Author's note: Sorry that this story isn't all that great, but I'll do my very best and hopefully get back to my other stories. In the meantime, here's another new chapter.
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 4: Crisis of a Chaos Emerald.
It has been a few days since the events that happened and while everyone knew that looking for the Iron Empire's base where Julius Robotnik was keeping Cream's mother and all of the Floral Forest Village's people prisoners was going to be difficult, they refused to let that get to them. Sonic, Tails and Amy have been made comfortable while staying at the Thorndyke Residence and they, Chris, his grandfather and servants did their best to cheer Cream up and make her comfortable. Fortunately, she was an easy kid to get along with so it was hard not to like her or Cheese the Chao.
Sonic had just helped clean up his Tornado and was now helping Tails to clean the New Tornado with the aid of his speed, with the young fox holding out a hose while the blue hedgehog scrubbed and cleaned every nook and cranny of the plane. Chuck was watching them, while Chris was at school, and Amy, Cream and Cheese were having a tea party.
"Don't forget the fins and wings, Sonic." Tails reminded with a smile.
"Roger that, buddy." Sonic replied with a thumbs up, cleaning the aforementioned parts of his best friend/little brother's plane as thoroughly as he could.
"You certainly have these planes sparkling." Chuck remarked. "No plane around here is ever this perfect."
"I like to keep the Tornado and New Tornado nice and clean." The seven year old fox replied.
"Tails is the only pilot I know that keeps these babies shiny. Not that my Dad and I don't do it, but sometimes he takes after Mom when it comes to cleaning." The fourteen year old hedgehog said half-teasingly, only for his adoptive brother, a bit annoyed but knew the hero was only half-joking, to aim the hose at him and the next thing Sonic knew he was drenched and showered full of water. "Hey!"
"Oops. I aimed wrong. My bad." The young fox teased. He was aware that his brother didn't like water, but the cobalt hedgehog wasn't that bad.
"You almost drowned me!" Sonic exclaimed a mocking accusation, before grinning as he hopped off the wing and approached his brother. "Just for that, you're getting a head-noggin, young man."
"You wouldn't dare!" Tails exclaimed mockingly.
"I would! C'mere!" The blue hedgehog grabbed hold of his best friend, and playfully nogged him on the head while the two were careful with the hose.
"Ha ha ha ha! S-stop! I can't take it! Ha ha ha ha ha!" The two-tailed kit laughed, mocking a plea while trying to get out of Sonic's grip as the older Mobian laughed as well.
Chuck watched the two Mobian boys play with a fond smile, muttering to himself. "Those two are as close as real brothers."
At the small tea party table, the girls were having delicious tea and sweets of fresh baked cookies which Cheese was happily eating.
"Do you like it?" Cream asked her little Chao who nodded. "I'm really glad."
"It's such a beautiful day, the perfect weather to have a nice tea party." Amy remarked, politely sipping her tea and enjoying the cookies as well. "And Ella's cooking is delicious. Mine can never come even close, but then again I can barely cook to save my life."
"Maybe we can ask Ella to let us help her in the kitchen. My Mom always let me help." Cream suggested.
"That's a great idea, Cream. We can have cooking lessons together." The pink hedgehog agreed happily, making her newest friend smile warmly. It was amazing how the two girls have gotten on so well already. In fact, the youngest of the group was fitting along just fine and everybody liked her.
Yet unaware to the group, on top of the roof of the garage, a female white Mobian bat, about sixteen years old, wearing a sleeve-less jumpsuit with a heart-shape design on the chest, black wings and golden eyes with long white gloves was observing them, seeing the younger Mobians having a fun time, with Sonic and Tails ceasing their playing and finishing off cleaning the New Tornado, and Amy and Cream giggling away with Cheese offering the two girls a cookie each.
This bat is named Rouge the Bat, and she was mainly keeping her eye on both Sonic, and mostly Cream and Cheese with a sly smile on her face.
'So that's the famous hero of Mobius. Quite a handsome young hedgehog, but not to my taste. And that little girl...never thought anybody would have a Chao for a pet. Guess that means she's what those idiots are after.' Rouge thought to herself.
She knew what she had to do next.
Flying above Station Square was the Air-Force One, with the President of the United Federation as he was speaking with several of his aids over the situation that has happened in the last few days regarding to the mysterious men, Sonic's arrival and Dr. Robotnik's attack mostly in one day.
"Any more information on the terrorists?" The President demanded.
"From one the soldiers had spilled to us, sir, is that they call themselves the Iron Empire and given the recent events, they seem to be seeking out the little rabbit girl who arrived all by herself with the Chao before being saved by Sonic the Hedgehog and his other friends, who are listed as Miles Prower who is called Tails, Amy Rose, and Knuckles the Echidna, the last of his kind." One of the aids explained.
"Well, where are they?" The man in charge asked.
"According to Agent Rouge, with the exception of the echidna, Sonic and his friends are staying with a family in Station Square along with the child. Our agents have yet to fully find the Empire's base, but we have discovered Dr. Robotnik's on an island somewhere in the Southern Sea." The aid reported, having gotten an update from Rouge a short time ago.
The President sighed impatiently. "I hope that agent thief was legit to her words. Nevermind. Hero of Mobius or not, I want that hedgehog brought in for questioning, and bring that little girl and her Chao to be put under the child's care foster home until we know where her family is."
"With all due respect, sir, Sonic never has done anything wrong, and from what Rouge has told us, the girl seems to be quite happy to be under his and the others' company. Perhaps it's best to keep them under surveillance so we can observe their behavior and let the child stay with them for the time being. It is Robotnik and the Iron Empire we should really be concerned of the most." The aid pointed out.
"We have already sent out a reconnaissance team, Mr. President. We'll be sure to report back any suspicious activities." Another Aid continued.
"And the Mobians?" The President questioned.
"We have dispatched an undercover agent to gather information on the boy of the family, sir."
"Good." The President finally nodded. "Keep me updated with the results. Also, keep an eye on the girl and her Chao. She cannot be allowed to attend any public activities without supervision and if the situation with the Iron Empire gets worse, she is to be placed under supervision base and her Chao to be placed in Area 99 as it seems that thing is what they are after."
"Yes, sir." The aids responded.
At Chris' school, the twelve year old boy and his friends along with the other kids were waiting for class to start, some of them talking about what has happened including the heroics of Sonic the Hedgehog.
"I'll bet Sonic is so fast that those bad guys will never catch him. It would be so cool to meet him for real!" A dark-haired boy, Danny, who was one of Chris' friends, was saying to a ginger-haired girl with freckles, named Frances who nodded.
"I'll bet you're right." Frances replied in excitement, gazing at the other boy and asked. "Chris, do you think we'll get a chance to meet that hedgehog?"
Chris, nervous as he hasn't told his friends that he has actually met Sonic already, saving the teenager's life and had experienced his first action adventure in Floral Forest Village with the blue hedgehog and Tails, pretended to pay attention to his book before gazing over to his friend.
"Huh? Oh, I don't know. If we're lucky, then maybe. But you know how fast he is. It'd be hard to even ask him for an autograph." He replied, hoping that his voice didn't betray the tone that he was lying.
"Children, may I have your attention?" All of the students looked up to see, to their surprise, not only was the principal there yet their usual teacher wasn't, there was an unfamiliar younger man with blonde hair and glasses wearing a blue jacket standing next thim. "I'd like to make some brief announcements to you all. Your teacher, Miss Westerly, will be taking a leave of absence. Therefore, she will not be with you for the remainder of the semester."
Chris, Danny and Frances were quite surprised and shared a glance while the rest of their class whispered among themselves of this sudden change before they were kindly silenced and turned back to the principal who continued. "Please say hello to Mr. Stewart, who will be your substitute."
"Hello, children." Mr. Stewart greeted with a smile.
"Hello, Mr. Stewart." All of the children chorused in greeting, yet the 'teacher' was keeping an eye on Chris, which in reality the man is actually a spy to keep watch on the twelve year old who had connections with Sonic.
"He looks really nice, doesn't he Chris?" Frances remarked in a whisper.
Chris just stared, wondering what was going on.
Later after school, all the kids were heading for home while Chris was waiting outside for Danny, calling out to him. "Danny, c'mon! Hurry up!"
"Okay, I'll be there in a minute!" His friend waved.
"Christopher Thorndyke?" A man's voice spoke behind the young boy who flinched slightly in surprise, and turned around to see that it was his new substitute teacher, Mr. Stewart, who continued kindly. "The Principal has told me your name, and, I was wondering if you were the same young man who is the son of the the CEO of the starship software company Nelson Thorndyke and famous movie actress Lindsey Fair."
"That's me." Chris replied, blinking in slight confusion.
"Well, I must say Christopher, it's a privilege to meet the son of such distinguished parents." Mr. Stewart said, holding out his hand to the boy who, seeing no harm in this, shook it.
"Thanks. It's very nice to meet you and for you to say." The twelve year old replied.
"By the way, this might sound strange, but do you have a favorite animal?" The teacher asked curiously.
"Oh, uh...hedgehogs, I guess. Probably because of the cool famous hero Sonic the Hedgehog. Is that weird?" Chris asked, trying to hide his nervousness as Mr. Stewart seemed to look quite interested.
"No, not at all." Mr. Stewart replied, smiling only for Danny to call out to Chris as the other boy ran up to him.
"Chris, c'mon let's go." The other twelve year old boy gestured.
The young Thorndyke nodded and bid farewell to Mr. Stewart, running off with his friend and unaware that the 'teacher' was keeping an eye on him for the entire time.
Meanwhile, at a construction site at the far side of town, where work was being done for a new department store, many of the machinery were doing the usual work of making sure things were going just fine, the workers unaware that as the ground was being dug up, one of the cranes that were digging had unearthed a green glowing gem, which was none other than one of the seven Chaos Emeralds, having hidden itself there after the failed attempt to teleport the Master Emerald.
As the tip of the crane touched the powerful gem, all of the sudden it's power began to cause the machine to go out of control, glowing which caught the attention of the workers who all cried out in shock, wondering what was going on.
The man inside the crane was just as shocked, before the controls began to move by themselves and soon enough it did as well. "Hey, what's happening here!?"
The crane then moved forward and began digging at anything and everything, causing everyone to move out of the way.
"Help! Help me! I'm losing control!" The worker screamed out as he tried and failed to regain control of the machine, which began to pick up a truck while smashing the windows, forcing the driver inside, who screamed, to jump and leap out, landing on the ground as he watched on in shock.
The workers screamed and scrambled to safety until finally the crane got stuck into a pile, causing it to topple over and the driver was launched out, landing on the ground before it came to a stop. The men hurried over to help the traumatized man up, as he looked as pale as a ghost.
"Hey, are you alright? What the heck just happened?" One of the workers asked, worriedly.
"I-I don't know." The shaken worker replied. "All of a sudden, that thing had a mind of it's own...!"
All of the construction workers gazed at the crane, backing away to safety while the Chaos Emerald continued to glow slightly.
At Thorndyke Mansion the next day, Cream was in the living room happily reading a children's storybook about a princess with Cheese sleeping beside her, even though the young girl was starting to fall asleep herself as she had been enjoying the story so much that she read it at least five times, beginning to doze off by the sixth time when the news broke out on TV as she had also been multi-tasking by watching a children's TV show.
"In this shocking report, an unusual gem stone was discovered today at a department store construction site. Eyewitnesses at the site report the construction machinery seemed to malfunction whenever it came within close contact of this strange jewel. The stone does appear to be radiating an invisible, highly-charged energy. Now some of you watching at home may be experiencing some static. This is a direct result of the gem's magnetic power." Scarlet of the SSTV News said on the channel.
Cream was about to drift off into dreamland when the book dropped onto the ground which instantly startled her awake. When she looked at the channel while attempting to wake herself up, she noticed the unusual gem glowing and, while she never saw it again, she absorbed what the news said and recalled what Amy told her about the Chaos Emeralds.
"Each Chaos Emerald is filled with a magical power. So you could imagine what would happen if you found all seven of them." Amy explained.
"Is that...what I think it is?" The young girl murmured in awe, wondering if it was the Chaos Emerald that was found by the people of Station Square. It also got the attention of Cheese who was also startled awake and, also remembering what their new friends have told them, flew up to Cream and began squeaking.
"Chao, Chao! Chao!" Cheese squeaked, tugging his friend's dress.
"We'd better tell Mr. Sonic!" Cream declared, leaping off the couch and raced outside, with her Chao close behind.
Outside near the mansion, Sonic was lying on a tree branch having been sleeping himself, before he woke up and stretched with a smile. "Pretty good nap. I needed that."
"Mr. Sonic!" Cream cried out, causing the fourteen year old to glance down and saw the young girl race up to him. "I must tell you something!"
"What's up, Cream?" The blue hedgehog asked, sliding down the tree as his newest friend approached him.
"I think one of them's been found!" The young rabbit exclaimed.
"One of what's been found?"
"A Chaos Emerald! It must be a Chaos Emerald, Mr. Sonic."
"Say what? But how?" Sonic asked, surprised.
"Um, I don't know, but the News said that a gemstone with magical powers was causing all of the machines at the construction site to act all weird. Nobody knows what it is." Cream explained.
That made the teenage hero instantly sense that the little girl was confirming what he thought and nodded. "That sounds like a Chaos Emerald alright. Where is this construction site?"
"I'm not sure. Sorry." The five year old murmured, only for Sonic to gently ruffle her by the ears.
"It's okay. I'll just ask Mr. Tanaka or Chuck on where this place is. You stay here with the others 'till I get back." The cobalt hedgehog reassured. His new youngest friend nodded with a soft smile which he returned.
However, even with the recon squad spying on Robotnik's island, the evil scientist, still reeling from the discovery that his murderous brother Julius is the leader of the Iron Empire, managed to recover enough to also watch the news that located the Chaos Emerald, much to his delight as the emeralds were still on his agenda.
"Well, what do you know? A Chaos Emerald right under my nose." Robotnik chuckled evilly. "I'd better go retrieve it before either Sonic or Julius get their hands on my precious item."
"Doctor?" Decoe spoke up.
"Yes, Decoe?" The evil scientist questioned, seeing that the yellow robot was holding out the same tray of cards as a few days ago. He takes the stack and looks through them. "Hm, let's see...Which one? It's hard to pick."
Deciding to cheat a little(which he is known as a cheater most of the time), Robotnik went over to the slot machine and pulled the lever after placing the cards in, revealing a yellow and purple robot.
"Beacon! AH HA HA! Excellent!" Robotnik cackled as he stood with two thumbs up.
Minutes after getting things ready and summoning his robot named Beacon, which was a large bird-shaped robot which took to the skies away from the base, with the mad doctor close behind in his Egg Mobile, unaware that the squad team, military forces of GUN which was the highest military of Mobius, saw the evil man and his robot.
"Target located, heading towards the city." One of the agents reported.
Still unaware that he was about to be followed, Robotnik laughed to himself. "Once I get my hands on that Chaos Emerald, I'll create an even more powerful robot and getting rid of that pesky blue hedgehog will be a breeze! Then once I get all seven, I'll prove to be the most powerful man in the planet that it'll be Julius' turn to be afraid of me!"
As Robotnik and Beacon made their course towards Station Square, they were being secretly spied on by one of the small robots of Julius' creations that was cleverly disguised as an actual fish with a hidden camera, footage being shown back to the other evil Robotnik who was watching along with his men in the Underwater city. After a few days of failing to get into the city without the risk of having more men captured, Julius decided it was best to wait until things settled down.
Especially when he also saw the news of the Chaos Emerald's location.
"It seems Dr. Ivo Robotnik is heading towards the city, sir. He's after the Chaos Emerald spotted in the construction site." One of the soldiers reported.
"And they're being followed by the military forces." Another one added. "Should we go after them?"
"Negative." Julius answered darkly, sounding furious yet cautious which surprised his army. "We cannot move in with the military in place, plus Dr. Ivo Robotnik on the loose and as Sonic has proven himself to be a problem, we must stay low until the time is right."
"When is that, sir?" The first soldier asked, curiously.
Julius grinned wickedly that was just as evil as Robotnik's. "When either one have all seven of my precious gems. But we will still attempt to capture the girl and the Chao."
Back at the Thorndyke Mansion after Sonic left to find the construction site and get the Chaos Emerald before their enemies did, both Tanaka and Cream explained the situation to Chuck, Ella, Tails and Amy while the latter two were now boarding the New Tornado to find and join Sonic to find the gem.
"Be careful, Mr. Tails and Miss Amy." Cream said, worried about her new friends. "Please don't get hurt."
"Don't worry, Cream. We'll be okay." Tails reassured as he started up the New Tornado.
"I hope Sonic knows where he's going. If he gets lost, we won't know where to look for him, and it was hard enough to find him when he found us." Amy stated in concern, before pouting as she folded her arms. "Still unbelievable that he went off to find it without telling us!"
"Sonic will be okay." The two-tailed fox replied. "If anybody can find the Emerald, it's him. And if he can't, he'll just wait for us."
"Good luck, and be sure to keep an eye out on Sonic." Chuck called out the moment the two took flight towards the city, while thinking to himself. "I certainly hope they can find the Emerald."
Sonic had been racing through the streets to find the construction site on where he could find the Chaos Emerald that caused the machines to malfunction, following Tanaka's directions with the map of the city in hand in case he got lost...which finding said location was easier said than done. He leaps from one gap of the buildings to another, before jumping onto a red bar to the structure of a building, scanning the town.
"Man, you'd think with the map it'd be easy to find the place. Maybe I should wait for Tails and probably Amy for a better birds-eye view." The blue hedgehog said to himself, scanning the area.
Just then, he heard a child's laughter that sounded strangely robotic behind him and turning around in confusion, the teenager blinked dumbfounded when he saw an unfamiliar dark purple robot, about Tails' height, flying on a jet back with a green over-back, landing in front of him. It was Bokkun.
"Hi! Are you Sonic the Hedgehog?" Bokkun greeted.
"Yeah, that's me. Who or what are you?" Sonic replied, instantly suspicious over this kid-like robot and wondered if this was another trap set by Robotnik.
"My name's Bokkun. I'm a messager bot of the Robotnik Empire." The small robot introduced himself.
That set the cobalt hero on edge as he stood in defense. "Robotnik, huh? As in, Ro-butt-nik?"
"Hey! Don't you call him that! Dr. Ivo Robotnik is the best scientist in the world!" Bokkun yelled angrily.
Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember seeing you before. You must be one of his new robots to fight me."
That made Bokkun quite annoyed. "I said I'm a messenger bot, not a fighting robot. And speaking of messages, I've got one just for you from Dr. Robotnik himself. So pay attention!"
While Sonic gritted his teeth as he knew that this had to be some sort of trap just to distract him, especially since Robotnik was probably one his way here to steal the Chaos Emerald by now, Bokkun pulled out a small yellow retro-tv like device and turned it on, which began the message that revealed Robotnik's face.
"Hello, Sonic. As you well know, I am not through with you. This is just a test message in case you get in my way." Robotnik said in the message while Sonic glared at him. "Oh, and this is a little demonstration of a new little game of Smoke-Hog! Ha ha ha ha ha!"
As soon as the message was done, the hovering TV soon began to spark and fizz which made the blue hedgehog gap in worry and growing fear, as Bokkun started leaving and laughing. "Have a nice blast, Sonic!"
"What!?" Sonic exclaimed, only to scream as the message-box exploded while the naughty Messenger-Bot flew away, cackling.
The smoke cleared while the blue hedgehog coughed as he was covered in soot, coughing out a puff of smoke from his mouth. He was dumbfounded over this new unsettling arrangement Robotnik has set up between the two of them, before the teenager groaned and shook off the soot to clean himself up.
"Well, if Buttnik wants to play at that, then I'm gonna play something new to that creep!" Sonic declared. "Or at least come up with a new nickname he'll learn to hate so much."
Around the time before Sonic met Bokkun, Robotnik and Beacon were heading towards the construction site and over the ocean when his radar picked up four blips heading towards them. Puzzled, he looked over his shoulder and saw the GUN missiles aiming to destroy them.
"Well, I do believe that someone is following me. This could be fun." The evil scientist laughed to himself instead of panicking, before saying to his robot. "What do you say, Beacon? Let's sink the vinks!"
Beacon flew over and tricked the missiles into following it, flying around until it turned at the last possible second avoiding the water, while the missiles, not having the same coordination, exploded harmlessly in the water and protecting Robotnik from his untimely demise.
"How do you like them apples? You foolish flyboys thought you could pull one over on the good doctor, didn't you!? Well, I guess the bad doctor proved you wrong!" Robotnik laughed as he and his robot continued towards Station Square, still not aware that Julius' spy-bot had seen the events and had unfortunately met it's demise when the missiles exploded.
In Julius's city, the man in question hissed in fury that his brother's robot managed to trick the missiles into destroying each other and unknowingly cutting off the feed.
"You think you're still more clever than I am, Ivo? Well, fear not, brother. I will get you yet, and Sonic the Hedgehog too!" Julius growled, angry that Robotnik was still outranking him even after twelve years of disowning each other.
At Chris's school, Mr. Stewart had finished working on the maths problem and told the class to try it out for themselves. While most of the students did, Chris, with a bored expression, turned to gaze out of the window only to blink in surprise to see the New Tornado fly by, and despite being told not to go out and do anything dangerous, feeling useless back at Floral Forest Village, he felt the urge and need to help Sonic and the others find the Chaos Emeralds as well as locating any clues on finding Cream's mother.
"What are you looking at, Chris?" Frances asked, puzzled.
"Er, um...'Scuse me, Mr. Stewart." Chris stood up, feeling bad for ditching class but felt the need to help out his new friends. "I'll be right back. I gotta do something."
Without waiting for a response and ignoring Danny's calls for him, he raced out of class and secretly hurried to leave school, unaware that Mr. Stewart, curious on what Chris was seeing, told the class to keep working and that he'll be right back himself. The spy in teacher disguise hurried to secretly follow the boy and see what the child was up to.
After gathering his things, Chris was skating his way to where his Mobians friends were going, hoping to help to get the Chaos Emerald, unaware that Mr. Stewart was following him in his car, hoping to not lose sight of the boy.
Sonic was still racing his way despite getting lost again, he finally noticed the promising sight of the New Tornado and skid to a stop on the roof, waving at his best friend and self-proclaimed girlfriend.
"It's about time. You'd think they'd fly the Tornados a little faster." The blue hedgehog muttered to himself.
"Hey, Sonic! It's over there!" Amy called out, pointing at the direction.
"Sweet! Chaos Emerald, here I come!" Sonic cheered, once again leaping from roof to roof towards the location of the first Emerald. He then remembered the new message bot and called out to his friends. "Guys, quick warning! Ro-butt-nik's built a new message robot named Bokkun! A little black, kid-voiced dumbot with message TVs that explode!"
"Exploding message TVs?" Tails asked, bewildered.
"That new robot sounds more a brat!" Amy explained, quickly angered.
The fourteen year old hero chuckled, and teasingly asked. "You mean ro-brat?" That made his friends giggle at the rather lame joke.
Around the construction site, police cars, a huge crowd and the SSTV van with it's crew and reporter Scarlet were there for more information on what they didn't realize was the Chaos Emerald. As they were discussing on the unusual event, they then heard a noise and looked up to see, to their shock and horror, was Robotnik and the Beacon robot.
"Quick, get the camera rolling!" Scarlet exclaimed, and the cameraman did so. "It's Dr. Robotnik again!"
Everyone could only stare in horror as Robotnik came down, causing them to begin running away in fear, screaming. He smirked evilly.
Sonic wasn't too far as he saw the crowd running away, exclaiming. "What's going on here?"
The blue hedgehog looked to see that the answer was right in front of him, noticing his nemesis heading towards the spot where the Chaos Emerald was. He narrowed his eyes with a smirk at the sight of the evil man.
"Speak of an egg-shaped dumbo." Sonic snickered. "So, Dr. Buttnik thinks he can nab that Chaos Emerald before me."
He immediately went to fight his enemy and just as Robotnik was closing in on the Chaos Emerald, the evil man caught sight of the blue hedgehog at the corner of his eye and saw him running towards him.
"It's that blasted hedgehog!" Robotnik growled, then commanded Beacon. "Change of plans. We'll come back for our little treasure later on. First, we'll get rid of that meddling Sonic!"
The robot flew up ahead of the evil scientist as Sonic skid to a stop, dodging out of the way as Beacon attempted to attack him. The blue hedgehog landed near where Robotnik was and stared at him with a smirk, earning a death glare in return.
"Hey, would'cha look at that. A giant talking egg that was laid by a robot-chicken." Sonic taunted, his arms folded to his chest. "I got your message from your new ro-buddy Bokkun, which I didn't like the exploding part, so I'm gonna return the favor."
"Joke all you want, brat. That Chaos Emerald is mine!" Robotnik declared angrily.
"Whatever you say, Eggman." The blue hedgehog waved dismissively, then laughed as he realized he came up with a great new nickname for his enemy. "Hey, that's a great new nickname for ya'!"
"Eggman!?" The evil man exclaimed, feeling even more insulted now more than ever. "You little...! First Ro-butt-nik for over three years, and now it's this ridiculous and horrible Eggman!? That's an insult!"
Sonic snorted in laugh. "Yeah, well, you've gotten so used to Ro-butt-nik and Buttnik that it's finally starting to get boring. Not many ways to taunt ya' with that anymore. Eggman on the other hand, I can come up with tons more, especially since you're still shaped like an egg, and you called your ride there Egg Mobile. See, that it makes sense, don't you think...Dr. Eggman?"
Robotnik, now officially nicknamed as Eggman by the blue hedgehog, growled in fury before commanding his robot. "Beacon, get rid of that annoying rodent!"
Beacon flew in to attack just as Sonic sped up and leaped to attack, only to be caught off-guard as when they collided, he was hit hard and repeatedly pecked by the robot, causing him to scream and cry out as he couldn't find anyway to attack. Robotnik laughed in amusement before heading back to retrieve the Chaos Emerald, unaware that he was in for more complications.
"Sonic's in trouble! We have to get closer!" Amy exclaimed worriedly as she and Tails were flying into view and saw that her 'boyfriend' was in danger.
"It won't be easy, but I'll give it a try!" Tails told her, knowing that couldn't fire if he was in this distance and that he could hurt Sonic. So he flew in closer and began circling around to try and help.
"Now that our speedy little friend is out of the way, let's get back to our original plan, shall we?" Robotnik laughed, landing his Egg Mobile and hopped out. He lifted the cloth off and began digging through the dirt until he spotted what he was looking for, and grinned evilly.
But just as he was about to grab it, it was suddenly snatched way by a pair of bare hands that were a bit smaller, much to his shock.
"HUH!? Give that back to me!" Robotnik snapped, glaring at the back of 'Emerald Snatcher' who was none other than Chris, his back turned to the evil scientist.
"I can't believe it. I found the Chaos Emerald!" Chris exclaimed to himself, not hearing the evil doctor as he stared at the amazing gem in his hands. It only then that he felt a tap on his shoulder and looking over it, he cried out as Robotnik smacked his hand and snatched the Chaos Emerald. "Hey, that's mine!"
"Sorry, but not anymore. Besides, boy, you don't know how to use this this mystical gem." Robotnik said darkly, hurrying back to his Egg Mobile.
"But I found it first!" Chris angrily protested, chasing after him. He grabbed onto the side of the Egg Mobile that quickly took flight and the twelve year old held on to try and get the Chaos Emerald back.
"Get off, kid!" Robotnik shouted, trying to push the boy off, but the latter refused.
"But it's mine!" Chris yelled back, trying to reach for it.
"Let go of me, you pipsqueak!" The evil scientist demanded.
"Give that back, Ro-butt-nik!" The young boy shouted, struggling.
Robotnik growled, "So, you're one of Sonic's new friends? Only he would give you the idea over that insulting nickname! Now beat it!"
He shoved Chris off and flew away, unaware that the young human boy quickly held onto the bottom of the Egg Mobile, yet when Chris looked down, he felt a chill run down his spine as he saw just high up they were getting.
Back with Sonic, he was still struggling against the Beacon who was continuing to hit him all over the place that he couldn't land to safety.
"Hey! Knock it off!" Sonic yelled, only to scream when the robot smacked him so hard that he was sent flying higher that he was spinning. While attempting to reposition himself, he gasped with his eyes widening when he saw the robot actually open it's beak and began flying up to engulf him. "Uh-oh!"
'It's gonna eat me! Or bite me in half! Or just swallow me and trap me inside it's metal stomach!' Sonic thought, beginning to panic.
Before the robot could capture or kill him, the robot's head was being shot at by the New Tornado's attacks, forcing it to close it's beak and dive down slightly, while Amy called out the blue hedgehog's name. Sonic looked up and saw the promising sight of the plane with his friends closing in, and the pink hedgehog holding out her hand to help out.
"Grab on!" Amy cried, which her 'boyfriend' did so and the two latched hands, holding on.
"Thanks, guys! Great timing!" Sonic said gratefully. The trio turned back to the Beacon which began to recover, but sparked a bit due to being attacked by Tails, which the blue hedgehog then had an idea. "Amy, think you can toss me to that thing?"
"I-I'm not so sure, Sonic. I'm not strong like Knuckles!" The pink hedgehog said hesitantly.
"C'mon, Ames. You're stronger than you think! If you can swing super hard with your Hammer, I have full confidence you can swing anything!" The blue hedgehog encouraged with a wink.
Blushing over Sonic's encouragement, and knowing suddenly that it was their best shot, Amy nodded and telling Sonic to hold on, before awkwardly swinging the older hedgehog before tossing him so hard that he flew straight towards the robot. The hero of Mobius then Homing Attacked it and went straight through, while the robot soon quickly exploded while he landed safely on the street.
"Way to go, Sonic and Amy!" Tails cheered happily.
"We did it!" Amy cheered happily, while unable to believe that she managed to use her strength to help out Sonic, with the helpful words of encouragement and support.
"That wasn't so bad." Sonic chuckled to himself.
"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" Hearing a familiar boy's frighted cries for help, the blue hedgehog looked up and was horrified to see not only Robotnik in his Egg Mobile, but Chris hanging on for dear life.
"Oh no! CHRIS!" Sonic screamed out, mentally asking what his new friend was thinking, and without a second thought immediately ran to try and save him, all thoughts of the Chaos Emerald shoved into the very back of his mind due to the safety of those he cared deeply about being his top priority.
Tails and Amy both saw as well and hurried to try and save their new human friend as well.
Robotnik was busy admiring the green Chaos Emerald in his hand, pleased to have easily gained it before Sonic, that he was unaware that Chris, frightened out of his mind, began climbing his way up to try and retrieve the gem. Unfortunately, the evil doctor noticed and grinned before he began to tilt his Egg Mobile from left to right to shake the child off, laughing away while Chris tried to hold on until he lost his grip and screamed. Then he unexpectedly grabbed the nearest thing to prevent himself from falling...which was Robotnik's left mustache and tugged so hard that the evil man yelled in pain.
"AAAAAHHHH! OW!" Robotnik shouted, his eyes watering behind his glasses while Chris held on for fear life. "OW! OW!"
"I won't let go! Give me that Emerald!" Chris shouted, holding onto the evil man.
"You grubby little pest! Let go of my mustache!" The evil scientist growled, trying to shove the boy off as he was in agony.
In fact, he was so busy that Chris somehow managed to secretly snatch the Chaos Emerald, but was then forced to let go and the young boy fell screaming towards the city below.
"That caterwauling brat certainly was a handful. What's wrong with kids these days?" Robotnik muttered while straightening his mustache, only to noticed that his hands were empty. Void of his prize and he exclaimed in horror. "My Emerald!"
Chris continued falling as he screamed, realizing the stupid risky mistake he made and that he was about to crash to his death. Mr. Stewart, who was seeing the commotion, attempted to drive faster to save the boy and a pushed a button on his car which the roof opened up and the back seat inflated into a safety cushion. However, even as he drove faster and was certain he would save him, suddenly the blue blur that belonged to Sonic was faster and raced past the car, much to the agent's surprise.
"Chris, I'm coming!" Sonic cried out, leaping up into the air and successfully caught the boy in his arms, before landing on the road and sped away, relieved to have saved his friend and to his surprise, Chris was holding the Chaos Emerald. Deciding to lecture him later, the blue hedgehog sped off back for home.
Stunned in shock that the hero of Mobius had managed to save Chris, Mr. Stewart slowed to a stop and turned the backseat back to normal, smiling in relief as he saw that the teenage Mobian was indeed a true hero, having rescued the boy. Maybe there wasn't any need to be worried about the fourteen year old after all.
"Well, it's good to know someone else is looking out for the kid." Mr. Stewart muttered to himself with a smile, before remembering what he was meant to do and made a U-turn, adding. "Speaking of kids, I'd better get back to school."
That, and he would later give out his reports on what happened.
After everyone returned to the Thorndyke Mansion, with both Sonic and Chuck giving a guilt-ridden but determined Chris a lecture about risking his safety but also made compliments that he did the impossible, they all gathered as the young human boy was holding the Chaos Emerald in his hands. Now they and everyone else were gathered in the attic once more.
"All's well that ends well." Sonic declared, resting on the window sill.
"Wow! That means we only need six more, right?" Cream said excitedly.
"That's right, Cream." Amy replied happily.
Chuck, despite that he was glad that things have turned out well, muttered uncertainly. "I'm not certain we should keep it here. After all, it might have an effect on my equipment."
"No problem. If anything goes wrong with them, I can fix them." Tails volunteered.
"Alright. It's a deal." The old man replied.
"Okay, Chuck." The young fox replied, smiling happily which looked absolutely adorable.
As Chris handed the emerald to the two-tailed kit, the boy somely approached the blue hedgehog and muttered, his head down. "Um, Sonic? I'm sorry."
"Huh? What are you sorry for?" The fourteen year old asked, confused.
"Well, for losing the emerald, and..." The twelve year old trailed off.
Understanding what his friend meant, Sonic smiled and pointed out, giving him a thumbs up. "You got it back, didn't ya? That's all that matters. I think you did a great job."
"I did?" Chris asked, blushing bashfully.
"You sure did, Chris. Just be a little more careful next time." His grandfather replied, placing a hand onto his shoulder with a chuckle, to which Chris agreed.
"Besides, bravery isn't meant to goof off. It's following your heart and doing the right thing. You and Cream helped out today and I'm very proud of both of ya's." Sonic added.
"Huh? How did I help?" Cream asked, puzzled.
"Well, if you hadn't noticed the Chaos Emerald on TV, Eggman woulda gotten to it before we did. Plus you told me and described what it looked like, so that counts as helping out. Thanks, Cream." The blue hedgehog explained, making his youngest friend realize that he was right and she blushed with a giggle.
"Wait a second..." Amy muttered as she realized what her 'boyfriend' just said. "Did you just call Robotnik...Eggman?"
Sonic snickered in laughter. "That's his new nickname I'd come up with, right at his face, I might add. Besides, with two Robotniks now, I think Julius as taken that title from our resident mad doctor. Might still occasionally call him Ro-butt-nik, but from now on, that guy's called Dr. Eggman."
"Now can't tell which one suits Robotnik better." Chris chuckled, which prompted all seven of them in the room to laugh over Robotnik's newly rename.
Things were finally starting to look up.
A/N: One Chaos Emerald down, six more to go, yet the story is far from over. It is only just beginning, and starting with this episode, Robotnik's name is to be forever changed to Dr. Eggman.
See you later!