Ready for TRUE CHAOS?! XD
Over the weekend I injured my left hand by getting it jammed pretty badly. The tip of my left index and middle finger are totally numb and freezing cold. Luckily, most of this was already written before I got hurt. That's the second hand injury I had this year. I've got luck on my side...bad luck...and it appears to be on my left side. X.x
Now, to weave the intricate mess that is my story into this basket case of a chapter, known as...
-Chapter 103: Meanwhile 3 - Time Hop-
Chapter 6: A Ticket Out - Tails handed a ticket to Knuckles and informed him they'd be going on a trip to the mainland. The trip was to search for other echidna, but he played it up that it was a leisure trip...
Knuckles elbowed him playfully, "Is Zooey coming toooo?"
Tails blushed, "I haven't asked her yet."
"Gotta get on that, man; gonna miss the boat," he joked with Tails.
"Cuz we're going on boat, heh, I get it," he smiled.
Meanwhile, in present day...
Zooey sat at Bonnie's cafe while she toiled away at a project. She briefly looked up from her homework and witnessed Tails pass by, Cream was close by. She huffed to herself. "Always too busy to chat with me, but he's got time for the 'mute girl'."
BG heard the comment from a table away. She turned around and finally noticed her former friend. "That's my sister, biatch," she said playfully.
She looked surprised, "S-sorry, BG."
She got up and took up the seat across from Zooey at the small two seater, mahogany bistro. "When'd you get in?"
"Yesterday."
"How was the big city?"
Zooey sighed, disappointed.
"That great, huh?"
She closed her books and picked up her cream covered mocha with a finger through the handle. "I get the next month off because the city is doing renovations and landscaping nearby. The noise was too distracting for everybody to work. Now I've got four projects to do over the next four weeks." She gingerly sipped her hot beverage. "What have you been up to?"
BG smirked wryly as she admired her own metal wrist jewelry. Dozens of thin metal bracelets clanked and jangled as she hand talked. "Partying, breaking and entering, petty theft, doing all my schoolwork from home because they were tired of me lighting fires in the bathroom. You know, the usual." BG noticed Zooey's expression sadden as her gaze travelled over towards the direction of Tails and Cream again. She placed a hand on Zooey's free hand and distracted her. "Please...join the Lightening Bolts."
Zooey pulled her hand away and held her beverage tightly with both. "I told you, I'll never work for the side of evil."
BG rolled her eyes. "Ain't much evil going on in the group now-a-days. All the 'evil' we've been doing is to help the freedom fighters; we're more like chaotic-good at this point. Gross," she said with a dismissive hand wave.
Zooey looked confused. "Freedom fighters? We aren't involved in the conflict in the south, are we?"
She shrugged, "Might be. Bunch'a weirdos from the Iron Kingdom dropped in and tried to take off with super strong tech that Shadow and his partner pulled up out of some old ruins; and the Iron Kingdom and Duchad are tight, as far as I know."
She chuckled, "I thought they kicked you out of school? Looks like you know modern day politics down...wait, did you say 'Shadow'?" she said with a grimace.
"Yeah, same guy that fucked us up before is now helping the good guys. See, the lines between good and evil are blurred right now. Plus, if you come alooooong," she drew out a heart on the table with the leftover cup-ring moisture, "Yooou might get to hook up with Tails," she said and rested her cheeks on her fists propped on the table.
Zooey blushed hard and took a loud sip of her drink. She clunked the cup down again. "T-that's your sister, Cream, right? Why would you do that to her?"
BG sat back and slung one leg over the other. "I like drama; duh. Besides, I need to make it even for her hanging out with Mina Mongoose and not telling me, way before our fight, no excuse. So, I'll help you out with this, the one time, then you're on your own."
Zooey thought on it. Out of the corner of her vision she saw a bug. Before she gently tried to shoo it away, BG stopped her. "What's wrong?"
"It's mechanical," she said with semi-perked ears. BG starred hard at the 'bug' and realised what it was. A second one appeared; it crawled up from beneath the edge of their table and they stood side by side.
Two pea sized robots, teardrop in shape, with four insect like legs a piece, walked across the table and stood in front of both of them. A voice rang through their heads, "I know we've had some misunderstandings in the past, let me make it up to you."
The two girls recognised the voice of Dr. Eggman immediately.
He continued, "The Duchad regime approaches it's demise. My plan is almost ready to set in motion. I'll give you both power in exchange for a little bit of your rage."
BG and Zooey locked eyes again and silently contemplated the offer and what it meant.
Chapter 12: In an Ocean of Peace - Sonic and Jami talk about her home on the boat ride to the mainland and he asks her a question...
Sonic asked, "I do want to ask...is it worth fighting for? Your home, I mean."
She swiftly nodded.
"Then we should fight anyway. We'll learn what we can when we land and make a plan of action." He dumbfounded the black and green bird, "Hearing you talk about your home made me realize how lucky we are. Eggman may be a pain in the ass, but civil war, prisoners of war, protesters being shot in the streets, and famine; I can't sit and do nothing."
"It's not your home and not your fight. Besides, we did less than nothing, we ran."
Sonic made a fist, "You ran to get help, you just didn't know it when you left. It's only a matter of time before that sort of thing spreads and infects surrounding regions. If we don't help you now, it's like I'm saying it's okay it's happening to you just because it's not happening to me. I'll help you in any way possible. I'm sure the others will agree."
Jami stood up, "That's a good point. But you're expecting a child."
"Amy won't be pregnant forever. And I'm sure she'd be on the same page. Let me talk to everyone."
"A noble promise. I pray something come's of it," she clasped her hands together.
Meanwhile, in present day...
In their newly renovated meeting hall, most of the Lightening Bolt Society sat around and watched the debate from overseas. The leader, Belinda, sat and swirled wine in a short stemmed glass. Her new lounge chair was dead centre of their new television; both items had been graciously donated by Sonic for 'werehog related reasons'.
The group watched Jami and Duchad exchange talking points right up until things went awry.
Belinda laughed as explosions detonated in the background of the shot. She slapped the arm of her chair. "One more time!"
Willy asked, "Isn't four enough?"
Belinda clinked her cup down on the new table, also donated by an extremely apologetic werehog. "Last time, last time, I swear," she said with a wistful giggle.
They rewound and let the last minute of the video play once more.
As each time before, Belinda laughed hysterically as rebels detonated bombs in the lobby of the debate hall. She chanted along with them, "Duchad regime reigns supreme!" She cackled and clapped then wiped a tear from her eye, "The best part is afterwards, when he goes," She scrunched down then puffed her cheeks and chest for the impression. "'Harrumph, I don't support this kind of display of unnecessary force'." She sat back up, "Pff, he was the one who hired and funded them the first place." She sighed and leaned over the arm of the red pleather, studded chair. "Honey, why don't we hire outside villains to fight for our right to 'evil', then pretend like we're all offended by it? It sounds like a gas."
Charlie sighed, "It would be fun to shake things up a bit. We're broke though. Barker and his freakshow may have pulled in enough to fix the shack, but we don't have enough left for hired guns." He snapped his fingers, "If we gave the mech suit as collateral, maybe we could convince a few goons to get the job done."
Belinda looked wistful. "You would give up your mech suit for me, my dear?" She got up and hugged her husband.
He squeezed her tightly, "Anything for you, my love." They kissed briefly and separated.
Willy groaned, "Please, no more, too cringey."
Belinda grabbed the nearby broom and was about to crack him with it, when something else interesting happened by. She saw a bug on the table. With a swift motion, she clobbered the bug instead of Wally. "Any more comments like that, and it'll be your face next time." She lifted the broom and glared at a frightened Willy.
"Sorry, Mama-B," he said with fear.
Belinda saw his expression change from terrified to confused. "What?" She turned around and saw the bug she'd squished wasn't a bug at all. The small puddle of white metal wriggled around and slowly regained it's form. A white teardrop robot with four tiny, single jointed legs took it's full form. "What do you want, Eggman?" Belinda asked with it annoyance.
The Chameleon stepped froward, "What makes you think it's Eggman?"
Belinda clicked her tongue, "Tsk, really? Who else could it be?"
The others murmured agreements amongst each other.
All talking ceased when each member heard the laughter of Dr. Eggman in their ears. "I hear you're looking to do some evil. I can help. Why don't we strike up a deal? Instead of money, all I need is your rage."
Belinda tossed the broom to Willy and folded her arms. "Finally, someone willing to lend a helping hand," she stared down at the bug bot with a fist on a popped hip and a mile wide smirk. "Go on."
The bug-bot made it to the edge of the table nearest Belinda. "As for your mech, allow me to augment it."
Belinda folded her arms. "This all seems too generous. What's the catch? What are you really after?"
Eggman's laugh was low and sent chills through the mess hall, "I already told you: Rage."
Chapter 15: People and Politics and Chapter 16: Getting Around - Team Sonic visits the library on the mainland and discover harsh truths about the southern most country on the continent. They learned the following...
Meanwhile(a brief while ago) Tails got everyone informed in a meeting with Chaotix...
With a projector at the back of his workshop, Tails showed slides. The new large monitor displayed Chaotix in their own base, further north. They responded and took a look at the same image sent to each of their communicators. The first image was of the location in question. A semi-tropical region with lush foliage and a winding river throughout was seen by all.
He began, "Trouble in the south stems from Loa River City, the capital of Gia'kum; home to the longest and widest river in the world. The past 150 years of the country's history have been filled with one bloody battle after another. The Iron Kingdom's slavery of the local people was abolished eighty years ago via violent rebellions that lasted thirty years; afterwards a pseudo-democracy was introduced. Gia'kum then became their own nation. They've persisted in being a sham democracy since 'liberation' from Iron Kingdom's royal family though."
He moved on to the next slide which showed a timeline. The graph broke down the last few decades of leadership and the parties that opposed them. Some names had no opposition for years.
"In most cases, a single candidate is running. Any secondary candidate running against the 'powers that be', meet with an early and mysterious demise. Especially if they campaign too well. The most recent murder was a woman by the name of Lora Crane and her son, who remained unnamed due to his status as a minor. Lora ran on a platform of socialism, opposing the Duchad regime directly and openly."
Tails next slide showed the current president Gia'kum, Duchad. The screen displayed a stout and chubby binturong in his finest military garb, shown from the waist up. He was old and grey, with a fluffy moustache that covered the lower half of his face. What little grey hair he had was slicked back with the defined lines of where comb teeth once were.
"This is Duchad. He's been in charge of the country for the past three years. He's got his hand in some pretty deep pockets. The church for one and big businesses for another. His support even includes doctor Eggman, who's sending him Chaos powered technology. Duchad and his wife Gǔndòng get a lot of sympathy points from the public for being from dying cultures. It looks like their rise to power is out of nowhere, but once you trace back their lineage, you can see why they're at where they're at."
Tails showed the next slide of Duchad and his wife, Gǔndòng. She was a long and lanky, golden pangolin, who looked to be a quarter of her husband's age, but nearly twice his height. She wore a red robe that went to the floor but allowed space for her long thick tail to move freely behind her. Gǔndòng's black hair was tied up in a modest matron'esque bun, but embellished with two long and sharp golden pins. Each had two pearls and four, small red feathers on their tops. The couple were at the grand opening of a new hotel and smiled for the shot.
"Duchad and his wife are both highly religious, though he's the one calling all the shots. He runs the country with harsh authoritarianism and capital punishment. Not going to church isn't illegal, but it is highly frowned upon; though, he took no time in outlawing pre-marital sex, homosexuality and different species partners." Tails held up a hand, "Yes, I'm aware of their hypocrisy. Their excuse for not wanting others to have different species partners is 'that is what destroy's people's culture, it's what destroyed both of ours'. They both come from cultures that have numbers in the low thousands, so again, they used sympathy to gain approval from the public and special interest groups who want just that: Segregation of species."
Tails got back on track, "Duchad and his cabinet currently have a strangle hold on the use of drugs and alcohol within the borders too. It's a law that's forced the hand of underground markets, which he undoubtedly skims from the top of to line his own pockets. Not to mention, whoever gets caught, has to serve military time."
The next picture was of a grand field filled with seemingly endless lines of saluting soldiers. Duchad stood at the helm of his people on a high balcony, microphone present, while he did his address.
"Military enrolment is mandatory; five years minimum. That time doubles if an individual has committed a crime, big or small. Which is where his love for constant surveillance comes in; he wants to catch every and any small act, to juice up his military enrolment. He's started out making the people need a license to own any sort of electrical device, but he's pushing for closed circuit television."
Tails shut down the projector.
"I've had my suspicions for a while now: Would Eggman try to use my invention to create that sort CCTV network for Duchad? Since I have no way of knowing for sure, I have a workaround built in. If the television stones are vibrated at a certain frequency, they offset the line of communication. I have a few devices created to disrupt the service for when we need to talk like this. We needed to be extra careful, so this workshop is fitted with scramblers and this distortion device I mentioned."
Meanwhile, in present day...
A knock on Mayor Fink's door distracted him from the the work on his desk. "Come in," he said and pinched the bridge of his nose in dread.
The door opened and revealed Dr. Eggman with Orbot at his side. He slowly approached the desk as a scrutinous eye examined the drab, undecorated office.
Fink noticed the expression and attempted conversation, "Long time no see. To what-"
"Enough chit chat. Why aren't you accepting permits?" Eggman poked the top of his desk. "I found out from Amy that you're intentionally throwing them out."
The mayor sighed, 'Why would she tell you that?' he thought. "The rest of the one percenters didn't like their venues. You need to account for their more refined taste."
He slapped the top of the desk. "You've been at this for two years and you've got next to nothing to show for it! Tonic Concentration was the only one you accepted, right after you tried to reject it!" He reached into his pocket and produced strands of shredded paper.
'He went through the trash?!' Mayor Fink stood up and folded his arms behind him.
"I know what this is. You're trying to consolidate your properties, aren't you?" He laid both hands on the desk and leaned over menacingly. "I hold nearly forty-five percent as of this morning."
Fink looked shocked. "How?! When?"
"Yes, it came to my attention that you were going to try and vote me out, so I decided to get as many shares as I could. One percent here, three percent there, and oh, right, fifteen percent for buying out Meh Burger."
The mayor looked flustered.
"Why the long face? You knew as soon as that Rabbit Girl showed up with their petition that the owner would be knocking down my door."
Fink sat back in his chair and looked exhausted. "We can do what we want with our land. Whether you like it or not, we'll hold on to the bitter end."
"It doesn't need to be bitter. You could just let me buy you out so the island is totally mine." Eggman turned and headed for the door. "No matter. Five more to go and I own half of everything on this island, which means I call the shots. The theme park I intend to build, is going to be magnificent!" He threw his arms into the air with excitement.
Fink leaned over his desk and pleaded, "Please, the wildlife in these parts can't handle the noise and pollution a theme park would bring."
Cubot interjected. "It couldn't handle wild rabbits either. The island's fringe ecosystems are far too gone and not worth the effort. Our sound barriers will protect the main bulk of the island's wildlife. The only exception is this," Cubot said and produced a hologram of the volcano in the centre of the room. "We get as close as possible without igniting guests of suffocating them with noxious gasses." The image of the volcano had little hologram pieces come together and formed an intrepid, loop-de-loop beast of a roller coaster around the base and mouth of the volcano. "We go above the forest, landscaping is minimal."
Fink shook his head in disbelief. "That's madness."
With a raised finger, "Lucrative madness," Cubot said and discontinued the display. "Which is also the working title for the roller coaster 'Lucrative Madness Peak'."
Eggman shrugged, "You know what, mayor Dink, the sight of my park's main attraction has cheered me up. Go ahead, do your best to gather all the shares you can. At this point, you'll never succeed anyway."
"Why'd you come down here then? To gloat?"
Eggman put his hand on the door to leave. He briefly looked over his shoulder and ominously said, "I needed to know how 'even' I need to get with all of you when I'm running the show. Tootles," He said the last word cheerfully and left. Cubot slammed the door behind them.
Mayor Fink sat and sunk down into his chair. He allowed his head to fall back so as to stare at the ceiling. "Come on, Amy...have an ace up your sleeve."
Out in the hall, Eggman and Cubot's form liquefied and fell through cracks in the floor.
Meanwhile, back at Eggman's lair, the real Eggman and Cubot were aware of what their not so solid selves had experienced.
"Now seems like a good a time as any, sir," Cubot said with ease. "If we start it now, we'll at least get to recruit the people coming to the luau."
Eggman pouted and folded his arms and looked at the 'initiate' button on his main console. "Bah, I wanted to wait for Mina's concert; we would have had so many more pawns then." He noticed his cameras were off in a lower part of the hall. "Wait a second, wh-" they suddenly came back on. "...hmmm." He took note that Shadow, Rouge and the twins still sat at the kitchen table. He also noticed the coffee pot was untouched since the last time he looked. "Half full, or half empty...interesting."
Eggman hit the switch and began his master plan.
Cubot's red eyes flickered momentarily. He quickly made a fist of victory. "I'll go double check the battery levels."
"Good idea. I'm going to sit here and watch the first few chambers fill up. This is some good ASMR." Eggman put his feet up on the edge of his console and put on earphones to listen with stereo sound. The on screen image showed darkened chambers, with brief flashes of yellow light, fill up with sea water. Various sea creatures and plants occasionally showed up and passed.
Cubot left the room and shut the main door behind him. He went to the wall mounted terminal and carried out his task, his eyes faded to blue. Cubot pretended to continue his task. 'Please...please tell me she left enough bread crumbs.'
At the end of the hall, a door opened and revealed Shadow.
Cubot looked surprised and hopeful.
Shadow walked up to the robot and looked down on him menacingly. "Say the nic-name."
Cubot brightened up and his eyes lit up bright blue. "Tiny Robot!"
Shadow folded his arms. "From him, to you and then to the duchess. Damn, she's good," he said with an impressed smirk.
"Did you manage to find anything out?"
"Yes and no," he said and handed him the note from Metal Sonic. "Rolph is the only one who knows anything. Anne is keeping him dosed to mute the hivemind. How does Egghead have the tech to spy on everyone? Never mind that, how is he able to reach the hivemind?"
Cubot shook his head. "I heard Amy hasn't been out in a while. Tell her to check out the site of the mountainside cafe Bonnie is planning on opening. It's got a view that impresses right now. Oh, and you all drink a lot of coffee, you're already on your second pot. Please get more from Harold's store." With a ballpoint produced from a fingertip, Cubot wrote something of his own on Shadow's note. He held the paper discretely and scanned both sides with an 'image reading chip' he had in his fingertip circuitry. He handed the note back to Shadow. "Twelve seconds left. Burn that without reading it. Thank you."
Shadow did his best to remember things word for word and then quickly sped off.
Cubot's eyes flickered back to red. The bot looked around as though he'd forgotten what he was doing. He shrugged it off and returned to his master.
At Sonic and Amy's, a sound rang out in the late morning. Sonic heard Amy's communicator from the bedroom. He went to the device and looked at the images that were sent to her. Cubot's handwriting appeared first. He read aloud, "Wha...'Eggman has access to the hivemind. Don't show this message to any Black Arm'." Sonic flipped to the next image. Rolph's disjointed and hastily written note made his blood freeze in place. "...I've been roboticized. I'm real. I swear I'm real. I'm not a robot. Help me get my legs back. I want to go back to my dimension. My emerald. Help me. Help me down. Where are my legs? Please no. Don't shut me down again." The note was all over the place and looked like it belonged in a horror film.
Sonic deleted the images and then laid Amy's communicator down on the bed. He went to the living room and sat on a end couch cushion. He thought to himself, 'Looks like we can't go to the next luau...we have a heist we can't pawn off on the Bolts.'
It was up to Sonic to come up with a plan without telling Shadow at all.
Meanwhile, in the Gogo'Ba village, a similar offer was made to the chief and his adviser, by a small hoard of identical robots. The group of Gogo'Ba left over, who weren't assigned to dig at the buried village, clustered together in fear. For each of the dozen villagers, there was a ping-pong sized, four legged robot.
"Let me get this straight," the chief said, "We let you take over our free will, so we can have the power to get even with the thieving hedgehog?"
Eggman's voice resonated amongst the small crowd of thirteen. "No, no, sorry, allow me to explain better. All of you will still be yourselves, we will simply be connected."
"And our hatred of the blue one will help fuel not only our strength, but yours as well?" The chief stroked his chin in deep thought. He turned to his highest adviser. "What say you?"
The adviser huffed, "If I could take on this burden myself, I'm sure I'd have enough rage to power an army."
The Eggman bug bots all scurried towards the chief's adviser. She held fast, but looked uncomfortable with the robots all around her feet. "Is that so? This effect would be amplified if we did it that way. You'd only end up with a little less of your conscious self."
She threw off her heavy work uniform with the big red sleeves and revealed a revealing outfit. Booty shorts and a tube top, all red in colour and gold trimmed with floral lace. She clenched a fingerless white glove into a tight fist. "If our outcomes align, then I dedicate myself to being this vessel. I've trained for this day since I could walk on my own two feet."
The robots all came together in front of her and formed a single larger, white teardrop robot. It's body's surface rippled like water.
The adviser-turned-warrior knelt and touched the solid-liquid. It travelled up her arm slowly and crept it's way over her whole body. A horrified village watched on, unable to comprehend if what they saw was or wasn't magic. Everything went quiet. She allowed herself to be integrated with the fluid. She then changed to her regular colours.
"Sheera?" the chief asked and reached out a hand.
The woman stood up and opened her now black eyes with and red irises. "Don't worry, grandfather...I will avenge our people. Guilt and rage go hand in hand," she said and resonated a blackened aura. With her new found powers, she vanished without a trace, into thin air.
The chief stood for a few moments to regret not having spoke up sooner. "...what am I going to tell your mother," he grumbled and went back to his tent for meditation.
That was way longer a wait than I intended, but I got'er done. :)
This is it...I finally pushed the 'big red button'. ;P