(I do not own Sonic X, for those of you who haven't guessed it yet, Rei is Ray the

Flying Squirrel … )

S.O.N.I.C GO!

S.O.N.I.C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO LET'S GO!

Episode 22: A chase across the desert

The Greasy pit, while it sounded like some line of low quality restaurants, was actually the name of a large mechanic garage in Capital City, the largest in the area. Old pieces of out dated machinery wound up here eventually and according to the word of the street, even parts from G.U.N Walkers. Vector grinned and placed his sunglasses over his eyes before pushing the door open and stepping inside, the rest of Chaotix following at a relatively comfortable distance.

The inside of the building was dark, lit only by a serious of dull lights lining the right wall and the sparks flying from a welding station on the far side. A human was working on some large hunk of metal over there, a face shield pulled down over his face as he worked. The large room seemed to be the main mechanic area, with doorways leading into separates rooms and even outside to a large parking lot. Hooks on chains hung from the ceiling, some with dented and probably unusable motor engines hanging from them. A strong smell of oil floated through the air like a powerful perfume.

Finally noticing that he was interrupted from his work, the human turned off his welding torch and pushed his mask up, revealing a fat face and grey moustache. His eyes looked like two little white bots above his blackened cheeks. His was clearly very overweight with a flabby lump of skin just below his neck.

"Can I help you?" He asked roughly amidst the anguished cries of large machinery else ware in the building.

"Private investigators, sir." Vector replied, taking up the talking while he motioned with one hand behind his back for Espio and Rei to start exploring the other rooms like he kept this fellow talking. "We need to ask you a few questions." The man grunted and turned back to his work look frustrated.

"More questions?" He began picking his welding torch back up. "You're the second lot who been around here today asking questions." Vector blinked in surprise.

"We are?" The human looked up.

"Oh yeah." He went on. "Just an hour ago these people in these real smart uniforms were around here asking if I'd had any offers for Mech parts." He paused to laugh. "I wish, if I could get my hands on Mech parts I'd be a very rich man. Besides, civilians can't own Walker's or their parts, it's illegal." Vector stood there silently, thinking over what he had just said. Men in uniform? That sounded a lot like G.U.N investigators, meaning they were on the same path as Chaotix was. If Vector wanted to catch this Captain Okida first, he'd have to hurry.

"Well have you had any Mobian customers for the last few days, a bat maybe?" The crocodile asked. The human didn't even look up; he just carried on expecting his work on the blackened metal. By now Espio and Rei had silently worked their way down across the walls and had entered separate rooms to begin searching. Even if this guy didn't know anything, then they might find some clues in the other rooms. Charmee, who was getting bored, flew off to stare at some of the things hanging from the ceiling.

"A lot of people come through here asking for parts of various things; a few of them are mobians, although I don't recall seeing a bat around here lately." Vector narrowed his eyes at him; there was something about that statement that didn't ring true, something in his voice that seemed to give something away. He didn't know what, it was a hunch for the most part but his hunches had never let him down before.

"You sure?" Vector began, giving him a probing glare. "Do try to remember if you have? It's vitally important to the case, if you do have information that you tell us." He added; putting on the most detective like voice he could mange. The mechanic looked up almost sheepishly, a slight twinge of guilt in his eyes before he looked down again, trying to look like he was busy.

"Don't reckon I have." He replied and Vector stood back up again, crossing his arms in front of himself.

"We wasn't lying." Rei said coming out of a side door, alarming the mechanic. "We searched his stores, not a Mech part to be seen." The human did not looked pleased at that statement.

"Oi, what's your game?!" He demanded on Vector, who simply opened his jaws wide enough so the semi light could reflect of his sharp teeth.

"But…" Rei added, raising a hand. "He did have a whole Walker here not too long ago." But the way the Mechanic's eyes widened, Vector could see that they had caught him out.

"A whole one?" The crocodile asked coyly. "What makes you think that?" The human opened his mouth to protest again but Rei beat him to it.

"A special kind of oil used only in G.U.N Walker repair and motivation was lying on the floor of a service pit just over there." He added, pointing back through the door. "The oil's still fresh and whoever piloted the thing out of here, marched it right through the puddle, leaving huge foot prints just outside." Vector grinned and looked straight back at the Mechanic, who was standing there with his mouth open in astonishment.

"Have something you'd like to say?" The crocodile asked him and he suddenly came back to angry life.

"I've no idea what you're talking about!" He snapped.

"Really?" Vector asked again, before taking him by the scruff of his neck and tugging him towards the door Rei was standing by. The crocodile surprised the mechanic by showing he possessed superior strength to his own. The room beyond had a square pit directly in the centre, a large shutter door opened out to the outside parking lot, a small mechanical lift going down into the pit itself. Peering over the edge, Vector could see the stains the flying squirrel had mentioned and the large foot prints that lead out of them, far too large to belong to anything else than a very large G.U.N walker. "Now have you anything to add?" The Crocodile asked, showing him the evidence.

"I'll call the police; you've no right to…" He began, but as that moment, Espio flew into the room, appearing with effortless Ninja skill before them.

"I checked the financial records in the upstairs office." He announced proudly. "Someone paid a lot of money for something just this morning, it didn't say what. Whatever it was cost the poor guy over five thousand dollars." That seemed to be the final nail in the coffin and Vector gave the mechanic a large grin, showing all his teeth.

"Now have you anything to add?" He repeated.

"Alright, alright!" The human snapped. "I did have a whole Mech here, but you hardly expected me to admit it did you? A guy can face time for being found with one of those." The crocodiles smile listened and he hide some of his teeth.

"That's better, now who did you sell it to?" He released the human who nearly fell to his knees.

"A mobian bat, this morning" He admitted. "I didn't see his face, just kept the drape he wore around his shoulders up. Paid me good money for the rusty pile of scrap metal, I mean, I couldn't get it working so it was a miracle he got it to move at all." Now it was obvious that they were on the right trail. Captain Okida had been here only a few hours ago.

"What sort of Walker was it?" Rei asked.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"The thing was larger than any Mech in the military, hardly anything like all the small others you see on TV."

"And exactly who sold you it to begin with?" Espio asked for everyone else could, getting a little impatient.

"Some guy, I don't remember. He wanted to get rid of it, and I thought I could make some money selling the parts from the thing. I tried to gut the machine, but whatever it's made out of wouldn't even budge." Vector didn't like the sound of that. This Captain Okida was an accomplished Walker pilot; give him a Mech out of some tough new alloy and that made a dangerous combination. This made tracking and capturing the outlaw even more difficult.

"Did he say where he was going?"

"No! Now get out of my shop! I'm calling the police!" Vector stepped in front of him before he could race for the door.

"I don't think so mate!" He snared, giving him a glare. "You see, if you call the cops, then we tell them all about the Walker you had here. Something's tells me illegal harbouring a Mech is a bigger felony than harassment."

A mechanic looked up with his mouth open in astonishment.

A large grin crossed Okida's face. This new Mech was outstanding; its speed, raw fire power and shielding armour far exceeded anything G.U.N had in its armoury. It had cost him a ridiculous amount of funds but it was worth it. As for where this spectacular Walker had come from, the captain had absolutely no idea, but at this moment he was just thankful it was here and in his possession.

Unlike most of G.U.N's other walkers, this one was built around a more humanoid design with a gigantic torso sitting on top of it's legs, each side arm armed with a machine gun and a state of the art laser rifle. It had no head, rather a pair of optical lenses that sent images down into the cockpit from either shoulder. This machine had to weight over eight five tons, yet it moved as quickly as any Dead shot and it had a flying option. True it could only propel the machine into the air for short hops, but it was more than enough to lift the Mech high above any sky scrapper. Its armour was painted bright military green, hiding its chrome metal components underneath. A single pain of bullet proof glass in the middle of the chest plate marked where the cockpit lay. Its legs were similar to a Big Foots, but each part of them was slightly longer allowing the machine to take a longer stride, making it faster overall.

"Who could have built this beauty?" He asked himself. Clearly it was not of G.U.N design, if Eggman had built, he would surely be using them in his army and that mechanic who sold him it hardly seemed intelligent enough to assemble this machine himself. In fact, the idiot had been more than willing to get rid of the thing, never understanding its true combat potential. The man could have made a fortune selling this thing to the Government. "Ah who cares?" The bat replied to his own question as his Mech crossed the desert heading back north. In this scorching heat, it held up under the stress, maintaining optimum efficiency.

"Attention unidentified Walker, you are crossing military controlled space." A voice over the com announced and several warning shots rang out, impacting the desert sand directly in front of him. Okida pulled back on the controls and the advanced Walker came to a stop. Looking up, the captain spotted another carrier plane souring overhead. It was the same one who'd dropped those Hot Shot's that had picked him up before and it had those same attack choppers as an escort. "Hey that's the Yahger Mech that was stolen last month!" Someone announced on the other end of the link. Okida blinked, and narrowed his eyes. Finally, some verbal confirmation of the conspiracy, Yahger had been mentioned in the data on the discs he stole, but he would never have expected it to be some to be some kind of new Walker.

"So this is Yahger." He stated to himself, looking over the controls again, familiarizing himself with the name. The plane was souring overhead now and when its shadow passed over him, a large door in its underside opened and it began hot dropping Walker's out from its interior. But not just Hot Shot Mech's this time, Flying Dog's came souring down at well, quickly surrounding him in a tight circle. Okida forged a smile, if he'd know that these pilots were part of the group that was blaming from for their crimes, he wouldn't have held back before.

"Surrender or die!" The ultimatum over the link was sharp and clear, leaving no room for argument. Okida's grin just widened. The Captain thought it was about time to see exactly what this Mech was capable of.

His hands flew over the controls, the combat system of the Walker activating, the two large system in each shoulder glowing a bright yellow. Both arms flew up, lasting the two Hot Shots on either side with a concentrate laser beam, knocking them down to the ground. Without hesitation they opened fire, bullets and missile fire impacting the Yahger Mech's armour, bouncing off hardly making a scratch.

The jets on the back of the machine came to life with a loud scour and it soured forward, ramming into a Fly Dog, sending it spiralling off to the right. Skating back through the sand to charge straight at them, two hidden missile compartments opening up in each side with a loud clank, four missiles already flying through the air. They struck the legs of two Hot shots, shattering their support and as they collapsed to the sand the others opened their missiles bays and fire all their projectiles directly at the Yahger. Several caught it on the leg arm, catching it between it's armour, the machine gun on that limb going offline, but it still managed to avoid most of them, using it's speed to dodge around the deadly fire, before it's working gun riddling a few of their Walker's with bullets.

"Hey, look at that!" Espio began, pointing over the horizon to some bright flashes just beyond some large sand dunes in the distance. Vector followed his gaze, his eyes lighting up. Those explosions were from missile fire, some Walker's were fighting over there. This could mean that they'd finally caught up with the Captain, spinning the stirring wheal of the jeep round violently, nearly throwing Rei and Charmee out the other side.

As they rounded a dune, a barrage of bullets flew across the sand in front of them, one striking their jeep across the side, blowing out on tyre. The crocodile lost control of the vehicle and they ploughed directly into the sand.

Yahger swung to the side, firing another missile directly across the width of a Flying Dog, the explosion throwing it directly into the Mech behind it, knocking the two of them to the ground. The attack choppers flew in, hoping to catch the machine off guard, firing their machine guns without pause or hesitation. The bullets simply bounced off the armour plating, hardly doing any damage whatsoever. These irritants in the air didn't last along, before Okida actually noticed them and rotated one gun turret around to shoot them out of the sky.

"This is Alpha Patrol, encountering Yahger Mech; we need Raptor Walker back up now!" The pilot of the plane above screamed, before the machine below tilted it's torso around one hundred and eight degrees and riddled its underside with holes and as it began to descend to the ground, the Yahger Mech stood above the tattered remains of it's would be adversaries, all the others Walker lying in tatters around it. A loud crashing sound echoed across the desert as the plane landed in the sand some distance away.

"I think we found him." Rei began, looking up at the towering machine, a loud hissing sound filling there air as thick steam began pouring out of its heat regulation vents. Vector pulled himself out of the sand, spitting to clear his mouth, using his large hands to pull himself up. There was a loud clicking sound and a cockpit in the chest opened up, their prey finally revealing himself.

Okida spread his wings and gild down to the ground to examine the damage to his Walker. Remarkably, the armour plating only had a few dents and scorch marks on it and the left arm could be repaired easily enough. The only problem was the ammunition, which he had admittedly used a lot off without intending too. He might be on the run for some time and he was currently unaware of where to get more.

"GET HIM!" Someone shouted and Okida looked behind him just in time to see a group of Mobians tackle him to the sand, one of them grabbing his arms from behind and pin him down. "Koji Naoko Okida, I'm placing you under citizen's arrest!" Okida just groaned, before twisting his leg up and kicking whoever was the heaviest straight between the legs. Vector's eyes widened, faint tears swelling up in them and he collapsed to his back, suddenly in more pain then he'd bargained fore.

The bat flipped up to his feet, already withdrawing his pistol from its sheath. He blinked, recognising those before him.

"Hey I know you don't I?" He asked as Espio helped Vector back up. "Sure, I raced against you in the Grand Prix." A small black and yellow stripped insect flew up in his face and before the bat could say anything, Chamree hit him straight in the face, causing him to stagger backwards. "SON OF A…" Okida cursed into the air. Espio held up several shuriken, before throwing them straight at the bat, pinning his clothes to the side of his Mech.

"Ok, now we got him." The ninja announced as Vector recovered, struggling to stay up straight.

"Right then…" The crocodile started, finding it hard to keep his voice level constant. "Koji Naoko Okida, you are under…"

"You are making a terrible mistake." The bat snarled, trying wrenching an arm free but finding that the metal throwing daggers had pinned him fast. "I don't have time for this!" Clenching his teeth and a fist, with pure determination he tore his arm free, using that to rip the other throwing daggers out of his clothes. "Get out of my way.!" He added, spreading his wings and souring for his Mech. Espio tightened his grip around his katana and leapt up into the air to stop him.

"Wait!" Rei suddenly yelled and Espio nearly fell into the sand .Okida paused in mid air, flapping his wings to keep himself aloft. "Something isn't right here." The squirrel added, his eyes widening in curiosity rather than fear.

"What are you talking about?" Vector asked. Rei didn't reply, he simply put his fingers to his forehead, looking troubling before he looked suddenly and pointed to the horizon.

"There!" He shouted and even as he did so shots rang out through the air and several explosions collided with the side of the Yahger, tipping the unnamed Walker over. Cursing, Okida flew past Espio to the cockpit of his downed Mech, quickly strapping himself in. Vector looked right back to where Rei had pointed to see another three G.U.N Walkers come souring over a far away sand dune, closing the distance between them at an unthinkable speed. The sensors back on line, Okida scanned these new opponents. To his surprise, they were another type of walker he had never seen before. These, like the one he was piloting were larger than ordinary G.U.N ones and obvious much faster. They closed the distance in moments, encircling them like vicious predators. Like most Walkers, they had a bipedal design but instead of green military colours they were painted bright red and had enlarged missile pads on their shoulders that looked like they could carry a lot of ammunition.

Name: Yahger

Age: A few months

Description: A new Walker Mech created by a secret group operating within G.U.N itself.

(R&R)