A/N: And chapter 12 pulls into the station! So, the heroes now know they need to collect not only the emeralds, but seven keys. Talk about a long shopping list. At least they know where the keys are. However, some old information will come to light, as well as a few surprises. Sorry if the beginning seems rushed.
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Sega and Archie except my OC.
Over the past few days the heroes have been working diligently to find and secure the Gaia Keys, traveling from one location to another. Sonic and Rotor went after the first key, which was in the frozen plains way up north. Apparently the Key Guardian was captured by the Egg Army in this section of the world, and shockingly, the Egg Boss was none other than Rotor's own father. The young walrus was rather disappointed by this turn of events, but if there's one thing he and the rest of the fighters could agree on, it was that they decided to fight back instead of becoming Eggman's personal puppets.
During this venture, Tails and Sally took Kor to Empire City to settle an important matter: getting the engineer some Extreme Gear. In terms of transportation he either used Hornet or hitched a ride with someone else, and considering how often the team would be to spread out it was starting to become an issue. The first thing they tested was obviously the hover board. Long story short, it went so disastrous it would probably end up on Jackass, and part of a store was set on fire. In the end, Kor opted for a bike instead. Thankfully, it wasn't hard picking one as there were a lot less bikes than boards. He chose one that looked like another bike known as the Hang-On, but had more of a Harley Davidson cruiser style than that of a Yamaha.
After this endeavor, the Freedom Fighters were over Northamer to find the Key Guardian on this continent. Several went down to search for it, leaving everyone else on the Sky Patrol. A noticeable amount of noise was coming from the hangar, where we see Rotor and Kor working on Terry, who was having its turret removed for a special project the engineer had in mind.
"Easy as she goes Kor." Rotor instructed.
"I know I know." Kor replied, gently managing the controls of a lift. "Annnnnnd, there we go." The lift moved the turret off to the side before setting it on a large platform. The engineer wiped his brow. "I forgot how long it takes to actually remove that darn thing..."
"Well why did you even decide to remove it in the first place?" Rotor asked.
"Well, it's been a long time since I gave Terry any updates, and the more I think about it, the more it seems like a deficiency to have it fire rockets from the missile silos. So recently, I bought an XM70E2 rocket launcher to fit into the turret. A little outdated, but I can find some use for it." He pulled out a set of blueprints and laid them on the table. "What I plan for Terry to do is be able to interchange its 30 mils to this big howitzer. It's gonna be 115mm of pure explosive power." Kor chuckled.
"And how exactly did you purchase this from the United Federation?"
"They owe me a few favors."
"Even so, how do you plan to fit this into the turret? Considering that this howitzer utilizes a rotary magazine, it would take up too much space, not to mention the size of the ammunition..."
"That's where innovation comes in Rot." Kor walked over to the large rocket shooter. "I plan to remove the rotary mag and put in place the usual standard magazine feed. However, the only hard part is widening the turret so the gun can fit and increasing the size of the ammunition housings as the rockets will use the same feed the a 30mm ammunition uses. Once this is finished, Terry's lethality will increase by a factor of 10, and God help those who stand in its way..." He chuckled until he started to do an evil laugh.
"Kor, you're doing it again." Rotor said with an amused look.
The fox cleared his throat. "Apologies. Anyway..." He grabs a blow torch toolkit and a safety visor. "Time for me to get to work." With a few flicks, the torch is ignited and ready for use.
With that, Rotor left the fox to his own devices. He needed to go back to monitoring the Sky Patrol's systems anyway. The red fox sunk into his work, managing to sod off the rotary magazine and began installing the belt feeder. He also remembered to add armor to it so someone didn't get the idea to blow this important mechanism. Doing so could shut down Terry's turret entirely. Kor so was in-tuned to his work he didn't notice the hangar doors open until he noticed the sun's golden rays on the wall.
"Hey Kor, whatcha workin' on this time?" Sonic asked, holding a strange looking key.
"Oh, finally giving Terry some much needed love. And by that, I mean a new gun." He stated, tapping the large howitzer.
"When'd you find the time to get this?" Sally asked, inspecting it cautiously.
"Got it while you guys were gone, and..." He looked over at Bunnie. "You get into another fight?"
"Yeah...met one of the Egg Bosses in this area, but on the bright side..." She showed him the blue chaos emerald.
"Niiiice. Wait, isn't that the same one we lost a while back?"
"Yep. Turns out it crashed in this area. We wouldn't know about it if Chip didn't point it out." The Blue blur stated, nudging the spirit.
"Ah it was nothing." He said bashfully.
"We also had to deal with another of Eggman's E-100s. I had an idea of how to get rid of it, but Sonic just lured it into the Thunder Plains." The princess put her board against the wall. "That was one indication that the emerald may have been there."
"I see...what did this one look like?"
The hedgehog shrugged. "Eh, giant flying saucer with eyes and shoots lightning like fireworks."
"Hmm..." Kor rubbed his chin. "Sounds like E-118 Tau. Was right next to Hornet's blueprint." Suddenly, the fox had a massive headache coming on. "Ugh...Grrr!..." He growled in annoyance.
"Oh right, sunset." Sonic groaned, feeling a slight pain in his chest as he was surrounded by Dark Gaia mist. Unlike him, Kor changed differently over the last few days. No longer being covered in mist, he instead got a big headache as his new form took shape. His light breathing began to sound heavier and heavier as hands turned to claws, eyes became that hauntingly red color, and his fur became darker and bushier. His pants didn't tear thanks to getting a larger size for such occasion, and he stopped wearing his boots due to this. Thanks to the Freedom Fighter's efforts, Kor was almost used to this change, as he still had his moments.
"I think I'd prefer changing the way you do than getting a headache that could split a coconut...anyways, where do we go next?"
"Based on our location and known information, our next best choice would be Mid-Esta." Nicole told them.
Kor gave a small laugh. "I wonder if the Egg Army there is still living in fear of the 'Triple Threat'."
"Which is why you're going with us this time." Sonic smirked.
"Wait, why?" Kor asked, clearly stumped.
"Easy. If they see you, those Eggheads might be too afraid to fight us, making getting the key all too easy."
Kor tapped the unlit torch to his head in thought. "Seems it'd be worth it. Maybe just seeing Hornet in the air will make 'em piss their pants, heh heh heh. So when do we leave?"
"As soon as you can. I'll alert Big and Antonie as well. In the mean time, we'll see if we can find that last emerald." Sally ordered before she along with Nicole and Bunnie continued further into the ship.
"Greaaaaat, and I was hoping to get more time to work on Terry..."
"Ah relax, you'll get all the time in the world once we finish. Sounds boring if you ask me." The werehog stretched his limbs.
"Says he who prefers to run." Kor gave a friendly smile.
Within minutes, Antoine and Big arrived as Kor finished getting Hornet ready. Sonic, in his usual nature, tapped his foot impatiently with Chip amusingly mimicking him. The group rode on their respective extreme gear while Hornet followed close behind.
"Do you zhink it vill be zat easy?"
"Eh, why not? We got muscle, brains, and firepower so what's there to worry about?" Sonic replied.
"I think this will be fun." Big added.
"I'm still wondering how they'll take my surprise visit." Kor smirked.
"Oui, zat old incident you described years ago. I am hoping not to see zhose ruins again..." The swordsman shuttered.
-The Next Day-
They arrived in Mid-Esta around dawn, at which Sonic and Kor's night forms disappeared. The hedgehog laminated on how it would've been easier to just fly the Sky Patrol over here then disembark but Kor pointed out the heavily contested air space and air defense zones the Egg Army had. Plus, it was stealthier and the Sky Patrol has a radar cross-section the size of Texas. Not only that, the Hero of Mobius still didn't want anyone to see him as a werehog. Hornet was lagging behind by 20 miles but it would catch up soon. As luck would have it, the key guardian was living in Shamar, which brought back mixed memories to the group. And to add to that...
"Look around ya fellas, the infamous Highway of Death!" Kor boasted, much to Antoine's charging.
As he fondly remembered, the burned husks of vehicles both civilian and military alike were still strewn about, making the highway look more like an old scrap yard. The area still smelt of smoke, gunpowder, and death. All of the trashed vehicles had been pushed off to the sides so nothing could obstruct traffic, but the sheer size of this 'boneyard' still served as a testament of the amount of firepower a certain crazed fox could bring to bear if he willed it. Taking one look around, considering the amount of time that passed since, and taking into account the amount of upgrades and weapons this engineer installed into his WMDs, any normal person would be utterly horrified if they saw Kor today. Antoine was clearly unnerved due to his jittering, and while Sonic didn't show it, he was also sweating slightly. Who knew his old friend could do something this destructive? Then again, he's trashed thousands of Eggman's toys so he's not one to judge.
The group didn't dwell on this further as they came under attack by badniks 60 seconds later. Local Egg Army soldiers joined the fray moments later. Along with standard Egg Army uniforms, they also wore typical Middle-Eastern garbs, and the species consisted of various races suited for the arid climate.
"Well, that moment didn't last long..." Kor sighed in annoyance.
"Ah relax. Just a little ambush. Was getting board sitting doing nothing anyway." Sonic chuckled, immediately springing into action.
Antoine gave a dry laugh as he took out his sabre, immediately cutting the tail of a scorpion badnik. Big simply picked up another and threw it towards a rifleman before it could fire a shot. Kor whipped out his AA-12 and fired several rounds at a few soldiers trying to hide on a ridge above the group. Everything seemed to be going pretty well, until the ground began to shake. Seconds later, a larger scorpion badnik with more highly detailed features emerged from the ground, which could only mean one thing...
"Sonic! Horde Commander!" Antoine shouted.
"Kinda busy here 'Twan!" Sonic replied, currently deadlocked with one of the soldiers.
"Ugh, Hornet better pick up the pace..." Kor muttered, temporarily shooting off a few badniks that came near him before continuing to suppress the other soldiers.
Sonic was about to flip the soldier over him to deal with the giant badnik, but an unexpected guest beat him to it. An orange mobian porcupine spun and knocked the large scorpion off balance, while a green fox helped Sonic by knocking the soldier out cold with a well-placed judo chop to the side of his neck. Lastly, a purple mole came from underground and took the horde commander by surprise. The mole cleanly cut through one of the arms, severing a claw, but the badnik wasn't done yet. It stabbed at the mole with its massive stinger, but the mobian quickly dove into the ground. Sonic began running circles around it, taunting for good measure. After he making sure the soldiers wouldn't interfere, Kor marked the robot for death by pinging it with a laser that was attached to his gun. Now, normally a laser sight would be useless on a shotgun, but that's not what it's for. Seconds later, what sounded like a jet engine was heard from above before a few missiles impacted the badnik, turning it into a pile of burning metal.
Hornet appeared soon after, picking up more hostile soldiers and it was ready to send them to hell. The soldiers quickly became unnerved and beat a hasty retreat. The gunship wanted to follow, but Kor denied its request.
The engineer laughed. "They may not remember me, but they sure as hell remember Hornet."
"Thanks for the save, now who the heck are you guys?" Sonic asked.
"We're the cavalry, or as locals call us: The Freedom Fighters!" The porcupine boasted.
The Blue Blur chuckled. "Freedom Fighters huh? Figures we'd inspire some imitators."
"Pff, imitators? That's some big talk there Mr...?" The green fox asked.
"Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog!"
"Wait, you're the Sonic the Hedgehog?!" The porcupine asked in shock.
"Oh, so you have heard of me."
"There goes his ego again." Kor whispered to Antoine.
The swordsman shook his head. "As if it needed to get any bigger..."
"We modeled our team after yours. I'm Spike, this is Sonar, and this is Trevor Burrow." The porcupine acknowledged the fennec and mole respectively.
"Well, you guys sure have good taste. Think you can help us out on our mission? We're lookin' for someone."
"O-Of course!" Spike said giddily.
The Key Guardian everyone was looking for was named Eshan. Upon reaching Shamar, everyone fanned out to look. However, this proved to be fruitless as no one has seen the man since the Egg Army set up shop close to a temple.
"Any luck?" Antoine asked.
"Nope, and it looks like Professor Pickle hasn't been in his office lately." Sonic replied.
"Nothing on our end either..." Spike sighed.
"Same here, though a few have been rather kind in giving me a few souvenirs since I was last here..." Kor mentioned the few knick-knacks he held. He had no need for them, but he didn't want to be rude.
"And that's why you hire a spy!" Sonar shouted from a roof before jumping down.
"Next time you shout 'spy', don't say it in public..." Kor shook his head, but he couldn't help but wonder something. "A spy?...Think I'll have to do some history on these guys..."
"Sorry. The Egg Army kidnapped him and he's being used to repair some old temple. We kinda busted it up a while back. What's so important about it anyway?"
"It iz very complicated. You see-" Antoine began.
"He has keys that open a temple that fixes the planet." Big said simply.
"Ok maybe not zat complex..."
"Do y'all know where it is?" Kor asked.
"Absolutely! Not too far off from here." Spike chimed.
"Well then, let's get this rescue mission on the road!" Sonic boasted.
After pinpointing the temple's location, it was decided to come at night so the Egg Army wouldn't see them coming. However, Kor still had doubts about Sonar revealing herself to be a spy. He knew Rouge well enough considering she'd do anything for jewelry, but G.U.N. paid her enough to keep her on the right side. He knew next to nothing about the fennec or this band of Freedom Fighters, neither did the others, and this didn't sit well with him. Other groups they've run into, at least Sonic or Sally had a history with so he knew he could trust them. But this batch? Something felt...off. Call it old mercenary instincts if you will.
Later at night, the gang arrived at the aforementioned temple. Sonic and Kor peaked over a ledge, studying troop movements. The Egg Army sure didn't waste time making their presence known, as guards and searchlights patrolled here and there.
"Heh heh, security looks tight for once." Sonic noted.
"Unlike that one time you charged at the emerald back in Soumerca?" Kor glanced at him.
"Can you stop bringing that up?"
The fox shrugged. "Just sayin'..."
"Alright listen up guys, we're going to..." He caught the other Freedom Fighters staring at them. "What?"
"S-Sorry. W-We just didn't expect this side of you..." Spike said nervously.
"One of you will have to describe it to me later." Trevor stated.
"What happened to them?" Sonar whispered.
"Oh, it was terrible! I was there! It iz a story of danger and sacrifice! One of peril and-" Antoine was again cut off by Big.
"Sonic breathed a bunch of Dark Gaia gas and Kor was bitten many times by the monsters. Now both turn at night."
"You are being zee spoil sport..." Antoine hissed.
"Oh, I didn't know we were playing a game! Can I be on your team?" Big asked happily.
The swordsman face-palmed. "Not zat kind of sport..."
"I don't know how Sal has the patience for this leader thing..." Sonic groaned.
"Then why can't I lead?" Kor asked.
"Because she put me in charge." Sonic grinned. "Alright line up guys! We're splitting into teams. Kor, you and I will take the high ground and sneak in from above. Spike, you and Trevor know this area more than we do. Take Ant and see if you can get around those guards. Sonar, you watch our backs. If anyone finds you, sic Big on them."
Sonic stretched his arms to reach the roof while Kor climbed up. "Gotta admit. These stretchy arms are fun to swing around on. Almost makes sneaking around too easy."
"About that Sonic. I don't exactly trust those other guys." Kor piped up.
"Why? They're here to help us after all."
"It's just a thought. Every other group we've seen you guys have had a history with, but then these guys come out of nowhere. Then Sonar mentions she's a spah, and you know how I feel about spahs..."
"I think you're working your brain too much. This is gonna be cake."
The fox sighed. "I'm just saying, I don't exactly feel comfortable around them. It feels like we're being led into an ambush."
"Would you relax? I've fought Eggman since I was a kid. How hard can this be?" The werehog jumped down a cliff. Kor shook his head before following.
Both cautiously looked around, not finding much. Suddenly, they were engulfed in a bright light.
"You're a long way from home, Sonic the Werehog...pity that you'll die here." A voice rang out.
Once their vision cleared, both could see they were surrounded by Egg Army soldiers and badniks. Up top among them was the regional Egg Boss herself, Nephthys.
"Hate to say I told you so but..."
"Oh shut it!" Sonic growled.
"And if it isn't the infamous Lead-Thrower himself. I should thank you for allowing Eggman to promote me to Egg Boss."
Kor snorted. "Been a while since I've been called that. What happened to that other boss?"
"He was...put into storage so to speak." The Egyptian vulture grimaced, wishing to forget an old memory. "You two have been a pain in our sides for far too long. Allow us to return the favor." With that, the Egg Army attacked.
The two night beasts split up. Sonic moved to take down the badniks while Kor dealt with the soldiers. The werehog punched and tossed his foes with ease while Kor jumped from the ravines to the soldier's positions. He grabbed one and through him hard into another before taking his gun and shooting at the others. He even bit one on the shoulder and threw him into the ring with Sonic, who promptly punched him out. Sonic hoped the others were faring better with all the attention they were getting. This continued on for a few minutes, and it looked like the two would prevail.
Eventually, Nephthys grew tired of watching the two beasts tear into her forces and decided to take matters into her own hands. Springing into flight, she close-lined Sonic with her metal wings, knocking the wind out of him. "You're only making things worse for us all you know."
Getting his vision straight, the werehog glared at the Egg Boss. "How so?"
"You're constant fighting, antagonizing Eggman, only serves to make him react more viciously."
"So, what? You want me to just roll over and let him have his way? Ain't gonna happen." Sonic grinned.
"He can't be stopped. We can either live in his empire, or die in the fallout of your feud!" The vulture retorted angrily.
"OOOOR, I kick his butt and we all live happily ever after. You can thank me later." Sonic fired back.
With nothing more to be said, the two went at it again. With Kor, he was kinda wishing he was fighting Nephthys at the moment. He had been shot numerous times and it was really beginning to anger him to the point he literally felt his blood boiling. He was about to let out a sonic scream when he felt something get caught in his throat. It started to burn bad as he lowered his defense a bit. The soldiers took that as their cue to close in, but they would soon realize this would be a horrible idea. After clearing his throat a bit, Kor let out a scream, yet it wasn't a scream. Instead, a steady stream of fire came out, surprising him and everyone else. The soldiers to his front immediately dove out of the way to avoid being cremated.
"I can spit fire now?..." He asked out loud, but then grinned evilly as the soldiers started to back away. He spat another stream of fire rather close to another group. Their weapons got so hot it burned their hands. The rest just turned tail and ran, but there wouldn't be any escape for them, as the night fox caught up to his prey with ease.
Sonic dodged another pass from the vulture before grabbing her by the collar. Taking off her wings, the only place Nephthys could go, was to the floor. Right at that moment, Chip came zooming in. "Sonic! We got him! Everyone's already on the move!"
"Awesome! Kor, let's go!" Sonic shouted, stretching his arms to climb the rock face. Soldiers shot at him, but to his surprise, Kor laid some suppressive fire, literally. "Woah! When you'd start taking lessons from Blaze?"
"Who?" Kor asked, confused.
"Nevermind, come on!"
"You're dooming us all Sonic! Your battles with Eggman will only bring misery to us all!" The Egg Boss shouted.
"Yeah whatever. We'll finish our political debate another night." The werehog smirked.
"Just be happy I'm the one spraying fire and not my gunship!" Kor shouted as the trio escaped.
After making sure they weren't being pursued (and Hornet making it very clear they weren't), the group returned the Key Guardian to his home.
"I cannot thank you enough for rescuing me. It will be some time before I even go near the Gaia Temple again, so you'll find it in rough shape when you use this key." Eshan stated.
"No worries, and don't thank me. These guys did all the hard work." Sonic motioned to the others sans Kor.
"Getting shot is just part of the job, unfortunately..." The engineer muttered the last part. He noticed some of his wounds already healed, and even managed to catch one of the bullets imbedded in his skin pop out. "Dark Gaia is truly a strange thing..."
"Well, glad we could hook up teams Spike. You really helped us out!" Sonic stated as he shook hands with the porcupine.
"It's been an honor sir! Hope to do it again some day!"
"I hope to God not..." Kor muttered under his breath.
"So are there more of these Key Guardians out there? How many more do you need?" Sonar asked.
"Zat iz sensitive information we must be guarding very-" Antoine started.
"Four." Big answered.
The swordsman sighed in defeat. "Why do I even bother?..."
After parting ways, the group found their extreme gear and began heading back to the Sky Patrol.
"3 down, four more to go! Getting these keys is easy!" Sonic cheered.
"Zat is relieving. It was hard enough gathering all the emeralds..." Antoine agreed.
"Surprisingly Eggman doesn't have any of them. That's a start." Kor stated.
Sonic noticed Kor's 'friend' wasn't trailing behind them. "Where's Hornet?"
"Doing something personal for me." The engineer stated.
The werehog sighed. "What more proof do you want? They helped us get the key! They even helped save our bacon twice!"
"Because it was no coincidence Nephthys knew we'd be coming at night, even more so that Antoine ending up getting ambushed by badniks in the tunnel!" Kor retorted. "We could've come at any time of the day and they wouldn't have known. Sure, they knew we were in the area, but when we arrived they were clearly waiting for us, so obviously some information was leaked..."
Sonic wanted to argue back but he knew Kor's statement held some weight. That trap seemed too perfect. Unlike the one in Soumerca, where it was just a classic bait trap, the Egg Army knew where everyone was. Sonic wouldn't admit it, but he would keep that in mind for later.
-Elsewhere-
Sonar and Spike were on a video with someone while Trevor was working on a punching bag.
"Is everything ok back at base Neph?" The fennec asked.
"It's under control now. Some wounded, quite a few with severe burns...but thankfully no fatalities on my end."
"We're really sorry about all this Neph. I mean...we knew Sonic would destabilize things, and it didn't help that the Lead Thrower was with him, but..." Spike tried to figure out what else could be said.
"No apologies needed Spike. You all gave me the heads-up when they came to town and le them into those ambushes. You all did everything right...I'm the one who failed to finish things properly..." The Egg Boss replied, rubbing the space between her eyes.
"Well, if we had any doubt in our plan before, it's gone now." Spike stated.
"Right. Sonic showed up and everything fell to pieces...thankfully Kor didn't decide to just blow up the entire place..." Sonar added.
"Well, we can still salvage the delicate balance of power we've established. I'll report to Eggman and tell him what happened. Hopefully this new intel on these "Key Guardians" can defuse his temper a bit..." Nephthys replied.
"Hopefully...be safe Neph."
"Same to you three. Don't worry, we'll keep this region stable." She ended the line. Unbeknownst to the 'Freedom Fighter' trio, a certain gunship was hovering above their position. Hornet had a built in transceiver that allowed it to listen in on enemy communications when within range, and it hear every word. Growling to itself, it wanted to just blow those 3 off the face of this planet, but that's probably not what its creator would want. Regardless, it would share this information with him. Turning due west, it sped away from the city. It needed to catch up with the others.
Nephthys had been friends with the three so-called freedom fighters for quite a long time. When the previous boss had been disposed of thanks to Kor putting their power to critical levels, she found herself in a position to do some good. Now, make no mistake, the vulture didn't like Eggman in the slightest. But, he knew every time he lost to Sonic he would pull out bigger guns, and she didn't want to him to focus on Mid-Esta any time soon. It was a lot of work rebuilding her forces, and with her friends helping from the other side, they could safely wage these little war games without any serious consequences. Sonic and his friends may have diminished the Egg Army's power in the region, but she would do whatever she could to keep this area from suffering a fate worse than death.
As Neph started dialing Eggman's number, an 'Incoming Call' message popped up on her screens. "Ah, speak of the devil. Wait...why is he calling? Does he somehow know?..." Eggman's face soon appeared. "Good evening doctor. I-I can explain..."
"Whatever it is, save it! I need you on the Death Egg now! You're going to take part in a Priority One mission!"
"Y-Yes sir! I'll be there as soon as I can!" With that, the dictator ended the call. "Geez...wonder what's gotten him angry this time?..."
A/N: And that's the end of part 1. Apologies for the delay, but you know how life is. Anyway, 3 keys down, 4 more to go. But, what else could be in store for the heroes? And what new information could be of potential use later? We'll see. We'll see.
