Being Free

Written by Airo Smicktor

Me? Own Sonic, Shadow or other associated characters? IS YOU CRAZY?

Chapter 10 - Mission

"Quest - The act or an instance of seeking or pursuing something."

Eggman awoke, cursing as he held his head. He had one major headache, and his body seemed to be very tense. He looked around, to find himself in what appeared to be a storage room. There were a few half opened crates piled up, as well as lazily placed piles of spare parts, rarely used machines, and basic tools that he had not used for years. It was slowly dawning on him what had happened. Metal Sonic had taken over and rebelled against his creator. He was trapped, and since his only allies where of the robotic kind, it wasn't likely that anyone was going to save him anytime soon. For once, it seemed that the Doctor had finally created something that even he couldn't control.

"Curses... I must find a way out of here... or better yet, have someone else come and rescue me... but how..."
The Doctor was thinking, and thinking quickly. He got up, and opened up the crates, hoping that he could find a least half useful to his cause. Luckily, Eggman rarely threw away anything he had used or created, so while he might not find the means to escape, he would at least find some communications device. But then he remembered something else, as he felt in his jacket pocket, and pulled something out. His Chaos Emerald...

"SONIC! SHADOW! ANYONE!" Tails was shouting rather excitedly, which was usually nothing new, but there also seemed to be a hint of worry in his voice. He was very loud though, which woke up Sonic from his sleep.
"Huh? Wha? Tails... keep it down will ya? It's only 10 O'clock buddy..." Sonic half mumbled, as he pulled his pillow over his ears. But he wasn't loud enough for Tails to hear him. Thankfully, for Sonic at least, Shadow had been up for a while, and so had heard the young fox.

"What's up Miles?"
"OH! BIG NEWS!"
"Hey! Keep it down, the others may be trying to sleep."
"Sorry Shadow, but I heard off the news, and then I got this letter, and then the bank news with the, and the, with the, I mean, umm... wait what was the first thing?"
"...What?"
"...Um... OH! That bank robbery yesterday!"
"What about it?"
"A Chaos Emerald was stolen!"

"AN EMERALD?" Shadow shouted, after which there were the frantic sounds of people moving around in the house, followed by everyone who'd been previously asleep or half asleep to pile into the room. "...That's one way to wake people up, I guess..."
"What's this about an emerald Tails? What happened?" Sonic asked
"The news said the Central Reserve Bank was broken into! Someone hacked into the mainframe, put in a made up code that deactivated everything, and snuck off with the emerald!"
"NO WAY!" shouted Rouge, "That place is one of the most secure places in the world! It would take a whole gang of people to just get into that place!"
"That's not all! They know who did it as well, 'cus he left a note saying that..."
"HE? You mean just one guy did it?" Rouge was even more shocked
"Yeah! It's amazing, huh?"
"Who then Miles, who did it?"

"Ah! Another glorious day for a master thief!" Fang gloated, the media and police had only just figured out the note he'd left, and now he was on the receiving end of widespread attention, and a large bounty on his head. "Them fools won't eva get close to me now!"

"Sir, a request for a video message had been received" came the voice of Fang's computer.
"Huh? From who?"
"Identifying... signal registered to be from Dr. Robotnik."
"Put him on! He probably wants to congratulate me on my success, and ask me for my emerald!"

The computer screen loaded up, and the face of Dr. Robotnik appeared, although he seemed to be a little worse for the ware.
"Doctor! Long time no speak! What do I hav' tha' pleasure of talkin' to you for?"
"Fang! This is serious! I have been taken hostage in my own base, Metal Sonic has turned against me, and I fear that he may been preparing to do something drastic soon!"
"...Damn"
"Exactly, what's worse, is that he is planning to copy the life data of Chaos to somehow transform himself..."

"Chaos? That weird watery thing that destroyed Station Square a while back?"
"Yes! He's gaining power, and he's planning to take over the world! You must help me Fang! I need help now!"
"Okay, okay, let me think... what have you got at your end?"
"Let's see... I have this laptop that I'm using to speak to you with, a small transceiver, some various tools, and a Chaos Emerald. But I dare not use any of them, for fear of what might happen if I were to be caught!"
"...Hang on, did you mention a transceiver?"

"Yes, why?"
"Hold on, Doctor." Fang then went over to a small box over on a pile of old clothes, and opened it, and quickly pulled out a small walkie-talkie. "Does it look like this?" Fang asked, holding up to the screen so the Doctor can see on the other end.
"Yes! That's it!" The Doctor replied, holding up his, and switching it on. Fang did the same with his, before switching the volume off on his computer.
"Fang? Fang? Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear Doctor! It works well! At least now you can talk freely!"
"Why? What do you have in mind?"
"I'm thinking about having some 'old friends' of mine help out in this situation..."

"Nack did it huh? I always wondered where that guy ended up. I thought he's learned his lesion after the first time I beat him..." Sonic said.
"That explains that, but what about this letter from Eggman?" Tails said."Three days until he unleashes his weapon?"
"It was only yesterday that he was talking about 'Re-Birth'. Is that what he's discovered?" Shadow questioned.
"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Sonic replied, a cocky smirk on his face."Tails, you grab the Tornado and get Knuckles, we might need his help in this one."
"Huh! Why do we need that dread-head?"
"Come on Rouge, I sure he's not that bad. I'll make sure he doesn't give you anymore trouble"
"Awww... thank you Shadow!"

The conversation was broken by the sound of a knock on the front door. Tails opened it to find Cream, Cheese and Big the Cat standing there.
"Hey guys! What are you doing here?" Tails asked
"Mr. Tails, someone has taken away Cheese's twin, Chocola."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, but Chocola is gone, and so is Mr. Big's friend Froggy!"
"Froggy..." Big sadly replied.
"Hmmm... this is getting weirder by the minute!" Sonic stated."Come on guys, let's gone and sort this out! I've got a feeling that Eggman is somehow related to all of this..."

"Do you think they'll fall for this trick Fang?" ask a slightly concerned voice from the communicator.
"Without a doubt, Doctor. Just promise lots o' cash, and they'll do anythin'. During the whole ARK thing, the real police were on high alert, so no need for detectives. Business has been slow, so I here, so any work they can get they'll do. You forget, these guys ain't the same as they were years ago – Mighty quit, then they started getting all serious and wantin' to do the right thing. That stuff happens when you're known as being the 'crew' of a guardian i suppose, but that god damn bee freaks the hell outta me sometimes..."
"Why are we going to them then if they can't get the..."
"Oh no! They can still take names like the best of them, it's just they do it for money now."
"I don't have money to burn on them, what if they don't...?"
"THEY won't know that will they? Just promise that you've got it and that you'll be paid when they finish the job! 3 days should be plenty of time to make up some excuse why you don't have the money!"

"Yes... I understand... thank you very much for your co-operation, thank you." Tails hung up the telephone receiver. "Guys, the police said they've just heard that a load of Eggman robots have just been seen around the Seaside Hill area!"
"Hey, I've been there, that's where I found my emerald" Shadow replied.
"Ha, then you should have no worries a second time then," came the voice of Knuckles, who was leaning against a post in the room where everyone had gathered.
"Eggman must be after the emeralds!" Rouge assumed."I knew he was bluffing, he just wanted to scare us into thinking he was ready."
"We don't know that for a fact..." Shadow began to say, when Sonic cut him off
"But at least we know where the Egghead is! Come on! Let's move out" Sonic was already halfway out the door, as the others followed his lead. While Knuckles way have been very sure that nothing was going to happen, Shadow wasn't so sure. Something in his mind doubted the safety of the mission they were undertaking. Something warned him about going in so quickly. He felt that something was wrong, something not quite right. There was a danger ahead, a danger that could come for himself, for Sonic, for Miles... even for Rouge.

"Okay Doctor, keep quite until you can hear them inside alright? We'll take over on our side, so you just hang on in." Fang said, as he placed the receiver into a small cardboard box.
"Are you sure that you'll be able to find the other emeralds?" the voice of Robotnik asked from the receiver.
"Absolutely! I got all previous sightings marked on the laptop with me, plus, the emeralds act like some kinda 'mini-radar' when another's close! Like candy from a kid Doc! Now you remember to keep quiet 'til they open this box up, and DON'T tell them who you are, otherwise they might not help ya out. We can only talk by computer now, so I'll be in touch."

With that said, Fang placed the led onto the box and tied it up with a piece of string. He then quietly made his way up to the front door of the house and placed the box on the front step. Fang then hammered on the front door, before taking off and leaping into a nearby bush for cover, as he waited to see if his plan worked. The door slowly opened, and a head peaked out.

"Hello? Who's there? I thought I heard... HEY! A box!" the voice was of a young bee, who threw the door open and picked up the box. "Hmm... It says: 'To the Chaotix Detective Agency. Work is inside me.'
"WORK! YIPPIE! IT'S HERE!" the bee was now shouting as he took the box inside and slammed the door shut. He was still so loud that Fang could still hear him from outside. "IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!"

'Well, that's the Doctor's escape taken care of. As long as that bee doesn't break the damn receiver...' Fang thought to himself, walking away from the house of the Chaotix. 'Who'd have thought that I'd be spending my time looking for the Chaos Emeralds to save the Eggman from...' He stopped for a second, as a different thought occurred to him. 'Come to think of it, I'm kinda saving the world doing this... Heh! Now that'd be somethin' new... Nah, nobody'd believe THAT story...'

Author notes: Chapter 10! Now review/author comments bit! So if you don't like that stuff, scroll past this bit and review!

Anthony Bault - I know a lot of people like this story, but I prefer to hear what people are saying. Thanks for the positiveness, Re-Birth takes effect soon... Celestial the Hedgird - Yeah, cliffhangers rule all, I have to do something to keep the readers happy! Thanks for the continued support. Sonic/Anime - Lots of more reviews from people would be very nice, but since this is my first published story, I'm not expecting huge swarms of reviews (rather, I'm wishing for them), thanks again for the support. hyper Phantom - Good to hear that I'm keeping people happy, now you can see your name again! Mystica-Moshi - Super-viewer! Thanks for taking the time to review every chapter, but if you had nothing to say for chapter 6, was there a point to you reviewing it? As I've said before, I'm a big Shadouge fan, so it's too bad if you don't like it! Thanks for noticing Rouge thinking about Knuckles, I had to put a way of putting a stop to a Rouckles pairing (if that isn't a name already used for it THEN I OWNZ IT!) and inforce the Shadouge. Thanks again for the reviews.

It's all good people, school's out and I'm working hard on more chapters (even though I spent a day re-writing stuff because I couldn't work it through. But I should put stuff up on a regular basis (or sooner). Also, because I want to connect with my audience (hello internet people!), if certain chapters or parts confuse you in Being Free, feel free (no pun intended) to ask about them in your reviews, or drop me an e-mail or try via Instant messenger etc. Ask you will get, as that old saying goes etc, so send in the reviews people! Here's to the next 10 chapters!

Edited 25-03-05 for paragraphing