Chapter 9: Section 55
Sonic and Amy are aiding in training Team Treasure consisting of Honey, Sticks, Gemerl, Shade, and Tiara being the leader. They are at Station Square national park to be within the secluded area to train. Amy has set up training dummies and a makeshift course allowing them to practice their skills.
All the girls are in their training gear as Honey stretches out her limbs to set her long black hair in a ponytail. "Like my fighting gloves Amy?" Honey asked.
"Those look so cool," Amy said as Honey feels proud of herself.
"I went to that guy you mentioned JoJo. He hooked me up and these bad girls have taser functions in blade mode and shooter mode," Honey said.
Honey is running through a training course to wield her new clawed gloves. The dummies pop up with Honey kicking and slashing while still at a running pace. She walks up the crates to leap at a dummy to stab her claws into its head. She keeps pace with her knocking down a dummy with a strong kick to reach the end.
Amy takes notes to give to Honey. "You need to make sharpen turns along with softening your approach," she said.
"Thanks, Amy, I am going a battle-hardened bitch in no time flat," Honey said to hop for joy.
"I can bet on that. I had to train my legs and stamina to be a capable partner to Sonic, " Amy said as Honey is impressed by this.
"You are amazing Amy," Honey said as Amy feels humbled by Honey's admiration.
Sticks and Gemerl are using the dummies to test their accuracy. Sonic and Amy are impressed by Sticks' trick arrows. "Did you make these?" Sonic asked.
"Yep. I got a bunch of them. EMP, Fire, Acid, Explosive among other ones using materials I found in the wild," Sticks said as she fires an explosive arrow from her custom Recurve Bow at the dummy to reduce it to dirt in a big blast.
"Pretty cool Sticks, that would come in handy," Sonic said as Sticks feels proud of herself.
"Indeed, I am a crack shot at this," Sticks said as she blows up more targets with explosive arrows. Gemerl is using storage data from before to use speed and his transformed sword arm to chop the dummies to pieces.
"Nice moves buddy," Sonic said.
"Yes I still have some of your combat data which I am using as a baseline for my combat style," Gemerl said as he powers up the blade with energy to release several crescents to slice into multiple targets.
Tiara focuses while still transformed in her Icy State to turn dummies into frozen statues as she kicks them smashing them into pieces. She puts on her stakes on her shoes to slice up the dummies with ease.
"You are so cool Tiara," Amy said as she has stars in her eyes.
"That's nice but I need more practice," Tiara said as Shade is wielding his wrist-mounted leech blades to slice up dummies while pulling out a saw-off shotgun with one hand to blow half the dummy away with buckshots.
"I am going to have to step up my role in this team," Shade said.
"How are you doing Shade?" Amy asked as Shade sighs at this.
"I am fine, just adjusting to this world. It's not long since you aided me escaping that hellish Twilight Cage," Shade said for this took place over a year ago.
"Yeah I am concerned about you," Amy said.
"Don't worry I am fine. Knuckles is helping me to adjust to this world," Shade said.
"Speaking of which, you are getting cozy with big red?" Amy teases her as the older woman is blushing from this.
"Well, he is pretty helpful. He is a pretty laidback guy," Shade said as she speaks fondly of him.
"That's good. Knuckles gets lonely on Angel Island and having a cute echidna lady would brighten things up," Amy said playfully.
"Yes, Angel Island is very lovely but so empty. Our people did vanish from this world but it's all karma in the end for my people. I and Knuckles would have to pick up the pieces and move on," Shade said as she checks out the black bodysuit and wrist rings.
"So, are we expecting little echidnas running around?" Amy teases Shade for she is red in the face to match her fur.
"Gee Amy, quit it," Shade pouts at her as Amy giggles at this.
"Sorry Shade, you can be cute sometimes," Amy said.
"I mean Knuckles and I have something special going on. I want to keep going with it," Shade said.
"That's good to hear. I am happy for you guys. Also, how are the others treating you?" Amy asked.
"Honey is pretty friendly. Sticks is very odd but she means well. Gemerl is a bit of a shock since he is a Gizoid made by my clan. I am happy to see him and feels familiar to me. Tiara is a good leader but a bit reserved about talking about herself. I don't mind it much, I don't talk much either," Shade said.
"Good to hear Shade. I hope Team Treasure will be a success," Amy said as they continue training Team Treasure.
Within Shadow's apartment, a young blond woman looks at the news of Eggman's death for she has a sigh of relief within her heart. "Another Robotnik biting the dust," the girl said as she has her face on the news which greatly bothers her. "Are Robotniks bound to destruction?" she questioned.
She looks over at the door to see two of her three favorite people in the world enter the apartment. "Big Bro and Big Sis. You came back," she said.
"Hey Hope," Rouge and Shadow greeted the blond-haired 17-year-old human girl who stands about 5'3 tall being short for a human girl but towers over her two Mobians friends who she considers her big brother and big sister after all the things they went through the Black Arms invasion when they first meet.
"How was work today?" she asked as she switches the channel on the holoscreen.
"Boring, we had to go protect some research samples. These Unbound are becoming a problem. Omega is at Section 55 protecting it while a Chaos Emerald is storage there," Rouge said.
"Things are hectic lately. The Doctor's death, this Witchcraft showing up with her Deadly Six while using a new set of minions called the Unbound," Shadow said.
"Gee big bro, we can't catch a break huh?" Hope wondered.
"Not really but we can push through this like we always have," Shadow said as Hope goes to hug him placing his head on her stomach.
"I know we can Shadow," Hope said.
"Hey kiddo, where is my hug?" Rouge asked.
"Come here. A family hug coming in," Hope said as she hugs Rouge as well. "You guy can relax and I will cook you some dinner for us," Hope said as she goes off into the kitchen to prepare the shove.
"Good I am staving," Rouge said.
"Is anyone bothering you, Hope?" Shadow asked.
"Not directly. They talk about my relations with Snively who is a big shot now in the Dragon Kingdom and they think I would be Eggman's replacement," Hope said with a frown for Shadow is not pleased with this.
"Who said this?" Shadow asked having a dark look on his face.
"People around me. That fact my last name is Robotnik raises suspicion I could go madness one day and become another Eggman," Hope said as Rouge isn't pleased either.
"Then they are a bunch of idiots. They have no idea what you went through with us against Black Doom and his weird cult aliens. Team Dark defeated the Black Arms invasion along with Sonic and the others. You raised up to the challenge and stopped the invasion," Rouge said feeling heated that her little girl is getting mocked by dumbasses.
"Yes, you are more like Gerald and Maria. Not all Robotniks become evil and your actions have shown that," Shadow said as he can see the striking appearance similar to her great Aunt Maria Robotnik as well as her kindness and empathy.
Hope's intelligence and very high IQ are used for good being a member of Team Dark as their tech engineer. "Yeah but it never seems to be enough for people," Hope said as Shadow wants to go up to hug her but he holds himself back from this.
"You need a minute?" Shadow asked.
"No, I am good. I have you guys among Sonic and the others. I am fine with just that. Enough of my talking, let's eat," Hope said as she finished with the meal to set it on the table.
"Oh my, you knocked it out of the park with this one," Rouge said as they begin to eat together for Hope feels happy to be eating with her family.
Within a military complex called Section 55 in the middle of the desert in the landmass of Northamer aka North America in the past. Zavok and Zeena are on top of a cliff to be smiling at this
"I can feel the chaos energy from the gem. It's deep within this complex and with all that machinery we can use it to our advantage," Zavok said.
"Yes, this GUN and their overreliance on machines will be their downfall against us," Zeena said as they summon a horde of Unbound to begin to assault the huge military complex.
"The hunt begins," the two Zeti aid in the assault for the light garrison in the base is being quickly overwhelmed.
"Damn it, the Unbound is here," Topaz wields her Autorifle to shoot laser bolts into the swarm of Grunts and Flyers along with a new unit called a Berserker which is a large humanoid wielding a club bashing through the large walls to breach their perimeter. "Damn it, Omega where are you?" Topaz asked on the radio.
"I am engaging the enemies. All black creatures must die," Omega said as he fires a ton of explosive rounds to pepper the hordes of Unbound turning them all into black goo on the desert sands.
"That's the spirit Omega," Topaz said as a Giant slams its club to not the ground to unleash a big wave of dark energy to send Topaz flying into a vehicle to knock her out cold.
Omega is firing his chain guns to see Zavok and Zeena standing there. "Don't get in my way," Omega aims his arm cannons at Zavok and uses his electromagnetism to turn him off.
"Time to turn this base upside down," Zavok said as all the base defenses are on turned against the remaining GUN units picking them off rapidly leaving the Deadly Six to take over the secret research base.
Elsewhere Amy and Sonic are at their home enjoying breakfast as suddenly Shadow, Rouge, and Hope teleport into the living room. Amy and Sonic were surprised to see them in their home.
"What are you two doing here? Oh, hey Hope," Amy and Sonic wave to the young genius.
"Hey, you guys but we are not here to hang out," Hope said frowning to show them camera footage from Omega on her smartphone to show the destruction called by the Unbound. "The GUN secret research base Section 55 is being attacked by Witchcraft's forces," Hope said.
"Section 55, what is that?" Sonic wondered.
"It's a secret research base in the middle of Death Valley in Northamer," Amy said.
"There is a Chaos Emerald there and that is their main threat. We will need your help to contain the situation there," Shadow said.
"Yes, Omega is already there with Agent Topaz. I hope those two are okay," Rouge said sounding concerned about her fellow agents.
"Alright, let's get there and show those Deadly Six who is boss," Sonic said as Amy nods her head.
"Yeah, we need to make sure they don't get their hands on the emerald," Amy said as everyone gets close to Shadow.
"Stay close, we are going there hot," Shadow uses Chaos Control to warp to the base's outer perimeter to see the sands have been painted with blood and black goo.
"Gee this is a bloodbath," Amy said looking over the dead bodies of the GUN soldiers not standing a chance against the machines being used on them.
Shadow noticed a Grunt launching a Chaos Spear into its head killing it instantly. "We got company," Shadow said as they see a few enemies here like Grunts, Flyers, and Berserkers.
"Gee they are getting bigger now," Amy summons her hammer to get into her magical outfit to rush at the monster. The Berserker swings its club at Amy as she uses her raw power and hammer to knock the weapon back. She slams her weapon onto the Berserker to knock it onto the sands with Rouge tosses sticky bombs to blow up the fallen monster into pieces.
Sonic is jumping off the walls to use his Homing Attacks to knock down the Flyers with Amy smashing them into piles of goo. Shadow warps up to the Grunts to destroy them with powerful kicks as he launches several Chaos Spears to kill them off.
Rouge is kicking and flinging bombs to take out her enemies to clear up the area to head inside the area.
"Hey, you guys there?" Topaz asked on the radio.
"Topaz, where are you?" Rouge asked as Topaz turns on the lights on and off to show the building she is inside.
They head inside to see the GUN agent along with a few remaining GUN soldiers bunkered down into the building. "Oh, seems like you got back up. This is insane, they came out of nowhere. All forces have been killed or scattered," Topaz said as Hope goes up to a terminal to see if some of the cameras are still working.
"Oh good, seems like their electromagnet powers seem to have limits and power usage. I will monitor your positions within the base from here and give you support," Hope said as she sets up in the computer room.
"Good we are going to need it," Shadow said.
"Good luck you guys," Hope said kissing him on the cheek for good luck. Rouge looks on to find Shadow's embarrassment quite cute.
"Look at you big brother Shadow," Rouge teases him as Shadow is trying to regain his composure and hide his blush.
"Let's just focus on the mission. We need to clear out the base and track down the Deadly Six," Shadow said.
"Always a big grumpy with a soft core in the middle," Rouge said as they go out of the building to head to the entrance to the hanger but a bunch of Unbound blocked their path. A Berserker is charging at them with it slamming its club onto the ground unleashing a big shockwave.
Amy summons a wall of earth to block the energy wave as she forces the rocky wall to slam into the monster to press it against a wall and flatten it into a black ooze spread onto the building.
Shadow is teleporting around the battlefield to kick down the Flyers onto the ground with Sonic and Rouge kicking them aside killing them. Sonic is using a Light Speed Attack to chain attack several Grunts and Flyers while punching through the chest of a Berserker to kill it off.
Rouge tosses sticky bombs to destroy a Berserker while Amy supercharges her hammer with flames. She slams into the ground to unleash plumes of flames to burn the three Berserkers to dust.
They approach the hanger doors to go inside to see the carnage from the Unbound leaving behind dead Mobian, Human, and Demi-Human GUN soldiers scattered across the floor.
"What a mess," Amy said as they spot more grunts with Amy leaping at them with Piko-Piko Hammer in hand. "Eat this you bastard," Amy engulfs her hammer with flames to unleash an explosive force wiping out groups of enemies.
"Do you know Omega is still active?" Shadow asked being concerned with his partner for he kicks a Grunt into a plane to burst into goo.
"Yes, he is deeper within the base. He reactivated himself and sought out the Deadly Six. Thankfully he does have systems that give him protection against EMP attacks. Speaking of which a lot of the systems are coming back online. Seems like I was right, their EMPs do have a limit," Hope said as she observes through one of the hangers to see Amy, Sonic, Shadow, and Rouge cleaning up the hanger building.
"Knowing Omega, it will only piss him off even more and want to kill the Deadly Six even more. He hates being controlled and he is not some cheap robot," Rogue said as Shadow nods his head to agree with this.
"Over here, we can get deeper from here," Shadow said as they run down the tight hallways trying to find the Deadly Six members.
"Gee, what are we going to find down here?" Sonic asked.
"That is classified," Shadow said.
"Well, you are going to see some crazy things down here anyway. Brace yourselves," Rouge said as Hope is keeping track of their progress.
They go into an area to see a group of Unbound blocking their path with Flyers and a new type called Defenders which are black humanoids holding big shields. They are in a formation to block their path and rush at them in a fast-moving wall while the Flyers hovering above them shooting beams of darkness.
"More stuff to worry about," Sonic said as he uses a Spin Dash to land on the shield but the Defender knocks him backward to keep up their shield wall.
Amy summons spears of stones to stab under the Defenders to break their shield wall with Shadow unleashing a burst of energy to break up the formation. Rouge tosses her bombs to take out the Flyers with Sonic taking down the Flyers as well.
"Rip and Tear," Amy conjures a twister of sharp winds to engulf and trap the enemies inside with Amy following up with an explosive hammer smash mixing the twister with flames to burn away the enemies inside. "Okay, we are cleared to go," Amy said as a large Berserker bashed through a door to knock Amy across the hallway.
Sonic catches her while Shadow leaps into the air to use Chaos Lance to impale the chest of the Berserker for the energy attack explodes ripping the monster to pieces.
"You okay babe," Sonic said as Amy nods her head.
"Yeah, I am fine. Thanks, baby," Amy said to kiss him on the cheek to get back onto her feet.
"Gee Shadow, why you can't be that sweet to me," Rouge said as Shadow sighs at this.
"Rouge, I gave you a nice-looking necklace last week," Shadow said as Rouge's ears twitched with happiness.
"Oh yeah, I did remember that. I was just joking big guy," Rouge flirted to kiss him on the cheek.
"Sure, let's focus on the mission," Shadow said trying to hide his blush again to move forward with the four. Hope looks through the cameras to spot Omega fighting Unbound.
"Guys, Omega is close by. Give him aid," Hope said on the radio.
"Good eyes kid, keep us posted," Rouge said as they hear gunfire nearby with Omega killing off Grunts and Defenders.
"Haul and I will kill you off," Omega is rushing at Zavok and Zeena for them both using their electromagnetic powers to stop Omega but his systems are beginning to adapt along with his determination to break through their powers to clash with Zavok.
"Damn it," Zavok said as Omega shoves Zavok away to unleash a barrage of missiles ripping up the hallways. Zeena tries to conjure an energy whip from her palm to leash at the robot but Shadow teleports in to kick Zeena.
"Total smug," Shadow said as Sonic used his Light Speed Attack to slam into Zeena to knock her across the hallway.
"Don't get in our way," Zavok punches Omega and unleashes a large beam of flames from his mouth to engulf Omega in the attack.
"Omega!" Hope, Shadow. and Rouge said as the robot took some serious damage.
"You are going to pay for that," Shadow rushes in to deliver a powerful kick to send Zavok flying across the hallways to knock him into a warehouse. Hope scans Omega to see if he is still functional.
"Okay, he is fine," Hope said.
"I can still fight," Omega said as his limbs can move.
"Rest Omega, assist Shadow when you have finished restoring your systems," Hope said.
"Affirmative, it was very annoying to fight those things. Always shutting me off while I was trying to kill them," Omega said sounding annoyed about this.
"I am not dealing with this," Zeena hovers away for Sonic, Amy, and Rouge following after Zeena. "Not so fast," she uses her electromagnetic powers to control the security doors to seal off the hallway with Sonic using his Light Speed Attack to smash through several barriers until hitting a laser gate which zaps him onto the floor.
Rouge tosses her bombs onto the side to disable the laser gate allowing them to follow after Zeena goes for the Chaos Emerald.
They enter into the deepest parts of the research base to see some very unusual things. "Well, this is where we storage top secret materials for military uses," Rouge said as Amy noticed Echidna tech in storage units.
"This is from Nocturnus Clan with their armor, weapons, and machines like Gizoid," Amy said as she remembered fighting them on their last big adventure over a year ago.
"You grab that stuff from the Twilight Cage?" Sonic asked Rouge.
"Yes during the incident against the Nocturnus Clan we gather their materials to reverse engineer it but it has failed. They are so advanced it's like magic to us at this point," Rouge said.
"Yes, it's very scary that this is the case," Hope said for them to go into another area to see something quite bad.
"Is that a Metarex?" Amy asked to point to a large shell of alien design being housed in a storage unit.
"Oh yes, during our Campaign against those alien bastards. We managed to gather their robotic shells and Seedrians DNA samples to storage for research purposes," Rouge said.
"Cosmo," Amy said sadly as they saw her die over 2 years ago when they went into space to take on the Metarex and saved the Milky Way galaxy from their terror.
"Yes, I heard about her and Tails. Seems like a bad time after not coming back for over 2 years," Hope said as the young fox got over Cosmo and started dating his childhood friend Cream the Rabbit. When Cosmo came back from her slumber in her seed in the flower bed, she was heartbroken and left everyone behind to seek out her people if any of them remained in this universe or beyond.
"Yeah but we never thought she would come back and now she is somewhere alone," Sonic said.
"Despite what happened, she is still our friend," Amy said.
"I know but I doubt her quest will be successful," Hope said feeling sympathy for the little alien girl.
"With the DNA you have now, can you clone the Seedrians?" Sonic asked.
"No, the DNA is too corrupt to be useful. The Metarex were mutant Seedrians and we don't want them to come back," Rouge said.
"Good point, I don't want another Dark Oak running again," Sonic said as he feels a bit unnerved by this robotic Metarex shell laying there lifelessly.
They kept moving to the center of the research base to see another section to see Zeena standing on top of a pillar with Unbound around her. "Oh, you guys have broken one of my nails. You ruined them and now I am going to make you suffer," Zeena said.
"Sorry lady but you have got a bigger problem than a broken nail," Sonic said as Zeena laughs at him. Her beautiful face turns very devilish to sport a cruel smile.
"So, I am going to sharpen my nails with your skulls," Zeena swiftly flings herself at Sonic but Rouge kicks her with her metal-tipped boots. Zeena bounces off a wall to slash at Rouge while she rolls out of her path. Amy slams her hammer into her face to knock her into the air with Sonic using his Homing Attacks to striker her several times.
"Try better than that," Zeena said as she uses her energy whips to spin around leashing at them. They avoid her attacks with Amy casting fireballs with Zeena using her energy whips to slice them up in mid-air. A Defender slams its shield to bash Amy away with Rouge noticing the Unbound is seeking out the Chaos Emerald.
"Damn it, they are going for the gem. Keep the hag busy," Rouge goes for the gem with Amy and Sonic double team against the Zeti.
"I am not a hag," Zeena lets out orbs of energy to seek out Rouge but Amy cancels them out with fireballs. Sonic runs up the walls to get behind Zeena as she activates a turret to target Sonic. The energy bolt explodes to knock Sonic off balance with Zeena using her whip to grab Sonic and slam him onto the floor.
"Oh no you don't," Amy charges up her hammer with fire energy to bash her in the face to release a fiery explosion to knock her away freeing Sonic from her energy lasso. "You okay?" she asked as Zeena grabs onto an explosive barrel to toss it at the duo.
They dodge the barrel which explodes for Zeena can command remarkable strength despite her shapely appearance.
"Yeah, I am cool. Amy, time to play ball," Sonic said to wink at her.
"Oh right," Amy said as Sonic curls up into a ball with Amy hitting him to aim for Zeena.
"Not this time," Zeena lobs a bunch of energy orbs with Sonic dodging all of them and slamming into Zeena's chest making her spit blood on impact. She gets sent flying into a pillar to dent it on impact. "Shit, that smarts," Zeena said to get back up to feel a sharp pain in her chest. "Oh, feels like something is broken," Zeena resumes her assault.
Rouge is kicking and blowing up Unbound with bombs trying to reach for the emerald. Then Unbound appears as a weird female figure in a black cloak called a Mage appears with its staff to cast a wind spell to blow Rouge away. The Unbound takes the Emerald and disappears with Zeena laughing at them.
"Suck to be you losers, we got the emerald. Time to get out of here," Zeena said as she teleports away.
Elsewhere Shadow and Zavok are fighting one another in the warehouse. Zavok is spitting out fireballs with Shadow running across the area avoiding them while fireballs destroy boxes and crates. Shadow teleports out of the path of the fireballs to appear behind him.
Shadow is unleashing powerful blows to move the Zavok with each hit. He lets out a quick burst of energy to send Zavok flying around the warehouse. Shadow snaps his fingers to conjure bubbles of energy to knock Zavok around the room.
He slams downward to shake the room stunning Shadow while he tackles him to knock him into a wall. He takes command of a crane and made it pin Shadow against the wall. "Don't get in my way rat," Zavok said as Shadow shows a dark smirk.
"That's my line," Shadow unleashes a sphere around him to destroy the crane to pepper Zavok with tons of energy orbs. Zavok lets out a big roar to send shockwaves to blow everything in the huge room away. He controls all the cranes to try to catch Shadow while using his speed and teleport away from his onslaught.
Zavok uses a fire beam to strike Shadow to knock him onto a crate. Shadow is stunned to see the power of this Zeti. "Who is this guy?" he questioned as he sees a fully recovered Omega coming into the room to tackle Zavok to begin grappling with the horned demon.
"Not this bloody machine again," Zavok said as Omega is managing to match his raw strength to use his claws to slash into Zavok's chest leaving bloody cuts behind.
"You are going to be bloodied one," Omega fires a concussive blast to knock Zavok backward. "Annihilate you," Omega unloads a ton of explosives rounds with Zavok rushing away from Omega's attack. He can feel Zavok trying to control him again but this only made Omega angrier and add missiles into the mix. "That will not work meat bag," Omega finds Zavok jumped into the air as he nails him with an electro net to fall onto the floor to stun him in place.
Shadow goes in to deliver a powerful kick to knock him into a wall but seems to be able to keep fighting on despite taking a lot of damage.
Zeena appears before her leader. "Zavok, we have gotten the Chaos Emerald. We need to move out of here," Zeena said as he laughs at this.
"Sorry but we got what we came for," Zavok said as both Zeti go into a dark portal and vanished. All Unbound forces depart from Section 55 as well to leave the place battered and shaken.
"Good work job, all defense systems are back online," Hope said as Topaz and the other agents secured the area to make sure all enemies are gone.
"Gee, what a mess," Topaz said as Shadow along with the others warp back to the surface to fail to stop the Deadly Six from taking the Emerald.
"Sadly, they manage to collect the Chao Emerald from the vaults below," Shadow said as Topaz is disappointed with this.
"Well Commander Tower is not going to be pleased with this," Topaz said as she goes to report this.
Hope goes up to Shadow, Rouge, and Omega to hug them to be happy they are safe and sound. "Gee this is nuts but I am happy you all are okay," Hope said as Shadow shows a rare smile to the young human woman who is like his little sister.
"At least everyone turn out okay," Shadow said as his Team Dark is still intact. "These Deadly Six are becoming more trouble they are worth," Shadow said.
"Not really, I managed to gather some combat data for us. We will be able to come up with some countermeasures against them," Hope said as she shows them a data disk holding on to the footage.
"Good work kid, we need all the help we can to beat this Witchcraft," Rouge said as Witchcraft managed to gain the second Chao Emerald.