Sonic X – Journey to a New World
Chapter Three: Infiltrating Area 99
"There. That should do it!" Tails said, wiping his head a bit as he looked up from atop the wing to see Frieda resting a bit and splashing her face a bit in a nearby pond to wash the dirt off from last night's repairs. Looking up, both saw that it was already morning as the sun began to shine brightly in the sky. "Morning already?"
"Yep, it sure looks like it," Frieda said, getting up to bring over a cup of water to Tails she had collected for them both earlier from the clear water. "Do you think it's ready to fly?"
"We'll find out soon enough," Tails said, taking his drink gratefully as he climbed into the cockpit and went over the controls one more time. "I wouldn't recommend staying here much longer if we want to start searching for the others."
"I wonder where 'here' is exactly," Frieda said, remembering something from last night. "One of those officers that went after Sonic last night called this place, Station Square."
"Whatever this place is, it's sure stirred up about Sonic," Tails said, perking up after they both heard another siren go by on the other side of the house they were hiding out with the Tornado since last night. "There goes another one. A giant red truck this time."
'Hmm', Frieda thought to herself for a second as she pulled out and switched on her handheld communicator tablet to access her resource assistant. "That's weird, I'm picking up a different signal than I normally do."
"What do you mean? Where did you get that?" Tails said, having turned towards her to see what she was doing.
Looking up at her brother's curious expression, Frieda only smiled as she replied, "Blaze made some modifications to one of your old Miles Electric prototypes. He added a resource assistant and a two-way communicator that he's been experimenting on between me and Ash. He wanted to make sure it worked perfectly before he showed it to you."
Confused, Tails only watched as Frieda pulled herself up and into the cockpit, where she followed Tails' eye to the small Tornado-Miles Electric that Blaze had accidently smashed during Dr. Eggman's rant. "Isn't this yours, though?"
"No, Miles," Frieda said, surprising her brother enough as he watched her remove a part of the tablet to where it connected snugly just above the panel controls. "He asked me to save and give this to you before we caught up to you guys on his cycle. Ash and I have smaller versions of the communicator two-way on our wrists," she said, showing her brother the strap of her communicator she wore just underneath her right glove. "This one is yours."
Another familiar siren was enough to catch their attention as they both looked up and saw a couple of police cars stop in front of the house just past the roof. Looking just past one of the side windows that looked on into the house, Tails saw the little boy's mother staring at them in wide wonder with the phone at her lips. "Uh oh. Wings, I think we better test the Tornado right now."
"Good idea! I see what you mean," Frieda said, moving to the other seat to allow Tails to hop in and start the plane, which he did with a satisfied relief as he tested a few switches. Noticing the tablet showing a media icon on the screen just over Tails' shoulder, she asked, "I wonder if the signal I've been getting on the tablet had anything to do with them finding us. All I did was turn it on to test it this morning to see if it could tell us where we were, and …"
"What signal?" Tails asked, starting the propeller as the plane took to the air.
"There, play it now," Frieda said as Tails typed the play action into the tablet as it filled the speakers of the Tornado.
"Now, let's go live to this late-breaking story," a reporter's voice said, coming through loud and clear.
"Oh please!" Hearing that familiar lilt as well as a little scared Chao, both siblings gasped as their friend's voice spoke through, "Please, leave us alone!"
"Cream and Cheese!" they both shouted, right as the broadcast cut off and the plane rose higher into the clouds, right as several police officers swarmed the backyard to find nothing. However, the child running out of the house with his mother at his heels laughed as he watched it fly away, the others following his gaze as they noticed the tail-end fin of the biplane as the Tornado 2 disappeared under cloud cover.
"They got transported, too!" Tails said, trying to pinpoint the broadcast's location. "This tablet is awesome! I don't think the broadcast signal gave us away, though. According to this media signal, we're not that far away from where they found Cream and Cheese. Hang on!"
"Ok," Frieda said, sitting tight. Hearing her communicator go off once, though, Frieda didn't think to check it before she saw a news helicopter fly overhead them after ten minutes. "Tails, above you!"
"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed, making the plane dive out of sight just as the small copter missed them. "That was close!"
"Wings, come in!"
"Tails, wait a minute," Frieda said, right as Tails stalled the Tornado enough for Frieda to check her communicator. "It's Ash!"
"Huh?!" Tails said, looking back for a moment but kept his eyes peeled for Cream and Cheese as they hovered. "I don't see them anywhere."
"That's what I am trying to tell you guys. Look up!" Ash said, sighing over the com as Frieda signaled for Tails to do so, seeing who was flying the helicopter immediately with a wave.
"Blaze!" Tails called out, right as he winked at them and looked behind them both to see more news copters on the way. "You guys are alright!"
"Of course we're alright!" Ash chuckled, again speaking through the communicator, this time too through Tails' new tablet as he also patched her in. "It's good to hear your voices, guys. Here's a little message from Blaze, though. Land the Tornado 2 immediately so Blaze can distract those news helicopters away from you two. They've been following you since you crossed over into the vicinity. Don't ask how I know they were, ok? I'll explain that when you guys land."
"Gotcha," Tails said, signaling to Blaze that he would come down for a landing. Right as Blaze turned the copter around and flew into the two other copters' way, Tails angled the plane down and brought it in for a landing, immediately the two of them seeing Ash as she waved them in from the door. Looking over her shoulder just for a second as they touched on the pavement, Frieda heard and saw two series of smokescreen go off just where Blaze flew into the path of the two copters that expressed confusion and had to go higher to get out of the fog. By that time they came back around, though, Blaze's helicopter was gone with a fluorish as Frieda saw him coming in with a small parachute on his back that brought him back down safely to the ground.
"You're all clear, Tails. Come on in," Ash redirected to them both as they followed Ash into an open hanger that shut as soon as they were in, leaving them in total darkness.
"Ash?!" Frieda called, right as the lights came on enough for them to see that Ash was not waiting for them alone. As both of the foxes got out of the Tornado, they saw a tall brown raccoon coati with golden amber eyes standing with her to here side as Frieda ran up to hug her friend in relief.
"Hey guys!" Ash said, returning the hug partly as she tried to hide her bandaged injury from Frieda at the same time, who noticed it immediately despite Ash letting her bangs fall over her the cut on her left temple. "Don't worry, Wings. I'm fine."
"Ash, when did this happen?" Frieda asked immediately, but was relieved to find that it wasn't too deep.
"That's not important right now," Ash said, speaking up to indicate her new friend who turned around to hear a knock on the garage door.
"Who's this?" Tails asked, peering up at Ash's new friend right as Blaze came triumphantly through the side door as he and the other raccoon shared a chuckle and a high-five.
"The name's Jasper," Ash and Blaze's companion said, walking away to step over to some security cameras along the south hanger wall. "And don't worry, you're safe here."
"Safe?" Tails asked, and then remembered. "Oh, right. Cream and Cheese."
"Yeah, we saw them a little bit ago. We just didn't get to them in time, though, before the police and the media showed up," Blaze said, bringing them each a bottle of water, an apple and a bag of chips, to which Tails opened curiously. "We heard about Sonic's run-in with the S-Team, too. He's been on the news all night."
"The S-Team?" Tails asked with a mouthful of salty chips that made him take a much-needed sip of cool water. "Who are they?"
Frieda and Ash both listened expectedly as Jasper typed something on the hanger security computer. Finally, he said, "Is that the answer you really want to know right now?"
"Why? What's happened?" Frieda was the first to ask as Jasper turned to them all with a small yet serious frown.
"The truth is that your friend, Sonic, disappeared. After out-speeding and escaping their leader at the speed of sound, the high-speed pursuit unit reported that they had to abandon the chase due to unfinished track and that he got launched somewhere over the Station Square highway freeway bridge and disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Ash asked, laughing a bit. "I know we all three heard that little bit, but I refuse to believe anything happened to Sonic. If he were here, he'd do everything he could to find us just like how we found you guys just a while ago. That's how we knew what was going on, Jasper picked you guys up on his security feed while we were listening to Sonic's story on the news this morning."
"We saw Sonic last night!" Frieda said, right as Tails added, "But because of the abrasion damage, we had to land and repair the Tornado 2. We didn't see where he ended up."
"Sonic will be alright, wherever he is," Blaze said, knowing the strength of their blue leader as much as the others did. "The next best thing we can all do is help find our friends."
"Agreed," Tails, Frieda, and Ash all three said as they all cheered, Blaze joining in as well as Jasper looked on at them all with intrigue as he then noticed something else transmitting in on the surveillance computer that took his attention.
"What is it?" Tails asked, automatically at his side as the computer caught his eye.
"I don't know how we can find your friend, Sonic, but … we might be getting a clue to where they might be taking your friends if I can just get pass this encryption code," Jasper said, bringing up the command protocol. "Hey, you any good with computers?"
With only a grin from Tails, Jasper moved aside to give Tails plenty of room to decipher the program code as Jasper explained how he knew of this hanger's technology. "This hanger used to be an old military surveillance and intelligence lab until everything got shipped to another secret location just outside the city just a couple of years ago. This computer is the only surviving piece of that intelligence the army left behind when they shipped everything else out they could carry. I was lucky to find an open window to this place when I needed a place to hide out several months ago. This computer and this old ham police radio are the only things in this place I ever got to kind of work until … well, your friend there," Jasper said as all their eyes turned to Blaze, who only shrugged.
"Got it," Tails said, looking up from the computer as Jasper peered up at the encrypted message that Tails had managed to open somehow.
"Now, we only have to crack it," Jasper said, watching how Tails continued to type at the keyboard. "Oh shoot, it's morse code!"
"Morse … what?" Ash asked, looking up from resting on a newspaper pile that Jasper had stacked all around on the floor.
"Morse code, he said, genius," Blaze said, putting his hands above his head in taunt as Ash used her telekinesis to launch a pile of loose papers over at him in irritation.
"Don't push me, Blaze," Ash said, giggling at his expression none the less. "We don't need you getting an even bigger head since last night!"
"Tails?" Frieda asked, seeing a look of recognition cross his face as his fingers flew across the keyboard and his eyes rose in concern. "What is it?"
"It's saying something about a secret military location called …" Tails started to say before Jasper sighed and finished for him, "… Area 99. I was afraid of that."
"What do you mean?" Blaze demanded, eager to know what he meant by that.
"Look, I think I know where your friends are, but I can say for one sure fact that getting them out of that place will be next to impossible," Jasper said, turning away from the looks of their faces as he let out a forlorn sigh. "I barely made it out of there myself when I got somehow transported here through a warp ring incident two years ago."
"What happened?" Ash asked, wanting to know.
"You could say that I got lucky," Jasper said, turning back towards the computer as he leaned forwards to rest his hands against the desk in admittance. "A power outage shortened out the entire base enough where I was able to get out and made it across the sands and into the city before they even knew I was missing. Now that they know about your friend, Sonic, this probably led your friends to be captured by the military. Area 99 is a top-secret research and G.U.N. intelligence base that is known for researching the unknown away from the public eye, but they never got the public approval to perform their first series of experiments until now."
Not even looking at them to see the combined worry on their faces, Jasper went on to say, "I can give you the coordinates to where you'll find their base just out past the desert and in between the crevice cliffs, but I that's all I can do. I barely escaped from that place in one piece about a year ago, and I'm not going back there if I can help it. I'm sorry."
Taking in what he said, Ash only tapped her fingers against her palm for a second before she clenched it and sighed. Touching his arm, though, she said, "We understand, but our friends need all the help they can get. If there's anything you can do from here or have any suggestions about what we can do, we're all ears. If not, we'll take our chances." Looking up to see Tails holding the new Miles Electric up to the screen to plug in the coordinates, Ash said, "How are those coordinates coming, Tails?"
"Got them," Tails said, running back over and flying back up into the cockpit to put the tablet back into the plane. "I should be able to find it easy enough from the air, right?"
"Right, it's a military airstrip right smack in the middle of the desert," Jasper said, grinning a bit at their determination. "You can't miss it. One more thing, though, you're going to have to deal with their security. They've got cameras everywhere!"
"No problem," Tails said, pulling out a little hand-size gadget of his own to inspect before he shyly put it away after he saw Blaze's eyes shoot up in curiosity. "We'll see what we can do when we get there. Mind opening the hanger?"
"We'll wait for you guys right here," Blaze said, sitting at the console that he so eagerly wanted to try himself. "Jasp thinks he can make it where we can at least monitor the base from the security cameras so we can see if you need any help down the road."
With only a nod, Frieda flapped her twin tails to rise up off the ground and over to the Tornado 2, where Tails immediately looked up to her with a knowing smile.
"Tails?" Ash asked, waiting until Tails looked at her from where he sat up in the cockpit and where Frieda joined him in the second seat just then. "Can I come, too? Please?"
"Ash, you're still hurt," Blaze said, coming over just enough to sit a hand on his sister's shoulder, to which she only turned away to as Frieda noticed, too, that something was bothering her best friend. "Besides, Tails has a better chance of finding the base in the air and he's our best shot to see about doing anything for Cream and Cheese until we can find Sonic. Alright?"
With only her head down, Ash consented only enough until Tails had the Tornado 2 pass through the doors of the hanger before she made her move and leapt up. It was too late for either Blaze or Jasper to do anything but watch as the roar of the biplane made all of the papers near the door scatter as it took off on its mission.
(Flying overhead towards Area 99 in the Tornado 2, the desert now just underneath their view)
"Ash, be careful!" Frieda called from the back seat of the Tornado as she watched as Ash hung on to the back fin of the plane with a firm enough hold as she was relishing the feeling of the wind on her face. They were already flying over the desert and just outside the city in search of the base, when they both realized too late that Ash had stowed away by launching herself at the the fin of the plane just in time and weightlessly climbed aboard as it took to the air and left the city.
"You worry too much, Wings," Ash said, sitting down finally due to the look of sternness that Tails was giving her for a moment before he turned back to the console down below him to check the coordinates. "I told you guys I wanted to help. We just have to find them! How close are we to the base, Tails?"
'I admit I didn't want Miles to go by himself just in case he needed any help,' Frieda thought to herself as she watched Tails' eyes scan the ever-stretch of desert plains beneath them for any sign of clue as to where the base could be. Sighing, Frieda only said, "Just promise us, no crazy stunts."
"No crazy stunts," Ash promised, showing that she had a firm hold on the plane's fin but perked up as Tails' console beeped a bit. Looking down over the plane's side, though, it was obvious something else had Ash's attention.
"The signal's getting stronger, so I think we're close," Tails finally said, looking behind him as Ash was looking down and noticed a car. "What?"
Squinting her eyes, Ash looked harder down past the plane's left wing and saw what looked like a fancy red and black car driving down one of the loner strips just below them as Tails came in a little lower as they passed over another hill. "I'm not sure. There's a car down there," she said, keeping her eyes on them even as Frieda looked down, too, and glimpsed them for a second, too, as they cruised just underneath the Tornado. "Sonic's with them!"
"Huh?!" Tails exclaimed right as Ash got excited and bounced up to her feet with a hand still on the back on the back of the plane to steady herself. "Ash, wait a second! Hold on!"
Before Frieda or Tails could say anything else to keep Ash on the plane, Ash surprised them both as she jumped off and grabbed her knees, somersaulting down towards the car right as Sonic hopped out of the backseat with the infra-red scope on his right eye, got to his feet and shouted to his friends in the car, "See ya later, guys!"
Barreling down the street at sonic speed, Sonic didn't see Ash barely right and control herself as she crashed into the backseat of the moving car in time to hear the driver say in astonishment, "He certainly is a speedy little critter, isn't he? YEAH!" Pulling herself up in a daze from the impact, Ash had just barely put a hand to her head before she grabbed something else to hold on for dear life as the car then accelerated.
"Did she make it?" Tails asked with a slight irritation to his voice as Frieda only shook her head and sighed, just relieved that Ash was alright.
Finding herself hiding a chuckle, Frieda thought a secret thought as she knew Tails was waiting for an answer. "She did. She must have wanted to see Sonic so bad because she hit the seat just as Sonic speeded down the road. I think she got more than she bargained for though", she said, which only made them both chuckle. "You don't think Sonic's heading for the base …?"
"Only one way to find out," Tails said with a smile as he flicked another switch and made the Tornado go a little faster towards the base in the distance.
After a moment, though, Frieda heard something else as she brought up her communicator and picked up Ash's shushed tone. "Tails ..."
"Guys, don't say anything," Frieda heard Ash whisper, hearing her voice coming through her wrist communicator as she held it up so Tails could hear it, too. "Just listen."
"Sonic, can you hear me? Remember, when you get to the main building, go in through an air vent. That should be a blind spot for security," they heard someone say through the watch. It was too faint to hear Sonic's answer, but Frieda and Tails both looked at each other when they heard a caring voice say, "But grandpa, after he gets inside, how will he find where his friends are?"
"Give me that! Listen to me, Sonic! Once you head inside, you won't have much time so think quickly and act quickly!"
"Grandpa, what if he doesn't?"
"Thanks for the tip. I'm going in!" they both heard Sonic's voice play faintly through Frieda's speaker as Tails smiled and turned to pull a switch on the Tornado, lowering the outside plane cockpit.
"Tails!" Frieda exclaimed, this time for joy right as her brother only grinned harder and watched with him as the little fleet of airplanes left with a surprising dispatch of speed towards their destination. "So, this was your plan!"
"Remember how Jasper said he was lucky that he got out of there thanks to a power outage?" Tails only hinted at, which made Frieda squint her eyes with pride.
"You never cease to amaze me," Frieda said, complimenting him just as Ash buzzed in on the communicator again.
"Guys, they know we're here," they both heard Ash say as Tails flipped one more switch to turn on the radio automatic control for the little planes. "Just let them have it!"
Nearing the base, Frieda kept her head low and kept a hand ready to erect an emergency shield around the plane in case she needed to as Tails just consulted the controls as one or two of the planes began to hit their marks, namely the main security power box just outside the main building. Finding a way in, the other planes got in with no problem and silently whisked past to their next destination and target, the main electrical power cords.
"Tails?"
"Not yet," he said, getting a signal from the tablet that told him that he was reading a massive energy level in one certain sector of the base. "Did Sonic make it in?"
"Ash?" Frieda asked, waiting for a reply.
"Yes, he's in!"
"Did he find the lab?" Frieda asked, listening only for a second before Ash whispered her reply only to her in worry. Looking up to see Tails' gaze, Frieda only said, "Sonic hasn't replied in a while, so he's probably taking caution. But to Ash's guess, it sounds like he found it."
"Then, that's all I need to know," Tails said, pressing a button on the console that gave a signal to the tiny planes. "I found the main electrical system. Let's just hope this helps."
Frieda and Tails waited a few moments before they saw the electrical reading on the base drop as all the lights, even the search lights outside, flicker out as the entire base went dark.
"He got them!" Frieda heard Ash say as she reported that Sonic just reported in, but they weren't out of the woods yet.
"Uh oh," Tails said, losing a few signals from the planes as a few of them disappeared as some of them were removed from the power cords and were crushed or discarded. "They're on to us. Time for Phase 2," he said, pressing another button that redirected a small fleet of his planes on another path as Frieda looked on with confusion as they both heard the base's alarms go off with new found power.
"Guys," Ash said as she patched them in to hear the young boy say in time, "Sonic, what's going on?! Are you and your friends alright?!"
"Not exactly."
"Don't worry, they've got help coming," Frieda relayed right as Tails only smiled, knowing what was going to happen next. The end result inside the base was total chaos right as more of the planes cut off the backup power supply and attacked some of the laser cameras that trailed Sonic and Cream as their blue leader worked to find them a way out.
After a few moments, Ash reported, "Guys, they're headed for the roof!"
"Got it!" Tails shouted, now flying over Area 99. Droning just over the top of the base, Tails' eyes didn't leave the top of the tallest building as he circled it, the wind ruffling his muzzle, his hair fur, and Frieda's, too, as they both just watched for him. "This must be the place!"
Smashing through the spherical tower roof, Sonic held on tight to Cream as she held tight to Cheese as they were airborne.
"Alright, Sonic!" Tails said, making the plane dive down towards them as he bent it on its side to catch them just on the plane's right wing, to which Sonic flattened them against it and secured them as Cream gratefully opened her eyes to see that they were alright.
"We got them!" Frieda shouted into her communicator as Ash and the others cheered over it, just as Tails leveled the plane out.
"Hey!" Sonic said, seeing them both right as Frieda smiled and grabbed Sonic's other hand to further secure them to the plane.
"Ha ha," Tails responded, lifting up a hand in a wave.
"It was you!" Cream said, smiling as she recognized what Tails had done. "You are the one who helped us to get out of there!"
Only winking, Tails indicated towards Frieda, too, in the back and the others below as Sonic only smiled ever broader. "I helped, but Sonic is the real hero!"
"You were amazing!" Frieda said, hugging her brother with one free hand just as far as she could reach. "Cream! Cheese!"
"Frieda!" Cream said, holding onto Cheese a little tighter as Tails leveled out and flew over the car, a sight that made Ash even draw her jaw as she just cheered from the back of the car. "You helped, too?"
"We all did!" Frieda said, as all three of them looked down to see Ash looking up at them with relief and a fresh set of tears that made Sonic wonder what was truly the matter as he secretly arched an eyebrow that made Frieda knew that Sonic would reach out to her later.
"Well Chris, mission accomplished! Let's head for home!" Ash heard from below, looking up after connecting her eyes with Chris for a moment and just fell back into the seat as all four of them above in the Tornado 2 followed Chris' and his grandfather's car back to the Thorndike Mansion to meet their new friends.
Sorry it took a bit, guys, but here's chapter 3 as promised. Based around one of my all-time favorite episodes of this series, I hope I did some loyal justice to this episode's part. Am I only one to wonder how Tails was able to find Sonic and the base's location in episode 2 there at the end? If so or not, that's fine: It was the perfect timing to introduce one of our newest characters in this story that me and my co-writer are so proud of.
For future notice, I will say I am planning on adding a new cover art for this fic, it's just going to take some time to draw it out and get it ready. Until then, see you next time. Thanks for reading!