Mobian Legends The Series

by RingtailedFox

This story continues where SatAM Sonic left off, as an unofficial "Third Season". Mobian Legends chronicles how the Knothole Freedom Fighters cope with coming of age, as well as how they handle the new enemies that fill in Robotnik's position.

10. Chapter 10

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

- - - - - -
Timeline: May 15-May 17, 3241 - Late Spring
- - - - - -

Chapter 9 - Robotnik's Fall, and the Encounter with Ixis Naugus

"People of Mobius, it is with great pride that I bring news of the Freedom Fighters' battles of Mobotropolis. Ixis has fallen, and we can now return home!" King Max tells his people in Knothole.
"I thought the city was too polluted, though." One person asks.
"The pollution has subsided to safe amounts. Rotor and Nicole have done tests and confirmed that the pollution is not at safe levels." King Max explains.
"What about Ixis Naugus and Robotnik?" Another asks.
"They are both long gone. Our kingdom will soon be able to defend itself once more. I have already taken the liberty to re-arm our forces. We will have an airforce and navy to compliment our military." He explains.
"Now, are there any further questions?" The king asks, after a pause.
After no one responds, he then finishes his speach.
"I now hereby declare Mobotropolis, once more the capital of the Furry Realm." King Acorn speaks, cutting the ribbon to the highway leading into Mobotropolis.

"Sal, I think you should tell your dad." Sonic says to Sally as they stand just off stage.
"No no... why interrupt him?" She asks.
"I meant afterwards. He'll love it." The hedgehog responds.
"Alright." Sally speaks.
As the king walks off stage, he sees Sonic and Sally.
"Oh, hello, you two. How goes?" He asks.
"Fine. Sire, we have something to show you. Something you might like a great deal." Sonic says.
"Alright. What is it and where?"
"It's deep in the Great Forest." Sally replies. "You can see it best by plane."
"Yeah. I'll get Tails." Sonic says, bolting for the doors.
He returns a few seconds later, holding Tails' hand.
"Tails, get your plane. It's time we show the King his surprise." Sonic tells him.
Tails nods. "Alright."
They walk to Tails' plane. Tails helps King Acorn into the passenger seat, and starts the plane as Sonic and Sally climb onto the wings. The biplane quickly takes off for the hills in the distance.
"Tails, what are you going to show me?" King Max asks.
"It's a surprise, sire. One you'll love." He replies as he steers the plane.
The plane climbs and glides around the next tree-covered mountain. They approach a valley with a river and lake in it, along with a very large, well-concealed castle.
"Sire, there it is! Boreal Castle!" Sonic yells over the wind.
"It's--It's incredible. I thought my refuge and strongold was destroyed..." He says as tails brings them in for a closer look.
"It was heavily damaged by Robuttnik's missiles, but Rotor and Antoine have been fixing it up lately with us." Sonic speaks.
"The people thought of this, dad. They wanted to give something back to you, becuase you've done so much for them." Sally says.
Tails brings them around for one more look.
"The best thing, is that it'll be completely repaired in just a couple months." Tails tells them as he flies.
He brings the plane in a bit closer, showing them the front of the castle from the plane, giving the king a final look as they begin their return trip to Knothole Village. After a few minutes, the plane lands in the slightly dusty grassed field in Knothole Village. Tails hops out of the plane and helps his friends out.
Ixis keeps running through the forested valleys, following the rivers along their banks. He approaches the hills of Eastern Mobius, and rediscovers Robotnik's old Workers' Concentration Camp, where he forced people into slave labour to build his roboticizers and swat-bots, before becoming robots themselves.
"This is perfect for me to use. I can harness the power of Robotnik's machinery to enhance my magic..." He says to himself.
He closes his eyes to think for a second, and feels an energy source off in the distance.
"The Energy Crystal. I can use that to shield myself." Ixis thinks to himself.
A few kilometers away, the Mobium Stone pulses dimly with just enough light to illumiate the caves of "Lower Mobius". Griff the goat watches the control panel, monitoring it for any potential problems.
"Looks like another quiet night underground." he says to himself.
Ixis concentrates as he stands at the base of a mountain.
"Bark, Bean, can you two hear me?" He speaks, rubbing his forehead as he communicates telepathically with his double-agents.
Bean looks around.
"Hoo man! I'm hearin' voices! Am I going even crazier?" He asks.
Bark looks at him, unimpressed. He grabs the spastic, hyperactive duck by the shoulders and pins him on the ground to keep him still.
"I can hear you, Ixis. What would you like us to do?" The polar bear asks.
"I want you to steal the Energy Crystal from the freedom fighters, and bring it to me." the wizard tells him.
"Yeah. How do I do that? I don't even know where you are."
"You'll know where to find me." Ixis tells him, as he fades into silence.
Bark looks down at Bean.
"I'll take the stone, you create a distraction. We'll act when the time's just right."
"Righty-o!" Bean says, in his regular, loopy tone.

A few hours go by, when a sensor in one of the tunnels goes off. Griff looks at the screens, to see who or what is tripping the alarms.
"what? Who's there? Who knows about us?" He asks himself, looking at the security cameras. He sees the figure is none other than Ixis Naugus, running through the underground steel tube, towards Lower Mobius.
"Oh, no you don't, stranger." He says as he activates the security bulkhead doors, locking the entrances to the commuinity.
Ixis stops in his tracks just as the door closes in front of him. He feels it, knowing he can manipulate metal fairly easily. He stretches out his arms, and concentrates. The door begins to open again.
"What? This shouldn't be happening..." Griff says to himself, pressing the "lockdown" button again in an attempt to seal up the entrances again.
"That won't happen, you wretched furball." Ixis says, doubling his efforts. He overrides the door and steps into the large cavernous area. He looks around, before looking up towards the cave ceiling, at the Mobium Stone.
"At last!" He speaks.
Griff watches as the invader enters his village. he runs down from the master control.
"Stop! Who are you and what do you want?" He asks.
Ixis turns to face the goat.
"I am Ixis Naugus. Your new master. I have come for your Energy Crystal." He tells the young goat.
"You can't have it. We need it to survive down here." Griff replies.
"I can have it, and I will." He says, holding his hands out towards Griff.
The goat tries to jump away, but is frozen in place. He can see and hear Ixis, but he cannot move.
Bark runs forth through the underground tunnels and town that comprise of Lower Mobius, followed by Bean, seeing Ixis has already managed to get in.
"I thought you wanted us to take the stone ourselves." Bean says, faking being angry.
"It's a change of plans. It was much easier getting in than I anticipated." Ixis replies.
Griff is shocked that two of his trusted freedom fighters were really double-crossers. He can't move, and can only watch helplessly as Ixis leaps up to the ceiling of the underground village. He grasps the Energy Crystal and leaps back down, facing Griff.
"Thank you very much for this precious stone." He says, before turning and running off with Bark and Bean.
"Ta-ta! it's been a real BLAST!" Bean laughs as he runs off into the tunnel with Bark and Ixis Naugus.
The duck tosses a couple bombs that explode in the tunnel, causing a section of the tunnel shaft to collapse behind him, blocking Griff in the main cavern and creating some space between them.
"I have to stop him. I can't move, but I must stop him..." Griff thinks to himself.
He continues to try to move his limbs, gradually regaining his mobility. The goat runs back towards the master controls, being careful in the dimly-lit cave.
"Emergency! Someone's stolen our Energy Crystal!" Griff yells to his underground freedom fighters.
Initially, no one responds. Griff lowers his head in despair, thinking he's on his own.
His warthog general walks back in from the dark, out of breath.
"I tried to hunt them down, but they vanished in front of me. They blocked most of the tunnels with bombs and rubble. That wizard must have teleported them to some other place..." He speaks.
"That's alright. You did what you could. We'll have to leave our home now. Get everyone together, Call Paulo and Dirk if they're still around. We'll need their help. I'll call the Wolfpack and the Knothole Freedom Fighters. We'll need all the help we can get at this point." He says, feeling beaten for the first time as leader of the Lower Mobius Freedom Fighters.
The Lower Mobius Freedom Fighters can faintly hear the echoes of Ixis running through the tunnel that leads to the outside.
"You can't catch me! You can't stop me!" Ixis yells.
The polar bear and green duck then give chase through the tunnel. Ixis waves his hand and the doos slam shut in rapid succession behind him, to block anyone else from chasing him.
The evil wizard runs through the night, over the mountains and along the valleys in Eastern Mobius. He sees the dim lights of torches in the distance.
"How convenient. I can replentish myself and enslave these pathetically weak villagers." He says to himself as he nears the Wolfpack's village.
Reynard the brown-furred wolf is keeping watch over the western frontier of their small mountain village. He looks through his binoculars. He sees nothing in his view, but a breeze sends a chill down his spine. At the same time, Lupe wakes up in the underground cave den. The female wolf opens her eyes and stands up. She opens the door and walks up the stairs of the cave hallway towards Reynard's post.
"Did you feel that?" She asks him.
"Yes, I did. It felt like a terrible aura is approaching us." He replies, not breaking his gaze from his binoculars.
"What should we do with him?" Rotor asks.
"Well, we could all use 'im for his technological skills." Bunnie replies.
Snively looks around at the Freedom Fighters, somewhat frantically, and very afraid.
"How do we know he won't become a turn-coat?" Nack asks, holding his military rifle.
"Because, he was betrayed by Ixis Naugus and turned into a fox." Sonic explains.
"I think he should help Rotor and I in the technology area, like Bunnie suggested. He can help us clone Robotnik's technology and undo all of his damage." Tails suggests.
"I-I think I could be of a great use to you... P-please let me prove my worth. I'll show you can trust me..." Snively asks.
"Trust YOU? Snively, that'll take a LONG time. You tried to kill us many times." Sonic reminds him.
"It's understandable that you won't trust me. Just... let me help you defend against Metallix." Snively begs.
For a second, Sonic had actually forgotten about Metallix. It wasn't that hard, since he has yet to see the metallic hedgehog up close.
"Alright, Snively. You can help Rotor. Antoine and Nack will make sure you don't pull any tricks on us." Sonic instructs them.
Antoine motions for Snively to follow Rotor and himself to the walrus' workshop.
"Allons-y, mon ami." He says.
"All-what?" Snively asks.
"It means 'Follow Me, my friend' in French." Rotor explains, opening the door to his workshop.
Antoine and Nack walk in and Rotor follows them in.
Sonic's attention and focus return to his friends.
"Now that we have Snively working for us, we can focus on Ixis Naugus." He says.
"Do we have a way to trace his magic?" Tails asks.
"I'm not sure, Sugah-Sonic. We might have ta go by freedom fighters seeing him." Bunnie says.
"How about ionized particle residues from his Magic energy? Even in trace amounts, it might be enough of a trail to follow." Tails thinks.
"Tails, I think you've been spending way too much time with Rotor and NICOLE." Sonic chuckles.
"That's it, though. It could work." Sally says.
Sonic's confused.
"How?" He asks.
"It's like a car with an oil leak driving down the road. Simply follow the oil trail back to its source." Sally explains.
"Alright. Let's see if we can pick it up anywhere." Sonic replies.
"NICOLE, scan for any magic energy traces." Sally asks her sentient hand-held computer.
"Scanning, Sally..." NICOLE replies.
Sonic watches, and after a couple seconds, thumps his foot impatiently.
"Come on, I'm waiting..." He boredly says his well-known catchphrase.
"Just a second, my main hedgehog." NICOLE says, before she finishes.
NICOLE then displays a holographic 3D map of the globe in front of them.
"Energy traces found in Eastern Mobius, here." She says, zooming in on the main part, highlighting the trail in green.
"Where is this? It sounds familiar..." Sonic asks.
"Eastern Mobius. Roughly 800 kilometers away. Robotnik has, well, had some infrastructure in the area." She explains.
"Go on..." Sally says.
"King Acorn originally built a railroad line to the area, to deliver materials from the mines. When When Robotnik took over, he upgraded the Trans-Mobian railroad from Mobotropolis to his iron-ore mines in the area. He kept this line running, as the mines delivered massive amounts of coal, oil, and minerals to power his machinery. They also doubled as a concentration camp for prisoners that kept escaping from his other holding areas. Along with the mines, he had a workers' prisoner camp where those people would be put to work, before being roboticized, when they became too exhausted to work. He also has a prison in the concentration camp for those people who continued to escape from his other holding areas." She explains to the freedom fighters.
"I know, first-hand. I was held there when I was younger with my two friends, Mighty and Ray. I was nearly roboticized there." Sonic says.
The freedom fighters gasp from hearing this.
"Oh mah stars, sugah-hog... what happened?" She asks.
"I'll explain along the way." He explains.
"It was my first scouting mission against Robotnik. I was seven years old, Mighty and Ray were six. We were hoping to shove some detonators onto his delivery train leading to the mines in revenge for killing our families, but we were caught, and sent there to dig out his iron ore." Sonic speaks.
"How'd you get out, Sonic?" Tails asks.
"Robuttnik didn't count on Mighty, Ray, and I busting out. Man, Mighty tossed the train like it was nothing, while Ray was able to glide out and see if the coast was clear. We managed to escape after trashing most of the 'bots there. I returned to Knothole Village, while Mighty and Ray went back to where they lived." Sonic speaks.
"The area is very remote, and the only access is through the valley to the mines and workers' camp. It is surrounded by steep cliffs and heavily-treed mountains on all sides. It would be the perfect place for a villain like Ixis to practice his magic skills without worries of attack." Sally says.
"We don't have any evidence of him actually being there, though. The place has been deserted ever since I broke out of there with a couple friends and trashed the place." Sonic replies as they walk into Freedom HQ.

The three freedom fighters sit down at the table and review the map of Mobius they have.
"Incoming transmission." NICOLE notifies them.
"Put it on the main screen." Sonic says.
The main telescreen turns on, showing an image of Griff, leader of the Underground Freedom Fighters.
"Knothole Freedom Fighters, come in. Are you there?" He asks.
"We're here, Griff." Sally replies. "What's going on?"
"Ixis was here. He stole our Energy Crystal on his way out. We're evacuating our people because the cave's ventilation and structure integrity systems went down without the energy from the rock." He explains.
"What can we do to help, Griff?" Sally asks.
"We're afraid to leave becuase Ixis is nearby. He's decided to take up residence at Robotnik's old mines." The goat speaks.
"We'll ask Lupe if the Wolfpack can help you guys. We'll send our team over, and flush Ixis out. We've also managed to re-take Mobotropolis." Sally speaks.
"Mobotropolis is back? What happened to Robotnik?" Griff asks, surprised.
"Robuttnik became Ixis' lackey and he's residing in the Space Station in orbit around Mobius." Tails says, reclining in his chair.
"As for Snively?" Griff inquires.
"Snively's been turned into a fox by Ixis. He's now a freedom fighter, but just as cowardly as ever." Sonic says, laughing.
"Interesting. Well, we're ready to act when you are. Paulo and Dirk are here, as well. They suggest surrounding and using a combined thrust to attack and capture Ixis." THe goat tells them.
"That sounds good. We'll team up with our allies." Sally says.
"Well, we'll be a while. We can't take the plane again. Ixis knows it. He's encountered it before." The twin-tailed fox says.
"How will you be able to get in?" Griff asks tails.
"We borrow one of Robotnik's trains and use it to get there. We can also evacuate your freedom fighters with it very quickly." Tails says.
"I'm worried Ixis will see you coming and trigger an avalanche to bury you alive." The goat expresses his fears.
"Well, you leave that to us." Tails says.
"Alright. I hope to see you here soon. Griff out." The goat speaks before turning his system off.
Knuckles steps into the room, with his backpack and hat.
"Well, freedom fighters, it's time I must head back to my Island. I greatly appreciate your hospitality and kindness. I have my Master Emerald back, so my business here is finished." Knuckles speaks.
Sally and Sonic turn around in their chairs.
"We'll miss ya, Rad-Red. It's been great working alongside ya." Sonic tells his friend, shaking his hand.
"Likewise, True-Blue. I'll keep in contact with you, though. You guys are good friends to have." THe echidna tells them "Why not one last hurrah before you leave for home, Knux?" Tails asks him.
"What do you mean?" The curious echidna inquires.
"We're going to attack and defeat Ixis, but his stronghold is in Eastern Mobius. That's near your Island and we may need your help. You'll get a free ride home, and once Ixis is subdued, Mobius will be safe." Sally explains.
"Sounds like fun." Knuckles grins.
"It's settled. We'll leave for Mobotropolis in an hour, and travel all night to evade detection." Sally tells them.
The freedom fighters agree with her, and get prepared for their long trek.
An hour later, Bunnie walks into Rotor's workshop.
"Do you guys think you can handle Knothole while we're gone?" She asks Rotor and Antoine.
Antoine looks over his shoulder as he helps Rotor weld a piece of metal.
"Of course, Bunnie. I am a Royal Guard, and Rotor has all sorts of gadgets. We can handle ourselves. You do not need to worry." He tells Bunnie, the object of his affection.
"Alright. We'll be back when Ixis is defeated." She tells him, walking back out the door.
Ixis walks the halls of his refuge, the workers slave camp administration building. He approaches the large window overseeing the mines and courtyard, looking towards the valley in the distance.
"I know you're out there, quickster. You and your meddlesome friends are coming for me. Too bad I have the home territory advantage." He says to himself.
He raises his fist towards the air, watching as a large tower of rock shoots upwards at a nearby mountain. He smirks, watching his fists glow with power.
"Very soon, this whole wretched planet will cower under me, and I will remake it into my ideal crystalline paradise. That fool King Acorn will regret ever decommissioning the Ministry of Magic and firing me. And when I find Robotnik, I will toss him into the Void, as he did to me." He says to himself.
Sally knocks on her father's office door at Freedom Headquarters in Knothole. Sonic and Tails are with her. King Acorn is writing down some notes as he reviews requests to re-instate various ministries of his provisional government.
"Come in..." He says without looking up from his work.
Sally, Sonic, and Tails step in and sit down at the chairs in front of his desk.
"Father, I normally don't bother you about our missions unless they're large ones, but I need your approval and advice on this mission." She says.
He looks up from his papers.
"What is this mission about?" He asks his daughter.
"It's to finish up our last mission. We intend on defeating Ixis Naugus to protect our kingdom. The Freedom Fighters came very close to destroying him last time, and we've been planning that attack for a long time. We can't let it go unfinished, or it's all for nothing." She explains.
"Yes. He's a menace that I intend to arrest and prosecute in trial for his crimes. Where is Ixis? Do you need any backup from the Royal Army?" King Max asks.
"We think he's in Eastern Mobius, hiding in Robotnik's former iron-ore mine and prisoner work camp." Sonic says.
"Hmm. I'll give you command of the Fanged Felons again as backup. However, if you are unable to subdue him, I will take action. " He explains to the three younger freedom fighters.
"Take action?" Sonic asks.
"Sonic, my Secret Service has recovered three airships that my Royal Airforce had operated until Robotnik took over. I am rebuilding the Army, Navy, and Air Force to protect the kingdom. From the recovery reports, these jet-powered airships are still in working condition, and their speed allows them to reach any part of the world within six hours." King Max speaks.
"So we're gonna play second fiddle to the army now? Or are we going to be replaced entirely?" Sonic asks.
"Sonic, my father is just trying to rebuild his country." Sally says, holding his arm.
"You will never play second fiddle to the army, becuase the Freedom Fighters will still be lead the way they are. I have no intentions of disbanding your friends, Sonic. Your Freedom Fighters are far too valuable to the Kingdom and have done so many good things for it in the past. We are forever in your debt." The king finishes explaining.
"I guess I understand what you mean." Sonic says. "So that means we can go get 'im?"
"Yes. My boy, I wish you the best of luck. The Freedom Fighters have my permission for this operation to capture Ixis Naugus. If you run into trouble, call for backup and it will be on its way. Now go. Godspeed, my lad, and raise some mayhem."
"Sire, you have my word... we WILL." Sonic cheers, standing up with Tails and Sally.
The three Freedom Fighters walk out of the the King's office, and meet up with Knuckles and Bunnie outside of Freedom Headquarters.
The king then turns his chair to a two-way video screen.
"Sir Charles, what is the progress on Reconstruction?" He asks.
"Sire, I can report that 17% of the city has its power and water restored, all of it in the central part of the city. We're progressing slowly, but steadily." The metallic hedgehog speaks.
"That's more than I had hoped for, but less than I liked."
"Sire, I should mention that it will take some time to clean up all the garbage and rubble throughout the city. Robotnik make a real mess of things, and we're short on supplies and crews, no to mention dump trucks to haul it all to recycling centers..." Uncle Chuck replies.
"That's alright. Just do what you can. Please stay in touch, Sir Hedgehog." He replies.
"I shall, Sire." Uncle Chuck replies.
The video turns off.
"So, did your father give us permission to capture Ixis Naugus?" Bunnie asks.
"Even better. He said that he'd send backup if we ran into trouble." Sally tells her.
"Well, what about Robuttnik? He's still at large..." Knuckles says.
"Once we defeat Ixis Naugus, Robotnik will be freed from his control, and thus, far easier to find. We'll capture him when he comes down from the space station." Sally explains.
"You mean we don't have the capabilities to go up there and get him?" Tails asks as they walk toward Mobotropolis.
"Not anymore. That rocket we used to destroy Sky Spy was destroyed with that space station. The best we have are airships right now." Sonic tells Tails.
The twin-tailed fox motions for the Freedom Fighters to stop, as he hears something. He looks behind them, noticing Nack is running towards them. The weasel holds his gun tightly in his hands, coming to a stop a few steps from Tails.
"King Max gave me orders to accompany you guys on this mission. The rest of my weasel brothers will stay behind to guard Knothole with the Secret Service." Nack tells them.
"Glad to have ya on our side again, Nack." Sonic says as they resume their journey towards Mobotropolis.
"Before we go any further, we'll need to check our supplies. Sonic, do you have a power ring or two on you?" Tails asks the hedgehog.
Sonic checks his backpack.
"Yeah. got a few in here. Why?" He asks the fox.
"You'll need 'em." He replies as they continue on their trek to Mobotropolis.
The Freedom Fighters stop as Nack walks to a couple bushes. He starts pulling them aside, uncovering his military van.
"You said you wanted to get to Mobotropolis by sunset... Here's a good way how." Nack tells them as he starts it up.
Tails opens the rear doors, and the Freedom Fighters pile into it. The vehicle's engine roars to life.
"We'll make it to Mobo' in a third of the time, this way." The weasel says as he drives.
"How many people can fit in this van?" Sally asks Nack.
"Eight. Two in front, Six in the back. Why?" Nack responds.
"That won't do. We need to evacuate two freedom fighter groups to Knothole Village." Sally speaks.
"Well, His Majesty's Secret Service has been scouting out the city as they make sure it's safe for people to return... they found a couple of Robotnik's old... locomotives... or whatever they're called..." Nack speaks as he drives toards the large city.
As he approaches and enters the city, he slows down. He carefully navigates through the streets of Mobotropolis. The Freedom Fighters can see that the city is going under reconstruction. As they approach the Control Center, Nack stops the van.
"Alright, Princess. You said we need to evacuate a lot of people at once. How do we do that?" He asks.
"NICOLE, are there any ships nearby that are available and capable of evacuating a village of say, 100?" Sally asks.
"Listing... No available airships are readily available, due to the damage from Doomsday. There are a few land-based transport options, however." The sentient computer speaks.
"Such as...?" Sonic asks impatiently.
"We could use the rail line that lead to the mines in Eastern Mobius. We could use one of his locomotives along with one or two rail cars to transport our friends, and supplies to the concentration camp." She speaks.
"Where did Robotnik keep any of these locomotives?" Tails asks NICOLE.
"His intermodal yard is located on the eastern side of Mobotropolis, along the waterfront." NICOLE speaks.
"That's our next stop, then. Let's just hope Robotnik hasn't scrapped his locomotives." Sonic replies.
As the Freedom Fighters walk up to the warehouse, Sonic finds that the doors are locked.
Sally hooks NICOLE up to the door's electronic lock.
"NiICOLE, can you open the door?" Sally asks.
"I'll try, sally." The computer responds, going to work.
Within seconds, NICOLE is able to unlock the doors, granting them access inside. Bunnie and Knuckles walk up to the doors, and they pull them open. Sonic and Tails walk in, with Sally following them.
"Tails, it's awful dark in there... how can we see where we're all goin'?" Bunnie asks.
"Here's how." He says, pushing a switch. The large warehouse's ceiling lights turn on, revealing all of Robotnik's equipment inside.
"Oh mah stars..." Bunnie says as she looks around, walking along one row of Swatbots, with transporter vehichles next to them.
"Do you think Robotnik was planning a direct invasion of the Great Forest?" Tails asks.
"Looks that way, kiddo." Sonic replies as they walk along the row of machinery.
As Knuckles walks, he sees a rather large steel machine on two metal rails.
"Hey, freedom fighters... check this out!" He says.
"What is it?" Bunnie asks as she runs up, followed closely by Sonic, Sally, and Tails.
"Holy abalone..." Bunny says to herself.
"What is it???" Sonic asks, looking at the massive machine.
"I... I think it's a diesel-powered locomotive" Sally says, feeling one of the massive machine's axles.
"I think it's a giant scrap-heap. Just look at all the rust. I bet this thing won't even work." Sonic says.
"Sonic, we don't even know that. It could work just perfectly for all you know." Sally says.
"Yeah, Sonic. Let's give it a try before giving up." Tails says, tapping the steel side of the locomotive.
"NICOLE, do you have data on ancient land technology?" Sally asks.
"Yes, I do. Displaying data on ancient land vehicles..." Nicole complies.
"The vehicle type known as "locomotive" are extremely large and powerful machines that can be used to pull massive amounts of cargo very quickly and efficiently along twin-railed paths." She explains, showing an exmaple of a moving holographic image of a locomotive pulling a few rail cars on a track.
"We should look around if there are any cars we can put behind this. We can get our friends on the cars behind, bring them back quickly..." Tails says, looking around.
"Good idea. I'll help speed up the search." Sonic says, speeding off along the large hallways of the warehouse.
Bunnie finds a disk labelled "TRAIN INFO". She wonders what information it has on it.
"Guys, ah found somethin'..." She says as she brings the disk to Sally.
The princess analyzes the disk with NICOLE.
"Oh my. This is a great find, Bunnie! This shows all the locations of the rail cars for this locomotive, and its rail paths." She says, reading the information.
"Yeah, but does it say what they're all for?" Sonic asks as he returns, skidding to a halt.
"Yes, it does, Sonic. This must have been a tutorial disk for Robotnik's swatbots." The princess says.
"Alright. We got the train, we got the railcars, we got the manual, now we gotta go." Knuckles says, climbing into the cabin of the engine.
"He's right. Time's not on our side." Bunnie says, helping sonic and Sally into the cabin.
Tails looks around the large controlboard.
"How do i start this?" he thinks to himself.
"Here goes nothing..." he says, pushing a large green button on the control panel.
The train's large diesel-jet turbines roar to life.
"It works! We caught ourselves a break, guys... now let's go stop Ixis Naugus." Tails says, putting the train into forward gear, watching from inside as the train starts to move along the rails within the warehouse.
"Tails, do you know how to drive this thing?" Knuckles asks.
"I think I know what to do." He replies.
The train slowly rolls out of the warehouse, along the tracks. It comes to a shunting yard, with the rails splitting into different directions through a switch. Tails presses a button along the control panel, and watches as the rail in the switch moves to allow them to pass straight along the rails. As Tails passes at the other side of the shunting yard, he slows the train, and backs it up.
"Tails, why are you bringing us backwards?" Sonic asks.
"Just getting some cars to tow behind us. Sally said there were Freedom Fighters we needed to evacuate, and we need some way to bring 'em back..." The twin-tailed fox explains. Sonic and Knuckles hear the train's couplers clip onto the flatbed's, and they feel a soft bump when they meet. He then puts the train back into motion, moving forwards.
"I heard this was called an "iron horse"... well, let's give this thing a little room to gallop." Tails grins, pushing the accelerator throttle forward. The train's speed increases to 80 kilometers per hour. The Freedom Fighters soon find themselves travelling along the tracks and out of Mobotropolis and into the deeply forested and very hilly area that is Eastern Mobius. An hour into the trip, Tails increases the locomotive's speed to 135 kilometers per hour, continuing through the night. The train's engines roar loudly, echoing off of the valley's walls as it glides along the iron rails in the hills.
As dawn nears, Sally checks Nicole for their position.
"Nicole, how far are we from the mines?" Sally asks her.
"We are only 120 kilometers from our destination, Sally." She replies.
"Very good. We'll be there in just under an hour at this rate." Sally says to Tails and her friends.
Tails maintains the speed of the locomotive, slowing down through the valley along the curve.
"Something's not right..." He says.
"What do ya mean, T2?" Sonic asks.
"I mean, I can feel someone is watching us." He speaks.
"Maybe it's just pre-fight jitters..." Nack thinks.
"Maybe... But somehow--" Tails speaks, but is cut off by a huge rumbling sound.
The freedom fighters look from the front of the locomotive, as huge boulders begin rolling down the side of the mountain and across the tracks.
"What is this? An earthquake?" Sonic asks.
"It's an avalanche! Brace for impact!" Sally yells over the loud rumbling of rocks.
The freedom fighters hold on to anything they can withing the locomotive. Tails hears a loud BANG! and the locmotive is knocked sideways as it travels down the tracks, now sliding nose-first into the ravine.
"Oh NO!" Sally yelps, holding on to the controls.
The locomotive then comes to a stop, on its side, face-first towards the creek, around 45 meters from the rails, with rocks everywhere from the landslide. The train is buried up to its nose in dirt and debris.
"Holy Toledo... Is everyone alright?" Bunnie asks, dusting himself off as she helps her friends up.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Tails says, rubbing his head.
"What happened?" Sonic asks, looking out the tilted train's windows.
"Avalanche, I think." Sally asks.
"Let's get outta here, in case more rocks come down on us." Tails says, crawling out through the side door.
He helps Sonic, Bunnie, Sally, and Nack out of the tilted engine.
"What could have caused it? Noise from this engine?" Nack asks.
"I think it was Naugus." Tails speaks. "He could have spies out that either triggered a land slide, or they told him we were coming, and he brought the mountain down onto us, to try and kill us." He explains.
"Great. But why did he destroy our engine? Doesn't he know we can still walk to the mines?" Bunnie asks.
"He knows we were going to evacuate our friends. He wants them to buckle down under his power, but we won't let him." Sonic says.
Sonic then looks around, and sees that Tails is crawling around the other side of the engine.
"Tails! Don't go under the engine! If it slides down, you'll be crushed!" Bunnie says.
"It's alright." Tails replies.
He simply raises his hands into the air, concentrating very hard. A wind begins to blow from behind Tails, and the locomotive begins to shift. The freedom fighters crawl up the hill a few feet to the side.
"What's going on?" Sonic asks.
"I really dun know, but i think tails has really been eating his veggies..." Bunnie says, pointing to Tails, telekinetically lifting the huge 60-ton locomotive and flatcar up off the ravine side.
The fox carefully places the locomotive back on the rails. The Freedom Fighters are completely shocked and at a loss for words.
"Tails... how did you do that?" Sonic asks.
The fox simply blinks, not knowing what exactly happened, either.
"I-I'm not sure... I just picked up the train and put it back, like it was a twig..." the younger fox says.
Knuckles walks alongside the locomotive, inspecting its damage, seeing there are some pretty deep dents.
"I just hope this thing still works. That boulder hit it pretty hard." The echidna says.
"We'll know that in a second..." Sally replies, stepping back into the control room.
She plugs NICOLE back into the console.
"NICOLE, run locomotive diagnostics check. Include physical damage." She asks.
"Running program, Sally." NICOLE replies, calculating and inspecting.
"All tests passed. This machine is functional." She speaks upon completion.
"That's what I've wanted to hear." Tails says as he presses the green button.
The locomotive comes back to life again and resumes moving.
"Looks like we've lucked out." Sonic says to Tails, watching as the locomotive begins to move once more.
Tails simply nods in return, concentrating.
Ixis is watching through his spell-created hologram.
"You may have that little two-tailed freak with you, Sonic, but I won't let you succeed." He says, turning towards the wall.
He casts a spell where armoured mining suits hang on the walls, laughing. "I'd like to see Sonic try to stop these suits. He can't fight what's not alive."
Sally slows the locomotive as it rounds another curve, when the mining camp comes into view, with the large building perched atop the low hill. "That must be where Ixis Naugus is." Sonic says.
"Alright, we should split up into two teams: one to go after Ixis, and the other to evacuate the furs around here." Knuckles suggests.
Sally nods her head.
"Sonic, Tails, Knuckles... you guys go after Ixis. Bunnie, Nack, and I will go evacuate the other freedom fighter groups nearby." Sally explains.
The furs place their paws together, then break. The "Triple Threat" of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles run towards the mining camp, while Bunnie, Sally, and Nack head off towards the mountain.
Sonic stops as he hears laughing coming from the top floor of the long-abandoned, decrepit four-story mining camp building.
"Quickster, you and your friends may have been lucky enough to have made it here, but you will not be lucky enough to leave." Ixis says.
"That's what you think! We're here to take you down!" Knuckles shouts.
Ixis grins. "An unlikely outcome. I have my own tricks in store for you." He says.
Knuckles takes a few steps forward, but stops when the doors swing open.
"What the--?" he says, but he's cut off when three suits of armour jump out and land in front of them.
One suit is sporting a huge mallet. It swings at Sonic, who performs a backflip to avoid being struck by the solid metal object.
"Hey! That's too close for the ol' hedgehog comfort!" He says, jumping forward, trying to buzz-saw the suit in half.
The suit simply reaches forward, grabs Sonic while he's spinning, and tosses him back. Sonic yelps as he lands on his back on the ground.
"That's it! You're goin' DOWN!" Sonic says.
"Sonic, it's a suit. You can't defeat it." Tails says.
"What?" Sonic asks.
"I think Ixis Naugus is controlling it, like a puppet on a string. How else can a suit just come to life?" The fox explains.
"Go after the magic puppeteer, and the puppet goes limp." Sonic says to himself.
He thinks to himself "everything has a weakness. I just have to figure out what this suit's weakness is."
Knuckles looks around for anything that could be used to either retstrain the suits, or destroy them. He spots an axe, and picks it up.
"What are you doing, Knuckles?" Tails asks.
"I'm gonna slice this one in half." Knuckles says.
He starts swinging the axe at the suit that's charging right towards him. The suit is sliced in half, but is unaffected.
"Oh... jeez." Knuckles says.
He dodges the suit as it swings punches at him. The echidna blocks and counters, not harming it at all. Sonic is running, trying to spin-dash into a suit, when Tails gets an idea. He picks the other suit of armour up, and starts flying. The flying fox lets go from a height of around 10 meters. The suit simply crumples and jumps back to life.
"Augh. I can't believe that failed." Tails says.
"Maybe what it needs is a bomb or THREE!" Bean says, holding one of his trademark bombs in his hand as he walks forward from the abandoned building.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Knuckles asks.
"I'm Bark the Polar Bear, and this is Bean the Duck. We're friends of Ixis, and we're gonna stop ya!" He says.
"Great. More of 'em..." Tails says.
"Alright, this one's mine." Bean says, as he runs towards Tails, tossing a bomb at him.
Tails shields himself from the blast, and waits for the smoke to clear. Bean's amazed that Tails is unharmed and simply gets back up.
"Impossible!" He yells, tossing another, with no effect as well.
Tails growls.
"You shouldn't have done that." He says, picking Bean up Telepathically, throwing him into the mountainside.
"Hey! Wait! No fair! Leggo and put me down!" Bean says, trying to run in place before being flung against the rock face of the mountain.
Bark adjusts his gloves as he prepares to fight Knuckles.
"This is just a waste of time. Just give up." Knuckles tells the polar bear.
"Yeah, you're right on that. You'll be out cold with one punch." Bear tells him as he takes a swing.
Knuckles dodges and counters, landing a hit on Bark's throat.
The polar bear steps back, holding his throat. He coughs a couple times, gasping for breath.
"You fight dirty, you lousy echidna! You'll pay for that!" He growls, helping up Bean. He runs towards the echidna, punching Knuckles in the head. It doesn't phase Knuckles, who simply trips Bark and punches hard into the ground next to his head, cracking the hard rock with his knuckles. Bark simply blinks, looking up at Knuckles.
"Yeah. That could've been your head that I hit and crushed instead. Wanna give up?" He asks Bark and Bean.
Bark growls, kicking the Echidna off of him.
"No way. I'm easily as strong as you, and I can best ya, Guardian." The bear growls, taking a swing at Knuckles.
The echidna dodges again.
"You just don't know when to give up!" Knuckles says, blocking a punch with his gloved paws.
As Bark takes another swing at Knuckles, he finds himself airborne, being carried by Tails.
"What the-- HEY! Put me down at once, you flying freak!" He yells, trying to grab at Tails.
"Sure, I can put ya down right now..." Tails replies, now about fifty feet in the air.
"Wait... don't drop me." Bark tells him.
"I'll just let you chill on this ledge as a form of "time out"." The fox says as he drops Bark onto a small ledge on the mountainside.
Bean, Knuckles, and Sonic watch as Tails removes Bark from the situation.
"So ya think you can fly? You think you're a flying fox? Let's see ya try that with me!" Bean says, tossing a bomb into the air towards Tails. The fox simply dodges, dive-bombing Bean. He grabs the green-feathered duck.
"You can join your friend here. We're too busy dealing with Ixis to bother with small-time thugs like you." Tails tells them, heading back to land on the ground.
"Whoa... cool moves, Tails!" Sonic says as Tails lands.
"Yeah. Saves me the trouble of bustin' some heads open." Knuckles says, rubbing his knuckles.
Sonic then jumps back as one of the suits of armour tries to slice him in half.
"This is what we've been dealing with, all day... Tough things like suits of armour that won't die." Sonic says.
"That's alright, I'll take care of this." Knuckles growls.
He tightens his gloves before charging at the same suit that he failed to destroy. He growls as he rips it in half, and then throws it down onto the ground. The suit re-attaches itself, and Knuckles blinks in surprise.
"Anyone have any other ideas?" Sonic asks.
Something then catches Tails' eye: a smelter containing liquid metal at the mine's loading docks.
"Bingo." He says with a grin.
Knuckles finds himself up against a rock wall. He moves his head trying to avoid being punched by one of the suits. The suit's fist punches the rock so hard, some of it crumbles away, and some of it turns to dust.
"Tails! Some help please!" He yells.
As Tails runs over, the a loud BANG is heard. Nack fires its shotgun at the suit. It is stunned, and has a hole in it, but isn't fazed. It simply charges towards the shooter.
"Why don't ya pick on someone equally-equipped?" Nack says, firing at it again, repeating until the suit of armour is nothing but shredded and tattered.
"Thanks, Nack!" Knuckles says.
"Wait... I thought you were with Sal and Bunnie." Sonic speaks.
"I was. When NICOLE started picking up spikes in magic energy, I decided to head back to the mines when I saw you guys getting your tails handed to ya." The weasel explains.
"What energy spikes?" Knuckles asks.
"Maybe he means from when Ixis started controlling these suits..." Tails says to his friends.
"Well, I should get back to Sal and Bunnie. I trust you guys can handle these things on your own from here on in?" Nack asks.
"Yeah. We're fine now. Sal and Bunnie need your backup." The hedgehog speaks.
The weasel heads off back towards the forested mountain, where Sally and Bunnie are.
Tails then turns to Sonic and Knuckles.
"I got a plan, Rad Red." He speaks.
"What's the plan?" Knuckles asks.
"We dunk these suits in the molten metal. That'll destroy 'em. If we can't stop the puppeteer, this might work instead." Tails says.
Sonic jumps and manages to saw the suit after him in half, but to no avail. He steps back, when Nack picks up a rock, and throws it at the suit, striking it at its chestplate.
Ixis is watching through his holographic pool.
"What are you up to, quickster?" He asks himself, starting to sweat a bit.
"Follow me, guys!" Tails says to Sonic and Knuckles.
Sonic then taunts the suits, laughing at them as he runs towards the smelter. "Hey, you wet blankets! Come and get me!"
The fast blue hedgehog looks behind him, with the three suits in chase. Tails grabs Knuckles' hand, throwing him towards the smelter. Knuckles glides through the air, watching carefully. He sees the lever to activate the smelter on a control system on the deck high above the ground, reaches for it, and pulls it, grasping tightly. Right after sonic runs past the smelter, the system turns on, and the suits are then covered in hot liquid molten metal.
"Alright! Chalk one up for the good guys!" Sonic says.
Ixis Naugus clenches his fists, growling in rage.
"That quickster and his friends have ruined my plans for the LAST TIME!" He yells.
He concentrates and casts a spell onto himself, starting to glow red. He then runs, jumping through the window, shattering it as he lands in the courthard below, his cape flowing behind him. He lands on the ground near Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, with a force hard enough to crack some of the ground beneath him, his arms wrapped around him, covering himself.
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles turn around, to face him.
"Hey, it's about time you showed up, Ixis. I was getting BORED!" Sonic says.
Ixis is not amused.
"Quickster, those words will be your last." He grins, starting to transform.
Tails and Knuckles step back, unsure of what's going on. Ixis transforms into a giant crab with a scorpion tail. A pair of large red bat-like wings erupt from his shoulderblades on his upper back. His forehead begins to crack and split. He grins as his third eye is revealed.
"Holy... what IS he?" Knuckles asks, stepping back.
"I'd say butt-ugly!" Sonic nervously laughs, keeping back with Tails and Knuckles.
Tails holds onto Sonic's arm, scared and shivering a bit. His twin tails are frazzled.
Ixis crawls forward and lunges his tail towards Sonic and Tails, intent on poisoning and crystallizing them.
"It's time for you to die, quickster!" He shouts.
Sonic jumps out of the way, narrowly missing being stung.
"Tails! Knuckles! What do we do?" The blue-furred hedgehog asks.
Knuckles tries to run up from behind, but is swung away by Ixis' scorpion tail. Ixis turns to Knuckles, and tries to sting him. He rolls out of the way, narrowly missing a poisonous death.
"How about we try to stay alive?" Knuckles asks, trying to get up.
The wizard concentrates, shooting beams of crystallizing light from his third eye, towards Sonic and Tails.
"I'll have to get you to stop moving, quickster..." Ixis says to himself, trying to hit Sonic and turn him into crystal.
"That won't happen, you bat...scorpion... freak thing... I'm not dumb enough to be turned into crystal." Sonic taunts.
Ixis continues to try to hit Sonic, but misses. The hedgehog watches as anything the beam touches is turned to crystal.
"Yikes! Tails! Knux! I need some help!" Sonic says as he tries to dodge being hit.
Tails watches as Sonic tries to dodge the crystalizing beams at high speed.
"S-sonic's gonna be turned to crystal... I gotta do something..." Tails thinks to himself, watching, and very afraid.
He then takes to the air, grasping a rock. He waits until he's directly above Ixis, then he drops it onto him. The wizard yelps as he's hit from above. Sonic and Knuckles turn around, watching Ixis flap his wings, taking to the air behind Tails. The twin-tailed fox sees Ixis approaching from behind, and gets moving.
"You little pup. I'm going to kill YOU first!" Ixis says, shooting a crystal beam from his scorpion stinger.
Tails looks behind, trying to keep away from Ixis, but the wizard is gaining on him in the skies.
Knuckles climbs along the rock face of the mountain.
"Knuckles, what are you doing?" Sonic asks.
"I'm gonna go help Tails. I'll distract Ixis, or glide into him and punch him, or something." He replies as he climbs higher.
"Tails! Bring 'im over here! I can take him!" Knuckles says as he climbs.
"Uh... right!" Tails replies, turning around, flying towards Knuckles.
Ixis is close behind, and Knuckles claws at the side of the cliff with one of his hands, grabbing a bunch of sand. Tails flies upwards and away, and Knuckles throws the sand at Ixis' face, blinding him. He then pushes off from the rock face, jumping and gliding towards him. He punches Ixis in the head with both of his fists. Ixis loses his balance and control of his wings from the punches. The wizard and echidna start to fall towards the ground.
"Oh crap! I gotta act FAST, or Knuckles is toast!" Sonic says.
He looks around, picks up a fistfull of sand, and runs towards the rock face. The spiky blue hedgehog runs up along the side of the mountain, and jumps off, tossing the sand into the air. He quickly runs across this makeshift path, and he grabs Knuckles' hand, pulling him up as he runs back towards the ground.
"Thanks for pullin' me out of a sticky situation, True Blue." Knuckles tells Sonic.
"No prob, Rad Red." Sonic replies to Knuckles.
He then realizes that his feet are moving in circles, but he's going nowhere. His little path of sand has fallen to the earth.
"Uh-oh... definitely not a good thing." He says to himself.
"Hold on, then." Knuckles says, grasping Sonic's hands as he glides back to the ground.
They watch as Ixis lands hard on his back, creating a small crater, with a great deal of dust. Sonic and Knuckles run away from Ixis as he crashes to the ground.
"Owch. That's gonna leave a bruise." Tails says, watching from the top of the cliff. He then flies down to the ground, meeting back up with Sonic and Knuckles.
Tails turns to Sonic.
"Is he dead?" The fox asks.
"Dunno..." Sonic speaks.
"I'll find out." Knuckles tells the two.
He walks closer, but jumps back when Ixis opens his eyes and flips himself back upright.
"You will die a slow, painful death!" He yells, grabbing Tails with one of his crab pinchers.
The fox struggles to escape.
"Sonic! Help me!" Tails yelps, trying to break free.
"You leave him alone!" Sonic says, charging at Ixis.
He tries to buzz-saw Tails free from his grip, attempting to saw off Ixis' wrist clean off of his arm. Ixis releases Tails as Sonic impales his arm full of his spikes. Tails breaks free and runs back to Sonic and Knuckles.
"You rotten hedgehog!" Ixis growls, crawling towards the Triple Threat.
"What else can we do? We've given it our best against him, and he's still tickin'." Knuckles says.
Tails looks around, and sees a mineshaft.
"I got it! Knuckles, we need you to go into the mine! I'll distract him, while you and sonic push him in." Tails explains.
Sonic looks at him, somewhat skeptically. "I don't know if that's gonna work..."
Knuckles punches Ixis' stomach, sending him flying back a few feet.
"Do you have any other options, Sonic?" Knuckles asks the hedgehog.
"Alright. Let's do this!" Sonic and Tails say.
Tails looks back at Ixis, taunting him. "Come on, Naugus! Can you even hit us?"
Ixis snarls as he gets back up, leaping and gliding closer with his large wings.
"I will crystallize you!" He yells, shooting a beam at Sonic and Tails as they run towards the mineshaft.
Knuckles dives into the ground, punching and digging his way into the mineshaft. He quickly finds a rather large cache of dynamite and other explosives.
"Tails, you're a genius." He grins, saying to himself.
"Now, all I need is a match..." he mutters, looking around before finding one.
Meanwhile, above ground, Sonic and Tails are dodging and Taunting Ixis.
"You're lookin' awful crabby today, Ixis. Didn't you get enough "ugly" sleep?" Sonic chuckles, taunting the wizard.
"You'll pay for that, Quickster!" Ixis yells, shooting his cryztallizing beam at Sonic, actually hitting him. It transforms the young male hedgehog into crystal.
"Oh no! Sonic, NO!" Tails yells, feeling his hand, realizing that he's a crystalline statue now.
Ixis grins, walking forward.
"This is excellent. I've finally frozen that annoying hedgehog." He says to Tails.
"I bet you can't get me, though!" Tails says, flying off towards the mineshaft.
Ixis snarls in anger and follows in pursuit. Tails flies into the darkness of the mineshaft.
"Alright, Knuckles, NOW!" he yells, with Ixis close behind him.
Knuckles hears Tails shout, and he lights the dyanmite, and starts digging his way back to the outside world. Tails immediately turns around above Ixis, and flies out of the mineshaft's entrance, just as a large exposion rips through the mountain's base. Knuckles and Tails jump to safety as the mountain explodes and collapses in on itself from the explosion.
"Well... that was a blast!" Knuckles says, coughing from the dust of the explosion.
"I'll say... but Sonic was hit by that crystallizing beam..." Tails says, helping Knuckles up, showing him Sonic's frozen form.
"Perhaps my Master Emerald can help him..." Knuckles says as he gets the emerald out from his backpack.
Before he can do anything, Sonic begins to gradually return to his normal, flesh-and-blood self. He stumbles a bit, feeling slightly uneasy as the spell wears off.
"Whoa... what happened?" He asks, rubbing his head.
"Ixis turned you into a crystalline statue." Tails tells him.
"We're just glad to have you back. I didn't think the spell would wear off when he was killed, though..." Knuckles says, holding the Master Emerald in his gloved hands, before placing it back in his backpack.
"That was too close for the old comfort..." Sonic says to himself, shivering a bit.
Meanwhile, in the hills nearby, Sally, Bunnie, and Nack meet up with the local Freedom Fighter groups.
"Lupe, Griff, we recieved your distress message. I think it's best that everyone returns to Mobotropolis. It's too difficult to protect people out here, and with Ixis Naugus so close by, your lives are in danger." Sally speaks to the two leaders.
"We've lived here for centuries, and fought against the humans, and against Robotnik... we can handle a wizard." Lupe replies.
"Yeah. We can take Ixis... besides, once he's gone, can't we return here?" Griff asks.
Bunnie thinks for a second. "Listen ya'll. I know you like living here, but it's dangerous. We're divided and spread out... Robotnik, Ixis, or anyone else who hates the kingdom could conquer us, since we're in small groups and so far out from home. But... if we're in larger groups, like in Knothole Village, we'll be able to hold our own much better." Bunnie explains to them.
"That's fair, but what about our spy networks?" Griff asks.
"They'll remain, but it's best if we have one central command, instead of all these outposts that risk being destroyed." Sally says.
"Well, since our underground home is now uninhabitable, my freedom fighters and I have no choice." Griff says.
Sally nods, and faces Lupe.
"We shall join you as well, since that monster Ixis Naugus has poisoned our water supplies. We are also loyal to your king, and wish to join in rebuilding the nation." She says.
"Alright. We have transportation waiting for your groups. Get everyone together and follow me." Sally says as the furs start to walk with her towards the mining camp.
Sally and Bunnie return, with Nack, running down from the hill.
"Alright, Sonic! We got everybody out. They're waiting for us on the train." Nack tells them.
Sonic faces Nack, Bunnie and Sally. "Thanks. That's good news."
Sally approaches Sonic. "What's wrong, Sonic? Something's troubling you..." She asks him.
"I just had a really close call... Was frozen by Ixis Naugus, but Tails and Knux here saved me." Sonic says.
Tails looks back at the now-destroyed mining camp as they walk back towards the train.
"Do you think he's really dead and gone?" He asks.
"Oh yeah. I wouldn't bet against it." Sonic replies.
"I guess we can cross Ixis Naugus off the list of "enemies of the kingdom", Sal." Sonic tells the princess.
"I'm glad, Sonic. Now we can rebuild the kingdom to what it once was." She replies.
"Now, I hate to break up the precious moment, but... SOMEONE GET US DOWN FROM HERE!" Bean yells.
Sally looks up at Bean and bark, sitting on the ledge.
"Who are those two?" She asks.
"Two little troublemakers that Ixis hired to help him and get in our way. Tails decided to give 'em a little time-out." Sonic explains.
"Well, I'll go get 'em down. Knuckles, be ready to neutralize 'em." Tails says, flying up to the ledge.
He brings down Bean, then Bark, who are placed in custody of Sonic and Knuckles.
"You two are under arrest for grand treason." Sally tells the two furs.
"What's that mean?" Bean asks.
"It means you'll have a trial, and if you're guilty, it's off to the Devil's Gulag for betraying the king and his people." Bunnie explains.
The two furs remain silent upon hearing this, as they're lead back onto the train.
The Freedom Fighters climb back into the cabin of the locomotive, after helping their allies onto the railcars behind them, and begin their return to Mobotropolis. The train slowly decends the valley, with Tails at the controls. The fox applies the breaks slowly, letting the train remain at a stable speed. As the sun sets on the horizon, the freedom fighters begin to grow weary and tired from their excursions. Soon, Tails and Sally are the only ones still awake.
"Nicole, contact Rotor for me, please." Sally asks her handheld computer.
"Contacting Rotor now, Sally..." NICOLE says.
Within seconds, Rotor's communicator notifies him of an incoming message. He presses the recieve button on one of his earphones to recieve the incoming transmission.
"Rotor, this is Sally. Do you read me?" She asks, speaking into Nicole.
"Rotor here. I read you, Sally. What's up?" He asks.
"We've been able to defeat Ixis Naugus, and we've evacuated the other Freedom Fighter Groups from the area." The princess speaks.
Rotor listens. "That's great news. I'll forward it to your father and the others if you want."
"Sure, Rotor. We'll be home in a few hours. I'll keep in touch on the way back. Sally out." Sally tells him as the train travels along the rails, almost silently through the night.
Tails steadies the engine's speed, slowing it down as they enter the former train station in downtown Mobotropolis. As he approaches, he sees many freedom fighters waving and cheering.
"What's this?" Tails asks as the train slowly pulls into the station.
"I don't know, Tails...." Sally says. She nudges Sonic, who is asleep in the chair next to her.
"Sonic, wake up. We're home." she tells him.
Sonic yawns and stretches, seeing that it's Freedom Fighters lining the rail terminal. Rotor walks up to the engine as it stops.
"Guys, we got the great news. We told everybody, and they're partying in the streets." The walrus tells them.
"I can see that." Sonic says, rubbing the back of his head.
The crowd starts cheering "Freedom! Freedom!" As the Freedom Fighters step out of the locomotive and off of the train.
"So much for hoping to get a quiet night's rest..." Sonic chuckles as he hugs Sally.
"That's alright. We have our Kingdom, our City, and our Home back. And you know that you had a big part in this, Sonic Hedgehog." Sally says, kissing his cheek, causing Sonic to blush.
"Aww, Sally... it's what we heroes do." Sonic smiles, walking with Sally amongst the crowd.
The princess and the rebel then approach King Maximillian Acorn.
"Sonic, I wanted to thank you myself for ridding us of the evil wizard Ixis Naugus." He speaks.
"No prob, Sire. I was just doing what I was supposed to." Sonic says.
Tails notices that Knuckles is walking in a different direction, however.
"Knuckles, where are you going?" Tails asks.
"I have to get back home. My island needs me." The echidna replies to the twin-tailed fox.
"Yeah, but...why don't you let me fly ya back in my plane? We'll arrive at your island by morning if we leave now." The fox offers.
Knuckles shrugs. "Alright. It beats walkin' and glidin'."
The fox walks with the echidna towards his plane. Tails hops into the pilot's seat and starts the plane. Knuckles hops into the passenger seat behind him. Within seconds, they are off and in the air. The echidna looks over the side of the biplane, watching the clouds fly by over the bay, as they head out over the ocean.
"Wow, Tails... we must be five thousand... ten thousand feet up..." Knuckles says, looking behind him as Boulder Bay gradually shrinks and fades towards the horizon.
"Yeah, about eight thousand feet up. We're going at around three hundred miles per hour, so I hope we make it soon." Tails replies as he steers the plane.
Within minutes, Tails sees an island in the ocean up ahead. This island is most unusual out of any Tails has seen, since it's actually hovering and floating on the surface of the shallow ocean from the residual Master Emerald radiation.
"I've never seen that island before..." He says.
"That's Angel Island... at least... it will be again once it rises back up." Knuckles says.
"I'm confused. What do you mean?" The fox inquires.
"My Master Emerald keeps Angel Island soaring in the skies over Mobius. Without it, the island sinks like a big rock. Luckily, it just hit the ocean, and it's shallow around here, so it didn't sink to the bottom off the sea floor." Knuckles explains.
"Isn't it dangerous to have something that powerful with only you guarding it?" Tails asks.
Knuckles laughs.
"I'm not the only one guarding it. I have friends that help protect it. Overall, though... this little gem is pretty unknown. Most people think it's an amethyst or even a Chaos Emerald." He explains, referring to how Nack the Weasel and Silver stole the emerald from him.
Tails slows down and brings the plane in closer. He looks for a place to land.
"Over there in that field is a good place to bring us down, Tails." Knuckles says.
"I won't make it, though... the forest's right up against it and I'm going too fast."
"That's alright. I'll just have to glide down, then." Knuckles says.
"Wait... what?" Tails speaks, watching as Knuckles holds onto the wing, standing up on the plane.
"What are you doing? You'll fall!" Tails says.
"Nah. I'll be fine, Tails." Knuckles says, jumping off, gliding alongside the Winged Victory.
"You Freedom Fighters take it easy, alright?" He speaks.
Tails looks in amazement from the pilot's seat.
Ah... alright..." He says, surprised.
"Don't be strangers! Stop by for a visit!" Knuckles shouts as he glides down towards the island's surface.
"Uh... yeah. We'll do that, Knuckles..." Tails says with a smile.
He thinks to himself "How does he do that?"
He then snaps his fingers. "It must be the Master Emerald giving him those abilities."
The fox turns the plane around in a medium-sized 180-degree loop, and looks behind as the island starts to slowly rise up from the ocean.
"Way to go, Knuckles!" Tails says, knowing the Master Emerald is once more in its rightful place among the clouds.

In the rubble of the collapsed mine shaft, the rocks shake a bit. A hand punches through the rocks as the figure digs itself out, coughing from the dust.
"I cannot comprehend how the Quickster, Kitsune, and Echidna actually defeated me..." Ixis Naugus says as he pushes the boulders and rocks off of his body.
"They are fools, though... I can never die, since my body here is an illusion, broadcast from the Void. I'll forever be a threat to them as long as they cannot destroy the Void." He grumbles to himself.
"I shall recover and strike again, and again, until you all perish. I won't give up until Mobius is my domain." Ixis says, already planning on how to resume his plans for global conquest.