04 /27 /04
Antipode Evangel presents:
Freedom Fighters of Mobius
Year 3239, Day 155
CHAOS, Part 2
Conversion
Disclaimer:
Story (c) 2004 by the author, based on situations and elements created by Service Games (SEGA), DiC Productions, and Archie Publications. Most characters based on personalities originally created by SEGA Interactive, DiC Productions, and/or Archie Comics Publications, and modified by the author. This is a work of fanfiction, meant only to entertain the readers and to contribute to the mythos of the source material. The author in no way benefits financially from this work.
Other characters in this chapter include:
Jewel, Antipode and Zane (c) Antipode (Adam Czech)
Ambre, (c) Ambre Wisniewski, used with permission.
Bee-beep... Bee-beep... Bee-beep...
What was that? Something beeping...
Bee-beep...
Where am I? And why do I feel like crap?
Bee-beep...
Must open eyes...
Bee-beep...
"Sonic?"
Bee-beep...
"Hey! He's wakin' up! Get the doc!"
Bee-beep...
Tails? Is that you?
Bee-beep...
"What's this? He's coming to?"
Oh, great. More voices.
Bee-beep...
"Here, this will make him wake up."
Bee-beep...
STINK.
"Whoa!" Sonic snapped his eyes open and tried to sit up. He immediately felt light-headed and was helped back down by the man beside the bed. "What was," he coughed. "What was that stuff?"
Tails handed the smelling salts back to the doctor. "You jerk! What's the big idea, freakin' me out like that, huh?"
"Like... what?" Sonic tried to talk around his headache.
Tails crossed his arms and started tapping his foot on the floor. "Why didn't you come back when you said the tube had a hole in it?"
Now the hedgehog understood, and a glimmer of a smile tugged at his mouth. "Sorry, buddy, but I saw the Emeralds down there and I had to get 'em."
Tails rolled his eyes. "Right. An' you almost died trying to get 'em, too."
"Heh, almost."
The doctor had already slipped quietly out of the room to check on more of his patients. Tails came over and hopped up in the chair beside the hospital bed. "Are ya feelin' okay? You've been out all night."
"Not too great, actually. What happened anyway?"
"Well, after you did that whole 'my radio's not workin' thing, I kinda knew you were gonna do somethin' dumb, so I went in after you. You were blacked out when I got there, so I strapped you into the Tornado and went to the nearest city."
Sonic tried to nod. "And the Emeralds? Did ya get those, too?"
"Actually, you already did. I noticed them in your hand when I was putting your seatbelt on. I wasn't thinking about 'em, though, and would have left whether we had 'em or not."
"So when do we leave?"
Tails got off the chair. "We're not goin' anywhere yet. You got a lotta water in your lungs, and maybe some of that chemical junk, too. The docs wanna keep you here at least for today, make sure you're good to go." He crossed his arms again. "You better thank me, too, I had to explain for a long time why you were swimming in toxic waste."
Sonic smiled. "Thanks, Tails. So, where are the Emeralds, anyway?"
"I have 'em," Tails answered. "In my pack, I left it in the Tornado. Which reminds me, I should probably check on it. I didn't exactly lock it down in the rush to get you here."
"Don't worry about me," Sonic locked his fingers behind his head. "I'll be fine."
Tails laughed. "I'm sure you will be. Don't go anywhere."
The city where they now found themselves was so big, Tails was surprised he had never seen it before, or even heard about it. He wandered the streets, almost blinded by the glaring neon lights on every building and storefront. He had never been in a large city before, and was amazed at what was advertised everywhere he looked.
"If I lived in a place like this," he thought to himself, "I'd never be bored."
Tails was filled with joy as he found himself standing in front of a store promising electronics equipment on the front window. He quickly pushed the door open, which made a little bell above sing out happily. He went straight for the nearest shelf, grabbing a box and reading its inscription.
The manager of the store turned soon enough to see the flash of orange fur as he heard the bell ring. "Can I help you, son?"
"No, thanks!" he called back. "Jus' looking!"
The man chuckled and turned back to the counter. Tails stood there wide-eyed at the merchandise in his hands. "This is so cool... I want one of these."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
The girl groaned, her bright green eyes fluttering open against the rays of sunlight streaming into the room. Her whole body hurt... it made it hard to move at all, but she struggled to sit up in the bed. Where was she? It looked like a hut. "H-hello?"
A curtain at the back of the room opened. "Amy, you're awake! How do you feel, girl?"
She turned to look, a smile forming on her face. "Ambre!"
The cat came over to sit next to the bed, pushing the strands of straight sandy-brown hair away from her face. "Hey, you've been out like a light since we got here."
"Really? Wow... What happened?"
"Take a look for yourself. You're not metal anymore."
Amy held up her hand turning it over slowly as her eyes grew wide. "I... I'm not! Ambre, what happened?"
"We brought you to Knothole, girl. You remember me telling you about that?"
The girl's brow furrowed. "Kind of... Did they get me back to normal?"
Ambre nodded. "Princess Sally was kind enough to help us out. She said we can stay here as long as we need."
"Am I... all okay now?"
"Almost. Their doctor wants you to stay here for a while to make sure, though."
"Okay."
Ambre got to her feet. "You just stay here and rest. I have to talk with Princess Sally about some things, kay?"
"Okay, Ambre."
"Good girl," she smiled and headed for the doorway.
As soon as the door closed behind her, Ambre let out a long sigh. They had done it, just like they said they would. Amy was almost all better, and all effects of her roboticization were gone. She chuckled softly to herself. Maybe this trip wouldn't be a waste after all.
She crossed the courtyard to Princess Sally's office with a spring in her step. She pushed the door open and entered, bowing respectfully.
Sally put away what she had been working on and greeted her. "Ambre, I'd like to talk to you about Amy."
"Oh, Amy!" she smiled. "Thank you again so much for helping her!"
Sally smiled in return. "You're very welcome, Ambre. Now that she's being treated, I need to you to answer some questions I have about how she got the way she did."
"Oh, sure. We were attacked by Robotnik about a week before Doomsday; otherwise, we would have been here sooner. Almost all of us got wiped out, and I assumed command. We've been pretty much trying to hold the unit together all this time.
"Amy... well, we weren't sure what happened to her, until we started throwing around 'roboticization' as a possibility. None of us had seen that before, and it wasn't until we got your call that any of us thought about it. Our doctor was able to stop it completely, as you saw, so we've had her like that for a long time. We didn't really know what to do with her until we got your communication."
Sally hummed to herself. "Do you plan on staying here, then? Or taking her back?"
Ambre's brow furrowed. She hadn't really thought about that yet. "I guess we could stay here... I mean, if you wanted. We have more personnel back at Black Plain, I would have to send them word."
The princess nodded. "Then go ahead. We would be more than pleased for you to join us at Knothole."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Tails held his brand-new Geiger counter lovingly in his hands. He had heard Rotor talk about them before, so he knew what they did, but he had never had one before. Now he did, though; it was his Geiger counter. He smiled, liking the way that sounded.
The kid looked back and forth down the street, now wondering how Sonic was doing cooped up in the hospital bed. He should probably go check on him, or he might get worried. He started off toward the hospital, fiddling with the buttons on his new toy and giggling to himself when he got the needle to move. He looked up every once in a while to make sure he was going the right way, scanning the windows and lighted signs of stores as he passed to test it. He first headed back to the plane, where he had left it earlier that night, checking to make sure nothing had been tampered with before locking everything down tight, making a mental note to check their fuel level before leaving for Knothole in the morning.
Tails opened the aft cargo compartment, and was surprised as the Geiger counter let out a shrill beep. He quickly dialed down the volume on the device's speaker, then tried to remember if he had stashed any isotopes in his plane. Then he remembered the Chaos Emeralds and sighed, relieved. He found them in a bag in the far back of the hold, then wrapped them up again to where the scanner wouldn't pick them up and put them in his backpack.
"If this thing can detect Emeralds, too..." he thought to himself on the way back to the city proper, "maybe it was a good thing I bought it after all."
Tails kept playing with his device as he walked, somewhat disappointed that there was nothing lethally radioactive that he could find. After not too long, though, he figured out all there was to do with it for the moment, and slid the counter into his jacket pocket. Even in the dead of night the city was bustling with activity, and young Tails had to make sure he didn't get trampled for all the passers-by between the airfield and the hospital. He had the feeling that the city saw a lot of tourism, since most of the establishments lining the main street consisted of casinos and other varied betting parlors.
So loud was the crowd around him that he barely felt it when the device in his pocket buzzed loudly. He took it out, seeing the indicator needle slowly inching upward. Tails looked around, almost nervously, as he tried to get out of the way of the crowd and try to figure out what it was that was making his device act up. It was as he was coming closer to what looked like a pawn shop that the Geiger counter went crazy, and it didn't take Tails five seconds to figure out what it meant. He slowly pushed open the door and went inside.
It was decidedly a different atmosphere than the electronics shop from earlier that day. Half the lights in the place were off, and one of them in the corner was flickering absently. There was no one around, and the counter at the front of the store was decorated with a wire mesh of some kind. And it stank.
Tails turned the volume on his scanner down to nothing as he looked around. The signal seemed to be getting stronger near the front of the store, probably something behind the counter. He went up to the wire grating, peering over the edge of the tall counter. He couldn't see anything, but there was someone back there. He looked around for a service bell and, upon finding none, cleared his throat loudly.
The manager of the shop -- at least, Tails assumed he was -- was a tall weasel with slicked-back hair and a tattered jacket. He glanced back at Tails with beady little eyes, not bothering to hurry with what he was doing. He finished and came back to him. "What you want, kid?"
"Um..." Tails searched for words. What did he want, anyway? "I was just, uh... looking for some jewelry."
The weasel sniffed and rolled the toothpick in his mouth. "Jewelry, huh?"
Tails thought for a moment, then rummaged through his pack until he found the Emeralds. "One like this? Do you have one?"
The shopkeeper's eyes visibly widened as he saw the gem. Just as quickly, though, he shook his head. "Nope. Never seen 'em before."
Tails frowned. He knew he wasn't telling the truth. "Then something else back there is giving off high levels of radiation," he said, then smiled impishly. "Bet it's somethin' illegal."
The weasel was taken aback for a moment. "Jus' who do you think you are, kid?"
"It's a secret," he grinned again. "Now do you have one of these, or not?"
"Yeah, I do," he replied gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest. "But you can't have it. It's already got a buyer, I'm just holding it for him."
"Oh, really. Who is it? How much is he payin' ya?"
"I don't gotta tell you nothin', kid, now shove off."
Tails left the store, still smiling. Gotta tell Sonic about this.
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
"Hey, you okay?"
Jewel turned her head slowly to see Antipode walking toward her. She managed a smile before turning back to the lake. "I'm fine."
The echidna took a seat on a rock beside the stump she was on, the cross dangling from his neck as he leaned forward. "How's the leg? Any better?"
"Yes."
"That's good."
"Thank you... for helping me before," she spoke quietly, still staring at the glittering surface of the lake.
"Hey, no problem. You need anything else from me, just ask."
Jewel hummed quietly to herself, her green eyes blinking slowly. Antipode looked at her for a moment before speaking, "You sure you're okay?"
"I'm sure," she sighed.
"Okay," he replied slowly, rising to his feet. "I'll leave you alone then. If you wanna talk or anything, just call."
Jewel nodded; he started back for camp. He stopped, though, when she called out to him again. "I'm sorry if I seem rude. I have a lot on my mind."
"Hey, I understand that. If you want to be alone, that's okay. I'll be around if you ever want to talk."
"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind."
Antipode smiled. "I'm on camp patrol over the night. Just, ya know, so you know where I am."
"All right."
-=*=-=*=-=*=-=*=-
Sonic was exhausted and passed out in the bed from all the tests the doctors had put him through. The other bed in the room was empty, and they gave Tails permission to have use of it until morning. The kid was quite drained himself, he found, as he collapsed onto the sheets the moment he returned.
It was nearly noon by the time they both fully awakened, and Tails had told him of his adventure the previous night, but by 1:00 they had checked out of the hospital and were hitting the town. Tails showed Sonic all of the neat things he had found while exploring, leading him around and eventually coming to rest outside the pawn shop.
A knowing grin spread across Sonic's face as they entered, and he marched straight up to the counter, pounding his fist against the metal screen. "Hey!"
The weasel emerged from the back room, stopping dead in his tracks as soon as he cleared the doorway. A look of comic horror plastered itself on his features, as he stared at the hedgehog. "You..."
"That's right: me," Sonic answered, his smile widening as he crossed his arms. "You givin' my little bro crap, Nack?"
The weasel's mouth fell open, his toothpick dropping to the floor. "I-I didn't know he was with you guys! Honest!"
"Uh-huh. So what are you gonna do now?"
Nack stammered as he looked for words.
"Look, ya gotta Chaos Emerald or not?"
"I... I do, but..."
"But what?"
"Like I told da kid, it's gotta buyer already. I'm just holding it till he picks it up."
"Who?"
"That's confiden-"
"Who is it, Nack!"
The weasel recoiled visibly. "Gah! It-it was a big guy, wearing a trench or sumthin. Said he could pay me real well for it, too; gave me a great down payment."
A beat of silence. "Big guy?"
"Y-yeah. With a mustache."
Sonic's eyes narrowed. "Eggman."
"Anyway, he's got it. He said he'll be back in a couple days to pick it up."
"Nack, you moron! You just sold an item of infinite power to the most dangerous man on Mobius!"
"Did I?"
Sonic growled at the man. "Give it to me now, and we won't hafta call the idiot police to pick you up."
"No, way! That guy's givin' me the cash! I'm not givin' it to you instead without some kind of repayment!"
The hedgehog gave a growling sigh. "Nack, don't be stupid. If Eggman gets his mitts on those Emeralds, it's game over for all of Mobius! Is that what you want?"
He made a rude noise. "What do I care? I'm gettin' paid."
Sonic lunged at the metal grating, hitting it so forcefully that Nack leapt backward. "Listen to me! You give me that Emerald right now or I'm calling the police, you hear me?"
"But... but I..."
"NOW, NACK!"
The weasel made a whimpering sound as he retreated to the back room, returning in a moment with a small gem in his hands. He gingerly passed it through the small hole in the grating, nearly leaping back again as Sonic snatched it away.
"Yeah, that's better," Sonic growled at him as he turned the Emerald over in his hands. "Glad doin' business with you again, Nack."
"Whatever. Get outta my store."
Sonic and Tails went straight back to the Tornado, and soon they were flying in the afternoon breeze, en route back to Knothole.
**TO BE CONCLUDED**
MESSAGE FROM THE MAN: Joining teh |337
With the uploading of this chapter to FanFiction.net, "Freedom Fighters of Mobius" will exceed the 100,000-word mark, thus ranking it among the longest Sonic fanfics posted at that site. So far, only 10 fics have received this acclaim, two of which I believe are still being written. Also with the finishing of this chapter, the series is officially half over. Fifteen chapters down, fifteen chapters to go. So, by my estimation, FFoM will tally nearly 200,000 words -- quite possibly, more -- by it's completion. This, I realize, includes the author's notes and the opening credits, but still, an amazing accomplishment indeed.
I realize this chapter took a long time to publish, and I apologize to all my fans (three?) whom I have kept waiting on bated breath (huh?). I won't give excuses, other than life is crap, and this storyline is getting a bit stale; sorry if this chapter seems forced, I'm trying to get to a better part. I wish I could say that this chapter is worth the wait, but that would be a lie. I'm actually cutting it short to try and start anew with the new chapter; this is my shortest submission in the series. Anyhoo, I'll keep working, of course.
Keep it real,
-AE