Creamed This story is set after my Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, which you ought to read first as it's completely different from the story in the game. I have never played on Sonic Advance 2, I have no idea what Cream's official story or personality is. All characters are copyright to whoever.

Part 4: Struggle

Sonic hadn't been having as bad a time as he'd predicted. It was late evening, and they'd left the theme park in order to walk along the Emerald Hill Zone in the sunset. He'd much rather smash some metal, but there was no action around here anymore, and this was better than helping Porker fix his ruddy workshop.

Knuckles was finding that there was a lot of action available if you knew where to look. He glided smoothly through the roof and found his enemy sitting on the floor, rubbing her head. "If I ever see another rabbit again, it'll be too soon."
"Where are the Emeralds, Rouge?" Knuckles glared at her. The bat scowled back.
"Someone beat me to it, Okay?"
"Who?" Knuckles swore to himself. As always, everything corkscrewed out of control at the slightest provocation.
"Some rabbit."
A rabbit? It couldn't be Cream. "A little girl? About seven?"
"You don't have to rub it in," Rouge snarled. Knuckles relaxed. Cream had, incredibly, beaten Rouge and saved the Emeralds. What a brave little girl!
Except that the Emeralds were still in danger. Knuckles could hear it, as if they were crying out to their guardian. He spun around, using his new sense to locate them. They were roughly in that direction.
While he was distracted, Rouge had dived out of the tree and escaped. Knuckles jumped into the air himself and set off to find his Emeralds.
Rouge followed him from a distance. If Knuckles did have some screwy power to track the jewels, she hadn't lost yet.

Cream disappeared underground, throwing up scoops of brown earth as she burrowed. Knuckles didn't bother landing, just dived into the ground and dug after her. Rouge hovered above the grass, cursing. Then an idea struck her, and she lowered her extremely perceptive ears to the ground. She could easily make out the two of them moving. She followed carefully.

Sonic and Amy were interrupted by a breathless Tails. "The base has been attacked!" he panted. "Someone's taken the Emeralds, and Cream's been captured. Porker's unconscious, and I can't find Knuckles. You'd better come quick."

The soft soil around him vanished, leaving Knuckles to fall. He landed two feet down, and sprang to his feet instantly. He was in an underground base: a huge cathedral-sized excavation from one of the mountains in the Hill Top Zone. The floor, walls and roof were rough rock, but the den was filled with steel.
Two armies of robots were lined up in ranks, facing each other. Each one resembled a shiny, mutant mechanised wasp. Each one was covered in weaponry. Cream the Rabbit was running to the far end of the lair, towards a huge machine. It was like a huge bush, with steel vines tangled up all around it, anything else that was there lost in the confusion. On top of it stood Someone.

Knuckles growled. The Echidna reached out a hand and helped the girl up onto his pedestal. "Excellent, my dear. Now you know what to do." Cream swung her bag off and pulled an Emerald out of it. She smiled at Knuckles, but all her kindness and innocence had died to reveal scornful triumph. She slotted the ruby jewel into the end of a cable.
Dr Zachary turned to Knuckles. "My army," he indicated the massed forces. "Not as good as Guardian robots, I know, but a tad more waterproof. Perfectly capable of turning the surface to dust."
The old man leapt down off his machine. "You couldn't have thought I wouldn't return, when I disappeared so blatantly? Or did you just forget about me? Well, my friend, the time has come to wish you hadn't."
Knuckles couldn't think of anything to say to that. The old man grinned evilly, only half of his mouth responding. The cybernetics on him looked twice as black and sinister then they had been last time. He advanced down the thin corridor of space in between the androids militias.
"You haven't yet beaten me, Zach. I'll just smash you up again."
"Pah! Last time I was an old man, faithful that my enhancements and my robots would win for me. Now I have experience." He cackled. "Go and join the rest of your people, Knuckles, in Hell!!"
Knuckles dived and rolled as a wave of red fire blasted over him. He ran towards Zachary, weaving from side to side as sheets of laser narrowly missed him. He cannoned into the old mammal, sprawling him on the floor.
The doctor flipped over, shooting a dart of fire into Knuckles. The red melded with his fur, and melted his skin. "Sh-"
Knuckles cut off, jumped into the air and glided at Zach. He barrel- rolled to avoid laser-fire and landed behind him. He threw a punch, which clanged against a metal dreadlock. The Echidna swayed, but didn't fall. Instead, he turned and smashed Knuckles off his feet.
The red Echidna had time to get to his feet before Zachary opened fire for another time. He charged, Zach's shot's flying above and around him, until he grabbed the cyborg's neck and swung him onto the floor. Zach shot, searing the feeling from his left arm.

"Finished, sir!" called Cream.
"Carry on!" replied Zachary. Cream walked over to a control panel.
"Hold it right there." A white shape was fired like an arrow from the ceiling into the rabbit's back. Rouge clutched the girl's ears and hurled her bodily off the panel. She caught Cheese by the bow tie and buried her fist in him. "I do not get beaten by pipsqueaks like you two," she explained. "Understand?"
Cream ran at her, looking small and pathetic next to Rouge. Then she flipped over Rouge's head, landed, spun, and slapped Rouge across the face with an enormous ear. Rouge stepped backwards into a fighting stance, and Cream attacked again. Rouge did something intricate with her limbs and Cream was flipped onto the floor, stunned.

"Rouge!" Knuckles muttered to himself. She'd followed him! Still, whatever Cream had been about to do couldn't be good. He ran down towards the machine that was holding his Emeralds. Zach's shots whizzed over his head, but he could deal with the old man later.
Cream and Cheese both pounded Rouge from different directions, hammering her backwards. She fought like no seven year old Knuckles had seen before, and while Rouge could almost certainly finish her, her chao was always just in the right place to hit where it hurt.
Knuckles grabbed her by her ears. She squeaked in surprise and was wrenched off her feet as he pulled up. Then Cheese was at him like a wasp, buzzing and slashing at his eyes. He dropped the girl and engulfed the chao in one fist. It bit hard, but Knuckles squeezed until it gave up.
Cream faced him, raising her fists. Her legs were sliced from under her in a blur and Rouge pinned her to the floor. "I hate spoilt kids," she growled.

"No!" shouted Zachary, "You will not ruin me again! I have waited eight thousand years not be defeated!" He fired at where Knuckles had been. An unconscious chao thudded to the ground, its eyes wide swirls. Zachary gyrated to follow Knuckles, but the Echidna dropped from the sky on top of him.
Knuckles snapped his robotic arm/firearm in a mist of sparks. Zachary punched him hard in the face, and Knuckles grabbed his other arm on its way back. Zachary was immobilised as Knuckles coiled it behind his back.
"Now talk, Zach."
"Talk?" the doctor spluttered, wincing.
"You said you've lived eight hundred years. I'm interested."
"A lie. I was toying with you- ouch!" Zachary went even whiter. "Very well. I'll tell you. I'll tell you about the total and utter destruction of the rest of your kind."