With the release of Sonic Frontiers, I figured I'd treat you all to a chapter. It's the least I can do.
After making sure Moon Malia was okay and all of Eggman's Badniks were taken out of the Moon Kingdom, the heroes, with Shade and Milky joining them, headed to their next destination; the Waterdrop Kingdom.
"So, what's this place like, you think?" Calvin asked as he was fiddling with his medallion, trying to figure out its secrets.
"Well, there's lots of water!" Fine said.
"And our friend Mirlo loves to paint!" Rein added.
"The Waterdrop Kingdom is responsible for the rain in the Mysterious Star." Shade explained.
"Like the last few kingdoms, we'll stop on the outskirts of the kingdom to make sure Bowser and Eggman's spies don't see us-Pumo!" Poomo said as the ships arrived at their destination...only to see quite a shocking sight.
"Whoa!"
The Waterdrop Kingdom was a mess. Koopa Troops and Badniks of all kinds were splattering paint everywhere, vandalizing the entire kingdom. The symbols of Bowser and Eggman were painted crudely on a large flag hoisted high above the main castle.
"Looks like that Koopa Kreep and Hard-Boiled Headache are causing plenty of trouble already!" Sonic said.
"Terrible! They're vandalizing the lovely Waterdrop Kingdom!" Tio exclaimed in horror.
"THIS KINGDOM IS NOT YOUR CANVAS!" Ed declared as he suddenly jumped out the window of the airship and dove into the kingdom grounds.
"ED, NO!" Double-D and Eddy cried before quickly jumping after their friend.
"Are they insane?!" Altezza asked from her and Bright's airship as the Sunny Airship began spiraling out of control due to the loss of cabin pressure.
"PRINCESS FINE! PRINCESS REIN!" Bright exclaimed as he landed the Jewelry Airship and jumped out with Altezza. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by Koopa Troops and Badniks.
"Halt! By order of King Bowser and Dr. Robotnik, you are under arrest!" A Koopa Troopa with a spear declared.
Bright ushered Altezza to get behind him and drew his Zap Sword, only for a whip to strike the Koopa Troops and Badniks with efficiency.
"Shade!" Altezza exclaimed as Shade managed to jump out of the Sunny Airship with Milky before it crashed and made his way over to assist.
"Babu!" Milky said, holding up a small rod with a crescent moon on it. She then waved it around before swarms of small stars spun around the Koopa Troops and Badniks and with a flick of her wrist, they were sent flying out of the kingdom.
"Phew, that was a close-a-one!" Mario said as he and Luigi had bailed with Fine and Rein in their arms, Sonic, Calvin, and Hobbes having joined them. Tio and Lione were being carried safely by Kirby, who puffed himself up to act as a parachute.
"Are Ed, Double-D, and Eddy okay?" Rein asked worriedly.
"We need to find them-Pumo!" Poomo said, only for more Koopa Troops and Badniks to show up, aiming guns loaded with paint at them.
"Surrender now or be tagged in the colors of the Koopa Kingdom and Eggman Empire!" An Egg Pawn dressed as a French Artist, complete with a fake mustache, beeped.
Sonic smirked as he got into a running stance, cyan energy flickering off of him as everyone else got ready to fight.
"Well, the only colors you're gonna be getting are black and blue...with a boatload of blue!"
The heroes all charged at the Koopa Troops and Badniks, the fiends not even knowing what hit them.
The Eds had managed to land in the canals of the Waterdrop Kingdom and swam to shore. After noticing that Koopa Troops and Badniks were patrolling the streets, they took to hiding in order to make sure they weren't captured.
"Way to go, Lummox!" Eddy snapped, punching Ed in the shoulder. "Now we won't be able to get to the next kingdom after this!"
"I'm sorry, Eddy..."
"Eddy, Ed saw the chaos inflicted on this kingdom and wanted to act in stopping it. While his actions are reckless, we still have a mission." Double-D said.
"Yeah, yeah, but if you pull a stunt like that again, Lumpy, you're gonna be losing the last few brain cells you have left!" Eddy snapped.
"Yes sir, Eddy!"
The Eds sneakily made their way through the kingdom streets, making sure to remain out of sight and inconspicuous. Soon, they found the castle and looked at each other before nodding as they sneaked into a nearby window, Ed giving his friends a boost before backflipping up and being grabbed to be pulled in.
"My, my, this castle decorum is marvelous!" Double-D beamed as the Eds looked around the castle before noticing some Koopatrols marching by and hiding before they were spotted.
When the coast was cleared, the three amigos continued through the halls of the kingdom, even finding themselves going through an aquarium tunnel which almost left Ed and Double-D distracted by all the fish swimming about before Eddy dragged them along.
"We can sightsee later. Right now, we gotta rescue the King, Queen, and Princess or whatever."
As they made their way through the Waterdrop Kingdom Castle, Ed suddenly picked up a suspicious sound that sounded like moving gears and stopped his friends before sniffing the air like a dog, even planting his face on the ground and tracing the source.
"Looks like Ed's onto something!" Double-D said.
As they followed Ed, the sound of gears became even louder and soon, the Eds found some kind of contraption with a symbol similar to Eggman's on it. Peering inside, they saw a small girl there.
She had big spikey dark orange-brown hair, a pair of blue glasses, a yellow tiara with a red gem in the center, a black dress with a yellow collar, puffy sleeves, a red and yellow skirt, and black boots.
"Who's the brat?" Eddy pondered.
"Yes, Uncle Ivo! The Badniks and Koopa Troops are marking every part of the Waterdrop Kingdom as our own. If that doesn't get that huffy queen to submit, then nothing will!" The girl said to a computer screen, communicating with Eggman.
"Very good, Omelette! And how are the queen and king now?" Eggman asked.
"Oh, if they don't submit, well..." Omelette grinned as she looked up to a plump bear woman who appeared to be the queen and a short man with a mustache who appeared to be the king. "Let's just say I'll dip them in my patented metal paint and leave them trapped forever!"
"I knew repurposing the Metal Virus as a petrifying trap would be better than making it an actual zombie apocalypse again!" Eggman chuckled. "Thankfully, I managed to work out all those kinks."
"Hey! You wouldn't have been able to do so without my help, Uncle!" Omelette said proudly.
"How dare you harness our Seven Colored Springs to use them for petty vandalism on our kingdom!" The King shouted before turning to his wife. "Yamul, we need to do something!"
The bear woman, Yamul, glared at Omelette. "Mirlo and Narlo are safe, that's all that matters to me, Pump."
King Pump sighed. "Yes, our children's safety is one of our deepest concerns."
"Oh, I don't think so! When my Badniks find 'em, they'll be tied up right next to ya!" Omelette giggled maliciously before a warning blared and she quickly went to see what was wrong. "You gotta be kidding me?! The forces are almost all wiped out?!"
The Eds saw the screen Omelette was watching and noticed their friends taking out all the Koopa Troops and Badniks with ease. Calvin had transformed into a giant robot on a single wheel and was firing bouncing bullets from his fingers while Kirby had transformed into Whip Kirby after inhaling Shade's whip and was lashing at any enemies unlucky enough to be close to him.
"Grrrr, I'll have to smash those pesky fools myself!" Omelette said as she quickly jumped into a pod that connected itself to some kind of giant spider mech, which climbed out of the ceiling of the castle and leaped into the town below.
"Alright! She's gone and she didn't see us! This means we can trash this hunk of junk and stop all the paint from getting everywhere!" Eddy said as the Eds made their way into the room.
"Who are you two?" Pump asked, surprised at the sight of the three boys.
"Fair not, Bear Queen and Tiny King, we have come to rescue you!" Ed said like a noble knight as Double-D made his way to the control panel of the machine and began fiddling with it.
"My, my, Eggman's technology is truly astounding! It's way ahead of anything I've ever seen!"
Ed and Eddy got to work pulling Yamul and Pump away from the pit of petrifying metal paint that Omelette had them dangling over while Double-D continued to work on bypassing Eggman's security to deactivate the machine.
Back in the town, all of the Koopa Troops and Badniks were beaten as everyone took a moment to catch their breaths. Sonic, for his part, looked barely winded while Calvin changed back to normal and fell on his butt.
"Babu! Ba-bo-baba!" Milky cheered, spinning around Shade as he smiled at his little sister.
"Come on, we need-a to find-a the Eds! We don't-a know if they've been-a captured or-!" Luigi said before being cut off by a giant shadow looming over him.
"LUIGI, LOOK OUT!" Mario cried as he pushed his brother out of the way of a giant pincer trying to crush him.
BGM: Metallic Madness Zone (New Remix)
"So, Hedgehog, you've come to put a stop to my fun with your little friends, huh?" Omelette sneered from her Spider Mech.
"Who's that?" Fine and Rein exclaimed together.
"Omelette...Eggman's niece." Sonic frowned. "Trying to help out your uncle again, huh?"
"That's right, and I'm gonna make him proud by crushing all of you and serving you on a silver platter for him with his eggs benedict breakfast!"
Omelette's Spider Mech opened up a missile silo in its abdomen that fired several missiles at the heroes. Lione quickly projected a barrier of fire to protect everyone as Sonic ricocheted off the missiles, knocking them off course and exploding harmlessly in the air.
"Hobbes, throw me!" Calvin ordered as his tiger buddy picked him up and chucked him like a football hail mary. In a flash of blue energy, Calvin transformed into a crab-like being with a golden mace.
"BRACE FOR THE MACE!"
"Alright, Double-D, give me a status!" Eddy said as Double-D was sweating heavily, hyper-focused on the computer.
"I'm trying, Eddy! I don't know the codes!"
"Don't give me excuses, GIVE ME RESULTS!"
"Are you alright, your highnesses?" Ed asked Yamul and Pump after untying them of their bonds.
"Yes, we just want to know if our children are safe..." Yamul sadly said.
"We just hope they escaped when Bowser and Eggman's forces first invaded." Pump said.
Suddenly, a loud beep was heard as Double-D smiled proudly, having finally managed to bypass the firewalls.
"I did it!"
"Let's get this tin can turned around!"
Ed spun a wheel in a reverse way, causing all the paint Omelette was draining from the Seven Colored Springs to return to their rightful place.
As Omelette was trying to take down the heroes with her Spider Mech, Calvin whacking away at her with his mace, and Sonic hitting her from everywhere with Homing Attacks when she got an alert and saw The Eds hijacking her machine.
"NO! My precious machine!"
She turned her mech and tried to return to the castle but Shade and Kirby used their whips to grab two of the mech's legs and pull with all their might, stopping her.
"Babu!" Milky said, floating in front of Omelette with a friendly smile.
"Hey! Get lost! I may be evil but I'm not the kind who bullies babies!"
"Well, this baby is fine with hitting you back!" Altezza smirked as she made a wall of diamonds around the Spider Mech. "Alright, Milky! Show your stuff!"
"Babu!"
Milky waved her rod around and then a massive star appeared underneath the Spider Mech before spinning in place. Omelette panicked as she held onto her cockpit as the spinning intensified before the star launched her out of the kingdom and into the distance.
"I'LL BE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"
End BGM
"Well, there goes Omelette."
"Poor Omelette."
"I wonder what distracted her though." Lione pondered.
After Sonic used his speed and Kirby used his inhaling powers to suck up all the vandalism and deposit it somewhere safe, the heroes made their way to the castle to see the Eds with Yamul and Pump.
"So, you are the heroes that are freeing our Mysterious Star?" Yamul asked. "We thank you for all you've done."
Pump frowned. "We just hope that our children can be found. We don't know if they're still out there or-"
"Mother! Father!"
"Gabin!"
The King and Queen of the Waterdrop Kingdom perked up and turned to see a young girl with a baby boy in their arms.
"Mirlo!"
"Narlo!"
Mirlo had short, light brown hair and round, purple eyes, and a pair of cream-colored bear ears poking out of her head. She wore a blue hat and a white tiara studded with a bright red gem, a dress with the top part being light blue and the skirt being white with light blue frills at the end and many water-drop patterns on it and a red gem decorated onto it.
Narlo wore a blue and white onesie with an equally-colored bonnet on top and a yellow pacifier in his mouth.
Fine, Rein and the rest of the Princesses and Princes smiled to see that their friends were okay and made their way over.
"Where were you? I thought we told you to seek shelter?" Yamul asked her children in a worried tone.
"We couldn't leave our kingdom. We were in hiding, trying to find a way to get help." Mirlo explained. "But when Omelette tried using the Seven Colored Springs to vandalize the kingdom...w-we couldn't stand and do nothing."
"Seems like you were handling yourselves just fine. What were you doing?" Sonic asked.
Mirlo smiled and took out what looked like a fusion of a magic wand and a paintbrush while Marlo took out a small bubble rod. Kirby smiled as he was reminded of his friend Adeline and his Bubble Copy Ability respectively.
"Mirlo-Sama and Narlo-Sama seemed to have been doing well for themselves-Pumo. They managed to keep the forces of Bowser and Eggman at bay while waiting for help-Pumo." Poomo noted.
"Well, shame you couldn't join us in scrambling Omelette, but don't worry, you'll see some action in the next kingdom." Sonic smiled.
"Our party is evergrowing!" Tio cheered. "The Mysterious Star will be free in no time!"
Milky happily allowed Narlo to sit with her on her star as the two babies cheerfully flew around, much to the mirth of the rest of the party.
"Are you alright, Omelette?" Eggman asked as Omelette's dress was dirty and she was all bruised from the hard landing.
"Y-Yeah, Uncle Ivo...I-I'm sorry, I failed you..."
"No, you didn't fail me. You gave it your best shot but that miserable blue rat and his friends proved more resourceful than anticipated."
"Yeah, who knew a dang baby with a copycat Star Rod would be able to do something like that?" Bowser frowned as Bowser Jr. made his way over to Omelette and took her hand.
"Come on, Omelette, let's go play some Smash Bros. We'll beat up Sonic and Mario there!"
Omelette smiled as the two evil kids headed off, Eggman and Bowser watching them leave with approving looks on their faces.
"When they grow up, we're totally gonna be In-Laws."
Eggman chuckled as he stroked his mustache. "Wouldn't have it any other way."
Next Time: Our heroes arrive at the Seed Kingdom, where it's revealed another Villain has already set up shop! Thankfully, a couple of friends of Mario and Luigi are there to help out!