Preface: Hello, everyone! This is the final Sonic-based installment in my one-shot series, so perhaps a little fitting, it's set around the same time as my second one, Sonic's Log! First, though, sorry for having trouble uploading recently - I should be back to normal very soon! Until then, let's get this show on the road!
Isolated Island Investigation
[Character Selected: Amy]
[Current World: Mobius]
[Current Location: Westopolis, Chaotix Detective Agency]
[BGM: Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - This Horizon]
Amy Rose stepped up to the Chaotix Detective Agency office. It was a small, yellow cottage along the streets of the city of Westopolis. It took an expensive ferry fare to get from Westside Island to Northamer, so seeing this not-very-extravagant sight dashed her hopes a little.
I hope I've got the right people, she thought, knocking on the door. A while back, she had been told of some odd activity happening on the island that had risen out of the ocean recently. She tried to investigate herself, but she encountered the robot doppelganger of Sonic the Hedgehog that had kidnapped her that one time on Little Planet, so she decided to search for people who dealt with this situation before, and her sources directed her over to the Chaotix.
Vector the Crocodile answered the door. "Ah, you must be our newest client," he said, cordially. "Amy Rose, was it?"
"Yep," said Amy. "Can I come in?" The hedgehog was welcomed into the office, which seemed to be rather professional-looking, with a desk at the back and cabinets to hold client case files.
The other two Chaotix members, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee, were sitting at the desk, looking at a weird red box with yellow rhombuses that had been delivered that morning. "Hmm, so you're Amy Rose," said Espio, looking up from the box. "Welcome. Now, remind us of your case."
Amy began her explanation. "Well, I was looking at my tarot cards that told me that this robot version of Sonic the Hedgehog would attack me again. I heard rumors of him attacking this island nearby, so I decided to try investigating myself, because Sonic hasn't been seen in months, and I found this huge factory there."
"Hmm, I see," said Vector, sipping a cup of coffee. "What was it called, the factory?"
"I think the door said the 'Newtrogic High Zone?'" replied Amy. She was suddenly covered with coffee as Vector spat his drink out in surprise.
"The Newtrogic High Zone?" cried the crocodile. "Why didn't you say so? We've been there! We'll help ya out!"
"Indeed," said Espio, nodding. "How about you, Charmy?"
"Uhh, that might be difficult," replied Charmy, sounding somewhat muffled. "I trapped myself in the box, and I can't get out!" Indeed, the bee was trapped in the box, phishing it around in his attempt to break free.
"Gah! You're always gettin' into trouble!" cried Vector, slapping his face in annoyance. "Never mind, I'll take the box. We'll get you out later."
"Are you sure you can handle this?" asked Amy. They didn't seem like professional detectives, despite their reputation as being among the best on Mobius.
"Well, there were a few more of us," said Espio. "We might need to call them up again…"
[Location Change: Isolated Island, Newtrogic High Zone]
[BGM: Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - Walkin']
And so, the Chaotix traveled with Amy to the islands along the SEGA Union to convince their two former partners, Knuckles the Echdina and Mighty the Armidillo, to help them solve their case. "I knew we should've made sure everything was safe," remarked Knuckles as they stepped off of their watercraft and walked towards the Newtrogic High Zone.
"Well, to be fair, Metal Sonic was on his rampage," said Mighty, "so we didn't really have a lot of time." The gang arrived at the door, and Mighty knocked it down with one punch.
Stepping inside the factory, the group noticed that the entire place looked deserted - only a few blinking lights and some broken wires here and there. "Alright, we should all stick together!" declared Amy. "No one left behind!"
"Hey, who's leading this investigation, me or you?" said Vector "But she's right, guys - let's stick together!" With that, everyone began to walk around the factory, searching for the culprit.
[BGM: Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - Steel Heart]
Unbeknownst to them, however, Metal Sonic was currently searching for the six Chaos Rings, deep within the factory. He wasn't as badly beaten as when he last fought his organic counterpart, but he still didn't feel completely a-okay.
With Master busy getting the Chaos Emeralds to empower me, he thought, perhaps if I harness the power of the Chaos Rings directly rather than the artificial one he created, I will be able to obtain even more power. Recalling how Dr. Eggman discovered the Chaos Rings, Metal Sonic searched for a Warp Ring within the part of the Newtrogic High Zone he was currently in.
As the heroes began to draw near, Metal Sonic finally found the ring hiding behind some kind of claw machine. Jumping inside, he was taken to a mysterious part of the Special Zone that he did not recognize. Floating in the psychedelic, flashing void, he saw six multicolored rings floating in space. "At last," he thought aloud, grabbing all six rings and exiting the Special Zone. "My loathsome copy won't stand a chance once he returns!"
[BGM: Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - Have Some Fun]
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" said Espio, suddenly. The heroes marched into the room just as the robot returned to reality.
"We'll see," said Metal Sonic. He allowed the power of the Chaos Rings to enter his body and felt empowered as a wireframe aura appeared around him.
"Good thing I brought my Piko Piko Hammer!" said Amy, brandishing her signature weapon. She hopped up and brought the hammer down on Metal's head, which barely even made a dent.
[BGM: Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - Surprise]
"Did you really think that would hurt me?" taunted the robot. He hooked himself up to the machine he used the first time he fought the Chaotix, and with the increased power of the Chaos Rings, he could activate all of the traps at once.
Mighty panicked as two yellow fin-like objects emerged from the ground, pushing him into the spikes that suddenly protruded from the wall. He was able to turn his shell in the spikes' direction, but he was left pretty stuck on the spikes. "Great, now I know how a kabob feels," he muttered, struggling to break free.
"I got you, Mighty!" shouted Knuckles, running towards the spikes. He grabbed onto the armadillo's hand and tried to pull his partner out when a long, snake-like robot with a large head emerged from the ground, breaking Kncukles' grip as it did.
"Gah! Not this thing again!" gritted Vector, cracking his knuckles. He punched the robot's long, stretchy body, sending its head falling to the ground, allowing Knuckles to attack the appendage.
"How are you doing, miss?" the echidna called over as the snake-bot recovered from the attack and began to rise back into the air.
"I'll call it a tie!" Amy responded. Missiles were being fired at her, but she was able to redirect them back at the snake-bot with her Piko Piko Hammer. The missile managed to hit the head again, leaving it vulnerable to attack. "Yes! Bulls-owch!" Rings scattered as buzzsaws emerged from the ground, hurting Amy's feet.
Espio turned invisible and climbed up the wall. Maybe if I can pull him out of that machine, he thought, eyeing Metal Sonic, I can force those rings out of him! He climbed along the wall over to Metal and stuck his hands out to grab him. Needless to say, the chameleon was surprised to have his arms grabbed by the robot.
"You really thought that would work?" taunted Metal. Turning around, he watched as Knuckles managed to pry Mighty loose from his plight and threw the armadillo at the snake-bot's head, sending it falling to the ground. "Time for a change of pace!" the robot declared.
Mighty hopped onto the snake-bot's body and curled into a Super Sonic Spin Attack, cutting off the head from the body. "Care to finish the job, Amy?" he asked the hedgehog.
Amy raised her hammer to smash the head, when suddenly, she was toppled to the ground by Espio's body. "Oof! What was-" Looking up, she saw a giant laser being charged up from within Metal Sonic's contraption. "Uh-oh, that's no good!"
"Time to meet your end!" cried Metal Sonic. The laser activated, creating a large blast of energy that illuminated the entire room. Rings scattered all around the room once more as the laser disipated and everyone collapsed onto the floor.
As the box Charmy was trapped in fell from Vector's body, the top finally came loose and the bee fluttered out. "Yay! I'm a free bee!" he shouted. He looked around and saw the terrible plight that had befallen his allies. "Oh, no! Everyone's in a pinch! But I think I figured out how this box works…" A mysterious clock-like object with a big red button in the middle popped out of the box. "Here goes nothing!" Charmy cried, pressing the button. The bee watched the entire fight between his allies and Metal Sonic play out in reverse as he felt the strange sensation of being within a television as the rewind button is pressed.
Time finally started moving forward again when it got to the point where the heroes encountered Metal Sonic. "What just happened?" Knuckles asked, confused at the turn of events.
"I don't know," said Amy, "but I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth!" While Metal was still distracted, the hedgehog once again tried to smash him with her Piko Piko Hammer. This time, it worked as intended and the Chaos Rings spilled from the robot's body.
Metal Sonic finally snapped out of his confusion. "H-how did time reverse?" he asked, panicky.
"Doesn't matter," said Amy. "The point is, this is for kidnapping me when I was trying to meet the real Sonic!" She turned towards the Chaotix and their partners. "Boys?"
Vector, Knuckles, and Mighty each ducked and began to charge up a Spin Dash. While they were in their ball states (except for Espio, who just spun upright), Amy wacked them each with her hammer. The three bounced around the room like pinballs before crashing into Metal's waiting body. "That's it!" the robot shouted, irritated. An energy force field appeared around him and balls of energy began to fire out of them.
Mighty jumped out of the way of the energy balls. "Time to end this!" he shouted, delivering a roundhouse kick into Metal's body. The robot attempted to retaliate by charging forward in his force field, but he was abruptly stopped by Knuckles sending a spiked fist into his face.
As Metal fell to the ground in his weakened state, Espio took out a shamisen, Vector a mike, and Charmy a drum. "Okay, we're gonna finish things here," the crocodile told the others, "but you may wanna cover your ears." As soon as he was sure Amy, Knuckles, and Mighty had their ears covered, Vector began to sing the specially-made theme song for the agency he wrote himself as Espio and Charmy played along. It was loud, obnoxious, and sounded awful. No wonder the others were told to cover their ears.
[BGM: End]
As Vector sang the last note, Metal Sonic began to explode, defeated at last. The robot was completely silent as he flew out of the factory. Slowly, Amy began to uncover her ears. "Well, that was...loud," she said. "But thanks for helping me anyway!"
The Chaotix put their equipment away. "You're welcome!" said Vector. "Now let's find that computer room and shut this factory down!"
The group continued to walk through the empty Newtrogic High Zone, sticking together due to the lack of light. Seeing a glow coming from the end of a hallway, they eventually found a large monitor emblazoned with a log-in interface.
Mighty walked up to the keyboard and typed in "Eggman" as the username. "Now what would he use for his password?" he wondered aloud.
"I have a few ideas, from what I've heard from him," said Amy, taking his place at the keyboard. She first tried "H4T3TH4TH3DG3HOG," but that just got a 'wrong username/password' message. She then tried "G1V3M3CH4O5," and the same thing happened. But when she tried "G0TTH3M45T3RPL4N," the screen changed to say "Maximum attempts exceeded. Self-destruct sequence activated."
Red flashing lights filled the factory as a siren began to blare. "Wow. That is some pretty fine-tuned security," he said, trying not to panic.
Knuckles scanned the room, looking for a way out. Due to his connection to the Master Emerald, he could sense a simple way to get to its shrine. Sure enough, hiding behind the computer was an undiscovered, flashing Warp Ring. "Everyone, quick! This'll get us to safety!" he declared. Everyone hopped right into the ring just as the factory blew up, leaving the island in the state it was when it first emerged from the ocean.
[Location Change: Angel Island, Hidden Palace Zone]
Everyone tumbled out of the Warp Ring, finding themselves in the shrine of the Master Emerald. "Whew! That was a close one!" said Amy, picking herself up and dusting herself off.
Knuckles stretched. "I'm glad that's over," he mused, "but I will say: it was pretty exciting."
Mighty nodded. "You sure you can't take time away from guarding this old thing to have some fun on land?" he asked.
"You kinda sound like Sonic," said the echidna, chuckling. "I wonder what's going on with him, anyway…"
[Location Change: Kingdom of Acorn, Amy's House]
[BGM: Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - Just Another Day]
With the excitement over, Amy returned to her house, where her tarot cards were waiting for her. "Alright, let's see what else you've got for me, little cards," she said, flipping them over. The first card was one that was becoming familiar to her. "That's weird. There's another card of me wearing a crown! But this one has the Chaos Emeralds and seven other figures, too…"
[Location Change: Westopolis, Chaotix Detective Agency]
As for the Chaotix, they were back in their office, looking over their pay of 10,000 mobiums. "I can't believe how loaded that Amy Rose was!" said Vector, looking over the bills.
"I have heard she had inherited a lot from her ancestors," said Espio. "But regardless, she is a very capable fighter. Perhaps we should work with her again sometime."
"Whatever," said Charmy, bringing the subject back to the money, "I think I should get most of the pay!"
Vector glared at the bee. "Why do you say that?" he asked.
"Well, I did save your lives and everything using that time-rewinder," said Charmy. "You're always getting into trouble!"
And with that, Vector began to angrily chase Charmy across town as the bee laughed and Espio ran along, trying to calm them down.
The End
Credits
Voices:
Jenna Ortega - Amy
Keith Silverstien - Vector
Matthew Mercer - Espio
Amy Birnbaum - Charmy
Asher Angel - Knuckles
Issac Ryan Brown - Mighty
Jaleel White - Metal Sonic
Music:
Junko Shiratsu
Mariko Nanba
Additional Music:
Knuckles' Chaotix Soundteam - Just Another Day (Credits)
Written by: Alfred von Any
Edits by: Jesus von Any
Postface: Well, was that a good send-off? Maybe not to this line of one-shots in general, but I thought this was a good story anyway!
I especially like it because I was paying homage to one of the earliest Sonic the Comic stories, titled "Attack on the Death Egg". That story was set after Sonic 2 and showed that the Death Egg was still operational and thus had Sonic and Tails relive that game's final act. This story is meant as a replica, as the Chaotix, this time accompanied by Amy Rose, has a rematch with the penultimate boss. I'm also proud of the box that Charmy gets trapped in for most of the story - before he debuted in the games, Charmy made an appearance in one of the Sonic mangas, where he'd pop out of a box with similar properties to the one in the story should Sonic ever be in a desperate situation. Of course, I also included a small nod to Sonic Heroes: the Chaotix get to do their Team Blast! I would've included the lyrics, but rules. Last but not least, there's a small reference to a subplot I've been foreshadowing since the very beginning...
That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and I'll see you all later! Stay diamond, everyone!
-Alfred
~Characters, ideas, etc. from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise are properties of Sega Corp. No copyright infringement with this company nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~