Author's note: Nothing much to say, so, let's continue onward!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 8: The Robotnik TV Scandal.
Days have come and gone since his humiliating defeat by Sonic who interrupted his battle against Julius who was probably laughing his head off for his embarrassing exit, Robotnik was now pushing a button as he plotted another evil scheme to take over Mobius. Placing the slot cards into the machine and pulling the lever, he waited as it revealed a massive green robot that was aerial and head the head of a bird.
"Ahhh ha ha ha haaa! Perfect! Not even Sonic can destroy this beauty!" Robotnik laughed, grinning evilly as he was certain that this time he will succeed, standing up and pumping the air with his fist. "Even my brother Julius is no match against Super Sweeper!"
Moments later, the E-90 Super Sweeper is moved to the side before being lifted into the air, as the hatch in the grass on the island opened up and the giant robot took off to the skies and into space. Which was noticed by a small robotic Seagull that was another creation of Julius who was seeing this through the scanners in his underwater secret base.
"Sir, Dr. Robotnik has launced a giant robot into space. I'm afraid we can only hack into the satellite systems for a better view." One of the Iron Empire assistance reported in the evil leader's office.
"What is that Dr. Eggman idiot doing now?" Julius grumbled, having no longer referring to his brother as a Robotnik, grudgingly coming to call him Eggman as Sonic had. "Nevermind. Hack into the system and see what that thing is capable of doing."
"Yes, sir." The assistant nodded.
In Area 99, the computer monitors began bleeping and as everyone tried to figure out what was going on, they picked up the signal of the Super Sweeper's appearance as it left the planet's orbit.
"What was that?" One worker asked.
"A rocket launch?" Another guessed, baffled.
"What's the report?" The leader demanded.
"An unknown object was spotted about five minutes ago. I'm afraid that's all we know, sir." One of the personals reported.
The leader growled as the satellite was viewing Mobius, making him realize that, given the reports that has been happening, either Robotnik or the Iron Empire are up to no good again and he wished he knew which one was it and what the latest evil scheme was. "Has it been identified?"
"I'm afraid not, sir. And our systems are being hacked, somebody's trying to look into it." The personal replied, making the leader growl.
In his base, Robotnik was watching the performance as he declared evilly with a nasty grin, "Well now, time to have a little fun, Super Sweeper!"
He wriggled his fingers before pulling a lever.
Up in space, the Super Sweeper was dangerously close to the satellites as it opened it's mouth, revealing a huge vacuum hose with the use of electricity.
In Area 99, the alarms went off which made the leader exclaim, "What's going on!?"
"Communications cut off. Sir, the satellite, it's..." The personal trailed off in shock.
"It's gone!?" The leader exclaimed in shock as he stood up, and the personal nodded. "This can't be happening! It's impossible!"
Back with the giant robot, the E-90 is sucking up and swallowing all nearby Satellites into it's body, cutting off all communications, including the one hacked into Julius' base which like in Area 99, the screen is left in static.
"That thing just swallowed up the satellites! Even we can't get through!" The assistant exclaimed in disbelief as the other Iron Empire Personal were left in stunned silence, and Julius growled angrily.
"Very clever, Ivo Eggman. But I will build something much more powerful than that over grown metal bird of yours." The Iron Leader hissed darkly.
In Robotnik's base, he was having a time of his life, chuckling to himself. "Just look at all my shiny new toys. Ah well, too bad I have to grind them all into robot parts! Who knew recycling could be so much fun? And cost-effective!"
As the last satellite available was getting closer, the Leader knew there was only one thing to do. "We've got to alert the president!"
Meanwhile, Sonic had just left Ferrel's home of the old Iron Empire base, was just running back to the Thorndyke Mansion and was nearly there when he noticed a familiar red figure nearby, and skid to a stop. There stood Knuckles who was quite annoyed with his arms folded to his chest, leaning against a tree.
"Yo, Knux!" The blue hedgehog greeted, gratefully surprised as he approached the echidna who looked up to him. "Didn't expect to see you back in town so soon."
"Yeah, well, unlike you, I'm still looking for the Chaos Emeralds. But so far, much to my irritation, no luck." Knuckles grumbled. "What have you been up to, slacking off?"
"No, I was out trying to find the Iron Empire's base again and for any kind of clues. So far, no Chaos Emeralds or any sign of those creeps either." Sonic shrugged, before smirking as he pulled out a blue piece of paper. "On the other hand, an old buddy of my Dad found this for me an hour ago and it might be useful in how to save Cream's mom and the villagers."
"Huh?" That got the Guardian's interest.
"I'm about to show it off to Tails and Chuck-not Uncle Chuck, but Chris' grandfather, and see if they can decipher this baby." The fourteen year old continued.
"Why can't you figure it out yourself, not that I doubt Tails' intelligence?" The fifteen year old asked.
Sonic simply opened up the paper, revealing it to be a blueprint...which as Knuckles stared at it, it was so complicated and somewhat faded that it was hard to even read the darn thing. The older teen sweat dropped as he then understood why the younger teen felt the need to rely on Tails and this Chuck person. Even Knuckles knew that Sonic wasn't for brains yet he wasn't that stupid either.
"You wanna come? You never know it could help you out and maybe each of us can find different clues related to this." Sonic offered.
As much as the red echidna hated to admit it, the blue hedgehog did have a point as neither one were anywhere near closer, except for the hero of Mobius who had a lot of explaining to do. But the stubborn part of him refused.
"I'll pass on that offer." Knuckles dismissively waved off.
"You're such a lone-wolf, you know that, right?" The cobalt hedgehog muttered, rolling up the blueprints and folded his arms. "But if that's what you want, it's your choice. By the time you find a clue, I'll find a billion."
"Ha! You just got lucky with this and the Chaos Emerald!" The red echidna scoffed, annoyed in being called a lonewolf. "I'm not stupid!"
"Well, do you at least have a place to stay? Me, Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese are staying at Chris' place 'till we find Mrs. Vanilla." The hero of Mobius shrugged.
"Chris is that human kid you're friends with, right?"
"Yep! Met him on my first day here." Sonic replied, smirking. "His grandfather and house helpers are nice people, too."
Even though he knew it was bait, and he didn't want to through another situation in being tricked like he had with Robotnik, Knuckles knew that this could take him forever and, well, maybe he should get some helpful advice from this.
"I'll stop by for a quick visit." He relented finally.
"Cool! Let's go!" The blue hedgehog replied happily, taking hold of his friend's wrist and sped off, causing the red echidna screaming in alarm.
At Chris' place, Cream and Cheese were watching the children's program the Next Show, and Mr. Tanaka was mowing the lawn. The two were happily dancing to the show's host and music with Chris and Tails sitting on the couch behind them.
"Hi! Snack time everyone!" Ella revealed herself and Amy, the two holding plates of apple pies, setting them onto the table. "Here we go."
"Ella showed us how to make homemade apple pie!" Amy declared proudly, her hands on her hips.
"I think our little Amy has quite a knack for backing." Ella commented, teasingly adding. "I just might be out of the job."
The pink hedgehog giggled. "Hey, Ella! Maybe Sonic would like some pie."
Tails stared at the pies and licked his lips hungrily, taking one of the pieces. "He can have the other one."
"No you don't! That pie's for Sonic!" Amy quickly snatched the plate from the two-tailed fox who, at the force of it, was accidentally flown into the tv with a cry of alarm. The moment he collided into it, the tv went into static, much to Cream and Cheese's dismay.
"Mr. Tails..." Cream began to tear up in disappointment. "You broke...Our TV!"
"Sorry..." The seven year old kit muttered.
"And that was our favorite program." The five year old rabbit girl muttered.
"Oops." The eleven year old pink hedgehog muttered, sheepishly.
"Don't worry, Cream. Maybe this will help." Chris suggested as he held up the remote, but when he tried to flip the channel and switch it back on, he was met with the same result, much to his confusion. "Okay, guess that didn't work."
"Now we can't watch our program!" Cream began to cry, which was heard by Sonic and Knuckles who had just arrived and heard crying.
The two teenage Mobians shared a glance and hurried over inside, the blue hedgehog opening the door and asked somewhat worriedly. "Hey, what's going on?"
Amy was now trying to comfort Cream while Chris and the others were surprised to see Knuckles.
"Hey Sonic, and, Knuckles!" Chris greeted.
"Oh, welcome back, Mr. Knuckles." Ella greeted, though she was a bit annoyed by the echidna departure days earlier.
"Nice seeing you again." Knuckles said.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Sonic asked, worried that something awful happened. He hoped that something didn't go horribly wrong.
"Cream and Cheese are upset 'cause the TV's busted." The twelve year old boy replied.
While he was relieved that it wasn't anything too drastic, the blue hedgehog asked carefully, "That's what they're crying about?"
"Uh huh." Chris nodded.
Amy groaned in dismay, "What do we do? Now I can't watch my cooking shows."
"Or Mrs. Thorndyke in the movie of the week." Ella added in dismay.
"Or the news." The cobalt hero muttered, though he didn't watch TV that often. He was more of an outdoor person.
"Or the martial arts matinee." Tanaka suddenly appeared in the doorway, scaring both Sonic and Knuckles who jumped in fright as the butler gave a slight glare into the room.
"Sorry, Mr. Tanaka." Chris muttered sheepishly, just as they heard laughter coming from outside, one that Sonic and even Knuckles recognized.
Coming through the window was Bokkun. This made Amy and Ella quickly move the pies as the small robot landed on the table. Everyone, remembering Sonic's warning about this messenger robot, backed away as Sonic and Chris pulled Cream and Cheese and hid behind the couch and Knuckles raised an eyebrow. The four hiding behind the couch peeked over, hesitantly.
Bokkun looked annoyed, "That was a disappointing welcome if you don't mind me saying so!"
"I remember you. You're Eggman's new messenger robot. What to you want, robot squirt?" The red echidna grunted.
"His name is Dr. Robotnik, not Dr. Eggman!" The small robot yelled, before pulling out a small tv from his bag. "Got a brand-new message for Sonic from the doctor himself, so listen up good!"
He turns on the TV and revealed Robotnik's face. "Greetings, my little warthog. Sorry it's been so long since my last message, but I've been such a busy little bee. Take a look."
The screen then switched over to reveal the Super Sweeper eating up the satellites, much to everyone's shock as Sonic and Chris shared an incredulous look.
"That thing's swallowing up satellites!" Tails exclaimed in shock.
"That crazy fool!" Knuckles growled angrily.
"And it's ruined our television reception." Tanaka grunted, his eye twitching in anger.
"Don't get any ideas, Sonic. After all, I'm only having a little fun. So stay out of it if you know what's good for you!" Robotnik shouted, which scared both Amy and Ella into hiding behind a pile of firewood logs, and it wasn't long before Tails hidden himself as well while holding out a pillow. "As we speak, my E-90 is floating above the stratosphere, collecting all matter of space junk. So that I can make more and more of my ever-so-helpful mechanical friends. Well? What do you say to that? Pretty soon you might be obsolete, Bokkun!"
That response apparently made Bokkun begin to cry, much to everyone's suspicions and confusion.
"What's E-90?" Chris asked, puzzled.
"I don't know, Chris, but I'll bet it's one of Dr. Eggman's robots. If I recall correctly, the stratosphere is a layer of air miles above us, as high as the sky itself. Only Mobians are capable of breathing in space." Tails responded.
"How do you know?" The twelve year old boy asked, surprised.
"I've been up in space a couple times before." Sonic spoke up, causing his newest friend to gaze at him. "It's when I went to the Death Egg three years ago. At first when I went up there, I thought I was gonna die, but all theories of Mobians being able to breathe in space is proved true. Pretty cold up there, though."
"Sonic and Tails are right." Chuck stepped into the room, having overheard the conversation. "It could be related to that of the Chaos Emeralds thousands of years ago."
Knuckles began to get a headache as he approached Bokkun, glaring at him. "You know what annoys me the most? A crybaby."
"I agree with him. We can do without you." Chuck added while the red echidna snatched up the small robot.
"No, put me down!" Bokkun pleaded as Knuckles and Chuck plotted on throwing him out of the window.
Sonic gasped as he realized what was about to happen and quickly cried out, "Knuckles, Chuck! No!"
Too late, Bokkun held up the TV which then exploded in the duo's face with Sonic and Chris closing their eyes, with the robot cackling cheekily. "Gotcha!"
Bokkun then flew away just as Knuckles and Chuck came back in, all charred and covered in soot with the red echidna looking just as annoyed and irritated. Both Sonic and Chris smiled at the two sheepishly.
"Tried to warn ya's." The blue hedgehog chuckled weakly.
"Looks like that robot's the bomb." Chris joked.
"Very funny." Knuckles and Chuck both chorused in annoyance.
The older man than continued to his grandson. "But this is serious, Chris. Robotnik's causing havoc, miles above anyone's reach."
"That won't stop me!" The red echidna declared after he shook off the soot.
"I bet one of the Tornados can get up there." Chris suggested, even though Tails folded his arms in concern with a frown.
Sonic noticed this and smiled at him. "Come on, Tails. Why not? I'm game! Let's go!"
Despite that he was worried, the young fox cub nodded in determination. "Okay, let's go!"
Sonic leaped onto the New Tornado's left wing while Knuckles took the right and Tails sat in the pilot seat, and before long the three Mobians took off to the skies to battle the Super Sweeper, as Amy, Chuck and Chris watch them take off.
"Good luck, you guys! We'll be waiting!" Amy called out.
While observing it all, Robotnik then noticed one little dot approaching his E-90 and to his shock, realized what it was. "Huh!?"
He then growled at commanded, "Super Sweeper, zap those meddlers!"
In the sky, the giant robot dove in and began firing lasers at the New Tornado which Tails made it dodge the attacks and Sonic and Knuckles held on. It wasn't until the blue hedgehog saw it's mouth open and gasped in shock that they were about to be gobbled up.
"Move in close!" Sonic shouted, and Tails flew the plane past the robot's mouth which closed.
"This thing moves fast!" Knuckles remarked.
"We moved too fast for it!" Tails added, flying above the giant robot which began firing more lasers at them but missed.
The blue hedgehog felt his heart hammer and wished that he sat in the back seat instead. As fun and exciting this was, even he had limits and not once had Robotnik's robots ever eaten him up without him doing so to his advantage before.
"I think that was too close!" The fourteen year old remarked, slightly relieved.
"Don't worry, I think I've got an idea! Hang on!" The seven year old said, and as the Super Sweeper attempted to fire bombs at them, he flew the New Tornado around it several times which forced the E-90 to twirl just to try and see them.
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Even just observing it was making Robotnik dizzy that it began to make his head spin, reminding him too much of a very fast Ferris Wheel or a roller coaster.
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Believing to have the advantage, Tails opened fire on the top of the body which caused an explosion which made a small fire but it wasn't enough to destroy it. The young fox did an 180 degree angle while firing at it's defenses again, forcing the E-90 to fly upward. At Sonic's command to stay on it, the youngest Mobian told him and Knuckles to hold on and flew after it, only for all three of them to scream as the giant robot threw a large steel at them, forcing Tails to move the New Tornado out of the way just as the Super Sweeper is getting closer to the stratosphere, which was what Robotnik had in mind.
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The evil doctor pulled a lever and from the robot it fired missiles at the trio, though they dodged it in ease and delight.
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"Let's put 'em up!" Sonic declared as he and Knuckles, who shared his smirk, readied themselves to finally join the fight. The two jumped off the plane and punched and kicked two missiles to destroy each other and each sent one back at the Super Sweeper, hitting it full on. "Yeah!"
"How'd you like that, huh!?" Knuckles taunted as he and Sonic landed back onto the plane with ease.
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However, Robotnik wasn't calling it quits yet. "You think you're so smart, don't you!? Super Sweeper!"
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Super Sweeper soared towards the New Tornado and opened up it's mouth, activating it's sucking power and began to try and swallow the plane, it's pilot and passengers. Tails tried hard to steer the plane out of range, but the power of the suck was too strong.
"It's sucking us in!" Sonic shouted, as he and Knuckles tried to hold onto the plane's wings and Tails pulled a lever hard, but neither of them can escape. Unfortunately for the blue hedgehog, he lost his grip when the told made him let go and to his and the others' horror, he was flown off and was flown backwards towards the giant mechanical monster.
"SONIC!" Tails and Knuckles shouted.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic screamed as he was about to be swallowed up by the robot, only to be caught by Knuckles who grabbed him by the wrist, stopping him from being sucked in.
"Gotcha!" The red echidna grunted, holding onto his friend with one hand and the wing of the plane with the other, using all of his strength to pull Sonic back to safety, and waited until the blue hedgehog held a tighter grip onto the plane's wings. "You okay?"
"Yeah!" Sonic nodded, panting a little at the close call. "Thanks, Knuckles!"
The two looked back and saw that the Super Sweeper almost had them gobbled up, the blue hedgehog narrowing his eyes while sweating nervously and his heart hammering ferociously in his chest. The guardian of the Master Emerald glared hard at the robot while the two-tailed fox began to panic as in his, and unbeknownst to him, Sonic's minds, they both saw images of them and Knuckles being swallowed up and captured with Robotnik declaring victory.
"Come on...!" Tails strained pleadingly, and finally he managed to pull himself and his friends out of the force and quickly flew away. But to their dismay, the Super Sweeper still intended on having them for lunch and flew after them.
"It's coming up behind us!" Sonic exclaimed with a sweat drop as he and Knuckles looked over their shoulders.
"That thing just won't quit!" The red echidna exclaimed in disbelief, sweat dropping worriedly.
"I know a way to shake it." Tails informed, having the New Tornado fly into the clouds.
Unfortunately, the Super Sweeper began sucking up the clouds and before long revealed the three young heroes who gaped in shock and bewilderment.
"No way!" The blue hedgehog cried out.
"I can't believe it! It's swallowing all the clouds!" The young fox exclaimed, and to make things worse, the engine of his beloved plane blew, causing smoke to appear on the front, much to his and the others' horror. "OH NO!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all screamed as they all began falling towards the ocean while the youngest of the group tried to get the engine back up and running and pull the plane back up before they would end up crashing to their deaths, and the other two holding on for dear life.
Thankfully, Tails managed to successfully get the engine going and pulled the plane back up, narrowly missing the water and flew back up, much to his, Sonic and Knuckles' relief as they all breathed a relieved sigh, making the decision to escape and head back home for now.
Later that night, Sonic was lying on the roof as he thought about what happened today that almost gotten him and his friends killed with a frown on his muzzle. The shaking fear of almost being eaten by the Super Sweeper and almost plummeting into the ocean to their watery death would've traumatized a normal person, but the blue hedgehog refused to let that get to him, as he had calmed down and tried to figure out how to destroy the giant robot without risking the lives of the people he loved.
He then came to a realization at the source of the problem.
In the garage, Tails had done his best to fix up the engine, but was very upset with how things turned out. Knuckles was nearby with his arms folded, more than disappointed with the outcome. Chris and his grandfather were there as well as they all talked about the situation.
"It appears our foe is more powerful than we thought." Chuck remarked with a concerned frown, as the young kit placed a hand onto the New Tornado with a sad frown.
"We can't just give up now. There's gotta be a way to beat that thing." The red echidna pointed out.
"Hey, Tails!" Sonic called out as everyone turned to see him having landed in front of the garage before stepping in, stating. "Problem is both the Tornado and the New Tornado are too slow. So, what you oughta do is soup your birdie up a little bit."
While Knuckles raised an eyebrow in confusion, both humans gasped in realization as even Tails realized what his best friend/older brother was talking about. He knew that Sonic wouldn't mind upgrading the Tornado, but Tails had built the New Tornado from scratch and, while the original Bi-plane was still in one piece, his own needed an upgrade and maybe now would be a good time to really give it what it needs.
"I could try. Maybe I could use the Chaos Emeralds, but there could be a problem." The two-tailed fox said thoughtfully and while the Guardian of the Master Emerald stared at him in shock, Chris and Chuck both looked confused as the youngest in the room continued. "It's all that energy. The Chaos Emeralds got huge amounts of energy. It would only take a tiny bit to run the Tornado, so all that extra energy wouldn't have anywhere to go. And that could be a real, big problem!"
"No way! You can't use the Chaos Emeralds just for that!" Knuckles immediately protested.
"Chill, Knux. Tails is nothing like Ro-butt-nik." Sonic attempted to reassure.
"Yeah, well, the energy is too strong for Tails' machinery, plus Robotnik has higher intelligence in using the Emeralds for his own evil deeds and we can't waste most of it's power just for one plane!" The red echidna argued.
"Are you saying that my li'l bro's not capable of thinking things through? He's way smarter than Eggman!" The blue hedgehog argued back, furious over the guardian's choice of words.
"Well, obviously Eggman out-foxed him!"
"We always won against him and we can do it again! We just need a little bit of a boost and if Tails thinks he can somehow use the Chaos Emerald without wasting the energy or causing his plane to blow up or whatever, then he can!"
"It's not the same as you transforming into Super Sonic!"
"I wasn't talking about transforming it into like me!" Sonic leaned in closer to his friend's face with a challenging glare.
"You're making it sound like it is because of your experience!" Knuckles leaned in closer.
"Oh yeah!? Like you're an expert on technology, ya' knucklehead!" The blue hedgehog snapped, as sparks began to fly between the two's glaring contest.
"I have a perfect excuse for it!" The red echidna growled.
"WILL YOU PLEASE STOP FIGHTING!?" Tails shouted at the top of his lungs, startling his oldest friends who jumped a little, while both Chris and Chuck nearly jumped out of their skin as everyone stared at the young fox with incredulous expressions. Neither Sonic nor Knuckles have ever heard Tails, who was usually sweet-natured and humble, to shout like that before.
A moment of pause.
"Thank you." The young fox sighed in relief. "Look, I get your worries and even I'm not convinced with my full abilities, but I don't want this to be turned into a huge argument between us, especially at a time like this."
"Tails is right. This is not the time for you two to be fighting." Chuck agreed firmly.
"This is serious, guys and yelling is not getting us anywhere." Chris added.
The two teenage Mobians cooled down and felt guilty for their bickering over Tails' behalf.
"I'm sorry, bro." Sonic muttered, his head hung slightly in a bit of shame.
"I'm sorry, too." Knuckles added, embarrassed to admit his misgivings.
Tails sighed, relieved that his friends had calmed down and nodded, before adding. "It's okay. Anyway, I do have another idea. We could install a backup engine. That way with two engines instead of one, the energy would have another outlet."
"Do you really think two engines could contain all that power?" Chuck asked, skeptically.
The seven year old fox cub shrugged, "If we want to beat Dr. Eggman, it's sure worth giving it a try. I mean, I did build the New Tornado from using the model design from the original Tornado, adding a few new features to make sure it wasn't just a replica."
"But to install that backup, you would have to rebuild the entire plane." The elder man pointed out in concern. "Are you sure you have the know-how to do that, Tails?"
Tails frowned, doubting his own skills in this situation. "Well, I've never done that before, but I'll give it a shot."
Sonic smiled, placing a comforting hand onto his best friend/little brother's shoulder as he said encouragingly. "You can do it, Tails. I know it!"
"Well, as long as you're careful with it, then I guess I can't stop you." Knuckles sighed, though he felt uneasy about this but knew that now there wasn't much of a choice.
"Come with me, Tails. I've got something that might interest you." Chuck gestured and despite the confusion, the young fox curiously followed the elder Thorndyke who lead him towards an elevator. "In fact, I'm certain it will."
The man lead the two-tailed kit into the elevator where they both descended and left Sonic, Knuckles and Chris behind for a little while. The two then emerged moments later into an unfamiliar large room that Tails had never seen before and he was quite amazed by it.
"What's this?" Tails asked.
"It's my secret laboratory." Chuck explained, turning on the lights which revealed the room better and it amazed the seven year old cub even further.
"It's amazing!" The young kit exclaimed in awe.
"I think you'll find everything we need." The human scientist said and with his young friend's nod, he pumped the air with is fist, declaring. "Now let's rebuild the New Tornado!"
"Yeah!" Tails cheered in agreement.
With that, the two great inventors worked on remodeling the New Tornado, going through the blue prints, using the tools needed as the young fox looked under the plane with his older human friend working on the front, and such.
Hours later as it was coming close to dawn, Tails was finishing up with the last of the wiring of the newly improved New Tornado.
"You've been working all night long, Tails. Why don't you take a break?" Chuck suggested.
The young fox however kindly declined. "It's okay. I'm almost done."
"Alright..." The elder man sighed, before taking his leave while the two-tailed fox continued working on finishing off the wiring.
It wasn't until he felt a soft, human hand on his shoulder with a familiar voice asking. "Want some help?"
Surprised, Tails looked to see that it was Chris who was smiling at him, before the boy told him how he can help.
The next morning, as Sonic woke up to watch the sunrise and marveling it's beauty, Knuckles was leaning against the tree nearby, sleeping. In the living room, after secretly helping out Tails, Chris was sitting on the couch with Amy, Cream and Cheese after having woken up and had breakfast. As they waited, they were greatly surprised to see the TV turn on.
But to their shock and horror, while it was working, all it showed was a child-like drawing logo dubbed as "ROBOTNIK TV" done by crayon. Then the evil scientist's face appeared, scaring the girls and Cheese who screamed and Chris who flinched.
"Good morning! It's time for the one and only Dr. Robotnik show! This program is coming to you live by a satellite, from a beautiful island in the southern sea!" Robotnik began, grinning.
"Hey, what's wro-!" Sonic leaped through the window after hearing his friends' scream and landed on the floor, only to notice and flinched in disgust. "Ugh! Eggman!"
"He's scary." Cream whimpered a little.
"He always is." Amy admitted, giving her youngest friend a comforting hug.
In his base doing the live recording, Robotnik was acting while Decoe and Bocoe were filming the man. "Today's show is brought to you by the amazing Super Sweeper, for a cleaner, safer stratosphere."
"Cue." Bocoe calls out, as the spotlight shines onto Dr. Robotnik who was holding a microphone.
"Who's the most brilliant scientist in all of Mobius? Why, it's me: Dr. Robotnik!" The mad doctor declared, twirling around as he jumped at the camera.
In Julius' secret hideout, he was attempting to control the satellites while going through his morning route of reading a newspaper, secretly hoping that everything was back to normal and drinking a cup of coffee. But when he saw his brother's new TV show, the twisted leader did a spit-take in shock, anger, embarrassment and disgust when he and his men saw 'Eggman' do such childish stunts.
"Too much like our grandfather, Ivo. Always childish, or so our mother told us." Julius growled in disgust. "You always were such an embarrassment."
Sonic and the others all watched on until they heard Tails call out the teenage Mobian's name and turned to see the young fox approach.
"Did ya finish?" The blue hedgehog asked.
"Yup, we sure did!" The eight year old kit replied with a bashful smile and giving his best friend a thumbs up. "Come on, I'll show ya!"
As Sonic, Chris, Knuckles(who had been woken up) Amy, Cream and Cheese gathered, Tails nodded to Chuck who opened the garage doors, revealing a brand new vessel that was unrecognizable but absolutely amazing. It was slightly bigger with four wings, looking like a mixture of a jet plane and a space ship, silver in colour with a hatch, new controls of modern design. The Mobian girls gasp in awe.
"Presenting the X Tornado!" Tails said happily.
"Pretty cool." Sonic remarked as he smiled at the new plane proudly.
"I gotta say, this is impressive." Knuckles admitted.
Meanwhile at the same time, the Super Sweeper once again took off into space to suck up more satellites, which footage of it was being viewed in Area 99 with the military seeing what was happening. Realizing that they had no choice but to counter attack and hopefully destroy it, they locked on to prepare for battle.
"Target locked on, sir." One of the personals reported, just as the giant robot opened up it's beak and powered on it's vacuum.
"Fire the laser!" The leader ordered.
The satellite fired multiple lasers at the massive machine, but to everyone's shock, it suddenly powered up a protective shield which caused the lasers to hit it harmlessly. Robotnik, who was seeing this, ordered it to do it's job and the satellite along with others were all then captured inside the giant robot.
"Let's shove off, Tails!" Sonic declared as he and his best friend prepared to climb onboard and get ready for their re-battle. Knuckles was about to join them when Chris came up to them, much to the three Mobians' surprise.
"Hey, Sonic. I was hoping if I could come too." The twelve year old boy requested.
Sonic frowned, as yesterday's events had been far too dangerous and he'd never forgive himself if his human friend got hurt or killed. "Chris, you can't come with us. You know the plane's only a two-seater."
"I thought..." Chris trailed off, feeling a bit disheartened.
Before the blue hedgehog could tell him no, Tails, feeling a bit sorry for Chris and having had an idea earlier, kindly interrupted as he gently scratched the side of his face. "Guess I forgot to tell ya. I made a couple of more changes."
To prove his point, the two-tailed fox pushed a button on his remote and to everyone else's surprise, more seats emerged which made the fourteen year old blink, while Chris explained hopefully. "I asked Tails if he could put in an extra seat. I hope you don't mind, Sonic."
Even though Sonic felt uncomfortable with this, everyone else waited for his answer until finally he admitted defeat and smiled, telling his human friend with caution. "Just so long as you don't get in the way, okay?"
"You got a deal." Chris replied happily, giving the teenager a thumbs up.
'This is a bad idea.' Knuckles thought to himself, but said nothing on that matter.
With that in mind, the four of them climbed into their seats and the engines began to run, with the X Tornado growing more wings, much to Amy's shock as her mouth gaped open in disbelief. With Chuck telling everyone to stand clear while pushing another button, the trees tilt to the side to make room for the plane. Chris sat behind Tails, while Sonic and Knuckles sat behind them. As the young pilot pulled the levers of the controls, the silver plane speed down the runway that it felt a bit like a rocket launching.
"X Tornado, take off! Here we go!" Tails announced excitedly, as the plane took flight for the first time. "Okay, get ready. We're about to enter X hyper speed mode!"
Two more wings expanded out from the plane and before the four of them knew it, the X Tornado gained more speed and they took off.
"WOOOO! Now we're talkin'!" Sonic cheered enthusiastically, loving this plane's speed already. It still wasn't as fast as he was, but this was a whole new level of flight-speed.
"T-This is an i-insane speed!" Knuckles screamed, a little scared as he clinging onto his seat with wide eyes as he wasn't used to a plane going this fast.
"I know!" Sonic said happily. "Isn't it great!?"
In Robotnik's base, Decoe and Bocoe noticed the X Tornado on the radar and their eyes widened in shock before they approached their creator with troubling news.
"Sorry to disturb you, Dr. Robotnik, but something's headed straight for E-90 and it sure is fast." The tall yellow robot said, pointing at the radar.
Rather than being furious, Robotnik instead rubbed his hands together as he knew it was Sonic's group and believed that those children still had no chance against the Super Sweeper. "But not fast enough! I'll teach them to sneak up on me! That hedgehog will soon be out of my mustache!"
The Super Sweeper, seeing the new plane, flew down and fired it's missiles at the group, with Tails driving the X Tornado to dodge the attacks.
"Let's do it!" Sonic declared as he and Knuckles jumped out of their seats. The two teenagers leap and jump onto the missiles while having the weapons destroy each other, and hoped onto the robot's back only to be shocked when it opened up laser cannons attached.
As the lasers opened fire, the two Mobians quickly dodged before the blue hedgehog had an idea, "I'll distract them, you take them out!"
"Got it!" The red echidna nodded.
"Hey, you! Can't catch me!" Sonic taunted at the laser cannons, and immediately ran to avoid the attacks as it focused solely onto him.
While this was done, Knuckles immediately raced over to the cannons and punched them rapidly with all his might which seemed easy for him as he was born with powerful strength, the opposite of the hero of Mobius. To their shock, more emerged and this time foced the Guardian of the Master Emerald to dodge the attacks and the two attempted to jump to get away, but that doesn't help either.
"Don't worry, guys! I've got your backs!" Tails called up as he flew over, and fired missiles of his own, destroying the cannons.
"Thanks, Tails!" Sonic called up as he and Knuckles smirked before they turned their attention back to the robot they were riding on in an attempt to destroy it.
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"SONIC!" Robotnik roared furiously. "I'll put an end to that hyperactive hedgehog!"
He pushed more buttons furiously to destroy the group.
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To the dismay of Sonic and his friends, more laser cannons emerged and fired at the X Tornado, forcing Tails to dodge them easily. Sonic and Knuckles then charged at the cannons, this time smashing into them with the cobalt hero's Spin Dash and the red guardian's powerful punches. They leaped up into the air as the explosion knocked them away but thankfully landed on top of the X Tornado.
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Back in the Thorndyke Mansion, Amy and the others were watching the whole thing as the pink hedgehog said lovingly, her hands clasped together. "Isn't Sonic the bravest?"
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Back at the air-battle, the X Tornado now flew underneath the E-90 before flying above it. Sonic attempted to jump on but lost his balance and cried out in alarm before holding onto the side of it, trying not to fall off. Knuckles attempted to punch it's back, but only managed to make a hole before being blown off of it, prompting the blue hedgehog to grab onto his wrist while the red echidna used his free hand to hold onto the robot as well. In the meantime more missiles fired at Tails who dodged it quickly.
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Robotnik snickered evilly with a sinister grin as he saw how helpless Sonic and Knuckles were. "Now try and top that!"
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Super Sweeper once again turns it's vacuum on and stretched out of it's mouth, aiming towards the two teenage Mobians who both glared at it, their hearts hammering as they knew it was about to suck them in. Sonic began to sweat nervously, fearing that he and his friend were about to be trapped inside the robot and to be taken to Robotnik to be killed or held captive.
"Here we go! Booster switch on!" Tails shouted, pulling a lever as the back of the plane moves, revealing another engine which roared to life and the X Tornado flies even faster just as the vacuum turns on, beginning to suck the blue hedgehog and red echidna in as they both held on as best as they could.
"Sonic, Knuckles, watch out!" The two-tailed fox yelled, firing more lasers which destroyed the vacuum, saving his friends' lives.
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This angered Robotnik even further. "THAT LITTLE TWO-TAILED BRAT! ALRIIIGHT! Wanna fight dirty!?" He pounds on more buttons in frustration as he tried to kill his enemies.
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A hunk to steal came out of the Super Sweeper who then flew upward to try and catch up, with Tails feeling confident that this time they can catch up. He flew up to catch Sonic and Knuckles who let go and landed onto the X Tornado, but they both began to shiver.
"Uh-oh...This is not good...!" Sonic began shiver, remembering how entering the stratosphere almost made him freeze up, but the heat from the Death Egg had actually kept him warm at the time. This time, though, even though he and Knuckles can breathe and both Tails(who can also breathe in space) and Chris were safely inside the X Tornado's cockpit with the hatch being air-tight, he was certain that he and the red echidna were going to be frozen.
"What's going on?" Chris asked, worriedly as he had held on and tried not to panic through the whole thing.
Tails, realizing one error that was about to cost them the battle and two of his friends, gulped nervously. "Oh no! The X Tornado's about to freeze up and while Sonic and Knuckles may be able to take the 50 below up here, I don't think we can!"
"Everything's A-okay!" Sonic attempted to reassure, trying not to freeze up.
"What do we do now?" Chris asked, worriedly.
"I don't know!" The seven year old kit cried out, panicking. "I can't open the cockpit! We need some kind power to boost Sonic and the X Tornado, but I'm not sure what to use and we can't risk in using the Chaos Emerald without overpowering it!"
The two wrecked their brains until Chris remembered something and reached into his pockets, holding up a sack before taking out a golden ring that seemed to vibrate with energy. "Maybe this would help?"
When Tails looked over his shoulder to see, his eyes widened as he recognized it, asking. "Where'd you get those Power Rings?"
"I found it in the day before I saved Sonic from drowning. I didn't know what they were, so I thought I'd show Mom and Dad, but he told me to keep them in case of emergencies." The twelve year old boy explained.
Flash-Back:
As Sonic and Chris entered the latter's bedroom after drying off, the boy showed off the rings into his hand, much to the former's surprise.
"Whoa! Power Rings? Where'd you get those?" Sonic asked, stunned with awe.
"I found them on the ground during the school field trip before coming home this morning. I was gonna show Mom and Dad since I didn't know what they were and thought maybe they belonged to someone." Chris replied. "They were all over the ground scattered."
The blue hedgehog stared in awe, before saying. "My suggestion would be to keep them in case of emergencies. Those Power Rings hold limited power to make Mobians either stronger or faster or even both. If they're in the wrong hands, even if they're limited, it'll still be dangerous, but they can also be used as money as you might know."
"Uh...Sure, okay." The human boy shrugged, confused as he didn't understand what Sonic meant.
End of Flash-Back:
Tails stared in awe after Chris explained it before he had an idea, remembering how Chuck mentioned that they needed to find a way to burn off the Chaos Emerald's energy. "That's it! I've got an idea. Listen carefully, Chris. Place two of those rings to the yellow cable underneath the seat."
Blinking as he wondered how that would help, Chris noticed more lasers about to be fired at them as Sonic and Knuckles were beginning to freeze up the closer they and the X Tornado was getting into the Stratosphere, before he quickly did as he was told, quickly connecting the rings to the yellow cable. To their surprise, the power of the Rings began to spark and warm up the vessel, melting off the ice that began to form and the two teenagers outside felt the same warmth, but Sonic felt it the most.
"What the...the Power Rings?" Knuckles muttered, shocked.
Sonic smirked, closing his eyes as he knew that he had used one ring before to boost his speed, but that was only just a little bit as he had been told that he had the ability to absorb them to give him the extra boost, yet never once tried it. Now he knew that the time has come to test it out, and it felt like absorbing just one power of the Chaos Emerald. The blue hedgehog stood up full of confidence as they reached the stratosphere, and not freezing even the slightest.
"Watch out, Ro-butt-nik! I'm all warmed up!" Sonic declared, now surrounded by a blue aura, with Chris and Tails cheering.
"I'll give ya' another boost!" Knuckles declared, smirking.
"Okay!" The younger teen gave him a thumbs up.
The older teen grabbed hold of Sonic before tossing him upward towards the missiles that were fired at while Tails flew up faster. The blue hedgehog then curled up as he performed his Homing Attack, more powerful than before and then spun himself right into the Super Sweeper's beak where it had remained open before the robot's mouth closed shut, apparently swallowing him up and trapping him. Unfortunately for the robot, this gave Sonic the freedom now to smash it from inside out since the vacuum had been destroyed. In a matter of seconds, the E-90 was soon turned into a scrap metal and exploded, while Sonic flew out safely and unharmed, freed and victorious.
Tails, Knuckles and Chris all cheered on before they flew back down to Mobius and Sonic was free falling before landing onto the plane's wing safely, holding on and the four friends shared a thumbs up, with the teenage hero winking at his best friends.
Back at the Thorndyke Mansion, due to the Super Sweeper's destruction, Robotnik's satellite was gone and thus the signal was once again in static, and while everyone inside were happy that Sonic's group won, they were disappointed that they were once again without a reception.
"Guess I need to call the cable guy." Tanaka muttered.
Inside the Iron Empire base, Julius and his men saw what has happened before they too lost the signal and they all groaned.
"Well, at least the Robotnik TV is now permanently cancelled." One of the Iron Empire soldiers shrugged with a sarcastic smirk.
Julius on the other hand, growled darkly over the blue hedgehog's victory. "That Mobian child is stronger than he looks. Especially with determination. The only way to get to the little girl and her Chao is to kill Sonic once and for all."
He just had to come up with a plan on how to get rid of Sonic, gain the Chaos Emeralds as well as Cream and Cheese.
Back at home about an hour later, while Sonic wasn't in a bad case of having a frost bite and did take a nice warm shower to warm up despite still feeling chilled, he was wrapped in a blanket for extra warmth, seemingly about to fall asleep, while Knuckles was also wrapped in a blanket, not having been able to absorb the power of the Rings and thus his feet were being soaked in a tub of hot water, and sneezed.
"Ugh...I hate the cold." The red echidna grumbled.
"At least we weren't frozen solid." The blue hedgehog pointed out, as he felt like he wanted to go to bed.
"I'm amazed you had these blueprints with you, so it should give us a clue on how the Iron Empire operates." Chuck remarked as he studied the blueprints that Sonic had brought out not long after the teenager came back into the living room.
"I would've shown ya's yesterday, but Eggman happened." The fourteen year old shrugged.
"Sonic, Knuckles." Ella spoke up as she carried a tray with two bowls full of hot warm soup. "I made my caliente chili for you. These'll make your tummies nice and warm."
"You and Mr. Knuckles saved the day again, Mr. Sonic." Cream said happily.
"Chao, Chao!" Cheese added.
"It wasn't us, Cream. We just helped out this time." Sonic shook his head, turning his gaze to the two younger boys in the room while continuing proudly. "Chris and Tails are the ones that did it. They're the real heroes."
"Yeah, if it weren't for them, we would've lost by now." Knuckles admitted, prompting both Tails and Chris, surprised by the compliment of their own heroic deeds, smiled and shared a high-five with a cheer.
"Let's celebrate!" Amy suddenly proclaimed happily as she came through the doorway, and as everyone turned to her, they saw that the pink hedgehog was holding a tray full of colourful and beautiful ice cream in bowls. "I've made this ice cream myself, for the coolest guy around!"
Sonic stared in slight fear and embarrassment, before shrugging with a nervous grin. "Wow...Cool."
It has been such an eventful few days, but Sonic was glad that things once again turned out alright and for once he couldn't wait to catch a bit of a break. Because who knew what more adventures awaited for him and his friends.
A/N: I hope this chapter was slightly okay, but I'll try to make it up for it in the next episode.
See you later!