The Doom Crystal: Part 1, A Little Chaos, Section 3

A Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfic by find-the-lion

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, Dr. Robotnik, Nack the Weasel, or Metal Sonic. Everyone in this list is copyrighted to SEGA, DiC Productions, and Archie Comics.

In order of appearance, Ebony Moon and Drake are copyrighted June 22, 2005 to myself, as is this story, which is also copyrighted June 22, 2005 to me.

Sonic

It was five minutes later when I reached the territory I was unfamiliar with. I stopped and let Ebony get in front. Once in that position she turned back to me.

"Now, where is it we want to go?" She asked.

"Nack was headed right for that village you were talking about with Sally." I said.

"That's not hard." She started walking in a southwesterly direction. It only took us another two minutes to reach the edge of the old village. Here, Ebony stopped. "You can go ahead if you want. I came back with some people and took care of the dead a long time ago, but I still feel uncomfortable here."

She sat down and waited for me to make the next move. I paused for a moment and then walked past the first cabin. I had to admit, Ebony did have a point about the place. It did feel a little spooky. It was probably a very nice village, when there were still people here. But most of the cabins were starting to fall apart. Some had old plasma burns on the outside. There was even one that had fallen in on itself.

Suddenly, I heard something. It was coming from inside one of the cabins that were not quite in as bad a shape as most of them.

"Doctor Robotnik, I have detected an energy source here."

'Metal Sonic? What's he doing here.' I thought to myself. But then again, what energy source could be under a house? A generator perhaps?

'I gotta check this out.' I thought. I opened the door without making it squeak and looked inside. Like I said, this was one of the cabins that was in slightly better shape, that does not mean in good shape. The windows were broken, some of the floor looked slightly water stained, and the furniture in the living area was not in the condition it could have been in, but compared to some of the other places I had passed by getting here, this would be five star lodging.

I followed the sounds of scraping boards to one of the bedrooms in the back. As I did so, I noticed a picture on the wall, still intact. It was a family of three raccoons with a wolf standing in the background.

'This was Ebony's old house.' I thought, noticing the little girl in the center of the picture. When I reached the door, I opened it and peeked inside. A bed had been shoved over to the side of the room, and a robot that looked like a pretty poor substitute for yours truly was poking around underneath the floorboards.

"Energy source getting stronger." A metallic voice echoed through the room.

"Metal Sonic, let it be for now, the weasel is almost here." Robotnik's voice crackled over the com-link.

"Will comply." Metal Sonic stood up and started toward the door.

I sneaked across the hall and through the other door. I don't like being subtle, most of the time, but something told me that now was a good time for it. I couldn't make use of my speed in here.

After I heard the outside door slam, I crept into the bedroom. The floorboards Metal Sonic had been messing around with had been flung over what remained of the old bed, revealing that there was an old box sitting underneath. I pulled it out and opened it. Why would this have Metal Sonic's attention? It was just an old pair of gloves. The design on them was very pretty though. A five pointed star done with five different colored crystals, set inside a white crystal circle. I looked at it curiously, for some reason, there was something very interesting about these gloves. It was weird, almost as though something was telling me to reach out and caress the crystals…

Then I heard a noise outside. I closed the box, and took it with me. I decided that I'd ask Ebony if she knew anything about them later. I set it down outside the house and ran back to where Ebony had been waiting for me.

Ebony

I had been waiting for five minutes when I heard something behind me. I reached inside my shoulder bag and pulled out my blaster. Setting it on stun, I stood up and searched the area for movement.

Suddenly I saw what was coming my way. I scowled as I recognized him. Purple fur, white snout, blue nose, brown wide brim hat. Nack the Weasel was coming in my direction. Let him come, I was ready. I raised my pistol up so that it was aimed at his chest. While if I did hit him a stun charge wouldn't kill him, it wasn't exactly the least painful spot to get hit.

"Put your hands in the air Nack, I got you covered." The weasel jumped in surprise and then saw the business end of my pistol pointed at him.

After a few moments, a grin spread across his weasely face of his and he spoke, his voice oozing molasses. "Well, we meet again Miss Moon."

"Yes we do Mister Weasel. But I can't say I'm pleased." I continued to cover him with my pistol.

Nack laughed as though humoring someone. "Well, isn't that nice. Now why don't you let me by so I can go about my business."

He tried to pass me, but I moved with him, continuing to hold my pistol up. "Sorry Nack, no can do, I understand you have in your possession a chaos emerald. If you hand it over quiet, I'll let you leave conscious."

"But Robotnik'll kill me if I do." Nack said, suddenly acting as though I had broken his front of bravado to beg for mercy.

I gave him a disgusted look. I knew him better then that. "Don't try that with me weasel. Now, if you don't hand the emerald over quietly, I'll stun you and leave you at the low tide mark on the beach."

"Oh well," Nack resumed his greasy attitude of before. "I tried, but I guess the better man won. Or in this case, woman. Put her there." He walked forward as though to shake my hand.

"Been there, done that." I said in a bored tone, raising the pistol to an even more threatening position to make him back off. "Last time I saw you pull that trick, you had cloth and a bottle of chloroform. I'm not stupid Nack. It's obvious I can't convince you, so come on." I motioned with the pistol toward the village ruins. Nack went in front and I followed behind.

Before you tell me how stupid I was not to have gone ahead and taken the gem from Nack right then and there, I assure you that this is a fact I am very well aware of. My only defense is that everyone makes a mistake once in a while. You see, my attention was drawn away by something else. Huh? What in the world was that thing! From a distance, I thought that perhaps it may have been Sonic, but as it advanced, I realized that the only similarity between the two was the color, blue, and the basic body shape, which was that of a hedgehog. Beyond that, the differences were extremely obvious. It got my attention shortly after this object came into view that it wasn't alive, and that it was designed to eliminate anything that was. It had claws for hands, a sharp pointy thing for a nose, sharp steel plates painted red for shoes, and the whole frame of the body looked like it was designed to rearrange someone's internal organs very quickly. The jet engine on this mysterious thing's chest, and the cold yellow eyes, were also kind of hard to miss.

"Oh well, Miss Moon, it looks as though you'll just have to let me make my delivery anyway, there's no way you could possibly survive against my friend here."

The strange hedgehog thing spoke in a creepy metallic voice. "Probability of comradeship with life-form designated as Nack T. Weasel: 0 Place the emerald on the ground and back away, and I might let you escape with your life."

"Don't do it Nack." I said slowly. "Or I'll make sure you don't."

Suddenly, a shadow flew over those of us who were assembled here and then a furry red something rocketed into the weasel in front of me and knocked him onto his stomach.

"All right punk, where's the emerald?" I wasn't exactly sure what to do anymore. Who was this guy? And just what was he? Didn't like any species I'd ever seen.

"Well, hello Knuckles," Nack said from his position on the ground. "Been having fun keeping your island from falling out of the sky?"

"I'll show you a thing or two about fun." Knuckles said, as he lifted up the weasel's head to a point where he could get a headlock on it. I was beginning to think that whoever this guy was, I could get to like him; he knew the right way to handle weasel bounty hunters.

It was just about then that the metal hedgehog thing decided to intervene. "Cease your petty quarrel and give me the emerald, now!"

Knuckles let the weasel's top half fall back to the ground as he looked up at the metal hedgehog thing with curiosity. "It can't be. Sonic?"

"Afraid not." Sonic said, finally having seen fit to show up. He was leaning against the wall of the nearest cabin. "That's just a robot double, the real deal is right here." I was now feeling very confused, and hoped someone would explain this situation to me very soon, so I would know for sure that it was okay to continue pointing this blaster pistol in Nack's direction, because now with this guy Knuckles in front of me, this was becoming an idea that was quickly losing my favor. I lowered the pistol and decided to get more info before taking action.

The hedgehog look-a-like looked over at Sonic. "I'll deal with you later hedgehog." He then turned back to Knuckles and Nack. "Hand over the emerald."

Nack wriggled out from under Knuckles and stood up. "Where's my money? Hand it over first."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Knuckles said standing up as well, and moving to get a'hold of Nack again. "It belongs to the Floating Island."

I was still completely uncertain as to what I should do, but it was obvious that the robot hedgehog thing was losing patience with Nack and Knuckles. He raised the blaster he was holding at an even more ominous angle. "Surrender the emerald or face the consequences."

Well, that blaster was something I could easily get rid of, and so I decided to simplify that part of the equation. I raised my own gun, setting it on full charge, and shot the one in the robot's hand. It started smoking and then the robot had to turn briefly to throw it into the woods before it exploded, which happened in midair as it soared over the trees.

In the confusion that ensued, Nack bolted and took off into the old village.

"I do not have time for this. I will deal with you later." The hedgehog thing took off after the escaping weasel. The three of us looked at each other and then followed in hot pursuit.

We were running in a northeasterly direction. Deeper into the village. Back toward where I used to live. The robot hedgehog tore after Nack, easily outstripping him and slowing down in front of him before he reached the village limits. They were right near my old house when the robot confronted him again and we were quickly catching up; Sonic was almost there. Just up ahead, I could hear the two baddies arguing.

"Hand over the emerald weasel, or else."

"No moolah, no merchandise." Nack said.

The robot hedgehog thing threw a bag of coins on the ground. "That is all you will get from me weasel. Give me the emerald."

"Fine." Nack tossed the emerald in front of the robot.

"You have your money weasel, now get out of here before I change my mind."

Nack grabbed the bag and ran for the woods. Now that he had the emerald, robot hedgehog waited until we caught up with him. When we finally did, his eyes lit up hungrily. "Now I can deal with you." He droned.

Sonic grinned. "Bring it on Metal Sonic. Bring. It. On." So, that was the name of this whacked out contraption.

"I will. But first, I think I will help myself to something very valuable to the good doctor. He shall be very pleased." He made as if to leave directly north, but then swerved around a tree and grabbed me around the waist.

"Hey!" I yelled as I was hauled off. My shoulder bag fell to the ground as Metal Sonic left the clearing with me in tow. I watched helplessly as Sonic tried to race after me, but he quickly fell behind and disappeared. As Metal Sonic accelerated, I had the feeling I was in for a rough ride.

"There is such a thing as being gentle you know!" I yelled at Metal Sonic as he walked away from the cell where he had dumped I. I massaged my chin where it had hit the floor and moved to a sitting position. I could get out of a cell easily enough; I'd done it plenty of times. I just needed to get myself going again.

It had been a very rough ride. That was the understatement of the year. Faster then sound, over the shoulder of a robot that doesn't care about whether or not his passenger is jarred at every bump. I had almost lost my breakfast over the open area between the forest and Robotropolis, and even though I managed to keep myself from being sick in mid-flight, my chest and stomach were still feeling it. Ow. I was almost sure I really had hurt myself for the first few moments after landing on the floor. Once I was sure I hadn't damaged any ribs or organs, I stood up. After checking to see if anyone was looking, I reached into the space between my sock and the inner wall of my shoe and pulled out an old wire.

Old Drake had been right about knowing how to pick locks. Almost all doors are open to one who knows how. I knelt down and set to work on the door. It was almost too easy. Within seconds, the lock clicked open. I stood up and pushed open the door. Avoiding the usual pair of SWAT-bot guards at the exit of the block, I started looking for a possible escape route. If I was right, there should be a ventilation shaft at the far end of the cellblock.

I found it all right. "Darn." I swore under my breath. The vent cover was bolted securely shut, and without the tools in my shoulder bag, which if I hadn't dropped it, would have been around here somewhere, escape in this direction was not a feasible option. The alternative was not very attractive either. Find a way to occupy the guards until I could slip out.

Oh well, if that was the only way, then I had better get started before one of the robots sounded an alarm or something. Some of my friends, who had been gifted with a deeper voice then mine (these being of the male gender) had had some success, fooling SWAT-bots into thinking that Robotnik was talking over the radio, by holding a paper cup over they're mouths and issuing false orders from out of sight. This probably wouldn't have worked here, even if I did have a paper cup.

There was another way, and it was probably the simplest. All you did, was throw something as far away from the door as possible. If you threw it loudly enough, it would divert their attention long enough for someone to get through. I looked around for something to throw. My eyes halted on a fire hose that was hooked into the wall. Then again, maybe throwing something wasn't the only alternative after all. I was already formulating my plan when I saw the wall mounted security camera that was swiveling in my direction. I felt a grin spread across my face as I walked over to the hose and began to unhook it.

When it was off the rack, I put my hand on the spicket. The camera was almost pointed in my direction. This was going to be great! I looked up at it, still wearing the grin. "Hey Doc!" I yelled, and turned the hose onto the camera. Immediately, I heard footsteps coming from the door to the cellblock. As I was using a fire hose, and the water pressure inside of a fire hose is much more significant than that in a regular water hose, the camera was totaled within a few seconds. When the deed was done, I quickly turned off the hose, and listened. The block had been designed as a big square in the middle with four cells, and then on the outer ring, there were more cells with the walkway in between these two rings.

I was at the corner farthest away from the entrance, and I heard footsteps coming from the walk on my left, so I took the one on my right. I ran down the hall, feet hammering the ground as fast as I could go. I looked around the corner and saw the area around the door was completely vacant. Both the robots had left they're posts. Yes! I raced to the door and hit the button that opened it.

I was now in the main prison block. Good. Although I still remembered the last time she had been here. It hadn't been all that pleasant. I shivered as I passed the cell I had been in before. The opportunity to escape had not presented itself until the day after I had been captured, but that one night still gave me nightmares. I still remembered trying to get some sleep in here. My attempts had been foiled by the fear that if I did, I might not still be flesh and blood in the morning. And then, about midnight, I had heard this piercing scream from the laboratory. I had given up all desire to sleep right then and there and decided instead to focus all of my efforts on putting this place behind me. Even now, I wondered what had happened to the owner of that scream.

'Better push that thought aside and go back to finding a way out.' I scolded myself. I was almost down the corridor. That was good. But then something stepped off the lift at the other end. Bad, bad, bad!

"Oh no!" I said out loud and then quickly started toward the utility exit. It was three SWAT-bots. They stopped in front of the door before I could get there.

"Um, hi? I don't suppose you nice gentlemen would be willing to step aside would you?"

"Retrieving subject for interrogation." I ducked to the left as one of them tried to grab my arm. I turned to run in my originally intended direction, straight for the lift. Suddenly, something jerked behind me. One of the robots had grabbed me by my tail, and that really, really hurt! I had jerked very hard. I winced. Boy, did that hurt! There were tears welling up in my eyes. I eased backwards, stopped and turned around (as best I could with the SWAT-bot still clamped on) and held out my hands.

"Okay, okay, you got me, now get your filthy hands off my tail!" The SWAT-bot let go and I moved to bolt again but the robot grabbed me by the arm and held me still. One of the others came around this one with a pair of handcuffs and proceeded to bind my wrists. When they were secure, the robots escorted me upstairs.

To Be Continued…