Arc 7: Rebellious Reptiles
Takes place during stories 70-72 in Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius
Part 3: Reptiles in Mobotropolis
The enormous flagship of the Region of Rebellious Reptiles loomed above Castle Acorn ominously like a bird of prey waiting to swoop down and snatch its victim with its razor sharp talons. Lord Sycorax, the leader of the region, admired Castle Acorn through the cockpit window. His scaly face widened in a twisted evil grin. After all these years, he'd finally found Castle Acorn and now he could destroyed it along with all the other political landmarks he'd destroyed before. As Lord Sycorax admired Castle Acorn, Vector the Crocodile stared glumly at the floor. Lord Sycorax had forced him into revealing Castle Acorn's location and because of him; Castle Acorn would be destroyed unless Sonic and friends could do anything about it. The crocodile was clearly not pleased with himself. His friends Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee were just as sad as he was. Their boss and friend was going to be the cause of Castle Acorn's destruction. Lord Sycorax stopped admiring Castle Acorn and he purred to himself.
"Such a beautiful landmark." he said "I almost fail ashamed I have to destroy it. Well, it's like I say. Politics must be purged for the greater good."
Vector resisted the urge to retort to his father, knowing that it would be suicide as Lord Sycorax was too powerful for even him and his team mates.
"I always thought Castle Acorn was going to be grand looking." said Lord Sycorax "And now, it won't be so grand looking."
He pressed a button on the control pad that switched all the speakers on and he spoke into the microphone on the pad.
"Attention all reptiles!" he boomed into the microphone "We have finally found Castle Acorn! You know the drill, get to your vehicles, get your weapons, get everything you need! Get down there and turn this political landmark into a political wreckage! Let the operation…COMMENCE!"
The entire flagship seemed to explode into frenzy. The reptiles all ran around like school kids swarming out of the school at home time. Romeo the Chameleon and Vladek the Frill Necked-Lizard left their head quarters and Diesel the Komodo Dragon, who managed to get out of the cell the Chaotix had trapped him in after Edward the Gecko found him and released him, ran for the emergency hatches and he slid down one to the hangar bay. All the reptiles on the ship went into the hangar bay and picked whatever weapons tech they came across. Some chose the walked drones, some chose the dune buggies and some chose the jets. When the Region of Rebellious Reptiles was in flat out rebel mode, they literally used as many weapons as they possibly could. It may seem over the top but let's face it, the region IS over the top! The ship's cargo bay opened up and the vehicles, which all had a pilot in them, all drove through the door and flew out into the open air. The jets and dune buggies as we already know, could fly and the walker drones had flying capabilities via jet fumes under the feet to they wouldn't drop down to the ground and crash. Romeo and Vladek were in dune buggies and Diesel was in a heavy unit class of walker drone, the kind with the cannons instead of Gatling guns. They all flew down to the ground, ready to unleash hell on their target. Lord Sycorax watched with glee as his entire region was in attack mode. Vector kept his back turned on his dad, unable to watch what was going become of Castle Acorn down below. Vector then suddenly thought of something. If there was a leftover weapon of any kind, he could use it to fight off the region! After all, he only joined up to save his life and was waiting for an opportunity to flee for it. And now an opportunity presented itself.
"Um…dad?" asked Vector nervously "Can me, Espio and Charmy help the others destroy Castle Acorn?"
Lord Sycorax turned around and stared at Vector as if he'd just said a very offensive remark.
"Do you really think I was born in Idiot Swap Vector?" snapped Lord Sycorax "You may have joined us again but I still don't fully trust you son, so you will stay here where I can keep a close eye on you. And don't even think of trying to escape the cockpit, it's entirely in lockdown. No one can get in or out of here now."
"Well that's silly! How can you get down there and help your buddies then?" asked Charmy.
"You'll see bee." sneered Lord Sycorax "This brilliant crocodile has a lot of tricks hidden in his jaws."
"Your jaws? Silly place to hide a trick." muttered Charmy.
"Charmy, don't try to upset him." muttered Espio.
Lord Sycorax ignored Charmy's remark and he turned back to the window where he could see the whole region lining up down on the ground, ready to cut loose on Castle Acorn.
"I bet I'm going to get a resistance of some kind." he said to himself "I wouldn't be too surprised if that so-called Hero of Mobius is down there plotting to stop me. What was his name again? Speedy the Hedgehog? Um…Swifty the Hedgehog? Nah uh…Fast the Hedgehog? Um…"
"Sonic the Hedgehog." corrected Vector.
"Thank you." said Lord Sycorax without even turning around "I wouldn't be too surprised if Sonic the Hedgehog is down there. Oh well, not even he will be a match for me."
"So you think." muttered Vector under his breath.
"Excuse me?" snarled Lord Sycorax.
He had excellent hearing so even a whisper wouldn't go unheard to him.
"I-I-I mean yes dad, not even Sonic can stop you." lied Vector, wanting to punch himself for saying that.
"That's what I thought you said." sniffed Lord Sycorax "Now where was I? Oh yes, I bet Sonic the Hedgehog and them Royal Fighter twerps are going to put up a resistance. Well this resistance will be too busy dealing with my troops down below to worry about this beauty of a ship. While my troops deal with the worms down below, I will be readying this ship for the killer blow. Once the Ion Neutron 24XX9 Cannon is primed and ready, I will fire it at Castle Acorn and destroy it in one fell swoop!"
Thank you very much for that handy hint doofus! sneered Vector in his mind Now you're giving me an idea on how to stop your plans!
That was Lord Sycorax's biggest problem, he never EVER shuts up! He was such an egotist and such a bragger that he often talked the ears of an elephant to himself. He was so busy boasting, he failed to realize Vector had been listening to him. Not that he cared since he was certain the Chaotix were trapped like rats in the cockpit with him so revealing his plan wasn't really going to be of much help to the Chaotix since they can't escape. Nevertheless, Vector was sure he could find a way out of the cockpit and then be able to stop the Ion Neutron 24XX9 Cannon from firing. Once that weapon was down, the flagship wouldn't be able to destroy Castle Acorn so easily. The only problem was…how can he stop it? Lord Sycorax pulled a lever on the control pad. The ship made a loud whirring noise that suggested something was beginning to power up.
"The Ion Cannon is readying." purred Lord Sycorax "In twenty minutes, it'll be ready to fire…"
And in those twenty minutes, the region would be fending off whatever resistance there was, keeping them at bay and stopping them from getting to the ship. Once the weapon was ready, Castle Acorn would be reduced to dust…
Down below, Queen Sally Acorn and her lady-in-waiting Nicole the Lynx watched as the region lined up in their dune-buggies, walker drones and jets. Sally could only watch in horror as the region advanced on Castle Acorn.
"I hoped this day would never come." said Sally in a horror-stricken tone "The day the Region of Rebellious Reptiles would find this place and try to destroy it."
"What is the Region of Rebellious Reptiles and how do you know about it?" asked Nicole suspiciously.
"Every political person knows what the region is." explained Sally "I learnt about them from my father. According to him, the Region of Rebellious Reptiles is what it's name implies, a region of rebellious reptiles. These reptiles gather up and go around destroying parliaments and political landmarks because they hate democracy. They're often called the "Despisers of Democracy", the "Purges of Politics" and the "Pulverizes of Parliaments". My dad gave me pictures of their flagship so should the region ever attack; I'd know who it was. I've lived in fear of them ever finding Castle Acorn and attacking it…and now my worst fears have come true!"
"And at such an inconvenient moment too." muttered Nicole "Sonic's in Nekronopolis right now. We can't call him back as he's probably doing something with the Northern Royal Fighters right now."
"Then we'll just have to use whatever we have." said Sally "We still have our best Royal Fighters. I'll go get them and then we'll fight of the region and defend this castle, in the name of the king and queen before me and for the people of Mobotropolis!"
"That's what I love to hear." said Nicole "I'll be joining in with this resistance myself." she added, cracking her knuckles.
"And so will I." said Sally "No way am I going to stay out of this one and do nothing! This is my kingdom and I'll defend it, even from those reptile monsters on my doorstep!"
With that said, Sally ran over to Royal HQ which was just a few paces away from Castle Acorn. The moment she arrived at the headquarters, the Royal Fighters burst out and stared up at the Reptile Rebel's flagship. There was, of course, Geoffrey St. John the Skunk, Bunnie Rabbot, Wilson the Dog, Mandy Mouse, Ruben the Water Panther and Cosmo the Seedrian. Cream the Rabbit was still in Knothole right now so she wasn't here. The Royal Fighters had picked up the flagship on the computer monitors in the lab and they stared up in disbelief at the amazing crocodilian-esque ship that loomed above Mobotropolis.
"Crikey now that's a big-un!" blurted Geoffrey.
"Who's ship is this?" asked Wilson "It can't be Eggman's, that doesn't look like his usual design of battleship."
"That's because it isn't." said Sally, catching the Royal Fighter's attention "That ship belongs to the Region of Rebellious Reptiles. They rebel against anything and they hate democracy so they'll destroy anything political."
"No prizes for guessing these jerks are here to destroy Castle Acorn." muttered Mandy crossly "Does anybody ever leave that castle alone?"
"Sadly no." said Sally "But we can't let those reptiles destroy my home. Are you willing to help me defeat them all?"
"Do you even need to ask?" sneered Geoffrey, arming his trademark arm-mounted crossbow "We'll send these rebelling blokes back where they came from!"
"Are you sure we'll do so well without Sonic, Tails and Amy?" wondered Ruben "They're excellent fighters and they could help us out dearly in this situation. Sonic in particular."
"As much as I agree with you Ruben mate, we can't keep relying on Sonic all the time." noted Geoffrey "We have to take matters into our own hands when the speedy bloke's not here."
"Ah'll fight mah hardest!" declared Bunnie "No ugly reptile is destroying Castle Acorn on mah watch!"
Sally smiled at the determined faces of the Royal Fighters.
"Then let's get started." said Sally "Bunnie, you're the only one who can fly. You fly up there and stop the battleship before the region can use it. We'll take out the ground forces."
"Will do sugah." said Bunnie with a brave smile and a wink of the eye.
Bunnie activated the jets in her roboticized feet and the cyborg rabbit flew up to the crocodilian-esque battleship that threatened to destroy Castle Acorn with one blast of its weapons. As for Sally, Nicole, Geoffrey, Wilson, Mandy and Ruben, they all charged over to the advancing reptiles, ready to do battle. Cosmo just stayed in Royal HQ for safety, seeing as how she would be of no help to anybody in this battle. Diesel could see the resistance coming towards him and his troops from his giant walker drone and he smiled a big toothy smile to himself.
"Oh look, a pitiful resistance from the R.F.S.!" he crowed "How quaint! Region, kill them all!" he bellowed.
The reptiles obeyed and they opened fired with the weapons on their vehicles. The dune buggies and walker drones all showered the Royal Fighters with laser blasts and bullets. Ruben the Water Panther aimed his hands at the ground and shot himself into the air with a jet of water, dodging all their attacks and then he aimed his hands at Diesel's walker-drone. Diesel aimed the walker-drone's cannons at Ruben and tried to blast him but he missed as Ruben hurtled towards him and Ruben showered the walker drone with a gush of water out of his hands. The walker-drone was completely drenched by the water panther's attack and Diesel was soaking wet. Ruben landed on the drone and kung-fu punched Diesel in the snout. Diesel retaliated with a punch of his own and Ruben was sent hurling onto the back of a dune-buggy. Diesel tried to move the walker-drone but thanks to Ruben's water attacks, the machine had short-circuited and malfunctioned. The machine just flat out wouldn't work now. Diesel thumped the control pad angrily.
"Curse that stinking water-throwing cat thing!" he growled "My machine won't work now!"
"The same will go to the rest of your troops." muttered Ruben coldly.
He squirted Diesel's walker-drone again with a gush of water out of his hands and the walker drone was sent hurling backwards into a squad of walker drones behind him. Diesel's walker drone knocked the other drones over like they were skittles. The machines collapsed onto their sides and the pilots fell out of them. Once on its side, there was no getting up for the walker-drones. They were stuck on their sides. Ruben smiled proudly at his good work and he then proceeded to press his hands against the roof of the dune-buggy he was on and water seeped out of his hands and all over the dune-buggy. Once Ruben wet it enough, the dune-buggy would be a sitting duck. The others could see that Ruben had this in the bag. Ruben would short circuit their machinery with his water powers and the pilots would be forced to come out of their vehicles and fight with their bare hands. The jets would be a problem though as Ruben couldn't reach them. His water powers had limited range and they moved too fast so he wouldn't be able to hit it. Bunnie would probably be able to bring them down with her laser cannon while she was up there stopping the ship from functioning. Right now, the jets didn't seem to be doing anything, they were just flying around waiting to attack so the Royal Fighters all focused on fighting the region's ground forces. Ruben continued to short circuit their vehicles but he wouldn't be able to keep this up, there were too many machines and they'd eventually overpower Ruben should they get a good shot at him so the others stepped into help. Mandy had a belt full of bombs so she used those to destroy some of the advancing dune-buggies. The bombs were powerful and just one of them could destroy three buggies at once. Mandy didn't care if anybody got killed in the explosions as she didn't care for the villains at all. She just threw the bombs and blew up the buggies. Any reptile still in a buggy could see what was happening and they abandoned their vehicles quickly before they could be killed by the bombs. Romeo and Vladek were amongst the abandoners. The empty dune-buggies were just quickly destroyed by Mandy. However, she didn't have a limitless supply of bombs and she soon ran out after destroying only twenty buggies. There were thirty more but they had all been abandoned by the drivers in order to save themselves from Mandy's earlier onslaught. Wilson, as well as his trademark spinning blade weapon, had a belt full of bombs just like Mandy and he quickly destroyed twenty more buggies before anyone could think of using them again. There were now only ten buggies left which Ruben promptly short circuited with his water powers. The only vehicles left were eighteen walker drones and one had been short-circuited by Ruben already and five were lying on their sides. Only thirteen walkers remained, not that they'd be much of a worry to the Royal Fighters. Diesel could see that their vehicles had just sadly failed them so he climbed out of his short-circuited walker-drone and yelled at the top of his voice.
"Reptiles, fight them! Don't worry about the destroyed vehicles, just use your bare fists! We will not be beaten by a bunch of colourful wimps!"
The Reptile Rebels did as they were told and they charged into battle with their claws and teeth bared. The Royal Fighters just jumped into the battle and began fighting the rebellious reptiles.
Meanwhile, Bunnie Rabbot had landed onto the "nose" of the crocodile-like battleship and she deployed her arm cannon.
"Now' let's see what happens if ah blast this durn thing a few dozen times?" she wondered to herself.
She aimed her cannon ahead of her and began blasting the ship's tough armour. Her cannon blasts didn't seem to be doing any damage to the ship but Bunnie was determined to bring it down, no matter the cost. She kept repeatedly shooting the nose of the battleship, hoping to do some damage to it but her blasts didn't seem to be damaging the ship at all. They just appeared to be bouncing off of the ship's tough armour as if they were merely ping-pong balls. But even the toughest of armour failed eventually so Bunnie decided to keep up the blasting until she finally breached the tough armour of the flagship and brought it crashing down to the ground where it would explode into fragments.
In the cockpit, Lord Sycorax could see Bunnie was shooting his beloved aircraft and seeing someone trying to wreck his beautiful battleship made him wild with rage. His face went redder then a ripe tomato.
"Well, well, well! It appears I have someone shooting at me!" he snarled.
"Why does that not surprise me?" muttered Vector.
"Shut up son!" bellowed Lord Sycorax "I'll teach that meddling brat to shoot at my ship!"
He pressed a button on the control pad and the very floor panel he was standing on slowly began to descend into the floor.
"I've got some pest control to deal with boys, you stay there and be good." said Lord Sycorax "Oh, wait, you can't go anywhere because you're locked in so you HAVE to stay there!"
He laughed to himself as he disappeared into the floor of the cockpit and the floor panel closed back up as if it had never moved. The moment Lord Sycorax left, Vector jumped up onto his feet. His father leaving the room seemed to have some sort of electric effect on the crocodile.
"Oh yeah! He's gone!" cheered Vector "Now we can bust our way outta here!"
"Vector, do you even know how to unlock the cockpit?" asked Espio.
"I sure do." said Vector "When I was a Reptile Rebel, dad showed me how to control this thing so when I took his place, I'd be able to fly it."
"Took his place? Does that mean when Lord Sycorax dies, you would take his place?" asked Charmy.
"I would be if I were still IN the region, which I'm not!" said Vector with a crafty smile on his face "Now, how do I unlock the cockpit again? Oh yes, now I remember."
He strode over to the control pad and he tapped some keys onto the keyboard. He didn't get to do much. After only a few seconds of tapping, the computer screen went blank and showed some flashing neon words saying "Access denied." Vector made a grizzly face and he thumped the keypad angrily.
"Darn it! I can't get in!" he growled "My dad must have rigged the system so it would only work for him!"
"Clever croc." muttered Charmy.
"Well there's more then one way to get out of here." said Espio "If we can't let ourselves out, we'll blow ourselves out."
"How?" asked Charmy.
"My exploding shuriken." said Espio, pulling a shuriken out of airspace.
"Ah, good thinking Espio!" said Vector "Nothing in the cockpit seems to be made of Diamond Glass so it'll work this time."
Espio grinned brightly and he threw a dozen shuriken into the door which was their only way out of the cockpit seeing as how they wouldn't be able to get out Lord Sycorax's way as the keypad only worked for him. The shuriken embedded themselves into the cockpit door and Espio counted from three to one in his head. Then right on cue, the shuriken all exploded in unison and the door was reduced to smithereens and thrown outside onto the floor where it lay in pieces and shrapnel. Team Chaotix beamed happily at the fact they were now free from the cockpit. They ran out of the cockpit and headed down the corridor.
"So what now Vector?" asked Charmy.
"We figure out how to stop this ship from firing that Ion, 24, XX thingy cannon at Castle Acorn." said Vector as he bounded down the corridor "I'm sure I have a way of stopping it but I'm not crossing my fingers yet."
The Chaotix ran down the corridor, looking for a way of stopping the Ion Neutron 24XX9 Cannon from firing. It had ten minutes left to go and it would fire at Castle Acorn and destroy it in a millisecond…
Outside, Bunnie was getting tired out from constantly shooting the ship and she settled back down on the ship's fuselage, panting and gasping.
"Whew!" she puffed, wiping her forehead "Ah didn't think the ship was that tough! Don't matter though, ah'll destroy it eventually, once ah catch mah breath that is."
"I wouldn't count on that being a possibility." came a grizzly voice that Bunnie was unfamiliar with "Because you will be dead before you can destroy this ship."
A hole opened up in the ship's fuselage and Lord Sycorax ascended from the floor and into view. Bunnie stared at him in wonder. He was one formidable looking being to her but she didn't let his frightening appearance scare her at all. She bent down in a battle ready stance and glowered at her opponent.
"Who may ah ask are you gruesome?" she asked coldly.
"I am Lord Sycorax, leader of the Region of Rebellious Reptiles." introduced Lord Sycorax with an eerily polite bow "Whom, may I ask, am I addressing at this very moment?"
"Mah name is Bunnie Rabbot." said Bunnie with a brave face on "And ah am a Royal Fighter! Ah'm here to stop yo' battleship from destroyin' our castle!"
"A Royal Fighter you say?" mused Lord Sycorax "Well this fight just got special! And you appear to be a cyborg judging by your robotic looking arm and legs."
"That's right." said Bunnie "That's why mah name is Bunnie Rabbot."
"So judging by your appearance, I'd say your strength comes from your robot parts." Lord Sycorax analyzed for some reason "That must mean you are not naturally strong and your strength comes from your cybernetic enhancements. I bet with that one arm you're very strong Miss Rabbot. Whereas I…"
Lord Sycorax lunged forward and slugged Bunnie in the stomach so hard she felt like his fist was going to smash its way through her belly.
"…I am naturally strong and BOTH my arms are strong. This makes ME the superior fighter." crowed Lord Sycorax as Bunnie doubled over, gasping and spluttering.
Bunnie, despite the amazing punch, somehow managed to pick herself up, coughing and spluttering and clutching her aching belly. Lord Sycorax just laughed at her. The one punch of his seemed to have taken Bunnie out as she looked too stunned and pained to fight back. But Bunnie Rabbot was a strong fighter with stamina to match and one mere gut punch wasn't going to bring her down and keep her down. Bunnie drew her robotic arm back and charged towards Lord Sycorax, ready to punch his living daylights out. Lord Sycorax just waited for Bunnie to come to him as if he had some cunning plan in his head. Bunnie lunged at Lord Sycorax with a punch of hers but Lord Sycorax grabbed the punch and twisted her arm to the side. Bunnie screamed in pain and she tried to yank her arm out of the insidious region leader's grasp. Lord Sycorax lifted Bunnie off the ground and tossed her a good distance across the ship's fuselage. Bunnie landed on top of one of the fake crocodile eyes that were just there to enhance the crocodile look of the ship. Bunnie picked herself up and flew back towards Lord Sycorax but Lord Sycorax clasped his fists together, jumped into the air and swung them up, walloping Bunnie in the chin and sending her crashing down onto the fuselage again. Bunnie rubbed her chin and groaned to herself. Lord Sycorax was a lot strong then he looked. She couldn't keep up with him! But she was not determined to let Lord Sycorax beat her. Not even Dr. Eggman's toughest robots could keep her down so she was not about to let a crocodile in armour defeat her. She picked herself up again and charged towards Lord Sycorax, the croc just waiting for her to come again.
Down below, there was a huge, frantic, frenzy of a battle going on between the Royal Fighters and the Reptile Rebels. Geoffrey St. John was fighting Diesel the Komodo Dragon, Wilson and Mandy were fighting Vladek and Romeo respectively and Sally, Nicole and Ruben were fighting all the foot soldiers whilst giving Geoffrey, Wilson and Mandy a helping hand as they went along. Diesel swung a few punches at Geoffrey but the skunk dodged them with his quick agility skills and he counter-attacked by running behind Diesel, jumping up and roundhouse kicking him in the back of the head while in mid-air. Diesel fell forward with a large thump and he ended up getting a bruised chin. Geoffrey loaded his crossbow and prepared to subdue the Komodo Dragon with a stun-dart but two Reptile Rebels, a gecko and a goanna respectively, pulled out a pair of ray guns and blasted at Geoffrey. The blasts missed him and skunk in the green combat suit swiftly spun around and fired a dart each, both stun darts, at the rebels. The rebels were stunned and brought down on the ground in a slumber. Geoffrey reloaded his crossbow and prepared to shoot Diesel but the Komodo Dragon swiftly took his legs out from underneath him with a hefty smack of his powerful tail. Geoffrey yelped as he suddenly found himself falling onto his back. Diesel smirked at Geoffrey and he grabbed the skunk by the throat. He hoisted him up to his height but before he could do anything, Geoffrey kicked him as hard as he could in the nose. Diesel cried in pain and clutched his nose, dropping Geoffrey. Geoffrey then proceeded to elbow Diesel in the gut, then punch him with the back of his hand and then uppercut him with his other arm. Diesel retaliated with a sucker punch to the face that sent Geoffrey hurtling backwards but the skunk landed on his feet and just skidded to a halt. Diesel ran over to Geoffrey but Ruben tripped him up with his tail. Geoffrey then fired a stun-dart at Diesel but the Komodo Dragon whipped it away with his tail and picked himself up. He leaped at Geoffrey but before he could land on him, the skunk gut-punched him and knocked him down. As for Wilson and Mandy, they weren't having much trouble with Romeo and Vladek as they weren't the best combatants in the world. Wilson had his spinning blade weapon at the ready and he kept swinging it at Romeo to keep him back. Romeo didn't have anything to counter attack with so he was helpless against the dog. Desperate not to get beaten by him, Romeo grabbed Wilson's weapon and tried to yank it out of Wilson's hands. Wilson held on tight and wrestled back, growling a natural dog growl at him in an attempt to scare Romeo. Romeo kicked Wilson in the gut, causing Wilson to lose his weapon to him and double over in pain. Romeo tried to stab Wilson with the spinning blade weapon but Mandy dropkicked him in the head furiously.
"No one is stabbing my boyfriend on my watch!" she yelled furiously, snatching the weapon from Romeo.
She tossed it back to Wilson and the dog smiled graciously at the mouse. Vladek lashed out with his tail and whipped Mandy in the back. Mandy yelped in pain as she felt the whip-crack from Vladek's tail whipping against her back. Mandy spun around and glared angrily at Vladek. Vladek just glared back and raised his frill menacingly. Mandy just ran to Vladek and kneed him in the gut. She then yanked on his frill and made Vladek yelp.
"Is that stupid frill supposed to scare me gruesome?" she scoffed "I always considered frill-necked lizards to silly looking creatures!"
"I'll show you silly you filthy rat!" snarled Vladek, trying to slash Mandy across the belly with his claws.
"I'm a mouse genius!" snapped Mandy, slapping Vladek across the face so hard, it felt like a punch "Don't you dare call me a rat! We mice are much nicer then scheming, filthy little rats and don't deserve to be compared to our dreadful cousins the rat!"
Vladek rubbed his face and punched Mandy in the face before the furious mouse could attack him again.
"Mouse, rat, whatever, they're both the same creature!" snapped Vladek "Except rats aren't as annoying as you!"
"Don't you dare insult my girlfriend like that!" shouted Wilson, rushing in on the battle and side-handing Vladek in the side.
Vladek hurtled off his feet and into the air. The frill-necked lizard crashed into some Reptile Rebels and knocked them over. Mandy smiled happily at Wilson.
"I'm glad I can count on you to stand up for me handsome." she said flirtingly.
"Not that I really need to." laughed Wilson teasingly "But I don't mind. We've been standing up for each other since childhood and I don't plan to stop anytime soon."
Romeo leaped onto Wilson angrily but Wilson effortlessly threw the chameleon off of himself and onto the ground. He pointed his spinning blade weapon at Romeo's throat and threatened to stab him unless he stayed down. A Reptile Rebel shot Wilson in the shoulder with his ray gun, prompting Wilson to retaliate by throwing his weapon at the rebel. The rebel ducked but the double-bladed pole weapon chipped its helmet and boomeranged back to Wilson. Wilson caught the weapon but Romeo gave the dog an uppercut before he could pin him down again. Mandy's first response was to kick upwards and wallop Romeo in the chin, knocking him onto his back. Vladek sneaked up behind Mandy and wrapped his tail around her neck. But before Vladek could strangle Mandy, Nicole kicked the lizard away from her and Valdek's tail let go of Mandy's neck. Vladek picked himself up but Nicole elbowed him in the gut and then spun around and kicked Vladek in the face. Diesel then suddenly appeared from behind and grabbed Nicole by wrapping his arms around Nicole's arms. Nicole squirmed in Diesel's grasp.
"Urgh! Let me go!" she yelled.
"Not on your life toots." sneered Diesel "Anyone rebelling against the region must pay the price…with their lives!"
Diesel then prepared to kill Nicole with one quick snap of the neck but before he could even put his hands around Nicole's pretty neck, Sally kicked him from behind as hard as she could. Despite not being much of a fight, Sally was one heck of a good kicker. So good a kicker, she almost rivalled a kangaroo in kicking power. Diesel let go of Nicole and swiped at Sally but the squirrel queen ducked and retaliated with a punch of her own. She then proceeded to punch Diesel rather angrily and rather rapidly. Her punches didn't really hurt Diesel as much as the others when they punched him but she was punching him so rapidly, he couldn't keep up with her.
"You. will. not. destroy. my. kingdom!" screamed Sally with every punch she threw at Diesel.
Diesel got furious with Sally and he swiped at her with his thick, powerful tail but Sally jumped over it just as he swiped at her and she stomped on it, earning a very loud pained scream from Diesel. Nicole and Ruben then decided to add insult to injury by kicking Diesel in a double-team fashion and they knocked the powerful Komodo Dragon onto his back. Sally smirked coyly at Diesel.
"That's what you get when you get on the wrong side of the Royal Fighters Service." she sneered.
Geoffrey St. John appeared beside Sally and aimed his crossbow at him. He shot Diesel with a stun-dart and the stun-dart knocked Diesel out. The Komodo Dragon lay on the ground in a deep slumber. Geoffrey smirked at the knocked-out Komodo Dragon.
"I can't guarantee he'll be out for long due to the bloke's tough hide stopping the dart from going all the way in." he said "But no worry, I'll stand over the bloke and keep knocking him out every time he wakes up."
"Well it's good to see this fight's going in our favour." said Sally with a satisfied smile on her face "The Region of Rebellious Reptiles isn't as strong as I thought it was going to be."
"At this rate Sally, we'll win in no time and the region will be in retreat." said Nicole as she kicked a Reptile Rebel away.
"I agree." said Sally "Although I wish Sonic was here to see how well we're doing right now."
"I bet Sonic would be beating those blokes to a pulp in no time." said Geoffrey "Oh well, maybe next time the region attacks us. Right now, we've gotta keep this battle up until the region retreats."
"At the rate we're going, the region will be retreating in a few minutes." said Sally, noting how well Nicole, Ruben, Wilson and Mandy were fighting off the reptiles "And I bet Bunnie's doing well on that battleship up there."
"Should I check it out and see how Bunnie's doing?" asked Ruben.
"Yes Ruben." said Sally "If Bunnie needs help, give it to her."
Ruben nodded and he aimed his hands at the ground. Water shot out of his hands and pushed him into the air. He rocketed up into the air and towards the battleship where Bunnie and Lord Sycorax were brawling it out with one another. Unfortunately, Lord Sycorax was winning. No matter how hard Bunnie tried, she just couldn't land a punch on Lord Sycorax. The insidious politic hater was just too strong for her. Bunnie lunged at Lord Sycorax but Lord Sycorax gave her yet another uppercut, the fifth one today in this match. Bunnie fell on her hands and knees and panted heavily but Lord Sycorax didn't let her rest, he kicked her as hard as he could and sent her rolling down the ship's nose. Bunnie picked herself up yet again and charged at Lord Sycorax. Ruben landed on the ship's nose just in time to see Bunnie get smacked again by Lord Sycorax. The water panther was horrified to see the current status of the match. Bunnie was in trouble and she needed help.
"Oh no! Bunnie hang on! I'm coming!" cried Ruben.
But before he could help Bunnie, the Rabbot was thrown straight into Ruben and the two tumbled over each other. They crashed into the nostril-like structures above the nose that resembled an actual crocodile's nostrils and they groaned in unison. Lord Sycorax strode over to them, grinning sadistically and dusting his hands off.
"Well, well, well. A water panther." he purred, looking at Ruben who was just picking himself up "I never expected to see one in real life, I thought they were myths. Well myth or not, you're going down with your friend water panther!"
And with that, he smacked both Bunnie AND Ruben straight off the ship's nose with one hefty swipe of the arm and sent them hurtling towards the ground! Lord Sycorax cackled madly as he watched Bunnie and Ruben fall to the ground.
"Now the pest control has been dealt with, I can get back to firing the Ion Neutron 24XX9 cannon." he said to himself, snapping his fingers.
The section underneath him descended down into the ship's inner body, carrying Lord Sycorax with it and taking him back into the ship. Lord Sycorax disappeared into the ship and the section that moved then closed back up as if it had never moved. Lord Sycorax then reappeared in the ship's cockpit and he looked at the timer on the control pad to see how long the ship's cannon had until it was ready to fire. Six minutes. The crocodile lord was as pleased as punch. He rubbed his hands together.
"Ha, ha, ha! Almost time!" he gibbered excitedly "Oh the suspense is killing me! Now Vector and friends, you can see why the Region of Rebellious Reptiles always…"
He turned around while bragging and then his bragging was cut short when he noticed that his prisoners were no longer in the cockpit and the cockpit door had been blown to pieces. Lord Sycorax clenched his fists and fumed angrily. So angrily in fact, he looked like he was about to explode like an atomic bomb.
"WHAAAAAATTTT!"he roared "HOW IN THE NAME OF SALAMANDERS DID THEY MANAGE TO ESCAPE?"
The Chaotix's escape was not good news at all for Lord Sycorax. If they weren't in the cockpit, then that meant the Chaotix were somewhere on the ship and if they were free to run loose around the ship, that meant they could cause all kinds of chaos and damage to the ship. Lord Sycorax began to angrily thump himself on the head in rage. He thumped his head so hard that not even his helmet could withstand his own punches. Lord Sycorax stopped throwing a hissy fit and panted heavily.
"Those morons could be anywhere right now!" he growled "I bet they're trying to sabotage my ship! Well they've got another thing coming if that's their game! EDWARD!" he bellowed.
"Yes Lord Sycorax?" gargled Edward the Gecko in his usual strangled sounding voice as he entered the cockpit.
"Find Vector and his friends and bring them right here at once!" snarled Lord Sycorax "Those treacherous pests are going to ruin my plans if they are not captured immediately!"
"Yes sir." croaked Edward.
Edward skipped out of the cockpit and ran down the corridors to find the Chaotix. If he didn't find the Chaotix in time, Lord Sycorax would throttle him for his failure so he was determined to find them and stop them from doing whatever it is they're doing. After Edward left the cockpit, Lord Sycorax turned his attention back to the control panel. Five minutes to go until the weapon was ready. Lord Sycorax relaxed himself. He was certain that Team Chaotix wouldn't have enough time to stop him. His ship was invincible and whatever the Chaotix did wouldn't work, the ship would fire its weapon regardless of what they did…
Down on the ground, Wilson and Geoffrey both caught the falling Bunnie and Ruben each and they settled them down on the ground. Bunnie looked seriously hurt after her complete thrashing from Lord Sycorax whereas Ruben hadn't been in battle with Lord Sycorax so he was fine, just a little sore from that powerful smack. Sally knelt down by their side and comforted them.
"Bunnie, are you OK? What happened?" asked Sally.
"Ah…ugh!...fought the region's leader…Lord Sycorax…his lil ol' name is…cough! cough!...he beat the tar outta…me…and smacked…me off his ugly ol' ship…" reported Bunnie weakly "Ah'm sorry ah…couldn't stop it…Sally-girl…"
"It's alright Bunnie." Sally insisted "The region is losing to us, we'll send them packing and they'll be forced to leave us alone."
"Sorry to be on the negative side your majesty but I think a ship's going to be harder to scare off then a bunch of reptiles." noted Ruben "Didn't anyone stop to think that the region's attacks down here are just to distract us while the ship attacks Castle Acorn?"
"I DID think that Ruben." said Sally "That's why I sent Bunnie up there in the first place, so she could stop the ship from attacking. Sadly though, the region's leader appears to be too tough for even her to handle."
"He's such…a…strong critter…" gasped Bunnie "His punches…are like being…whacked…with a hammer…"
"Well I think the sensible thing to do would to be avoid all contact with this Lord Sycorax blighter." said Geoffrey "We've gotta find another way to attack the ship without having to face Lord Sycorax."
"Oh if only Sonic and Tails were here." moaned Sally "They could help us dearly right now! Heck, we could do with anybody's help right now, even Team Chaotix! But we won't be able to reach them while we're out here fighting the region."
"Then we'll just have to continue fighting and rack our brains for a way to stop the ship." said Geoffrey, loading his crossbow and running back into the battle.
The rest of the resistance joined even, except Bunnie who just lay on the ground, battered and beaten. She was too weak to fight right now so she had to stay down and rest. The Royal Fighters and the Reptile Rebels all continued brawling it out with one another as the fight for Castle Acorn grew ever more desperate by the second…
Meanwhile on the battleship, Vector, Espio and Charmy were still looking for a way of bringing the ship down and stopping the Ion Neutron 24XX9 cannon from firing. Unfortunately, they hadn't had any luck right now. All they'd been doing these past few minutes were running through corridors and looking into rooms only to find nothing of interest. Regardless, this was a big ship so they weren't expecting to find anything straight away. But they only had five minutes to stop the weapon from firing at Castle Acorn so they had to stop the weapon and fast or it would destroy Castle Acorn in one swift blast of the cannon. The Chaotix grew more desperate by the second and they were running out of time so Vector resorted to desperate measures.
"OK guys, this is getting us nowhere!" panted Vector "We'll have to split up and see what we can find! If you find anything that looks like it works the Ion-whatsit-called cannon then don't hesitate to destroy it. We need to stop that cannon or in five minutes time, it'll fire!"
"Very well Vector, I will go up the centre corridor there." said Espio, pointing at an entrance to three different corridors."
"OK Espio, Charmy you go left and I'll go right." said Vector.
"Aw, I wanna go right!" moaned Charmy "Right's always the right way!"
"No it isn't!" growled Vector, lightly thumping Charmy on the head for his stupidity "Just do as you're told already! We don't have much time right now!"
"Sorry." said Charmy, buzzing to the left and flying down the corridor as fast as he could.
Vector quickly lumbered down the right corridor and Espio sped down the centre corridor and ninja-speed. However, luck seemed to be on Espio's side and by sheer coincidence, he appeared to have picked the right corridor as halfway down the corridor, he found a room marked with a warning sign saying "Keep OUT! Valuable Equipment Inside!" Espio smiled to himself. This room must be important if it's marked with warning sign like this. Espio tried the door but it wouldn't open. It was locked tightly shut and looked impossible to break down.
"Humph! Kinda silly to mark a door with "Keep Out" if no one can get into it in the first place." muttered Espio, noting the stupidity of this situation.
Espio threw a shuriken at the door and stepped back. The shuriken exploded and the door fell down into the room with a heavy clang that ominously echoed around the room. Espio crept into the room and saw what was inside. The room was full of hi-tech generators and machinery that whirred and hummed loudly and ominously. The machinery in this room looked deathly important. So important that if the machinery was destroyed, it could mean the end of the battleship. Espio decided to investigate this room further and resisted the urge to cut loose on the generators. He just wanted to stop the weapon from firing, not bring the ship down yet because if he did, he, Vector and Charmy would perish in the crash along with Lord Sycorax. Espio observed the giant generators as they hummed away doing whatever it was they were doing right now. Espio then spotted something in the corner of the room. A lonely little computer that had no one working on it. The screen wasn't even flashing, it was blank, hinting the enormous possibility it was turned off. Espio tip-toed over to the computer and switched it on. The computer whirred into life and showed the blue-prints and schematics to the battleship itself. Information like that could be very useful so Espio decided to search in on those blue-prints. He moved the cursor over to the nose of the ship and clicked on it. The computer screen showed him the inside of the ship's nose which revealed to Espio that the Ion Neutron 24XX9 Cannon was of course, stored inside of it. Espio mused on this discovery and had an idea.
"If I can hack into the weapon's controls from here, I'll be able to stop it from firing." said Espio "Or even better, get it to destroy itself."
So Espio decided to see what he could do on this little computer. If he couldn't hack into the controls and stop the weapon, then Castle Acorn would be added to the destroyed political landmarks list…
Down on the ground, the Reptile Rebels were getting whupped by the Royal Fighters. As brilliant as they were and as strong as their weaponry was, they just couldn't match the strength and power of the Royal Fighters. The Reptile Rebels decided to bring in the eighteen walkers they had left but Wilson made short work of them by slicing all their legs off with his spinning blade weapon after he threw it at them. The walkers fell onto the ground with a clunk and their legs lay in halves beside them. But that didn't mean they couldn't shoot. Their weapons were still functional so the pilots fired the walker drones' weapons at the Royal Fighters but Ruben quickly managed to disable them all with his water powers. One quick soak was all the weapons needed and they were completely unusable. After a quick rest, Bunnie Rabbot had managed to get back on her feet, albeit still wobbly and weak, and she joined in the fighting although her efforts weren't as great as they could have been due to her being weakened by Lord Sycorax's brute strength. She punched one rebel with her robot arm with only half of her usual strength but enough strength to knock it off its feet. Another rebel tried to shoot the Rabbot but Sally tackled it from behind with a kick to the side and the rebel was knocked over and its gun flew out of its hands. Nicole and Mandy teamed up on Vladek and Romeo found himself being overwhelmed by Wilson and Ruben. Diesel had come to from his stun but Geoffrey was ready to put him back to sleep. Unfortunately, a Reptile Rebel distracted Geoffrey by shooting at him and the skunk was forced to dodge hastily before he could get hit. Geoffrey shot back at the rebel but he missed, narrowly. Diesel picked himself up and tripped Geoffrey up with one kick to the legs. Diesel then observed the fight around him, which to his dismay was not going well at all. He pulled a spherical device from the back of his belt and looked at it.
"Looks like I have to resort to desperate measures." he muttered, tossing the sphere into the air.
The sphere hurtled through the air and then stopped before it could fall back down. It hung in the air as if invisible strings were attached to it and holding it afloat and the sphere suddenly began to glow a bright blow glow. The sphere whirred loudly and then suddenly some laser beams shot out of the sphere and towards the Royal Fighters. But these weren't lasers that killed people; these lasers wrapped around all the Royal Fighters' waists and dragged them away from the battle and towards the sphere. Sally, Nicole, Geoffrey, Wilson, Mandy, Bunnie and Ruben were all suddenly dragged towards the sphere by the holding lasers. They were then placed directly under the sphere and the sphere suddenly emitted a force field that surrounded the Royal Fighters. It looked like a dome now. Geoffrey picked himself up and kicked the force field, only to make distorted wavy patterns on the barrier and the barrier made a loud whirring noise. Mandy picked herself up and tried punching the barrier, only to get the same results as Geoffrey. It seemed as if they were trapped in the sphere's force field.
"OK you reptilian rascals, what's all this then?" asked Sally crossly.
"It is an anti-reptile barrier." explained Diesel "Invented by Romeo the Chameleon himself. Anyone within ten yards of this barrier who isn't a reptile gets pulled towards the sphere and sealed in a force field. It is our ultimate weapon and one of the many reasons we win our battles."
"You dirty cheats!" screamed Mandy, banging against the barrier "You let us out of here now!"
"What do you think we are? Brainless?" sneered Vladek "You are staying in here until Castle Acorn is destroyed. Don't worry about getting hit by debris though, the barrier will protect you. But it won't protect you from us because once Castle Acorn is destroyed, we will shut off the barrier and kill you all!"
And with that, Vladek cackled with laughter at his captives. The Royal Fighters just glared at him in an unimpressed manner Then suddenly, the battleship hovered towards Castle Acorn and stopped within twenty feet of it. The nose of the crocodilian style ship opened up, revealing the Ion Neutron 24XX9 Cannon inside and the cannon looked like it was ready to fire. The Reptile Rebels all grinned in unison whereas Sally could only stare in horror as if someone had just shot her in the heart.
"No! Please! Not my home!" wailed Sally, her eyes filling with tears.
Nicole just sadly put a hand on Sally's shoulder as the squirrel queen tried her hardest to hold back tears as the battleship prepared to destroy Castle Acorn. In the cockpit, Lord Sycorax cackled with joy. He danced about like a happy little child.
"It is time!" he crowed "Wherever Vector and his friends are, they're too late! My cannon is ready to fire!"
He raised his hand and yelled at the top of his voice.
"Ion Neutron 24XX9 Cannon…FIRE!"
And he pressed the fire button on the control pad. The cannon powered up and a huge laser blast began to build up inside the cannon as it prepared to fire….
Oh my gosh...oh my gosh...oh my gosh...Castle Acorn is doomed! Or is it...? Find out next time in the exicting finale to Rebellious Reptiles! Read and Review.