Chapter 17: A Long Routine

He looked at the other Zeti. "Sorry about that...he pushed me over the edge, and I..."

Zeena interrupted him. "And you lost your temper?" Zeena said, raising brow.

The dark blue Zeti looked at her and nodded. "Exactly. I'd really like to kill him, though."

"Patience," Master Zik said. "We will in time."

Zazz cut in. "Oh! I wanna kill him too..." He mouth was grabbed Zeena, who glared at him.

"Do we really need him to be even more suspicious of us after that little stunt Zonic pulled?" Zeena asked. Zazz shook his head and she let go of him, rubbing his mouth.

Zonic looked down in shame. "Sorry," he muttered.

Zavok looked at his son in concern and put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. "It's fine; we could all tell you were getting angry at him."

The dark blue Zeti sighed and nodded. "We better get back to work. At least we don't need to worry about the Conch anymore."

Zavok smiled and shook his head at his son as they went back to work.

Zonic looked at Mecha Tails. "Can you help us some more?" He asked.

Mecha Tails nodded at him and picked up a metal piece, screwing it together onto the base. Zonic did the same, and the Zeti continued to work. Zonic sighed, he wondered how he had gotten so angry at Eggman. He usually was able to control his emotions, but why all of a sudden he wasn't. The Zeti wasn't sure. Maybe it was because of how Eggman was treating him.

When the Zeti was destroying Earth he had saved Tails' life and then later his own. Eggman isn't truly evil, he has done good in him, but he only lets it out in the baddest of times. Zonic shook his head. Eggman had also done some pretty evil things when he was on Earth too. Most of them outweighed the good. Zonic sighed as he handed a melded piece of metal to his Father, wondering when this would end. His father put the metal on the building and hammered it into the base. Zonic picked up another scrapped badnik and handed it to Mecha Tails to be melded. A long routine for a long week. Zonic sighed again.

"How long is this gonna go on?" He asked.

"For as long as we have to build," Mecha Tails replied to Zonic as he began to meld the scrapped badnik.

Zonic sighed and shook his head in exasperation. They continued to work on the base until nightfall, then they had half of a room done and Zonic was tired beyond compare and collapsed on the rocky ground.

Eggman looked at him and then at all the other Zeti. "Since you all started late I expect you to start BEFORE sunrise."

Zonic's eyes widened and he glared at Eggman.

Eggman waved to them as he went toward the base, "Goodnight." He began to chuckle, evilly, as Zonic continually watched him, glaring at him.

"I hate him," he said to the other Zeti as Eggman left.

Zavok nodded at Zonic as the teenage Zeti growled and lay down.

"What's on your mind?" Zavok asked.

"Eggman," Zonic replied.

Zavok nodded, he knew why. He looked at his son in concern as Zonic glared up at the sky and sighed and rolled onto his side. Zonic felt his father lean against him and smiled before dozing off to sleep.

When Zonic woke up it was near sunset and Zavok was already awake. Zonic yawned and rubbed his eyes, looking around, tiredly.

"You found another emerald," Zavok said.

Zonic nodded and smiled. He put the emerald in his quill-like hair so Eggman wouldn't see it.

"I'm guessing we continue building Eggman's base?" He asked. Zavok looked to his son and nodded at him. Zonic sighed in exasperation. Why did they have to do this do early in the morning? "How long is it going to take to complete this?"

Zavok thought about it. "I am not sure."

Zonic groaned and picked up a badnik, taking it over to Mecha Tails. He flicked a switch to turn him back on and Mecha Tails took the badnik and began melding it. They did this for hours until some more rooms had been built.

"This is hard work," he said to himself.

Eggman looked at Zonic and glared at him. "Keep going. You don't get off until nightfall."

Zonic glared at him. He stared him in the eyes and Eggman just glared back at the growling, teenage Zeti. Zonic glared at him and went back to work.