Chapter 9 - Powers and allies

When Amy left Shadow, she made her way back to the Tornado in the apartment complex's garage. She climbed into the chilly cockpit and sat there, hugging herself.

Shadow's words rang in her ears. "I stopped caring about you the moment I saw you on the ARK." She had been mistaken about him, as well as Tails. She had been so certain that Shadow would succumb to her charm, and now she was out on her own again, rejected and alone. Now she didn't know what to do. She had nowhere else to go, and she didn't want to go home. Going home meant facing Sonic, Tails, and her parents. It meant accepting defeat. But Shadow had hurt her like no one else could, and she just wanted to hide somewhere and never come out again. She was also on the downside of the espresso she had drank, and the caffeine lapse had left her depressed.

"Hello Amy," said the Tornado. "Do you wish to return to Knothole?"

"No," said Amy, resting her head on one hand. "I don't want to go anywhere."

"Where is Shadow?" asked the plane.

Amy shrugged. "In the apartment. He doesn't want me around, so I left."

The Tornado was quiet a moment, then said, "I have been in touch with Tails. He has instructed me to return you to Knothole. I have enough fuel for the return trip and that is all."

Amy glared at the screen. "Tails did? How would he know where I was?"

"He contacted me with the thrall sphere," said the Tornado. "I informed him of our location and mission, and he instructed me to return."

Amy nearly screamed at the Tornado, but bit her tongue. It was just a robot that did as it was told. And maybe going home was a good idea after all. She was hungry and tired, and wanted her own bed. Sonic and Tails would leave her alone if she avoided them. Hopefully she wouldn't get into too much trouble. "Okay, fine," she said. "Take me home, Tornado."

She felt the vibration as the engine started. The Tornado said, "Observation. Takeoff is only possible from the airport. Permission to travel there in walker-form?"

"Whatever," said Amy.

The Tornado analyzed this statement, decided that it was neutral, and guided itself out of the garage. Amy rode along, thinking about returning home with a knot in her stomach, oblivious to her surroundings.

They were halfway to the airport when the Tornado unexpectedly turned off the street and entered and entered a parking lot. "Hello, Mecha," it said.

Amy's head jerked up. "What? Where?"

The Tornado had pulled up beside a brownish red fox who was sitting on a bus stop bench, feeding his chao from a paper sack. The fox looked up, and smiled in surprise. "Tornado! I did not know you were in Sapphire City. Who is with you?"

Amy peeked over the edge of the cockpit.

The fox raised an eyebrow. "Well well. Greetings, Amy."

"How do you know my name?" she asked. "I've never seen you before."

"That is due to the effectiveness of my disguise," he replied smugly. "Tornado, display my profile."

Amy looked at the screen to see an image of Metal Sonic appear and rotate. She looked from the fox to the image and back, and saw the resemblance. The fox's eyes were long and slanted, his muzzle too sharp and narrow. And the chao was a metallic blue with red eyes.

Shadow had said that Mecha had a heart now. Amy remembered the killer robot that Metal Sonic had been, but here he was, calmly feeding a young chao who didn't look remotely frightening. An idea danced to life in the back of her mind. Now Sonic would defiantly disapprove of this ...

She climbed out of the cockpit and walked up to Mecha. She held out a hand, and Mecha shook it briefly. His hand was cold. "Hi," she said. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Mecha was taken aback. He blinked and looked around, as if making sure that she was addressing him. "You do understand who I am?" he asked.

Amy nodded. "Yeah, you're Metal Sonic. So do you have a girlfriend?"

Mecha frowned at her. "I am an android. I have very little understanding of romantic relationships. Therefore I have never pursued one, and lack the interest for such things."

"Could I be your girlfriend?" Amy asked.

Mecha sat as if turned to stone. He gazed at Amy, trying to fathom this question and the motives behind it. The chao beside him, however, understood the question perfectly. She leaped to her full height of eight inches, mouth open and eyes flashing. "No!" she shouted at Amy. "He doesn't want a girlfriend, okay? Go away!"

"Hush, Aleda," said Mecha. He turned to Amy, who was trying not to laugh. "As much as your request fascinates me, I shall have to say no. I am in no position to research this to its full measure, and I have other projects that I must complete. I thank you for your offer."

It had been a long shot, anyway. Amy could not help but think that the person who had been nicest to her so far had been a robot. The chao, Aleda, continued to glare at her. Amy hid a smile. She had never seen a chao act so jealous before.

Mecha looked up at the Tornado, then down the street. "Who accompanies you, Amy?"

"Nobody," she said. "I'm here by myself."

Mecha frowned. "Why?"

Amy looked up at the sky. Why did everybody make such a big deal out of this? "I ran away from home. It's just me and the Tornado."

Mecha tilted his head to one side, a gesture that was surprisingly un-robotic. "Not only are you alone and underage, Miss Rose, but you are guilty of grand theft."

Grand theft--the words struck a blistering path of guilt through her heart. People went to jail for that.

"Do the authorities of Knothole know your whereabouts?" Mecha asked.

Amy folded her arms. "Tails knows, because the Tornado told him."

"Hm. Very well." Mecha rose to his feet and lifted Aleda in his arms. "I shall place a call to Sally, then."

"What're you gonna say?" asked Amy, thinking of the police.

Mecha walked to the Tornado and laid a hand beside one of its glowing eyes. "I shall inform her that you have been found, and I am escorting you home."

This he did, as Amy, Aleda, and the Tornado listened. He introduced himself, told Sally that he had found Amy and the Tornado, and briefly recapped how it had happened. Then he ended the call, and climbed up into the Tornado's rear seat matter-of-factly, as if he had done it a million times. Amy climbed into the front seat and looked back at Mecha. "You're going to Knothole?"

"Why not?" said Mecha. "There are things I would like to discuss with your elders."

"But--" she started to say, but stopped. The idea of Metal Sonic walking into Knothole struck her as wrong, somehow.

Mecha guessed her thoughts. "Old reputations are hard to overcome, yes. But I am no longer Metal Sonic." Amy looked hard at him, and saw that his red eyes were melancholy. In his lap, Aleda continued to glare at Amy.

Amy turned to the Tornado's console. "Okay Tornado, take us to the airport."

"Affirmative," said the machine.

Sonic sat on a car-sized boulder that overlooked the south road into Knothole. It was late afternoon, and the sun shone through the trees in golden stripes. The shadows were deep blue and held the chill of oncoming night.

He had run for an hour after chewing out Spark and Slasher, and finally stopped to rest atop this rock. His blue fur blended with the forest behind him, and he had watched people travel up and down the road without ever noticing him.

Inside he was desolate. He had hurt everyone with his fear, and he couldn't control it. He still wanted to strangle Spark for bringing this upon them--no wonder Spark had been acting weird!--but Sonic also wanted to kill himself for having hurt Slasher. She was frightened, too. Nobody deserved to be spoken to like that. Sonic had seen the reproach in Sally's eyes as he had left ... yes, he had a lot of apologizing to do.

A Mobian transport stopped on the road below, and let a group of Mobians disembark. The transport whooshed away, leaving the group in its wake, walking up toward Knothole. Sonic recognized them--Knuckles, Zephyer, Talon, and three chao. What do you know! Sonic had not seen Knuckles in more than a month, and leaped off the rock to greet him and his family.

"Hey Sonic!" they exclaimed, and there was a lot of general hand-pumping and back-slapping. Sonic congratulated Knuckles and Zephyer on their upcoming baby, which made Knuckles blush and Zephyer giggle.

They all walked on together toward Knothole, and Knuckles and Sonic fell behind the others. "I need to talk to you about something," said Knuckles.

"Me too," said Sonic. "You first."

Knuckles looked at him curiously, then shrugged and said, "I've heard some things about Spark."

"Yeah?" said Sonic.

Knuckles nodded. "Like he stole his Chaos Emerald from someone."

"A dragon," said Sonic. "Spark told us this morning."

Knuckles gave him a hard look. "He fessed up, huh? Vector's been giving me updates ... see, the dragon has Vector touring him around, hunting for Spark. Last I heard, they were headed for Riverbase."

Sonic looked over his shoulder--southwest, fifty miles from the city on the river. So that was where the dragon was. Sonic turned back to Knuckles and quietly told him about Spark seeing the dragon through the emerald, and of the dragon assuring Spark that he would eat him.

"This is worse than I thought," said Knuckles, when Sonic finished. Knuckles looked worriedly at Zephyer, Talon and the chao. "It's not safe for them here ..."

"It's not safe for anybody!" Sonic exclaimed. "Unless we have Spark go down there and meet the dragon ... somebody's gonna die no matter what we do."

They walked in silence for a few moments. Knuckles looked at Sonic and half-smiled. "I guess this is a bad time to ask this, but do you think we could test Talon's Chaos field?"

Sonic glanced at him. "You think it might help this?"

"No, it's not related at all," said Knuckles. "I just thought it might be time."

Sonic shrugged. "We already know he has one. Look at his shoes."

"I know," said Knuckles, and fell silent, brows furrowed.

They walked in silence until they reached Knothole. Then Sonic said, "Take Talon to my hut, Knux. I need to talk to Sally and Spark real quick."

Knuckles nodded.

Sonic broke into a lope, a jog for him, but an all-out run for anyone else. Sally wasn't in her hut, and as Sonic began a circuit of the village, he spied Slasher and Spark off in the trees. Spark was sitting on a rock with his head in his hands, much as Sonic had done earlier, and Slasher's head hung low near his shoulder, talking quietly. They looked up as Sonic arrived in front of them.

"Hi," said Sonic.

"Hi," they replied stiffly.

Sonic looked at them, shuffled his feet, and said, "I'm sorry about biting your heads off."

Spark nodded and said nothing, but Slasher said, "Apology accepted, Sonic. Thank you." The hurt look left her eyes, and Sonic felt a little better.

"Knux is here," he told them. "We're going to test Talon's Chaos field, and also he said that Vector is with the dragon."

Spark's head jerked up.

Sonic avoided his eyes. "The dragon seems to have hired Vector to help him find the guy who robbed him, and they're in Riverbase."

Spark leaped to his feet, eyes wide. "I gotta hide," he whimpered.

Slasher laid a paw on his arm. "Stay here. There's still time." She looked at Sonic. "Sally's over at Tails's. Better tell her."

Sonic nodded and darted off. He felt better for having apologized, but beneath that was the growing terror of an oncoming danger, like standing on the outer edge of a storm.

Sally and Tails were outside Tails's workshop when Sonic ran up. Tails was grinning. "Hey Sonic! Amy's coming home!"

"This is good news?" said Sonic.

Sally punched him lightly. "Sonic! You're supposed to be worried about her."

"Oh yeah, sure I am," said Sonic. "I really said, 'this is good news!' Does she have the Tornado?"

"Yep," said Tails, "and guess who's escorting her."

"Shadow," said Sonic.

"Mecha," said Sally and Tails at the same time.

Sonic stared at them. "You've got to be kidding."

"Nope," said Sally, and told him about Mecha's call and explanation of what had happened with Amy. Sonic listened, incredulous. When she finished, Sonic said, "Well, I definitely never expected that. So Mecha and Amy and the Tornado will be here when ..."

Wait a minute. Could the super-intelligent Mecha figure out a way to defeat the dragon?

"Knux is here," said Sonic, and explained about Vector and Riverbase.

When he finished, Sally said, "This is bad, Sonic ... But maybe we can negotiate with the dragon, agree to be shackled before he transforms or something."

"It's worth a shot," said Sonic. Lowering his voice, he said, "Mecha might be a big help, once he gets here. He knows more about tactical situations than any of us."

Sally gave Sonic a piercing look. She knew that Sonic disliked his robot look-alike, and to have Sonic talking about asking Mecha for help showed how desperate Sonic had become. She nodded. "Right. I'll discuss it with him when he arrives."

Sonic nodded. "Okay. I gotta go help Knux real quick. See you!" He galloped off, feeling encouraged. Sally and Tails were with him in this. He didn't have to face it all alone.

Knuckles, Talon, Zephyer and their chao were all inside Sonic's hut when he arrived. As Sonic's hut was small to begin with, this left very little floorspace. "Whoa," said Sonic, squeezing in the door. "Hey Zeff, you and the chao sit on my bed."

She obeyed, and helped the chao scramble up on the quilt. Knuckles backed up against the wall, leaving Sonic and Talon standing alone in the middle of the room, Talon with arms folded and shoulders hunched in nervousness.

Sonic retrieved his green Chaos Emerald from its resting place on his bureau, and handed it to Talon. The anteater took the gem with one trembling hand. "Okay Talon," said Sonic, "all you have to do is look into the emerald until something happens."

"Yes sir," said Talon. He gazed into the emerald, frowning in concentration. Everyone watched, and the silence grew thick and heavy. Talon began to sweat. At last he looked up and said, "I can't do it, sir. Nothing's happening."

Sonic looked around at all of them. "You know, let's all leave him alone. Less pressure, you know?"

The group filed out of the hut. As the chao toddled out, Talon said, "Can Max stay?"

"Sure," said Sonic, and Talon's chao bounded back in.

Sonic shut the door and looked at Knuckles. "I think you could have done this yourself."

"It has to be done with the green Chaos Emerald," said Knuckles. "They require finesse. Super Emeralds don't count in this situation, and they're unbalanced anyway."

Sonic nodded with a grimace. He and Tails had accidentally forced the Chaos Emerald to absorb its corresponding Super Emerald, throwing the remaining Supers out of synch with each other.

Sonic looked at Zinc, Zephyer's chao. He was shining silver with black eyes. "Hey Zeff," said Sonic, "what color emerald did Zinc use?"

"The white one," said Zephyer. "Why?"

Sonic didn't answer. Instead he knelt and motioned to the chao. Zinc walked up to him. "What did the white chaos emerald allow you to do?" Sonic asked him.

Zinc thought. "It let me transform into a robot echidna with horns."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, but what else? What was your power?"

"Deception," said Zinc, looking at Sonic without blinking. "It taught me to lie."

Deception. Sonic thought of how deceptive Spark had been since he had come home, and of how the dragon had used his ability to alter his form. But wait .. shapeshifting was a Controller power, belonging to the green Chaos Emerald. Had the dragon tapped into the green emerald with the white?

Either way, it made little difference. When it came down to it, Sonic would be facing the power of the white emerald with the power of the green, the Controller, at his disposal. He looked at the closed door of his hut and wondered how Talon was doing.