(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)
S.O.N.I.C GO!
S.O.N.I.C GO!
Episode 15: Enter Dark Oak
Sonic felt like this entire body was stretched and compressed all at once, the rippling of the space around him distorting anything he could see. All the others had vanished in a red haze that engulfed the entire line of sight, leaving Sonic alone in a distorting reality. Twisting like the eye of a vortex, the entire ship rippled like the surface of water as it passed through the giant sized worm hole Eggman's jump engines had ripped open.
Finally with a sudden thrust that almost tore him from his seat, the Blue Typhoon was sent flying back into normal space. The air and space around him solidified back into normalcy so quickly it made his eyes hurt. The loud humming made by the engines was now subsiding as they shut down, their systems drained by the jump.
"What a ride!" Bean, who was sitting in his own seat not to far away declared smashing a fist into the air triumphantly. "Can we do that again?"
"No we bloody can't!" Hare replied forcefully, his brown fur hiding the green tinge his skin had taken. Tails unclipped himself from his seat, his own head swimming. The jump had been more strenuous on his body then he had anticipated, and judging by the drain expression on the others faces, it hadn't been a picnic for them either.
"I think I left my stomach behind." Knuckles remarked, placing a hand on his chest; suddenly looking very sick.
"Oh, poor baby." Rouge remarked, putting a hand to his forehead as if to check his temperature. Eggman took a moment to clear his head, feeling as if his entire body had been turned upside down in his skin. He made a mental note to install some sort of buffer to remove that unpleasant experience the next time. Running his hands over the console in front of himself, he began checking the ships systems. One by one, the lights on the desk began lighting up either red or green. Red for errors and green for those that were working without any problems. By ratio, about a third of the ship had been knocked offline during the jump. Great, that was just what he needed; more repair work. Well, this was what trail and error test runs were all about he supposed. As soon as he perfected the technology, this wouldn't become a problem. Luckily the systems that were operational were the vital ones like weapons, life support and propulsion.
"Well, are we here?" Shadow asked, emerging out of a small Chaos Control warp onto the centre of the bridge, Tikal at his side.
"Give me a minute." Eggman replied, ordering the shutters that had closed over the windows on the bridge to open. There was a loud clanking loud and slowly the metal sheets rose out of view, revealing that intend their position in space had changed. Now, the Typhoon had settled in orbit around a blue planet, the gentle dusting of green just below a thick cloud cover. At the north pole, perpetual ice had spread across most of the northern hemisphere. The rest of the planet looked almost completely green. It looked more like Earth than the dusty wasteland they'd been expecting.
"Is that Mars?" Chris asked looking stunned.
"Impossible!" Chuck stated in utter amazement, staggering back away from the windows. But the evidence was more than clear, the ship showed the co-ordinates were correct. Whatever Metal Sonic had done had to Mars had transformed it into a lush green world.
Eggman wasted no time being stunned, quickly he pulled up a scanned holographic map of the planet below; mapping the continents and large islands in-between a expansive ocean. According to the readings, Mars now had a breathable atmosphere with conditions almost identical to Earth. "Terraformation…" Chuck began, staring up at the large holographic display being projected into the centre of the bridge. "Astounding."
"It doesn't make any sense though." Eggman mused, scratching his chin. Metal Sonic's agenda was the conquest of Earth, once he collected all seven Chaos Emeralds that is. Even if the advanced technology he stole from the Eggman Empire could do something as monumental as this, what could the robotic hedgehog possibly hope to gain? He had to have some kind of scheme that required Mars as an inhabitable world. What that plan was they would have to discover. Whatever it entailed Eggman doubted it would be friendly. "I'm reading activity on the surface." He announced, a blinking light next to his station lighting up. "We're too high in orbit to tell for sure, but I think they're robotic signatures."
Sonic frowned, smacking a fist into an open palm.
"Metal X." He said, scowling. "Metal Sonic's here alright." Tails sat back down in the pilots seat, taking hold of one of the hand held controls, pressing a free other buttons with his free hand.
"I'll try to take us down into a lower orbit." The main engines, the one used to make the jump were still offline but the propulsion thrust had the green light. Slowly, with a loud groan of reluctance, the glow from the back of the blue Typhoon emerged again and slowly the vessel moved down from it's high orbit towards the planet, the slow glow of atmospheric friction burning around it's underside as it descended.
The floor trembled as slowly they went down. All of them watched through the windows as the blackness of space began to fade, faint strands of a blue sky filtering upwards.
"Right, do we have any plan?" Okida asked suddenly looking apprehensive. "I mean, I'm presuming we know what we're going to do when we get down there."
"A plan? As in, think ahead?" Sonic asked, faking a shocked expression. "Now there's an alien concept."
"I'm being serious here." The vampire bat stated with levelled eyes. With a sudden liquid rumbling, laser fire came flying out of nowhere, striking the Typhoon across it's hull, knocking it slightly off course. Alarms began blaring as the ships tipped violently to the side, another volley ringing out.
"Weapons fire!" Eggman declared, trying to gain control of the ship as it was bombarded with laser beams, striking it in multiple points across the hull. "We have incoming!" Emerging out through the side of the clouds, dangerously close to their own ship came the Behemoth. The ship was just as large as they remembered, a colossal construction a great healer larger than their own vessel. Shaped like a galleon, thousands of laser turrets littered its decks, all aimed directly at them.
Breaking through the clouds, dragging thick trails around it the ship was filling the entire line of sight.
Another volley crossed the distance between them, tearing a hole through the mid section of the Typhoon.
"We have a structural breech!" Chuck reported, looking over his own station. With a loud bleeping, a new holographic display appeared as a signal was sent from the Behemoth to their own ship. Glaring at them over the com link were the half eclipsed eyes of Metal Sonic himself, founder of the Metal X Machine Federation.
"You trespass in Metal X territory." He stated. Sonic looked up at them with clenched teeth. "Access to this planet is denied."
"Whatever scheme you've got hatched, we'll stop you!" The blue hedgehog shouted up at him. Metal Sonic began to chuckle softly. That laugh set Sonic's temper on fire. And he clenched a fist up towards the visage of his robotic clone. "What's funny?"
"Idiot." Metal Sonic stated flatly. "I don't believe you've had the pleasure of meeting my first General yet have you?" Metal Sonic's face disappeared and was replaced by a new figure, a tall robot clad in violet samurai type armour. Flowing out from behind a pair of triangular shoulder blades was a long grey clock, flapping violently in the wind. Directly in the centre of it's head was a single green eye, glowing brightly. A Mohawk like piece of metal curved up the back of the head while two horn like spikes shot out either side. In one hand, it held a curved scimitar like sword with a spike lancing backwards at the end in a hook. He was standing on the deck outside the Behemoth, staring directly at them with it's Cyclops eye. He wasn't the tallest of the four general's but by far he was the most imposing.
Sonic felt a lump in his throat. This robot wasn't like the others. There was something…else, something he couldn't place. "Dark Oak, please present them your credentials." Metal Sonic's voice continued.
"At once my Lord." Dark Oak, the first General Metal Sonic created replied with a short bow before the holographic message disappeared.
On the deck of the ship, the strongest Metal X commander clenched both hands around the hilt of his sword, raising the weapon high into the air. After a comment, chaos energy began sparking widely up his arms and into the blade, it's edge glowing bright gold as power began to accumulate. Sonic watched from the Typhoon as Dark Oak became a bright star, glowing so bright it was blinding all those who looked at it. Tightening his grip around the hilt, Dark Oak turned towards their ship and swung down, an arch of the most destructive energy flowing forward; expanding as it travelled forward, the air shaking as it neared.
"INCOMING!" Okida nearly screeched and a second later it stuck them. The force was cataclysmic, tearing a gorge through the side of the ship; almost ripping the Typhoon in half. Knocked off their feet, the crew was hapless as the sheer magnitude of the blow send the ship into a dive bomb. Screeching, blowing smoke, the Typhoon fell from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and down towards the planet itself.
Dark Oak watched as the ship disappeared through a thick cloud bank before sheathing his blade. As his master had instructed him, he did not hit them with a full power attack; but rather a weak shot.
The General did not know what his master had planned, or why it entailed leaving his enemies alive; but even so it was none of his business. The masters plans were to be carried out even if he did not comprehend them. Still, Dark Oak mused to himself; if Metal Sonic's plans lead them downhill; then for the sake of the Federation he would have to, eventually say no.
"Bravo General." Metal Sonic told him. "Impressive show. Now, implement phase 2."
"At once Master."
-"We're going down. WE ARE GOING DOWN!" Tails screamed, trying to control the disastrous plummet.
"Thank you captain obvious!" Sonic replied, suddenly filled with a feeling of Deja-vu. This was the second time he'd been trapped inside a falling ship. With Eggman helping him regain control of the helm, Tails pulled the Typhoon up from a plummet into controlled fall. Through the windows, they could see the clouds part and the ground some souring up to greet them.
"Bail out!" Eggman called up, gaining everyone's attention. "Radar shows incoming on our location, even if we land successfully we'll be a sitting duck for Metal X."
"Are you insane?" Sonic asked.
"He's right Sonic." Okida called over, already making for the exit. "Standard tactics in enemy territory. Those needed on board have to stay, the rest of you get to whatever you can pilot."
Down on the surface, Equinox watched the falling ship coming flying over his territory. Now an inhabitable world, Mars had four major regions and to these Metal Sonic had given control of one to each of them. Equinox was manager of the extensive swamp that covered a good deal of the southern continent. Over this, The blue Typhoon was falling. Calculating the trajectory, the Metal X General estimated the ship would fall a few miles away from his current position.
The air almost rippled as the ship shot overhead, smoke trailing out the back. Within moments it had disappeared behind a mountain range in the distance.
Okida hadn't waited to see if Sonic agreed with the plan, he simply tore his way down to the hanger and was almost instantly climbing into the cockpit of his Yahger Mech. To his surprise, Topaz was already there, strapping herself into the Raptor. The others, like Chris, Chuck and Sam made for the planes, all of them climbing into the X Tornado.
Reaching for a remote in his pocket as his Red Walker activated and it made it's way to it's feet, Okida aimed it directly towards a pair of shutter doors. With a loud groaning, they slide to one side. Outside the ground below them was flying past, the thick green canopy of a swamp heading out for miles.
Without a moments hesitation, Okida forced the Yahger Mech out into the air; falling towards the ground; the jets on the back of the walker slowing his decent. Even so, he came down hard through the trees. Topaz followed soon after, the Raptor she was piloting disappearing below the thick canopy.
Flying out through the doors next came the X-Tornado; Sam Speed at the controls with Chris and Chuck in the back, shooting away from the falling vessel as quickly as they could. The loud ringing of laser blasts rang out as blasts crossed the skies, large ground turrets belonging to Metal X opened fire as the Typhoon shot over, causing more damage to the hull before it soured out of range.
Tails stayed on board to keep it steady as it came crashing down. He had no intention for this to be a repeat of the Icarus. He was going to land this thing properly, even if it killed him. The only other people left onboard were Eggman, his two robots, Sonic, Amy, Cosmo and Knuckles who was down in the energy chamber trying to keep the flow of energy from the Master Emerald steady. All the others had, reluctantly, apart from Omega who was safely down in the hold taken flight. Metal X was already following them down, they couldn't afford to let them all get captured at this point.
Shadow had gone and without him, Sonic couldn't move an object of this size using Chaos Control. It was completely up to Tails' piloting skills now.
"This is it, we gain control of it now or we crash." Eggman began, throwing his hands over the controls at near light speed. With a loud bang, the secondary emergency thrusters kicked in and this extra boost forced the ship out of a crash land in the trees and finally over towards a high patch of sand just beyond the edge of the swamp. The landing wasn't perfect but Tails managed to put her down without snapping her in half.
The Typhoon scraped along the sand for a moment, before coming to a complete stop near a large collection of towering rocks that nearly eclipsed the ship.
The drop had not been kind on Okida's Mech. Going down through a thick canopy of super strong branches had scrapped the paintwork, forged dents in the armour and the furry dice on the rear view mirror had fallen off. The Major shook his head to try and clear his foggy vision, remembering where he was and what the situation entailed. The thick canopy the Yahger had dropped through proved sufficient to conceal them, and all the trees looked tall enough to hide him.
"Woah…" He muttered to himself, looking out at the new world around him. Under the thick canopy of the tall trees was an immense swamp. Most of the roots were half submerged in a high level of stagnant water and thick vines hung from above. Thin rays of daylight sank through the leaves above and where the shafts fell, a multitude of plant life had gathered, stretching upwards towards the hidden sky.
Remembering that Metal X would not be far behind him, the Major ran a quick diagnostic on his Mech. Apart from a few bumps and scraps, everything was perfectly operational.
Moving the large legs of the machine through the thick waters below proved a little difficult, but eventually Okida managed to get it moving; picking it's feet above the surface for as long as possible. His first objective was clear. He was in enemy territory and most of the crew had had to bail out of their ship as they came down. He had to find as many as he could and then find the Typhoon before Metal X did.
He had not gone far, when he came across the shambled form of the Raptor Mech Topaz had been piloting. Coming down, it had damaged one of its legs and looked in no fit state for a fight. Topaz was sitting in the cockpit with the glass screen up when he arrived.
"Well this is a bad start to a mission." She remarked as the Yahger neared and Okida's own Cockpit flipped open.
"You Ok?" The vampire bat asked. Topaz just nodded. "What about the others, do you know where they are?"
"You're the only one I've seen since the bail out." Okida glanced briefly down at his radar. It was showed a lot of signatures littered about. Most of them were moving in grids over the canopy above them. They were obviously Metal X scouts searching for those that had bailed out. "My weapons are still online, but with this leg I'll be a sitting duck in combat." Topaz added, gesturing to the battered leg on the Raptors left hand side.
"Then we'll just have to avoid combat." The trees looked big enough to conceal their presence and they were low enough to avoid detection by Radar. As long as they didn't kick up a ruckus, avoiding any search party would be a piece of cake. At least, that was the theory.
Topaz eventually got the Raptor to stand on its own two feet and then they set off, their progress slowed by the condition of the Mech. The idea of simply leaving it behind and having Topaz join him here in the Yahger passed briefly through Okida's mind but he quickly abandoned it. They were going to need the Raptor at some point and would have to leave nothing behind to tell search parties that they'd been there. Besides, there was no room in the cockpit for her. She'd have had to sit on his lap. An impish thought passed through his mind and he cleared his throat, banishing it.
When they were forced to escape the falling Typhoon, Okida had taken a quick glance at the direction in which it was heading. If his judgement was correct, the ship would have gone down a little further to the west. Their first priority would be to confirm the ships condition. Then they could go looking for the others.
All the while, the radar blipped red as robots belonging to the Machine Federation passed overhead.
"I suppose this is your element?" Topaz asked over a quiet intercom, keeping the frequency low so it wouldn't be overheard by their pursuers. "Enemy territory, crashed ship, Mech Battles, certainty of death?"
"True." Okida remarked back. "But for some reason I'd rather be somewhere else right now." Like back on Earth in a warm cosy bed with a cappuccino in one hand and a piece of toast in the other; instead he found himself trying to hide from killer robots on another planet in the midst of a stinking swamp land.
Now with the Typhoon down, Tail's next order of business was to set up their defences. If his hunch was right, hostiles would be inbound on their position very soon. With some of the weapons offline, their own defence was camouflage, throwing a switch Eggman activated another of his pipe dream systems. A revolutionary piece of holographic technology that spun a shield of light around the Typhoon, causing it to disappear from sight. The downed ship shimmered like it was caught in a summer heat, before vanishing. Any marks it had made in the ground as it came down, also disappeared from sight.
Tails held his breath as he watched two Metal X scouts pass by, then sighed in relief as they carried on without even stopping to investigate.
"We should try to contact the others." Sonic began, reaching for the controls.
"Are you mad!" Eggman declared, slapping his head away from the com device. "We're in enemy territory, and Metal X'll be monitoring the broadcast frequencies. We send any message at all and they'll know where we are and be on top of us before we knew what's happening."
"We can't just leave them out there at Metal Sonic's mercy!" Sonic argued back, clenching a fist.
"You won't be able to help them if Metal X blows us into horrible disfigured pieces."
"So what, we sit around here and let Metal Sonic do that to the others!"
"Look, we can settle this later." Tails stated, butting in. "Right now, we have to get the Typhoon out of sight. The hologram hiding us won't fool them forever." He turned towards Eggman. "Can you get us back in the air?"
"The engines took a little damage, give me an hour and I can have them back online." Was the scientists reply as he pulled up a technical readout of the ship. Once he'd checked the reports for any damage, he rose from his chair. "You two, with me." he grunted to his two hence-bots and they quickly followed him out of the room.
"Are the security camera's still working?" Sonic asked almost casually. Tails just nodded. "Good, keep an eye on him while he works."
"You still don't trust him?" Sonic levelled his eyes. "Right…of course not." Cosmo stood looking out through the large window at the wilderness around. She wished her visions could be more precise, perhaps then she might have been able to warn the others. Seers were supposed to be able to predict the future, an entire House of the MaginaryWorld had been devoted to the art. Perhaps it would have been best if the vision had gone to more of the more talented seers instead of her, admittedly a novice at best.
She shook her head. She shouldn't be thinking like that. The vision had come to her and only her for a reason. No, she had had the vision so she had to be here. The question of why would be revealed in time.
"Attention fugitives!" A voice suddenly barked from the com device. Everyone on the bridge instantly went silent. "This is Equinox, leader of the Metal X ground forces. I order you to surrender at once and hand yourselves in. We know you are hiding somewhere in this region and we will find you eventually, so save us the trouble and give up."
-
Flip Card 1:
Name: Dark Oak
Description: The first of the Metal X generals, and by the far the strongest.