Usual note: I own no Sega characters, but you all know that!
New note: My college break will be over very soon, so long delays between chaps will continue once more. So please bear with me on that? Thanks everyone! Chapter 5!
The sun was preparing to set over the distant horizon. The ruins of the Sandopolis Zone began forming large shadows covering the dunes surrounding them. Within the largest structure sat the team of Knuckles, Rouge, Shadow, Tails, Geoffrey, and Espio, as they waited for the return of Sonic's exploration team. When they would actually come back no one could say, but with danger as a high possibility for them, anything could happen.
"Well, this is boring!" Rouge said breaking the silence. "We've been sitting here all day, and we have no clue as to when the others will come back!"
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Espio said.
"I wonder how Sonic and the rest are holding out." Geoffrey admitted.
"I wouldn't worry," said Knuckles. "I bet they've travel so far they've reached the unknown Zone by now…"
But unbelievable as it may seem, Knuckles was wrong. For far, far away deep within a cavern of the Ice Cap Zone, Sonic, Amy, Lupe, and Mighty were all sitting close to a small campfire, putting an end to their search for the night.
"Of all the places we could've stopped for the night, WHY HERE?" Amy complained while trying to warm up.
Sonic didn't look disappointed. "Hey, that's what you get when you travel with me! Wherever I stop, you stop!"
"I'm just glad we were able to find shelter before dark" Mighty said.
"I agree," said Lupe. "Traveling aimlessly at night can lead to one of many complications and predicaments."
"Alright, I get it!" Amy shouted to the three of them. "I can never win when you guys all start talking sense…"
Sonic took a second to look at the Zone tracker. The screen remained blank.
"It looks like we're still out of the 25 mile range. I'm beginning to think running aimlessly isn't going to prove very helpful in finding that place."
"I say we keep it up that way," Mighty suggested. "With you carrying us a good distance in just one day, we'll probably stumble upon is soon…"
"That's right. We should stick with that plan and continue to think positive." Lupe said. "The more we do that, the quicker our mission can be accomplished."
Being decided that the four of them would get an early head start in searching tomorrow morning, the team huddled close and began to fall asleep.
Hours later, Sonic's heavy eyelids slowly opened. When he was awake, he could see that the sun had not risen yet. He also noticed Amy wasn't lying near him anymore. Looking around, he spotted her sitting staring at the darkness outside the cavern exit.
"You okay, Amy?" Sonic asked sitting down next to her.
"Just feeling uneasy, I guess," she answered quietly.
"Why? Bad dream? Too cold?" he wondered.
"No. Not that. I just got that old 'someone is watching us' feeling. Like we aren't the only ones here right now."
"Oh I see." Sonic knew what she meant. "You think someone might be following us? Or keeping an eye on us, right?"
"Yeah. You might say that," she admitted. And suddenly, Amy smiled grabbed hold of him in a powerful embrace!
"But if that were true, you would save me from him, right Sonikku?"
He just smiled back. "That's right. IF someone was out there. But you and I both know were just fine. Right?"
Amy felt calm again. "Yeah. It's just the four of us, and no one else."
With that, Amy walked back to the others still asleep and began to lie down. Sonic was just about to do the same. But then, he looked back toward the exit. Something had caught his eye.
Amy looked back at him. "Sonic? What is it?"
"Someone's out there!"
"WHAT?"
Sonic was staring at a pair of faint, distant red eyes within the darkness outside!
As soon as they made contact, they vanished, and Sonic could hear footsteps running away from them.
"HEY! Hold it right there!" Sonic dashed straight toward the intruder. He ran until he found himself outside the cavern and overlooking the dark snowy landscape surrounding him. He looked all around, but saw no sign of anyone, or any presence of someone being there.
"…He's disappeared…" he sighed in disappointment.
Back in the Sandopolis ruin, a certain impatient bat continued to complain.
"Every mission I've taken in the past always involved taking action. Not sitting and waiting for it to come to us!"
"There's nothing we can do but wait until Sonic returns." Shadow admitted.
"He's right, Rouge." Tails added. "The only thing we have is Rotor's suitcase of equipment, and we don't even know how to use them."
Knuckles suddenly realized. "Well Tails, you're good with machines. Why don't you take a look at it yourself?"
Tails realized as well. He hadn't even gotten a good look at Rotor's equipment yet. He didn't know yet whether or not he could work it.
"Y'know, you're right! Why didn't I think of about it?"
Geoffrey was about to say something until Tails stopped him. "And don't answer that!"
Tails unlocked the case, and proceeded to look at the equipment inside. Just as he thought, he never saw such machinery before. He had no clue what they were for, or how to use them.
"No good, guys. I got nothin'," he admitted.
"And Rotor can't help us if he isn't here to tell us" Geoffrey mentioned.
"Oh, but I can!" said a sudden voice.
Everyone jumped in surprise, and looked at the case. A small, disk-like object began to glow a neon green light. And as the light grew brighter, it seemed to form into a physical shape. To be specific, the light appeared to form a hologram image of Rotor himself!
"Hey, guys!" it spoke.
"Rotor? Is that really you?" Knuckles asked in confusion.
"But of course. It looks like you all made it in one piece. Congrats! And I see you've finally found my holo-message communicator!"
Rouge suddenly looked even more annoyed. "Oh, THAT'S just great! It took us this long to find out we could contact you for help? I wish I never decided to join this crazy crusade!"
"Well actually," Rotor began, "I always could've contacted you myself!"
"Then what took you so long?" Espio wondered.
"Haven't you heard of long distance interference?" Rotor answered. "But now that I can speak to you, tell me. How's your search for the unknown Zone?"
Knuckles was first to speak. "Sonic, Amy, Mighty, and Lupe all went to search for it themselves. They said once they found it, they would try to meet up with us and see where could go from there."
"Well although that might work, I'll need you to start a different plan since we're constantly running out of time. Don't forget, as long as that Zone still exists, there's no telling when its catastrophic effects on the planet will begin. So it looks like you guys will just have to start doing your part of my plan asap!"
"Just a second, Rote!" Tails interrupted. "Just what are we trying to do about the Zone, anyway?"
Rotor began to answer. "The only absolute way we can prevent the Zone from causing devastating harm to Mobius Z is to attempt to remove it from the planet itself! If my theory is correct, then the dimensional imbalance should vanish with the Zone, and its order should return to normal. But in order to do such a task, a very large amount of dimensional energy is required."
Shadow suddenly thought, "Maybe Chaos Control can do it! It worked for ARK!"
Rotor's expression didn't change. "Even if I could get the emeralds to you guys now, I'm afraid that such a task would be impossible even for both you and Sonic to do together, Shadow. Trying it would put too much strain on your life energy."
Shadow wondered, "What would that mean?"
"That you two would die! Even though using the Zone's dimensional space may seem logical, with only you two doing it would prove to be fatal……It just won't work."
Everyone fell silent after hearing that. They couldn't believe that of all things, Chaos Control wouldn't help them this time!
Rotor broke the silence. "Ok! The good news is that my equipment in the suitcase is all you guys will need to accomplish your mission!"
Knuckles eyes lit up. "Well let's hear it, Rote! What do we do with this stuff?"
Meanwhile in the Ice Cap Zone Cavern, Sonic and the gang were continuing their peaceful sleep. In fact, the sun was just about to dawn over the horizon. As it peeked out from under the snowcapped mountains, the first gleam of sunlight shined directly around the cavern entrance.
But as it did so, the light revealed something else. Two unknown figures with piercing, red eyes were standing directly outside the cavern entrance. Their attention appeared to be focused on the heroes slumbering within. One of the figures began to speak into a device strapped to its arm.
"This is recon team G-79. Unknown individuals detected. Possible undesirable aliens, or innocent travelers."
A deep voice answered from the device. "You know how I expect you to deal with trespassers. Is that clear?"
"………Understood, sir."
And so as Sonic and the others continued to sleep, the figure raised its hand holding a gun-like weapon and aimed it straight at them ready to fire…
Cliffy! HA! (I'm beginning to enjoy leavin' you all hangin' like this! So until next time, folks! BYE! And as usual, please review!