WARNING: If you get the joke about the "Snooping as usual, I see" meme, DO NOT discuss it in the review. This is K+.
Sonic: Vines of Sorrow Ch. 3
The team landed in the hot savannah of Mazuri; on their quest for the first Chaos Emerald. Not too far behind them, the Egg Carrier touched down.
On board the Egg Carrier, a human-like, female bat creature lurked in the shadows. She snuck through the craft, not making a sound, but was distracted by a jewel that was lying on the ground near her. She took the gem and triggered an alarm. She heard footsteps and tried to hide, but was unable to in the small room that she was in. She soon met eyes with Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, the captain of the ship and archenemy of Sonic.
"Snooping as usual, I see," the plump, evil genius said.
"Okay," said the bat, whose name was Rouge, "You caught me."
"I know that you have an eye for gems," Dr. Eggman said, "that's why this trap was so easy to make."
"Let me guess," Rouge said, "You want me to ditch G.U.N. and do some more work for you?"
"Of course," Dr. Eggman's responded.
"Sure," said Rouge, "I will be happy too, if I get well paid."
"You will," Dr. Eggman said, holding up a crystal, "You will get very well paid."
Rouge was escorted to the bridge. There, she met two robots; one resembling a rooster, and another resembling a tank with arms that had drills on the ends.
"EGG-001," squawked the robotic rooster, "formerly Decoe, now Scratch; capable of fast running speed and flight."
"EGG-002," spoke the tank with arms, "formerly Bocoe, now Grounder; excavation, demolition, and heavy artillery."
Then, a black and red hedgehog came up to meet Rouge.
"Ah, Shadow," Rouge said, "long time, no see."
"A pretty long time too," said Shadow, "since I took a detour."
"It's her isn't it?" said Rouge.
"Yeah," Shadow responded, his head drooping, "Molly."
Shadow had become close to a human girl named Molly, who he and Rouge met on a distant planet during the war against the Metarex. Molly reminded him about a girl that he had known before named Maria, who he was also close too. And, much like Maria, Molly had succumbed to a tragic fate.
"Hey," Rouge said, "Where's that adorable, little Dark Chao robot whose been eyeing the bunny on the other team?"
"Don't spill it!" responded the robot that she mentioned that entered the bridge right when she said it.
The little robot was called Bokkun. He was the messenger robot for Dr. Eggman who delivered explosive, not the synonym to exciting, messages to Sonic and his team. He had a crush on Cream, but was afraid that she would reject him. He wasn't that much of a bad guy and had helped Sonic and his team in the past, but he still worked with Dr. Eggman for the majority.
"Ah, right on time," Rouge said, "How's Eggman treating you?"
"Fine," Bokkun responded, though his head drooped. In truth, he was poorly treated by Dr. Eggman.
"Pardon me," said a voice that sounded like it came from a little girl, "but I have some cleaning to do."
The little group turned to the doors of the bridge to see a little Hero Chao Robot, named Breezy. She was made by Dr. Eggman not too long after the war against the Metarex to help clean Dr. Eggman's hideouts and machines. She got great praise from Eggman and was a perfect little angel… or so she was programmed to be.
Breezy flew past the group using a jet pack, much like Bokkun does, and started to clean the windshields.
"Okay team," Dr. Eggman said, "Wait time is over. We've got a hedgehog to hunt."
Meanwhile, Sonic and the team exit the Blue Typhoon and headed into the village. Chris stayed behind in case of an attack on the Blue Typhoon. They asked around for anyone who saw a Chaos Emerald. One of them claimed to have seen one in the savannah, so the team headed in that direction.
"Once again, we are facing off against some evil doers other than Eggman's armies," Sonic said, "Good thing. I get bored of facing off against that egghead."
"I agree," Knuckles said, "I could use some different kind of baddies to smash."
"And someone else to make a fool out of you," Sonic added.
Knuckles groans, rolls his eyes, and says, "Well, I'll have you know that I've wised up to Eggman's tricks. If I haven't, then why haven't I fought for him in the past couple of months?"
"Of course you have wised up," Sonic said, "I was just joking."
"Well, nobody's laughing," Knuckles stated.
Knuckles had always fell victim to Dr. Eggman's tricks. Dr. Eggman constantly claims to Knuckles that he will turn over a new leaf, when, in reality, he is just using Knuckles as a way to reach his goals. Cosmo had shown sympathy to Knuckles' constant falling for his tricks.
"Besides," Knuckles added, "Maybe someday he will change. And Cos-" He paused to change his words knowing that Tails was around. "I mean, you know who believes that people can change as well."
"Well if that's the case," Amy said, "Then why can't you consider Rouge as not just a jewel thief?"
"Huh?" Knuckles responded.
"Sure," Amy said, "Rouge can be a nuisance, a really big nuisance, but we all have to admit it, she has helped us in the past."
Knuckles paused and thought about it. There was more to Rouge than a jewel thief. He thought back to when they were fighting at Space Colony A.R.K. over the pieces of the master emerald, back to when Rouge slipped and was about to fall to her doom and Knuckles grabbed her. He remembered when Rouge gave up the pieces of the master emerald for no apparent reason. He also remembered the other times that she helped the team.
"Hey look," Cream said, taking a red gem out of a tree, "We found one!"
"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped in excitement.
"Ah, congratulations," said a voice.
They all spun around to find Dr. Eggman and his group. They also found themselves surrounded by swat bots.
"We found you," said Scratch, "And have you surrounded. Ba-ha-ha-ha!"
"Now hand over that Chaos Emerald," Grounder demanded, swapping the drills on his arms for machine guns, "Before we make you."
Suddenly, there came a rumbling sound and the ground started shaking. Everyone looked into the direction of the sound. A giant robotic rhinoceros that stood up on its hind legs and had treads for feet sped towards them.
"Just when we thought we had enough trouble already," Sonic said.
The giant rhinoceros made it to the group.
"I'm guessing you're another one of the goons for the Donkel," Sonic said.
"Correct," the giant robot said, "They call me Rage Rhino."
Eggman panicked, turned to his workers, and said, "I think we should let Shadow and Rouge take care of this." Then, they ran off.
Sonic and company went into battle. Shadow was able to teleport and attack and Rouge was capable of the drill kick, but the combined efforts of the creator proclaimed ultimate life form and the treasure hunter was not much of a help. In the midst of the fighting, Raging Rhino caught Cream in one of his giant hands and got the Chaos Emerald in the other. Wires protruded from inside his hand and poked into Cream's fur. Cream struggled to get free from the grip, but was unable too. Then, a hissing whisper was heard inside her head.
"Sleep well, do not dream, do not awake, just sleep."
"Sleep well, do not dream, do not awake, just sleep."
Cream felt herself getting weaker and weaker as her life energy slowly started to fade from her and enter Raging Rhino. She fought to stay awake, but, for some reason, she remembered Emerl.
"We can see your greatest sorrows," said Raging Rhino, "and we can use them against you. They are the key to obtaining our power."
"Emerl," Cream said, as the image of Emerl's demise played through her head.
Now, give us your energy," Raging Rhino continued, "and you can be with him… and her again." Then the memory of Cosmo's demise appeared in Cream's mind.
"Cosmo," Cream said.
As the sadness started to build inside her, she was unable to keep her life energy. She couldn't struggle; she couldn't speak; she could barely even breathe. Her eyes were about to close, when Knuckles forced the grip on Cream to come undone. He grabbed Cream and landed safely on the ground.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine," Cream said, "But it was close."
"Quick," Sonic said, "We got to get to the Blue Typhoon. We need the Sonic Power Cannon."
The team started running for the giant ship. The ship took off, produced the Sonic Power Cannon and Sonic went inside of it. Tails aimed for Raging Rhino.
"SONIC POWER CANNON, FIRE!" Tails shouted.
Sonic was launched at Raging Rhino and blasted through his chest.
"No," Raging Rhino said, "I almost had her energy. If she still has a trace of life energy left, she will recover."
"Thanks for the good news," Sonic remarked.
Raging Rhino self-destructed.
"I'll take that," Rouge said as she swiped the Chaos Emerald from the rubble.
"Hey wait," Sonic said, but Rouge was already heading off.
Sonic and Shadow chased after her and were able to stop her.
"Rouge," Sonic said, "why are you trying to steal the Chaos Emeralds despite that the fate of our world and, once again, the galaxy depends on it?"
"Why?" Rouge said, "Jewels are my passion, I collect them. And I wouldn't miss out on a golden opportunity like this."
"You're giving up the fate of the world and the galaxy," Shadow said, "just for gems?"
"Yep," Rouge said, "I am a dirty treasure hunter."
"Rouge," Sonic said, "the life of a treasure hunter, or treasure thief in your case, is only to find items of valuable quality. They may be valuable and worth a lot, but they are just items. Items are nothing like actual people. Items cannot make you truly happy."
The rest of the team was able to catch up to Sonic.
"Sonic," Knuckles said, "what are you doing? Take the emerald from her."
"Relax," Sonic said, "I want to know what Rouge will do now."
Rouge paused to think about what she will do. She looked at Shadow and Knuckles, the two closest people to her. She made her choice. She tossed the emerald to Sonic.
"I'll steal them another time," Rouge said.
She walked off with Shadow.
"You know," Shadow said, "you're not going to get your pay."
"I know," Rouge said.
Sonic gave the emerald to Knuckles.
"I guess it is true," Knuckles said, "Rouge is more than just a jewel thief."
The team returned to the Blue Typhoon and spent the night in Mazuri.
"Who knows," Sonic said, "maybe it's Rouge who will change."
"I hope so," said Knuckles, "It will make my job of guarding the Master Emerald easier. Which leads to our next question: When will Tails change back to his normal self and how?"
Tails sat on his bed in his room, looking at the picture of the party that the team had on the Blue Typhoon halfway through their battle against the Metarex. He could not stop staring at Cosmo, who was in the picture, right beside him. He then moved to a desk with the flower pot with the rose that still didn't bloom where he set down the picture.
Meanwhile, in Cream's room, Cream sat on her bed, with Cheese sleeping right next to her. She looked at the red Chaos Emerald that she had in her hands, the one that awakened the destructive killer in Emerl.
Both Tails and Cream shed a tear. Cream's tear fell onto the red Chaos Emerald while Tails' tear fell onto the rose.
Meanwhile, in the ship above the planet, Dark Sapling, Hera, and Andromeda met to discuss the recent event.
"It seems that Raging Rhino was unable to strip that little bunny of her life energy," Andromeda said, "but we were able to gather some nonetheless."
"Next time," Hera suggested, "we will send two to make sure that the life energy will be completely drained from the next victim."
"Make sure of it," Dark Sapling said, "we need life energy, if we are to reconstruct the universe."