A/N: Hey, I know I was gone for ten thousand years. Let's get on with the story.
Chapter 2: I Wanna Fly High
Today was a weird day for the famed Sonic the Hedgehog. What started as a simple morning run turned into a battle with an archenemy, Dr. Robotnik, and his newest creation, S.K.T.; a clone created from Sonic's blood fused with Tails and Knuckles' DNA. He was being bashed with trees multiple times. But things started looking up when two of his closest friends, Tails and Amy, found him chatting with the newly reformed S.K.T., now known as SNT.
Right now, Sonic was blitzing through the forest following the path to Tails' workshop. The trip was very short, but with all the things that happened on this day alone, it was far longer than it should have been. When Sonic finally made it, he almost felt like collapsing on the ground.
It was a large open space with a grassy field and small river. Two buildings were present: One was a big red and orange barn with two yellow fox tails painted on the big wooden gate. Next to it was a two-story house that resembled Tails' head. Next to it was a waterwheel which distributed power for the house via the nearby river, and a porch at the front door.
"Phew, home sweet home," Sonic said to himself.
The road to Tails' workshop wasn't very long, but it certainly got tiresome after all that happened. Sonic turned around to see Tails flying with his twin tails like a helicopter. He was the first one to arrive as he landed on the ground.
"Finally, you three sure took your sweet time," Sonic snarked.
"Sonic, it's only been thirty seconds," Tails said. "Can you TRY being more patient next time?"
Sonic shrugged, "I don't know, have you tried not being late for once?"
"Touché."
Amy and SNT arrived shortly after. "Sonic, could you please not run off like that again?" Amy sighed.
"Fine, though you're also the one who chases me all around the world without getting tired," Sonic remarked.
"I'll stop chasing you once you agree to marry me!"
"Like that's ever gonna happen," Sonic murmured under his breath.
"What'd you say!?" Amy summoned her hammer and raised it above her head.
"Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!" Sonic pleaded.
"Amy, can you put the hammer down? You're starting to scare me," SNT said.
"Fine." Amy lowered her hammer.
"Let's just get inside and treat Sonic's wounds," Tails suggested.
The gang nodded as they approached the house and opened the door. The inside of the house was a bit generic. It had a red sofa with yellow cushions, a small kitchen with a dining table right next to it, and a ladder to the second floor. Tails got tackled by a small robotic dog.
It was small with a yellow and white paint job, pointy ears and blue optics.
"Ha, ha, T-Pup!" Tails exclaimed.
"Woof!" T-Pup exclaimed, wagging it's robotic tail.
"Tails, you can play with T-Pup later, we have things to do," Amy said.
"Okay, c'mon little guy."
"Woof!"
Amy opened a cabinet and got out a first aid kit. "Okay Sonic, hold still."
"Amy, this is not necessary. It's only a small bruise," he said.
"You wouldn't be in this situation if you didn't get hit!" she exclaimed, pouring a small bit of alcohol on a piece of cotton and pressed it on Sonic's right cheek.
"OW!" Sonic winced in pain.
"I said hold still!" Amy shouted.
Meanwhile, SNT and Tails watched from a distance.
SNT giggled, "I never expected Amy to be so… uh…"
"Overprotective?" Tails asked.
"Maybe, is that what it means?"
"Yes, c'mon help me get the Tornado ready," The two tailed fox said, walking out of the house.
SNT and T-Pup followed, leaving the two hedgehogs alone for a bit. The three went to the red barn, Tails pressed a button right next to the door, making the large gate open. Inside was a blue plane with yellow wings, two long cannons on the rear, and nose of the plane and a huge thruster.
"Alright, I'll check the amount of fuel in reserve." Tails said, "You and T-Pup can check the engine."
"Okay," SNT responded.
"Woof."
…
Minutes later, the gang got on the Tornado, ready to take off. Sonic and SNT sat on the wings, Amy sat on the rear and Tails was in the cockpit. Unfortunately, T-Pup had to stay in the house for the meantime.
"Okay, is everyone ready?" Tails asked.
"Yes," Sonic said with a thumbs up.
"I guess," SNT said.
"Just take off already!" Amy exclaimed.
Without any setbacks the plane took off into the sky leaving the house and workshop behind.
"Oh, ho! This is going beautifully!" Robotnik laughed to himself. The mad doctor had been non-stop building the chamber. He had a replica of the blueprint from his monitor in hand, following every step as carefully as possible before finally testing it. The chamber was still in its beginning stages, but it would soon be completed.
"Once the Roboticizer becomes fully operational, I'll be able to turn that rodent's meddling friends into my robotic henchmen, and once I do that, I will rule the world! Hahahahaha!" He laughed triumphantly. "But it's still too early for that. Orbot! Where is my food?! I told you I was hungry minutes ago!"
"Sorry Boss!" Orbot yelled from another room, "but Cubot keeps spilling water on the floor!"
"I'm cleanin' tha kitchen!" Cubot yelled.
Robotnik groaned in annoyance, "Why do I even bother rebuilding them?" he asked himself. Turning his back to work on the Roboticizer again. However, the egg-shaped scientist's ears perked at a loud buzzing sound coming from the hallway. "Ah, took you long enough."
The Buzz Bomber presented itself in front of its master as it floated in the air. Robotnik stopped working on the Roboticizer machine and stood up.
"So, did you find where Sonic's friends are, or at best, kept tabs with S.K.T.?" Robotnik asked.
The badnik shook its head. Robotnik's brows slowly narrowed into a frown.
"What?! I told you very clearly to keep tabs on my creation! … You better have discovered something else, or I will send you to the pit of destruction," Robotnik said, frustrated with his robotic minion.
The blue wasp robot nodded. It then played the recording of Sonic, SNT, Tails and Amy discussing their day.
"Well, we were going to visit Knuckles on Angel Island and check up on the Master Emerald, you know, before Eggman decides to steal it again," the voice of Tails spoke from the blue wasp robot.
"Stop!" Robotnik ordered. The Buzz Bomber stopped the recording.
The rotund scientist stroked his mustache as he took this with great interest. So they were planning to go to Angel Island to keep the Master Emerald away from me? He thought to himself. "Is that all?"
The badnik shook its head again and continued the recording. "Vanilla wanted us to take care of Cream and Cheese while she was away, and then the Chaotix-"
"I think that's enough Tails," Sonic responded in the recording.
The wasp-bot stopped playing the recording. Robotnik grinned to himself, "Oh, ho! Now THIS makes it so much easier. You may leave now."
The robot nodded as it left the mad doctor to think to himself for a moment. "I never thought Sonic would leave his friends to spend some alone time with S.K.T. But if Sonic decides to go onto Angel Island with that Knucklehead, then I'll bring some bigger guns to this fight. Orbot! Cubot!"
"Yes, Boss?" Cubot responded from the kitchen.
"I want you two to call a meeting for all my badniks. I have an announcement to make!"
"Right on that, boss," Orbot shouted from the other side. "Do you still want your food?"
"...Yes."
The crew was flying on Tails's plane, the Tornado III, after their departure from the workshop. It was a long journey until they arrived at their destination. While Sonic and Amy were bored out of their minds, Tails focused on flying the plane. SNT looked at the ocean below, admiring its glimmer.
"This is so beautiful," SNT exclaimed.
"Yeah, for like the first time," Amy said, disinterested. "Afterwards, it just becomes boring and monotonous."
"How? It looks so pretty," SNT replied.
"You get used to it after so many rides. That's it."
"Tails, how far are we from Angel Island?" Sonic asked.
"Let's see, the Tornado III is capable of flying at sixty miles per hour. Angel Island is so far at one-thousand kilometers and counting. It would take about two hours and thirty minutes till we arrive there," Tails calculated.
Amy groaned in annoyance. "Why do we do this to ourselves?"
"Hey, um… Sonic," SNT said, "what is Angel Island?"
"It's an island that floats above the ocean. That basically summarizes it."
"A floating island?" SNT exclaims, "How does it float?"
"I don't know that myself. I remember Knuckles saying that the emerald's power is infinite or something like that," Sonic said, "but I don't know how that translates to keeping an entire island afloat."
SNT then looked at Amy. "What, do I look like I know the answer?" Amy scoffed, "How about you, Tails?"
"I may not be that familiar with the history behind the Master Emerald, but I do know that it once contained the water monster, Chaos," Tails responded.
"Oh yeah, that's something I'll never forget," Sonic said.
"W-Water m-m-monster?!" SNT shivered.
"Don't worry, SNT," Sonic reassured, "I know Chaos may be a bit scary. But once I defeated him, he seemed... at peace. Didn't help that the giant talking egg made him angrier than before."
"Angrier? What made him angry before?" SNT asked.
"Oh, I don't know," Amy intervened, "maybe seeing people kill his species?"
SNT gasped, "Kill his species?! Is he the only survivor of his species?!"
"Not necessarily," Sonic said. "I do remember that he used to be a chao before turning into the water god."
"Chao?" SNT gave a puzzled look.
"Oh my gosh…" Amy murmured under her breath.
"SNT, I feel when you meet Knuckles, you'll get all the answers," Tails said, keeping a steady course on the Tornado III.
"Okay…" The cyan hybrid sighed, as she sat on the wing of the Tornado. Robotnik did that? She thought, Why did he do it? What would he have gained out of it? Did he… really want me to do the same thing as Chaos?
Many of Robotnik's robots gathered in front of the large tower base, awaiting for their master's arrival. The sun was slowly setting, turning the blue sky into a dark orange with a few stars shining from the darker parts of the sky. Right by the tower was a large red blimp with Robotnik's face plastered on the sides, sharp stabilizers, and a wide and solid gondola with turrets on the side. In front of the tower was a stage with a microphone on top of a wooden stand with Robotnik's face on it, along with a spotlight looming above it.
The robots waited patiently for their leader, but that wouldn't have been long. Robotnik arrived on the stage alongside Orbot, Cubot and two robots that resembled the blue blur himself, Sonic.
One was short and coated in light blue metal, a black visor with two soulless red optics and three short metal spines on its head. A laser cannon and jet thruster were on its chest. He also had grey shoulder pads and red feet that resembled Sonic's shoes. This robotic doppelganger was known as Metal Sonic.
The other Sonic-bot was tall and bulky. It had wheels behind its ankles. Thin struts connected its bulky forearms and shins, with ball jointed shoulders and hips. It had a black visor with a singular red optic, and he had long spines styled in a mohawk. This robotic monster was known as Mecha Sonic.
Robotnik cleared his throat and tapped the microphone to see if it was on. Shortly after, he began to speak.
"Fellow members of the Eggman Empire, I've come to make an announcement!" Robotnik spoke into the microphone, "Our newest form of residence, Robotropolis, is coming along at a faster rate than expected. After that blue rodent destroyed our old home, Eggmanland, I've taken it upon myself to give you all a place to live. But, we still have an issue of power. Which is why I've decided to go and get our newest energy source, the Master Emerald!" A holographic image of a giant green emerald was then projected from behind Robotnik.
"Its power is infinite, more than enough to keep our city active for all eternity. But it's guarded by that red Knucklehead." The image changed to that of a red echidna.
His long spines were styled like dreads. He wore big white boxing gloves with two spikes at the end of the knuckles. His shoes had a yellow stripe in the middle, a base that resembled a building brick, and green socks. On his face he had purple eyes, sharp teeth and a tan muzzle.
"And I'll need some of the most powerful members of the Eggman Empire to join my excursion. Together we shall eliminate all our enemies and pulverise Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends, once for all!" Robotnik finished his announcement.
The robotic crowd cheered to their leader, the Egg Pawns raised their fists to the air, Buzz Bombers flew around in circles, and Motobugs hopped in place. The mad doctor grinned to himself.
"But Boss," Orbot intervened, "Who will be the ones joining you on the Egg-Blimp?"
"I'm glad you asked, Orbot, for my crew will consist of my strongest creations who dabbled against that meddling rodent."
"But if they dabbled against tha rodent," Cubot responded, "wouldn't dat mean dat they fai-"
"Shut up, Cubot!" Robotnik growled, "Unless you want Metal Sonic to destroy you like S.K.T."
Metal Sonic raised his sharp claws at the small yellow robot with malicious intent. Cubot ran away, not wanting that to happen again.
"So, master, when will we depart?" Droned Mecha Sonic.
"We'll depart soon enough," Robotnik responded, "but first, I have a special mission for you, Metal Sonic."
Metal Sonic stepped forward and saluted to his egg-shaped leader. "What is my duty?"
"You will go and capture Sonic's friends, most specifically, that two tailed fox boy and Sonic's pink girlfriend. They're most likely heading for Mrs. Vanilla's home as we speak. I'm sure it won't be too much trouble for one of my greatest creations."
Metal Sonic nodded. "The objective will be complete." He then activated his jet thruster and flew into the darkening sky above.
"Prepare the Egg Gunners, I'll need them to distract that meddlesome rodent from intervening!" Robotnik ordered, "Oh, and tell the Egg-Pawns to build the Robotizicer in my absence. I left the blueprints in my lab."
"Right on that, Boss!" Orbot said, leaving Robotnik and Mecha Sonic for their departure.
"Come, Mecha Sonic, I'm sure you want that rematch with that Knucklehead."
"I've been looking forward to it." The bulky Sonic-look-a-like cracked his metal knuckles.
With no more setbacks, Robotnik and Mecha Sonic entered the large red blimp. Their journey was going to be a long one, but one that will ensure victory over their hated enemies.
The Tornado III flew over the ocean. The sun was slowly setting and nighttime was approaching. The crew felt like days had passed since their departure. Sonic and Amy fell asleep, and Tails put the plane on autopilot as he also took a quick nap. The only one who was still awake was SNT.
She stared at the beautiful orange sky, admiring the sunset and the wonderful sight in front of her. The sparkling water slowly turned from a deep blue to a glimmering orange. The sky slowly turned black with a few stars shining above.
"Wow," she thought out loud, "this is so pretty and wonderful. Why couldn't Robotnik let me go explore the world, and see what it offered? Why did he always have to keep me inside that… dark… and… scary… prison…?"
Robotropolis, one month ago…
"S.K.T.! You've failed your training once again. Do you know what that means?" Robotnik yelled at S.K.T., while dragging from her arm.
"I'm sorry, please... I'll try harder next time! I swear, please, don't take me back to that dark room!"
"Excuses? I don't want excuses, I want results!"
"But I didn't want to hurt those robots-"
"Silence! If you don't give me results by next week, I'll make sure you never see the light of day… ever again."
Robotnik then opened a large metal door labeled ISO. Inside the room was nothing, nothing but darkness.
"No, no, no, please!"
Robotnik ignored her pleas, tossed her into the room and slammed the door shut, leaving SKT in complete darkness.
"Please, anyone! Anybody!" SKT banged against the metal door, but no one responded. Feeling defeated, she laid against the door and curled into a ball and cried herself out. She wept into her arms with no one to keep her company…
SNT snapped back into reality. She shook her head and realized she was back on the Tornado III with her new friends. She looked to her left to see Sonic and company still sleeping. She smiled softly and turned her gaze to the sunset.
Ever since I joined Sonic, I've felt more… free. Not sure why, but seeing all these sights like the workshop and soon Angel Island, makes me feel more… more… like myself, she thought to herself and stared far into the horizon, waiting for their arrival to Angel Island. She closed her eyes and eventually fell asleep.
...
"Hey SNT, wake up." Sonic's voice played in SNT's head.
"Five more minutes..." SNT said in her sleep.
"SNT, we're here."
The noise of a branch snapping made SNT jump into the air and fall on her feet.
"Huh-what-did just happen?"
"Relax, you just overslept," Sonic reassured. "So much in fact, that it's already night time." He pointed to the sky which was now black with sparkling stars and a half blown up moon.
"Wow… so pretty." SNT gazed up to the sky.
"Come on, let's go and meet an old friend and to make sure a giant emerald wasn't stolen," Sonic said, readying to speed off, but SNT grabbed his arm
"Could you… not go that far away from me…?" SNT asked.
"Sure, let's go," Sonic said, grabbing SNT's hand.
The two ran off into the jungle ahead to meet an old friend and new mentor.