Enjoy this chapter!
-Outbreakgirl
Meridian Woods
From a quick flash of light, Sonic, Tails, and Shadow reappears in the middle of the woods. They are in the clearing, where the Chaotix's house is directly behind them. Tails landed the Tornado near the isolated home, so it will take a minute to reach it in time. The trio runs into the woods, where they easily found the plane right where it is. It is sitting in a long stretch of forest clearing, thankfully untouched. Tails hops into the cockpit, as the two hedgehogs are on the ground.
"Okay, we can now begin the search." Shadow said, as he tries to lock on where he could find a trace of chaos energy. Meanwhile, Sonic walks to the side of the cockpit, as he watch his best friend tinker with his Pad device.
"I'm adjusting my Pad to hone in energy signals that the emeralds emit, just a second..."He hums lowly, pressing a few buttons. "Okay, its done."
"Good, we should split up to increase our chances of finding them." Shadow suggested, pointing north from his position. "I'll search the north, you guys do what you have to do." He turns, he doesn't need them to search for this one emerald. There are others that need to be found before ending up in the wrong hands. He can go on his own while the two could look for one themselves since they do not need him at the moment. Sonic hops on the plane's upper wing, sitting on it.
"Are you sure that's good idea?" He asked Shadow.
"Yes, unless you have another plan?" The black hedgehog holds his emerald in his hand. "I'll find you when my mission is complete, good luck in your search. Chaos Control!" Shadow disappears in a flash, leaving Sonic and Tails alone. The duo took only a few moments to get the plane started, Sonic holding onto the wing as Tails starts the engine, steering the controls to move. It soon moves faster on the clearing until it launch into the air, flying in the cloudy sky.
"We are heading in the right direction, we are getting a signal." He points to the map, a blinking light is in the corner. From the clouds, they could see that they are over the sea, heading towards to a mountainous island. In the middle, there is a volcano surrounded by the land's tropical jungle. "Sonic, i'll take you close to where the signal is emitting. Here, take this." He gives him a earpiece headset from his PAD.
"Good, I need to spread my feet anyway." Sonic said, as he held on to the left wing as the plane. The hedgehog has no problem with jumping free from the sky, and as the Tornado gets low and find a clearing, he leaps from the wing and lands firmly on the grass. He places the headset on his ear, talking to Tails. "Touchdown bud, so where do I go from here?"
"Go straight, you'll find it further ahead." The fox instructed, and Sonic stretched he feet before making a dash into the evergreen forest. It is a thick line of tress, but the blue hedgehog can easily run in between them. There are also giant boulders, and he moves either between or on top of them as he does a bit of fancy parkour. He is a adventurer, this is what he does and lives for in his face pace life. Sonic hops on top of a boulder, seeing nothing but more jungle in front of him, wondering how close he is to the emerald. "Bud, how far?"
"Close, just keep going." Tails instructed him, Sonic could see and hear the plane from overhead. "500 feet in front, and you''ll be in the radius."
Sonic nods, he can make this distance easily. He runs forward, only stopping once he reach the area the emerald is located. Sometimes an emerald can be out in the open, so he has to look around carefully. His green eyes are scanning around, so far he cannot locate emerald. He is sure that he is in right area, as he searched behind every rock, tree, and grass.
The hedgehog purse his lips, walking forward until he found a freshwater lake. The surface is covered with giant lily pads that he is certain that he can step on them, but on the other side, he could see something shining in the light that is lying on the pad on the far side. Certain that it is what he is looking for, Sonic decides that he will get to it, and he doesn't need to swim. He jumps on the closest pad, it is enough to hold his weight, as he jumps to the next. They are relatively close enough for him to hop on, and it will be a matter of time before he reaches the object. The closer get gets, he could see it clearly, a red gem glittering from the light.
Sonic almost trips, but kept himself balanced. He is almost there, he just have to avoid falling in the water, or he will sink like a stone. Sighing in relief for a few seconds, he continues the platforming until he lands on the lily pad with the gem. It is indeed one of the emeralds, and he pick it up. "Tails, mission accomplished." He grins. Now he would have to make a return trip to the solid inland since behind him is a rock face.
Island Beach
Tails is still in the Tornado, motionless on the beach as he waits for Sonic. He needs to conserve as much power as he can, they would need it for more travelling if they want to search for the rest of the emeralds. He is watching the screen of his PAD, and he receives Sonic's call. "That's great, i'm located at the beach, west from where you are." He answered, then a icon appeared on the screen, someone is calling him. The fox tapped on the icon, and the face of Amy Rose fills the screen. "Amy, long time no see." He greeted.
"Tails, thank goodness you picked up. I think something weird is happening." Amy said with a worried look on her face. "There was a report on the radio that a vortex formed over Station Square, and something came out of it. I tried listening in for more information, but no one knew what had happened, it occurred so fast."
That must mean that he is here, he had hoped that they would have a little more time. "Alright...listen carefully; that portal is a gateway from a parallel world. Right now there are twin versions of Sonic and myself, and their presence are bad news." He might as well tell her, things are getting more serious now,
"Wait...so you are telling me that there are, like, evil versions of you guys running around?"
"Its a long story...Amy, I want you to be careful. Call me if anything else happen, okay?"
"I will...and you be careful as well." With that, the call ends, and Tails is visibly worried. He hoped that they would have a bit more time, but it is clearly not in their side.
Tropical Jungle
Sonic quickly made it out of the lake with his prize, he is done here, he should be reuniting with the Tornado on the beach. He turns west, and runs to meet with him. During the run, something caught his attention as he looks up. Objects are flying overhead, and soon dropping right in front of him. It is the return of the Eggpawns, as they are blocking the way. "You've not to be kidding me..." The blue hedgehog sighs in irritation. "Sorry guys, I've got no time to play-gah!"
His body jumps when something caused a great impact behind him, he wiped his head to see, and the looming shadow belongs to an Eggpawn, but three times the regular size. It is coated with black metal, round like it's smaller counterparts, but the thing that most different is that it is carrying a hammer.
"Oh, so you brought a new friend? I told you, I got no time to play." The hedgehog affirms, he really has no time to deal with Eggman's toys since he has a plane to catch. Unfortunately for him, the robots has other plans. The giant robot behind him raised its hammer and swung it down to crush the hedgehog. It smashed the ground, but Sonic was quick enough to dodge out of the way, and jumps over the line of Eggpawns to dash away.
They do not present a challenge, He could just charge through them as he has done many times before, and avoid unnecessary fighting. He continues to run until he could see the sands in the distance, and he heard loud sounds the closer he gets. Sonic arrives at the beach, just in time to see Tails and the Tornado surrounded by Eggpawns, including another big one with a hammer. The fox is fighting with his arm cannon, doing his best to protect himself and his plane from being destroyed. The Egghammer is right in front of him, no way that this little boy would defeat him alone.
The robot lift its hammer, preparing to strike, but it was knocked on it's side. Sonic spin dash on the body of the robot multiple times, and he has gotten enough height to use a homing attack on the bot's head to make it fall backwards. The hedgehog lands safely, and then turns to his friend. "Tails, we gotta get out of here!"
The are still surrounded by the smaller bots, and they are easy to take care of. Tails nods, as he turns his blaster on the pawns, and they are taken care of in two hits. Sonic helps by spinning around the plane, which destroy the rest. The fox hops into the plane and quickly starts it up, waiting for Sonic to join him so they can leave. The hedgehog jumps on the wing, ready to go.
He turns back to the sands, seeing the Egghammer slowly sitting up. Seeing that this is unfinished business, he jumps up, and once again slams right into its head, which successfully knocked it off its body. Sonic return to the Tornado, just in time as it starts to move.
More Eggpawns jog out of the forest, attempting to chase them down. They were no way able to keep up as the Tornado is rolling down the beach and lifts into the air. The plane leaves the island, a mission complete.
"We did it, bud! One down, four more to go!" Sonic cheers, they have one, so does Shadow, and one is the hands of Topaz Base.
"Its not over yet," Tails pointed out, as they have only just begun. "We have to get the emerald back to Topaz base, the go out and search for the others...ah!" He gasp when the tail end of the biplane jerks. He quickly turn his head to see that there is something behind them. Sonic steady himself, and he turn back to see three objects following them, concluding that Eggman hasn't given up the fight just yet.
"We have company!" He shouts, as he watches the hawk like robots moving around.
"I know! I'm going to try and lose them!" Tails moves the craft into the clouds, hiding himself from his pursuers. Of course, the hawks follows them, shooting energy bullets to try and hit them. The fox maneuver out of the way, and pops out of the giant white cloud. They are still over the ocean, land can be seen in the distance, so there maybe a chance to escape. "Hold on, Sonic!" He warned him, as he waits for the perfect moment since two of the hawks are starting to catch up. He forced the Tornado upwards, moving into a loop.
Sonic held onto the wing, as his body hangs while the plane is upside down for a brief moment. He is grateful that he was given the heads up and have a strong grip, they are now positioned behind the bots. After they have straighten up, Tails had a lock on the bots ad he pressed a button to fire three energy missiles at the targets.
The hawks moves, but the missiles follow them, and one managed to find its mark and destroy one of them. The other two manage to get away, but it is better than nothing. He can do it again, so that he could take care of the annoying pursuers, but he has to find them. the two that escaped moved downwards towards the water, and Tails follow them to finish them off. The two hawks kept diving until they hit the water, which surprised the duo.
The fox grunts as he moves the Tornado just enough to fly over the water, the hawks are underneath, which is inaccessible to the plane.
"Just great, these things can dive underwater." The blue hedgehog pouts, they could strike at any moment. Tails decides to move forward, but is still trying to be cautious.
"We are almost at landfall, we still might have a chance." He is certain of it, at 30 feet, one of the hawks appeared from the water. It started to transform into a more humanoid form, raising its right arm, as it charged up its cannon. A large amount of energy is stored, and it fires into a large beam at the Tornado. "Hold on!" Tails turns left just barely manage to dodge the beam, trying to keep the controls in position. "Ahh, that's it! It's time to shift into high gear!"
The young fox pressed a button, a claw from the back appears, and reaches out to pick up Sonic. He saw this, but he was too late react to it. "Again?" He exclaims, as he is picked up from the wing. The Tornado starts to transform, as the wings shifts into an X shape. The claw placed the hedgehog on the back, since he couldn't stand in his original place in its new form. "You still kept this form?"
"You know it, now let's take care of it!" The kid is pumps up now, as the X-Wing mode is much better suited for combat, as it moves around the humanoid bot a lot faster. The second hawk emerged from the ocean, transformed as well as it dives for the plane. This is when Sonic ready himself, and jumps and homing attacks the bot. He lands back on the plane, and his attack stuns the bot enough for Tails to lock on, and firing a missile. It works, and it is destroyed.
"Yes! One more!"
"And we will get it!" The now lone bot shifts back into its flight mode, and went back into the water. The duo tensed a bit, as it could pop back up for a surprise attack. Tails took this chance to flee, if it does pop out, the X-mode would be more than enough to finish it off. Right now, they would probably have enough of a chance if they could reach land.
"Where did it go?" He watches the water, still no signs of this single robot. He has gotten his answer as the hawk emerged behind them. The duo took notice, and it raised it's arm cannon to take them out up close. Sonic reacted quickly as he jumps and clings on the avian robot, and it took evasive action. It flew off with the hedgehog, and the Tornado 2 in hot pursuit.
There is no way that Tails could destroy the robot now, not while his best friend is clinging to it. Sonic could feel the speed increasing, as the bot is maneuvering left and right trying to shake him off. He does hold on for a while, if he lets go, then he would fall towards the water. Unfortunately, his grip slips once the bot flings him upwards in the air, as the bot transforms into its humanoid frame, raising its cannon arm at him.
"Not today!" The hedgehog glares down at the attacking enemy, and curls into a ball and spinning rapidly. He shot straight at it, as soon as is charging its weapon. He hits it right in its chest, it wasn't enough to destroy the bot, but it did cause it to misfire its large energy cannon to fire up into the sky. This bold move caused Sonic to fall, but at the very least this made the enemy vulnerable, and Tails took this opportunity to attack and successfully destroy the last avian bot. He changed his course quickly, as his attention now turns to the falling blue hedgehog, hoping to catch him.
"Hold on, Sonic! I'm coming!" The fox shouted into his communication device, trying to get to Sonic as fast as he can.
"Make it fast, bud!" He doesn't want to hit the water, he'll sink like a stone for sure. He is confident that he will be saved though, he has that much faith for his best friend. The plane passed him downwards, then swooping up as Sonic manage to catch the X shape wing. "That was a close one..." He sighs in relief.
"Are you ok?" Tails asked in concern. "Gosh...that gotten me a bit scared."
"I'm alright, at least its over for now..."
The Tornado flies above the water until they found themselves closer to land until the reached the beach Cliffside, Tails activates the rear grab claw again to lift Sonic as the plan shifts back into its bi-plane mode, and released him back on the flat surface. Both have escaped from Eggman's forces, but he will not stop, most likely looking for the emeralds too. The young pilot looks at his tablet screen to locate the next emerald, but something else catches his eyes.
"Huh?" He taps on the screen, he sees something on radar that is speeding towards them. "Sonic-" Before he could warn the hedgehog, a sudden force crashes right through the left wing, causing the Tornado to spin out of the control. None of them knew what hit them as their aircraft starts to plummet.
"What the-?! Tails!" Sonic is holding onto the right wing as tightly as possibly. "Tails!"
"We are going to crash!" He screams as their crash is imminent, but Sonic has an idea.
"Take my hand!" He shouts, using the edge to scoot closer to Tails and reaches out to him. He hopes to get him out of the cockpit as quickly as possible, they do not have enough time. Tails reach out for him, their fingers touch, but he decides to jump for his reach and grabs for the hedgehog. He is caught, and now the duo are away from the plane free falling.
"Hold on!" Sonic quickly looks around for whatever that hit them, and he could see it, an object above floating until it starts to move again diving towards them. With quick thinking, Sonic will not let this thing attack them and decides to use the emerald in his possession. "Here it goes, Chaos Control!" With that command, the gem glows, and the duo disappears in a flash of light.
The object couldn't make it in time, attempting to collide with them, only meeting with empty air, crashing on the surface of the Cliffside as a result. It forms a small crater, and in the middle of it is a robot. Its red eyes scans the area, it is very much alone, but its humanoid frame lifts out of the crater, its blue metal shines as it walks forward. Where could the duo be?
"They've gotten away..." Said a grumble from the bot's internal commutator. It was indeed Dr. Eggman, seeing through the eyes of one of his strongest creation. "No matter, i'll find them soon enough, I have other emeralds to hunt. Metal Sonic, continue the search, destroy anyone that gets in your way!" He ordered, the robot named Metal Sonic used it's propulsion just engine to speed off to its mission to find the next Chaos Emerald.
Okay, chapter is done. Sorry that it took so long, but things are getting back on track. Catch you later in the next chapter! xoxoxo
