Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
27 is here, and I'm going to be finishing up this story sometime within the next 2 months or so. Tsk, I really needed to work on this more often, so here I am. Enjoy.
Broken Hope"Right. First order of business? We prepare."
The foxboy explains carefully. The entire group is positioned at the workshop Tails has made a home and workbench out of, near Sonic's own home. Except he barely has time to sleep. 'Course… that's him. Moving, never stopping. Now… anyways, Tails laid out the map location where the tracker was indicating the pinpointed area. He printed it out once the portable computer was hooked to a printer on a nearby bench.
"I'm going to fly you all in the Tornado 3… or you guys basically know it's my walker/car/plane. It can hold up to about eight people in full weight. Just need to uh… find the right seating arrangements."
"You know, I can fly," Rouge states clearly.
"Hrn… You glide. You can't really fly," murmurs Knuckles from the back.
"I heard that."
"Enough! We don't need more problems on hand, here. Listen to the foxboy. Maybe he can arrange the proportions of seating correctly."
"Um… Thanks, Shadow. Anyways, I was suggesting that Sonic and Shadow stand, or hang on to the outer wings of the plane. Rouge, if you want to, and Knuckles will have to hang on to the back tail rudder, and where my laser missiles are when not in use. Does anyone have any other suggestions?"
Silence. But one voice, which was Sonics'. "Nope. Don't have a problem with that." He shot a glance towards shadow, and shrugged. "But, what were you saying about needing the right equipment, and apparel for this?"
"I'll show you. I still have your battle suits from two years ago, including Shadow's and Rouge's. I managed to keep them in great condition. I've even made one for myself, but heheh, I didn't think it would look good on me. And there will be some devices and head-based walkie-talkies once you guys have your suits on."
Jumping off of the stool, with everyone giving him a look of oddness, Tails approaches a stored cardboard box; neatly hidden beneath a lot of junk, spare parts, and tools. He shoved the parts and tools out of the way. Firmly placing his hands on the large cardboard box, he tugged at it, dragging it with him until it's been freed from the pile. Some dust was on it, indicating it had never been used for a long while, and by solving that, Tails brushes off the collected dust from atop the box. He inhales some of it, making him cough a little
"Geeze, that'll teach me not to leave things unused."
He proceeded to cut open the tape-covered box with a small knife at the top, ripping the seal apart completely. The box lids are uplifted apart, revealing plastic-packaged items. Mainly leather-clad suits, and the aroma of… plastic freshness' scent spread throughout the entire room. Retrieving the first packaged material, he examines it carefully, and looks at the others. This one, he chucks to Sonic first, who catches it single handedly. Shadow receives his. And so do Knuckles and Rouge. Tails pulls his out from the now-empty box, but sweatdrops in the end.
"Promise you guys won't make fun of me when I put this on…"
"We promise…" Sonic crosses his fingers behind him quickly.
Tails pulls out a thick leather suit. It had golden yellow stripes on the edges of the seams, Tails marches out of the room, pondering if he even should have done this in the first place. Flapping out the suit, he straightened it once out of range of the others' sights. Something like a zipper sound is heard. And a few tightening noises are made afterwards, followed by another zipper sound. The orange foxboy teeters out with his two tails sticking out in the back. But there is a giant square-sized shape zipper along the seams of the 'square', with his two tails sticking out of a hole.
A nametag was engraved into it. In bold, capital letters. "MILES 'TAILS' PROWER"
"Alright, everyone, suit up!"
It was not that long when Shadow came out first. He had replaced his white gloves for a more virtual reality look of their own. His own leather suit consisted of red lines along the seams. His shoes were still there, and as Tails had done, he had his own nametag 'carved' on the chest pocket.
"SHADOW HEDGEHOG"Sonic had more of the stealthy look; sleek, shining spandex and leather mix on certain parts of the outfit. Black gloves. And Sonic also managed to snag a pair of shades before coming out on his own.
"SONIC HEDGEHOG"
The guardian sported just a leather jacket with his ID on, and nothing else. He had his own pair of shades, snorting at Sonic imitating him.
"KNUCKLES ECHIDNA"
Rouge had her tag, just without a pocket. And her suit consisted of topless ebony tinted with mauve apparel, tightly snug over her chest and bum. She sported black boots and gloves, with their normal pink/purple edges. And in addition, she began to get this really odd disposition over this entire thing…
"ROUGE BAT""Why does this remind me of 'The Matrix'?" Rouge guessed, with an unsure perplexed face on.
"I do not know… I've never heard of it," Shadow commented.
"Of course, you were a frozen hedge-sickle for nearly fifty years," Adds Sonic.
"Shut up… faker…"
"Aw don't start that faker bullshit. Don't you think we can actually get along for once? I want to save Amy and Blizzard just as much as you want to, Shadow. But now is not the time for fighting over petty shit."
"Sonic's right. But you two have to work together like you did before. Now, guys, I had some devices, but some of you will get more, some less because Rouge, you have your talent and electronic devices, correct?"
"Yes."
"Okay, Sonic, you'll need the headset radio, as will I, Knuckles, and Shadow. I'll carry the necessary equipment, and so will Rouge. If you need help, radio someone, and they'll come as quick as they can. If that is possible." To them, Tails seemed a little grown-up with the tone he was using, and the seriousness this 'mission' was also posing. No doubt Eggman will be waiting for them, as well.
"Let's get going… We've got a score to settle with the Doctor, permanently," Sonic dangerously hisses a poisonous tone. Shadow acknowledges his anger at that moment, and whisks away towards the Tornado. Sonic follows in haste. Tails had taken off to the plane already, and by the looks of it, he's nearly ready to go. The stout foxboy was merely packing away the gadgets; they'll need them later on. He's also downloaded the map and the co-ordinates onto the console of the Tornado. The batgirl? Deciding to take a position upon the laser missile compartment. Knuckles latched onto the back portion, having a firm grip upon the side of the jet plane. He still needed to fucking knock the daylights out of that messed-up black bat, shattering his emerald… how dare he! But in the meantime, he had his own worries to keep him busy. Curiously peering at the zoned-out Guardian, Rouge tilts her head. What is his problem? …Must be about his Master Emerald, and that precariously bat that supposedly shattered it. Speaking of which…
"Guys, you all set? Once we land, there's no turning back."
"Roger that."
"Gotcha, buddy."
"Fine with me."
"All set to go."
"Okay! And we're going…" As soon as he said that, the back propulsion unit that keeps his Tornado jet-mode aloft with speed started to heat up, and create a turbine sound in the process. Gripping the controls at that moment, the jet jerked a little as it slowly rolled out to what little runway was there. It didn't throw off Sonic's balance, but it almost did Shadow's. He wasn't used to standing on a plane, unlike our azure hero, who had numerous experiences doing so. Slowly, the pathway was clear enough for the jet to launch at full speed.
"Going…"
By now the jet thruster was at its maximum, blazing out a fire in the back. The wheels and the plane picked up speed, Sonic and Shadow posing, ready for take off, and to keep their balances aloft, as well. Now, the thrusters really acted up into full-throttle mode by jerking the entire craft one more time before slowly rising off of the way… up and over some trees, past some houses with few or no bewildered people down below, some pointing at the tiny parade of furries on the plane that sped off into a completely different direction at a high rate of velocity.
"Gone! We will be there in approximately less than an hour, Sonic!"
[Eggman's Base/Unknown Location. Ten minutes before arrival]
"Had enough, red? I'm getting tired of fighting you. You can't even throw a decent punch without me seeing a weak point in your defenses and offenses, fool."
"Shut up, you rotten bitch… you think you're little miss perfect, don't you?"
"Make me, slow poke… and sure, I am Miss Perfect," Blizzard takes her index finger and pulls her lower eyelid down, whilst sticking her tongue out for a raspberry blow straight at Katai. The damage was pretty much done; slash marks along the metal surfaces from Katai's iron claw-knuckles, and Blizzard's only trademark move no one, except for Katai himself, had ever seen. The Chaos Gale-Force. What's this, you say, possibly? Well, it depends on how she wants to use it. If it were offensive, a strong gust of wind from her hand can simply blow away an enemy, or the other type. Razor-sharp, almost invisibly thin lines erupt into the wind to slice and dice an opponent like minced meat in mere seconds.
Indeed. Many scars of the thin lines were scattered about, and none of the battle took place near Amy's cage. Robotnik would have been pissed beyond recognition if she got away while they fought without knowing they broke the cage. Tsktsktsk… that would have been disastrous.
Footsteps. Someone is coming back.
Blizzard and Katai freeze in the presence of the sound. Apparently, the doctor is back from a routine. And Inferno is following to boot, and by the way he was looking… Inferno wasn't too happy, but his mood lightened to see that the entire area was covered with scarred metal. Eggman also realizes this, and takes the time to eye Blizzard first, then Katai. He coughed beneath his breath.
"…. He rough housed me too much…"
"She bitched too much about me being weak, then I told her not to use special skills because she was more than likely to damage the laboratory than I was," Katai shoots a poisonous glare at Blizzard after finishing his sentence.
"Silence. The both of you. Blizzard, your playtime is over. Katai, we need to set up some… obstacles, just in case those infernal hedgehogs, with that echidna, the foxboy, and that traitorous female bat come here and take Amy. I know they can't take Blizzard back, because there's no way to fix the machine in time if I unleash my ultimate weapon upon the surface of the Earth! All will be begging for my mercy…"
"Will you stop ranting and get on with it? I'm already sick of your 'World conquest' crap." Icy tone coming from Blizzard herself.
"You better watch your mouth, you insolent hedgehog. I gave you power, and my control…. So how can you be acting out on your own?"
"Simple, shit for brains. I'm not easy to control. All this power can't be simply ordered around. And there's no way I'm gonna listen to you anymore. You toss BOREDOM on me. I will not be restrained by the likes of you." Her icy tone turned into a threat… something like ' Try something, and I will kill you. No doubts. '
"You little… I cannot believe this! Argh!"
Just then, the alarms go off. The sound of mechanical whining emerges from the innards of the entire base complex, aka his ground to air cannons and missiles.... Ah… they have arrived, no doubt. Time to put the first battle phase to action. And the first and final retreat phase, in the process as well. While Blizzard, Katai and Metal Sonic II take care of those morons, he will take Amy with him and retreat to the transportation area where a teleporter will be waiting. It's destination? Somewhere all too familiar. And in the meanwhile… Eggman ignores Blizzard's traitorous remarks, and focus on his actions. To, first off, reactivate II and order him for an offense if any intruders manage to invade the lab.
The round, egg-shaped doctor made his way over to the dormant Metal Sonic. Retrieving the Chaos Emerald, one of the three he plucked from the mess the special machine left as Blizzard burst right out of it. Replacing, and fixating the jewel into the mechanoid badnik, he slams the core door shut. Beeps, and whines were heard afterwards. Its eyes lit up in a deep blood red light soon after, strangely looking to its master soon after reactivation.
"Metal Sonic II… Destroy any intruders on the premises of this lab, and anywhere else in this entire facility! Do not harm Katai, or Inferno. But, as a special note: If Blizzard turns good, shoot her on the spot. No circumstances will they be allowed to have any more help! Is that understood?"
The mechanoid nodded solemnly. It will do as it is told.
Protect the base. Kill intruders. Kill Unit 'Blizzard' if turned to Enemy's side.
"Understood," In a raspy mechanical voice.
"Good, now, I will be leaving shortly. Go now! Katai, Inferno, Blizzard… if you care to listen you little witch… go and seek out the intruders. Metal Sonic II will back you up if you find yourself fighting with them!"
"Finally…it'll be my pleasure to fight some furries worthy of battle."
"Don't get your hopes up. They could be a whole times more tougher than I am."
"Which makes them weaker than I am. And you the last one as the weakest link."
"Fuck off, bitch."
"Enough! The both of you, quit your squabbling, and get out there!"
The Doctor heads to Amy's cell in haste, punching in the code numbers to open the sliding bar doors, though she is still in a state of unconsciousness due to her fatigue. He plucks her from the ground, jogging, or at least trying to jog in his style, the Eggman runs out of the room, carrying a half-undressed Amy in one arm on the way out. Katai eyes the suspicious Robotnik. Then he shakes the feeling off.
Right now, they have to be concerned with these intruders.
"Hmm. I have to hide zees pieces or else zat echidna vill pulverize me and get them…" Inferno looked around, holding his stash of broken shards. Nervously chuckling, he runs off, claiming he will 'guard' the shards until it is safe to come back… gee, such a magnificent guy, isn't he?
"Gee, such a dependably guy… Not." Blizzard spat.
The cannons on the outside were repeatedly firing at an incoming flying object. But at that moment it was fired at, it sped past over the bases' top. Four dots had emerged from the flying dot in the middle of the air as well. The four split into groups of two, two heading off as if they were flying… gliding possibly, whilst the flying dot is attempting to circle without much hassle from the cannons and missiles being fired at it.
The falling remaining two dots continue to plummet towards the top of the base, explosions filling the air around them.
"Hah, petty little explosions are not going to stop us!"
"Yeah, Shadow! Nothing's going to stop us!"