Chapter 36: Interception

"Are you sure this'll work, Miles?" Amelia said skeptically as she watched the Tornado 2 transform from a plane into a small car on a side-road next to the bridge that spanned across the bay and into Central City. It had been three hours since Dr. Eggman made his sinister broadcast and the sun was slightly past the apex.

"Well, it's the best chance we've got," Miles replied. "If we can convince the President of the United Federation that we're not a threat to his nation, then he might be able to persuade the Commander of G. U. N. to help us locate the hidden base Dr. Eggman used to transport the remaining six Chaos Emeralds up to the laser cannon in space and where the broadcast was probably transmitted from."

"What makes you say that the Chaos Emeralds are with the laser cannon?"

"My Emerald Detector isn't picking up the signals of the other Emeralds, so I assume that they're in space."

Then Miles paused as he listened to a walkie-talkie shaped device. His eyes widened, and so he fiddled with the dial. Meanwhile, Amelia was startled when Chuck suddenly appeared from underneath a sewer cap.

"Whoops, I guess I must've taken a wrong turn in the Aquatic Mines," Chuck said to himself.

He was about to go back down when Amelia suddenly grabbed him by his newly straightened hair and pulled him out of the sewer. "Hold on a minute, Chuck. Where the heck have you been lately? We haven't heard from you for days."

"It's a long story," Chuck said with mild embarrassment. "But the gist of it is that Rouge is one of us, has a spirit named Rouge the Bat possessing her, and she stole the Master Emerald from me two days ago. I followed her, and then Dr. Eggman came out of nowhere and tried to take the Emerald for himself. So out of desperation, I smashed the Master Emerald into pieces. This caused Dr. Eggman to leave and Rouge decided to go after the Master Emerald pieces, but I vowed to find them first."

"So did you find them all?" Amelia said after a brief hesitation.

"I've found most of them, but there are still some pieces missing which I think are with Rouge."

"Hey, Sonic!" Miles said, calling him on a headset without paying attention to what Chuck or Amelia were saying. "Have you located the President's limo yet?"

"Affirmative," Sonic replied. "He's just leaving the White House. Should I follow him?"

"Yes, but don't enter his car until I get there," Miles answered.

"Why?"

"There's been a change of plans. The Intercepter Radio I made has been picking up several phone-calls from Dr. Eggman to the other world leaders who are on their way to the emergency meeting the United Federation President is heading to."

"Can you trace Dr. Eggman's calls to their source?"

"Unfortunately, they're too far away for me to directly trace. But if my calculations are correct, the President of the United Federation should be getting a call from Dr. Eggman in the next sixty-seconds. So if we can catch the President as he's talking to Dr. Eggman, I could trace the call to its source from there."

"All right, then let's rock and roll!"

Then Miles pressed the stick-shift forward and drove off down the main road across the bridge at top speed before Amelia had the chance to explain everything she heard from Chuck.

###

"So what will it be, Mr. President?" Dr. Eggman said inside the television screen in the United Federation President's limo. "Your loyalty, or your planet?"

The President hesitated to answer, when a voice said, "No way, Dr. Eggman!"

This drew the President's attention to the window, where he saw a blue blur running alongside the limo. Next, the blue blur jumped into the air and landed inside the limo through the open sun-roof. Then a few seconds later, a yellow blur followed behind the blue one and appeared right next to the TV out of Dr. Eggman's line of vision.

"Those choices sound lame! I'm going to smash that laser cannon of yours before you even get the chance to fire it!" Sonic said, kneeling with his back to the President.

"Curse you, Sonic!" Dr. Eggman grumbled, and hung up.

"What on Mobius is going on?" the President said nervously.

"Not to worry, Mr. President," Sonic said assuredly, then he glanced over at Tails. "Did you trace the call?"

"Sure did," Tails replied waving the Intercepter Radio triumphantly in his hand. "The signal came from the Space Colony ARK through a receiver located somewhere in the desert near Wild Canyon."

"Good work, Tails, now let's get going!" Sonic said, and jumped out of the car.

After Tails followed Sonic, the two of them got into the Tornado 2 and sped off down the street while the President lay speechless in his chair. A few seconds passed before the President noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor of his limo that wasn't there before. He picked it up and unfolded the paper, which had the insignia of a blue hedgehog face, and read:

Dear Mr. President,

I did not steal that gemstone from the jewelry store like the media says, but it would take too long to explain in this letter. If I succeed in my mission, I will tell the Commander of G. U. N. everything he wants to know about me, my kind, and the truth behind the robbery. However, if I fail, then at least I died saving the world.

Sincerely,

The Blue Blur

###

A few hours later, Sonny and his friends were standing on the edge of a cliff that overlooked a vast desert below them. The setting sun illuminated a large pyramid that stood off in the distance like an island in the vast ocean of sand. Then through a pair of binoculars Miles provided, Sonny could see a bunch of Eggman's robots circling around the base of the pyramid in a rhythmic pattern.

"This sure looks like the place," Sonny remarked, handing the binoculars to Amelia.

"It has to be," Chuck said folding his arms. "I saw Rouge follow Dr. Eggman into the pyramid."

"But why would she follow Dr. Eggman if her main interest was to collect the Master Emerald shards?" Amelia asked out loud.

"Well if she's an agent for G. U. N., then maybe the Commander ordered her to follow Dr. Eggman," Miles answered. "I mean, that would explain why we haven't seen Rouge since she was picked up at the airport by her dad."

"Or she's decided to join Dr. Eggman," Sonny said. "I remember Shadow mentioning her before he ran off from our fight, so I think she was involved in that attack on Prison Island."

"But she could be pretending to work for Dr. Eggman in order to keep an eye on him for G. U. N.," Miles suggested.

"Guys, can we save the speculation for later?" Chuck abruptly said. "The sun's going down, and the countdown to potential worldwide destruction is ticking."

"Right," Miles said, and got into the Tornado 2. After changing it into a mech again, he said, "I'll go look for a way in. The rest of you follow my lead."

As he launched the Tornado 2 down into the desert below, Sonny Amelia and Chuck followed after him as they changed into Sonic Amy and Knuckles respectfully. While Sonic and Amy plowed through the desert sands at top speed, Knuckles glided above it on a strong air current that blew in the direction of the pyramid. Meanwhile, Miles quickly changed into Tails as he engaged the patrolling robots with gunfire and missiles. The others helped him along the way, and soon they stood at the entrance to Eggman's Hidden Base.

"It sure looks dark in there," Sonic said as he peered into the dark tunnel before him. "Maybe I should go first."

"You go on ahead, Sonic," Amy said, removing her shoes to let the sand fall out of them. "I'll catch up to you."

"Same here," Tails said. "I want to make sure that we're not being followed by G. U. N."

"I'll be right behind you every step of the way," Knuckles said in response.

"Okay, Knuckles, then let's go," Sonic said and dashed into the dark tunnel.

###

Once all the robots were cleared, Amy and Tails followed down the same path Sonic and Knuckles took. They eventually met up with them inside, and came to a locked door with Eggman's face on it. Tails immediately got out of the Tornado 2 and examined the door carefully.

"We'll need three keys to get in," Tails said. "And I bet they're hidden somewhere in this base."

"Knuckles, weren't you a treasure hunter or something?" Sonic said glancing at Knuckles.

"I think so," Knuckles replied. "Then again, if I can find Master Emerald pieces that have been spread across the world, how hard could it be to find three keys inside an oversized temple?"

"That's the spirit," Sonic replied. "I'll help you look for them."

Then the two boys took off down an adjacent corridor.

"Tails," Amy said after a while. "Doesn't it seem odd to you that we're not being followed by G. U. N. soldiers? I mean, Sonic's a wanted fugitive and I guess we're fugitives too for helping him escape Prison Island."

"It is odd, but I think I know why," Tails said. "If the Commander has received the note Sonic gave to the President by this point, he's probably holding back his forces for the time being."

"But why would he do that?"

"If we succeed in stopping Dr. Eggman, then he'll have the opportunity to arrest us as soon as we return to Mobius. But in case we fail there would be no point in expending G. U. N. resources to follow us around."

"Or it could be that the President trusts Sonic's word and has ordered the Commander to not follow us so that we may attempt to stop Dr. Eggman without any interference."

"Yeah, that's a possibility."

"So how do you think Sonic is going to explain our situation to the President when we don't fully understand it ourselves?"

"I'm not sure, though there might be some truth to what Shadow told Sonic."

"What did he say?"

"Do you really want to know? It might shock you."

"Try me."

"Hey, guys!" Sonic shouted abruptly as he ran towards Amy and Tails from the same adjacent corridor with Knuckles following behind him. "We found the keys!"

"Was it hard?" Tails asked.

"Not really," Knuckles said as he handed a set of three giant gold keys to Tails. "But there were a lot of ghosts lurking around. Fortunately, I managed to beat their leader and that seemed to scare the remaining small-fry off."

"What were you going to say, Tails?" Amy asked. "About what Shadow told Sonic?"

"Not now, Amy," Tails said as he took the keys over to the giant door. "I need to concentrate."

After Amy closed her mouth, Tails proceeded to place the keys in their respective key-holes. There was a loud click followed by a groaning sound as the stone door slid upward. Inside was a circular chamber lit by a ring of torches with a large gaping hole in the center. On the other side of the hole, a sliding mechanical door opened to reveal Dr. Eggman sitting in his Egg Mobile with a wide grin on his face.

"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Did you really think you could sneak into my base without me knowing about it?" Dr. Eggman said. "Now if you could just hand me the last Chaos Emerald, I'll let you go free."

"Not a chance!" Tails said as he flew back into the seat of the Tornado 2.

"Then you'll have to die!" Dr. Eggman said and closed the sliding door in front of him.

There was a loud rumbling sound, and a large stone statue appeared from the gaping hole in the center of the room with red robot eyes glaring down at Sonic who immediately charged at it.

To be continued…