Chapter Eighteen
Escape From the Hidden Base
Deep inside a mountain laid a hidden base that consisted of a labyrinth of corridors. Inside one of these rooms held the central control center of the complex. An egg-shaped man with a thick mustache sat at the controls of a computer. Present in the room was four hedgehogs. Three of them, a pink, a green, and an older violet hedgehog, were encased in a dome prison. The fourth one, a blue one, was housed in a prison that was connected to a device.
"What are up of to now, Eggman?" the blue hedgehog remarked and this sent the man in fits of rage.
"You will be showing me more respect when you are working for me as my personal robotic slave," the man replied with a sinister look, "and the name is Dr. Robotnik. You will learn to use my name with respect and also to be feared."
"A robot," the hedgehog replied while rolling his eyes and scoffing at the idea, "there's no way that you can turn this hedgehog into a robot!"
"I found a way, rodent, and if this doesn't work; I can always clone you so that I can have an army of you working for me."
"Say what?" the hedgehog asked in surprise before he yelped in pain as a sharp object poked his arm.
The pain came from a needle that had poked his arm and was starting to draw out some blood. The needle retreated after it had taken its fill. The man named Robotnik cackled to himself as he started the process to the device the hedgehog was in; however, the power went off suddenly and the entire room plunged into darkness.
"What's going on here?" Robotnik fumed as he pounded the controls of his consol.
Meanwhile, as Robotnik was talking to his prisoner; deep inside the belly of the complex laid a suspended prison cell that housed a fox and he was guarded by three robots. This fox is the most unusual one that anyone has ever seen. He has twin tails and on his head was his fox-like Chao dress like a pilot. The three robots were a tall chicken, a monkey with a light bulb on his head, and a tank-like robot with drills for his hands and nose. The three seemed to be sitting there like they were bored.
"I'm hungry," the fox whined as he came to the bars of his cell. "Do you have anything to eat?"
"You're not getting anything!" the chicken robot yelled as he approached the cage.
"That's right, brat! Dr. Robotnik ordered us to watch over you so that you won't escape." the monkey robot added as he also approached the opposite side of the cage.
"Sonic's not here to save you now, Tails. So get used to being down here." the tank-like robot spoke in a singsong tone as he also approached the cage to one side.
"The name's Miles," the fox named Tails retorted.
"Don't be trying to trick us, fox brat," the chicken robot snapped "or I'll hang you up by your tails!"
"I'm so scared that I'm shaking!" Tails sarcastically snapped back as he pretended to shake before he burst out laughing.
The chicken robot in a fit of rage took the cage and threw it backwards causing the monkey robot to duck.
"What do you think you are doing, Scratch?" the monkey robot yell, but the chicken robot named Scratch didn't answer.
Scratch ducked and the monkey robot got hit in the back of the head as the cage came back. He landed on top of Scratch and this caused the tank-like robot to go into fits of laughter. However, he too was hit by the cage since he absentmindedly walked into the path of the free swinging pendulum. The cage continued to swing as Tails powered it like a young child would do on a swing to make it swing higher and higher.
"Stop that!" Scratch yelled as he ducked each time the cage came by, but it came at faster intervals.
"Make me, Clucky!" Tails snapped as his three guards retreated from the cage. "Question for you three. Have you ever heard of The Pit and the Pendulum?" The three robots just shook their heads. "Well, I'm the Pendulum and," the cage now broke from its chain and started to slide on the ground towards the robots. The three robots were fearfully screaming as the cage came near them. They were hit by the cage and they were smashed against the wall. "you guys are the Pits."
Tails got out of his shattered cage and exited the room with his Chao following him as they both cackled under their breaths. They quickly made their way through the complex as they flew which seemed to be devoid of guards and the lack of security made it seem like it was a trap that was waiting to be sprung. Luckily the three ding-bots forgot to blindfold them and with Tails' excellent memory; they quickly found their way back towards the central control room. As they made their way towards the door; the power went off where they were.
Tails was able to shimmy the door open and he heard a man's voice fume when the power went out. "What's going on here?" Then there was the sound of metal being pounded by something.
"What ever happened," Tails thought, "a circuit much have been tripped."
Tails felt Ace land on his shoulder and he quickly hid behind a consol just as the power came back on.
"Where were we hedgehog? Oh, now I remember," the egg-shaped man said with a sadistic smile.
Tails stealthily made his way behind the consoles as the imprisoned blue hedgehog just smirked at the man. While the three hedgehogs, a green one, a pink one, and an older violet one watched with mixed emotions at the scene between the two. The blue hedgehog had his back turned on the man then he spotted something behind the consol. He spotted his young twin-tailed friend and the hedgehog had a mischievous smirk on his face.
"What are you smiling at, rodent?" the man barked.
"Oh nothing," the hedgehog innocently replied before he turned to face his capturer. "I was just thinking why you would let those poor excuses of robotic automations guard Tails when they couldn't catch me."
"I'll show you, Sonic, that twin-tailed freak is right there in his cage," the man snapped as he turned on a monitor and pointing to it, but it just showed a broken hanging chain.
"Right where?" the hedgehog named Sonic snorted as he tried to hold back his laughter.
"Right… there?" the man's anger now became replaced by shock.
He panned the camera with the controls on his consol to find the broken cage and three robots "trying" to put themselves back together. Pieces of them were littered on the floor and pieces of broken circuitry could be seen on the floor. The man's face began to turn redder by the second and he started to grit his teeth at the scene while letting out a snarl that came out from deep within his throat. He slammed his fist on the intercom and spoke in a voice that would make anyone cower in fear.
"YOU INCOMPETENT IMBECILES!" The sound of his voice sent the robots into fits of panic as they dropped what they were doing and stood at attention; which proved almost impossible. Limbs were missing, heads were in each others' hand and they constantly fell over since they each had one leg; except for the tank-like one since he was missing his treads and he was holding a monkey's head upside-down. "I SHOULD HAVE YOU THREE THROWN INTO A SCRAP PILE!" Now the robots were holding onto each other as they cowered in fear. "HOW DID YOU LET THAT BRAT TRICK YOU!"
"It was Scratch's fault," the head of the drill robot's head whined in the hand of the chicken robot known as Scratch. "He caused the brat's cage to swing."
"Yeah," the monkey's head spoke as he pointed to Scratch's head with his detached tail, "he was also trying to get us to think that his name is Miles."
"ENOUGH!" the robot's were again cowering in fear of their boss's tone. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY EXCUSES! I GAVE YOU THREE ENOUGH CHANCES TO CATCH THAT HEDGEHOG AND EACH TIME YOU FAIL! I'M GOING TO PERSONALLY DISMANTLE THE THREE OF YOU AND BOIL YOU THREE UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT!"
"Whoa, watch the blood pressure, Doctor," a voice spoke behind him.
"Why don't you shut up, ro-" the doctor's voice trailed off to see that Sonic was out of his prison. Sonic wore an expression of someone who was annoyed with his hands on his hips. "How?"
"Never leave three dim-witted robots to do a hedgehog's job," Sonic replied.
The "good" doctor tried to grab Sonic, but he missed and received a sharp kick to the back of the head.
"Now which button is it that frees the prisoners? Oh, well, just have to press them all," Sonic asked as he randomly punched buttons.
Sonic finally found the correct button that freed the prisoners, but something else was also activated.
"Self-destruct sequence initiated. T-60 seconds. 59, 58..." a feminine monotone like voice spoke from the computers as it continued to countdown and an alarm sounding.
"Sonic!" Tails spoke as he came from behind one of the computers. "I've got the self-destruction sequence started and let's get out of here!"
"Roger that!" Sonic giving a salute. "Let's 'borrow' old egg-belly's pod and get out of here!"
"Sonic are you s--" the pink hedgehog began but was cut off by the green one.
"Let's get out of here before we are fried," he yelled over the alarm as he climbed into the pod while dragging her after their mother.
"30, 29, 28..."
After they were all crammed into the pod, Sonic hit the ejection button and they vanished from sight with the doctor's voice echoing as they left.
"I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!"
They were ejected out of the complex and a few seconds later the hidden base started to explode.
"Now, how do you drive this thing again?" Sonic asked himself, but he failed to keep his voice down.
"Do you mean to tell me that you don't know how to fly this thing?" the pink hedgehog yelled at him.
"I know how to fly this thing, but this is only the second one I've flown."
"Oh, move over!" the pink hedgehog started to fight over the controls.
"Knock it off, Sonia! Or you'll make us crash!"
Then the pink hedgehog's, Sonia, elbow accidentally punched a button and this sent them careening out of control. Sonic started to loose control as he continued to fight with Sonia for control as they started to skip on the tree tops. They now were approaching a lake and they stopped fighting while they all looked in horror.
"Oh no! Not--" Sonic didn't finish his sentence as they pod crashed into the lake.
They came up one-by-one and Sonic began to struggle to stay afloat. He finally made his way to a floating log as he was gasping for air. He was later joined by Sonia, the green hedgehog, and their mother.
"Next time, Tails," as Sonic regained his breath and wiped water from his face, "I'm letting you drive."
"Next time?" Sonia was very aggravated by the remark. "Why don't next time you let me since I'm the one with a pilot's license and you're not telling me that a kid can fly an aircraft!"
Sonic didn't even had a chance to retort at the remark since he, along with Sonia, received a sharp bonk on the head by a very angry, also extremely drenched, fox-like Chao in a pilot's attire. The Chao started to angrily chew them out in his own language that seemed to get angrier, if not faster, by the second.
"Ace," Tails spoke but the Chao ignored him as it continued to rant. "Ace," Tails tried again but a little louder and he got no response. "ACE!" know the Chao stopped his rant and faced Tails as he swam towards it. "That wasn't very nice to yell at them and I have every right to put you in the brig for that," and the Chao's facefell upon that remark.
"Put him in the-- What?" the green hedgehog spoke confused.
"I mean a 'time-out' for him," Tails clarified.
They walked the dirt path on the way back towards the city as they let the sun dry them. Just then the sound of approaching feet were heard ahead of them. It came from several uniformed individuals and they came running towards them.
"Thank goodness that the three of you are okay," the leader spoke in between breaths as he bowed as well as the rest of his men.
"I'm fine, Commander. Despite being a little wet, but as long as my children are safe; we are fine," the violet hedgehog spoke in a regal voice.
"I want to thank the--" but his voice trailed off when he set his eyes on Sonic. "Prince Sonic? Is that you?"
"The name is Sonic, and I'M NOT A PRINCE!" he replied calmly before he yelled at the commander.
"I think they were telling the truth, Sonic," it was Tails who spoke an he pulled out a tube that held a red substance. "I swiped your blood sample and did a cross-reference within the database and," he continued upon getting no response, "it came out a positive match. So if I were you; I would stay home and get to know your family."
Sonic's face was now shocked at what his friend had said. "But, you never told me about your family."
"The reason is. Before I met you; I tried to find a way to get back home. However, after several years of being teased and adventures with you; I forgot about them. That was not until I reexamined my diary and remembered the times I had with them."
"But what about--" Tails cut Sonic off.
"I highly doubt that he would try anything soon."
"Your Majesty, I also bring some troubling news," the commander spoke.
"Continue," the Queen spoke.
"Someone broke into the royal treasury, but they only took one item."
"Which is?"
"Our Emerald."
"No," her voice now became less regal and replaced by fear.
"That's not all. Several other kingdoms also have been attacked and the news is the same."
"What's going on?" Sonic asked.
"Some of the Kingdom Emeralds have been stolen and they all are gathered--" she trailed off but Sonic knew what would happen when a set of Emeralds are collected.
"Sorry to leave, but if what is said is true. Then I need to get back to Mobotropolis before something happens and warn the King," Tails said hurriedly before he took off using his twin tails like the propeller of a of a bi-plane. "If the seven Kingdom Emeralds are collected; then there is going to be some major trouble."
Elsewhere, in the smoldering wreckage of the hidden base stood Robotnik as he came out of the wreckage still fuming after what had happened.
"I'll get that hedgehog if it is the last thing I do; then I'll dispose of that little twin-tailed freak and his Chao for making a mockery of me!"
The roar of a jet was heard and three robots that looked like three of his past enemies. In each of their hands, they held an emerald that was twice as big as their hands as the emeralds glistened in the sun. Now Robotnik cracked a vile smile before he let out a sinister laugh that echoed through the smoldering complex.
As Tails makes his way back home to warn the ruling monarch of what had happened; Sonic is left with a choice of what to do. He knows that he needs to stop whoever is trying to gather the Kingdom Emeralds, but what will he do after this? What will happen after Robotnik gathers all of the Kingdom Emeralds? Only trouble will come with this. What sort of fate awaits the planet after all of the Kingdom Emeralds are collected?
Preview:
This is Tails! I make it home, but I'm too late. I failed to stop the interloper and an emergency meeting is set up at once was Angel Island with all of the Seven Kingdoms present. I meet Sonic again and he is only there to protect the monarchs, but I see something else behind the reason he may be staying a prince since I confirmed it. Now Eggman comes onto the scene and all heck breaks loose. Find out if Eggman's plans are stopped once again!
