(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 5: The battleground called ARK
ARK had been declared an off limits zone for all nations since the accident fifty years ago, but after that whole Project Shadow incident G.U.N had the entire colony shut down. While it's main structures remained intact, the Eclipse Cannon and many of the other defensive systems had been completely shut down.
Patrolling the abandoned colony were over a dozen of the Badnik robots created by Doctor Eggman. His arrival on board the Egg Carrier 3 had been delayed when his ship had to make an unexpected detour.
However, they were not the only forces silently taking up positions in and around the Space Colony. After it was discovered that Void was setting up a command post in this dimension, Templar Angels also began moving to contour his efforts.
Templars were Illumina's most prized warriors. Shaped like angels of popular myth and religion, these beings had snow white skin and large yellow eyes. Their wings were bird like but instead of being white or gold, their colours ranged from a blood red to a grass green. All of them were armed with long silver spears or staffs, engraved with precise carvings along their length.
The sheer size of the ARK did not seem to impress them very much. To them, the colony was nothing more than the largest piece of garbage mankind had shot into space thus far. Still, it's strategic position was not something to be ignored. They could hold their position here until they located Void's command post and destroy it.
ARK was large enough to have it's own atmosphere, so they didn't have to waste the energy providing the energy for a shield. A small collection of them had gathered on the outside edge of one of the large sheets of metal had lanced out from the colonies side. Upon which they were beginning the construction of a large pillar like device taller than all of them with an odd crystal at the top. This was their version of a radar dish. With it they could monitor the surrounding space for any approaching objects.
"Fairly simple dimension." One of them remarked, glancing down at the blue planet below. "Why would Void want to create an outpost in this insufficient world?"
" 'Why' is not any of our concern." Their leader, the largest one with long brown hair and red wings told them, patting the pillar to make sure their work was completed. "Just carry out Illumina's orders."
"Yes sir." One of them was about to add something more, when a bolt of golden lightning came flying out nowhere, colliding with the pillar, snapping it in half like a twig. Several of them slid out of the way as it came crashing down, the other half floating off into space.
"You do not belong here." A voice stated as they turned to face a dark figure standing on top of a steal pillar that jutted out from the ARK's surface. It was too dark for any of them to see it's features, but there were clearly several large quills lancing out the back of it's head.
"And just who are you?" Their leader demanded of the dark figure, readying their weapons. Without warning, a pair of blood red eyes shaped open.
"I am the Ultimate Life-form." Came the blunt reply, before a multitude of yellow bolts came flying out of the darkness, sending several of them cascading off the platform. Shadow the Hedgehog came sliding out of the shade, smashing out of them directly in the chin with a punch, before flooring him with a solid kick across his mid section.
"You dare attack the emissaries of Illumina?" Their leader demanded, brandishing a large silver coloured staff swinging it forward trying to give the black and red hedgehog a blow from the side. Shadow simply bent backwards under the swipe, before spiralling up into the air, his weight forcing him into a spin attack which knocked the angel off centre before one last kick sent him flying over the side to join the rest of his comrades. Shadow watched them as they fell beyond the confines of the ARKS self sustaining atmosphere, before they vanished in what he could only describe as their own version of Chaos Control' returning to Maginaryworld.
"Good work Shadow." Void's voice told him in his head, an intrusion that irritated Shadow to no end. "You've located Illumina's expedition in the real world. There should be more of them in that area but my forces will handle the mass majority of them; just cause as much trouble as you can behind their lines." The black and red hedgehog sighed reluctantly.
"Fine." Was his reply, standing up looking over the rest of the space before the ARK; a place that sent both shiver running down his spin and a warm glow into his heart. It was here that his entire existence had been shaped, both the good memories and the bad forced into his head.
"Don't get sentimental now Shadow." Void reminded him sharply. "We still have a job to do and the last thing we need is for you to get distracted."
"Copy that." He added, before disappearing in a green flash.
By now the Icarus was passing through the large collection of debris from the moon that had been blown off by the Eclipse Cannon; most of which had settled into a faint ring around the planet. Omega remained de-activated down in the cargo hold, a towering cold inanimate object. The Robotic solider saw no particular reason to waste run-time on the trip, so unless an energy occurred he would remain on stand by.
Rouge was still finding it strange that she didn't have to use her wings to float outside the reach of the planets gravity. She had always had to flap in order to lift herself upwards and his simple floating put her slightly on edge. Sonic seemed to like it through. He was floating through the cabins with his arms tucked behind his head and his legs crossed; the most relaxed look imaginable on his face.
The Icarus living spaces were made up of four compartments all linked together by a small corridor, a large collection of wires running along the ceiling. The two bedrooms occupied a space just in front of the engines were so compact it seemed to get to the actual beds they'd have to go in single file.
Knuckles had remained in his seat since they took off. He sat there staring out of the window at the planet below, a deep resentment of the fates for landing him one again in one of Sonic's adventures. Guarding the Master Emerald had been the only thing he had ever known, that is until the blue hedgehog entered his life. Wandering and adventure came naturally to him; but to Knuckles it was a near alien concept. He failed to see the attraction between Sonic and exploration.
Perhaps, growing up with super speed; the blue hedgehog had built up that personality. As for Knuckles, he had spent most of his childhood and adolescence training himself to guard the Master Emerald; an instinct that had been deep rooted in him the moment he first laid eyes on the giant jewel. He had had little to no reason for wandering and it seemed strange to him.
Lately, Knuckles had been journeying more and more away from the island; usually with Sonic as a travelling companion. A coincidence perhaps'; but Knuckles was not one to believe in coincidences.
Unexpectedly, the compartments above his head sneezed. He looked up, his eyes blinkingin surprise. He was a stranger to the ways of those outside Angel Island, but he was pretty sure that inanimate object didn't sneeze.
Standing up, he reached up and opened the compartment; to find an orange face staring back at him.
"E…hi." Cream began nervously.
"Chao Chao…" Cheese began beside her, hiding inside the compartment with them was Emerl; the humanoid robot that now served as Cream's personal guardian. The robot never let the rabbit out of his sight for even a second. It was like he had sworn to keep her safe until the day he stopped functioning.
"Cream?" Amy began in exclamation and Knuckles lifted her out down to the floor. "What the hell are you doing here?" Cream tried her best to look innocent, but now she was now over eight she was fastely loosing the perfection of that art and the angry gaze from the pink hedgehog seemed to melt away her defences altogether.
"I don't get to go on anymore adventures with you guys; my mom won't let me." She admitted, looking guilty. Amy slapped her forehead.
"You can't really blame her for being protective." Sonic began. "After all, she is you mom."
"Tails, turn the ship around." Rouge began wearily. The fox only looked up briefly from the Icarus' control panel, a com device tucked into one ear.
"No can do. We've entered the rings. If I don't keep a straight course we'll be bashed into pieces." They could all plainly see what he meant by that. The clusters around them were all spinning this way and that as the thin ring encircled the planet, one mistake on Tails' part and they were going to be crushed.
"Well can't you turn around once we clear them?" Knuckles asked, secretly eager for any excuse to get back to the Master Emerald. Tails shook his head.
"By then Eggman's Egg-moon will have picked up on radar. If we turned around then we'd be sitting ducks." Amy groaned.
"So it's past the point of no return then?" Cream suddenly looked very hopeful. Tails rolled his eyes and nodded.
"I thought you'd have enough sense to at least try and stop her." Amy began at Emerl, who stood there as silent as usual. "But no. Not only do you let her go, you actually go with her!" In fact like Cream herself, Emerl had no sense of danger or subconscious fear. He was a machine; things that came naturally to most organics did not sway him. He was driven only by logic and his logic told him that he had to go with Cream to protect her. When he didn't answer; Amy gave up went floating down the ship to brood.
"Great…" Knuckles muttered sarcastically, throwing his hands up into the air. "This just gets better and better." It was clear that The Echidna's mood was deteriorating rapidly as the trip progressed. Knuckles had never been the easiest person to talk to, but not he seemed even less social. Sonic opened his mouth to say something to the red Echidna, saw the tempered scowl on his face and thought better of it.
"You do know when we get back, your mom will probably hang you out to dry?" He told Cream, who seemed intensely amused at the way she was floating above the floor in the lack of gravity. "And I hate to think of what she'll do to me if you get hurt." He added, a sudden picture of a enraged Vanilla popping unbidden into his head. He shuddered.
"She trusts you Sonic. She knows that you wouldn't let anything happen to me." She replied confidently. The blue hedgehog smiled wearily. "Besides, I've got Cheese and Emerl to keep an eye on me." She added, gesturing over to her silent guardian; who was staring out one of the windows down at the planet.
"That Echidna!" Rouge declared angrily, sitting down. Several hours had passed and they were beginning to near their destination; the space colony ARK and so far no sign of the Egg Carrier. That remained to be seen if that was a good thing. Apparently, Sonic had been correct. Vanilla had been furious with Cream with they sent a message back on the Icarus' com device. But she had been right that she trusted him to get her back down to Earth in one piece.
Cream was up in the cockpit with Tails, watching as the Space Colony grew bigger and bigger as they approached. Like always, her Chao Cheese and Emerl never left her side.
Sonic looked up briefly from an in flight magazine before going back to an interesting article. He didn't understand what it was going on about, but he felt it was more profitable to stay out of this situation. "Where does he get that superior attitude of his?" The bat demanded crossing her arms, glaring out the porthole window at the stars as the ship finally cleared the ring, the last few remains of the asteroids passing by.
"Knuckles' is complicated." Amy put in carefully, unsure of whether Rouge would bite her head off for speaking.
"Complicated?" She repeated narrowed both eyes at the pink hedgehog sceptically, her emerald eyes ablaze with intense annoyance. "He's rude, self-opinionated with an ego so inflated it dwarfs the ship." She slammed her feet against the seat in front of her angrily and sat there shimmering.
"He doesn't know how to be around people that's all." Amy continued slowly. "He grew up alone on Angel Island, miles away from another living soul. The only company he's had has been the Master Emerald." Rouge breathed out through her nose angrily.
"That jewel is probably the only one of its kind, and I HATE it!" Amy could see exactly how hard it was for her to admit that. She loved gemstones of all kinds. It was a lust interwoven into her subconscious so deeply she could acquire jewels without even realizing it. For her to admit her hatred for an emerald went against who she was. "It's the only thing he thinks about."
"He takes his Guardianship very seriously." Amy added, finding another point to the Echidna's defence.
"It's an obsession." Rouge replied still very irritated.
"It's the only thing he's even known. It's hard for him to be away from it for ny extended period of time." The pink hedgehog's eyes widened as she remembered a perfect example. "When we were first sent to Earth, all Knuckles could think about was collecting the Chaos Emeralds to return himself to the Mobius and Angel Island. After the worlds merged, he went right back to his previous life style. He can't stand being away from the island for long; it's just the way he was grew up. "As she spoke, Rouge's anger began to subside piece by piece.
By her own nature she was quick to anger, maintaining that anger however was a different matter. Casting a glance back she could see Knuckles staring down longingly down at the planet below. It wasn't just his duty of guardianship that kept him bound to that island. Knuckles had never known what it was to have a family. He probably couldn't remember what it was like to be in the arms of a mother. He'd grown up into the handsome Echidna he was beside that giant Emerald. She couldn't really blame him for his apparent lack of social skills. Nor could she really blame him for being defensive towards her. She had tried to steal that emerald numerous times.
A sigh caught her attention and she looked back to see Amy staring over at Sonic, who was pretending not to notice her attention but was well aware of it anyway.
"I see that hasn't changed." She remarked, nudging Amy in the ribs playfully. A faint blush tinged her cheeks.
"No it hasn't." She admitted. "Lately I've been making headway with it. But…"
"But what?"
"But sometimes I just wish he'd take me in his arms and…." Her blush seemed to intensify. Rouge chuckled to herself.
"Be glad you can get near him." Amy looked up, confused by that for a moment before she picked up at the hint.
"You mean you…" Rouge nodded, her own blush appearing. Amy marvelled at her own stupidity for a moment after failing to see it sooner.
"It's more of a challenge with him." She replied, looking back at the Red Echidna. "Even if all I can do is get him to smile, my times been well spent."
Sonic was pretending he couldn't hear them, even if he was obviously within ear shot. This was a conversation avoided if possible. For his own sake as much as anyone else's. He was trying to avoid any up front conversations when it came to any romantic intentions Amy had towards him.
He wasn't running from her anymore, but he was drawing that line because; despite the fact that his own feelings for her were growing, he was Sonic the Hedgehog, world renowned hero. He didn't like the idea of being tied down. He loved to travel far too much for that.
Almost as if she faded in out of nothing, Tikal appeared directly between them with a blank look on her face. Amy and Rouge were left speechless as she looked out the now unfamiliar surroundings. She seemed a little surprised when gravity now longer had any effect on her as he floated above the floor. Sonic looked above his brochure, before a wide smile spread over his face and he sat up.
"Hey Tikal." He called over, floating up himself. "Any word from Shadow yet?" Sadly the female Echidna shook her head with a depressed look on her face.
"Unfortunately no. I know where he might be through, which I why I've come here." Knuckles, who had also noticed their sudden visitor nearly tore himself out of his seat when he saw her.
"Sonic, just what is going on?" Both Rouge and Amy seemed to demand at the same time.
"Long story." He replied sheepishly. "Cutting it down, Tikal here's been searching for Shadow for us while he dealt with Eggman." The female Echidna looked around the inside of the Icarus, puzzled by the strange metallic walls. While she had seen many strange things in the levels of reality outside this one; anything modern seemed alien and a little too complex for her liking.
"I thought I'd find you fighting Eggman. Strange your energy signal lead me here." She glanced out of the window, seeing the blue glow from the planet below. Almost memorized by it, she walked over and stared for at least a whole five minutes. "Beautiful."
A good twenty miles east of Cornwall was one of the biggest Eggman Empire bases currently stationed in the British Isles. It severed as one of Eggman's rely depots. Troops both human and machine stationed at garrisons in the South came here to pick up ammunition and supplies before moving out to various locations. The base was surrounded by a large wall with bared wire running along the top, the actual buildings surrounded by a large collection of bunkers, all containing tanks and other forms of military equipment. A long runway ran down the northern side, a small collection of attack choppers sitting on the far end. Long each side of the runway, a long row of Dreadnaughts stood to attention; all set standby mod ready for deployment. The base itself was stationed of a platue overlooking the sea, a thick wind smashing it into a froth.
"This stinks." One of the human guards muttered as he and his partner patrolled the outer edge of the base.
"Yeah I know. I thought things would get better once those lying politicians were out of power." The other replied with a sigh, looking up at the sky as a thunder bolt crossed it and it began to rain. "But this is worse than before."
"I was referring to the smell those factories pump out." The first put in with levelled eyes. "I don't particular care who's in charge as long as I get paid." The second shrugged.
"You're life. But personally I think we've been taking for a ride by the Elite."
"Best not mention that to the Captain though, you know what happened to the last guy that disobeyed orders." Another thunder bolt crossed the sky and at the same time the ground shook.
"Big one." One of the guards muttered, looking up at the sky. Suddenly and without a thunder bolt escort arrived, and then another, each one louder than the one before it. Looking upwards towards the wall, the two of them looked up just in time to see a large mechanical shape came striding over the wall, crushing a laser turret under it's large flat foot.
With a loud thuds echoing each foot step, the Raptor Walker marched out onto the end of the runway; the large gun turrets at the front already in full swing as its long legs took it souring past the Dreadnaughts, riddling the small robots with holes. Alarms began blaring, suddenly silenced as a missile impacted the side of the control tower.
The Raptor stopped dead, its torso swinging around to face a large collection of laser fire turrets on the ridge overlooking the base. It only took a second for it's sensors to target their foundations and once that second was over, the air was filled with basslic missile fire.
Once the turrets were a smouldering ruin, the Raptor about faced and turned its attention to the rest of the base; which by now was on full high alert. Large shutter doors began opening and a procession of tanks moved out, followed by swarms of flying Badniks; making up the base security force.
A grim smile played over Okida's face. They'd taken the bait. Getting a Raptor across the channel unseen had not been difficult. While the channel tunnel itself had been blocked off by the Eggman Empire, they failed to seal a couple of the lower tunnels built during early construction. Some of which were just large enough to march a Mech through.
Slamming the missile fire controls down, he emptied over half his ammunition into the swarming mass coming straight at him before he reversed the Mech's direction and took the battle machine running straight out of the base towards the sea.
Seeing that their target was running away, the badniks raised their laser rifles as fired a succession of fire directly at him, hoping to cripple the Mech or at least disable it long enough for the tanks to get the machine within range. The Raptor had been built for speed and easily managed to outdistance the blasts, before leading them all down towards the beach.
Once at the waters edge, the Mech stopped and turned around to face them. There was some momentary confusion amongst the badniks as to the strange behaviour, but that didn't last long.
Perched on a nearby cliff face was a Turtle Mech, its large collection of artillery guns already emptying all it's ammunition directly down towards them. The badniks with their fast reflexes instantly flew backwards to avoid it, but the slow moving tanks were not so lucky, all of them instantly consumed by fire.
"The idiots actually fell for it." Topaz remarked, finally shutting down the Turtle Mech's automatic fire function. "And by the looks of the radar, they've requested aid from the surrounding defenders." She added. "Looks like your estimations were bang on the money Major."
"Naturally." Was the bats reply, switching the Walker back into combat mode, the large machine gun turrets at the front of the Mech swinging outwards. His radar was showing the exact same thing. Reinforcements from the surrounding garrisons. Once those were drawn out of the area; the rest of Freelance Division could carry on with their mission.
Their plan was working perfectly. "That should give those guys enough time to get in to do their job." He looked up, noticing that the badniks had about faced and were preparing to make a contour attack. "Shame they have their mission, this looks like could be a lot of fun. Ok Topaz, I'll keep them occupied here. You get into the base." Without another word, his Raptor went striding forwards, missiles already in the air.
Flip card 1:
Name: Tikal
Age?
Sex: Female
Species: Echidna