Chapter 10: Reunions

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The Tornado 2 buzzed through the desert air. According to his compass, he was heading in the right direction. But, no sign of the military base the anchorwoman had mentioned. Suddenly, when he flew over a hill, it just loomed up out a valley ahead. Tails smiled. He knew that just by looking at the place there'd be some tight security. If he had any hope of pulling off a rescue attempt of Cream and Cheese, he'd need a cover.

He reached for the same switch he'd flipped to release his Power Ring Missile. When he pulled it this time though, thousands of tiny electronic "paper" airplanes tumbled out. Once airborne, their micro-circuitry came to life and they buzzed toward the base. Tails kept a distance though. He didn't want to risk being spotted from the ground. Instead, he'd let is little toys clear a path and THEN he'd do something daring.

Figuring the planes would take a while, he buzzed around the ridges of the valley for a while. But, he couldn't wait much more once he heard sirens blaring. Deciding it was now or never, he began flying straight for the base. He couldn't help asking himself, "I wonder if this IS the area here?" After all, how embarrassing would it be to attack the WRONG military base?

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Inside the base, things were far different from the almost serene outside. Outside, just the sirens were going. INSIDE, Sonic had found Cream and Cheese. Yep, he had in fact seen a live broadcast of the capture of Cream and Cheese and with the help of his new friend Chris and Chris' grandfather's connections, he found out where exactly to head.

It was easy getting in. Sonic's super-speed helped him to zoom by the surveillance cameras without being detected. And, for any infrared sensors, Chris' grandfather had given him an infrared scope/headset radio. With all their help and his speed, Sonic had found the lab, broke in, and during a temporary power outage, which he'd no idea of how it happened, he had rescued his friends.

Hoping the blackout would last, Sonic had taken to jogging with Cream and Cheese in tow. Unfortunately, the power was restored and the cameras caught the would-be-escapees. Sonic was right in not knowing what to expect. As the trio came to screeching halt, the cameras popped up tiny, yet very powerful lasers. No wonder Sonic hadn't bumped into a single guard, the halls were booby-trapped!

While Sonic began taking out the cameras, Cream and Cheese continued to run down the hallways. If not for Sonic, though, they would've been too slow to get through a security door as it closed. Then, more laser-cameras!

Sonic and his two friends were sure it was over, when suddenly the hallway was filled with tiny "things". From a quick-glance they looked to be like tiny paper airplanes. But, they proved more than just that as they sliced THROUGH the cameras! They cut through the metal like nothing. Also, judging by how they "instinctively" went for the cameras, they "knew" to hit anything electrical.

Taking advantage of yet another odd circumstance, Sonic dashed off once more with Cream and Cheese dangling behind. Sadly, their "saviors" turned out to be more trouble than they were worth. After the planes hit enough of the circuitry in the base, the laser-cameras went out of control. Now, they shot indiscriminately at EVERYTHING. That was a million times more dangerous than something intentionally firing at you, at least you knew to dodge that!

Hoping to get above the laser network, Sonic made for the first stairs he saw. The three of them ran up and up, hoping to escape the deadly blue beams. Before anyone could notice, one of the out of control lasers sliced a section of the stairs. Cream and Cheese nearly fell to their deaths. Nearly that is, if not for a true friend. But, the friend was in danger too, as another much larger chunk of stairs vanished in front of him. Sonic knew he had only seconds until one of the lasers connected with these sitting ducks, so with all his might he pulled Cream and Cheese up and made a jump for it. As soon as they were in the air, another laser sliced their former platform.

Sonic hopped, skipped, and jumped his way through the deteriorating stairwell. He finally stopped when they reached the stairs' end, which was in some sort of dome. Setting Cream and Cheese down, he looked over the side of their ledge to make sure the lasers were out of range now. They were.

Sonic turned to Cream, smiling, "We'll be okay from here on out - Maybe. That was pretty scare, huh?" Cream was so happy, that she forgot all her fear and shook her head, "No. Thank you, Sonic!" Sonic maintained his smile, "It was nothin'!" Suddenly, Sonic's ears picked up on a rhythmic churning, "That sound", he said. Taking off his scope/headset, he put his freed ear to the side of the dome. Sonic could tell, and identified the sound, "An airplane?" Sonic drew his head back in pleasant surprise, "Well."

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Tails was now circling the central, largest building on the base. Once more, with a smile, he asked himself, "I wonder if it's this area here..." He got his answer unexpectedly as none other than his best friend in ANY world, Sonic, smashed through the roof. Tails was even happier now, seeing Cream and Cheese with him. "Perfect!" he said as he brought the plane down for a pick-up.

Sonic skillfully landed on the plane's wing. Once the three of them were on, Tails began to pull up and away from the base. Cream, who'd been a little frightened, now decided to open her eyes once they were on something solid again. She was thrilled to see Tails in the cockpit. The pilot cheerily called, "Hi!" Cream then remembered the weird "paper planes" from before, "So it was Tails all along!" Tails winked to roger that. Then, he offered up a friendly warning, "Hang on tight so you don't fall off."

As the Tornado 2 flew overhead the parked car, Chris and his grandfather watched. Chris and his grandpa were happy to see that they're new friend Sonic had made it out with his two old friends, and a third one in the cockpit of their little plane. As the plane began to head in the direction of town, the old, jolly man asked, "Well, shall we pull out?" Chris was in too much awe of it all to say yes, but grandpa knew best.

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What a wild adventure it had been! As they flew through the air Sonic, Cream, Cheese, and Tails exchanged stories of where they'd been and what had happened to them. Later, once Sonic guided Tails to Chris's home, they landed.

Now was the time for introductions. Tails introduced himself, as did Cream and Cheese in the politest manners. Chris introduced himself, then his grandfather. The old man, though, remained silent. Being a scientist himself he was awe-struck when he got to take a look at one of Tails' tiny planes.

"I've never seen such tiny, radio-controlled airplanes," he finally said amazed. Bashfully, Tails twitched his two tails and rubbed his nose, "They're really nothing special." Sticking up for the tiny marvel, "Chuck" as he was called for a real name resumed, "No, this is really something. Where did you get this kind of science and technology?" Tails was obviously confused, "Where? I can only tell you that it's from my world." With increasing excitement, Chuck asked, "And, that world is - Where?" Tails was getting even more lost for words. He scratched his head, "Hmm....where....space/time was distorted and we were brought to this world."

Chuck crossed his arms and looked thoughtful, "Interesting, VERY interesting." That's when Tails realized something. He spoke up, "Hey, Sonic. Who was involved in the accident? You, me, Cream, and Cheese were there." Tails paused a moment, a look of concern spread over his face, "Do you think that everyone ELSE might have come to this world too?"

Tails' question was a good one. Sonic put a hand to his chin and began thinking aloud, "Well, there was Knuckles, Amy, and..." Sonic scanned the faces he remembered being there. The instant HIS face flashed across Sonic's mind, it struck him like a 285-pound madman! Sonic, Cream, and Tails all knew. With chills down their spine, they exclaimed, "DOCTOR EGGMAN!"

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The beach. Peaceful, soothing, and beautiful. The water was lapping up on the shore, but if one turned their attention away from the water, they were sure to find something far more intimidating a little way's from it. Incredibly, the central tower from Dr. Eggman's fortress had been Chaos Control shifted to this tiny island.

It stood near lifeless from the outside. Inside however, over the period of the last day, Dr. Eggman's robots had been struggling to get the power grid back online. The mad genius hadn't even set foot out of the tower yet. He was more interested in getting everything back online first. But, after a full day's work, the lights, computers, etc. flickered back to life.

Now, for the last hour or so, Eggman had been studying the monitors. He had sent out a swarm of his spherical camera-bots to scan his new surroundings. According to them, and their advanced scanners, the doctor's tower had been "Chaos Controlled" to a place so far away that it was on another world. At first taken aback, Eggman silently studied the further findings. According to atmospheric, geological, and geographical data: Whatever world he was on was almost identical to the one he left.

Then, he began detecting satellite transmissions from space. Logically, whoever was the dominant species of this world, had mastered space travel. Eggman sneered at the last information he'd received. Though they'd picked up space-travel, their efforts in all technological fields were easily paled in comparison to his genius. Why, these people were almost savage in their technology. The monitors switched to a shot of the peaceful ocean.

Eggman knew that Shadow and Rouge were no longer with him. They were long gone with no sign whatsoever of them being anywhere. Well, if they weren't here with him, then perhaps Sonic and his do-gooder friends weren't either. An idea came to him, if there wasn't a Sonic around, then he could attack THIS world unhindered. He wouldn't need Shadow, Rouge, OR the Chaos Emeralds in that case. Why, these people were so far behind in technological might to his own, he'd only need the least powerful trooper of his latest E-Series robots to subjugate them!

After a full day of near silence, Eggman finally made banter to Decoe and Bocoe, who were standing quietly behind him. Without bothering to take his eyes off the monitor, he began thoughtfully, "So, I came to this world thanks to Chaos Control." Then, he sneered, "Well, that's fine. I'll build the foundation of the Eggman Empire on this world. And then, I'll expand my territory to other worlds!" With that he burst out in a terrifying laugh that echoed all the way out of the fortress and onto his new island's beach.

So, on a world that's already been torn by struggles amongst its own peoples. What strange new war will this lunatic/madman/genius/terrorist bring to our Earth? Better yet, do we stand a chance? Stay tuned to the Fox Box, every Saturday morning starting September 6th, to find out what happens next on SONIC X- DON'T MISS IT!!

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End Chapter Sonic Shout-Out / Announcement:

How do you like that? I know what I like, to say something nice to ANYONE and everyone that's reviewed me. So:

Martial Arts Master!!

What can I say, but I've felt honored to be reviewed on numerous occasions by one of fanfiction.net's long time members.

I also would like to take this time to say that I'm glad I'm out here doing what I am, because I was able to pass the word along to the "Master" that there DEFINITELY is a SNEAK PREVIEW of 'Sonic X' TOMORROW (August 23, 2003) on the FoxBox AND you should really check your local listings for the times.

There now, that's out of the way, you'd think there's the end to this fiction. Nope, I'm going to be back here tomorrow and post one more chapter. What will it be about? Well, come back and find out!