SONIC THE HEDGEHOG
REIGN OF THE OVERLORDS
Chapter: 9

Ah… the Junior Olympics are over, and I'm stuck in a cramped car for 10 hours on my way back home. So, luckily for you people, I might as well write this stuff… until my battery runs out. But let's not talk about that. Here it is, Chapter 9 of the world famous (right…) fan fiction… Sonic the Hedgehog: Reign of the Overlords.

"Come on Colossal! Can't you go any faster?" Grand shouted over her shoulder. The black fox, known oh so fondly as Colossal, was lagging behind the others. Ordinarily, he would be out in front, blazing the trail, but that wasn't the case here. He had a bit of extra weight, in the shape and form of a vixen leaning on him for balance, slowing him down.

"Of course I can! You wanna trade cargo?" Colossus retorted. He re-shifted his load and raced after his compatriots. Sonic, who was jogging next to Higrokar in the front of the line, was taking a quick head count of the party.

"Um… Higro? I think we're missing someone." Higrokar looked over his shoulder to see what Sonic was talking about.

"What do you mean? We got everyone… ah shit." Higrokar facepalmed in realization. "Where's Heronon? I mean sure, he was just a side character that was completely forgotten until now, but, he's still a part of this."

"He stayed back at the base to hold off the mechs." Heero replied. He looked downcast as he added; "I lost contact with him though… I sure hope they didn't kill him."

"Don't worry." Sonic said. He gave Heero a quick thumbs-up, "He'll be okay. No doubt about it!"

"Nice sentiment Sonic. But, we have bigger problems." Shadow said from his spot at the front of the group. "I can sense them. Either we get a move on, or we die." Suddenly, the nice little part of sentiment in the story was over, and everyone was back to running… until it came. As they passed an odd looking building, Heero turned back to Colossus and shouted at him.

"Hey Colossal! Remember the time we captured that bus of spare crystal engine parts?" Colossus pondered for a second before a slight grin crept across his face. "I thought so. It's just up ahead, so why don't we show the gang what we were working on all that summer?"

"What are they talking about?" Grand asked Crimson.

"No idea… but knowing those two, it has something to do with explosions." She replied. After a quick left turn, Heero and Colossus stopped at an over-hanging archway. Heero pressed a few buttons on a nearby control panel, and turned to face the party.

"Ladies and Gentlemen… and Sonic." Shadow grabbed Sonic and held him back from strangling Heero's neck. "I… the marvelous Heero, and my lovely assistant Colossus, bring you the ultimate in trail coverage. Combining speed, destruction, chaos, and nice interior decoration into one massive security system. Colossus, if you would please." Colossus punched through a metal box on the wall and discharged energy into it. A loud whirring sound was heard as the system warmed up. Swiftly, the arch retracted, to show a large yellow bus the same width as the alleyway, stuffed to the brim with crystals. It also had the words "Magic Bus" inscribed in graffiti on it. "Observe." Heero muttered as he inputted a short sequence of keys into the panel. The bus was lowered into the alley, and the archway sealed shut, creating a tight blockade in the side street. "Ah, but that isn't all folks. Instead of just one trap." Heero said. "For the low, low price of free, you get multiple traps and blockades! Order now!"

"I get it!" Sonic said. "If we use these panels, we can stall the mechs long enough for us to get away!" Heero applauded with a massive amount of sarcasm.

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Tell him what he's won Colossal!"

"The right to live."

"What a great prize! Now then, we only have nine more traps to arm… so let's get a move on!" Crimson leaned over to Grand and whispered.

"See? I told you it had something to do with explosions." It was only a few moments later that all the traps were set down the long pathway. They were just finishing up on the last one, a set of large thick walls, spike pits, and proximity mines, that the bus exploded in a massive firestorm of unstable chemical origin.

"And the show begins! Too bad we can't stick around to watch." Heero said as he spun on his heels to start running again. "I wonder what would be going through their minds right know… ah well, I guess we'll never kno…" An energy blast through the heart silenced him. Ironically, it was one of his own security lasers that was deflected off an energy shield. He collapsed to the ground in a heap.

"Heero!" Sonic shouted. He leaped down on the ground next to him and picked him up. "No… Grand! Can't you do anything?" Without skipping a beat, she threw back a retort.

"What do I look like, a mechanic? He'll be okay once we get him outta here." Shadow looped the wolf's other arm around his neck, taking half the load from Sonic.

"We've got to keep moving!" Higrokar shouted. "We might get lucky and get enough distance between them and us!" Colossus tsked. He knew that the traps wouldn't hold for too long. He knew he had to do something… something that might cost him his life.

"You guys go on ahead." Colossus said. He let go of the vixen he was carrying, and pulled out a sniper rifle and a handful of frag knives. "I'll keep 'em busy for a while." Crimson grabbed the vixen and supported her in Colossus's stead. However, the vixen shrugged her off and embraced Colossus. She let go a brief moment later, with the ability to stand and, more than likely, run. Colossus nodded and whispered to her. "You know what to do… keep them safe for me." He turned away and set himself in a sniper position, setting his rifle on one of the walls for support. "Are you lot still here? I said I'll handle this! So get moving!" Higrokar nodded, and rallied the party to escape. Crimson turned away, a lone tear running down her cheek. Grand showed no emotion, not even lust for Shadow. And Heero… you know what he was doing. The party, minus one, dashed off, leaving Colossus on his own to take on a massive raging horde of bloodthirsty mechs. He grinned from ear to ear and muttered to himself, "This is going to be sweet." He pulled the trigger on his rifle, and in result, a mech's head exploded.

The gang raced as fast as they could through the winding path of alleyways and forks (not eating forks… road forks.). The sounds of battle began to fade from even the sharpest hearing, until it faded into utter silence. That is, until Higrokar broke it.

"Here we are." He stopped in front of a large warehouse. The warehouse looked abandoned, and yet, through the windows, you could see piles of crates and barrels. Higrokar paused in front of a section of the warehouse wall and rapped on it sharply. The section of wall slid to one side revealing a hidden control panel. He input a short chain of keys, and caused the warehouse door, a thick steel-type metal, to slide slowly upwards. He motioned to the crew, and walked inside. Sonic and Shadow stared at each other for a brief moment, and followed him inside.

"I guess this is home sweet home now?" Crimson asked after plopping down next to a crate. Sonic let go of Heero and sat down on the barrel next to her. Shadow, having no sense of respect for a dead body, released Heero, who fell to the floor with a loud clang, and propped himself against a nearby stack of crates.

"Yep." Grand replied as she helped the vixen sit down next to a wall, and continued diagnosing her.

"Hey Grand." Shadow said. "When Sonic asked if you could help Heero, what did you mean when you said 'I'm not a mechanic'?" She shrugged and replied.

"You'll see. He should be rebooting right about… now." Heero's body gave a sudden jerk. A cybernetic voice echoed from his mouth, while sparks began to erupt from the wound.

"EMERGENCY ALERT CANCELLED. BEGINNING AUTO-RECOVERY SEQUENCE. REBOOTING CRITICAL SYSTEMS. ESTIMATED TIME OF REPAIR: 10.63 HOURS." The sudden movement freaked Sonic out, sending him scurrying up the wall. After a few moments, the sparks died down, and Heero lay still once more.

"That's what I meant." For once, Shadow was actually surprised. And in response to the development, he merely nodded his head. Grand, after finishing her examination of the vixen (meaning doping her up into unconsciousness), curled up on some nearby packing material (and a little bit of Shadow) and fell asleep.

"Well, it seems Grand has the right idea." Higrokar said, while pulling up a stray mattress for himself. "Not much we can do now. After all, Colossus knows where this place is, and Heero is recovering. So I bid you all a good night." He fell dramatically backwards onto his mattress and fell asleep as soon as he hit it. It wasn't but a few minutes later that every occupant in the warehouse was sleeping… if only Colossus could be there.

Alleyway, Hawkblade

Colossus was having his fun. It was only a few moments after the rest of the gang left, that the full force of the mech army flooded the side street. He sang a little ditty to himself while sniping a few far off targets.

"One. Two." He muttered to himself with each report of the rifle. He grabbed a grenade from his belt, pulled the pin, and hurled it into the horde. It exploded, sending a chain reaction of explosions from the mines placed around the alley. Even that kinda surprised him, as he just stood there blinking. "Skip a few… I guess." His surprise was cut off by two survivors leaping out from the smoke and debris. He dodged the first one, ramming the butt of his rifle into its back, and blind fired at the second, ripping a massive hole in its torso. "Ninety-nine." He walked over to the other mech, still recovering from the rifle butt to the back, flipped it over, and curb-stomped its face into the dirt. "One hundred." He muttered to himself. "Well, now that that's been taken care of, I guess I should get to my pals." But, his victory was short-lived, as more and more mechs poured into the alley. "Oh, come on!" He spat on the ground, anger blazing in his eyes… and lightning bolt symbols appearing on his body. "I have had enough of you people! Hyper…" he drew his hands back, generating massive amounts of energy in them, "Shot!" He thrust his hands forward, releasing a massive devastating energy burst. It destroyed everything in the alley, even the bunkers he was using for defense. "That'll show yah." Colossus muttered, just before he collapsed to the ground. His vision began to blur and fade, as he slipped into unconsciousness. Right before he blacked out however, four black-cloaked figures stepped from the shadows and surrounded him. "Ah, shit." He managed to sputter, before he blacked out.

The surrounding Overlords stared at Colossus for a moment or two; one even nudged him with a boot. It was quite sometime before one of them spoke.

"So… now what?" the voice was metallic, and yet still kinda scary.

"Let's kill him!" another replied in a spooky ghostly tone. He raised one of his arms for a kill strike, but one of the Overlords kicked him in the chest with a boot.

"Shut it 3. 1 would skin you alive if you killed him." The voice was lyrical and feminine. The ghostly toned Overlord turned away from the group.

"You always ruin my fun 5! Its not cool!" he said. The last Overlord sighed.

"Stop it! Both of yah!" He shouted. His voice was guttural, and yet vaguely familiar. "We need to figure out what to do with him." The metallic voiced Overlord spoke up first.

"Let's take him to 7! She can drag info out of anyone." Murmurs of agreement came from the other Overlords. "Okay, so we're agreed… now then. Who's gonna carry him? Because, I sure as hell ain't." Silence overtook them as none of them volunteered. "Rock, Paper, Scissors then?" Agreement came, as they started a massive game of Rock, Paper, Scissors… and every round they all had rock. Until one brave soul spoke up about it.

"Okay. Someone has to use something other than rock."

"But, who?" They pondered the question for a while until the solution arose. "There is only one way to decide… Rock paper scissors!" It went on for several minutes until it finally ended… with someone throwing scissors. The unlucky Overlord swore, picked up the body, and followed the others on their way to see the one named… 7.

And that's it. I would have had this done Sunday, but my Laptop battery went dead… figures. And I have nothing else to add here… so… I guess I'll get back to Dungeons and Hedgehogs. Since that is the fic you people actually care about. Oh, and before I forget, the next chapter begins two months after this one… I'll remind you people later about it. So until next time, I'm Dark "the forgets his password thanks to firefox usage" Leader Omega… and Rock Paper Scissors decides everything!