A/N: Hi everyone, I have a oneshot for you all, and this one is different because it's based on an actual dream I had two months ago. In that dream, Chris was being hunted down by GUN for some reason, and he and his friends were hiding in the mountains.
I combined it with two other ideas I had, but I'm not gonna spoil anything more, but I promise I will discuss them at the end of this oneshot.
Also, this is by far my longest oneshot, and I can't believe it's already been almost a whole year since my last oneshot! I really need to make oneshots more often!
Also, I wanna dedicate this story to my best friend Olivia, also known here as SuperTailsFan0812. She's been going through a really tough time lately because sadly, one of her pets recently passed away. I originally wrote this oneshot because I thought my dream was so good I wanted to turn it into a real story, but as I was finishing this story, the news came out, and now I have a new reason I want to release it. Olivia, I am really sorry about what happened to you, and I hope this story is able to cheer you up.
And the same goes to the rest of everyone, I hope everyone enjoys this story as well.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic or Sonic X; SEGA and 4Kids does... or rather, 4Kids USED to before they went under. I don't know if TMS owns Sonic X now, but I can check.
Without further ado, let us begin...
Proving Innocence: A Sonic X Story
The Rocky Mountains - Fri April 3; 3:14 PM - Chris' POV
"Chris! Hurry!" called Tails from in front of me as I tried to climb the rocks as fast as I could. It was hard for me to keep up with my friends.
"I'm trying!" I called back as I reached for another rock and tried to get a better foothold. I shivered, as the mountains were extremely cold at our current altitude.
"We're not gonna have much time at this rate!" Amy said. "GUN's gonna be here any minute!"
"Then we'd better get moving and pick up the pace," Sonic replied.
Sonic, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and I were all trying to find a safe place to hide from GUN, who had been relentlessly chasing us for the past four days. I didn't know how we wound up trying to climb the Rocky Mountains, but surely there had to be a safe place among the rocks that we could hide from GUN.
"Hey Knux, slow down a bit, will ya?" called Sonic. "Chris isn't superhuman. He can't keep up!"
"Whoops, sorry!" the echidna responded as he slowed down a little bit. As he was the most agile climber out of all of us, he was naturally much farther ahead than the rest of us.
At last, we came to a ledge big enough for the five of us to take a momentary break. It was difficult climbing the mountain without gear, especially for me, but at least this was one of the less steep inclines.
"Don't look down, guys," cautioned Sonic, but it was already too late. I already found myself feeling dizzy from looking at the ground hundreds of feet below.
"Whoa..." I breathed, feeling myself swaying, but Sonic caught me in time.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Y-Yeah... I-I mean... um... n-not really..." I responded with a shaky voice. "I still don't know what's going on... or why GUN is after us... I know I didn't do it..."
I felt like I was about to cry, until Knuckles pointed to a place that looked like it was much safer than close to the ledge where we were now.
"Hey, I think I see something over there; it looks safe enough," he gestured. "It's a pretty good thing we're still below the tree line, right?"
"It's kinda like a mini forest," remarked Tails. "I can only hope it'll offer us some protection from GUN if they happen to come this way."
"All right, lead the way, Knux!" invited Sonic as the echidna led all five of us toward the large group of trees that were about a hundred feet away.
There was practically no noise in the air except for the occasional light breeze, the buzzing of insects, and of course, us trudging through the undergrowth. It was very spooky, especially for me.
"So can someone tell me what's going on?" Knuckles asked us. "I just got caught up in all this today and I'm completely lost. Like, what's GUN's beef with Chris?"
"Um... Well, long story short, they think Chris hacked into Area 99 and-"
"Whoa, whoa, wait, they think he what?!" Knuckles exclaimed, interrupting Tails. "I'm sorry... but do these guys seriously think a 12-year-old hacked into a top-secret army base all by himself?"
"I'm not sure what to think..." admitted Tails. "I mean, I'm 8, and I could easily do it if I wanted to, but it doesn't mean I'm gonna."
"I didn't do it..." I admitted for maybe the hundredth time since the whole ordeal began, and that was not exaggerated. "I can't even- I don't even know how to hack!"
"I know you can't," replied Sonic. "Yeah, I know you're smart, definitely smart enough to not hack into Area 99. It couldn't have been you."
"Yeah..." I sighed as I swatted at a mosquito.
"So anyway," Tails went on, "They think that Chris hacked into Area 99 to leak a whole bunch of new prototype robots they're working on. And all the evidence points to him."
"Wait, how so?" Knuckles asked.
Tails sighed. "That's the thing... We don't know."
"Yikes..." Knuckles commented. "So how long ago did GUN start coming after you guys?"
"About four days ago," said Sonic. "We got a knock at the door, and that's kind of a polite way to put it, actually, considering a whole SWAT team literally broke in the mansion 'cuz Chris was under arrest. I wasn't gonna let him get arrested though, 'cuz I didn't buy what they were saying about him leaking robot info.
"And even though they all got semi-automatic rifles, I just scooped up Chris, got on the roof, and got out of there. Didn't stop running until I escaped from the city with Chris."
I shuddered from the memory of that harrowing escape, as sadly, I did throw up afterward as a result of the blinding speed I had been traveling at.
"We couldn't stay in one place for long 'cuz we were afraid of getting caught," continued Sonic. "But the next day, Tails and Amy joined us in the X-Tornado, but we couldn't really get anywhere because GUN just moved in and pretty much shut off the X-Tornado."
"It was more like they completely overrode and neutralized the circuitry," Tails explained. "That's gonna take forever to fix! Unless they, um... Unless they're willing to give it back."
"Fat chance," Knuckles said. "Doesn't mean we can't just take it back from them by force."
"Yeah..." agreed Tails.
Suddenly, we heard the sound of propellers beating the air behind us. I turned to look, and sure enough, two black GUN helicopters were bearing down on us. They eventually stopped approaching us and hovered in the air a thousand feet from where we were.
"They found us..." I whimpered.
"Guys, we gotta get going," urged Amy. "Maybe we can lose 'em in the-"
She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a bullhorn coming from one of the choppers.
"This is the Guardian Units of Nations!" the pilot bellowed. "All five of you are under arrest for conspiracy and evading arrest!"
"All right, get going," Sonic said as he started to run toward the forested shelter. "Move now, talk later! These guys aren't messing around!"
We were all running as fast as we could, but the shelter felt like it was so far away. I could already feel my lungs burning, and my strenuous running combined with my earlier climbing was already wearing down on me.
Amy wasn't running so fast either. Even though I could naturally outrun her, she had way more energy than I did since she was a Mobian, so I fell behind her.
Ahead of us, Tails was trying to fly to gain speed, but Sonic became alarmed when he saw it.
"Tails, don't fly!" he screamed. "They're gonna see you-"
Right as those words left his lips, I could hear the rapid-fire sound of guns to my left, as well as the ricocheting sound of bullets as they embedded the ground and trees all around us. I covered my ears at the sound. Miraculously, no one was hit by any of the bullets.
Tails yelped as he dropped to the ground and also covered his ears, his tails surrounding him in a ball of protection.
"Are they shooting at us?!" exclaimed Amy in pure disbelief.
"Yeah!" Knuckles shouted. "They're either trying to put us down or drive us into the open. Either way, these guys are not bluffing!"
"That's for sure," replied Amy.
"Tails, you okay?" Sonic called.
Tails slowly uncovered his ears, and his fear changed to shock when he realized he was carrying less weight than he did when he started climbing the mountain.
"M-My laptop!" he exclaimed. "I think I left it back there somewhere!"
"When did you last have it?" Amy urgently asked.
"I don't know..." whimpered Tails in his frustration. "I think... maybe when we finished climbing the mountain...?"
"So that wasn't too long ago..." Amy said.
Suddenly there was another spray of bullets from the helicopters, and some of them flew between me and my friends, since I was standing about 10 feet away from the rest of them. Tails, Amy, and I yelped in fright, and I was most scared out of all of us, because I found myself starting to run back down the hill.
"Chris!" called Sonic from behind me. "Stop! You're the one they want!"
I was too afraid to listen, as total fear was taking control of my mind. The only thing I could think of was to get away from the bullets and run away from everything.
Running away from everything was the only thing that I had been doing for the past four days. I had missed a few days of school, and I didn't want to imagine what Danny, Frances, and Helen would think that their own beloved classmate possibly hacked into a top-secret government facility.
I didn't want to be captured again. I was still on the mend from when Eggman kidnapped me over a week ago. I hated being in a prison so much.
At last I reached the bottom of the hill, and I saw something yellow lying in the underbrush just ahead of me. I ran over to it, and I was delighted to see that it was Tails' laptop! There was no damage to it, since it landed in the soft bushes and grass.
But as I looked up, I suddenly realized that I was in the direct line of sight of both helicopters. I had exposed myself to GUN, and I was sure they took it as a sign that I was going to surrender, because the pilot said into his bullhorn:
"Christopher Thorndyke, come down from the mountain and put your hands up where I can see them!"
I was too scared to move. But before GUN could do anything, I felt two gloved hands lift me and hold me securely against a furry chest, and I heard two feet running back up the hill to the others at an incredible speed.
Two seconds later, Sonic set me down with the others back at the shelter, which was a natural section of the mountain consisting of rocks and trees. It blocked our view of the helicopters, which meant they couldn't see us without flying directly over us.
"Chris, you gotta be more careful," Sonic told me. "They could have killed you back there!"
"I'm sorry..." I apologized. "I was just really scared... And I also wanted to get the laptop."
"Wait, Chris, you found my laptop?" Tails exclaimed. He immediately brightened up when he saw his beloved yellow laptop in my hands. Even though I was afraid, I managed to smile as I handed it to him.
"Thank you, Chris!" he smiled before giving me a quick fluffy hug.
"I could have gotten it for you," volunteered Sonic, "but it is what it is, I guess."
"Well, now that I have it back, I kinda wanna try something," said Tails. "I know it's pretty risky, but I still wanna do it."
Sonic looked interested. "What do you have in mind, buddy?"
"Well... I was thinking I could maybe hack into Area 99 myself to see if I can find out who hacked into Area 99 first, and I can trace the hack back to its original source," he explained.
"Oh, that's smart!" Amy commented as she looked around.
I felt a hand on my shoulder, and heard Sonic asking me, "You okay Chris? 'Cuz I saw you limping a little bit."
"I wasn't limping," I said. "At least, I don't think I was."
"Huh," shrugged Sonic. "'Cuz to me, you were kinda running funny when you were running down that-"
"Almost in!" reported Tails as a blur of code raced past his screen.
I was feeling very antsy, as I was expecting GUN soldiers to move up the hill after us, and we weren't in a position to defend ourselves from them. Even though Knuckles and Amy were as restless as I was and keeping a constant lookout, even they couldn't stop a whole group of soldiers without risking the whole weight of the law brought down upon them.
"Tails... hurry..." whimpered Amy.
"I'm trying, but even high-speed internet can only be processed so fast," said Tails. "And... haha! I'm in!"
"Great! See what you can find!" encouraged Sonic.
"Way ahead of you, Sonic!" reported Tails as he pored through Area 99's security files.
I couldn't see the helicopters, but I couldn't tell if they were getting closer or farther away. I could definitely still hear them, though.
"You have five minutes to surrender yourselves or we will send ground troops after you!" came the GUN pilot's ultimatum.
"All right, now we got a time crunch!" cheered Sonic. "How's the hacking coming along, Tails?"
"Um... Okay, I think I found something!" he reported.
"Go for it!" encouraged Sonic.
"Whoever did it, the hack came from Chris' house-"
"WHAT?!" Amy shrieked. "Tails, there's no way. Chris is not a hacker, and the security footage would have caught it if it really did come from his house!"
"Not if it was hacked too," speculated Tails. "But just to be sure, I'm gonna go ahead and check the home security system."
Tails moved the window to one side and opened another one, this one showing a list of all the cameras corresponding to each room in the house.
"Okay, so the hack happened around 1:38 PM," he mused to himself as he studied the security footage. He then squinted at a shape on the screen that one of the cameras was showing at that time.
"What...?" he said as he looked at his screen. "This... this isn't real... This has to be fake."
"What is? What happened?" Amy asked as she looked at the screen, and she was joined by me, Sonic, and Knuckles.
"Oh my gosh... That's Chris..." Amy whimpered. "No wonder GUN is after him right now..."
"But it's not me!" I protested, feeling chills.
"We never said it was you," Sonic said, patting my back. "We just need to learn a little more about your double."
"I have a double?!" I almost screamed.
"Well... He looks like flesh and bone to me..." Tails analyzed. "At least, I think so, but you're too far away in this shot."
"Hey, what day was this on?" asked Knuckles as he squinted at the screen. "'Cuz maybe that can give us some answers."
"Um..." Tails looked at the data before he looked up. "Tuesday. Why?"
"Wait, what time did the hack happen?" I asked.
"Um... it says 1:38," replied Tails.
"I was in school then!" I realized. "So that wasn't me!"
"You're right!" Amy exclaimed, before she looked a bit angry. "Why doesn't GUN realize that?!"
"They're always shoot first, ask questions later," Sonic said as he looked in the direction of the helicopters. "With any luck, we can tell this news to Topaz and Rouge and hopefully they can sort things out-"
"That still doesn't explain who this is," Tails said, motioning to "me" on the screen.
"Yeah..." realized Amy.
"So basically, all we gotta do is find out who this fake Chris is and that can prove the real Chris' innocence," Sonic said.
"Yeah, sounds about right," agreed Knuckles.
I started to hear a new sound coming over the trees, but somehow, none of my friends were hearing it. It sounded kind of like an engine, in addition to the ones we were already hearing.
"Um... Wh-What's that noise...?" I asked.
Everyone strained to hear the noise I was talking about, but they looked unsure what it was.
Amy looked very nervous. "Sonic... Could you...?"
Sonic nodded and took a few steps to peek out at what was happening outside our shelter. He squinted, before glancing back at us.
"What do you see?" Tails asked as he looked up.
Sonic's expression was grim, which means it could only be bad news.
"Eggman's here," he warned us.
"Wait, what?" squealed Amy.
Sonic nodded. I couldn't tell what he was seeing, but I wanted to see Eggman even less than I wanted to see GUN, and I found myself starting to get even more scared than I already was.
"Wh-Why is he h-here...?" I wondered.
"I don't know..." Tails said.
Suddenly there was a powerful sharp explosion in the distance, and I covered my ears. Now I was scared for my life, and I wanted to go home so badly.
But it wasn't over yet...
There was the sound of gunfire, followed by a second explosion, this one being much closer to us. I yelped as the sound was extremely loud. I wasn't used to being anywhere near explosions.
"Sonic, what's going on?!" exclaimed Amy.
"He just blew up the helicopters," Sonic said, before he quickly ran back to us. Everybody get back, now!"
Tails put away his laptop and ran further up the trail, and I followed along with the rest of us. We had to put as much distance between us and Eggman as we could, but I didn't know how much time we had.
"Maybe we'll learn some answers from this!" said Knuckles with some optimism.
"I really hope so," replied Sonic.
"Do you have room for two more in your cozy little nook?" taunted Eggman. I looked up to see the doctor himself floating in his Eggmobile directly above us.
"Wait, two more?" Amy repeated. "What do you mean- ohh..."
A robot landed in the middle of the path right in front of us. Except this was no ordinary robot. It reminded me of what Sonic described his enemy Metal Sonic to look like, except he was too similar to someone else I knew very well on a very personal level. He had metallic hair and a torso and legs designed to look just like my usual clothes. But one of the biggest differences were in his eyes, which looked very much like Metal Sonic's eyes.
"Say hello to my newest creation, Metal Chris!" introduced Eggman with a big grin.
"Hi, I'm Chris!" the robot said in a near-perfect impression of my own voice. "Um... My favorite animal is hedgehogs, and I love going on adventures with Sonic." His tone suddenly changed. "Psyche! It's opposite day! I wanna defeat Sonic by order of Dr. Eggman!"
By this point I was hyperventilating. Sonic was the first to see that I was going completely pale.
"Chris...?" he asked.
"O-Oh my gosh... Oh my gosh... Th-That's me... Th-That's l-literally m-me..."
Amy picked up on my fear too, because she pulled out her hammer and stood in a defensive stance right near me.
"Eggman... This is unforgivable! You're traumatizing him!" she exclaimed.
"You may remember when I took him to be my lab rat about a week and a half ago," Eggman said, completely ignoring Amy. "All I needed him for was to extract some of his brain waves, as well as a sample of DNA from his leg, in order to create this masterpiece. Or course, I let him go afterward."
"So that would explain the limp..." Sonic mused.
"And, um... the bad grades, no offense..." added Tails.
"I'm an Eggman robot, I always get good grades," Metal Chris boasted.
"Wasn't talking to you, Faker," Sonic retorted.
It was true, my grades had been slipping over the past week, and I didn't know why. I was sure I had been studying my math and science like I always had, and yet I found that I was getting B's and even a C instead of my usual A's.
And I hadn't even thought about the possibility of my unusual limp being part of Eggman's operation. In fact, I didn't know there was something off about the way I walked until Sonic told me just a few moments ago, and now that he brought it up, I couldn't help but notice it.
"Enough wasting time," Eggman suddenly announced. "Metal Chris, take your human self to the Egg Carrier!"
"Aye-aye, Doctor!" my metal duplicate saluted.
The rocket engines in his feet ignited, and he flew toward me at a pace I could only hope wasn't real. I was standing stock-still, too afraid to move. Sonic saw this and tackled me out of the way a split second before the robot passed right through where I had just been standing.
"Can you guys handle this thing on your own for a bit?" asked Sonic as he held me close to his chest. "I gotta get Chris somewhere safe."
"You can count on us, Sonic!" Amy replied, as she closed in on Metal Chris, joined by Knuckles.
Sonic glanced down at me... or at least, I assumed he was, because I was closing my eyes tightly in fear.
"Hang in there, buddy," he told me as he took off through the mountains.
The Rocky Mountains - Fri April 3; 3:28 PM - Third-person POV
"Take this, you phony!" Amy shouted as she swung her hammer at Metal Chris.
However, the robot was able to avoid her attack with ease. He dodged right into the path of Knuckles, who attempted an uppercut on Metal Chris. In an impressive move, the robot used its hands to vault itself off of Knuckles' upward-moving fist and land on the other side of him.
"H... How...?" Knuckles blinked in surprise.
"We're gonna need to up our game a bit," Amy panted, before she looked impatiently over at Tails, who was doing something on his laptop. "Tails, you gonna help us or what?"
Tails looked up. He had an anxious look on his face.
"Just gimme a moment!" he said. "Gotta send this to GUN!"
"Wait, what?" Knuckles questioned. "What are you doing?"
"I'll tell you in a minute! Just keep him distracted!" ordered Tails, before he looked back at his screen and mumbled "Why do loading screens have to take so long...?"
Knuckles waved his arms to signal Metal Chris to come at him, before bumping his fists together.
"Hey! Over here! You wanna piece of me? Huh?" he challenged.
Amy saw this and knew this was her opportunity to use Knuckles' distraction technique to her advantage. She leaped into the air from off a nearby rock and raised her hammer above her head, but Metal Chris seemed to know she was coming, because he stopped in his tracks, suddenly turned around, and punched Amy several feet away. She landed on her back, and her hammer landed next to her.
"Why you..." Knuckles gritted his teeth and ran toward Metal Chris, but the robot activated its rocket engines and started to hover in the air several feet above the heroes.
"How do you... I-It's almost like you know exactly what we're gonna do!"
"Strange, isn't it?" taunted Metal Chris. "But lemme tell you this. I literally have Chris' DNA in me. I know all your movesets down to a T."
This got Amy thinking. If Metal Chris knew their every move, then that meant their individual moves would be of no use against Eggman's newest robot. However, if they were to do a completely unexpected team move, Amy could only hope that would be able to take him off guard.
"No you don't," Knuckles said as he looked up at Metal Chris. "I have the echidna bloodline flowing through my veins. I'll have you know my ancestors were into martial arts."
Metal Chris chuckled, which was uncharacteristic for most of Eggman's robots.
"I'm not really into history though," he said. "And Tanaka's way better at karate than you."
Knuckles blinked in surprise, before he blurted "But it's not karate-"
"You know what, I don't have time for this," shrugged Metal Chris before he started to fly away. "You guys are distracting me from my real purpose."
But before he could get more than thirty feet away, a sudden orange ball with two tails slammed into his back, completely shorting out the jetpacks in his legs. He struggled feebly to regain his altitude, but he instead crashed onto the rocky ground, and Tails landed a few feet away from him.
Amy smiled and gave Tails a thumbs-up as she carefully stood up. While she didn't expect Tails to enter the battle that quickly, that was definitely an unexpected attack, as Tails didn't use his spin dash as often as he used to. It got the job done perfectly.
"You lose, fake Chris!" Tails declared. "As soon as you showed up, I took a picture of you next to the real Chris and sent it off to GUN, and now they're on their way here to stop you and Eggman!" He pointed at Metal Chris. "You're finished!"
Metal Chris chuckled as he tried to stand up, but he found that he couldn't, as his legs were destroyed thanks to Tails' well-placed homing attack.
"You do realize how far GUN Division Alpha HQ is from here, do you?" the robot asked. "It's gonna take hours for them to get here, and by then, we'll be long gone."
"Not if we leave your broken wreckage here for them to see!" retorted Amy as she bore down on Metal Chris, hammer drawn.
But Metal Chris had one last plan up his robotic sleeve.
"Waaah! D-Don't hurt me! P-Please!" he begged in a perfect imitation of Chris' voice. "You know me! We went on lots of adventures together! Please, listen to me!"
It was hard for Amy to listen to Metal Chris' pleading voice, as his voice sounded exactly like her human friend's voice, and he looked just like a cross between Chris and Metal Sonic.
"Nope, too late," Amy stated, before she raised her hammer. One swing was all it took for her to put an end to Chris' metallic doppelganger.
Tails flinched, before he looked back at Amy and Knuckles.
"Um... Where's Eggman?" he asked.
"Yeah, where is Eggman?" repeated Knuckles as he scanned the skies for any sign of the doctor.
"Wait, did he-" Amy looked back at her friends. "Guys, I think he got away when we weren't looking!"
"So that means he gives up?" wondered Tails, before he looked further up the mountain. "He's not gonna kidnap Chris like he planned?"
"Yeah, I was thinking he would have had some kind of backup plan..." mused Amy.
"Whatever happened, I'll take it!" Knuckles stated as he started back up the mountain path. "The sooner we get off this rock, the sooner we can all go home. I'm starving!"
"Say no more, Knux!" came Sonic's voice as he burst onto the scene. He gently set Chris down on the ground next to him.
"Hey, Sonic!" Tails greeted.
"We saw the whole thing from way up there," said Sonic, pointing to where he and Chris had been hiding. "And, uh, it looked like that thing was a pushover! And Tails, buddy... The way you took out that thing's jetpack... that was textbook right there!"
He extended his fist out to Tails, and Tails chucked and bumped his fist against Sonic's fist. "Thanks, Sonic," he said quietly.
"And, um..." Amy started, "I don't have any clue why Eggman even wanted to take Chris to the Egg Carrier to begin with, but I think it's to get rid of the fact that there are actually- were actually two Chrises."
"Yeah," Sonic nodded.
Tails walked over to Chris. The boy seemed to have calmed down for the most part, but he still looked a bit scared.
"You okay, Chris?" asked Tails. "I mean... that was really scary..."
"I... I think so..." Chris said, his breath shaky. "Um... Do you know why he was after me...? Um... Did he wanna, umm... get rid of me to make it look like he was the real me?"
Sonic closed his eyes as he leaned against a rock. "Sounds like it," he said. "But it kinda sounds foolish, 'cuz I'm pretty sure folks around here can tell a faker from the real deal, am I right?"
Amy nodded. "Yeah."
"Um... I don't know if we can stay here..." Chris pointed out. "They're still chasing us..."
"Oh yeah, you're right!" Amy realized. "We gotta get going right now!"
"W-Wait, hold on!" Tails protested as he held his hands out. "I already told GUN about the fake Chris thing. I think we're cool now. They're just gonna send some support over here to investigate."
Sonic blinked. "Wait, what did you do...?"
"Okay, I know you watched the whole thing, but I'm... not really sure if you heard everything we were saying, so... but now that we got the time, I can tell you guys. So basically, as soon as Metal Chris showed up, I knew I had to get a picture of him and the real Chris together, and it's a good thing my laptop has an outer camera on it, so... yeah. So now that I got the picture, I sent it off to GUN with a note saying that Chris wasn't the real hacker, and that this robot was. And then they got back to me like a couple seconds later, and they told me they got our location, and they're sending a helicopter over."
Sonic nodded, and Chris hoped the hedgehog knew what Tails was talking about.
"So I guess that means we're cool with GUN now?" he asked.
Tails nodded. "Yeah, I guess so," he replied.
Chris looked around, and he was so filled with adrenalin before that he didn't realize he was freezing until now. He was shivering as a result of both the high altitude and his dissipating adrenalin, and he tried to wrap his arms around himself for extra warmth. Sadly for him, he didn't have any fur to keep him warm like all his friends did.
"H-H-How l-long are w-w-we g-gonna b-be up h-here...?" he asked.
Sonic felt compassion for Chris as he was cold, but there weren't any coats or anything for Chris to wear, and they weren't in a position to find anywhere remotely warm on the mountain like a cave, so they were left with very few options.
"I don't know..." Sonic said as he looked at Chris. "Hope that chopper comes soon, bud..."
Tails looked a bit nervous and shy, but he wanted to help his friend out. Since Chris was standing close to a flat rock that he could sit on, Tails guided him down into a sitting position on the rock before sitting down next to him.
Chris looked confused at Tails, before he felt two VERY soft and fluffy tails wrapping themselves around him like a coat. Chris closed his eyes at the comfort; he was starting to feel warmer already.
"Awww...!" cooed Amy as she smiled at the comfort and warmth Tails was giving Chris. Sonic and Knuckles found themselves smiling too.
Tails blushed at the attention he was getting, and he tried to look away. But he kept his tails gently wrapped around Chris.
"Um... I was worried about you, Chris..." Tails admitted quietly as he scooted closer to his friend. "Really worried..."
"Me too..." said Chris. "I know Sonic kept saying it's okay and that you guys weren't gonna let him get me, but... I was still scared..."
"Yeah..." admitted Tails. "But at least it's over now... I think."
Chris gently held Tails' namesakes closer to his freezing body to try to get a little warmer, all the while Sonic was looking out for any sign of a GUN helicopter.
"Oh man, I can't wait for this thing to be over..." Knuckles said as he stood next to Sonic. "GUN's got no business framing a kid like that."
"I'm with ya on that," agreed Sonic. "But I guess crime is crime either way as far as they're concerned. I mean, look at me. I learned the hard way all those years ago."
"So, guilty until proven innocent?" Knuckles asked. "That's pretty backwards."
"Yeah, but they still get the job done in the end," Sonic said. "Not as good as I do, but they're decent... sort of."
As they were talking, Amy sat down on the other side of Chris. Like Tails, she too felt compassionate for her human friend.
"You guys doing okay?" she asked tenderly.
"Yeah, I think so," replied Tails. "But... that was a really tough adventure we had... And we didn't even see Eggman at all until today."
"Yeah..." Amy said before she started to gently rub Chris' back to help soothe him. He was very quiet, not to mention still cold, as the trauma of the past four days started to catch up with him.
Chris found the combined comfort of both his friends to be very relaxing, and he closed his eyes. In fact, he didn't realize that tears were starting to form in his eyes.
This was the first time that Chris was truly able to catch a breath since his adventure began. It was the first time he was able to stay in one place for more than an hour or so. And he was feeling not only cold, but also very tired.
He wanted to keep his eyes closed and maybe try to sleep, and it was very easy for him to start drifting off with the warmth of Tails' fluffy tails and the gentle sensation of Amy rubbing his back. A single tear started to roll down his cheek, followed by another.
Tails noticed this, and he immediately picked up on Chris' sorrow, for he scooted even closer to Chris until they were touching, and hugged him tightly. With his fluffy body, his arms, and his tails all hugging Chris, he was surrounded with such warmth and comfort he had never felt on this scale before.
Chris started to cry freely, and right as Amy noticed the tears flowing freely from the boy's eyes, she heard a small sob from him.
"Awww, Chris, c'mere..." she soothed as she too gently hugged him.
Chris was feeling very overwhelmed, and he couldn't say anything at all. He kept crying freely, with the occasional heartbreaking sounds of choked sobbing. This was the second worst adventure he had ever been on, only to the time when he saw Sonic go super for the first time. In fact, he could barely even call this experience an adventure.
"It's okay Chris, please don't cry..." soothed Amy. "It's all done now..."
"Yeah..." said Tails quietly. "I think GUN's on our side now. I told 'em about the fake you, so now they know the difference."
"That was really smart, Tails," Amy said as she kept hugging Chris gently. Tails smiled at his friend's compliment.
"I wanna go home..." Chris whispered. He was feeling quite homesick, not to mention hungry.
"We will, Chris, we will," said Amy. "GUN's gonna fly us back to Station Square, and then we're all gonna go home and take a nice long nap."
"Yeah... I'm pretty tired myself," admitted Tails as he tried to hold back a yawn without any luck.
Just then they could start to hear the sound of a helicopter coming from the distance. Chris was still shaken up from being around helicopters all day that he immediately tensed up and looked ready to run away, and he even started to leap to his feet, but Tails gently tightened the grip of his tails around Chris and helped him to sit back down.
"Hey, hey..." Tails tried to soothe Chris. "It's okay, they're not gonna arrest you this time." He blushed a little; he was not used to giving anyone this much comfort since it was more of Sonic's thing.
"That they would even think of arresting you..." sighed Amy. "Poor thing..."
Everyone looked up at the sound of approaching footprints, and they saw Sonic walking toward them.
"All right, guys, the chopper's here," he told us.
"Time to go, Chris…" Tails gently told his friend as he unwound his tails from around him. Amy guided him to his feet.
Chris was still feeling emotionally fragile and shaken, but he was slowly starting to calm down. Amy and Tails stayed close to him as Sonic gently patted his back.
"It's gonna be okay, bud," Sonic soothed. "You can get some sleep on the way home. You definitely deserve it."
"Yeah…" Chris quietly said.
There was a blur in the distance that was coming from the helicopter, and it was getting closer and closer. Everyone looked up, and Sonic squinted, but he soon recognized the blur as two figures. Rouge was carrying Topaz toward them.
"Oh hey, it's Topaz and Rouge!" Amy pointed out as she stepped back to allow Rouge to set Topaz down in front of them.
"Hey guys, long time no see!" greeted Sonic. "And man, you guys sure got here fast! Almost enough to impress me!"
"We just happened to be in the area is all," shrugged Topaz. "And while it's strictly confidential for the most part, we were on a covert mission following you guys. Truth be told, there's no way we're buying the fact a celebrity's kid hacked into the most secure building in the United States."
"Yeah, that sounds pretty gutsy to me," Rouge said. "Even for him."
"But he wouldn't do that," Amy said.
"I know," nodded Topaz. "We tried to negotiate with the higher-ups on this, but they wouldn't budge. Orders are orders."
"Looks like you're right about the whole 'guilty until proven innocent' thing, Sonic," said Knuckles.
"I mean, I don't like that bit either, but like I said, orders are orders. Plus it pays decently, so… uh, Rouge, what are you looking at?"
The smoking wreckage of what used to be Metal Chris had caught the bat's eye, and she wandered toward it to investigate. She squinted at it before looking up.
"Well, doesn't this smell like rotten egg," she mused to herself. "I believe we found ourselves our culprit."
Topaz walked over and stood next to Rouge, before she bent down and picked up the robot's head that was severed from the impact of Amy's hammer.
"This thing disgusts me already," she said. "I mean, look at it. It's the spitting image of Chris. No wonder Eggman had us all fooled."
She held the head for a moment longer, before she said "Now I'm debating if I should take this in for analysis at HQ."
"Hm... You better," Rouge replied. "You don't know what kind of juicy secrets you might find in there." She winked.
Topaz activated her shoulder radio before saying "Topaz to Chopper 1. We got a robot wreckage down here. Requesting a salvage team stat."
"Copy that, Sergeant," came the response, before Topaz turned back to look at the others.
"All right, now one of you tell me," she said. "Did any of you happen to see Eggman at the time this robot showed up?"
"Yeah, we did," Sonic nodded. "Too bad he didn't stick around. He could have offered his robot some great moral support."
"Okay, did he say anything regarding his plans?"
"Um, yeah, he did," Tails spoke up. He was a bit nervous talking to strangers, even though he knew Topaz.
Rouge's eyes widened a little in interest, and she shivered a bit due to the cold all around her.
"Um... Last week, Eggman kidnapped Chris, and I think he extracted his DNA from his leg, and then he just let him go. And we were all really confused about that, because I don't think Eggman ever just... lets people go. But then after that, Chris started limping, and he was starting to not do well in school, and I think looking back, it's probably a side effect of the operation."
"So basically, the doctor made himself a robot using his DNA?" asked Rouge.
Tails nodded. "Yeah."
Rouge closed her eyes. "Yeah... That checks out." She shivered. "I'm telling you, the sauna's calling my name after this..."
"But there's something about all this that doesn't... make sense." Amy pondered. "Like... Why would he frame Chris...?"
Chris was quiet about everything. He was listening to everything his friends were saying. And then he started to formulate something in his head.
When he was kidnapped on the night he saw Super Sonic, he had taken all the Emeralds. Without the Emeralds, his friends were still able to rescue him, but they didn't have the confidence that they would have had if they had the Emeralds with them. It was something akin to lowering their morale...
This was a startling parallel...
"Guys!" Chris suddenly shouted. "I think I know why!"
All eyes turned to him, and Sonic asked "What are you thinkin', buddy?"
Chris was a little nervous, but he said, "I... I think Eggman wanted you guys to lose your confidence...!"
Tails let out a small gasp, and Amy looked worried.
"I... Chris, I think you're right..." she said quietly.
"That makes so much sense!" exclaimed Tails. "So this means- Oh... guys... I think Metal Chris was also a diversion from his real plan!"
"Oh my gosh..." Amy said.
"That... that's totally his style," Sonic said. "Looks like you're more right than you know, Topaz. He got us all fooled."
"Good to know I'm not the only one being tricked this time..." muttered Knuckles.
"But wait, why didn't he brag about his plan like usual?" Amy asked. "Because that's not his style."
"Wish I had an answer to that, Ames," Sonic said as he looked back up at the helicopter. "I guess rest time is gonna have to wait."
"W-Wait, really?" Chris lamented.
Sonic stretched his arms. "Yeah, sorry at least not for me, anyway. But like I said, you earned your rest. The rest of us got a lot of work to do."
Chris looked visibly relieved, and Sonic saw this and gently patted his back.
"Chris, you know I'm not gonna make you go through more danger than you already did. I say you're in the clear."
"Thank you, Sonic..." breathed Chris.
Sonic smiled before turning back to the others. "Now, uh... You guys got a rope ladder or something?"
Rouge gestured to her wings before flapping them and taking flight. "I can do you one better," she said. "I have been known to carry people, believe it or not," she chuckled.
"And, um... I can help too..." said Tails. "But I still think a ladder would be way better. Or better yet, a harness!"
"Yeah, do you guys have a harness in there?" asked Sonic.
The GUN Helicopter - Fri April 3; 3:55 PM - Chris' POV
Ten minutes later, we were all on board the helicopter and finally flying away from the mountain. Needless to say, I was so relieved we were away from the freezing mountain, and that I was being rescued in a helicopter and not being arrested in one.
There was surprisingly little turbulence as we flew, and I leaned my head against the back of the seat and closed my eyes. It was the most harrowing adventure I had ever been on, and apparently it wasn't over yet. But I could rest assured I wouldn't have to go through any more of that any time soon.
Everyone was quiet as I looked around the cabin. Of course, there were a few GUN soldiers standing around. Sonic was leaning against the wall, and Knuckles and Amy were sitting on the long bench across from me, and Tails was sitting next to me on my right.
"Everyone doing okay?" asked Sonic.
"I think so..." replied Tails. "But I'm not really looking forward to what's next for us..."
"Me neither, but you know what we gotta do, bud." responded Sonic. "Everyone's lookin' up to us. We gotta keep 'em safe."
"Yeah," replied Tails. "We can rest up once we're all done."
"How 'bout you, Chris? You doing okay?" Sonic asked me.
I opened my eyes, not realizing that I was starting to doze off.
"Huh? O-Oh, yeah, I'm okay," I said. "Just... thinking..." My voice was quiet, and the helicopter was loud, so the only one who could hear me was Tails due to his close proximity and excellent hearing.
He squinted slightly when he noticed my expression that I didn't know I had, because he said "You kinda look... worried about something..."
"Yeah..." I admitted. "It's the news people... They still think I'm guilty... Wh-what if I get arrested anyway?! What if-"
"Hey, it's okay, it's okay Chris," Amy reassured me from her seat across from mine. She leaned forward, until she realized: "Oh wait, yeah, you're right... The news is gonna be all over this..."
"Maybe not," replied Tails. "You know how Chris' family doesn't like when the news is reporting on them all the time? Well, maybe they can tell the tabloids, and they'll just leave him alone!"
"But Tails, they still think- They think Chris committed a huge crime!" Amy said.
"Chris, I hate to break it to you," spoke Topaz, "but you're not going home quite yet."
My head shot up. "Wait, what?!" I said, feeling worried.
"As it is, you're still at risk of being landed in a juvenile detention center," Topaz explained. "So there's no way you're going free until this whole thing blows over and your name is cleared."
"S-So wait, d-does that mean I-I'm still gonna b-be a prisoner...?" I stuttered.
"Prisoner...?" Topaz started to say, before she shook her head quickly. "Oh, no no no, you're not going to be a prisoner. We're just taking you back to HQ with us to keep you safe."
"O-Okay..." I started to say, and I could feel my eyes starting to close again. But then I remembered something I wanted to say, and I opened them again.
"W-Wait, am I gonna be alone there?"
"Not really, no," Rouge spoke up from the wall she was leaning against near Sonic. "You still got all of us at GUN, plus you get some top-grade wifi and coffee. Ask me how I know."
"He's too young to drink coffee," Topaz pointed out.
"Oh really?" Rouge raised a brow. "'Cuz where I come from, you can drink coffee as young as 13."
"Um, no offense, Rouge," Tails spoke up from next to me, "but Chris was asking if he's gonna be alone in there, and um... Can one of us go in to be with him until all this is done?"
"Um..." Topaz thought for a moment. "I'll have to check with the captain, but I frankly don't see why not. After all, he's only like... 11?"
"Twelve," I quietly corrected.
"You know I'd do it in a heartbeat, but at the same time, somebody's gotta step up and take on Eggman," replied Sonic.
"I'm with you on that, Sonic," Knuckles replied, having spoken for the first time since he got on the helicopter.
"I'll go with him!" volunteered Amy. "Because I'm not really sure what I would be getting into with Eggman, like, I don't know what his goal even is."
"Yeah, me neither... And that's what I'm gonna find out," Sonic said, before looking across the cabin. "So Ames, you're gonna go with Chris. Anyone else?"
"Yeah, I'll stay with Chris too," replied Tails.
I smiled, since Tails and Amy were willing to keep me company while I was being protected by GUN.
"Yeah, you know we're not gonna let you be alone in there," Amy gently said with a smile, before she got up from her seat and sat down on my left, so I was sitting between her and Tails. "You're one of us now. We're not leaving you behind."
"Mm-hmm!" nodded Tails, before he gently hugged me, and Amy did the same.
Once again, I was being hugged by two of my closest and most compassionate friends, and I smiled and closed my eyes before hugging them back. I felt warm and happy inside, but more than that, I felt safe and secure knowing I wouldn't have to be alone inside GUN territory.
I was going to get through this okay.
A/N: And that's that! I would have finished this a lot sooner, but I got a bit lazy lately, and I apologize for that.
Anyway, just like Evil Cosmo, I wrote this story entirely without a backlog. I based the first part on my dream, and added in my own elements afterward. The dream itself was Chris escaping in the mountains with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. The helicopters shooting at them, as well as hiding from the helicopters was also in the dream, and so was Chris going back to get something, but I added in the laptop.
I combined this story with the Proving Innocence idea that I had in my future story ideas, which is the idea of Chris being framed for a crime he didn't commit. And I want to thank SuperTailsFan0812 for the name idea!
The other idea I combined this story with was a concept I had wanted to use for a very long time, even before Evil Cosmo. And that was the concept of Metal Chris. I really wanted to use him somewhere, and I was originally going to have him in a series of Sonic X oneshots, but I don't know when I will write them, so I'm glad I could use him here.
Also, there are a couple references and Easter eggs in here :)
Also, this story kinda spiraled out of control! I know it kinda started in the middle of an adventure, and I'm sorry about that, but that's how my dream started. And also, before I knew it, this story was snowballing and now it sets up for another chapter or two afterward! I'm not sure if I may write those other chapters, but chances are I may.
Anyway, I hope everyone is staying safe out there. Have a great October everyone, and take care!