Sonic's Chaos
Chapter 10: Escorted Emerald
Robotnik marched to an area of the Winged Fortress dedicated to manufacturing. Normally, this station would be focused on preparing Badniks, however due to a commission Robotnik had made in light of his plans to reoccupy Robotropolis the station had been working on one thing only; the construction of a large suit of armour for Robotnik to wear in battle. The suit was designed with a multitude of features in mind, including flight as well as a range of attacks from simple gunfire to glue guns, enabling Robotnik to trap the pesky hedgehog he called his nemesis and bring an end to him once and for all. It would be a while yet until the suit was completely manufactured and fully functional due to the size of the machine – built to be physically imposing, to strike fear in the hearts of any creature in its way. Walking into a control room overlooking the manufacturing chambers, Robotnik found his assistant Snively overseeing all operations.
"My lord," Snively greeted the Doctor. "I hear the mission in the Mystic Caves was a success – care to see our progress?"
Robotnik saw that much of the machine had been completed, yet not as much as he hoped. The occupation of Robotropolis was due soon, and Robotnik needed this to be ready for the occasion.
"Will this be completed in time for our occupation of Robotropolis?" Robotnik asked, staring out at the construction. Snively looked sheepish.
"Well, my lord..." the small man stuttered. "This is quite a demanding project; I'm sure that you want Metal Robotnik in peak fighting form if you're taking on the Freedom Fighters –"
Robotnik quickly cut Snively off, grabbing him by the arm. "The Freedom Fighters are nothing but a joke, a ragtag group of rebels; they may have got the better of me in our last encounter, but I assure you if Metal Sonic was functioning correctly, Sonic and his band of morons would become myths – reduced to stories of what happens when you cross Doctor Robotnik!"
Snively trembled slightly. "Right, Doctor Robotnik, of course –"
The Doctor cut him off again. "Prioritize the completion of Metal Robotnik. The invasion will be ready soon, with me and Metal Sonic at the helm. Do not make me ask again."
Robotnik stomped out of the room, leaving a shaken Snively to reorganise activities in order to put the completion of Metal Robotnik on high priority. Meanwhile, Robotnik returned to his lab, where Metal Sonic was undergoing a complete roboticization. Robotnik watched the process at work with admiration.
"You and me, Metal," Robotnik said, quiet but ambitious. "When we arrive, those rodents won't know what hit them!"
Tails had been working almost non-stop on the Tornado, constantly referring to the blueprints he found to ensure that everything was in order. Meanwhile, Sonic cleaned his red shoes outside of the workshop, polishing them until they shone. Mighty watched him, chuckling to himself as he watched the hedgehog, determined in making his shoes spotless. Something had been on Mighty's mind lately, and as Sonic seemed to know about Robotnik thanks to his previous encounters with him, he figured the blue hedgehog would be the best person to ask.
"So, you've said before that you've run into Robotnik in the past..." Mighty began, gazing aimlessly at the tree line.
"Yeah," Sonic said, content with the cleanness of his shoes and sliding them back on. "One time – I thought it would be enough to teach the old man a lesson!"
Mighty grinned before continuing. "But one thing has been on my mind and I just can't figure it out – where's he from? I mean, he doesn't look like anything else I've ever seen."
Sonic leant back and remembered when Robotnik managed to capture him and he saw another of his species. "There's at least one other of Robotnik's species – this short guy, I think he's like, Robotnik's butler or something."
"So where do you think they're from?" Mighty asked, sitting beside him. "I mean, they can't be from Mobius, right?"
"No way..." Sonic replied, theories flashing through his mind. "Who knows? The guy could be an alien or something." The hedgehog jumped to his feet, dusting himself off. "No matter where he came from, one thing's for sure – you, me and all the Freedom Fighters are gonna send him running back there!"
Mighty laughed before also getting up. As he stood, Amy rushed out through the door of Tails' workshop, Chaos Emerald Locator in her hands.
"It's got something!" she shouted, rushing to Sonic and Mighty. Tails looked over and shouted before continuing fixing up the Tornado.
"Where is it?" he called before twisting a bolt into place.
"It keeps moving!" Amy said, attempting to zoom in on it. "Maybe someone already has it?"
"That can't be good!" Sonic exclaimed. "What if it's Robotnik?"
The commotion was enough to distract Tails from his work. He climbed down and approached the others, taking the locator and examining it closely.
"Let's see..." Tails said, fiddling with the device. "Based on their current trajectory, whoever is transporting the Emerald is headed to Robotropolis – unfortunately, we've got no idea where they came from..."
"So what do we do now?" Mighty asked, looking over Tails' shoulder at the device.
"Fortunately for us, whoever is moving the Emerald isn't moving very fast," Tails began. "That means we've got some time to intercept them before they reach Robotropolis where, assuming they're working for Robotnik, the Emerald will be out of our hands."
Sonic jumped up, ready to run. "So, let's get a move on!" he exclaimed, stretching his legs. "If it's Ro-butt-nik's usual shoddy machines, it's no contest!"
"Wait!" Tails stopped him before he could run off. "I'll stay here! The Tornado won't build itself!"
"Tails, are you sure you'll be alright?" Amy asked him, preparing her hammer.
"I'll be okay!" he reassured her, already heading back to the plane.
"Don't worry, we'll make quick work of 'em!" Sonic remarked before speeding off. Mighty and Amy quickly followed him.
After Robotnik's encounter with Sonic and Tails at the Aquatic Ruins, he ordered two Egg Pawns to scout the area, looking for any sign of the two. While Sonic and Tails were long gone by the time they arrived, they did find something of interest; strange hieroglyphs and markings from what looked to be a recently destroyed building. The pawns collected some samples and returned them to Robotnik. The drawings seemed to depict a larger Emerald – to Robotnik, this meant that it could potentially be more powerful. However, based on his current understanding of this planet, he had no idea where it could be. The drawings displayed it on some kind of floating island, though Robotnik had never heard of such a thing – still, just because he had never heard of it, doesn't mean it didn't exist. As Robotnik had learnt, this planet holds many secrets. An expedition to discover this island would be in order as soon as the Freedom Fighters were eliminated – surely, the combined strength of the seven Chaos Emeralds as well as another, larger Emerald would grant him unparalleled power? Robotnik grinned at the thought of it before refocusing on a current matter; the Chaos Emerald found in the Mystic Caves. His forces had been drilling and mining in the caves for some time, their remoteness allowing him to operate undetected. Tracking his forces, he saw they were en route to Robotropolis and would be arriving there in a few hours at most. Five emeralds on their own were powerful enough, but after the Freedom Fighters are destroyed, Robotnik will finally have the full set and with it, power beyond his wildest dreams.
Meanwhile, Sonic, Amy and Mighty approach the side of a road, hiding behind bushes as they watch a parade of Badniks march and roll along. A variety of Badniks made up the parade; a couple of Motorbugs around the perimeter, a few Egg Pawns inside, Buzz Bombers provided aerial support and four Egg Robos surrounding the Emerald itself, right at the centre of the group. The three were quiet as they snuck along, making sure they were concealed at all times while they examined the escort.
"We gotta be careful about this," Sonic whispered to his friends. "If we have a good plan, this'll be a piece of cake; but there's just enough of 'em that things could go wrong if we rush in!"
"We'd better go for those Egg Robos first," Mighty pointed out, sneaking along with Sonic. "They could fly off with the Emerald at the first sign of trouble!"
"Right!" Sonic agreed, "Mighty, you take 'em out – once you go in, me and Amy will go in from the back; the element of surprise!"
"Okay," Mighty said, preparing to attack. "You two ready?"
Sonic and Amy nodded, preparing to run in after Mighty. Mighty exhaled before leaping out of the trees and into the air before smashing down towards the Egg Robos, destroying one and disturbing the others. He was quick to smash two of them together, taken too much by surprise to be able to react. The fourth one, however, was quick enough, grabbing the unit the Emerald is stored in and flying into the air, leading Mighty to desperately jump and cling onto the unit as well. Meanwhile, a blue streak flew through the air, taking out several of the Buzz Bombers, meanwhile Amy swung her hammer wildly, knocking Egg Pawns off their feet and sending Motobugs flying like golf balls. Just before Sonic went to crush the last Buzz Bomber, he noticed Mighty dangling in the air, fiercely trying to prize it from the Robo's hands – but, despite his efforts, it held on, flying higher into the sky. Sonic turned to Amy.
"You gonna be okay taking the rest of these out?" he asked her before eyeing up the Buzz Bomber.
"Why, where're you going?" she shouted back, smashing up Badniks, completely unaware of Mighty's predicament. Without saying another word, Sonic jumped and held onto the back of the Buzz Bomber before climbing onto it. The Badnik flew around desperately in an attempt to shake him off, but the hedgehog held on, managing to pilot the buzz bomber somewhat by pulling or pushing it. Pulling the robot upward, he flew into the air, hoping Amy would be capable of wiping out the few remaining forces below. He watched as Mighty clinging to the box, feet dangling and flailing. Sonic pointed the bomber in the direction of the Egg Robo, getting closer to it every second.
"Mighty!" Sonic called out. He saw the armadillo turn around, his eyes widening.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Mighty screamed, kicking his feet in panic.
"Jump! NOW!" Sonic shouted back, before leaping off the buzz bomber. At the last second, Mighty dropped, just before the bomber flew into the Egg Robo. A small explosion sent the containment unit flying into the sky before falling back down and hitting the ground with a crash, shortly after Sonic and Mighty. Amy looked behind her to see the commotion, not before sending the last Motobug into the sky with her hammer.
"That was close!" Amy exclaimed before running to the unit. It required a code to unlock, but it looked fragile enough that she could break it open with her piko-piko hammer. Lifting the hammer behind her head, Amy swung down with all her strength, crumpling the box and smashing a hole into it. Putting her hammer beside her, she reached in with one hand and pulled out a purple Chaos Emerald. "Piece of cake, right?" she asked the other two, holding up the Emerald for them to see. Mighty grinned before getting up and running over to it, shortly followed by Sonic.
"That's it!" Mighty exclaimed joyously, "We've found 'em!"
"Not all of them," Sonic replied, "But at least this one is out of Robotnik's hands. Taking away the four he already has will be like taking candy from a baby!"
"We need to get back to the workshop, ASAP!" Amy said, spinning the Emerald around in her hand. "Just wait until Sally hears about this!"
All the while, Robotnik watched as the dots on the map indicating his Badniks one by one faded away. He growled in anger before smashing his fist down on the screen, cracking it. Another Emerald lost, Robotnik was no further in his journey than he was when he first left Robotropolis; his Emerald count remained at four, while the Freedom Fighters swiped the other three just before he could get hit hands on them. Soon, Robotnik calmed down, remembering his mission to Robotropolis. The Freedom Fighter's efforts were ultimately meaningless; shortly, the Winged Fortress would block the sun over Robotropolis. Those rats would run out of their holes, and Metal Robotnik's boot would be ready to squash them; not forgetting the aid of his proudest creation, Metal Sonic.
Bean was growing impatient. It had been days since they had last talked to Fang; how long does it take these amateurs to get those stupid rocks, anyway? While Bark sat quietly, watching TV, Bean could not help but pace around the room; even when he sat down, his foot would be rapidly tapping against the floor in anticipation. Eventually, Bean could no longer restrain his restlessness.
"For God's sake!" he shouted, jumping from his chair before moving to the phone. "Where the hell is this guy? Why hasn't he called?" Bark showed little reaction, only rolling his eyes at Bean's tantrum before turning his eyes back towards the TV. This seemed to frustrate Bean further.
"What're you rolling your eyes at, ya big lump?" he snarled, jumping onto the sofa. "What? You ain't a little suspicious 'bout this whole thing?" Bean tried to get some response out of Bark, pushing him on the shoulder. "What is it with you, huh?! Back in our prime, we'd've crushed any two-faced liar who crossed us! You gone soft, big guy?"
Before Bean could speak another word, he felt Bark's paw wrap around his small, skinny leg. Before he knew it, he was being flung across the room, crashing into the wall by the door. Bean groaned before collapsing on his front in pain, while Bark simply sat back down and continued watching TV. After a few seconds, they heard a knock at the door. Bean and Bark looked at each other before Bean slowly got up, rubbing his head where it hit the wall. Opening the door, he saw Fang, who pushed past him into the room.
"What was all that racket?" he asked his two teammates, concerned. "You two good? I don't wanna have to worry 'bout my comrades squabblin', do I?"
Bean sheepishly looked at Bark. "All good, Fang," his voice cracked, "Don' worry 'bout it..."
"Good," Fang said. "Now, I got word earlier today that us Freedom Fighters have all three of the missin' Emeralds. That means that they just gotta snatch the four Robotnik has before we can go ahead with our lil' operation."
Bean's eyes lit up, the news distracting him from the throbbing pain in his head. "Oh, boy! We're gonna be rich!" he exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"Yeah, yeah, now take it easy," Fang said in an effort to calm him down. "That's only if those crazies can actually beat the Doc in the first place. Assumin' they do, our plan goes ahead as agreed, 'kay? Ya both wait for my call, got it?"
Bark slowly nodded while Bean babbled about how he planned on spending the money after they sell the Emeralds. A creak in the floorboards from near the door distracted Fang from Bean's wild fantasies. Turning around, he saw no one there, but his gut instincts were enough to go off of. As Fang drew his pistol, Bean stopped his rambling.
"Fang, whaddya doin'?" he asked before looking in the direction Fang was facing. Suddenly, Fang opened fire towards the doorway. As he did, something bounced onto the sofa, startling Bark, interrupting his program. This was shortly followed by cups and bottles on the table between the sofa and TV forcibly being knocked over as if something had thrown itself into them, followed again by the sound of feet.
"What the hell?!" Bean exclaimed. "That a ghost or somethin'?!"
Suddenly, Espio the Chameleon materialized, mouth curled in anger.
"I knew I couldn't trust you," the chameleon snarled. "I knew eventually you'd return to your life of crime!"
"This guy a friend of yours?" Bean whispered loudly to Fang, eyeing Espio up.
"You could say that," Fang replied, "Me 'n' Espio have run into each other a few times while I've been going solo."
"I heard everything," Espio growled. "The fate of Robotropolis is at stake, and you were about to jeopardise our whole operation!"
Suddenly, Espio drew his kunai knives, tossing them across the room and forcing Team Hooligan to duck behind whatever cover they could find; sofas, upturned tables, anything to protect them from Espio's blades. When Espio went to draw more, Bark used this moment of downtime to emerge from his cover, charging the chameleon. Espio leaped and ducked out of the way of Bark's fists, swinging with enough power to knock him clean out. Fang raised his head slightly from behind the cover, aiming his pistol, struggling to get a clear shot without hurting his polar bear friend.
"Don' worry, Bark!" Bean yelled, running to help his friend. Taking on two foes at once was no worry for Espio, dodging Bark's blows while avoiding the snaps of Bean's beak. A kick from Espio sent Bean flying back, exiting the fight as quickly as he entered. Not wanting to be knocked out so easily, Bean pulled out a small bomb, tossing it towards Espio. Espio quickly leapt out the way as the explosion brought the ceiling above Bark raining down upon him. From the smoke, shurikens flew out across the room, once again forcing Bean and Fang behind cover. When Fang poked his head up, a shuriken caught onto his hat, pulling it off his head and pinning it to the wall behind him. Unknown to Espio, Bark had crawled out of the rubble. The bulky polar bear picked up Espio, holding him over his head before tossing him across the room to behind Bean and Fang. Espio tried getting back on his feet but was kicked back down by Fang, who rested his boot on Espio's chest.
"Tough luck, chameleon," Fang said lightly. "Looks like ya luck's run out this time!"
Bark stomped back across the room, all members of Team Hooligan looming over Espio.
"Why don't we let big guy do the honours?" Bean exclaimed as Bark growled. As Bark raised his paw in the air, Espio quickly stood to his feet and began spinning. During his training, Espio dedicated years to refining this skill – by spinning at incredibly fast speeds with his arms stretched out, this spinning-top move was capable of not only dealing damage but repelling many forms of attack. It was enough to deter his opponents, who stepped back as Espio sporadically span outwards towards them, pushing them further away. The three members of Team Hooligan looked at one another, confused. Out of desperation and to Fang's horror, Bean drew another bomb.
"Bean, NO!" Fang yelled, but it was too late. The woodpecker tossed the bomb towards Espio only to be deflected by his arms. The bomb detonated somewhere in-between the two sides, shaking the apartment, causing the whole ceiling of their room to collapse, forcing Fang, Espio, Bark and Bean under rubble.