(I do not own Sonic X, etc)
Flip card 2:
Name: Sam Speed
Description: The Leader of S-Team and Chris' Uncle.
Sliding through pillars of fire, Sonic landed a punch against Theta's chest plate, before ducking under a swing from the robots second pair of limbs. In a crouching position, Sonic tensing his legs before somersaulting upwards smashing a kick into the robot's chin, forcing him to stagger backwards. Whipping around at the last second, Sonic managed to land another two punches before backing off to a safe distance to avoid a swing.
Theta raised both barrels and opened fire, flames instantly coursing through the air. With the flames burning the ends of his quills, the blue hedgehog shot forward with a spin attack. Theta side stepped avoiding the blow, using his extra set of arms to catch Sonic as he passed by. Using the already sufficient momentum, the robot tossed the blue hedgehog over his shoulder and into the side of the road.
This was what Sonic had been waiting for. The instant he was an inch from the ground, the blue hedgehog used his hands to rebound off the road and come flying straight back at the robots head.
Theta ducked to avoid the flying kick and while Sonic was still in the air, turned and fired his flame throwers directly at him. Sonic twisted in mid air to avoid the deadly torrents of fire before coming down in a fighting stance.
There was silence as the two opponents turned to face each other, before Theta got the ball rolling by charging forward with fire already blasting out of both barrels. Sonic ducked underneath them, before rocketing toward himself, holding a fist back ready to swing. Throwing the robot off guard, he changed tactics at the last second and shot around his back using his speed. Then as Theta tried to turn, Sonic cupped his hands and fired a Sonic Wind straight into his body. The sheer vortex of energy at point black range tore through a good deal of the robots armour and with a loud ripping sound, an arm went with it. Theta was thrown backwards, his wound sparking with electricity as his dismembered limb fell to the ground smouldering.
That did little to deter Theta however. He simply raised his remaining arm and fired another dose of fire.
"Gee, take about a die hard." Sonic muttered to himself, darting to the left and up and the side of a building. Leaping off just before he reached the roof, spiralling in mid air. Spinning high above, Sonic came down as hard as he could against the robot, who used his remaining limbs to grab Sonic's attack and tossed him head first directly into the sidewalk.
Before the blue hedgehog could pull himself up, Theta placed his large metal foot on his back pinning him there. Sonic tried to struggle out from under it, but the weight kept him stuck fast.
Theta raised the barrel of his flame thrower ready to burn Sonic to a cinder, but just before he could blast, a red formula one car came screeching out of nowhere and smashed head first into the android sending the battle robot flying over the road before crashing through several cars and into a street lamp.
Sonic looked up to see the car of one of his old rivals, the one he had raced against when he first arrived on Earth, Sam Speed. The leader of S-Team gave him a thumbs up through the windscreen.
"Hey, long time no see." The human began with a grin, Sonic smiled back, before turning in a fighting stance towards Theta who was slowly beginning to pull himself out of the rubble. Sam let himself out of his car and reached for his gun, holding it heady as the one armed robot readied itself for another attack.
Fire poured out of it's remaining flame thrower as the robot staggered forward, limply on a crippled leg it had suffered when Sam crashed his car straight into it. Dancing through the fire with ease, Sonic came rocketing forward before smashing one final flying kick directly into Theta's torso, tearing off most of his chest plate in the process. Still functioning, the robot turned ready to fire as Sonic landed back on the ground with his back to him. Before it could, a yellow bolt of energy tore through the air before clashing into the robots back, ripping a hole straight through him.
Theta staggered forwards, parts of him falling off towards the ground before the chaos drive powering his systems finally reached critical mass and his body began to cave inwards. Cracks ran all over his armour, beams of light lancing out of the smallest holes, before the small reactor blew and the robot exploded in a spectacular light show, his body breaking up and scattering in all directions. The air rippled outwards, sparks of lightning dancing across the road before everything died down and the only traces left of Theta were a few blackened fragments scattered across the road.
Sonic looked up as Shadow dropped down from the roof of a building, Tikal wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"You are definitely getting soft." The black and red hedgehog muttered, tossing Sonic an object in his hand. The blue hedgehog caught it, then realized he was holding the yellow Chaos Emerald. "How many to do have?" Shadow asked.
"This'll make three." Sonic replied, nimbly tossing the Emerald into the air and catching it again. Shadow groaned and shook his head.
"You'll have to do better than that if you want to stop Metal Sonic."
-
The Lord of Metal X was perfectly aware that Leviathan had sent Theta as an assassin to kill Sonic, hoping to avenge himself for his defeat in Barcelona. Normally, Metal Sonic would destroy anyone who violated his order that Sonic was his pray and Leviathan was already pushing his luck; but he decided to let it slide this once. His General had done him an unwilling, or perhaps unwitting favour. Even with Mars transforming before their eyes, it would have been unlikely Sonic and the others would come into Space after them. Now, with the attack giving the incentive needed; Metal Sonic's plan to obtain what he needed would get underway.
By now, Mars' transformation was almost complete. By warming up the planets surface, the Machine Federation had caused it's gigantic polar ice capes to melt; allowing a good degree of water to rise up in the forms of oceans, seas and lakes. The land masses that remained were quickly being seeded with lush forests, most of which were transforming into swamp land before they could do anything about it. But that really didn't matter, as the multitudes of animals Equinox had gathered from Earth were thriving in this new ecosystem. Providing the cycle of life they required.
Their labs were already registering a power outage and very shortly it would reach the degree needed to begin the experiments.
If, as Equinox claimed, The Machine Federation could succeed where Eggman had failed; then virtually unlimited power could be theirs, Metal Sonic however had more than sufficient doubts, which was why he'd conquered up a back up plan.
If things went the way he'd anticipated, the remaining four Chaos Emeralds would be handed right to him.
-
"Ok, this is officially getting weird." Sonic remarked, after being informed of the strange occurrence with the planet Mars. By now, most of the telescopes on Earth were pointed in the red planet's direction and everyone could see that it was no longer red, but a bright blue like their own planet. All reports told the same story, the fourth planet of the solar system had been transformed into a living world. The only questions remained to be answered where by who and why. Along with Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Chuck, Chris, Cosmo and Tikal had gathered in the workshop in the Mystic Ruins. Shadow was about as well, but at present was nowhere to be seen.
"The President nearly had a nervous breakdown." Okida explained, finally getting around to talking to Sonic and the others after the nightmare load of work the Division was undertaking since this morning. "He's got over sixty five billion people asking what the hell is going on with Mars and he doesn't have an answer."
"But who would want to do such a thing?" Amy asked.
"Take a look at this." Okida told them, handing them a printed photo. This had been taken with a Government owned long range telescope. It showed the planet Mars as it had been that morning. Along with it's two moons, a third object was in orbit; the battleship of the Machine Federation; The Behemoth. Sonic suddenly looked confused. Why would Metal Sonic turned Mars into an inhabitable world? That didn't make any sense. His agenda was to collect the Chaos Emeralds to power ancient machines and take over the world. This move was no strategic value whatsoever, the robotic hedgehog had to be up to something else.
"Nothing for it now." Amy sighed. "We've got to go after him."
"And get the three Emeralds that he has back!" Sonic added. Eventually Chuck got handed the photograph.
"Looks like the work of more of that alien technology." His grand son sot him a confused glance.
"Aliens grandpa?" He asked with scepticism.
"If it wasn't for the fact the enemy's using it, most of what we have would be safely locked away in Area 51." Okida announced. "As it is, what we've been able to gather is being used in tactical operations against Metal X."
"Look, we need the Icarus up and running." Sonic put in, walking over to the small trap door that observed the lift that led down into the main workshop from view. A large button built into the wall. Sonic simply slammed his hand down on it, a small slot above it opening up and an intercom device protruding outwards. After a bussing of static someone answered.
"Is this important?" Tails asked on the other side.
"Look bud, is the Icarus ready to go or not?" Tails didn't answer, instead his voice simply disappeared for a while. Then a second later, a loud humming filled the room as the trap door opened up and the small lift emerged from the shaft. Tails was inside, his fur almost drenched in oil. Sonic staggered back at the overpowering smell, clutching his nose.
"I haven't installed shower down there yet." The fox replied flatly, whipping what he could from his face.
"I'm sure he's working as hard as he can Sonic." Cosmo tried to assure the blue hedgehog. Tails grinned and put both hands behind his head.
"Thanks. But as it happens, I do have something to show the rest of you." Everyone shot each other questioning glances as the fox beckoned them into the lift. The lift had only been designed for a few people and it was quite a fit but eventually they all managed to get inside and Tails flipped a switch. The metal gate closed behind them as the lift began to descend down the shaft.
Sonic looked around confused when he noticed that the lift had passed the level that opened up onto Tails' usual laboratory, heading down even further towards sea level.
"You managed to fix the Icarus?" Okida asked, looking a little cramped in the small lift.
Tails chuckled to himself.
"No, I went one better." Sonic and the others shot each other nervous glances as the lift came to a stop and the fox opened the doors to a second underground chamber.
"Holy mother of!" Okida exclaimed, backing away in utter surprise at the sight that greeted them. The young fox forged a smug grin
"Let me introduce, the Blue Typhoon." Tails' latest project was beyond all their expectation. Way, way, way beyond. This ship was like a new and improved version of the Egg Carrier, at least as long and with a wing span to match. While most of Eggman's creations were either a steal grey or blood red, this ship was a snow white apart from around a double set of engines towards the back which were ringed either gold or blue. It was impossible for them to see all of the ship from this vantage point, but they all managed to see the twin tail insignia that all of the fox's inventions had printed on them.
"You'd better be impressed." A voice stated and they looked up as Doctor Eggman came floated down in one of his hovering machines. His two hence bots where in similar constructions doing work on the curved hull that didn't even reach it's peak above them. "I was up all night trying to get the engines even marginally operational." They were all left staring open mouthed at the giant as Tails flipped on several light switches and the entire body was revealed.
The Blue Typhoon looked like it had been modelled out of the remains of the Egg Carrier itself, along with addon's from Eggman's previous flying fortress'. The front which was over five hundred meters long itself was cone shaped with two landing stripes for smaller aircraft on the top. Another long set of wings lanced out either side, a small cone like engine on the tip of each one. The mid section was thinner than the rest of the ship, connecting with the large larger end which houses the impossible tall engines. Sonic gave an impressed whistle as Tails escorted them through the ship on a tour. It was a sprawling mass of metallic corridors and chambers. The engine room was a gigantic room with a high ceiling, housing several large turbines that at the moment stood silent, with thick metal cables leading to a central energy chamber.
Several hangers were already occupied with smaller ships, including a repaired Icarus; the X-tornado along with other variants of Tails' oldest plane the Cyclone. Everything was controlled from the bridge, a large chamber near the top of a triangular tower that sloped out from the mid section towards the back. The bridge looked more like a large cockpit, with several stations manning navigation; weapons; system optics and engines. A long series of terminals in front of a thick glass screen stood ready to project holographic displays. The main system was operated by a set of keypads on moveable controls near the top of the room.
"How did you build all this so fast?" Chuck asked in awe. Everyone looked in Eggman's direction, who was trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. When he noticed them all fixing him with a stare, he grumbled and reached into his jacket; withdrawing a small glass canister. Inside which was a buzzing grey gas.
"Nano bots." Eggman explained. "Just another of the beneficial technologies I took from the ruins." Something clicked in Sonic's mind and a revelation was made clear. That was now Metal Sonic had repaired his arm when they battled on the Icarus. These microscopic roots were already active in his body and when his metal limb was ripped off, they rushed to the scene rebuilding it molecule by molecule.
"They're certainly helpful in engineering." Tails added. "If a bit unstable."
"The Typhoon' is superior to my Egg Carrier in everyway." Eggman began, but with more than a hint of reluctance in his voice to admit it. "Faster, more heavily armed, better defensive capabilities." He forced a grin. "More than a match for Metal Sonic's Behemoth."
"All it needs to go are two things." Tails continued. "One a crew, and two a power source." Chuck suddenly looked puzzled.
"What sort of power source?"
"Well like all the technology from the ruins, it runs on Chaos Energy."
"We do have three Chaos Emeralds." Eggman shook his head in disagreement.
"Not enough to power all the systems."
"What would you suggest we could use?"
"Well, there is something I had in mind." Tails added, looking back at Knuckles slyly. The Red Echidna looked up in surprise when he noticed everyone was suddenly staring at him.
"What?" Then it hit him. "Oh no, no no no no!" He was instantly on his feet.
"Come on Knuckles, the Master Emerald is the only energy source capable of powering the Blue Tornado." Tails explained, but the red Echidna just exploded anyway.
"NOT A CHANCE!" Knuckles exploded, smashing a fist almost absently into the side of a wall, anger more than plain on his face. "The Master Emerald's been safe on Angel Island for centuries, and that is where it's staying!" Knuckles was completely uncompromising on that issue. He refused to put the Master Emerald in a position were it might come into jeopardy, and heading into space to combat Metal Sonic and his Metal X Machine Federation was about the most hazardous situation he could think of. Anyone who so much as tried to change his mind was going the right way for a fist in the mouth as far as he was concerned.
"We don't have time for this." A voice stated and Shadow stepped out of a instant flash of green; the Chaos control warp closing almost at once behind him. "If it's the Master Emerald we need, then it's the Master Emerald we get."
"You'll have to go through me first!" The red Echidna stated, throwing him in Shadow's path with both fists raised.
"Woah, back it up!" Sonic exclaimed, standing between the two of them as Shadow gathered a small Chaos Spear attack between his fingers. "Ok Knuckles; look. The Master Emerald wants you to help us right? But you don't want to leave it alone right?" The red Echidna gave him a sideways glance. "It's the perfect deal dude." Sonic added, but even he could see he wasn't reaching the Echidna. The blue hedgehog diced to try a different approach. "Besides; who's more qualified to guard the Emerald than you on the trip?" Knuckles was not easily flattered and he wasn't as egocentric as Sonic or Shadow, but when it came to his guardianship of the Master Emerald; he could be as stubborn and smug as the rest of them.
Getting him to even consider it was the easy part, getting the Master Emerald back proved to be ultimately more difficult. Angel Island, kept aloft by the Emerald's power would plummet to the ground if it was removed.
After a brief conversation with the Emerald itself, Angel Island lowered itself into the ocean and settled comfortably on the sediment below the waves; resting quietly against the coastline. Okida assured the Echidna that while they were gone, G.U.N would monitor the Island to make sure no one tried to building a housing estate or something on it while they were gone.
The main energy chamber of a Typhoon seemed to have been built with the Master Emerald in mind. It was a round room with sever smooth metallic pillars lancing from the walls directly towards the middle; three of them had the Chaos Emeralds placed on top of them; the yellow one, the purple one and the light blue one. Directly in the centre was a metal version of the Emerald shrine, similar to the construction at the heart of the Space Colony ARK. Eggman had tried to copy the design because it helped unleash the Chaos energy trapped inside each jewel.
Knuckles liked the layout, it reminded him of his home and thought that perhaps this made going with them for another joy ride beyond the atmosphere ever so slightly more bearable.
"Freelance Division's coming with you." Okida stated as the loading of supplies and other essentials got underway, Tails looked like he was about to argue. "We can do more good helping you than we can if we stay here." The vampire bat added quickly. Then he forged a grin. "Besides, we're under Presidential orders."
"Ok," Chuck began, looking over a clip board with several papers attached to it. "Most of the ship is automated, so according to this report we just need a crew of twenty." He paused and looked up towards the large ship, the final finishing touches being added by Becoe and Decoe. "Still seems a small number for such a large vessel."
Tails looked stunned when a large Military carrier turned up outside his Workshop, with Bean and Bark at the steering wheel. Onboard were three of G.U.N's best Mechs. A Yahger, a Turtle and a Raptor; all standard Freelance Division weaponry. Luckily there was enough room in the hangers for them and all the spare ammunition that came with it.
"Do we really need all that?" Sonic asked as he and Amy watched Okida march them one by one onboard the Typhoon, the ground shaking underneath each footstep. Chuck was still busy counting up the crew when the two Hedgehogs came to see how he was going. So far he'd enlisted all of Freelance Division: Major Okida, Topaz, Rouge, Bean, Bark, Hare and Omega. On top of that there was Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, Tikal, Cosmo, Eggman and his two robots. That came to seventeen, leaving three more places.
"I'll take one of those." A voice stated. Chuck looked back over his shoulder as the lift from the upstairs workshop. Stepping off the elevator was Chris' uncle, the renowned Sam Speed, clad in his full red S-Team uniform; a wide smirk on his face. Under his arm he was carrying his helmet.
"Think you can keep up with us?" Sonic asked coyly. "We're a lot faster then before." Sam flicked the side of his nose with his thumb.
"So am I." He replied with a smirk. Shadow, who'd been listening from the rafters sighed and leapt down to the floor below.
"You'd just be in the way." He told the human. "We're in a different league altogether."
"Now what have I told you about arrogance?" Tikal asked with a coy grin, running her heads through Shadow's quills messing them up.
"Two places left then." Chuck added almost absently, adding Sam's name to the list.
"Make that one." Chris stated very determined. Everyone looked his way. "I'm going to." Chuck didn't argue. He knew it was utterly pointless to try and talk him out of it. He'd been on enough of Sonic's other adventures to know the drill. In this situation, there was only one sensible thing he could do. Sighing, he wrote both Chris' and his own name on the list filling out the last two places. Lydsey and Nelson would probably have a fit but they'd just have to live with it.
"Why can't I go?" Cream asked looking cross. After she'd snuck onboard the Icarus the last time, they were all keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't pull another trick. Emerl was keeping her company for Vanilla, who'd nearly had a heart attack when she discovered her daughter had been inside a falling space ship. Of course, once she'd heard that they were about to head into space again; Cream had tried repeatedly to get onboard.
"'Cause we need you to do something just as important." Sonic told her, handing the small rabbit girl one of Chuck's Chaos Emerald locator devices. "We have three Emeralds, Metal Sonic has the same; so that leaves one more out there to find." Cream stared at the watch like machine in her hand. "We'll need you to find that last Emerald before Metal X does." The rabbit girl was silent for a moment, before looking up.
"You think I can do it?" The blue hedgehog smiled and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Sure, you hunt down that last one and we'll be back with the other six." Cream grinned and strapped the machine to her wrist.
"I could have picked up that Emerald this afternoon." Shadow remarked as he watched Cream examine her new toy.
"I know." Sonic replied flatly. "But this way she won't be tempted to hide inside one of the cargo decks."
Soon, Tails' battleship was ready to move out. The thought of phoning his Parents briefly to let them know where he'd be passed through Chris' mind but he quickly dismissed it and sent a text message instead, when he knew his dad would have his phone turned off. That way, he wouldn't get the message telling him stay put until it was too late.
"Keep an eye on him." Okida whispered to Bean, Bark and Hare as Doctor Eggman ran over a last few system checks on the bridge. "He'll try to betray us at the earliest opportunity and let's not forget we have three Chaos Emeralds on board." Amy's hero Chao Turel would not be left behind and was orbiting around her like a moon. Cheese tried several times to accompany it onboard the Blue Typhoon but wouldn't leave Cream either.
With a loud groaning, a gigantic set of shutter doors at the front of the workshop slide to open side revealing a short runway leading around towards the bay between the Mystic Ruins and Station Square, two long lines of pine trees leaning to one side as the runway itself began to lengthen. Tails took up his position at the helm, taking hold of the controls with both hands. Sonic, whose gaze had been fixed on the horizon noticed Cosmo watched her new environment with a look of confusion on her face. This was all too different from her home dimension to be comfortable with. The blue hedgehog could tell that she was trying, but the anxiousness was plain in her blue eyes. It wasn't just that he seen either. Tails thought no one had noticed, but Sonic recognised that longing look in his eyes when he looked at green haired girl. Sonic had seen Amy staring at himself like that more than once.
"All systems register green." Eggman announced, taking up a seat towards the front of the controls; his two robots on either side. "Ready for launch procedures." Tails, who realized he'd been staring at Cosmo for a little too long snapped back into reality.
"Right…beginning energising sequence." He began, running his fingers over the keypad on the right hand side control. The engines at the back of the Blue Typhoon began to hum as energy was siphoned away from the energy chamber. Knuckles watched the Master Emerald as it sat in place, it's glow steadily increasing. He wondered if the Emerald's decision had been made in haste. He intensely disliked seeing it any other place than Angel Island, but since the Emerald had told him it approved he could not argue. The glow from the three Chaos Emeralds around it began to pulsate as the cables and wired leading away began to wiggle like a multitude of worms and energy began lancing down them.
At the back of the ship, the cone like back of the engines was highlighted bright gold and slowly the colossal giant began to move forward; lifting off the ground.
"Hey Froggy! There you are." Big said happily, picking his amphibian friend up off the floor. His friend had wandered off again and ended up down in some underground bunker. Following his friend inside, Big had finally caught up with him in a large metal room full of steal crates. "There you go, next time let me know where you're going."
"Rippit." Froggy replied as Big placed him on his shoulder.
"Come on, let's go home." The cat meowed, just before the ground began to shake beneath their feet. With a loud audible slamming sound, the door through which they'd entered closed leaving the two of them trapped in there.
"What am I doing!" Hare suddenly asked him out load as the Blue Typhoon positioned itself for lift off. "I don't want to go to Mars! Let's me off this thing!" But by now of course it was too late. One in position, the ship paused as the glow at it's back began intensify before a single blast sent it rocketed forward with speed that shocked even Sonic. Okida, who had not anticipated such an intense take off was thrown off his feet and onto the floor. With a sonic doom that shook whatever windows were left in Station Square, the Blue Typhoon emerged into the world, souring to tremendous heights in seconds, the atmosphere glowing bright orange around them as they soured higher and higher.
Punching a hole through the stratosphere, the ship finally emerged into space as the violent shaking that beset the ship during takeoff finally died down. Before anything could start floating away, Tails engaged the artificial gravity so their feet remained attached to the floor.
"Woah, what a ride." Sam began, clutching his head with both hands. He'd broken the sound barrier before himself many times, but nothing could have prepared him for that. Sonic knew the feeling, the back of his head was ringing. He supposed it had to do with the size of the ship trying to break through into space.
"Well this is a new experience." Okida remarked, picking himself up off the floor
-
Metal Sonic turned as the Behemoth's sensors picked up a large object leaving Earth's orbit. Almost instantly a holographic display emerged out of nowhere, showing the leader of Metal X Tails' new invention. Slowly, the robotic hedgehog's arms crossed as he regarded this new ship closely. An impressive construction, but even so this action had played directly into his hands. His plan had worked perfectly. His enemies were on their way. It was time to begin phase one of his plan.
(In Chris' Voice)
It's time to head into space again aboard the Blue Typhoon! But can Eggman, who helped create it, be trusted? Why did Metal Sonic turn Mars into an inhabitable world? What's the motive? And Cosmo plays match maker next time on Sonic X; the Voyage of the Blue Typhoon! Don't miss it!
(Authors note:
Those of you who have seen Sonic X season 2; please note that I am trying to include elements and events from it, as seen by appearances of both Cosmo and the Blue Typhoon . However I have to remain true to what I've already written, and what the games say; since SEGA has the final word of the plot on Sonic, not the people who make the cartoons. As such, I have to add and take whenever I can. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!
I am not just putting Cosmo or the Blue Typhoon in because of the second season, I'm including them because I can use them in the plot, not just because of the Sonic franchise.