Sorry for last chapter's short interview. We'll have a better one this
time. Also, Scales has more action and finds two Emeralds in one chapter!
Isn't that radical? Sorry, I'm a little weird right now. Also, all you
Tails lovers will finally get to see your favorite fox in a cameo as
fisherman! Don't worry, he's not as dumb as Big. But I hope you're not
disappointed since he's going to be a little out of character. Please don't
complain if you don't like how he turns out.
Disclaimer: No way.
Day 1, 6:30 PM
Scales walked around the Mystic Ruins area. After taking a quick rest, Robotnik told her that he had picked up on radar not one, but two Emeralds, both of which were in the jungle. He had told her that one was near a lake, the other was on a mountain called Icecap. At the moment, Scales thought she should try the lake. Following the directions the archaeologists had given her, Scales came out of some trees and found a breathtaking lake, small but lovely nonetheless. A waterfall spilled from a nearby mountain, filling the lake. Scales looked around and saw a small pier nearby and a cottage a little further away. Sitting on the pier was a 12-year old orange fox with two tails. He appeared to be fishing. Sitting next to him was a small toad. Scales walked around the shore of the lake and onto the pier. "Um, excuse me." She said, getting the boy's attention. The fox looked up. "Oh, hello. What are you doing here?" "My name's Scales the Lizard. I heard there was a large gemstone somewhere around this lake. Would you happen to know where it is?" Scales asked. The fox thought a moment. "Would this gemstone happen to be large, cut like a diamond, and yellow in color?" Scales started getting excited. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for! Have you seen it?" The fox nodded. "Yeah, it's in my house. Come on, I'll show it to you." He stood up and handed the fishing pole to the toad. "Toady, hang on to the pole and let me know if anything catches before I get back, okay?" The toad croaked and got a tight grip on the fishing pole with its tongue. "Good boy. Come on miss, I'll show you the jewel." He led her across the way to the cottage. "By the way, what's your name?" asked Scales. "Tails. Tails Prower." The fox replied. Scales blinked. "Not THE Tails Prower who caught a blue whale by accident just last year?" Tails' chest swelled up with pride. "Yep, that's me." "Wow." Scales said, impressed. Tails stopped at the door to the cottage. "Here we are. Be quiet though, my girlfriend Cassandra is still asleep." Scales smiled. "How sweet, you already have a girlfriend?" Tails paused. "We've been together a long time, ever since our parents died and we had a little bit of an.incident with an orphanage. Neither of us wanted to be separated from the other by adoptive parents, so we ran away. We've set up a home here, and I make my living as a fisherman. I've kept the child care people off my back by legally registering my foster parent as Toady and changing my name to Tails." He paused, then slapped his forehead. "Shouldn't have told you that, should not have told you that." He groaned. "Don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone. I think it's cute how you and this Cassandra didn't want to leave each other." Said Scales reassuringly. Tails seemed a little unsure, but shrugged it off. "Okay, let's go in shall we?" Tails opened the door, letting Scales go in. The cottage was small and quaint, with some of the modern conveniences. Sleeping on a bunk bed in an adjacent room was an adorable twelve-year old yellow fox. She had three tails, each with black tips. Her ears had black tips as well. "That's Cassandra. We'd best be quiet, so as not to wake her." Tails whispered. He quietly walked to another room full of fishing trophies and a single large yellow jewel, the Chaos Emerald. "This is the jewel you wanted, right?" Tails whispered. Scales nodded. "Yes. How much will you take for it?" Tails shook his head. "No money, just promise never to tell anybody about the whole child care fraud and everything." He whispered back to her. Scales shrugged. "I wouldn't have told anyway, but I promise." She picked up the yellow Emerald and put it away. "Thanks for letting me have this. By the way, would you happen to know where I can find Icecap?" "Oh sure, it's that mountain just outside. Is there anything else you need to know?" the fox asked. Scales shook her head. "No thank you, but I appreciate the offer. I wish the two of you best of luck, okay?" The little fox cracked a grin and led her outside. As he headed back to the pier to relieve Toady of fishing duty, Scales started heading for the icy mountain. After walking up a trail by the stream at the top of the waterfall for a little while, Scales came to an opening in a stone cliff, the base of the mountain. She went through the opening and found an altar with a blue stone on it. Next to the altar was a tunnel. Scales went down the tunnel, actively aware that with every passing second it grew colder. Scales knew that reptiles didn't function well in the cold, so was glad that her internal mechanics kept her nice and warm. She came to the end of the tunnel, with a ladder leading up. Scales climbed up the ladder, coming to the entrance of an icy passage. She went to battle mode and headed inside.
Stage 4: Icecap. Mission: Find the Chaos Emerald.
Scales went down the passage, finding it opened on a glacier. Right in front of her was a rocket pointing towards a cave opening on the other side. She grabbed the rocket and was shot across the glacier. She let go of the rocket, dropping into the cave. She was in a large cavern with lots of icy platforms, ledges and chasms. On the platform in front of Scales was a spring. Using her grooved feet pads to stay on the ice, Scales walked to the spring and bounced off, bouncing off a couple of other springs around the cavern before shooting for a large icicle. She grabbed onto the icicle, digging in with her claws. She peered around the ice stalagmite and saw a row of icicles ahead of her. Crawling around the icicle, she jumped to the next in the row, grabbing on to it and crawling around so she could jump to the next one. She jumped from icicle to icicle, finally reaching the end of the line. She dropped to a ledge beneath her and looked around. She saw a spring and bounced off it, grabbing another icicle. She jumped from icicle to icicle, working down the line until she reached the end. She dropped and landed on a ledge with a rocket pointing across an abyss. She grabbed the rocket and was shot across the cave. She let go of the rocket and dropped to a floating platform. She bounced off a spring at its end and grabbed the first of another set of icicles. She swung from icicle to icicle, dropping to a platform with a small cliff in front of it. She saw a couple of Bladed Spinners hovering over one another at the base of the cliff. Scales used Homing Kicks to smash the robots and get to the top of the cliff. She ran to the end and killed a Gola, then bounced from a spring to get over a chasm. She landed at the top of a ramp. She sped down the ramp, going through a couple of dash panels and launching from a dash plate at the end. She hurtled through the air, grabbing another icicle. She headed down the line of ice stalagmites, taking great care not to let go, and came to the end. She dropped from the end of the line of stalagmites and dropped to a platform with a Leon on it. She killed the metal chameleon and walked forward, seeing a narrow bridge made of ice spanning the next chasm. She stepped on the bridge and the whole thing started to shake. Moving fast, she ran across the bridge and jumped to the next platform just before the bridge collapsed and fell into the crevasse. She walked forward and found a dash panel. She ran over it and raced up a sloping path, going through a loop and stopping on another platform, this one with a switch. She hit the switch, and a bridge made of ice appeared, leading to the next platform. Warily, she took a step forward and found the bridge was more solid. Relieved, she walked across and was assaulted by a dozen Unidus. She quickly dispatched the robots and found a jump pad on her platform. She jumped off the pad, jumped off another one in the air, and landed at the entrance to a tunnel. She went through the tunnel and followed it as it curved inside the wall of the mountain, forcing her to smash several Rhino tanks before coming out in the main cave again. There was a spring at the end of the ledge she was on. She bounced off the spring and shot through the air, grabbing another icicle. She jumped across the long row of icicles, dropping to another ledge leading to a tunnel. She killed the Unidus guarding the entrance and went into the tunnel. She exited the tunnel and was outside the mountain, pretty high up. A cold wind whipped by her. Scales saw a jump pad in the middle of the large platform she was now standing on. She jumped off the pad and hurtled up into the air. She jumped off five more floating pads in succession before reaching the end, the top of a very, very steep hill. Scales was a little unsure what to do until Tikal showed up. "Hey Tikal, how do I get down the slope?" Scales asked the ball of light. Tikal flew over to a patch of snow. "There's a snowboard right here you can use to get down the mountain. Wait, do you know how to snowboard?" "No." Scales admitted. "Well, do you know how to skateboard?" Tikal asked. "No." "Surf?" "Sorry, but no." Scales said. Tikal thought about it for a moment, then got an idea. "I know! You can grind, right?" "Yeah, but there's no rail here." Scales pointed out. "That doesn't matter. Think of the snowboard as a moving rail! Just pretend it's a rail leading down the side of the mountain and you're grinding it past several obstacles and stuff to reach the bottom and get the Chaos Emerald." Tikal said. Scales brightened up. "Great idea! Thanks Tikal." "Your welcome. See you later!" Tikal flew off, leaving Scales alone. Scales went to the spot Tikal had indicated and dug into the snow. She pulled out a snowboard. "Wonder how this thing got up here." She muttered. Placing the board at the edge of the hill, she stepped on and fastened her feet in. She took a deep breath. "Okay, here we go!" With that, she pushed herself onto the slope and started boarding. After the first few initial seconds of terror, Scales remembered Tikal's advice and pretended the board was a rail. Relaxing, she started to have a little fun by swerving down the slope, coming close to the walls. She started laughing from the ecstasy of it all, until she heard a rumbling. She looked behind her and gave an unladylike curse. Hurtling down the slope towards her was a two-story tall snowball. She turned her head back to the slope, focusing on the trail ahead. She crouched down to pick up speed and kept going, trying to outrun the snowball. She went over several little moguls, almost wiping out, but she managed to stay upright. After several small hills and moguls, the snowball finally broke up when the slope narrowed, becoming too close together for the great snowy ball to pass through. Whooping, Scales went through the narrowed opening, ditching the snowball. She sobered when she saw what was up ahead of her. Coming up were several large fallen columns of ice. Moving instinctively, Scales swerved around the columns, each time narrowly avoiding a wipeout. After several very extreme close calls, she got past the ice columns. She didn't bother to congratulate herself as the slope passed through a cave with a fairly low ceiling. Giant icicles hung down from the ceiling, almost scraping the ground. Scales groaned and started evasive maneuvers again, swerving past the numerous icicles and coming close to wiping out. Eventually, the cave opened up and she was back on the mountainside again. Everything looked clear until she saw several big blocks of ice on the path. Taking evasive maneuvers one more time, Scales swerved around and around the blocks of ice, passing through very narrow gaps and nearly wiping out. She finally got through the blocks and it seemed the slope was all clear. That's when she saw the path ended in an abyss just ahead. She noticed a ramp at the edge of the abyss and aimed carefully for it. She shot onto the ramp and leapt off the end, hurtling through the air and landing on the slope, which continued on the other side of the chasm. She kept boarding, swerving past a few evergreen trees. There weren't as many trees as there had been other obstacles, so she didn't have to worry as much about crashing. After a little longer, Scales saw another gap and ramp up ahead. Crouching down just in case, she sped for the ramp. She went up and off the ramp, soaring through the air and landing on the other side of the chasm. She kept on going, passing a few more trees until she came to a stretch of open snow. Suddenly, several fighter planes bearing Snively's logo with an X over it swooped from the sky and started dropping bombs at her. Scales had to frantically evade the blasts, knowing a wipeout caused by a bomb would probably hurt a lot. It was close, but she managed to make it through the bombing run. The planes flew away. Wondering where they had come from, Scales launched off another ramp and couldn't resist trying a cool trick or two in midair. She went off of three more ramps and did the same thing, landing and finally, finally reaching the bottom of the long slope. She hopped off the snowboard and walked along the narrow, icy passage ahead of her, passing between the high cliffs. After going a little ways and killing some irritating Rhino Tanks, Scales came out to a vast frozen glacier. Her Chaos senses started picking up. Walking carefully across the beautiful frozen wasteland, Scales stopped at the point on the glacier where her Chaos senses were most active. She dug a little way into the snow and found the red Chaos Emerald!
(STAGE CLEAR.)
Scales put away the Emerald. She was about to warp back to Angel Island when she heard a metallic clunk behind her. Scales turned around and saw Rouge! That is, Rouge encased in the same strange metal as Knuckles had that gave her a second skin. Whatever this weird new roboticization process was, it worked! Even Rouge's clothes looked metal. Rouge, or should I say Mecha Rouge, pointed a finger at Scales. "My sensors indicate you have no less than six Chaos Emeralds on your person. Hand them over!" "Why should I?" asked Scales. "Because all jewels belong to my master, of course! Now give them to me so I won't have to kick your heiny for them!" Mecha Rouge growled. Scales shook her head. "The Chaos Emeralds rightfully belong to me, not you! If your master wants them so badly, tell him he can come get them from me himself!" Mecha Rouge scowled. "No matter what you say, it still sounds crazy to refuse! Give me the Chaos Emeralds!" Scales snarled. "If you want them so bad, then come take them!" "Fine, I will!" Mecha Rouge yelled.
Mecha Rouge
The android vampire bat jumped up and started gliding towards Scales. Scales kept dodging Mecha Rouge, knowing that she would soon have to land considering there were no nearby walls to climb on to gain a greater altitude and because she couldn't actually fly. Mecha Rouge dropped to the ground and ran towards Scales. Scales lashed out with her tail, but Mecha Rouge fell down and kicked out, knocking Scales over. The robot got up and jumped over Scales, coming down in a drill drive on the lizard's unprotected life support dome. Scales wailed and rolled over, knocking the bat off. She got up and got ready for another attack. Mecha Rouge lashed out with a foot, trying to kick her. Scales grabbed the robot by the leg and threw her over her shoulder, smashing her to the ground. Mecha Rouge got back up, looking angry. "Okay, enough of this! Black Wave!" The wave struck Scales, sending her flying back. Mecha Rouge ran over and was able to get in another kick before Scales got back up. The lizard started to turn, indicating a tail whip. Mecha Rouge dropped, thinking she could get in another kick. However, Scales abruptly swung her tail down, striking the robot like she had wanted. Mecha Rouge yelped and got back up, only to get struck in the face by Scales' tail. Before the robot could do anything more, Scales launched into a Homing Kick, smashing into Mecha Rouge and driving her into the snow behind her. She got up and fired another Black Wave. Scales dodged the attack and hit Mecha Rouge with another Homing Kick. As the robot staggered back, Scales fired a Serpent Strike, exploding on impact with Mecha Rouge. The robot moaned and fell to the ground. The metal body fell apart, revealing Rouge. Yes, she was wearing her normal clothes you pervert! Scales sighed. "I didn't want to hurt you Rouge. Sorry." Of course, Rouge had no way of responding considering the fact that she was filled to the brim with nanites. Scales heard a deep chuckle behind her. She whirled around and saw the massive monster from the wedding. "Let me guess. You're the third of the Demonic Four?" she said sardonically. The monster nodded. "Correct. I am Baal, and I have come for the Chaos Emeralds seeing how Mecha no. 2 has failed her duty to our master" Scales glared at him. "I doubt you'll tell me who your master is, or why he needs the Emeralds so badly, or why he's using all of Snively's stuff, so let's just forget the chitchat and start beating the crap out of each other?" Baal flexed his freaky fingers. "Sounds good to me. I will enjoy squashing you like a little gnat." Baal started towards Scales.
Baal
The great monster swung a massive arm at Scales. She backflipped from the blow and had to keep backflipping to stay away from the big beast. When she was far enough away from Baal, she waited for him to get a little closer then used a Homing Kick on his face before he could swing at her. He grunted and swatted her away. The strength of his hit knocked her several yards away. She groaned and got up, ducking immediately to avoid a blow that would have knocked her head off. Baal brought an arm down in a powerful piledrive, trying to smash Scales. She jumped out of the way and ran around behind him. Before Baal could turn around, Scales swung her tail at a leg, knocking him off his feet. Before the behemoth could get back up, Scales ran over his back, avoiding the spikes, and got to the top of his head as Baal got back up. The monster looked around, trying to figure out where Scales was. That's when her head filled his single eye as she bent over and yelled "Peekaboo!" The monster growled and tried to smash her skull in with his arm. She pulled her head up immediately, causing Baal to hit himself in the face. He staggered back, causing Scales to fall off of him. She smirked at the furious creature. "Stop hitting yourself!" she yelled, jumping out of the way of another piledrive. She launched into a Homing Kick while Baal's guard was down, hitting him in the face again. He reeled back, now more than just a little mad. He ran away, then turned around. "Take this!" He yelled, stomping hard on the ground. A shockwave rippled out, smashing ice in its path and heading for Scales. Scales simply jumped over the wave, allowing it to pass beneath her. She started running for the monster, intent on showing him some more pain. Baal created more shockwaves, each of which Scales jumped over, using Homing Kicks to move over the waves that came in more than one group. Finally, she got to the monster and delivered another Homing Kick to his face. Baal swatted Scales away, only to see her get up several yards away. That did it. "Okay, I'm sick of this! Elder Shot!" the shoulder mouths opened, firing twin balls of darkness at Scales. She ran right towards Baal, rolling just before the balls could hit her. She somersaulted beneath the two projectiles and kept going, jumping as the balls struck the ground and exploded. The force of the blast pushed Scales forwards, right towards Baal. As the monster's single eye widened, she flipped around and launched into a high-powered Homing Kick, striking him in the face once again and stunning him. Scales dropped to the ground and cupped her hands upward as Baal flailed his arms around, temporarily blinded by the blow her kick had delivered to the monster's eye. "Serpent Strike!" The green snake shot forth, exploding in Baal's face. The monster screamed and started to fall over. Scales darted out of the way as Baal hit the ground, shaking the glacier and causing quite a few cracks in its surface. Scales panted, quickly recovering. "Like they always say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." Baal groaned and staggered to his feet. "Well, I admit you were better than I thought, but next time we meet I will-" "I'm over here!" Scales yelled from behind the monster. Baal looked around confused, before realization set in. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! You've blinded me! Oh, when I find you, I swear you'll be pounded so far into the ground you'll have to look up to look down!" "That doesn't even make sense." Said Scales loudly. "Oh yeah? I'll show you!" Baal yelled, running towards where he thought Scales was, which was completely the wrong direction. As Scales snickered, a great shadow blotted out the sun. She looked up and gasped. The giant airship that had assaulted Angel Island just last night was floating above the glacier. She could now see that the Snively face on the nose of the ship had been crossed out as well. Other than that, the ship was unchanged. A loudspeaker lowered from the bottom of the ship. An unfamiliar voice blared out from the speaker, echoing across the frozen mountain. "Very impressive, lizard. I watched the whole fight, both of them, from up here. While I admit you may have gained some slight skill as was obvious by your victory over the first three of the Demonic Four, you are not good enough to defeat Beelzebub or myself. In any case, gaze in awe at this, the Snivel Carrier III, one of Snively's last remaining weapons and my flagship. But even the power of this awesome vessel is nothing compared to that which will be obtained when I take your Chaos Emeralds! Now, I'll just take Baal and leave you to your measly victory. Baal! Come over to the tractor beam!" A tractor beam shot from the underside of the ship. "Yes Master!" said Baal, running in the opposite direction from the beam. The voice cursed. "No Baal, over here! No, no, no, a little to your right! No, not my right, your right! Argh, your other right! Oh for the love of-" The tractor beam swept over the stumbling Baal, lifting him towards the ship. "There, we'll just grow you a new eye so this won't be an annoyance in the future. Farewell lizard, we shall meet again soon!" The tractor beam pulled Baal through a hatch and vanished. The Snivel Carrier III turned and flew away. Scales scratched her head. "Well, that was weird. Guess I'd better get back, it's getting late." Scales walked over to Rouge's prone body and picked it up. "Hope you weren't exposed to the cold too long. Let's pray that you're okay, Rouge, or Knuckles will never forgive me when we cure him. Chaos Control!" Scales warped away, returning to the nice, warm hotel suite.
Good lord, I do this pretty fast don't I? Well, with another chapter completed, it's time for another interview with our heroine! Scales, how are you doing? Scales: Fine, Pi2. Me: Good, good. Hey, I have a few questions from the readers for you. Well, they're mostly from the same guy, but they're interesting questions nonetheless. Scales: Really? Let's hear them. Me: Okay. First off, are you the Biolizard's sister? Scales: (laughs) Of course not! In this universe, I AM the Biolizard! Pi2 thought the Biolizard in Sonic Adventure 2 was a girl because it laid eggs. Since Shadow and Biolizard were both made by Dr. Gerald, that would make them siblings like I am with Shadow in this universe. Pi2 wanted to make a Biolizard-like character for the Shadow world, and here I am! Me: Next question is from Maverick 1812. Scales, what do you say to you're detractors who say that a lizard as an Ultimate Lifeform is more suited to, say a campy old Godzilla Movie? Scales: I say that if they wanted their spleens handed to them, they should have just asked! Kidding, kidding. Seriously, I think they're sort of right. Of course, that's why Pi2 here gave me this nice, sleek, gorgeous body instead of that hideous clunky form I used to have as Biolizard, so I wouldn't be a giant monster. I mean, could you just imagine me doing something like Final Chase as the Biolizard? Please! Me: Next question, also from Maverick. Also, who would you say is the better Ultimate Lifeform; You, Amy, or Shadow? Scales: Hard to say. I could be vain and say me, but that's not really true. It isn't Amy because she was meant to be a feminine clone of Shadow but her genes went berserk, causing her to be pink among other things. While she is immortal, allowing her to match up with Shadow, she is more of a failed experiment than a real Ultimate Lifeform. No offense intended for my little sister-in-law, of course. Me: Of course. Scales: Although I am better at some things than Shadow, since I am a little older than him, not to mention the whole destiny thing I now have upon me, Shadow is the true Ultimate Lifeform as far as I know. He has the same level of Chaos training as me and needs no life support system. I'm just the prototype; he's the real thing in a way. But you readers can have your opinions as to which of us is the greatest. Just because I'm the star for this game and the next one doesn't mean Shadow is weaker than I am. Me: Last question, also from Maverick. Also, if challenged as the ultimate lifeform would you a) fight them DBZ style b) write them a nasty note c) go postal and try to kill Homer Simpson or d) None of the above? Scales: None of the above. I don't really care who challenges me, I know I am one of the two Ultimate Lifeforms. Whenever Shadow and I have fought, just because one of us wins doesn't mean one is stronger, it just shows that we both can get lucky sometimes. Of course, if somebody totally new like some dumb authors I know challenged me, I would go for fighting them DBZ style and kicking their asses. Me: Thank you Scales. That's all the time we have for now. See you next time! Scales: Please review, the more inspiration he gets, the sooner he finishes the story and moves on to my well-anticipated sequel!
Day 1, 6:30 PM
Scales walked around the Mystic Ruins area. After taking a quick rest, Robotnik told her that he had picked up on radar not one, but two Emeralds, both of which were in the jungle. He had told her that one was near a lake, the other was on a mountain called Icecap. At the moment, Scales thought she should try the lake. Following the directions the archaeologists had given her, Scales came out of some trees and found a breathtaking lake, small but lovely nonetheless. A waterfall spilled from a nearby mountain, filling the lake. Scales looked around and saw a small pier nearby and a cottage a little further away. Sitting on the pier was a 12-year old orange fox with two tails. He appeared to be fishing. Sitting next to him was a small toad. Scales walked around the shore of the lake and onto the pier. "Um, excuse me." She said, getting the boy's attention. The fox looked up. "Oh, hello. What are you doing here?" "My name's Scales the Lizard. I heard there was a large gemstone somewhere around this lake. Would you happen to know where it is?" Scales asked. The fox thought a moment. "Would this gemstone happen to be large, cut like a diamond, and yellow in color?" Scales started getting excited. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for! Have you seen it?" The fox nodded. "Yeah, it's in my house. Come on, I'll show it to you." He stood up and handed the fishing pole to the toad. "Toady, hang on to the pole and let me know if anything catches before I get back, okay?" The toad croaked and got a tight grip on the fishing pole with its tongue. "Good boy. Come on miss, I'll show you the jewel." He led her across the way to the cottage. "By the way, what's your name?" asked Scales. "Tails. Tails Prower." The fox replied. Scales blinked. "Not THE Tails Prower who caught a blue whale by accident just last year?" Tails' chest swelled up with pride. "Yep, that's me." "Wow." Scales said, impressed. Tails stopped at the door to the cottage. "Here we are. Be quiet though, my girlfriend Cassandra is still asleep." Scales smiled. "How sweet, you already have a girlfriend?" Tails paused. "We've been together a long time, ever since our parents died and we had a little bit of an.incident with an orphanage. Neither of us wanted to be separated from the other by adoptive parents, so we ran away. We've set up a home here, and I make my living as a fisherman. I've kept the child care people off my back by legally registering my foster parent as Toady and changing my name to Tails." He paused, then slapped his forehead. "Shouldn't have told you that, should not have told you that." He groaned. "Don't worry, I promise I won't tell anyone. I think it's cute how you and this Cassandra didn't want to leave each other." Said Scales reassuringly. Tails seemed a little unsure, but shrugged it off. "Okay, let's go in shall we?" Tails opened the door, letting Scales go in. The cottage was small and quaint, with some of the modern conveniences. Sleeping on a bunk bed in an adjacent room was an adorable twelve-year old yellow fox. She had three tails, each with black tips. Her ears had black tips as well. "That's Cassandra. We'd best be quiet, so as not to wake her." Tails whispered. He quietly walked to another room full of fishing trophies and a single large yellow jewel, the Chaos Emerald. "This is the jewel you wanted, right?" Tails whispered. Scales nodded. "Yes. How much will you take for it?" Tails shook his head. "No money, just promise never to tell anybody about the whole child care fraud and everything." He whispered back to her. Scales shrugged. "I wouldn't have told anyway, but I promise." She picked up the yellow Emerald and put it away. "Thanks for letting me have this. By the way, would you happen to know where I can find Icecap?" "Oh sure, it's that mountain just outside. Is there anything else you need to know?" the fox asked. Scales shook her head. "No thank you, but I appreciate the offer. I wish the two of you best of luck, okay?" The little fox cracked a grin and led her outside. As he headed back to the pier to relieve Toady of fishing duty, Scales started heading for the icy mountain. After walking up a trail by the stream at the top of the waterfall for a little while, Scales came to an opening in a stone cliff, the base of the mountain. She went through the opening and found an altar with a blue stone on it. Next to the altar was a tunnel. Scales went down the tunnel, actively aware that with every passing second it grew colder. Scales knew that reptiles didn't function well in the cold, so was glad that her internal mechanics kept her nice and warm. She came to the end of the tunnel, with a ladder leading up. Scales climbed up the ladder, coming to the entrance of an icy passage. She went to battle mode and headed inside.
Stage 4: Icecap. Mission: Find the Chaos Emerald.
Scales went down the passage, finding it opened on a glacier. Right in front of her was a rocket pointing towards a cave opening on the other side. She grabbed the rocket and was shot across the glacier. She let go of the rocket, dropping into the cave. She was in a large cavern with lots of icy platforms, ledges and chasms. On the platform in front of Scales was a spring. Using her grooved feet pads to stay on the ice, Scales walked to the spring and bounced off, bouncing off a couple of other springs around the cavern before shooting for a large icicle. She grabbed onto the icicle, digging in with her claws. She peered around the ice stalagmite and saw a row of icicles ahead of her. Crawling around the icicle, she jumped to the next in the row, grabbing on to it and crawling around so she could jump to the next one. She jumped from icicle to icicle, finally reaching the end of the line. She dropped to a ledge beneath her and looked around. She saw a spring and bounced off it, grabbing another icicle. She jumped from icicle to icicle, working down the line until she reached the end. She dropped and landed on a ledge with a rocket pointing across an abyss. She grabbed the rocket and was shot across the cave. She let go of the rocket and dropped to a floating platform. She bounced off a spring at its end and grabbed the first of another set of icicles. She swung from icicle to icicle, dropping to a platform with a small cliff in front of it. She saw a couple of Bladed Spinners hovering over one another at the base of the cliff. Scales used Homing Kicks to smash the robots and get to the top of the cliff. She ran to the end and killed a Gola, then bounced from a spring to get over a chasm. She landed at the top of a ramp. She sped down the ramp, going through a couple of dash panels and launching from a dash plate at the end. She hurtled through the air, grabbing another icicle. She headed down the line of ice stalagmites, taking great care not to let go, and came to the end. She dropped from the end of the line of stalagmites and dropped to a platform with a Leon on it. She killed the metal chameleon and walked forward, seeing a narrow bridge made of ice spanning the next chasm. She stepped on the bridge and the whole thing started to shake. Moving fast, she ran across the bridge and jumped to the next platform just before the bridge collapsed and fell into the crevasse. She walked forward and found a dash panel. She ran over it and raced up a sloping path, going through a loop and stopping on another platform, this one with a switch. She hit the switch, and a bridge made of ice appeared, leading to the next platform. Warily, she took a step forward and found the bridge was more solid. Relieved, she walked across and was assaulted by a dozen Unidus. She quickly dispatched the robots and found a jump pad on her platform. She jumped off the pad, jumped off another one in the air, and landed at the entrance to a tunnel. She went through the tunnel and followed it as it curved inside the wall of the mountain, forcing her to smash several Rhino tanks before coming out in the main cave again. There was a spring at the end of the ledge she was on. She bounced off the spring and shot through the air, grabbing another icicle. She jumped across the long row of icicles, dropping to another ledge leading to a tunnel. She killed the Unidus guarding the entrance and went into the tunnel. She exited the tunnel and was outside the mountain, pretty high up. A cold wind whipped by her. Scales saw a jump pad in the middle of the large platform she was now standing on. She jumped off the pad and hurtled up into the air. She jumped off five more floating pads in succession before reaching the end, the top of a very, very steep hill. Scales was a little unsure what to do until Tikal showed up. "Hey Tikal, how do I get down the slope?" Scales asked the ball of light. Tikal flew over to a patch of snow. "There's a snowboard right here you can use to get down the mountain. Wait, do you know how to snowboard?" "No." Scales admitted. "Well, do you know how to skateboard?" Tikal asked. "No." "Surf?" "Sorry, but no." Scales said. Tikal thought about it for a moment, then got an idea. "I know! You can grind, right?" "Yeah, but there's no rail here." Scales pointed out. "That doesn't matter. Think of the snowboard as a moving rail! Just pretend it's a rail leading down the side of the mountain and you're grinding it past several obstacles and stuff to reach the bottom and get the Chaos Emerald." Tikal said. Scales brightened up. "Great idea! Thanks Tikal." "Your welcome. See you later!" Tikal flew off, leaving Scales alone. Scales went to the spot Tikal had indicated and dug into the snow. She pulled out a snowboard. "Wonder how this thing got up here." She muttered. Placing the board at the edge of the hill, she stepped on and fastened her feet in. She took a deep breath. "Okay, here we go!" With that, she pushed herself onto the slope and started boarding. After the first few initial seconds of terror, Scales remembered Tikal's advice and pretended the board was a rail. Relaxing, she started to have a little fun by swerving down the slope, coming close to the walls. She started laughing from the ecstasy of it all, until she heard a rumbling. She looked behind her and gave an unladylike curse. Hurtling down the slope towards her was a two-story tall snowball. She turned her head back to the slope, focusing on the trail ahead. She crouched down to pick up speed and kept going, trying to outrun the snowball. She went over several little moguls, almost wiping out, but she managed to stay upright. After several small hills and moguls, the snowball finally broke up when the slope narrowed, becoming too close together for the great snowy ball to pass through. Whooping, Scales went through the narrowed opening, ditching the snowball. She sobered when she saw what was up ahead of her. Coming up were several large fallen columns of ice. Moving instinctively, Scales swerved around the columns, each time narrowly avoiding a wipeout. After several very extreme close calls, she got past the ice columns. She didn't bother to congratulate herself as the slope passed through a cave with a fairly low ceiling. Giant icicles hung down from the ceiling, almost scraping the ground. Scales groaned and started evasive maneuvers again, swerving past the numerous icicles and coming close to wiping out. Eventually, the cave opened up and she was back on the mountainside again. Everything looked clear until she saw several big blocks of ice on the path. Taking evasive maneuvers one more time, Scales swerved around and around the blocks of ice, passing through very narrow gaps and nearly wiping out. She finally got through the blocks and it seemed the slope was all clear. That's when she saw the path ended in an abyss just ahead. She noticed a ramp at the edge of the abyss and aimed carefully for it. She shot onto the ramp and leapt off the end, hurtling through the air and landing on the slope, which continued on the other side of the chasm. She kept boarding, swerving past a few evergreen trees. There weren't as many trees as there had been other obstacles, so she didn't have to worry as much about crashing. After a little longer, Scales saw another gap and ramp up ahead. Crouching down just in case, she sped for the ramp. She went up and off the ramp, soaring through the air and landing on the other side of the chasm. She kept on going, passing a few more trees until she came to a stretch of open snow. Suddenly, several fighter planes bearing Snively's logo with an X over it swooped from the sky and started dropping bombs at her. Scales had to frantically evade the blasts, knowing a wipeout caused by a bomb would probably hurt a lot. It was close, but she managed to make it through the bombing run. The planes flew away. Wondering where they had come from, Scales launched off another ramp and couldn't resist trying a cool trick or two in midair. She went off of three more ramps and did the same thing, landing and finally, finally reaching the bottom of the long slope. She hopped off the snowboard and walked along the narrow, icy passage ahead of her, passing between the high cliffs. After going a little ways and killing some irritating Rhino Tanks, Scales came out to a vast frozen glacier. Her Chaos senses started picking up. Walking carefully across the beautiful frozen wasteland, Scales stopped at the point on the glacier where her Chaos senses were most active. She dug a little way into the snow and found the red Chaos Emerald!
(STAGE CLEAR.)
Scales put away the Emerald. She was about to warp back to Angel Island when she heard a metallic clunk behind her. Scales turned around and saw Rouge! That is, Rouge encased in the same strange metal as Knuckles had that gave her a second skin. Whatever this weird new roboticization process was, it worked! Even Rouge's clothes looked metal. Rouge, or should I say Mecha Rouge, pointed a finger at Scales. "My sensors indicate you have no less than six Chaos Emeralds on your person. Hand them over!" "Why should I?" asked Scales. "Because all jewels belong to my master, of course! Now give them to me so I won't have to kick your heiny for them!" Mecha Rouge growled. Scales shook her head. "The Chaos Emeralds rightfully belong to me, not you! If your master wants them so badly, tell him he can come get them from me himself!" Mecha Rouge scowled. "No matter what you say, it still sounds crazy to refuse! Give me the Chaos Emeralds!" Scales snarled. "If you want them so bad, then come take them!" "Fine, I will!" Mecha Rouge yelled.
Mecha Rouge
The android vampire bat jumped up and started gliding towards Scales. Scales kept dodging Mecha Rouge, knowing that she would soon have to land considering there were no nearby walls to climb on to gain a greater altitude and because she couldn't actually fly. Mecha Rouge dropped to the ground and ran towards Scales. Scales lashed out with her tail, but Mecha Rouge fell down and kicked out, knocking Scales over. The robot got up and jumped over Scales, coming down in a drill drive on the lizard's unprotected life support dome. Scales wailed and rolled over, knocking the bat off. She got up and got ready for another attack. Mecha Rouge lashed out with a foot, trying to kick her. Scales grabbed the robot by the leg and threw her over her shoulder, smashing her to the ground. Mecha Rouge got back up, looking angry. "Okay, enough of this! Black Wave!" The wave struck Scales, sending her flying back. Mecha Rouge ran over and was able to get in another kick before Scales got back up. The lizard started to turn, indicating a tail whip. Mecha Rouge dropped, thinking she could get in another kick. However, Scales abruptly swung her tail down, striking the robot like she had wanted. Mecha Rouge yelped and got back up, only to get struck in the face by Scales' tail. Before the robot could do anything more, Scales launched into a Homing Kick, smashing into Mecha Rouge and driving her into the snow behind her. She got up and fired another Black Wave. Scales dodged the attack and hit Mecha Rouge with another Homing Kick. As the robot staggered back, Scales fired a Serpent Strike, exploding on impact with Mecha Rouge. The robot moaned and fell to the ground. The metal body fell apart, revealing Rouge. Yes, she was wearing her normal clothes you pervert! Scales sighed. "I didn't want to hurt you Rouge. Sorry." Of course, Rouge had no way of responding considering the fact that she was filled to the brim with nanites. Scales heard a deep chuckle behind her. She whirled around and saw the massive monster from the wedding. "Let me guess. You're the third of the Demonic Four?" she said sardonically. The monster nodded. "Correct. I am Baal, and I have come for the Chaos Emeralds seeing how Mecha no. 2 has failed her duty to our master" Scales glared at him. "I doubt you'll tell me who your master is, or why he needs the Emeralds so badly, or why he's using all of Snively's stuff, so let's just forget the chitchat and start beating the crap out of each other?" Baal flexed his freaky fingers. "Sounds good to me. I will enjoy squashing you like a little gnat." Baal started towards Scales.
Baal
The great monster swung a massive arm at Scales. She backflipped from the blow and had to keep backflipping to stay away from the big beast. When she was far enough away from Baal, she waited for him to get a little closer then used a Homing Kick on his face before he could swing at her. He grunted and swatted her away. The strength of his hit knocked her several yards away. She groaned and got up, ducking immediately to avoid a blow that would have knocked her head off. Baal brought an arm down in a powerful piledrive, trying to smash Scales. She jumped out of the way and ran around behind him. Before Baal could turn around, Scales swung her tail at a leg, knocking him off his feet. Before the behemoth could get back up, Scales ran over his back, avoiding the spikes, and got to the top of his head as Baal got back up. The monster looked around, trying to figure out where Scales was. That's when her head filled his single eye as she bent over and yelled "Peekaboo!" The monster growled and tried to smash her skull in with his arm. She pulled her head up immediately, causing Baal to hit himself in the face. He staggered back, causing Scales to fall off of him. She smirked at the furious creature. "Stop hitting yourself!" she yelled, jumping out of the way of another piledrive. She launched into a Homing Kick while Baal's guard was down, hitting him in the face again. He reeled back, now more than just a little mad. He ran away, then turned around. "Take this!" He yelled, stomping hard on the ground. A shockwave rippled out, smashing ice in its path and heading for Scales. Scales simply jumped over the wave, allowing it to pass beneath her. She started running for the monster, intent on showing him some more pain. Baal created more shockwaves, each of which Scales jumped over, using Homing Kicks to move over the waves that came in more than one group. Finally, she got to the monster and delivered another Homing Kick to his face. Baal swatted Scales away, only to see her get up several yards away. That did it. "Okay, I'm sick of this! Elder Shot!" the shoulder mouths opened, firing twin balls of darkness at Scales. She ran right towards Baal, rolling just before the balls could hit her. She somersaulted beneath the two projectiles and kept going, jumping as the balls struck the ground and exploded. The force of the blast pushed Scales forwards, right towards Baal. As the monster's single eye widened, she flipped around and launched into a high-powered Homing Kick, striking him in the face once again and stunning him. Scales dropped to the ground and cupped her hands upward as Baal flailed his arms around, temporarily blinded by the blow her kick had delivered to the monster's eye. "Serpent Strike!" The green snake shot forth, exploding in Baal's face. The monster screamed and started to fall over. Scales darted out of the way as Baal hit the ground, shaking the glacier and causing quite a few cracks in its surface. Scales panted, quickly recovering. "Like they always say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall." Baal groaned and staggered to his feet. "Well, I admit you were better than I thought, but next time we meet I will-" "I'm over here!" Scales yelled from behind the monster. Baal looked around confused, before realization set in. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHH! You've blinded me! Oh, when I find you, I swear you'll be pounded so far into the ground you'll have to look up to look down!" "That doesn't even make sense." Said Scales loudly. "Oh yeah? I'll show you!" Baal yelled, running towards where he thought Scales was, which was completely the wrong direction. As Scales snickered, a great shadow blotted out the sun. She looked up and gasped. The giant airship that had assaulted Angel Island just last night was floating above the glacier. She could now see that the Snively face on the nose of the ship had been crossed out as well. Other than that, the ship was unchanged. A loudspeaker lowered from the bottom of the ship. An unfamiliar voice blared out from the speaker, echoing across the frozen mountain. "Very impressive, lizard. I watched the whole fight, both of them, from up here. While I admit you may have gained some slight skill as was obvious by your victory over the first three of the Demonic Four, you are not good enough to defeat Beelzebub or myself. In any case, gaze in awe at this, the Snivel Carrier III, one of Snively's last remaining weapons and my flagship. But even the power of this awesome vessel is nothing compared to that which will be obtained when I take your Chaos Emeralds! Now, I'll just take Baal and leave you to your measly victory. Baal! Come over to the tractor beam!" A tractor beam shot from the underside of the ship. "Yes Master!" said Baal, running in the opposite direction from the beam. The voice cursed. "No Baal, over here! No, no, no, a little to your right! No, not my right, your right! Argh, your other right! Oh for the love of-" The tractor beam swept over the stumbling Baal, lifting him towards the ship. "There, we'll just grow you a new eye so this won't be an annoyance in the future. Farewell lizard, we shall meet again soon!" The tractor beam pulled Baal through a hatch and vanished. The Snivel Carrier III turned and flew away. Scales scratched her head. "Well, that was weird. Guess I'd better get back, it's getting late." Scales walked over to Rouge's prone body and picked it up. "Hope you weren't exposed to the cold too long. Let's pray that you're okay, Rouge, or Knuckles will never forgive me when we cure him. Chaos Control!" Scales warped away, returning to the nice, warm hotel suite.
Good lord, I do this pretty fast don't I? Well, with another chapter completed, it's time for another interview with our heroine! Scales, how are you doing? Scales: Fine, Pi2. Me: Good, good. Hey, I have a few questions from the readers for you. Well, they're mostly from the same guy, but they're interesting questions nonetheless. Scales: Really? Let's hear them. Me: Okay. First off, are you the Biolizard's sister? Scales: (laughs) Of course not! In this universe, I AM the Biolizard! Pi2 thought the Biolizard in Sonic Adventure 2 was a girl because it laid eggs. Since Shadow and Biolizard were both made by Dr. Gerald, that would make them siblings like I am with Shadow in this universe. Pi2 wanted to make a Biolizard-like character for the Shadow world, and here I am! Me: Next question is from Maverick 1812. Scales, what do you say to you're detractors who say that a lizard as an Ultimate Lifeform is more suited to, say a campy old Godzilla Movie? Scales: I say that if they wanted their spleens handed to them, they should have just asked! Kidding, kidding. Seriously, I think they're sort of right. Of course, that's why Pi2 here gave me this nice, sleek, gorgeous body instead of that hideous clunky form I used to have as Biolizard, so I wouldn't be a giant monster. I mean, could you just imagine me doing something like Final Chase as the Biolizard? Please! Me: Next question, also from Maverick. Also, who would you say is the better Ultimate Lifeform; You, Amy, or Shadow? Scales: Hard to say. I could be vain and say me, but that's not really true. It isn't Amy because she was meant to be a feminine clone of Shadow but her genes went berserk, causing her to be pink among other things. While she is immortal, allowing her to match up with Shadow, she is more of a failed experiment than a real Ultimate Lifeform. No offense intended for my little sister-in-law, of course. Me: Of course. Scales: Although I am better at some things than Shadow, since I am a little older than him, not to mention the whole destiny thing I now have upon me, Shadow is the true Ultimate Lifeform as far as I know. He has the same level of Chaos training as me and needs no life support system. I'm just the prototype; he's the real thing in a way. But you readers can have your opinions as to which of us is the greatest. Just because I'm the star for this game and the next one doesn't mean Shadow is weaker than I am. Me: Last question, also from Maverick. Also, if challenged as the ultimate lifeform would you a) fight them DBZ style b) write them a nasty note c) go postal and try to kill Homer Simpson or d) None of the above? Scales: None of the above. I don't really care who challenges me, I know I am one of the two Ultimate Lifeforms. Whenever Shadow and I have fought, just because one of us wins doesn't mean one is stronger, it just shows that we both can get lucky sometimes. Of course, if somebody totally new like some dumb authors I know challenged me, I would go for fighting them DBZ style and kicking their asses. Me: Thank you Scales. That's all the time we have for now. See you next time! Scales: Please review, the more inspiration he gets, the sooner he finishes the story and moves on to my well-anticipated sequel!
