(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)
S.O.N.I.C GO!
S.O.N.I.C GO!
Episode 19: Crash through the Ice
Without a moment's hesitation, Sonic somersaulted down and slid down the barrel of the cannon. Reaching the bottom, he curved his entire body around in a ball and stared spinning, faster and faster; static electricity building up to momentous proportions in his quills.
Strapped into the pilot's seat in the cockpit, Tails activated the Turtle Mech's weapons system and a small screen descended from the ceiling; a targeting display already there for his use.
"Eggman, swing the Typhoon thirty degrees to the left and hold there." The young fox announced, speaking into the small microphone had landed out from the com device tucked into his ear. The Doctor who was still busy, trying to repair the massive hole drilled into the Egg Shield, looked up in confusion.
"I hope you know what you're doing." He replied, complying with the request. The Blue Typhoon began sliding to the side several degrees until its triangular front was completely level with the Metal X general down below, who right at the moment was building up the energy he would need for one last attack.
"Download complete." Chuck suddenly told all those on the bridge. "I'm shutting down Leviathan's weapons."
The General of the Machine Federation shuddered, feeling all the laser weapons he had crafted onto his body go offline without his consent. Try as he might, he couldn't get them to reactivate. That remote hacker onboard the Typhoon had shut down most of his offensive systems, and at the same time it had stolen all the information registered as top secret inside the electronic brain. Not that it would do them any good in about ten seconds time.
With one suddenly last thrust, the water bound machine shot out from the surface and flew into the air; its target locked in plain sight. There was no way he could miss this time.
The top of the Turtle's cannon began to glow bright blue, shafts of light lancing out into the sky as more power than the Mech's buffers could work with began to build up. Tails began to sweat as the monitor showed him that the Leviathan was an all out assault. Either they stopped the General now or they got knocked out of the sky.
In that next instant, the targeting system gained a lock on. Swallowing hard, Tails slammed his thumb down on the trigger button.
The cannon whirled loudly, blue lightning danced up and down its length before with an echoing boom, its hedgehog bullet went screaming out, the air rippling around it as it broke the sound barrier several times, glowing bright blue, all the time spinning faster and faster.
With a colossal smash, Leviathan and Sonic crashed in mid air. The blue hedgehog soured right past the general's metal teeth and down his throat. Tails watched in horror, thinking that Sonic's plan had horribly backfired on him.
For a moment, the Metal X general continued souring towards them and then, out his tail end Sonic went rocketing out, tearing half of his body off in the process. In seconds, the robot General's body was consumed by fire from the inside out, parts of his metal armour flaking off before with one last bang, beams of lanced shot out from the holes in his body and he literally exploded.
The shockwave passing through the air nearly sent the Typhoon flying backwards to crash into the side of an ice wall. It took a good deal of piloting on Doctor Eggman's part to stop them from doing so. If Tails hadn't clamped the feet of the Turtle Mech onto the deck of the ship, it would have been blown clean off the side.
As the flaming wreckage of the Metal X general fell down towards the water's surface, Sonic came out of the spin holding the grey Chaos Emerald he had snagged from the inside of the machine. Coming into contact with the ice, he slammed a foot forward and let drag, the friction slowing him down; giant clouds of snow and fragments of ice flying out behind him. Finally coming to a stop, the blue hedgehog had left a giant gorge in the surface.
Ever since he'd first been to a circus, he'd wondered what it would be like to be shot out of a cannon. His fingers curled tightly around the Chaos Emerald, he used the energy to warp back to the ship with a Chaos Control; emerging out of a short green flash on the deck just as Tails was climbing out of the Turtle Mech.
"Told you, piece of cake." He said with a short smile, tossing the fox the Chaos Emerald. "Well, five down and two to…" As soon as the jewel was out of his grasp however, the strength it had been giving him dissipated and he collapsed, falling back with a loud thud against the side of the deck, never even finishing his sentence. He was unconscious before he even hit the floor.
The next thing the blue hedgehog remembered was opening his eyes to see a bright light directly in front of him. For a moment, he thought he was in that long tunnel towards the light he'd heard about. That is until someone slapped across the face, hard. Yelping, he sat up, hit his head on something made of metal before falling back down again.
"What did I tell you about reckless stunts?" Amy's voice asked him as he rubbed his forehead. Someone pushed the light out of his eyes and he blinked; his sight adjusting. He was sitting in a bed on the Blue Typhoon's infirmary, a bandage wrapped around the side of his head. Standing nearby were Amy, as he'd guessed, Tails, Chris and Rouge. The infirmary was a short room with a few beds arranged in several rows along the side. Most of the area was taken up with medical supplies and equipment.
"Hey it worked didn't it?" Sonic asked lazily, leaning back into the pillows with a smug smile on his face. The pink hedgehog puffed her cheeks and stared down threateningly at him, thunder brewing behind her eyes.
"Don't push your luck Sonic." Chris warned him.
"So where are we now?" The blue hedgehog asked, trying to turn the conversation around in the opposite direction as it suddenly looked like Amy was about to reach for her hammer.
"A couple of Metal X drones started showing up sow we went back into Camouflage mode. We're waiting for them to pick up the wreckage of Leviathan before they move on." Tails replied. "Well actually they aren't really salvaging his remains. More luckily there were looking for that Chaos Emerald he had in him."
"Knuckles already has it down with the other four in the Energy Chamber." Chris told him before Sonic could ask. "Well it's good guys five, Metal Sonic one."
"That won't last too long." Chuck announced, coming into the room; a look of intense fear on his face. Sweat was running down the side of his eyes and his eyes were wide with horror. "That data I managed to download from Leviathan, it included some of Metal Sonic's orders. I know why they turned Mars into an inhabitable world!" Everyone cast each other a puzzled glance.
"Ok then Chuck, spill it." Said Tails.
"Chaos Emerald Duplication." Eggman replied, walking in the room after Chuck. He didn't seem as scared or horrified as Chris' grandfather, but rather he wore an angry mask, the skins above his narrowed eyes sinking onto the top of his glasses. The ends of his moustache curling, a characteristic sign of intense annoyance or frustration. "They needed an unspoilt world so they could leech off the life-force radiating away from it." He added, crossing his arms.
"Chaos Emerald what?" Sonic asked.
"Duplication. Cloning Chaos Emeralds." The Doctor replied; putting it in laymen's terms. "I tried experiments with the process myself, but the results weren't exactly what I'd hoped for. Metal Sonic must have stolen the notes I made on the process when he attacked my Egg Carrier."
"Cloning Chaos Emeralds." Tails repeated with wide eyes. "If he could master a process like that, Metal Sonic could have access to literally unlimited power." Eggman nodded.
"The drained life-force of this new world is being used in experiments to use as a catalysis. If the data we retrieved from that General is anything to go by, then their close to succeeding."
"How close?" Sonic asked.
"Too close. We have to stop those experiments, or Metal Sonic won't even need to hunt down the real Chaos Emeralds. He could simply create a counterfeit whenever he wanted."
"I created a fake Emerald once." Tails added. "It wasn't as powerful as the ordinal though. Nowhere near."
"That's the difference. Metal X is trying to create exact copies, with the exact same power within them. Just think of the power a hundred emeralds could unleash." Chuck told him. Sonic shuddered. Seven Chaos Emeralds had the potential to destroy an entire planet, A hundred? That was more than enough to destroy solar systems.
"I'm more worried about what might happen if Metal Sonic looses control." Eggman announced, gaining several confused expressions from the group. "I was barley able to contain a cataclysmic chain reaction when I tried experimenting with it." He explained. "If Metal Sonic started mass producing Emeralds, they might revert to their molecular standards."
"And explode?" Sonic asked. Eggman shook his head.
"Chaos Energy does not simply explode. If it becomes unstable it bends in on itself, creating a warp to drain the access energy away. If the ones Metal Sonic tries to create do that, then they could tear a black hole open." The conclusions from that were very clear. If the black hole was opened here, so close to Earth; both planets would be sucked into oblivion.
-
Bark kicked the entrance to an air vent open as alarms all over the ship began blaring, screeching to the guards that the prisoners had escaped from their cells. Bundling everyone into the air duct, the polar bear shoved himself in and slid the grate back into place over their escape route.
"What the hell are you waiting for?" He asked, seeing them sitting there. "Move it!" They didn't need anyone to tell them twice. In the corridor outside, the sharp clang of metal sticking metal ran over; the foot steps of the robotic guards. On all fours they crawled, turning this way and that in a dark maze of metal, trying desperately to out pace the search parties. There was a sudden loud slamming sound and Bark, the one taking up the rear looked back to see a large metal fist tear away the floor of the vent just behind him. Just beyond the tearing metal he could see a large red eye, an optic scanning the immediate area for any life signs. Acting on instinct, he gave Hare; the one in front of him a shove forward. This proved to be a very unwise action, as like a domino effect, all four of them knocked into each other and they were all sent cascading down a dark hole Tikal had been trying to edge her way around.
The fall was not pleasant and eventually they were all cast out the other end into a chamber on the lower levels.
"Will you do me a favour Bean?" Hare asked, his voice muffled as he was the one they had all landed on.
"Sure what is it?" The duck asked, rubbing the side of his daze head.
"Will you please get off my back!" Hare tugged himself roughly out from under them, letting them all fall back. Bark sat up and looked around the dimly it room. Once glance at the place told in it was a service station for the engines. Technicians, or whatever the Machine Federation used for technicians came in here to monitor the output of the engines themselves. Two rows of steaming pipes rose from floor to ceiling, surrounded by a protective grating running around the bottom half. Several terminals rose out from the walls on the far side of the room, most of them offline with blank screens apart from one in the middle that was in the midst of a diagnostic check. The alarms weren't blaring on this level, so maybe Metal X didn't know they were here.
The polar bear picked himself up and walked over to the activate terminal. While primary muscle for the Freelance Division, Bark was a computer genius and it didn't take him long to hack into the Behemoth's system. According to the read out, they were at the back near the lower thrusters, or at least that was what it said. Their only way out appears to be the fighter area towards the front. Current records showed that there were over five hundred fighter craft there to choose from.
"There look!" Tikal began, pointing to another point on the technical readout on the ship. Towards the very top of the ship was a point marked U.L. Or, Ultimate Lifeform. "It's Shadow, we have to go get him." The female Echidna persisted.
"They're not going to let us walk in that and take him." Bean reminded her. "We don't have time. I say we go for the escape route right now and get the hell out of…" He was cut off as Tikal walked right up to him and slapped him on the side of the beak. Hare tried to suppress a chuckle but it leaked out anyway.
"We are NOT leaving him behind." She told him, as if it was a fact written in stone. Bark seemed amazed at how quickly the female Echidna took command of their group and drew out their battle plan. Using the map they had of the ship, they determined the quickest, safest route with the least security. It was not an easy way, and it involved going through several more air vents but there was no defying Tikal now she was set on Commando mode.
Luck was on their side as they followed the memorized map up through the levels, one by one towards the top. Using their fore gained knowledge to evade the security detection systems they made good time; but the trip was still long and painstaking for the slightly miss step and every robot on the ship would be all over them.
When large security doors barred their ways, going through the vents to by pass them was the only option, yet even then they had to be careful. A good deal of the air ducts were alarmed, so when they managed to detect an alarm they would have to go around that at well.
Hare shoved the grating to the chamber they needed open and dropped down inside. The room itself was obvious a laboratory of some kind. It was egg shaped, with a tall curved ceiling. Equipment of all kinds ran around the outside, wires and cables flowing everywhere like snakes. A balcony formed a second level by running around the outside edge above them. The actual entrance to the room was a pair of large doors to the left, but these they would have been able to open. Their locks needed a keyword to open and if they guessed wrong, an alarm would have gone off. Lancing down from the ceiling in the very centre of the room was a large dark pillars, multitudes of wires wrapping around it as it descended. At the very bottom it opened up into a large containment pod of some kind, half of it made of metal and the other half covered by a glass dome. A soft green glow was being emitted from inside by a pale green liquid
And there, standing directly in the middle of it all was Shadow. His fur was bathed in a soft green light by the liquid and dozens of electrodes were trailing down from the ceiling to him, attached to his arms, legs and chest. An oxygen mask was strapped over his mouth and several metal restraints were holding his limbs in place.
"Let's get him out of there." Bean remarked, pressing a button on the side of the machine, calling up a panel. As it rose into place, the duck began typing away giving the release commands. There was a soft click and the metal bars holding his arms gave way. Lifelessly, the black and red Hedgehog let his limbs down to his side. He was clearly in some kind of comatose state, even when his legs were freed he didn't even move. He was just floating there like some kind of rag doll.
Suddenly, a shot ringing shot rang out as a laser blast came out of nowhere, striking Bean across the chest. With a loud yelp, he was sent crashing to the floor; the feathers on his shoulders scolded. Bark shot around to face the direction the blast had come from, only to gasp and back away in horror. Both Tikal and Hare looked back, up towards the metal balcony that ran around the second level of the chamber, to the tall metallic figure standing there.
It was Dark Oak.
The First General of Metal X glared own at them with his single green eyes, his arms held out in front of him; the twin cape attached to each shoulder pad bellowing out behind him. Each metal talons and horn gleamed brightly in the semi light, highlighting the general's most intimidating features. His curved scimitar like blade was in one hand, and smoke was steadily rising from the hand he had blasted Bean with. His single eye was stuck down towards them, intended malice more than evident behind the glass that covered it.
"Oh crap." Hare remarked, staggering backwards. Tikal ignored their interruption and pressed the final button Bean had been about to. There was a sudden whooshing sound and nearly instantaneously the liquid was drained out of Shadow's capsule and the black hedgehog flopped against the front. As the glass that kept him in place rose out of the way, he fell forward, the electrodes attached to his body snapping. With a soft thud, he hit the ground.
"Shadow…Shadow wake up." Tikal called, taking the oxygen mask off his mouth.
"He will not answer you." Dark Oak told her from the balcony above. "To keep him under control, we kept him in intense suspended animation. His system was resilient, but we increased the intensity of the stasis to match." He was right, no matter how much Tikal shook him Shadow remained asleep. She yelled and yelled and he remained motionless and mute. Dark Oak somersaulted over the side of the balcony and landed effortlessly on the floor. "You will return to your cells and that Project Shadow will be put back into his tank." The general told them. "Accept you." He added, turning his large armoured head towards Tikal, who was still busy trying to revive the black hedgehog. "You have been deemed without worth." He raised a hand, each finger with a serrated talon on the tips, ready to swipe.
Shadow's eyes shot open.
Before Dark Oak could defend himself, a Chaos Spear shot through the air colliding with his body; throwing him across the room to collide with the wall on the far side. Tikal looked up to see the black and red hedgehog standing up, fists clenched and eyes wide open. The ultimate life form stood with his back to her, glaring towards Dark Oak. His entire body was surrounded by a red glow, which was fading even as she watched.
The doors marking the entrance of the chamber burst open and at least a dozen Metal X robots poured into the room, combat types with heavy looked dark blue armour, a single green eye like Dark Oak and armed with laser nasty looking laser rifles on each arm. They surrounded the five mobians, raising their rifles as they arranged into as detaining formation.
"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow declared and before the General could give the order to open fire, a dazzling white light erupted, blinding everyone who tried to look at it. Tikal, Bark and the injured Bean were swallowed up by it, vanishing into nothingness along with the Black hedgehog. When the light finally died away and Dark Oak could actually see what was going on, all five of his prisoners had disappeared.
Shadow didn't have enough energy to pin joint exactly where he wanted to teleport. Instead, he focused on the genre off of the Behemoth and down on the ground. As it turned out his energy had been even lower than even he imagined as when the Chaos Control finished, a powerful back charge from the warp smashed into him like a brick wall.
Dark Oak pushed himself back to his feet. This run around was beginning to bore him intensely. For just how much longer did he have to keep this charade up anyway?
"Come in, Dark Oak." A voice over his com-link began. It was Lancelot, the only other member of the General elite still left.
"Yes, I am here."
"I have been able to locate the Blue Typhoon." The reply was short and immediately to the point.
"I will be there momentarily." Dark Oak said in return.
Night was longer on Mars than it was on Earth, so the stars were still visible when Tikal and the others were flung violently out of Chaos warp and onto the ground, all piling on top of each other, except for Hare; who was unfortunate enough to end upside down in a nearby holy bush. Shadow was the last emerge, arms spread before he dropped roughly down to the muddy ground.
-
There was something. Topaz could not explain what or why, but something was there. It was present in the way he stood, or sat, or even snored while at the helm. Wait, snored! She sat up, finally alert of her surroundings, seeing the ground come flying up to meet them through the front screen. Cursing, she dived forward and seized the ground, pulling them out of their dive bomb before they collided with the side of a mountain.
It had been over a day since they seized a ship belonging to the Metal X machine Federation, and Okida had been piloting it for all that time. Their two Mech's the Raptor and the Yahger were down in the storage compartment. There was more than ample space for them, and as luck would have it, a deactivated spider Mech belonging to the Metal X ground forces lay with them. Capturing that technology would be of great strategic importance.
With the sudden jolt Okida was thrown forewords in his seat, hitting his head against the control panel. He cursed loudly into the air, rubbing his fur with a hand he grimaced, opening one flaxen yellow eye.
"Right, that's it, I'm taking over now!" Topaz told him, shoving the Major out of the pilot's seat and taking the helm herself. Okida, who was still groggy, remained on the floor smacking his dry lips together lazily. He was dazed and apparently had no idea what had just been avoided. He stretched and then stood up.
"Morning already?" He asked. Topaz shot him a glare over her shoulder.
"You nearly crashed the ship you idiot!" She told him, before turning her attention back to her piloting. "Why didn't you put it on auto pilot?" Okida was too tired to answer. He was a good pilot, but no one could go for twenty four hours straight without rest, or food for that matter.
Once Okida had gathered some of his wits back and realized exactly what had happened, he reluctantly let Topaz take over. He was exhausted and in need of sleep, and a little snack wouldn't go amiss either. Their rations, or whatever they been able to grab from the Typhoon before they bailed out, were all they had so he had to make himself content with a piece of fruit. He stared disappointingly at the apple in his hand for a minute, pictured it as a large steak with a side of French fries, with desert waiting and took a bite.
Their ship was flying west, following the trail of the Blue Typhoon. If the readings the equipment in the cockpit were right, then they were catching up. Their ship was long and triangular, with a large back end to house the large cargo compartment. Even so it still flew; a lot better than the air craft G.U.N used. Clearly it was constructed with, or based on some of that ancient technology Eggman found in the Canadian north.
Flying alongside them occasionally were more of those pterodactyls. Clearly Metal Sonic had been experimenting with more of that technology and genetic engineering. A few scientists back on earth had toyed with the notion of using frozen mammoth remains to clone the species back to life by using the embryo of an elephant. As for the Dinosaurs, both of them wondered if perhaps Metal X had used the techniques in Jurassic Park to resurrect them.
After finishing his 'meal', Okida slept on and off, each time his eyes opened and closed the scenery in front of the front screen changed as time came and went. Finally getting enough shut eye, for now he believed, he let his eyes wander around the cockpit. It was a small room, probably designed to house small robots but it was large enough for them at least. Most of it was taken up with technical equipment and thick cables leading out the back door. Eventually his eyes settled on Topaz and he stopped.
She had neither fur nor wings and didn't even share the fangs the vampire bat would expect from a female, yet she bore a unique radiance none the less. As humans went, or at least as far as he understood their tastes, Topaz was quite attractive. For a brief moment, he wondered what she would look like if she were a bat. He pictured the wings and the fur and even the fangs, yet even with his racial tastes it didn't seem right. He banished the image and stared back upon her natural features. That seemed strange. She seemed beautiful as a human, yet when imaged as a mobian she seemed to loose the appeal.
As if she could sense it, she could feel his eyes on her. Most of the men she had worked with in the armed forces had given her a wander over with their eyes before; she was used to that kind of the thing. Yet with him it was different and couldn't help blushing. Perhaps, he mused, it was because he wasn't human. She had never been looked over by a bat before.
He was a nice enough guy. Sweet, sensitive, hardly anything like the testosterone addicts she'd had the displeasure of meeting. She must be sensing something else. Why would a mobian be interested…that way…in a human?
"I've got a signal." Topaz began, trying to shift the tense moment. Okida blinked and was finally brought out of his thoughts. "I think I just managed to find the Typhoon."
"Where is it?" The Major asked, standing up and looking over her shoulder.
"About a mile or two directly ahead and are moving away from us a top speed." She replied. "We're going to have to move it if we want to catch up."
-
Flip card 1:
Name: Lancelot
Description: Third General of Metal X and the second strongest of the four.