Mid-chapter Conversation
Part Two
"Welcome to part two of chapter five!" I started. "Brought to you by the Chaos Emeralds of Sonic the Hedgehog's dimension!"
I gestured to a velvet curtain that Izzy was standing by. Grumbling, the hedgehog pulled back the drawstring. The curtain separated, revealing seven glowing jewels. They were purple, red, blue, yellow, green, cyan, and gray. They were about the size of a fist.
"It is with these emeralds that I transformed most of the Rocket Power cast into animals and gave our villain the resources to build his army of robots. Why, if we didn't have these fine symbols of power, we wouldn't even be doing this fic!"
Izzy's ears perked up after hearing that.
"Now there's an idea." He snickered evilly.
"Don't even think it." I said to him with a glower. "You couldn't even touch them unless I authorized you to."
"Pffffft! You expect me to believe that load of bull!?" Izzy scoffed. "Nothing's separating them from me except a couple feet of air!" He reached towards the emeralds.
"Ok…" I shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you."
"Come to Daddy!"
My partner's hand was mere inches away from the jewels…
::ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!::
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed as volt after volt of electricity surged through him. He continued getting shocked for a few seconds before he was thrown far back. He landed in front of me, sizzling and smoking.
"Ouch…" He groaned, coughing up a cloud of smoke.
"I tried to tell you." I admonished, shaking my head. "The emeralds are protected by an anti-theft system and only I can grab them." Izzy growled as he stood.
"I hate you…" He proceeded to dust himself off.
"Like I don't hear that every day?" I asked, shrugging again.
"Hey, if we have Sonic's emeralds, wouldn't his dimension be in deep trouble or something?"
"Er…" I blinked, sweating slightly. "Ummm…"
"You don't know!?!" He roared. "And what happened to that rule where you can't take something from another dimension unless it was given to ya!?!"
"But the emeralds were given to me." I clarified. He gave me a confused look.
"Who would be dumb enough to give you all seven Chaos Emeralds!?!"
"Knuckles." I answered simply. "I just told him that I'll give him a lifetime supply of grapes and he gave them to me like—" I snapped my fingers. "—that." Izzy slapped his forehead.
"You're kidding. He's not that gullible!"
"You'd be surprised." I said with a nod. Izzy sweatdropped.
"Whatever."
"And about the dimension being plunged into darkness, the emeralds were taken into space before and the planet didn't implode or anything. I think Sonic's dimension is safe."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get started already!"
"Oh right! I always get so wrapped up in our little chats."
"Little?!"
"Shut up." I said, rolling my eyes as I turned to the camera. "Anyway, for part two of this chapter, we're still following Team Rocket as they travel to the archeological paradise known as Ocean Palace. Can our heroes survive?"
"I hope Sam doesn't." The hedgehog remarked.
"Oy…" I slapped my forehead. "Also, Dr. Coconutman's identity will finally be revealed!"
"Took ya long enough!"
"Watch it, Izzy." I warned. He only crossed his arms indignantly in response. I turned to the camera. "Who is this evil genius and why does he want every skate park in the world destroyed? Find out now!"
------------------------------
Rocket Heroes
Chapter Five
Team Rocket's Day at the Beach
Part Two
Stage Two: Ocean Palace
Mission: Escape from the dilapidated ruins!
The next leg of our heroes' journey started as they hit a jump pad. It sent them off the island they were on and towards a bridge that seemed to stretch out over the ocean.
"Alright you guys! You all ready!?" Otto yelled to his teammates as they landed.
"Yeah Ottoman! I'm ready to take out Coconutman's robots!" Twister shouted eagerly.
"Me too!" Sam agreed. "…Just as long as I don't have to skate up any more of those loops."
(Me: Hey! I told you! You still got the rest of the game to go through! Of course there are more loops!)
Otto and Twister sweatdropped as Sam let out a scream of agony. The red and orange ones sighed and looked ahead. Down a winding path that had two loops was the entrance to a palace. The path and the structure seemed to be made of white marble. At the top of the many colonnades were fish-like statues. They mainly resembled fish tails. Also, waterfalls fell from the tops of the statues.
"Woah… A palace…" Otto said in amazement.
"Cool!" Twister exclaimed. Sam stopped screaming and joined them.
"Yeah." He said with a nod. "A palace in the ocean." Their eyes went wide as they faced each other.
"A PALACE IN THE OCEAN!?! IN CALIFORNIA!?!" They all looked up.
(Me: ::Sighs:: Why do you guys think I have all the answers?)
"Because you're the author." Twister said.
"And you're supposed to have all the answers." Sam continued.
"So tell us what's up with this!" Otto yelled.
(Me: You guys have hardly ever left Ocean Shores on the show. You don't know what the rest of the world is like. For all you know, everywhere aside from Ocean Shores, Oahu, the Grand Canyon, and New Zealand could be infested with omochao.)
Everybody else shuddered at the thought. They knew about the robotic chao that have caused many a soul to go insane from their dispersement of useless information.
"Still, that's a cheap excuse and you know it." Otto said, crossing his arms.
(Me: This is true. So start the stage already!)
"Alright, alright!" The trio shouted.
They got into speed formation and skated down the incline that started the path. They looked in awe at all the ruins that seemed to be brand new despite the fact they had to be quite ancient. They soon skated up the first loop. Sam gave a sickly groan as he and the others went upside down. The path dipped a bit as they hit two boost pads, one after the other. When they got up to the second loop, they skidded to a stop. The obstacle seemed to go in two separate paths.
"So which way do we go?" Otto asked, turning to the other two.
"It looks like it doesn't matter which way we go." Sam said thoughtfully.
"I'll go right!" Twister said.
"And I'll go left!" Otto added. They both skated towards their destinations, leaving Sam behind.
"Hey! Wait for me!" He yelled, skating after Twister.
The hedgehog went up the left loop and hit an item bubble, which contained a red power core, giving him his first level-up for the stage.
"Alright!" He cheered.
Meanwhile, Twister went up the right loop and got his first level-up from an orange power core. The trio soon joined up and skated towards a jump pad. In the middle of the approaching chasm, Otto noticed three rainbow-colored rings that were lined up.
"Guys! Go into power formation!"
"Got it!" Sam and Twister replied, getting into formation.
The echidna took the lead as they hit the jump pad, sending them into the air. They all passed through the rings, propelling them forward.
"Yeah!" Twister shouted as he flipped upside down. Otto and Sam turned and gave the camera a thumbs-up as they sailed through the air. They righted themselves out just before landing in front of a huge stone door. Floating on either side near the top of them were two power monitors.
"Ok Twist, bust open that door!" Otto ordered, rolling into a ball.
"Right!" Twister acknowledged as his teammates jumped into his hands as balls. He reached back and struck the middle of the door with his right fist. The stone slabs were pushed back, but still didn't open.
"Hee-yah!" He shouted, bringing back his left fist. He let it fly into the door, opening it. On the other side were five coconut pawns. The echidna quickly jumped and got all of them with a single Fire Dunk. He panted slightly as he let go of Sam (he had tossed Otto at the robots).
"Come on Twist! There's no time to rest!" Otto said, taking the lead again. The one in the winged helmet panted for a bit more before following the leader and Sam down the path. They took care of a coconut pawn with a homing attack and made to go farther down the path when an overhead arch fell onto the path. The team jumped back to avoid getting crushed.
"Oh man! That was close." Sam said. "It seems that some of these ruins are so old that they'll crumble if we get too close."
"Yeah." Otto nodded, turning to Twister. "Guess we need ya again, bro."
"No prob!" He said, punching his hand. The others jumped into his hands as balls. He then punched out the piece of ruin and skated down a decline. The path straightened out as he skated up to another piece of ruin that collapsed. He punched his way through it and came to a dead end. He let go of Sam and Otto.
"Guess I'm up." The fox said. The team got into fly formation and flew up.
They passed through an air ring that propelled them onto the rest of the path. After going up a small incline, they found themselves in front of a checkpoint. Right after it was a speed formation gate.
"Ok Squid. Get the level-up so that we'll be even." Otto told the one in question.
"Alright." Sam nodded, moving forward.
They crossed the checkpoint, allowing the fox to get his first level-up. They then went through the gate, forcing them to switch to speed formation. The trio sped down a decline in the path. When they reached the bottom of the hill, a small piece of ruin fell. It was far away from them though, so they didn't worry about it. They were now in a large corridor. The walls on the sides each had a waterfall going down them. They soon came up to a wall. In front of it was a fan and floating above it were two power formation monitors.
"Ok. I know I gotta take the lead now, but what do I do?" Twister asked. The rest of the trio gave a confused look at the fan. They tried to think of a solution to their problem, but nothing came up. Soon, Sam came across a hint ring that was by the fan.
"Hmmmm… Let's see." He reached out towards the ring. It disappeared and a piece of paper appeared in his hands. He opened it and started reading the comic that was on it.
Pictured in the first panel was a stick figure drawing of the fox, echidna, and hedgehog. They were in power formation and standing in front of a fan much like the one their real life counterparts were standing in front of. The second panel had the trio floating over the fan. They were separate and looked completely disoriented. They also had frowns on their faces. The third panel had them flying high above the fan. They were holding each other's hands, allowing them to get in a triangle formation. It seemed to resemble a position multiple people take while skydiving. They had grins on their faces. Under the comic were the words. "Triangle Dive." Sam put down the paper and turned to his teammates, who were giving him a curious look.
"So what does it say, Squid?" Otto asked.
"It's a move for Twister." Sam started. "We have to jump over the fan and hang on to each other so that we can glide up over the wall."
"Then why is it mine?" Twister asked. The fox shrugged.
"I guess it's because you can glide. Also, you can control where we go."
"Whaddya think, Otto?" Twister asked, turning to their leader, who gave a shrug of his own.
"It sounds weird, but then again, a lot of weird stuff has happened so far." He grinned. "Let's go for it!" The others grinned as well.
"Alright!" Twister cheered, jumping over the fan. Otto and Sam followed suit. They floated above it and spun around.
"Ugh… I'm getting dizzy again…" The fox groaned, holding his mouth.
"Hold your hurl and grab on!" Otto ordered.
Sam swallowed hard as he held out his hands. Twister grabbed his right hand while Otto held his left one. The hedgehog and echidna then reached out towards each other with their free hands. They grabbed on and were sent up over the wall. They glided over to another wall.
"Alright Squid! Take the lead!" The hedgehog said to the fox, who had his face buried in his air sickness bag.
"Ugh… Right…" He said when he was through.
They got into fly formation and went over the wall. Now a couple of coconut pawns and a door were ahead of them.
"Quick! Use that thunder move of yours!" Twister said.
Sam brought his foot back and used Thunder Shoot, kicking Otto in the process. The electrified hedgehog crashed into the robots, paralyzing them. Twister quickly let go of Sam and ran up to the robots. Before they could recover, he punched them both out.
"Awesome job!" Otto complimented as he walked up to his best bro. "Now, do ya think you can take care of the door?"
"Sure."
Twister, still feeling the adrenaline from the last attack, charged towards the door and punched it open with his bare fists. He then delivered a mighty roar.
"I am Twister! Hear me roar!" Sam and Otto sweatdropped at that proclamation.
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhht…"
Anyway… The echidna stomped into the newly revealed hall, followed by his teammates, who were scared for their lives. They encountered two coconut pawns, which Twister wasted no time decimating. When he finished, he was covered in oil much like when he was working on the Twister. Sam and Otto blinked at the now-black echidna, who was snarling.
"Uhhh… Twister?" Sam tried. The echidna turned to him, bearing his teeth. He gave the fox a cold glare.
"Yeah?" He growled.
"Stop it." The fox simply said.
"Ok." Twister replied, standing straight up and dropping the act. Otto fell over as the echidna proceeded to clean the oil off himself.
"Hey Otto." Sam called.
"Ugh… Yeah?" Otto asked as he got up. Sam pointed near the wall. A red power core was lying there. "Yes!" The hedgehog shouted, pumping his fist. He grabbed it and got his second level-up. Twister got most of the oil off himself as he walked back to the others. There were still some black spots present.
"Ok. Let's go." He said.
"Uhhh guys, which way do we go?" Sam asked.
"Huh?" Otto and Twister asked. The fox pointed ahead in response. The path ahead split in two. The left path went high over a wall while the right one went down a hill. Over the left path was a fly formation signal. A speed signal was floating over the right path.
"Well, it's pretty obvious." The hedgehog scoffed.
"Right." Sam nodded. "It's the only sensible choice."
"We'll go right/left!" They both said. Sam said "left" while Otto said "right." Twister sweatdropped. The other two's eyes widened when they realized what the other said.
"What!?" They both glared at each other.
"We're taking the speed route, Squid!" Otto roared.
"No way! The fly route is better!" Sam protested.
"The speed route is faster, hence the name!"
"The fly route is higher, so it's safer. Haven't you played any video games?!" Otto glared at the fox.
"You know I don't!"
(Me: You really should. They're a great release after a hard day of work.)
"BUTT OUT!!!" They both roared, looking up. They then faced each other.
"I'm the leader and I say speed!"
"Well, I'm the smartest one out of all three of us and I say fly!"
"Speed!" Otto shouted.
"Fly!" Sam retorted.
"Speed!"
"Fly!"
"Speed!"
"Fly!"
"Speed!"
"Fly!"
"Speed!"
"Fly!"
"HOLD IT!!!" Twister interjected, getting in between them. "Let's just flip for it!" He took out a quarter. "Call for it." He flicked it into the air.
"Tails!" Sam called.
(A/N: Bonus points to anyone who gets this obvious pun.)
The coin plummeted and landed on…
"Aw man!" Otto shouted, stomping the ground. He sulked as he faced Sam, who was looking pretty smug. "Ok… Take the lead…"
"Gladly." Sam said with a smirk.
The trio got into fly formation and flew up the wall. When they got on the path, they noticed that it was a winding, grassy road that was littered with many gold rings, as well as some huge spiked balls.
"The fly route is safer, huh?" The hedgehog said, glaring up at the fox, who sweatdropped.
"Look on the bright side. At least we found some treasure."
"Come on! Let's pick 'em up!" Twister shouted.
The trio hovered along the path, picking up rings and avoiding the balls. When they were halfway through, a beeping sound filled the air. Sam looked at his watch and grinned. Displayed on it were three circles that were arranged in an upside down triangle. At the upper left was an orange circle that seemed to have fire at the end. The top right circle was red and had what seemed to be a gust of wind at the end. Finally, at the bottom was a yellow circle that had a lightning bolt at the end.
"Hey! We just filled up our Team Blast meter!" The fox said to his friends, who grinned.
"Alright Squid!" Twister shouted. Sam gave Otto a smirk. The hedgehog growled as he looked away.
"I guess you were right Sam…" The fox's grin widened.
"Thanks." He simply said. The trio reached the end of the path and found themselves near a stone door. A coconut pawn armed with a lance was guarding it.
"Guess I'm up!" Twister said as they touched down. They went into power formation.
"Yeah. Just don't go crazy again." Otto said. The echidna rolled his eyes.
"Just follow my lead!" He charged towards the lone robot. Otto and Sam shrugged at each other and followed suit.
Twister grabbed Otto, jumped, and used Fire Dunk to take out the robot. While Otto was stumbling around dizzily, the orange one punched open the door. The hedgehog shook his head and followed his teammates through the door. Just barely beyond the door was a long, narrow chasm. A red balloon was floating near the end. There didn't seem to be any way across it. A speed signal was above it.
"So how do we get across?" Twister asked. Sam spied a hint ring nearby and grabbed it. A piece of paper appeared in his hands. He proceeded to read it.
Pictured in the first panel of the comic was a stick figure drawing of the team in speed formation. The second panel had them jumping towards a narrow canyon like the one they were at. The last panel featured everyone using a homing attack and jumping from wall to wall. Under the comic were the words, "Triangle Jump."
"Ok. Otto, you have to take the lead. Jump towards one of the walls and use your homing attack." Sam explained.
"Alright…" Otto said, nodding. He jumped towards the right wall and used his homing attack. He shot towards it and clung to it. He grinned. "Hey! It works!"
He jumped off the wall and homing attacked the left one. Sam and Twister followed as the hedgehog jumped from wall to wall while going forward. Just before the chasm ended, Otto hit the balloon, giving him his last level-up for the moment. The trio hopped off the wall and found themselves standing before a couple of jump pads.
They skated up to them and were sent flying over an expanse of water. In the middle of the jump, they hit some rainbow rings, propelling them over some enemies and towards a power formation gate. They crossed it and switched into the previously mentioned formation. They skated up to a fan that was by a wall.
"Ready to go flying again, Squid?" Twister said with a smirk. Sam held his stomach, already feeling himself getting sick again. He quickly got over it as he shook his head.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Which is never. Bust!" Otto teased. He and Twister gave a taunting laugh while Sam looked away, his face reddening in embarrassment.
"Come on. Let's go." Twister said.
All three of them jumped over the fan and linked hands, performing their Triangle Dive. They soared high up over the wall. The team noticed some coconut pawns patrolling the area, as well as a couple more fans that were close to each other. Another balloon was floating near a ledge.
"Hey, if we keep gliding, we can avoid those robots." Sam said.
"Then let's go for it!" Otto commanded.
They glided over to the first fan and ascended again. Before getting to the next fan, they hit the balloon, allowing Twister to get another level-up. They landed on the ledge in front of a speed formation gate. They crossed it and skated down a hill with Otto taking the lead again.
"Hey Squid, good call back there!" Twister said. Sam looked back at him with a small grin.
"Thanks!" He replied before looking ahead.
The path winded to the left and then the right as they skated. When they reached the bottom, they passed through a power formation gate, making Twister take the lead again. A piece of ruin that was providing an arch fell in their way.
"Hey! We don't have time for you!" Twister yelled, bringing back a fist. He punched through the piece of stone. The trio now found themselves at the foot of a flight of stairs. Standing guard were two coconut pawns, each with a lance. The echidna grinned.
"Ok you guys," He said to Otto and Sam. "Let's get ready to do Fire Dunk!"
"Ok! But you better not be so rough about it!" Otto yelled, remembering that unexpected attack a minute or so ago. He and Sam jumped into Twister's hands and spun around. The echidna jumped up and tossed both of them at the robots, destroying them.
"Man! I never get tired of that!" He yelled happily. "It's fun!"
"For who?" Otto muttered as he and Sam rejoined the current leader.
They were about to run up the stairs when something crashed into Twister, causing him to drop their rings!
"Huh?" Sam and Otto said.
They turned nervously to see what damaged their friend. It was a third coconut pawn! It loomed over them with its lance drawn, getting ready to attack.
"Kill." It droned. Sam looked shaken, but Otto was unnerved, feeling rage for his fallen comrade.
"Actually, I'm still alive." Twister said, getting up.
(Me: Shaddap! You're ruining the mood!)
"You hurt my best bro…" The hedgehog started, glaring daggers at the grinning robot. "YOU'LL PAY!!!"
He jumped up and hit it repeatedly with his homing attack. The robot was destroyed after the first hit, but Otto didn't stop there. He kept attacking it until all the pieces were dust (though how the hell he managed to turn metal into dust eludes me). The hedgehog breathed hard and turned to his friend.
"You alright, Twist?"
"Yeah." The orange one nodded. "Let's go. I still gotta open that door." He pointed at the top of the staircase, where Sam was standing. A stone door was present. Otto gave him an unsure look.
"You sure you're ok?"
"Don't worry! It'll take more than some stupid robot to stop me!" He yelled proudly, pointing to himself. Otto smirked and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Good. C'mon!"
He ran up to the door. Twister grinned and followed. He punched open the door, revealing a loop and three coconut pawns. Using Fire Dunk, the echidna took care of them quickly.
"Ok Ottoman, you're up!"
"Right! Follow me guys!" Otto said, skating towards the loop. Sam gulped as he and Twister followed.
Like the one they came across earlier, this loop went in two directions. Unlike the last one though, they all took the right side. Just as they left the loop, the hedgehog grabbed an item bubble. Instantly, a rainbow-like aura surrounded them. They skidded to a stop.
"What's with you and rainbows?" Twister asked, looking up.
(Izzy: He's a pansy! What else?!
::WHAM!::
Me: ::Leans against my mallet:: Idiot! Anyway, it's not my fault! That's how the game goes!)
"So what is this, anyway?" Sam asked.
(Me: You lectured Otto on playing video games a little while ago and you don't know?)
Sam shrugged.
(Me: ::Slaps my head:: Whatever. You're now invincible. You can't get attacked for the few seconds that aura covers you.)
"Cool! Come on! Let's go before it ends!" Otto yelled, skating forward. His teammates followed.
They hit a boost pad and then a jump pad. They shot out over the ocean towards a group of giant sea turtles that were carrying great blocks of stone on their shells. They were all swimming across the sea to another part of the palace.
"Giant sea turtles? Oliver would have a field day classifying these, not to mention the whales we saw earlier." Sam commented as they landed on one of the reptiles.
"Never mind that Squid! We gotta keep going!" Twister said. He walked towards the checkpoint that was nearby and got his final level-up.
Otto took the lead again as they walked up to a cannon. Floating near it was a signal for all three formations. On the left was the power signal, in the center was the speed signal, and the fly one was on the right.
"What's up with this?" The hedgehog asked, turning to Sam.
"I guess we'll get shot in whichever direction we're facing depending on our formation." The fox answered.
"Whatever. Let's go!" Otto jumped inside, followed by his teammates. The cannon shot them forward.
They sailed over the water and landed on another turtle. This one had two flappers on it. Also, a case that contained another cannon was present. Using his homing attack, Otto took care of them with no problem. The case lowered, revealing the cannon.
"I guess beating robots will open those cages for us, huh?" Twister said.
"Duh!" The leader said.
They all jumped in the cannon. As their invincibility ended, they were shot towards a pillar on a turtle's shell. There was a spring there, which sent them to another turtle. On it were three coconut pawns. One of them had a lance, but all of them were holding a shield made of stone.
"I think you better take care of this, Twister." Sam said.
"Right!" Twister replied, taking command again. He used Fire Dunk on one of the robots, but the attack only chipped off part of the shield. "Oh man! I can't knock 'em out til we get rid of those shields!" They jumped away when the robots started charging.
"Maybe we could try blowing them off!" Sam suggested.
"How?!" The others asked.
"Try using your Rocket Twister, Otto!"
"Hey, good idea!" Otto said, jumping up. He used his wind technique on the closest robot, which happened to be the one with the lance.
Due to the high winds stirred up by the one in the dome helmet, it dropped its shield. The hedgehog smirked evilly as he attacked the other robots in a similar fashion. They both dropped their shields after getting attacked. The trio quickly switched to power formation and took care of the bots with a few well-placed punches. They skated up to the nearby jump pad and were sent to another turtle. This one had a coconut pawn with a shield and gun standing by some metal crates in a corner. Floating above it was a flapper that also had a gun.
"We better take care of that flying robot first." Sam said.
They switched to fly formation and knocked the flapper down with Thunder Shoot. Before it could recover from its paralysis, they switched to speed formation and attacked with a homing attack. Otto then used Rocket Twister to knock off the coconut pawn's shield. Twister took the lead and punched out the robot while it stumbled around. They then used the nearby jump pad to get to the last turtle before the rest of the palace. They were instantly ambushed by three coconut pawns that had lances. The middle one had a shield.
"Pfft! Piece of cake!" Otto scoffed. He used his wind attack to knock off the middle one's shield.
During the attack, he destroyed the robot on the left, making it drop a yellow power core. While the hedgehog and echidna took care of the other two bots, Sam grabbed the core, giving himself another level-up. They switched to fly formation and took care of a flapper that was floating on a piece of ruin between two cages, each containing springs. The cages lowered, allowing the group to use them. They bounced off the left spring and landed on a higher platform. They switched to speed formation and hit the jump pad that was placed there.
"Ohhhhh yeah!" Otto cheered as they flew through the air and landed inside the palace in front of a checkpoint. Beyond that were three spring bars that were lying against the wall.
"Let me grab it!" Sam shouted at them.
"Go ahead." Otto said with a shrug.
"Yeah. We don't need the level-up, remember?" Twister said. Sam sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his head.
"Oh yeah… Heh, heh…" He hit the checkpoint and got his last level-up.
They then skated up to one of the spring bars and were sent over the wall. Awaiting them were five coconut pawns. Since they didn't have any shields, Otto took the initiative and destroyed them with a few homing attacks. The team skated to the right and up a small incline. At the top, a piece of ruin fell to their right. It didn't even come close to hitting them.
"Hey Squid, I think we can take a shortcut up there." Twister said, pointing at a ledge.
"Sounds good to me." Otto said. Sam nodded in agreement.
"Ok. Hang on!"
They got into fly formation and went up to the ledge. Situated near a wall at the end were three flappers. A green one with a gun was floating between two red ones. Before the green one can fire, Sam kicked Otto and Twister at them, destroying them. When his friends came back to him, the fox flew up the wall, where the path was blocked off by a couple of stone blocks.
After Twister punched them out, they skated to the left towards a spring bar. They then bounced up and wound up floating over a fan. They used Triangle Dive to glide up to another ledge, where four stone blocks were blocking the way. The echidna punched them out of the way, revealing a jump pad. After using the pad to get across a chasm and punching open the nearby door, the team found themselves in front of a narrow chasm.
"I'm up now!" Otto yelled, taking the lead.
They used Triangle Jump to get across it. When they reached the other side, they bounced up a spring bar. They landed on a ledge that had an arching ruin at the end.
"Hmmmmm…" The hedgehog hummed thoughtfully, looking at the path and then at the ruin. He turned to his friends with a smirk. "I think we can beat it." Sam and Twister gasped.
"Otto, don't…!" Sam said fearfully.
"No way, bro! There's no way we can make it!" Twister protested.
"Come on! Don't be a bunch of lame-os! Let's go!" Otto yelled, skating forward. The others protested, but the hedgehog wouldn't listen. Seeing no other way to stop him, they followed, speeding up.
Otto lowered his body to fight wind resistance. The fox and echidna followed suit. The pillars holding up the piece of ruin started to crumble as if detecting their movements. Before the piece of ruin could fall on our heroes, they rolled under it! The hedgehog cheered while the other two were panting, thanking God they weren't pancakes.
"See!? What'd I tell you? We got through that with no problem!" Otto bragged, puffing out his chest.
"If I wasn't…so tired…I'd punch your lights…out…" Sam panted to himself.
"Ditto…" Twister muttered. They soon caught their breaths and moved on.
Ahead of them were some ruins that were arranged like stairs. A checkpoint was on the second step while a spring was on the third step. They hit the checkpoint and then the spring. The trio was catapulted up a few air rings and over a giant rock wheel. It had spikes on its sides as well as an extremely scary face on it. The team ignored it as they landed in front of it.
"Hey! I can see the goal ring!" Otto said.
At the bottom of a long—And I mean LONG!—hill was the glowing ring of great gold. It was at the top of a long flight of stairs. After a small loop was a jump pad that would allow them to continue on.
"Finally! The end of the stage!" Sam cheered.
"And it looks like there won't be any trouble!" Twister said happily. "Just a loop and a couple of jumps and we're done!"
"It seems…anticlimactic though…" Otto said with a sigh. "Let's just finish it…" He sighed again before skating down the decline. Sam and Twister followed after him with weirded out looks. They've never heard their leader talk like that before.
What they didn't notice though was the face on the rock wheel. It glowed a bright crimson.
The team was boredly skating down the hill towards the loop when a low rumble was heard by Twister.
"Huh?" He asked, looking back. His eyes widened as he gasped. He turned and tapped Sam on the shoulder.
"What is it, Twist?" The fox asked, not looking back.
"B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-big…" Twister stuttered. He tried to form the rest of his sentence to no avail.
"Twister, I don't have time for this. I was just thinking about something when you disturbed me." Sam said.
"Sq-sq-sq-sq-squid… I think you may want to see th-th-th-this…" The echidna said in a frantic tone.
"Twister! For the last time—!" Sam stopped when he took a look back. His eyes bulged out, nearly breaking the lenses of his glasses. He quickly faced ahead. "OTTO!!!"
"Ok, what are you two going on about now?!" The hedgehog yelled, looking back. His eyes grew wide as saucers.
A GIANT ROCK WHEEL WAS CHASING AFTER THEM!!!
Otto sweatdropped.
"Oh. That."
He put on a totally placid face as he turned around. He took a deep breath.
"SKATE FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" They all screamed as they fled at full speed.
They were nearing the loop.
"If we can hit that jump pad, we'll be safe!" Sam yelled.
"Hurry up!" Twister shouted.
They all hit a boost pad and went over the loop. They then hit the jump pad, propelling them across the chasm. The trio sighed with relief as they flew through the air over the huge drop.
"Whew… We should be safe now." Otto said.
"Uhhh… Better think again, Ottoman…" Twister corrected, looking back. The others look as well and gasped.
The wheel also went across the loop and jumped over the chasm!!!
"What the hell, Squid!?" Otto roared. Sam shrugged.
"Guess I miscalculated?" He said sheepishly.
"Nice going, Squid!" Twister scolded.
"Shut up and shred!" Otto panicked.
They landed and blazed onward. The rock wheel landed and followed after them. The trio hit a boost pad and were sent ahead. They skated down a little farther before the rumbling sound grew louder. Twister knew he was going to regret it, but he looked back anyway.
ANOTHER rock wheel joined the chase!!!
"Oh crap! There's another one!"
"Two rocks!?!" Sam screamed.
"Keep going!" Otto yelled.
They hit another boost pad and started going right. The rock wheels got closer to them.
"OhGod! OhGod! OhGod! OhGod!" Twister chanted. "I'mgonnadie! I'mgonnadie! I'mgonnadie! I'mgonnadie!"
"Shut up Twister!!!" Otto and Sam screamed.
They got a little farther when a third one entered the fray! The path winded some more as they hit boost pad after boost pad. Despite the fact they were clearly blasting ahead, the wheels followed closer than ever! The fox gasped and held his side.
"Having…an…attack…!" He wheezed. "Have to…stop…!"
"If you stop, it's over!" Otto shouted. "We're almost there!"
"Keep moving, Sammy! If you stop, I'm done for too!" Twister added. The fox screwed his eyes shut as he skated forward, spinning his tails weakly.
The trio of wheels was practically on top of them when they finally reached a jump pad.
"Woah!" Twister yelled as they flew.
The rock wheels followed. They were too heavy and thus crashed into the side of the palace with tremendous force.
"We made it!" Otto cheered as they all landed at the foot of the stairs. Sam kneeled.
"Whoo…hoo…" He coughed, grabbing his asthma medicine. He pressed down on the button and inhaled greedily. A few minutes passed before he recomposed himself.
"You ok, Squid?" Twister asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. Sam panted a bit as he nodded.
"Yeah…"
"Sorry about what happened back there, Sam, but you had to keep going." Otto said. "You woulda gotten crushed. Can you go on?" The fox nodded as he stood up shakily.
"Yeah. It'll take more than a bunch of giant wheels to stop me!" He pointed at himself. They all grinned as they did their trademark handshake.
"Come on. Let's end this stage!" Twister said.
They all walked up the stairs and grabbed the goal ring. It disappeared and the doors that were ahead opened, revealing a beach area.
"Must be a path out of here." Otto hypothesized.
"Or it could be a trap." Sam said.
"We won't know til we try, so let's go!" Twister shouted, skating forward. The others followed.
They went along a bridge that stretched a great distance. Many statues lined up on either side. Some were shaped like fish while others were as big as whales. They skated for some time before they heard the whirl of engines. They skidded to a stop.
"What's that?!" Otto yelled over the noise. It started to grow louder.
"I don't know, but it's getting closer, whatever it is!" Sam replied.
"Here it comes!" Twister added.
A strange flying machine flew backwards over their heads and hovered a couple of feet off the ground ahead of them. It was red and shaped like a bird. Two rotors made up the wings of the machine. On each of its talons was a coconut pawn that was in charge of a gun. At the head was another gun.
And sitting at the helm of this hovercraft was…
"Muahahahahaha!!! So you're the ones who were disrupting my plans here!" A male voice said. "No matter. I, Dr. Coconutman, will end this here!" Team Rocket gasped. He sounded extremely familiar to them. They got a closer look at the pilot of the machine.
"It can't be!" Sam gasped upon recognizing the figure.
"It's him!" Otto added.
"Woah! You mean Dr. Coconutman is…" Twister started.
"MR. STIMPLETON!?!" They all exclaimed.
Unlike the trio, Merv was human. He was wearing a white lab coat. He was also wearing a brown hat over his brown hair, which there was a small amount of. He was wearing a small pair of glasses that didn't even come close to covering his eyes.
"I should've known it was you!" Otto shouted with great rage. "Who else would want to destroy all the skate parks in the world!?"
"Hahahahahahaha!!! So I see you got my letter." The doctor said.
"Duh! Why else would we be out here!?" Twister retorted, crossing his arms.
"But why?" Sam asked. Dr. Coconutman laughed evilly.
"That's easy. With all the skate parks of the world destroyed, you little hooligans won't be making anymore noise! Hahahahahaha!!!"
"Puh-lease!" Otto scoffed. "Remember the last time you tried to stop us from skating?"
"Please, don't remind me." Merv groaned, holding his head. "I still have the headache from that ordeal." The doctor shook his head and glowered at the trio. "In any case, you won't have to worry about having nothing to do when I destroy your precious skate parks. I'll turn them all into polka dance halls! Muahahahahahaha!!!" The animals gasped at that.
"You sick, twisted monster!" Twister shouted, shaking a fist at him.
"Of all the things to turn them into…" Sam said, shaking his head. Otto glared at Merv.
"You'll have to destroy us first!" He challenged. The mad doctor grinned as he gripped the controls of his ship.
"Gladly!"
BOSS BATTLE!
COCONUT HAWK
As the battle began, Coconutman flew his ship backwards while firing at our heroes. The trio dodged the bullets while skating forward, grabbing rings that were floating in rows. The Coconut Hawk's wings destroyed some of the passing ruins as it flew farther and farther away.
"Get back here!" Otto roared.
"Man! He's fast!" Twister yelled.
"At least we're getting plenty of gold. We'll be rich!" Sam cheered.
"I'm glad you're enjoying this!" Otto shouted at him. "Now come on! He stopped!"
Indeed, Coconutman did stop. He was in the middle of a circular beach. Many flappers were present on the perimeter. The trio dodged some more bullets as they reached the arena.
"Begin rotary attack!" Dr. Coconutman ordered. The craft started spinning around, shooting at our heroes.
"Quick Squid! Take the lead!" Otto commanded.
"Right!" Sam replied, jumping up. Otto grabbed his hands while Twister grabbed Otto's feet.
The fox used Thunder Shoot on the closest coconut pawn, paralyzing it. Sam kicked his friends at the rotors, freezing them with electricity.
"I got this!" Twister said, taking the lead. He grabbed Otto and Sam and jumped.
Using Fire Dunk, he managed to put the right rotor out of commission. The left rotor was unfrozen, allowing the doctor to make his escape. The trio switched into speed formation and followed.
"You won't get away!" Otto shouted.
They skated along another bridge, collecting more rings, when they came across some coconut pawns. They charged towards the trio with lances drawn.
"Outta the way!" Twister yelled.
He punched them out and allowed Otto to take the lead again. The leader used his homing attack to take care of a couple more robots. They started coming across another row of rings when the hedgehog decided to bring up an interesting point.
"Hey Squid!"
"Yeah?" Sam asked, dodging some bullets.
"You never told me. What do the magnets on my skates do?"
"The magnets?" Sam blinked. "Oh! The magnets! They allow you to go through rows of rings."
"Like those?" The hedgehog flicked a thumb at the incoming row of gold. The fox nodded.
"Exactly. It's called 'the Light Speed Dash.'" Otto grinned at the name.
"Cool! See ya!"
"Otto, wait!" Sam yelled, but it was too late. The hedgehog skated up to the first ring and blazed through them at an impossible speed. Sam and Twister were pulled along.
"Yes! It works!" Otto cheered as he skated at a normal speed. Unfortunately, the fox and echidna crashed into him, sending all of them skidding along the path. The hedgehog glared at them. "What's the deal!?"
"I tried to tell you." Sam started as they all got up. "Due to the slipstream you create, we get pulled along too when you use the Light Speed Dash. You gotta keep going; otherwise we'll crash into you." Otto scowled harder at him.
"Incoming!" Twister yelled, pointing forward. The Coconut Hawk was heading towards them! The leader got into a fighting pose.
"When he gets close enough, jump, and we'll get a clean shot with my homing attack."
"Right!" The others agreed.
Coconutman was a few feet away when they jumped and shot towards him as balls. They crashed into the cockpit repeatedly, damaging the machine badly.
"Ugh! Annoying pests!" Merv groaned, reversing his craft.
The chase continued for a few moments more before they all reached another beach. The Coconut Hawk was still in the air so the trio couldn't reach him. Instead, they concentrated on the flappers that were nearby. They took care of a couple before Coconutman continued going over the bridge.
"Man! Stay still already!" Twister complained.
They chased the mad doctor over the bridge, using Otto's light speed dash every so often. When they got through the third row of rings, Sam's watch beeped.
"Our Team Blast meter's fully charged guys!" He informed.
"Prefect timing!" Otto said. "All we gotta do is get close enough to Merv and we got this thing won!"
"Yeah!" Twister added.
They got a few feet farther when they ran into some more coconut pawns. The team paused to take of them.
"Ha! I got you now!" Coconutman laughed evilly. He piloted his machine towards them.
"Woah! Here he comes, guys!" Twister said after punching out the robots. Otto smirked.
"Good. Stand your ground dudes!" The Coconut Hawk soon loomed over them, getting ready to fire. "Now! Rocket Overdrive!"
Twister grabbed Sam's legs and started swinging him, but not before the fox grabbed Otto's legs. The echidna let go of Sam, who followed suit with Otto. The yellow one then brought his foot back and crashed it into Otto. The hedgehog spun into a ball and flew all over Coconutman's ship, blasting it with the electricity provided by Sam's kick. When he ended his attack, he flipped and landed firmly on the ground. Merv was still airborne though!
"No way! It didn't beat him?!" All three of them exclaimed as the doctor flew away. Both of his rotors were smoking.
"No! Both rotors are gone!" He cursed, firing at the furries, who resumed the chase.
"Come on, Otto! If we hurry, we can still get him with your light speed attack!" Sam said. Otto nodded.
"Right!"
They went through a couple of rows of rings and caught up to Merv. Before the meter could run out, Otto jumped and used his light speed attack. He bounced all over the ship, causing more damage. As the meter finally ran out, small explosions lit up all over the craft. The hedgehog jumped away and landed on the bridge. He and his teammates watched as the Coconut Hawk spun out of control.
"Nooooo!!! I'm going down!" Dr. Coconutman panicked. Before the ship can crash into a sandbar, he blasted out of it inside his smaller, gray hovercraft. He shook a fist at Team Rocket. "This isn't the end, you little hooligans! Not by a long shot!" He flew away. The trio sighed and turned to each other with wide grins.
"Woogie! Woogie! Woogie!" They cheered at their victory.
"We did it! We beat him!" Twister said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, but it's not over yet bro!" Otto said. "Something tells me we got a long way to go before we put a stop to him." The echidna nodded.
"Hey guys! Take a look at this!" Sam shouted. He was standing at the sandbar by the downed Coconut Hawk. Otto and Twister skated up to them.
"What'd you find Squid?" Twister asked. The fox bent down and pulled a glowing object from the sand. It was a red gemstone. It glimmered brightly in the sunlight. The trio marveled at the sight.
"Woah…" They all said in awe.
"Cool diamond." Otto said.
"It looks kinda like the Master Emerald, only smaller." Twister commented. Sam nodded.
"If I'm right, then we really found something. This may be a Chaos Emerald." The hedgehog and echidna gave him a questioning look.
"'Chaos Emerald?'" They repeated.
"Yeah. There are seven of them in all. According to legend, whoever has all of them can become powerful beyond belief. Of course, it's only a legend, so it's probably not true." Sam explained.
"Well, if it's not, at least we got a cool souvenir." Otto said, stepping back. "C'mon. We're wasting daylight."
"Yeah. The Mervinator's gonna unleash that weapon of his soon." Twister agreed.
"Yeah. And we gotta stop him!" Otto skated away followed by Twister.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Sam yelled after them. He put away the chaos emerald and followed after them, spinning his tails.
------------------------------
Post-chapter Conversation
"What the hell!?!" Izzy roared at me. "Mr. Stimpleton?! He's playing as Dr. Robotnik!?!"
"Yep." I nodded.
"But, but WHY?!" He shouted, his mouth agape. "That makes zero sense!"
"Oh it makes sense alright!" I retorted.
"Oh really?" He challenged. "Well, I hope you plan on explaining it! Those so-called clues could not have pointed to Merv!"
"Well they did!"
"But what about the intro!? At the end, ya said that the guy playing as Ivo was fat! What about Tito!? You hinted at him playing as Robotnik in the intro to Race Across Rainbows!"
"So I hinted at it." I shrugged. "It doesn't mean I have to make him play as Ivo. Besides, I didn't just say that the one playing as the doctor had to be fat. He had to also be smart, have technical know-how, and hate kids! While he's fat and has wisdom (proven by his many quotes from the ancient Hawaiians), Tito is far from having technical know-how and he sure as hell doesn't hate kids! He sees them everyday! Not to mention if I made Tito human, it wouldn't have made sense that Keoni and Noelani were cats. I couldn't make Tito play as Ivo!"
"Well, what about Oliver?" Izzy started. "He's smart and has technical know-how!"
"But he's not fat, is he?" I countered. "Also, he can't hate kids because—and here's the thing—HE'S A KID!!!"
"Oh yeah…" He rubbed the back of his head. "Forgot that part. But still, he could always plot to destroy all the skate parks!"
"Are you crazy!?! He skates! Not well, I'll admit, but he skates!"
"Oops…"
"Man, you must be out of it today, huh?" I remarked, only to have him pull out his mallet.
"I'm warning you. Don't make me use this." He growled. I only rolled my eyes at him.
"Whatever. So, anything else you wanna throw at me?"
"What about that one kid…?" He leaned against his mallet, trying to think. "You know who I'm talking about. That kid in that one game…" I held a finger to my chin, trying to figure out who he was talking about. I blinked before snapping my fingers.
"Do you mean Eric Golem Jr.?"
"Yeah, that's it! Why couldn't he play as Robotnik!? He's evil and he's got an army of robots!" I prepared to speak. "And don't give me that crap about how he's a kid and not fat! If he could come close to destroying Ocean Shores with an artificial tidal wave, I think he'd try to take over the world!"
"Hmph! For one thing, how many people actually played Beach Bandits?" I started. "If I was gonna use him, I might as well have had you play as Ivo instead 'cause hardly anybody would know who I'm talking about! Besides, he's in military school!" (Don't quote me on that. It's been a long time since I beat that game) "How would he have escaped?"
"Call in some robots to bust him out?" Izzy offered with a shrug. I opened my mouth to yell at him when I closed it and sighed.
"Good point. Still, I wanted an adult to play as Dr. Robotnik."
"Ugh…" The hedgehog slapped his forehead again. "So what was that riddle in Chapter Three about?"
"It was a reference to the game, 'Rocket Power: Dream Scheme.'" I answered. "In it, Otto and the others had to beat Merv, who was trying to turn Ocean Shores into a polka resort."
"Well that explains where that polka thing came from before the battle started." Izzy commented. "So what about the rest of it? Ya know, the kidnapping bit, the mind control thing, and the other two parts you mentioned."
"In the game, Merv had kidnapped most of the citizens and you had to free them. The old geezer even captured his own wife! You also had to fight through robots and people and monkeys that the old man had control of."
"And the part about everything taking place in Otto's mind?"
"The whole thing was a dream." I replied. "Caused by eating too many hot wings."
"Oh… I guess it all did make sense then…" Izzy sighed in defeat. "There's one thing I don't get though. Why did you name him Dr. Coconutman for? The name just screamed Tito."
"Well, the monkeys in Dream Scheme tossed coconuts at you. I guess it just clicked." I turned to the camera. "Anyway, it seems that Otto and friends have found one of the mystical Chaos Emeralds! What will the presence of the jewel bring? And what about the other three teams? Will they be able to fulfill their various goals? Tune in next time!"