Chapter 21
Aero Clash
Blade didn't like this, not at all. He preferred chasing someone on the road, not zooming around in the sky or in space. But this was his only option. This was the place where the hedgehog was supposed to be held. That didn't make him like it any better.
"There has to be an easier way to do this," he muttered to RaGiff in his hovership.
"Okay, maybe I can drag the ship down to you instead so you don't even have to ride up to it."
"Alright, shut up wise guy. I'm going." "You might run into just a bit of traffic."
"I know, there's a helluva lot of fighters around there."
"No, that's not all. The fox and the hedgehog are both out zooming around and blowing stuff up."
"And they're doing that because…" "Long story. Just make sure what you're shooting isn't them."
"You had something to do with that, didn't you?" "Duh, otherwise I wouldn't have known about it."
"Not necessarily. You have a way of knowing stuff before it even happens or before it even exists."
"Fair enough. Just be careful out there, 'k? Those guys aren't exactly pushovers, and that ship wasn't built directly for air combat."
"Fine, then will you shut up then?"
No voice came in response.
"Good job," Blade responded as he shot his ship into the mass of enemy ships with cracks of orange sky. His mini-gun pumped round after round of shots into the crowd. The warrior figured he had made a serious dent, but when he spun around to head back into the fray, he saw pretty much the same number of ships. "Damn…" Blade murmured. This called for a change in tactics. He placed the machine on autopilot and left the cockpit. Slowly and carefully, he staggered to the back of his ship and stood, Fire Sabre in tow. Time to do a little double duty. As his ship flew around, he swung his sword like crazy, slicing the fighter planes. The rush of speed was exciting, but even he was a bit worried about the serious risk. One misstep or a hit to the back of the hovership meant doom. But he was Blade Kasille, best warrior and hunter in the universe. He could take it. As he cut through the hordes of enemy ships, he knew he was in big trouble. Hopefully, they wouldn't recognize him. But the sword probably gave him away.
Further ahead, he saw a red airplane swooping around in the skies as well. Must be the fox boy, he thought. Looks like he wasn't the only one looking for the blue one.
Speaking of which…
"Is that him?" Blade wondered aloud. Immediately, a gunshot from a ship drilled the part of his machine he was on. He barely jumped over it, and he landed on the little bullet holes it left. He could not afford another lapse in concentration like that again. But he thought he had seen…
And he did. Flying in what appeared to be some kind of piece of exercise equipment with jets, Sonic was also picking off the fighters-or at least avoiding them. When the hedgehog turned his head, he locked eyes with Blade and took the time to fly over.
"Well, if it ain't Swordy," Sonic chuckled. "Don't worry, when these guys are finished, I'll settle the score with you and Tails." "You're lucky I don't shoot you down now, hedgehog," he responded.
"Like hell you would. You just want me for the cash. Well, here's your paycheck right here." He took a hand off his handle and gave Blade the one finger salute before flying off.
"I will throttle that little rodent," Blade muttered before crawling back into his ship. He no longer felt safe, or welcome, outside.
Sonic swooped away from Blade laughing like crazy. In this prototype ship, he couldn't be touched. It was too fast. He cued RaGiff in. "Okay, Mr. Mysterious, Anonymous Provider, what now? How far am I from the Silver Mountains?"
"Well, you're just a mile from Capital…What did you say?" "How far from the Silver Mountains?" "And you want to go there because…" "Personal business."
"Hey, with RaGiff Griffin, no one keeps any secrets." "So, the mysterious voice has a name?" Sonic chuckled.
A long list of curses flew from RaGiff's mouth. Even Sonic was a bit surprised.
"Geez, I don't even know some of those," he laughed.
A round of gunfire whizzing by his foot hurled him back into reality. He spun around to see four enemy ships closing in. "Okay, Raghib-" "RaGiff!"
"Whatever. How far am I from the Silver Mountains?" "A good eight or nine miles from here. Your little ship thingy won't hold up that far, though. You best just land in Capital City now." "Isn't there another place closer that I could get to?" "I don't-well, now that you mention it, you land near Red Mountain, you wouldn't be more than a mile or so from the Silver Mountain range. But seriously, I don't think that's a good-" "WHOOOO!" "Why do I even bother…"
Mighty was plowing his way through the woods. There it was-the prison of Prison Island. But no Knuckles. And he had no way of getting across the ocean that surrounded it. Only one way, actually. And he wouldn't like it one bit.
"Ugh…This better be worth it," he grumbled. He performed a straight-on dive into the water and swam across. While under, there were plenty of sights to see. The sand swirled in the water, the trout were zooming past, Knuckles' unconscious body was laying on the ocean floor, shimmers of light flooded the water…
"WHAT!" he gasped, but inhaled a gulp of salt water instead. He quickly swam to the surface to breathe and ducked back under again. There was no denying it, that was the body of his echidna buddy. He quickly scooped up his body and brought him back up as well. It took all of his incredible strength to bring him back to the grassy jungle part of the island, flip him onto land, and get back out.
"C'mon, rad red, breathe!" He pushed on his chest, trying to force the water out of his lungs, praying, "Not CPR, please don't make me do mouth to mouth!" Luckily for him, Knuckles coughed up a little ocean out of him. "Yes…yes…" Mighty whispered. "Keep going, Red."
It was near sunset when Espio and Charmy got off their bus in Station Square. There were construction crews still cleaning up some kind of mess. No doubt caused by Sonic. This must have been the terrorist attack part of his charges.
"Guess this'd be a good place to start," Charmy commented.
"If you believe that "return to the scene of the crime" crap," Espio challenged. "He won't be here. But we'll probably find someone who knows something about it."
The duo decided to start in one of the stores-the electronics shop, to be specific. Just a random choice, hoping they'd find a clue somewhere. They were just about to ask the manager a question when, on one of the TV's, a news flash appeared.
"We take you live to the skies above Capital City," an anchor stated, "where a hectic aerial chase is occurring between the military and two of the country's most wanted criminals. It has been confirmed that both Sonic the Hedgehog and Blade Kasille are in the skies with military fighters, Sonic in a stolen prototype fighter and Kasille in a supposedly personal craft. There is also a third, unknown fighter out taking on the numerous military planes. General Travis Ramsey has confirmed he has the crack squad 65B coming out to assist the other pilots…"
There was more coming from the anchor's mouth, but the only thing Espio and Charmy were paying attention to was the video of Sonic and that bounty hunter in the air. A red airplane tailed them, followed by six dozen or so military jet fighters.
"Good lord…" muttered Espio.
"Yeah…" agreed Charmy, but not for the same reason. "Why can't WE be up there? That looks like a helluva lot of fun!"
Aero Clash
Blade didn't like this, not at all. He preferred chasing someone on the road, not zooming around in the sky or in space. But this was his only option. This was the place where the hedgehog was supposed to be held. That didn't make him like it any better.
"There has to be an easier way to do this," he muttered to RaGiff in his hovership.
"Okay, maybe I can drag the ship down to you instead so you don't even have to ride up to it."
"Alright, shut up wise guy. I'm going." "You might run into just a bit of traffic."
"I know, there's a helluva lot of fighters around there."
"No, that's not all. The fox and the hedgehog are both out zooming around and blowing stuff up."
"And they're doing that because…" "Long story. Just make sure what you're shooting isn't them."
"You had something to do with that, didn't you?" "Duh, otherwise I wouldn't have known about it."
"Not necessarily. You have a way of knowing stuff before it even happens or before it even exists."
"Fair enough. Just be careful out there, 'k? Those guys aren't exactly pushovers, and that ship wasn't built directly for air combat."
"Fine, then will you shut up then?"
No voice came in response.
"Good job," Blade responded as he shot his ship into the mass of enemy ships with cracks of orange sky. His mini-gun pumped round after round of shots into the crowd. The warrior figured he had made a serious dent, but when he spun around to head back into the fray, he saw pretty much the same number of ships. "Damn…" Blade murmured. This called for a change in tactics. He placed the machine on autopilot and left the cockpit. Slowly and carefully, he staggered to the back of his ship and stood, Fire Sabre in tow. Time to do a little double duty. As his ship flew around, he swung his sword like crazy, slicing the fighter planes. The rush of speed was exciting, but even he was a bit worried about the serious risk. One misstep or a hit to the back of the hovership meant doom. But he was Blade Kasille, best warrior and hunter in the universe. He could take it. As he cut through the hordes of enemy ships, he knew he was in big trouble. Hopefully, they wouldn't recognize him. But the sword probably gave him away.
Further ahead, he saw a red airplane swooping around in the skies as well. Must be the fox boy, he thought. Looks like he wasn't the only one looking for the blue one.
Speaking of which…
"Is that him?" Blade wondered aloud. Immediately, a gunshot from a ship drilled the part of his machine he was on. He barely jumped over it, and he landed on the little bullet holes it left. He could not afford another lapse in concentration like that again. But he thought he had seen…
And he did. Flying in what appeared to be some kind of piece of exercise equipment with jets, Sonic was also picking off the fighters-or at least avoiding them. When the hedgehog turned his head, he locked eyes with Blade and took the time to fly over.
"Well, if it ain't Swordy," Sonic chuckled. "Don't worry, when these guys are finished, I'll settle the score with you and Tails." "You're lucky I don't shoot you down now, hedgehog," he responded.
"Like hell you would. You just want me for the cash. Well, here's your paycheck right here." He took a hand off his handle and gave Blade the one finger salute before flying off.
"I will throttle that little rodent," Blade muttered before crawling back into his ship. He no longer felt safe, or welcome, outside.
Sonic swooped away from Blade laughing like crazy. In this prototype ship, he couldn't be touched. It was too fast. He cued RaGiff in. "Okay, Mr. Mysterious, Anonymous Provider, what now? How far am I from the Silver Mountains?"
"Well, you're just a mile from Capital…What did you say?" "How far from the Silver Mountains?" "And you want to go there because…" "Personal business."
"Hey, with RaGiff Griffin, no one keeps any secrets." "So, the mysterious voice has a name?" Sonic chuckled.
A long list of curses flew from RaGiff's mouth. Even Sonic was a bit surprised.
"Geez, I don't even know some of those," he laughed.
A round of gunfire whizzing by his foot hurled him back into reality. He spun around to see four enemy ships closing in. "Okay, Raghib-" "RaGiff!"
"Whatever. How far am I from the Silver Mountains?" "A good eight or nine miles from here. Your little ship thingy won't hold up that far, though. You best just land in Capital City now." "Isn't there another place closer that I could get to?" "I don't-well, now that you mention it, you land near Red Mountain, you wouldn't be more than a mile or so from the Silver Mountain range. But seriously, I don't think that's a good-" "WHOOOO!" "Why do I even bother…"
Mighty was plowing his way through the woods. There it was-the prison of Prison Island. But no Knuckles. And he had no way of getting across the ocean that surrounded it. Only one way, actually. And he wouldn't like it one bit.
"Ugh…This better be worth it," he grumbled. He performed a straight-on dive into the water and swam across. While under, there were plenty of sights to see. The sand swirled in the water, the trout were zooming past, Knuckles' unconscious body was laying on the ocean floor, shimmers of light flooded the water…
"WHAT!" he gasped, but inhaled a gulp of salt water instead. He quickly swam to the surface to breathe and ducked back under again. There was no denying it, that was the body of his echidna buddy. He quickly scooped up his body and brought him back up as well. It took all of his incredible strength to bring him back to the grassy jungle part of the island, flip him onto land, and get back out.
"C'mon, rad red, breathe!" He pushed on his chest, trying to force the water out of his lungs, praying, "Not CPR, please don't make me do mouth to mouth!" Luckily for him, Knuckles coughed up a little ocean out of him. "Yes…yes…" Mighty whispered. "Keep going, Red."
It was near sunset when Espio and Charmy got off their bus in Station Square. There were construction crews still cleaning up some kind of mess. No doubt caused by Sonic. This must have been the terrorist attack part of his charges.
"Guess this'd be a good place to start," Charmy commented.
"If you believe that "return to the scene of the crime" crap," Espio challenged. "He won't be here. But we'll probably find someone who knows something about it."
The duo decided to start in one of the stores-the electronics shop, to be specific. Just a random choice, hoping they'd find a clue somewhere. They were just about to ask the manager a question when, on one of the TV's, a news flash appeared.
"We take you live to the skies above Capital City," an anchor stated, "where a hectic aerial chase is occurring between the military and two of the country's most wanted criminals. It has been confirmed that both Sonic the Hedgehog and Blade Kasille are in the skies with military fighters, Sonic in a stolen prototype fighter and Kasille in a supposedly personal craft. There is also a third, unknown fighter out taking on the numerous military planes. General Travis Ramsey has confirmed he has the crack squad 65B coming out to assist the other pilots…"
There was more coming from the anchor's mouth, but the only thing Espio and Charmy were paying attention to was the video of Sonic and that bounty hunter in the air. A red airplane tailed them, followed by six dozen or so military jet fighters.
"Good lord…" muttered Espio.
"Yeah…" agreed Charmy, but not for the same reason. "Why can't WE be up there? That looks like a helluva lot of fun!"