Chapter Four

The Return of Nack the Weasel

"Remember pilots," a voice on the PA spoke as the participants entered the cockpits, "if you get shot down three time; you are out."

The cockpits' screens turned on as another screen turned above them showing several screens. Tails' screen turned on and he had to endure Julian and he his friends insults as he watched the screen with his hand on the pods' driving stick as he waited for the contest to begin. A countdown began on all the screens: 5... 4... 3... 2... 1.

The contest began with all the pilots' planes taking off into the air in their large virtual world. The screens above them showed the aerial dogfights that occur between the pilots to the audience. Tails quickly racked up kill after kill as he shot them down with his guns. A warning came from his screen and he knew that a missile was behind him. He quickly pulled a loop and began to fire his guns. His target, however; was dodging his shots and it when into a steep dive. Tails followed him and his target's missile was still following him. Tails banked and rolled to the right. His target was hit with his own missile as it tried to turn. Tails heard Julian curse under his breath and Tails guessed that it was Julian that he was chasing.

The contest went on for hours as pilot after pilot was put out of the contest. Tails was one of the better pilots in the contest and he had some trouble with some of the other pilots, but he was able to get around the situation without being shot down. Tails heavily relied on his guns and only used his vast armament of missiles when necessary. Near the end of the contest, Tails had put out Julian and his friends by having them get shot down by their own missiles.

There was only two left, Tails and another only known as "Kid Ace," were left. They both haven't lost any lives during the contest and they were nearly equal in skill. They both continued to chase and dodge each others attacks in an attempt to be the one to get the first kill. Both of their waves of missiles continued to miss their targets as they were hit by other missiles or diverted by flares. They continued this for another hour until… a blackout ensured. Their screens turned off as there were screams in the darkness.

The lights came on after several minutes and a frantic gray rat came into the room, "The prize for the contest has been stolen!"

Tails quickly made his way towards the exit as security ran across the scene. He had rejoined Sonic, Mighty, and Ray as he exited the casino and they ran towards the edge of town and out of Casino Night City.

"This was a bust," Mighty spoke after they had made it into the thinning jungle, "another Emerald lost, but this time in a blackout."

"We can't do anything else tonight and might as well camp out here for tonight," Sonic said as he started to pick up sticks. "Besides, they can't get the Emeralds at this time of night."

Ray sat down under a tree as Mighty made a pit for their fire as Tails sat in a tree. The night was peaceful as they and looked at the stars through the thinning canopy before they fell asleep.

The Hill Top Mountains, the highest point on the island, has many dangers through its range. Deadly fog blankets the peaks throughout the early morning, free flowing lava rivers, and frequent earthquakes make travel through the peaks very dangerous. Our heroes climbed the peaks through the thick, early fog.

"Be very careful," Tails warned them. "The fog can be very deadly at the lower elevations, but not once he get above it. The lava pits and the lava rivers are easy to avoid but still deadly. The ground may be unstable due to the frequent earthquakes that plague the area."

"How much farther?" Mighty asked as he climbed over a large rock.

"Once we get to the top of this peak and we need to hurry before the Armada gets to it first. It's too dangerous to even travel fast due to the uneven terrain and the high winds."

They reached the top of the hill to find the star post and it was already active with the spiral of stars revolving around it. They entered the portal and into another alternate universe. They appeared on a platform in the middle of a sea of lava. Platforms would rise out of the lava for a few seconds before retreating back into the lava.

"This looks challenging," Mighty remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

The platform they were standing on began to sink and they all scattered onto separate platforms. The platform Sonic landed on began to sink after he had landed and he had to jumped to another one.

"Split up and get the Emerald!" Sonic shouted as he jumped from platform to platform as they sank as he landed on each one.

They all began to move forward gathering rings and dodging lava updrafts and falling stalagmites in their wake. Ray was able to use the updrafts from the lava to get to the higher levels and Mighty was using his strength to knock over stalactites in the lava to use as a temporary bridge before it vanished into the lava. Tails took a route over the lava and he had to dodge persistent lava updrafts and the heated air that could knock him off-course.

Sonic was far ahead of them and he can see a sparkle in the distance. It was the Chaos Emerald and Sonic had to dodge even more persistent obstacles on his way to the Emerald. The platform that the red Emerald was floating on vanished underneath the lava and Sonic used a quick burst of his speed to leap across toward the Emerald. Once Sonic clutched the Emerald, they appeared back at the star post where they celebrated their victory. Their victory was short lived as the sound of cocking of weapons was heard. They were surrounded by several members of the Battle Bird Armada and all of their weapons were pointed at them.

An malicious laugh was heard, "I knew if I followed you; you would lead me to the next star post and the Chaos Emerald. Now hand over the Emerald or be annihilated!" with a vile smile spreading across his face.

Sonic was about to make a sarcastic remark when something or someone attacked the Armada's army from above. Then the Emerald that Sonic was holding was taken by a robotic arm and toward a figure on a hovering motorcycle. It was a purple weasel with brown and white boots, brown gloves, and a brown hat with a brim of it bent up on right side.

"Thanks for the pretty emerald, hedgehog," he said with a laugh at the end. "Someone will pay a pretty penny for this rare emerald." he started his bike going over their heads and over a wide chasm.

"After him!" the Armada's leader commanded and he with his men chased after the weasel.

"Tails, follow them from the air and find that weasel while we follow them at a distance," Sonic ordered Tails as soon as the Armada left to follow after the weasel.

Tails took off high into the air and followed their thief as he rode on his bike away from the scene of the crime. The weasel was too far a head of his pursuers that they seemed to have lost him. The weasel, feeling confident that he had lost his pursuers, entered a cave and Tails returned to find Sonic and the others to report his news.

Mystic Cave, a dark maze of tunnels miles long were once used as mines for the ancient civilizations on the island, currently used as another product of export where diamonds and other minerals are mined. Now it is currently empty since Robotnik (Eggman) had tried to dig in the mines for the mystic Chaos Emeralds.

"Stay very close so that you don't get lost," Tails warned his friends as they entered deeper into the lantern light tunnels along the mine cart rails.

"Who was that weasel?" Mighty asked.

"A weasel known as Nack (Fang the Sniper), and he is a treasure hunter who sells his bounty to the person who will pay the most. He is also known to be a double-crosser and I believe a bounty hunter," Sonic replied.

Tails held out his hand to stop his friends and used his ears to listen to find that weasel. He could hear a very low drone and he tried to pinpoint where it came from. It was somewhat difficult since the echoes made it almost impossible to tell where it came from. The sound of the drone echoed in the cave and Tails pointed them in the direction of the sound. It was a long and slow journey as they tried to navigate the maze of caves to find the thieving weasel.

They spent nearly two hours in the lantern lit caves until they heard a laugh and it was near their position. They followed the laugh to find that thieving weasel and he was near a star post. Not long after they had found the star post; the star post became active by a hole in the ceiling that allowed the sun to enter and the weasel entered the portal. They soon followed him through the portal.

They had appeared in another lantern lit cave and a slight tremor was felt and the stalagmites began to fall. They began to run as they began to dodge the falling rock spears and to gather rings. They came to a fork in the cave as they approached.

"You guys take the left while Tails and I take the right," Sonic said as they approached the fork and took their respective routes.

Sonic sped up as Tails flew in order to gain speed in an attempt to beat the weasel before he gets the Chaos Emerald. More obstacles came into their way as they continued to gain rings. The ground gave way, stalactites came up from the ground, and if that was not enough; the tunnel began to be flooded by water. A gusher came from the ceiling as the water began to flood the tunnel behind them.

In the other fork, Mighty and Ray were both running at top speed gathering rings in their wake. Mighty had to punch through enormous boulders that were in their way and climb up cliffs. Mighty wall jumped up the cliff by wall jumping with Ray holding onto him. They continued down a steep incline and then a boulder started to chase them. They started to run faster as the tried to outrun the boulder.

Our separated heroes met up in another tunnel and ahead of them was the same weasel that stole the Emerald from Hill Top Mountains. He was nearing a shimmering light and Sonic took off ahead and passed the weasel, who didn't seem to notice that he was being followed. Sonic grabbed the Emerald, which matches the color of his fur, and they reappeared at the star post in a blinding light.

"What? You!" the weasel was surprised that he didn't gain the Emerald and his anger turned to Sonic when he seen him. "You will pay for making a mockery out of me and for stealing those rare gems from me!"

"You are in way over your head, Nack," Sonic remarked. "Now, hand over the Emerald so that we can halt a mad waterfowl's attempt to dominate the world."

"Never, they will make me very wealthy," the weasel named Nack snapped.

Something exploded above them and stalagmites rained on them. This caught everyone by surprise as they began to dodge the raining rubble. Then a robotic arm grabbed the Emerald that Nack stole and the Emerald that Sonic had acquired earlier. A laugh was heard from the hole the explosion made and the figure vanished from sight.

Nack let out a groan then he pounded the ground with his fists, "Nobody steals from Nack the Weasel and gets away with it!" he boarded his bike and took off toward the hole.

"Let's take a shortcut through the hole and find the next star post before they get any more Emeralds," Tails said as he took off with Sonic holding onto his hands.

"Are you sure that you can lift us out of here?" Mighty asked spying that Tails looked too weak to be carrying multiple people.

Tails didn't answer as Mighty held onto Sonic's legs as Ray held onto his. Tails took off easily with his load as they headed out of the Mystic Caves and onto the next star post. This is looking bad, the Armada now has five Emeralds and they only need two more before they can dominate the world. Why hasn't the leader tried to steal the Emerald that Tails has? What about Nack? What sort of revenge plan does he have in store for the Armada? Can Sonic and friends recover the Emeralds that the Armada has acquired and halt their plan for world domination?


Preview:

Yo, this is Sonic! We come across an oil refinery to find out that the area is polluted once again. If that wasn't enough; the Armada gains another Emerald and now we have to stop the Armada from polluting the area before the oil spills further into the environment. We finally find out where the Armada's base is. Mighty, Ray, and I infiltrate the base to free the hostages while Tails gets the Tornado prepped. We must first free the hostages before we focus our energy on destroying their fortress. Will we succeed? Find out next time!


Copyright: Sonic, Tails, Mighty, Ray, the Battle Bird Armada, and Nack (Fang the Sniper) are all copyrighted by Sega. Julian is copyrighted by me.
Post Author's Note: May be short, but be prepared for some action in the next chapter (or two).