Story 36:Chaos Chocolate
In the dark of the night, a lone chocolate factory had been shut down for the night and all its workers had left for home so they could get some rest and be ready for work in the morning. The chocolate factory had many funnels for all the steam building up inside to seep out and into the sky and it was very large, larger then twenty barnyards stacked up in rows of ten. The chocolate factory was just like any other chocolate factory, it was large and it made chocolate day after day, week after week and month after month. The only thing different about this chocolate factory was the fact a little green glowing emerald was sitting out of sight on the rooftop, still glowing to itself. The emerald had been up there for years and no one had ever seen it. But the emerald would be on the roof no longer for a crow flying nearby had sighted the emerald with its keen vision and flew over to it. The crow examined this pretty little gem and it pecked at it. The crow ever so slightly nudged the emerald with its beak. Then it nudged it some more. And some more. The crow was trying to pick up the emerald for it was thrilled by its shiny glow but it couldn't pick the thing up, it was much too big. The crow kept nudging the emerald with every vain attempt to grasp it with it's beak but it just kept nudging the emerald away from its original sitting place. Then the crow nudged the emerald near to a hole in the roof and the emerald fell down the hole and into the factory, much to the disappointment of the crow who flew away in disappointment. The emerald fell down the hall and bounced nosily off a nearby pipe. Then it pinged off some machinery and fell into a vat of chocolate with a splash. The shining green gem submerged into the thick brown gooey goodness and disappeared from sight. Now the factory would be sending a chocolate covered emerald to the candy stores the next morning and goodness knows who is going to get it…
Robotropolis. Dr. Eggman's grand metropolis and robot city had been torn down and blown to smithereens by Scourge the Hedgehog but Dr. Eggman's extremely fast building crew had rebuilt the entire city from scratch and it had only taken them two days to do so. Dr. Eggman was pleased with the rebuilt city and now he didn't have to hide in his secret bunker anymore. He now resided in the newly rebuilt headquarters that proudly stood in the centre of the vast machine metropolis. Now he had a much better place to store Metal Sonic to ready him for combat and thanks to the technology of the city, Metal Sonic was now fit and ready to go once again. Right now, Metal Sonic didn't have any orders so he just stood to attention and waited for Dr. Eggman to give him any while Dr. Eggman was overseeing management in his city.
As for Sonic the Hedgehog, he had brought Tails and Amy with him on a special sabotage mission. With acute spying work from Espio the Chameleon, he had found the robot production line in Eggman's headquarters and after informing Sonic on where it was, he decided to sabotage it so the production of Eggman's robot army would be slowed down for a while. Sonic had been a little surprised at the fact Eggman had rebuilt Robotropolis so suddenly but he didn't let it bother him for he had a mission. The three friends were taking shelter behind a bunch of rocks and observing the scenery around them to make sure the coast was clear. There wasn't a robot to be found anywhere so it was safe for Sonic, Tails and Amy to come out. Sonic turned to his two friends and they gathered round to discuss their plans.
"OK do you remember the plan?" asked Sonic.
"Yes." said Tails and Amy together.
"Good." said Sonic "I'll keep Eggman's bunch of bots at bay while you two sabotage the production line. Espio gave me the coordinates on this little tracking device." he added, pulling the device out of his glove and handing it to Tails "You shouldn't have much trouble finding it with that tracker."
"OK." said Tails "We won't let you down Sonic."
"Don't worry about letting me down, worry about letting the Council of Acorn down!" laughed Sonic "They authorised this mission remember?"
"Yeah I remember." said Amy glumly "That pig guy in the council was so rude!"
"OK then, let's do it to it you two." said Sonic.
The three friends emerged from their hiding place and ran over to Robotropolis. Like the old Robotropolis, the new one was surrounded by a huge iron fence with huge iron gates that took a lot of spin-dashing to bring down. Sonic knew that there was a quicker way to get into the city and that was dig under the fence. Sonic spun into a spin-dash and began to dig a hole down and under the iron fence. Sand flew everywhere as Sonic churned his way through the sand. Then Sonic finally spin-dashed out of the ground and up into the open. He was immediately greeted by a bunch of robots that happened to be in patrol. They sighted Sonic and immediately deployed and primed their weapons.
"Hey butt-bots, think you can catch the world's fastest hedgehog?" bragged Sonic, shaking his bum tauntingly at the robots "Well come and get me if you think you're fast enough!"
And with that Sonic took off like a torpedo and all the Egg-man robots ran after him, weapons blazing and sensors alert. Tails and Amy poked their heads out of the hole Sonic had dug to see if it was safe to come out. All the robots were chasing Sonic so there wasn't a single robot around. Tails and Amy climbed out of the hole and they ran off to Eggman's headquarters which wasn't far to go.
"So once we get into fat-boy's playhouse what do we do?" asked Amy, summoning her Piko-Piko Hammer to her hands and keeping it at the ready in case she needed to smash something.
"We take the elevator up three floors and go into the first room on the right." said Tails, reading the tracker out loud "And once we're in there, we sabotage the production line."
"Good thing I have a big hammer to smash it with isn't it?" said Amy, smirking to herself at the thought of destroying Eggman's hard work.
"Yes it's a good thing you have a big hammer to smash it with." said Tails "Although it would have been better if I had brought some bombs with me which I didn't unbelievably."
Tails and Amy ran on to Eggman's headquarters. As for Dr. Eggman, he had noticed the break-in and was watching the whole thing on the monitors. He was only focused on Sonic since Sonic was the only one he noticed, he failed to notice Tails and Amy somehow.
"Sonic has broken into my territory has he?" growled Dr. Eggman "Well he won't be staying for long that's for sure! Metal Sonic, get the hedgehog!"
Metal Sonic wordlessly nodded and he left the room. The moment Metal Sonic left the room, Alonzo, Eggman's servant-bot, looked at one of the monitors and cried out in horror.
"Master! We have a breach on the ground floor!" he shrieked.
"What?" cried Dr. Eggman, looking at the same monitor Alonzo was looking at.
This monitor showed Eggman what was happening on the ground floor. Tails and Amy had just broken into the base which was accomplished by Amy smashing the door down with her hammer and now the two were heading for the elevator. Eggman was furious. Sonic was just a distraction while Tails and Amy sabotage him? Well he wasn't going to let that happen! Dr. Eggman spoke into a microphone on the control pad.
"Metal Sonic, change of priority." said Dr. Eggman "We have intruders taking the elevator some where! Find them!"
Metal Sonic, who was on the third floor right now had gotten the message and looked around for Tails and Amy. Speaking of Tails and Amy, they had taken the elevator up to the fourth floor, the exact floor they needed to be on. Metal Sonic had seen the elevator going up on the floor he was on so he headed for the stairs that led to the fourth floor. As for Tails and Amy, remembering the coordinates Espio had given them, they ran down a corridor until they came across the first door on their right. The door was big and silver with warning stripes on the top and bottom and they slid away instead of opening outwards like a normal door. Tails plugged the tracker into the door's keypad and he taped away on the keys, trying to break the code so he could get in. Espio had found out the code while he was spying on Eggman and had uploaded the code on the tracker so Tails broke it in a matter of seconds and the door opened. Tails and Amy walked into the room. As you would expect a reproduction chamber to look, it was a large room with giant machines and treadmills and computers so Eggman could decide on the designs the robots the machines made would have.
"OK Tails, do we just wreck everything?" asked Amy.
"Well we could." said Tails "But I wonder if there's a faster way of sabotaging this place then just smashing it with a hammer?"
"I dunno but I'm smashing this hideous place anyway!" cried Amy, brandishing her hammer and getting ready to swing.
She marched over to a large machine with a treadmill attached to it and was prepared to smash it to tiny bite-sized pieces until Tails suddenly screamed in terror.
"Amy! Help!" he shrieked.
Amy turned around and to her horror, Metal Sonic was there, clutching Tails by the throat and holding him aloft. Amy ran over to Metal Sonic and tried to whack him with her hammer but Metal Sonic threw Tails directly in her path so she ended up whacking Tails in the face by accident. Tails clutched his nose and groaned loudly.
"Oh Tails I'm so sorry!" shrieked Amy.
"Ow! Gosh your hammer really does hurt!" groaned Tails.
Then suddenly it was Amy's turn to get attacked. Metal Sonic slashed at her and caught her on the cheek. Amy tried to smash him with her hammer but Metal Sonic just snatched the hammer out of her hand and whacked her with it. Amy flew through the air like a tossed stone and she landed slap-bang into the wall and slid slowly down to the floor. Metal Sonic threw Amy's hammer away and advanced menacingly on her. Amy kept her back pressed against the wall and her eyes wide open as Metal Sonic came up to her, his claws bared and his optics burning with murderous intent. Metal Sonic raised his arm and prepared to attack the poor girl until Tails distracted him.
"Hey! Metal Sonic, I'm going to tamper with this machine!" jeered Tails who was standing next to one of the production machines.
Metal Sonic turned away from Amy and he blasted at Tails with his torso cannon. Tails flew out of the way so Metal Sonic ended up accidentally destroying the machine. The machine exploded and showered the floor with tiny little pieces. Metal Sonic soon realized his mistake and kept it in mind not to do it again. Tails landed near another machine and pulled faces at Metal Sonic in an attempt to coax him into shooting at him again. But Metal Sonic knew what he was up to so instead of shooting at Tails, Metal Sonic lunged at Tails and grabbed him by the arms. Tails cried out in surprise as Metal Sonic held him at arm's length and prepared to blast him. Since he was holding Tails directly in front of himself, there was no way he could miss this time. Amy summoned a new hammer into her hand and ran up to Metal Sonic, ready to smash his head in. But Metal Sonic heard her coming and blasted her away with his back laser. Amy staggered over and passed out. Now Tails was trapped, Metal Sonic was bound to shoot him now. That is until Tails spun his tails around and took off with Metal Sonic still holding him. Then Tails kicked Metal Sonic as hard as he could and the killer robot Sonic clone let go of him but he didn't fall down to the floor like Tails wanted him to, Metal Sonic just activated his jet booster and now he was flying too. It was an air-to-air showdown between Tails and Metal Sonic as the two began flying around the room trying to best each other. Tails had an idea and hoped Metal Sonic would fall for it. Tails flew extremely close to a machine and Metal Sonic followed but he didn't quite see the machine in time and ended up crashing straight through it. Metal Sonic emerged from the other side of the machine and he flew after Tails, his claws bared and ready to grab him. Tails flew on, desperately trying to avoid Metal Sonic. He flew close to another machine in an attempt to get Metal Sonic to crash into it but Metal Sonic was all the wiser so while Tails flew close to the machine, Metal Sonic flew around the other side of the machine so he would catch Tails. Tails fell for it and he ended up flying directly into Metal Sonic's arms. Metal Sonic grabbed the squirming fox and held him tight. Then he rocketed down to the floor and slammed Tails into the floor as hard as he could. Metal Sonic had slammed Tails into the floor so hard that Tails made an image of himself in the floor. Tails tried to get up but Metal Sonic pinned him down with his foot. Metal Sonic bent over and prepared to fire his torso cannon but Amy, who had just woken up, whacked him as hard as she could with her hammer and sent Metal Sonic flying straight into a production machine. Metal Sonic went straight through it and left a giant hole in the machine. Tails was relieved that Amy had just saved him and Amy helped Tails onto his feet.
"So I guess its mission accomplished?" she asked the brainy fox.
"Mission accomplished Amy." said Tails, with a smile "Eggman's production line is out of order. That was a good hit by the way." he added, notifying Amy's brilliant whack on Metal Sonic.
"Well what can I say? I'm amazing." said Amy, preening "Now let's get out of this hideous place before Metal Faker wakes up."
With that said, Tails and Amy ran out of the production chamber and headed for the elevator. Unfortunately for them, Metal Sonic emerged from the ruined machine, unharmed and thirsty for revenge. Using his jet booster, Metal Sonic rocketed out of the chamber and flew after Tails and Amy. Tails and Amy had only just made it into the elevator and Metal Sonic was coming towards them. The doors closed and the elevator prepared to descend but Metal Sonic smashed his way through the doors and the elevator began to descend. Now Tails and Amy were trapped with Metal Sonic until the elevator reached the ground floor. Metal Sonic grabbed them both and pinned them against the wall and held them there until the elevator reached the ground floor. The doors opened and Metal Sonic threw Tails and Amy out of the elevator. Before they could get up, Metal Sonic pile-dived Amy in the back and stomped on Tails' back. Then he picked them both up and hurled them a good distance across the floor. They hit the floor and slid across it until they came to a halt against the wall. But before Metal Sonic could do anything else, Sonic the Hedgehog burst into the base and spin-dashed him in the back.
"Hey Metal Joker!" taunted Sonic "So nice to see you again!"
Metal Sonic got back to his feet and slashed at Sonic. Sonic did a back flip and dodged the attack and then he rammed Metal Sonic in the centre of his torso.
"What's the matter Metal?" asked Sonic "You losing your touch or something?"
Metal Sonic's response was a spin-dash to the chest and he sent Sonic hurtling backwards. Sonic flew out of the broken doors and landed on his back. He recovered just in time to dodge another spin-dash from Metal Sonic.
"Come on Metal Sonic, you can do better than that!" teased Sonic.
Then Metal Sonic and Sonic linked arms and grappled with each other.
"Hey what's with all the silence Metal Sonic?" asked Sonic, noting the fact that he hadn't received any comebacks from his insults "Why won't you say something? Come on, I love hearing your stupid, deep, booming voice!"
Metal Sonic didn't say anything, he just threw Sonic away and the hedgehog landed face first into the ground. Sonic picked himself up just in time to dodge another spin-dash from Metal Sonic. Sonic and Metal Sonic both lunged at each other but Metal Sonic ducked so Sonic soared over him and Metal Sonic delivered an uppercut to the stomach before Sonic could finish flying over him. Then Metal Sonic grabbed Sonic by the leg and slammed him into the ground. Tails and Amy ran out of the base and joined in the fight. Tails flew in the air and punched Metal Sonic in the head, although the punch hurt Tails more then it hurt Metal Sonic due to him being metal. Amy tried to wallop Metal Sonic but Metal Sonic dodged the blow and dropkicked Amy. Tails landed beside Sonic and helped him up.
"Sonic, the mission is completed, it's time to go." he said.
"Aw, but I'm not done duelling with Metal Me yet!" groaned Sonic.
"Metal Sonic's just as strong as ever Sonic." said Tails "If we keep this up, we won't make it to the end so we've gotta go!"
Sonic got to his feet and spin-dashed Metal Sonic in the back to distract him. Before Metal Sonic could get up, Tails grabbed Sonic and flew him over the iron fence and then he went back to fetch Amy. After Amy was safely flown over the fence, Sonic held their hands and sped off at his trademark speed. Metal Sonic flew over the fence and watched Sonic speed away. Regardless of his desire to squash Sonic, he decided he would wait another day so he flew back over the fence and headed back to Eggman's base.
As for Dr. Eggman, he and Alonzo had run down to the production chamber and needless to say, Eggman wasn't happy with what had happened.
"Curse that twin-tailed fox and curse that pink hedgehog!" growled Dr. Eggman "They've made a mess of my glorious production chamber!"
"I bet that was their intentions sir." said Alonzo "Because they've gone now."
"Well if they think they can sabotage me then they've got something devious coming their way!" huffed Dr. Eggman "I'm going to march over to Mobotropolis in my Egg-Mobile and attack Castle Acorn!"
"But who's going to fix the production chamber?" asked Alonzo.
"YOU are." said Dr. Eggman, grinning like a mad man "Me and Metal Sonic will go and attack that castle."
And with that Dr. Eggman left the room, leaving Alonzo to stare hopelessly at the mess that awaited him. Alonzo grumbled and picked up a sweep. He began to sweep away the slithers of metal that littered the floor.
Outside, Dr. Eggman came across Metal Sonic and Metal Sonic saluted him.
"Ah, Metal Sonic! I was looking for you." said Dr. Eggman, smiling widely "Come with me, we're going for a little ride."
Metal Sonic obeyed and followed Dr. Eggman back into the base.
"So that's how it happened was it?" asked Sonic as Tails and Amy told him, Cosmo and Cream what had happened in the production chamber.
"Yes, that's how it happened." said Tails "So you could say Metal Sonic kinda did the work for us, with a little temptation from me that is." he added with a slight chuckle.
Once Sonic, Tails and Amy had made it back home, they greeted Cosmo and Cream and they told them everything that had happened on the mission. Cosmo and Cream were impressed to say the least and they laughed at the fact Tails tricked Metal Sonic into destroying some of the machines in the chamber.
"You three are so brave." said Cream "Did Metal Sonic scare you when he came out?"
"Me? Nah!" scoffed Sonic "Metal Sonic doesn't scare me! He's just another robot waiting to be smashed that's all."
"A very TOUGH robot waiting to be smashed." noted Tails "Metal Sonic's no weaker then before you know."
"Maybe on your next mission, someone should sneak into Eggman's base and sabotage Metal Sonic." suggested Cosmo "Then Metal Sonic wouldn't be such a big threat to us would he?"
"No he won't." said Amy "Maybe we should do that next time huh Sonic?"
"Sounds good to me." said Sonic casually "Although I'd rather smash Metal Sonic myself then sabotage him to the point he's useless."
"But you can't smash Metal Sonic, that's the point." said Tails "He's built to withstand you and probably all of us so we have to weaken Metal Sonic the mechanical way which is take him apart bit by bit while he's deactivated or something."
Sonic just rolled his eyes but said nothing. Tails was right after all, he couldn't beat Metal Sonic in combat so it would be better to weaken him when he wasn't activated. After a minute's silence, Cream spoke up.
"So, what do we do now?" she asked.
"I think we should buy a nice treat from the store to celebrate our success with." suggested Amy "I can think of a few things already."
"As long as chilli-dogs are involved, I'm satisfied." said Sonic casually.
"I'll come with you Amy." said Tails "I can think of something nice we could eat."
"OK Tails." said Amy brightly "Does anyone else wanna come?"
"I'll come and help you with the shopping bags." volunteered Cream eagerly.
Sonic and Cosmo didn't offer.
"OK then it's settled. Come on Tails and Cream, we're going to Knothole." said Amy "I know a good store there."
And with that Amy, Tails and Cream left and headed off to the store while Sonic and Cosmo remained sitting at the garden table.
"So Cosmo, what do you wanna do while we're waiting?" asked Sonic.
"Um…I don't know." said Cosmo "Maybe we could talk to each other to pass the time."
"Nah, I'll just go for a jog." said Sonic, getting up on his feet "See ya Cosmo."
Sonic ran off at top speed and sped off into the distance. Seeing as she was on her own with nothing to do, Cosmo decided to just lie on the grass and stare up at the sky, thinking of happier times back on her home planet and how beautiful it was before the war with the Martians started.
"I hope you're OK mother." said Cosmo under her breath "I hope you're OK…"
A short while later, Amy, Tails and Cream arrived at Amy's home village of Knothole. After arriving at Knothole, Amy took them to the store. The store was medium sized and full of all sorts of groceries but not to the extent of a superstore. Still, it was a nice place for the villagers to do their shopping in and Amy shopped there every time she needed groceries. The pink hedgehog, tan coloured rabbit and yellow twin-tailed fox entered the store and began looking around for something nice to eat to celebrate Sonic, Tails and Amy's success in Robotropolis.
"Now where to they keep the hot-dogs for Sonic's chilli-dog?" wondered Amy as he scanned the aisles.
"Don't you think Mr. Sonic already has hot-dogs at home?" asked Cream.
"He probably does." said Amy "But he should try a hot-dog from Knothole, they taste so nice."
"If you want Amy you could buy some onions since Sonic likes a lot of onions on his chilli-dogs." said Tails as he wondered down the aisles.
"Sonic likes onions on his chilli-dogs does he?" said Amy "Well he'll love the onions they sell here, nothing beats them."
"I wonder what would be a nice treat for you Amy." said Cream politely.
"Oh you don't need to worry about me." said Amy "I can find something I really like."
As Amy and Cream continued looking down the aisle, Tails wondered to the sweets aisle, the very aisle he was looking for. He wanted a nice bar of mint chocolate for his treat so he was looking through the chocolates to see what they had on offer. Then something caught Tails' eye. On the top shelf of the sweets aisle, there were chocolates shaped like emeralds. They were about as big as the palm of your hand and they did look very scrumptious. Tails decided he would try one of the emerald chocolates so he stood up on tip-toe and reached up for the chocolate. But he couldn't quite reach it and he didn't want to fly up and get it since people would look at him funny so he just kept trying to reach. Then an old cat lady with a shopping basket came by and noticed Tails was having difficulty reaching the chocolate's so she reached up and got it for him.
"Here you go little boy." she said kindly, handing it to Tails.
"Thank you miss." said Tails.
"Before I go little one, may I ask you something?" asked the cat.
"Yes." said Tails, wondering what she wanted to ask.
"Are you the twin-tailed fox known as Tails who is a friend of Sonic the Hedgehog?" asked the cat.
"I am." said Tails "Why?"
"I'm Mariah the Medicine Cat and I've been looking forward to meeting you young man." said Mariah, with a smile.
"Mariah the Medicine Cat?" said Tails "Wait a minute, Sonic told me you were the one who made the medicine he gave me to save my life from a bounty hunter!*"
"That is correct." said Mariah "I made the medicine that saved your life. And you don't need to thank me, I was just doing my job."
"OK." said Tails "But I do appreciate the fact you helped Sonic save me."
"And I was just happy to help." said Mariah "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to continue with my shopping. Bye Tails."
"Bye Mariah." said Tails as Mariah walked on down the aisle.
After Mariah left, Tails took his emerald chocolate to the till and waited for Amy and Cream to finish shopping. Then the girls appeared from round an aisle with the shopping basket half full of goodies. Amy had brought herself a box a fairy cakes as well as the onions and hot-dogs needed for Sonic's special chilli-dog and Cream had brought a small cartoon of ice-cream, her most favourite food in the world. The three friends paid for their items and they left the shop and headed for Sonic's house.
"So Tails, what did you buy?" asked Amy.
"I bought an emerald shaped chocolate." said Tails, showing Amy the chocolate "And I'm going to share it with Cosmo. I hope she's going to like it."
"Ah chocolate, no one can resist it." said Amy "And it's the perfect gift for the perfect girlfriend isn't it?" she added teasingly.
Tails went red all over and Cream laughed at him.
"Amy, don't do that!" whined Tails "You're making me blush!"
"Oh I'm so sorry Tails." said Amy mockingly "I didn't know you really fancy Cosmo."
Tails blushed even harder and his cheeks began to feel hot.
"Amy, it's not nice to tease people because they fancy someone." said Cream "You fancy Mr. Sonic and you wouldn't like it if Tails made fun of you for it would you?"
"Oh come on Cream, I'm just playing, I mean no harm on Tails do I?" said Amy.
Tails just kept quiet and his eyes fixed on the chocolate emerald in his hands. Amy noticed Tails was feeling shy so she decided to say nothing more and leave him alone until they got home.
Cosmo was still lying on the grass and staring up at the sky. Her train of thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the return of Sonic. He had just finished jogging around Green Hill Zone and he arrived back to see how things were going.
"Hey Cosmo, I guess Amy, Tails and Cream aren't back yet." said Sonic after he screeched to a halt.
"No they aren't." said Cosmo "Did you have a nice jog?"
"Yeah it was thrilling." said Sonic "I never get tired of running up those loop-de-loop shaped rocks when running around Green Hill Zone. I still wonder how on Mobius did we ever get rocks shaped like that?"
"Hey Sonic, Amy, Tails and Cream are back." said Cosmo, standing up and pointing.
Sonic looked in Cosmo's direction and saw them coming. Amy, Tails and Cream arrived back at the house and showed Sonic the items they brought.
"We brought a fresh jar of hot-dogs for you because I thought you'd love to try a hot-dog from Knothole." said Amy "I bet you'll like it. And we got onions for you too." she added, showing the onions to Sonic.
"Sweet." said Sonic, licking his lips "I bet I'm gonna enjoy this."
And with that he took the jar of hot-dogs and onions and went inside to make the chilli-dog. Amy and Cream followed him, leaving Tails alone with Cosmo. Tails began to feel a little nervous now he was alone with Cosmo. He had feelings for her but he was much too shy to show them. And yet he knew if he didn't try then he would never get the girl he fancied.
"So Tails, what did you buy?" asked Cosmo.
"Um…I brought this." said Tails, showing her the chocolate shaped emerald he had brought from the store. He took the wrapping off, revealing the chocolate's brown goodness underneath.
"What is it?" asked Cosmo "It's shaped remarkably like an emerald."
"Its chocolate." said Tails "A very tasty sweet food we Mobians love to eat. Do they do chocolate on your home world?"
"Um…not that I can think of, no they don't do chocolate on my home planet." said Cosmo.
"Well you're in for a treat Cosmo." said Tails "You'll love this. I'm going to eat half of it and then I'm going to let you have the other half."
Tails eagerly bit into the chocolate. But the moment he bit into it, his teeth cracked, his eyes widened and pain flooded through his gums.
"OW!" yelped Tails, dropping the chocolate and grabbing his sore mouth "Ouch! Oh! What is that thing made of?"
"Are you OK Tails?" asked Cosmo, kneeling beside him and patting him in the back.
"Apart from a killer toothache, I'm just fine." grumbled Tails "That chocolate's as hard as rock!"
Cosmo looked at the chocolate emerald lying on the ground. She noticed the piece of emerald Tails had bitten into and little bits of chocolate had broken away, revealing a shiny glitter from inside. Cosmo picked the emerald up and thumped it on the ground hard enough to crack the chocolate and the chocolate crumbled to pieces, revealing a REAL emerald underneath! So it wasn't a chocolate shaped like an emerald, it was an emerald COVERED in chocolate! The emerald was green in colour and it shone like a million stars all at once. Cosmo stared at the emerald in her hands and was engulfed in its beauty. Tails had finally recovered from the pain in his mouth and he stared at the emerald in Cosmo's hands. Tails gasped at it.
"Cosmo, it was an emerald covered in chocolate!" gasped Tails "And that's not just any emerald!"
"Its beautiful." said Cosmo, unable to take her eyes off it "And it gives me a loving warm feeling for some reason. What kind of emerald is this Tails?"
"It's a Chaos Emerald." said Tails, pointing at it "I've heard all about them from stories my mom used to read to me. Chaos Emeralds are powerful and there used to be cascades of them all over Mobius. But someone used the powers of Chaos and merged all the emeralds together to make seven emeralds. They are the colours green, blue, yellow, purple, red, cyan and grey respectively and if you have all seven emeralds, a miracle will happen."
"What kind of miracle?" asked Cosmo.
"I dunno." said Tails "But we'd better hide this so Dr. Eggman doesn't get it. If Eggman gets this emerald or indeed all seven of them, victory for him is certain."
"I'm sure Sonic will know where to hide this." said Cosmo "Eggman wouldn't think to look in a house in the middle of nowhere would he?"
"I hope not." said Tails "I wonder if Sonic knows all about…"
Then suddenly something leaped out of the bushes from around the corner of the house and it pounced on Cosmo, pinned her down to the ground and snatched the emerald out of her hands. Tails gasped in terror. It was none other then the insidious Marik the Martian! Cosmo thought she was going to die of shock at the sight of Marik on top of her with the emerald in his hand.
"No…No…Not you again!" squeaked Cosmo.
"Yes Cosmo it is me, Marik the Martian once again!" sneered Marik "And here to make your life miserable!"
"Marik, please don't hurt Cosmo!" begged Tails.
"Why shouldn't I?" scoffed Marik "It's her fault I almost died the last time we met**so I'm giving her, her comeuppance!"
He bared his metal claws and prepared to plunge them into Cosmo's chest.
"Wait!" cried Cosmo "How are you still alive Marik?"
"Do I always have to explain how I'm still alive?" moaned Marik "Oh well here we go again: The ship exploded and sent me flying. Due to my well muscled body, I survived the impact but barely and I was put in prison. But your twin-tailed boyfriend decided to turn traitor and help me escape*** from prison so I could kill you all."
"I did not!" snapped Tails "You tricked me into helping you escape!"
"Yeah as if anyone's going to believe that." sniffed Marik "You'd better listen to me Cosmo, Tails is a traitor and if you stick around him, you'll end up worse off then you are now."
Cosmo couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tails, a traitor? Then again, she knew that Marik loved to be a liar so she knew that she should take Marik's statement with a pinch of salt.
"Tails, please tell me that isn't true!" gasped Cosmo "You didn't willingly help Marik escape from prison did you?"
"Of course not." said Tails with a sad face "Marik tricked me into thinking if I helped him escape, he would help me escape and he would turn good. But it turned out he was tricking me all along and he was using me to help him escape. It's the truth Cosmo, honest it is. I'm no traitor."
Marik snorted at Tails.
"Pretty words foxy boy but do you think the others would believe you? Even Sonic the Hedgehog?" he purred.
"I believe Tails." said Cosmo "I certainly don't believe you Marik, you always were known for being a deceiver and I know Sonic won't believe you since he's known Tails long enough to know he wouldn't lie to him."
"Now I'm convinced my lie isn't working." muttered Marik "Oh well, Cosmo it's time for you to die now. Tails, I'm going to spare your life as a token of appreciation for helping me escape so you be a good boy and let me do my job."
"No!" cried Tails "You leave Cosmo alone you big bully!"
Marik just pointed a finger as sharp as a steak knife at Tails and gave him an extremely painful electric shock. Tails screamed at the top of his voice and he was brought down to his knees as electricity surged up his fluffy little body. Marik didn't hesitate, he kept up the shocking just to give Tails more pain as he felt he deserved it. Cosmo didn't know what to do, she couldn't help Tails since Marik had pinned her down and Marik had the Chaos Emerald just out of her reach. All she could do was hope Sonic would come out and save her and Tails. Marik then suddenly stopped zapping Tails and let him have a moment to breathe. Tails panted and coughed heavily as the air that almost left his lungs began to return to him.
"I said I'll spare your life as a token of appreciation Tails." said Marik dryly "Don't make me change my mind because you know I'll do it."
"What's the point of you sparing me?" said Tails bitterly "You'll only kill me later when you take over Mobius and turn it into a war zone."
Marik just rolled his eyes.
"Just because I'm going to turn this place into a war zone, it doesn't mean I'm going to kill anyone." said Marik "I'll make the citizens fight each other to the death. And with this so-called Chaos Emerald I'll be able to make all this possible!"
He grinned wickedly as he admired the shiny gem in his hand. Marik had overheard Tails explaining the Chaos Emeralds to Cosmo and he was eager to use one. Tails tried to get up so he could retrieve the emerald but he couldn't, the painful shock Marik had given him had done a good deal of pain to him. Then suddenly a window flung open and Sonic jumped out of the window in a spin-dash. He hit Marik, causing him to fall off Cosmo and drop the emerald. Cosmo quickly grabbed the emerald and stayed back as Sonic got into a battle-ready stance and Marik had only just finished standing back up.
"Hey, Martian features!" yelled Sonic "Do you mind telling me what this is all about?"
"I should have expected your unwelcome arrival Sonic the Hedgehog!" snarled Marik "You just can't leave me alone for five minutes can you?"
"Well since you're trying to kill my friends, no I can't." said Sonic "And why should I be surprised that you're here right now even though you got blown up in your own spaceship?"
"I'm getting tired of explaining why I'm still alive every time it looks like I'm dead so let's just say I lived the explosion shall we?" sighed Marik.
"If that's what you want then OK." said Sonic "Now, do you mind telling me what this is all about?"
"Well after I tricked Tails into helping me escape from prison, I decided to yet again, try to kill Cosmo." said Marik "But then they find that Chaos Emerald and I listened in on their conversation about it and it sounds like a useful tool so I decided to take it for myself if you don't mind."
Sonic turned to Tails and Cosmo.
"Where did you find that Chaos Emerald you two?" he asked.
"It was covered in chocolate and I brought it from the store." said Tails "How it ended up being covered in chocolate is a mystery to me though."
"I see." said Sonic "And did I hear Marik wrong or did he say he tricked you into helping him escape from prison?"
"You heard him right Sonic." said Tails, his ears dropping back in despair "Marik tricked me into helping him escape. If you're wondering how he got there in the first place…"
"I think I can pretty much guess how he got in jail." interrupted Sonic "Now Marik, shall we fight?"
"Gladly!" said Marik, baring his metal claws "Winner takes all, loser gets killed. Sound fair?"
"Whatever you say you tiny psychopath." said Sonic "Now here's hedgehog in your face!"
Without warning, Sonic spin-dashed Marik, literally in the face! Marik hurtled backwards and skidded through the dirt. Marik leapt to his feet and tried to zap Sonic with a jolt of electricity. Sonic dodged the zap but Marik zapped at him again and just skimmed him across the thigh.
"Since when did you have electrical attacks?" yelped Sonic as Marik kept trying to zap him.
"This new metal hand I have gives me the ability to zap people." said Marik, zapping at him again "I will warn you though, it's very painful, but like I care about that! I love inflicting pain amongst others!"
Marik zapped at Sonic again but Sonic dodged the jolt and he spin-dashed Marik in the head, leaving a huge dent on his spiked helmet. Marik punched Sonic in the face with his metal hand. Marik's metal hand felt like a handbag full of rocks to Sonic because it was that hard. Sonic fell onto his side and spat out a tooth. Before Sonic could get up, Marik swiped the air with both arms and smacked Sonic with an energy wave. Sonic somersaulted in midair and landed on his back.
"Just because I don't have an Energy Diamond to help me it doesn't mean I'm any easier to defeat!" said Marik, smiling like a Tyrannosaurus Rex "I'm still as strong as ever Sonic and you will not defeat me this time!"
"I beg to differ though." said Sonic, leaping up, somersaulting in the air and landing behind Marik "I'm as strong as ever too and I've been active all the time you've spent imprisoned so all that time doing nothing must be affecting the way you fight now."
He then roundhouse kicked Marik in the back and sent the Martian sprawling. Before Marik could get up, Tails decided to intervene by dropkicking him. Then Amy and Cream ran outside and joined in. Marik only just stood up but Amy walloped him with her hammer and sent the Martian hurling through the air like a golf ball. Cream and her pet Chao Cheese both punched Marik in the face and the Martian crashed down to the ground. He lifted his head and spat out dirt and soil. Sonic and his friends stood before him, smirking triumphantly.
"I guess I was right." said Sonic "You're not nearly half as strong as you once were. We're gonna haul your sick-twisted mind back to jail where you belong!"
Marik just remained as he was, sitting on his knees and staring at the grass beneath him. Seeing as Marik appeared to be out of commission, Sonic and friends advanced on him, ready to nab him and restrain him. Then Marik turned around at a terrific speed and let fly four jolts of electricity from all four fingers! Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream were all painfully electrocuted from the shocks and Marik drew his arm back and thrust it forward to send them all flying backwards. Sonic and Tails crashed into the wall of Sonic's house and they groaned in pain whereas Amy and Cream landed in front of the doorstep. Cosmo gasped in horror at her downed friends and she backed against the wall, clutching the Chaos Emerald tightly to her chest. Marik smiled wickedly at his triumph and he advanced on Cosmo menacingly.
"I win so I get the prize which is the Chaos Emerald." said Marik "Now Cosmo, would you be a nice little girl and hand it over?"
Cosmo clutched the emerald tighter and shook her head, she was too frightened to speak. Marik tried to keep his temper under control.
"Cosmo, if you hand over that emerald, I won't kill everybody." he lied.
Cosmo still refused to give him the emerald. Then suddenly, before Marik could do anything, a three clawed robotical hand appeared from nowhere and grabbed the Chaos Emerald in Cosmo's hands. Cosmo held on tight but the robot hand was too strong and it wrenched the emerald right out of her hands. Marik looked up to see where the hand had come from and he saw none other then Dr. Eggman in his Egg-Mobile hovering above them with Metal Sonic hovering next to him and the Chaos Emerald in the Egg-Mobile's robotical hand. The hand lifted the emerald up to Eggman and he took it into his own hands. He stared at the beautiful gem and grinned wickedly.
"So that's the power source my Egg-Mobile detected is it?" he said "It must be valuable then. This emerald looks a lot like the Master Emerald and Angel Island only a lot smaller but I bet it's just as powerful!"
"That emerald is mine you fat, moustachioed moron!" yelled Marik, leaping up and grabbing the robot arm that was still extended from underneath the Egg-Mobile.
Eggman bent over the edge to see what was going on underneath his Egg-Mobile and he screwed his face up at what he saw. Marik tried to climb up the arm so he could get to Eggman and snatch the Chaos Emerald back.
"Who the devil are you?" said Dr. Eggman, bewildered at the fact he wasn't looking at a Mobian.
"I am Marik the Martian and you will give me that Chaos Emerald!" yelled Marik "Or I will rip your limbs off and shove them up your nose!"
Then suddenly Metal Sonic punched Marik and the little Martian was sent flying off the Egg-Mobile's robot arm and he landed on his back. Dr. Eggman put a finger to his lips and mused for a moment.
"He's a Martian eh?" he said "So Martians DO exist! My kind have always believed in Martians for a long time and now I'm seeing one with my own eyes! I am the luckiest man alive!"
Back on the ground Marik had only just stood up and then Sonic, who had recovered from Marik's earlier attacks, spin-dashed him and knocked him onto his front. Marik got back up and smacked Sonic with an energy wave from his arm again. But before Marik could do anything else, Metal Sonic grabbed him by the arms from behind. Marik turned his head around to see what he was up against.
"What's this? A robot clone of Sonic?" he sniffed "No matter, it'll be destroyed just as easily!"
He grabbed Metal Sonic and flung him over and onto his back. Metal Sonic got back up and tried to slash at Marik but Marik dodged and gave him a whopping good kick that sent Metal Sonic staggering. Then Marik swiped the air with his arms and hit Metal Sonic with an energy wave. Metal Sonic tried to strike back but Marik punched him with his robot hand and Metal Sonic was sent hurling backwards. Sonic and friends were watching the whole fight and they were amazed at how well Marik was doing against Metal Sonic.
"It's not fair!" whined Amy "How come we can barely lay a finger on Metal Sonic and yet Marik's beating him up without breaking a sweat?"
"I think I know why Amy." said Tails "Metal Sonic was built to withstand Sonic and anyone affiliated with him. But he's not built to withstand Marik the Martian since Dr. Eggman has never met Marik before. So that way, Metal Sonic will be a scrap heap when Marik's finished with him."
"That's the only decent thing he's ever going to do for us." said Sonic grimly "Although I wanted to smash Metal Sonic."
Marik punched Metal Sonic and the robot Sonic clone was sent skidding backwards. He stood up straight and began scanning Marik just as the Martian was getting ready for another attack. His visor then said the words "Martian Data: Copied" and then reverted back to his natural red optics. Marik tried to kick Metal Sonic but Metal Sonic was suddenly all the wiser. He grabbed Marik's leg and then swung him around in a perfect 360 degree spin and let go of him. Marik flew straight into the air and he landed painfully on his back. Marik got back to his feet and tried to attack again but Metal Sonic elbowed him in the stomach, then slammed him on the head with his fist, then gave him an upper cut and then gave him a good kick in the back side. And to top all that, he blasted him with his torso cannon. Marik fell to the ground, exhausted and defeated as Metal Sonic stood there watching him icily. Sonic couldn't believe it, Marik had the fight totally in his favour and now Metal Sonic is on top! What was going on?
"Hey Eggman!" yelled Sonic, turning into Eggman's direction "How come Metal Sonic was losing to Marik and now he's winning him?"
"That's very simple Sonic." said Dr. Eggman, smiling widely "Metal Sonic has the ability to copy other people's data. That's how he was able to defeat you and fourteen of your friends at once, he copied all your data before he even battled you. And it doesn't matter if you get a new friend or ally; Metal Sonic will copy their data and be just as strong as ever. You'll NEVER defeat Metal Sonic, Sonic, no matter what you do, Metal Sonic will always be on top!"
He laughed his usual loud grating laugh. Sonic got mad and spin-dashed his Egg-Mobile. Eggman yelped as he wobbled about furiously and he dropped the Chaos Emerald. Cream flew up and caught it in her hands. Dr. Eggman suddenly realized his Chaos Emerald was missing and he saw Cream, flying back down to the ground with it so he tried to snatch it off of her with the Egg-Mobile's metal claw. But Sonic sliced it in two with his spin-dash and Cream landed safely on the ground. Dr. Eggman got furious and he pounded the Egg-Mobile's sides with anger.
"You ruffians! Give me back my well earned Chaos Emerald!" he ordered.
"Nope, the emerald is ours." said Sonic smugly "Finders keepers you know."
Then Marik elbowed Sonic in the ribs and sent Sonic falling over. He zapped Cream with a quick electric jolt which caused her to drop the Chaos Emerald and Marik seized it in his hands. But then Metal Sonic drop-kicked him and snatched the emerald off of Marik. Then Amy got a sneak attack on Metal Sonic and walloped him with her hammer, causing Metal Sonic to drop the Chaos Emerald and Cosmo grabbed it.
"You get inside with the emerald Cosmo." ordered Sonic "We've got this."
"Be careful Sonic." said Cosmo as she went into the house with the emerald in her hands.
Marik tried to run after her but Sonic grabbed him by the collar of his leather jacket and held him back.
"Yo Martian head, timeout!" said Sonic, doing a time-out gesture "This fight is going to get us nowhere so why don't me and you form a temporary truce until we defeat Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic? Once we defeat Eggman, me and you can have an out-to-out brawl for the Chaos Emerald, deal?"
"You've got it hedgehog!" said Marik, shaking Sonic's hand with his metal hand so he could give Sonic's hand a hard squeeze but Sonic didn't seem to notice "We beat Eggman, then we fight for the emerald. I like this plan."
"Yeah but don't start getting ahead of yourself!" warned Amy "You defiantly aren't getting that Chaos Emerald because we are!"
"Oh shut up you pink moron." muttered Marik.
Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream and Marik all bent down into battle ready stances and they prepared to charge at Metal Sonic, who stood ominously before them, waiting to attack. Sonic, Tails, Amy and Cream all charged into battle. Marik just stood still. He smiled wickedly at the Mobians as they went into battle with Metal Sonic.
"Those fools will believe anything won't they?" he sneered "Now I can sneak into the house, kill Cosmo and get the emerald. Then I'll make a clean get away."
So he tip-toed away from the battlefield but he didn't get far. A warp-ring appeared right in front of him, causing Marik to jump and then he got a terrific uppercut to the face that actually knocked him out cold! It was Knuckles the Echidna! He had sensed the Chaos Emerald's sighting and he decided to come and see what was happening. He glowered at the unconscious Martian that lay before him.
"How is he still alive?" he wondered "Oh well, I've gotta help Sonic take down Egg-head and Metal Sonic."
As for the fight, Metal Sonic was holding everybody off as usual. Sonic tried to spin-dash him but Metal Sonic grabbed him and threw him away. He kicked Amy in the gut before she could hammer him into the ground, he grabbed Cream by the ears and threw her away and then he gave Tails an uppercut that made his lip bleed. Knuckles stepped in and gave Metal Sonic a terrific sucker punch. Metal Sonic definitely did not see that coming and he was stunned by the punch. Metal Sonic fell onto his back and then Knuckles grabbed Metal Sonic and threw him straight up into Eggman's Egg-Mobile. Metal Sonic hit the Egg-Mobile so hard that Dr. Eggman literally fell out of the hovering machine and he fell onto his back. Then Metal Sonic landed with a thunk on top of him. And then the Egg-Mobile fell to the ground just behind Dr. Eggman. Sonic's face brightened at the fact help had just arrived.
"Hey Knuckles, perfect timing!" said Sonic.
"I know." said Knuckles "The Master Emerald was sensing rifts in the Chaos force which to me is a sign that someone has found a Chaos Emerald so I warped myself over the minute I managed to get a warp ring."
"Well you came just in time." said Sonic "We're having a tough time out here."
"I can see that." said Knuckles "I knocked Marik out the minute I got here." he added, pointing to the unconscious Martian that lay on the ground a few feet away "And then I helped you defeat Metal Sonic." he pointed to the groaning Dr. Eggman and the blacked out Metal Sonic.
"Well thanks for the help." said Sonic "And don't worry about the Chaos Emerald, Cosmo has it and she's hiding in my house so it's in safe hands."
"That's a relief." said Knuckles "Imagine how much trouble Eggman or Marik could do if they got it."
The moment Knuckles said Marik's name, the Martian woke up and got to his feet. Marik swaggered about as he stood up and he faced the Mobians standing before him.
"As if things couldn't get any worse." he muttered "Back up for Sonic had to arrive."
"That's right Martian head and I'm going to give you another knuckle sandwich for the crimes you've done in the past!" growled Knuckles, raising his fists.
"Why don't you by a good boy and run for it Marik?" said Sonic "You're injured and weak, you can't possibly hope to defeat us!"
Marik hated to admit it but Sonic was right, he was in no condition to fight so he did the only logical choice, retreat and rest until he was fit to fight again.
"Alright you win you filthy heathens!" growled Marik "But don't think I won't be back because I will! And that Chaos Emerald will be mine, and so will the other six Chaos Emeralds!"
And with that, Marik turned and ran as fast as he could possibly go. As for Dr. Eggman, he had recovered from Knuckles' attack and he knew he was in no condition to steal the emerald, especially since Metal Sonic was out of commission so he got into his Egg-Mobile, which amazingly still worked despite the damage sustained, and he flew away.
"I'm going to repair Metal Sonic, but I'll be back and I'll get those Chaos Emeralds, just you wait and see!" declared Dr. Eggman as he flew up into the sky.
Sonic just watched him fly away. The moment the villains vanished he called out.
"Hey Cosmo, it's safe to come out now!"
Cosmo opened the door and came out of the house with the Chaos Emerald in her hands. Knuckles saw the emerald and his eyes widened at the sight of it.
"After all these years of hiding." he said "The Chaos Emeralds show themselves once again. How did you find it Sonic?" he asked.
"I found it actually." said Tails "It was covered in chocolate and I bought it from the store. I have no idea how it got covered in chocolate in the first place but it's a good thing I bought it so now we have the emerald."
"It was a lucky thing." said Knuckles "Mobius would be in catastrophe if someone like Eggman ever got that emerald."
"So if we've got one of seven Chaos Emeralds then does that mean the other six will be somewhere around?" asked Amy "And if that's the case, shall we start a Chaos Emerald hunt so we can get the emeralds before the villains do?"
"That would be the best thing to do." said Knuckles "We mustn't let those emeralds fall into enemy hands!"
"Before we start this search for the Chaos Emeralds." said Sonic "I think we should recruit our friends to give us an extra hand in this search. We'll make two teams and we'll start searching for the emeralds."
With that said, Sonic dashed off to give the word to the very people he was looking for, Team Chaotix and his fellow team-mates from the Royal Fighters. As the friends watched Sonic run off, Cosmo said to Knuckles
"This Chaos Emerald hunt is going to be a tough one isn't it?"
"It sure is Cosmo." said Knuckles "But we'll find them all and keep them safe from Dr. Eggman, even if it takes us forever…"
Footnotes:
*Tails is of course talking about his near-death experience in Story 27
**Don't miss Arc 2: The Cosmo and Cream Adventure from the exciting spin-off title Sonic the Hedgehog: Tales from Mobius!
***Don't tell me you forgotten the shocking events of Story 34 have you?
The first Chaos Emerald has been found! The Chaos Emerald hunt is about to begin! And believe me, this is not going to be your tradtional Chaos Emerald hunt! No, this hunt features more twists and turns then a tin of spaghetti and it will not end in total victory for Sonic either! Join me next time as the hunt for the Chaos Emeralds begins... Read and Review.
By the way Kratos Pwns, just out of interest, what's your opinion on that punchable dork Ginger the Fox? If you wish, you can explain it in a review. :)