Need to Want

by TheMaxx

Sonic meets Blaze again. In times past, Blaze remains a serious individual, staying vigilant of her duties and harsh realities of her life. But meeting him for a third time, this time she cannot deny that his contact has changed her. Finding an oxymoron within herself. Relating to him. Feeling, feelings that she had always hidden consume her mind.

10. Divinations

Disclaimer - I do not own sonic or any other characters. They are property of SEGA and anything sonic the hedgehog affiliated with it.

First I wanted to say, though I have mentioned it, I've never explicitly said so. This story is supposed to take place after the two Sonic Rush games. I've made references to the games throughout the story but I thought I should say so to give you readers clarity. I hope you enjoy.

---

After a rousing time in the Labs of the Royal Castle, the previous night everyone retired early, preparing for the bad feeling in their guts the following day. However, as Blaze, Sonic, and Marine arose today they found that not only did it not look like morning, it didn't look like a day at all. Everywhere, from around Mobius, from reports on the news all around Blaze's world there was nothing but black skies. Blaze and Marine joined Sonic in his room this morning, poking their heads out the windows and observing the black clouds stretching as far as they could see. Unusual lightning streaked through the dark cloudy skies, and they all knew it was not a natural phenomenon obviously. The Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds were reacting to each other, and the energy of each set of Emeralds alone was dangerous. The energies of the Emeralds were mingling with one another, causing their worlds to merge. Who knew what type of destructive energy would be unleashed if their energies were allowed to continue to interact.

So after meeting up with Tiara and Honey, whose bedrooms were just around the corner, the group quickly went and ate breakfast then immediately began discussing their plans. Blaze was given special reign over the top general's War Room as the Princess and Guardian of the Sol Emeralds. So with her authority she ordered for all the generals to converse elsewhere until her plans were finished, and they would follow her lead once her plans were completed. It was still early, and everyone was still a little tired but they all stood around a metal table looking at maps of Arch City and surrounding areas trying to gauge Eggman Nega's route of attack. The War Room, as like other areas in the Castle, were still made mostly of stone walls and ceilings, but it was filled with technology. There were three big computers on each side of the room, computer consoles, and papers scattered all around the room.

Blaze, Sonic, Marine, Tiara, and Honey stared at the maps on the table in front of them with contemplative faces as they thought. The King and Queen had been evacuating the city since early this morning. A few hours had passed by now, but they all guessed it was still on its way. They also gathered more info from the black boxes signal last night. The signal was getting closer to the city, so they didn't have much time. They didn't have to guess what Nega was coming for; he would go on another rampage if he got his hands on anymore Emeralds.

Blaze glanced over to her left pass Sonic; the Sol Emeralds were sitting in a sack on a chair; she had retrieved them this morning from the wing of the Castle where she left them. She then looked to her right; the five Chaos Emeralds they had collected were sitting in Marine's backpack. One part of their plan was simple; they had to defend the Castle. They were going to keep all the Emeralds in one place as it seemed that with so many of Nega's robots running around, that's how he even found two of the Emeralds. He probably could track the remaining Emeralds with the ones he had now. If they got separated or they tried to take them somewhere else, then it would only make it easier for him to get his hands on them. It's why they collected them, like they always did, there is strength in unity. If he wanted to get the Emeralds, they would all be in one place, and he was going to have to go through Sonic and her to get them.

The second part of their plan they weren't so sure of because they did not know what he was attacking with. They had no clue what form of giant robot he would be attacking with. It was a blank as of now, and they also had to deal with the leftover robots that were probably still lurking through the city. There already were reports all over the city in the last few hours about mysterious attacks from citizens. Unfortunately, that was Tiara's territory, but she didn't have time for it at the moment.

They had all been in the War Room for an hour or two now, and they had all come to one singular agreement. Despite not knowing what Nega was going to do, they all knew since the Emeralds were going to be here, Nega was coming to the Castle. So the Castle grounds became their battle arena; something was going to get broke today.

Minutes ago after much deliberation the group had become quiet as they went over it all. Though they still did not feel comfortable with it, there was still something missing. Sonic rubbed his chin questioning them all "This is good but do we have another option?"

Marine remained quiet with a serious look on her face while Blaze spoke with her usual stoic expression "What other options do we have Sonic? Don't you think we are enough?"

Sonic nodded grinning "You know I can beat him." he said smugly "I can't go super, but I don't need to, it's never stopped me before."

Blaze smirked, and Tiara held a small smile of her own shrugging "Alright tough guy, what do mean exactly? What else other than us is going to stop Eggman Nega?"

Sonic thought for a moment then sighed; lost in thought he traced a finger over the map on the table. His finger slid across the area of the map where the Castle sat "I'm not sure…there's got to be other options…"

"Blaze, you can use the Sol Emeralds. You can go super right?" Tiara asked her.

"I can…but Nega only has two Chaos Emeralds; he is not insurmountable. We have fought both Eggmen with all the Emeralds, and in those cases we had to use the Emeralds. The Emeralds also seem to have a mind of their own…sometimes they tend to scatter after being used. Other times like when Sonic had last come to our world, they'd become stable after we used them." Blaze said with a frown.

"Then that's an option." Tiara said seriously.

Blaze nodded "If need be I will use the Sol Emeralds as a last resort, but I believe with Sonic and I we are more than enough."

Then Honey spoke up, throwing in a suggestion to lock the Emeralds up in case Nega actually broke through the Castle walls. Blaze and Tiara threw some ideas off each other while Sonic continued to trace his finger across the map as he listened to them. Marine who had been mostly quiet noticed Sonic's gesture and while deep in her thoughts the gears inside her head began clicking. Sonic's finger was running across the Castle then down to the shore on the map and suddenly Marine got a great idea. Another option if you will. Marine donned a smile as she began to form an idea in her head.

"Keep doing that Sonic." she interrupted everyone's conversation as she focused on Sonic's hand skimming the map.

Blaze, Tiara, and Honey stopped short of what they were talking about and watched as Marine stared at the map and Sonic's continuous moving hand.

Sonic looked confused but he kept moving his finger up and down the map. After a few moments, Marine's eyes widened, and she snapped a finger "I'm on to something!" she paused grabbing onto her head "Give me a second…"

Blaze was curious as to what Marine had thought of, but she instantly thought of Sonic's words days ago back on her island. Seeing as Tiara, Honey, and she were not coming up with anything, Blaze remembered when Sonic told her there was always another option on the beach that morning the day after he arrived. Just as he'd suggested here in the War Room today, she was trying not to be dismissive and be so narrow minded about sticking to the plan.

She knew she might have trivialized Sonic's ideas a bit already today, as she could not come up with another course of action that they had so far already planned. But as she changed over the years, she was changing now and the thought of rethinking was strong in her mind. Sonic's eclectic way of thinking was rubbing off on her and now that Marine was on to something she was thinking of other options.

With a smile, Marine snatched up a pencil sitting on the table and began scribbling on the map of Arch City "I have good oil running through my noggin." Marine looked up at Sonic and Blaze "You'll like this one Sonic!"

Sonic smirked "Is it crazy?"

Blaze had her own smirk for Sonic as she looked at him "Don't encourage her."

Sonic rubbed the back of his head and Tiara and Honey chuckled while Marine began explaining what she had in mind. She pointed at the lines she had drawn across the map "Take a look at this."

Blaze, Sonic, Tiara, and Honey looked on in curiosity at the straight lines Marine had drawn onto the map. Marine had circled the Royal Castle and drew lines straight down to a certain point at the coast. It was drawn at a slight angle, but the lines went from point a to point b.

"Why stop here?" Blaze asked Marine pointing at the coastline as she looked up from the map.

"Because of this!" Marine said with a smile as she drew an oval around a cluster of buildings in the path along the line she drew.

"It's behind the buildings?" Tiara asked Marine confused.

"Right, Nega might not expect a S.S Marine counter attack if it overshoots his line of sight!" Marine said crossing her arms with a smug face.

Blaze nodded as her face lit up with understanding "I see. The buildings in that area are obscuring."

Sonic wasn't satisfied though "How often are the ships at the docks parked there?"

"They come and go but there are usually ships docked there all the time." Blaze answered his question and looked curiously at him "Do you have something?"

"Yeah." he nodded with a thoughtful face "The S.S. Marine might look more inconspicuous if there were other ships docked next to it."

Marine smacked her head "Oi you're right, if there's a single ship there Nega might notice it in that area alone."

Blaze looked impressed "That is an excellent idea Sonic, but now it seems we will need more help."

Tiara nodded in agreement "You're going to need more ships." she said looking at Marine, then she looked to Honey "And we've got robots to take down." Tiara rubbed her chin thoughtfully "We've got a lot of mercs in the city right now; I'll call into the office. The organization I'm sure will be glad to help us."

"Are you going to use the Energy Cannon?" Blaze asked Marine holding a hand up to her chin.

"It's the only thing that can aim and get a bead on him isn't it? You can't aim a cannon that way. They've got to be adjusted." Marine said with a grin.

"You can take care of signaling her can't you Blaze?" Sonic asked her with a smile.

Blaze blinked thinking for a moment giving Marine a serious look "It will be no problem, if we need you, and if it will help us finish the fight better and faster, then you'll know."

Marine nodded with an almost equally serious face though she had a hard time controlling her grin.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a plan, what do you think?" Sonic said aloud with a big grin.

"It is better than before…what do you think Sonic?" Blaze wasn't so sure until Sonic spoke again and reassured her with his confidence.

"I feel good about this one. We're really relying on just you and me to beat Egghead, and I'm not saying we cant beat him alone, I think we can, but having other options gives us support cause things always go wrong anyway. You know me, I'll take any help if it helps us win." he said with a knowing tone in his voice.

And Blaze could hear it in his voice, she wasn't sure how he'd convinced her but she believed him when he said he felt good about it. Key word being felt…she could hear it in the way he talked…and she felt the same way…she trusted his judgment about how he felt about it...

"Then we are ready. Let us go over this one more time before the preliminary evacuation of the city is over. Once the city is empty Eggman Nega will most likely be here. I am also guessing Nega must be using the Chaos Emeralds to power his robots. It seems to be the only way possible to power the massive amounts that has infiltrated the city beyond normal means..." Blaze said in a serious tone as she looked around the table.

Everyone gave her reassuring looks, and they all quickly delved back into their plans, adding even more specific details to their already solid ideas. One thing they knew for sure was Nega had been planning for a while, he was more sneaky than Eggman and liked to plot more before taking action. And Blaze and Sonic could both draw the parallels between both Eggmen because they knew them and dealt with them often. Eggman Nega unlike Eggman was more polite, but hidden under that veil was twice a sinister as what Eggman showed on the surface. He was more reckless and would destroy everything, including himself to reach his goals...

---

A few hours later the evacuation of the city was completed and only a few stragglers being attacked by Nega's robots were still in the city. The Mercenary Network had already had many mercs from the city dispatched to deal with it and get the remaining people out of the city. Most of the Mercenary Networks mercenaries were in the city fighting at the moment, but Tiara had managed to get the network to dispatch her a small but special group for their plans. The dark skies and clouds only seemed to get worse as the day went on. Some of the thunder and lightning that streaked through the sky now had turned purple. It was an indication that the energies of the Emeralds were getting stronger, and the Chaos Emeralds energies were starting to expand into Blaze's world. It did not seem to affect the weather to harshly yet, but the water down by the coast and in the ocean was starting to get rough.

In the span of a few hours after going over their plans a few things had changed. Marine was taking it upon herself to carry out her part of the new plans they had formed, and Blaze became more creative as she thought up the entire framework for all of their plans to intertwine. Right now, Blaze, Sonic, Marine, Tiara, and Honey stood at the Castle doors with a large group of mercs and the King and Queen. Blaze had ordered the generals and military to help evacuate everyone from the city, as the military would only get in the way, and Nega might try to use them against her. She felt the fight would go better on an empty battle field where no one could get harmed. They all watched as the remaining generals and military personal helicopters flew away from the Castle. There was only one remaining helicopter flying nearby that was reserved for the King and Queen.

Blaze's mother and father looked to the remaining helicopter flying above waiting for them. They then turned to look at their daughter and her friends. Blaze's mother looked worrisome and Blaze's father looked serious; he looked directly at his daughter "You are the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds...everything is in yours and your friends hands. We don't know what you have planned, but we have the utmost confidence in you." the King turned to look at everyone around them finishing with a stern face "In everyone."

"You must watch one another's backs out there; together you are stronger than separated." Blaze's mother spoke aloud for everyone.

Their encouraging words were met with silent nods from everyone as they all knew they were about to set foot into danger not seen in the city for a long time. Just then the remaining helicopter hovering above started to descend. It descended all the way down to the courtyard, and the wind from the spinning blades made everyone's clothing bellow.

The King and Queen took one final look at them all, both with seriousness and worry on their faces and began walking towards the helicopter. Blazes mother spoke as she walked away "Be well dear."

"I will mother…father…" Blaze called out to them with a frown on her face.

Soon the King and Queen boarded the helicopter, and they were gone. They were retreating to a nearby city to watch them all defend the city. There were still helicopters hovering around the coastline and Sonic noticed pointing to the ocean "Who are those guys out there?"

"That would be the media." Blaze said with her stoic expression.

Sonic scratched his head "Anything for a story huh?"

"You don't know the half of it mate; news reporters just don't care." Marine said with a slight chuckle.

"Do you ever have problems with them Princess?" Honey asked Blaze in a curious tone.

They all began walking from the Castle doors and into the courtyard. Blaze looked towards Honey "They have followed Sonic, Marine, and I these last few days. I did not notice until I saw us on the news."

"They are someone you have to tolerate then." Honey shrugged.

"More often than not, we will all be too busy to notice today anyway." Blaze held a determined face as she looked at Honey.

Honey nodded as they all walked out of the courtyard and through the open gates of the Castle courtyard. They all walked onto the suddenly empty streets, pass the many empty businesses on the street, and to the edge of the street where the hill led down, and they all stared towards the coast. It had always been visible from here, just as Sonic had seen from the upper levels of the Castle. Marine made a little improv on her part of the plan. They could see the ships from the docks moving into position, and there were also more ships coming in that weren't from the docks. Marine had gathered support from ship captains, engineers, and in general people who lived the naval life. They were all under her command, and her modified plan was now moving into motion. The ships were starting to line up and down the coast.

"Crikey! It looks like they're almost done, I gotta get down there and move the S.S. Marine!" Marine said adjusting her backpack on her back.

"You got anything else in store?" Sonic asked her with a grin.

Marine shook her head with a big smile "…I don't think so…we can't use cannons because they have to be adjusted. You guys will be moving too much to fire cannons."

Tiara then turned towards the members of the Mercenary Network of which she was a part of. This group with them consisted up to around twenty. Twenty females that is, just like most of the city the entire group of mercs were females. Blaze, Sonic, Marine and Honey also turned their attention to them. They dressed similarly to Tiara, nice clothing but combat ready and stylish. The women had varying degrees of curious expressions, mischievous expressions to neutral expressions on their faces. They all looked tough but yet at the same time they were still very pretty. Ranging from long flowing black hair to pink colored short hair, they kept their appearances up despite their line of work.

Tiara waited a moment until she spoke "Alright listen up ladies, you'll follow my lead. We have two objectives but first I should let you know this is no normal mission." Tiara donned a frown as the mercs waited and listened with confused faces "Eggman Nega is back…"

The mercs all looked shocked and Tiara continued "If you were here last time he was around you know what I'm talking about. He's on his way here as we speak so we do this my way. Ok?"

There was a moment of disconnect even Blaze, and the rest of the group felt as the mercs did not immediately respond to Tiara. It was quickly understood it stemmed back to Blaze's and Tiara's stigma of being the two individuals with abilities. They still held a mentality that they were…freaks. Tiara frowned as she waited and the mercs did not respond, only looking at Tiara with haughty eyes.

Honey's smile was wiped off her face and replaced with a frown as she looked to her boss who kept her attention on the mercs. It was so awkward so suddenly that even Tiara felt like running away because of their dismissal of her. But then one mercenary spoke up "Understood."

Quickly, all the mercs did the same announcing that they understood that Tiara was now their current commanding officer. In collective voices, they all said "Understood."

Tiara felt relief wash over her as she smiled, and the mercs regained their smirks and grins. They fought for the city, they worked for the city, and despite the bias towards Tiara and even Blaze, they respected her. She'd been the number-one merc because of her abilities, but her record showed she did it for the good of everyone; it was something they all respected. Because of all she'd done, what she'd dealt with, people and villains, and because of her abilities, her seniority was default. Blaze, Sonic, and Marine smiled as the mercs finished their roll call.

Honey smiled brightly at Tiara after feeling and looking so worried, and Tiara glanced at her the same as she looked back at her mercs "Good, now look." Tiara stepped sideways to point at the coast line and moving ships there, and Tiara pointed at Marine "We have ships mobilizing, and we need to protect her."

The mercs observed the ships then looked at Marine who briefly waved at them with a goofy smile. The mercs stayed serious and silently nodded; Tiara continued in a stern tone and with a determined face "She is priority number one; we need to make sure she is not interrupted. We need to get her down there so she can do what she needs to do."

The mercs nodded in understanding again as Tiara continued stating the obvious, and the mercs nodded "Our second objective is to help any remaining citizens in the city to safety. As you already might know, there are reports of robots running around the city, their Nega's robots."

"These robots are not your average gangster or crime lord. They are dangerous and very strong." Tiara paused to emphasize their danger by staring them in the eyes, and they all got the message from the stern look on her face "If you haven't noticed the dark clouds today, then you should know now why we have to make sure she is ok. It could be vital to beating Eggman Nega." Tiara said pointing at Marine again and keeping her serious eyes on the mercs. Tiara spoke in a commanding tone with a grin on her face "The Princess, the Guardian of the Sol Emeralds, you will be helping her today fight Nega. You got that?"

"Understood." the group of mercs said with determined faces.

"Oh and before we head out we all will receive bonuses if we make it out alive." Tiara said, and the mercs looked even happier. Tiara then questioned the group of mercs standing in front of her "Any questions?"

A very attractive female on Tiara's right raised her hand, and Tiara nodded. This merc, a female bengal cat with white spotted fur, green eyes, and a slim figure landed her eyes directly at Tiara. She wore tight short blue jeans, green boots, a green tee, and a dark-green vest. Her white spotted tail wagged side to side, and she chewed on bubble gum and spoke in an accent "Yeh. I got a question, who is dat?" she immediately pointed to Sonic.

Sonic blinked in surprise as all the female mercs looked at him, Marine giggled and Blaze remained stoic. Sonic started to sweat under their examining eyes. The bengal spoke directing her attention directly towards Sonic; she had a big smirk on her face "He's kind of cute..."

Blaze remained stoic and made no movement as she spoke at the group "He is off limits."

Though this did not stop the attractive female mercs from winking and making other seductive gestures at Sonic. Sonic felt self-conscious at all the attention and Blaze paid Sonic no mind. She knew he was safe because she wasn't letting anyone get near him. She was not worried about female's advances; she had been apathetic to his plight about the females since they entered the city because she knew she would protect him.

Tiara chuckled wagging a playful finger at them "Ah ah ladies, no tochie."

There were a few purrs in Sonic's direction, while Honey and Marine giggled, Tiara calmed them down speaking in a serious tone again "We'll have plenty of time to poke with the hedgehog once we're done."

The mercs broke their attention away from Sonic for a moment, and their determination returned with silent nods of understanding. Tiara nodded sternly "Let's get ready to roll then."

The mercs spoke a final collective "Understood."

Honey gave Tiara a commanding salute as well "Understood."

Tiara smiled and then Marine ran to her side with a serious face "I'm ready."

Blaze and Sonic walked over to Tiara and Honey and Blaze spoke to Marine first; her face showing caution "Marine, are you sure you have everything?"

Marine nodded adjusting her backpack "Dead set, I got my tools and my snacks. I'll be ready for you."

Blaze then placed a hand on Marine's shoulder with a serious expression "Be careful." she stated simply as she removed her hand.

Marine nodded with her seriousness still present "Right."

Blaze then looked to Tiara with a stoic expression "I am leaving Marine in your care, please watch over her."

"Don't worry Princess, I have my eye on her and so do they." Tiara gestured with the cock of her head to the mercs and they nodded showing they were ready. There was a moment of silence as Blaze and Sonic stood on one side and Tiara, Marine, and Honey stood on another looking into each other's eyes hoping they could show assurance to one another. For their plan, they were separating. Tiara broke the silence grinning at Sonic, and the mercs followed suit "You know…they also have their eyes on him."

Blaze donned a wise look as her lips pinched and Sonic held a sheepish grin. The mercs giggled and Tiara joked "I also have my eyes on him."

Sonic smiled looking at Tiara, Marine, and Honey "Well don't blink; Nega doesn't stand a chance."

"You two be careful, especially you hedgehog." Tiara said in a flirtatious manner then she looked to the mercs "Let's move out."

"Stay close to me Marine, there are a lot of robots reported down at the docks." Honey said following Tiara as she ran down the hill. The mercs ran pass Blaze and Sonic focusing their attention away from Blaze and making quick quips at Sonic.

Marine hesitated looking back at Sonic and Blaze. Sonic grinned and Blaze's expression was stoic. Marine smiled waving back at them as they all began running down the hill after Tiara and Honey "I'll see you guys soon!"

"Do your best!" Sonic called out to Marine.

"I will!" Marine yelled back to them.

"We will be fine!" Blaze raised her voice.

Sonic held a grin and Blaze's expression was stoic as they watch Tiara, Marine, Honey and the mercs run down the hill of one of the many cities' sloping streets. The wind was starting to get stronger, and the sound of it was even more apparent in the now barren streets. Sonic glanced over at Blaze "Looks like Tiara is back to her old self."

Blaze responded with a nod "It certainly didn't take long."

"You ready to do this?" Sonic said with a grin.

Blaze looked over at him "Yes." she stated simply.

They both looked down the hill at Marine's disappearing form and Sonic questioned her "You think she'll be alright?"

Blaze paused for a moment "…" feeling new confidence she responded in her stoical demeanor "She will be fine…I have taught her as so."

Silence fell over them for a moment as they observed the darkened skies from their view up so high. Only between them, they knew the plan, and it was understood what they were going to do. As their planned had evolved it branched off from being separate to them being closer. Marine was with Tiara and Honey on this one, and Sonic and herself were taking on Eggman Nega. Sonic and she were the only line of defense for the Emeralds and the Castle.

Blaze had not told Sonic, but she still felt a sense of trepidation at the incoming danger. Sonic spoke up again though not looking at her "Hey? Blaze?"

Blaze looked curiously at him "Yes Sonic?"

"I got your back." he said crossing his arms, and he kept his confident face.

Blaze quickly averted her eyes away from him keeping her stoical demeanor…she was glad she had someone watching out for her "And I yours."

Blaze spoke in the quietness of the evacuated city facing them, listening and waiting for the incoming danger of Eggman Nega. Hearing the lightning strike through the skies and the wind become more violent as they looked out over the city. Blaze did feel one thing was for sure, with her and Sonic together nothing was impossible.

---

Marine, Tiara, Honey, and the mercenary's didn't make it two blocks away from the hill that led from the Castle before there was chaos all around them. Tiara kept Marine close to her as they ran through the streets. It may have been empty of citizens, but Nega's robot look a likes were all around. A lot of them were still in the city apparently, and the Mercenary's Network was having a hard time containing them. The merc group of around twenty were fending off the bots as they'd taken a liking to them seeing as they were the only ones wandering the empty streets.

A robot suddenly jumped off a roof, lunging at an unsuspecting merc. The robot slowly wrestled the female merc to the ground, and Tiara growled yelling aloud "Hold positions!"

The mercs nodded and silent agreement. It took two mercs working together to destroy a bot, and the mercs stood together and fought. Tiara then turned and yelled to Honey, who was helping the mercs fight the incoming endless waves of Eggman Nega's robots. She motioned to Marine "Honey! Watch her!"

Honey turned to Tiara's call, breaking away from a robot they just destroyed. She responded with a serious face as she ran over to Marine "I'm on it boss!"

"This is mad around here!" Marine said with shock and surprise on her face with all the fighting going on around her as Honey joined her at her side.

Tiara quickly separated from Marine and dashed over to the merc pinned by one of Nega's robots. Her speed was enough to get to her before the bot could do any serious damage. Tiara ran at full force towards the robot and grabbed one of its arm's and wrenched it fully backward and breaking it. The robot then turned its blank lifeless eyes at her when Tiara shoved her hand into its face and pushed it off of the merc. The robot tried to grab a hold of her with its other arm, but Tiara slammed it into the ground and promptly broke its face with her fist. She drove a hole into its face, and it shut down; its body crumpled onto the ground. Tiara helped the grateful mercenary up, and they rejoined the rest of the group.

Before Tiara could breathe a sigh of relief more of Nega's robots came….and more….

Tiara gritted her teeth and the mercs looked shocked as an even larger group than them of Nega's robots seemed to be crawling from the cracks of nowhere. Tiara looked up and around, as even more robots started showing themselves. From the roofs and from the alleys, and bursting through glass windows of nearby buildings. Tiara spoke aloud "How many did he send here?"

"Too many!" one of the mercs spoke back in a sarcastic tone as they formed closer together.

As the robots slowly advanced, they slowly backed away; Marine, Tiara, and Honey were behind the mercs. Marine frowned as she quickly dug into her backpack and took a glance at her map "The docks are just two blocks away…" Marine said in a somewhat upset tone, and she glanced behind Honey to the corner of a street. Marine looked up from her map and observed all the new robots "Let's take Eleventh Street, there's a side street that goes straight down to the docks."

Tiara frowned then she ran to the front of them all yelling "Everyone run!"

There was a moment of hesitation, but they followed her orders, and as soon as they ran the robots gave chase. They all began running round the corner of the street Marine had specified, and Tiara did her best to keep the robots at bay while running with them. They couldn't wait around and fight Nega's robots all day; they would be outnumbered if they stayed here. Tiara didn't want to deal with saving one straggler being pinned down by all the bots as they tried to run, because they would surely get overwhelmed if that happened. So Tiara put herself between them, using her abilities to stave Nega's robots off. Never forgetting everyone around her was normal and could not defend themselves like she could from abnormal enemies.

As they rounded the corner Marine caught sight of the aforementioned side street. She yelled breathing heavily with the mercs and Honey surrounding her "There! It's just a skip and a hop from there!"

Honey glanced behind herself as she ran next to Marine to see if Tiara was ok, she was, but as she ran after them there seemed to be even more robots. Honey also noticed one lunging at Tiara and she screamed through ragged breath "Look out!"

Tiara quickly snapped her attention behind herself from Honey's voice and instinctively dodged one of Negas bots. However, she didn't stop there. She grabbed the robot and tossed it into the others. Not really slowing them down but briefly impeding their progress. Tiara yelled back to them all "Keep going!"

Soon they all were running down the side street. It was narrow, and the hands of Nega's robots burst through the windows of the buildings on this narrow street. Tiara was busy busting robots heads in as they ran down the street after them. Soon they were greeted by the familiar sites of the docks. Unfortunately, most ships had already left or placed themselves where Marine had planned and only the S.S. Marine, and a few other ships were left sitting alone docked.

They all ran onto the sidewalk, and onto the stone ground of the docks with Negas bots close behind. Tiara yelled to Marine "Where are they at?"

"There in warehouse three!" Marine said in a happier tone.

Tiara didn't have time to respond as the robots closed in on them, and she destroyed as many as fast as she could. They ran pass the first two warehouses as they ran onto the docks, and once they reached the third warehouse Marine hastily knocked on the huge metal warehouse doors.

Quickly, the unlocking of locks could be heard on the other side and one male cat in a blue jumpsuit poked his head out. Just then the robots had caught up with them and the Mercs finally reengaged them, helping Tiara out. Tiara grunted as she punched at another bot "Well are they there?"

The male cat blinked at Marine and Honey, and Marine spoke in a happy tone "We're good to go Tiara!"

Tiara smirked as she jumped through the air "Good, we'll hold here for now ladies! Now let's take this bad fashion out of the world!"

As most of Nega's bots were designed to look female, and he had no fashion sense. In all their opinions their clothing was terrible and so was Eggman Nega to think he could fool any female with any fashion sense.

The mercs all laughed as they worked together to take down the influx of new robots that had followed them. One of the mercs yelled out in laughter "Nega dresses his robots in the worse clashing colors."

Marine peered inside as the male cat opened the door wider and revealed mostly female cats, the ship captains, engineers, and in general people who lived the naval life who volunteered to help her carry out her plan. Marine questioned them with a curious face "Did you get the cables I asked for?"

"We've gathered everything you requested. They're aboard the ships." one female engineer said aloud.

"Well don't just stand there! Get on out here! We gotta get going!" Marine stated in a hurried fashion.

"Wait!" one female naval personnel said from the back of about thirty people. She spoke in a panicked tone "We couldn't get to our ships because of the robots. There are some people a little further down the docks that need help!"

Once the people saw the mercs they poured out of the warehouse. Honey spoke with uncertainty "Maybe I should go check that out…"

As those words left her mouth, there were a few cries for help a little ways down the docks. The people heard it and so did the mercs. Tiara frowned and spoke to two mercs next to her "You two go with Honey; we'll be fine over here. Escort those people to a safe place and if you see any other mercs get them over here." Tiara yelled as she turned her attention to a merc having trouble with a bot.

The two mercs ran over to Honey, and they all ran towards the cries for help. Tiara then jumped back close to Marine as a robot came towards them, and she demolished it "You stay close and do what you have to do."

Marine nodded and looked towards the people looking to her for orders; her expression became determined; she was the captain now…for real…

Marine spoke in a determined tone "Get on your ships and get into position. Everyone else is waiting on us." Marine then pointed to five people; five female engineers "You get on the S.S. Marine and wait for me."

"Aye aye!" they all said and ran to their respective boats.

Marine reached into her backpack and pulled out a pencil as she began scribbling on her map again. She tried to keep focus as Tiara and the mercs fought the bots, but she couldn't help but look up towards the Castle and think of Blaze and Sonic. Dark purple thunder streaked through the dark skies. Blankly, she stared at the Castle, and a thought popped into her mind. She didn't want to be hasty and entertain such spontaneous ideas, but she had the mechanical expertise to make it happen now, all she needed was a bit of extra help. She just needed a few more things; she turned yelling to the people on her boat curiously "Hey! Do you have any spare parts in that warehouse?"

A black furred female engineer cat, dressed in a blue jumpsuit with yellow eyes leaned over the railing "We got plenty of stuff in there."

"Gears and motors?" Marine questioned her.

"Power lines and conductors too." the engineer said with a smile.

Marine rubbed her chin "All of you get back down here; I need some more stuff."

Marine saw that the robots were starting to get picked off by the mercs so she called for Tiara's assistance "Yo Tiara, could you kick in for a sec? I need to go in the warehouse."

Tiara nodded seeing the mercs were handling the dwindling robots there currently were "Let's go." she said followed by the five female engineers as they reentered the warehouse.

The other boats were starting to leave and get into position as Marine searched for the extra things she wanted. Marine knew they couldn't leave yet anyway until everyone was together, that's why she only chose five people. The other ships were full of people, but the S.S. Marine was going to be full of mercs so she was going to have plenty of help on her vessel.

---

Back up at the Royal Castle Sonic and Blaze had went on the lookout for Eggman Nega not long after Marine, Tiara, Honey, and the mercs had left. Currently, they were jumping across rooftops around the area of the Castle; they'd split up to cover more ground and so far there was no sign of him. Blaze landed on top of a sloped roof and grabbed a hold of the edged tip of the roof to hold herself steady as she looked out pass the buildings of the city, and into the surrounding forest of the city. Her eyes sharply scanned the brush, and she saw no movement other than wind blowing through the large trees and shrubbery.

Blaze frowned and glanced behind herself, she then jumped from where she was back onto a roof leading back in the direction of the Castle; she was just a few buildings away. As she ran back to find Sonic, she could see a few ships and the S.S Marine down by the shore starting to move through the water. She now at least knew Marine, and the others had made it safely. Blaze moved swiftly as she dashed across the roof tops to the street of the Castle. Once there she readied herself to jump down to the street below when she caught sight of Sonic.

He swiftly ran across a building on the other side of the street, and he stopped just on the edge of the roof and called over to her "Did ya see him?"

Blaze shook her head yelling back "I did not see him!"

Sonic frowned yelling over to her "He sure is taking his sweet time!"

Blaze nodded, she agreed with him. Even she was starting to get skeptical of what Nega was up to when suddenly she caught the faint sound of something unusual. Her ear twitched, and she went on guard as she looked around. She raised her arms and balled her fist; Blaze gritted her teeth as the sound became louder. She looked over at Sonic who had heard the sound as well; they locked eyes as the sound grew louder. Both of their faces became serious as they jumped from the buildings down onto the street. They ran together down the street at full speed right into the Castle's courtyard and stood back to back, looking around themselves as the noise became extremely loud. Each sound was one after the other, as if it were the feet of a giant walking across the ground. The Castle was not damaged, and they figured Nega might try at getting the Emeralds first by attacking it.

Blaze and Sonic turned and looked at the Castle, and their eyes landed and stayed there hearing the extremely loud sound of Nega's robot approach. However, Sonic and Blaze were rudely surprised as the ground shook behind them, a thunderous sound that made them instantly turn around and face Eggman Nega's latest creation.

Blaze and Sonic watched with frowns as Nega's robot got up from its kneeling position where he landed. Like many of his past designs, it was mostly gray and metallic but what stood out was how slim it was. It was the average size for a giant robot, about as tall as a small building and the cockpit head was still egg shaped. An oval-shaped cockpit glass gave him a wide range of view; this part of his designs for his robots never changed.

Nega promptly raised the robot's arm and smashed the Castle gates crippling and mangling the metal with one clean swipe of its arm. Then he grabbed the Castle gates and ripped them out of the ground, and in doing so he ripped the stone out of the ground as well as he tossed the gates into The Tail. As he walked into the Castle grounds his robot stood fully erect as he looked down on them, and Blaze and Sonic could see the malicious grinning face of Nega from his cockpit "Ho ho, Princess Blaze. It's been a longtime hasn't it?"

"Nega!" Blaze growled as she conjured fire in her hands.

"It also seems I may have something of yours…Sonic the Hedgehog! Ho ho ho ho!" Nega laughed nefariously; he rubbed his white beard with curiosity, and he spoke in a civil tone "I don't know why you're here you blue rodent, but it couldn't have happened at a more perfect time."

Sonic smirked already on his guard "You're right, I couldn't get here quick enough to kick your Egg-shaped butt!"

Nega's face became a little grumpy but his tone remained polite "I'm glad you think so."

"Hand over the Chaos Emeralds now!" Blaze said in a threatening tone.

Thunder boomed through the sky again as Nega spoke with a wicked grin "I'm afraid I can't do that, as you see I've detected a large concentration of Emeralds nearby."

Blaze and Sonic looked at one another with frowns then back to Nega; he had a look of disdain now. Nega spoke in a sinister tone "Don't think I don't know what you're up to. If you have them together to stop me, then I must retrieve the Emeralds by force."

"I figured as much, there would be no talking to you." Blaze said in a sarcastic tone.

"Don't you two worry, once I move you out of the way my plans will be complete. You will not stop my latest creation as you see…" Nega paused as he moved his robot in a way as if to flex it's arms and Eggman Nega cackled "…with the power of the Red and Blue Chaos Emeralds, I am more agile than I ever was before! Muahahaha!"

Blaze and Sonic's frowns deepened; this was new. An extremely mobile robot was something they had never faced, plus with Emeralds powering it, it was strong as well. Sonic spoke in a serious tone "What took you so long?"

Nega chuckled "I'm glad you asked Sonic, as if you don't already know I am here for the Sol Emeralds and the Chaos Emeralds! With the power of fourteen Emeralds I would become a god! Unlike that idiot Eggman…" Nega stopped short of what he was saying as Sonic began to laugh down below.

Blaze looked a bit confused at Sonic for a moment when he spoke with a grin "Well thanks for telling us your plans, your monologue was kinda useful this time huh?"

Blaze slowly shook her head, and she could not contain her smirk "I suppose you are right Sonic."

Eggman Nega's smile was wiped off his face, and his anger began to boil as he grabbed the controls of his slim agile robot. He spoke in a bitter tone as his robot shook the ground as it attacked "We'll see how funny you are once I smash you animals like pancakes!"

Blaze and Sonic became serious again, and they went on the offensive. They ran head on towards Nega, and he smashed his fist into the ground breaking the yellow brick apart. Blaze and Sonic were at least sure Nega was unaware of the ships down at the shore, especially with Sonic's quip distracting him.

Blaze went left, and she began hurling large fireballs at Nega. She threw them with enough force to make Nega's robot flinch a bit, and to top it off the fireballs were really hot. Blaze concentrated her fire, and it was enough to leave dark searing marks on Nega's bot. Although Nega's robot was as agile as he claimed as he charged at Blaze. He used both of his arms to swipe at her, and Blaze dodged them. But it left her in an uncompromising position as she landed. His swipe missed her and slammed into a nearby business building and doing considerable damage. His robot had enough energy from the Emeralds to stop were it was and swing back at the same force.

This time Blaze narrowly dodged it, and she landed on her feet a little off balance. Nega was so consumed on hurting Blaze he totally forgot about Sonic, and was reminded when a large force knocked him face forward onto the ground. Blaze took the chance to sprint and give herself some distance.

Nega quickly got up and turned around just as Sonic landed on his feet a few meters away. Nega cackled as the large screen in front of him locked onto him "I've got you in my sight's hedgehog!"

Sonic was no stranger to those words from Eggman, so he grinned "Oh yeah?"

"Yes!" Nega said as he held his robots fingers up and thick red lasers shot out of them. Sonic dodged them as the lasers ripped through the ground, tearing up all the nice yellow brick, grass, and shrubbery in the courtyard.

Blaze figured Nega wouldn't let himself get attacked from behind again so she did it anyway. She dashed at Eggman Nega and did fire kicks at his legs. They briefly made him flinch, but he focused on Sonic. Blaze then back flipped through the air, and when she landed she engulfed herself in flames. Then she dashed at him again with her speed, rushing at him full force with fire all around her and bounded into the air. Eggman Nega got annoyed as she attacked his arm this time trying to take some of the laser fire off of Sonic.

It made a large and considerable CLUNCK as she connected knocking Nega off balance; she also left a huge dent in his arm which Nega noticed. As his readouts from his computers told him, he had taken some damage. Nega growled as he finally swiped at Blaze with his lasers still going. She dodged with ease, but a few lasers tore into the Castle causing some damage. Rubble began to crumble and fall from the lasers etching into the stone of the Castle. Sonic grinned taking his chance as he rushed towards Nega but Nega quickly turned his attention back to him. Nega pointed both of his laser hands at him but the auto locking couldn't hit him.

Nega slammed a fist into his console yelling to himself "Blasted machine!"

Sonic closed in and Nega, in an act of desperation, turned off the lasers and used the auto locking to attack with his arms. He swung one arm at him and Sonic hopped over it and missed, but the other arm went directly at Sonic. Nega and Blaze looked on, Nega with surprise and Blaze horror, but it wasn't as it seemed. As Nega's fist seemed to be about to connect with Sonic as it came slamming down, Sonic continued to grin. With a subtle turn of his heel Sonic ran right pass Nega's hand as it slammed into the ground. Nega was bewildered that Sonic moving at the speeds he was, could turn at such a sharp angle.

Sonic turned at a ninety degree angle in a zig zag motion as he ran around Nega's arm. And in Nega's vulnerable position, he jumped into the air, curled into a ball and spin dashed right into the glass of Nega's cockpit.

DINK!

The large resounding sound was made as Nega flew into the air and onto his back. Sonic's speed was always a force to be reckoned with. While Nega hit the ground, Blaze ran over to Sonic. She gave him a stern look; Sonic chuckled "Sorry…"

"Be careful Sonic." she spoke holding herself back and her brows narrowed in irritation.

Nega looked angry as he got up "You think you can be unpredictable? So can I!" he yelled as his robot began moving faster; they guessed the large crack on his cockpit window might have upset him as well. Sonic and Blaze separated again, but Nega didn't even look at Sonic. Eggman Nega went right after Blaze, and she was struggling to keep away from him this time.

"Whoa!" Sonic said as he ran after them.

Blaze hopped across the ground as Nega swung his arms wildly, and Blaze threw fire at him. Blaze had almost walked into one of his attacks, but she had just stopped short of it. Nega laughed manically but once again Sonic wiped the smile off his face. Sonic ran right under him and snatched Blaze by the arm and moved her out of his reach before he could attack again. He was so focused on Blaze he reacted poorly to Sonic again. Blaze nodded silently to Sonic in appreciation as he let go of her a few feet away.

However, Nega laughed as he rushed at them, his robot moved faster again, and the loud thumps of its feet were a bit unnerving as he attacked. Blaze and Sonic jumped out of the way as he plunged one of his long arms into the dirt and quickly pulled it up causing dirt to fly everywhere. However, Sonic was not focused on Nega as he jumped through the dirt and pushed Blaze out of the way. Blaze was shocked as she was pushed by him and flew to the ground. She watched in the blink of an eye as Nega's arm skimmed Sonic as he tried to move out of the way and sent him flying into a nearby business building.

"Ooof!" Sonic said as he crashed into the building not far away. As he crashed into the building, a plume of smoke erupted from where he landed.

Blaze growled as she got off the ground, and Nega directed his attention to her. Blaze ran towards Nega and jumped through the air to dodge his long arms. And she dashed downwards in the air with fire around her and crashed into the top of his head. Nega's robot flinched as she just left another dent in it as she landed on the top of its head. She scanned her eyes over the top of his head, and she jumped away as he reached for her; she didn't see any structural weaknesses yet. She then began shooting fire at his legs while he tried to grab her.

While she was busy handling Nega, Sonic had just freed himself from the rubble of the building he had crashed into. Sonic shook his head, trying to shake the gravel and dirt off himself. He frowned; he was pretty strong with just two Emeralds. And then he jumped up and out the rubble and onto the street running full speed back into the courtyard. Nega could hit hard, he probably needed to be a little more careful. For Blaze's sake anyway since she asked him not to be so reckless, and Sonic didn't announce his return to the fight in the courtyard.

As Nega swiped at Blaze and missed, and she landed another successful fireball on him, it was starting to sear the metal of his robot and cause damage. Nega turned his attention to Sonic angry now "You're more trouble than I expected hedgehog, now you're getting in my way!"

Nega raised both arms in the air and slammed them into the ground causing a wave of dirt and broken yellow brick to flow into the air in Sonic's general direction. It knocked Sonic off balance, and he stumbled. Nega was getting ready to reach out and grab at Sonic but Blaze wasn't having any of that as she jumped right in front of Nega's cockpit window, and she released a sudden burst of fire from her hands. The bright flash blinded Nega temporarily, and the fire blackened the outer layers of his cockpit glass.

"Gahhhh!" Nega exclaimed as he took a few steps back.

Blaze's attack gave Sonic a reprieve, and he dashed into Nega in the few moments he was blinded. His spin dash into the chest made Nega's robot slide through the dirt and fall onto his knees. Nega growled as he regained his sight and tried to grab Sonic, but Sonic rolled into a ball and rolled away from him before he could. Nega sneered at his failure to grab him, and he was hit from the side by another strong fireball which made it harder for him to keep balance while on his knees. He failed to see Blaze running at him at fast speeds and just as Eggman Nega turned around to look for her, she crashed into his cockpit glass with a spinning fire kick.

"Ahhhh!" Nega yelled with frustration.

The force of her attack knocked Eggman Nega off his knees and onto the ground; he slid a few feet tearing even more of the courtyard up.

As she landed Sonic uncurled from a ball and stopped next to her. She looked to him with her frown "Are you ok?"

"Never better." he said with a grin.

As Nega pulled himself up from the ground, they looked at one another in the eyes again as they turned back to Nega. Dashing off in opposite directions again, from the looks of it, they only had to soften him up a little more. He was tough, and this fight could go on for a long time. They just hoped Marine and the others were ready.

---

Back down at the shore the waters officially got rough. Marine had Tiara, Honey, the mercs, and a few engineers on her ship. She had moved the S.S Marine down the coastline and dropped anchor next to the many other ships. There were about ten ships in a secession, and they were spread down the shore far enough not to look suspicious. Unfortunately, more robots had come and began attacking the boats, most likely detecting moving objects they were programmed to attack. Tiara, Honey and the mercs were fighting them off the ships right now. The robots started coming down onto the shore and attacking the ships; the mercs were spread thin along the line of about ten ships. Marine didn't notice though, she currently wiped the sweat from her forehead as she busily worked on her plans, in plural now. Marine had dropped all her tools onto the main deck and began working as soon as they docked. Just as they had discussed back in the War Room, her plan was originally to line ships up and down the shoreline to look inconspicuous.

Marine huffed with a worried expression and she stood up from her kneeling position from the erected Energy Cannon; she had raised it to the main deck just like a few days ago when they fought the pirates. Marine inspected her work; she'd made a modification to the Energy Cannon. Now protruding from underneath the gun was a thick power line cable that led to the three generators whirring loudly behind her. Marine glanced over at the engineers on her boat huddled over many mechanical motors they were working on.

But that wasn't all, there were thick black electrical wires wrapped in electrical tape strewn all over the main deck of the S.S. Marine, branching out and leading from down below in the cabin and off the ship. The cables went in each direction left and right, hanging through the air and reaching onto all the boats down both sides of the shore as far as the cables reached. A merc on her ship ran pass her as she attacked at a robot trying to climb onto the deck near her. Marine sighed in relief then ran up the stairs to the steering deck and checked the computer console.

The Energy Cannon was powered up beyond normal conditions. While they were in the warehouse at the docks, Marine had got two brilliant ideas. One was powering up the Energy Cannon, as the power it had built up over the last few days only left its stored energy at seventy percent. Right now, it was reading one hundred percent…it was going to pack a punch...

Marine nodded to herself with a frown as she ran down the steering deck stairs to the main deck. Just as she did Tiara jumped back onto the boat with Honey down at the bow; they'd just returned from another ship helping fight off robots. Tiara called out to her as she sat Honey down, and they ran over to her "You ok? You need anything?"

Marine looked over at the female engineers "What do you guys got?"

The engineers looked up at them with shock, and they pointed behind the three as three robots were climbing on deck. They all turned around and Tiara whistled with her fingers, then four mercs came running from various parts of the deck and attacking the new bots off the ship.

Marine looked tense, but she sighed as she returned her attention to the engineers; one of them spoke "We've finished a few more motors, were just about out though…"

"Darn…"Marine said with a frown "Tiara? Could you take these down to Captain Maple? And tell them not to put them on cannons that don't reach beyond a fifty degree angle, or else it's not gonna reach."

Tiara went over to the engineers and grabbed up the motors and Marine spoke again "Oh and tell those blokes to make sure the connection is working before they hook up the motors."

Tiara nodded "Right, Honey you stay with Marine until I get back."

"Its no problem boss." Honey said with a worried face.

Tiara nodded as before she ran up the steering deck stairs, she jumped up onto the rails were the mercs were fighting and kicked the last bot off the ship before she hopped off the S.S Marine and onto the other ships to deliver the parts.

"What else do you need help with Marine?" Honey asked with a curious tone.

Marine pointed at the thick black cables wrapped in tape "I could use your help with my measurements; I haven't even connected my cannons."

Marine went over to the engineers and picked up two more motors they had made then she ran over to her tools next to the Energy Cannon. She picked up some measurement tools and a map. Honey then followed Marine down into the cabins confused "What are you going to do with the canons?"

Marine grinned as they moved below deck to the engine room "It's the second part of my genius. Cannons are useless against Nega because they're so slow, but together there a powerful force! That's what these motors are for, the cannons."

Honey nodded with understanding "So that's what these cables are for."

Honey said as they stepped over them and moved to the canons on the right side of the room. Marine manually opened the hatch on the wall for the cannon, and it gave them a glimpse outside to the chaos. The mercs were starting to have trouble fending off the bots again as they came in more staggering numbers onto the sand of the shore; there had to be hundreds of them that infiltrated the city.

Marine frowned as she placed her tools on the floor, and she manually moved the cannon up and down to gauge the extent of its elevation in its base. Fortunately, the cannon could be moved up far beyond a fifty degree angle, and Marine lowered it back down "I already have the Energy Cannon ready. This is much more complicated though…"

Marine paused, and Honey listened as she began attaching one of the motors to the underside of the cannon; Marine grunted as she worked "You se…hmph…these cables are gonna be connected to all the cannons on all these ships and…youch!" Marine yelled with a face full of pain.

Honey was shocked ready to spring into action "What's wrong?"

Marine yanked her hand from underneath the cannon, and she waved her hand in the air "Caught my thumb on something…" she said sticking her hand back under the cannon with a frown.

Honey nodded with a sigh as she continued. Marine spoke as she finished attaching the motor "So all the motors of these cannons are connected to me on the S.S Marine and with the motors that are hooked up, I can adjust all the cannons at once into any position."

Honey was impressed "You can do that! That's amazing!"

Marine chuckled "Its no bigish, I do stuff crazier than this all the time."

Honey giggled "You should be proud."

Marine smiled as she picked up her measurement tools "Could you hold that cannon steady?"

"Of course." Honey said with a smile as she grabbed a hold of it.

"I haven't even connected any of these cables; I still got three cannons to go." Marine said as Honey looked behind herself to see Marine pick up one of the branching lines of the tied together cables with copper exposed at the tip.

"I see." Honey said as she watched Marine attach the cable to the motor.

"It would have been pointless to try to fire the cannons separately, I can adjust the firing angles on my cannons slightly on the S.S Marine already. It's a cool feature I installed, but it needs a little more upmh…" Marine spoke in a distracted manner as she used needle nosed pliers to attach the cables to the motor on the cannon.

Once Marine was sure the cables were on, she began measuring the length of the cannon and its elevation band. But Honey noticed something out of the hatch of the wall for the cannon outside "It looks like they are fighting already."

Marine instantly stopped what she was doing and poked her head out the cannons wall hatch. Honey was right; Marine couldn't tear her eyes off the direction of the Castle. She couldn't hear it with all the chaos down here at the shore but up at the Castle, she could barely see a meandering form moving around up there. It was no doubt Eggman Nega's robot. Marine blinked in surprise when she caught faint glimpses of bright flashes and the faint sights of Blaze and Sonic fighting Nega. Marine frowned and she pulled her head out of the hatch and began measuring the cannon again, but her face was more determined "I gotta hurry up…"

Honey saw the concern on her face, but she remained quiet as Marine spoke aloud again to no one in particular "They're in trouble…"

Marine was already tense, but she worked even harder than before to get her plans into action before Blaze signaled her. She needed to be ready for them for all that she was doing right now. At heart, sometimes she still felt a bit powerless…that was until she saw Blaze and Sonic in trouble...

She felt a new momentum...

That and there were more robots coming just outside the cannons hatch. Honey and Marine looked at each other with surprise, there were so many of them. Honey held steady onto the cannon while Marine measured the cannon, it seemed now they were in need for the opposite. As now they wanted Sonic and Blaze to call them, so they could put an end to Nega's robots.

---

Back up at the Castle Blaze and Sonic were feeling the power of the Red and Blue Chaos Emeralds. They had exchanged equal blows with Nega but so far the fight was turning in their favor, and Blaze was getting a nagging sense that Nega might try and escape with the Emeralds he had. The fight had moved onto the street of the Castle, and Blaze frowned as she jumped up onto a roof to escape one of Nega's swiping attacks, Sonic was getting up close and personal again, and she didn't like it. She held herself back from chastising Sonic again, with last night being the exception. But she was sure going to do it after this was over. They just had to stop a power-mad individual first…

Blaze ran across the roof tops as Sonic attacked Nega again, and she readied herself and conjured another fire ball. But Nega grabbed a chunk of the road and threw it at Sonic as he ran but unfortunately, its path went directly towards the building Blaze was standing on. Blaze's eyes opened in shock as she abandoned her attack and dashed away from her position. The chunk of road made mostly of concrete tore into the building making it collapse as Blaze tried to escape. Blaze was successful in avoiding any damage, but she did fall from the building and onto the street.

Nega cackled with glee seeing is work, but Sonic spin dashed into one of his legs knocking him onto the ground as well. Sonic uncurled and ran over to Blaze just as she pulled herself up from the ground. Sonic's face was upset as was hers, they had bruises, Sonic's fur was ruffled, and her clothing was tattered now. Sonic looked in her eyes as Nega pulled himself up from the ground, they had to even this out now.

Blaze was slightly embarrassed as Sonic suddenly leaned over and whispered into her ear. Blaze's face became stoic again as she listened to his words. Sonic cocked his head in the direction of Nega and Blaze turned to look. The Castle was behind them, and the street was in front of them. She nodded and then she whispered in his ear. Nega was irritated seeing them talking as he got up, he had taken considerable damage, but he wasn't giving up, that was his last option. Sonic spoke into her ear again then pointed directly at Nega. Blaze and Sonic looked at him, and Nega growled in anger yelling as he rushed towards them "You're not making any plans on my watch!"

With serious faces Blaze and Sonic split up to each side of the street. Sonic went first, getting closer to Nega, but he didn't attack. Nega was confused when Blaze began shooting streams of fire from her hands onto his cockpit window. Blaze hopped around, keeping a steady stream of fire on his window.

Nega turned to the annoyance screaming and slamming his robot hand into the ground "That will have no effect!"

Blaze dodged as it shook the ground. However, immediately after she shot more streams of fire at his window. Nega held a hand up to try and block it as her intense fire was starting to blacken his window. It was actually starting to get hard to see and the black residue from the fire, the soot, was building quickly and was really effective!

As Nega tried to shield his window from her flames he was hit from the back by Sonic breaking his guard, and he was blasted with a face full more of Blaze's fire. Nega yelled as he attempted to shield his cockpit glass "Argghh!"

He used his other hand to try and wipe some of the soot off, but his big robotic hands weren't really effective in doing so. He was almost blind now and he started swinging his arms around smashing into nearby buildings "Darn it! This won't stop me!"

Blaze remained serious as she kept up the heat, literally. She danced around Nega making sure to blast him every now and then, and attack him a bit as she led him all the way near the edge of the street to the hill away from the Castle. Nega was completely unaware as she jumped up onto a roof and waited for Sonic.

Sonic had run a good distance into the city to pick up some devastating speed, and he was already returning. He'd just jumped onto a rooftop a distance away and was headed in Blazes direction moving at incredibly fast speeds. Blaze took a few steps back and knelled. She glanced behind herself, and as he neared she took off. Sonic and she ran off the roof together and they soared through the air. Sonic had curled into a spin dash and Blaze covered herself in flames, and together they connected into Eggman Nega. The force of their attack caused a large cracking sound, and Nega's robot flew from its feet into the air and onto his back into the buildings behind him.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" Nega yelled in anger as he hit the ground.

But as Blaze and Sonic hit the ground they wasted no time. Sonic nodded at her with a serious face as he went to keep Nega down for a moment to give her some time. He jumped into the debris of the destroyed building, and as Blaze watched him go she took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

She conjured fire in her hands, and slowly fire began to form all around her in a circle. In an instant, she opened her eyes and fire exploded around herself. Engulfed in flames Blaze threw her hands into the air and released as much fire as she could muster. A thick stream of flames flew straight up into the air from her hands, and the flames extended a long way upwards.

---

Down at the docks it had got even crazier as a new wave of robots came and attacked the ships. Although some new mercs had came and joined them on the ship, their backup was starting to get overwhelmed. Honey had helped Marine connect three of her four cannons up to her setup, but Marine stopped just short of the forth cannon. Right now they were all topside, and the mercs, Tiara, and Honey were fighting the robots that had climbed up on deck of the S.S. Marine. Tiara was making quick work of them, but the other ships to her left and right were having trouble. The mercs were holding them off but if the robots kept coming like they were they would be overrun in minutes.

Marine and the engineers had run out of motors, so they began rechecking the cable hookups to the other ship's cannons. The Energy Cannon was ready to go, but Marine wasn't trusting her judgment on her measurements and adjustments of the cannons. The cannon's connections had been set up, and they were working. Marine was currently in control of all ten ships cannons. They all moved in unison, the ones that were connected anyway. Marine was up on the steering deck still adjusting the cannons, and she felt a horrible sense of nervousness in her gut. She frowned as she kept fiddling with the elevation levels of the cannons.

She was finding it hard to focus with all the fighting going on, on her main deck. These robots were relentless. She quickly checked the status of the stored energy for the Energy Cannon that the generators had been building up; it had reached one hundred twenty percent. She couldn't fire directly at Nega, but she could fire in his general direction with the cannons because she had so much range with all the ships at her disposal. Marine rubbed the temples of her forehead with worry written on her face, glancing back and forth between the computer console near the ship's wheel, and back near the Castle watching Nega's robot move around. However, when she looked at the Castle this time she saw Nega fall, and a building went up in smoke…she paused…staring up by the Castle…

When suddenly Marine noticed a large streak of fire shooting into the sky! Blazes signal!

Tiara, Honey, the mercs and everyone saw the large stream of flames shooting into the air as well! Marine froze and her eyes widened feeling fear strike her. She hoped she did her stuff right…

Marine donned a determined face…this was the time…

"Everyone battle stations!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

The people on the other boats heard her, and it spread around as a collective call started yelling "Battle stations!"

On all the ships, the captains and crew ran down below to their cannons and stayed above if their cannons were on the main deck. They readied themselves while the mercs kept steady. Keeping the robots off the ships and keeping them from interfering with the people. Marine ran down to the main deck then moved herself in front of the Energy Cannon; she glanced over her shoulder and spoke to the engineers "You guys go fire our cannons!"

The engineers complied without a word and ran down into the cabin; they passed Honey and a merc as they fought two robots. As more robots climbed on board Marine wasted no time as Tiara, Honey, and the mercs fought them off. Marine removed a panel off the bottom side of the Energy Cannon and pressed a few buttons. Marine then grabbed a hold of the cannon and pointed it towards Nega as he tried to get up. Something was keeping him down. The sound of the Energy Cannon powering up was a high pitch noise, and it grew. Marine's hands sweated, and her eyes were narrowed into a determined look as she shook with nervousness. She clicked the trigger of the gun once…then twice….then…

ZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZ!

The sound was ear splitting as the yellow beam shot from the cannon. Marine lost a bit of control over it, and it tore into some buildings, but she grunted as she moved the beam right towards Nega, and as soon as she did everyone began firing their cannons...

---

Back up by the Castle Sonic had did his best to keep Nega distracted while Blaze did her thing, but he did all he could for the moment. Nega stood with small areas of his robot sparking "You two will pay for that!"

Sonic hopped through the air and out of the debris of the building they had knocked Nega into. He landed near Blaze, and they both gritted their teeth. Blaze conjured fire in her hands once more and Sonic stood on his guard. Nega quickly tried to wipe the blackness of the soot Blaze had left on his cockpit window, but his big robotic hands did a poor job of it. It smudged a lot of it, but he could clear enough off to get vision just in the center of the cracked glass "I still have enough power to crush you…"

Nega, Blaze, and Sonic paused and turned to look at the bright yellow beam of energy headed in their direction. The beam had tore through a few buildings as it headed in his direction, and Nega with his impeded vision could not react fast enough to move an inch as the beam landed on him.

"Argghh! What is this?" Nega yelled as the beam tore into his robot.

It was starting to rip through the metal and Nega tried to move, but the beam followed him. For a few seconds, Nega moved out of the beam's way, using the power of the Emeralds to speed him up. Nega looked for the source as the beam followed him, but as he looked up all he saw was a rain shower of hundreds of cannon balls. His face dropped with fear "Oh dear…"

Even Blaze and Sonic were caught off guard as the cannon balls began to rain down. With surprised faces, they quickly started to move away from the area. Blaze was first as she began dashing away, but as Sonic turned to run he tripped on a rock. Blaze's face filled with worry as she stopped, turned back around, and ran back over to Sonic grabbing his hand. She dragged him across the ground and Sonic looked annoyed, but they had no time to argue.

In moments, cannon balls began hitting the ground and tearing the area up, causing even more damage to the streets and the business buildings on the street that led to the Castle. The cannon balls connected with Nega's robot and caused major damage, making huge dents in the hull and cracking his cockpit glass even more. He couldn't escape either. As he tried to run the yellow energy beam caused damage to his robots legs, and lessened his mobility along with cannon balls doing their damage.

"Curses! This isn't over!" Nega yelled as his robot took the full brunt of the cannon balls. He tried to take cover, shielding himself with the arms of his robot, but it did not lessen the damage as the cannon balls had showered the whole area. Plus the yellow energy beam continued to do its damage...

---

Back down at the shore things had taken a bit of a twist. A merc was frozen in place on the S.S Marine as she just stopped short of punching a robot. She was face to face with its blank and lifeless eyes. Slowly, she pulled away with confusion and shock on her face. Tiara and Honey held the same look as everyone else as Marine's Energy Cannon just powered down; she had expelled all of its energy and there was nothing left. Marine slowly turned herself around and looked behind herself at Tiara, Honey, the mercs and everyone on the deck. And they looked at each other wondering if they were seeing the same thing. The robots tripled minutes ago, there were at least twenty robots just on this vessel itself and much more down below on the sand below.

Tiara blinked in confusion as the robot in front of her and Honey had stalled. Tiara and Honey took a few steps back from it. Honey questioned Tiara breathing profusely "Is it dead?"

Tiara looked all around the boat at the many robots; they had come very close to overwhelming them and all the other boats "What gives? Why'd they stop?"

The mercs scratched their heads. They were fatigued, and a few leaned on the railing of the ship to catch their breath. Tiara being who she was, was not as tired, and she looked over the railing of the ship with confusion still on her face. Blank lifeless faces stared up at her. The robots that clung to the side of the ship had stopped climbing up "They've stopped…"

Marine joined her, and she donned a curious face looking at Tiara "Did we win?"

Tiara shrugged and they both looked up to the Castle, there was no movement they could see, but they figured Sonic and Blaze had done something. They couldn't handle anymore robots even if they wanted to...

---

Back with Sonic and Blaze, they safely made it away from the barrage of cannon balls. They guessed it had something to do with Marine because Blaze admitted that she wasn't happy that she had to dodge cannon balls. She was certain to get on Marine's case when she got the chance. Blaze and Sonic returned down the street when they were sure Marine's attack was over. They hopped up onto a building that hadn't been completely destroyed by the cannons or Nega. Small bits of debris fell from the edge of the building they stood on as they looked down at Eggman Nega's sparking and smoking robot; it could barely stand.

Blaze and Sonic looked at each other with smiles, and they jumped down into the debris to finish this confrontation. The whole area had been riddled with cannon balls all over the ground, so they watched their step as they hopped through what was left of the fallen buildings.

Nega's robot sparked and it smoked, and he turned around slowly. They could barely see his anger ridden face through the soot on his cockpit window, but they could hear him loud and clear "Ho ho ho! You think this is over? Well, I've got one more trick up my sleeve! Muhahaha!"

Nega's robot though crippled, began moving at fast speeds as it lunged towards them. Blaze looked to Sonic and shook her head; her face stoic.

Sonic grinned as they both dashed at Nega "Gotcha!"

Nega scooped up hand fulls of cannon balls and threw them at Sonic and Blaze, but his impaired vision and sustained damage could not keep up with their speed. Blaze was first to attack. She dashed into Nega's dented legs at full speed with fire engulfing her, and his legs came off like butter.

"Arggh!" Nega yelled in frustration as he fell to the ground.

Then Sonic spin dashed into one of his arms and cut it clean off. Nega's arm fell to the ground, and he let out another cry of frustration.

"Called your bluff! Nice try!" Sonic said with glee.

Blaze and Sonic at the same time went to attack his cockpit window, but as they did it flew off, and he ejected from inside with his Eggmobile, his preferred hovering vehicle. Blaze and Sonic looked up in surprise.

Nega scowled at them holding the Red and Blue Chaos Emeralds in his hands. He grinned malevolently at them as he flew away "Until next time Princess! Ho ho ho!"

Sonic frowned balling his fist as he got ready to run after him. Blaze halted him though with her arms crossed in a calm stoical demeanor "Wait Sonic."

Sonic looked at her with a curious face, and she looked at him with her usual stoical expression "Allow me."

Sonic then grinned bowing to her "Ladies first."

Blaze smirked at him as she took off, jumping out of the debris, hopping onto the buildings and then dashing into the air at full speed directly at Nega's cowardly and surprised face. As Blaze hurdled towards Nega's escape vehicle, Nega tried to move out of her path of trajectory but she was fast. Blaze kicked at him, a fiery spinning kick that engulfed her lower half in flames, and she made a clean hit.

"Naghh!" Nega yelled from the force of her kick.

He began spinning through the air, out of control, and he lost grip of the Red and Blue Chaos Emeralds "AAAAHH! I will return Princess Blaze! And I'll get you too Sonic the hedgehog!"

As Eggman Nega spiraled away through the air, Blaze gracefully dived after the falling Chaos Emeralds and snatched them out of the air with ease. Blaze landed on her feet on the roof of a building moments later and looked up into the dark sky as Eggman Nega flew away. Sonic startled Blaze, running up next to her without warning, and she glared at him in a non-threatening playful manner. Sonic grinned and they watched Eggman Nega disappear from site. Blaze then looked at the Chaos Emeralds in her hands, the Red and Blue emerald's glew brightly and Sonic smiled.

He gave Blaze a thumbs up, and Blaze let go of an uncontrollable smile. They both were pretty tattered. Her clothing was even more of a mess, and she was sending Sonic to the infirmary for the bruises on his arms and legs. Both of their furs were still just as ruffled up too. They finally collected all the Emeralds! Their journey was complete! And not just that, they had also successfully defended the Sol Emeralds, unraveled another unseen nefarious plot by Eggman Nega, and saved both their worlds. The merging of their worlds would stop…just as soon as Sonic went home…

Blaze's smile turned into a stoic face when she thought back to all that had happened. So much had happened in these last few days she couldn't believe it was over already. More importantly, them setting out on a journey to collect the Chaos Emeralds to help Sonic get home turned into so many more things…

The whole reason for their journey was to collect the Chaos Emeralds so Sonic could get home…

Sonic's face turned to concern when Blaze stopped smiling, but before he could question her, a loud explosion went off behind them from the building they were standing on. They both quickly jumped back on their guard to see Nega's robot go up in flames...

---

Back down by the shore there was an uproar of victory cheering as all the robots had suddenly deactivated. All the captains, their crews, and the engineers were hollering victory and cheering the defeat of Eggman Nega. They saw Blaze and Sonic take him down for good, they saw Nega's escape vehicle try to get away, and they saw the Princess attack him in his escape vehicle. They cheered louder when Nega's robot just exploded moments ago. The mercs were tossing the inanimate robots overboard, and some mercs were laying on the main deck just tired. The engineer's Marine had on her ship had joined them topside and were cheering at the top of their lungs. Marine was leaning on the exhausted Energy Cannon, and Tiara and Honey were hanging over the rail of the ship next to her. They all held relief on their faces, and just then they saw another explosion up by the Castle.

The trio drowned out all the cheering around them watching another explosion of Nega's robot, and Tiara glanced over at Marine with a smirk "That could have gone better."

Marine looked apologetic "No kidding…the King and Queen are gonna kill me…"

Tiara burst into laughter at her statement, knowing that a lot of damage to the city was caused in the span of a few hours. And her cannon balls and Energy Cannon wasn't gonna help her case. Honey chuckled a bit, her eyes were closed, but she slipped backwards off the rail and onto her back onto the deck with exhaustion. Tiara laughed heartily watching the fire from Nega's robot up above. They had barely noticed the news helicopters from earlier flying above the ocean not too far away. They were starting to come in, and they were sure to hype up whatever happened.

---

Back with Blaze and Sonic, they walked back over to the smoldering remains of Nega's robot. Her face was stoic and Sonic held his smirk. Lost in their own thoughts, they stared at the fire burning from Nega's bot. It all seemed to go so fast. One minute it seemed as if they were going on a simple Emerald hunt, and it turned out to be much bigger and complex than either of them had expected, as with many things in life. In her own thoughts, Blaze unconsciously squeezed the Emeralds in her hands...it was over…

This time spent with Sonic would most likely…no…it would cause some form of change in her again. She would grow…

She would return to her duties, and he would return to his life, and for the first time in a while she felt an emotion strike her hard. Her face remained stoic but she didn't know if it was just now...but…she just realized how sad she felt that he was leaving…

---

And then the final confrontation was over, I hoped you guys enjoyed. As I was writing this chapter I totally forgot some stuff while I was writing. I cant remember the ideas I had but hopefully they weren't to important. Now the end of the story is coming, in the next chapter I'm going to ask you all, my readers, a very important question a the end of the next chapter. I cant wait to see your responses.