Chapter 5: The Eve of Sonic X
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Before Eggman began his pursuit of those "meddling kids", he stopped off in one of his labs. It was here he was going to put the Chaos Emerald Rouge had brought with the others. He simply walked up to a large circular device with a huge glass tube in the center, then placed the emerald in one of the open slots and closed the slot's glass cover. After the emerald was in place, he adjusted the machine with a few keystrokes next to the slot. This project was a fine example of Dr. Eggman's flexibility.
Worrying that Shadow would be unavailable, or unreliable, he decided it would be necessary to have an ace in the hole. That was what this machine was. It wasn't designed to release huge blasts of energy across the globe, like past weapons, no. This monstrous masterpiece was instead designed to act as a huge fuse box. From this machine would flow unimaginable power directly into his latest series of robots. With that kind of fuel, his "Mechas" would become all but invincible. All he needed was the last Chaos Emerald from Rouge. But, he also needed a little bit more time for Rouge to obtain that prize. He would wind up with neither of them if the do- gooders got away. So, he quickly made his way down to another of his labs.
Once in the lab, he boarded his latest vehicle. It wasn't really all that different from past Egg Flyers. Really, over the years, they were all the same machine with different designs and upgrades. But, this one was interestingly different. It sported two stabilizer fins on each side of the cockpit. Eggman was tired of not having as much control of his craft as he should. On the bottom it had a large "antenna". Last but not least, there was a huge arsenal of weapons systems secretly placed on board. Those were Eggman's favorite features, and there was a chance he could get to use them for the first time.
After he was airborne, Eggman opened a live feed from the camera-bot (that was still silently floating after Amy, Cream, and Cheese) on a small monitor in the cockpit. Pressing a button to activate his radio, he ordered some of his guard robots to head south, but to move slowly. Soon, his trespassers would be apprehended and he wouldn't need to worry in the least.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Amy, Cream, and Cheese made their way through the forest. It didn't take them long to go back. Going in, they had fear to slow them down, now fear sped them up. They were relieved to see Cream's little house up ahead.
Amy was dog-tired, but she knew that the important stuff she'd found out would have to get to Sonic ASAP. But, looking down at an exhausted Cream and Cheese, she decided to put them to bed first. Amy led them inside and put a very willing to sleep Cream in bed with her little friend. She didn't notice the spying eye hovering outside the window. When she was about to casually turn around and see it, it flew away, having found the intruders' home.
Seconds later, Amy was ready to go; feeling Cream and Cheese were safe.
Minutes later, four huge white, bulky robots were skimming across the ground straight for the little house, now occupied by just two. Eggman, floating above though, mistakenly "knew" there were three. The crushing sights and sounds of walls in the little building signaled the attack had begun. Moments later, the sounds of little girl and chao screams signaled the capture of two of the earlier interlopers. But, what wasn't signaled was the THIRD one's capture. Eggman didn't know where she could have gone, having not known that she HAD left. He flew into a rage. He ordered the robots below to take the prisoners back to the tower. Time was now against him, soon Sonic would know and he wouldn't have his emerald. The only thing he could think about was that, "Rouge had better hurry!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finding the Chaos Emeralds had been easier the SECOND time around. Rouge knew that the stolen ones were returned to their original owners after they were retrieved from the Eclipse Cannon. Three had been returned to the military, one to the bank, the two belonging to Rouge and Eggman had been claimed by the military, and the last one went back to TAILS. Though she'd used her craft in stealing the military's emeralds without them knowing, and stealing the stolen emerald from the bank was achieved through her strength, Tails was a different matter. Finding him and the red Chaos Emerald would prove a slight more difficult.
She asked around trying to find any close friends, trying to pass herself off as one too. For the most part, she struck out everywhere. That was until she heard of a kid who lived in a small workshop near the Mystic Ruins. It took her all that night to get her lead, and by late morning, she was at the door of the small, yet immensely reputable workshop. She stopped in her tracks though when she found a note posted on the door. It read:
"Sorry, have gone to the Floating Island with my best friend Sonic. We're in need of a vacation. So, whoever you are, you won't be able to reach us. Will be back in a week. --Tails"
Rouge sighed, "I guess the old crackpot was wrong. Sonic and Tails won't be finding out about his little scheme so soon after all." After a few moments she said nonchalantly, "If I remember fox boy, uses the emerald to power his plane. Well, I guess it's off to the Floating Island then." With that she went to the edge of Tail's runway and leaped into the air, flying into the skies. As she flew she couldn't help but think, "I wonder if Knuckles will be with them?" Not that she wanted to see him, she was just curious, that's all, and she'd swear to THAT fact.
Hours later....
Rouge was getting pretty tired. The reason she wasn't about to fall asleep in mid-air was the fact that she took advantage of gusts of thermal winds and just had to keep her wings up. But, for so long a time, it proved a little taxing. It was at that time she finally spotted the huge chunk of airborne real estate and was immediately perked up. She began to wonder where she could find Sonic and Tails. She didn't have long to look, she saw them asleep on the "beach", and more importantly, the plane was only a few yards off from them. Getting Tails' emerald would be the easiest job yet! Quietly, she landed next to the plane.
Hoping she wouldn't disturb them, she opened the side of the plane. It was a well-organized MESS! Wires, tubes, pistons, it was a mechanic's nightmare. But, she wasn't looking for some mechanical failure. She, being a jewel aficionado, was looking for a gem. THAT stuck out like a sore thumb in a special glass casing. She cautiously pried the case off. She was surprised to find that Tails was so trusting of others, that he didn't even have an alarm on his plane OR the emerald. At the same moment she got the red jewel out, a loud, panicky girl's voice rose up out of nowhere.
"Sonic, Tails!! Can you hear me?!" came a voice all too irritating to the startled bat. Quickly putting the side panel back in its original place, she bailed off the island with the emerald in hand. She left the radio in the "Tornado 2" still squawking for Sonic and Tails.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Groggily, Tails sat up, searching around for the loud, dream ending noise. He quickly snapped awake when he realized that it was his radio in the "Tornado 2". He got up and shook Sonic roughly, "Sonic, get up!! It's Amy!"
Sonic rolled over, the bright late-morning-close-to-afternoon sun hurting his eyes, "Ugh, Tails, how'd she get here? I mean, we're on vacation, not on business as usual." "No Sonic," Tails said worriedly, "she's on the radio!" Sonic, feeling more alert asked, "Well, what does she want?" Tails replied, "I don't know, but she sounds like it's urgent!"
Tails walked over to the plane, while Sonic sat on the edge of his beach chair watching him. Tails hopped in and picked up, "Yeah, reading you loud and clear! What's up Amy?" Amy returned, very upset, "Tails, I'm so glad it's you! I know you're not going to believe this, but I saw Dr. Eggman!"
Sonic was beside the plane talking into the radio in a flash, "What?! Where?!" Amy tried to keep calm, "It's awful! He has a huge new fort in the middle of the northern forests! And Shadow was there too!" Sonic and Tails looked at each other in disbelief. Sonic called back to Amy, "What?! Are you sure?" Amy was starting to break up, emotionally, "Yeah, I saw him ALIVE, and going in, like he was supposed to be there!" A few moments of silence.
Tails was first to speak, "Uh, okay. Amy where are you now?" Amy answered more sheepish than afraid, "Um, I'm kind of at your workshop." Tails was really disoriented now, "How did you get in?" An even more sheepish reply came, "I sort of, kind of, well.." she suddenly spoke very quickly, "...I broke down the door with my Piko-Piko Hammer!" Before Tails could come out of his stupor and chew Amy out, Sonic interrupted, "Okay, Amy are you hurt or in trouble?" Amy resumed, terrified once more, "No! But, poor Cream and Cheese ARE in trouble!" With that, Sonic told Amy, to sit tight, they'd be there soon, and then he promptly ended the transmission.
Quickly, Tails began to start the plane. But, when he tried the ignition, nothing happened. In a flash Tails and Sonic opened up the plane and began looking around for the problem. It didn't take them long to find that the red Chaos Emerald had gone missing. Tails noticed some marks around the edges of the emerald's case, "Hey, what are these funny looking scratches?" Sonic looked thoughtful at them, "Well, they seem to be....CLAW marks." "Yep, that's Rouge," came a disgusted voice.
The two friends spun around to find Knuckles the Echidna standing behind them, arms crossed. "I guess I figured right when I didn't trust her giving up treasure hunting," he continued. Sonic said dumbly, "I guess so," then with his wit back to him, "Okay, Tails! Do you have any way of getting us back to your workshop?" Tails was already ahead of Sonic rummaging around under the front seat. He came up with a cylinder with a purple crystal inside. "Hey, where'd you get that," Sonic asked. Tails replied, while jerry rigging a hook up for the Chaos Drive, "From some junked robots on ARK. It's not that powerful, but it should give us a temporary power source until we can get back to my workshop and come up with something better."
While Tails was fixing up the motor, Sonic talked with Knuckles a few moments, "So, you're saying Rouge did this?" Knuckles still in a deadly serious tone, "No doubt whatsoever. The only thing I don't figure is how is it that she didn't try to do something to the Master Emerald." Sonic answered coldly, "I bet she's in with Dr. Eggman again! Shadow too!" Knuckles actually looked surprised, "What? Shadow? He's alive? And with Dr. Eggman?" Sonic, serious as Knuckles was, "Yep, Amy just radioed that to us. So, if those three up to no good again, we better act quickly. No doubt that egg-head's planning to use the Chaos Emeralds again!"
Tails got Sonic's attention, "Okay, we're set, we have just enough power to make it to my workshop!" Sonic turned with an adventurous smile on his face, the kind Knuckles always got annoyed with, "So, we're off, you wanna come with and help save the day?" Back to his stuffy self, Knuckles answered, "Nope, sorry, you guys are on your own on this one." As the "Tornado 2" roared to life, Sonic jumped into its back seat and waved, "Well, seeya later then!" Knuckles yelled back as they began to roll along the "beach", "Good luck!" But, they were already out of earshot.
As he watched the little plane grow smaller, Knuckles began to have a guilt attack. "Was it right for me to let them go off like that," he thought, "I mean, they're good, but there's more to be concerned with here: what with Shadow being alive and Rouge at it again too." Knuckles paused, trying to reassert his duties, "Oh, quit worrying! You're a guardian; your place is here to protect your home, your heritage!" Then, that nagging heart of his shot back, "Still, what about FRIENDS?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Worn out, Amy had fallen asleep in one of Tails' chairs. A couple hours after she dozed off, the rhythmic churning of a bi-plane woke her up. It was the most beautiful sound she'd heard in a while. She got up and ran outside. Instantly seeing Sonic she attacked him with a bear hug. Sonic was nearly killed, but he was able to stay focused on the situation at hand and ask Amy what was up. He knew he was in for a long one, so he whispered to Tails to come up with a way to get his plane going again while Amy talked.
As Tails went inside and went to work on a more suitable power source, Amy retold the whole thing. Getting the call from Cream, the strange sights and sounds in the forest, finding Eggman's new fortress, even bumping into Big. More worried, she told Sonic about seeing Shadow running up to the fort and strolling in like he was the doctor himself. She was on the verge of tears when she told how they thought that they were safe when they got back to Cream's cottage. So safe, in fact, that she left Cream and Cheese there alone. She told Sonic that she had watched from the woods how Eggman showed up with his robots and destroyed the house, took Cream and Cheese, and then left in a fit. The whole story seemed to last all day, when it was just MOST of it, thanks to Amy's unique stop and go story telling.
"Okay," Sonic finally said, "it sounds like we've got our work cut out, but stopping Eggman isn't something we've not done before!" "Yay!" cried a much happier Amy. That's when Tails appeared, "Well, Sonic, I've got the plane up and running again!" "Great Tails! What'd you do for it?" Tails quickly explained, "Well, I've had to reconvert the whole plane's motor system. I've put it to using an old gas/combustion powered motor. It's no Chaos Emerald, but it'll certainly get the job done."
"Good," Sonic said cheerily, "You take Amy with you, I'm going to Cream's house," Sonic then addressed Amy, "Now, where did you say that Eggman's fortress was from Cream's?" Amy answered, "To the north, about a mile or so!" With that, Sonic was a blue streak heading off for his littlest friend's former home. A few seconds later the "Tornado 2" was in the darkening sky and following Sonic as best it could.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As the sun was setting and the sky began to darken, Rouge came out of her resting place in the trees. She was about a half mile from Eggman's fortress. Being the lover of "beauty sleep" that she was/is, she had decided to catch up on hers, since she was practically done with her mission. All that was left was to get Eggman his precious gem, and then she could have hers and be long gone from him, hopefully forever. Another thing that made her wait, was the fact she liked making the old impatient slob sweat it out a while. But, dilly-dallying was over; it was time to collect her FOUR mission's worth of pay. So, off she went toward the fortress in the distance, expecting the calmest of nights and the resumption of her vacation.
Little did she know that Sonic had just passed the site of Cream's home and was zooming straightaway for the very same spot the master thief was heading. Rouge's prediction was WAY off.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
End Chapter Sonic Shout-Out:
I hope to see you folks here tomorrow. But, for today, here's a good word for:
RyukoVulpix!!
Thank you for your support to the United Sonic Front! I'm glad that you could see, that with tolerance we can all hopefully enjoy all things Sonic. Not to mention your Seuss Spoofs were classics. So, that said, I'll see many more of you here tomorrow as "The Road To Earth" takes a few more twists and turns.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Before Eggman began his pursuit of those "meddling kids", he stopped off in one of his labs. It was here he was going to put the Chaos Emerald Rouge had brought with the others. He simply walked up to a large circular device with a huge glass tube in the center, then placed the emerald in one of the open slots and closed the slot's glass cover. After the emerald was in place, he adjusted the machine with a few keystrokes next to the slot. This project was a fine example of Dr. Eggman's flexibility.
Worrying that Shadow would be unavailable, or unreliable, he decided it would be necessary to have an ace in the hole. That was what this machine was. It wasn't designed to release huge blasts of energy across the globe, like past weapons, no. This monstrous masterpiece was instead designed to act as a huge fuse box. From this machine would flow unimaginable power directly into his latest series of robots. With that kind of fuel, his "Mechas" would become all but invincible. All he needed was the last Chaos Emerald from Rouge. But, he also needed a little bit more time for Rouge to obtain that prize. He would wind up with neither of them if the do- gooders got away. So, he quickly made his way down to another of his labs.
Once in the lab, he boarded his latest vehicle. It wasn't really all that different from past Egg Flyers. Really, over the years, they were all the same machine with different designs and upgrades. But, this one was interestingly different. It sported two stabilizer fins on each side of the cockpit. Eggman was tired of not having as much control of his craft as he should. On the bottom it had a large "antenna". Last but not least, there was a huge arsenal of weapons systems secretly placed on board. Those were Eggman's favorite features, and there was a chance he could get to use them for the first time.
After he was airborne, Eggman opened a live feed from the camera-bot (that was still silently floating after Amy, Cream, and Cheese) on a small monitor in the cockpit. Pressing a button to activate his radio, he ordered some of his guard robots to head south, but to move slowly. Soon, his trespassers would be apprehended and he wouldn't need to worry in the least.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Amy, Cream, and Cheese made their way through the forest. It didn't take them long to go back. Going in, they had fear to slow them down, now fear sped them up. They were relieved to see Cream's little house up ahead.
Amy was dog-tired, but she knew that the important stuff she'd found out would have to get to Sonic ASAP. But, looking down at an exhausted Cream and Cheese, she decided to put them to bed first. Amy led them inside and put a very willing to sleep Cream in bed with her little friend. She didn't notice the spying eye hovering outside the window. When she was about to casually turn around and see it, it flew away, having found the intruders' home.
Seconds later, Amy was ready to go; feeling Cream and Cheese were safe.
Minutes later, four huge white, bulky robots were skimming across the ground straight for the little house, now occupied by just two. Eggman, floating above though, mistakenly "knew" there were three. The crushing sights and sounds of walls in the little building signaled the attack had begun. Moments later, the sounds of little girl and chao screams signaled the capture of two of the earlier interlopers. But, what wasn't signaled was the THIRD one's capture. Eggman didn't know where she could have gone, having not known that she HAD left. He flew into a rage. He ordered the robots below to take the prisoners back to the tower. Time was now against him, soon Sonic would know and he wouldn't have his emerald. The only thing he could think about was that, "Rouge had better hurry!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Finding the Chaos Emeralds had been easier the SECOND time around. Rouge knew that the stolen ones were returned to their original owners after they were retrieved from the Eclipse Cannon. Three had been returned to the military, one to the bank, the two belonging to Rouge and Eggman had been claimed by the military, and the last one went back to TAILS. Though she'd used her craft in stealing the military's emeralds without them knowing, and stealing the stolen emerald from the bank was achieved through her strength, Tails was a different matter. Finding him and the red Chaos Emerald would prove a slight more difficult.
She asked around trying to find any close friends, trying to pass herself off as one too. For the most part, she struck out everywhere. That was until she heard of a kid who lived in a small workshop near the Mystic Ruins. It took her all that night to get her lead, and by late morning, she was at the door of the small, yet immensely reputable workshop. She stopped in her tracks though when she found a note posted on the door. It read:
"Sorry, have gone to the Floating Island with my best friend Sonic. We're in need of a vacation. So, whoever you are, you won't be able to reach us. Will be back in a week. --Tails"
Rouge sighed, "I guess the old crackpot was wrong. Sonic and Tails won't be finding out about his little scheme so soon after all." After a few moments she said nonchalantly, "If I remember fox boy, uses the emerald to power his plane. Well, I guess it's off to the Floating Island then." With that she went to the edge of Tail's runway and leaped into the air, flying into the skies. As she flew she couldn't help but think, "I wonder if Knuckles will be with them?" Not that she wanted to see him, she was just curious, that's all, and she'd swear to THAT fact.
Hours later....
Rouge was getting pretty tired. The reason she wasn't about to fall asleep in mid-air was the fact that she took advantage of gusts of thermal winds and just had to keep her wings up. But, for so long a time, it proved a little taxing. It was at that time she finally spotted the huge chunk of airborne real estate and was immediately perked up. She began to wonder where she could find Sonic and Tails. She didn't have long to look, she saw them asleep on the "beach", and more importantly, the plane was only a few yards off from them. Getting Tails' emerald would be the easiest job yet! Quietly, she landed next to the plane.
Hoping she wouldn't disturb them, she opened the side of the plane. It was a well-organized MESS! Wires, tubes, pistons, it was a mechanic's nightmare. But, she wasn't looking for some mechanical failure. She, being a jewel aficionado, was looking for a gem. THAT stuck out like a sore thumb in a special glass casing. She cautiously pried the case off. She was surprised to find that Tails was so trusting of others, that he didn't even have an alarm on his plane OR the emerald. At the same moment she got the red jewel out, a loud, panicky girl's voice rose up out of nowhere.
"Sonic, Tails!! Can you hear me?!" came a voice all too irritating to the startled bat. Quickly putting the side panel back in its original place, she bailed off the island with the emerald in hand. She left the radio in the "Tornado 2" still squawking for Sonic and Tails.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Groggily, Tails sat up, searching around for the loud, dream ending noise. He quickly snapped awake when he realized that it was his radio in the "Tornado 2". He got up and shook Sonic roughly, "Sonic, get up!! It's Amy!"
Sonic rolled over, the bright late-morning-close-to-afternoon sun hurting his eyes, "Ugh, Tails, how'd she get here? I mean, we're on vacation, not on business as usual." "No Sonic," Tails said worriedly, "she's on the radio!" Sonic, feeling more alert asked, "Well, what does she want?" Tails replied, "I don't know, but she sounds like it's urgent!"
Tails walked over to the plane, while Sonic sat on the edge of his beach chair watching him. Tails hopped in and picked up, "Yeah, reading you loud and clear! What's up Amy?" Amy returned, very upset, "Tails, I'm so glad it's you! I know you're not going to believe this, but I saw Dr. Eggman!"
Sonic was beside the plane talking into the radio in a flash, "What?! Where?!" Amy tried to keep calm, "It's awful! He has a huge new fort in the middle of the northern forests! And Shadow was there too!" Sonic and Tails looked at each other in disbelief. Sonic called back to Amy, "What?! Are you sure?" Amy was starting to break up, emotionally, "Yeah, I saw him ALIVE, and going in, like he was supposed to be there!" A few moments of silence.
Tails was first to speak, "Uh, okay. Amy where are you now?" Amy answered more sheepish than afraid, "Um, I'm kind of at your workshop." Tails was really disoriented now, "How did you get in?" An even more sheepish reply came, "I sort of, kind of, well.." she suddenly spoke very quickly, "...I broke down the door with my Piko-Piko Hammer!" Before Tails could come out of his stupor and chew Amy out, Sonic interrupted, "Okay, Amy are you hurt or in trouble?" Amy resumed, terrified once more, "No! But, poor Cream and Cheese ARE in trouble!" With that, Sonic told Amy, to sit tight, they'd be there soon, and then he promptly ended the transmission.
Quickly, Tails began to start the plane. But, when he tried the ignition, nothing happened. In a flash Tails and Sonic opened up the plane and began looking around for the problem. It didn't take them long to find that the red Chaos Emerald had gone missing. Tails noticed some marks around the edges of the emerald's case, "Hey, what are these funny looking scratches?" Sonic looked thoughtful at them, "Well, they seem to be....CLAW marks." "Yep, that's Rouge," came a disgusted voice.
The two friends spun around to find Knuckles the Echidna standing behind them, arms crossed. "I guess I figured right when I didn't trust her giving up treasure hunting," he continued. Sonic said dumbly, "I guess so," then with his wit back to him, "Okay, Tails! Do you have any way of getting us back to your workshop?" Tails was already ahead of Sonic rummaging around under the front seat. He came up with a cylinder with a purple crystal inside. "Hey, where'd you get that," Sonic asked. Tails replied, while jerry rigging a hook up for the Chaos Drive, "From some junked robots on ARK. It's not that powerful, but it should give us a temporary power source until we can get back to my workshop and come up with something better."
While Tails was fixing up the motor, Sonic talked with Knuckles a few moments, "So, you're saying Rouge did this?" Knuckles still in a deadly serious tone, "No doubt whatsoever. The only thing I don't figure is how is it that she didn't try to do something to the Master Emerald." Sonic answered coldly, "I bet she's in with Dr. Eggman again! Shadow too!" Knuckles actually looked surprised, "What? Shadow? He's alive? And with Dr. Eggman?" Sonic, serious as Knuckles was, "Yep, Amy just radioed that to us. So, if those three up to no good again, we better act quickly. No doubt that egg-head's planning to use the Chaos Emeralds again!"
Tails got Sonic's attention, "Okay, we're set, we have just enough power to make it to my workshop!" Sonic turned with an adventurous smile on his face, the kind Knuckles always got annoyed with, "So, we're off, you wanna come with and help save the day?" Back to his stuffy self, Knuckles answered, "Nope, sorry, you guys are on your own on this one." As the "Tornado 2" roared to life, Sonic jumped into its back seat and waved, "Well, seeya later then!" Knuckles yelled back as they began to roll along the "beach", "Good luck!" But, they were already out of earshot.
As he watched the little plane grow smaller, Knuckles began to have a guilt attack. "Was it right for me to let them go off like that," he thought, "I mean, they're good, but there's more to be concerned with here: what with Shadow being alive and Rouge at it again too." Knuckles paused, trying to reassert his duties, "Oh, quit worrying! You're a guardian; your place is here to protect your home, your heritage!" Then, that nagging heart of his shot back, "Still, what about FRIENDS?"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Worn out, Amy had fallen asleep in one of Tails' chairs. A couple hours after she dozed off, the rhythmic churning of a bi-plane woke her up. It was the most beautiful sound she'd heard in a while. She got up and ran outside. Instantly seeing Sonic she attacked him with a bear hug. Sonic was nearly killed, but he was able to stay focused on the situation at hand and ask Amy what was up. He knew he was in for a long one, so he whispered to Tails to come up with a way to get his plane going again while Amy talked.
As Tails went inside and went to work on a more suitable power source, Amy retold the whole thing. Getting the call from Cream, the strange sights and sounds in the forest, finding Eggman's new fortress, even bumping into Big. More worried, she told Sonic about seeing Shadow running up to the fort and strolling in like he was the doctor himself. She was on the verge of tears when she told how they thought that they were safe when they got back to Cream's cottage. So safe, in fact, that she left Cream and Cheese there alone. She told Sonic that she had watched from the woods how Eggman showed up with his robots and destroyed the house, took Cream and Cheese, and then left in a fit. The whole story seemed to last all day, when it was just MOST of it, thanks to Amy's unique stop and go story telling.
"Okay," Sonic finally said, "it sounds like we've got our work cut out, but stopping Eggman isn't something we've not done before!" "Yay!" cried a much happier Amy. That's when Tails appeared, "Well, Sonic, I've got the plane up and running again!" "Great Tails! What'd you do for it?" Tails quickly explained, "Well, I've had to reconvert the whole plane's motor system. I've put it to using an old gas/combustion powered motor. It's no Chaos Emerald, but it'll certainly get the job done."
"Good," Sonic said cheerily, "You take Amy with you, I'm going to Cream's house," Sonic then addressed Amy, "Now, where did you say that Eggman's fortress was from Cream's?" Amy answered, "To the north, about a mile or so!" With that, Sonic was a blue streak heading off for his littlest friend's former home. A few seconds later the "Tornado 2" was in the darkening sky and following Sonic as best it could.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As the sun was setting and the sky began to darken, Rouge came out of her resting place in the trees. She was about a half mile from Eggman's fortress. Being the lover of "beauty sleep" that she was/is, she had decided to catch up on hers, since she was practically done with her mission. All that was left was to get Eggman his precious gem, and then she could have hers and be long gone from him, hopefully forever. Another thing that made her wait, was the fact she liked making the old impatient slob sweat it out a while. But, dilly-dallying was over; it was time to collect her FOUR mission's worth of pay. So, off she went toward the fortress in the distance, expecting the calmest of nights and the resumption of her vacation.
Little did she know that Sonic had just passed the site of Cream's home and was zooming straightaway for the very same spot the master thief was heading. Rouge's prediction was WAY off.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
End Chapter Sonic Shout-Out:
I hope to see you folks here tomorrow. But, for today, here's a good word for:
RyukoVulpix!!
Thank you for your support to the United Sonic Front! I'm glad that you could see, that with tolerance we can all hopefully enjoy all things Sonic. Not to mention your Seuss Spoofs were classics. So, that said, I'll see many more of you here tomorrow as "The Road To Earth" takes a few more twists and turns.
