I own no Sonic characters, any familiar dialogue or the main plot. Credits to Sega.
Reply to likliklik's review of Chapter 9: Trying to hitch a ride on the Eggmobile was quite the random move, wasn't it? I know Amy tried to stop Eggman, but still...
Reply to ABCSonicKirbyWarriors' review of Chapter 9: I tend to worry about people often, sometimes for no reason. You did seem quite optimistic in your previous reviews, though, so I had to ask.
Sounds like you have it tough. Pretty dark stuff you said... Unfortunately, all I can do is hope that things will get better for you and everyone you know. Perhaps this next chapter will help ease your pain?
-Chapter 10: Even Without Wings-
Both racers, Sonic and Jet, kick dashed, attempting to take the lead from each other. Surprised, Jet noticed how much faster Sonic had gotten. However, upon a quick look at Sonic's Gear's thrust trails (two green lines, not just one), he figured out why Sonic was pulling ahead.
"So, you realized that your Gear wasn't up to scratch with mine!" the hawk taunted Sonic. "But how did you exactly tune it up so quickly?"
"Hey, don't underestimate what Tails can do!" Sonic reminded him, as he and Jet jumped off the incoming ramp and flipped and turned about with finesse. "Without him building this new Gear, I wouldn't be in this situation!"
"Really?" the Babylon Rogue smirked, as he and Sonic landed on the road. "Let's see what this new Gear can do against my Cyclone!"
"You're on!"
The two racers rode into a series of stone archways, Sonic keeping a steady lead against his opponent. Exiting the archway, Sonic knew that he had to put his drifting skills to the ultimate test, by making a sharp turn around a bending road without railings on the outer edge!
To some, they would have given quite the scare by the mere thought of doing such a thing! For Sonic, there was no struggle. In fact, because of the blowing wind, the hedgehog felt all the more confident with himself. Jet, on the other hand, felt nothing but stress, thanks to the fact that the blue spiny rat had been keeping up! However, said 'rat' left behind a turbulence trail that Jet easily took advantage of, gaining speed and eventually stealing the lead as the two rode around the bend.
Afterwards, they found themselves swerving back and forth through an obstacle course of rocky pillars. Jet, having experience with dodging lots of obstacles, maneuvered through with little difficulty. Sonic strayed from the turbulence trail the Cyclone created and focused on getting his own breathing room, by moving away from Jet.
To the side, the speedster noticed something peculiar: a grind rail. In a place like Babylon Garden? It certainly looked a little out of place, since the neon colors of the rail stood out from the bleak appearance of Babylon Garden.
Weird design choice, guys...
However, any advantage to take was better than none. Sonic jumped on with the Blue Star on foot and let those sparks fly. In a place of a very high altitude, he couldn't help to grin to himself. He enjoyed the heart pounding sensation that seeped into his mind. Once again, it was a complete contrast from Jet's train of thought, which primarily focused on defeating Sonic. As such, the hawk found himself rather frustrated at the sight of Sonic passing by him, thanks to a rail shortcut.
The two then approached a bend on the road, albeit a much less sharp bend than the previous. Jet snagged the inside path, leaving Sonic to either take the outer route and close in on him, or take advantage of the turbulence. He quickly decided on the latter. While Jet made the turn, Sonic shifted his weight to the right, noticing that he could actually move inside a turbulence trail! His movement was a little more restricted, yes, but it still piqued his interest.
The road straightened up. Then,Jet decided to do what Sonic did and spin around, creating a tornado behind the Cyclone. Grinning to himself, Sonic leaned to the right edge of the turbulence trail, crouched and took a large jump, performing a nose grab in the process, narrowly dodging Jet's tornado.
"You must think that you're pretty good because of that silly trick," Jet sneered.
"Well, I don't really consider myself bad at-"
"EMERGENCY ALERT!" an obnoxiously loud alarm blared, interrupting Sonic. "EMERGENCY ALERT! PREPARE TO REPEL INTRUDERS!"
"What's this all about now?" Sonic groaned.
As the message repeated itself, he and Jet suddenly saw an explosion erupt just ahead of themselves. They pulled off the Extreme Gear's equivalent of 'hitting the brakes' and had to shield their faces from it all! Smoke emerged from the point of impact, but in a few moments, it dispersed, revealing a change in the course for Sonic and Jet's race.
The two opened their eyes. They found an entire section of the track missing!
"What!?" they both yelped in shock.
However, instantly, they noticed an abnormally large stream of air emerge from the gaping pit to the surface below. Turbulence, in a place like this? Alongside it, a fleet of fighter planes flew by.
"This places confuses me," Sonic said, scratching his head. "Where could these guys have gotten the technology for this?"
"I'm not so sure myself," Jet admitted, though he knew what to do. "But enough talk. Are you gonna run out of this and hide because of what you see, Sonic?"
"I reckon that you're more chicken than I am!" he responded, hopping on his board and getting ready to go.
Sonic and Jet rode their Gears off into the large turbulence trail and were propelled forward faster than Jet could counter what Sonic said. Hearts pumped faster and rushes of adrenaline were felt as the turbulence trail carried the two past a large tower and further upwards in the sky than they were before, the fighter planes ascending along with them.
As Babylon Garden became more and more distant and appeared smaller and smaller, very dark vortex of clouds swirled around the racers. In time, they noticed sparks of lightning shoot out (luckily, the bolts didn't look like they were able to reach them and shock them). Feeling daring, Sonic swung himself left and right in the large turbulence trail, gaining enough speed to leap out and perform a clockwise turn. Landing, he gained a burst of speed to get ahead of Jet.
Unfortunately, as the dark vortex of clouds eventually dispersed, revealing the lighter gray sky, the stream of turbulence that carried Sonic and Jet high in the sky just disappeared.
"Well, that was rather short lived..." they sighed, falling down nearly just as fast as they were carried upwards. Seeing no sign of ground whatsoever, they had to hold onto both ends of their Gears, bracing themselves for eventual impact.
After a few seconds of feeling a rush of air smack their faces, the two noticed some stray fighter planes flying by. Patrol planes, perhaps? Regardless, they decided to hitch a ride on two of them, confident that they would fly over some ground. Being that the planes flew at the exact same speed as each other, Sonic and Jet found themselves neck and neck in this sky race. As they felt more air rush on their faces, the two laid eyes on small structures of Babylon Garden once more. Jet hopped out of his plane, backflipped like Sonic would (presumably to show off) and landed. As for the blue hedgehog himself, he kept hold of his fighter plane, wanting to feel the rush for a little longer. He whistled at the beauty of the view.
"Man, the others are definitely missing out!" he told himself, before noticing a weirdly set of grind rails. "Hmm... Has Jet even noticed them yet?"
He smirked once more. He let go of his plane, but he wasn't aiming to land on the brown road. He steered himself towards the rails! He held onto the Blue Star, adjusting its angle and pointing direction meanwhile. Sonic had pulled off extreme jumps before, but none at this high of an altitude! The very thought of potentially messing up and plummeting down to the surface fueled Sonic's adrenaline even more! However, thanks to the sound of metal grinding against metal, he was able to breathe easily.
He wasn't done yet, however. He knew he wasn't. Feeling constant adrenaline rushes was one thing, but putting Jet in his place was, at this point in time, became his priority. Sonic leaned forward, increasing his grinding speed as he rode below the course, around its side and back above it. At the end of the rail, he jumped off, showing off another trick in front of Jet. Afterwards, all that remained was a straight path to the finish, which they both assumed was the large temple ahead.
The speed of Sonic's Gear ensured his initial lead, but Jet's experience with Extreme Gear made it so he stole it in a matter of seconds. With a kick dash, Sonic pulled ahead, but Jet responded with his own kick dash, attempting to take the lead once more. He was pulled into the Blue Star's turbulence, which seemed like a good sign. The Babylon Rogue expected Sonic to pull off the stupid tornado trick again, so he leaped out of the turbulence trail.
He leaned forward as he jumped, hoping that the extra distance would give him the lead and the victory. Blinded by his desire to win, he didn't notice that he was positioned at the wrong angle. As a result of this, the Cyclone toppled over, bringing the rider with it. At that moment, Jet knew that he had lost.
Sonic, having heard the contact with the ground Jet made, merely teased him, saying, "Even without wings, I can still fly!"
The response he got was a low growl and a slam on the ground. Jet, the leader of the Babylon Rogues, lost to a silly, overconfident hedgehog! There was no way this was happening to him! Before he could say a word to Sonic, he saw him head for the temple, with one final thing to do.
"There you are, Eggman!" he heard Sonic call out. Picking himself and the Cyclone up, he went to see what was going on.
The bad guy himself stood in front of dark blue stone doors, holding the crystal box he knew as the key to Babylon Garden and its treasure in his hand. As Eggman saw his longtime nemesis approach him, he reached over to the nearby bush for something. Well, someone.
"Look before you move!" the scientific genius chuckled, holding a certain pink hedgehog in front of Sonic.
"Let go of me, you mustached monkey!" Amy yelled, struggling to break free from the villain's grasp.
"Amy..." Sonic mouthed, but didn't actually say. As weird as Amy could be, he knew that holding a girl hostage was no good!
"Watch, but don't interfere," Eggman said to him. "Just be a good hedgehog and stay still." He grinned as he faced the door again, but didn't notice Sonic crouch on his Blue Star, building up power for an incredibly high jump.
A sudden burst of wind forced Eggman and Amy to shield their eyes. Assuming that Sonic was nowhere to be seen, they could only hear a voice from above.
"Can you catch the wind?"
The rush of air died down. Eggman and Amy could uncover their eyes again. However, all they saw was a stray leaf blow away.
"W-Where are you!?" Eggman gasped, not knowing what was to come next. He heard Sonic's voice taunt him in response. He saw the blue hedgehog himself up in the air, but before the scientist could guess what had happened, he found himself swirled upwards in a tornado, along with Amy, losing the crystal box in the process.
As for Sonic, he had no idea where Eggman was headed, or why he dared to put Amy in danger. Regardless, he noticed the crystal box head for ground and caught it before any damage was done. Still descending to the ground himself, he tossed the box over to Jet, who couldn't process how that event even carried itself out. For a moment, Jet was in a speechless state, while noticing Sonic's sidekicks, Tails and Knuckles, head to the scene.
"I don't want your pity, nor do I need it!" the hawk finally snarled, wanting to retain his pride, despite the loss. "I lost, after all, so don't play games with me!"
"Jet-" Sonic began to say, before being interrupted by another voice.
"Are you crazy!?" Wave gasped. "If they don't want it, why shouldn't we take it?"
"Yes, take it, boss!" Storm agreed with his swallow companion. "Treasure is treasure, right?"
All that had happened... Winning the EX World Grand Prix, just to lose to one of the finalists in another race... Inside, Jet was broken down. On the other hand, he couldn't let his teammates down. He didn't want to look like a depressed leader. That wasn't what his father taught him, was it? No. He was told to show pride and move on, regardless of what happened.
"C'mon, Jet!"
"Boss, let's get outta here!"
With that in mind, Jet took one look at Sonic, then left the scene with Wave and Storm.
Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had other plans.
"Man. Those three are quite the group..." Knuckles could only say.
"Yeah," Sonic said. "But now that they're off doing their thing, I think it's time we left now. Tails?"
"Well, of course," the fox smiled. "But not before-"
"Soooniiic?" a voice rang out, interrupting him. It sounded familiar, though not very suitable for the situation. Everything was over. Well, not everything. Someone needed to give an explanation.
"A-Amy?"
"How could you dive into Eggman, knowing that I was there!?"
"Well... Uh... I thought that it would be okay with you... because... Uh..."
Time was up. The look on Amy's face turned into that of rage. Horrified at what was to happen next (and boy, did his face show!), Sonic made a run for it!
"Sonic! Come back here! This time, I won't forgive you!"
Tails laughed, Knuckles covered his face in shame and everything else was back to normal.
Or, so they hoped...
Bah, what a cheesy way to end a chapter! But of course, the story isn't over yet. Where are the Babylon Rogues headed for next? Could what they do next force them and Sonic and friends into one final confrontation?
Regardless of whether you know or not, stay tuned, everyone!
-Have a great day, week, month, whatever, and stay upbeat, y'all!-
