Sonic and the Freedom Fighters
Chapter 15: The Scorpion's Sting
Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. All characters presented in this story, unless specified otherwise, belong to SEGA.
-Crystal Desert Zone-
While Sonic and Tails were busy in the Neon Skyline Zone, Sally and Amy rode across the landscape of the Crystal Desert Zone, both sharing Sally's Extreme Gear. The glimmering sands and towering ancient temples were truly a sight to behold, as were the crystalline formations that had taken the shape of cacti, but with the mission at hand, neither one of them could take in the majesty of the surroundings. Instead, they headed straight for the location of the next Chaos Emerald.
"So, how are we doing?"
"Well, we're getting closer, at least. Problem is, the radar doesn't list the altitude." "Any progress on that front, Nicole?"
"According to cross-referencing with satellite imaging, it appears to be situated at the top of a large temple."
"I think I see it! Up there!" Amy exclaimed, pointing towards the top of a particularly large temple, from which a bright cyan light shone. Seeing this, Sally turned towards the temple and rode at top speed, and upon reaching it, scaled the temple walls as a shortcut to the top of the temple.
The two eventually reached the top to find a sort of altar, in the middle of which was a Chaos Emerald in a cyan colour. Sally and Amy immediately rushed to grab it, but before they could, a blurred figure raced past and snatched the Chaos Emerald from the pedestal. The two swiftly prepared for combat as the figure landed on the floor, revealing themselves to be a female Mobian bat with tan skin, with white fur covering her head, along with prominent dark purple wings. Her face bore teal eyes, her eyelids coloured a light shade of blue, and her muzzle shared the same tan complexion as the rest of her body, barring her head. The Mobian wore a tight black bodysuit with a bright pink heart-shaped breastplate that left her back and shoulders exposed, white gloves that rose up to her upper arms and ended in pink cuffs, and white thigh-length high-heeled boots with pink cuffs and a heart shape framing the front of each foot. The woman, holding the Chaos Emerald in her hand, stood up and looked at the two with a playful expression. Sally, confused as to who this woman was, kept her blades at the ready if she turned out to be one of Eggman's followers. Amy, however, recognised the woman on sight and gave an annoyed glare.
"Sorry, girls. Finders keepers." The bat taunted, holding the Emerald up close to her face to emphasise her point.
"We don't have time for this, Rouge!" Amy replied sharply, tightening her grip on her hammer as her glare became fiercer.
"Nice to see you too, Amy," Rouge responded, unintimidated by Amy's scowling face as she turned to Sally, who looked between the two with a somewhat confused expression. "I see you've made some new friends." The bat remarked.
"What are you even doing here, anyway? Were you following us?" The pink hedgehog asked.
"No. I was just searching for jewels when I saw you girls heading towards this temple." Rouge replied. "I figured it must be something really valuable if it had you two come out here." While the two argued, Nicole's holographic form materialised beside Sally.
"Could someone please explain what is going on?" The digital lynx asked.
"This is Rouge. All you need to know about her is that she's a thief." Amy informed her, venom dripping from her voice as she spoke.
"I'm also a G.U.N. agent," Rouge responded in mock offence. "And besides, it's not like any of the people buried here will be needing their priceless jewels any-"
"Wait. You said you were with G.U.N., right?" Sally interjected.
"That I am, Red." The bat replied.
"Then you are not affiliated with Dr Robotnik at all?" The chipmunk further questioned.
"Don't be silly. I want absolutely nothing to do with that madman." Rouge assured her. Hearing this, Sally deactivated her Ring Blades.
"Then I take it you would be open to negotiation?" She asked, an air of authority returning to her voice.
"You can't be serious," Amy exclaimed in exasperation.
"Hold on, Amy. The grown-ups are talking." Rouge teased, prompting an annoyed growl from the pink hedgehog, before returning her attention to Sally. "So, tell me, Red. Why are you so interested in the Chaos Emeralds?"
"First of all, my name is Sally." She corrected. "Second, we're collecting the Emeralds so that Robotnik can't use them to power his machines."
"Oh, so the whole hero angle, then," Rouge remarked. "Okay, I see what you're getting at. But hear me out. If I were to keep it, wouldn't it still be out of Eggman's hands?"
"Well, what if Sonic needs to go Super Sonic?" Amy asked, still not trusting the bat.
"Hmm. Well, in that case, I suppose I could let you borrow it..." Rouge replied in mock contemplation.
"This is ridiculous. Sally, we're not really gonna try and bargain with her, are we?" The pink hedgehog asked.
"Well, she's not giving us much of a choice," Sally admitted. "Besides, she may be fundamental in helping us stop Robotnik."
"Yeah, if we need someone to use as bait," Amy muttered under her breath.
"I can hear you, you know," Rouge called out, slightly irritated.
"I'm well aware!" Amy replied defiantly before the ground beneath them suddenly started to shake, interrupting their conversation. "Was that an earthquake?" Amy wondered aloud.
"Strange. I don't recall tremors being prevalent in this region." Nicole remarked thoughtfully. Another tremor occurred, this one stronger and longer-lasting than the previous one, and the temple suddenly started to collapse.
"Run!" Sally yelled. Nicole's hologram disappeared as Amy raced down the side of the temple while Rouge flew down. Sally, running towards the edge of the temple, pulled out her Extreme Gear and jumped on, racing over the step-like outer walls and picking up Amy, who was struggling to outrun the collapse, carrying her down to stable ground and letting her down beside Rouge.
The three continued to watch the temple fall apart until something emerged from beneath the ruins. That 'something' turned out to be a gargantuan crimson robot that loosely resembled a scorpion, with large pincers and a segmented tail that ended in a triple-barreled laser cannon, as well as a set of large tracks to traverse the ground with. The face of the robot was relatively simple, consisting of a single visor-like optic and two forward-facing spikes underneath, presumably to resemble mandibles. As the robot fully removed itself from underneath the sands and stared the three down, a hatch on the top of the robot opened up, and none other than Dr Eggman slowly rose up from within.
"Well, if it isn't the princess, the spy and the brat!" The doctor greeted sardonically, with Amy giving an indignant huff in response. "Sorry you all had to come so far for nothing, but I'll be taking that Emerald off your hands." He continued.
"There's no way we're giving you anything!" Amy yelled in defiance.
"That's fine. I can just as easily pry them from you... after a thorough thrashing, that is!" Eggman replied, his command console descending back into the mech with him in it, as he prepared the mech for combat.
"What do we do?" Amy asked Sally.
"We have the Chaos Emerald, there's no need to engage!" Sally replied, dropping her Extreme Gear back into the air above the ground and hopping onto it. "Let's hurry back!" She continued as she helped Amy onto the board and raced at high speeds away from the mech, while Rouge simply flew into the air above them. In response, the mech simply aimed its tail-mounted cannon at the escaping trio and fired a barrage of laser blasts at the group, each shot kicking up a large volume of sand that ended up knocking Sally and Amy off their balance, causing them to land on a large rectangular slab of stone, presumably the long-abandoned building site for one of the temples. Rouge, meanwhile, attempted to dodge and weave to avoid the blasts, only for one of them to just graze the edge of her wing. Wincing in pain, she was forced to descend to the stone base, where Sally and Amy had recovered from being thrown off their ride, while Nicole's holographic form once again materialised.
"It appears he does not intend to let us escape without a fight." The lynx observed as the giant mech inched closer towards them.
"You don't say." Rouge scoffed, tending to her injured wing.
"Fine," Amy growled, pulling out her hammer. "If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get!" She elaborated, rushing at breakneck speed towards the mech as it traversed onto the stone ground and leapt into the air. The mech folded its large claws in front of it in a defensive manner as Amy came down and attempted to strike the mech with her hammer, only for her to bounce harmlessly off the mech's surface and land back on the ground.
"What the-?" She muttered, completely baffled by the ineffectiveness.
"The armour must be reinforced." Nicole deduced.
"Indeed! This here Egg Scorpion is fitted with incredibly sturdy armour plating! Your attacks won't even leave a dent!" Eggman gloated before the Egg Scorpion raised one of its claws and attempted to strike Amy, who managed to dodge the attack. The tail of the mech raised and aimed at the team, firing another barrage. The group managed to avoid the laser blasts as Amy charged forward for another attack. Rouge, meanwhile, has finished tending to her wing, stretching out proudly.
"Rouge!" Sally's voice called out to her, as she turned to face the chipmunk. "Look for any weak points in the mech's armour!" She commanded.
"Y'know, you're putting a lot of faith in me, Red. How do you know I won't just take my Emerald and leave you three in the dust?" She questioned.
"You can try, but I doubt he'll let you leave with a grazed wing next time." She replied calmly, gesturing towards the Egg Scorpion mech, which was currently busy blocking Amy's attacks. "You want to leave here alive? Then help us fight!"
"Fine." She begrudgingly relented before taking to the air. Sally, meanwhile, connected a Power Ring to Nicole's handheld form, causing Nicole to appear in front of her, her holographic body now brimming with energy and ready for combat.
"We'll create a diversion while Rouge scopes for weaknesses," Sally told her.
"Understood," Nicole replied as the two rushed forward. The Egg Scorpion's tail aimed at them and fired, only for the two to dodge. The tail then focused its fire on Sally as the princess ran around the mech, expertly evading every blast with acrobatic finesse. One of the blasts fired straight at her, but the blast was blocked by the sudden appearance of a purple-tinted barrier, a shield that Nicole had erected as she synthesised a spear out of energy and fired it at the tail. The tail moved to aim at Nicole, but in doing so, the spear struck the energy cannon, disabling it.
Rouge, meanwhile, used the distraction to survey the Egg Scorpion's structure from all angles, hoping to find some way to take the mechanical behemoth down. In her search, she noticed that the joints connecting the arms to the rest of the mech had several unarmored areas, presumably to not compromise the mobility of the arms.
"Hm. That's handy." Rouge commented before the Scorpion's tail cannon recovered and aimed at her, only for the bat to fly away before the cannon could fire its first shot. She flew around until the tail stopped firing, after which she landed next to Sally.
"Looks like the joints are less armoured than the rest of the arm." She informed. Amy, meanwhile, had begun blocking strikes from the mech's arms, eventually pushing back with her hammer against one of the arms as it tried to crush her. Gathering all of her strength, she managed to swing her hammer with enough force to blow the arm back, though the mech recovered quickly and swung its other claw at her. Amy had just enough time to block before the claw struck, sending her flying back and landing in front of the rest of the group, prompting Sally to rush over and help her up.
"You okay, Amy?" Sally asked as she helped Amy to her feet.
"Yeah. Thanks." The pink hedgehog replied before picking her hammer. "Hey, I'm curious. If that thing's armour is meant to be super tough, why does it keep blocking its face?" She asked.
"Maybe the face is a weak point?" Nicole suggested after a second of thought before the tail of the Egg Scorpion aimed at the group again, only this time the barrels of the cannon parted slightly, and a sphere of red energy began charging up between them. Without warning, the sphere suddenly fired at the group, who were able to dodge the ensuing blast.
"Whatever the reason, we'll need to cut off those arms before we can do anything," Sally stated, before turning to Amy. "Amy, I'll need you to keep the arms in place so that Nicole and I can take them out." She requested.
"On it!" The hedgehog cheerfully replied before charging towards the mech once again as Sally then turned to Rouge.
"Rouge, do you think you can draw the tail's fire while we deal with the arms?" She asked.
"That should be easy." The bat responded confidently, taking into the air and flying towards the Scorpion. The tail focused on Rouge and open fire as the bat evaded every shot. With the tail preoccupied, Amy approached the front of the mech as it raised one of its claws, and readied her hammer. She blocked the ensuing attack and held the claw in place as Nicole rose into the air and launched an energy spear into the mech's exposed joint, immobilising the arm. Sally then leapt onto the mech's arm and approached the joint. She activated one of her Ring Blades and stabbed it into the unarmoured area before sliding down, dragging the blade through the mech's metal exterior and leaving a large cut along the joint. Sally retracted her blade once she reached the bottom, and large amounts of electricity began sparking from the resulting cut until the joint spontaneously exploded, taking the arm off.
In retaliation, the mech aimed its tail cannon at Sally as she landed, charged up again and fired a powerful energy blast, forcing Sally to leap back to avoid the attack. Amy, however, got caught in the blast and was knocked back, landing hard on the ground and knocking her hammer out of her hand. She had just enough time to grab it before she noticed the mech's remaining claw swing down in an attempt to strike her. Luckily, Rouge managed to fly down and pick her up off the ground, dodging the mech's claw in the process. Flying up so that she was now hovering over the joint of the remaining arm, she dropped Amy towards it, who then used the resulting momentum to strike the joint with extreme force, completely smashing it to pieces and breaking the arm off from the main body. The Egg Scorpion tried to counterattack by charging another energy blast, but the attack was interrupted by Nicole by firing an energy blast of her own into the energy sphere, causing it to overload with energy and explode, taking the tail cannon with it.
"Now's our chance!" Sally yelled as the mech reversed in an attempt to retreat. Upon receiving the signal, Rouge dived down and kicked the mech full force in the optic, cutting off Eggman's view from the cockpit of the mech. Sally followed up by slashing across the Egg Scorpion's face, tearing into the weaker armour and leaving a large cross-shaped scar. Nicole formed another energy spear and threw it into the centre of the scar, after which Amy rushed forward and struck the end of the energy spear with all her might, sending the spear tearing through the mech, along with smashing the mech's face in the process. Eggman, meanwhile, hurriedly ejected his Eggmobile from the Egg Scorpion as it started to spark and shake uncontrollably before the mech exploded, sending large chunks of metal flying across the area.
"Yes! We did it!" Amy suddenly cheered victoriously.
"Okay, now that Robotnik's been dealt with, let's get the Chaos Emerald out of here," Sally suggested.
"Oh, I don't think so." Eggman retorted. He pressed a button on the console of his Eggmobile, and countless blaster-wielding Egg Pawns suddenly dropped from the sky and surrounded the group, aiming at them.
"Now, hand over the Chaos Emerald or my robots will blast the four of you into oblivion! And don't even think about trying to escape." He threatened. "You have twenty seconds."
"Nicole, can't you hack into them or something?" Amy asked, panicked.
"Given the sheer number of them, doing so will take too long." She informed her.
"Fifteen seconds," Eggman called out. With their options limited, Sally began frantically looking for any method of escape, until her eyes glanced upon the Chaos Emerald clutched tightly in Rouge's hand. She instantly recalled Sonic's attestation that the Chaos Emeralds could be used to teleport from one place to another. She wasn't sure if she could successfully do so, but she figured it would be in their best interest to at least give it an attempt.
"Rouge. Give me the Chaos Emerald." Sally requested. Rouge looked at her curiously, almost baffled by the strategist's calmness and confidence, before acquiescing and handing over the Emerald.
"Whatever you're planning better work," Rouge replied.
"Everyone, stay close to me," Sally ordered, causing the rest of the group to move as close as they possibly could to her. Sally, meanwhile, gripped the Emerald tightly and closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could to access the energy stored in the Emerald, keeping the image of Tails' home in her mind all the while.
"Five, four, three, two..." Eggman continued to count down, but before he could reach the end, Sally's eyes suddenly snapped open and a blinding light emanated from the Emerald, enveloping the group and blinding the doctor.
"Agh! FIRE!" He yelled, prompting the mass of Egg Pawns to fire their weapons simultaneously as the group, resulting in a large explosion of debris and smoke. The light died down, and Eggman watched in anticipation as the smoke cleared, only to find that both the Mobians and the Chaos Emerald were nowhere to be found.
"Wait, where did they go?" He wondered aloud. "Did she... Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Can they ALL use Chaos Control now?!" He questioned furiously, fists pounding on the console of his Eggmobile until a ringing sound snapped him out of his rage. A blue holographic screen reading "INCOMING CALL" appeared, and upon pressing a button, Nack's face suddenly appeared on the screen.
"Ah, Nack. I could use some good news right now." Eggman greeted optimistically. "I take it you and your team have retrieved the Chaos Emerald?"
"Yeah, about that..." Nack muttered anxiously.