Chaos Control
Chapter 7
The girls and their new allies returned to the Thorndyke Mansion. Sonic, his companions, the girls, Chris, and Professor Chuck Thorndyke was in the room. Sonic and the girls had already explained to Chris and chuck what has happened back in the forest. Chris and Professor Thorndyke was shocked about this sudden attack from an unknown monster, especially one powerful enough to defeat Sonic and the girls.
"So this thing is called 'Chaos?" asked Chris.
"Yes and he completely overpowered us." said Sonic. "I've never seen anything like it. It's like it's made out of water."
"How is it that Blossom and Knuckles knew about Chaos and no one else did?" asked Professor Thorndyke.
"I don't know." admitted Blossom.
"Even I can't explain it." said Knuckles.
"But it was really cool when Blossom used Chaos Control." said Amy.
"Yeah, you should have seen how Blossom tore Chaos to pieces." said Tails. Blossom blushed.
"Even I was amazed." admitted Sonic. "I hardly meet anyone else besides me who can use Chaos Control. It is a very rare gift."
"What about me and Bubbles?" asked Buttercup. "Can the two of us use Chaos Control?"
"Maybe, maybe not." answered Sonic. "We could test it some time."
"So what happened to the Chaos Emerald?" asked Professor Thorndyke, changing the subject.
"For some reason, Chaos had given it to Mojo and Eggman so now they have it." said Sonic.
"I say we go to Eggman and Mojo and steal that emerald back." said Buttercup.
"Good idea but there is one problem." said Tails. "We don't know where Eggman's secret fortress is."
"Ugh, this is frustrating." said Buttercup.
Suddenly, Ella ran in into the room, holding an old news paper in her hand.
"Sonic, I've found something that maybe of some use to you." said Ella, handing the news paper to Sonic. "It's over a week old but I think it will lead us to the next Chaos Emerald." Everyone gathered around Sonic as he read the paper to himself.
"What does it say, Sonic." asked Cream.
"It says that there had been some mechanical disturbances in the mountains." said Sonic. "Machines of all types around the area had suddenly gone haywire with no reason. The disturbances happened around the Sanda Gorge. Chaos Emeralds naturally radiate a type of radiation that actually interferes with mechanics and causes machines to go haywire if they are not specially designed to handle the radiation. If there had been malfunctioning machines in Sanda Gorge, then there must be a Chaos Emerald."
"We better get it before Eggman and Mojo find it." said Amy.
"You're right, Amy." said Sonic. "Lets go."
"I know where Sanda Gorge is and I can give you directions." said Professor Thorndyke.
"I'll come, too." said Chris.
"I'll have to put in the extra seats in the X Tornado." pointed out Tails.
"How long will that take?" asked Sonic.
"About five minutes." said Tails
"Well, you take care of that while we come up with a strategy on how to find that emerald." said Sonic. As they all talked, they were unaware that someone outside was listening in on their conversation.
An oval shaped glass pod was attached to the X Tornado and this pod contained two seats, enabling the X Tornado to have enough room to allow Professor Thorndyke and Chris to come along with the others. The X Tornado took off into the air and Sonic and the girls followed close behind it. Thanks to the instructions given by Professor Thorndyke, they traveled to Sanda Gorge which was a large fissure next to the mountains. Tails landed the X Tornado not far from the fissure and everyone unloaded from the plane. Tails pulled out his makeshift Chaos Emerald Radar so that he could hopefully sense the presence of the Chaos Emerald.
"Okay, here's the plan." said Tails. "We're all going to split up and find the emerald ourselves and when one of us finds it or they spot Eggman and Mojo, use the walkie talkie to tell us. We'll split into groups. Sonic and myself will search together. Knuckles, Amy, and Cream will also search together. Professor Thorndyke and Chris will search together and the Powerpuff Girls will also be together." Tails reached into the X Tornado and pulled out some hand held walkie talkies. He handed one to each group. "Now if one of us finds the emerald, we return here to the X Tornado." Everyone agreed to the terms and they all went their separate ways to find the Chaos Emerald.
The girls scoured the area, flying low to the ground so they could spot the emerald when fly by it.
"Do you girls see the emerald anywhere?" asked Blossom.
"Not yet." said Bubbles.
"This could take forever." complained Buttercup.
"Not if we try our X-ray vision." suggested Blossom.
"Good idea." said Buttercup. All three of the girls activated their x-ray vision and they scanned the semi-dry environment, searching for any hint of an emerald. Their x-ray vision aloud them to see through all the solid barriers in the general area but the more objects their x-ray vision penetrates, the more harder it was to see anything beyond that object. It's kind of like being nearsighted. The girls scanned the area, searching for the Chaos Emerald, when suddenly, Bubbles spotted something. She could make out something small and shinny but that was all Bubbles could make out.
"Girls, I see something." said Bubbles. The girls turned their stare in the direction Bubbles was looking and noticed the object. It was right behind several feet of solid earth and it was located behind a cliff near the fissure.
"Lets go over for a closer look." said Blossom.
The girls deactivated their x-ray vision and flew over to the cliff and when they looked over the edge, they noticed a ten foot drop strait down and it ended at the beginning of a cliff of jagged rocks. On the five or six feet of flat ground that didn't drop down into the fissure was a light brown leather back pack, assumably containing the Chaos Emerald. The girls lowered themselves to the back pack but before they could pick up the back pack, the back pack was picked up by someone who ran over in a flash. The girls were surprised by the sudden appearance and they only stared at the person before them. The one who picked up the back pack was clearly not human but possibly another being from Sonic's dimension. She appeared to be female and had some humanoid features. She appeared to be a large bat of some kind with skin tones around her body and mouth but white fur covered her head. She had large pointy ears and blue eye shadow on her eye lids. On her back was bat wings that were folded angelic style. She wore black tights with a large pink heart shape that covered her breasts and she also wore pink and white gloves and boots.
After grabbing the back pack, the bat like creature said, "Hey, hands off the merchandise." She bared her teeth, showing off her vampire like fangs.
"Who are you supposed to be?" asked Buttercup irritated.
"My name is Rouge the Bat, master treasure hunter." bragged the bat women. "I was here first so if you want any treasure, find your own hunting grounds."
"We're looking for the Chaos Emerald." said Blossom. "We think it's in your back pack."
"Yeah, it's in here but I found it first." said Rouge.
"You found it already?" asked Blossom in surprise. "But how did you know that the Chaos Emerald was here?"
"I was eavesdropping on your conversation." said Rouge.
"What? You were spying on us?" said Buttercup.
"That's right and there's nothing that you three little girls can do to get me to give the emerald to you." said Rouge. Without warning, Buttercup grabbed Rouge by the throat and lifted her off the ground.
"Give us that emerald or I'll rip your head off." threatened Buttercup.
"Okay, okay, you win." said Rouge, struggling to breath. "Just but me down and I'll give you the emerald." Rouge was immediately released and she fell to the ground, landing on her feet. Rouge opened up her back pack and pulled out a green colored Chaos Emerald. She handed the emerald to Buttercup and ran off without another word.
"What a strange women." said Buttercup.
"As long as we've got the Chaos Emerald." said Blossom. Blossom brought the walkie talkie she was holding to her mouth and said into it, "We've found the emerald. We can go home now." The girls flew into the air with Buttercup grasping the Chaos Emerald in her hands.
Sonic and the girls were the first to reach the X Tornado, followed by the others who gathered shortly afterwards. Everyone looked ecstatic about the find.
"Wow, you got the emerald." said Amy with joy.
"Way to go girls." said Chris. Knuckles, however, took one look at the Chaos Emerald and noticed something amiss.
"May I see that emerald?" asked Knuckles. Buttercup reluctantly gave the emerald to Knuckles who examined the emerald closely and noticed several inconsistencies with the emerald's shape and design. As Knuckles examined the emerald, Sonic also realized something suspicious.
"Hey, wait a minute." said Sonic. "All the Chaos Emeralds have their own unique color and Eggman has the green emerald. So why do we have it now?"
"Indeed, this is suspicious." said Knuckles. "I don't think this is an emerald at all."
"But how?" said Buttercup. "Rouge said..."
"Rouge?" chorussed Sonic and Knuckles upon hearing the name.
"You mean you got this from Rouge?" asked Sonic.
"I knew it." said Knuckles. Without warning, Knuckles threw the emerald into a nearby rock and it smashed to piece. "That emerald is a glass replica." The Powerpuff Girls couldn't believe they had been fooled so easily.
"Who is this Rouge anyway?" asked Blossom.
"I've dealt with her before." said Knuckles. "She's an obsessed jewel hunter who only wants the Chaos Emeralds just so she could add them to her collection. She's a sneaky one alright." Buttercup screamed in rage.
"When I get my hands on her, I'm going to..." screamed Buttercup.
"We better spread out and search for Rouge before she gets away." interrupted Blossom.
"She's right, lets go." said Sonic. They all split up searching for Rouge with the girls, Tails, Cream, and Cheese taking to the skies for a birds eye view and the rest searching on land, leaving their walkie talkies behind in their hurry.
Meanwhile, Rouge was at the edge of the fissure, admiring the real Chaos Emerald which was also in her back pack. The emerald she held in her hand was purple and it glowed brightly in the sun shine. Rouge admired her prize with an evil grin on her face.
"Yes, this would probably be the best souvenir I have ever taken." said Rouge triumphantly. "I knew that fake emerald would come in handy. I didn't use it in the way I originally planned to but I got it came in handy anyway. And now, this emerald is mine and it's my favorite color, too."
"Well, I'm glad you like it." said Knuckles who stood behind Rouge. Rouge turned her gaze up at Knuckles and gasped.
"How'd you find me?" asked Rouge as she put the emerald back into her back pack.
"I was just close enough to hear you bragging." said Knuckles. "The rest was pure chance. Now hand over the emerald."
"If you want it, you'll have to catch me first." said Rouge and with that said, she opened up her bat wings and glided into the air, flying over the fissure. Knuckles chased after Rouge on foot and when he got to edge of the cliff, he leaped into the air and glided over the fissure. How Knuckles was capable of gliding in the air? No one knows for sure but he was gliding alright. Rouge noticed that Knuckles was right behind her so she quickly dove down towards the fissure. Knuckles dove down after her and continued to pursue. Rouge landed gracefully onto the side of the fissure walls, clinging to the rock with her claws. Knuckles landed on the rock as well, digging his spiked knuckles into the rock and clinging on.
"You're certainly quite a nuisance." said Rouge.
"Well look who's talking." said Knuckles. He tried to crawl towards her but Rouge quickly released her grip and glided towards the wall at the other end of the fissure and hooked herself to it. Knuckles followed and the two of them continuously glided from wall to wall, gradually descending the fissure.
Meanwhile, the Powerpuff Girls were high in the sky, watching for any signs of Rouge. Suddenly, Bubbles noticed something in the distance.
"Girls, look." said Bubbles while pointing in the direction of her gaze. The girls quickly noticed Knuckles and Rouge in the fissure.
"We got to help him." said Blossom. The three girls, flew towards the fissure but once they got near the fissure, a huge hand stretched out and grabbed the girls in mid-air. That hand belonged to Chaos who had easily compressed his liquid body so he could hide himself from the view of the Powerpuff Girls. He had been watching them and when he noticed the girls moving towards the fissure, he stretched his liquid arm forwards and grabbed the girls, preventing them from reaching Knuckles and Rouge. Before the girls could cry for help, Chaos tossed the girls into a huge rock. The force of the toss pushed the rock a few feet and it created a huge dent in the side where the girls were imbedded in. They were not hurt but they were unconscious from the blow. Now that the girls were out of the way, Chaos changed into a puddle and slithered down the side of the fissure, towards Rouge and Knuckles.
Rouge and Knuckles finally reached the bottom of the fissure. At the very bottom of the fissure was a small river and the river itself was surrounded by luscious trees and grass. Rouge and Knuckles hardly had time to enjoy the scenery since they were too busy fighting. They had landed on the ground and engaged into hand-to-hand combat. Rouge and Knuckles were both formidable martial artists and the two fought skillfully with Knuckles displaying his extraordinary strength and Rouge using her amazing skills of kicks and acrobatics. Eventually, the fighting stopped and the two of them simply glared at each other.
"Stop fooling around and let me have the emerald." chorused Rouge and Knuckles.
"You're nothing but a little thief." said Knuckles.
"Well you're nothing but a big bully." interjected Rouge. Knuckles was about to say something back when suddenly, Chaos (in the form of a puddle) slithered in-between the two of them and then he shaped himself into his humanoid form.
"Chaos!" said Knuckles in alarm. Rouge could only stare in horror as the monster before her reached over and pulled off her back pack. Chaos opened the back pack and pulled out the Chaos Emerald that was inside.
"Hey, that's mine." said Rouge as she began to kick Chaos in the leg but her kicks easily passed through Chaos like water. Chaos kicked Rouge away like a football but Rouge was lucky enough to prevent herself from hitting the sides of the fissure by using her wings like a parachute. Knuckles immediately fought Chaos by grabbing onto the hand that held the Chaos Emerald. Chaos immediately noticed Knuckles and allowed Knuckles to past through him causing Knuckles to land on the ground. Using his free hand, Chaos struck Knuckles in the head and Knuckles hit the side of a tree . He was dazed by the blow and he was unable to get his barrings in order to stand up. Rouge, realizing that she was no match for Chaos, had fled the area. At this point, Chaos had noticed Eggman and Mojo's ship fly into the fissure. Chaos immediately threw the emerald in the direction of the ship and it landed right in front of the ship. Mojo, who was the co-pilots, had noticed the emerald.
"Look, it's a Chaos Emerald, just as the Chaos Radar had detected." said Mojo.
"Good, lets get it." said Eggman, who was the pilot. Eggman steered the ship under the emerald and using a robotic claw that was underneath the ship, he grabbed the emerald and Knuckles managed to regain consciousness in time to watch Eggman fly off with the Chaos Emerald. Knuckles searched the area but found no trace of Rouge or Chaos. It was official, he had lost the emerald.
Cream, who was hovering high above the fissure, had just seen most of the fight. Although she couldn't see it very well because of how high off the ground she was, she did notice Eggman and Mojo's ship enter and depart the fissure and she also noticed Chaos escape. She was vigorously flapping her ears in an attempt to keep herself hovering off the ground. Cheese was also hovering beside her. Tails, who was also flying in the air, had noticed Cream and Cheese and flew over to them.
"What are you looking at?" asked Tails to Cream.
"Knuckles is down there and I also saw Eggman, Mojo, and Chaos." explained Cream.
"Oh no." said Tails. Tails turned around in mid air, cuffed his hands around his mouth, and shouted, "Sonic, over here." Sonic heard Tails cry out and ran over to the edge of the fissure at his usual fast pace. Tails and Cream landed in front of Sonic so they could talk to him face to face.
"What have you found?" asked Sonic.
"Sonic, I saw Knuckles, Rouge, Eggman, Mojo, and Chaos at the bottom of the fissure." explained Cream. "There was some kind of a fight and I don't know for sure what happened afterwards."
"Chow chow." chorussed Cheese.
"We better go down there and check on Knuckles." said Sonic. "Do you guys mind giving me a lift?"
"Not at all." said Tails. Cream and Tails quickly hovered off the ground and then they grabbed onto Sonic by the arms with Cream holding onto the left arm and Tails holding onto the right arm. They then gently lifted Sonic off the ground and lowered him to the bottom of the fissure, being careful not to allow Cream's flapping ears to hit Tails's spinning tails and Cheese was right behind them. At this point, the Powerpuff Girls had regained consciousness and when they noticed Cream, Cheese, Sonic, and Tails heading towards the bottom of the fissure, they followed.
Knuckles lay on his back, staring up at the blue sky above. Sonic, Tails, and Cream walked over to Knuckles as the girls and Cheese hovered over him.
"Are you all right?" asked Cream.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but I'm in a lot of pain." said Knuckles. Knuckles stood up. Despite his head ache, Knuckles was cable of balancing himself on his feet.
"What happened?" asked Sonic.
"I chased Rouge down this fissure and just when I had her cornered, Chaos came in and stole the emerald." said Knuckles.
"So Chaos was here?" asked Sonic.
"Yeah, he was." said Buttercup, answering for Knuckles. "He knocked me and my sisters out cold by throwing us into a huge rock."
"My head still hurts from that blow." complained Bubbles.
"What happened to Chaos?" asked Sonic to Knuckles.
"I tried to take the Chaos Emerald away from him but he hit me and I was out cold." said Knuckles. "I managed to regain consciousness after the blow but only in time to see Chaos give the emerald to Eggman and Mojo. I have no idea where Rouge, Eggman, Mojo, or Chaos had went to."
"So we've lost the emerald?" asked Blossom. Knuckles nodded his head, indicating "yes." Buttercup punched her right fist into her left hand in frustration.
"We better get back to the mansion." said Blossom glumly.
They flew out of the fissure (or carried out by those who couldn't fly) and they managed to find Professor Chuck Thorndyke, Amy, and Chris and told them what had happened. Disappointed, they all flew back to the mansion to recover from their injuries. Eggman and Mojo did not leave the fortress for the rest of the day so the girls ended up staying inside and they spent another night at Chris's house. All the while, they realized that there was now only two emeralds remaining. Question is: Who will claim them?