Mobian Legends
Story is (c) 2004-2008 John CoonFox, SethLeopard, and SallyGirl
SatAM Sonic characters are (c) 1992-1994 DiC Entertainment
Archie characters are (c) 1993-2008 Archie Comics Publications
Sonic The Hedgehog is (c) Sega/Sonic Team 1990-2007
Snively Fox is (c) "Spug" ("spug at dirtybaka dot com")
Bookshire Stormfire Draftwood is (c) 1994-2008 "Serinthia and Bookshire Draftwood" ("serinthia at foxcoon dot com")
SatAM Research and story: SallyGirl
Chief Writer: MetaLeopard
Writer: John CoonFox
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Timeline: May 12-May 14, 3241 - After "Reign of the False King" and Tails' Adventure (Late Spring)
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Chapter 7 - A New Threat
Voices are heard discussing things from inside Freedom Headquarters.
"Ya know, this feels kinda awkward." Karl says.
"I agree. We don't normally do this type of thing." Jeff replies.
"Yeah, well, it's this or rot in prison." Nack tells his brothers, as they look at themselves through a mirror, wearing royal guard uniforms.
"I feel like a stuffed turkey." Connor says, looking his uniform over.
"Hah. You look like one, Connor." Jeff chuckles, while he adjusts his belt.
"Gentlemen, step out. I'd like to see you." King Max asks the weasels while standing outside their dressing room. The door slowly creaks open, and the weasels step out in their uniforms.
In the Zone of Silence.
"Snively, it is time we return to Mobius. It's ours for the taking, now that Robotnik is basically harmless and under my control." Ixis says, picking up his book of spells.
"Uncle J-julian..." Snively thinks to himself. "What's become of him?"
"He's safe. However, I will seal up the Void and everyone within it after we leave." Ixis explains as he opens up a portal.
Snively can't help but look at the pleading crystalline statue of Tadashi, feeling pity for him.
Ixis turns around as he walks towards the portal.
"Snively? What are you doing? Do you feel PITY for that trecharous jackal?" Ixis asks, quite offended of Snively's apparent weakness.
"N-no, sir. I'm j-just contemplating how horrible it will be for him to be lost into nothing, unable to escape." he says, rubbing the collar of his sweater, sweating slightly.
"Snively, you aren't even a lackey. You are just a spineless jellyfish. Why do I keep you around, anyway?" He asks the short human.
"B-because I know my uncle's machines and computers?" He asks.
The evil wizard simply nods his head.
"Where are you two going?" a low-pitched voice says, startling Ixis. The wizard slowly turns around, seeing a large, muscular panda standing at the entrance of his lair, with his arms folded.
"Feist." The wizard says, unimpressed before adding.
"Just what do you want, you cretin?"
"What do I want? Let me think about that one..." Feist says to himself, tapping his chin as he walks towards the two, before stopping, resting his right paw on Tadashi's head.
"You're going to seal up the Void, Ixis. I don't want that. This has been my home for the past twenty years. And what of poor Tadashi? what have you done to him?" He asks.
"The Void is of no further use to me. Now that I have fully adapted and absorbed the properties of this realm it is no longer useful to me." Ixis explains to Feist.
"How rude of you to leave me alone in here, Ixis. Especially since I was the one who taught you how to use this zone to your advantage." He says.
"I don't listen to the likes of lower life forms. I am in control now, I have the power to warp space and time at will... even you're nothing to me now, Feist, and don't you forget that." He says, standing up to the panda with a red glow in his eyes.
Feist stands firm, not afraid of Ixis one bit.
"S-sir, perhaps he wants to leave the void..." Snively asks.
"Yes... I can see that Snivley." The wizard replies quickly before adding.
"I wish to leave this place. After all, you have been using *my* void for your own selfish gain all these years, I wish to have nothing more to do with your trechery." The panda explains firmly.
"What?! You insolent fool!" Ixis snaps out with Feist growling back intently, Snively taking a few steps back at the sight of the tension. The wizard then suddenly seems to lighten up a bit with a smirk present on his features.
"Hmm, very well then, Feist... as you wish, but stay out of my way." The wizard gives a dark chuckle before turning and motioning Snivley onward.
'It's not like he can possibly stand in my way now, my full adaptation has increased my power ten-fold... after i'm done with Mobius, i'll be sure to erase this entire place from existance altogether.' The wizard thinks to himself deviously as he moves forward.
Ixis walks through the void's tunnel and emerges in Mobius, with Snively closely following. He turns around to look back at Feist through the void's warp tunnel with two others trailing just behind him, Warlord Kodos and Overlander Scientist Nate Morgan.
"Now, Feist. Seal up the void. Time is short and i have many things to do." Ixis barks at the panda.
Feist does what he is told, and seals up the Void before turning in time to watch Ixis, Snively and Kodos suddenly disappear out of view, leaving the other two behind.
The wizard walks through the deserted streets of the ruined Robotropolis, empty, aside from mounds of rubble and trash strewn about from the years of neglect and abandonment.
"Now, where was your uncle's headquarters located?" He asks.
"A-above there..." Snively replies, pointing towards the large, egg-shaped tower ahead.
Ixis grins, walking towards the bluish-silver tower as the sun sets and a storm approaches.
"This is going to be easy." He says as he walks into the building with Snively and Kodos.
Using his magic, he commands the elevator's doors to open, as the electrical grid has failed. He summons the elevator to lift them to the roof.
"Where are we going, sir?" Snively asks.
"We are going to the roof. I wish to survey my new capital city." He says as snively watches the floor buttons light up, passing 40, then 45, in succession.
They arrive at the roof shortly. Snively holds his arms close to his body, almost shivering from the winds, despite the warm air. Lightning flashes briefly above the brownish-red smog-laden sky, as the pitch-black stormclouds roll in. Snively can tell in the depths of his mind that something bad is going to happen, very soon, but he does not know what.
"Ah yes, perfect... now behold Snivley, the power of the master of Mobius. All of this world and it's people are mine now!" As soon as the wizard speaks the storm intensifies, leaving only a spiraling hole in the clouds above them. The area suddenly light up by a strange immense purple light and the ground around them begins to shake.
Snively finds a random pipe to brace himself, the winds spiraling visciously around them, lighting crashing violently all around them amidst the immense aura that lights up the entire area.
"Neither the quickster nor his gifted friend can stop me now, I will strike down my opposers with a power of the likes they've never even seen before!" The wizard begins shouting out in a fanatical tone as a sudden burst of energy around central tower suddenly bursts, creating a shockwave so powerful that it levels all of the nearby buildings, pulverising them to mere bits.
Snively squeaks out in suprise at the spectacle before him, shocked by the incredible ferocisity of the wizard's new might.
The spiraling winds then begin to fade, the storm returning to a more normal formation, yet the hole in the sky and the purple aura stays, lighting continues crashing around with persistant evil power.
"Mobians, this is your new master speaking. Come to Mobotropolis and reclaim your homes, the dawn of a new age is upon you! Come, I command it so!" Naugus speaks, echoing in Snivley's head with a loud booming tone that causes him to shudder.
Kodos suddenly walks up to the rooftop, a bit awe struck as well as he surveys the utter chaos around him.
"Are you sure they'll listen and return as you order them to?" Kodos asks, paw rested firmly on the hilt of his sheathed sword.
"Oh yes, they'll come... they have no choice, I can feel the presence of their minds right in my grasp as I speak." The wizard growls out in satisfaction.
"How do you intend to squash the hedghog and his group of rabble-rousers?" Kodos asks of the wizard.
"This disturbance will be noticed by them very soon, and when they get here... their own allies can finish them off for me." He replies.
"But why not just control their minds as well, afterall, if you can manage that many why not the rest of them?" The lion warlord inquires.
"Because, my dear fool, that would not be sufficient for the glorious revenge I have in mind." He replies again, becoming a bit frustrated with his questioning.
"Very well." The patient lion replies, continuing to clean his sword's blade with a cloth.
In the Great Forest, furs can be seen walking as if in a daze, or even a hypnotic spell. All are walking towards Mobotropolis, as Ixis guides them. Sonic looks out the window of his hut, and notices some of the freedom fighters are walking off into the forest in a daze.
"What's going on?" He asks himself, walking out the door.
The blue hedgehog approaches Bunnie Rabbot and Rotor the Walrus.
"Guys, what's going on? Why are the people leaving?" Sonic asks them.
"I don't know. They all just started walking towards Robotropolis..." Rotor explains.
"This smells of Robuttnik." Sonic says. "I"m gonna get Tails. Bunnie, come with me. Rotor, you and Antoine should stay here and notify us if anything happens."
Before Sonic has a chance to leave Tails suddenly comes running toward them.
"Guys, this is terrible. There's some kind of huge, unnatural power coming from the Robotropolis ruins!" He calls out.
"What? Well that certainly explains it!" Sonic says, slamming his fist into a gloved paw.
"Most of the villagers are hypnotized, an' walkin' away like zombies..." Bunnie explains, having followed Sonic.
"That's why we gotta get Sally and jet over to Robotropolis to find out what's going on over there!" Sonic adds.
"We need to be careful. This has to be Naugus' work, it just seems too bizaree to be Robotnik's handywork." Tails explains.
"Impossible. He's still in the void." Sonic says, not that worried.
Tails turns in the direction of the disturbance, noting the black clouds and strange dark purple spot on the distant horizon.
"Not any more... he's obviously found a way out." He adds, tails twitching about almost nervously.
"What's going on guys?" Sally asks as she arrives, with Nichole.
Tails turns his head to Princess Sally as she walks in and explains, Sonic thinking everything over for a second.
"Do we have any other proof from anyone else that can confirm this?" Sonic asks his best friend, Tails.
"Well, a couple of our spies at the edge of the Great Forest reported seeing lots of lightning from around the Robotropolis area... not to mention they were picking up really weird vibes..." Bunnie says.
"That's nothing. It could just be an electrical storm." Sonic says, trying to pass it off as a natural event.
"I doubt it, Sonic. It was Feist that told them. We really should check it out, or we could end up paying with our lives." Tails replies.
"How will we all get there in time, though? It takes a good 3 hours just to make it to Robotropolis..." Bunnie explains.
"Maybe it's best I go this one alone." Tails states.
"Oh no, you're not going in there alone pal. You may have some new tricks and stuff, but if this really is that ol' wizard and he's doing something this big... we've gotta do this together." Sonic says, placing a paw on his shoulder.
"Yes... I suppose you're right. Well, thanks to another new capability of mine, I can now fly much faster without any assistance. Sonic and I can go up ahead while the rest of you guys could take the Winged Victory." Tails explains, looking around.
"But, we could be playing right into a trap." Sally adds.
"Maybe so, but if we don't, who knows what kind of cruel things he might do with the rest of them." Tails replies.
"Yes, you're right. Alright then, let's do it to it!" Sally says enthusiastically.
"Sal-gal, shouldn't we-all notify your father of this? He is the King after all..." Bunnie asks.
"We will, Bunnie. He needs to know his kingdom is still in danger." She says.
The Freedom Fighters walk into Freedom Headquarters and approach King Max.
"Sire, we have disturbing reports from our spy network that Ixis Naugus is not only free from the Void, but has taken control of Robotropolis. We believe he is hynotizing our fellow Mobians and drawing them back to the city." Tails says.
"What!?" King Max asks in astonshiment, closing his eyes.
"I thought the Void would contain him forever. This is very bad. If he's truly breached it, the Void would become unstable, and become a Black Hole, swallowing up the planet, destroying it." Max explains.
Everyone in the room is stunned.
"Wait... I thought Ixis was on our side. He tried to take down Robotnik before Doomsday...and he was able to release Ari from the void." Rotor mentions.
"Yes, but Robotnik's still alive out there somewhere, we're just not sure where. Silver was a new prototype, made literally just months ago." Tails adds.
"But that doesn't make any sense... if Robotnik's still alive then why would Naugus be targeting us and not him?" Sally questions aloud.
The room falling silent for a moment before a feminin figure clad in black walks through the doorway.
"That's because they're actually working together... so to speak." A rich feminin voice fills the air to the suprise of those present in a room, a voice that belongs... to Fiona Fox.
Tails recognizes the voice immediately and looks to the female fox with a glare as the others look with an air of mixed confusion.
"Oh well, open the door and look who decides to drop in... they really do let anyone into this place don't they?" Tails says, walking up to the leather clad female.
"Huh, what's going on here?" Sonic asks, giving his head a scratch.
"Listen... I have all the information you need. While you have been galloping about on your little adventure I had an unprecidented opportunity to study what's going on there. Oh, not to mention there's something you should know about too, Tails." Fiona speaks to Tails with a slight grin.
"Huh... whatever, just fill is in on things you know so that we can get going and fix this problem." Tails demands dismissingly.
"I recognize her, that's Fiona... wow, she's really changed. Though it has been years." Sally says.
Fiona steps beyond Tails, who keeps a disgusted look in his face.
She looks to the others before she speaks up once again.
"Naugus has Robotnik under his control, and it looks like he may have been under the spell for quite some time. Silver was just a distraction, as was the mystic assassin Tadashi... the real dangers are still in the works. What, exactly they are... i'm not sure, but it looks like Naugus has finally become so intent on being the new ruler that he has brought it upon himself to do the job in person."
The others just look to each other before the King speaks up.
"Absolutely unbelieveable... even I can't truly understand this. Ixis Naugus is a strange being, but I never took him to be totally vile." He says, rubbing over his forehead worriedly.
Tails regains his composure and walks over to the others.
"Well, we can't just sit around guys... we've got to get to the root of this problem and i'll bet my butt it's right there in Robotropolis." Sonic says, dashing out with the others following behind, Fiona included.
They run out of the door of Freedom Headquarters, towards the makeshift airplane hangar that houses the Winged Victory, Tails' biplane.
"Alright, Sonic and I can scout ahead... but who is going to fly?" He asks.
"I can do it, I helped fix the plane up afterall." Rotor speaks up.
"Tails, there are only two seats in this thing. How will the rest of us get to Robotropolis?" Sally asks.
"Two of you will have to ride on the wings, holding onto the vertical stabilizers." Sonic replies.
"Alright. Let's go." Sally says as she sits in the passenger's seat, behind Rotor. Bunnie and Antoine then climb onto the wings. Tails looks around to see if Fiona was still around them, just to see her gone.
'There's something odd about her, I have a sneaky feeling she might be in on this too, somehow.' The twin-tail thinks to himself.
As Rotor starts the plane and steers the plane out of the hangar, Knuckles approaches them.
"Hold on a minute!" Knuckles shouts, causing Rotor to shut the plane back down.
"What's going on?" Rotor asks, looking back and noticing the echinda.
"I have sensed the disturbance as well, and it looks like you guys could use all the help you can get. Since I still have yet to return the emerald back to Angel Island, it should be an acceptable deviation from my duties to help out." Knuckles says.
"Alright then, hop on and hang on Knuckles." Rotor motions the echinda on.
"I'll run on the ground and have you guys follow me. Besides, the plane might crash if it's too heavy, with the three of ya on the wings and two in the seats. I'll be close by, though." The blue-furred hedgehog explains.
"Yes, and i'll be flying right behind him." Tails adds.
"Alright, here, take these... we'll use these to communicate with you." Rotor says, handing both Sonic and Tails a pair of earphones with a microphone attatched.
"Cool." Sonic says as he puts it on his head.
"Excellent idea, Rot." Tails adds, slipping his pair on as well.
"Hold on tight, guys!" Rotor yells over the propeller engine as he starts it up and takes off towards Robotropolis, with Sonic and a charged up Tails leading the charge on the ground.
The evil wizard, along with his two henchmen stand ready in their make-shift command center.
"Kodos...I can feel them coming, the quickster and his friends will be here soon. Perpare for their arrival." Ixis orders the lion soldier.
"...and one more thing." Ixis says, handing him a megaphone.
"Use this to alert the slaves when the Freedom Fighters show up." He says.
Kodos simply nods and walks towards the elevator.
"Those meddlesome rabble-rousers will not stop me now. Let me see just how well they can handle THIS." He says, fueling the storm to monstrous proportions around the ruins.
Ixis takes a moment to probe around for any other unsuspected activity, just find another approaching mobian, this one with an energy signature like Tails.
"Hmm, what is this... an unwelcome guest with the mystic strength nearly that of the twin-tailed one ...How very curious." "What shall we do about that one, Sir?" Snivley inquires.
"Nothing further... this is still nothing I can not handle." Naugus replies darkly.
The winds dramatically increase in speed. The rain starts to pour down, with hail, and the lightning makes it dangerous to even stand outside.
Rotor is flying on the plane with the other fighter aboard when he sees the monster storm approaching. He looks closer through his goggles.
"Oh, mah stars..." Bunnie says to herself.
"That doesn't look like any storm I've ever seen." Sally says, pressing a few buttons on Nichole.
"Rotor, plug her in. She'll try to help steady the plane, and act as a radar." She explains.
The walrus does so, plugging her into the connection port on the dashboard.
"NICOLE, what do we have ahead of us?" Rotor asks, as he flies, starting to feel some of those winds.
"Scanning... potential of hail around an inch in size, winds of up to 140 kilometers per hour, and strong downbursts. I am also detecting strong ionic residues of magic within this storm." She reports.
"Guys, we got a nasty storm ahead. I think Ixis is cooking this up to stop us." Rotor says over the intercom.
"Yeah, I can see it now... that is *definately* not natural." Tails replies through the system.
"Hah. It'll take a lot more than a silly storm to--" he says as he runs.
The blue-furred hedgehog clears the Great Forest, entering the Great Desert between the Forest and the City, before he's interrupted by several lightning strikes per second near him.
"Sonic, watch out!" Tails shots to the headgehog.
"That's some unbelieveable electrostatic discharge! You guys hide somewhere!" Rotor yells, not wanting his friend to be cooked or electrocuted.
Tails and Sonic look around, narrowly evading several strikes around them. Sonic not amused that his fur is frizzing out from all the static.
"Man, what's up with this storm?" Sonic asks over the communicator.
"The desert's rocks have silicon dissolved into 'em. You know silicon's a good conductor of electricity. It's like you're walking on a big dusty computer processor." The walrus explains, dodging lightning bolts as he flies the plane.
"Rotor, careful!" Bunnie yelps, holding onto the wing, right before a lightning bolt strikes the plane, scorching the top wings.
The walrus steers the plane at a sharp angle to the right, slightly downwards.
Back in Knothole, the remaining Freedom Fighters are listening intently to what's going on over the radio, which is linked with Tails' plane.
King Max is listening with the Freedom Fighters, very concerned.
"Antoine..." He says.
"Oui, Mon liege?" He asks.
"Get the weasels." The King tells his royal soldier.
Antoine nods and walks towards the hut housing the Weasels, complying with the royal order he was given. He pauses for a second.
"I hope ze king knows what he ees doing... I fear ze time he spent in de Void may 'ave driven 'im mad..." He says to himself.
He then pushes that thought aside and knocks on the door.
"Weasels...Ze king has asked me to get you." Antoine says.
Nack is polishing his stetson hat when he looks up.
"You heard 'im, boys. let's go." The oldest of the weasel brothers tells the others.
Antoine holds the door open for them as they leave, and he escourts them to the King.
As they enter the command center of the palace, the weasel see King Max present, along with someone else they haven't seen before.
"Gentleman, as of today, you will be assinged to the first major task of your duties. So far with your general guard duties you have done well, but today you will be following the orders of your appointed leader." The King speaks.
"Meet Captain Geoffrey St. John." The King motions toward a tall-standing skunk in decorated body armor with a green bandana around his neck.
The skunk immediately walks down the line, eyeing over the weasels carefully before stopping near Nackery.
"Well, they seem a little rough around the edges... but they shall work fine, my liege." The skunk offers a bow of his head to Max.
"Huh, this stink bag doesn't look so tough to me." Jeff mumbles audibly.
"What!?" Geoffrey snaps and marches over, getting right in Jeff's face.
"I see we have a joker amidst us, remind me to rip a piece out of you when we get back." The skunks says darkly before standing back to allow the King to continue.
"Gentleman, as you have learned, Ixis Naugus has returned from the Void. About half an hour ago, Tails and the Freedom Fighters left for Robotropolis in the Winged Victory, but have now run into extreme danger from the storm that Ixis has created. Your job is to act as the calvary and back up Sonic and Tails." He explains.
"How will we catch up to them, though? You said they took a plane, and that's pretty far off." Nack asks.
"You don't need to worry. I have a royal vehicle that can get you there quickly." King Max says as he walks with the Weasels and the squad leader into the back of Freedom Headquarters. He opens one garage, and reveals a rather old-looking but powerful van, painted black, with the Royal Coat of Arms on the doors.
The weasels look, in confusion.
"What is it?" Connor asks.
"Looks like a jalopy to me." Jeff chuckles, before being elbowed in the ribs by Karl.
"Would ya rather walk, ya dope?" Karl tells him as Geoffrey gives them both the evil eye.
"This, ahem... "jalopy" as you say... is the first Royal Secret Service vehicle we were able to recover from Robotropolis so far. It has a range of several hundred kilometers, has 2-inch-thick steel plating to protect you from explosions, bullets, lasers, and what-not. Now, I don't have the time to explain the rest right now. Take it, get to Robotropolis, and report back if Sonic and Tails have made it safely." Max explains to them.
"Yes sir!" Geoffrey gives with a salute before motioning the weasels on.
"Alright boys, let's get out there and give them hell!" He calls out before stepping into the van.
"Sire, we won't let you down." Karl tells him as they open the doors and hop into it.
Geoffrey sits down in the driver's seat and turns the engine on, hearing it roar to life, giving a smug grin.
"Hey, uh, mister commander... how about letting one of us drive? It's not like we've had things like this before." Nack says to Geoffrey.
"Later, now is not the time for this... we must stay focused on the objective at hand. Let's go!" The skunk brushes of the request, strapping himself in.
"Hey, I think I like this ride." Connor says as the skunk floors the accelerator pedeal, driving quickly out of Freedom Headquarters and Knothole Village.
The skunk quickly and skillfully drives over the wooden one-lane bridge of the Great River, and into the Great Desert within less than 15 minutes. He drives the vehicle at a break-neck speed, made somewhat easier without the vegetation to avoid.
When the weasels clear the Great Forest, they can see the severity of the storm bearing down upon them. Geoffrey suddenly stops the van.
"Why are ya stoppin'? We're sittin' ducks now, for Ixis AND his lightnin'!" Karl says.
"Get your guns ready, boys... I have a feeling this is gonna get nasty." The weasels start loading their M-16s and magnum handguns, as the skunk buckles on some ammo straps and a rifle of his own.
"You there, Nack, check the horizon for the biplane... we need to find it amidst this muck." He says, handing over the binoculars to the weasel.
Nack grabs his binoculars, searching for the biplane in the distance. "Pah. I can't find it..." He replies.
"Okay, keep searching, we're going in." He says, putting the van back into gear.
Ixis has moved back up to the roof, orchestrating the storm directly. He stops, to create a holographic image to see where the Freedom Fighters are.
"Quickster, you and your friends will perish before you can even reach me. I'll make sure of it." He says to himself.
The wizard then watches as the people begin to enter the city, walking through the rubble-strewn streets.
"Perfect. Right on schedule." The wizard mutters before moving to the edge of the roof to call out.
"Dear mobians, you have not yet reclaimed your city and yet an evil force comes this way to take it from you! You must protect the city from the one called Sonic and his supposed 'freedom fighters', for they care not of you or your rightful possession. If you find them, terminate them without mercy, for they are your true enemy!"
The words spoken out with his dark mind control in full force, the order causing them all to grow into a riot with virtually no mind to the terrible weather that surrounds them, parading out in all directions.
Kodos walks to the center park of the city, which is little more than a rubble-strewn courtyard, surrounded by high-rise office towers. The strong lion turns on the bullhorn that Ixis gave him.
"Attention! This is Commander Kodos speaking! A plane has been spotted trying to land in the city limits! Go find them and kill them if they resist!" the lion orders through the machine.
The group of people begins to disperse, searching for their percieved enemies.
Kodos picks up the CB radio on his belt.
"Kodos to Ixis. They have spotted a plane attempting a landing around here a few minutes ago." He speaks into his device.
"I am aware of this, Kodos. Also know that there is another paricularly troublesome pest inbound from the south who will be here any minute." He replies, his eyes closed as the wizard senses the approach.
"Don't worry. The whole city is ready to kill them the moment they show their faces." Kodos chuckles.
Rotor pulls up on the steering wheel, bringing the plane level with the ground, flying around 100 feet above it.
"Rotor, how are we going to fight Ixis?" Bunnie asks him.
"Well, Sonic has his Power Rings on supply, Sally has NICOLE, Tails has his new powers and we know how strong you are, Bunnie. I also previously helped Tails put two 60-calibre guns on the wings, so we can hold out if we're fired upon." He explains, flying towards the city.
The large buildings in the core become visible in the distance, as the smaller and lower buildings and factories pass by below.
"Rotor, take us down here. I think this is a safe place to land..." Sonic says, seeing a straight and relatively clear street, Tails landing right next to Sonic and looking around, noting the others nearby.
As the walrus steers the plane towards the street, they notice there are people along the sides.
"What are those people doing there?" Knuckles asks.
"Looks like Ixis' personal greeting squad. We might have an uphill battle all the way to Ixis himself as soon as we land." He replies, steering the plane to a touchdown landing on the street. Sally and Bunnie get themselves ready to fight if they need to.
"Maybe they'll listen to reason. They might be possessed and hypnotized by Ixis, but we should give it a shot." Sonic says as the land the plane on the ground and quickly jump out of the plane.
"I'm not so sure they're ready to listen. This mind control aura is even worse than I thought... they could be totally devoid of concious thought." Tails adds, taking a stance.
The freedom fighters cluster together, watching all the others closing slowly in around them.
"Guys, don't you know that Ixis is just using you and hypnotizing you into doing his dirty work?" Sonic calls out to them.
"Ixis is our benevolent leader. We have to do what he says." The badger tells Sonic.
"What about King Max? HE's your rightful leader. Or have ya'll forgotten about 'im?" Bunnie asks.
"King Max is an imposter to the crown. Now surrender to Ixis, or suffer crystalization." Another fur replies.
"Sonic, we have to get out of here. We can't hurt them either." Sally tells the blue hedgehog.
"I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'..." he says.
"The time's over for thinkin' hedgehog. EAT PIPE!" A white-furred wolf yells, charging at the hedgehog, grasping a lead pipe.
Sonic jumps out of the way and tries to dodge the swings.
"Stop moving so I can kill you!" He growls.
Sonic kicks the pipe out of the wolf's hands, startling him.
"Yo, hyena! I need some help here!" the wolf yells towards the hyena.
The hyena runs towards his friend, but Tails trips him with a quick sweep of his tails.
The wolf watches, and then raises his paws... "I-i really didn't mean none of that... see? It was all jsut a big elaborate joke...ha ha..." He cowers, as Bunnie approaches him.
"Shugah, yer in a whole lot o' trouble, now." She says, punching him.
"Whoa, Bunnie! Take it easy..." Tails says with a chuckle.
"Sugah-tails, you'd have nothin' to worry about." She says, touching his nose cutely with her finger.
They watch as the hyena then takes off, after seeing what happened to his wolf friend.
High above the surface of the planet, Robotnik is watching things very closely.
He suddenly hears a voice echoing from deep inside his mind.
"Robotnik! What is the status report of your projects?" Ixis tells him.
"Project Onyx is ready to be sent to the surface, master. However..." Robotnik replies.
"However *what*?" Ixis growls out.
"The mutations aren't quite as effective as the figures had suggested. His...master system is only running at 60%." Robotnik replies a bit sheepishly.
"Curses, that is not good enough... we can not afford to let him out too early, he must be perfectly up to spec. We need another plan then, what else is available?" The wizard asks commandingly.
"Well, now that I think about it... there is something. There is an exception robot hedgehog model in the waterfront warehouse, where the Swatbots are built." He explains.
"Very good, I shall have Snivley activate it." The wizard says before fading out of Robotnik's head just to grumble aloud.
"That fool... this just proves I can't rely on him. Oh well, what else is new..." Naugus complains idly.
Ixis then turns to Snively, now located back down in the headquarters now that the freedom fighters had arrived.
"Go to the Swatbot Factory on the bay and activate the robot hegehog." Ixis instructs him.
"You... must mean the Metallix unit, sir." Snively says.
"Yes, whatever, do it." Naugus replies as he silently continues monitoring the progress of the freedom fighters as Snively steps out of the room. He suddenly summons a holographic image of the 'surpise addition' as they come into city limits.
"Well well, what have we here... seems like our guest has arrived. Peculiar, she bares considerable resemblance to the twin-tail in looks and power. This shall be interesting." He mumbles aloud before paging Kodos on the system.
"Kodos, the other fighter I told you about has arrived... she is potential trouble. I want you to deal with her, personally." He orders through the system to the lion.
"Consider it done, Naugus." Kodos replies, already having the vixen in sight from a nearby ally.
Snively trudges his way toward the warehouse, trying not to get blown away.
"Nagus is truly mad... Metallix may likely kill everyone, his programming was never completed... but if I resist, he'll tear me a new one." he says to himself as he walks into the factory.
He gets his access card out and puts it into the door's access reader.
"Access Granted, Snively." The door's speaker says, opening.
The door slides open, with some mist. Standing before him, in a special suspension chamber, is Robotnik's greatest robotic creation, a metallic duplicate of Sonic. The machine is currently in rest mode, but is operational. As snively steps forward, it raises its head and its eyes glow an eerie red colour.
"Identify yourself!" He says.
"GAH! The robot is already functioning!" Snively shouts, stepping back.
"Who are you? Identify yourself or you will be terminated." The metallic robot says.
"I-I'm Snively Kintobor, nephew of Robotnik..." He explains.
"Doctor Robotnik? My creator? I see... I am Metal Sonic, the Metal Robotic Hedgehog, but you can call me Metallix. How can I be of service?" The metal hedgehog asks.
Snively thinks to himself, very pleased of this revelation. Since Metallix is still functional and capable of its goals, he can release it.
"Your orders are to kill Sonic, and his Freedom Fighters. Stop at NOTHING." He tells his robotnic slave.
The suspension chamber opens and the robot steps free.
"I will comply with the orders given." He replies, running and then flying off with his back-mounted rocket booster, in search of Sonic.
"I can only hope, that perhaps... perhaps Metallix will kill Sonic, and then Naugus..." Snively says to himself as he watches Metallix fly off in the distance before slowly walking out of the building.
On the far side of the Fiona walks down a now vacant street, the mind-controlled mass already heading toward the center to find the other invaders.
Fiona stops suddenly and gives a smirk.
"Come out here, I know you're hiding over there." Fiona speaks before looking at a nearby building, which from inbetween the big lion appears.
"My, aren't we quite a persceptive little one." The lion says with a chuckle, holding his giant battle axe in his paws.
Fiona turns turns to face him, hair matted with rain and her eyes glowing a deep blue as she looks up to him.
"So unfitting for such a huge boy like you to be hiding like a coward." The lion snorts in return at the remark.
"Typical, the only thing dangerous about you is your mouth... I shall take care of you quickly." He says before giving his of his massive ask, aimed right for the vixen.
Fiona quickly flares up with an aura charge and manages to stop his axe in mid swing with just one paw.
Kodos cringes in a bit of shock as the darkly glowing vixen defies his strength so easily.
"How is it that you are so strong? This axe weighs far more than your own body!" The two struggling for control, Fiona managing to hold the axe mere inches from her face with a dark chuckle.
"Now you see, don't you? ...I am quite dangerous indeed." She gives the lion a sudden hard kick, knocking him back into a pile of rubble, his own axe in her paw.
The Freedom Fighters stand across the courtyard from the main entrance to the large egg-shaped building. Sonic turns to Knuckles. "The only thing standing between us is that large cluster of mobians." Sonic tells him.
"There's so many of them, just how are we going to do this?" Knuckles asks.
"We should be able to handle this no problem, trust me." Sonic replies confidently.
"Alright..." Knuckles replies a bit concerned.
Sonic dashes out there quickly, stopping just in front of the mass.
"Looking for someone?" Sonic says, giving his rump a teasing tap, riling up the rowdy mass before charging right down the middle of them with a spin-dast, throwing much of them around in the process.
Tails and Knuckles bolt out afterward, Sally and Bunny following afterward, Rotor staying behind with the plane.
The three pushing and punching their way through the roundy mass, who sling chains and whatever else they could find at them.
As the weasels drive through the streets of Robotropolis, they fire at those that try to attack them.
"What're we lookin' for again? A blue hedgehog or somethin'?" Jeff asks, aiming his gun at anyone that wants to attack them.
"Yes, we're here to backup Sonic. We can't afford to let anyone mess up this mission." The skunk says.
He then sees a short human running out in front of his van, not looking where he's going. Geoffrey slams on the brakes, catching the weasel brothers off-guard.
"What's the big idea!?" Karl asks him, rubbing his head after hitting the dashboard.
"Something just ran out in front of us. I think it was an overlander!" He explains, opening the door the door with rifle in paw, finger on the trigger.
"So, why not run 'im over? Or just ice 'im?" Jeff asks.
"We can't do that stuff anymore, boys. We're guards now, not criminals." Nack says as he steps out, and finds a quivering Snively ducking and covering his head right in front of the car, as if bracing to be hit.
"You, get up!" The skunk captain demands.
"W-what?" Snively asks.
He opens an eye, and sees himself staring down the barrel of a gun, with a gruff looking skunk holding it. He jumps up frightfully.
"Hey, don't move and I don't intend on shooting. Now who are you?" He states "S-s-s-snively..." He says.
The skunk smirks a bit, remembering him all too well, from all he's heard about him from the Freedom Fighters.
"Well, S-s-s-snively, let's go for a ride..." He prods him with the barrel of the gun, leading him towards the back of the van.
"Alright, one of you weasels cuff this goon!" The leader barks out.
"Eh, i'll get this one." Karl states, filing out and cuffing Snively firmly.
"Snively, you're under arrest!" Geoffrey says, motioning the weasel who shoves him roughly into the back, closing the door securely. They hop back into the truck and prepare to depart.
"Good job men, now let's keep going." The skunk bellows out before putting the van into drive.
The dark clad vixen stands over a now thoroughly beaten Kodos, not a scratch upon her body with the lion's axe laying several feet behind her.
"They just don't make big brutes like they used to... you're pathetic!" She says mockingly down to the lion who struggles to regain his footing.
"You... you stupid little bitch... there's no way i'm letting some... little woman topple me!" He makes another charge at her, which she quickly sidesteps and jumps up just enough to land her arm harshly against his neck, knocking him face down onto the wet pavement.
"Like I said, pathetic... I have better things to do than waste time here with you, watching you embarrass yourself." She says with a smirk over her shoulder to the other.
"No... I can't... believe this." Kodos grunts out, trying to push himself up once again before recieving a foot to the back of his head, hard enough to knock the big warrior unconcious with one final cry of pain.
"Yeah, yeah... I know." She says before beginning to walk off, tracing Tails' energy to the source in hopes of finding the others. Silently knowing that the lion is down for the count.
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles pant from their battle as they take a moment to rest amidst the chaos.
"Man, this is nuts. I could morph up to full power but i'd rather not kill them." Tails explains.
"Yeah bro, we gotta hurry, there's more coming." Sonic replies.
In the distance, they see a pair of headlights piercing the fog.
"Oh great, round three." Knuckles says, rubbing his wrist.
Sonic stands on guard, and motions for his friends to stand back.
The vehicle quickly approaches and then stops about 10 feet from Sonic. The doors open, Geoffrey and the weasels file out of the van.
Sonic chuckles a bit at seeing who is there.
"Well well, if it isn't mister odor eater." Sonic says mockingly.
"Silence, you! This is no time to be making jokes you living buzzsaw." The skunk promptly retorts.
"Where'd y'all find that thing? And what is it, anyway?" Bunny asks.
"It's called a van, and the King said it was one of the Secret Service Vehicles. Told us to get over here and give ya backup." Jeff adds.
Karl steps forward and looks at the unconscious mobains lying around.
"Heh. you guys really did a number on 'em." Karl quips.
"Hmm, good work Tails... and you too Guardian! Boys, round 'em up... we've got few more for the cargo hold." Geoffrey calls out, intentionally leaving Sonic out of the praise, who in turn just shrugs.
All of them except Sally and Bunnie walk to the back of the van. Connor opens the van door and they find Snively inside, bound and gagged. He begs to speak, but it only comes out muffled.
Tails perks his ears and Sonic scoffs as they see Snively.
"Snively." Sonic says with a scowl, removing the bandanna wrapped around his mouth.
"What're you tryin' to do? Run away like the cowardly little worm you are?" The blue blur asks him.
"Sonic! please! you must listen! I'll explain! Naugus has gone made with power ...I had to release Metallix and now I fear I may have just killed us all." He says.
"What's Metallix?" Sonic asks him.
"It's a robot duplicate of you, Sonic, that my uncle Robotnik created back at the time of Doomsday. He built it specifically to kill you Sonic, but he was never able to finish the programming on time... so none of us are safe from it with very few directives to keep him under control!" Snively tells them.
"Now we have a robot dummy of me runnin' about?" He chuckles. "Man, is it me, or is Robuttnik getting lamer?"
"Very funny, hedgehog. I'm trying to help you." Snively mutters.
"Alright, alright. So where's your uncle been hiding all this time?" Sonic asks.
"Aboard the floating space station he discovered years ago. That's not the point, though. Metallix will hunt us down. It can detect your body heat and tracks your speed. That's not the only plan Naugus has, though." He says.
"You sing like a canary, Snively... and maybe, just maybe, we'll vouch for a lighter punishment." Geoffrey tells him, sitting a boot up in the van as he leans forward intimidatingly.
"H-he's planning to build a massive cement corridor 50 meters wide all the way to the Great Forest. Once it's completed, he will instruct the people to mobilize and gather equipment to cut down the Great Forest, and burn it. He hopes this will either expose Knothole, drive you out, or kill you Freedom Fighters." He says.
"Man, Naugus really wants us gone..." Tails speaks up at random.
A dark figure appears amoungst the rain, stepping forward enough to reveal herself to the group, Fiona once again.
"Oh hi there... fancy meeting you guys here." She greets with an oddly causal demeanor, carrying Kodos' axe, it nearly as big as she is.
Tails steps forward and frowns a bit, not happy to see that she followed along.
"Hey, what've you got there lady?" Geoffrey suddenly calls out, noting the specific axe.
"Oh... this silly thing, yeah... that huge lion guy had it. He can't use it much at the moment considering his muzzle is halfway barried in the concrete." She says with a smirk, dropping the axe with a loud thud.
"What..." The others looks astonished as Geoffrey leans down to examine the axe, picking it up slowly... it takeing all of his of strength just to hold it up. "Yeah... there's no doubt this ridiculous thing belong to Kodos."
"Why are you here... and since when did you possess kitsune power?" Tails demands, looking to her.
"Number one, i've come to help you, because even you can't fight Naugus by yourself in his current state. Two, the elder kitsune knew that they needed a backup plan in case you couldn't live up to filling the shoes of the legend you're supposed to become." She replies to him with a smirk, stepping closer to him.
"Wow, that's quite a looker there. I wouldn't mind having a piece of her." Nack says boldly.
"No, you don't want this one... she's quite the psychopath." Tails corrects him.
"Sticks and stones, Tails... sticks and stones." She says before running off toward the tower, passing Bunnie and Sally in a flash.
The Freedom Fighters soon rejoin together and charge into the building after Fiona.
"Lets take the stairs. No point in waiting for an elevator." Sonic says, the others running up the stairs after him.
Ixis hears footsteps, and turns around, seeing the mobians charging up to the control room.
"Ixis, your days of terrorizing Mobius are finished." Tails tells him, stepping towards him.
"Ah, you've all made it... the vixen included. So nice of you to join me." Naugus rumbles.
"This isn't a cordial visit, freak! Let the minds of those innocent mobians go!" Fiona demands.
"That's right, magic man! We've got you surrounded... it's gonna take some trickery to get you out of this one." Sonic chimes in.
"Little mobians, do you actually think you can defeat me? I have prepared for this very day for over 8 years in that hellhole they call the Void... keeping me locked up in that place was the WORST thing you could have ever done. I learned so much about the very essence of it's existance and virtually became one with it's properties. Now the power of the entire void courses thoughout my body, even though i'm not present in it. You fools are nothing but ants to me now, and I will squash you as such!" He growls out.
"Absurd, there's no way what you state is true... if you're that powerful then why didn't you just kill us all earlier?" Tails takes a stance.
"Because, that would have runined the glory of your defeat... I wanted to see you all in person so that you could feel the fear of your imminent doom!" Naugus hisses out.
"This is crazy, why are you doing this Naugus? ....Why would you just want to kill us all of a sudden... we did nothing to you!" Sally asks with anger.
"Because, you furballs did NOTHING to free me from that HELL, you're all just as guilty as that fat idiot who ensured I stayed in there!" Nagus spits with malice, his body beginning to glow brightly with a purple aura... the feeling of evil swelling in the air.
"He's totally mad, Sal... this is going to get ugly. You and Bunnie should get out of here before this wacko blows his top." Sonic says.
"He's right sally girl, he's right crazy... there's no need for us all ta be up here." Bunnie looks to her as she speaks.
"Right, the weasel boys and I will get them out of here, proto!" Geoffrey speaks up.
"Uh, sure thing boss!" Nack agrees at the sudden volunteering.
They shuffle out with the two girls, Geoffrey pausing to look at Fiona before leaving... her very demeanour stating that she's in on the fight, even Tails is suprised at her dispoistion. They soon climb into the already loaded van and drive off into the distance.
The four warriors stand in a semi-circle around the maddened Naugus in the reminant of the Robotropolis control center. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Fiona.
Naugus suddenly bursts into manaical laughter, his aura of power continuing to grow increasingly strong... rippling in the air around them all.
"This is your last chance Naugus, give up your crazed crusade or risk losing everything you've striven for!" Tails demands, growling a bit.
"You're all fools, even with all four of you there's still virtually no chance you have of beating me! I would never surrender to you tree-hugging twerps. You will die just like your parents did in the Great War, except this time there will be no mistakes... you're ALL going to perish!" The wizard shouts as the power around them grows trememdous, creating a terrifying rumble, debris flying around everywhere along with an incredible spiraling wind.
"What... what's going on?" Knuckles says, shielding his eyes.
"This is it... he's really going for it!" Tails shouts out.
They begin slip back from the maniacal force, the windows around them being shattered out of the building along with the supports above them which soon give way, the top part of the building being thrown out into the maelstrom.
Knuckles digs his spiked fists into the ground for leverage, while Sonic ends up running in place not to get blown away. Fiona and Tails inflate their powers enough to not be displaced by the horrifying display of power, his yellow aura clashing against her deep blue.
The wizard suddenly lets out an explosive charge of fury with an incredible shout, blowing all four of them away from the tower which ends up ripped to shreads, the fighters landing out into the wreckage with heavy crash.
Each one crying out from the pain of hitting the ground so hard before struggling back up to their feet, looking back to where the control power used to be... only falling pieces of metal and the wizard's huge aura.
"Oh man... that is, unreal." Fiona says, brushing herself off.
"A-are you okay, Fiona?" Tails says as he looks to her, feeling a moment of concern.
"Yes, i'm fine..." She says half heartedly, staring out toward their agressor as Tails moves toward the other two, helping them up.
"Sonic, there's no way we can beat this guy... i've never even seen anything like this before, you may be fast and I may be strong, but it'll take all of that and then some to handle this guy." Knuckles calls out to the hegehog.
"What!? Are you just insisting that we leave and let them handle it?" Sonic getting a bit miffed, not exactly accustomed to the idea of running from a battle.
"Your friend and the other are much more suited for this kind of fight. I know there's something we can do but... i'm not sure what it is just yet." Knuckles states.
"Okay then, red... we'll hang back, but if it gets thick in there, i'm goin' back in!" Sonic says, the two maintaining their distance.
Tails and Fiona stand a few feet from each other, frowning as they look upon their foe.
"That is indeed pretty impressive Naugus... but i'm not convinced quite yet that we're all doomed." Tails suddenly tenses up and exploded into a furious aura of his own, glowing brilliant yellow as he takes super form, Fiona immediately doing likewise right afterwards much to Tails' suprise, her own deep blue flickering violently around here.
"You know how to do that already?" Tails questions her. "Of course, I didn't intend on being the one who died here today." She mumbles in return.
"Fools, you have no choice in THAT matter." Naugus forms several big balls of energy around him which convulge into one, creating an energy shield around his body. The lighting flickering intensely in the sky.
"Even with your current power, I doubt that either of you would have the strength to breach my shield... and as long as I still stand, the weather is still at my disposal."
A huge torrent of lightening begins to strike around them, both of which dodge as quickly as possible with their enhanced speed and agility... still feeling a slight burn from the lighting, it's incredible frequency keeping them constantly on the move.
Fiona manages to spot an opening in the field of lighting and fires off a charged shot toward Naugus' shield which it defends against flawlessly, exploding harmlessly just a few inches away from Naugus.
'Shit! It didn't do a thing... i've gotta find a way to gather more than that without getting fried'
Tails hears her thoughts and manages to find enough dead space to fire off a quick blast himself, which also fails to even sway the wizard's energy shield.
"Holy crap... even at super power he's just shrugging it off!" Tails says outloud amidst the torrent of thunder.
'This isn't going to work Fiona, we've got to think of something.' He sends directly to her telepathically.
'I know it... lets try doing it at the same time' She replies, bouncing about quickly between the rubble to avoid the strikes.
They both begin to forward energy to their paws as they continue to narrowly miss being hit by forks of lighting.
Sonic follows the movements with disbelief.
"Man, this is way cool... they're not only fast but they're acting like it's all happening in slow motion." Sonic watches in aw, cheering them on.
"Looks like I was right, let's just hope it's enough to stop that creep." Knuckles responds, less enthusiastic.
The duo continue bouncing around with incredible speed, however, the quickness beginning to lag somewhat as they continue increasing the charge.
'Okay Fiona... let's do it... right N-... Fiona!!' Tails shudders a bit as he hears her scream, a bolt of lighting tagging her head on, causing her to drop straight to the ground.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!! Did you think you could out-do the speed of light??" Naugus echoes out loudly.
Tails growls and releases the much bigger charge toward the wizard, tagging the shield once again with a loud flash and bang... covering him entirely in smoke and the lightening suddenly comes to a cease.
The twin-tail doesn't hesistate, jumping straight over to the downed Fiona, who's still glowing.
"Fiona... are you okay!?" He calls out loud.
"Yes i'm okay, you idiot... i'm not helpless here, geez." She grumbles as she presses herself back up to her feet, a bit dazed from the strike.
They both look toward the smoke, wondering of that was seriously enough to do the job.
As soon as the smoke starts to fade, Naugus' crazed laughter echoes once again, a flash of light appearing before being covered in a firece swirling wind, the debris spiraling up around him in a tornadic fashion, except pushing outward rather than sucking inward.
"Your efforts to beat me are laughable... now I think i'll simply blow you away!" He cackles out, the winds taking a high gail.
Sonic and Knuckles duck down in the distance as the wind picks up so fast as the two foxes struggle to hold their ground... the wind blowing a great deal of debris.
Tails covers himself with his arms as he sees a big chunk of concrete flying at him, which breaks over him into many pieces, pressing him back as well.
"Oh yeah... THAT hurt!" He groans out, knowing that if he hadn't been powered up that it would have killed him.
The winds pick up even further, whirring loudly like a giant frieght train.
'I... can't... hold on much... longer!' Tails sends out.
'Tails, i've got an idea... he's not shielding himself, if we can get blasts in their right now he'd have to drop the spin to defend himself.' Fiona replies.
'Okay, let's do it.' He replies, suddenly charging up another quick shot, the other doing the same, both sending the waves of energy surging through the swirling winds.
Just as the spin slows so that the wizard can defend himself, two beams of energy are actually shot out in a counter attack... tearing through the kitsune's blasts and out toward them, which they narrowly evade.
"Fools, I can do that too! Oh and just so you know... I can hear everything you're saying telepathically... i'm a psionic too, to say the least." Naugus says with a grin as the winds fade down fully once again.
Tails and Fiona both cringe at hearing that.
"Damn, I was afraid of that." Tails says with a growl.
The two other onlookers plot a way in on this, knowing that the others need help.
"Man, we gotta do something Knux. What they need is a distraction!" Sonic says, yet before Knuckles can reply he spots something on the horizon.
"Sonic... I think we just found a distraction, to say the least." He motions upward above the fight to the hovering robot.
"Woah, that must that Metallix, look-alike thing." He says.
It doesn't take long for the other three to see what's above them.
"Oh man, there's the damned robot... this is just not my day." Tails says, Fiona frowning deeply as the mechanical foe hovers above them, scanning down over them with his sensors.
"Hegehog spotted... wait, what is this. New primary objective aquired... Standing order #33: Terminate Ixis Naugus on sight." The robot mutters before suddenly falling out of the air, dive bombing toward Naugus.
Naugus quickly notices the hurdling robot and teleports just out of the way, the others jumping back as the fallen robot makes a considerable crater in the ground from his sudden descent, standing back up the moment it impacts the ground.
"What... what are you doing robot!? I am not your foe, the hedgehog is!" Naugus calls out annoied.
"Incorrect, Sonic hedgehog AND Ixis Naugus are valid targets... You will be terminated first due to inflated risk assesment. Prepare for extermination." The robot drones.
The wizard growls with fraustration.
"Robotnik, you incompetent fool! ...so that's what the little one meant by incomplete programming, I was also still considered a target on this old model. No matter, I will just send you back to the junk heap and resume where I left off." He sneers.
The robot suddenly charges the wizard who suddenly sends a huge bolt of lightning straight from his claw hand, which strikes the robot dead on with loud crack of thunder, but ultimatly does nothing to slow the robot down. It slams head on in to the wizard who is sent hurdling back into a large pile of rubble.
"Oh yeah! ....I hate to admit it but I am totally cheering on that bucket of bolts. That thing may just finish the job itself." Tails grins.
"Hmm, it is oddly competent for a pre-Doomsday model. A bolt of lighting of that calibur should have totally fried it." Fiona replies, watching the spectacle with her trademark smirk.
Metallix scans over the debris for signs of life below, just to find something. Suddenly Naugus shouts out in fury as huge light emits from the junk pile, Naugus emerging with a loud bang and soaring into the air.
"Useless junk! You're doing little more than irritating me! If that one wasn't good enough, then just try and supress this one!" The wizard clusters his claw hand and normal hand together, electrical power beginning to arch out all around him as it charges up from the one central point.
The robot senes what's happening, staring up at the wizard with a blank red stare.
"Detected energy level far exceeds anything on record, developing alternate plan." It droned aloud.
"Plan all you want, as long as you are metal, you'll draw this one straight to you!" He sudden lets go, an enormous beam of electrical energy hurdling towards the robot.
Tails and Fiona cringe a bit, feeling just how much power is in that beam.
"We've gotta stay out of the way of wherever that crazy thing lands, it's going to blow the be-jebus out of everything around it!" Tails calls out, Fiona nodding... both flying back to where the other two are, standing in awe... their fur standing on end from more than their acended forms.
Sonic looks to them as they end up back near them, about 20 yards from where the action is taking place now.
"Yes, that's it... just stand there! Your AI can't help you now!" The wizard laughs evilly as the oddly slow moving beam nears it's area of impact.
The robot suddenly unfolds a shield-looking object as nearly as big as it is, holding firm ground.
"Reflector shield online, alternate ground-link established, auxillary power to shield array... brace for impact." The robot drones as it takes the hit dead on, the mystic force from it destorting the senses and shifting the whole machine back somewhat.
"Energy exceeds reflection capability, rerouting for emergency absorbtion." The machine drones out once again, the eletric based attack beginning to fade against the shield as it processes the power internally.
"Ah ha ha ha ha!! What are you seriously trying to do? Your circuitry can't possibly handle that much power."
The robot beginning to smoke, the eyes glowing with incredible brilliance. It begins to visibly malfunction before suddenly regaining it's stability.
"Hmm... what now... did it break down?" Knuckles asks.
"No, I still feel all that energy coming from it." Tails speaks.
The robot suddenly turns it's vision back up to Naugus, a few strange flickers of power coming from around the brightly glowing eyes sensor befor it suddenly unleashes all of the power back at the wizard in the form of it's very eyes lasers... creating a huge beam from the circuitry that bangs out with fury.
"What... NOO IT CAN'T BE-AUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!" The wizard crys out in pain, appearing to disappear amidst the huge beam of radioactive light.
The four heroes look up in awe at what they just saw.
"Malfunction... core temperature overheating... hardware failure immine-." The robot's droning cut off as the entire unit falls over, the glow fading from the machine as it continues smoking, the smell of burnt silicone filling the air.
"Do you see Naugus anywhere, Fiona?" She looks around, using all of her senses... Tails doing likewise.
The clouds suddenly begin to disappate, showing that the wizard's control of the area is breaking.
"No, I don't sense anything... he's gone. Even his magic control of the area is breaking away."
Knuckles laughs out.
"Well, of all the irony... looks like bucket head came through for us this one time." The echinda.
"Yeah... THIS is one for the ol' history books! Right bro?" He says placing a paw on Tails' shoulder, of which the raging super form energy feeling incredibly warm on his appendage... soon letting it regress, Fiona doing likewise.
"You betcha, Sonic." He smiles before turning to look to them.
Now that the storm is breaking, a voice is suddenly heard over the communicators, first coming in staticy... then more clear.
"This is the Knothole, Sonic, Tails, please come in." Tails blinks, almost forgetting that he was wearing the thing the entire time... also shocked that it's still working.
"I hear ya Sal'." Sonic replies.
"Oh, thank goodness you're alright Sonic... what about Tails?"
"I'm here too, Sally." He replies.
"I'm so relieved, the interference from the storm was so bad that we couldn't get a single signal through from the outside." They hear from the communicator.
"Naugus is gone Sal... and you're never going to believe how it happened!" He says, chuckling.
They continue talking over the commnicator while Tails looks over, seeing Fiona walking away. He immediately runs after her and stops just in front of her.
"Hey, wait a minute! Where are you going?" She doesn't answer, just walks past him, brushing up against his shoulder as she moves past him.
"Oh... so that's how it's going to be, huh?" He frowns a bit to her.
She stops and lowers her head a bit.
"What do you want anyway? I can tell you still have great contempt for me... so why worry about me or what I do?" She replies, back still turned to him.
"Because, I still have questions... and most of all I still want an answer as to why and how you became like me!" She just shakes her head.
"It doesn't matter... I have done my part here and i'm heading off." She says dismissingly and begins to walk away again.
Tails begins to recall that fateful day, growling out.
"Damn you... what the hell is your problem!? Do you even remember, HUH? ...or did the single day that traumatized me the most of any in my life seem to have slipped from your mind!?"
Fiona freezes up and shudders a bit.
"Idiot, i'll never be able to FORGET that day!" She hisses out.
"I can't believe this... by you becoming the other kitsu-mobian, that practically means we're betroved to each other. You, of ALL mobians!" He suddenly tenses up, drawing out power and beginning to glow again, just shy of super form.
She turns around, wide eyed... looking at Tails and seeing such malice in his eyes. The others pause and looks over, seeing the tension growing over there.
"Wh-what are you doing Tails?" She asks, drawing up her own power out of fear.
"You told me, that nobody could ever love me if I didn't even have the courage to resist them. I was so absorbed into your aritifical charms that I couldn't manage and you laughed at more for it! I was barely able to hold my head up for YEARS after that and I had to go in for therapy to get in touch with the world again... all because of your arrogant nonsense. Well guess what, Fiona, that's no longer an issue!" He suddenly charges up a considerable ball of energy in his paw.
"Tails... you can't be serious, that was then and this is now... things are different!" She shudders a bit as she notices his charge.
"No, i'm holding you up to your words... now EAT THEM." He suddenly launches the explosive charge against Fiona, who then goes flying several yards into one of the still standing building remains, bashing clear in through the wall of the structure which literally topples down on top of her.
"Oooh... oh no... I... didn't mean to strike her that hard!" He says, feeling afraid that he might have seriously hurt her... running over to the rubble.
"Fiona! Fiona! Can you hear me!?" He shouts out.
The other two quickly run over, looking around the rubble as well.
"What did you have to go and to that for, little buddy!?" Sonic says a bit shocked.
"I'm sorry... i'm sorry... I just lost my head there. Oh, please be okay in there Fiona." As soon as he says that she blows away a bit the wall of debris with blast of her own, stepping out of the rubble, the three shielding their eyes as she walks out.
Her body is cut in several places and she's totally gritting her teeth in anger. Tails looks at her, feeling a bit frightful.
'Now look at what you've done...' He thinks to himself, stepping back.
She suddenly takes a deep breath, letting power dischage again and looking down for a moment.
"Fiona, i'm..." Tails says appologetically, ears laid back before she immediately starts to laugh.
"Oh... ha ha ha ha, you little devil... ah ha ha ha ha ha ha." She shakes a finger, trying to muffle her laughter with the other paw.
Tails frowns a bit, letting his arms droop.
"Err... yeah, i'm glad you find this humorous." He mumbles. Sonic and Kunckles just look at each other with confusion.
"Ha ha ha ha ha.... oooh yeah. I so knew you would get my back for that one day... I just didn't think it would be with so much passion. That look on your face, you looked like you would've blown up half of the planet just to get me." She finally takes an extended sigh, regaining her composure again.
"Soo... uhhh... everything okay over here?" Sonic says, rubbing the back of his neck in awkward moment.
Fiona smiles to them. "Couldn't be better... it's time to get going, right Tails?" She says, dragging her paw up over his cheek as she walks by.
"Yeah... let's get out of here, looks like they rounded up most of the mob anyway." Kuckles says.
Just as they move out, rushing back to where the plane landed another voice comes up on the radio.
"Rotor to Sonic, Rotor to Tails, what in the world is going on out there? I've been sitting around in the Winged Victory waiting for someone to show up over here!" He says, actually sounding impatient.
"We're on our way, Rotor... just got a bit side-tracked." Tails replies back.
"Yeah, see you in a flash, Rot." Sonic replies as well as the run up to where they landed... spotting the walrus standing next to the biplane.
"There you guys are... I was starting to worry." He says.
"Alright, i'm riding with you guys this time!" Sonic says, jumping up onto the wing.
"Likewise, I can't quite move as fast as these guys." Knuckles says as well, jumping onto the other side of the wing.
Tails jumps up into the passanger seat.
"Huh? You're not going to fly Tails?" Rotor asks.
"Nope, it looks like you make a good pilot yourself, Rotor... so i'll pass." He says, Fiona jumping up and landing in his lap.
"Well, uhhh, I guess that settles where she's gonna set." Sonic says, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.
"Fiona! This things really aren't meant for two to sit in the same seat." He adds as Fiona mockingly kicks back, as if sitting in a recliner.
"I can manage... besides this fox-furred seat is pretty comfy." She says with a grin, Tails shifting a bit beneath her uncomfortably.
The three others just laugh, Rotor slipping up into plane as well... starting the engine and making their take off.
"Rotor to knothole, we're on our way."