Authors Notes: New chapters up folks, now we're back to hunting emeralds, and let's say an old friend of Tails is about to come into play.Enjoy.
Sonic the Hedgehog (c) Sega
Swan Princess (c) Richard Rich
Chapter: IX
Flight of the Two Tail:
A clouded void was the only thing present, there was no sign of anyone for miles. Standing in the void of smoke was Sonic who looked around looking for any sign of life.
"Hello!" He called and his voice echoed all over the place.
However there was no reply, in that moment however he saw someone standing in the smoke. He couldn't quite make it out but it looked like the red haired princess he'd seen before.
"Hey it's you!" He said as he ran over to her, but before she could turn and face him.
She was consumed in a torrent of fire which all but blinded the blue hedgehog. He looked up and saw what looked like a giant made of molten lava and rock which roared as it charged towards him and Sonic just screamed as it devoured him.
Sonic shot himself awake screaming. He took a deep breath and looked around, he saw he was still in the Swan Lake Castle. He knew he had yet another of his flopped back onto the bed and groaned in frustration.
"For once can't I dream about chilli dogs falling from the sky." He said.
Meanwhile Amy was walking down the hallway towards the room Sonic had settled wanted to see if he was okay after last nights fight with Metal Sonic. It seemed she wasn't the only one, for the pink hedgehog caught sight of a certain Swan Princess heading to said room from the opposite end of the hall.
"Odette?" She called and got her attention.
"Oh good morning Amy." Odette greeted. "I'm guessing you're here to check on Sonic too?"
Amy nodded in response. "Yeah I wanted to see if he was okay."
So the two opened the door, however when they looked in. "SONIC'S GONE!"
The room was empty, the bed sheets on the ground and the window was wide open and blowing a breeze through the open window. They could see that Sonic had left.
"Oh no he must have gone out the window!" Odette said.
Amy wasn't very surprised, she knew that even when he was hurt Sonic wasn't one to stay still.
"Well thats Sonic for you he can't even cool it when he's hurt."Amy said with both relief and annoyance. "He doesn't even stick around to say goodbye."
Odette however couldn't help but smile despite the situation. "Well I'm just glad he's okay."
A distance away Sonic was running through the green scenery, though not at full speed as he wasn't back to full strength as of yet. However he wasn't running because he needed to run he was running to take his mind off things. Since arriving in Swan Lake he was being haunted by these strange dreams, he didn't know why this was happening, but they've been happening more and more. Rogers guessed these must be repressed memories, but the blue blur had a feeling they were something more but what?
He ran through the forest at full speed and soon arrived at a cliff edge. He looked at the view and took a moment to think about things.
"Why do I keep having these mondo weird dreams?!" Sonic said a little irked. "What do they mean, I just don't get it."
All the blue blur had were questions with no answers, for now he needed to focus on finding the remaining emeralds.
Back at the castle repairs from last nights fight between Sonic and his robot twin were still underway. Roofs were being repaired and walls rebuilt and repainted by some of the castle staff.
Meanwhile deep in Rogers hidden workshop a certain two tailed fox was hard at work. He was welding something rather large in the workshop raised up in the air by ropes. He removed his welding mask and took a look at what he was welding. He looked back at his Miles Electric, and checked over some specs he was looking at. He then turned back to the project and used a wrench to tighten a few things inside it.
"Tails!" Called a voice. Entering the workshop was Rogers and Puffin who looked to find the two tailed inventor working hard.
"Tails!" Rogers called again but Tails didn't answer so he went in close behind him. "TAILS!"
Tails jumped in shock as he turned around to face the council and bird. "Oh Rogers, Puffin, sorry I didn't hear you come in." He apologised.
"Oh no trouble Tails, but what on earth is this you're working on?" Puffin asked.
"This?" Tails asked. "Well just a small project I've been working on since finding the third emerald."
Rogers looked over the project and he couldn't make out what it was as, it was covered with a tarp sheet. However he did see it was rather big.
"What exactly is it?" He asked.
"Well let's just say it's something that'll help us against Eggman." Tails pointed out. "Along with those arrows I made for Derek to better take on Eggman's robots."
He pointed to a quiver full of arrows with metal cylinders on them, each one did a different function. Before Puffin could ask more suddenly a beep sounded off from his Miles Electric. The three went over to the device and Tails could see it had detected something significant.
"Do you think?" Rogers hoped.
"Yes we found another Chaos Emerald!" Tails exclaimed. "Come on we need to tell the others."
The Meeting room:
Soon everyone was gathered in the meeting room. Tails and Rodgers had told the news about detecting another Chaos Emerald.
"You sure it's another one Tails?" Knuckles asked.
"Yes I'm positive my trackers picked up another emerald." Tails explained.
"Ohh." Rogers said as he checked the coordinates of the emerald on the map.
"What is it Rogers?" Derek asked he saw his council looked worried.
"It looks like the next emerald is located in a rather mountainous area just to the south of here." Rogers explained. Derek looked over the map and saw where he meant.
"Close to Zelda's old hideout." Derek realised.
"Okay first we find one emerald close to where some witch ambushed you as a fake Odette, now we find one close to her old hideout?" Knuckles questioned having heard the stories of one of Rothbarts former apprentices. "Its like they appear in old villain places."
"Hey it can't be helped where the emeralds land Knuckles." Called a voice and everyone looked to see Sonic enter the room after returning from his run.
"Sonic!" Everyone cheered happily especially Odette.
"Well look who's up and about." Brom greeted.
"Hey you think a beating like thats gonna keep this hedgehog down?" Sonic said confidently.
"We're just glad you're okay Sonic."Derek said.
"And just in time we found another Chaos Emerald." Tails said.
"Well let's go find it before old Baldy Mc nosehair does." Sonic said. "Quick question where we heading this time?"
Meanwhile:
Elsewhere in the deep mountain forests all was quiet, but the silence of nature was shattered by the buzzing of metal, and the crashing sound of trees. In the forest was piloting what looked like a robotic spider looking mech with two sets of buzzsaws on its front legs and sharp clawed blades on its other six legs.
It was using the buzzsaws to slice through the trees in its path and then slice them to pieces with the clawed legs. Eggman was surveying the area from the cockpit, keeping a sharp eye out for his prize. Around him were Buzz-bombers and Egg-mechs searching the area for any signs for the Chaos Emerald. So far they had no luck.
"Dr I am becoming impatient for good news!" the ghostly head of Rothbart appeared in Eggman's control panel which all but startled the good doctor.
"GAH! Will you stop that!" Eggman yelled. "I'm searching this area for the Chaos Emerald but the signal is faint! The closer we get the stronger the signal so quit being a back seat driver! My robot my rules!"
Rothbart just growled as he disappeared from the console and then reappeared behind him, as they continued the search for the precious emerald.
Meanwhile: Not to far away:
A distance away Derek, Odette (in her casual attire), Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Jean-bob, Speed and Puffin had arrived at the mountainous forest. Amy wasn't with them as Derek asked her to stay at Chamberg and keep an eye on Uberta in case Eggman or Metal Sonic should attack again. Whilst Rogers watched over the other emeralds. She did protest but she understood.
They left the carriage a distance away since it was too rough terrain to ride it along. They looked around and saw some of the trees had been cut or knocked down on the ground.
"Whoa what happened here?" Knuckles said in surprise.
"Looks like a hurricane went through here." Derek observed.
"Yeah and judging from the look of those trees, I'd say it was a hurricane named Eggman." Sonic guessed.
"Oh dear how awful." Odette said in concern for the animals that lived in the destroyed held out the Chaos Emerald they had in their possession, and looked at its glow. It was weak so he moved it around, then suddenly it started to glow brighter.
"Hang on guys I think I have something." Tails called, everyone came over and looked at the emeralds glow.
"The glows pointing in that direction." Tails pointed out.
"Great job T2 I'll go on ahead and scope it out." Sonic said and he zoomed on ahead leaving the others behind.
"Puffin you best follow him, just in case." Derek advised.
"No fear good thing I can follow blue boy from above or he'd be tough to see." With that Puffin took to the sky and followed the blue blur of light from others continued to follow from behind at a slow pace following the trail of destroyed trees.
Far ahead
(Sonic Boom (Sonic CD) Starts playing)
Sonic blasts through the woods at high speed then performs a loop de loop made from some down trees. Performing several jumps and spin balls as he ran along, eventually he ran up a tree that was balanced on a boulder and he flew off it like a ramp with his arms out then zoomed down to the ground level. Puffin wasn't too far behind and he was completely bemused by Sonics speed and agility.
Sonic then ran through several small streams as he reached a rock he stopped and looked ahead using his hand to shield his eyes, after a moment he zoomed on ahead. He ran straight up a still standing tree to gain a better vantage point. He looked around at his surroundings from this vantage point. Suddenly he caught sight of something glinting in the distance not too far away. Puffin soon caught up to Sonic who pointed to the glint down below and Puffin caught sight of it too. He flew back to tell the others whilst Sonic jumped from the tree and performed a spin dash down the tree and boosted straight ahead to the source of the glint.
(Music ends)
Not too far behind the rest of the group were tracking through the forest, following the glow of the emerald in Tails possession.
"I think we're getting closer." Tails said seeing the emerald was glowing brighter.
"Ahoy down there!" Everyone looked up to see Puffin flying down towards them.
"Puffin did you find it?" Odette asked.
"Aye we did it's not too far in that direction." Puffin pointed and as Tails pointed the emerald in that direction it was glowing brighter than ever.
"Then lead the way." Tails insisted and so the group followed the bird in the they arrived at a fast flowing stream, on the other side was a large looking tree, along with a few destroyed beaver dams. Sonic was there waiting for them.
"Hey guys glad you could finally join us." Sonic said as Puffin landed.
"Hey relax blue boy not all of us can run fast!" Jean Bob said.
Tails held the emerald and moved it closer to the stream it seemed to glow brighter and brighter. He looked over to the tree and saw something glow after a squint he could make out a red coloured Chaos Emerald.
"There it is it's in that tree." Tails pointed and everyone looked and saw the emerald stuck in the tree.
"Well let's go get it!" Knuckles said but Derek stopped him before he could go any further.
"Hold up we can't ford that stream, the currents too strong." Derek pointed and saw the stream was flowing rather fast and even threw a small twig into it and saw it float away.
"Sonic you think you can run across?" Odette said which took Sonic aback.
"Wha me?!" He said in surprise.
"Yes you you can run on water right?" Odette wondered.
"I don't think I could swim across." Speed added.
"Uh yeah well um, thing is uh." Sonic stuttered. "I don't do water." Everyone seemed rather surprised by that notion, but to Knuckles and Tails they knew exactly why Sonic was hesitating to go across.
"But I've seen you run on water?" Odette questioned.
"Yeah but I just prefer being on dry land." Sonic just said.
"Its cause he scared of going near the water." Knuckles said teasingly.
"I am not scared!" Sonic protested.
"Wait you're not telling us you can't swim lad?" Puffin said in surprise.
Sonic was trying to find a good excuse but there was no hiding it anymore. "GAH alright I can't swim!" He finally admitted.
Everyone was rather surprised but Odette and Derek just looked with understanding. "Oh it's okay Sonic it's only natural to be afraid of something let alone not being able to swim." Odette said.
"Yeah everyone has something they're afraid of."Derek said. "But it looks like we'll have to find another way across."
"Puffin you think you can fly over and get it?" Tails asked.
"Maybe but those emeralds are mighty heavy." Puffin said.
Knuckles looked around for anything that could help them cross. He then noticed a large tree on their side of the stream. In that moment an idea popped into his head.
"Hey I bet we could use this as a bridge." Knuckles gestured.
Derek walked over and examined the tree, but he wasn't sure about the echidnas idea. "I don't know it's a pretty thick tree, it make a good bridge but it'll take a while to cut through." He mused.
"Not so long" Knuckles said as he put something on his hands. "Thats why I brought these babies."
He now had on his hands a pair of hooked metal clawed gloves in grey and red. Using these shovel claws he slashed and punched his way through the thick tree, he kept punching through it until finally.
"TIMBER!" The tree toppled down and crashed down over the stream to the other side.
Derek and the others were completely surprised, at how quickly Knuckles punched down that tree. Knuckles just looked rather smug as he admired his handy work.
"Shovel Claws never leave home without them." Knuckles said looking at said claw.
"Good work Knuckles." Puffin said.
"Now you can get across Sonic if your not afraid of falling off." Knuckles teased.
"Oh ha ha very funny Knuckle head." Sonic said sarcastically.
"No fear Sonic I'll come across with you." Puffin said as he flew over just as Sonic stepped onto the tree trunk.
Slowly he moved across trying to maintain his balance, he could run across but he didn't want to miss a step and fall into the water below. Puffin watched on from above making sure his friend was okay. Jean-Bob covered his eyes as he couldn't a bit faster Sonic quickly makes it to the other side and heads over to the tree. Puffin moves to fly up to the top branch, he instantly sees the red glowing emerald and using his feet brings it down to Sonic who catches it in his hands.
"Great job Puffin." Sonic called as the bird landed on his head.
"No fear." Puffin said. With that the two slowly made their way back to the other side. However all of a sudden Knuckles heard something crashing and he looked to the sky and saw something alarming.
"INCOMING!" Knuckles shouted and everyone saw what looked like a giant spider robot falling towards them.
Everyone quickly moved out of the way just as the giant robotic spider crashed down to the ground. The shockwave did shake the tree bridge and nearly caused Sonic to lose his balance. He would have fallen into the water if Puffin hadn't grabbed one of his spines, and pulled him back onto the log.
The smoke cleared to reveal it was a giant robotic spider piloted by the mad man Dr Eggman himself. He opened the cockpit and addressed his enemies.
"Well well well, looks like I'm not the only one who's enjoying the mountain views!" Eggman laughed. Everyone just glared at their enemy.
"Really how can you see the view from that hair caterpillar under your nose Egghead!" Sonic teased.
Eggman just glared at Sonic and noticed he had what he wanted in his hands.
"Ah the Chaos Emerald!" Eggman exclaimed. "You've saved me the trouble of tearing apart this mountain looking for it! Now hand it over!"
"Yeah right Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed.
"Ah ah ah Sonic, I know very well your weakness is water and it would be a shame if that tree branch were to break!" Eggman said readying his attack. Suddenly something hits his spider leg and shorts it out rendering it useless. Eggman turned and saw it was one of the princes arrows who glared at the mad scientist.
"Sonic get across!" Derek called as he fired another arrow getting Eggmans attention.
Sonic runs across the log with the emerald in hand. However the robot spider used its rear legs to slice at the blue hedgehog with its buzzsaws Sonic tried to avoid it by jumping but had to be careful not to fall off the he jumped off the log and avoided another strike by the robotic spiders legs.
"Puffin go deep!" Sonic exclaimed tossing the emerald. Puffin swoops in and grabs it.
"Ha ha I got it!" Puffin exclaimed. However his joy was short lived as he was swatted into a tree by one of the spider legs and grabbed the emerald.
"Puffin!" Odette cried.
"Heheh heh mine I think!" Eggman smirked.
"Oh no you don't!" Knuckles exclaimed.
He charged forwards and jumped over the incoming Buzzsaws from Eggman machine then used his shovel claw to slice through the arm holding the emerald. He was about to grab it until another Spider mech leg swatted him away and grabbed the emerald.
Sonic then attacked next and used a spin dash to ram into the Spider Mech, from behind it knocking the emerald out of its claw. The Blue blur jumped over the attacking legs and then reached for the emerald only for Eggman's mech to grab Sonic in the air but didn't notice an arrow shoot the emerald out of its claw and landed in Tails hand.
"Got it!" Tails spider mech then hovered over the group holding Sonic in one of its claws rather tight.
"Not so fast!" Eggman exclaimed. "I seem to hold the cards here. We all know Sonic weakness is water so you either hand over the emerald or else we'll see if hedgehogs drown quicker than rats!"
Sonic struggled to break free from the claws grip. "Don't listen to him Tails!"
Odette could only look worried for Sonic if he couldn't swim he'd easily drown. Tails and Knuckles knew this too and they just growled knowing they were in an impossible situation. They couldn't let Eggman have the emerald but at the same time they couldn't let Sonic drown.
However unbeknownst to the group Jean-Bob was climbing onto the legs of the spider mech and made his way up to the cockpit.
"What will it be?" Eggman questioned. Derek just growled and was wanting to fire an arrow but knew he couldn't. Before they came to a decision.
"Hello!" Called a voice Eggman turned and saw a certain green frog was on his cockpit canopy.
"GAH!" Eggman exclaimed and moved the controls and the spider legs moved to try and squash the frog.
"Yikes!" The frog cried as he jumped all over the robot legs and screamed as he did. This was worse than the time he and Speed played keep away with the Forbidden Arts.
In all the chaos Sonic was able to perform a super spin and freed himself. He jumped away from the leg. Jean Bob was jumping around and all of a sudden he was grabbed by one of Eggmans robotic spider legs. He brought the frog straight to his face.
"Now your mine you little pest!" Eggman exclaimed but before he could crush him. Sonic blasts in with a homing attack releasing the robots grip on the green frog. He came out of his spin and grabbed the small frog.
"Thanks Jean Bob." Sonic thanked as they landed on the ground.
"Yes. Not. A. Problem." Jean Bob thanked in pants.
Everyone soon gathered up near Sonic and Jean Bob but before they could say anything Eggman yelled in frustration. The Spider-Mech swung its legs round buzzsaws spinning and everyone ducks out of the way of the incoming blades. But upon crashing on the ground Tails accidentally drops the emerald.
"The emerald!" Tails exclaimed.
Sonic makes a run for the emerald but in that moment Eggman mech swats Sonic away and sends him crashing into the fast flowing stream and the emerald along with it.
"SONIC!" Odette exclaimed in emerges from the water waving his arms in panic and quickly grabbed the emerald in hand.
"Gah I got the emerald!" Sonic shouted but went under the water as the currant had gotten hold of could see that Sonic was panicking in the water as he got further away.
Odette ran after the blue hedgehog and Jean Bob quickly dived into the water and used the current and his frog abilities to swim after him. Eggman was about to attack but Knuckles came swinging in with a slash of his clawed fist, soon followed by Derek firing an explosive arrow that Tails made for him. The arrow exploded which sent Eggmans mech crashing into the forest knocking down some trees.
Jean bob meanwhile catches up to Sonic and then sees a log above them and the frog prince grabs the log with his hands and Sonic grabs his legs. He was being stretched like he was on a rack.
"Gah ze things I do for friends!" Jean Bob groaned. Soon Odette arrived on the scene and quickly made her way down to the log.
"Jean Bob don't let go of him!" Odette called.
"Him gah! what about me!" Jean Bob cried.
Odette reached the log and reached her hand out. "Sonic garb onto me!"
Sonic swung his hand round with the emerald in hand and reached for Odette's hand. Just as everyone caught up Sonic caught sight of something that caused him to gasp in horror.
"Odette look out!" Sonic shouted.
Odette looked behind her and saw it was a downed tree but before she could act it crashed into the log she was on and knocked her into the water and Jean Bob lost his grip.
"Odette!" Derek cried he, Knuckles and Tails carrying Speed and Puffin ran to try and keep up with them but the current was much faster and it took them deeper into the forest further down stream. The group were soon blocked by a steep drop that took their friends further down stream.
"ODETTE!" Derek shouted but they just disappeared from view.
Further down river:
Sometime later in a deeper part of the forest, Sonic washed up on the shore. He groaned as he got up coughing on the water in his mouth.
"Man Sonic you really gotta stay out of the water." He said.
"Uhhh." He heard a groaning noise and saw Jean Bob walking around rather dazed. "I can barely feel my legs!"
Sonic looked in his hand and saw he still had the Chaos Emerald. "Whew at least we still have the emerald now we just need to…" Suddenly he gasped as he looked to his saw Odette lying on the ground close to the water and she looked unconscious.
"Odette!" Sonic quickly got up and went over to her shaking her to see if she would respond.
"Odette are you okay?" He asked with worry.
"Stand aside Sonic, I know what to do." Jean Bob said. "I shall wake ze mademoiselle with a kiss and…"
"Theres no need Jean Bob." The two of them looked and saw Odette had woken up. "I'm okay."
Sonic breathed a sigh of relief knowing his friend was okay. Jean Bob whilst relieved the princess was okay was a little disappointed he didn't get a kiss to 'change him into a prince.'
Odette looked around her surroundings and saw there was no sign of their friends or her husband. "The currant must have separated us from the others." She then tries to stand up again but when she did she felt a sudden pain in her leg and groaned in pain as she did.
"Gah." She cried.
"Whats wrong?" Sonic asked.
"I, I think I've twisted my ankle, I must have hurt it when we got swept in the current." She said as she could walk but on a limp. Sonic knelt down and took a look at her ankle.
"Yeah don't think it's a good idea to walk on that princess." Sonic advised.
"Oh thats great we are trapped in the forest with no way to find the others what do we do?" Jean Bob cried dramatically.
Before Sonic could answer that he felt a drop of rain on his nose, and he looked up and saw a storm was coming in. So he helped Odette as she limped over to what looked like a small cave to take cover from the storm. Jean Bob ran into the cave and they sat down to take cover from the storm.
"Well we ain't doing anything until the storm passes." Sonic said as thunder clashed which made Odette jump a little.
The rain came thundering down as the three sat in the cave. Sonic looked at Odette to make sure she was okay.
"You okay?" He asked.
"Yes I'm fine." She said.
"But that was a bit of a gutsy move trying to save me from the current." Sonic said.
"Well I couldn't just let you drown in that current Sonic, besides thats what you do for a friend." Odette said with a smile. "You saved me so it's my turn to save you."
Sonic could only give a grateful smile in response. "Well thanks."
Odette gave a warm smile. "But I guess we're both in trouble unless Derek and the others can find us."
"So it's up to Knux, oh boy we could be here a while." Sonic said just trying to lighten the mood.
Elsewhere:
"Odette!" Derek called.
Meanwhile everyone else was searching for any signs of Sonic, Odette and Jean-Bob further down river but so far there were no meanwhile was treating Puffin's wing who had gotten hurt after that fight with Eggman's Spider Mech. He wrapped the wing in bandages and the bird did cringe a little at the pain but it soon passed.
"Sonic!" Knuckles called.
"Jean Bob!" Speed called.
"Any sign of them?" Derek asked everyone.
"No nothing the river must have taken them in a different direction." Knuckles said.
"Tails can't you locate the emerald?" Derek asked.
"I've tried Derek but they're probably too far away for the emerald we have to find the other one." Tails explained. "And it'll take forever to search the whole of the woods."
"Oh if me wing wasn't hurt I could fly around and find them instantly." Puffin groaned sadly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sad Puffin, but how do we find them now?" Speed asked.
"Even if we search the entire forest how the heck do we find them in this storm before Eggman does?" Knuckles asked. Tails then had an idea, it was time for him to put his secret project to use.
"We can't look for them in this storm we'll have to wait until it passes." Derek said.
"But as for finding them before Eggman." Tails then said "Leave that to me." He then typed in several commands on his Miles Electric and clicked activate, which flashed.
Back in Swan Lake: Rogers workshop:
Deep in Lord Rogers workshop all was quiet but then suddenly the large object under the tarp suddenly started to make a revving noise. It got louder and louder and something at the front started spinning which flung the tarp off the object.
Back in the mountains:
Eggman's Spider-Mech pulled out of the pit it created after the hit it took from Knuckles. Eggman righted himself in the cockpit and reset the scanners to locate the emerald.
"Well that went well." Rothbart said as he reappeared right next to him.
"Unless you want me to shove you into a ghost containment unit I suggest you shut up and let me focus!" Eggman exclaimed to the ghost.
"And unless you want me to share the power of the Forbidden Arts with you I suggest you hurry up and find that emerald!" Rothbart exclaimed back as the two growled in each others faces.
Meanwhile:Hours later:
Some hours later the storm passed and the sun starts to shine through. In the cave Sonic and Odette were fast asleep. Odette lay next to Sonic whilst JeanBob slept on his head. Just then a drop of water fell on the frogs head that woke him up. Jean-Bob woke up and looked to see the rain had stopped..
"Sonic, Odette wake up." He said tapping Sonics head, then he reached for his ear. "Hello this is your wake up call!"
Sonic then began to stir as he woke up startled by Jean Bobs voice.
"Jean Bob whats the deal my ears are delicate!" Sonic groaned as he woke up.
"Ze stormy weather has now passed." Jean Bob said and Sonic looked to see that the rain had stopped.
"Odette wake up the storms over." Sonic said as Odette woke up. "Come on now we can try and meet back up with the others."
Odette nodded and tried to stand up but she cringed in pain as it was clear her ankle didn't feel any better.
"I'm sorry, you go and find Derek I don't think I'll be able to walk." Odette said.
Sonic knew she couldn't walk, but he also knew he couldn't leave the princess here. So there was only one thing he could do.
"Well in that case the lady shall ride a hedgehog." Sonic said holding his hands out offering to carry her.
"Oh sure he gets to be ze chivalrous one." Jean Bob frowned.
"But Sonic you can't carry me all day I'm too heavy." Odette insisted.
"Hey don't worry about it besides I ain't leaving you." Sonic assured. "Plus Derek would probably kill me if I left you here by yourself or if anything happened to you."
Odette was taken aback her friend was willing to carry her despite the situation they were in. But she knew he was right her husband did worry about her and knew she there was a chance Eggman could find her.
"Okay." Odette said and so she lowered herself into Sonics arms as he carried her bridal style, whilst Jean-Bob sat on the hedgehogs head.
They began walking through the forest trying to find a way out of the dense forest. Whilst they walked Odette couldn't help but worry about her friend, though he was capable of carrying her she did still worry about how long he could keep it up.
"I'm not too heavy am I?" Odette asked with concern.
"No way, I just ain't got a clue how we're gonna get back to the others, I mean sure we could run but I ain't sure where we are and I can't go running in circles." Sonic explained.
"Why not just follow ze sunlight?" Jean-Bob asked.
"Wait he's right we can find out where we are if we go higher up." Odette agreed.
Sonic looked and saw the trees were tall hopefully tall enough. "Okay then hold tight."
Sonic took a running start and ran up the tree trunk until he reached the top. From their vantage point they could see the denseness of the forest and in the distance the far mountains. One of which Odette recognised as Zelda's old hideout.
"Look theres a break it could be a clearing." Odette said.
"Well it's a start." Sonic said however all of a sudden they heard a familiar buzzing sound. Jean Bob turned around and saw what looked like a massive swarm heading towards them.
"Uh Sonic!" Jean Bob squeaked in fear. Sonic and Odette turned round and saw what he was scared of.
It was a massive swarm of Buzz-bombers heading straight towards them. From ones point of view its sensor scanned the trio in the tree, and detected what they were sent to find.
"Chaos Emerald Located.." It then looked at Sonic. "HEDGEHOG ALERT! HEDGEHOG ALERT!"
The Buzz Bombers blasted forwards heading towards the trio in the tree.
"Yikes its ze flying tin bees!" Jean Bob exclaimed.
"Hang on you two!" Sonic exclaimed as Odette held on tightly and Jean Bob gripped onto Sonics head, as he zoomed down the tree and down to ground level.
The Buzz bombers were hot on their tail flying after them with their wings buzzing as they closed in on their prey. Sonic ran at high speed through the trees of the forest with Odette holding onto him, Jean Bob found it difficult to hold onto Sonics head and nearly slipped off if Odette hadn't grabbed him. She pulled him in and he held onto her as well.
The Buzz bombers fired their stinger cannons, at Sonic who was quick to avoid the blasts. He knew he couldn't attack the robots with passengers so the only thing he could do was keep running. More and more blasts came from the pursuers Sonic ran and jumped over the blasts but took extra care not to drop his passengers.
However there was trouble ahead, a sheer drop lay ahead and it was a large gap between one cliff and another. Jean Bob looked and screamed.
"OH NO CLIIIFFF!" Jean Bob screamed.
"Sonic!" Odette said in shock.
"Hang on gonna juice and cut it loose!" Sonic just blasted forwards straight towards the cliff. Jean Bob just screamed in terror as the hedgehog drew closer to the one motion he leaped over the gap thanks to the momentum caused by his speed, he managed to land on the other side and blasted forwards with the Buzz-bombers close behind.
"That was close!" Odette breathed in surprise.
"Yeah tell me about it!" Sonic said stilly trying to be upbeat about this. Jean Bob however looked frozen stiff and white in the face.
The pursuit took the group through more dense forest, with the Buzz-bombers still hot on their tail. Sonic zoomed through the forest and past many trees it felt like the trail was taking many twists turns and loops around as they of a sudden some Buzz bombers came from the tree canopy and surrounded them on all sides. Odette looked worried and Jean Bob was more than scared now. Sonic acted quickly keeping a tight grip on the princess and then performed a homing attack on the robot in front of him feet first sending it crashing into another.
"Sonic the tree!" Odette cried and Sonic could see what she was suggesting.
"Aren't you worried?" he asked.
"If you have time to worry then run right?" She asked with a knowing smile.
"Oh I don't like zis." Jean Bob cried, but it was too late Sonic blasted forwards and ran straight up the tree and the Buzz-bombers crashed into it head first then exploded soon after.
Sonic zoomed up the tree then leaped over to the next one and to the next. They landed back on the ground and they blasted away. They all cheered in relief that it seemed they escaped the Buzz Bombers.
However when they reached the clearing a sudden explosion from behind them catapulted the three across the ground and in doing so Sonic dropped the emerald.
Sonic groaned as he got up and heard a certain sinister laugh. He looked up and was about to reach for the emerald when a robot hand grabbed it first. It was Dr Eggman piloting his Spider Mech. The front leg handed Eggman the emerald to him.
"Hahah I had a feeling that little drowning wouldn't end you Sonic!" Eggman exclaimed. "All I needed to do was wait and wouldn't you know it I find the Chaos Emerald, you and the dear princess."
Odette got up and saw Dr Eggman's spider mech standing above them, she also looked in horror as she saw he had the red Chaos Emerald.
"But now since that little dip in the river didn't finish you Sonic I'll be happy to be rid of you myself!" Eggman exclaimed.
Sonic got back up on his feet, and stood close to Odette and Jean Bob. "You guys get ready."
"Sonic please your too tired, you can't beat this thing by yourself." Odette voiced in worry.
"Just watch me." Sonic said as he was determined not to let his friends get hurt, but before the battle started they all heard a strange sound.
"What is zat noise?" Jean Bob asked Odette listened closely and so did Sonic.
It was a strange buzzing noise with an engine blasting, Sonics eyes widened as he knew what that noise was all too well. Then suddenly.
"SO…NIC!" yelled a voice he and the others looked up and in the sunlight something was silhouetted against it then came zooming down.
Sonic couldn't make out the shape but when he did he couldn't believe his eyes. Eggman looked up and was completely startled as something swooped down and knocked the robot spider off balance. He looked up and saw it was a plane.
It was a blue biplane with white stripes and the word Sonic printed on the rear end and a two tailed logo on the tail fin. In the cockpit was a certain two tailed fox and in the rear was Speed and Puffin who wore small pilot goggles.
"YAHOOOO NO FEAR!" Puffin cheered from the was completely surprised as was Jean Bob some how this metal object was flying in the sky.
"What is that?" Odette gasped in wonder.
"The Tornado!" Sonic smirked.
Eggman just growled as he looked at the flying fox. "GRR Buzz Bombers ground that flying nuisance!" The Buzz Bombers pursued the Tornado and were firing their stingers at the flying machine.
"Tails incoming from the rear!" Puffin alerted.
"Hang tight you guys!" Tails exclaimed as he moved the control stick to the right and Speed held on tight as they barrel rolled out of the way.
Far below Eggman turned his attention back to Sonic, Odette and Jean Bob. All of a sudden the ground rumbled below them, it wasn't an earthquake. Suddenly erupting from the ground was Knuckles who landed a clawed punch right from below. This catapulted the Spider-Mech across the ground and onto its roof.
Knuckles landed near Sonic who was glad to see him, as was Odette. "Knuckles!"
"What took you so long?" Sonic asked.
"You're not the only one who likes to make an entrance Sonic." Knuckles smirked. Then emerging from the hole he dug was Derek, who looked out and saw his wife and Sonic.
"Odette!" He said as he climbed out of the hole and ran over to her and she wasted no time pulling him into a hug.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Yes other than this sprained ankle I'm okay thanks to Sonic." Odette said with a smile.
"Ahem!" they looked over to Jean Bob who was hoping for some praise too.
"And Jean Bob of course." Odette chuckled.
"Nice you could finally join us guys." Sonic greeted the prince.
"Yeah sorry we were late I hate tunnelling coach." Derek said. However their reunion was cut short as suddenly the Spider-mech began to move and using its legs it tilted itself back onto its feet.
"I'm not calling it quits yet fools you only had a taste of what this robot could do!" Eggman pressed a button on the console and the spiders front legs unleashed a number of buzzsaw blades upon the group.
Sonic quickly dodged the in coming blades whilst Knuckles used his shovel claws to swat them away. Derek used this as an opening and quickly carried Odette to safety under the cover of some boulders.
"Stay here I have to go help our friends." Derek said to his wife.
"Okay just be careful." Odette said giving him a quick peck on the cheek for luck.
Sonic and Knuckles stood together to face the Spider Mech. The mech thrusted its legs towards the two. Sonic leaped up into the air and ran along the spiders legs and performed a series of homing attacks on the joints then on the main body. Knuckles then charged forwards on the legs and punched and smashed the robots legs all the way up to the main body and slammed a number of punches in the metal.
However the mechs rear legs swatted the echidna off its body but Knuckles quickly recovered when he landed on the ground.
The leg was about to crush him. Derek quickly leaped in and fired three arrows at the robots dented and exposed armour which then exploded upon contact which did destroy some of the legs but it was still able to fight.
High above Tails was still avoiding the attacks from the Buzz Bombers. The plane tipped and rolled out of the way to avoid the blasts.
"They're getting closer." Speed called.
"Then let's even the odds." Tails said as he then pulled on a lever in the front cockpit. "TORNADO BATTLE MODE ENGAGE!"
The plane then began to shift and change from a biplane into a jet with x shaped wings and a curved rear tail fin. Tails turned the jet towards the Buzz Bombers and charged straight for them.
"Hold tight you two!" Tails said to his passengers. The Buzzbombers closed in. Tails pressed a button on his joystick and missiles launched from the plane and destroyed the robots instantly.
"Bullseye!" Puffin cheered.
"Now let's go help our friends!" Tails said as he turned the Tornado back towards the Spider Mech.
The Spider Mech continues firing buzz saws towards the group and Sonic avoids every shot and Knuckles slices them apart with his shovel claws. Leaving the way open for Sonic to perform a homing attack on the spiders body.
Derek also fires an explosive arrow towards the right arm joints of the spider which explode upon contact. Knuckles then jumps in and punches through the leg destroying it completely.
"Nice shot Knuckles." Derek called.
"Right back at ya!" Knuckles said with a thumbs up.
Sonic avoids more of the buzzsaws then performs a homing attack on one of them which sends it flying into the Spider-Mechs right front leg slicing it off.
"WILL YOU STOP BLASTING MY LEGS!" Eggman exclaimed.
Sonic landed on the ground and ran towards his enemy at top speed. Sweeping down from above was Tails in the Tornado, he swept in closer to Sonic and just as he ran by. Tails passed Sonic a power ring which he caught.
"Thanks Tails!" Sonic zoomed forwards and the ring glowed in his hand.
He went into a super spin which dashed towards Eggman at top speed. Eggman fired multiple missiles from his mech but the spin blew past everyone of them and blasted right through the main body of the mech with devastating force. It was now Knuckles turn who span his fists round and round and crashed into the mechs body from above and shot straight through it.
Suddenly the mech began to overload with energy and sparks Eggman growled as he saw the robot was overloading until finally…
BANG! It exploded into pieces. Odette and Jean Bob hid from the explosion behind the rocks whilst Derek ducked out of the way.
"Bravo Sonic and Knuckles!" Puffin called from the Tornado.
"Way to go!" Speed said in his own way.
The smoke cleared but emerging from the smoke was Eggman in his Eggmobile but surprisingly he was laughing in triumph.
"You fools you may have destroyed my robot! But I still have the real prize!" He revealed he still had the red Chaos Emerald much to everyones shock. "You may have won this battle but soon all the other emeralds and this world will be MINE!"
He laughed maniacally, as he flew away into the sky leaving everyone behind whilst Sonic just glaring at his long time enemy.
"Don't bet on it!" Sonic said glaring.
Swan Lake:
Some hours later everyone was back safely in Swan Lake. In the castle living area Tails and Amy were treating Odette's sprained ankle. Amy helped Tails wrap some bandages round her barefoot close to her ankle as it was propped on a stool.
"Well luckily it's not broken just badly sprained." Tails diagnosed. "But it'll be fine with a bit of rest, Odette but just take it easy for a while."
"Thank you Tails." Odette thanked.
"No more adventuring for you for a while." Derek said as he sat close to his wife who just smiled and shook her head in response.
"Say Tails how'd you get the Tornado here?" Sonic asked.
"The Tornado?" Odette then asked.
"Oh thats the name of the plane I fly." Tails explained. "Its basically our mode of transportation around Mobius. But to answer your question Sonic I actually built this one from scratch using some spare parts salvaged from Eggman's robots and some parts in Rogers workshop."
"So that was your secret project a flying machine!" Rogers realised. "Well I must say it's quite a marvel."
"Yeah figured we needed an edge against Eggman and a way to find the emeralds faster." Tails explained.
"Great but theres one problem, Eggman got away with the Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles reminded.
"You always have to be the wet blanket don't you." Amy then said displeased.
"But he's right we didn't exactly succeed today." Odette said a little saddened.
"Hey don't worry about it Odette what matters is you're safe and so is everyone else." Derek comforted.
"You would say zat if you were holding onto a speeding hedgehog for dear life." Jean Bob said remembering his speeding experience. Which resulted in Speed nudging him slightly.
"Come on guys don't be so glum, Eggman may have won this round but the emerald race ain't over yet." Sonic reminded.
"Sonics right we'll be okay as long as we stick together." Amy agreed.
"No fear!" Puffin agreed.
"I really wish you would stop saying zat!" Jean Bob groaned.
"But in the end thats what you do for a friend, we look out for each other." Sonic agreed to which Odette gave a knowing smile.
Far away In the mountains:
Eggman gave out a sinister laugh as he showed off his prize the Chaos Emerald he won today.
"Now Rothbart what was that you were saying about your doubts in me?!" Eggman gloated to the ghostly villain.
"Yes yes you won today now stop your gloating and use it to revive me!" Rothbart complained.
Eggman wasted no time to plug the emerald into his machine and Rothbart stepped into the chamber just as Eggman signalled Cubot to pull the lever. When he did the energy of the emerald surged into the chamber and into Rothbarts ghost form filling him with power. Soon the process was complete and Rothbart emerged as…
"What!? I'm still a GHOST!" He shouted and he was.
"Haven't you been paying attention!" Eggman shouted. "If this Forbidden Arts is as powerful as you say we need all seven emeralds to bring you back all the way!"
Rothbart just growled in fury, but suddenly his hands surged with red glowing energy and he blasted it towards the good doctor who ducked out of the way.
"Whoa thats new!" Cubot said in surprise.
Rothbarts ghost looked at his hands and saw they were surging with power. He bore a sinister looking grin.
"Well it looks like that did something after all!" Rothbart said. "I can feel my powers slowly returning, though its weak it should be enough."
"To do what dare I ask?" Eggman asked.
"You say we need all the emeralds, well I can't rely on your incompetence to get the ones Derek and Odette have!" Rothbart said with his back turned. "So I shall have to get them myself!"
"Are you mad! They would know of your presence and could end you!" Eggman protested.
"Save me the lecture but unlike before I will not be denied, besides it's about time this Sonic knew who he was dealing with!"
Rothbart gave a sinister laugh as he flew away into the sky and towards the kingdom of Swan Lake.
"Idiot." Eggman growled.
"Oh look on the bright side boss when he's fully restored he might be a bit friendlier." Orbot said which was received by a doubtful frown on the doctors face.
"Or maybe not." Orbot said with an innocent smile.
Authors notes: Uh oh looks like Eggman's won this round of the Emerald hunt, and on top of everything else Rothbart has regained a fraction of his old powers, what he plans to do with that no one can tell. Lets just hope our heroes will be up to the task.
Now for the chase sequence it took a lot of Sonic game level binge watching but I soon had an idea for the chase sequence through the forest near Zelda's old hideout. Also I took some inspiration from the 100 mile Dash scene from Disney's the Incredibles one of my favourite films.
Now Team Sonic has the Tornado to back them up on missions, I had intended originally to have the plane get sent through with them but I thought it would be better for Tails to build a new one from scratch using salvaged parts from Eggmans robots and the resources available to him in Rogers workshop.
Onto the next chapter where lets just say things are about to get ghostly until next time
Gotta go fast!