"Hey, Tails!" Sonic called over to the fox. Cheese was sleeping soundly on his lap. Sonic smiled. "Why don't you try steering the ship on a different course now?"
Tails looked at Sonic, a little uneasy. "I guess I can..." He thought for a moment. "But where exactly do you want me to go, Sonic?"
"Wherever." Sonic looked ahead. "It doesn't matter. It's just we've been going in this direction since the Metarex began chasing us twelve hours ago. And I've been wondering why they haven't fired a shot at us."
"Are you suggesting the Metarex tricked us into going this way?!" Cosmo asked, her blue eyes wide.
"That has been bothering me as well," Penny said, sweatdropping a little. "Do you think they're setting a trap?"
"Penny's probably right." Tails said. "Sonic, what if it's a trap?"
Sonic shot them a wink and thumbs up. "Why don't we find out?"
Tails smiled, his gaze turning back to the controls of the Blue Typhoon. "Okay! And while we're at it, we can test out how accurate their tracking sensors are! Let's push our speed to the max! Chris, Kat, increase auxiliary engines to maximum power!"
"Roger!" Chris answered. Kat nodded. "Increasing power now, Tails!"
"Turn to mark 3.1!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Tangle called from her spot, her eyes wide. "They're turning too!"
"It's a laser blast!" Chris said. "The Metarex are firing at us!"
"All shields up!" Cream announced. Once they were up, a laser attacked the Blue Typhoon. Knuckles smirked at this. "Guess they don't want us going this way!" He said.
Tails turned the Blue Typhoon around. "Change course to mark 0.8. Maintain speed!"
"But there are three ships approaching at Mark 370!" Amy announced. "And they're coming at us at full speed!"
She was right, and the three Metarex ships took a dive towards the Blue Typhoon.
"Quick!" Tails yelled in his commander's voice. "Target those ships now!"
"You got it!" Chris said, typing furiously on the control panel. Tails turned to Amy. "Amy, load six missiles and prepare to fire at my command!"
"Target set!" Chris announced.
"Missiles are loaded!" Amy added.
"FIRE!" Tails yelled, and they fired at the Metarex. When the missiles collided with them, the three ships were instantly destroyed. Chris smiled. "All three ships have been destroyed!" He announced. "Five more are on the way!"
"Return to our original coordinates!" Tails commanded.
"Roger!" Chris answered.
"Now it's their move!" Tails yelled. "Cream! Keep all the shields up!"
Cream nodded. "Roger!"
"If the Metarex back off now, it's because they want us to head this way!" Tails frowned. Chris frowned as well. "The Metarex ships turned around! They aren't chasing us anymore!"
Tails turned to Sonic. "The Metarex are up to something!"
Sonic nodded, his smirk still on his face. "Looks that way!"
Knuckles frowned. "Chris! Are there any Metarex ahead of us?"
Chris typed furiously once again on the computer. "I've been trying to search the area with our scanners, but so far I haven't detected anything at all!" He glanced at the big screen in front of them. "It's possible that someone's jamming our scanners!"
Cloud frowned. "Then it IS a trap! We should turn around!"
"I agree with Cloud," Knuckles said.
"No way!" Sonic said. "I'm really curious to know what the Metarex are scheming!"
Hiro frowned at Sonic. "You want us to stay on course?"
Knuckles frowned. "That doesn't make sense, Sonic! We're bound to get attacked!"
"Knuckles is right!" Silver said.
Everyone stared at Sonic, and Penny looked at her friend with worry. Sonic smirked. "That's what I'm hoping for!"
Later...
"The scanners picked up a planet, dead ahead!" Chris announced.
"But I thought the Metarex were jamming our sensors," Kat said, peering over Chris's shoulder. Tails chuckled nervously. "Well, I guess they changed their mind and decided to stop jamming them for some reason, Kat!"
"Thanks for straightening that out for us!" Knuckles told Tails. Chris frowned as he continued typing. "I'll bring a magnified view up on the main screen."
Penny frowned at the planet on the screen. "Chris, is that the farthest you could zoom on it?"
"We can hardly see anything," Blaze said. Tangle and Whisper nodded.
"I can make the image bigger!" Chris said. "I'll just have to zoom in digitally." He pressed a few buttons, and he zoomed in. It was blurry, but they could still make out the land. Knuckles frowned. "Not exactly a prime piece of real estate, is it?" He asked.
Tails frowned. "Huh?" He gasped. "Hold on! Look at those readings!"
Everyone gasped in shock as Tails continued. "The computer analysis shows those craters were all made recently! The Metarex probably kept attacking this planet until it was totally lifeless!"
"Tails is right..." Cosmo said. She sadly closed her eyes and looked away.
"I thought it was a bad idea to come here," Cloud said. "But I've changed my mind!" The wolf growled a little as he spoke. "If these Metarex want to challenge us, then I say bring them on!"
"Cloud is right!" Knuckles said. He pointed at the base. "The scanners have located their base. Let's go there and make them pay for what they did to this planet!"
"They think they fooled us," Tangle said, her tail twitching behind her. "Which will make it even sweeter when we beat those Metarex!"
"Okay!" Tails said, a look of determination on his face. He smiled. "Let's go for it!"
"Turning on all shields to increase power!" Cream announced. "We're ready to go!"
Chris suddenly frowned. Penny walked up to him. "What's wrong, little brother?" She asked. Chris looked at his older sister. "This is impossible! The sensors have detected a bunch of Chaos emeralds!"
Cosmo looked over at Chris with a worried expression. "What's going on?"
"Tails, didn't you adjust the sensors so you wouldn't pick up any more fake Emeralds?" Cream asked worriedly. Sonic frowned at Cream. "What makes you think these Emeralds are fake?" He asked. "They could be real."
Cream shook her head fiercely. "There's no way this many Chaos Emeralds exist!"
"She's right, Sonic," Penny said. Sonic frowned and turned to Tails. "How many of them are out there?"
"About 500!" Tails said.
"Whoa!" Everyone gasped.
Sonic frowned even deeper. "Now that's a big rock collection!"
"It looks like these fake Chaos Emeralds are a lot more advanced than the others we've seen!" Chris said, frowning at the scanner. Knuckles looked at him. "Those Metarex are definitely clever!"
Cosmo glared at Knuckles. "But they're also devious! And dangerous!"
"Speaking of the Metarex, you guys?" Tangle asked, using her tail to point at the screen. "It looks like they're sending us a message!"
"I can't even read it!" Hiro muttered, trying to move his glasses up to his face as if that would help interpret. Knuckles frowned. "This is the first time they ever sent us a Text message!"
"Knuckles is right." Penny frowned.
"I'll turn on the translater!" Tails said. Cosmo shook her head, her eyes never leaving the text. "You don't have to bother," she said. "I can read it." She took a deep breath and read aloud. "'Greetings, space voyagers. It was I who sent the Metarex to attack your ship and chase you down. You are being tested and you have passed with honor.'" Her facial expression changed to worry as she continued reading. "'I admire your great courage. And I invite you to visit my base. I am Black Narcissus, a commander of the Metarex.'"
Cloud frowned. "So he's inviting us to his base?"
"Let's send him an RSVP on a missile!" Knuckles suggested. Amy frowned at him. "If we do go to that base, you should stay on the ship. You're much too hotheaded for this mission."
"WHAT?!" Knuckles yelled. "I am NOT A HOTHEAD!"
Amy frowned. "Oh, yeah?"
Chis laughed. "She got ya!"
Penny looked at Cosmo, whose eyes never left the screen. "There's more..." she muttered. Penny glanced at Cosmo. "What does it say?"
Cosmo looked at Penny. "I'm all mixed up!" She said nervously. "I meant to say there isn't anything more to the message."
Penny looked at Cosmo curiously.
"Okay!" Sonic smiled. "Let's go and say hello!"
Tails smirked. "I doubt the Metarex will invite us back after we wreck the place,"
At that, everyone but Penny and Cosmo burst out laughing. Penny watched as Cosmo silently walked out of the room. Penny frowned, and when no one was looking, she followed her young Seedrian friend. The human girl waited behind a corner and watched as Cosmo got into Amy's ship, and flew off towards the base.
Cosmo sighed as she buckled herself up in Amy's plane. "I hope they'll forgive me for deceiving them." Cosmo thought to herself as she drove off.
Penny frowned worriedly. What was Cosmo doing? One thing for sure, she had to follow Cosmo before the young Seedrian got herself hurt!
...
As soon as Penny and Cosmo left, alarms flew around the ship. Tails frowned. "The Metarex are firing missiles at us!" He announced.
Whisper frowned, readying her wispon. "These Metarex have given us a very warm welcome." She whispered, lowering her mask over her head. Her whisps followed her anxiously.
"These Metarex are playing games with us!" Silver growled.
Sonic looked around the room, noticing for the first time someone was missing. "Cosmo?" He asked. His eyes widened at the missiles headed towards the Blue Typhoon.
"They're coming in fast!" Cream cried.
"There's too many of them to shoot down!" Cloud yelled over the alarm.
Kat gasped. "Sonic! Silver! According to the sensors, these missiles are packed with potassium nitrate and aluminum!"
"Really?" Chris asked, walking up to Kat's side to study the screen. "That's weird!"
Sonic chuckled nervously. "I don't get it!"
"Well, those chemicals are used in fireworks-" Tails began, but they were interrupted by a huge blast of light.
"I had a feeling this trip was gonna blow us in our faces!" Knuckles yelled.
...
Cosmo sighed as she flew Amy's ship towards Black Narcissus's base. The opening for planes opened up for her, and she landed the ship in the engineering room. Cosmo hopped out of Amy's plane and walked towards Black Narcissus. He spoke to her through the radio. "You may proceed through the tunnel. I am waiting for you!" Black Narcissus looked curiously at Cosmo as she walked up towards his throne room. "So you came alone? You are braver than I thought. I rather suspected that you would lose your nerve."
Cosmo gasped nervously but did her best to hide it. She glanced around the empty room. "Where are you?" She called. "Is there some reason why you're hiding from me?!"
The lights around the dark room clicked on, and Black Narcissus rose up from a trap door on the ground, and soon the two faced each other. "Calm yourself." Black Narcissus said once he was settled. "You have nothing to fear! So far." He chuckled as he continued. "Welcome to my base."
Cosmo walked up to him. "You promised to tell me everything. I wanna know the truth about my ancestors and the Metarex! You tell me now, or I'm leaving!"
Black Narcissus smirked at her through his metal mask. "Foolish girl. You aren't going anywhere. You're incredibly naive. Don't you realize you've been tricked? The only reason why I bought you here was to make you my prisoner!"
Cosmo's eyes widened with fear. "P-prisoner?!" She thought in pure terror.
...
"Answers I have about your clan that you seek." Tails translated from the message. "To my base, you will come in five minutes while I launch the missiles at your ship."
Blaze frowned. "That message doesn't make any sense." The cat said, looking at Tails. "Are you sure the translator is working, Tails?"
"I think so..."
Cream looked worried. "Cosmo was the only one who understands the Metarex's writing! Has someone figured out where she went?"
Chris and Kat shook their heads at Cream. "Not yet, Cream," Chris said, frowning worriedly. "But I'm sure we'll find her soon and send her to the bridge,"
"I wouldn't count on that if I were you," Sonic said. He stood near the entrance of the engineering room, frowning. "Amy's ship is missing."
Tails's eyes widened. "HUH?! How could she leave the Blue Typhoon without the sensors spotting her?!"
"She must've had help from a hacker!" Sonic continued.
Chris frowned. "But the only ones who could hack other than me and Tails is..." His blue eyes widened with shock. "..Penny." He finished slowly.
Sonic frowned. "She's gone, too!"
...
Penny jumped into the room just in time to hear Black Narcissus claiming to take Cosmo prisoner. The Seedrian hid behind Penny, shuddering in fear as the human girl spoke. "Listen. Can't we just..."
"Silence!" Black Narcissus growled at her, and Penny shuddered silently. "I have no intention of negotiating with you! You're not invited here. Return to your ship at once, or you will be destroyed!"
Cosmo clutched Penny's arm, and Penny looked down at Cosmo. "I'm sorry I got you involved in this mess, Penny."
Penny smiled gently at Cosmo. "Forget it, Cosmo. I wanted to help you. I still don't understand exactly why you wanted to come here, but I know you have a good reason."
Cosmo's eyes filled with tears. "I did!" She cried, clenching her fists. "Please understand! I had to come! I had to! Really!"
Penny giggled. "Sorry to laugh, Cosmo. You remind me of myself." The girl kneeled in front of her young friend so the two could make eye contact.
"Really?" Cosmo asked, sniffling.
Penny smiled, taking Cosmo's hand and keeping a tight hold of her helmet.
"Hold it!" Black Narcissus growled. "Your friend Cosmo stays here!"
Penny wouldn't have it at that. No way was she letting her friend be in danger! She turned towards Black Narcissus and growled. "I don't think so!" She yelled. She used her free hand to throw a shockwave bomb and pulled Cosmo along with her. "Come on, Cosmo!" Penny called. She felt Cosmo squeeze her hand tightly as they ran, and Penny squeezed Cosmo's hand back, trying to calm the Seedrian as they ran.
The two gasped as the doors to the engineering room closed. Penny smiled. "Don't worry." She said, digging in her pockets for a laser controller. She pressed a button, and Amy's ship from the other side of the door fired a laser. Penny protected Cosmo from the debris as the door burst open.
Penny smiled. "Let's go-"
She was cut short when she felt an immense pain shoot through her. Black Narcissus had appeared sooner than she thought, and Penny's eyes shrunk in fear as her helmet cracked. Groaning, Penny blacked out and fell to the ground, unconscious.
"PENNY!" Cosmo shrieked in fright, kneeling in front of her friend. There was a small wound on Penny's arm where Black Narcissus struck. "Come on, Penny, hang in there for me!"
"I must say I'm rather pleased she tried to flee. It's been too long since I felt the thrill of taking out a foe with my own hands! I must try it more often!" Black Narcissus smirked.
...
Sonic stood near the Power Cannon, his anxiety for his human friend growing inside his chest. Why did Penny ever leave the Blue Typhoon without letting him know where she was going? She'd better have a good explanation when he bought her back.
"I hope Sonic brings Penny and Cosmo back safely. " Blaze said. "So I can pound some sense into them!"
"I can't believe Penny was so reckless! Who does she think she is, Knuckles?!" Cream asked.
"Cut the chatter and let's get on with the attack!" Knuckles yelled.
"Take it easy!" Amy growled. "We're ready!"
"Then let's go! Tails, let's fire up the cannon to full power!" Knuckles yelled.
"Yeah, if we can get Sonic in there fast, we may catch Black Narcissus by surprise!" Chris said. Tails nodded.
Sonic hopped into the Sonic Power cannon, and Tails fired him at full speed towards the base. When he landed, the first thing he noticed was the fake Chaos Emeralds surrounding him.
"Tails is right!" Sonic frowned. "There are a lot of fake Emeralds!" He shuddered suddenly, clutching himself. "Suddenly I don't feel so good..."
"Sonic the Hedgehog! How kind of you to drop in! I've been looking forward to meeting you! Won't you join me in my command center?"
Sonic hopped into the command center and glared at Black Narcissus. The Metarex leader chuckled. "You're not at all what I suspected. I didn't think you'd be so scrawny. It's hard to believe you and your partner Silver are great fighters."
Sonic smirked at him. "Well, maybe later I can prove to you how tough I am. But right now I'd like to see my friends. Now, are you gonna show me where they are?"
"Of course!" Black Narcissus said. "Your friends have not been harmed, in fact, the only reason I took them prisoner was to lure you here! You see, I've heard so many stories about your powers that I decided to bring you here for an experiment."
Sonic glared at Black Narcissus. "Sorry, pal, but I'm a hedgehog, not a guineapig! Now, where are my friends?"
"You will cooperate with my experiment!" Black Narcissus said, not answering Sonic's question. "We will start by collecting data on your strength and speed."
Sonic frowned. "I already told you there's no way I'm gonna help you! Now show me where my friends are!"
At that, Black Narcissus pressed a button on his chair. "Since you refused then I would have to experiment on your friends."
A glass ball rose from the ground. Sonic's eyes widened with shock. Inside it was Cosmo, her face full of pure terror, and there seemed to be a bruise on her cheek. Penny, on the other hand, was passed out on the ground, a few cuts here and there.
"This is a trap, Sonic!" Cosmo yelled through the glass, though he couldn't hear her. Sonic's gaze drifted over to Penny's unconscious body, and his eyes widened. Black Narcissus chuckled. "Your friends certainly made a pathetic pair!"
Sonic couldn't take it anymore. He ran towards the glassed ball and pressed his hands to the glass. "Penny! Cosmo!" Sonic yelled.
Cosmo ran up to him, and Sonic could see the terror on her face. The ball moved back to the ground and once again he was alone with Black Narcissus. "The fate of your friends rests entirely in your hands! If you choose to oppose me, then I assure you they will pay a painful price, it should be quite entertaining!" He laughed. "Well, Sonic, what is your decision? Are you ready to proceed with the experiment?"
Sonic shuddered. "I...never saw Cosmo look so scared."
"She should be," Black Narcissus said.
"And Penny... was passed out...she was hurt too! What did you do to her?!" Sonic yelled, his royal blue fur turning into a darker color.
"She attempted to escape and was taught a painful lesson."
Two Metarexes, one yellow, and one silver appeared next to the shuddering dark hedgehog. "It is time for the experiment. These two Metarex were decided by me especially for this occasion. Gold will test your strength, and Silver, your speed. I based my Metarex decides on data that was collected during previous battles against you. I'm eager to see if they're powerful enough to defeat you."
Sonic chuckled darkly, turning his dark gaze at Black Narcissus. "All right then," He smirked wickedly, his now night sky dark fur raising a little. "Let's test them out!"
Almost at an instant, Sonic quickly smashed angrily through Silver, and then Gold. When both robots were destroyed, Sonic smirked evilly at Black Narcissus, his eyes pure white. "Looks like you're going to have to go back to the drawing board!"
"Settle down, Sonic!" Eggman said, suddenly entering the scene.
Dark Sonic turned to Eggman.
"I don't think I've ever seen you this worked up before!" Eggman said, walking up. His three robots followed him. Decoe looked at Sonic. "You are not the only one having a bad day!"
Bocoe nodded. "Our trip was a real space odyssey!"
Eggman chuckled nervously. "We had some mechanical difficulties. For some reason, the Egg drive got scrambled up! Space travel is tricky. I've warped past so many planets I'm starting to see stars!" He stood next to Sonic, who glared at Eggman as he continued. "Listen, Sonic, I'm really disappointed in you. From now on, be careful not to let your temper get out of control, or one of these days you may find you're always angry, just like another hedgehog we know."
Sonic finally cooled down, his dark fur returning to his normal color as Eggman talked. "You should get out of here," the doctor continued. "And don't worry about your friends, Shadow already rescued them."
Sonic's eyes widened. What?...
...
Shadow frowned at Penny, who was sleeping in his arms. "Your friend will be okay." He said to Cosmo, who was in Amy's ship. Shadow began walking off with the human girl. "I hope you learned your lesson. Next time I may not be around to save either of you. I will be taking the girl with me to tend to her until she wakes up."
Cosmo looked like she wanted to protest but slowly nodded. There was no arguing with Shadow here. She watched as Shadow walked off with Penny in his arms before driving Amy's ship back to the Blue Typhoon.
...
Rouge gave a yell as she smashed at the machine that made the fake Chaos Emeralds. When she was done, she glared at Black Narcissus. Decoe and Bocoe were both impressed. "Rouge destroyed the machine that makes the fake Chaos Emeralds!" Decoe said.
"She seemed to get a real kick out of it!" Bocoe said, nodding.
Rouge continued to glare at Black Narcissus. "That felt great. If there's anything I hate, it's imitation jewelry. You Metarex have bad taste!" She stuck her nose in the air as she walked past Eggman and his bots. "From now on, stick to genuine gems."
"You did a great job, Rouge!" Eggman said.
Decoe and Bocoe nodded, bowing respectfully and gleefully. "That was awesome!"
"I know, I know." Rouge humphed at them. "They don't call me a knockout for nothing."
When she was gone, Eggman turned to Black Narcissus. "I don't like the way you attacked Penny and Cosmo. It's one thing to take them prisoner and threaten them, but when you actually hurt someone, that's going too far."
"You said it, doctor!" Decoe said. Bocoe nodded. "Even we have self principles!"
Eggman continued. "And I also don't like you making counterfeit Chaos Emeralds."
"Yeah, that's phony-baloney!" Bocoe said.
"And another thing..."
"SILENCE!" Black Narcissus roared, ready to attack, but Decoe and Bocoe ran up and immediately grabbed him, stunning the Metarex leader. Bokkun took a leap in the air and smashed Black Narcissus back into his seat, and the little robot landed in front of Eggman and his bot friends. "You ready for round two?!" The robot asked, crossing his arms and glaring at the Metarex.
Eggman laughed. "My robots are tougher than they look! They can beat a whole army of Metarex with their bare hands!"
"Why did you interfere, Eggman?!"
"Because I want to send you and your Meta pals a warning."
"What warning? Are you teaming up with Sonic and his friends against us?"
Eggman chuckled. "Well, now, that all depends! On whether you want me to be your most dangerous foe or most valuable friend! Black Narcissus, you'd better tell your fellow commanders not to underestimate me again! It's clear that you're battling against Sonic, Silver, and their friends has just begun! Today I came to that hedgehog's defense, but that doesn't mean we're on the same side! I could still be persuaded to join your team... for the right price!"
Eggman chuckled.
...
Sonic frowned to himself as he stood inside the blue Typhoon, thinking about Penny. He was worried... she hadn't returned to the Blue Typhoon with Cosmo.
All Sonic hoped was that Penny would be okay.
