Rise of the Grandmasters Episode 12: Team Treasure Tango Part 1

A few days ago:

Before Sonic's group and Eve's group head on their mission to different sides of the worlds, all seems quiet. Just then, a vortex opens and a red, black, and silver like machine flies out of the portal. It also appears to be carrying some kind of rounded cylinder capsule, and it's being chased by hover cars that are like police cars.

One of the officers called out, "You are flying in a restricted zone! This is your last warning! Surrender or we will open fire!"

Just then, a hatch opens from the machine's head as it says, "You dare threaten me?!" then it begins to fire back.

The machine fires at the police hover cars and they dodge the attack. Then the police cars fire back at the machine. One of the blasts from the machine knocks the capsule off of the claws, and begins to fall. Then the machine opens another portal and travels through it with the police cars giving chase.

The voice from the police car calls out, "Dr. Nega! This is your forty-seventh zone border infraction! Pull over!"

But the machine refuses to stop and travels through the portal. The Police cars travel through the portal too. Then the portal closes behind them. As for the container, it continues to fall into the trees and bounces off its branches to who knows where.

The present day:

While Sonic's team and Eve's team are on their missions, Amy, Maria, Cream and Cheese, her mother, Vanilla, Cosmo, and Galaxina are in the housing section of Freedom HQ. The girls are having some food and drinks.

"It's been a while since we got to have a nice quiet chat," Amy says.

"I have to agree. Everyone has been busy with their missions and fighting Eggman as of late," Cosmo says.

Galaxina nods her head, "Yes. Dr. Eggman has now been having a large spread around the world and gathering allies."

Cream turns to Maria and asks, "So Maria, how was your trip to the WolfPack Nation."

"It was fun. It was also scary when the Dark Egg Legion Chapter caused trouble, but we were able to get through it," Maria says.

"Yeah. Sally told me how she got captured and in a way, you helped save the day," Amy says.

Maria blushes and says, "I don't know about that. It was really Sonic and Eve who saved the day."

"But you also helped, and you were very brave," Cream says.

"I have to agree. You are very brave, and you sure have grown a bit," Vanilla says.

Maria smiles and says, "Thank you."

Suddenly, they hear someone call out, "Hello? Is anyone here?"

The group turns their heads to an entryway close by.

Amy calls out, "Yes. Nicole."

Amy and the others get off their seats and walk into the Freedom HQ lab.

"Hey Nicole, what's wrong?" Amy asks.

"No emergency, Amy," Nicole answers, on the screen.

Cream walks over and says, "Hello Nicole."

"Hello Mrs. Rabbit, Cream, Cheese. And hello to you too, Cosmo, Galaxina, and Maria of course," Nicole says.

"Hello Nicole, how are you today?" Galaxina asks.

"I'm doing okay today," Nicole answers.

Then Amy asks, "So, what's up?"

"I've been studying a strange energy signal the past few days. Despite this, I still cannot pinpoint its exact location!" Nicole explains.

"Weird. Can I use your handheld form to check it out?" Amy replies.

"Of course!" Nicole happily says.

"Well then, it looks like I'll have to go on an investigating mission," Amy says, and picks up the handheld computer.

Cream turns to her mother and asks, "Oh! May I go along? Please!"

"Chao Chao!" Cheese replies.

Vanilla giggles and says, "Alright then. As long as you stay close to Amy."

"Yes mother," Cream says.

Maria then asks, "Can I go too?"

"Me too?" Cosmo adds.

"Sure. I don't see why not," Amy says.

Cosmo turns to Galaxina, "Do you want to come?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to say no. I promise to help Rosie today," Galaxina says.

"Alright team. It'll just be a quick tort out of the first and back. So let's go," Amy says.

"Yeah!" The girls cheer.

After saying goodbye to Galaxina and Vanilla, Amy, Cosmo, Maria, Cream, and Cheese head out on their investigation mission.

Cream happily says, "How delightful! Another adventure we go! I wonder where we'll be going!"

"I'm not sure. Nicole will lead us to where we need to go to find the strange energy signal," Amy says.

Amy looks at the small computer pad and asks, "So Nicole, where did you pick up the signal?"

"It is at the outskirts on the other side of the Great Forest," Amy says.

"Alright, let's go," Amy says.

The group begins to walk through the Great Forest to find the source of the mysterious energy signal. They walk through the forest and walk towards the wide open world out of the forest zone. They begin to look around the area, and wonder if they can find a clue. So far nothing.

"Hmm, are you sure it's around here?" Amy asks.

"I'm afraid I'm not entirely sure. It's a bit hard to get the exact coordinates," Nicole says.

"It's okay Nicole. We'll just keep looking and…" Amy says.

Suddenly, Cheese points out, "Chao! Chao!"

"Wha-huh? I don't speak 'Chao,'" Amy says.

Luckily, Cream can understand Cheese, "Cheese says he sees something up ahead. Look!"

The group turns their heads to see something shining from a distance away.

"What's that?" Maria wonders.

"Maybe that's the source of the strange signal," Cosmo answers.

"If that's the weird thing Nicole was tracking, it's a lot closer than she thought," Amy says.

Then turns to Cheese, "Good eye, Cheese!"

"Chao!" Cheese happily says.

With that, the girls begin to hurry towards the source of the shining object.

"At this rate we'll be back before…" Amy says.

But is soon cut off by a fiery wall. The group becomes startled and quickly steps back in fright. Soon, coming toward them, is a purple cat that seems to be the same age as Eve and Sonic. She also seems to be controlling the fire. That being Blaze the Cat, someone Cosmo and Maira know.

With a determined glare, the feline princess says, "If you're hunting for the Sol Emeralds as well, I suggest you back off. Now."

Just then, Maria quickly says, "Hi Blaze."

"Hello Blaze it's um, good to see you again," Comso says, a little startled.

Blaze lowers her flames to see the two girls and says, "Maria. Cosmo. I apologize, I didn't see you there."

Maria hugs Blaze and happily says, "It's' good to see you again."

"It's uh, good to see you too," Blaze says.

Suddenly, Amy shouts, "Hey! Who do you think you are, showing up out of nowhere and throwing around fire like that?!"

"Wait Amy, Blaze is a friend of ours. She knows me and Maria. She also knows Sonic, Eve, and Tails," Cosmo quickly says.

Maria lets go of Blaze and turns to Amy, "She's right. Blaze is a friend of ours. I'm sure she didn't mean to frighten us."

"That doesn't mean she gets to nearly burn my eyelashes off!" Amy angrily says.

Blaze calmly says, "Apologize, I thought you were someone else, and searching for the Sol Emeralds."

Amy sighs, "I guess since you're friends and Cosmo and Maria and it seems you didn't mean too, so I'll let that slide."

"Girls," Cream calms out.

The group turns to see Cream and Cheese is holding what looks like a brown glass bottle that's been broken.

"Sorry for interrupting, but I would like to point out that the shiny thing we saw was this," Cream says.

"Oh… so we almost… ooh my bad," Amy says, embarrassed.

Blaze places her hand on her face in embarrassment, "We almost fought over garbage… how humiliating…"

Then turn to the group, "I apologize for my behavior and for troubling you. Good day." Then she begins to walk away.

Cosmo walks to Blaze, "Blaze, is one of your Sol Emeralds' here?"

"Yes. It was. I need to find it before Dr. Nega tries to track it back here," Blaze says.

Amy follows, "Wait! We're Freedom Fighters! All we do is help people! It seems that you need help so we can help!"

"Hmm… I suppose. And seeing how you're friends with Cosmo and Maria, I suppose you can help," Blaze says.

"Great. And seeing your fire powers and saying Sol Emeralds, and your name. You're the princess from the Sol Dimension that Sonic and Eve told us. Eve also told us how she met you when you were little" Amy says.

"Indeed. Sonic, Eve, Tails, Cosmo, Maria, and the Chao, Jazz came to my zone and assisted me in my search for the Sol Emerald," Blaze says.

Then uses her powers to conjure some of the emeralds. A white one in the middle and four others each in different colors.

She then explains, "With Sonic and Eve's help, I recovered one of the Seven Emeralds, and with its power, I've continued my search tracing down the rest, across my world and others."

"Ooooooh!" The girls say, impressed.

Amy then curtsy, "Before I forget, we haven't introduced ourselves. I'm Amy Rose of the Freedom Fighters and Sonic's future sweetheart!"

"How do you do? My name is Cream, and this is my Chao friend, Cheese," Cream says.

"Chao!" Cheese says, bowing.

Cram turns to Amy, "Although… isn't it a bit presumptuous to claim Sonic like that?"

"He knows how I feel and how we're meant to be!" Amy says.

But Cream interjects, "I'm pretty sure he's dating Princess Sally…"

Amy grits her teeth with glare and mutters, "Cream? Drop it."

"Come on guys, there's no need to fight," Cosmo says.

Maria then wonders, "I wonder if the strange signal Nicole has detected is one of Blaze's Sol Emerald."

The group turns to Maria in surprise.

"You're right. It might be it…" Amy says.

Then Amy brings out the computer pad, "Come on, let's go see if we can find it."

Cream takes Blaze's hand and says, "This way, Ms. Blaze."

"Chao Chao!" Cheese happily says.

With that, the group turn back to the Great Forest to find the source of the strange energy, now it appears possible that the energy is the Sol Emerald Blaze is searching for.

Soon, the group reenters the Great Forest as they try to search for the emerald. However, Nicole is still having trouble pinpointing the exact location.

Amy complains, "Make up your mind, Nicole. Are we getting closer or not?"

"It's difficult to say. One moment the signal is strong, the next it's almost gone completely," Nicole answers.

Maria turns to Blitz who has one of her emeralds out to pick up the signal.

"Blaze, are you having luck?" Maria asks.

"Hmm, it seems to be picking up one of the Sol Emerald's signal, but it seems to be at a far distance," Blaze says, then makes it disappear.

"How does it even work, if you don't mind me asking?" Cream asks.

"Chao?" Cheese replies.

"It's a bit difficult to explain. Not that I don't trust you, but there are some that I do not wish to share, nor it can be explained. Also, you never know who might be listening," Blaze answers.

"You do have a point to be cautious," A familiar feminine voice speaks up.

The group stops and looks up to see a familiar white bat Mobian with purple wings. And she is wearing a headgear that has a lens over one eye.

The bat says, "There are all sorts of nasty people in the world."

"Rouge!" Amy says, shocked.

Rouge flies down as she bows, "At your service!"

Maria happily says, "Hi Rouge, it's good to see you again."

"Hello to you too, Maria. And her friends," Maria says.

Amy calmly says, "Yeah, right. You only care about getting what you want!"

"And what I want is to help you girls find the Sol Emerald!" Rouge says.

"Ah-ha!" Amy cries out. "You were spying on us!"

"Not at all. I'm following the odd readings your team is after," Rouge says.

Then Rouge with a mocking tone, "That, and it doesn't take much spying when anyone within a hundred feet can hear. 'Have you found the Sol Emerald yet?' 'How about now?'"

That when Amy grits her teeth in anger.

Then gives Nicole to Cream "Cream? Hold Nicole for a minute. You, Cosmo, and Maria. Stand back."

"Let's not fight again, Amy! Is it really so hard to believe Ms. Rouge is here to help?" Cream asks.

"Yes," Amy says.

"Oh, please. I'm plenty trustworthy," Rouge says.

Amy glares at Rouge and says, "No way! You're a spy!"

"A spy for G.U.N. Your ally. Remember?" Rouge says.

Amy angrily says, "You're as shady as they come!"

"Come on Amy, you need to calm down," Cosmo says.

"I'm sure Rouge isn't up to anything sneaky or um, anything. She is our friend too. She is also Shadow and Eve's friend too." Maria says.

Rouge gives Amy a smug look, "There, it seems that you're outnumbered."

Suddenly, Blaze shouts, "Enough!"

Everyone turns to see Blaze looking irritated.

She tries to calm down and says, "We're wasting time by just standing here bickering. I don't care! Either be of assistance or get out of my way!" and walks away.

"Yes, ma'am! Way to command!" Rouge says.

Amy grumbles to herself.

Soon, the others follow after her.

Rouge walks to Blaze and asks, "So what makes this 'Sol Emerald' so special?"

"It keeps my world alive," Blaze says.

Cosmo asks, "How does the Emerald keep your world alive? I remember you saying how important it is for you to find them."

"It's a bit hard to explain Cosmo. However, the most important thing is that I find them all before it's too late," Blaze says.

"Ah," Rouge replies.

Then says in thought, "That will make things more complicated…"

The girls continue their travel through the Great Forest, until they come across a large ravine that is a large log growing from one side and the other, and the roots travel down. The ravine looks rather dark.

Rouge picks up a signal from her head gear, "Whoo! Energy spikes! This has got to be the place!"

"Nicole?" Amy asks the computer.

Nicole answers, "Agreed. Whatever we are tracking is at the bottom of the ravine."

Cream looks at the tree roots, "That tree looks awfully old… and brittle…"

"It might be dangerous for us to climb down," Cosmo says.

"And it looks a bit dark," Maria says.

Rouge steps forward, "I'll spare your time the danger and go alone. I won't be long."

But Blaze interjects, "No. I would much rather retrieve it myself, thank you."

"That works, too. I'll fly you down at least one at a time," Rouge says, seeing the multiple Mobians.

"You do that. I wanted to go with Cream anyway," Amy says with her arms crossed.

"Really?" Cream asks with glee.

With that, Cream holds on to Amy and Cosmo while Rouge hangs on to Blaze and Maria as they begin to fly down the ravine to find the mysterious signal. Suddenly, the large branch from the large tree breaks off and begins to fall towards the girls.

Seeing the danger, Cheese flies to the rescue, "Chao-o… Chao Chao Chao!"

"Cheese, no! You can't stop it on your own!" Cream cries out.

But Cheese doesn't back down, he tries to knock the large branch out of the way, but the poor Chao bounces off and the branch heads towards Amy, Cream, and Cosmo.

Cosmo cries out, "Look out!"

"We can do this, girls!" Amy says.

Amy then lets go of Cream's hand as she grabs on to Cosmo's hand. Cosmo continues to hang on to Cream's hand as she also hangs on to Amy's hand.

Amy then brings out her Piko Hammer, "On 'three' you swing me up and I'll…"

But Rouge flies past them, and lets go of Blaze when they fly past the branch. Blaze uses her fire power to burn the log. Then Rouge lets Maria go to use her Screwkick to destroy the branch into pieces. She then flies over and grabs Blaze and Maria. Cream, Amy, and Cosmo are amazed.

"Wow," Cream replies.

With danger out of the way, the group are able to land themselves on the ground safely.

Rouge compliments, "Nice work there, princess."

"I'll say!" Amy says.

"Thank you," Blaze says.

Cream turns to see Cheese flying toward her. She then reaches out towards her Chao friend and he lands safely in Cream's arms.

Cream happily says, "And you were just as brave, Cheese!"

"You were very brave, Cheese," Cosmo says.

"Chao!" Cheese happily says.

Blaze suddenly realizes and turns to Rouge, "Wait… how did you know I was a princess?"

"Oh, I have my sources," Rouge says.

"What sources?" Blaze questions.

Maria speaks up, "Um, I think Eve told her about it, and I also think she overheard us talking too."

"Smart girl," Rouge says, turning to Maria.

Just then, Rouge's headgear picks up another signal, "Wow! Look at that energy signature!"

Then Nicole says, "She's right! It's just ahead of us!"

They look forward to seeing a large cocoon of some kind that is made of the roots of the trees growing in the area. They walk begin to walk towards the large cocoon to see the source of the signal. They walk towards the entrance and on top of a small root pillar in the middle of the cocoon is a small silver capsule and inside is a cyan blue emerald.

Blaze is very relieved, "There it is!"

"It's the Sol Emerald!" Cosmo says.

"We found it!" Maria happily says.

Nicole then says, "That object around the emerald seems to be trying to mask the energy signature."

"That explains all the weird readings," Amy says.

Maria then wonders, "But how did the Emerald get down here?"

"Hmm, if I have to guess, I suspect Dr. Nega must have dropped it somehow and it fell down here," Blaze says.

Then turns to the others, "Still, you have my sincerest thanks."

"You're more than welcome! We were happy to help!" Cream happily says.

"Chao Chao!" Cheese happily says.

Amy turns to Rouge and calmly says with a firm expression, "I'm uh… sorry-for-doubting-you." Then holds her hand out to Rouge, "Thanks."

Rouge then takes Amy's hand and says, "Aww, that's big of you. But don't feel too bad…"

That makes Amy confused.

Then Rouge narrows her eyes with a calm smile, "... since I'll be taking the emerald after all!"

"Huh?!" The girls exclaim in shock.

"Wait, wha-" Amy asks but Rouge kicks Amy away.

Rouge flies to the Emerald and takes it out of the open capsule, "Oh, you're gorgeous. I just might keep you all to myself."

Seeing Rouge plans to take the emerald makes Blaze furious that she makes flames appear around her hands and plans to attack Rouge. Suddenly, Amy, Cream, Maria, and Cosmo hurry to confront her.

Amy brings out her Piko Hammer, "I knew it! You give that back to Blaze! RIGHT NOW!"

Cream asks in shock and says, "That belongs to her! Taking it would be stealing!"

"Little girl, you say that like I care. If you want it so bad…" Rouge says with a smirk.

Then kicks the capsule towards them, "...come and get it!"

The capsule heads towards Cream, but Cheese is able to punch it out of the way.

"How can you be so rude and discourteous to…" Cream says.

But yelps, "Eek! When Rouge flies past them.

"You're young. You'll learn," Rouge says.

But Amy slams her hammer in front of her, "Stop!"

Causing Rouge to stop.

"You've actually got some talent, honey!" Rouge comments.

Then says, "So I don't feel bad not pulling my punches!"

Then screwkicks at Amy, knocking her over.

Then Rouge flies away, "It's been fun, girls! Ta-ta!"

Suddenly, powerful fire flashes in front of Rouge. Then someone snakes their hand at the emerald and snatches it away from Rouge.

"Hey!" Rouge panics and turns to see Maria running with the emerald to the others.

"Nice work, Maria," Amy.

Maria blushes and says, "Thank you."

Just then, Blaze stands in front of them as she glares at Rouge, "I'll give you this one chance. Give up and you leave alive."

Looking to see there aren't many options, Rouge decides to go a different approach, "Oh! If there were some big, strong men around to back up poor, defenseless little me!"

Suddenly, something burst through the top of the root cocoon.

"What?!" Blaze shockingly asks., looking up.

Just then, two figures appear behind Rouge with a smirk on her face, through the smoke and fire.

"How about this, sweetie? You go on home and leave the Emerald to me! Otherwise, well… I don't know if I can restrain these two!" Rouge says.

When the smoke clears, the ground and the small Chao are shocked to see the two arrivals are Shadow the Hedgehog and Omega.

Then Rouge asks, "What do you say?"

And with that, one little investigation has turned into a mission to gain back the emerald, and now has to battle against Team Dark to get it back.