Book Four:
Metal
Chapter Seven:
Cooperation
Echoes of laughter bounced off the surface of the huge cave within the mountain, which served as the base of operations for the Earth Kingdom revolutionaries.
Mayor Morishita's bottom was dragged by the back of his collar along the gravel like a burlap sack as dozens of men and women mocked, leered, and threw things at his face. Gow, the leader of the rebellion, stopped and punched upwards, raising himself and the terrified mayor upon a ten foot stone column.
"Attention, my Earth Kingdom brothers and sisters," Gow announced, lifting the mayor off his feet,"behold the face of one of your most infamous oppressors!"
The rioting crowd roared triumphantly.
"Thanks to all of our sheer resolve, we've manage to undo in less than two months what not even the Avatar was willing to prevent over a century ago! Town after town has been ridden of those Fire Nation colonists across the continent, and returned the land to their rightful owners! And just who was it that accomplished this? Was it the so-called Earth King," the crowd fumed with contempt at the two words,"who idly sat and laughed with all of his wealthy comrades behind the walls of Ba Sing Se? Was it the mad king of Omashu," again the people raged,"who openly prides himself at literally doing nothing while his own city was conquered in less than a day? Do I even have to remind you all about the Water Tribes!?" again thundered the crowd,"But none of that, none of it can compare to the utter treachery of the last airbender himself, or should I say...THE FIRE LORD'S BEST FRIEND!?"
At this point, rocks were flying all over the place.
"It was US!," Gow pound his chest," The people! The humble farmers, workers, prisoners of war, and soldiers abandoned by their backstabbing leaders that surrendered to the Fire Nation and left us all to burn! Well NO MORE! We will free every last patch of our home from the claws of the great dragon that has perched upon them; we will show all traitors the error of their ways, whether through reason or force! And when we have finally grown large enough, we shall take to the West, grip the Fire Nation by its dragon horns, and break. it's. NECK!"
"HOW'BOUT NO!?"
The entire cavern was silenced by the different voice. Gow turned to see a raised gloved hand in the distance. The hand belonged to some diminutive figure with a large hat covering his face, standing on a cart full of "exotic" rocks.
"Excuse me?" Gow inquired.
The little person showed his palms submissively."Look, guys, I'm not gonna lie: I'm totally for the whole 'take down the man' and 'power to the the people' kinda' stuff; but - I'm JUST sayin' - it's a liiitle counter productive for your cause when ya start blabbin on about takin' over the world!"
"We are the people of the earth!" Gow growled."If it ought to be ruled by someone, it ought to be us!" the crowd cheered in agreement."Do you got a problem with that, little man!?" Gow smirked.
"Well, not necessarily a 'problem', but, the thing is..." Sonic tossed his hat away.
Again the crowd was silent.
"...Stoppin' dudes from rulin' the world is my thing..."
Were this a less serious cartoon series, Gow's jaw would have hit the floor."It's Blue Spirit! Kill it!"
One soldier blinked."But, dude, you can't kill a spiri-"
"SHUT UP AND THROW ROCKS AT HIM!"
Sonic's expression brightened up."Oh! You guys need rocks? I brought a whole crate-full - FREE ROCKS FOR EVERYBODY!" the hedgehog gleefully announced as he performed a spin-dash in reverse, propelling a hail of "exotic" rocks and pebbles into the faces of all the soldiers.
Gow again seized Morishita by his clothes and jumped off the platform, earth-sliding through an open door, and sealed the entrance shut with a stone wall.
The Fire Lord stood there, leaning against the railing of his bedroom's balcony, clearly in deep thought.
"Having girl troubles, my lord?" Inquired a raspy male voice behind.
Despite the circumstances, Zuko smiled at the sound of the voice, though he didn't turn around."There you are," he greeted,"I was wondering where you've been since I got back..."
"I finally gave my brother a long awaited visit," Iroh replied.
Zuko exhaled."And how did that go?"
"Precisely as well as I thought it would," The old man shrugged."Ozai didn't say a word..." he rolled his eyes,"So, Fire Lord Zuko, given this highly unexpected emergency, what exactly have you told your military?
"Just to arm-up for the strong chance of an impending terrorist attack," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck," I guess it's true enough; I wish we could've told them more, though..."The monarch lamented.
"Trust me, my lord: It's best not to dwell on what could've been - the less your personnel is concern for your sanity, the better," Iroh reassured.
"Even that's in short supply lately..." Zuko admitted.
"My Lord!"
Zuko and Iroh spun around to see a familiar servant.
Iroh scratched his brow."Is it just me, or do I keep seeing that same man running around here repeatedly?"
The Fire Lord hunch over."Ever since Azula banished all of the guards and servants, the palace staff has been pretty short-handed..."
"Ah..." Iroh understood.
"The Avatar and his friend are gone!" the servant cried.
"What!?" Zuko gasped.
"The workers down in the cove watched the Water Tribe boy leap into the water, and then the Avatar jumped in after him!" the servant explained,"then they saw some kind of light deep under the surface; there hasn't been any sign of them since!"
The Fire Lord blinked."A...light?" he repeated as his eyes trembled. He looked at the ground."It must've been Dr. Eggman!"
"Is that truly his real name?" Iroh had to ask.
"It doesn't matter! Eggman must have captured them too! He completely went back on his deal!" Zuko slammed his fist against the rails,"I should have seen this coming!"
Iroh patted his nephew's back."Calm yourself, Zuko, if that is the case, then that means the Avatar is now in that space station - he is the only one who can defeat this evil doctor."
"Do you really think he has a chance?" Zuko stared sternly at his uncle,"he has an army of machines at his command, and those other six magical emeralds."
"My brother had an army of the most elite firebenders in history," Iroh replied,"not to mention the power of Sozin's Comet, and the Avatar couldn't have defeated him more spectacularly." He reassured Zuko with a warm, confident smile."It does not matter if he was imprisoned: the Avatar has always been the strongest, wisest, and most powerful being ever to walk the earth - I have no reason to doubt that he, at this very moment, is in complete control."
"HOW THE HELL DID WE GET UP HERE!?" the Avatar finally freaked out, his fingers aggressively clutched his cranium,"That's it, I can't do this anymore! I'm turnin' in my arrow and growin' a beard! This is too much for me. GAME OVER, MAN! "
As the distraught airbender went on, Sokka stood motionless, peering out the long window the paralleled the length of the hallway, the gravity of the situation almost crushed the teen. However, as the warrior gave it a second thought, a wide smile encompassed his face; though it disappeared as he observed his companion...
"Oh, great holy pubaa of hard-boiled monkey-rolls, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO MEEEEE-"
"Aang, AANG, RELAX!" Sokka exclaimed, grabbing the poor boy by the collar and smacking him across his cheek.
The shaken Avatar came back to his senses, breathing audibly."...thanks...I needed that..." he swallowed,"but what do you expect? This is the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen."
"No, we're exactly where we wanna be!" the teen announced.
"Sokka, I may have completely lost my composure not but eleven seconds ago but I'm still working on the knowledge that this the last point in the universe we should be standing right now..."
"Think about it: Dr. Eggman would never expect this, not if we didn't; at this hour, he's probably asleep! All we have to do is sneak around a bit, find the girls, and then all his leverage goes right out the window!" he paused,"...figuratively speaking, that is...Then, you go all Avatar State, force'em to show us how to get down, and bingobango, we save the universe!"
"Yeah sure, 'bingobango', you make him sound like just another Admiral Zhao. We haven't the frailest idea what's in store for us up here, or how being in the middle of space could affect my bending; I'd be half an Avatar, maybe even less than..." Aang stopped, gasping as he caught sight of an enormous red anomaly passing by,"hide!"
They both ducked under the window, taking a short peek - it was one of Dr. Eggman's battleships; the two anxiously waited for the huge vessel to gradually pass by...
"See what I mean?" Aang continued.
"Listen, we can still pull this off. Now you go find Eggman while I look for my sister, friend, and non-friend; take this with you..." Sokka said picking up the emerald.
"That's even worse!" thr airbender replied,"You wanna wander around this place on your own?"
Sokka took another peek out the window - the ship was gone."Look, this emerald brought us here for a reason; and if we don't treat this opportunity like it's a gift from Heaven, he'll just imprison us when he finds out and have the emerald."
"Then why would you want me to have the emerald if I'm supposed to look for him?" Aang inquired as they both rose.
"Because it'll make you stronger, just think! You might not have to use the Avatar State against Dr. Eggman at all..." Sokka mused, holding the jewel up to Aang."So I don't know about you, but I just got through making a promise to my girlfriend that I would fix this mess whether I had something to do with it or not, and I am going to...even if I have to take their place..." the future chieftain resolved, displaying how far this apple didn't fall from the tree after all.
The Avatar took the Chaos Emerald with both hands, and stared at it deeply, and same to Sokka, who responded by continuing his austere gaze - back at the jewel.
After a long moment of tension, the boy spoke, and smiled as he did."Y'know, I don't care how many times I hear the name 'Dr. Eggman': it'll never sound intimidating..." he replied.
Sokka briefly clasped his hands around the emerald with a grin of his own, and they both separated to perform the tasks given to them. The search was on.
Tonight was not a good night to be a revolutionary.
Try as they might, every rock thrown, every sword swung, every spear vaulted, and every arrow launched could have never hope to graze the furry blue blur that was Sonic. The hedgehog might as well have been dealing with his typical batch of robotic bugs and crabs, as even they seemed more of a challenge as he rolled through the tunnel, toppling over all men and women that dared to stand in his path. More and more wannabe soldiers (as well as actual former soldiers that simply weren't very good soldiers) gushed through every door Sonic had yet to pass, but they were taken out as soon as they appeared. Although as much of a thrill that this nonstop butt-kicking-fest was giving Sonic, the notoriously impatient hedgehog inevitably succumbed to his greatest weakness: boredom.
Sonic spin-dashed along the tunnel ceiling, zipping over the heads of the bewildered rebels, and into a library, where he locked the door - if his current foes were any indication, this was indisputably the best place to hide.
As fun as giving dumb people their daily dose of spin-attacks to the face was, it was not enough for him to overlook his actual priority: to rescue the mayor of the Fire Nation town, take down this anti-Fire Nation organization, and maybe find out exactly what the Fire Nation even is. That leader with the "I'm Batman!" voice was ranting on about the Fire Nation having colonies all over their land, how their leaders "abandoned" them, and how they planned on not only usurping their own king, but also the Fire Nation as well. Part of Sonic truly did feel sorry for these people if the first two claims were true, but the rest of him was totally not sitting for anyone taking over anything. Then again, he had to remind himself how nations "colonize" other people's land in the first place...
But most the humans that he's interacted with in this world talk about the colonies like they were established a long time ago; Sonic was sure that, even if these places were invaded and conquered by the Fire Nation, these Fire Nation people now seem to have strong roots in those colonies; they were born and raised here, just like the Earth Kingdom people. As wrong as it was for the Fire Nation to have conquered their lands, it was just as wrong to drive the citizens out from what was also their home.
Man this was somthin' else: at least with Eggman, he always knew who the bad guy was and what doomsday device to blow up, but all this stuff about war and politics and civil unrest was starting to make him miss the potentially world-ending events he had grown accustomed to. Aside from his contract with Paramount, Sonic The hedgehog had found himself a new reason to avoid social media at at costs.
"What do you mean you can't tell when!?"
The sudden chatter caused Sonic to freeze, then zip inside of a deep drawer in a desk, slowly pulling it closed (and once again painfully reminding himself of that dumb elevator scene in the trailer). He then pushed it just open enough to see through.
"That's exactly what I mean!" cried a college-aged young man as he gathered various papers off his desk."I've been observing the sky myself every night since I got here, and the trajectory is different every time!"
"Different in what way, exactly?" asked a middle-aged man in a dark green robe.
The boy sighed."Listen, the moon has remained a some where between a quarter full and half full for the last week; it should've been half full by now, but it isn't! It's as if it's been alternating back and forth this whole time! On top of that, the angle of the sunlight reflected off the moon isn't the same; again, it changes each night; even each hour!"
The closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead."This...is ridiculous: are you actually trying to tell me the entire moon is, what, moving independently out of its own orbit!?"
Now there were some words to give Sonic a confused look.
"I don't know what else to tell you! Look at the moon yourself!"
"Enough of your nonsense!" The man swept his arm to the side."One of the brightest young minds in Ba Sing Se, and you can't even tell if there's going to be an eclipse or not!" he stomped forward, looming over the young man."There is a battle going on not one hundred meters from where we are standing, and if it isn't dealt with, ALL of my work for the past summer and fall will have been for nothing! Either you start giving me consistent readings, or else you won't live to see the next half moon!" With that, the man storm away, past the desk Sonic was in, and out the door with an abrupt slam.
The boy dropped his papers, and slumped to his seat curling over the desk and sobbing. Sonic rolled his eyes - not at the nerd, but at himself for blowing his cover just to make said nerd feel better.
As the young man's fists tightened as tears dripped from his closed eyelids, a gloved hand patted his shoulder. He meekly turned to see owner of the hand, and his face was like a statue as he laid eyes on a creature beyond the spectrum of everything he'd ever imagined.
"Micromanagement's the worst, am I right?" Sonic smiled, and swiftly pounced on the human, covering his mouth while pinning his rapidly struggling body to the floor before the human could scream bloody murder."Ya' know, if it were another, edgy-er super-fast hedgehog, you'd definitely be dead right now."
The man's muffled shrieks quietly seeped through Sonic's gloved fingers.
"I know what you're tryin' to say - 'what are you', 'rodents can't talk', and so on, so allow me to clear this up. I'm Sonic The Hedgehog, the the spiky dude with a cool attitude whom your people have been referring to as 'The Blue Spirit' even though I'm not, that solo'd your entire army and found your secret hideout." Sonic explained casually."Now, I know I've literally been beating every single earthbender within an inch of their lives up until now, but I'm actually a real chill guy who's just trying to do the right thing. So, given my positive disposition, I'm willing to take my hand off your mouth and let you stand up on the grounds that you're also a chill guy just tryin' to do the right thing" Sonic blinked,"because if I am wrong...you will wish I had killed you. We cool?" he finished with a neighborly smile.
The eventually quiet but still obviously nervous boy nodded.
"Cool..." Sonic replied, zipping to his feet.
The boy steadily rose to his own."Um...Hello, Sonic, I'm Pong, I'm a student from Ba Sing Se University, and I'm not really sure how one define's a 'cool' attitude."
"Nice ta meet ya, Pong!" Sonic waved."So what brings you to this neck of the evil lair?"
Pong picked up his glassed and polished them."I used to live in Ba Sing Se just before it was conquered by the Fire Nation during the war. Me and my family escaped, but, we were separated, and I haven't seen them since. I manage to find a town, a Fire Nation colony, but the locals tolerated me so I was able to stay."
"Yep, Fire Nation, colonies, war, been hearin' those words a lot lately," Sonic reminisced,"You guys are aware the war's over, right?"
"Politically speaking, of course," Pong said,"But it's just not that simple: it only ended last summer, and it lasted over a century. I mean, the Avatar didn't even kill the old Fire Lord, and the new Fire Lord doesn't seem to do much different. It's been three months, and the Fire Nation is still claiming ownership of Earth Kingdom land...our land...no one important seems to care about all the people in the middle that are suffering because of this, at least except for Long Feng."
"You mean that totally-not-a-villain that straight up threatened to murder you?" Sonic noted.
"That's him..." Pong said,"He and Gow are the leaders of the resistance, although Long Feng prefers all the credit goes to Gow. I'm among the only ones that even knows his name, or speaks to directly - all his orders are given by Gow."
Sonic chuckled."I bet - gotta have someone to blame after he loses."
Pong sighed."He probably will..." he closed his eyes."When he found me, I was completely won over by his and Gow's words of freedom; I lost everything to the Fire Nation just like all the rest. But now that I've seen them in person, and watched the the way they attack the colonies so savagely...I just, I don't know if I'm on the right side anymore..."
"Meh, war is heck," Sonic shrugged."So what was that stuff about the moon anyway?"
Suddenly, yelling and running could be heard nearing the library. Sonic dashed behind a bookshelf as soon as Gow kicked the door open."Where is he!?"
Pong was stunned."huh!?"
"What do you mean 'huh'? The Blue Spirit! He came outta nowhere and tore my through men like nothing, and then he just vanished! Did you see him or not!?"
Pong's trembling eyes could help but swerve in Sonic's direction. The hedgehog quickly gestured for him not to say anything. Pong blinked, and looked back at the impatient earthbender."I...er...Aren't spirit's metaphysical, and by extension, imperceptible to the human eye?"
Gow's anger turned to confusion...than back to anger."This ain't no time to get philosophical with me, boy! We've got another one 'o those little furry people to tryin' to take us out!"
Now there was something to catch Sonic off guard.
"We round this one up, and there'll be nothin' to stand in our way once you figure out when that dang eclipse is!"
"I'm still working on that, sir!" Pong responded diligently.
"Good!" with that, Gow slammed the door shut.
The bullet-sweating Pong exhaled in relief. But then he thought of something."Mr. Gow, come back!"
Sonic glared at the boy with a betrayed look.
Gow re-kicked the door open."What!? You see 'em!?"
"nNo, it's just, uhhhh..."Pong's vision whipped about the room."...I was told you captured the mayor of Yu Dao...where exactly are you going to keep him?"
"What stupid question is that!? I threw him down in the dungeon with the rest o' those talkin' animal freaks! Now quit wastin' by time and find that eclipse!" Gow finished, re-slamming the door shut.
Sonic walked out of his hiding place, and stared at the door blankly...than angrily..." 'Animal freaks..? He better not mean who I think!" he growled as he dash to the door. He opened it, peering left and right to see that the coast was clear. He then looked back at Pong with a genuine smile."Thank's, man, I think you just picked the right side this time." he thanked before dashing out the room, leaving an unexpected smile on Pong's face.
Lost Colony
No air, no water, no earth, no life. . .
Aang never thought that space could be so dead. On his world as the inhabitants bent the elements, there was a supernatural flow; a push and pull. There was harmony; there was life.
But here, in this. . .what could he call it? Fortress? Ship? There was nothing but cogs and bolts. He hated the sense of oppression. It was as though this machine world was built for the sole purpose of defying all things sacred. He felt like a fish in a tank, separated, isolated, but still contained; as if his links to the spirit world were even cut.
I hate this place. As soon I find Katara and the others, I'll find some way to get off this ship and get as far away as I can.
Or, he could destroy the whole thing, if it were possible, once he and his companions had escaped this dead ship.
Aang noticed the pipes that were above him. They trailed across the ceiling, down the hall. Thankfully there were small amounts of water in them and he would, now and then, raise a hand to feel the flow of the water, in order to measure the distance he trekked, the various intersections, and floors of this iron labyrinth: it seemed to go on forever.
Occasionally, he felt a. . .presence. It was something like chi, but not quite. It disturbed him. He had no idea what to expect here, yet the Avatar felt that whatever was here expected him to a degree. He felt like he was being watched, that the ceilings had eyes, trailing his every move. But it didn't matter.
Aang wasn't here to hide; he was here to save his friends. . .and Sokka inevitably. Stealth wasn't Aang's strong point; and now that the nomad thought about it, it was a pity that Zuko hadn't been taken with him and Sokka, stealth being more his expertise.
Aang tried not to lose focus and allow his mind to be drowned out with thoughts, but the dead silence of this steel cave made it impossible. His breath even felt too loud. . .
He pasted a series of long, rectangular windows, seeing the expanse of the heavens: it comforted him.
He continued walking until he reached a set of double doors that he hoped were not locked. Despite there menacing size, they gently opened as soon as he was in 3 feet of them. At least that wasn't difficult.
And as Aang stepped through the opening, he walked in, to his surprise. . .a large intersection, with more halls. . .
The young Avatar rubbed the back of his head. "Some how..." he mused.
And he looked down, noticing his shadow growing, as well as the reflection on the gleaming metal surface of the floor. . .
. . .he had one second. . .
Aang quickly rolled to the right before a large, blue mechanical creature nearly crushed him to pulp, Its iron feet tore through the floor. The thing was nearly twice his height, wielding a thick metallic clubsword to match its color scheme, its eyes and grinning teeth, a cold pale pink light, dead as the world around him. Unbeknowst to Aang this was one of Dr. Eggman's toughest robot soldiers, an Egg Fighter Knight.
The thing swung its weapon down at the Avatar.
Aang side stepped.
It missed, denting the steel floor with a thunderous clang.
The thing followed up with a violent back swing.
Aang ducks.
It misses, the clubsword ripping into steel pipes.
The weapon is lodged into the steel. . .
Here's his opening...
Aang leaps towards to the machine and delivers a devastating side kick, delivering an air blast that knocks the metal beast away so hard, its arm was still embedded in the wall.
Aang walks up to the metal monster, electricity pouring out of its cybernetic wounds.
"You can't fight any more," the pacifist monk declares,"I know you can talk. Where's Eggman? And where 're my. . ."
Another iron warrior violently lands behind Aang and attempts to crush him with its own blade.
The Avatar dodges and the crippled machine is crushed beneath its allies' weapon.
"Hey!" Aang shouted, "He was on your side...!" But the way the second machine steps on the steal corpse and pries its clubsword from the first's shattered remains shows that it wasn't even alive enough to care much for its own.
The metal monster charges Aang as mindlessly as the other. Time slows.
The boy's eyes look to left of the charging metal beast. Aang sees the torn ligament that still stuck in the wall, steam billowing around the gash under pressure.
Steam is water and air.
Aang quickly flexes his fist, building up the pressurized steam, and the metal sword-ligament is blasted from steel wall, impaling the charging machine.
It falls on its face, motionless...
Aang's guard lowered, he paced over to the sparkling remains; he simply couldn't believe that these things were just machines; though, on the same token, it was just as difficult to observe their frozen faces - their lidless eyes, those wide grins literally welded into their heads - and conclude they were once alive. How could living things bleed electricity?
Soon after, he went on about his business; at least now he had an idea of what he was dealing with. But one thing was for sure: there were more than that to beware - alot more - and the Avatar had a feeling that subtlety wasn't going to cut it: he was going to have to fight his way through this vessel...
The Doom
The dusty, greenish hallway echoed with the sound of nervous whistleing...or at least it would have, per chance that Sokka actually knew how to whistle, as the only sound to be heard was more akin to rasberrying in one's sleep.
So far, the young warrior has been pretty lucky. That is, he'd yet to cross paths with any machine creatures; gaining any clue to where Katara was - not so much. Sokka couldn't tell if it was the simple truth that he was no longer on the earth (at least during the War, fleeing for home was an option...), or if was just all the creepy beeps and hums that rung from every angle, but that old Sokka's-gotta-do-what-Sokka's-gotta-do mindset the young warrior had earlier didn't seem very assuring for someone completely naked in military terms; he was really beginning to miss his sword...
The teen's point of interest then swerved over to what looked like a large green, luminescent map integrated into the wall to his immediate left. Sokka had come across one of these a couple times earlier; he was starting to get used to them. Based on what the warrior's seen so far, one of the glowing orange dots was where he was currently standing, and the bigger dot that remained on the top, well, his instincts told that was his destination; they've served as some reliable feedback so far...Sokka then heard a strange mechanical sifting sound directly behind him, causing the teen to freeze in pondering position, his eyes bugged out. His head slowly revolved around like an old door with rusty hinges.
And there it was: a tall, bulky, blue-ish black and white metal huminoid facing the opposite direction, scanning over the rail of the ledge it and Sokka were apparently on (a GUN Laser Hunter to be specific...).
How the HELL could I have not seen that before?
The young warrior would've swallowed nervously but he felt any audible noise he made at this point would mean instant death; his only option was to carefully sidle along the wall until he was out of hearing range of the machine - he internally prayed it wasn't that wide - until, as usual, the universe felt like bein' a jerk...
An agonizingly loud growl erupted from the teen's bowls, causing the machine's whole body to tense up. It was now or dead, Sokka had to move...!
The Lazer Hunter spun around, its blaster primed and ready to terminate...nothing...there was nothing behind the robot other than the map; naturaly, this perplexes the drone...
In actuality, the teen had made a b-line just under its blaster, taking advantage of its tall height and limited vision; the machine's upper half turned left and right, Sokka moved with it.
Apparently, during all the drama, the warrior had at some point forgotten to procure some dinner before being hurled into space, and now he was hungry. Stupid digestive system and its needs. Where were you when Cumbustion Man showed up?
Concluding there was no lifeform anywhere, the drone preceded to walk away, with Sokka having to crawl inbetween its legs and walk with it, syncing his footsteps with the robot...until his stomach growled again...
The drone anticipated this, its upper half swerved a full 180' and fired...only succeeding in the demise of the nearest neon lamp post, bewildering the robot even further. The Hunter then concluded that its audio receivers must be malfunctioning, and preceded to upload a report to the central mainframe about the issue...
In reality, Sokka was currently clinging onto the outside of the drone's shield with his back against it, his lower lip curled behind his anxious upper teeth. So far, not so good...
Sokka's pupils then turned to view the front of him...only to come face-to-optic with a Beetle drone floating just off the ledge, observing the situation."...Oh COME ON!"
The fully-alerted Laser Hunter then pulled back and swung its shield-arm outward, propelling the teen into the Beetle, Sokka clinging onto it as well. The armed robot attempted to shoot the boy again, only hitting the Beetle and causing the smaller model to dart away out of control, over the walkway, down across the lower room, and into another hallway, inadvertently carrying the screaming Sokka with it.
The flying drone blew across the hall, bouncing off the wall and floor repeatedly; the two eventually flew into a second room. Upon entry, Sokka instantly let go and huddled his limbs into a proper rolling position, the Beetle crashing and exploding on the far wall, its sparks and flames giving little light to the dark room.
The young warrior groggily arose from the floor, stretching his muscles to ease the pain; after that landing, his everything was sore; his body fully erect, Sokka stopped to gaze into the strange new chamber he had just entered, with the light from the hallway and the flaming beetle serving as just enough light to see clearly. Taking recent happenings into mind, he proceeded to continued deeper.
Needless to say, the room was an absolute mess: the floor was covered under various broken doodads, shards of glass, and pieces of paper; there were two wide glass cylinders held in place by dual equaly large metal (also covered in techno mumbo jumbo, two on the ceiling and on the floor) , both were partialy shattered - hence the shards across the floor - one was clearly empty, and the second, as Sokka walked by it, he took note of the putrid lizard skeleton, throwing the teen a bit more out of his "cool".
A bit closer to the Beetle's remains, there were also a long bolted with desk other other broken thing-a-ma-gigs on it as well as a couple turned over metal cabinets; there were a two more papers lying on it. Sokka decided to check them. Picking the smaller one up, Sokka observed a black and white picture of a man who looked a lot like Eggman, only he was quite older, The father maybe? there was also a young smiling girl next to him; she appeared to be around Katara's age."hm..." escaped Sokka's throat.
The larger paper proved to be much more strenuous to decipher: while he could not even remotely understand the text, on the top right corner there was a picture of what resembled an over-sized reptile, with all sorts of bolts plugged into it, with thick tubes running from its head to whatever that thing on its back was supposed to be. His gaze returned to the remains in the cylinder; he speculated it was a different reptile than in the picture, as the latter seemed far bigger."Huh..." he mumbled.
Satisfied with the information, Sokka decided to keep the smaller picture in his pocket as a souvenir (that's assuming the teen would make it out of hear alive), and turned to leave when, as expected, his clumsy toe simply couldn't leave without making contact with something heavy and - as if it could be made of anything else - metallic. The teen naturally began to bounce up and down one foot and clutching the other while grunting out words and phrases he had only heard aboard naval vessels; if only he had abandoned his primitive wear for a pair of sturdy Fire Nation boots he wouldn't be faced with inconveniences such as this. When the latest batch of pain receded, Sokka's instinctive curiosity returned and he preceded to pick up the origin of stubbed-big-toe (which weighed at least thirty pounds) to quench his thirst for clues once more.
The device was long and slender, rivaling Sokka himself in height, though he held it horizontally. It kind of resembled a dragon with its mouth-like design on one end and arranged spikes on the other; which, along with its black and red trim color scheme, made it appear more Fire Nation than anything else on this station. Sokka took note of a handle on the latter end of the device; carefully wrapping his right hand around the handle without dropping the thing, the warrior also felt what he guessed was a trigger mechanism at the vertex of the handle and the rest of the device. He did his best to position his hands around it where he supposed they ought to be, getting a feel of it."Hmm..." Sokka mumbled, facinated by the device. Now all that was left to do was determine the purpose of the invention, which he might have been able to do peacfully, if it wasn't for the Gold Beetle drone that literally popped out of thin air right in front of the teen, causing him to cringe in fear, thus squeezing the trigger by accident...
*BAYAM!*
Before Sokka knew what happened, he was sitting in a chair, holding the device tightly to his person, and the machine had completely vanished, though the teen did notice a molten hole through the wall he was facing, as well as the wall behind that, and the wall behind that, and so on...
Sokka's attention referred to the former end of the device, the nosil now leaking with smoke - it did not take even his unmatched detective skills to understand what had just took place...
Recovering from his stupor, the Water Tribe native arose from the chair and turned back to the remain of the previous floating machine. Curious to see if it was still loaded, Sokka pointed the weapon at it, and willfully pulled the trigger, igniting a powerful ray of light energy to shoot out the mouth, the kick propelling Sokka backwards, and decemating what was left of the Beetle.
Sokka could only gaze upon the supremely deadly weapon in his arms as he lie there on his back, knocked away by the blast. And inspite of the current conditions, his smile returned, which now morphed into a smirk as the former waterbender wondered what other "devices' this place had to offer..."Hmmmm..."
Meanwhile, in Dr. Gerald Robotniks personal quarters...
The evil scientist sat there, tucked beneath the covers of his grandfather's queen-sized bed, basking on the verge of total victory. Truly, Dr. Eggman should've been fast and sound asleep by this hour, but his oh-so overdeveloped brain was constantly re-stimulated by the sheer volume of his unmitigated triumph.
The doctor almost couldn't comprehend just how fortunate events were transpiring in his favor; why, if he were to by some means obtain the power to travel through time and update his past self of his achievement, not even he would accept it as a credible outcome.
By noon of tomorrow, the seventh Chaos Emerald would be his, and so would this new world; and he was making full preparations, marking off particular locations across the globe on a miniaturized version of the digital atlas he rendered earlier."...and I'll put Eggmanland here, and I'll put Robotniklaaaand here and...Where should Robotropolis go? The South Pole, maybe?" he mused, when suddenly, a Gold Beetle appeared before the foot of the bed.
"Doctor, two intruders have been detected on different levels of Space Colony ARK" it announced.
The doctor chuckled to himself, having been reminded that he had single handedly reprogramed the ARK's security system to believe he was actually his own grandfather, adding but another victory on his growing list of achievements."It's probably two of the girls attempting to escape again, Beetle, most likely the earth and firebenders, they don't seem to adapt as well as the Water Tribe girl..." he dissmissed, but the drone went on...
"Pharamone levels indicate the intruders are young males"
" 'Males'?" Eggman repeated, his attention finally deterred from the touch-screen pad,"How is that even..." he froze, quite familiar with the scenario,"... no..."
It took the overweight scientist a record-breaking five minutes to reach the central computer room, skidding to a halt as he readjusted he jumpsuit and spectacles, leaping onto the chair, and rebooting the surveilence feed, only to find a pair of somethings that filled his bowels with nausiating nestalgia...
"NO WAY! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" he recited, clawing at his bald head. It was none other than that boy, the Avatar, running around the station and reducing his precious robots to scrap, while one his dimwitted companions rumaged through the strorage facility for anything that looked intimidating and...was that the Shadow Rifle?
Oh, no, this couldn't be happening; he had everything planned out! It's not like he was going to kill anyone! Was this truly the his fate? Had the doctor escaped the clutches of one bold protaganist only to fall prey to another, more powerfull nemesis?
WAIT! What was that glow beneath the boy's robe? the doctor freeze-framed, and zoomed in. Could it be?
It was! It all made sense now! Eggman knew they had the emerald the whole time! Heh, looks like that reverse phychology he pulled earlier worked like a charm. All he had to do now was find a way to pry that rock from the Avatar's possession without getting burned, crushed, drowned, of blown away by a vengefull pre-teen. There was still time, right? It was not as if the child actually knew where he was going. Of course, he was getting rather close to Crazy Gadget; he wasn't that far away at all.
No, no this was still good; the emeralds were all in one place, he had a combined force of his badniks and security drones patroling the ARK; if anything, they'd bid time until the doctor thought of way to obtain the last emerald and conquer this planet for good. Besides, this boy doesn't have the experience against his technology as the hedgehog would - he was on Eggman's turf now, right in the palm of his hand, just like the world.
This. Was not. Over.
Eternal Engine
Dust, smoke, fire, sparks, the smell of burnt rubber. . .
Aang breathed, summoning as much internal energy as he could muster, and sent a devastating whirlwind through the steel tunnel that sent the turtle-like machine, scrapped remains of former foes, and shards of the glass interior flying downing the tunnel like vegetables being hacked in a blender. For a moment the air was clear. It was clear enough for Aang to, for a fraction of a second, gain his bearings. It also gave him a moment to access the situation. Some how, some way, he had been teleported on this unatural vessel in the depths of space. He was being continuously assaulted by wave after wave of metal monster. . .and before the Avatar could even finish pondering his seemingly hopeless situation, a metal bulwark slid open and another wave of blue and orange machines herded towards him.
The Avatar charged, cutting them down with a dazzling flurry of air and fire; whatever machine wasn't blasted away with a gail of wind was immediately blown to bits by a rapid strike of flame.
Aang turned and ran. . .he passed corridor after corridor, intersection after intersection, propelling his body with what little air was in this dead place, allowing him to quicken his pace. Finally, he passed through two large sliding doors and reached a vast chasm within the ship.
The airbender was breathless, not out of exhaustion, but plain shock. The size of this vessel was impossible to imagine. He could see the earth - home - from the metal ledge he stood upon. Up and around, he could see the stars and across the chasm, he saw another gate in the distance; there was no good way across, except for. . .these moving platform things. It disturbed him, but he'd dun harder things in his life than jump.
He leap over the edge and roughly landed on a platform and began leaping from one to another. A squadron of white, slender flying machines - oddly fitting the warden's description at the Boiling Rock - rushed towards the Avatar and opened fire; no matter. Taking advantage of their poor aim, he blasted them out of the air with streams of fire. It was too easy. Then a whistling noise caught his attention. . .he jerked his head to the right and several rocket-propelled missiles flying towards him. He looked forward: the door was rather far from his platform but he could make it with enough energy. He swallowed his apprehension and launched himself forth. A split second later, the missiles hit the platform and detonated, blasting it to fiery pieces. The force of the explosion sent Aang flying faster through the dead air. He went sent flying through the other door too fast to catch himself and hit the iron ground hard. He struggled to his feet, only to meet eyes with another dozen humanoid mechanizations, this time they had shields.
"Okay," he exhaled, "time for act 2. . ." he lunged.
"Katara, stop hoggin' the sheets..." Toph whined, prodding at the waterbender with her feet.
"I'm not hogging, I'm just cold; it's not my fault this bed's so small," she explained, attempting to attain a comfortable position; only incurring the earthbender's wrath even further.
"I said cut it out!" Toph cried, kicking the older girl off the mattress completely.
Katara strenuously rose to her knees."Look, I can't help it if you're so accustomed to having your own space to sleep; besides, I would've had a bed for myself if someone hadn't of set it on fire..." she threw a glare at the obvious offender.
Azula's eyes refused to open, as she were still asleep."Maybe this 'someone' you are referring to wouldn't have set your bed on fire if another someone hadn't've woken that someone up..."
"Maybe this other someone wouldn't of had to worry about waking the first someone up if the latter weren't compelled to destroy any that's not red..." Katara countered, standing up.
"Perhaps this alleged compulsion could've been averted per chance the second someone did not interfere with the previous someone's Agni Kai..." the firebender followed up, opening her eyes.
"Though, that someone would never, or rather, should never of had to interfere given the aformentioned someone refrained from cheating..." the waterbender reminded, taking a step forward.
"As a matter of fact, such a duel probably could've been avoided altogether pending that the former someone and the current someone's opponent let their personal animosities dissolve long enough for that someone to be coronated..." the princess added, supporting herself up.
"Which, would not have been an issue to begin with if the someone you're talking about weren't the heartless, caniving, egotistical, power-hungry, and partialy deranged witch we all know her to be..." she continued boldly, stomping closer to the other girl with every adjective.
"...w-Wait; who're you talking about?" Toph inquired.
"BUTT OUT!" were their responses.
"Ahh, conflict, music to my ears..." the blind girl muttered softly as she drifted back to sleep , her ears attuned to such heated desputes.
"You make me want to throw up, you know that?" Katara restarted, her tone bearing whole new sense of hatred,"You had everything a teenage girl could ever dream of, and more. You father adored you, your country praised you; you were the Fire Nation ideal, and you didn't have to do a thing to earn it. But that just wasn't enough for you, was it? You had to take shot at the Avatar, you had to sap every single drop hope and inject continent's worth of fear and misery into everysingle heart, all for a throne that you weren't even meant to inherit!"
The princess reverted to her previous sleeping position, doing the best she could to ignore the waterbender.
"You could've shown some compassion and called off the hunt when you found out Aang was just a kid; oh, but that didn't stop the 'clever and beautiful princess', did it? And hey! while you were at it, you conquered Ba Sing flipping Se! - something not even a mile long drill could do! - and all it took was getting inside your brother's head and the willful and quite obviously premeditated MURDER of an innocent twelve year old boy! Sure, any decent human being might have had a slight displacment of morals after realizing they've just contributed to genocide, and maybe of even had the heart to tell said child where the Fire Lord is roughly forty-eight hours after witnessing the man's plans to-...waitamintute...why would what I'm about to say not sound right?" she snapped her fingers,"Oh yeah, that's right! Because what I was about to say was YOUR PLAN! You were the FIRST PERSON to opt for burning the Earth Kingdom to the ground! I guess that's why it only came natural or you to stall Aang during what seemed like to everyone at the time the world's last chance for peace. Yep, just doin' what you do best - manipulating and intimidating your way to another 'glorious victory' I mean, imprisoning and separating friends and families for potentially the rest of their lives does seem a bit rude, but surely that could never stand as any kind of confliction for a girl that gloated at her own mother's disappearance, who was entertained seeing her brother's face scarred for life, and then gloating some more when charged with the task of arresting him in the name of dignity; who incarcerated her best friends the moment they speak their mind! And there was also that thing about trying to outright kill Zuko a little while afterwards; what was it you said? 'Today's the day I become an only child '? Did I forget to mention the Earth King is still missing? But I guess you knew that already; I mean, what doesn't the intuitive Azula know?" Katara shook her head."You know, the punch-line with you is that, I could let all this stuff go; you're not the first cold-blooded monster I've had the pleasure of meeting...but the thing that separates you from any possibility of redemption, is that even with full comprehension of the things you've done, what you've promoted, the lives ruined in your wake, the destruction and blood-shed prolonged sovereignty by you own decisions; after all of these things," she paused,"...you look back at it all, and you don't even care. You just. Don't. CARE-!"
"OF COURSE I DON'T CARE!" the firebender shrieked out of nowhere,"For Agni's sake, it's WAR! There's no good guy or bad guy in war! There is only fight, win, lose, conquer! Pillage! Victory! Failure! Nobody cares in war! You just float around in this little fantasy zone full of courageous heroes and vile villains where hurting people is mean and 'stupid' is just another name for 'different'. GET REAL!" she cried exasperatedly, returning to a lying position with her arms crossed, facing the ceiling."I'd expect no less. Before you even met my brother, your whole life revolved around love and family and the community, completely isolated from the real world..." she turned to Katara,"I bet you think that your pitifull standards of relationships can be applied to the Fire Nation? That, if anyone ever found what really happened to Lady Ursa, they'd look upon my family with comtempt? Puh-lease! She would've been worshiped for her ingenuity! The fact that she got away with it all alone should have made her the greatest heroine in my nation's history! And do know why? Because morality in the Fire Nation is over-rated as of one hundred years ago! All that matters is score, reputation; who to fear, and what to overcome regardless of how despicable the method seems!" she smirked, her gaze returning to the ceiling,"Oh, believe me: if there were a Fire Nation ideal, it would undoubtedly be yours truly! Never in my life have I been more certain that there was not one single individual on earth that has shown me any sort of genuine affection. 'Wait, what about your father' you ask? Do you think if I weren't as good a bender as I am, he would even waste his time with me? I wasn't his favorite child, I was his favorite general! It actually came off as a surprise to me whenever we spoke any out of either the war room or the throne room; even when he asked me personally to apprehend Zuko, he treated the meeting strictly as if I wasn't even related to him!"
She spread her arms again,"And as for Zuzu, as soon as I was born, he centered his life around trying to one-up me in everything; he never succeeded though, but it was still awfully flattering. But what about Uncle Iroh? Why, everybody just adores Uncle Iroh! Funny how that decadent, tea-loving fathead never once visited me in my cell! And I don't even wanna start with Lu Ten, that bigheaded showboder! He got whatever came to him!" she giggled rather awkwardly."And would you believe, for a while, I honestly thought it was illegal for me to talk to Grandfather Azulon? No fooling! If you thought there was a double standard in my family, you should've heard the things he'd say to Father! Hah hah, talked to'em like he was trash..." she trailed off, her tone more quiet and far less crass,"...And I guess that leaves us with my So-called 'friends'," she continued with drastic change in her usual voice pattern,"Of cousre, they have every right to despise me. Not even I know why I recruted them, it's not like Ty Lee's the only chi blocker in existence; probably for to gnaw at Zuko's moral in some sadistic fashion...and then Mai..." she hissed, getting worked up again,"How could she turn on me like that! She had everything! But no, she couldn't let go of Zuko; even after he turned his back on the entire nation, She just would not shut up about ZUKO!" she screamed, swinging her hands in a way that made small but dangerous arcs of blue flame illuminate the room and cause Katara to stumble backwards.
When the Water Tribe girl arose, she nearly gawked at the sight of the former princess curled underneath the blanket, her body trembling.
"...my...my mother..." she quaked,"...sh...she never even said 'good-bye' to me...how is that suppose to make me feel? She said 'good-bye' to my brother but not me! Here I am, an intelligent, capable little girl, and I'm not even worth a 'goodbye'? Well why! I want to know! What was it about that sappy, birdbrained weakling that him elligable for some stinkin' notifacation!" she caved, finally bursting into tears.
If Katara thought she couldn't believe her eyes before...
Azula was on her back once more,"So there's the big secret: no one loved me, no one even liked me; from the day I was born and on! " she sobbed,"...But you know what?" she inquired,"None of that matters anymore. We lost; you won. I was outsmarted, and bested at the pinnacle of my power, by you no less. Our lives have fundamentally switched: now you're the beloved princess, and I'm the ragged peasant; only difference is that I am officialy the most hated female on Earth..." she lamented, her voice completely broken. She tried to stop crying anymore, but it was simply too late.
Katara's attitude was definitely softened; what she saw a minute ago as an embodiment of pure evil was now exactly what it looked like: a poor girl with no family. If her own rant hadnt' of been the spark that lit her reaction, she would've regretted saying it."...I think I know what was driving Aang to win the War..." she spoke up,"It wasn't just for his friends, all the helpless refugees, or even the Air Nomads...it was also people like you..." she looked at the floor,"The warriors, who were brought up from birth to only understand the principals of fighting and battling and mortal combat...," her memory flashed to Admiral Zhao, General Fong, Hama, the assassin know as "Combustion Man", and eventually Phoenix King Ozai,"...the kind of people that only desired victory and didn't care how it was achieved, or the damage that followed; there were people like that on either side of the War, and still are." Katara paced back to her enemy."It had to end, the world needed to change, the balance had to be restored so that, everyone could learn the true meaning of harmony...and, maybe one day...pretty much anybody can be pretty much anybody's friend..." she recited slowly, now standing before the sorrowful girl.
At this last statement, the firebender lamely propped herself against her left arm, though not fully turned to the standing girl."...Wait...are you actually telling me that...after all the madness I put you through..." she sniffled, facing her directly,"...you want to be my friend?"
"Well, I can tell you this much: I once stared my mother's killer square in the eye, and then forgave him. If I could forgive that..." the smiling waterbender replied, taking Azula's right hand,"...I can forgive anybody."
Azula's expression presented that of utter shock and almost reverence; she was so overcome by the outpouring of raw emotion that the very next thing she did was lunge off the bed and wrap her arms around the stunned Katara, holding her as if she never wanted to let go and crying a storm.
All the waterbender could do next was counter-hug the firebender and pat her on the back."It's alright now; you don't have to fight for anything anymore..." she comforted.
In the middle of such a touching moment, a certain blind girl grumbled back to consciousness."...erm, hey, Why'd you guys stop fighting?How am I 'spose to sleep with all this closer..." Toph froze the moment she leaned her right hand against the wall."...s...Sokka?"
"What?" Katara inquired.
The answer Katara got was Toph leaping out of the bed, darting to the other end of the room, and knocking hard on the wall left of the door with her fist."SOKKA! SOKKA! WE'RE IN HERE! SOKKA!" she cried.
"Toph, what're you talking about? Sokka can't possibly be here..." the waterbender reminded, still hugging Azula.
The firebender sighed, still hugging Katara."I knew it, the insanity's setting in; naturaly I was the first, and you'll be the last, you of course having the strongest will..."
"SOKKA! SOKKA! SOK-" the blind girl was cut off by a mysterious force blasting the door past her and into her bed, destroying it."...ka?
The girls turned to face an ominous shadow peering into the room, which grew in length as the sound of heavy boots could be heard entering through the door way.
The next thing the three saw was an alien figure, clad in a bulky orange and white jumpsuit and all kinds of bizarre equipment strapped around its torso. It wielded in its hands a long, black device, which was smoking on one end. On a side note, it also emitted an eerie synthetic breathing pattern that sounded like something out of an old but popular science fiction movie.
They silently scanned eachother...
The figure then put down its weapon and remove its helmet, revealing the usual indifferent expression of Sokka."Did I miss something?"
"SOKKA!" the earth and waterbenders cried, pouncing onto the teen and hugging him with all their might.
"whoah-Hey, one at a time!" he half-complained.
Azula gazed upon the laughing trio, and for the first time in her life she felt an even greater sensation even more so than love. Is this what hope feels like?
"I can't believe it! How did you even get up here? Is Aang here too?" the elated Katara asked.
"He is; but look, there's no time! We gotta get out of here before Eggman wises up!" the warrior reminded, pushing her aside and picking up his weapon."Now come on; we need to find Aang and save the universe!" he announced.
Toph paused again, raising a finger."Uh, yeah, that sound like good plan, but...how do we do that?"
Sokka raised is own finger to elaborate...but found that he could not, and brought said finger to his chin in contemplation.
Right now, the four were at a loss for words...
The iron door burst off his hinges as Sonic screeched to a halt."SONIC HEROES ROLL-CALL!"
"SONIC!" five familiar voices explained.
On the at end of the dark damp chamber hung Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, and Silver The Hedgehog; also Mayor Morishita, whom Sonic only noticed a couple seconds later.
"When someone says 'roll-call' you're supposed to say your own names, remember?" Sonic joked as he dashed to his friends."Man, I know it was just a week, but it felt like forever since I saw you guys!"
"OHMYGOD Sonic! I knew you'd find me! You really do care about me!" Amy beamed.
Tails stared blankly at the pink hedgehog."Yes, Amy, Sonic cares for you and only you...I can't possibly think of anyone else he'd go out his way to rescue..."
"I know, where're you going with this?" Amy genuinely asked.
"Honestly?" Sonic said."I technically only came here to save that guy..." he point to the mayor.
"tthhennn...hhhoww'cum wweee'rrre hhhere...?" Silver mumbled dizzily.
"What's up with you, bro?" Sonic asked.
"They heavily sedated Silver so he couldn't use his psychic powers," Tails explained.
"Which is really weird, because all they did was make him drink cactus water..." Amy noted.
"I...I'm...ssssome people c-confffussse me for a lynx but...I-I'm like...'dude...du...imma hedgehug'..." The dazed Silver drooled.
"I dunno what his problem is..."
Sonic turned to his right to see Big The Cat, held down by reasonably enormous chains.
"Those guys with the funny hats gave me even more than Silver, and I feel fine," Big said.
The blue hedgehog shook his head."No drug in the multiverse could make you slower, Big..." He turned back to his actual friends."How'd these jerks capture you in the first place? I mean, robots I get, but people with rocks and spears?"
"You know they can move rocks with minds right?" Tails retorted.
"I ccan throw rocks wi' ma mind!" Silver gurgled.
"And besides, it wasn't just them," Tail began,"who really got us was this lady riding this giant wolf-mole monster thing; it was really fast and could cause instant paralysis with it's tongue. And we're still paralyzed!"
"If you're all paralyzed, then how can you still talk?" Sonic inquired.
"If I could move my shoulders, I'd be shrugging right now," Was the fox's only answer.
"What was that thing called again?" Amy wondered."Was it a 'shushu'?"
"I think it was called a 'shrieshu..." Tails contemplated.
"Shshhshhhhusausagessss..." Silver sighed before falling asleep.
*thwip!*
In an instant, Sonic's body felt totally numb, and he hit the dirt unceremoniously.
"NO!" Tails gasped.
"she's called..." a menacing female voice began,"...a shirshu..."
Sonic could barely turned head up to see a woman with long dark hair and black clothes methodically pace towards him.
"What a total letdown..." June lamented,"They told me you were fast; but then again, so were your friends, and so is Nala..." she smirked as she gently stroked the long snout of the huge snarling beast to her left. June then took out her whip and crackled it, prompting her animal to shoot out its long prehensile tongue and strike the prisoners once again; despite the numbness, they yelped at the sting."Have to keep them lubed every hour or so, otherwise the toxin where's off...and as for you..." June knelt down in front of the growling Sonic's face."My client would like a word with you, Blue Spirit."
Without a word, She snatched Sonic by his ankles, and dragged him away from his desperately shout friends, the shirshu following. The now helpless Sonic could hear their voices calling his name, the sound fading into echoes in the darkness.