A/N: This is my first Sonic fiction. It is centred around Team Chaotix from the game; Sonic Heroes. Hehe, funny game... But don't worry guys; Sonic is here too, he's just not that important... Or maybe he is... O.o;
Summary: A bunch of kids gets kidnapped and one of them manages to call Vector. He decides to take job of finding them; obviously some mad man is using them all for a ritual.
Disclaimer: Sonic does not belong to me, neither any of the other characters... Just the ones that I made up as I ran along the sea of craziness...
Chapter Four.
Sonic had been looking for hours with no stop and he still hadn't found anything... Currently, he was walking along an underground river. Following it up the current he hoped to find at least something.
"Bored yet?" Tails asked through the intercom.
"You bet I am..." Sonic replied in a grumpy tone.
He peeked in through a hole in the wall. Sighing, he jumped in and continued his journey.
"Can't you see anything?"
"Sorry pal, but there is nothing-- Wait, stand still."
Sonic froze in his tracks, listening keenly. Ahead of him, he could hear the sound of something being dragged along the floor. The sound was enough to give him goosebumps. A light suddenly flashed up ahead, obviously whatever it was had electricity and liked using this path, maybe to get to the surface... The sound must have been another diversion to scare people off.
He jumped up into the ceiling and grabbed onto whatever would hold him. The person hadn't seen him yet, and that fitted him just right. Passing under him, Sonic realised who he had up against him. The creature was a robot, and where you found robots, you found Robotnic... The robot was build with a loud speaker, probably to help it make that blood chilling sound. He watched it pass, and then called his friends to warn them about what might be coming their way. After delivering the message, he sprinted in the direction of which the robot had come from.
He came to a massive steal door, and through it he could hear children screaming. Banging his fists on the door, he tried to pry it open. But he was too weak, not even when he used recoil he could penetrate it. Throwing his hands up he snarled.
"See if there's a lock--"
"There isn't..."
He grumbled and went back to the door. Listening, he tried to make out what kind off screams they were. Pain, angst, joy? He was so caught up in it that when Vector placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder, he almost pissed himself, scared that the weird robot had come back.
"Guys, don't sneak up on me like that"
Vector stared at the door. Surely he heard the screams as well.
"You couldn't get it open?"
Sonic shook his head. Grinning wickedly, Vector then tore up the door with a mighty kick, tearing it off its hinges afterwards so it wouldn't fall on anyone.
Stepping inside, they discovered that the screams came from beyond yet another door, but this one had a lock on it. Not that Vector cared. He marched right up and tore that one open as well and finally they could see the kids. They were all wearing leashes around their necks. Their screaming had probably been an idea to get attention from the outside world. Running over to them, Sonic looked at the leashes to let Tails have a look as well.
"It's a simple lock on it. You can easily pick it if you have a screwdriver."
He fetched one from Espio's backpack and together they all worked fast to get as many kids as possible loose. Amy gathered them all around her telling them to be quiet and to keep as close to her as possible. While the others were unlocking kids, Vector spotted a flower petal on the ground next to an empty leash. Turning to the girl that he had talked over the phone, he spoke in a low voice.
"Ashime, did you happen to see a little bee-boy named Charmy in here?"
She gave him a frightened look and nodded.
"That man took him and my big brother into the other room... What do you think he's doing--"
He shook his head at her and walked to the other end of the room. A door was carved into the wall and he opened it. It was dark on the other side, another hallway stretched out in front of him.
"This is getting lame..." He muttered and began trudging forwards. When he came to the end, a pain-streaked shriek reached his ears. And it was close by! Lifting his heavy feet, he ran on, barging into the room.
A little Echidna boy was crying by the wall. A man turned sharply to face him. But it wasn't Robotnic.
This man was younger and slimmer. He had no facial hair, and a pair of piercing white eyes. Upon spotting Vector, he made a hand gesture. Two giant robots suddenly filled the door behind him. Down the hallway, he could hear a battle starting up.
The man smiled at him and turned back to the boy. Hunching down, he pointed a weird object at the boy's forehead. The boy jerked violently, and then passed out. Giving in for a cruel laughter, the man turned once again.
"Surely you have come to collect the children..."
Vector nodded grimly, not taking his eyes of the boy, as he looked at him, his hair turned grey and his body grew thin.
"What are you doing to them?"
The man snorted and held up the chalice. With his other hand, he pulled a trigger and the wall behind him fell to reveal a bigger room. And laying sprawled in a cage high up in the ceiling was Charmy, passed out...
Roaring, Vector threw himself towards the man, but all the man had to do was to flick him off for Vector to crash into the opposite wall.
"Do not even think that thought. For in my hand I hold the elixir of life!"
He walked over to Vector and helped him up. Showing him the chalice, Vector noticed the ancient markings on it.
"This is a magical chalice, used by the Gods to achieve eternal youth. There is only one drawback; in order to use it I must first drain the life of twelve chosen children, each of them must have an ability that make them incredible..."
Vector stared at him, then back up at Charmy. Could he already have- No! He turned and slammed the man into the wall. Making a wild grab for the chalice, he shouted out for Espio to hurry up and get over to him!
He could hear that the battle had stopped in the end of the hallway, and that Amy was crying... Had Sonic lost to a bunch of metal heads?
"Uh... Vector?"
He looked up with a snap. Charmy was looking docilely down at him, apparently, he had been drugged to sleep.
"Charmy, I'm so happy that you're ok! Listen, you gotta get out of that cage and get out of here!"
The bee hummed around the cage for a second while Vector fought off the man. He had knocked the chalice out of his hands and now he tried to see if he could crush it with one foot.
After successfully flattening it, he saw the man sneer at him in pure hatred.
"You imbecile! Now I will die like any other mortal! But there is one triumph! The children will never be revived; you have fought in vain…"
He suddenly lifted Vector up and threw him away again. Then he hovered over to Charmy's cage. Tearing it open, he grabbed the bee and held a gun at the little guy's head.
"And now you will pay for trampling the chalice, with this child's life!"
It was as if time froze. The seconds stood still as Vector could only stare at what happened. But it never did, Charmy made an angry sound and forced his stinger into the man's hand. The shot went off but Charmy was already free to dodge it. Losing his balance, the man wobbled for a second in midair, before falling down into the abyss below the cage. But as he fell, he gave off an awful cackle. Charmy seemed too busy to notice this, as he flew straight into Vector's arms. Giving him, his trademark smile, and the two turned to run out to the others... But wait, the robots were still in the doorway.
"Vector, what're we gonna do?"
"Leave this to me Charmy, just stand back..."
He drew his breath and ran towards the robots; jumping over their heads he used a wrestling technique to smash them both. Turning back to flash a smile to his friend, he saw that Charmy was staring into the abyss.
"Hey, I think there's something down there-"
It was the last thing Charmy could say before he was grabbed by the croc and hurled away from the flooding water that rushed up from the abyss. Turning to glance behind him, Vector also saw a huge robot in the midst of the water... With a countdown clock on it. Skimming through the hallway back the others, he yelled out that each of them was to grab three kids and run for it! Passing several openings on their way towards the exit, he shook his head, preventing any off them to stray away. If they got caught in a dead end, they would be dead meat.
Sonic led the way, as he had both the speed and Tails on camera. But just as they were about to cross over the underground river, the robot equipped with the bomb, appeared out of the water. The robot flung out long arms with a sticky substance on them. Obviously, the robot's master wanted to take them down with him. The timer showed that there was less than four minutes to go and it didn't seem like it wanted to move away any time soon...
"Damn, we need to get around it!"
Amy shouted, pushing the kids behind her and got out her piko piko hammer!
"Stand back Sonic!"
He stared dumbstruck at her.
"Wha... Are you crazy or something!"
He swiped the hammer and gestured for her to get back. Looking back at the huge chunk of moving metal, he yelled that the others had to be ready to run past as soon as he got the robot's attention! Jumping feather light unto its head, he slammed his fist into the empty hull.
"Hey you! Wanna a piece of this?"
He smacked his ass and ducked as a sticky arm flew towards him. He ducked it, and the diversion was enough to let the others pass. But Charmy, who was making up the rear end of the tail behind Vector and got snagged by the arm!
"Help! I'm stuck!"
He tried to get off, but if he pulled to hard, his wings, that caught as well, would be ripped off. Instead, he tried to look for any screws that he could pull loose and unhinge the arm.
"I can't believe you guys are so helpless. I'll be there in a sec..." Tails' sarcastic voice sounded into Sonic's ear.
And he did come. Smashing through the sewer wall, he arrived in a huge mecha-bot. Taking aim; he shot a series of blasts towards the robot. The arm came loose in the explosion, but Charmy was still stuck to it. As it fell down into the dark river water, Vector called out and dived in after him.
Tails abandoned the mecha-bot and jumped to help Sonic disarm the robot. Time was ticking and it was close to zero.
"Sonic, I'll handle this; you get everyone out of here."
Pulling up a screwdriver from a secret pocket in his shoe, Tails started doing his thing. When it all came down to it, the fox seemed to have magic fingers.
Hauling ass outta of there, Sonic registered that Vector was out of the water again. He told him to follow the water path, being a crocodile; he had a better chance of getting through the sewer system than any of them. Nodding, Vector told Charmy to hold his breath for as long as he could and then dived back under water.
They could finally see the light from outside, when a giant blast sounded behind him. Turning back, Sonic tried to see if Tails had made it out of there. Seeing nothing but the explosions, he called out but his voice was drowned in the series of mini explosions. The mysterious man had obviously planted other devices around the area. Feeling rather hopeless about not being capable of helping his friend, Sonic surfaced, got a hold the kids to a near building and ran back towards the sewers.
"Sonic don't! You'll get killed!" Espio called out after him in desperation.
Sonic stopped and gasped for air. The flames that stood out of the trap door were absolute... There couldn't have been another way to have dodged them.
"No... Not Tails..."
He looked worried and plumped down on his butt and sobbed. The sky was coloured by the gasses and flames. Turning to look at the kids, he noticed that Vector and Charmy had joined the crew again. But there was still no sigh of Tails. Getting back to his feet, he tried the intercom.
"Tails, are you there?"
Nothing answered than a lot of static sound.
He tried again, but he still didn't get an answer. His shoulders slumped; he shuffled over to his friends.
"I-I don't think he... Made it..." He whimpered.
That's when Vector's cell jingled, for a moment no one thought about answering it until Espio got fed up and did it for him.
"What you want?" he practically yelled into the receiver!
"Gee, Espio, I thought ya would be happy to hear that I made it just fine."
Sonic made a grab for the phone.
"Tails, you made it! But how-"
"Hehe, sorry Sonic, but since I've been flying solo, I've met up with a slightly different crowd. And they don't like to reveal their secrets to anyone. But I'm just fine. I figured that the bomb would explode if I tried to disarm it, so I sent you guys ahead while I called up my buddies. Luckily I made it to the other side of the wall; it took away a large piece of the blast for me... Wait, Sonic? Are you crying?"
He sniffled and shook his head.
"Off course I'm not! Heroes don't cry..."
"Well, then get back to me when you need a shoulder. I have to go; this phone bill is getting big. See ya Sonic."
And with that, he hung up. Smiling, Sonic returned the cell phone and gathered the kids around him.
Heading back to the city again, they all tried to shake off the scary event.
Amy was the one to catch her senses first, throwing her arms around Sonic's neck.
"Caught you! Now you'll have to marry me!" She squealed.
Sonic just smiled. He wasn't in a mood for a race right now, somehow, he just wanted to sit down and take a rest.
"Ok, where's the best place?"
She froze and twitched. This was a little too easy...
Giving him an annoyed look, she stuck her nose in the air. It was too easy come to think of it. Sonic had just gotten out of a long and hard mission, and he had probably just given in because he was dead tried... She hated this game...
"I don't think I want to do it after all... You're acting weird, maybe another time."
She flashed him a smile and waved. They had entered the city again and it was time for them to part ways. The kids would be taken by Vector and the others to a police station and Sonic would go in search of new adventures, or maybe a free hammock to snooze in... All in all, the night was over and so was the danger.
TBC . . .
Epilogue
Espio stretched and yawned loudly. They were gathered at the office again, but the little girl, Ashime, was there too. She had lost her brother and her orphanage was far away in another country, so Vector had taken her with him back to their place. He was currently trying to convince Charmy and Espio to let her stay here, at least for the night.
"Look guys, she has no one else to go to..."
Charmy smiled and did a cute loop.
"I don't any objections to that!"
He grinned and landed next to her. Taking a short bow he told her that she could sleep in his bed.
Espio raised an eyebrow and turned over in his chair to catch some shut eye.
"Good thing they're too young to be doing anything else than sleeping..."
He muttered, and dozed off.
Rolling his eyes, Vector pulled a cover up over his purple friend's sleeping form. Looking over to make sure that Charmy and Ashime was also falling asleep. He walked out the door, shutting carefully behind him.
The End!