I'm in a bad mood as I write. My sister keeps arguing with everyone, and this story is getting harder to do.
But first off, let me say thanks to everyone who consistantly reviewed so far: Babylon Sky Hawk (Love you man!), Sonic Phantom, WhipOwnsAll, sonicliveson, and aika08. Because of reviewers and helpers like you, you make Charmy happy.
Charmy: Yeah! Thanks!
Disclaimer: Kiba and Tomo (C) Me Everything else (C) Sega, Sonic Team.
Babylon Sky Hawk (C) Himself, and me
WhipOwnsAll (C) Himself
WARNING: AT SOME POINTS, THERE WILL BE ITALICS WHICH WILL FEATURE ME AND CHARMY FIGHTING OVER THE COMPUTER AND A FEW OTHERS.
--
Ch. 17: Breaking Free From Control
Team Sonic and I flew towards MeteorTech's headquarters in the East. The sun was rising, making Knuckles groan. From my long time friendship with him, I knew that Knuckles' weakness was strong sunlight. Shielding my eyes with my goggles, the horizon illuminated the shadows in the horizon. In the horizon, stood a mighty tower on the barren red desert. The tower was the larges thing that my eyes ever laid upon.
The Babylon Rogues were waiting. They were on the outer walls. Sonic seemed bewildered when he took notice of Jet. Storm was staring at the ground, looking forlorn, like he did something wrong.
"Took you long enough," Jet said smugly.
Sonic glanced over to me, before demanding, "Where's Eggman?"
Jet's feathers were darker than before, a shade of a blackish-green. His chest feathers were stained pitch black, but darker than before. His pupils were gone, but his irises were blood red. Shadow Jet was stronger than the last time I had seen him last night.
Wave gestured back over towards the tower. "They call it the Crimson Tower. It's MeteoTech's signal tower. This tower relays all commands to its robots around the world. In other words, you're looking at MeteoTech's brain."
"That fink Eggman stole the Arks of the Comsos we got and ran in there," Storm added.
"If someone wasn't being such a drama queen about everything, we'd be fine," Kiba huffed.
Jet glared back at her. Kiba froze. Her brown eyes trembled with fear as Jet grinned playfully at her, as if saying she'd get hers soon enough.
"What's he after this time?" I asked aloud.
"Ah, the traitorious bee!" Jet crooned wickedly. "I knew sooner or later you'd come to expose your true colors, and I'm damn glad it is now."
"Hey, leave Charmy outta this!" Knuckles snapped, realizing that he called me a traitor in the past. The echidna glanced back at me, whispering his apology which I gladly accepted.
"To answer your question, Charmy," Tails said, "he's probably going to use this tower to send out a command through the power of the Arks to regain control of the robots. Soon, he was going to set the robots on rampage."
Amy gasped. "That's probably why he created MeteoTech in the first.
"The Eggmanland project again? What a joke!" Sonic added.
I snorted. "He already tried that on Angel Island when it was known as the Floating Island! It failed."
Knuckles growled at me, making me flinch. Note to self: Never bring up Eggman's Carnival in front of Knuckles ever again or I'll be pushing up daisies very, very soon.
"Looks like we gotta storm the place!" Sonic announed, leaping onto his Extreme Gear, the Blue Star. Before he could get far, Jet flew out in front of him. His arm was raised and poised to strike. What amazed me once more was that he wasn't using his Gear.
"Hold it," Jet ordered. "You really think I was going to let you fly on by without a fight? Think I was just standin' around, twiddling my thumbs?" His grin become eerie, and I could tell Sonic was creeped out by Jet's new look.
Re-gaining composure, Sonic smirked. "I get ya. Sorry to keep you waiting."
Jet raised his arm to gesture at the Crimson Tower. "First person to nab Eggman gets all of the Arks of the Cosmos!" Wave and Storm exchanged looks of contempt, fear vivid in their eyes and gasps. "And the title of fastest creature in the universe!"
"Pretty nice deal, there. I accept!"
"Let's get started!" Jet flew off, leaving Sonic in the dust.
Before Sonic left, he glanced back at the group. "Hey, Storm, Wave, Charmy, I'll make sure Jet comes back to his senses soon enough."
Wave sighed, smiling softly. "Thank you, Sonic."
Sonic gave the swallow his trademark grin and thumbs-up before all of us blasted at full speed after the insane hawk. I always wondered why Jet was transformed that fateful day. The day Kiba's prediction coming true was this day. The prediction of someone dying. How horrid those predictions that panda cursed us with. Though, I still feel that all the weight of the world is still on my shoulders. For if Jet won, the world would be a deadly place.
Jet was waiting for Sonic at the edge of the entrance. He glared at his followers, figuring out they were on Sonic's side. Though his eyes widened when he noticed Storm at my side. Storm's hand was placed on my shoulder. His boss never behaved like this. Storm was terrified.
"Well, rat, you ready?" Jet asked, pride soaking up in his tone.
"Course I am, Christmas Birdie," Sonic insulted with a smile.
Jet stared at Sonic. "What...did...you call me?"
"Christmas Birdie."
Well, Jet technically did qualify for one. His feathers are green and his eyes were red at the times. And his boots were crimson colored. So, yeah. Makes some sense. Kind of like his cousin, Bean. Though I think that was the lamest insult I ever heard.
With a beat-red face, Jet cringed and twitched. His muscles were aching from what it looked like. "Argh, you bastard! That's it, no more playing around! I'll finish you once and for all!" Jet charged ahead on his Extreme Gear with Sonic close behind.
The two raced. The first corner was a swift one, but Jet managed to curve sharply and left a fresh current for Sonic to ride on. Sonic gladly excepted the help and rode to get in front of Jet. But that's all I saw. Sonic asked us to stay put so that no one could get hurt. Wave told us to head down for Eggman to meet them at the end. Her voice was mighty scared, like a child knowing he or she did something wrong.
"Eggman wants with these Arks, rights?" Amy asked as we took a short-cut through the underground tunnels.
"Yeah, so?" Knuckles asked, punching a random robot.
"Well, if Eggman wanted to control the robots, couldn't he have added some self-destruct mechinism in case they went berserk?"
Tails slapped himself for being so naive. "Of course! Each robot that Eggman constructs usually has an off switch somewhere. Anyone that can fly follow me!" Tails left with me, Cream, and Wave.
"H-hey! What about us?" Amy shouted.
"Just head for Eggman, guys!" Tails called.
Tails guided us down the track. We saw Sonic pulling in front of Jet just above us. Jet appeared to become agitated and smashed his bansho fan onto Sonic's head. Sonic was sent spriling out of control, crashing into a wall. Jet was on him in seconds, but Sonic managed to retaliate. However, like before, we couldn't see much. Jet refused to tell me what happened in the Crimson Tower. He said that it would bring his honor down to a little crumb.
Honor schonor. I believe that's stupid. Pride? Honor? Sure, honor is fine when you are someone like Sonic or even Knuckles, but honor through greed like Jet is down-right despicable. Pride is a different factor. People always said to keep pride above everything else. What about things like family and friends? Don't they matter? Espio was prideful nearly every day, but that's when the Chaotix didn't have a case. Espio was always bound to his ninja code. Look where that got him. Pushing up daisies, but no, not even that. He had to go down in a feiry rage of an insane bird.
Jet was like Rodrigo, in a crazy way. Both of them would do anything to get what they desired. Meaning, they would slay anything or anyone or any place to get their mission completed. Rodrigo poisoned his cohort, Sterling. Would Jet do something like that? Kill any of the Babylon Rogues? Would he kill his only other family member, Bean? Would he kill his loved one, Wave?
"Jet wouldn't do that. He's not like...that," I thought to myself as Tails brought us to some control room.
The dim-lighted control room was like the one at MeteorTech headquarters. Filled with three computer screens and a keyboard with more than just the alphabelt and space bar. A screen showed Storm, Knuckles and Kiba heading down after Sonic and Jet. Another screen showed Eggman waiting patiently, surprisingly, for something to happen. Finally, the last screen showed Sonic and Jet racing. On the keyboard just adjacent to a large assortment of multi-colored buttons was a microphone with a paper next to it.
"Tails, why did you bring us here?" Cream asked innocently.
"Cream, I'm going to try to create a signal that will alter the robots programming to stop following the robot leader," Tails explained, pressing a number of buttons.
Wave intervened. "Might need some help, Shorty."
"Don't call me Shorty," Tails growled lightly with a pink face.
The swallow chuckled. "Whatever. Cream, Charmy."
"Yeah, Wave?" I asked, cocking an eyeridge.
"See what that mic can do."
Cream picked it up and tapped it with her finger. The dainty sound amplified around the room and rang into our ears. Cheese covered his ears while flying around in a pained circle. Out of shock, the rabbit dropped the microphone, hitting a button that allowed sound on the monitor that showed Jet and Sonic.
"Wow, she did something right," Wave muttered.
"Thank you, Miss Wave," Cream replied, naive to her sarcasm.
Blinking at Cream, I noticed that Tails gingerly turned the volume to the Jet/Sonic screen up. The volume went to maxium, but Tails concluded that since probably no one used this room that the volume would be as low as a whisper. We went silent and listened.
"Why?" Jet shouted from the screen. "You aren't fighting back! Why?"
"Because I can't," Sonic explained, wiping blood from his mouth.
Jet's features hardened, but his smile grew more evil. "Oh, scared rat?"
"That Ark is making you go crazy Jet, and I can't let this happen to you! It is controlling you!"
"Hm? You just want me to give this up? No way! I worked so hard...so hard to become what I am! My status, my honor, my life! You ripped everything away from me!" Jet's voice was trembling, like he was on the verge of tears. Pointing at Sonic, he harshly added, "Because of you, I lost everything."
Sonic was appaled. He had no idea Jet felt like this. One race, one stupid, meaningless, lost race, and Jet ended up like a monster. Glancing at the Ark, the blue blur gave a weary smile.
"What?" Jet snapped, raising his fist for another blow.
"I can't," Sonic simply stated. His eyes were filled with a sadness only known to him. "I can't fight someone like you when your pain was all my fault."
I was touched. Sonic was admitting that he was the problem and was ready to stand up. Jet looked equally amazed that Sonic was saying this. I looked away from the screen, hearing Cream's heartbeat go faster with each beat. Sighing, I looked back at the screen to see Sonic on his knee.
"Jet, listen to me. I may be the fastest on the ground, but in the air? With you and your Extreme Gear skills? I just can't keep up!" Sonic appeared to be praying to a god. "But I am asking you, as my comrade and friend, to let the Ark go."
"We...we're friends? Us?"
Sonic got up and grabbed Jet's hand, making sure not to touch the Ark. Jet's chest feathers changed color from jet black to a dim grey while his eyes went back to teal. His feathers, however, were still a heavy shade of green, making sure that the Ark was in control.
"Yeah, you remember last time we met?" Sonic waited as Jet nodded slowly. "You and I crossed back at Babylon Garden! In my book, that automatically makes us friends. Right?"
Jet backed away, realizing something. All of his wrongdoing. All of the suffering he put the Babylon Rogues and I threw. All of those insults and lies. Jet glanced down as his Ark. It was emitting a green hue, trying to gain back control from what I think. The hawk grabbed his wrist, muttering curses and crying out that he wanted it off. Jet tore it off, nearly breaking his wrist. His feathers returned to normal and his irises returned along with proper colored pupils. Suddenly, Jet just broke down in tears. Gasping, Jet flinched when he realized Sonic was hugging him.
Kiba: And so, the Sonic/Jet fans screamed with joy! And the author recieved a million reviews for that one part! And Babylon Sky Hawk threw up! And WhipOwnsAll twitched violently and smacked Kiba with a stick! More importantly, I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurence by switching to Geico!
Charmy: I'm back back. Sorry about that readers, Kiba just got a little hyper there. Pandas: What can you do with them?
"Sonic?" Jet asked, confused when Sonic released him.
Sonic smirked, handing the Ark back to Jet. "I think you'd better keep this."
"Me? After all the pain I put everyone through?"
Suddenly, Wave picked up the microphone and shouted in it. "Jet! Can you hear me!"
Jet picked up her voice as did Sonic. However, Sonic was frightened enough to jump in Jet's arms and-
Kiba: And the author got more reviews that before! Over nine thousand reviews! All because of some good ol' yaoi!
Charmy: Babylon Sky Hawk! She's your sensei! You deal with this!
Babylon Sky Hawk: Understood! drags Kiba away
WhipOwnsAll: Eww, that's worse that JetStorm, I think.
Charmy: Morons...Sorry, back to the story...
-Jet let him drop to the floor. He cocked his head in every direction, trying to figure out where Wave's extremely loud voice was coming from. "Wave? I can hear you, but where are you?"
Wave fiddled with the microphone before saying, "Jet, I love you. You know that. We'll always forgive you. Me and Charmy...in fact, Charmy wants to speak with you."
"No I don't!" I muttered angrily.
But Wave shoved the microphone in my hands. Glaring at her smug face, I fumed to myself. I glanced up at the screen, seeing Jet's utter shock. Heh, he kind of looked funny like a fish out of water funny. Though it was more like Nack when I shot him. Dazed and confused, like that adult-rated movie Espio refused to let me watch. Curse that chameleon...
"Well, Jet, you've been kinda tedious for a bit, but I guess that Ark just made you go mental." The word 'mental' caused Jet to cringe. My arrogance stifled and stopped flaring. Feeling bad for the hawk, I added, "It's just like Wave said, we love ya bird-brain."
And a swift smack was issued to that back of my head, courtesy of Wave.
"Ow!" I shouted, not realizing the microphone was mere inches from my lips. "Why did ya hit me?"
"Because that term is very stereotypical," Wave snapped, her voice echoing into the microphone as well.
Unfortunately, everyone, now including Kiba, Amy, Storm, and Knuckles, were laughing...at me. Again. Why is it always me? What did I do to deserve all of this crap? First, it's my comrades dying, than Jet goes psycho, and I get laughed at by one radical remark. Just perfect!
"Shut up! All of you!" I shouted into the microphone, shocking them.
"Wow, Charmy, real mature," Kiba muttered.
"Chubs."
Her left ear twitched at the nickname. Her smile was forced, exposing her sterile teeth. "Want to freaking say that again, you midget?"
"Love to!"
"Hey, hey!" Knuckles shouted, diverting our heinious attention. "Have your smackdown later. Sonic and Jet have to finish their race."
"No time!" Tails cried, taking the microphone from me. I glared at the fox who subconsiously took the gaze I suppose. "Through your silly antics, I managed to hack into Eggman's system, shutting down most of the robots!"
"Impossible," Knuckles quipped.
"How so?" The twin-tailed fox' tone was lively with arrogance, but mixed with solemn hurt.
"Remember, Tails? Those Arks of the Cosmos. The controlling one is in the main computer from what Eggman said."
"That's the part I can't comprehend." Tails shook his head vividly. "For some reason, on this computer it shows Eggman inside the main computer room, but the signal from the Ark is valid. It's like it's not there."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sonic jeered. When he noticed Jet's disjointed face, Sonic patted his shoulder. "Come on, buddy. Don't feel so glum."
"After what I did?" Jet asked miserably.
Storm decided to step up. Wrapping his arm around his best friend's neck, he said, "Everyone forgives you, Boss. Right?" Glaring at everyone, he made sure each one nodded their heads. Especially Sonic since he was the one that comforted Jet in the beginning.
Jet smiled sightly. "All right, let's go!" Leaping onto his Gear gracefully, Jet zoomed away with everyone else close behind.
Wave wiped away a solitary tear. Finally, after so much disheartened pandemonium, her boyfriend was back to normal. So what if he was acting like a total emo or Espio when he has to take his medicine? So what if his confidence was reduced to a pebble for the time being? Now I can only pray Jet doesn't read this and kill me.
--
Next: One Final Fight: Babylon's Revenge
Heh, don't kill me you guys! (gets out sheild)