Chapter 13

Over the past few days, my skills have improved greatly. Thanks to Espio, Sonic, and Knuckles, I'm now quite capable of handling myself when the occasion calls for it. Everyone was happy for my improvement and I thanked them.

Right now, me and Espio are having a little spar with each other on a hill.

"Impressive Calvin." Espio complimented. "Thanks Espio." I said back. "But the match is not yet over." He acknowledged. "I know." I agreed.

I rushed at Espio and attempted to land a blow on him. It failed of course and he dodged it, as I intended. I then did a spinning kick, to which he took some damage from. Quickly recovering, he threw shuriken at me at fast pace. I luckily dodged them and threw a few of my own. I blocked all of them and we rushed at each other, engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

I controlled my heart rate so that I would tire out too much. That managed to give me a pretty good edge in the fight. We clashed and dodged each others attacks at mild succession. He managed to land a few hits on me than I did him, but I wasn't planning on giving up anytime soon.

Unfortunately over time, I was starting to get tired. Espio took notice of this and increased the speed and power of his attacks. Now the only I could do was evade and block.

"You are getting tired Calvin." Espio acknowledged me. "Doesn't mean I'm gonna let that stop me." I said determinedly. I proceeded to land a blow at Espio's chest but he countered it and attacked my stomach.

"Ah!" I said, holding my stomach in pain. "Are you alright Calvin?" Espio asked. "Yeah, I'm fine." I replied. The pain started to slowly go away, but it was still there. "That's enough for the time being. I am quite proud of you Calvin for showing tremendous skill over the days. You are now most certainly a great member in our war against Dr. Eggman." Espio said in a congratulating tone. "Thank you Espio." I said back, grateful for his kind words.

Just then, Sonic and Tails showed up.

"Hey Espio. Hey Calvin." Sonic greeted. "Hi Espio. Hi Calvin." Tails also greeted.

"Hey you too." I said. "Greetings." Espio said. "Training hard Calvin?" Sonic asked. "Of course." I replied. "That's good to hear." Sonic said. "So what brings you here?" Espio asked Sonic and Tails. "Tails got a signal on one of the chaos emeralds coming from old egghead's base. We were wondering if Calvin would like to join us in retrieving it." Sonic replied. "Yeah man, I'd love to go!" I said. "Very well, may your mission be a success." Espio said to us before he disappeared.

(Of course he can disappear, what with him being a chameleon)I thought to myself. "Alright then, you ready Calvin?" Sonic asked me. "Yep, ready to go." I replied. "Then let's move it!" Sonic said.

He started to run with me and Tails following him. Because I couldn't really keep up with Sonic, he slowed down his pace.

"Hey, so are we going to the workshop to get the Tornado?" I asked. "Yep. Then we'll fly our way over to Eggman's base and get the emerald." Sonic replied. "Cool." I said.

We made our way to Tails' workshop and got in the Tornado.

"Is everyone ready?" Tails asked. "Ready." I replied. "Ready." Sonic replied. "Alright, then let's fly!" Tails said.

The Tornado was on and we were soon in the air.

Although I still had my fear of heights, I didn't let it bother me since I didn't want to be dead weight to Sonic and Tails on our mission to infiltrate Dr. Eggman's base and get the chaos emerald.

It took us about 20 minutes to get to Eggman's base. Once there, Tails landed the Tornado a few miles away from the base to avoid detection.

Me, Sonic, and Tails got off the Tornado and started heading to Eggman's base.

"So, what's the plan?" I asked. "I go first and distract Eggman's robot cronies, giving you and Tails an opportunity to sneak into the base and get the emerald. If I'm lucky, old Eggbrain will show himself." Sonic said with a thumbs up. "What makes you think Eggman will show?" I asked curiously. "Believe me Calvin, Eggbrain never passes up a chance to destroy me." Sonic joked. "Right Tails?" Sonic then asked. "Yep. It's basically one of his biggest flaws." Tails replied. "Oh okay." I said. "Alright, ready to go guys?" Sonic asked. Me and Tails both nodded. "Then let's do it!" Sonic said before he ran ahead.

He ran towards the entrance where multiple Eggman robots were.

"Hey chrome-dome's, bet you can't hit me!" Sonic boasted. The robots then proceeded to fire at Sonic, to which he constantly dodges all of them. One of the robots notifies Eggman of Sonic and soon Eggman shows up with a giant mech.

"Ah Sonic the Hedgehog, as expected." Eggman said. "Hey Eggman, good to see ya. I was starting to think you wouldn't show." Sonic said. "Oh please, I'd never pass up a chance to destroy you." Eggman said. "Of course." Sonic said.

They both then start to battle along with Eggman's robots joining in. Meanwhile, me and Tails managed to sneak into the base.

Once inside, Tails pulled out a scanning device.

"Is that gonna help us find the emerald?" I asked. "Yep, and according to the scanner: The emerald's this way." Tails said as he started running. I started to follow Tails to the emerald.

(Sonic's POV)

Barely half an hour, and Eggbrain was already on the losing side, as expected.

"C'mon Eggman this is getting embarrassing. I trashed your bots and your mech is a few knocks away from joining the scrap pile. Just stop." I said. "Never! Never, never, never! I'll never stop until you and your troublesome friends are out of my hair and I can take over Mobius!" Egghead yelled. "I knew you wouldn't give up so easily Eggbrain." I joked.

Just then, there was an explosion in the base. "Wha-What!" Egghead said.

Tails and Calvin came out of the base with the emerald.

"Right on time." I said. "Love to stick around and chat Eggy, but I gotta run." I said before I ran with Tails and Calvin back to the Tornado.

"NOOOOOO!" Eggman yelled. He started charging at us with his mech. We all got in the Tornado and took off before Eggbrain could catch us.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, making me chuckle a bit at how funny he looks when he's angry.

(Calvin's POV)

"Yes! We did it!" I said excitedly. "Yep, good work Tails, and you two Calvin." Sonic said. "Yeah Calvin, you did great." Tails agreed. "Thanks guys." I said back.

I was really happy with how the mission turned out.

I proved my worth to Sonic and Tails and I can't wait for the next time I get to help out. Today was a really great day.