his jaws. He lashed towards Sally, intending to snatch her up and swallow her whole, imprisoning her inside as he had done to Zoe earlier. But Sally jumped off, causing Breakdown to miss and bite himself by accident. The attack left Breakdown full of deep, puncturing holes where he had bitten himself. He let out another roar of annoyance, angered his prey was getting the best of him.

Sally adopted a battle-ready stance, daring Breakdown to attack her again. The barracuda's jaws snapped open and he charged towards the chipmunk. He was going to make her pay for what she'd done to him and Scorn would be proud of him for doing so. But he never got close as Sonic jumped in front of his wife and spin-dashed Breakdown directly in his open mouth. It was like throwing a rock straight into a predator's open mouth, only a lot more painful. Breakdown was completely taken by surprise as the spin-dash slammed into him and threw him down onto his back. The ground shuddered as he hit it. Sonic landed down beside Sally, smirking confidently.

"Fifteen years spent raising our kid and we still know how to kick butt together!" he crowed.

"It's almost like no time has passed for us." Sally concurred, "Hopefully when this is over, things can go back to being peaceful."

"A part of me agrees with that, a part of me is enjoying getting to play the hero thing again." Sonic admitted, "But the part of me that agrees with you is more important." he added quickly.

"I should hope so too." Sally smirked.

Swoop and Razoul were both surprised and annoyed that Sonic and Sally were making Breakdown look pathetic so the eagle and lion decided now would be the time for them to get involved. Razoul raised his sword, his cold blue eyes fixed on Sally while Swoop decided to gun for Sonic. The eagle had armed himself with a couple of weapons he had invented. One looked like a metallic boxing glove with a triangular emitter that he wore over his right hand. The other weapon was a hi-tech pistol that could stun, kill and shoot either lasers, fireballs or ice blasts. He had tested the weapons himself and as usual, they worked. Anything he made always worked. Swoop aimed the boxing glove at Sonic just as the king began to charge towards him. The weapon was a shield-generator and as Sonic spin-dashed towards him, a translucent green force-field formed out of the device and spread out to protect Swoop from the front. The hedgehog hit the shield, bouncing away from it as the energy repelled him away. The scientist laughed, pleased to see that his device protected him beautifully.

"Hey murderer, check out my spin-dash deflector!" Swoop crowed.

Sonic growled in annoyance. He absolutely hated it when people had defences like this. It made them more annoying to fight. But the king was still determined to show Swoop that he was far out of his depth with him. He sped towards Swoop again, hoping to jump over the force-field and hit him from behind. But the tech-wizard aimed his pistol at Sonic and fired a hail of blazing spheres at the royal hedgehog. Sonic cried out as he was nearly hit by the embers and he quickly jumped and weaved around to avoid them. Swoop laughed arrogantly, already convinced he was going to win this fight with ease. He couldn't understand why Eggman had failed time and again to get rid of this pestilent, full-of-himself king. He switched the setting of his pistol and started firing shards of ice at Sonic. The icicles were razor-sharp and would cut him to pieces if he was hit. Sonic curled up and spun around, allowing his spines to churn up the icicles as they hit him.

"Geez, and I thought Blizzard the Ice Witch was bad enough with her ice powers!" he cried.

He then propelled himself forwards in another spin-dash, hurling towards Swoop. He was hoping to hit him before he could raise the shield again. But no such luck. Swoop held the force-field in front of himself again and Sonic hit it. But as he hit, Swoop angled the shield slightly so Sonic was sent careening to the left. Unable to stop himself, the king hurled through the air and crashed straight into Sally, knocking her down onto her side just as she had been preparing to block an attack from Razoul. The royal duo lay sprawled on the ground, wondering what had happened. Razoul seized his chance and raised his sword, hoping to cleave both opponents in two. Sally managed to recover just in time to hold her blades together, blocking Razoul's strike as he swung the sword down. She then kicked him in the knees, forcing him to back off and bend over so she and Sonic had the chance to get back up again. The moment they were up though, Swoop held out the shield-generator and charged into the hedgehog and chipmunk. Sonic and Sally were slammed by the shield and the energy repelled them, sending them flying through the air as if they'd been punched really hard. They both hit the ground, wincing as they fought to get their bones to knit again. Swoop laughed confidently, enjoying himself immensely.

"For the most creative use of a shield-generator in a supporting role, the winner is...Swoop!" he gloated.

"Enough bragging, let's kill the infidel and bring his broad to Scorn!" Razoul snarled.

He was already running towards Sonic and Sally, his sword raised and ready to cut the king's head clean off. Swoop followed him, his pistol set to kill so he could just shoot Sonic dead. Breakdown, who was recovering from the earlier onslaughts he'd received, joined in the charge, flying after them like a Chinese Dragon weaving through the sky. But as they neared, Sally suddenly sprang up onto her feet and spun around like a killer spinning-top. This forced Swoop to stop and protect himself and Razoul to raise his sword to block her slashes. Even Breakdown hesitated. The queen stopped spinning and prepared herself for another attack. She had heard what Razoul had said and was deeply offended by what he'd called her.

"Don't ever call me a broad..." she snarled viciously.

Then she lashed out and slashed Razoul across the chest, moving so fast that the lion didn't even have chance to block her. Razoul bellowed in pain, dropping his sword in anguish. To finish off, Sally raised her leg up high and brought it slamming down onto the swordsman's head, knocking him out instantly. Swoop aimed the pistol at Sally, now setting it to stun since he had to keep her alive. But now he was distracted, Sonic charged into him in a powerful homing-attack. The slam caught the eagle so off-guard that he dropped his weapons. He was hurled across the terrain and knocked down onto his side. Before he could stand up again, Sonic began to slam up and down repeatedly onto him as if he was a basketball being bounced up and down on top of somebody. Every hit caused Swoop to squawk loudly. Breakdown growled viciously and lunged at Sonic. He almost closed his jaws around him but he was stopped by Sally, who had jumped onto his back and stabbed him with her blades again. Crying out in pain, Breakdown reared up and bellowed a thunderous roar that contained all the agony he was feeling. The chipmunk then jumped off, running over to Sonic just as he slammed down on Swoop one last time. The final hit knocked the eagle out completely. Breakdown tried to chase after Sally as she met up with Sonic but the damage done to him was too severe. He couldn't move properly anymore and just slithering was enough to bring great pain to him. He could only watch as the queen called over to her husband.

"That's them done Sonic, let's get Zoe back!" Sally cried.

"You said it Queenie!" Sonic called back to her.

The two ran over to where the energy surge that had led them to S.T.I.N.G.'s quarters had been located. They stopped for a moment and Sally grabbed Nicole from her boot.

"Nicole, can you find an entrance into S.T.I.N.G.'s lair?" the queen asked.

"Certainly Sally." Nicole responded.

There was a brief pause as Nicole ran a diagnostic scan on the ground beneath their feet. The scanner beam swept over the area, pinpointing where the entrance was.

"There is a door hidden under a rock just over there." the holo-lynx responded, an arrow on her screen pointing to where it was.

"I called it, they have a secret door disguised as a rock!" Sonic chuckled, "I doubt we'll get it open that easily though. I bet they have some kind of password or code they use to get it open."

"According to my scans, we are directly above the base right now." Nicole added helpfully, "I suggest you spin-dash into the ground and dig your way in. Sally could cut through the metal below with her blades."

"That's a great idea Nikki, I love it!" the king cried excitedly.

"It'll be quicker than figuring out how to open the door." Sally agreed, "Sonic, be my guest." she added, politely stepping back.

Sonic nodded and jumped up into the air. He spin-dashed straight down into the ground and began carving his way down into the rocky ground like a mole burrowing into the soil. Pebbles and stones were kicked up into the air as Sonic churned through the hard surface. Sally watched with delight. They would be inside the base in no time and they would be reunited with their daughter at last...


Down below, Scorn tail-whipped Zoe across the corridor and sent her sliding painfully across the floor. After she'd spin-dashed him into the wall, the Robian Scorpion had recovered quickly and walloped the princess with his tail. Zoe winced as the slide left a nasty burn on her arm but she wasn't down for long. Training with Sonic and Sally over the years had made her quite resilient and endurable so she could go on for a while if she needed to. Zoe stood back up, screaming in fright as Scorn came at her. The very sight of him charging towards her was enough to scare anybody to death. Zoe jumped aside as the huge metal tail came stabbing down towards her. Scorn's stab may have missed but his status as a Robian made him very fast at reacting. Missing Zoe only gave him the chance to swing the tail and smack her into the wall. The princess cried out loud as she was hit, almost winded by the slam into the wall behind her. Scorn turned and looked down at her, his expressionless face as terrifying as ever.

"You really shouldn't have escaped your cell Zoe." he muttered. There was no arrogance to his words or his tone of voice. He was completely matter-of-fact, "Now all you're doing is getting yourself needlessly injured. We need you Zoe and I'd rather not cripple you too badly so surrender and spare yourself anymore pain."

"To hell with that!" Zoe spat venomously, "You knocked me out, kidnapped me and left your rattlesnake friend to kill dad! I have every reason to fight you right now!"

She then suddenly swung both fists up and walloped Scorn in the chin, snapping his head backwards and causing him to stagger away from her. The Robian was so taken aback by the punch that he didn't have time to recover as Zoe then jumped up, spun around on the spot and roundhouse kicked her opponent as hard as she could. The heavy blow sent Scorn careening to one side, surprised at how hard his opponent could actually kick. While he was still stunned, Zoe spin-dashed straight into him. She slammed him into a wall once again, the impact so heavy that Zoe ended up denting the wall with Scorn's own body. Surprisingly enough, Scorn seemed more annoyed than hurt by the attack! Zoe noticed this grimly as her opponent stood back up as if nothing had happened.

He won't go down that easily...I have to play it smart. the princess thought to herself, If dad hadn't been so over-protective of me over the years, I'd probably be doing a lot better than I currently am at this point!

She raised her fists, daring Scorn to attack her again. The leader of S.T.I.N.G. didn't seem to take her up on her offer for he just stood there for some reason. Zoe soon realized why. He wasn't attacking her right away because he was preparing to attack. She watched with fascination as the scorpion claws on Scorn's arms slid down to his wrists and then folded over onto his normal hands. Now he had sharp pincers to attack with instead of his hands. He clinked the tips together, eager to close the claws around his prey.

"I maybe planning to roboticize you Zoe but I don't necessarily need you intact." Scorn growled, "I can roboticize you regardless. I gave you the option to save yourself any grievous injury and you squandered it. Now you get to find out what it's like to have your arms ripped out of your sockets..."

"Big talk for a guy who's head is full of hot air..." Zoe snorted, "Let's see if you can back up your arrogant boasting tin-head!"

She jumped straight up into the air just as Scorn lunged at her with his claw. She actually felt it snap shut just underneath her as it clamped through the air she'd just been stood in. The hedgehog landed on Scorn's arm, giving her the chance to spring over him and land behind him. That was a mistake for Scorn's huge tail swung around and slammed her down into the floor. Zoe cried out, grunting from the impact. She tried to stand back up but Scorn grabbed her with his claw and hoisted her up. His claw was directly around her neck and he squeezed tightly. He was intending to suffocate Zoe but only enough so she would pass out. The princess was useless to him dead. Zoe gagged, trying desperately to open the claw but to no avail. She wasn't strong enough. The princess could already feel the air depleting in her lungs. Black spots were dancing in her vision, she was going to fall unconscious for a third time! No, not again, she'd had enough of falling unconscious! She wasn't going to be beaten now!

In order to get out of Scorn's tight grip, Zoe kicked him repeatedly in the chest. This didn't seem to affect Scorn but then Zoe swung her foot up and kicked him hard in the face. That did it. Scorn staggered backwards from the kick, releasing Zoe. The princess dropped down to the floor and allowed herself a couple of moments to get her breath back before resuming. She massaged her neck as she recovered. Scorn growled angrily and lunged at the teen-hog with his claw. Zoe dodged and grabbed hold of his wrist. Scorn yanked her up off her feet and threw her across the corridor but Zoe landed perfectly on her feet and skidded to a halt. She curled up into a ball and spin-dashed towards Scorn, whizzing through the air like Frisbee. Scorn raised his tail, preparing to smack her away when she got close enough. But Zoe didn't charge straight into him. The spin-dashed instead hurled OVER Scorn and Zoe ricocheted off of the floor straight into his back! The Robian was so caught off-guard that he didn't even have time to cry out in surprise. He was whisked clean off his feet and carried the full length of the corridor straight into the wall at the end. He was slammed into the wall so hard that he ended up briefly stuck in it. As Scorn tried to pull himself free, Zoe took a moment to look around. There were two other corridors nearby. One of them might lead to the way out. She could escape before Scorn got free!

But unfortunately, the scorpion pulled himself out of the massive imprint in the wall and walloped Zoe across the back of her head with his claw. The move disoriented the princess, bringing her down onto her knees as she clutched her head in pain. Then Scorn seized her by both of her arms and hoisted her clean off the floor. Zoe squirmed, trying to get free of the scorpion claws but Scorn's grip was too tight. Then the Eggman worshipper brought her closer and kneed her heavily in the gut. The slam winded Zoe heavily, leaving her coughing and gasping for breath. Then Scorn did it two more times, each blow feeling heavier than the last, before throwing her straight up into the ceiling. Zoe fell back down to the floor, heavily winded and grimacing as pain flared through her body. She massaged her belly, trying to ease the pain. Scorn stood over her, triumphant at last. His prisoner was not going to escape him now.

"You fought admirably young one...I admire that." he purred, "But that kind of fighting prowess should be used to take out the oppressors who murdered the great Doctor Eggman, not to fight alongside them. When I roboticize you, you'll be put to much better use princess."

"No...you won't...make me...your slave!" Zoe grunted.

"Slave? That's a disgusting word." Scorn spat, "We do not desire to enslave the populace. We desire to ENHANCE it. You only see it as slavery because your idiot father was too blind to see the benefits of roboticization and just associated it with oppression."

"Dad told me that...when people got roboticized, they had no...free-will you asshole!" the princess screamed angrily, "How can you dare tell me that isn't enslaving them?!"

"Because we won't be taking away freewill, we're going to let the roboticized populace keep it." the scorpion retorted.

"But what if the populace doesn't WANT to be a robot?!" Zoe snapped, "You're forcing them against their wills to become robots, that's still enslaving them!"

"They'll learn to appreciate it when they stop seeing the world as black-and-white and realize how beneficial to our lives Eggman's ideals are." Scorn snarled.

Zoe had had enough of Scorn talking complete trash and forced herself back onto her feet. She was straining but she was still able to carry on fighting. She raised her fists, waiting for the right moment to spring at her enemy and take him out. Scorn returned the gesture, baring his claws and raising his tail. But then suddenly, before any punches could be thrown, a bright blue laser blade plunged straight through the ceiling! Both opponents looked up in amazement as the blade began to carve a circle in the ceiling. They both stepped back, allowing the chunk of ceiling to fall down to the ground without hitting any of them. Out of the hole above dropped Sally Acorn, who didn't hesitate in finding out if this was the S.T.I.N.G leader or not. She lashed out at Scorn, clashing blades as he frantically blocked them with his tail. Zoe's face lit up with delight as she watched her mother duel with the evil Robian.

"This is for kidnapping my daughter you monster!" the chipmunk screeched, her face a mask of furious rage.

She began moving so fast that Scorn was having a hard time keeping up with blocking her attacks. Then suddenly, Sally flicked one of her blades up, moving his tail aside and then used her other blade to chop Scorn's legs clean off. The Robian collapsed onto the ground, his legs separated and lying forlornly beside him. To make double sure he was helpless, Sally also severed his tail off with a quick slice of her energy blade. The tail fell away and lay beside the Robian Scorpion like a dead snake. Panting heavily, Sally sheathed her blades and glared at Scorn.

"So I assume you're S.T.I.N.G.'s leader?" she asked coldly.

"I am...Sally Acorn." Scorn growled, "I am Scorn and you'll pay for breaking in and dissecting me like this!"

"The only thing that's happening here is that you're going in a prison cell and doing time for your crimes against the Crown of New Mobotropolis." Sally snapped, "If you want any mercy from me, I suggest you stand down and keep quiet."

"Mom!" Zoe exclaimed, throwing herself into her mother's arms.

"Oh Zoe my baby!" Sally cried delightedly, hugging her back, "I'm so glad you're OK! Sonic told me all about what had happened and I can't tell you how worried I was about you! I feared that S.T.I.N.G. was going to harm you badly..."

"I'm fine mom, really I am." Zoe said softly, "And you said dad told you about this? Does that mean he's still alive?"

"You bet I am kiddo!" came the voice that the young princess had been yearning to hear ever since her capture.

Sonic the Hedgehog himself dropped down from the hole in the ceiling, his face lit up with his trademark cocky smirk. Zoe almost went ecstatic with glee and she quickly jumped straight into Sonic's arms. She grasped him tightly as if she'd just got him back from the dead and didn't want to let go. Sally smiled, happy tears in her eyes over the tender scene before her.

"Ohmigosh, daddy!" she hollered "Thank goodness you're alive! Scorn told me that he left Fang behind to kill you while you was knocked out and I worried you was dead!"

"Nah, it'll take more than a measly gang of Eggman nuts to take ME out." Sonic boasted, nuzzling cheeks with Zoe, "I woke up before she could do anything and tossed her in a cell back home. She's all locked up now. I then told Sally what happened and she figured out where you were being kept so we came here to rescue you!"

"I'm so glad you both came! Thank you so much for coming to save me!" Zoe cried, "I'm so sorry that I got captured dad. Fang got the drop on us and..."

"It's OK Zoe, we weren't prepared for that rattle of hers." Sonic reassured, "We've never met these jokers before so we had no idea what they could do. But now S.T.I.N.G. have been crippled, we can lock them all up and forget all about this nightmare."

"And I heavily doubt they'll ever walk free again." Sally added, directing a cold glare over to Scorn.

But then suddenly, Nicole's handheld computer device started bleeping. The queen glanced down puzzled. Who could possibly be giving her a cool at this moment? She took Nicole off of her boot and opened up the screen.

"Nicole? What is it?" she asked.

"I'm receiving an emergency call from Royal HQ." Nicole replied, "There's been an SOS call back home. Something terrible is happening the message says! Castle Acorn is on fire!"


What, you thought that Sonic and Sally were going to win that easily? You're all nuts if you thought that! =P

So Fang has escaped and Castle Acorn is on fire! And just when the king and queen got their princess back! What will happen next? Tune in next time...