Sonic and the Freedom Fighters
Chapter 16: Hooligans
DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story, unless specified otherwise, belong to SEGA.
-Twilight Forest Zone-
With the rest of the Freedom Fighters searching the other two locations for the Chaos Emeralds, that left Antoine, Bunnie, Rotor and Cream, along with Cream's pet Chao Cheese, to investigate the Twilight Forest Zone for the last Emerald. The forest itself was filled with trees that grew to dizzying heights, illuminated only by the dim orange light that broke through the canopy and the fireflies and luminescent plants that decorated the ground, a spectacle that the team would have taken the time to admire if they did not have a mission to accomplish. Mercifully, there was enough space between the trees for the team to ride through on their Extreme Gear, save for Bunnie, who opted to fly through the air using her built-in boosters, and Cream, who was clinging tightly to Rotor's leg while Cheese was held tight in her arms.
"So, how much further?" Rotor asked, prompting Antoine to take out his radar, a prototype lent to him by Tails.
"Well, according to ze radar, ze Emerald shouldn't be too far ahead," Antoine replied. "If we just continue following zis path-"
"Mr. Antoine, look out!" Cream suddenly cried out, causing the Mobian coyote to look ahead of him to see what was causing the young girl's distress. To his left, he saw a strange yellow and blue machine, seemingly operated by what looked like a purple Mobian and accommodated two other figures, racing through the trees and was about to cross their path. Antoine tried to steer his Extreme Gear away from the collision course, albeit to no avail as the two vehicles ended up crashing and sent the occupants flying in opposite directions. The rest of Antoine's team returned to ground level and rushed to help him up, who shook himself out of his daze and glared at the other Mobian.
"Hey! Watch where you are going!" Antoine exclaimed.
"Me?! You're the one flingin' your face into other people's rides!" The other Mobian, a purple-furred weasel wearing a distinctive brown hat and boots, replied defensively. The argument was cut short by a sudden burst of giggles from somewhere, the origin of which revealed itself to be a green Mobian bird wearing a red neckerchief, gloves, and red shoes as he suddenly sat upright.
"That was fun! Can we do that again?" he cheered, much to the weasel's ire. Next to him, a large, bulky Mobian polar bear with light-yellow fur, a red beanie and green scarf, along with brown gloves and red shoes with brown toes, got back onto his feet, his face showing mild irritation.
"Okay, who are you guys and what are y'all doin' here?" Bunnie inquired.
"If you must know, the name's Nack the Weasel. And these are my teammates, Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear." He introduced while gesturing to his associates, with Bean waving enthusiastically while Bark simply crossed his arms. "The three of us are a mercenary group known as Team Hooligan."
"'Team Hooligan?' It sounds like you spent two seconds on zat name." Antoine remarked.
"Like you're one to talk, Mr 'Team Antoine'?" Rotor replied.
"As for why we're here, well, rumor is that there's a Chaos Emerald somewhere in this forest, and I have a client that's interested in those things." He continued, the revelation shocking the team.
"Zis client... it is Robotnik, isn't it?" Antoine asked tentatively, slowly readying himself for combat.
"Huh. You're smarter than you look." The weasel commented. "Unfortunately for you, our client's asked us to get rid of anyone that gets in our way." He sneered, swiftly pulling out a laser pistol and firing at the group, who quickly managed to dive behind the trees for cover. Antoine stood against the tree, paralyzed with fear until he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and charged at the weasel, dodging laser blasts throughout. Cream and Cheese moved forward to try and help him, only for Bunnie to block their path with her robotic arm.
"Get back, darlin'. This could get dangerous." The older Mobian rabbit said gently before rushing out of cover, followed by Rotor, and charging towards Nack, only for her charge to be halted by Bean leaping out in front of her. Bunnie's momentary shock allowed Bean to examine her mechanized left arm.
"Ooh. Cool robo-arm. What's it do? Shoot lasers? Missiles? Laser missiles? Oh! What about missiles that shoot lasers? That would be so cool-" The Mobian bird asked before his inquiry was interrupted by Bunnie swatting him away before firing a laser blast at him, which he managed to dodge.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Time out! You're not supposed to start shooting yet!" Bean suddenly complained before pulling out a book consisting of white paper and labeled 'SCRIPT' in large red letters and flicking through it, much to the rabbit's confusion. "See? It says right here in the script, 'kick, punch, THEN laser blast." He stated, only for Bunnie to fire her fist at him, forcing him to bend back to avoid the attack. "Okay, guess we're ad-libbing." He remarked.
Rotor, meanwhile, rushed to help his teammates, but his assistance was interrupted when Bark charged into him, knocking the both of them to the side, with Bark standing in front of the walrus as they quickly got back to their feet.
"Okay, look. I don't wanna fight you," Rotor admitted. "But if you're working with Eggman, then I don't have a choice." Bark said nothing, instead crossing his arms and looking away, as if he was hesitant. Rotor attempted to walk past him, only for the bear to stretch his arm out to block his path, looking at the walrus with a determined look on his face. Sighing in resignation, Rotor attempted to throw a punch at the bear, only for him to catch his fist and throw him into the trees, nearly shattering them in the process. Rotor recovered from the shock in time for him to avoid Bark's attempt to slam his fists down onto him,
then got back up to block a few more hits from the polar bear before countering with a punch of his own, in a display similar to watching a boxing match.
Meanwhile, Antoine struggled to land a blow against Nack, as the weasel deftly avoided every strike attempted by the coyote, even managing to block his sword with the grip of his laser pistol.
"Now why in the world would you bring a sword to a gunfight?" The weasel taunted as Antoine pushed back even harder, only for Nack to fall backward, balancing on his tail, before springing back up and kicking the swordsman with both feet, sending him flying back. The weasel resumed firing at the group with his pistol as Bean flew past him, launched back by one of Bunnie's attacks, and collided with Nack's airbike. The Mobian bird shook himself off, still clinging to the vehicle when he noticed something in the distance.
"Hey, boss?" Bean said, trying to get Nack's attention.
"Not now, Bean!" The weasel snapped, trying to concentrate on the fight.
"I think I can see the shiny from here." Bean continued, prompting Nack to briefly turn his head to where Bean was pointing. It turned out that there was indeed something in the distance shining through the trees, giving off a radiant grey light.
"Huh. How 'bout that." He remarked, before turning to Bark, who was currently busy trying to fight off Rotor. "Bark, we're leaving!" He yelled, prompting the polar bear to shake off the walrus while Nack pulled out a grenade. As Bark and Bean climbed into Nack's airbike, the weasel threw the grenade towards the team, jumped in and raced off, while the team was forced to take cover as the grenade exploded. Once the dust settled, Antoine, Rotor, and Cream immediately hopped back on their Extreme Gears while Bunnie activated her boosters, and they chased after the trio.
"Miss Bunnie, who were those people?" Cream asked.
"Don't know. But we can't let 'em get the Chaos Emerald." Bunnie replied before accelerating ahead of the group. Nack, meanwhile, continued to race through the trees as he gradually approached the source of the light, undoubtedly the Chaos Emerald they were tasked to find, while Bean continued to skim through the pages of the script.
"Oh dear. Looks like we missed a few pages of that fight." He complained.
"Will you knock it off, Bean? I'm trying to focus." The weasel responded as Bean clambered over his seat and brought the book to Nack's eye level, blocking his view.
"I'm serious. Look! All these explosions that were meant to happen!" The bird continued even as Nack shoved the paper out of his face, before climbing back into his own seat. "Oh, this would've brought a tear to Michael Bay's eye."
Not paying his insane associate any further attention, Nack focused on approaching the grey-colored Chaos Emerald, reaching his hand to the side as he came towards it, and grabbing it as they passed by.
"Got it!" The weasel cheered as he stored the Emerald away. Bean, meanwhile, leaned back in his seat as he continued reading when he noticed Bunnie behind them, rapidly closing the distance.
"Uh, boss?" He said, slightly alarmed. "The cowboy cyborg rabbit lady is catching up."
"What are you talking-" Nack began asking before a sudden explosion sent the airbike flying once again, knocking the trio out of the vehicle as it landed in a tilted fashion. Nack quickly stood back up and looked back to find Bunnie standing near where the vehicle used to be, her robotic arm returning from its energy cannon configuration as her teammates caught up to her.
"What is it with you people and messing with my bike?!" He yelled. "Bean! Bark! Teach them a lesson!" He commanded, prompting Bean and Bark to rush forward while the weasel stayed behind and walked behind the airbike, opening a compartment at the back and beginning to rummage around. Bark charged forward and attacked Bunnie, who blocked the attack as she attacked in tandem with Rotor as Antoine raced past in an attempt to reach Nack, but his progress was halted when a trio of bombs suddenly landed in front of him, forcing him to take cover as they exploded, and Bean dropped down in front of him as he recovered.
"Where is he even keeping all zese bombs?!" Antoine exclaimed, dodging the explosives that the duck continued to toss until one of the explosions knocked him off his feet. As he struggled to get back up, Bean placed another bomb on the ground and took a few steps back.
"The crowd waits in anticipation as Bean lines up the shot." He muttered to himself, using his hands to guide his aim towards the coyote before running up and kicking the bomb. Bunnie briefly broke off from her fight with Bark, leaving Rotor to hold him off, to see Antoine's struggle against the insane Mobian duck. Antoine had just enough time to get back up and dive out of the way again before the bomb reached his original position, causing a large explosion on impact with the ground. "He shoots, he scores!" Bean cheered as the explosion occurred. Immediately after, he turned his head to see Bark struggling against Rotor.
"I gotcha, Bark!" He declared, summoning another bomb and rearing back to throw it, but when he attempted to throw it, the bomb mysteriously disappeared from his hand. Realizing this disappearance, he quickly turned around and found Bunnie holding the bomb in her robotic hand. "Hey, give that back!" He demanded.
"If you insist." Bunnie replied, grabbing the duck's head with her free hand before shoving the bomb into his beak. Bean only had enough time to mutter a muffled "Uh oh." before the bomb promptly exploded, the blast contained within his mouth, and he fell backward, dazed but apparently none the worse for wear, much to Bunnie's surprise.
"Mommy, I don't wanna go to school today..." The stunned Mobian mumbled.
While the teams continued to fight, Cream and Cheese snuck around, using the trees for cover and taking care to not let anyone see them as they approached Nack's airbike. The young rabbit noticed Nack rummaging around in the back of the capsized vehicle and decided to stay hidden and wait for an opening. As they hid, Cheese quietly and anxiously chirped into Cream's ear.
"I know it's dangerous, but they'll give the Emerald to Eggman if we don't do something." The rabbit replied before having to duck down as she saw Nack move from the back of the airbike to a nearby fallen tree trunk, brandishing a powerful-looking laser rifle. He knelt down and aimed the rifle, looking through the rifle's scope until the crosshairs were aligned on Bunnie.
"Say goodnight, girly." He muttered as he prepared to fire.
"Cheese, stop him!" Cream pleaded in a panicked voice, prompting the Chao to swiftly fly over to the weasel, grab his hat and push it over his eyes, completely blocking his view.
"GAH! What the-? I can't see!" He exclaimed as he tried to grab at whatever was obscuring his vision. This distraction allowed Cream to rush to the airbike and grab the Chaos Emerald from the main seat before running back. As she tried to return, however, Bean suddenly landed in front of her, landing on his head and having been dazed from a previous attack. Cream quickly hid the Chaos Emerald behind her back and tried her best to look calm as the duck came to his senses and looked at the young rabbit.
"Salutations, tiny one!" Bean enthusiastically greeted, apparently not caring about being upside down.
"H-Hello." The rabbit nervously replied. The Mobian duck quickly leaped back to his feet and dusted himself off.
"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got work to do. Ta-ta!" He said, turning around to leave.
"Why are you doing this?" He heard Cream ask in a quiet voice, stopping him right in his tracks and prompting him to turn back around.
"Huh?" He muttered.
"Why are you helping someone like Dr. Eggman? What could you possibly get out of it?" She asked further, sadness clear in her voice, causing Bean to breathe a heavy sigh.
"Honestly, it's how we stay alive." He admitted. "Someone calls us to do some work, we do what they ask, they pay us, rinse and repeat."
"So, money? You're helping that horrible man for money?!" The young rabbit replied.
"Well, we've got nowhere else to go. At least this way, we get a roof over our heads and food in our bellies." Bean continued. "See, me and Bark, we-"
"Bean! Get this thing off of me!" Nack's voice interrupted, the weasel still unsuccessful in repelling the Chao.
"Gotta go!" Bean said before rushing off to help Nack, leaving Cream to run back to her teammates unnoticed as she whistled to call back Cheese, the Chao letting go of the weasel's hat as he flew back to Cream. Nack swiftly grabbed hold of his rifle and aimed at the Chao, but he flew into the cover of the trees before he could fire a shot. Before he could do anything else, both he and Bean were forced behind cover by an energy blast from Bunnie's arm cannon. The cyborg rabbit managed to hide behind cover as Nack retaliated with a few shots from his rifle when she noticed Cream emerging from behind the trees, Cheese perched on her shoulder and one hand behind her back.
"Cream! Where were you?" She asked, catching the young rabbit's attention.
"We need to leave, Miss Bunnie." Cream replied, to Bunnie's shock and confusion.
"What?! But we're-" She began to ask before she noticed the glimmer of the Chaos Emerald hidden behind her back, and immediately she understood her intent. "Antoine! Rotor! We're leavin'" She called to her teammates, both of whom were busy fighting against Bark and Bean. Rotor looked back at Bunnie with an expression of confusion as he grappled with the polar bear while Antoine narrowly avoided another set of explosions courtesy of Bean.
"You don't have to be telling me twice!" Antoine yelped as we ran back and hopped onto his Extreme Gear, with Rotor throwing Bark to the ground before following suit. Nack aimed his rifle and futilely fired a few shots at them as they escaped.
"Bye, guys! Let's hang out again sometime!" Bean yelled, waving as the group left. "Wonder why they're in such a hurry?" He asked as Nack walked back to his airbike.
"Don't matter. We got the Chaos Emerald, so let's-" He said as he started to climb back into his seat, only for him to stop himself once he noticed that the Chaos Emerald was nowhere to be found. "Where's the Emerald? I know I put it in here!" He wondered aloud, frantically searching for it. Bark looked around at the surroundings to see if he could find it, while Bean thought for a while, until an idea popped into his head.
"Oh! That cute little rabbit girl was around here earlier. Maybe we could ask her if she's seen it." The Mobian duck recalled, prompting Nack to abruptly cease moving before rushing towards Bean and grabbing him by his neckerchief.
"Why didn't you tell me about this until now?!" He snarled furiously.
"You didn't ask," Bean replied with a shrug. Growling, the weasel pushed his cohort away as he stomped back to his vehicle.
"Bark, you're driving." He snapped, while the bear shrugged and walked over to the toppled airbike, grabbing it and practically tossing it back into position.
"Hey! Be careful with her, would ya? She's a delicate lady!" Nack admonished before climbing into one of the side seats, while Bark entered the driver's seat. Once Bean climbed back into his seat, Bark started up the airbike and raced at top speed in the direction the Freedom Fighters left in, quickly catching up to the group. As they drew closer, Nack aimed his rifle at them.
"That's it. Keep her steady." He said as he looked through the scope of his rifle, his aim shifting between each of the Freedom Fighters until he spotted the Chaos Emerald clutched in Cream's hand. Hearing the sounds of something approaching behind them, the team turned around to find the three mercenaries catching up, with Nack aiming his rifle at Cream. Just before he fired, however, Bunnie dashed to the side and put herself in front of Cream, her mechanical arm poised to defend herself, and the blast from the rifle struck her metal arm. The recoil from the impact caused Bunnie to fall backward, knocking Rotor and Cream off of Rotor's Extreme Gear as all three of them fell to the ground, Cream losing her grip on the Emerald as it launched into the air and landed next to Bunnie. Smiling to himself, Nack got out from his seat and slowly walked over to the downed bunny. Antoine turned back to try and help, but his assistance was intercepted by Rotor, who grabbed him as he flew past and hurled him into a nearby tree.
"You're tough, girl. I'll give ya that." The weasel commented, picking up the Chaos Emerald as he loomed over the half-roboticized Mobian, before looking over her metallic limbs. "Y'know, I could always bring you to Eggman and have him even you out. I'm sure a little more self-improvement ain't gonna kill ya." He suggested snidely.
"S-Self... improvement?!" Bunnie muttered, her voice quickly filling with anger as she looked up at Nack with intense rage. Suddenly, she charged into Nack and slammed him into a tree, before raising her metallic fist to strike. "AH! NEVER! ASKED FOR THIS!" She screamed, punctuating her statement with several powerful punches to the weasel's chest, before rearing back and delivering a full-force punch that shattered the tree behind him and slamming his back into another tree. Antoine, witnessing Bunnie's distress, got back on his feet and rushed to her side, dodging an attack from Bark as the polar bear was blocked from giving chase by Rotor. Nack struggled back to his feet, pulling out a laser pistol in an attempt to aim at Bunnie, but he was interrupted by Antoine knocking the pistol out of his hand with the hilt of his sword, followed by a swift kick that knocked the weasel back down.
"Are you okay?" The Mobian coyote asked Bunnie.
"Yeah, Ah'm fine." She replied, trying her best to remain composed. "Ah have a plan. If y'all can get Nack and the big guy together, I can take 'em out in one blow." She suggested before firing an energy blast to the side, destroying an approaching bomb.
"And ze bomb-throwing maniac?" Antoine asked.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of him." She assured before the two split up, with Antoine heading towards Nack and Bunnie fighting Bean. The weasel quickly fired at Antoine, only for the coyote to dodge to the side and continue his charge. He swung his sword at Nack, who blocked the attack with the grip of his pistol and deflected the sword to the side before trying numerous times to strike Antoine with his pistol, kicks, and even using his tail, only for Antoine to dodge every attack and counter with a strong kick.
Rotor, meanwhile, continued to fight against Bark, defending against the polar bear's powerful strikes, when out of nowhere, Cheese suddenly charged into Bark's back, casing the bear to wince before swiping at the Chao, who swiftly avoided the attack. Cream followed up by stomping on Bark's head, prompting him to try and shake her off as the young rabbit jumped off, the distraction allowing Rotor to land a powerful blow to Bark's side before grabbing his arm, swinging him around and tossing him away, the polar bear landing behind Nack as the weasel continued to fire at Antoine.
Watching the events unfold, Bean summoned a bomb and looked between Antoine and Rotor, Cream and Cheese, mentally deciding which of them to attack.
"Eenie, meenie, miney-" He sang to himself before he was interrupted by Bunnie using her robotic arm to steal it from him, the Mobian duck turning back to see the rabbit holding the explosive before rearing her arm back and throwing the bomb away, prompting Bean to chase after it, eventually diving to catch it, and unknowingly landing right next to Bark and Nack, who quickly looked at their partner in confusion.
"Got it!" Bean cheered triumphantly as he got back up and held the bomb in the air, much to his teammates' immediate horror.
"Bean, you moron-!" Nack yelled before Bunnie fired a blast from her energy cannon at the bomb, resulting in a massive explosion that sent Nack and Bark flying a good distance, while Bean stood motionless, his feathers charred black.
"I can't feel my everything." He muttered before finally falling backward onto the ground. The group looked over their defeated enemies, breathing a collected sigh of relief until Bunnie looked at Nack, a cold glare in her eyes as she charged her cannon again and began walking towards him.
"Bunnie!" Antoine yelled as he swiftly wrapped his arms around Bunnie and pulled her back before turning her around to face him, gripping both of her shoulders tightly as the seething rabbit stared at him. "He is not worth it." He told her, the anger subsiding from her face as she calmed down, returning her metal arm to its normal form.
"Right." She said, wiping a stray tear from her eye. "Let's get the Emerald and get outta here." She suggested, prompting Antoine to rush over and pick the Emerald up from off the ground. As they prepared to leave, Bunnie noticed Cream positioning herself behind Rotor, tightly clinging onto his leg, her face filled with fear and sadness directed at the half-roboticized Mobian. Sighing, Bunnie slowly knelt down and reached her organic hand towards Cream, who thankfully didn't flinch as her hand gently stroked her cheek. "Ah'm sorry ya had to see that, darlin'." She apologised, her voice as soft and gentle as she could manage.
"I-It's okay." The young rabbit assured her, her smile returning as the fear subsided. Bunnie returned the smile as she got back up and turned to leave.
"C'mon, let's go." She said as she activated her boosters and flew off, while the rest of the team hopped on their Extreme Gears and followed. Behind them, Nack staggered back to his feet and pulled out his pistol from its holster, trying to aim at the escaping group before they vanished into the treescape.
"DANG IT!" He screamed, furious about having his targets escape before storming over to Bean, who was still lying on the ground, and picking him up by the neckerchief. "You got anything to say for yourself?" He growled.
"Uh..." He responded, thinking for a few seconds, before pulling out a bunch of papers. "Hang on, it's in the script." He amended. Nack, in frustration and resignation, let go of the duck, dropping him back to the ground.
"Fantastic." He remarked sarcastically. "The doc's not gonna like this."
Minutes later...
-Crystal Desert Zone-
"YOU LET THEM GET AWAY?!" Eggman yelled, the volume of his voice causing the weasel on the communication screen to wince.
"I didn't let them get away." He tried to explain, idly scratching the back of his head in a nervous tic. "There were... complications."
"I hope you realise that Orbot and Cubot are being more productive than you! AND THAT'S NOT A SENTENCE I EVER THOUGHT I'D HAVE TO SAY!" The doctor continued, before being interrupted by a notification on the holographic display of his Egg Mobile, reading "INCOMING TRANSMISSION: METAL SONIC". He quickly tapped a button on his console. "Metal Sonic, please tell me you were successful." He said, a clear edge in his voice as a result of his frustration.
"NEGATIVE. PRIORITY ONE: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, AND SECONDARY TARGETS MILES "TAILS" PROWER AND KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA INTERFERED WITH RETRIEVAL." Metal Sonic replied. In response, Eggman clutched his head and began growling in frustration, attempting to contain his anger, until he suddenly had a realisation.
"Wait. So, we all fought the Freedom Fighters at the same time?" He asked aloud.
"Seems like it," Nack responded, himself a bit confused.
"And you were fighting the echidna, Metal Sonic?" The doctor then inquired.
"AFFIRMATIVE." The robot replied. Eggman stared off to the side for a while before turning back to face the Mobian weasel.
"Nack, I'll call you back." He said as he shut off the communication line between the two, before turning his attention to Metal Sonic, a sinister smile slowly forming on his face. "I'm going to need you to make a quick stop on your way back, Metal Sonic. There's something I want you to pick up..."