Chapter 2: Eggman's threat
Sonic the hedgehog was bored… it had been quiet ever since they beat the demons. Not a peep out of Eggman, and what was worse was Shadow kept blanking him whenever he tried to ask him about his past… the only excitement he was getting was catching crooks, thieves and terrorists… and of course his runs in the opposite way from Amy. He was currently resting on the wing of the restored Tornado 1, watching the clouds while Tails made more enhancements to the Tornado 2.
"Man this is boring," he said aloud
Tails looked up from his prized Plane. "Why don't you go out for a run then? That always seems to help you relax."
"Been there, done that…" Sighed Sonic "What I'm wanting is another adventure…"
"Fraid I can't help you there then, unless you want to take a ride on the Tornado 2"
"Na thanks Tails." Said Sonic. He attention was suddenly focused on the safe Tails was opening; it had a yellow shine in it "Hey Tails… is that you found another Emerald again?"
"Of course… I've been studying it ever since that demon problem… I'm wanting to see if there's a way for us to measure the positive and negative power in the Emeralds."
"Heh that that would come in handy" chuckled Sonic "that way we know when to those monsters again"
"I also want to check if I can siphon the Emeralds negative energy for positive uses… after all its only energy, and energy can be changed from one form to another…"
Sonic Frowned "Is this that physics stuff again?"
"Oops, sorry Sonic, forgot how you hate physics"
"Hmph… you know, you shouldn't mess about with their negative energy… who know what will happen to it"
"But it could make sure we never have to fight Black again"
"Black's old news, I beat him once, if he shows his mug I can beat him again"
This time it was Tails turn to chuckle. "You're always to confident Sonic" he said while walking into his workshop
Sonic got down off the Plane to follow Tails "What's that meant to mean?"
Just then Shadow appeared using Chaos Control… right in front of Sonic. It gave Sonic such a fright that he fell over.
"SHADOW!" Sonic yelled as he got back up "A little warning next time please? You just about gave me a heart attack"
"Oh… sorry…" Shadow chuckled nervously
"What are you doing here anyway?"
"… Is there somewhere quiet you know? I don't want Tails hearing what I got to say…"
"Uh… sure… is something… wrong?"
Shadow remained silent… This was unnerving to Sonic… Something was obviously up.
"Um… ok then, follow up," said Sonic before turning to Tails "I'll be back in a while, ok buddy?"
"Sure Sonic, see you later" replied Tails before going back to study the Yellow Emerald again. Both Hedgehogs then dashed off towards the Green Hills of the southern island. It would have taken a normal person little under 10 hours to reach the area, but due to there speed, Sonic and Shadow reached it in just over a half hour.
"Well Shadow… welcome to what is… kinda my birthplace" said Sonic
"Birth Place?" asked Shadow. Sonic pointed over one of the hills, Shadow nodded and took a look. What he saw the largest part of the lake, the sun reflected right in the centre. It looked amazing at this time; it probably even looked better at night. "Wow" he muttered
"I woke up over there," said Sonic, pointing to a cliff overlooking the water. "Inside a red Biplane: the Tornado… with no memory. I assumed the plane must have been mine since I was sleeping in it… but I never had any way to fly it until I met Tails. Soon after Waking up I saw Eggman capturing small animals and putting them into his robots… I don't know what it was but something told me to stop him… I chased him and that's how my first adventure started."
Shadow Nodded, he doubted flying lessons would have been necessary for him or Sonic.
"So what's up Shadow? What is so important that Tails couldn't listen?"
"You should know, you asked me to do this…"
Sonic looked confused for a moment then suddenly realised what Shadow was talking about. "You're going to tell me what you know about my past aren't you?" he asked. The black hedgehog nodded slowly
"Finally!" said Sonic "I was beginning to think you'd never tell me!"
"Don't be so happy… you might not like what you hear…"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Well you probably already guessed some of it…"
"… Probably something to do with Gerald yeah?" asked Sonic. Again the Shadow nodded "I Thought as much… so spill the beans… what…?"
He was then interrupted… a giant Chequered ball came down in between the two heroes, both barely dodged in time. Sonic Looked up to see Eggman in is Eggmobile, a chain connected between it and the ball.
"What the…?" Said Shadow
"Not this again" said Sonic "look egghead… you have tried this twice already, and Metal Sonic tried it once… it isn't fourth time lucky"
"Sonic what is that?"
"Its something he calls the "Eggmace", it was the first of the Eggmobile's interchangeable parts he used against me… in this very area no less"
Eggman laughed evilly. "Well if you think you can beat it this time, go ahead and try!"
"I will do more than try fat boy!" said Sonic. He leaped up into the Eggmobile with a homing attack. It should of worked… if he didn't hit some sort of electrified barrier which sent him falling back to the ground "OW!" he yelled.
"HA ha! See you later sucker!" Yelled Eggman as he flew off.
"What was that all about?" Asked Shadow
"I dunno" said Sonic recovering "But he isn't getting away with sucker punching me like that. Shadow, you go get Knuckles, Tails, Rouge and Omega, we are going after him." And with that he ran after Eggman
Shadow shrugged and Chaos controlled away to tell the Sonic Heroes and Ultimate Rogues what happened.
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Meanwhile Miles had just gotten back from his conversation with Shadow.
"You're back," said Mighty
"So what did Shadow want?" asked Metal
"I have a feeing you will find out soon enough… but till then you don't need to know" replied Miles
Mighty Raised an eyebrow, and Metal would of looked slightly miffed if his face could make an expression
"See here old man, I want to know now!" Said Metal. He was awarded with a paintball right between the eyes. "ACK!"
"That will teach you to raise your voice to your elders" said Miles, grinning. Mighty burst out laughing.
Then suddenly a giant blue saw blade came flying through the wall. Metal had barely enough time to knock his friends to the floor before it flew over his head.
"What is the meaning of this!" he yelled
"hmhmhmhmhm" laughed the blade. It unfolded to reveal the Metal Sonic mkII that Eggman had been working on since before the Chaos incident
"YOU!" Metal yelled, "So Eggman finally finished you huh?"
"Yes and I'm here to take care of a little traitor problem tiny" said the new robot
"What you call me?" Clicking angrily. He and his team fell into a fighting stance
"You heard short stuff"
"Ok, you asked for it" Said Metal "come on you guys"
Metal and his friends flew toward. Miles forgot his wrist shooters where still in paintball mode, he fired off a shot and it hit Metal Sonic mkII in the eyes… or would of if there wasn't a barrier between the paintball and his body.
"Well… that can't be good." Said Miles
"Lets play follow the leader" teased the Metal mkII "I'm it…" and with that ran off
"What the?" Said Miles
"Hey Metal, we can't let him get away!" Said Mighty
"I know, come on" Said Metal, he grabbed his allies and ran off after his advanced self
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Back at Tails' workshop Amy had just arrived, for obvious reasons.
"HEY TAILS!" she yelled just outside his door.
Tails opened the door and gave her a weird look "There is a thing called "knocking the door" you know Amy." He Said
"Sorry… listen have you seen Sonic around?"
Tails sighed… she was always after Sonic "He left a short while ago with… SHADOW!"
"Alright, no need to yell!"
"No… I mean, Shadow!" said Tails again, pointing behind her
The Black Hedgehog had just appeared behind her at the top of the steps. "Tails, we got a problem, Sonic was just attacked by Eggman." He Said
"What?" Said Tails
"He is alright, but he wants us to get our teams together… last thing he said before going of to chase Eggman. I'm about to go get Omega and rouge, you should get on your plane and go get Knuckles."
"Where were they headed?"
"From looks, I'd say the other side of Mystic ruin, from Eggman's old base." Said Shadow. It took a minute for Shadow himself to register what he had said. Wait a minute… that's where… Gerald's last base was… the sharp knife of horror stabbed at Shadow's Heart.
"So what are we waiting for Shadow? Go get your group, I'll go fetch Knuckles" Said Tails, interrupting Shadow's trail of thought
"Uh, yeah, see you there" Said Shadow before Chaos Controlling away. Tails had already got into the Tornado 2 and flew off, totally forgetting about Amy.
"Hey Tails? What about me!" She yelled after him. "Oh shoot… don't think he can hear me. I better go get Big and Cream… we may be needed." And with that left.
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"Uh… fold" Said Vector. It was the third time today.
"Again Vector? You're not very good at this game are you?" Said Bark the Bear
"What you say!" Said Vector in a challenging voice
It was the usual Wednesday Poker Game between the rival detective agencies, Dynamic Dynamites and Team Chaotix in Vector's Apartment.
"Hmph!" Said Espio in a chuckling way
"Well that leaves the rest of us in, what's your bet Bean?" Said Ray the Squirrel
"Giy… I think I'll put… um… 10 forward" Said Bean the "Dynamite" Duck,
"Uh, I think you, "mean raise you 10"" Said Charmy
The duck gave Charmy a glaring look; he was embarrassed that a 6 year old bee knew more about the lingo of this game than him even though it was usually Bean that won.
"And I think I will see that bet" Said the little bee
"So will I" Said Espio "And Raise you another 10 more" he was feeling very confident, well… who wouldn't, he had the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and ten of clubs.
"Um, I think ill see that too" Said Ray
"And me" Said Bark
Just then there was a rumble downstairs.
"Uh, what was that?" Said a nervous Bean.
"Meh, probably a Train or something." Said Vector. It was possible since the Station Square train station was right across from him and the train passes right underneath his window. However that's not what it was as the two teams soon found out. An E-2000 robot burst through the door and fired a few shots at the Chaotix team. "WHAT?" Yelled Vector, the dynamites had pulled down their rivals just in time to miss the laser blast.
"One of those things again," Muttered Espio.
"Why is that bad robot here?" asked Charmy
"I don't know Charmy but he is gonna pay for interrupting our game" Said Bark, he took a swing at it and got Shocked by some sort of force field. "What the!"
Without warning the robot flew off leaving both teams bemused
"What was that Vector?" asked Ray
"One of doc. Eggman's robots, time to pay old egghead a visit for that" said the crocodile cracking his Knuckles
"We are coming too, I hate it when something interrupts a game when I'm winning" said Bean
So both teams made off after the robot despite the fact they won't get paid for this mission.
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Nite the Wolf was sitting bored at his computer playing one of his survival horror games again. The Hunters team had not had work in weeks. He blamed it all on Eggman. Without Eggman causing trouble, Sonic the Hedgehog had to resort to catching crooks. With him on the trail of common felons there was no time for petty hoods to become America's most wanted… and therefore no need for a team of bounty Hunters, let alone the best in the world. Nite was about the same size as the Hedgehog's friend knuckles, he had Black Fur, and a black waist length leather coat. He also had leather gloves and boots with a red mark in the centre of each, twin magnums handguns and a rather large bazooka that he kept in a rift their boss had made. He was the powerhouse of the group, despite being rather hyper most of the time.
He sighed as he dodged another undead monster thingy on his game. His Friend Spike the green furred Porcupine was sitting at the table reading a fictional novel, and his other friend, and boss Nack the weasel was in The Hunters Main office working on some other invention he made out of junk. Spike was a foot taller than Sonic and had green fur on everywhere but his mouth and arms, and the only one of the group that didn't use any special equipment apart from his green zip up trainers and gloves, and despite being bigger than the hedgehog, and being a lot calmer was the group's speed freak. Nack the purple furred weasel on the other hand had a customised shotgun and a jetpack making him their flight man.
Nite sighed… he had completed this game about 50 times on "S" rank every time this week alone and was getting tired of killing things that should already be dead. He was so sick of hopping the next call was for work that he didn't even flinch when the phone rang.
"The Hunters Bounty hunting service… Nack Speakin how can I help ya mate?" he heard Nack say in his familiar Australian accent. "Wha? Y-you serious? Wait yeah yeah we want it! Where you at? Wha? Prison Island? Wasn't that place blown up by Doc. Eggman? Ah… ok Mate, we'll be right there!" Nite had barley registered any of this, he was now at the part of the game that had a time limit, that is until Nack had slammed the door open. "Drop what ever your doin' mates, we got a job!"
Spike was about to say finally until Nite had got up and ran past the porcupine so fast that his chair fell back knocking him to the floor. Nite Grabbed Nack's straps from his jet pack and shaking him back and forth.
"PLEASE tell me you're not joking!" said the Wolf all hyper "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"
"I'm… not… joking… you… mate… now… stop… shaking… me… you… are… making… me… sea… sick…" said the dizzy Weasel.
The wolf let go and Nack fell to the floor "HURRAY!" yelled the wolf
"So Nack," said Spike "Who is the client?"
"Urgh… GUN" Said Nack barley recovering.
"GUN? Weren't they the ones that wrongly accused Sonic the Hedgehog of Working with Eggman a few months back?" Asked Spike, crossing his arms
"Who cares? It's WORK!" Bounced Nite
"Yeah but as Nite says, its work… and it ain't the blue boy we are after" Said Nack
"Who is it?"
"Well that's what we are gonna find out. We had to go to their rebuilt prison island base"
It took the trio not even half an hour to get to Prison Island thanks to the bridge between it and the Capital City, where The Hunter's office was. They had been promptly taken to the main office of GUN's highest General.
"Ah The Hunters, I've been expecting you…" Said the General. Spike studied the man closely, he always took in a new face quickly, he didn't trust some of their clients. The man looked to be about 60. He also saw a noticeable change in Nite's attitude which he had never seen before… the wolf seemed a lot more serious. "Please take a seat" The General Continued
"We'd rather stand mate… we like keppin things… professional" Said Nack
"Very well then… I suppose you would like to know why we want to hire you"
"The though had crossed our minds" Said Spike
The General frowned; he wasn't used to Spike's non military sense of respect "As I'm sure you know, GUN had a major drop in resources a few months ago…"
"Yeah, the ARK incident"
"As a result, our main Base here at Prison Island was temporarily destroyed. And a great deal of our robots demolished by both Sonic and Shadow's groups."
"So?" said Nite. His voice was also much deeper than Spike was used to
"The cause started with one Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik" said the general "That… is your target"
The Hunters where taken back by this. "Eggman?" said Spike "Shouldn't you leave him to Sonic?"
"In the past we have, but he has proved that he will keep returning, no mater what Sonic does, it's time GUN took things into our own hands" The general pointed to a monitor behind him and a base appeared upon it, in the middle of the trees of the Mystic Ruins. "We have reason to believe that Dr. Eggman is in that base you see on the monitor, it is on the opposite side of the base he launched his Egg carrier from during the Chaos Incident. We also know it was there before he was"
"How's that possible?" asked Nack
"This was Made by this man" Another image appeared on the screen. In all respects it looked like Eggman, except not as oval shaped and much older. Spike instantly recognised it as the man that appeared on every TV, monitor and mobile phone screen once ARK had started making its way to earth. "His Name was Professor Gerald Robotnik; it was his last base before the hero team the 3 Shadows defeated him 45 years ago. We don't know what happened as the pervious General of GUN covered it up. All we know is that Gerald was executed by electric chair method soon afterwards. The pictures that appeared during the ARK incident were his final words before they flipped the switch."
"I see" Said Spike "what about our fee?"
"You get this up front," said the General, passing him a check. It read 6,000,000,000 on it "And Twice that if and when you complete the job."
Nack whistled appreciatively "That's a total of eighteen billion dollars!" said the weasel, his jaw dropped
Nite reverted to his usual self "Whatthe… andthe… ifthe… that's A LOT of zeros!" his jaw dropped too
"I think you've hired us" translated Spike
After Nack and Nite recovered the trio made their way for the Mystic ruins.