(I do not own Sonic X, etc.)
Flip card 2:
Name: The G.U.N Fleet
Description: The space ship fleet belonging to the Government, created from Black Arm technology left behind on Earth in ancient times.
-
Getting away had been no simple matter. After using his own computer system to override Fang's disabling device on the ship, it had taken every trick Emerl had programmed into his electronic brain to prevent the Black Arm ship from locking on theirs with a tractor beam and pulling them in. Still, that didn't prevent the larger vessel from sending out smaller fighters to go after them.
These weren't smaller ships, as one might think. These fighters were living creatures. They were long and reptilian like, with wings on either side; the swing stretched between three long bony fingers. Along their undersides, running along the long neck, chin and down the tail were frills that acted as balancers in flight. Their legs were long and bi-pedal, with short flat feet at each end. Their scales were like that of the Black Arm's themselves; grey apart from at the end of the limbs which turned blood red. At the tip of their tails, horns lanced out in a box shape, with stretched of skin in-between.
The Black Arms had long since outgrown the need to rely on metal fighters, units that could easily be destroyed in battle. Instead, they had theirs home grown. These 'dragons' were the perfect ship to ship fighters, swift, agile, controllable and capable of surviving in a vacuum. A genetically created weapon.
A dozen of them soured through space towards the fleeing ship carrying the Chaotix detective agency and easily caught up with it. Several soured past it and took point, flying out front of the ship to keep it from souring away. Four others came at the vessel from behind, flying over the top before dropping down, latching onto the ship with the talons on the end of their feet.
"What the heck are these things?" Beck asked, staring at the creatures out the window as they took hold of the ship, an entire fleet of them slowly encircling the vessel.
"We can ask them later." Vector remarked, throwing himself up to the front of the ship towards Emerl at the controls. "Get us out of here." The robot nodded and tried to throw the ship's engines into overdrive. There was a bright flash from the thrusters at the back and several Dragons were caught in the blast, reducing all three to smouldering ash before the vessel soured away, striking the two up front in the back sending them spiralling up into the air as astro-road-kill. Those up top folded their wings and clamped on even harder, biting and clawing at the metal, trying to carve their way inside.
"Oh this is not good." Rei remarked as the ship shout away from their pursuing vessel, only to emerge into the breech of a fleet of the things; a giant collection of ships heading directly for the Earth. Most of them belonged to the Black Arms, but a good deal were those of the Machine Federation Space force, commanded by Dark Oak himself. As soon as they caught sight of the G.U.N vessel shooting past them, turrets rose out of their hiding places and they opened fire.
Down in the hold, Fang grabbed his gun and hung on for dear life as the ship vibrated angrily, a barrage of laser fire striking it across the bow and those Dragons tearing in from above didn't help either. He was beginning to think that perhaps he should have let Chaotix fly into this hornets nest and be content at that, but no, he had to go after Espio himself.
There was a loud ripping sound and suddenly, the front teeth of one of the Black Arm Dragon tore through the roof, tearing a hole through the metal to the airless vacuum outside. Everything not hammered down and sucked up and swallowed, spat back out into oblivion beyond. Had Charmee not been hanging on for dear life to the side of the doorframe entering the cargo hold he would have been the first to go. All of Fang's weapons soured away from him, before the Weasel himself was lifted up off the ground, thrashing for something to hold onto it.
At the last second, Espio lashed out and grabbed the Weasel by the wrist and would not let go, anchoring both of them to the jagged corner of pipe, his arm tugged around it. Fang's hat nearly got pulled off and had he not grabbed it and clamped it under one arm, he would have lost it.
Gripping his hat between his teeth, the Weasel turned around and fired several shots with his gun straight at the giant muzzle that was clawing its way through the roof. Thankfully, the skin of the dragon as not that tough and it sank away, shrieking as its yellow bile like blood flayed out into the air. Unfortunately that left an even bigger hole that began ripping entire metal crates up from the floor and tossing them out into space. It became an extreme chore for Espio to hang onto Fang's arm.
"Hang on!" Charmee called over from the door, picking up Espio's ninja ball and chain he'd dropped in the fight, whirling it over his like and tossing it out towards its owner. Espio unfortunately didn't have a spare hand to catch it and it nearly went up towards the hole in the ceiling, had Fang not quickly slid his gun back into its holster and grabbed it at the last second.
Now with both ends secure, Charmee swung his end around a pipe and began pulling, reeling them both it. Now its Espio's turn to hold on as Fang began pulling them both away from certain death and over towards salvation. Just as they were nearing the door, the Dragon returned. Its large snout shoved itself down in and snapped at them like a rapid dog, Espio's legs coming only a meter away from a row of jagged teeth.
Once final tug; and Charmee had them both inside the corridor. Once they were both clear of the door frame, Espio smashed its fist down on the emergency lock down button concealed behind glass on the left hand side. Instantly a large metal door came slamming down, forming an air tight seal. The swirling vortex that had tried to swallow them disappeared and they dropped down to the floor with a loud thud.
"That was too close." The bee remarked, wiping some sweat away from his forehead. Espio sighed out load. That had been close. There wasn't a single situation he'd been in thus far that measured to how close all of them had come to the big one that time.
"You could have let me die." Fang stated, pushing himself up into a sitting position. Espio fixed him with a glare. Fang was right, he could have, very easily. This mercenary had killed Mighty, then tried to ice all of the agency and even himself. In fact, he'd been the act of another attempt of the chameleon's life when the chaos began. All had had to do to get rid of him once and for all was let go. But Espio was better than that.
"So could you." He replied and Fang hesitated, remembering his own instinctive reaction. He could have tossed Espio back into the jaws of the Dragon when he pulled them both to safety but it that idea simply hadn't occurred to him at the time.
"So what?" He asked, pulling his fat down slightly so his' eyes were hidden. "You saved my life; I saved yours, debt even." Suddenly, the door behind them vibrated as the Dragon in the depressurised room beyond began head butting it.
Glancing back at it, then at each other, the trio dropped the conversation and ran, trying to make it to the door on the far side, before; and with a loud tearing sound, the door and ripped off its hinges and the Dragon began clawing its way through the corridor after them.
"Emerl, look out!" Rei declared and the robot shot a glance to the side just in time to notice several other Dragon's some souring at them on a collision course. Pulling back on the controls, he threw the ship into a sharp ascend, throwing everyone into the backs of their seats.
"This is what it was like last time mom!" Cream declared; actually enjoy this, Cheese sharing her glee, while he mother on the other hand looked petrified, her fingers digging into the arm rests.
"See, what did I tell you?" Metal Sonic asked, gesturing to the reports flashing up on screen. To his side stood the Black Arm Commander, Rikoye, scratching his chin in thought was more intelligence on the unknown craft evading their fighters the best it could came through. For a small ship, it was doing quite well. "A scout, come to test our attack strength."
"Possibility." The commander began slowly, blinking horizontally several times. "It dose strength your claim that this civilisation is hostile, but still I must give them a chance to stand down before I resort to obliterating them." He paused. "I thought they didn't have the technology for space travel yet?"
"They may have made some advances while I was setting up my command post on Mars." Metal Sonic replied flatly. "But this should be their limit. They have nothing to prevent your landing, so they will have to resort to ground command against any landing parties."
"And what of their Nuclear Arsenal?" Even for a superior race, being hit with an atomic weapon was not something one would wish upon oneself."
They will not use it at first. They fear their own power, but should they get desperate enough, they may feel they have no choice." The robotic hedgehog replied, folding his arms, the sides of his cap flowing down either side. "It may be wise to strike at their Missile launching capable bases first."
"Let us get on the ground first." Rikoye retorted as he turned and walked over to a window, watching the Earth get closer with his tail trailing out behind him.
"You have to be kidding…" Vector remarked, letting his shoulders dropping to his sides as a giant ship belonging to Metal X cut across their escape path. And not just any ship but the Behemoth itself. The galleon like spaceship was coming directly at them, determined to keep them from escape. Turrets rose out of the deck, rotated around so the barrel aimed directly at them before a thick torrent of laser fire came streaming right at them.
Emerl shoved the controls sharply to the right, so instead of hitting the ship itself, the Behemoth's attack simply shot five of the Dragon's trying to bite their way through the hull of the ship. Their bodies exploded in a spray of green lasers and yellow blood.
"Take us back to Earth, now!" Beck began, seeing several more Dragons come souring towards them to take the places of the ones just destroyed. Emerl was only happy to oblige. Locking the planet's position in clearly sight, then threw the engines into overdrive, burning whatever fuel reserves they had onboard. Caught in the back blast whatever Dragon's approaching the ship were sent flying, dissipating into black dust. Even the Behemoth had trouble trying to lock onto the ship as it thundered past, trying to reach the Earth before something else stopped them.
"They know we are coming then?" Rikoye asked, watching the ship fly out bound the firing range of the fleet, heading towards the planet.
"I think they knew we were on our way before they sent the scout." Metal Sonic replied. "That was simply sent here to confirm." He tilted his head forward slightly. "Not that it really matters. That was best they could manage in the way of advanced warfare."
Metal Sonic replied. He tilted his head forward slightly."Then the planetary occupation should be without difficulty." The commander added on.
"That thing won't give up!" Charmee exclaimed, darting behind a corner after Espio and Fang as the Dragon dragged itself deliberately at them, its wings folded tightly against its back to prevent itself snagging on objects as it pursued it's prey down the corridors; the confines spaces slightly to small for it's bulk. Fang fired several shots around the edge of the corridor trying to wound it further, but even with a cull magazine emptied into it, it kept coming. Bullets were like bee stings to it, and only as annoying. It kept coming, ignoring the yellow blood leaking out of its side. But now, several doors had clamped shut behind them to seal the corridor from the outside vacuum. But that left the creature trapped inside with them. Not that it looked like it intended to escape any time soon.
Espio drew both arms back, before tossing a multitude of shuriken straight at it. These only had en effect when they hit the area's Fang had already irritated with his shots. It screeched loudly as a throwing star sank into a bullet wound, pushing the bullet itself in further. The creature paused to try and rip both objects out of itself; and both Espio and Fang took the opportunity to make its life a misery further. Reloading his weapon and tearing another gun out of his boot, Fang emptied several magazines straight into it while Espio tossed every throwing star he had. The metal sank deep into the creature's skin and suddenly the floor was coated in yellow. It yelped loudly as bullets and shuriken sank into its hand, before collapsing with a thud that shook the floor.
"Hey, you did it!" Chamree called over, swinging in mid air as the two of them stopped to take a breather.
Without warning however, the Dragon's eye shot open and it heaved itself back to its feet.
"That's damn impossible!" Fang exclaimed loudly, cursing several times afterward as the beast paused shot enough to shake itself, dislodging all the invading metal objects in its body, bullets and throwing stars falling to the floor.
"We'd better run." Espio announced as the creature slowly turned back towards them, its lips parting in what could be a sneer, the teeth shining brightly in the light.
"I'm with you!" Fang replied, before turning and bolting away. Espio and Charmee following closely behind like two blurs of pink and yellow and black. The Dragon roared, before tugging at the walls dragging itself forward after them.
-
Slowly, the fleet comprised of Machine Federation vessels and those of Black Arm began their decent towards the Earth. They were all arrange in an oval formation, preparing to expand their reach and come down on the planet at all sides. Metal Sonic watched from the bow of his ship the Behemoth, his arms folded in front of himself. This was it. The end of G.U.N and the birth of his empire. Soon, the last Chaos Emerald would be in his hands an the power to rule entire star systems would be his.
Standing behind him were the three robots he had, converted, from the Eggman Empire. The strongest of the three in terms of raw strength was Metal Knuckles, who stood there to attention with extra armour on it's arms.
The sniper class Egg-Robot stood to his left hand side, also having had several improvements to it's design which consisted o a pair of spider rifles welded onto each arm.
The rebuilt robot, E1000 Theta stood to attention on the far left. Sonic had destroyed the original robot, but rebuilding this unit had not been overly difficult. It's flamethrower design was, for something Eggman conceived, quite brilliant so Metal Sonic thought it worthy of revival. The Imperial symbol had been removed from their metal framed and replaced with the Machine Federation 'metal fist'.
Commander Rikoye, present leader of the Black Arms sect watched the approaching planet as well from the bridge of his own ship. Whenever possible, their people avoiding confrontation and even interaction with other civilisation. It was a waste of their time and resources, yet if their ally Metal Sonic was to be believed, if allowed to continue developing itself; the 'planet-bound' culture below would become a serious threat. And threats they could not tolerate at this point.
The Earth, as their dominate civilisation called it, was a fused world. Here, different realities that ran alongside one another had blended together. The surface landmasses were clearly showing signs of it. That made his world unique. Very unique. It was only the fact that it rested in an insignificant part of the cosmos that was keeping the intergalactic community from parking around it for intense study.
They were lucky to have found it first.
"Commander! We have incoming!" The captain of the ship called out and suddenly alarms began blaring. Rikoye looked up at the display screen as red dots, showing incoming hostiles began lighting up. Metal Sonic uncrossed his arms and looked down towards the Earth in disbelief at the sight that met him.
"Impossible!" He exclaimed as the fleet came to a sudden halt again, forming a single defence line. Even his own ships stopped as the approaching second fleet left the planet's atmosphere.
Thousands of ships, their numbers matching his own were coming straight at them, all bearing the G.U.N 'G'. The lion share were small fighters no bigger than a bus, but following behind were gigantic cruisers each half the size of the Behemoth, numbering ten in all. And behind them, was a ship rivalling the size of the Black Arm mother ship. Metal Sonic recognised it instantly as Giant Wing, the pride and joy of the G.U.N military. But it had been destroyed. The revived Biolizard had torn through the last version, which had been considerably smaller than this one. It was like a giant flying metal castle, with turrets and several runways lancing out around each side for addition craft to take off and land. Quickly these unexpected arrivals moved into a position that mirrored their own, forming a thick defensive line.
"I thought they weren't that technologically advanced yet!" Rikoye asked Metal Sonic over a holographic communication link.
"They weren't when I last checked." The robotic hedgehog protested angrily.
From the bridge of the Giant Wing battle station, the President watched the reports come in on screen. By the looks of it, they had just managed to get their fleet into position. Any sooner and they'd have had to fight the enemy within the atmosphere, which with several populated area below them was out of the question.
Intelligence fixed half of the enemy fleet that was settling into an line mirroring theirs as ships belonging to the Machine Federation. The other half were foreign to them. They could be the Eggman Empire latest models, but if they were they why hadn't they seen any robots yet? Eggman always deployed his robotic minions before sending in his large ships.
"Formation is set sir." The captain of Giant Wing announced, another report coming up on screen showing the two fortified lines of defence quickly settling into form. "Do we open fire?"
"No." The President replied, putting a forefinger and thumb to his chin. "I want intelligence on those unknown ships before we start making any tactical manoeuvres. In the meantime, keep the fleet in this formation. We're the defenders. We let them make the first move."
"Aye sir."
"What are you waiting for?" Metal Sonic asked after the hostile silence enduring on the front, not a single ship on either side making a single move. "Open fire!"
"That is a defensive line." Rikoye replied over their com-link. "We are never the aggressors. Only if they attack first will we retaliate." With that, he cut off his end of the transmission and his face disappeared from the holographic projection.
Now the Lord of Metal X was in a tight spot. Neither side was going to start the ball rolling on their own and sooner of later the Black Arms were going to figure out that G.U.N wasn't as hostile as he made them out to be. He was running out of time. Either he got them fighting now, or his entire plan was jeopardised.
He raised his left arm and a small slot opened up, revealing a hidden communications device.
"Dark Oak, can you hear me?" He asked.
"Loud and clear sire." Came the reply.
"We need to press ahead with the plan." Metal Sonic added. "These are your instructions."
-
While Doctor Eggman had been away, the Eggmoon had kept working none stop on the project he left running. By the time he got back, it was nearly complete. His Nano-tech factory and Mech projection faculties had worked around the clock and finally their work was nearing an end. Only one thing was need to see competition and thankfully, Eggman had brought that with him.
With a sudden shove, Becoe and Decoe rolled the Master Emerald off the end of the ramp and into place. Several metallic straps rolled across the top and strapped it in place with a loud clank. Once inside this harness, large metal cables snaked down from the darkened ceiling and then spilt off into a multitude of wires that quickly engulfed the giant jewel.
Eggman watched the process as the Emerald's massive energy was siphoned off for use else ware from afar, a wide smile slowly spreading across his face. He pressed a button on the end of his arm rest and his chair rotated around to face a large command console that controlled his little project. He would have liked to have gained all the Chaos Emeralds as well, but for now he would just have to stay content with the Master Emerald. It would supply enough power at least.
"Ah, showdown at noon." The doctor remarked as a report flashed up on screen, showing a data feed from one of the Egg Moon's spy satellites. Rom here, Eggman could see the two fleets forming into a thick line facing on another, each ready for an attack by the other side. This was too perfect. They would waste their energies battling each other and then at the last second, he would step in an finish them both off, leaving this world in his hands along.
"Why haven't they started fighting yet?" Becoe asked as his two hence-bots stood on either side of him.
"It's a staring competition." Eggman replied, running his fingers fluently over the keyboards in front of him; his fingers working like made as he typed away several commands at once. "The first one to blink will get the ball rolling." Another report flashed up on screen, showing the energy gauge for his little project. The energy from the Master Emerald was flowing directly into the systems, filling nearly all the wires and cables for miles with incredible power.
"We're ready to launch Doctor." Decoe added, stating the obvious when power levels reached maximum capacity. The doctor rubbed his hands together with relish, a sadistic sneer over his face. With Sonic and his friends already taken care of, the rest of this plan was going to be a snap. First of all, he had to take out Metal Sonic to ensure that even with six Chaos Emeralds in their grasp, the Machine Federation would not be a threat. Then, once these Black Arms allies of theirs had been crushed; it would be time to exterminate G.U.N once and for all.
-
Earth seemed a lot more hectic now than Shadow remembered. Then again, with two fleets about to clash in the skies about them; he supposed it would be. Police had been called out to try and stop the spread of mass panic and hysteria that gripped the cities. Once the G.U.N ships began moving out to counter position themselves against the invaders, that was sent as a signal for people to start looting.
New York was in chaos. Armed barricades of swat police stood between unruly sea's of people try to add to the anarchy. Windows had been smashed open, doors torn in and the streets lay scorched with the black remains of petrol bombs.
"They're just scared." Tikal remarked as she and Shadow watched down on this pitiful display from above on a rooftop. Most of the streets were full of traffic and the skies with police choppers. Several old Big Foot Mech's had been called out in an attempt to get the city back under control.
Shadow said nothing, his mind was elsewhere. He was thinking about everything that had happened to him thus far, how he had ended up on this path. It wasn't so long ago when he had tried to destroy this planet, and looking down at the chaos that gripped it now, he began to wonder if possibly he'd been right to want to. He shook his head, shaking those dark thoughts from his mind. That kind of thinking was a little too dangerous.
Bark and those other two goofballs had questioned his desire to go after this supposed legacy Prof. Robotnik left behind. Truth of it is, they were right to. Shadow's motivations were not altogether selfless.
Questions of his origin had clouded his mind from the day Eggman released him from captivity on Prison Island. It was Rouge who first revealed him the likelihood that perhaps his memories had been sensitised into his mind by Gerald, in attempt to make him the perfect agent to carry out his plans of destruction. The possibility that Maria's friendship was nothing more than something Gerald 'installed' threatened to send the black hedgehog into a pit of despair. Yet somehow, deep down he knew he had know her. Somehow, someway, he had known her, it was an emotion that told him, a deep rooted feeling. A truth nothing could extinguish in his heart.
Even so, that still left him full of questions that he needed answering.
"I checked with the military intelligence office." Bark stated when he got back and the other two, Bean and Hare got back. "They weren't being too helpful when it came to information, but it turns out whatever files they had on the ARK or Project Shadow were transferred to Hexagon."
"Hexagon?" Shadow repeated with a raised eyebrow. Bark nodded.
"They won the global defence contract. Most top secret files were given to them." Hexagon was a financial organisation that supplied the lion shares of military research and funds to the G.U.N army. Shadow remembered hearing about their shady dealings from Chuck. Apparently, they had no quarrels with murder to climb to the top of the corporate ladder.
The Robotnik family legacy, if it did exist, lay with them now.
"You do have a plan right?" Bean asked, folding his arms. Shadow narrowed his eyes, a thick evil smirk spreading over his face.
"Who needs a plan?" He asked flatly. "All I needed to do is knock on their door."
-
Dark Oak had his orders. The battle would never start on it's own. Both sides were just far too pacifist when it came to starting fights. Metal Sonic wanted a war, so that was what he would get. Besides, it helped his true master's plans far better this way. The last surviving general of Metal X was in a very good mood. The time was nearly here. The time when he wouldn't have to keep up this façade anymore. The time of their glory.
His ship sat hidden, cloaked behind a stray asteroid from the belt around the planet, the Metal X general was waiting for the right moment. Neither side could suspect that he was one who would get the ball rolling. They had to instantly thick the other side was responsible, or no retaliation would take place. Two missiles had already been loaded and were ready for launch, all they required now was the order from their commander.
Dark Oak watched the display before him carefully. The moment was approaching…no…not just yet….not just yet…. Nearly there…NOW!
"Open fire!" The general ordered and instantly two missiles were launched from his hidden ship, but with the Asteroid at such an angle preventing the launch signature from being detected, neither fleet locate his presence. The two missiles shot out, one striking hard against the Black Arm mother ship and the other heading straight for the Giant Wing, but it was shot down before it reached it's mark. From the Behemoth, Metal Sonic watched with relish at the explosions.
"Very good Dark Oak, very good." He muttered he watched the Black Arm ships move forward into attack position.
"They attacked us." Rikoye stated, folding his arms in front of himself as the reports flashed up to the deck. "They are aggressors. Open fire!"
"Retaliate!" The President ordered on the bridge of Giant Wing. "Open fire!"
Eggman snickered, his eyes alight with evil mischief as the two fleets lit up the sky with an intense barrage of laser fire, making the battle between them look like a light show. This would be the battle to determine the fate of the world. And he wasn't about to be left behind.
"Ok boys." The Doctor began to his two cohorts. "It's show time!"
(In Chris Voice)
Espio working with Fang? Sonic working with a Black Arm? Things are spiralling out of control as the battle for the Earth kicks off and Shadow discovers the legacy of the Robotnik Family. And how will the arrival of Doctor Eggman and a second Egg Fleet put a spin on things? The history of the Black Arm Sect is revealed next time on Sonic X, A voice from the Past. Don't miss it!