Chapter Two – Tinker, Emerald, Robot, Die!
Eggman's disappearance proved troublesome. No sight nor sign of him, and Sukko absolutely hated being left in the dark. He was well aware that the Resistance was combing the planet for him, and from what he had determined after hacking to the Resistance's computer, they had found nothing. Sukko was a super-class A hacker using his Magic as a form of Telekinesis to run around a computer like no other. He was alone, and that was very much how he preferred it.
He did feel bad about hacking the Resistance, they were on the same side, but Eggman was also game. He needed all the information to make the correct course of action. With the sheer power he processed, the wrong decision could get someone hurt or even killed. He'd learned over the years how the read Eggman databases, and schematics. They were a separate language all their own, and it took time. Time Sukko had.
It was a warm clear day, as Sukko stretched. His long slender legs slowly tensioning the muscles and relaxing, ready for anything. His long arms reaching for the sky. As an Illusionist, he had several different disguises to hide his true form behind. One of his favourites was a dark green Hedgehog, he named Arthur. His current form, Arthur had dark green short fur and quills which were upturned, with a single black stipe along to top of his head. He had knee-high dark brown boots, with a pale beige trim and stripe down the front. Light brown socks could be seen sticking out of the top of the boots. He had beige arms and muzzle, and wore clean white gloves. The eyes, emerald green. This irritated Sukko. He could change everything about his appearance. Species, height, even gender, but the eye colour always remained the same. It was a minor detail but it could potentially be enough to give him away. He hoped not.
Sukko heard an explosion behind him, followed by another, more familiar, one. Another village was being attacked by Eggman's wondering forces, and the Sonic Boom that followed, meant the Resistance was all over it. He ignored it. They were more then able to cope. He was not needed. The mystery over Eggman's disappearance was of far more interest. He was sure the Human wasn't dead. He would have felt something through the Chaos Sorcery if he had, but when word got out that the Chaotix Detective Agency was also on Eggman's trail, then the race was on.
Eggman keeping a low profile was not his style, and knew if he could remember what happened, he'd automatically want to seek revenge. However, if those memories were lost, then he'd just vanish. Which seemed to be what happened.
Sukko smirked.
'So Eggman might be lost with no memories' He sniggered to himself. 'But where?' He wondered. Then he thought. 'Maybe the people know?' He added, and raised his arms, checking first that he was completely alone. A royal blue hue of luminescent vapour silently exploded out of his hands as Sukko extended the extremely powerful Magic towards the people of Mobius. It expanded to reach the inner thoughts and feeling of those caught in the mist, looking for clues as to Eggman's whereabouts.
Telepathy.
Sukko sighed. He was well aware of the dangers of large scale Magical casting could do, and well as the drain. The ability to cast Chaos Sorcery was the Chaos Power, however, it was not free. Repeated casting, or extremely high-level casting, took it toll on the body and mind, regularly knocking out the Sorcerer. This was drain, and had been the bane of Sukko's life for years. That was why he wasn't so keen about being on the front line. Being in the background, made it much easier to sleep off the Magic. He was also aware of the corruption it could cause. The level of control he could inert on those who minds he caught was staggering and nothing feared him more. Sukko would rather take his own life then succumb to the corruption. But he had to stay true to himself and more importantly, true to his family, to keep the corruption at bay. He preyed it was enough. He had to be incredibly careful he wasn't detected by the Mobian Authorities either. Thankfully, they now believed all Chaos Sorcerers dead, had disbanded their army of Magic Slayers. But Sukko knew there were some out there who still believed. Some Slayers with devices that could detect Magic no matter how small who would stop at nothing to see him dead.
Through the minds of the people of Mobius, with the Telepathic scan, expertly covering his tracks, he traced a possible lead of someone called 'Mr Tinker'. Unable to get more information beyond him being Human, the lead ran cold. Considering that the only Human on Mobius Sukko knew of was Eggman, he made the assumption that it was him, and decided to investigate. But he quickly realised the location was the other side of the planet. Sukko swore, he had no means of getting there, not before this so called 'Mr Tinker' moved on. Not wanting to loose him, he expanded his Telepathic field and scanned closer to the area of 'Mr Tinker's' location, which pushed Sukko's Magic to it's limit due the distances involved, looking for someone in the Resistance.
He found her. A Bat, who carried all the correct mental markers of the Resistance. He gently entered her mind and quietly dropped off the information, without her noticing. But before he could leave, he felt the presence of an extremely dark, and powerful being who did not taking it to kindly of Sukko using Telepathy on his friend. Not only could Sukko sense this incredibly cold, dark presence, but he could sense him in return. Sukko screamed, not recognising him at all and got out of there as fast as he could. He swore.
Slayer.
All the years Sukko had been on the run, he'd never met a Magic Slayer. He was the King of Stealth. Staying hidden for everyone was something he was extremely good at. Not only could he use his Magic to create Illusions but he could also turn completely Invisible was well. Now with a Slayer on his tail, he'd need every trick in the book to survive. Sukko was panting, he now had to try and calm down from his panic, and prey the Bat would pass on the message. This was one the Resistance would have to deal with on their own. He sighed, extremely tired from the drain. Alone, he knew he was safe enough where he was to sleep it off but he knew there was still work to be done.
Several days passed, when Sukko heard that Mr. Tinker had been found, and it was indeed Eggman. The Chaotix were claiming Vectory, but Sukko smirked, knowing full well that he'd found him first. Seems like his Bat came through. No idea who she was. That happened a lot with the Resistance. Sukko would help people across the Resistance, mainly through Telepathy and yet he'd had no idea who they were and vice versa. They just worked together for the greater cause. Sukko also heard that the Resistance was going the let Eggman be, the memories truly gone. Sukko frowned, he didn't think that was wise. To destroy the head of the empire as global as Eggman's, it would simply fight to survive without him.
With Eggman gone, Sukko took the opportunity to hack into the Eggnet. Eggman's homemade operating system that everything he created ran on. Sukko didn't need to infiltrate one of Eggman's bases to access the Eggnet. He was able to do it wirelessly, through a project he been working single handedly for years, and if successful, could seriously turn the tide against Eggman. He could feel a presence in the Eggnet. Powerful, emotionless, strong. Definitely not organic. This confused Sukko. He didn't believe that a robot could form such consciousness and was about to investigate but found himself being forcible thrown out of the Eggnet.
Sukko lay panting on the floor where he stood again. He was seriously beginning to tire. That had never happened before. Angered, Sukko was about to through some serious Magic at the Eggnet, when a call to arms from the Resistance, prevented him last minute.
To say that absolutely nobody on Mobius, knew of his existence was not entirely true. His brother knew, and also knew how to send messages to him, and vice versa. It was how Sukko relayed his Intelligence to the Resistance and how he received orders from them was via his brother. Sukko had had a call to arms before but never one this panicky. The Resistance was in trouble. Sukko had to get the Angel Island now. But there was a problem. The Island was miles away and Sukko, had no high speed transportation. Sukko could do a lot with his Magic. He'd gained an array of Psionic powers. These powers manifested themselves as a luminescent vapour of bright blue hue emanating from his hands and body, resembling the natural Chaos Magic he was born with. But there was nothing to physically move him at speed.
He had read up of the fact Telekinesis could be turned into flight. Silver the Hedgehog had proved tis but his powers were very different to Sukko's. Silver's Psychokinesis used pure Chaos Energy to directly move and manipulate object. The power was linear, easy to manipulate. Chaos Sorcery which also used Chaos Energy, but it was completely wild, untamed and very unpredictable and thus far less stable. It meant that controlling it was an absolute nightmare, but it was far more versatile to the ruthlessly powerful. You could do more with Chaos Sorcery then any other Chaos Power, if you truly mastered the control. Sukko, however, was not that strong, and therefore failed in anything significant in flight. He could hover several metres off the ground, go up and down, but moving side to side was slow though the air (it was faster to run), and that was it. This frustrated Sukko. All his life, he'd constantly had the recurring dream that he was meant to be in the air, and yet to achieve such a feat of true flight, to soar through the sky at speed, with Chaos Sorcery was impossible.
In the little documentation there was that survived from the Purge on Chaos Sorcery, none one had ever succeeded in achieving true flight using Magic alone. It genuinely was impossible. Sukko had no other powers. The Chaos Sorcery was all he had.
Locating Angel Island was easy enough with his Magic, but getting there, he had to run. As fast as his muscles would allow him. With no Super-Speed, or Super-Strength behind his muscles, he needed to find another means of travel. Soon managed to hi-jack a vehicle (borrow), and soon was heading to his destination much faster.
After several hours, the sight that greeted him was absolutely dire. Angel Island had been completely hi-jacked and there was a full-on fight on the Island itself. Sukko could see some kind of mechanical dragon up there. But what concerned Sukko was the fact the Island was how partially over land and falling fast. From what Sukko knew of Angel Island, it was designed to hover over water only, so if it crashed, it wouldn't damage itself or anyone else. If it crashed over land, it could potentially destroy the entire Island and who knows what else.
At the Island's current rate of decent, is was going to crash right into the coast, close to some nearby villages. Sukko screeched the vehicle to a halt, jumped out and immediately took to the air. Hovering as high as he'd dared, completely Invisible, he used in incredible Telekinetic Magic to hold up Angel Island. If he hadn't, then the island would crashed in the short period of time, the Master Emerald was gone. He could still hear the fight going on from above. He hoped they'd get the Emerald back in place soon, this Island was extremely heavy.
He groaned, giving everything he'd got, pushing up with all his might and power. Then, all of a sudden, the island began to hover under it's own weight again, and rose back up into the sky. Sukko let go. The Echidna had restored order. Sukko knew of the Echidna on Angel Island but never met him. Just that he was Resistance and good. Sukko returned to the ground and watched Angel Island float away, satisfied. Again, the Resistance would clean this one up, he'd done his job. He had his own project to deal with. He didn't like walking away from such a mess, but he couldn't have helped any further otherwise he would have blown his cover. Right now secrecy was paramount. It was the only way to stay alive. Hopefully, one day, this might change, but Sukko had no idea when.
Several weeks later, his project almost at completion, he heard on the Telepathic grape vine that the Resistance had been disbanded. What! Sukko couldn't believe it. They hadn't won. Eggman may have lost his memories and that some robot named Metal Sonic had been destroyed, but that wasn't the end. Lost memories don't last forever, even ones Telepathically swiped. It was why he'd never gone after Eggman directly himself despite being a powerful Telepath, because Eggman's mind, which Sukko had seen inside, was one of the most complex he'd ever witnessed. His boasting of genus intellect was true and his knowledge of all thing robotic was incredible. Sukko was in absolute awe but it was also what made Eggman so dangerous.
A mind as complex as Eggman's does not simple loose it's memories. He would instinctive remember something and eventually come back round. To mentally destroy someone like Eggman, you have completely swipe it clean. Memories, mental processing, instincts, personality, everything. It was absolutely brutal and usual the mind can't cope, and dies a result. Sukko could do it, kill Eggman, he had the power. But not the ethics. It was morally wrong and he knew it.
This wasn't over and the Resistance disbanding was a serious worry. Sukko was a loner, used to working for the Resistance in complete secrecy. His brother giving him leads to follow, calls for help and telling no one. But weirdly, he heard nothing from his brother with regards to the Resistance's disbandment, which Sukko thought was odd, so decided to investigate. Sukko avoided crowds. In fact, he hated them. Only completely alone, he was free to use his Magic however he saw fit. He knew places he could go on Mobius, that were completely isolated and wouldn't be overlooked. There he had the freedom to work his skill without being caught.
Travelling from village to village as 'Arthur', Sukko finds out that the Resistance had actually been turned into something called the Restoration. The Restoration, was a organisation made up of the Resistance which was helping rebuild the different places of their world, that had been devastated by the Eggman war. Such as Sunset City. To Sukko, this sounded dodgy. Eggman wasn't dead, so therefore not defeated. Now he understood what his brother hadn't said anything, it was just the Resistance under another name, but still, Sukko couldn't help but get the feeling that he was going to be needed here.
He braced himself. He was going into seriously dangerous territory, as a Sorcerer. To use Magic, both indoors and in crowds were dangerous, and to be seen, could cost him his life. The law still stood, Chaos Sorcery was still illegal, even with the war against Eggman. Would the Resistance, now the Restoration turn on him? Would they see though his disguises? He had no idea, but he believed the stakes were worth the risk. The Restoration needed his help. Getting a job there was extremely easy. They were screaming for people who had good organisational skills, especially in paperwork. Sukko smirked. He could do that, and didn't need Magic for it either.
Sukko enjoyed the job. It gave him a chance to relax, while also helping the Restoration. A good chance to rest his Chaos Sorcery. It had been seriously tiring him of late, and it needed to recuperate. But it was very strange and took some getting used to. Sukko had spent his entire life outdoors, he never had a roof over his head, leaving him partially feral. He had good social skills so never let on that fact but being in such enclosed spaces, especially underground, wasn't easy.
One perk, however, is that he finally got to meet, as 'Arthur', some of the famous members of the Resistance. Sukko had to tread very carefully here. These people were some of the most powerful Chaos Sapients on the planet, and could potentially see straight through him. He sighed. He had deep respect for each and every one of them. The people he'd been working so closely with for so long, but yet never met. The first was Amy Rose, a pink-furred Hedgehog with green eyes and peach skin on her muzzle and arms. She had a small black nose and no back spines. Her five short head quills point downwards, somewhat resembling a bob cut. She had three spikes for a fringe on her head, and a short tail. She wore a red, sleeveless, backless dress with white trim, tall red boots with a white stripe down the centre and white cuffs, a red hairband, and white wrist-length gloves with gold bracelets for cuffs.
Sukko found her to be a surprisingly bouncy girl for someone in charge of the Restoration. Organisational skills were her forte, but the reams and reams of paperwork, not so much. Sukko decided to help her out as best he could. The next famous member of the Resistance Sukko bumped into was Tails. A young, Fox cub with a unique mutation of two tails instead of one. He had mostly yellow-orange fur with white fur around his muzzle, front torso, and the tips of his tails. He had blue eyes. He wore white gloves and red shoes with white toes. Sukko was stunned. He'd heard of Tails and his incredible intellect, compatible to that of Eggman's, but was amazed by his age. He was still a child. The respect Sukko had for him increased ten fold.
Soon the others came through. Team Chaotix were first, consisting of Vector, Charmy and Espio, a Crocodile, Bee and Chameleon respectively. The team of investigators who Sukko beat in finding Eggman. He smirked. They were arguing over something and completely ignored him. He let them. Then came Rouge the Bat, the sassy lady who seemed to be showing around the Restoration, a pair of Rabbits, mother and daughter, who Sukko later found out were Vanilla and Cream. They again ignored him. Sukko recognised the Bat, as the lady he'd dropped the information on Eggman to. Again respect, as she had obviously said nothing as to where she got the information from. Then came an extremely quick flying visit from Knuckles the Echidna, who, Sukko could only guess, wanted to see what the Restoration fuss was about before quickly returning to Angel Island. The Restoration was still very new, at this point.
Knuckles was an Echidna with red fur that covers most of his body, peach skin on his muzzle, a white crescent-shaped patch of fur on his chest, and purple eyes. He had seven deadlock-like spines around the sides and back of his head and a medium-sized, tri-crooked tail. Knuckles wore red and yellow shoes, each with green cuffs and a grey, sextuple-bolted plate on top. He wore large, white, mitten-like gloves with sock-like cuffs and two spiked knuckles on each hand.
To finally see the famous Echidna of Angel Island, Sukko was honoured, but not as honoured as seeing the person who immediately popped up behind him. The Hero of Mobius himself, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic was a slim Hedgehog with blue fur that covered most of his body, peach skin that covers his arms, muzzle and front torso, and emerald-green eyes. He had small, triangular ears on the top of his head, six long quills on the back of his head, two spines protruding from his back behind his shoulders, and a short tail. Sonic wore two light-weight, hyper friction resistant red shoes, with white cuffs around the ankles, grey soles, and the famous white straps across the top, the last of which are held down by a golden buckle on each foot. He wore a pair of white gloves with sock-like cuffs on his hands.
He was happy to see Knuckles there, but the Echidna immediately left before the Hedgehog could say anything. Sonic just shrugged and wondered over to Tails and Amy at the main console, completely ignoring Sukko. Again, he was not offended by this. He was hiding after all. Then followed in was the person to Sukko had to admit he was a fan of. Silver The Hedgehog. Never met him before and he was as stunning as he was powerful. Silver is a very light grey (almost white) Hedgehog with pale fur on his chest surrounding his neck, gold eyes and peach skin. He had two large spines at the back of his head, while on the front of his forehead there are five distinct spines flared up and back, the two final ones covering up most of his ears. He wore white gloves with cyan circles with lines sticking out of the bottom leading to his golden bracelets accented in cyan. The tops of his boots were of a similar fashion with a red gem set in gold. The rest of his boots were navy blue, white and cyan. He looked deeply concerned and keep saying that the fight with Eggman wasn't over, which Sukko had to agree with but neither of them could prove it to the rest of the Restoration who were just not believing.
Unable to do anything, Sukko decided enough distraction, time to get back to work, when the alarm went off. The main computer console was going bonkers. Soon it was surrounded with people. Sonic, Amy, Tails, Silver, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Vanilla, Cream, and Rouge. Sukko watched from the outskirts, a master of stealth and subtlety, proud to see his brother among them.
The main console was warning that a tracker that had been placed on someone had been destroyed. This meant only one thing.
Eggman was missing.