(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)
S.O.N.I.C GO!
S.O.N.I.C GO!
GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO!
Episode 11: A Test of Faith
Last time on Sonic X:
Cream watched in a mixture of amazement and horror as Emerl twitched in the air for a single second, before falling to the swamp floor, sinking into the thick stagnant water.
"EMERL!" She yelled, running over with her Chao following. The robot was lying on his back in the water like some inanimate corpse. Shadow paused to stetched his muscle before striding through the water, just to make sure that this time the robot would not get back up. "Emerl, come on. Don't go away again." Tails flew over, his unique ability keeping him from getting his feet wet.
Emerl's eyes clarifying from red to blue, the robot blinked and looked up at her. There was a sudden silence and it seemed not even the swamp around them was making a noise. Cream could feel her heart thumping hard in her chest as the robot straightened up, looking around confused. Suddenly, it noticed her presence and turned to face her.
Shadow was more than ready to resume a fight, his fists clenched by his sides. But there wasn't any need anymore. Emerl made his way to his feet unsteadily, his eyes on Cream all the time. Gently, he offered her his hand and Cream recognised the gesture.
When she had first found the robot hidden behind a group of bushes on the Thorndyke estate, she had offered him her hand before taking him to meet the others. Whatever hold Eggman had had on him had shattered. A single tear ran down her cheek. She had her friend back.
Shadow found it extremely hard to believe that this robot…thing… used to be Cream's friend. He had heard of Emerl and his relationship with Cream from Sonic, but this seemed too convenient. Well, if Metal Sonic could change, he supposed there was hope for this guy. So instead of obeying his first instinct and blasting the robot with the biggest Chaos Spear he could muster, he sat down next to the damaged Cyclone while Tails worked on the engine, his eyes never leaving the black and gold robot for an instant.
"Well, so much for that." Tails stated as the engine spat a fat cloud of smoke in his face. "Unless I get this back to the workshop, it's a goner." He paused to wipe an oil stain from the fur on his cheek. "I'll try radioing for help." Shadow hadn't heard that last bit. He could here something moving at high speed, coming in from the distance. Whatever it was, it was fast enough to shatter the sound barrier as a loud sonic boom echoed across the canopy of the swamp a moment later. There was only one other person besides himself who could do that.
The air rippled and a blue blur darted through the trees, a red sneaker put forward as Sonic slid to a halt, coming knee deep in the stagnant water.
"Disgusting!" He commented, looking down. Then he noticed the smell. "Whoa, who cut the cheese?"
"And just where have you been this past hour?" Shadow asked as the blue hedgehog approached, pulling himself out of the water and up onto the large rock.
"Being chased by Eggman's battleship, so I could ask you the same question." He stated with a smug smile on his face. Shadow simply glared at him and said nothing. "Chuck sent me here; he got a bit worried when he lost the Cyclone's signal. He'll be here in a few minutes with the X-Tornado, he and Tanaka finally got it workable."
"About time." Tails stated, looking up from his work. "How did getting that Chaos Emerald in the mountains go, anyway?" Sonic hesitated, before a nervous smile spread over his lips.
"Great. Couldn't have gone better!"
"You lost it didn't you?" Shadow asked, his head leaning on his hand. The blue hedgehog laughed nervously before sighing and nodding. "Great, so Eggman has a grand total of…three Chaos Emerald's now. And all we have is one." The black hedgehog looked up at the sky, rolling his eyes. "So far, not a good start." Sonic didn't reply. The one sided conversation between Cream and Emerl had finally caught his attention. He stared for a few moments, before putting his arms behind his head and lying back.
"I've seen weirder things." He stated, before closing his eyes. That was the one thing about Sonic that really baffled Shadow. The blue hedgehog's ability to accept and interact with the environment around him no matter how bizarre it seemed at first. "Oh, before I forget. Why is Emerl not trying to kill us?" Shadow simply shrugged and lay down next to him.
"Don't know. Don't want to know." He replied. Sonic decided not to press for a more detailed answer, not that he ever expected Shadow to give one. A few minutes later, like Sonic said, Tails sighted the X tornado overhead. Chuck leaned over the pilot's window to wave down at them. Unfortunately, there was so much foliage that it was impossible for him to land it. So instead, he left the plane in it's unique hover mode and Amy lowered cables down to help hoist the Cyclone out of it's crash site. To their amazement, Emerl actually helped. There was tension around the robot, who had been their enemy not long ago. Although Sonic did point out that they gave Metal Sonic a chance, so they should lay off him.
"Word of advice Cream," Chuck stated as the rabbit climbed into the plane as Emerl lifted her up. "Give your mother the biggest puppy dog eyes expression you can muster when we get back." Cream laughed nervously.
"She's not angry is she?" Chuck paused for a minute before saying…
"Let's just say I'm glad I'm not you right about now." There was a short flash of green light and Shadow appeared on the nose of the plane, standing there with his arms crossed.
"Come on, I've not got all day. Let's get this show on the road."
"Keep your pants on Mister Sunshine." Sonic commented as he any Amy finished attaching the ruined Cyclone to the side of the X tornado with the cables. "Ok, you finished Amy?" He asked, looking over the pink hedgehog's end of the Cyclone. She looked up and winked at him. "Alright, we're ready to go now."
"Finally!" Shadow muttered, rolling his eyes. Chuck looked back towards Emerl, who was sitting inside the second pod with Cream and Amy.
"Once we get back to the workshop, I should be able to remove or de-install any control programs Eggman may have placed into his systems." He stated as Tails climbed into the pilot seat.
"Anything to stop him from going nuts again…" The fox commented as he took the controls. Within minutes, being the experienced pilot he was, Tails had them out of the swamp like region, heading back towards the mountainous ridge to the west.
"Ok Captain." The President began, interlocking his fingers. "I'm all ears." About twenty four hours ago, the Captain of the Freelance division had requested a meeting with the President. Since he was already up to his ears in managing nation defence, this was the first piece of free time he had. He was already nervous-wreak badly in need of sleep.
"Sorry to take up your time sir. But I need to speak with you about the attack of G.U.N headquarters." Koji Naoko Okida stated. "I believe the situation to be far more dangerous than it first appears." The President had rings under his eyes again and it was coming close to election time and wasn't finding the time to put his political campaign together. His personnel aid, Christina Cooper had to do it for him. Not only that, but the general public was rapidly loosing confidence in his ability to defend the country from the attacks made by Dr. Eggman. If he didn't do something drastic to raise public moral, he would most probably be voted out of office.
There was a sudden loud bang as the door to the oval office was flung open and General Saddler, the current head of the militaries operations came into the room. Fury etched into his face.
"You Captain, are on the verge of a court-martial." The bat simply leaned back in his chair, ignoring him completely. "Because of your piloting, the Dead Shot walker had to undergo a complete…
"General, if you don't mind. The Captain and I are trying to have a word." The President put in sharply, his disapproval at the General's defiant stare plainly evident. "If you want to speak to Okida, then you'll have to wait until we're finished." Okida would have been included to start chuckling as the General, his eyes blazing in anger, took a seat next to him making sure the number of stars on his shoulder was pointed directly at him.
"As I was saying sir." The bat began again. "Since the attack, Freelance division has been investigating exactly how Dr. Eggman located the base." Saddler folded his arms and leaned back in his chair as the President was hung on every word. "Agent Rouge discovered that an unknown user had gained access to the satellite surveillance systems. If it was indeed Dr. Eggman, then he could easily have located the base."
"So what?" Saddler asked. "If that's true, then all we have to do is upgrade system security.
"That's the problem." The President began. "I already did, with the most advanced anti-hacker program in the entire world. It's literally impossible for anyone to force their way into that system."
"And he didn't." Okida stated. "Rouge also discovered that whoever gained access to the system; had an official user ID and password." The general grunted.
"That's impossible. That kind of information during war time is highly classified."
"I know." The bat began with a wide smirk. "You see, since you upgraded nation security protocols sir." He added turning to the President. "The only way Dr. Eggman could gain access to satellite surveillance is with an encrypted password that only a few people in the Government are allowed to know."
"Just what are you suggesting Captain?" General Saddler asked, narrowing an eye at the bat, whose grin smile widened, showing a pair of fangs.
"The only way Eggman could know that access password is if someone told him." The President paused as his eyes widened.
"Are you saying…?" The Captain nodded.
"Yes sir. Somewhere within G.U.N, there's an information leak."
Shadow sat with Sonic just behind the pilots pod, well obscured in his own thoughts. He had promised Sonic to help him take down Eggman first, but he couldn't help wondering exactly who or what those things that kept coming after him where. Those cloaked figures that seemed able to fly, immune to any physical attack and incredibly resilient. They were like ghosts although they were capable to hitting him much harder than any spectre.
Eventually, Shadow managed to gain control of this brawl and was narrowly avoiding the nearly invisible swipes using his in-human agility. There was timing involving in all this, these things could turn themselves solid and punch-able but only when they went for an attack. With this in mind, Shadow waited for an opening. They were rare, and when they came they passed too quickly for him to use them to his advantage, but still he waited. He kept his eyes on one of them, waiting patiently for it's time to swing. As it came forward with several others for an attack, Shadow spun around in mid air and fired a chaos Spear directly into the chest it's chest as it raised a arm to strike him. Proving his theory correct,, his attack struck him in full force and the attacker was throw by the sheer magnitude over the ground, landing with a loud thud against the desert sand. The others, seeing this display, quickly hovered backwards as their injured companion pulled himself up with a great deal of effort. His cloak and clothes underneath had been burned away on his chest, revealed a tattoo on his skin. A Chinese dragon with it's entire length wrapped around the chest, it's open mouth towered the neck.
"Unexpected skill level." One of them said.
"Even better than what we hoped for, a perfect vessel." Another replied, barley gesturing to the other one.
"Not now. It is now apparent that we need additional resources for risk free capture."
Shadow took a step forward, narrowing his eyes, fists clenched at his sides.
"Alright, enough." He said sharply, walking toward them, his fingers snapping open, the beginnings of a chaos spear beginning to form between them. "Now I want answers, who are you people and what do you want with me?" They ignored him as the downed phantom shakily began to hover with them, that dragon tattoo still striking out as an important detail.
"Abort Mission." He snapped, almost angrily, a change from its emotionless droning before.
"Agreed." They others said together and like darkness again they simply vanished, one minute there and the next gone. Shadow stood there staring in confusion at the one who remains, the one who he'd injured. He couldn't see the face behind that cloak, but he could tell the thing was sneering at him.
"Enjoy the reprieve Hedgehog, I assure you it was be brief." With that, like those before him he vanished and Shadow was left alone with questions that were so bizarre he didn't want to hear the answers.
"So, you return to seek your destiny." Metal and Shadow shot around to see five figures blocking the door, all clad in dark clocks. Shadow took a couple of steps back. These were those creeper things that attacked him on the desert road, now there was no doubt in his mind of their connection to the Foundation.
"This saves us the trouble of hunting you down." One said, the folds of his cloak rippling in the presence of some invisible wind. "Come, embrace your future."
"Fulfil your purpose and achieve greatness." Another added, all of them encircling the two of them, their feet no even touching the ground as they floated by some dark means.
"It thought I made it perfectly clear I'm not interested." Several of them laughed at Shadow retort.
"You speak as if you have control over your future."
The Foundation Organisation had been the finical backers of Project Shadow. Prof. Gerald had been using their money to fund his research, but when they discovered that Gerald was trying to create a creature that would cure his granddaughter Maria of her fatal illness, they pulled the plug. Invaded the Space Colony ARK, shut down the project and left Maria for death.
Shadow realized that he should, by all rights, be angry at them. But he found that he had exhausted his ability to hate. Maria had made him promise to stop hating people, no matter what they may have done in the past and he intended to make good on that promise.
"Earth to Mister Ultimate Life form." Shadow blinked and finally Sonic got his attention. "Never picked you as the sort to day dream, Shadow." The blue Hedgehog added, narrowing an eye. Shadow simply smirked and turned to face the wind blowing in his face, running vigorously through his quills. Faint, near invisible traces of cloud whipping around them. "I was saying, if you can sense Chaos Emeralds, then can you tell if we're around one now?"
"I didn't sense any before, so I doubt if…" He didn't finish the sentence. Without warning, three Chaos signatures made themselves known to him. And the odd thing was that they were coming from directly behind them and getting closer.
Looking back, all he could see behind them was a thick cloud bank that looked like it might start raining at any moment. Still, he could sense the presence of three Chaos Emeralds. "Er…Shadow?" Sonic asked, but the black hedgehog ignored him and kept staring. Then his eyes widened as the cloud began to break, the tip of an enormous metal ship lanced out of the clouds.
"Heeeeeeeeereeeeee's EGGMAN!"A loud booming voice that seemed to speak from the sky stated as a dark shadow eclipse the sun. Sonic clenched both fists and looked back to follow Shadow's gaze to see the giant battleship known only as the Egg Carrier 3 following them, it's enormous bulk bursting through the clouds, the metallic skin glinting in the last says of sunlight that escaped the horizon. A colossal metal giant looming behind their plane which was tiny by comparison, threatening to strike them down. "Did you serious think I wouldn't keep my eye on you Emerl?" Dr. Eggman asked, staring down at them through the means of a loud speaker built into the Egg Carrier's underside. "You disobeyed my commands once; I'm here to make sure that never happens again!"
"Doctor, I'm reading a Chaos Emerald signature instead that small plane." Decoe stated, looking up briefly. The mad scientist rubbed his hands together.
"Even better, this way I can kill two birds with one stone." He pressed a button on the end of his arm rest. "Let's see with whom Emerl's loyalties lie."
Emerl looked back towards the ship following them just in time to see three flares of light, each one radiating a different colour, fire from the underside of the Egg Carrier and come hurtling towards him. Each like a rainbow coloured torpedo. Shadow could sense tremendous amounts of chaos energy burning within them but by now it was too late to do anything. With a loud bang that echoed through the air they collided with the X-tornado.
The Chaos emeralds forced into his body, Emerl could do little to stop Eggman control program from coming back on-line. Whatever sentience he had gained was swallowed up in an instant as Sonic and Shadow's designation was changed back from friendly to hostile. All three of his eyes starting glowing bright red. Not only that, but with three Chaos Emeralds inside his body, his strength and speed increased ten fold.
"Oh I don't like where this is going." Sonic commented as Emerl threw a punch upwards, shattering the passenger pod and pushing himself out into the air.
"Emerl! Please, fight it!" Cream screamed at him, but by now the control program was so strong Emerl couldn't even hear what she was saying.
"Ok now my loyal Gizoid." Eggman began with a wide grin from ear to ear. "Destroy them, and bring me that Chaos Emerald they have in that contraption of theirs." With speed that frightened even Sonic, Emerl let a metal fist fire from his wrist. The blow collided with Shadow's head, knocking him clear over the edge of the X-tornado, sending him spiralling down towards the ground, knocked unconscious.
Out cold, Sonic realized that the black hedgehog wouldn't be able to Chaos Control his way to safety. So he'd just have to do it for him.
Sonic's entire body disappeared in a green haze a single second before another metal missile from Emerl hit the spot where he'd just been.
As Shadow's body fell, Sonic materialized just beside him. Grabbing his arm, both he and the black hedgehog disappeared again before appearing at the back end of the X-Tornado, giving Sonic enough time to swing his leg around in an attempt to land a kick against Emerl's back. To his dismay, the robots arm shot around and grabbed his foot.
"Oh hell." He stated, before the robot tossed him over his shoulder, smashing his front against what remained of the passenger pod.
"Chuck, a hand please." Tails began as the fox began rummaging through the multitude of wires just below the planes controls. "I have an idea to get the old Emerl back." He added, noticing the human scientists questioningly expression. "Or if not that, then get him off the X-Tornado. We can't fight him here; he could end up causing us to crash."
"Right, so what's the plan?"
"Plan? I'm making this up as I go along!"
"Your statement hardly fills me with confidence!"
Flip Card 1:
Name: Super Emerl
Age: A few seconds
Species: Robot
Job description: When Emerl absorbs the energies of two or more Chaos Emeralds, his fighting potential increasing dramatically.