Chapter 25
That next day Sophia and Kolt were cleared to leave the infirmary. Sophia tells Elias and Sally all of what happened after the others were able to escape to the sub. Elias Sits contemplating everything that the explained to her.
"She sounds like a completely different person…" He said,
"She was… I know Shadow wasn't the best person and could get dark at times but what Robotnik has done has made Sonic the worst version of herself." Sophia said,
"Do you truly believe what Robotnik said about Saya being gone?" Elias asked,
"I don't know… I want to believe she's still in there." Sophia said
"There has to be a way to change her back." Sally said,
"Perhaps Helen has some ideas about hypnotism that could help us." Elias said, "For now Sophia try to get some more rest, you look tired."
"I'm going to go work out, I definitely need to punch something." Sophia said leaving and heading towards the gym. Resting for days made her feel sluggish and she needed to figure out a way to bring back the teams morale.
Kolt walked over to the alter room, being near the Master Emerald always made him feel better. But he also knew that he needed to talk to Tikal about how he reacted the other day.
"Tikal?" He called out as he walked up to the Master Emerald, "I know you can hear me; I just want to talk." He said as she appears out of the Emerald.
"Yes?" She said looking down sheepishly,
"I wanted to apologize. I snapped at you and that wasn't fair of me." He said,
"No, you don't need to apologize… This is all my fault." She said, "If I had told you all about Dr. Eggman and the Dark Chaos energy sooner, maybe this wouldn't have happened." Tikal looks up at him. "But I'm telling the truth when I say I had no idea that the Dark Chaos took on a physical form."
"I believe you." He said jumping up onto the Master Emerald, "This wasn't supposed to be like this. We saved her… but Eggman tricked us." He let out a sigh, Tikal floats up and sits next to him.
"No it wasn't meant to be like this," She said as she grabs his hand.
"I need to know; can you tell if there is more than one Dark Chaos Emerald?" He asked, as she thinks.
"Maybe… but I can't do it alone." She holds out her hand to him. He goes to reach for her hand as the alarms sound.
"We can try it later." He said jumping off the Emerald,
"Be safe Knuckles." She said as he runs out of the room. They all meet up in the computer room where Sally and Elias are watching the monitors.
"What's happening?" Caroline asked,
"Eggman's been spotted in town with some of his robots." Sally said,
"Then what are we waiting for?" Kolt said as they all transform.
"What do we do if Saya… I mean if Dark Sonic is there?" Tails asked.
"We beat her to a pulp and drag her home." Shadow said,
"Because that worked so well last time…" Blaze said,
"Hey, we were thrown off last time." Knuckles said,
"And what, we're suddenly ready this time?" Blaze argued,
"We don't have time for this, people could be in danger." Tails tried to calm them down as Shadow could tell Cream was already frightened.
"You feeling okay to fight Cream? You don't have to come." Shadow asked,
"Yes I do… Saya needs us, I can't afford to sit on the sidelines." Cream said.
"Then let's go!" Knuckles said giving Cream a thumbs up. They all head to the Hangar Bay, climb into the Twin Tornado and fly off into town.
Once they arrive it looks like several buildings were already destroyed by Eggman and his bots. It doesn't take them long to spot him and they all look around to see if they can spot Dark Sonic.
"I don't see her…" Blaze said,
"Maybe Eggman can't control her as he thought he could?" Tails said,
"I wouldn't count on it." Shadow said as Tails lands the Twin Tornado and they run in front of Eggman's path.
"Well, well, well… it would appear that the sewer rats have finished licking their wounds." He laughs as the Swatbots aim their weapons at them. "Attack!" He yelled as they charge,
"Work together to beat them." Shadow said, Blaze uses a wall of fire to cover them as they get close as Knuckles and Shadow smash through two of the bots. Tails and Cream work together to turn two of the robots on one another causing them to destroy the other. Blaze comes from behind and melts several of them until only a few were left.
"I think it's time to bring out the big guns." Eggman said snapping his fingers. Dark Sonic appears in front of him.
"You called?' Dark Sonic said looking bored,
"Yes, there are some pests for you to fight." Eggman said as she turns towards them, staring with blood red eyes as she smiles.
"Oh good! I get to play with you all again." She said, Cream froze with fear… the only thing she could see in Dark Sonic's eyes was bloodlust. In a flash, Dark Sonic charges towards them but is stopped by Shadow.
"Not this time," Shadow said holding her back as Knuckles comes from the side, but Dark Sonic counters by grabbing Shadow by the wrists and throws her at Knuckles. He catches Shadow but falls in the process. Tails and Blaze give each other a nod and charge at Dark Sonic who quickly knocks them away with a spin dash.
"Tails, any ideas?" Knuckles asked as he and Shadow start to get to their feet. Cream snaps out of her fear and runs over to help Shadow,
"Thanks," Shadow said as Dark Sonic stands in front of them.
"Aw, how cute." Dark Sonic teased as Shadow pulls Cream behind her,
"Cream stay b…" Shadow is struck in the side and knocked away. Cream stood there petrified, Dark sonic right in front of her.
"Looks like there's no one to protect you this time." She said grabbing Cream by the collar of her shirt, "Say goodnight." She said with a grin as he pulled her fist back to strike her,
"Please stop Mr. Sonic!" Cream cried out not realizing what she was saying. She closed her eyes in reacting but instead of feeling hit, nothing happened. The only thing she felt was the hand let go of her collar. Cream opens her eyes to see Dark Sonic backing away, she's holding onto one of her hands as it's shaking.
"What?" Dark Sonic said staring at the shaking hand confused,
"Dark Sonic!" Eggman yelled as Dark Sonic Snaps out of it and jumps back to his side. "Return to base." He said as she nods and disappears. "We'll play again, but next time you won't be so lucky." He said as he disappears along with the remaining Swatbots.
"Cream." Blaze runs over, "Are you hurt?" She asked as Cream shakes her head,
"What just happened?" Knuckles asked pushing one of the broken robots out of his way.
"You called her Mr. Sonic." Shadow said,
"The… old me came out…" Cream said feeling a little embarrassed,
"I don't understand," Blaze said,
"That's what you used to call Sonic in our past lives, it's what you called all of us in our past lives." Tails said, "Your mom taught you to be very polite."
"She did…" Cream said,
"And somehow that caused Sonic to react?" Shadow asked,
"Perhaps Eggman lied and Sonic is still in there." Blaze said,
"I wouldn't put it past Eggman to lie about that. But I hope for our sake your right." Knuckles said as Tails walks over to the Twin Tornado, "For now, we should get back to HQ."
"Not yet…" Tails said, "We need to make a quick stop." She was holding a blue cased cellphone that Kolt didn't recognize.
"To where?" Shadow asked, as they all climb back into the Twin Tornado,
"Something we should have done a while ago…" She said as they fly off.
At Eggman's secret base Dark Sonic is sitting on a table kicking her legs impatiently as Eggman searches around the room for something,
"You okay there?" She asked him,
"I should be asking you that. What happened back there?" he said,
"Not sure, I was about to pulverize the rabbit but then my hand just started shaking." She said looking at her hand again, "It seems fine now."
"It could be Sonic's protective nature coming through. And out of all of them Cream is the weakest. He's always been protective of her and Tails." He said,
"Could use that to our advantage." She said with a grin,
"What did you have in mind?" Eggman raised an eyebrow looking at her intrigued as he continued to work.
The Twin Tornado lands just outside a suburban neighbor hood that they all recognized except for Kolt. Brandy and Caroline recognize the house they were walking towards and were confused to what TK was thinking.
"TK, what are we doing here?" Brandy asked as TK ignores the question looking determined,
"This isn't a good idea TK," Sophia said, "We should at least run this by Elias,"
"And what, have them wait even longer? They haven't had any news for almost a month. They have a right to know." TK said.
"I'm completely lost… where are we?" Kolt asked slowly following from behind.
"Still, I don't know if now's the best time…" Caroline said, as TK goes up to the door and knocks.
"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" Kolt asked as the door opens.
"I'm sorry to barge in like this but we need to talk." TK said as Mr. Hedge looks at all of them.
"Is Saya with you?" He asked,
"That's what we're here to talk about." She said,
"TK…" Sophia said, but a part of her didn't want to stop her.
"Come in." He said as he sees Kolt, "Who are you?" He asked,
"My name's Kolt sir…" He said feeling uncomfortable, he had no clue what was going on as they all walk inside.
"Girls?" Mrs. Hedge said looking at all of them, "Where's Saya?" She asked as all of their faces darken. Kolt begins to realize that these people are Saya's parents.
"We came here to talk to you about Saya… but there's something you need to know first." TK said,
"We haven't heard from her in weeks. What would be more important?" Mr. Hedge asked getting angry,
"Calm down Jules, you're scaring them." Mrs. Hedge said as he takes a breath.
"There's another reason why the military put us under protection." TK said as they look at her confused, "We're the Freedom Fighters." She said as they all wait for a reaction as they both begin to chuckle.
"Yeah, and I'm superman." Mr. Hedge joked, Kolt could tell this is probably where Saya got her sass and humor from. But he also realized, why wouldn't they react like that. They all look nothing like their past lives. TK stands up and shows them her bracelet.
"TK… what are you?" Brandy said,
"The seven servers are the seven Chaos, Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart, the heart is the controller, the controller serves to unify the Chaos, Chaos Control." TK said transforming into Tails taking them all off guard. "I'm Tails, the Fox." She said as Mrs. Hedge slowly stands up and walks towards the kitchen in shock,
"I'm going to make us some tea…" She said,
"Let me help," Caroline said walking after her.
"How?" Mr. Hedge asked looking shocked and confused trying to process TK having Fox ears and two fox tails.
"Do you remember the meteor shower the night before the Zarkon attacked the school?" Tails asked as he nods. "These bracelets fell from the sky." She explained,
"The mysterious impacts, that no one could find…" He said as he begins to think, "Wait a minute if you're Tails… Then he must be Knuckles." He said pointing at Kolt as he nods. "And I assume that Brandy is Blaze and Caroline is Cream… Sophia is…"
"I'm Shadow." Sophia said,
"Then that means…" Mr. Hedge continues as they all hear a crash coming from the kitchen. They all run over to see Mrs. Hedge dropped the teapot as tears are running down her face.
"That means Saya… is Sonic…" She said as Caroline leads Mrs. hedge away from the broken pot and the others start cleaning up the mess. "It all makes sense…" She said as Caroline helps her sit back down on the couch, "The fast healing, the blue bangs, the overeating…"
"Have you been watching the news lately?" Brandy asked as Tails transforms back.
"Are you talking about when the Zarkon…" Mr. Hedge started but quickly stopped as he came to the realization, "Oh my god…" His face turns white as all Mrs. Hedge could do at this point is cry. "Where is she?"
"We… Don't know…" Caroline said,
"So you came over here to tell us our daughter is gone? That those monsters took her?" He said trying not to yell but he felt panicked and helpless,
"That's not the worse part…" Sophia said, they both look at her with a questioning expression on how this could get any worse? "The Zarkon were working with a psychopath by the name of Dr. Robotnik… We know him as Eggman."
"Eggman?" Mrs. Hedge said, "It that the man reported to have attached the college?" Kolt nods,
"He's like us." Caroline said,
"How's he like you?" Mr. Hedge asked,
"We didn't get these bracelets by accident. These bracelets help us connect to our past lives." TK explained.
"Past lives? You were a Two tailed Fox in your past life?" Saya's mother asked,
"Yes, we were the Freedom Fighters back then. And we've come back to fight an old enemy."
"This Eggman?" Mr. Hedge asked,
"Yes, Eggman and Sonic have been enemies for an awfully long time. Their struggle ended in both of their deaths…" TK said as Kolt began to notice that how she was talking to them was frightening them.
"Saya's still alive." Kolt quickly said as those words alone lifted a weight from their shoulders.
"Could you be any less gentle about this TK?" Brandy said,
"I'm sorry, but there's no way of sugar coating this." She argued,
"Wait, if Eggman hates our daughter so much why take her? Wouldn't he want… to kill her?" Mr. Hedge was hesitant to ask.
"That's where this all stated. Last time he tried to kill Sonic he died. I believe he realized that without Sonic there is no Eggman and that's why he took her alive but out of his way." TK said,
"When were you going to tell us this theory?" Sophia asked,
"I just did…" TK said as Sophia lets out an annoyed huff.
"So Eggman has Saya as his prisoner?" Mrs. Hedge asked,
"Sadly, the story's not finished… A few days ago we found where Eggman was holding Saya and we wasted no time to start our rescue. But we had no idea that Eggman was one step ahead of us. Eggman used a Dark energy to alter Saya's mind turning Sonic… evil." TK said,
"Are you trying to say my daughter is evil?" Mr. Hedge said getting angry.
"Unfortunately, it's true… Sonic is under Eggman's control. She seriously injured Brandy, Kolt and Sophia when we made our escape." Caroline explained as TK walks over to them and kneels grasping their hands.
"I swear to you, we will get Saya back." She said,
"How can you be sure you can save her?" He said looking doubtful,
"Because Saya's always the one saving the day. She saved everyone at the school and hasn't stopped saving people since. So now it's our turn to save her." TK said,
"Easier said than done, not just a few hours ago she mopped the floor with us…" Sophia said,
"But she stopped… Sonic is still in there. We just have to find a way to pull her out." TK said sounding hopeful.
"Please… Just bring Saya home…" Mrs. Hedge said as they all look at one another and nod to them. After Mrs. Hedge calmed down, they left and went back to Freedom HQ. Elias and Sally were waiting for them.
"I don't remember giving permission to go over to Saya's parents." Elias said to them.
"They had a right to know." TK said angrily,
"How'd they take it?" Sally asked stopping Elias who looked like he was getting ready to argue.
"They're shaken up… But they put their faith in us to bring Saya back." Caroline said.
"I suppose that's the best outcome all things considered." Elias said,
"We should get dinner ready." Brandy said as her and Caroline walk away.
"I need to go blow off some steam." Sophia said heading towards the gym.
"I should try to figure out a way to immobilize Dark Sonic…" TK said walking over to her work bench.
"What will you do Kolt?" Sally asked,
"I think I'll walk around… gotta clear my head." He said walking down the corridor. No matter what he did his thoughts kept flashing back to when he met Saya. He only was introduced to her for a few minutes but the thought of someone with that bright of a personality changing to acting that evil sent chills down his spine. Her red eyes kept flashing in his head as he realized he wound up right in front of the Master Emerald. He walks up and sits on top of it again and lies back. Remembering his days on Angel Island protecting the Master Emerald.
"Is there something on your mind Knuckles?" Tikal asked appearing next to him.
"It's Kolt… and yeah, there's a lot on my mind." He said as she stared at him expectantly. "Do you think we can actually save Saya?"
"I have no doubt in my mind." She said with a smile.
"How can you be so sure?" He said sitting up.
"You know I've been around for an exceedingly long time. And the one thing that never changes it that Sonic always wins." She said,
"Doesn't feel like winning…"
"You're right, but Sonic isn't alone… She has all of you for help. That's why I know you'll get her back."
"Wish I could be as optimistic about it as you are." He said with a sigh.
"You wouldn't be you if you were that positive." She teased,
"Are you saying I'm not positive?"
"No, but sometimes you need help climbing out of the dark." She said,
"So I'm a downer…"
"I don't know what that means." She said looking confused as he chuckles.
"Thank you, Tikal, I feel much better." He said,
"You're welcome, please come by anytime. The Master Emerald misses you too." She smiles,
"I want to make sure it's alright with DR. Q before we attempt to search for the Dark Chaos Emeralds. She seems to not like us doing things without medical supervision." He said jumping off the Master Emerald.
"Then I will see you soon." She said as he leaves the Alter room.