"…and that was when Wind fell in the stream." Hikari finishes a story he was telling and Okami chuckles.
"Sounds like you three are quite the group." The translucent wolf comments. The two had been owly making their way to the Shrine of Chaos. It wasn't exactly a short walk. For a floating island it was big. To pass the time the two exchanged stories.
Finally they came to a clearing. In front of them lay a towering staircase of stone. Erosion and age had made them look rugged but sturdy. "Here we are." Okami says. "Are you ready?" He asks.
"Ready?" Hikari asks "What makes this any different than the last?"
"Hikari, by taking this last Emerald you'll be crossing a line you'll never be able to return from." Okami says "After you obtain it and return to Tails we'll be assaulting Eggmanland…"
"I know." Hikari says with a firm nod "It's what I prepared for. What I trained for…so we can bring Rage back…so we can bring Sonic and Shadow back. Are you with me…Wolf
"To the end." Okami nods. With that Hikari ascends. Slowly walking up the stairs. Upon reaching the top he looked upon the Master Emerald. On the ground in front of it was the cyan emerald. A soft warm glow from both reflected off of Hikari's fur. He walked up and took the Chaos Emerald in his hand. Once more a surge of energy shot into him. This time he had to fight to control it.
The sheer power made him want to explode! If this was what having only 4 could do to him…he could only imagine what all 7 would be like. Hikari looked into the top face of the cyan emerald before a voice caught him off guard.
"Rage…?" It spoke. It was a soft feminine voice. "Is that you…?"
Hikari turned around to see a pale-orange echidna standing at the top of the stairs looking at him. She was a bit taken back by Hikari when she saw his face. "You're not…R-Rag…" she states in a cautious tone. "How did you…get here?"
"Who are you?" Hikari asks as Okami reforms himself next to the maroon hedgehog.
"Okami?!" The echidna exclaims.
"Hold on a minute…You're Tikal!" Okami exclaims. "It's alright."
"Who is this…?" She asks again, looking at Hikari.
"My name is Hikari." He introduces himself.
"Hikari?" She asks "Are you Chaotix's son?"
"N-no..." Hikari says.
"I see…" she says looking at him she sighs.
"Is something wrong?" Hikari asks instinctively.
"Well…I was hoping that it was him…the first company in years and…well I was expecting Rage…" Tikal says.
"Rage is…trapped in the Dark Realm…" Hikari says.
"What?!" Tikal exclaims almost completely changing tone.
"Y-yeah…he was trapped there four years ago…" Hikari answers "You didn't know?"
"No…" she says "The Emerald came back one day and shorly after the protection ward…I figured he had sent it here for safekeeping…to think that he's been there this whole time…" Tikal says with a sad squeak to her voice. "If you're here…he must be gone…"
"We don't know that yet." Okami says "Hikari here just became a Chaos Guardian recently."
"Oh and who trained him then?!" Tikal asks.
"Chaotix did." Hikari answers. "Rules and traditions be damned."
"Then just take the Emerald and go!" Tikal exclaims.
"Tikal?" Okami asks "What's happened to you…? You've never been this emotionally broken before…"
"What do you care…" she scoffs "You Blades only care about your wielder…"
"Tikal that's uncalled for." Hikari states.
"Don't tell me…has the isolation gotten to you?" Okami asks, walking up to her.
"You have no idea what it's like! Four years with no company! Nobody to talk to!" She rants. "How did he get himself trapped there anyway?!"
"Dr. Eggman and Dr. Eon…" Hikari answers "They tricked him, Sonic and Shadow…"
"Yeah cuz he'd get tricked by Eggman of all people!" Tikal shouts.
"It's the truth." Hikari affirms "Like it or not that's what happened. If you want to see him again I need the Chaos Emeralds."
"What are you saying?" The echidna asks in an aggressive tone.
"I plan to go to the Dark Realm." Hikari says "I am bringing them back home."
"That's suicide!" Tikal shouts.
"Says you!" Hikari growls "If there is any chance to bring them back I am taking it you hear?!"
"Why would you risk your neck for him…" She asks "He'll abandon you like he did me!"
"He's my father!" Hikari shouts.
Tikal took a step back and looked shocked at Hikari's response. "Your…father…?" She gasps "I-impossible…"
"It's the truth." Hikari says, crossing his arms.
Tikal sighs. She then stood to the side "You better help him." She demands. "If what you say is true…"
"I will…" Hikari nods. He walks past her with Okami not far behind but the wolf stopped and looked at her.
"Are you going to be okay Tikal…?" It asks "You've been alone so long…"
The echidna looked at Okami and nodded with a soft smile "Just bring Rage home." She reiterated.
"You sure seem fixated on him." Hikari comments under his breath before Okami catches up.
"That was unnecessary…" he says looking at the young hedgehog. "You should cut Tikal some slack, she hasn't had anybody to talk to for years…"
"She's the one who chose to stay up here the whole time." Hikari states.
"She can't leave." Okami grunts "She's tied to the Master Emerald. She's unable to leave Angel Island…"
"Then we'll come visit once this is all over." Hikari sighs. "With Rage." He looks at Okami who nods and fades.
Hikari reached the edge of the island where he had arrived. He passed through the barrier and used his communicator to contact Tails.
Tails was in the War Room with Wind and Mason who had already returned when the ping of an incoming communication rang over the room's audio. Tails walked over to the console for communications and looked at the ID tag seeing it was Hikari and he answered. "Hikari, I hope everything is going well on your end."
"It is. We have both emeralds." Hikari replies.
"That's great news!" Tails sighs "Listen, Wind and Mason are already back here with theirs. Come on back and we can work on a plan for the assault on Eggmanland."
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Hikari says "Hikari out."
"Be careful. Eggman is cunning so we don't know what he could be up to." Tails warns.
"I will." Hikari affirms before ending the call.
"You really think we have a chance?" Wind asks Tails as the fox turned back around and looked at the large holo-table with a satellite map of Eggmanland.
"I do." Tails says. "Because we have the element of surprise. Neither Dr. Eggman or Dr. Eon have any idea about Hikari. From what I can gather when he saved you two they thought Rage managed to escape the Dark World somehow."
"Even still. Eggmanland is pretty well defended. Getting to the central power station where the Chaos Emerald is being kept won't be easy." Mason says, looking at the map. "Especially if it's just the three of us…why not just mount a full assault?"
"Mobilizing a full force like that would take time." Tails sighs "Chances are Egghead would find out and have more than enough time to either attack a base while we'd be concentrated elsewhere or bolster his own defense to ensure any attack would end in failure." The fox explains.
"But he'd never expect you to send in just us for such a massive or important mission?" Mason asks .
"He may expect you and Wind for something." Tails says "But not Hikari. I don't even think they know he exists yet."
"So what's the plan?" Hikari's voice comes from the entrance of the room as he walks in.
"That was fast." Wind comments "Weren't you like all the way on Angel Island?"
"I used Chaos Control to return." Hikari answers as he walks up and joins the three at the holo-table.
"We know that based on your vision the Emerald is likely located here…" Tails days pointing to a spot on the map with a red blip. It was deep within Eggmanland.
"That's way down there." Wind says
"Which is why it's there." Mason sighs "The farther in the safer the Chaos Emerald is…"
"I'm more concerned whether or not it's powering something and if so…what…" Hikari says "Even one Emerald is powerful and if they have it, powering a weapon…who knows what it would be capable of."
"If it is then it's either stationary or it's used to charge it." Tails says rubbing his chin.
"So how do we even get there?" Wind asks "The place is an island!"
"We use the Tornado X." Tails says "It has cloaking and stealth capabilities. We can land you in the center of the island without raising any suspicion."
"Which saves us from like half of the risk." Mason mumbles "But from there we'd have to be careful not to trip an alarm. Who knows what kind of response that'd trigger."
"Awe you worry too much Mason!" Wind chuckles "We've infiltrated how many of Egghead's bases before?"
"Those small bases are one thing Wind!" Mason barks "This is Eggman's main base of operations we're talking about here! No doubt it's the most heavily guarded of all!"
"Mason's right. We can't afford to be reckless." Tails says. "Which is why our only goal is the Chaos Emerald. You get in, retrieve the Emerald and get out. We're not there to topple Eggman and Eon…not yet anyway."
"Why not?!" Wind exclaims "This is our best shot! If we just take the Emerald they'll know we have all seven and prepare for that!"
"Wind's got a point." Hikari says "We should do as much damage as we can with this opportunity!"
"Sorry Tails but I agree." Mason sighs "They're smart and if they have any time to regroup no doubt it could be disastrous. We hit hard, we hit fast!"
"Do you hear yourselves?" Tails asks "This is what got your fathers trapped! If we make even one minor mistake with Eggman it's over!"
"What do you suggest then?" Hikari asks "We can't sneak into the place. Not without months if not years of surveillance and planning! You staked out the White Acropolis base for how many months before you had Wind and Mason move on it?"
"And if you are captured?!" Tails exclaims "I can't afford to lose the three of you! You're all we have right now!"
"If there's trouble we can use Chaos Control." Wind says "Teleport out."
"If they track you back here?" Tails asks.
"I don't think they can…" Mason says "I mean…think about it. They had how many years to gather the Chaos Emeralds and only ever found one. There was nothing stopping us from getting 4 of the remaining Emeralds. The two that were protected…"
"Were in Echidna ruins…" Tails comments rubbing his chin. "So they can't track the Emeralds?"
"It seems that way." Mason says.
"So we're in agreement on doing as much damage as possible?" Wind asks.
"Even so we need a plan to get there without detection." Mason advised pulling a map they had up. "Once we're there we'll have a lot of room to work. Eggmanland is big and we can use that."
"Good idea. With so much space you guys should have no problem running around and even hiding when needed.
Hikari looked at the map closely and tapped his foot. "Where did you get this?" He asks.
"It was part of the data Wind and Mason obtained almost a year ago." Tails says. "Why?"
"See here?" He asks, pointing at an area on the edge of the island "We could enter there and that approach has next to no defenses present…"
"That's strange…why wouldn't they cover it? The rest of the island is nigh impenetrable." Tails wonders.
"It's also not far from an air intake for the sublevels." Wind comments. "Which would lead us to the Emerald."
"It's our best bet." Tails nods "How do you guys plan to get there though?"
"Fly fast and low." Mason says "We drop to a low altitude on that trajectory so the radar can't pick us up."
"But what do we do with the craft?" Tails asks.
"We'll have to use it as a decoy. Best to use a recon vessel." Wind suggests. "It's no secret we've flown reconnaissance missions there with remote drones."
"That's true but we're low on them as is…" Tails worries.
"It's a risk but one we need to take." Mason encourages "Especially if it will get us Sonic, Shadow and Rage back."
Tails stood silent thinking about the idea presented. The risk was great, especially if it didn't work but at the same time what choice did they have? Especially when they were so close to all seven?
Finally Tails nods "Very well. We'll call it Operation Spearhead. Hikari, Wind, Mason your goal is to infiltrate and secure the final Chaos Emerald while causing as much havoc as possible. Specifically we need to put their main factory and the docked fleet out of commission. We get that then we can breathe easy for a while. Eon and Eggman won't recover easily with those destroyed."
"The factory and docks are behind a lot of security." Mason says "Even if they're right next door to each other"
"Which is why you collect the Chaos Emerald first." Tails states "According to the accompanying documents the entire base's main power draws from the Emerald. You grab it and they're in the dark at least for a few minutes."
"During those few minutes?" Wind asks.
"Plant explosive charges throughout the factory and docks. You'll probably have five minutes before Eggman realizes what's going on and fifteen before all of their backup power is online." Tails responds "Then once the charges are set get out of there!"
"This is crazy…" Hikari mutters looking down and away.
"C'mon we can't wait around." Wind exclaims grabbing Hikari by the arm.
"Hey!" The maroon hedgehog shouts. As he firmly plants his feet to stop Wind. "I dunno about this. I am all for getting the Emerald but…what if something goes wrong? You guys don't have any support or a way out…"
"What do you mean? You'll be in the same boat!" Wind scoffs.
"Wind…" Hikari says with a glare "I can teleport…with Chaos Control…"
"Okay then you can get us out in a pinch!" Wind cheers with a thumbs up.
"Oh sure…it's not like I've never tried it with more than one person before…" Hikari scoffs in a sarcastic tone. "Banking on that is suicide."
"Hikari…" Wind sighs.
"Don't 'Hikari' me Wind!" Hikari barks "Do you have any idea how much pressure is on me?! Unlike you and Mason I don't get to fight much! I have experience based on training from someone older than dirt and built on creatures that no longer exist! Not Eggman's forces!"
"I didn't mean it like that…" Wind says with a sad tone to his voice "Hikari I know you can do this. I know WE can do this! This plan sounds crazy but think about what it will accomplish! If we can land a major blow here then we can show the others that Eggman's iron fist rule isn't so sturdy. Plus we can get Sonic, Shadow and Rage back…"
Hikari looked at Wind for a minute and sighs with a nod before the two walked out of the building together. They met up with Mason who was waiting for them at the intersection splitting off from the access road that led to the headquarters building.
The three walked down the road that led to the small airfield. "Funny how all this took off almost a year ago isn't it?" Mason comments as they walk.
"What do ya mean?" Wind asks Mason.
"I mean…we've made so many strides since that day Hikari nearly blew the roof off the cave." Mason chuckles.
"That was an accident and you know it!" Hikari grumps "I'd rather not be reminded of that…"
"Sorry." The black hedgehog responds "But think about it…before that we were barely holding on to what territory we had left…now? It's like a whole new spark of hope has been lit."
"Which is why we have to do this." Wind smiles "Show that fat no good pair of eggheads what for!" He cheered as the three made it to the gate leading into the main runway.
