Preface: Hello, again! So sorry for uploading on a weekend - ran into problems the other day. Anyway, here we go - the final battle of Freedom Pack! I'm very proud of the direction I took it, and I hope you enjoy!
FREEDOM PACK
Previously...after discovering a strange vortex in the middle of the night, Sally Acorn, along with Sonic, Tails, and Rotor, investigated it, leading them to a strange world of small mobian-like creatures. After meeting the Pikwik Pack, one of the new worlds' residents, they set out to help deliver a package while also finding the Chaos Emeralds along the way. However, when the package was delivered, they realized they were duped, and the shadowy figure that received the package enacted its evil plans
Now...Sonic and Suki rescue the others after the shadowy figure kidnapped them...
Roll Call
Sonic the Hedgehog - Issac Ryan Brown: Fastest thing alive. Hero of Mobius.
Miles "Tails" Prower - Kate Higgins: Tech-savvy sidekick. High-flying pal.
Sally Acorn - Navia Robinson: Princess of the Kingdom of Acorn. Leader of the Freedom Fighters.
Rotor Walrus - Benjamin Diskin: Knothole's resident inventor. Mission control.
Suki the Hedgehog - Emma Ho: Pikwik Pack leader. Responsible boat driver.
Axel the Raccoon - Daniel Pathan: Blue-furred speedster. Driver of trucks.
Hazel the Kitten - Molly Lewis: Youngest Pikwik Pack member. Lover of tacos and helicopters.
Tibor the Hippo - Jacob Soley: Softy with a tough exterior. Train operator.
Chapter 8:
Edits in the Atmosphere
[Party Selected: Tails, Sally, Axel, Hazel, Tibor]
[Current World: Pikwik Planet]
[Current Location: Dark Castle, Prison Room]
[BGM: Asher Lenz, Stephen Skratt - Suki's Hero BGM]
The group laid on the floor, still waiting for the others to show up. It had been a while since their communication with NICK had ended, leaving them all in silence. "Do you still think the others are looking for us?" asked Hazel, worried.
"If there's one thing about Sonic, it's that he's stubborn," said Sally. "There's no way he's gonna give up."
"You've been saying that over and over and over!" Axel growled. "If he doesn't show up soon, then…" The raccoon's angry tirade was cut off by the sudden appearance of…a robot that looked exactly like Hazel. "Hey! That little robo-guy looks just like you, Hazel!"
The cat walked up as close to the Hazel-Bot as she could. "Hey! He does!" Suddenly, the robot bashed the barrier, and it immediately vanished. "Yay! We're free!"
"You guys can thank me later," said the Hazel-Bot, whose voice Tails and Sally identified as NICK's. "Right now, we should probably get outta here."
At that moment, Sonic and Suki caught up to NICK. "See? I told you he wouldn't give up," Sally said with a nod.
"Suki!" cried Tibor. He and the other Pikwik Pack members ran up to the hedgehog and gave her a big hug. "We missed you so much!"
Suki graciously returned the hug. "I'd never give up on you guys!" she said. "You're my…friends."
Sonic looked over from his reunion with Tails and Sally and frowned. Seriously? She still didn't do it? he thought, irritated. Ah, whatever. I guess she'll tell them when she's truly ready… Just then, Rotor finally caught up to the group, out of breath from running the whole way. "There you are, Rotor," said Sonic. "How'd you find us?"
"Used…tracking…device…" the walrus said between breaths, referring to the tracking device that Tails incorporated into NICK. "Listen, I think I know how we can beat this guy, but we'll have to get back to these guys' home first."
"Well, we should start going, then," said Axel, preparing to leave. "It's gonna be a long way back."
"No need!" said Tails, shaking his head. "Sonic, gimme a ring, please!" The hedgehog obliged, tossing one of the iconic Mobius currency to the fox. "Now that the barrier's gone, I can use my Miles Electric again!" Tails continued, placing the ring into a slot. After finding the coordinates of Pikwik Post and entering them into the interface he opened up, he took the ring back out and tossed it into the air, where it transformed into a Warp Ring back to Pikwik Post.
"A-ha! Way past cool!" said Sonic, impressed. But then a thought came to him. "Wait, are you guys cool with leaving your vehicles behind?"
"We do have to do that sometimes," said Tibor, rubbing his hands together. "But we can just get them back afterward."
"Right," added Suki. "As long as there's no friend left behind."
Sonic nodded. "Or player, like another pal of mine once said." The group stepped into the Warp Ring and back to Pikwik Post as NICK returned to the Miles Electric, leaving the Hazel-Bot limp and inanimate.
[Location Change: Pikwik Post, Axel's Garage]
Shortly after returning, the group immediately went to the garage. With the help of Tails and Axel, Rotor was able to install his new system into the Hover Bus in no time. "Alright, here's what I've managed to do…" said the walrus, taking the controls. A camera appeared on the Hover-Bus, akin to the ones that popped up with the headsets, only this time with a cursor. Pressing a button, Rotor made a ring appear on the screen in place of the cursor, and with the press of another button, rings appeared for real next to Sonic.
"Whoa…" said the hedgehog, impressed. "You can make rings out of nowhere!"
"And that's not all…" Rotor continued. He then selected a shield monitor and made it appear next to Tails. The fox eagerly busted it open with a Spin Jump, making the barrier appear around him.
"This is almost like…" said Sally, racking her brain for a video game term for editing levels.
"Debug mode?" suggested Sonic.
"Well, technically, that would be 'edit mode'," corrected Rotor, "but 'debug mode' does sound snappier!" He clapped his hands together. "So, now that this seems to be working, what's our game plan?"
Sally put her hand to her chin. "Well, Rotor, you can use your new device to make things appear to help us," she said, "and Tails, if you can get the Tornado over here, Sonic and I can ride on it to attack that shadow guy directly. I think he called himself 'the Manipulator'."
"But we may need to stun the Manipulator," added Suki, taking to the name easily, "so maybe, if we can hook up Rotor's stun gun to Hazel's helicopter, we can be the ones to stun him!"
"Sounds like a plan," said Sonic, nodding. The eight huddled together and simultaneously shouted either "Let's go, Team Freedom!" or "Let's go, Pikwik Pack!". After that, Tails used the Miles Electric to summon the Tornado as Rotor and Axel got to work attaching the stun gun to Hazel's helicopter. The morale was high as the group became determined to stop the Manipulator once and for all.
[Character Selected: Manipulator]
[Current World: Pikwik Planet]
[Current Location: Pikwik Town Square]
[BGM: Junkie XL - Team vs. Robotnik]
The Manipulator looked down at its fine work. Using the package maker, it had successfully managed to strike fear into the heart of Pikwik's citizens. Having destroyed their buildings, the otherworldly being was now forcing them to construct a new base of operations for it to use as it planned its next attack. Anyone who tried to step out of line was punished with a package that would strike more fear into them. "It will not be long before the entire multiverse bows to my knees," claimed the Manipulator, satisfied with its work.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" came a distant voice. Turning around, the Manipulator saw a sight that made it jump. Sonic and Sally were flying towards it on the Tornado, with Rotor and the Pikwik Pack trailing behind in the Hover Bus and a helicopter.
"Hmph. You really do not know when to quit," gritted the Manipulator. "Very well, You shall pay the price for it…" Holding the package maker in its hands, the being summoned several packages around the heroes' vehicles, which quickly opened into…
"Bombs!" cried Tails. "Hang on, everyone!" Sonic and Sally gripped onto the Tornado's wings as the plane barrel-rolled across the sky, dodging the explosives.
"Hazel! Watch out!" Suki directed from within the helicopter. The kitten was able to maneuver the vehicle around the bombs safely as Rotor fired lasers from the Hover Bus, destroying the explosives before they landed on anyone or anything.
"Resilience. A fool's substitute for invincibility," remarked the Manipulator. Realizing the package maker likely would not have much effect on the heroes currently, it reached out its hand and pulled it away, causing the Tornado's propeller to be removed from its place.
"Man, this guy sure is fighting dirty, isn't he?" Sonic casually said as he and Sally hung onto the wing, bracing themselves for the Tornado's inevitable crash.
"Not so fast!" cried Rotor. Using the debug interface, he hastily put a new propeller onto the Tornado, which Tails was quickly able to take control of once more.
Back in the sky, the helicopter was getting closer to the Manipulator. "Is this a clear enough shot, Suki?" Axel asked the hedgehog.
"Fire at will, Axel," Suki directed. The raccoon took the newly-added controls for the stun gun and prepared to fire it at the Manipulator. Suddenly, the otherworldly being pulled its hand in again, grabbing a hold of the gun. The helicopter began to be dragged towards the Manipulator, with no one able to fire the stun gun.
"You really think that would work on me?" the Manipulator taunted. "I am much smarter than anyone ever will be…"
"Oh, yeah? Well, outsmart this!" cried Rotor. With the debug interface, the walrus summoned an unpiloted version of Dr. Eggman's Egg-Mobile with the tried and true wrecking ball attached to it. The wrecking ball smacked the Manipulator in the face, distracting it long enough for the Pikwik Pack to take advantage of the precious few seconds they had.
"Tibor, now!" Suki directed. The hippo hastily ran up to the fire button, and the stun gun fired a shot at the Manipulator, who was covered in shocks.
The Tornado returned to battle altitude just as the shot fired. "Sonic, Sally, you have your opportunity!" said Tails.
"And before you do, why not get a little bouncy?" added Rotor. He placed a couple of Bubble Shield monitors on the Tornado's wings, which Sonic and Sally broke open to obtain the bubbly barrier.
"Shall we?" said Sonic, blushing as he held his hand out. Sally took his hand and the two leapt off of the Tornado. Sonic tossed Sally onto the Manipulator, and when she landed a hit, she bounced back up with a Bound Jump before tossing Sonic down herself. The two would have continued with the charade for a little longer had the Manipulator not found the opportunity to smack the two with its hand and create a portal that sucked the two in, sending them falling towards the ground.
Realizing the situation, Rotor hastily placed a monitor with two arrows, one blue and one orange, in front of Tails. "Tails! Break this monitor!" shouted Rotor. "You and Sonic will switch places!"
"Roger that!" cried the fox. He balled his fist and busted open the monitor. In a flash of white, Tails found himself now falling through the sky next to Sally. "Whoa!" he shouted, grabbing the squirrel and twisting up his namesakes. The fox carried Sally back up to the Manipulator as Sonic quickly took control of the Tornado.
"Okay, at this point, you're starting to be more annoying than dangerous," the Manipulator admitted as it saw Tails and Sally fly back up. It grabbed the package maker and began summoning Buzz Bomber-filled packages to attack the two.
Using whatever strength she had left, Sally kicked a Buzz Bomber in the face as Tails flew her away from the bullets. "We have to get that package making contraption away from him," she said, eyeing the device. "That way, we can really turn the tables!"
"Good idea!" shouted Tails. He spun around, swinging Sally in a spinning kick, and flew her back to the Tornado. "Sonic, Rotor, we have to make sure the Manipulator doesn't have the package maker!"
"Well, duh," said Sonic, "but how? That dude's crazy powerful!"
"That dude's crazy powerful!" Axel said at the exact same time over in the helicopter. "Do you really think trying to ram into him would be a good idea, Hazel?"
The kitten nodded. "That meanie has been hurting everyone for too long!" With a determined look on her face, Hazel operated the helicopter, directed right at the Manipulator's backside.
"Hey, guys! Look at what Hazel's doing!" cried Rotor. Sonic, Tails, and Sally looked over and watched the helicopter slowly make it over to the Manipulator.
"Well, there's no way he won't catch them first," said Sonic, "unless he can't see them!" Instantly, the hedgehog flew the Tornado in front of the Manipulator's face.
"Hey! Look up here!" cried Sally, waving her hands in the air. "I'm just a dashing little princess waiting to be captured!" Tails helped out, dramatically pointing to Sally.
"And check this out! The forecast calls for cloudy with a chance of monitors!" added Rotor. He began to spin around, dropping shield, ring, and extra life monitors here and there.
"Wow! The others are distracting him!" said Suki, watching the spectacle through the helicopter's windshield. "Now we can literally kick some booty!"
"You can say that again," said Axel. He aimed the stun gun right at the Manipulator's rear end, and as soon as Tibor hit the fire button, Hazel rammed the helicopter right into the hiney.
"OOOOOO!" roared the Manipulator. In its surprised state, it let go of the package maker, which Rotor quickly flew in and obtained using the Hover Bus's tractor beam.
"I got it!" cried Rotor as he saw the device be placed right into his vehicle. But then, he and the others heard a sickening crash. "Uh-oh! What happened?"
"It sounds like the helicopter crashed!" said Sonic. He piloted the Tornado down to the ground, where townsfolk had gathered around the wreck of the helicopter.
[BGM: Junkie XL - Okay, We're Not Friends]
Sally and Tails hopped off of the wing as Sonic got out of the Tornado. Rotor quickly landed the Hover-Bus as well and got out. Motioning for the townsfolk to let them pass, they walked up to the wreck. "Suki? Hazel? Anyone?" Sally called.
Just then, the windshield opened up and out hopped the Pikwik Pack, no worse for wear. "Don't worry, everyone! The monitors with Sonic's face on them broke our fall!" said Axel. And there was much rejoicing…that quickly came to a stop when the Manipulator hovered near them.
"So, you even survived a helicopter wreck, did you?" asked the otherworldly being. "Well, playtime is over. Hand over the package maker." It reached out its hand, beginning to telepathically pry the device from Rotor's hands.
"No! You're not getting this!" cried Suki, running in to grab the device. She began to tug on it, preventing the Manipulator from grabbing it.
"Yeah! What she said!" added Axel. He, Hazel, and Tibor joined behind Suki. They were quickly followed by the Freedom Fighters, and then all of Pikwik, jumping in to help the ones who bring them joy everyday.
During the tugging, Rotor noticed something that worried him. "Uh, guys? The package maker is cracking!"
"What?" cried Tibor. Sure enough, a huge crack was developing in the device. "Suki! We have to let go!"
"No! We can't let this guy win!" Suki declared.
That made the pack worried. "Suki, what is it?" asked Axel.
"I just…" The hedgehog froze. "I don't want to lose my family again!" And with that, she tugged one last time, and the package maker split apart. A burst of power overtook the Pikwik Pack and the Manipulator, surprising the crowd.
When the power faded, the Manipulator took its hands away from its face, noticing that something was off. "What's this? My powers have been disabled? What happened?"
"That surge of power must've done that," suggested Tails. "But what did it do to…"
"I think it made them go Super," Sonic finished the fox's thought. Standing in front of everyone, Suki, Axel, Hazel, and Tibor all began to flash the colors of the rhombuses on the package.
"Wow…" said Suki, feeling her new power. "It's almost like…I swallowed a package…" She held her hand out, and a ball of energy began to hover above the four.
"Hey…I feel some weird…connection to that little sparkle," said Axel. He held out his hand, and more energy flowed into the ball. Hazel and Axel did the same, and before long, the ball turned into…
"A package?!" shouted Hazel. "We can create packages?"
"To bring back the joy of everyone!" said Tibor. "Look! Everyone was miserable being forced to remake Pikwik in that guy's image!"
"So we just gotta bring their joy back!" said Suki. The four jumped into the air and began to fly. Everyone watched with awe (except for the Manipulator, who watched in horror) as they used their new powers to create gigantic packages, showering everyone with gifts and toys and sunshine, bringing the smiles back to their faces. Friends and families alike began to share their gifts with everyone, spreading the joy further.
"I get it now," said Tails. "The red, green, and yellow emeralds must've allowed the packages to be made, and the cyan one must have given them a little boost!"
"Well, let's hope that their power can be shared!" said Rotor. Rushing back to the Hover Bus, he accessed the debug interface and placed a monitor with a blue 'S' next to Sonic. "It's all on you now, Sonic!" said the walrus.
"You guys good with that?" Sonic asked the other two. Tails and Sally nodded, so the hedgehog did a Spin Jump on the monitor. As soon as it broke open, the Chaos Emeralds that were powering the Pikwik Pack flew out of their bodies without taking away their newfound power. The other three emeralds appeared from wherever they were in the Special Zone and zoomed right into Sonic's body with the four that were there the whole time. His quills became gold and grew longer, and his usually green eyes became a bright red.
Sonic was now Super Sonic!
"Hey! Sonic can use the emeralds to power up, too!" said Suki, looking over at the now-hovering Sonic. She smirked. "How about we go help him?"
The other three Pikwik Pack members nodded and they flew over to join Sonic. The Manipulator looked up at the five. "You truly are stubborn heroes," it said, genuinely impressed. "No matter. Even without my own powers, I can still fight…" And with that, it jumped up into the air…and was met with Sonic's fist.
"Yeah, you may wanna slow your roll there, buckaroo…" the hedgehog said. He tossed the Manipulator up into the air and, together with the Pikwik Pack, rapidly flew across the sky, giving the being a powerful beatdown. Eventually, Sonic finished the job with a kick right in the Manipulator's face, sending it falling towards the ground.
Meanwhile, Tails had just tracked down where the Manipulator had come from. "Looks like this guy came from the weird space between worlds we visited a year ago," the fox said, reading the data on his Miles Electric. Placing another ring inside the slot, he turned it into a mini-Warp Ring to the in-between space just as the Manipulator hit the ground.
Sonic and the Pikwik Pack touched ground themselves at the same time. Sally took Tails' ring and gave a nod to Sonic, who nodded back. "Let this be a lesson to you," Sonic said to the Manipulator. "Never mess with a hedgehog's family." With that, Sally tossed the ring behind the Manipulator, and it became a Warp Ring to the in-between plane. Sonic then stepped aside and allowed Suki to finish the job. With a mighty cry, the tinier hedgehog picked up the Manipulator and tossed it through the Warp Ring, which closed shortly thereafter.
"Now that that's taken care of," said Sonic just afterward, "there's something I wanna try!" He raised his open hand into the air, and a string of glowing rhombuses floated into it, forming a perfectly cooked chili dog with melted cheese and jalapeños, just how he liked it. Sonic smelled it like a fine wine, took a huge bite out of it, and then his pupils became tiny. "Oh...my...Naka..."
"What's wrong, Sonic?" asked Suki, concerned.
"One Chaos Emerald makes a nasty chili dog," said Sonic, "but all seven makes THE BEST CHILI DOG I'VE EVER TASTED IN MY LIFE! Seriously, you all gotta try this!" With a snap of his fingers, more perfectly made chili dogs fell into the hands of the townsfolk, the Freedom Fighters, and the Pikwik Pack, and just one bite was enough to fully bring back the joy the Manipulator took away. "And now..." With that, Sonic spread his arms out and allowed the chaos energy in his and the Pikwik Pack's bodies to leave, returning them to their normal states.
"Bye-bye, package powers!" Hazel waved as the Chaos Emeralds floated into the air, returning to the Special Zone.
Instantly, the townsfolk began cheering. They ran right into the middle of the town square and picked up the heroes, tossing them up and down. "Haha! I never thought we'd be heroes!" said Tibor with a chuckle, trying to hold onto his chili dog.
"All in a day's work for the Freedom Fighters," said Sally. The crowd set them back down. "Wow. Sorry about everyone's houses, by the way," she added, noticing the rubble.
"Ah, no worries! Beverly and her crew will get them back to normal in no time!" said Axel, waving his hand. Eyeing his chili dog, he then took a big bite out of it. "Oh, man...this is Axel-lent!"
"Agreed," said Tails with his mouth full. "Sonic, you really gotta share some of these with Uncle Chuck next time. They'll sell like one of your new games!"
Sonic comically wrote Tails' suggestion down on a notepad. "Noted."
[BGM: Junkie XL - A New Order]
Before long, everyone had finished their food. "Now all I hope is that we still have room for tacos!" Axel joked. "But wait, Suki," he added, getting serious, "why did you say you didn't want to lose your family again?"
Suki blushed, realizing she was cornered. "Go for it, Suki," Sonic said from the sidelines. "Tell 'em."
Suki gave a deep breath. "Okay…uh…Axel, Hazel, Tibor…" She worked up the nerve to say… "I love you!"
"Oh, that's it?" said Tibor. "I thought it was something more."
"It is something more!" Suki abruptly shouted. "I love you all, and I don't want to be just friends anymore. So…will you be my brothers and sister?"
The realization dawned on the Pikwik Pack like a new day. "Oh…" said Axel. But then he smiled. "Suki, I always thought we could be family, too!"
The hedgehog started to tear up from joy. "Really?"
"Really," said Hazel, walking up to her sister-like friend. "But I don't think we have to call each other brothers and sisters…"
"We don't?"
"Of course not," said Tibor. "We're a family, no matter what we call each other." The pack pulled in for the biggest hug they ever had.
Sonic smiled. "I'm proud of ya, Suki," he said, genuinely. "Feels good getting your feelings out, doesn't it?"
Suki looked over from the hug. "Yeah, it does…" But then she frowned. "But I hope one day I can find my original family…" She looked back at the pack. "Actually, I hope we can find our families…"
"Maybe you will, maybe you won't," said Sonic. "But don't spend so much time worrying about them. They'd want you to enjoy the family you chose yourself."
As soon as the pack let go of the hug, Suki ran up and hugged Sonic. "Thank you, Sonic," she said. Then she had a thought. "Hey, you wanna come to my birhday party?"
"Oh, would we?" said Sonic, eagerly.
"Yeah, hold that thought," Rotor abruptly said. "I hate to ruin the moment, but I was so busy with you guys, Amy and the others let Eggman outta their sight! He's on his way to the vortex!"
"Aw, crap!" shouted Sonic. "Well, enjoy your party, and I guess we'll see ya when we'll see ya!" And with that, the hedgehog sped off with Tails and Sally, looking for the Warp Zone as Rotor flew behind them. The pack watched them until they could no longer see their silhouettes.
"Well, that was a lot of fun," said Hazel. "Y'know, besides the whole 'getting captured' part…"
"Yeah, I could do without that," said Tibor, nervously laughing. "Anyways, Suki, ready for your birthday party?"
Suki nodded. "I've been waiting since this morning!" And with that, the hedgehog set off back towards Pikwik Post, ready to celebrate her birthday at last, with the friends she could finally call her family.
The end...almost!
Next chapter: "Family Found" Now that the Manipulator's done for, what's next for our heroes? Well, who knows? As the day winds down and Suki and Sonic reflect, their new foe prepares his next attack... You won't want to miss this setup for what's coming up!
Postface: Chapter complete! Yes! Suki admitted her feelings to the Pikwik Pack! That's certainly a conclusion I feel is best for this kind of story.
Trivia time! I borrowed a few bits from the Sonic movies here - Tails' artificial Warp Rings were based off of the normal rings' depictions in the movies, where they can be made into portals, while the finale was partially inspired by the finale of the sequel - seriously, if you haven't seen it yet, do it. You won't regret it. The main feature of this chapter, however, was the debug mode from the early games - by entering a certain cheat code in the sound test, you could unlock a mode where you can place just about anything into each level. Here, I depicted it as a creation of Rotor's based off of the Manipulator's machinery. Also, 'edit mode' actually is the official term - 'debug' is just something the community made up. I also incorporated plenty of the power-up monitors from the early games, particularly the 'teleport' monitor from Sonic 2's VS Mode, which causes both players to switch places, and the debug-exclusive 'S' monitor, which turns Sonic into Super Sonic automatically. P.S.: I also put in a reference to one of my one-shots - see if you can find it!
As for the Pikwik Pack, their final main vehicle is shown off - Hazel's helicopter! That's mainly why I made the final battle by in the sky - so it could be featured! Lastly, the connection between the Chaos Emeralds and the packages are revealed - the specific colors have specific energies that make the packages! We never did give an explanation for the packages' creation in the show, so that was the explanation I made up to fit the crossover aspect. And we got to see the Pikwik Pack turn super! That's cool, right?
That should be it! Please read, review, and share around, and the epilogue should be right now, too! Stay diamond, everyone!
-Alfred
~The Pikwik Pack and everything related to them are properties of Guru Animation Studio, LTD. Sonic the Hedgehog and everything related to him are properties of Sega Corp. No copyright infringement with any of these companies nor financial gain was intended in the making of this story. Any resemblance to real-world people or events are either coincidental or done fictitiously.~
