Sonic and the Freedom Fighters
Chapter 5: The Island In The Sky Part 1
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story, unless specified otherwise, belong to SEGA.
-Angel Island-
Knuckles the Echidna was defending the Altar of the Emeralds from the horde of Egg Pawns that were attempting to climb the stairway and reach the shrine. Eggman had launched an attack on the island in an attempt to retrieve the Master Emerald. Knuckles didn't know what Eggman wanted the Master Emerald for, nor did he care.
Within minutes, the stairway and the ground surrounding the altar was littered with the remains of Eggman's fallen robot soldiers. Knuckles walked down the stairs, dusting his hands and kicking away robot pieces as he did so.
"Jeez, talk about a mess! Eggman never liked cleaning up after himself." He joked before he heard a rather loud humming noise. He looked up and saw a dropship flying away from the island. It looked like it was heading back to Eggman's base.
"Good riddance." Knuckles said. He turned his head round and looked at the wrecked robots.
"Looks like Eggman's run out of robots to send." He chuckled triumphantly, before turning his head back and frowning in thought. "Unless..." He whispered.
Knuckles started to feel uneasy. He knew Eggman would use every resource he had if it meant getting the Master Emerald, but now he had sent fewer robots than usual.
As the guardian of Angel Island, it was his duty to guard the Master Emerald and keep the island afloat. If the Master Emerald were to be stolen, the island would lose power and fall into the ocean, and while the impact might not destroy the island outright, it could still cause heavy damage to the island and, by extension, the shrine.
"Looks like I don't have much of a choice." he thought to himself as he took out a Warp Ring and threw it into the air, creating a large portal in front of him, and wasting no time, he jumped into it.
-Emerald Town-
Sonic and Sally walked through the streets of Emerald Town. She had bumped into him during his morning run, and the two decided to walk back to Tails' house together. Along the way, Sally decided to talk to Sonic about something.
"Sonic, can I ask you something?" Sally asked.
"Sure. Go ahead." He replied.
"Well, what's going on between you and Amy?" The question caught Sonic a little off guard.
"Ok..." He started. "Amy is a really good friend, but... well, she can be a bit much. I have tried to tell her that I don't like her like that, but she either interrupts me or flat out ignores me."
"Sonic, we can't keep... this a secret forever. We have to tell her at some point."
"I know, but..."
Out of nowhere, a large portal appeared in front of the two, startling them. Almost as soon as it appeared, a red echidna with large white gloves that had spikes on the knuckles appeared from the portal.
"Knuckles?" Sonic said.
"Sonic, I need your help." Knuckles replied. "Eggman's after the Master Emerald again!"
"Again?!" Sonic shouted in annoyance. "That guy never just gives up."
"Wait, what's the Master Emerald?" Sally asked, curious.
"Well, remember the Chaos Emeralds I told you about?" Sonic replied. "The Master Emerald is like that, only bigger and more powerful." As he explained, Knuckles looked at Sally curiously.
"Who's this? A new friend?" Knuckles asked.
"Old friend, actually." Sonic said. "This is Sally."
"The introductions can wait for now." Sally replied.
"Alright, alright." The hedgehog relented. "Don't worry, Knux. We'll get the team and be at Angel Island as soon as we can."
"Thank you." Knuckles said as he threw his Warp Ring into the air and it turned into a portal. He turned round to look at Sonic. "And hurry. We don't have much time." And with that, he turned back and jumped into the portal, closing it behind him.
"This sounds urgent." Sally said.
"Yeah, anything involving the words 'Eggman' and 'Master Emerald' can't be good." Sonic replied. "Let's hurry."
Sonic picked up Sally and dashed at high speed back to Tails' house.
Minutes later...
-Tails' House-
The Freedom Fighters were gathered around the centre table in the Freedom Fighter HQ, or the "Barracks" as they had recently started calling it.
"Angel Island?" Tails asked.
"Yep. Eggman's after the Master Emerald again." Sonic said in a somewhat annoyed tone.
"The what?" Bunnie asked.
"We'll discuss details on the way." Sally replied. "We'll need to use the Freedom Fighter Jet to reach the island."
Before Sally could say any more, Antoine got up and bowed down in front of Sally, much to the princess's surprise and embarrassment.
"Do not fear, my princess. I shall ensure zat no harm comes to you." The coyote vowed.
"Uh... thanks, Antoine." Sally said hesitantly. "But I don't really need a bodyguard." Antoine opened his mouth to speak, but Sonic spoke first.
"Antoine, we're kind of in a rush here." Sonic interrupted.
"Uh... Very well." Antoine replied.
"Alright then. Let's move." Sally said. The team gave an enthusiastic cheer as they left to prepare... except for Bunnie, who was looking at Antoine from across the room with a sad expression on her face. Rotor noticed and cleared his throat, catching Bunnie's attention.
"Is something wrong?" Rotor asked.
"No, it's fine." Bunnie said as she left.
Minutes later, most of the Freedom Fighters were seated in the Freedom Fighter Jet and ready to go. The Freedom Fighter Jet, so called until they could think of a name for it, was built to carry a high number of people in case the entire team needed to be transported at once. Tails and Rotor were in the cockpit, while Antione and Bunnie were in the seating area. Sonic and Sally were about to enter.
"Sonic!" They heard someone shout behind them. They turned around and saw Amy running towards them and waving. "What's going on here?" She asked as she caught up to them.
"Hey Amy." Sonic replied. "Eggman's launching an attack on Angel Island so he can get the Master Emerald. We're going over there to stop him."
"Again? Well, can I come with you?" Amy asked, partly because she wanted to stop Eggman, but also because she was hoping to spend time with Sonic.
"Of course. We'd appreciate the extra help." Sally said. This caused the pink hedgehog to immediately pull the two into a tight hug, then rush into the jet. Sonic and Sally both stood shocked for a few seconds before continuing into the jet. Once everyone was in the jet, they took off.
"We'll arrive at Angel Island in a few minutes. That gives us time for a quick mission briefing." Tails said. "Nicole, display the map of Angel Island, please."
A 3-D holographic map of Angel Island appeared.
"This is Angel Island." Tails continued. "It was home to an ancient tribe that disappeared four thousand years ago. There's an altar in the middle of the island which houses the Master Emerald, and the energy from the Emerald allows the island to stay airborne. If it's removed from the altar, the island will plummet into the ocean."
"Eggman seems to have a keen interest in the Master Emerald." Sally added. "Whatever he wants it for, it cannot be good. So our mission is to defend Angel Island and stop him from getting it."
"Tell us something we don't know." Sonic joked, causing Sally to roll her eyes in mild amusement.
"Right, anyway..." Sally continued. "There's a large enemy signal heading towards Angel Island. That should be Eggman's forces."
"Well, good to hear we won't be making the trip for nothin'." Sonic replied. "How long 'til it reaches the island?"
"About forty-five minutes, according to my calculations." Tails said.
"So the plan is to land at the shrine an' wait for Eggman's robots to show up?" Bunnie asked.
"Not exactly. Given the size of this jet, we can't land next to the shrine without damaging it, and the rock formations around the area will make it next to impossible to land. However, there's a path that leads up to the shrine. That's the closest place we can safely land." As Tails said this, the map zoomed in to show the altar and the aforementioned path, the start of which was highlighted by a red dot. Meanwhile, Tails had noticed a familiar floating mass of land not to far from the jet.
"Speaking of which, here we are." He said.
Minutes later...
-Altar of the Emeralds-
After landing and several minutes of walking, the group finally arrived at the Altar of the Emeralds. "Well, here we are." Sonic said. Sally looked around, examining the broken pillars surrounding the ruins.
"This is not what I was expecting." Sally admitted.
The group noticed Knuckles standing at the foot of the stairs. "Knuckles!" Tails shouted. The echidna turned to see Sonic, Tails and Amy, as well as the newly-met Sally and three others who he was not familiar with. He walked down from the shrine and towards the approaching group.
"About time you got here." Knuckles said to Sonic before looking curiously at his new companions. "These guys friends of yours?" He inquired.
"Oh, right! Well, you've already met Sally." Sonic replied as he gestured to Sally, then to the other three Freedom Fighters as he continued. "This is Rotor, Bunnie and Antoine."
"Whoa! What happened here?" Amy asked, noticing the pile of destroyed Egg Pawns.
"Eggman sent some of his robots to try and steal the Master Emerald." Knuckles said. "I managed to take care of it, though."
Wanting to get a closer look, Sally walked over to the pile of destroyed robots. Tails decided to follow her. "What are these?" Sally asked him as she examined the wreckage.
"That's the Egg Pawn series of Badniks." Tails replied. "What we're looking at here are the basic units."
"Basic units?" Sally asked, confused.
"These are the most common model of the Egg Pawns, but there are stronger versions of this robot. They can equip various weapons such as lances, swords and blasters, they can use shields to increase their defences, and they can be outfitted with incredibly durable armour." As Tails rambled, Sally looked back at the wrecked Egg Pawns, her expression shifting from confusion to suspicion.
"There's also these giant, heavily armoured ones that-" Tails turned to look at Sally as he talked, and he noticed Sally's worried expression. "What's wrong?"
"It doesn't make sense..." She muttered. "You said Eggman can build stronger versions of this robot, right? So why did he send these ones instead of the advanced units?"
"Hmm... good question." Tails said.
But before their conversation could continue any further, the two heard a loud beeping noise. Sally took Nicole out of her holster and opened the computer up.
"Sally, Eggman's forces are entering Angel Island's airspace." Nicole's voice warned.
"Everyone, get ready!" Sally ordered. The Freedom Fighters, Knuckles and Amy all prepared for battle, ready for whatever enemy was headed their way.
However, what appeared was not what any of them were expecting.
A massive red and black airship with yellow patterns slowly rose from beneath the clouds. The Freedom Fighters stared in shock as it blocked the sun and cast it shadow over the island.
"Uh oh..." Amy said.
"Sacre bleu! Eet ees huge!" Antoine whimpered.
"What in the heck is that thing?!" Bunnie asked.
"That's the Egg Carrier..." Tails replied. "It's one of Eggman's airships. It has enough firepower to decimate a large city, and it can carry an extremely large amount of robots in its cargo hull."
"So, what does that mean?" Sally asked nervously as she turned to Sonic, who looked up at the gargantuan airship with a determined look on his face.
"It means this is gonna be one heck of a fight." He muttered.
To be continued...