Author's Note: A new episode of Sonic DX Adventures has arrived, with more characters coming your way! Happy reading!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 17: Case of the Kidnapped Hedgehog!
Somewhere in the fields about an hour and a half away from the ruins of Floral Forest Village, near the forest was a small looking house with a red roof that was two floors up, with a sign hanging above the front door saying, "Chaotix Detective Agency".
Inside it at the first floor revealed to be the main office were two Mobians: A large green crocodile wearing black headphones, a golden chain around his neck, white gloves with golden cuffs and black shoes, was reclining in his chair with his feet on the table and his hands behind his head, and a purple chameleon with white gloves and dark shoes, who was meditating on a pillow as though nothing would disturb him.
Their names were Vector the Crocodile and Espio the Chameleon, and they were waiting for their third, and youngest member of the team to return from an assignment. They were known as the Chaotix, detectives who solve mysteries through cases of crimes or disappearances...Even though they are not financially well-off.
Mainly due to the crocodile head of the team had a bit of generous but bad habit of donating their cash for charities. So they're always almost completely broke.
Eventually, Vector groaned loudly in irritation and leaned forward, yelling. "Leave it to Charmy to take his own sweet time getting here!"
"I see you've got more important things to worry about." Espio responded, briefly breaking out of his concentration. "Like, what has happened to the people of Floral Forest Village? Who was behind the attack? Where did all of the residents go?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, Espio. I'm just as worried as you are! The first thing we know was that it wasn't just any old out of control fire. Somebody must've done this. Broken parts of machinary, small as they are, are the first clue into all of this." The crocodile shrugged, sighing. "And for that, everybody there must've been kidnapped."
"Hmmm...And not just Mobians, but also Mobinis as well." The purple chameleon agreed.
"We've been looking for clues for weeks now..." Vector then shouted out. "And this is all we could find in that matter of time! Who would have done this to begin with!?"
Just before the Mobian Crocodile could continue, just then the door burst open and small, and relatively very young Mobian Bee wearing a helmet and an orange sleeveless vest with boots, no older than five years old, came flying in with a newspaper in hand. His name is Charmy the Bee, the youngest of the trio and whom had been brought in and adopted by his two older friends and caretakers about a year or two ago.
"Hey! Wait 'til you hear this, Vector!" Charmy exclaimed, landing on top of Vector's nose. "You won't believe it in a million trillion years!"
"What is it, and what took you so long?" The crocodile asked, with Espio looking up in interest.
"I think I know where Mrs. Vanilla's kid Cream is, with Cheese!" The little Bee said, surprising the two older Detectives.
"Really!? Where?" Vector asked immediately, sitting up as he and Espio have known Vanilla the Rabbit for a couple of years know, and had met her daughter Cream a few times, especially when last year they brought Charmy with to help fix up a house in the village and during breaks, the bee and the little girl would play together.
Though whether or not Cream remembered them would left to debate, and since she never went to this area before, the young girl had no idea where they were and thus this was why she choose to find Sonic instead.
"Look right here! It's all over the Newspapers!" Charmy continued, holding up the Newspaper and while bouncing onto his boss's nose.
"Charmy..." Vector began, getting irritated now.
"See?"
"Charmy!"
"Huh?"
"Will you get off my nose?" The crocodile demanded.
"So, where is she, Charmy?" Espio questioned, more calmly.
"Uh...Some big city called Station Square, and it's full of lots of humans." The young Bee looked at the Newspaper himself again, trying to remember.
That shocked Vector as his eyes widened, standing up before taking the paper. "Station Square!? That's one of the most human populated cities on the planet! No kid should go there on her own! Why's she there anyway?"
"Look on the front page." Charmy pointed.
Annoyed and his patience running out, Vector looked at it and his eyes widened in shock with a couple of pictures, one showing off with written description of Station Square itself, and below it, a larger picture showed Cream, with Cheese, Sonic, Tails, Amy and Chris, though vaguely seen at the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea the other day.
"It is her! And she's with that kid Sonic!" Vector exclaimed, recognizing the blue hedgehog as the teenager had been all over the media press and newpapers for three years now. He then began to read the headlines out loud. ""Once again, Sonic and his friends have saved the day from the evil Dr. Robotnik, who is now called Dr. Eggman by the young hero and soon everybody else-""
The crocodile paused, before he and Charmy burst out laughing, with Vector exclaiming. "Dr. Eggman!? They call that evil guy that?"
"That's even better than Robotnik!" The five year old bee remarked, giggling.
"Yeah, especially since he's shaped like an egg." Vector smirked in agreement, while Espio rolled his eyes yet the fifteen year old chameleon had a ghost of a smirk in amusement, before the nineteen year old crocodile cleared his throat and continued reading. ""and soon everybody else, as well as defeating the mysterious new enemies the Iron Empire from destroying the city and the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea yesterday.""
"The Iron Empire?" Charmy asked, blinking in confusion. "Who are they?"
"No idea. But they sure sound dangerous." Vector shrugged, before narrowing his eyes and ripped the newspaper into pieces. "The important thing is, I can see what's going on here! Since Sonic's a big shot, he's taken little Cream and is holding her hostage for the big rewards!"
"You're just jealous 'cause you're not famous like Sonic is." The five year old boy stated, which was true.
"Cream must have decided to seek Sonic's help as she may have escaped from the fires, and with what we learned, perhaps Dr. Robotnik may be holding her mother and the villagers hostage." Espio murmured in agreement.
"Or this could be a big set up!" The crocodile declared stubbornly, and in a slight delusional state. "Pack the sack bag and knock out spray, boys! We're goin' to Station Square and kidnap Sonic so he can see what it's like for kidnapping little Cream and her Mama!"
That only made both Espio and Charmy sweat drop in exasperation, and as they watched their leader storm out to take the lead, the youngest deadpanned. "Looks like Vector's gone all crazy for Mrs. Vanilla again."
"Unfortunately, you are right." The purple chameleon sighed in agreement.
This was going to be a mess up of a case. They both just knew it, especially since no matter how hard Vector tried to hide it, he had a really big crush on Cream's mother.
The next day back on the Soumerca Continent, As Sonic raced through out Station Square and into the desert to try and find the location of the Iron Empire's real secret base, the fourteen year old came to a stop on top of one of the cliff rocks and stared out into the distance.
"Let's see...I've been around here so many times I've lost count. Maybe I keep missing it. Well, only one way to find out." Sonic whispered to himself.
He continued to stare out over the horizon and sighed, folding his arms in despondent, growing guilt and concern. But he wasn't about to give up until he found the Iron Empire's base and rescue Cream's mother.
Leaping off the cliff, the blue hedgehog raced through the desert hoping to find another clue after what happened at the Sapphire Ocean two days ago, and given how the Iron Empire had came dangerously close in figuring out where Cream and Cheese where, the hero of Mobius felt that he needed to find them and save Vanilla and the Villagers quick before it was too late.
Little did he know that he was about to get into unsuspected trouble.
Meanwhile, miles from the coast, Knuckles, in his own search to find the Chaos Emeralds as well as how to get the Master Emerald back from the Iron Empire's clutches, and to find clues in to help Sonic and the others to find Cream's mother, was busy battling a robot that was shaped like a big lizard, sent by the Empire itself.
All for the red Chaos Emerald which was attempting to shine within the soil of the ground that the red echidna was just about to take after locating it, when he had been ambushed by the Lizard Lord, as Julius had called it, who attempts to take the Emerald and kill the Guardian of the Master Emerald.
"If you think you can take this Emerald for Eggman's insane brother, you are sadly mistaken, my robotic foe!" Knuckles growled threateningly, clutching his fists tightly as he readied himself to keep battling.
The Lizard Lord said nothing, as unlike Robotnik's robots, Julius' creations were not built for A.I or communication purposes. Instead it fired multiple missiles at the fifteen year old who leaped and jumped out of the way, and remembering Tails' warnings as well as Sonic's about how these machines had cores to regenerate machine parts, before dashed forward and with a loud yell, he punched straight into the robot's chest, smashing it's core and came out of the other side while having grabbed something that caught his attention and had gasped before taking them.
By the time Knuckles landed on the ground, the Lizard Lord, without it's core, fell backwards before exploding into pieces.
"Hmph." The red echidna grunted, standing up as he looked over his shoulder at the remains of his opponent. "The Iron Empire's attacks are becoming more desperate and frequent."
This was bad. If the Iron Empire were now looking for the Chaos Emeralds and were still attempting to find and capture Cream and Cheese, then Julius may not be holding back. Sighing, Knuckles gazed back at the items he found within the robot; two metal gripping claws that can be slipped on like handled gloves, just his size.
"And these...the Iron Empire must've found them when they took over my island." The fifteen year old added, amazed to have managed to get at least some of his things back. "The Shovel Claws."
After staring at his retrieved shovel claws which had been missing since he was thrown off of Angel Island, Knuckles tucked them away before going over to where the Chaos Emerald was, and immediately dug the dirt away until the solid, shining gem was visible. It's chaos power glowing brightly.
"The Chaos Emerald." The red echidna muttered, before plucking out of the ground and held it in his gloved hand. Finally he managed to find at least one emerald, because who knew how many Sonic's group had, and if either Robotnik and/or the Iron Empire had any at all.
As far as he could tell, there were only just five or four more to go.
Knuckles was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a plane engine fill the air and looked up to see if it was Tails in the X Tornado and maybe even Sonic who would be running here after detecting the Chaos Emerald. But when he did, he was left flabbergasted as he saw not the X Tornado as he expected, but another plane that had a Mobian crocodile at the controls, a purple chameleon, and a six year old bee, and the plane having rope being hooked onto...
A small wooden house with a Chaotix sign on it?
"What the? Who are those guys, and why are they carrying a house?" The red echidna blinked, dumbfounded.
Suddenly realizing that they were heading straight towards Station Square and feeling that they were up to something, Knuckles narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Whoever they are, they'd better not be any trouble. Must be more of the Iron Empire spies."
Deciding to follow them and figure out what those three were up to, the teenage echidna hurried to follow after them and maybe even get answers out the mysterious trio.
It took an awkward moment to get the Chaotix to move their place(literally) to between in the middle of buildings within Station Square on Vector's part(and orders), but they managed and went back inside to continue their investigation.
"Now that we moved our Agency closer to where Sonic is, I've come up with a plan to capture that kidnapper and question him to tell us what he knows." Vector began, about half an hour after the building was settled.
"Oh yeah? What makes you so certain?" Espio questioned, raising an eyebrow skeptically.
"Espio's right, what makes you think we can catch Sonic if he's the fastest guy in the whole world, Vector?" Charmy added in confusion, only to blink blankly as Vector, who was chuckling, turned around and was wearing prescription glasses and wearing a detective coat all of the sudden.
"Elementary, my dear Charmy." The head crocodile detective began, badly acting like Sherlock Holmes. "It just takes some clever sleuthing and stelthing! I'm Detective Vector!"
None of his friends were convinced, however, as Espio remarked with Charmy just staring. "Sure, you're Detective Vector. You're also nuts."
"I think you've read too many detective stories again, especially Sherlock Holmes." The young Bee deadpanned.
"Ah...That's very interesting. We sneak around town, have you turn invisible, Espio, make a noise the moment Sonic arrives and make him investigate an alley and then sneak up on the kid. Once he's clueless, Charmy will knock him out, then we put the hedgehog into this sack and bring him back here." Vector explained, while holding up said sack bag large enough to hold two small Mobians about Sonic and Espio's sizes.
"There he goes again..." Espio sighed, as he and Charmy both sweat dropped.
"Oh brother." Charmy grumbled. Somehow, he just knew that this plan wasn't going to be as successful as one would think.
"Once we get answers outta him, we'll sneak right into his secret hideout where he's staying, even though it says that he's with some kid who's Mom is a famous movie star, and then we go in to rescue little Cream before we search for her Mama." The crocodile continued.
'Why do I get the feeling we will be capturing the wrong suspect?' The fifteen year old chameleon thought in his mind.
It was times like this when Vector's detectives skills...usually go the wrong way.
Searching around the city while pretending to be casual Mobian tourists, the Chaotix just walked along as they kept an eye out for locating the perfect spot to kidnap Sonic, until finall they spotted one and hidden themselves between the two buildings, while Charmy was to act as a look out, hiding by the window sill of an empty building. Vector was hiding behind a large dumpster, and Espio was just leaning against the wall, waiting.
Just as the five year old bee was about to doze off in boredom, he noticed something coming from the desert ahead and looked through the binoculars and saw a blue blur coming their way in high speed.
"Sonic at Ten O'Clock!" Charmy softly gasped, pointing at the direction that the blue hedgehog was heading from...only for Sonic to quickly pass by them in a matter of seconds before the young Bee could blink. "...And he's now a No O'Clock."
"How'd we miss him so easily!?" Vector exclaimed in disbelief, blinking in shock.
"He is known as the Fastest Thing Alive, Vector. Of course Sonic the Hedgehog would pass by us." Espio dryly pointed out.
"Uh, well...Uh...Guess Plan-A didn't work. Time to go for Plan-B!" The green crocodile declared, sweat dropping. That only made his friends sweat drop as they dreaded on knowing what Plan-B was.
Unaware that he was being watched on and targeted by three unusual suspicious people, Sonic raced around the city once more to find more clues on the Iron Empire as he was on his way back from the desert after yet another failed attempt to find the their base while keeping an eye out on any Robotnik activities.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Suddenly a woman's scream filled the air, alarming Sonic who looked up and gasped in shock when he saw a large ninja-like robot with a giant shuriken, and Robotnik hovering behind it in his Egg Mobile.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho! That's is, Ninja-Foe! Show these weaklings never to mess with a Ninja even during the day! We have a Chaos Emerald to find somewhere near this city!" Robotnik bellowed evilly, grinning.
"It's Eggman! Trust him to come out and cause more problems. Guess I'll have to delay my trip home." The hero of Mobius narrowed his eyes, knowing what he had to do.
As the blue hedgehog quickly sped up to fight the Ninja robot, what Sonic didn't realize was that the Chaotix, in their exhausting search to find and kidnap him by looking all over the city while coming up with a plan to distract Sonic enough for Charmy to knock him out, were hiding around the corner of another building.
"It's Robotnik!" Vector whispered in shock, his eyes widened in fear.
"Whoa, he's even uglier in person than on TV." Charm whispered, shuddering in disgust.
"An evil villain with a hideous look is bound to be just as dangerous. That robot his is cannot even be called a ninja." Espio narrowed his eyes as, as part of Vector's plan(and the chameleon's reluctance), he leaped and jumped to distract Sonic along enough once the blue hedgehog took care of the robot.
Only for the fourteen year old to quickly attack the surprisingly easy robot who, noticing his appearance and the blue hedgehog's confident smirk and chuckle, attacked with it's shuriken and whip, lashing out on Sonic. But the teenage Mobian leaped and jumped easily, cartwheeling out of the way and spun while kicking and punching the weapons away, to which Robotnik noticed and gaped in shock and soon quick anger.
"Not Sonic again! Why does that little annoying blue pincushion always stand in my way!? I hate that hedgehog!" The evil scientist growled furiously, bashing his dashboard before ordering his creation. "Ninja-Foe, destroy Sonic and cut him up into millions of pieces if you have to!"
"Let's see how your so called Ninja-Bot can handle me, Eggman!" Sonic, hearing his enemy's rant and orders, taunted back, grinning.
As the Chaotix had seen, Sonic used his Homing Attack to bash straight into the giant Shuriken that was thrown at him, before it was flown right back at it, stabbing it's chest straight through which malfunction and sparked before the hero of Mobius finished it off by attacking it repeatedly and Spin Dashed away while the Ninja-Foe robot exploded into pieces, much to Robotnik's sheer horror.
"Whoa! He's really cool!" Charmy remarked in awe, amazed by the blue hedgehog's way of fighting as he had never seen Sonic fight in full action before.
Both Vector and Espio, who was just seconds away from attacking the robot himself, stared out in bewilderment, unable to believe what they just witnessed. Sonic was not only fast, he was very skilled and powerful. No wonder he was the hero of Mobius.
"Heh, looks like your robot's cut itself down to size." Sonic chuckled after he landed on the ground, relieved that no one was hurt during the attack or fight.
"Alright, Sonic. Now it's just you and me!" Robotnik snarled, deciding to take matters into his own hands.
"Ready when you are, Eggman!" The fourteen year old hedgehog replied.
"Ready!"
"Me too!"
The fight between the two, if that's what you want to call it, didn't even last for one second. Because Sonic quickly beat up Robotnik who screamed in pain, and his Egg Mobile was battered and smashed, left on the ground while the evil scientist, battered an injured, was sent flying away in another humiliating defeat.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! I'll be baaaaaaaack!" The mad doctor screamed, just as he vanished into the sky.
"All in the day's work." Sonic remarked to himself, dusting his hands off just as the crowd nearby cheered on for his victory and heroic rescue.
Once Sonic made sure that everybody was safe and the Chaotix, still hidden and didn't want to end up getting into trouble by publically kidnapping the hero of Mobius that would put them all into jail, just as their luck, the blue hedgehog waved a farewell to his adoring fans after helping to clean up the mess, with the trio secretly helping in hopes in getting Sonic's attention before he sped off to continue his search for the Iron Empire's base, much to their dismay.
"Looks like Sonic's ran off again." Charmy announced calmly.
"For a fourteen year old, he certainly has enough maturity to help other people shortly after a battle. A true mark of a warrior." Espio grudgingly admitted.
"Warrior? Are you crazy? He's hogging all of the attention just because he can fight, and we still haven't gotten the chance to get anywhere near close to him!" Vector grunted angrily. "We're gonna get to Sonic and this time, Plan-C will be a huge success!"
"If this is going to be Plan-C, you might as well call it Plan-Catastrophe." The purple chameleon deadpanned with a sweat drop.
This was going to take all day. He just knew it.
Once again in another alley after making sure Sonic was still searching around the city, it felt like deja vu for Espio and Charmy as they were once again in a similar position as Plan-A. In fact, it was exactly like Plan-A, but slightly different.
"Here comes Sonic from the left!" Charmy softy called out, once again seeing the blue hedgehog through the binoculars.
"Time to get into some serious business!" Vector declared, cracking his knuckles and this time he was going to make sure this plan would not fail. "Do your thing, Espio."
"Right." Espio nodded, and used his camouflage ability to turn invisible and waited.
"Atta boy." The crocodile whispered, before he began to make loud noises to get the attention of the people, which would surely get the blue hedgehog's attention to investigate.
And this time, the hero of Mobius didn't disappoint.
"Huh?" Sonic muttered having decided to head back home for the day, when he saw people gazing at the random alley with a banging noise filling the air. "What's going on?"
Deciding to investigate and unknowingly falling right into a trap, the fourteen year old hedgehog skid to a stop and looked, just as Vector quickly stopped banging and remained silent. Frowning in confusion, Sonic entered the alley as he began to suspect that somebody was making a noise.
"Hmmm...Wonder what's made that sound. Must've been some poor homeless guy trying to find food the dumpster-Ugh, gross, but still...Or maybe it was a stray cat or somethin'." The cobalt teenager muttered, looking around before he suddenly froze.
He felt presences of...three people. Feeling alarmed and unaware that Espio was watching him, Sonic began to get nervous as he turned around while attempting to locate whoever's here. He didn't see anyone and that was what made him so wiry.
"Is anybody there? Come on out, I won't hurt ya'. Unless you're another one of Eggman's robots, or one of the Iron Empire's robots." Sonic called out, a sweat drop forming on the side of his head.
Espio then made his move to grab him, but unfortunately, Sonic sensed movement and softly gasped before he inadvertently punched the invisible chameleon unknowningly right in the face and the force of it knocked the stunned detective right into the wall with a thud. But the blue hedgehog didn't see him and he blinked in confusion.
"Huh? Did I just hit something?" Sonic blinked, puzzled.
'Gah! Espio!' Vector mentally panicked, as he and the shocked Charmy saw what just happened, before the older detective quickly signaled the young bee to use the knock out plan fast.
Getting the hint, the five year old bee nodded and quickly flew down, appearing right in front of Sonic who jumped startled, while the youngest detective greeted. "Hi there!"
"Ah! Whoa, you startled me there, kid." The hero of Mobius exclaimed, blinking. "Where'd you come from?"
"Sleepy, sleepy!" Charmy randomly said.
"Say what? Whaddya mean-Huh!?" Sonic didn't get the chance to finish as Charmy pulled out a spray bottle of knock-out and sprayed right at the blue hedgehog's face and he quickly tried to shield his face with his arms. "Hey! Why'd you...do...that...?"
Instantly, Sonic began to become dizzy and tired as he tried to figure out what was going on, until everything went black in his vision and he passed out, falling backwards onto the ground.
Once the blue hedgehog was out cold, Vector snuck up to the unconscious hero, grabbing hold of him by the waist as the detective's hand was large enough to almost completely clasp the fourteen year old's entire body, as though holding a stuffed toy, before shoving him right into the sack where the green crocodile tied it up closed and trapped Sonic inside.
"Good work, Charmy. Now we just gotta head back and begin our interrogation with the kidnapper." Vector praised while holding the sack in one hand that held the captured Sonic. He then turned to Espio who turned visible and had a black eye. "You okay, Espio?"
"I'm...fine." Espio groaned, rubbing his sore face. "Sonic may have been built for speed, but he has a mean punch."
"Poor Espio." Charmy murmured worriedly, with sympathy for his older friend.
"C'mon, Charmy. We can bandage Espio's face as soon as we head back to the office." Vector said, slinging the sack over his shoulder while picking up Espio and had him over his other shoulder.
"I can walk by myself, Vector. My injury isn't that bad." The annoyed chameleon narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah, but this is Sonic the Kidnapper we're talkin' about. We can't take any chances." The stubborn crocodile pointed out, as he began to lead the way with Charmy flying behind him.
All unaware that Knuckles had arrived investigating and, having head some commotion from the roof he was standing on, saw the trio walk away with a suspicious looking lump that looked like there was a person inside, very vague but even he could make it out.
"Where do those three think they're going? And what or who are they carrying in that sack-bag? Only one way to find out." Knuckles narrowed his eyes, and decided to secretly follow the detectives in hopes of finding some answers.
At the Thorndyke Mansion, Chris had just arrived home from school and was waiting with Tails, Amy, Chuck, Ella, Cream and Cheese for Sonic to come back, all unaware that their blue hedgehog best friend had just been kidnapped.
"Where's Sonic!? He should've been back by now!" Amy demanded angrily. "He was supposed to be here half an hour ago."
"Maybe he's lost track of time." Chris suggested, worriedly.
"Even so, Sonic's never one to lose track of time of almost anything, and even if he does, he always manages to get here no matter what." Tails pointed out, his namesakes swishing in worry.
Cream, holding Cheese in her arms, looked sad and very worried. "I hope nothing horrible happened to Mr. Sonic. I'm really worried about him."
"Chao, Chao." Cheese chirped in concern.
"It is unusual for Sonic to not show up after attempting to locate the Iron Empire's base. Unless he has finally found it and possibly rescuing the kidnapped villagers, I doubt that would be the case." Chuck stated, frowning deeply in concern, his arms folded to his chest. "We will need to find him and make sure he is alright."
"You're right. I'm gonna go out and find him. I've got a bad feeling about this." The seven year old fox cub decided, standing up with his fists clutched. "Sonic might be in trouble."
"I'm going with you! If anybody has hurt or kidnapped Sonic, they'll have to answer to me!" Amy declared.
"I'll go too!" Chris declared.
"Can Cheese and I come? I wanna help to find Mr. Sonic." Cream asked, hopefully.
The rest of the group including the adults were hesitant to allow the five year old rabbit girl to go with the two Mobians and the twelve year old boy, before they all shared glances and decided that maybe it was best and she would be safer in the X Tornado just in case.
"Well, okay, Cream. But you'd better stay in the plane in case things go wrong, okay?" Chris decided and advised.
"We will. Won't we, Cheese?" Cream smiled softly, and her little Chao nodded in agreement.
Once it was decided that the four children and the chao would be looking out for Sonic, Tails and the others quickly boarded the X Tornado and took off to find their missing friend and maybe some more answers over the situation.
After what felt like an hour, which in reality was no more than 45 minutes tops since he mysteriously passed out, the last thing Sonic remembered was some Mobian Bee kid who looked about Cream's age and was holding some sort of spray can which smelled so weird he couldn't even describe it.
His eyes twitched before they slowly blinked open as the blue hedgehog regained consciousness from his slumped position, groggily asking himself. "Ugh...What...What happened?"
But when he attempted to move his arms to rub his head and eyes, he found that he couldn't move them or even his the upper part of his body and he felt like he was sitting on a chair. Startled in alarm and snapping himself fully awake, the fourteen year old looked down and gasped in shock and horror to find that he was tied up to a chair that was human size, leaving his legs dangling over the edge.
"AH! W-what the!? What's going on here?" Sonic exclaimed, struggling to free himself as he quickly realized that he had been kidnapped! How humiliating!
Looking around to see where he was thinking Robotnik or the Iron Empire had captured him, the blue hedgehog found that neither was the case. Instead, he was inside some sort of office with a single couch close by, one desk, a file cabinet, a ceiling fan and from the looks of it, this place was made of wood. There was also scattered paper work with an empty Pizza box nearby nearby, and an old fashioned telephone, and a staircase leading up to the second floor.
"What kind of place is this? Where am I?" The cobalt teenager asked, remaining calm yet starting to get a little bit nervous. To think that he had been kidnapped by some criminals who seemed to be lousy in keeping this place tidy and seemed to be for criminal business was totally embarrassing.
"Guys, he's woke up!" A kid's voice from the front called out, making Sonic look up and his eyes widened to see not just the same Bee kid he saw earlier before passing out, but also an unfamiliar purple chameleon who looked about Knuckles' age and sporting what appeared to be a newly made black eye, and a tall green crocodile who was about two or three feet taller than Chris.
Maybe about Chuck's current height level.
"Hey, you're that kid at Station Square!" Sonic blinked at Charmy in surprise, before he began glaring at the group. Normally he wouldn't hold it against children, especially those younger than him and he wasn't that angry at the five year old.
It was the other two who apparently had the child to help them kidnap the hero of Mobius himself, maybe for ransom or something, was what made him furious at this moment.
"Yep, that's me! Did you like your nap, Mr. Sonic?" Charmy asked, brightly.
"Not when I'm tied up to a chair." The blue hedgehog deadpanned with a sweat drop.
"Well, would ya' look at that? Sonic the Kidnapper is finally awake." Vector remarked, glaring down at the younger Mobian.
Sonic narrowed his eyes back. Who did these three think they are accusing him? While it quickly became clear to him that they were not criminals, which explained why he was in an office building which seemed rather small, he had no idea if they were some kind of police force or something.
"I'm no kidnapper, pal!" Sonic growled back, angrily. "If anything, you three are the ones who kidnapped me!"
"He has a point." Charmy shrugged in agreement, and Espio nodded to confirm it.
"You're just tryin' to dupe us, Sonic, even though we did kidnap you but for a real reason and you're the top suspect of our case!" Vector snarled, pointing at the blue hedgehog's face.
Not fazed by the pointed finger, the hero of Mobius blinked. "Case? What case? Who are you guys anyway? Whaddya want with me?"
"Well, we've heard a lot about you, but it's a pity you don't know anything about us." Vector began, introducing himself with a smirk, and strangely enough a spot light shone onto him. "Detective Vector's the name! I'm a private eye kind of guy and the head of my very own detective agency, the Chaotix Agency. I may be lean, mean, and green, but behind my cool croc exterior, I'm really just a big old softie. Just don't let that get around though, you got me? I got a reputation. The detective's gotta be tough, so let's just keep this between you and me, okay?"
Charmy then interrupted Vector's rather long and unnecessary monologue, and tried to introduce himself. "My name's Charmy, and I can be-"
The young Bee was then interrupted by Espio who gently pushed him aside and introduced himself. "My name is Espio. I'm the brains in this organization. I also possess some killer spy skills. I'm smart. I'm quick on my feet. I also happen to be a ninja."
"He's also full of himself." Charmy commented, making his older friend glare at him with a vein squeezing on his head, before walking off slightly.
"It's better to be full of myself than to be an obnoxious pipsqueak." The purple chameleon grumbled in irritation.
Not fazed by the comment, Charmy asked hopefully to the oldest detective. "Hey Vector, can I tell 'em about me now?"
"Sorry, Charmy, but we don't have time for that. We still gotta ask our suspect some mean questions on what we need to know." Vector waved off, though as the trio were introducing themselves, Sonic just stared at them with a blank and unimpressed expression before the blue hedgehog yawned in boredom.
Though the crocodile's comment made the five year old sniffle before Charmy burst out crying, and almost instantly Sonic felt sorry for him.
"You've gotta be kidding me. You guys are detectives and you're not even allowing the kid to tell me what he can do? No wonder nobody's heard of you." The blue hedgehog remarked. Though on the other hand, Charmy did seem to be pretty obnoxious, but come on! He's just a five year old kid!
"That's probably because you wanna keep us off of the radar with your reputation." Vector growled, standing over Sonic once more.
"Give me one good reason why you think I'm the bad guy here, Detective Vector." Sonic demanded back. "'Cause you got the wrong guy and I've never kidnapped anybody in my whole life and I never will even in a million years. So let me go!"
The large crocodile snorted. "For starters, hedgehog, you've kidnapped a little girl from a village that's been burnt to a crisp and holding her hostage for a couple of months now, with everybody else having gone missin'."
That caught Sonic's attention as he softly gasped. "Floral Forest Village? You mean Cream? What's she got to do with this?"
"We've known her and her Mom Mrs. Vanilla for a couple of years, but only end up visiting once and while."
"She didn't mention anything about that." The blue hedgehog shrugged, now a little confused.
"That's because you scared her into keeping silent!" The green crocodile said accusingly.
"Vector, Cream wouldn't remember much if we have only visited a few times. She is Charmy's age." Espio pointed out as he began to realize that this was a waste of time.
"I'm never wrong here, Espio! Sonic is lying and you know it!" Vector snapped, startling his two friends.
'Talk about trust issues here. Is this guy really delusional?' Sonic thought to himself, dumbfounded with a sweat drop.
As though reading his mind, Charmy hovered over and whispered to the blue hedgehog. "Just so you know, Vector's a cool guy and my boss, but sometimes he gets pretty delusional."
"Huh...That explains everything." Sonic whispered back, a bit scared that he had been right.
"What was that!?" Vector demanded, startling the two youngest Mobians. "We ain't lettin' you go, Sonic, until we get our answers. You'd better tell us where Cream is and what you know about the Iron Empire, and how are they into this! And where you can take us to Vanilla!"
Now realizing the whole thing even though he wanted to know the connections with these weird guys and Cream's family, Sonic responded sternly. "First off, I didn't kidnap Cream, and she's not scared of me. She's my friend, and she came looking for me shortly after her Mom and all of the villagers were kidnapped by the Iron Empire, who is lead by Robotnik's insane and deadly brother Julius. He's the one who's behind everything."
"Robotnik's brother!?" Vector and Espio both exclaimed, as they and Charmy were shocked to hear this new piece of evidence.
"I didn't know that mean man Robotnik had a brother." Charmy blinked, startled.
"Believe me, kid, my friends and I didn't either, 'til we met that creep when Tails, our new friend Chris and I went to find clues at the village. He's worse than Eggman, who's Robotnik by the way, and, well..." Sonic trailed off before turning to Espio, deciding that he's the more serious one out of the trio. "You might wanna cover Charmy's ears, because what I'm about to say next will give the kid awful nightmares and I don't want that."
"I don't understand what you mean, but if that is what you believe, then very well." Espio, sensing seriousness in Sonic's voice, agreed and covered the youngster's ears.
"What, what!? I can't hear anything!" The young Bee exclaimed.
"Please continue, Sonic the Hedgehog." The chameleon muttered, ignoring Charmy's protests.
Sonic nodded, and, deciding that since they knew about Cream and Vanilla even though they had kidnapped him.
Flying through the air, the X Tornado did a ground search for the missing hero of Mobius, as they tried to locate Sonic by first going to the streets and checked out any signs for the blue blur on the ground, or on the buildings or even coming from the desert or from the Mystic Ruins, or even close to the Emerald Coast.
Unfortunately so far, Tails, Chris, Amy, Cream and Cheese didn't have any sort of luck in locating their friend.
"This is so weird. It's never been this hard to find Sonic." Tails murmured, setting to get more and more worried, whispering to himself with growing dread. "I sure hope he'll be okay."
"I'm really worried. We should've found him by now." Chris gazed from the window edge as he couldn't even see a familiar cobalt blue figure anywhere.
"What if Dr. Robotnik has captured Mr. Sonic? Or that mean Mr. Julius and the Iron Empire?" Cream asked fearfully, lowering her gaze as renewed guilt grew. "First Mama was kidnapped, and now Mr. Sonic. If he was, then it's all my fault..."
The very thought of the hero of Mobius being captured now as well because of her made the little five year old feel like she was to blame for everything. The Iron Empire were after her and Cheese and now the people she deeply cared about, her mother, and her good friend/big brother figure, were all gone.
Held by the clutches of the evil organization.
"Sonic wouldn't let himself get captured easily! But the Iron Empire are dangerous, and we're going to find him, even if it means we have to search all over the planet! If those creeps have hurt him, they'll have to answer to me!" Amy hissed, attempting to do her best to keep her own fears in check.
Though while she loved Cream like her own little sister, the eleven year old pink hedgehog couldn't help but feel for the worst, and her youngest friend's words didn't help her growing anxiety.
'Please be alright, Sonic. You have got to be okay!' Amy thought to herself, clasping her hands together in a silent prayer.
"Let's try circling around one more time to see if we missed him." Tails decided, knowing that it was a better course in action.
His friends were about to agree when Chris decided to look over to his left this time and blinked in surprise when he saw something red and moving, standing out completely in the crowd of human citizens and he instantly recognized the figure.
"Hey, Tails, wait! I think I see Knuckles!" The twelve year old boy cried out, startling the three Mobians who looked at their human friend in confusion. "Down there, over by those buildings."
Blinking in surprise as Amy asked where, she, Tails, Cream and Cheese peered over to see where the young Thorndyke was pointing at and to their surprise, the fifteen year old red echidna was indeed in the city, apparently looking for something, a Chaos Emerald maybe.
"I didn't expect to see Knuckles here today." Amy commented.
"Maybe Mr. Knuckles knows where Mr. Sonic is!" Cream suggested with a glimmer of hope.
"Not so sure if he knows where Sonic is, but let's give it a try." The seven year old fox agreed, telling his friends to hang on and made to try and fly as low as possible without hurting any civilians.
On the ground, Knuckles had trailed to trail the suspicious trio and peered around the corner to see them vanish into the very same house he spotted earlier. Even from the distance, he could see what the sign said and sweat dropped.
"Chaotix Detective Agency? What would a bunch of guys run an agency for?" The red echidna blinked in confusion, before narrowing his eyes as he thought back of the clearly living lump inside the sack the suspicious green crocodile was carrying. It looked like a hedgehog, but it couldn't be Sonic...Could it?
There was no way that the younger teenage Mobian would be caught that easily.
"Hey, Knuckles!" A familiar boy's voice called out from above.
"Huh?" Blinking in surprise at somebody calling out his name, Knuckles turned around and saw a familiar plane with five figures inside, realizing they were flying above him. "Tails?"
Then realizing that Tails couldn't land the plane on the ground without causing traffic problems, the Guardian of the Master Emerald, casting the suspicious small house another glance and beginning to think that the sign was just for show, turned away and leaped up to the roof of the building so that his younger allies could talk to him, and leaped onto the right wing.
"Knuckles! It's great to see you!" Chris greeted in relief, as Tails, Amy and Cream greeted the red echidna as well.
"Hello, Mr. Knuckles." Cream said happily, with Cheese waving his arms at the teenage guardian who, seeing the bright smiles of the two youngsters while feeling a bit awkward around the kids, waved slightly back with a sheepish smile while trying not to blush.
Okay, he had to admit it. He kind of liked the five year old girl and her Chao. Not only was Cream very well behaved despite being put into unnecessary dangers, but she and Cheese were just darn cute. Not that he would ever admit it.
"So what brings you here, Knuckles?" Amy asked, curiously.
"I was just on my way to inform you guys of important news when I spotted three suspicious individuals I've never seen before. Mobians, in fact." Knuckles responded.
"Three new Mobians?" The younger group asked in surprise.
"Yeah, there was this small bee kid who was about Cream's age, a purple chameleon guy who's about the same age as me, and he was being carried by some tall green crocodile who was carrying a sack that was...filled with something lumpy like they were holding a person." The red echidna explained, sighing as he rubbed his face. "I might be paranoid, but it kind of looked like another Mobian inside...almost like a hedgehog shape, like Sonic."
Rather than the confused and slightly worried expressions he had been expecting, Knuckles was startled when Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese all gasped in horror as a sudden realization formed into their eyes, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.
"Oh no!" Cream exclaimed in dismay.
"This is bad!" Tails cried out.
"What is it? Do you know those guys?" Knuckles asked, surprised.
"No, but if you're right, then this is a big problem!" Amy said, beginning to panic as she placed her hands onto her cheeks. "Sonic's been missing for a few hours and he hasn't come back yet, so we've been trying to find him and hoped that if had seen him at all today."
"What!?" The fifteen year old exclaimed, his eyes widening.
"If what you saw was a hedgehog and we haven't seen our friend since this morning, then Sonic's been kidnapped!" Chris cried out in panic as well.
Pieces of the puzzle coming together even though he still didn't believe that the hero of Mobius would be caught that easily, Knuckles' eyes now narrowed as he thought back to the lump and, as chameleons were known for their camouflaging abilities, not even the fourteen year old would have predicted this.
Because that lump inside that sack was Sonic held trapped as the trio's prisoner!
"Those ingrates...They've captured Sonic!" The Guardian snarled furiously, before declaring with determination, thankful that they were just left in a slow gliding hover, so they were still in the right place. "I know where they are, right down there between those buildings!"
As he pointed at the small house between the buildings, as Tails and the others looked down to see it and their eyes widened in shock. That wasn't there before.
"Then let's storm that hide out and rescue Sonic!" Amy declared with pure determination, ready to go and rescue her dearly beloved.
"Sonic needs us! Let's go!" Chris added.
"Right!" Tails and Knuckles shouted in agreement, while Cream and Cheese looked on worriedly yet they too wanted to help to save Sonic.
"We'd better help to rescue Mr. Sonic, Cheese." Cream told her best friend.
"Chao!" Cheese raised his arms with bravery.
Tails then landed the X Tornado on top of the roof, and despite the concern for Cream and Cheese's safety, it was best they stayed with them. Soon all six friends climbed out of the plane and while Knuckles leaped down and landed safely, Tails carried Chris by spinning his namesakes while Cream held Amy's hands and hovered down by flapping her ears, and Cheese flew beside the two girls and two boys.
Once all six of them were on the ground, they all charged to rescue Sonic from his kidnappers. All unaware of what was really going on.
While Sonic was unaware that his friends were searching for him and had found out where he was, he explained everything that went down to the Chaotix since Cream came to find him asking for his help to find her mother.
From meeting Tails and Amy before finally meeting Sonic himself and the appearance of the Iron Empire, to the revelations of the Robotnik family including Julius murdering his and Robotnik's father before attempting to do the same to the evil scientist who fled and they never spoke to each other again for a decade, the Iron Empire's true goal in capturing Cream and Cheese, the connections with the Chaos Emeralds and everything else up until this point.
This stunned, shocked and even horrified both Espio and Vector, despite the latter still not really believing the hero of Mobius. But even then, he was beginning to have his doubts.
"...And that's why I've been trying to find the Iron Empire's base since. So far, all my friends and I found were empty bases and clues to what they're up to, but no sign of them or Mrs. Vanilla or even the villagers." Sonic concluded his explanation.
"So the Iron Empire the ones responsible for the kidnapping of the Floral Forest Villagers and it's destruction. They have been secretive that nobody was able to find them." Espio realized, frowning deeply. "They are such a disgrace to all life forms, they should even call themselves human."
Charmy, who was blocked from hearing the more gruesome parts, frowned worriedly. "Plus Eggman and his brother don't get on so well? No wonder nobody's heard of that guy's family."
"Yeah, but that's not even the worst of it. For some reason, Cheese has a connection with the Chaos Emeralds, but none of us have any idea why." Sonic agreed.
"Guess that means Cream really doesn't remember us, Vector." The young Bee stated to the crocodile who was silent for a moment, before he groaned.
"Yeah, nobody would remember anything at the age of three and we haven't visited the village as much." Vector shrugged in agreement. "But at least we know where little Cream is and that she and Cheese have been taken good care of, right?"
The hero of Mobius, feeling relief wash over him as these guys finally believe him, smiled softly. "Cream's a really great kid, and Cheese is fun to hang out with too. I could just tell that her Mom's raised her so well and even though I haven't met her yet, she's definitely a really nice lady."
"She's the nicest lady in the world, kid! And the prett-Uh...I-I mean, she's pretty much the best Mom little Cream could ever ask for!" Vector blushed heavily while attempting to hide the fact he nearly slipped. But the blush on his snout was a dead giveaway even though Sonic blinked in confusion.
"I think Vector's gone all crazy again." Charmy dryly commented.
"Clearly." Sonic agreed, while thinking to himself. 'Man, that big guy sure is weird, but I guess he really cares about Cream's mom so much he'd do anything for her. It's almost like how Amy goes crazy over me.'
He then turned back to Espio and asked, "So, we're all clear now? As I told you, I'm not a kidnapper."
"I knew we were capturing the wrong suspect, and we have witnessed your battle against that villain Dr. Robotnik earlier in our second attempts to kidnap you." The purple ninja nodded.
"Yeah, how you fought that weird robot was so cool! It's no wonder you always win against that bad man." The young bee beamed happily.
"Hey, thanks. I just gotta do it 'cause it's the right thing to do. Beating up Eggman, stopping him and any other bad guys from causing trouble and saving the world, and sometimes my best friends save the day too, 'cause they're heroes in their own right." The blue hedgehog smiled softly. "Can't take all of the credit."
The Chaotix remained silent, somewhat surprised by Sonic's honest confession which was much more generous than they all originally thought. Especially when he didn't want all the credit of being a hero.
"Anyway, now that's cleared up, could you untie me and let me go, please? Pretty sure everybody's worried about me by now." Sonic requested, fidgeting in the binding ropes that was keeping him tied up and trapped, which was starting to really become uncomfortable and making him feel claustrophobic.
But before the Chaotix could do even that or even respond, suddenly they and Sonic all heard a loud yelling and looked towards the front just as it was punched and split open into millions of splinters, startling the four Mobians who cried out in alarm. To their shock, it was Knuckles who had punched the door right open with a look of determination and anger, with a hammer-wielding Amy, Tails, Chris, and even Cream and Cheese standing behind the echidna as they all stormed in.
When Sonic's friends saw the blue hedgehog tied up, they all gasped in horror to see that they had been right: He was held captive by the unfamiliar Mobians!
"SONIC!" Tails, Chris and Amy screamed out hysterically.
"Mr. Sonic!" Cream cried out worriedly to see her friend captured.
"Chao, Chao!" Cheese chirped in concern.
"Oh no! Those guys really did kidnap Sonic!" The seven year old kit exclaimed in dismay.
"Tails! Amy! Knuckles! Chris! Cream and Cheese! How'd you guys find me?" Sonic called out, blinking in surprise to see his friends had actually come to his unexpected rescue. On the other hand, he was very relieved to see them while surprised that his older friend and rival was back in town again.
"We came looking for you and figured out that you were kidnapped. Then Knuckles told us he saw those three guys holding something in a sack and that's when we realized we were right." Chris explained.
"Don't worry, Sonic! We're here to save you!" Tails declared with determination.
"Uh...Thanks for c'mon to save me, guys. But we already-" Sonic tried to explain, but was cut off by the crocodile detective who, despite seeing that the blue hedgehog's friends had come to the rescue, was angry that the front door was destroyed which meant more money to try and find and pay.
"Hey, don't you kids know how to knock? It's very rude to punch open people's doors like that, red guy, and I hope you're insured, 'cause it's gonna cost ya'!" Vector growled angrily at the group, not yet noticing Cream and Cheese.
"You want an exchange? Then I'll give you one, you over-grown lizard!" Knuckles snapped back, growling as he slipped on his Shovel Claws. "You kidnapped Sonic, and now I'm about to return the favor!"
Seeing the echidna's claws made the Chaotix shocked and nervous, before Vector gulped. "Ah! Watch those claws, pal!" He then quickly grabbed hold of Charmy and held him out by his stinger for defense. "Charmy, get ready for defense!"
"AH!" Charmy cried out, nervously. 'Why am I used as a weapon!?'
"You kidnapped MY Sonic, you kidnappers! Nobody takes away my beloved and gets away with it!" Amy hissed angrily, her Piko Piko Hammer ready.
"Um...Guys?" The aforementioned blue hedgehog attempted to try again, but was still ignored.
"Come on, I can explain...!" Vector tried to reason as he, Charmy and even Espio began to sweat profusely in fear.
"Alright, you creeps! Take this!" Amy declared.
"It's payback time!" Knuckles added.
"YEAH!" Tails and Chris cheered.
"Guys, wait! Don't-!" Sonic tried to reason, but was again completely ignored for his sake and safety.
"CHARGE!" The eleven year old pink hedgehog shouted, and she and the three boys charged, jumping right onto the now terrified Chaotix who screamed and tried to get away, or even fight back in self-defense, but Amy, Tails, Chris and Knuckles all attacked and thus began the all out ridiculous brawl with a fight-dust cloud filling out one side of the room.
The three detectives all screamed out in pain while trying to hold back their sudden opponents or get away, but with no luck or hope of escape. The only ones not fighting were a dumbfounded Sonic who sweat dropped, still tied up to the chair as he could only watch his friends battle his kidnappers who had a reason for it, Cream and Cheese who, deciding not to jump into the fight, hurried over to the blue hedgehog and stood by his side in fear and worry.
"Mr. Sonic! Are you okay?" Cream asked worriedly, with Cheese sharing the feeling.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Just got caught up in a huge misunderstanding." The blue hedgehog, relieved to see his youngest friends not participating in the ridiculous fight, smiled back at them. He then asked curiously. "How did you guys find me?"
"Mr. Knuckles saw you being carried away in a bag by these three who kidnapped you, and we got worried when you didn't come home." The little five year old rabbit girl explained, lowering her gaze in guilt. "I was so scared that I'd never see you again. First my Mom, then you almost disappeared too."
"Chao..." Cheese murmured, and he and Sonic both softly gasped when they saw that Cream was about to cry as she sniffled, and she partially buried her face into the hedgehog's tied-up position.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Sonic..." Cream sniffled.
"Aw, Cream. Don't cry. I'm okay, really. I'm sorry that I was late for getting home." Sonic half-whispered, feeling guilty as his heart ached to see his youngest little sister-like friend so upset, then narrowed his eyes as he turned back to the fight as he knew the real cause for it.
The Chaotix had inadvertently made the little girl fearing for the worst.
"Don't worry, Sonic! We'll be right there-AH!" Tails yelped as Vector attempted to push him to the floor.
"No intruders allowed in this office-YAH!" The crocodile in turn was shoved low and being forced to let go of the two-tailed fox by Knuckles who growled.
"I knew you and your team were up to no good!" The red echidna snarled.
"This has gone far enough." Sonic decided, now annoyed over this meaningless fighting. He quickly told Cream and Cheese to cover their ears and back up a bit, and once they did, the hero of Mobius took a deep breath and shouted aloud. "BE QUIET!"
That did the trick as the fighting came to a freezing halt, the dust cloud dissipating and revealing friends and opponents in an awkward position. Knuckles attempting to pull at Vector's tail, Tails and Chris both near Charmy, and Amy's hammer just inches above Espio's head while standing on his back, as they all stared at the blue hedgehog in blinking silence.
"Thank you. Now, I know that these guys had kidnapped me, but they did so because it was a misunderstanding since they know Cream's mother and followed me, and I know you guys were worried, but they're not really the bad guys. They're detectives known as the Chaotix, but they just got the wrong idea." Sonic explained sternly at his friends who blinked in surprise.
"Detectives?" Chris repeated, confused.
"You mean they already knew Cream?" Amy asked, surprised.
"I see. So they thought Sonic must've kidnapped her and thought he was a villain. That's why they took him because they wanted answers. They have a history with Mrs. Vanilla." Tails realized, quickly understanding the situation.
"Huh? So it was just a mix-up then?" Knuckles asked, now completely clueless.
"Right." The blue hedgehog nodded, and once the others climbed off of each other, he turned his attention to the trio themselves. "Anyway, you guys did have your reasons and we already cleared this up, but I think you owe not just my friends an apology for kidnapping me, but you also owe Cream an apology. Directly, I should add."
Sonic then glanced at the aforementioned girl who blinked, surprised yet still with lingering tears which made the hearts of all of their friends and the detectives break. "She's already upset enough about her Mom held prisoner by the Iron Empire and she misses her, but now you, Espio and Charmy made her cry, Vector, and the fight you guys just had made things worse. She thinks it's her fault that Mrs. Vanilla's been kidnapped by Julius when it isn't, and you guys kidnapping me made things just as bad."
"Whoops." Knuckles murmured in guilt, as he and everybody else all realized that the younger teen was right.
"We're sorry, Cream." Chris murmured in guilt.
"We didn't meant to upset you, sweetie." Amy approached her youngest friend and hugged her to give the sweet little girl comfort. "It'll be okay."
"Sorry, Cream." Tails lowered his head, feeling awful for getting into an unnecessary fight.
Even the Chaotix were feeling just as bad, knowing that it was all their fault for going into a misleading case for kidnapping Sonic, and now making Cream cry due to her close friendship with the hero of Mobius.
"Guess we really screwed up this time." Vector sighed, feeling bad for making the sweet little girl upset, not just due to the unexpected fight, but also not realizing how close Cream was to Sonic by abducting him.
Plus seeing her with the two hedgehogs, and soon Tails and Chris who also approached while the two younger boys quickly got into untying Sonic who could only gaze a sad smile at Cream, made the green crocodile understand now that she had been safe and sound all along.
"Sorry about taking this the wrong way, Sonic, and...really sorry for makin' ya' cry, Cream." The head detective rubbed the back of his head, apologetically. When the younger group looked up at him, he continued. "You probably don't remember us, but we know your Mama and were worried since Floral Forest Village was all burnt up. We used to help her out once and a while, so when that happened, we've been looking for both of ya's and the rest of the villagers for months."
"It's okay, Mr. Vector. I'm sorry that I don't remember you well, and it was wrong of you to kidnap Mr. Sonic, I'm really glad he wasn't hurt and you were trying to find my Mom." Cream, comforted by her friends and hearing what the detective said, smiled softly before giving a polite curtsy at the detective. "Thank you so much for trying to find her and everybody else like Mr. Sonic and all of our friends."
Seeing Cream smile, being forgiving and polite made the hearts of Sonic and his friends melt, relieved that everything was starting to become right again. Even the Chaotix were not immune to the cuteness of the little girl.
"Ah, don't mention it, Cream. Searching for others is part of the job." Vector blushed, sheepishly.
"So I take that Sonic and the others were taking care of you, yes?" Espio asked carefully.
Cream nodded. "Mm-hm! We have been with Mr. Chris' family who are all nice too. They, Mr. Sonic, Mr. Tails, Miss Amy, Miss Ella, and Mr. Tanaka are all my and Cheese's new friends. Mr. Knuckles too."
"Huh? Knuckles?" Vector blinked, now confused.
"You mean this red guy here?" Charmy asked, also confused while gesturing at the aforementioned echidna who gazed at the two of them and Espio.
"Remember me? For a detective, you sure didn't detect someone who followed you around." Knuckles snickered with a grin. "Call me Knuckles the Whisperer."
Suddenly nervous and realizing that he still had to answer for all of Sonic's friends, the green crocodile stammered nervously with an innocent smile. "Hey, pleasure to meetcha, Knuckles. Nice fists you got."
"Anyway, where were we? Oh yeah, I remember now. How 'bout you untie me and we can really call the whole thing off." Sonic teasingly said, knowing that the Chaotix were still in trouble for having abducted him in the first place.
"Sure...Let's do that." Vector blushed heavily.
A minute later, Vector cut the ropes off and Sonic immediately leaped off the chair and stretched to loosen up his stiff back and muscles now that he was free.
"That's much better. I hate sitting still for long." The blue hedgehog sighed in relief, and a let out a surprised but relieved chuckle when Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese hugged him happily, all glad that he was safe. "H-Hey, guys! Ha ha ha ha ha! Glad to see you too!"
Knuckles and the Chaotix all smiled at the happy reunion, before the echidna glared up at the trio and hissed. "Well?"
"Okay, okay. We're sorry. We made a big mistake, it was our fault." Vector quickly said, holding his hands up in defense.
"Wasn't the whole thing your idea, Vector?" Charmy pointed out skeptically.
"Charmy's right. You did come up with the plan to kidnap Sonic under a full misbelief and lack of evidence, targeting the wrong person." Espio grumbled in agreement.
Even though he wanted to protest, knowing that there was a bunch of people against him including his own team, the nineteen year old sighed before conceding defeat. "Yeah, okay, I made a big mistake. But at least we found out a few things, didn't we? But we still don't know where Vanilla or the other people are."
Once Sonic and his friends stopped hugging, they then gazed at the trio before the blue hedgehog, once the others made their apologies for attacking the Chaotix even though they had needed to be taught a lesson, thought of how the detectives had been looking for Cream and her mother for months. While had had yet to meet her, it was clear that Vector, Espio and Charmy had connections and so far not even the authorities had any luck other than what they already knew.
"We're sorry for attacking you, guys." Chris deeply apologized to the Chaotix, bowing apologetically as did Tails and Amy.
"Sorry." The two young Mobians chorused.
"You did attack Sonic, but you didn't hurt him so...I'm sorry too. Not that you didn't deserve it." Knuckles added, though he whispered the last part about the trio deserving the attack.
"Well, at least it's all cleared up now." Vector stated.
"We forgive you." Charmy said happily.
"We are all both at fault for Sonic's welfare, and it was a big misunderstanding. Let bygones be bygones." Espio concluded, which made everyone sigh in relief.
"Well, I learned something today too." Sonic spoke up, finally making a decision as an idea came into mind. Everyone stared at him in confusion. "You guys sure caught me by surprise and you were trying to find Cream and her Mom, just like I was and we're all on the same side, all trying to find answers on where the Iron Empire's base is."
He turned to Cream who, knowing that everybody were just trying to help her and at times that Sonic would ask for help and she didn't mind that. Especially when she felt terrible for relying on the blue hedgehog. She smiled softly and nodded, before Sonic looked at his friends who, realizing he was right and what he was thinking, all nodded in agreement.
"So I'm thinking, we all team up to look for clues on where those guys are, and figure out how to rescue Mrs. Vanilla, the Villagers and get Angel Island back. Whaddya say, Detective Vector? You wanna help us out? Payment's on me." Sonic modestly offered, holding a hand out to the crocodile who, along with the other two detectives, all stared at the hero of Mobius in shock.
The fourteen year old was offering them redemption by joining forces to find the kidnapped people, and he was willing to pay them? Never in their lives the Chaotix had thought of teaming up with Sonic the Hedgehog or his friends Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose or even Knuckles the Echidna. The cobalt teenager was even willing to forgive them and didn't even hold that much of a grudge.
Plus it seemed like a better option of they way of saying sorry.
"You got ya'self a deal, Sonic." Vector declared willingly, and shook hands with Sonic who chuckled, before the green crocodile turned to his team. "Boys, our case has been expanded and renewed! We're gonna find clues to help these guys out to find the Iron Empire!"
"Understood." Espio agreed firmly and willingly.
"Yay! I love investigating and finding clues!" Charmy cheered happily.
"Guess that means this crazy day had us find new allies." Tails remarked in surprise, even though he found the Chaotix to be strange.
"And new friends too." Chris agreed awkwardly.
"Well, I guess they're not so bad." Amy began, before she quickly added with a smirk. "But they still owe us for kidnapping Sonic."
The pink hedgehog then said slyly at the trio who flinched in fright at her scary, mean smile. "You better really keep your end of the bargain, gentlemen. Am I clear?"
"Uh...C-Crystal clear, ma'am, sir!" The three detectives stuttered nervously, saluting over their chests.
"Speaking of finding, like what I found." Knuckles spoke up, and reached into his quills, pulling out the red Chaos Emerald which stunned the rest of the group. "I found this outside of town while battling one of the Iron Empire's robots."
"Whoa, another Chaos Emerald!" Tails exclaimed softly.
"Nice one, Knux!" Sonic praised with a thumbs up. "Score Heroes: Five. Score Eggman and Iron Empire: Zero."
"Wait, five?" The older Mobian blinked, confused.
"We found another Emerald at the Grand Blue Sapphire Sea. Now we only need to find two more." Cream said happily.
"You already have four!?" The red echidna exclaimed, feeling extremely disappointed that his rivals and allies were once again ahead of him. On the other hand, since they already had three for starters while reclaiming two that Robotnik stole, he shouldn't be surprised that they would find at least another one.
Sonic chuckled, "Don't worry. One is still better than none. At least the bad guys didn't get any."
"That's really...a Chaos Emerald. Incredible." Espio whispered in awe as he and the other detectives stared at it in awe.
"No way!" Vector exclaimed. He had heard of the legends, but never thought he would actually see one in real life.
Charmy, being the youngest of the trio, blinking. "But, I thought Emeralds were supposed to be green. Not red."
While this only made Vector and Espio groan in exasperation, Sonic and the rest of the group blinked before sharing a glance and laughed knowingly, since they all thought of the same thing once. But then shortly after they stopped laughing, just then the heroes and their sudden new allies heard a high-pitched annoying laughter which made them look and saw, to their dismay, was Bokkun who, hearing them and flying right into the broken door, flew over and landed in front of them.
"Wha! Now who!?" Vector demanded.
"Not that pipsqueak again...!" Knuckles growled, quickly hiding the Chaos Emerald in his quills.
"What do you want this time, Bokkun?" Sonic asked, folding his arms with a glare, while he stood protectively in front of his younger friends and the detectives stood in defense, with Espio pulling out a couple of shurikens to fight just in case.
"Nothing much, but I have an important message for you. Here." The little message robot pulled out the small message TV and the group who knew of this slightly recoiled in fright. "It's from Dr. Robotnik and don't worry, I promise this won't blow up."
Pushing the button, the screen turned itself on to reveal at still battered Robotnik who had retreated into his Egg Fort, and despite trying to hide it, he looked pretty scared and his dignity wounded over the battle that was easily won earlier. Not to mention his mistake in challenging Sonic.
"You think you've defeated me, but I'm still in command here." Robotnik declared, while completely failing to even look intimidating. Sonic and Knuckles both groaned in anger, while the others tensed. "And too prove it, I'm going to, er, have Bokkun here perform...a little tap dance!"
An brief awkward moment of silence. Bokkun, very uncomfortable with a sweat drop, moaned in dismay before putting the TV back into the bag and reluctantly tap danced quickly. He then stopped and moaned.
"How embarrassing!" The small robot wailed, before he cried while slinging his bag over his shoulder and flew away in tears, leaving Sonic, his friends, and allies all standing there in complete confusion.
'...Huh?' They all thought, Tails, Chris, Cream and Cheese, and Charmy blinking.
"I think that just proved that Robotnik is weird." The young Bee commented.
"Weird is one thing. That guy's just all over the place crazy." Sonic stated in agreement.
No one argued with the two over that.
Short time later, as the sun began to set, Sonic and his friends were now standing outside of the Chaotix's home with the trio standing before them, the group preparing to depart for the time being with the blue hedgehog's group heading for home, and Knuckles to make his own way to continue his search.
"Since we've all agreed to team up, the guys and I decided to stick around here in Station Square. So whenever you need a case or a helping hand, just come on straight over." Vector announced, as it was agreed to remain here and it was much easier since their building was carried from the forest.
"Thanks, Vector. Kidnapping aside, it was great meetin' ya's." Sonic smiled, and while he still wasn't used to the trio, he had a feeling that they would become friendly rivals and very likely be friends in the foreseeable future.
"Yeah, again, sorry about that." The green crocodile said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Nah, it's cool. You had your reasons, even if it was mislead. But all things considered, we were on the same side the whole time. So I think we would've met either way." The blue hedgehog waved off dismissively. "I'm not the kind of guy to hold a grudge."
"You got a point." The head detective chuckled in agreement, making the hero of Mobius and the others, even surprisingly both Espio and Knuckles laugh at the same time.
"Also, sorry about that black eye I gave ya', Espio." Sonic tuned to the purple chameleon, having learned what has happened prior to his kidnapping even though it was all part of it.
"It's perfectly alright, Sonic. I admit, it is a bit embarrassing to have been hit while I was invisible. You have an excellent skill of sensing the enemy's presence. Even a ninja in the middle of the darkness and invisibilty." The teenage ninja responded, with respect.
"Everybody has their own skills. No shame about that." The blue hedgehog pointed out, shaking hands with the fifteen year old detective who returned it with a smile.
"I bet we can be really good friends. Just please don't go kidnapping people before asking them anymore." Cream added, with Cheese chirping in agreement.
"Don't you worry, Cream. I give you my word, we'll be on our bestest behavior, and we'll be helping out Sonic and these guys to find your Mama." The green crocodile promised.
"We will let you know when we find information." Espio said.
"Same to you, guys. And maybe you can come over to my place for a visit, as long as you don't mess things up. Okay, family rules." Chris suggested, and despite Charmy's protests, the young bee was quickly silenced by his older friends who promised they would.
"I hope this doesn't happen again, so you'd better keep your word on it. Got it?" Amy warned softly.
"Got it!" The trio murmured, and gulped when the pink hedgehog made the 'I'm-watching-you' with her fingers at them.
"Well, we should get going. Chuck, Ella and Mr. Tanaka oughta be really worried by now." Tails suggested.
"I'll keep you all on notice if I find anything else." Knuckles promised.
"Thanks, Knuckles, and you be sure to take good care of that Chaos Emerald." Sonic nodded with a smirk, and his friendly-rival smirked back since they had enough trust for the blue hedgehog to allow the older teenager to keep the gem.
"Well, we'll be seein' around, Sonic the Hedgehog." Vector smirked, giving the cobalt teenager a thumbs up.
"Yeah, see you later, Detective Vector." Sonic replied, returning the gesture with a wink.
With that, the group walked away from the Chaotix Detective Agency as Vector, Espio and Charmy waved a goodbye to Sonic, Tails, Amy, Chris, Cream and Cheese who waved back with goodbyes, before they headed for the X Tornado, and Knuckles leaped away.
Once the young heroes boarded with Sonic on the right wing, Tails piloted the plane back to the Thorndyke Mansion, with Knuckles watching them leave with his arms folded as the sun was setting over the horizon. He had to admit, it was a beautiful scenery inspite that it was a city and not the familiar environments. Then again, the world was a huge place, and unlike the hero of Mobius who had the freedom to go wherever he wanted, the red echidna had his duties, so he didn't have the same luxary in seeing everything.
Glad that things had turned out alright in the end despite the craziness that happened, Knuckles once again gazed at the red Chaos Emerald in his gloved hand, deep in thought. All of the sudden, it began to glow even brighter which made him startled before the red light engulfed his vision and he was forced to shut his eyes.
When he opened them once the light faded, the Guardian found himself in a strange yet familiar place yet looked so new. It looked like he was in a beautiful green valley of sorts, with a shrine that looked like the altar on Angel Island, but as though it was newly built and not in ruins.
"Where am I?" Knuckles asked aloud. Could this be...his home? How could this be? He was certain that Angel Island had been taken by the Iron Empire. Yet why did everything look so peaceful?
Looking up, he saw that the Master Emerald was where it should be, but something odd was happening. The giant gem itself began to glow brighter than it normally did, with a sudden group of white and blue Chao flying around it.
"White Chao? Where did they come from?" The red echidna blinked, before a huge shadow loomed over him and everything else, causing the fifteen year old to look up and softly gasped to find a giant shadowy figure loom over it, before huge roar filled the air and the Master Emerald glowed even brighter.
Then he heard an unfamiliar girl's voice echo all around him. "The servers are the seven Chaos..."
"The severs...are the seven Chaos...?" Knuckles repeated slowly, not understanding at all. "What does that mean?"
Could the voice mean the Chaos Emeralds?
Before he could pounder on this even further, he gasped when the figure reached out and grabbed the white Chao who screamed and wailed before they could escape as they and the Master Emerald, which was also taken, much to his horror, all glowed so bright that Knuckles found himself frozen in fear for the first time in his life...
Blinking with a sharp enhaled gasp, Knuckles found himself breathing heavily as he soon noticed that his vision had not only returned to normal, but he was back in Station Square. Could that have been a dream? No, it had to be more than that.
That was...a vision of sorts. The Chaos Emerald showed him a vision. Of the White Chao which were not seen in centuries, the Master Emerald, the giant figure of an evil shadow, and that voice...what did it all mean?
"What was that all about?" Knuckles gazed at the Chaos Emerald once more, frowning as he knew one thing was clear.
Robotnik and the Iron Empire were not the only threats anymore.
A/N: Oookay, another long chapter which I didn't intend(Sorry about that), but at least episode 17 is now complete. I'm not sure when I'll start on episode 18, but it may or may not be one of the chapters I've been wanting to write for ages since I've began this story.
And that the Chaotix make an early appearance! What next adventures Sonic and his friends will be facing, only time will tell.
See you later!