Pre-chapter Conversation
The scene opened in the Rocket Power temple. I was sitting on the bronze throne under the statues of the stars of the show. My head was propped up by my left fist. My brows were furrowed in a state of fury. I stared ahead with an angry glare while my lips were twisted in a dangerous snarl. My face was red in rage.
Meanwhile, Izzy was standing on my left with his arms crossed. He had his usual sneer on his face. Iggy was huddled against the nearby wall, playing his Game Boy Advance. He was cheering every few seconds.
Not noticing my enraged state, Izzy turned to me.
"Hey Boss."
"What?" I growled at him, clenching my teeth. The hedgehog gave me a questioning look before shrugging.
"I got a question. The other two thrones are empty, right?"
I instantly forgot my rage as I raised an eyebrow. I then turned towards the gold and silver thrones. Indeed, no one was occupying them. I turned back to my partner and nodded.
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well, not that I wanna give ya a big head, of course, but why don't ya just sit on the gold throne instead of that one?" Izzy pointed at my throne. My glare returned as I crossed my arms.
"Duh! You're supposed to earn the right to sit up there!"
"Pffffft! Yeah right!" Izzy scoffed.
"Hmph! If you really think so, go ahead and sit up there!" I challenged.
"Fine! I will!" The hedgehog retorted, walking up the nearby steps towards the golden throne. Iggy, who had turned off his GBA when he heard us fighting, and I watched him as he stood in front of it. He gulped before looking down at us.
"Well…?" I said with a smirk. "Go on. Sit down."
Izzy glowered at me. "Alright!"
He backed up until he felt the ornate chair against the back of his legs. He then bent down and planted himself on the velvet cushion. He grinned defiantly as he crossed his legs.
"Ha! I told you, Boss! There's nothing to—"
Just then, alarms blared all over the temple. Due to the extremely loud echo, all three of us covered our ears.
"Hey! What's going on!.?" Izzy shouted over the noise.
"Ugh! I don't know!" I replied.
"Daddy, my ears are hurting!" Iggy yelled.
Just then, the golden throne crackled with electricity, shocking Izzy. The dark violet hedgehog screamed in pain as he felt his insides burning for quite possibly the millionth time since he was created. As his punishment continued, the area of the roof above us opened, revealing the yellow sky of this dimension.
"Huh?" Iggy and I said as we looked up in confusion.
Our unasked question was answered shortly after as the cushion of the gold throne sprang up, catapulting a still screaming Izzy out of the hole and off the mountain the temple was stationed on. The alarms stopped blaring as the roof closed. The annoying sound echoed for a few more seconds before silence overtook the entire building again. A slight screaming can still be heard though.
"Oh man… Poor Izzy…" Iggy commented as his ears drooped.
"Hmph! He deserves it if I ya ask me." I grunted, crossing my arms. The little hedgehog gave me a weirded out look.
"Did you and Izzy trade brains, Daddy? You sound just like him!" He shrank back as I glared at him.
"No, we didn't." I replied calmly, causing him to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Then why are you angry today?"
"Because of this idiotic site!" I roared. Iggy cringed as my voice bounced off the walls.
"What happened, Dad?"
"It's simple." I started. "This stupid site is going down the tubes!"
"Whaddya mean?"
"Well for starters, the last chapter didn't even come out right!"
"It looked fine to me…" Iggy said.
"Well, it didn't!" I retorted. "I couldn't even use multiple punctuation marks! They always just deleted themselves until only one remained!"
"No way!" The furry gasped. "Prove it."
"Fine." I shrugged. "Scream."
He gave me a weirded out look.
"Scream?"
"Did I stutter? Yes scream!"
"But I don't have a reason to scream." Iggy said innocently, causing me to slap my forehead. I sat there thinking before an idea came to me.
"I've decided to stop writing slash fics and start writing Twister/Reggie fics."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The boy shrieked, causing all the windows in the temple to shatter and the whole place to shake. As his voice echoed around the cavernous room, he started panting while giving me a look of extreme disbelief and horror.
"That'll do." I smirked, turning to the camera. "Anyway, if you notice, only one exclamation point was at the end of that scream. Now see what I have to do to solve this problem." I turned to Iggy, who had regained his breath. "Ok. Scream again."
"But Daddy… I don't have a reason…" The boy whined, causing me to fall over. I muttered curses as I took my place on the bronze throne again.
"I've changed my mind. I'm gonna start writing Lars/Reggie fics instead."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!.!.!" Iggy screamed again, causing the building to tremble. The portraits, plaques, and statues fell and/or crumbled from his fright-filled shriek.
"As you can see, in order to show any emotion, I have to put periods between each individual exclamation mark." I said to the camera. "This also goes for if I need someone to yell out a question."
"Whaddya mean you're gonna start writing Lars/Reggie fics!.?.!" Iggy roared at me. "Say it ain't so!.!.!"
"It ain't so." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Whew!" The light purple hedgehog wiped his sweaty forehead.
"Anyway, another gripe that I got with this stupid site is the fact that when I need to use sound effects, I can't use double colons any more. I have to use degree signs instead!"
Outside…
"Those stupid temple administrators!" Izzy cursed as he continued to fall down the mountain. "What kinda idiot would electrify the thrones so that those who ain't worthy get shocked!.? When I get back up there, I'm gonna—" His eyes bulged, growing to at least ten times their normal size when he noticed that he was nearing the ground at a fast rate. He cried animé tears as he looked at the camera.
"Why?"
°CRASH!.!.!°
Back inside the temple, I held up a sign that had the words "alt+0176" written on it.
"If you wanna use the degree sign to show actions or whatever, just hold down the alt button and press the numbers 0, 1, 7, and 6 in that order on your keyboard's number pad, then let go of the alt button. That'll create the symbol you need." I said to the camera as I put down the sign. "This can be used until the idiots that run this site decide to screw us over again.
"Next order of business, I also can't use multiple hyphens to signal a scene change! I'll have to use those stupid line breaks that stretch across the whole screen! Ugh! I can't stand that! It makes it look like I split my chapters into tiny little bite-sized pieces!"
"I like tiny little bite-sized pieces." Iggy said with a toothy grin. I sweatdropped at that statement.
"Yah…" I looked at the camera. "Anyway… The next gripe doesn't have to with how chapters look, but rather story summaries. I can't, for whatever reason, put a punctuation mark next to a parenthesis! The parenthesis would just delete itself from my summary! How messed up is that!.? How am I supposed to ask a question, create dramatic tension, or gloat about how I reposted a deleted fic without making my summary look like a little kid wrote it!.?"
"I dunno." Iggy replied with a shrug. I gave him an irritated look.
"That was a rhetorical question."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh…" He blinked. "Hey, what does—"
"Later!" I shouted before turning to the camera. "As I was saying, you also can't use multiple punctuation marks in a row. The solution to this problem is exactly the same as in chapters: put periods between the punctuation marks and/or parenthesis.
"The last problem, at least for now, has to do with editing your profile. If you're like me and have gotten banned, but didn't want to have to use a pen name different from your original one, you would just simply add a one or whatever number to your old pen name in order to use it again, right? WRONG!.!.!
"Last week, I tried to update the status on the fic so that it would say that up to part two of chapter nine got posted. When I clicked the button to update my bio, what do I find?"
"Oooh, oooh! I know, I know!" Iggy shouted, raising his left hand and dancing around. "You got a cute temporary tattoo of a unicorn!"
I gave him an exasperated look.
"Why did I bring you back again?" I shook my head before turning to the camera again. "Anyway, displayed on top of the screen, in red print, were the words, 'The pen name you have selected, Prince Izzy, has been taken. Please make another selection.' Uhhhh hello! My pen name is Prince Izzy1 numbskulls! This means that you can no longer use numbers to distinguish yourself from anybody that happens to have the same pen name you wanted or had! Solution: Put a letter that wouldn't otherwise ruin your great and ultra cool pen name. As a result, my pen name is now Prince Izzy X."
"Blech!" Iggy gagged.
"I know, I know." I shrugged. "But hey, it worked for Mega Man, right? Besides, I don't want to let my pride stop me from being able to edit my profile."
"But Daddy, that addition stinks!"
"Like I said, I know, but think about it this way, I don't want to make it sound like I'm nineteen forever. Although… That does sound nice…" I grinned at the thought before shaking my head. "Anyway, I think I'm done ranting. As a final note, this site needs to be a little more lenient about what characters you can or can't post. I mean, a couple of years ago, this site was an intellectual paradise. You can use whatever character you wanted in your fics and there were hardly any complaints. At least I think so, anyway. I think you were also allowed to use color in a fic (I think I recall seeing a fic that used colors…)!
"And then, because of this stupid war or whatever against those that prefer to use script format, nobody can make their fics look exactly like how they want them to look! Depending on the person who posts, their fic or fics could become totally unreadable! You can't even use URLs or put in email addresses! God forbid you need to put either one in your story in order to advance the plot (like in Rocketmon)! You'd be stuck or you'd have to split up the addresses, which would make them even harder to read (or use, depending on the situation)!
"I'm kinda surprised a lot of people haven't stopped using this site to post stories yet. I mean, I would in a heartbeat if I knew of a different site that was just as popular and wasn't as tough about posting, or I'd use my own site to display my stories (if it was popular enough).
"I'll conclude with these final words. When this site first started being stupid about script format fics, I read that their reason was so that people can post more professional-looking stories. It's as if they think fic writing is a profession! Here's a question for you: If fic writing is a profession, why haven't you gotten paid yet?
"Whew! I'm tired out." I said, slumping into my throne. "Iggy, tell the readers was this chapter will be about, will ya?"
"Alright, Dad." Iggy said, clearing his throat as he turned to the camera. "This chapter's gonna have the last battle between Team Rocket and Dr. Coconutman! Can Otto, Twister, and Sammy-Sam beat Mr. Stimpleton and save the world? Just read!" He waved as the camera whited out.
(A/N: Reviewer responses will be at the end of the chapter.)
Rocket Heroes
Chapter Ten
Coconutman Captured?
Otto, Twister, and Sam were skating across a bridge that was suspended above the Grand Canyon. On either side of them were rock formations that had guns embedded in them. In the darkening sky, they were able to see cannons placed atop the various rock formations. Like the cannons the group encountered earlier, they were shaped like handguns.
"With all these weapons out in the open, I wonder why anybody didn't call the military." Sam pointed out.
"Maybe he cloaked everything with some kind of device!" Twister shouted. He then added frantically, "Or maybe he paid everyone to be quiet about it! Or maybe it's a cover up by the military! Or maybe it's aliens!.!.! AHHHHHHHHHHH!.!.!.!.!"
"Or maybe everybody's just stupid." Otto muttered as his best friend rambled on and on.
A few moments of skating passed before propellers were heard spinning throughout the canyon. The trio stopped and Otto and Sam looked around. Twister, however, was still babbling.
"Ok! I think I got it! It must be robot alien chickens from the Egg Planet that hypnotized the president and—"
"SHUT UP, TWISTER!.!.!" The other two roared.
"What is that?.!" Sam yelled over the noise.
"Trouble." Otto said, looking over his shoulder. The others looked behind them and gasped. A massive machine was flying towards them. The trio ducked as it flew over their heads. They stood up and gasped at the sight of it.
The machine had three layers. The bottom part consisted of a grayish platform. Several areas of it were yellow. Due to the setting sun, it looked like it was made of gold. An engine was on the left and right sides of it. The engines were primarily propellers. On each of the two wings were two lasers. Four coconut pawns that were planted in the platform were in charge of guns. The front of the platform sported a cannon.
The midsection was just a yellowish blimp. On each side of it was Dr. Coconutman's insignia; a red outline of a face that was wearing a hat and glasses. Also on each side were three cannons identical to the one on the nose of the bottom section. On the blimp's nose was a giant propeller.
Finally, the top area consisted of Dr. Coconutman's Coconut Hawk. Like at the battle at the beach, a pair of coconut pawns was placed on its talons. The main difference was that its wings were folded up. And at the helm sat the doctor himself.
"Woah!" Twister said in awe. "That thing's loaded with the Mervinator's weapons!"
"How are we supposed to beat that!.?.!" Sam shouted frightfully.
"I don't know, but he's going down!" Otto answered, skating towards the huge machine with intense rage. The others followed. "You hear me, Merv!.? Time to beat you once and for all!"
Dr. Coconutman only had one thing to say to such a bold proclamation.
"Ready all cannons! Open fire!.!.!"
BOSS BATTLE!
COCONUT ALBATROSS
As the battle began, the Coconut Albatross backed away. The coconut pawns on the lowest section started firing at our heroes. The lasers mounted on the wings fired energy rings identical to those fired by turtle bots. The cannon on the nose of the platform fired giant cannonballs at them.
"Woah!" Sam yelped, barely dodging the bullets.
"Is he crazy!.?.!" Twister exclaimed, sliding under the cannonball.
"You're not gonna beat me!.!.!" Otto roared, jumping through an energy ring while performing an Ollie. There's no way a bunch of lousy robots was gonna stop him from saving every skate park in the world!
He landed and continued skating, followed by his team who was struggling to catch up. Up ahead, a bunch of coconut pawns armed with lances charged at the trio.
"We don't have time for this!" The hedgehog shouted, jumping over them.
While he continued his pursuit, Sam and Twister had to fight the robots.
"Hey! Get outta the way!" Twister yelled, punching out the robots.
With them out of the way, the fox and echidna raced to catch up to Otto.
"The least…he could do…is wait up…!" Sam panted, spinning his tails.
"No kidding!" Twister agreed, increasing his speed. "C'mon, Squid!"
Up ahead, Otto was struggling just to reach the blimp, which was steadily getting away.
"Ugh! Stand still already!" He cursed, dodging a stream of bullets.
He got his wish, in a sense, when the Coconut Albatross charged straight at him.
"Heh. Perfect!"
He jumped at the right wing and made to use his homing attack. Unfortunately, the lasers fired at the exact same moment.
"OWWWWWWWWW!.!.!.!.!.!.!"
He gritted his teeth as the extreme heat of the energy rings tossed him backwards. Before he landed, he flipped and pointed his feet down. As soon as he touched down, he took off again. Because he was thrown back, Sam and Twister were able to catch up.
"It's about time!" The hedgehog shouted, glancing over his shoulder. "Where were you guys?.!"
"Fighting those robots you left us to take care of!" Sam yelled.
They all jumped to avoid a cannonball.
"Forget about it! There's gotta be a way to stop that thing long enough to attack!"
"Woah! The road's ending!" Twister warned.
Up ahead, the bridge spilt into two paths. A set of blue light rails connected the path, which went to the left while a new bridge began on the right. A circular rail switch was nearby.
"Get ready to grind!" Otto ordered.
Jumping through another energy ring, the trio landed on the rails and danced across them as quickly as possible. When they reached the other side, they moved their legs as fast as they can to catch up to the Coconut Albatross. A few seconds passed before they hit a boost pad, sending them towards a row of rings. Using his light speed dash, Otto carried his team through them.
"Watch out!" Sam yelled.
Up ahead was a fence made out of lasers.
"Jump!" Twister called.
As the trio cleared the lethal hurdle, Coconutman hovered alongside them. He fired cannonballs out of the guns mounted on the midsection of his machine.
"Now's our chance!" Otto shouted.
Dodging the cannonballs, the trio jumped over the chasm and used their homing attack against the lowest section of the machine. Otto and Twister hit the lasers on the left wing while Sam concentrated on one of the coconut pawns. They managed to destroy both lasers and one of the robots before landing back on the bridge. The blimp started fleeing again.
"I got it!" Sam yelled as they started skating.
"What?" Otto asked.
"We can beat that thing if we attack each of the weapons first!"
"Ohhhh…! I get it! So he won't be able to fight back, right?" Twister said.
"Right!" Sam answered.
"Sounds good," Otto confirmed. "But we gotta catch up first!"
They skated through another boost pad and row of rings before jumping over a laser fence. They were approaching a set of normal rails when they noticed an item bubble containing a red power core. It was right in front of the middle rail.
"Level-up!" The hedgehog exclaimed when he grabbed it.
The trio jumped on the rails and grinded them. Halfway through the trip, they noticed a couple of rhino bots rolling towards them. They were on Sam and Twister's rails.
"Oh no ya don't!" Otto jumped and destroyed them both with a homing attack. Two yellow and orange power cores popped out of the bots.
"Level-up!" The fox and echidna exclaimed as they grabbed the cores.
"Thanks, Ottoman!" Twister said.
"No prob! Now let's go!" Otto replied, landing on his rail.
They got to the other side of the rails where the bridge continued. As they skated, they fought through two rows of coconut pawns. They managed to destroy the robots, but got blasted by Coconutman's energy rings, causing them to lose their normal rings.
"Aw man!" Twister groaned at the loss.
"Leave 'em!" Otto ordered, skating onward.
They didn't seem to be getting any closer. For next minute or so, the trio dodged projectile after projectile. Since they destroyed a couple of the lasers, they had less energy rings to worry about, but there were still the bullets from the coconut pawns' guns and the cannonballs to contend with.
"This is nuts!" Sam shouted as they darted around one of the metal balls.
"We gotta catch up!" Twister added.
"I know, I know!" Otto groaned irritably. "But how!.?"
Just then, they hit a hint ring, causing a piece of paper to appear in the hedgehog's hands.
"You gotta be kidding!" He rolled his eyes as he handed it to Sam. "Here!" The fox blinked as he took it.
"You expect me to read one of these things now!.?.!" He protested as they jumped over a stream of gunfire.
"C'mon Squid!" Twister said, taking one of Sam's hands. He pulled the fox forward as he skated. To help him out, Sam spun his tails as he used his free hand to read the hint.
On the comic were four panels. The first panel showed the trio (who was drawn with crayons) chasing after the Coconut Albatross (which was also drawn with crayon). The furries had angry expressions on their faces. Also, steam was coming out of their ears. The second panel depicted Otto rolling into a ball while Sam had his foot drawn back. The third panel had Sam kicking the ball forward. Between the third and fourth panels was the word "or." The last panel showed Twister punching the ball. In both panels, lines were behind Otto, showing the speed he was going at. Under the comic were the words "Rocket Accel."
"Otto," Sam started, tossing the comic as he began skating again. "Roll into a ball!"
"Huh?" The hedgehog asked, looking back with a confused look.
"Just do it!"
"Alright Squid!" Otto said, doing as he was told. Sam hovered a few inches off the ground as he brought his right foot back.
Before the leader can lose speed, the fox kicked him ahead. The hedgehog crackled with a small amount of electricity, causing some incoming coconut pawns to go flying off the bridge. Although he wasn't going as fast as when he uses the light speed dash, Sam and Twister were pulled along. Otto unrolled and went back to skating as he turned to Sam.
"What was that about?"
"It's a technique called 'Rocket Accel.' We can use it to catch up!" The fox answered. Otto grinned.
"Alright then! Let's do it!" He rolled into a ball again.
Using Rocket Accel, the trio was able to catch up to the Coconut Albatross. They also used their newfound attack to avoid the projectiles and coconut pawns that littered the path. After going through two more sections that had laser fences, they were on a bigger part of the bridge that had many rows of rings. Otto was also fully leveled-up. Sam's watch started beeping, signaling that their Team Blast meter was fully charged.
"Yes! We just gotta get close to him!" Twister said to his teammates as they jumped through an energy ring. Otto used the light speed dash to get through row after row of rings.
"We're almost there!" He said through gritted teeth as they approached another row. "Yes! Get ready you guys!"
They blasted through the rings until they passed Dr. Coconutman.
"Oh no!" Merv shouted.
"Now Otto!" Sam yelled.
"Right!" Otto nodded as he and the others skidded to a stop. They turned towards the hovercraft. "Team Blast: Rocket Overdrive!"
Twister grabbed Sam's legs as the fox grabbed Otto's. The echidna then spun them around and around before tossing Sam towards the Coconut Albatross. Sam let go out of Otto and brought his right foot crashing into him. The hedgehog glowed with a bright energy as he rolled into a ball. A massive amount of electricity crackled around him as he spun around the lower section of the machine. He bounced all over it, destroying the coconut pawns, the remaining lasers, and ultimately, the whole platform itself.
"NO!.!.!" Merv roared as the platform fell off the blimp in a huge explosion. "You'll pay for that!.!.!" Otto bounced back onto the bridge as the doctor flew away.
"One down!" Twister cheered as they resumed the chase.
"Now we gotta get the body!" Otto said.
"Hurry and use the light speed attack before he gets too far!" Sam advised.
"Got it!"
The hedgehog skated up to the blimp and jumped. Using his light speed attack, he was able to ricochet off it repeatedly. Before he bounced back on the bridge, he managed to destroy two of the cannons.
"Ugh! Blasted pests!" Dr. Coconutman cursed, flying over a gap in the bridge. Luckily for our heroes, there were a set of rails and two jump pads that led out of that area.
"Time to bust some air!" Otto exclaimed, skating towards one of the jump pads.
All three of them hit the pad and were sent into the air over the blimp. Merv managed to back out of the way before they can attack him. Unfortunately, doing so allowed the team to hit a nearby balloon, which gave Sam his second level-up.
"Alright!" He cheered as he felt the energy surging through him.
"I've had enough of this!.!.!" Otto shouted, rolling into a ball.
While Sam and Twister landed on the bridge and followed him, he repeatedly rammed into the blimp's propeller. He must've crashed into it about twenty times before it finally succumbed to its damage and started blowing up.
"Crap! Retreat!" Coconutman ordered as he detached the Coconut Hawk and flew away. As Otto landed and skated up to his buddies, the mad doctor fired at them.
"Oh man! He's getting away!" Twister pointed out as they dodged the bullets.
"Not if I can help it!.!.!" Otto bellowed, skating at full speed.
"Wow! He seems determined, huh?" Sam said to the echidna.
"No duh, Sammy! C'mon!" Twister replied, moving faster.
The chase continued for quite some time. The team dodged the Coconut Hawk's bullets and fought through the dozens of coconut pawns stationed on the bridge. They grinded through about fifty rails and collected about a hundred rings using the light speed dash. By the time they caught up to Coconutman, their Team Blast meter had refilled. Team Rocket used their ultimate attack on the widest part of the bridge, defeating the evil scientist.
"I'll destroy you hooligans yet!.!.!" He roared as he escaped from the exploding Coconut Hawk in his tiny hovercraft. The metal bird crashed onto the bridge as the villain flew off.
"You're not getting away this time!" Otto yelled at his enemy before turning to Sam and Twister. "Let's do it guys!"
"Right!" They said, nodding.
Sam flew high above the bridge as Twister held his hands out in front of himself to provide a foothold for Otto. The hedgehog jumped into the echidna's hands. The orange one then used the power of his flame ring to toss the red one high into the air. As he flew towards the yellow one, Otto rolled into a ball. Flames engulfed him as he approached the fox. When he was level with him, Sam kicked him towards the fleeing Dr. Coconutman. Otto was wrapped in electricity as he rocketed through the air like a heat-seeking missile. He crashed into Merv's hovercraft, causing a great explosion.
"Wow! He did it!" Ray said in astonishment.
He and the other adults in the Shack had watched the battle. It seemed that the camera crew that was at the Grand Canyon was able to catch up to the team and filmed the entire fight. Granted, the camera was too far to actually pick out the important details, but you had to be blind to not know what happened! Paula had fainted within the first five minutes of the fight while Raoul, blue from his wife's choking (she had her hands clasped tightly around his neck during the skirmish) was lying besides her.
Now the camera was focused high above the canyon on the dark cloud that was floating where the mad doctor was seen seconds earlier.
"I hope he's alright." Noelani said, holding her hands in prayer for the ruby hedgehog.
"Who cares about him!.?.!" Sandy shouted, clenching her fist at the cat. "I want my little Maurice to come home!" Everybody else sweatdropped before turning back to the TV.
"Oh man…" Sam said worriedly. "He still hasn't come out of there…"
"Don't worry! He'll make it!" Twister reassured, though there was heavy doubt in his voice.
Minutes seemed like hours as they waited for any sign of their comrade. The black cloud of smoke continued billowing as they waited. Soon, the smoke cleared, revealing nothing but air…
"Huh!.?.!" Both boys exclaimed in shock. "Where is he!.?"
"He…he didn't make it…" Sam trailed off, lowering his head.
"No…" Tears came to Twister's eyes at the thought that his best friend in the entire world, his best bro, was gone. He knelled and looked at the sky in disbelief. "NNNNNOOOOOOOO!.!.!.!.!.!.!" He buried his face as he let it all out.
"Man! What's with the water works!.?" A familiar voice (a voice that belonged to someone that was supposed to be dead!) yelled.
"Huh?.!" Sam and Twister turned and grinned at who was standing there.
It was Otto, who was holding an unconscious Dr. Coconutman by the back of his lab coat.
"OTTOMAN, YOU'RE ALIVE!.!.!" Twister screamed, running over to him. Before the hedgehog could stop him, the taller boy enveloped him in a tight embrace. "I thought you were gone forever!" Otto's face started turning blue as Twister rubbed his tearstained face against him.
"Twist…!" He sputtered somewhat freaked out. "Let go already!.!.!"
Reluctantly, the echidna let go. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as the shorter mammal tried to catch his breath.
"Sorry about that, O-man, but you're alive!.!.!" He cheered.
"Yeah…" Otto muttered with a cough.
"How'd you make it out?" Sam asked, walking over to them. It was clear that he was resisting the strong urge to hug his leader too.
"I just grabbed him—" Otto held up Dr. Coconutman. "—And bounced away before that thing exploded."
"Well, at least it's over…" The fox sighed.
"And as for you!" The hedgehog started, tossing Merv at the burning remains of the Coconut Hawk. The man landed on his back. "Tell us where you put that secret weapon of yours NOW!.!.!"
But to the surprise and immense disappointment of the trio, Dr. Coconutman didn't answer. Instead, a plastic head came out of his chest like the body was a jack-in-the-box. The head looked just like Mr. Stimpleton's.
"What the hell!.?.!" The furries yelled in a mixture of shock and extreme fright.
"Muahahahaha" Coconutman's voice was heard from the body. "You fools have been tricked!"
"It's a fake!.?" Twister gasped.
"Duh! I think we noticed that already!" Otto shouted at him.
"Watch from these canyons as I conquer the world with my air fleet, and I'd like to see you try to stop me this time! Ahahahahaha!.!.!"
The trio gazed to the left of the wreckage and felt their eyes go as wide as possible. Floating in the air were hundreds, possibly thousands, of airships. They were loaded with weapons that can destroy an entire city in the blink of an eye. Cannons ten times bigger than the ones the animals launched out of filled the ships. Seemingly a million robots flew alongside the ship.
Perhaps the strangest part of the entire fleet was that every single solitary aircraft was built to look like an aquatic animal. From the red shark cruisers to the blue swordfish-like battleships, it was like looking at an aquarium in the sky. Purple sting ray ships bigger than the battleships also swam among the ocean of clouds. If the furries weren't intimidated by the battleships and carriers, they certainly were when they saw the flagship! Looming behind all the sharks, swordfish, and sting rays was the grand daddy of all war machines!
"I-It's a giant wh-whale…" Twister stuttered, feeling his legs growing weak. Otto and Sam were too stunned to mock him for stating the obvious.
A terrifying, metallic blue whale swam in the back of the fleet. To be perfectly honest, it was bigger than any blue whale the trio has seen on any documentary. Its colossal shadow covered what was left of the sun, creating a perpetual nightfall as it flew. It was impossible for the team to fathom the length of it. It looked to be the size of a small planet, and even that was putting it mildly! If that thing was the size of a small planet from far away, imagine seeing it up close! It's surprising it doesn't have a moon revolving around it!
The trio stood stock frozen, gaping at the humongous fleet for what seemed like hours before finally collecting themselves.
"A-A fleet…" Twister was the first to speak. "An air fleet… Th-that's his ultimate weapon…"
Otto, however, was less afraid and more livid at the fact that he was tricked so easily.
"ARRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!.!.!.!.!" He roared, slamming his helmet on the ground. "I don't believe this! The whole time, we've been chasing some stupid robot! We gave him enough time to get everything ready!.!.!" He continued ranting as he stomped the ground in fury.
"Weird… I was kinda expecting a giant laser capable of destroying the world or something like that." Sam said, holding his chin in thought.
"I don't care how long it takes," Otto started, putting his helmet back on. "I'm not going to let him destroy the skate parks of the world if my name isn't Otto Rocket! C'mon!" And he skated away from the wreck, ready to continue the quest.
"Hey! Wait up, Ottoman!" Twister yelled, following him.
Instead of going after them, Sam stayed and examined the fake Coconutman, which seemed to be oozing some kind of liquid. It wasn't oil or anything of the sort. It was more like melted silver.
"Strange… This doesn't seem like one of Merv's robots…" He trailed off before turning to see that his comrades had already left. "Hey! Wait for me!.!.!" He shouted, spinning his tails as he skated.
Not long after they left the area, Team Lars entered the scene of the fight that transpired only moments ago. They walked up to the wreckage with utmost confusion on their faces, or at least Reggie's had confusion etched on it.
"Woah! What happened?.!" She exclaimed in surprise. Lars turned to her with a look that just screamed, "Whaddya think, ya twit!.?.!"
"Duh! Rocket Dork and those other two trashed one of Stimpledork's machines!" He shouted. The bat gave him a shocked look. There's no way her little brother and friends were out here! Then again… Everything was pretty much destroyed when they arrived…
While Reggie was contemplating this, Pi looked over at the "fallen" Coconutman. He shook his fist at the copy.
"Searching for Coconutman target…" He droned.
Meanwhile, Lars was examining the downed Coconut Hawk when he gasped.
"What the hell is this!.?.!" He roared as if he was slapped in the face. Pi and Reggie turned to see what he was going on about. What they saw shocked them (or at least Reggie).
Lars was standing over a robot, or at least half of one. It was shooting sparks out of its midsection, but that wasn't even half of it! The bot from head to where the body ended looked exactly like Lars! The hat, the red star-shaped patch of hair on his chest, everything looked like the violet hedgehog! Needless to say, he was outraged. He was beyond livid at the fact that Dr. Coconutman would have the audacity to make some kind of robot copy of him!
"Grrrr… That cheap little…ARGH!.!.!"
He was at a loss for words. Nothing he said would be able to right this terrible wrong. With a mighty roar, he grabbed the robot, swung it around three times, and tossed it over the bridge and into the depths of the canyon. A small explosion was heard soon after.
"Lars…?" Reggie tried, holding a hand towards him. She was silenced when he turned to her with a cold glare and an equally frigid snarl.
"Let's go!" He simply shouted before skating off. The bat activated her air skates and followed while Pi activated his rockets and floated after them.
Soon, Team Rodriguez skated into the scene, ready to battle Dr. Coconutman. Unfortunately for them, all they found was a downed hovercraft and an unconscious Coconutman.
"There you are!" Clio yelled upon seeing the body. "Where's my darling Otto at, you creep!.?.!" She snatched it up and immediately began choking it. It wasn't until Keoni pointed out that a laughing head was coming out of the body before the hedgehog dropped it.
"No fair!" She protested. "It's just a cheap copy!" She stomped the ground as the cat looked all over the site.
"Froggy-brah!" He called, only to have his voice bounce off the canyon walls. "Let's go home…" He looked down sadly.
"What are you crying about now?" Mackenzie grumbled to her chao, who was crying silently.
"It's Chocola-chao…" Cheese squeaked softly.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Her eyes widened as she held her pet up to her face. "Wait a minute! You can say something other than 'Chao!.?.!'"
"Chao, chao?" It tilted its head in confusion as its ball became a question mark.
Mackenzie fell over as Clio gasped in realization.
"It's a chao-napping!"
"Huh?" Keoni asked, turning to her. "Are you saying this Stimpleton brah was the one who took Froggy and Chocola?"
"Exactly!" She answered, nodding.
Mackenzie shot up and glared at the older kids.
"First you said that lame-o was the one who did it," She started, referring to Otto. "And now you're saying this dork did it!.?.! Make up your mind already!"
"Yeah." Keoni agreed. "Are you sure this time, cuz?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Clio huffed. "Mr. Stimpleton kidnapped Froggy and Chocola, and he's trying to get my man!" The others sweatdropped before sighing. They were used to her banter by now.
"C'mon! We can't be too far behind them!" The hedgehog said, skating onward. The others followed after her.
Later, as just a tiny sliver of sun remained in the sky, Team Sherlock approached the scene of the battle. Trent gave a toothy grin at the wreckage, happy that the doctor finally got what was coming to him. Unlike Reggie, they accepted the fact that it was Mr. Stimpleton when they saw his face on the slots at Casino Park.
"Good job, mates!" He said to his colleagues.
"What are you talking about?" Eddie asked, raising his mask with a wary look.
"Why we defeated Dr. Coconutman, of course!" The crocodile answered, trying to take the credit for whoever destroyed the machine.
"But we didn't do anything." Little Scottie pointed out innocently. "We just got here!" He was silenced when the oldest member of the group put his huge hand to his mouth.
"Ahhh, but we did." Trent said, winking. "Or at least that's what the press will think." The others sweatdropped.
"There's a new one." Eddie started. "I never would've taken you for a glory hog." He held his chin for a moment. "Then again, you did agree to this case when our mysterious client buttered you up!"
°WHAM!°
The chameleon muttered curses to himself as he tended to the huge lump now protruding from his head. Not even his helmet was a match for the bigger kid's massive fist.
"Now then, we're gonna tell the news people that we were the ones who took him down, GOT IT!.?.!" Trent bared his sharp teeth to prove his point. The others gulped and nervously nodded. "Good…" He growled.
"Hey! It looks like it's just a fake Coconutman!" Scottie said, hovering near the body.
"WHAT!.?.!" The croc exclaimed, stomping over to the bee. Sure enough, the "doctor's" recorded laughing was still playing.
"Well, so much for getting the credit, huh?" Eddie teased with a coy smirk. Trent gulped as he tried to think of a way to save face. He snapped his fingers when a solution came to him.
"No problem." He started slyly. "We'll just tell 'em that he was a fake all along and that we're on the case!" He gave a mighty laugh while the others looked at him, wondering why they decided to associate themselves with this older, scalier, and more down under version of Otto.
"Of course it was a fake!" The electronic voice of the client was heard shouting.
"Huh?" Trent questioned, pulling out the detectives' only contact between them and their customer. The client cleared his throat.
"Listen carefully! There's a forest east of the Grand Canyon. Go there immediately!"
"Understood." Trent acknowledged, putting the radio away. "Let go, mates." He started skating, followed by Eddie and Little Scottie. The bee flew ahead of the reptiles and faced them.
"The client seems to a lot about that bad man!" He commented.
"He must be a government agent." Eddie said, nodding in agreement. "Or maybe even a relative."
"Maybe it's his wife!"
"His wife!.?.!" Trent shouted. "Don't be dumb! There's no way it can be her! The client's voice is male!"
"You never know." The smaller lizard said with a shrug. "She could be using a voice changer."
"Hmmmm… You got a point, mate." The bigger one nodded. "Ya know, I've been having my suspicions about the client's real identity too." He looked back at the body. "Still… It's best to just follow his instructions for now. We'll ask questions if, and when, he decides to show himself." He faced ahead and skated off with his teammates.
As the moon and stars finally prevailed over the sun and plunged the world into darkness, a great evil was emerging.
The copy of Dr. Coconutman turned into the thick, silvery liquid that was leaking from it. The body wavered as it melted. The reflective goop then began to take a whole other form. In the light of the full moon, a figure appeared where "Mr. Stimpleton" was lying. It was barely illuminated by the moon's light and the fires still emitting from the Coconut Hawk.
It took the form of a hedgehog. It was taller than Lars, but only by a few inches. The silver soon disappeared and was replaced by a deep scarlet. The figure had a white streak in the middle of its forehead. The head quills were arranged like dreadlocks, only longer and stiffer than Otto's. They were at least twice as long. A green ring was around the forehead. Green-tinted sunglasses were wielded onto the face. Despite the tint, the eyes, which were permanently fixed in an icy glare, were glowing a blood red. Its nose was a single spike and it had no mouth. The area where the mouth should be was a steel gray. At the ends were spikes. Its arms were connected to its body by silver shoulder pads that stretched out a few inches. The arms were built to make it look like it was wearing oversized sleeves. They failed to cover up its razor sharp claws.
The body consisted of a yellow turbine engine, which blended in with the red. A spiked belt was around the waist. Connected to it was a dark brown cape that only went down behind the legs. Like the arms, the legs were made to look like the robot was wearing baggy pants. Finally, it had air skates for feet. Unlike the ones Otto and the others had, they were longer and had a pointed toe.
"All life form data…" The robot clenched a fist as it spoke with a cold, lifeless voice that sounded exactly like Otto's. "Successfully copied."
Post-chapter Conversation
"Well, there ya have it folks!" I said from my throne. "We're not quite done with this adventure just yet! Can Team Rocket find the real Dr. Coconutman before it's too late? What's with that half of a robot Team Lars found? Will Team Rodriguez find Otto, Froggy, and Chocola? Can Team Sherlock figure out the identity of their client? And who was that red robot and why was he imitating Dr. Coconutman? Find out next time!"
°SLAM!°
"Huh?" Iggy and I faced the temple's front doors.
A severely irate Izzy had just stepped inside. He was covered in bandages, both his eyes were black, and some of his quills were broken or barely staying on his head. His left arm was in a sling and his right leg was in a cast. Using the crutches under his arms, he limped through the immense hall.
"Bro!" Iggy cried with concern as he and I ran up to him. "Are you ok!.? What happened to you!.?"
"What happened?.! You know perfectly well what happened!" The older brother roared. "I got tossed off the damn mountain because of that idiotic rule those stupid administrators set up! Ow!.!.!" He yelped as he recoiled in pain.
"Hey, I tried to warn ya." I said with a shrug. Izzy glared at me.
"When I get out of traction, you're first on my list." He snarled. I stuck my tongue out at him before turning to the camera.
"Anyway, it's time to answer the reviews for the last chapter!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out a piece of paper which had the reviews for this week on it. "First to Warior, pffffft!.!.! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!.!.! Aw man! That's hilarious! Those aliens got the ultimate humiliation!" I laughed a bit more before catching my breath. I then read the rest of the review. "Ohhhhh… So that's what's in the Pit… Eeesh. I'd hate to have to face something like that."
"Heh, how sweet would it be to toss a certain blond so-and-so in there…" Izzy sighed dreamily. Iggy and I rolled our eyes.
"Keep dreaming, bro." The younger hedgehog remarked.
"Anyway, onto the next review!" I said, reading over the sheet again. I then looked up at the camera. "To Mythica, erm… That's a good question. It might be fun to put Alice in this thing, but I already got enough to worry about with these two." I flicked a thumb at the two hedgehogs. "Besides, I just took Sonic's emeralds from his dimension, that's all."
"Aw man!" Izzy sulked. "That'd be so cool if I can see my dear, sweet, kissable Alice again."
"Hey, I thought you were in love with that Pineapple boy." Iggy commented.
°WHAM!°
"Who told you, ya little—!" Izzy cleared his throat as he put down the crutch he just used to whack his brother. "I mean, where would you get a crazy idea like that?.! Alice is the only one for me." He turned to me with a dangerous glare. "And then YOU had to take her away from me!.!.!"
"Hey! I told you! The Dimension Hopper rules state that we can't take anybody from a dimension with us!" I defended. Iggy gasped at that.
"D-d-d-does that mean you and Izzy will leave me if you ever go to another dimension, Daddy?" He asked, tears welling up in his eyes. I stuttered trying to think of what to say.
"Ummm… Errr… Uhhh… Don't put me on the spot like that!" I finally said before looking at the review again. "Anyway, for the last time, You-know-who is gonna be a brand-spanking-new fan character. Adrian—"
Izzy shuddered at the name. I rolled my eyes.
"—is not him. I repeat: You-know-who is a new fan character. Adrian is not in this story."
"Thank God." My partner said with another shudder.
"Ugh… Anyway, I've never played the Harvest Moon games. Are those baskets expensive?" I then looked at the final review. "To Mike, eh, no prob. Happy to oblige. Hope everything's going smoothly over at Hawaii." I blinked and smirked before turning to Izzy. "Hey, I got a message for you."
"Ya do?" The hedgehog blinked. "What is it?"
I looked at the review. "Well, according to this, your 'delectable pineapple' says 'hi.'"
Izzy gaped at me before sighing lovingly.
"He said hi…" He swooned. "He's got such a way with words…"
Iggy and I gave him sly smirks.
°SUPER WHAM!°
"For the love of—! Can we please get off the subject of my crappy love life and that blasted fic!.?.!" Izzy roared, standing over Iggy and I with one of his crutches held high over his head. We were huddled close together, nursing our newest lumps. "That was the worst thing you've ever written! Even worse than that Pokémon fic!"
"Aw give me a break!" I shouted as I stood up. "You know that Pokémon fic was my very first one! Of course it was my worst one!"
"Hey, that'd be pretty cool." Iggy spoke up. Izzy and I gave him curious looks.
"Whaddya mean?" We both asked.
"Well, what if this Alice person, that Adrian guy, and Mr. Pineapple Boy fought each other for him?" Iggy pointed at Izzy.
"Yeah right! Those three wouldn't fight for me!" The older hedgehog scoffed.
"But still, it'd be the fight of the century!" The younger one cheered.
"Forget it, twerp. It ain't gonna happen."
"Daddy!"
"Give him a break, Izzy." I said.
"Don't tell me you're taking his side!" The crippled hedgehog shouted. "Keoni would get killed if all three of them fought!"
"Whaddya mean?" Iggy asked.
"Duh! Alice has an infinite amount of guns in her purse and Adrian's a fire element wizard! Keoni's just a normal kid! He couldn't last ten seconds in a fight!"
"Well, of course I'd give him something to fight them with." I said, shrugging. "Maybe Keoni could use your air skates."
Izzy swooned at that.
"Keoni? Wearing my air skates? Ohhhh…" He fainted, causing Iggy and I to sweatdrop.
"He is so in denial." The light purple hedgehog said, holding his forehead.
"No kidding." I sighed. "Anyway, back to the review!" I turned to the camera. "Oh yeah, Mike! Sam definitely had to have lost plenty of weight after that chapter! Thanks to all of his vomiting, he's so slim, he's on the same level of attractivity as Otto and Twister."
"There's a nice thought…" Iggy grinned, causing me to raise an eyebrow.
"Yeah… Anyway, I guess Sam just hangs out with Otto, Twister, and Reggie to try to fit in." I shrugged. I then raised an eyebrow. "'Masochist?' I've heard that word before but I have no clue what that means…" I snapped my fingers, causing a dictionary to appear in my hands. I then thumbed through it.
"Let's see… Aha! A masochist is…" I sweatdropped at the definition. "Uhhhh… Heh, heh…" I coughed as I sweatdropped. "Ummm… Yeah, I guess that kinda describes Sam alright! A real glutton for punishment!" I chuckled nervously.
"Gee, I always thought he was just a plain old glutton." Izzy said, sitting up with a smirk.
"You know, it was so much better when you were in a love struck daze." Iggy said exasperatedly.
"Oy…" I rolled my eyes before turning to the camera. "To end things off, heh, I guess Sam and Twister might be a tad closer than already suggested." I grinned before waving at the camera. "Thanks a lot for the reviews, you guys! We'll see ya in the next chapter!"
(Note: This was the last chapter I fully wrote, so it may be a long time before the next update. In the meantime, check out The Elusive Treasure! It's collaboration fic that's being written by me, Silent Whisper, mike2000, and salsipuedues!)