Aboard the egg carrier Dr Eggman maniacal laugh echoed down every corridor leaving and sentient being aboard in no doubt that he was VERY pleased with himself. The man himself had been so confident of victory at Sunset heights that he had not bothered to oversee the proceedings in the control room. Instead he set about the next stage of his campaign in a large cavernous room in the bowels of the ship.
That worried Starline. He knew that the doctor had a large brain and was more than capable of taking on several things at once but so far the great man had not shown any great ability when it came to staying focused. In the past that had been his downfall. Starline was not keen to make the same mistakes.
"Are you not concerned that Sonic knows our plan?" The platypus said tentatively, interrupting the doctor mid cackle.
"He's supposed to know!" The doctor said dismissively and returned to his work, sealing the maser emerald in giant metal casing. "The whole point is they wont attack the elves with the children inside."
"But with Silver here from the future they will know about our plans for the adults." Starline reasoned.
"With that meddling rodent here from the future it proves only one thing." The doctor snarled. "That we win."
Starline wasn't so sure.
"He will have come to change the future and ensure it's not enacted!" Starline protested boldly.
The doctor finally stopped welding and lifted his visor. He handed his machine to Cubot who instantly dropped it. Eggman scowled at the little yellow robot who instantly slunk off to hide.
"It is already too late for them to stop my plans." Eggman said, rounding on Starline. "The elves have been rolled out across the world and are collecting more recruits for my army. Soon I will control the next generation of mobians. All that remains is to destroy the previous generation and I will have absolute control."
Starline was somewhat placated. He had to hand it to the doctor, it certainly made sense in theory but the platypus worried about its execution. He strode over to the large green emerald that stood before him. Starline could see his own concerned face reflected back at him on its vivid, green surface.
"Will this be enough to power the whole army AND the doomsday weapon?" He inquired. He could see the figure of Dr Eggman approach from behind him in the glassy emerald.
The human nodded. "The emeralds power is more than enough." He said simply.
Starline felt uncomfortable, he did not want to question the doctor but the weapon was, as yet untested.
"When can it be tested?" He asked the doctor delicately.
The evil mans eyes sparkled brightly with anticipation. "By the time we reach our target it will be ready. That will be it's first test."
Without any further discussion Eggman slammed down his visor and snatched the welding machine up from the floor. Starline left the doctor to his work and went back to the control room. He hoped that the doctor wasn't underestimating his old foe yet again.
x
Still feeling worse for wear after his blood loss Sonic the hedgehog hitched a ride back to base with the restorations own carrier. Technically it was one of eggmans but they had commandeered it during the war. All of the displaced townspeople from Sunset Heights were now safely stowed away below deck. They would have to find them temporary shelter back in the city. The remaining members of the restoration sat up on the command deck as Whisper flew them home.
Sonic rested himself in one of the chairs with his feet propped up on the control panel. The others were having a fairly heated debate about the groups next move. Sonic was trying his best to stay out of it. He was still brooding from their defeat. Even if he had been up to full strength he doubted he would have been able to do anything to stop the attack and that was not a pleasant thought. They needed to find a way to free the children safely from the elves and for that they needed more information. As Knuckles and Silver yelled over eachother Sonic reached across the desk and pressed a few buttons. The beeping sound of the video phone calling HQ stopped the others in their tracks and they all turned to see what Sonic was up to.
As HQ swam into view Sonic noted three faces in their main office, Tails, Jewel and…
"Amy, shouldn't you be resting?" Sonic sighed impatiently. "Why aren't you in the hospital wing?"
"The same reason you aren't." The pink hedgehog retorted. "There's too much at stake. I see the others are with you. And Silver." She waved at the grey hedgehog who smiled back. "I take it you got there in time."
Sonic nodded. "Yep, managed to get there before Knucklehead beat up some toddlers."
"Hey!" Knuckles snapped, rising to the bait. "I think you'll find Silver was the one who stopped us. You were too busy huffing and puffing like a slowpoke."
"Are you okay?" Amy asked quickly. Sonic could see tears forming in her eyes. He knew she felt guilty about Sonic being less than his full self at the moment.
He waved his hand in a placating gesture. "I'm fine Ames." He assured her. "The only thing wounded is my pride. We had to retreat and take the townspeople with us."
"I'll find room for them here." Jewel said quickly. "I have some resources left over from the restoration so theres plenty of food and blankets."
Sonic nodded. "What we really need is to work out is how to get their home back and stop this happening anywhere else. Tails, is there anything in the blueprints Amy swiped that can help us?"
"I'm looking over it with Dr Clover." Tails explained. "As the children are hooked up to some sort of life support system inside the elves I'm hoping the Doctors medical knowledge will help us get them out safely. We're working on it but no break through yet." The fox said apologetically.
Silver stepped forward and addressed them all. "To be honest the Elves are only part of the issue." He explained. Sonic let out a deep sigh, nothing was ever easy was it?
"As I explained to Sonic, the future has changed again. "According to the records I found, all of the children of Mobius were assimilated into those horrible machines we saw attacking Sunset heights. Everyone under ten was taken. While that was happening Eggman unleashed his new weapon on the adults. He wiped out almost everyone, some survived long enough to write down what had happened but even then details are scant about this weapon."
"Aside from fact it killed everyone." Tangle sighed. The lemur perched herself on the edge of the control panel and shot a concerned look at Whisper who patted her gently on the hand.
"With full control over the population Eggmans army spread far and wide." Silver continued. "When the children inside the Elves got too old they were destroyed, eventually leaving nothing but robots, created by Eggman for the sole purpose of serving him."
The others stood in awed silence. Eventually heard Amy speak, her voice was trembling. "What is this weapon?" She asked quietly.
Silver shrugged. "I'm sorry but I don't know." He said sadly. "Like I said, the records became pretty scant after the adults were destroyed."
Sonic looked over to Knuckles, who had been unusually quiet in all of this. The echidna stood in the shadows with his arms folded moodily across his chest.
"What are you thinking?" Sonic called over. His red friend snapped out of his reverie.
"I'm thinking about the master emerald." Knuckles said in a low growl.
"Aren't you always?" Sonic replied sarcastically. "Any reason in particular?"
Knuckles pounded his right fist angrily into his left hand. "Don't you see?" He demanded. "If the doctor stole it he must want it for this weapon. G.U.N knew all about it. That's why Rouge and Shadow turned up on Angel island.
"Nice of them to give us the heads up." Vector grumbled. He and the other Chaotix had been sat at a table playing cards during this debate and so far hadn't become involved. Now the large crocodile set his cards aside and turned to the others.
"If everything's pointing to the emerald then we need to get looking for it ASAP. Just leave it to the chaotix!"
Sonic shook his head. "I'm not disputing that finding the emerald is important but we don't KNOW for a fact that he's using it for a weapon. We can't get distracted from finding a way to free the kids."
On the screen above them Jewel offered a solution. "We should split up into teams." She suggested. "some of you can look for the emerald while the others try and defend the cities and towns that are coming under attack. Tails and Dr Clover work out a way to save the children."
Sonic looked behind her and could see Tails swiping away on his tablet. He tapped his feet impatiently as he waited for his foxy friend to add his opinion. After a few moments Tails pressed a few buttons on the console at HQ and his device was mirrored onto the monitors at HQ and on the carriers. It was a map of mobius. Eggmans face covered the towns and cities that the evil doctor had already snatched children from.
"From the data we've collected there's only one town that's actually been hit by the elves."
"Sunset heights." Sonic said impatiently. "We know buddy. We were just there."
Tails continued despite the interruption. "For them to have been rolled out so quickly I think it's safe to assume that the carrier was somewhere nearby." The boy genius explained. "The next nearest city is Paradise walk. The majority of its population are adults and the elderly. They have reported that ALL of their children were taken and none managed to hide from the robosantas."
"Sounds like a likely target." Espio agreed from the table. Sonic nodded. "This weapon Silver mentioned is likely to be onboard the carrier."
"Ok so half of us head there and the other half look for the carrier nearby and get the master emerald." Sonic said in an authoritative voice. The others seemed happy with the plan.
"I'll go for the emerald!" Knuckles said predictably. Sonic saw Amy shake her head on the screen.
"We're going to need muscle on the ground." She reasoned. "If Eggman is focused on the attack he's unlikely to leave his A team on the carrier. Knowing Eggman the emerald will be relatively unguarded. We need to sneak aboard. Tangle, Whisper and I can…"
"You're not going anywhere." Sonic said quickly. He saw Amys cheeks flush.
"I'm not sitting here while you guys fight." She argued.
Sonic leaned closer to the microphone, uncomfortably aware that the others were watching him with wry, knowing smiles on their faces. "I don't want you to get hurt again." He said quietly. Sonic was pretty sure he heard Charmy snigger in the background. Amy smiled at him.
"I wont." She promised. "Going on the eggcarrier will be a stealth mission. Besides, I'll have Tangle and Whisper with me this time."
Sonic could see Tangle beaming at him. Whisper smiled shyly to.
"Don't worry." The lemur said and winked. "We'll look after her for you."
Slightly pink, Sonic turned back to the monitor. "You're not well enough."
"You kept fighting through the metal virus!" Amy pointed out.
Sonic had had enough. "Tails can you patch in Dr Clover." He snapped.
Amy crossed her arms defiantly. "Yeah Tails," She said dryly. "Fetch the doctor. She can tell Sonic that he should be resting to."
Sonic took a deep calming breath. "Fine, just don't come crying to me when you're hurt again."
Sonic stomped away from the screen. He hadn't meant that, he just wanted his friend safe. He didn't like the idea of her battling away from him whilst she was weak. But then again it was going to be hard going on the ground. If Amy INSISTED on being involved then maybe the carrier was the best place for her.
"Just be careful." He muttered eventually.
There was an awkward silence which was eventually broken by a polite cough from Jewel. "If that's all sorted them maybe EVERYONE should get some rest." She said. "It's going to be a long day tomorrow."
Sonic nodded and the screen went blank. Aware that the others were still staring at him he made his way below deck to finally get his head down and sleep.