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"Nicely done, guys." Shelby said as she landed the craft.
"Yeah, and we did it all on our own!" Eddy said. "Wait 'til Kevin hears about this, he's gonna flip out!"
"Indeed!" Double D said.
"WE BEAT THE THREE EVIL WITCHES!" Ed cried happily.
"Yes, now, may we do what we came here for?" Double D asked.
"Oh, right." Eddy said, walking to the Kankers. "Alright, hand it over!"
"Yeah right, like we'll give it up just like that!" Lee said.
"Hey! We had a deal!" Eddy snapped.
"We never keep our word!" Marie said.
"Why I oughta-"
"Chill out, Eddy." Shelby said. "I know how we can get them to give it up."
"How?" Ed asked.
"Stand back." She warned.
The Eds wisely stepped back, wondering what she was up to.
"What are you gonna do? Bake us a cake?" Lee asked.
"No." Shelby simply said.
"Then what are you going to do?" May asked.
Shelby reached into her pocket and pulled out her hypercube.
"What's that?" Marie asked.
"A hypercube."
"You gonna bore us to death?" Lee asked.
"You're ignorant. It's not what's on the outside that counts, but the inside."
"What does that mean?" May asked.
"It means that there's something in this thing that'll scare you out of you own fur."
The Kankers looked at each other. Shelby pressed a button on the hypercube, dropped it, and backed up a few feet. The hypercube rattled terribly, making the others wonder what was coming out?
After about ten seconds, it stopped rattling.
'Ha I knew there was nothing-"
"RRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!"
"G-G-G-G-G-G-G-Good lord! What was that?" Double D asked.
A beam of light came from the hypercube, followed by the biggest paw any of them had seen!
"Is that…a bear's paw?" Double D asked.
"Bingo." Shelby said.
The paw was HUGE! It was as big as Eddy and the as wide as nearly three out of four quarters of his bed. In short, this paw was BIG!
"Kanker sisters," Shelby said. "Meet the Akakabuto, the Demon Bear."
A second paw came from the hypercube, which pulled out the biggest bear any of them had ever seen in their lives. Double D estimated that it was twenty-eight feet on its hind legs that was twice that size of the largest bear on record back on Earth!
The Eds were scared but that was nothing compared to how scared the Kankers were because they could see the bear's eyes, and they were glowing yellow!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"And know what the scary part is?' Shelby went on. "He's blind in both eyes, even though they glow, but he'll be able to find you. He has a great sense of smell. He'll find and kill you. But if you do as I say, I'll put him back into the hypercube."
"Alright, alright, we'll do anything!" Lee said.
"Good."
Shelby pressed a button on the hypercube and a red laser shot out, and attached itself to the bear's neck.
"That'll keep him restrained while we do business." Shelby said.
"Allow me." Double D said.
"Of course."
Double D walked past Akakabuto, being carefully not to be noticed and walked up to the Kankers.
"Excuse me, but may I have the ray gun?" Double D asked.
"Here! TAKE IT TAKE IT TAKE IT TAKE IT!"
The Kankers threw it right into his arms.
"Um, thank you. Now, about the roboticizer's weakness?"
"Double D, you were the intruder?" Marie asked.
"Indeed." Double D said.
"I love a guy who plays dirty." Marie swooned.
"Don't get so lovey-dovey right now! We've got a bear to deal with!" Lee said.
"Well?" Double D asked.
"No one's really sure as to what it is." Marie said. "But this is what it does: It allows the roboticized victims to get their free will back!"
The four young heroes gasped! This was the biggest discovery since Robotnik took over!
"How do we obtain it?" Double D asked.
"No one knows, not even Robotnik. He found it in the memory banks of one of his robots but he's not sure as to which one!"
"That will be all." Double D said and returned to the others.
"Quick, turn them back to normal!" Eddy said, holding Sonia.
Ever though he was nervous, he shakily aimed the ray gun at the baby hedgehogs, and fired. A yellow beam shot from the ray gun and hit the four baby male hedgehogs on the floor. After a few seconds they were replaced with their proper teenage selves, clothes and all.
"Whoa! What hit us?" Manic asked.
"We'll explain later." Eddy said. "Now turn Sonia back to normal!"
"Of course." Double D said and fired.
The ray hit Sonia and after a few seconds, she returned to normal.
"What happened? And why am I being held by Eddy?" She asked.
"You four were turned into babies and we took care of you until you were turned back to normal." Ed explained.
"We were?" Sonic asked.
"Yep, I took care of Manic, Double D took care of Sonic, Shelby took care of Shadow, and Eddy took care of Sonia." Ed went on.
"Ed, is that you?" Eddy asked.
"Is that true?" Sonia asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." Eddy said, somewhat embarrassed.
"My hero." Sonia said, hugged him around the neck, and kissed him.
"Granddad?" Eddy asked, in a bit of a gaze before collapsing.
"HEY! THAT'S MY BOYFRIEND!" Lee yelled.
"A-A-AHEM!" Shelby said, tossing the hypercube up and down. "Don't forget, I hold the leash to the bear in front of you or do you want to see the underside of his paw?"
The Kankers screamed when she extended the leash by a few inches.
"C'mon guys, let's beat it!" Sonic said, picking up Sonia and Manic.
Shadow picked Eddy up and placed him under his arm and Shelby grabbed Ed and Double D's wrists.
"Oh, and by the way, Kankers," Shelby said as she pressed a button the hypercube. "That Akakabuto is a fake!" The bear then vanished into thin air. "It was a hologram! The really Akakbuto has been dead for over twenty years!"
"WHAT?!" The Kankers roared.
"Why I'm gonna-"
Sonic said and took off, leaving a gale of wind behind them.
Outside…
"What do we do? Robotnik;s goons will be on us in a minute!" Sonia said.
"Chill sis, we'll come up with an idea." Sonic said.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Everyone stopped when Ed screamed.
"What's up, Big Guy?" Sonic asked.
"Something grabbed my leg! SOMETHING GRABBED MY LEG!" Ed cried.
"Who? What?" Eddy asked, starting to wake up.
"It's coming from the sewer!" Manic pointed.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH! MONSTER!" Ed cried.
"Uh, Ed, I think you might wanna take a second look." Shelby said.
"What do you mean?" Double D asked.
"Look." She pointed down.
Attached to Ed's leg was a white, gloved hand, with fur white on the cuff. Attached to it was a white arm, the rest was hidden under the manhole cover.
"Come with me, quickly!" A soft yet sweet voice said.
"Hey, I know that voice!" Shelby exclaimed. "Snowdrop?"
The manhole cover came up, revealing the face of a tiny rabbit girl. She was totally white but her nose was black, the same for her eyes, she had black spots around her eyes, a black stripe on her head, and at the ends of her long, floppy ears.
"Shelby!" She said happily.
"Snowdrop, what are you doing here?"
"The Fox Cub Scouts received a distress call from someone in Robotnik's base and they needed some help." The snowy rabbit said.
"Is Snowflake with you?"
"When isn't he?"
"Choa!"
A choa appeared next to the rabbit, only this one was white were Plank had blue, black were there was supposed to be yellow, dark pink wings, and a dark blue bowtie was on his tiny neck.
"Shelby, do you know this pair?" Double D asked.
"I sure do." She nodded. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet the sweetest girl I know: Snowdrop the Rabbit and her choa Snowflake."
"It's very nice to meet you." She said.
"Choa!"
"I'm sorry I had to grab your leg like that, it was the only way I could stop you." Snowdrop told Ed.
"It is okay." Ed said.
"Hey guys, I think I just found our way out!" Manic said. "Through the sewer!"
"The sewer?" Double D cried. "It's the home to every bacteria known on our planet!"
"Would you rather be turned into a robot?" Eddy asked.
"Well…"
"Hurry, I can hear the Patrol Bots coming!" Snowdrop said.
She pushed the manhole cover off of her head and climbed out, allowing the others to see her more. She wore a Christmas red dress with a lace collar a green ribbon was tied round her neck like a necktie, and her sneakers were red and green around the base.
"Hurry." She said, pointing into the hole.
"I don't know, it sounds terribly risky, and quite unsanitary, to say the least." Double D said.
"Hey, you're talkin' 'bout my childhood home." Manic said.
"A bunch of our missions start in the sewer!" Sonic added.
"And half the time they were my escape systems from my abusive homes." Shelby threw in.
Double D was worried about what he said and looked into the gaping hole.
"It's either go in and get dirty, or stay up here, and get turned into a robot." Sonic said.
Double D gulped and made his choice.
"Oh, I know I'm going to regret this." Double D said, and began to climb down.
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Shadow said.
"Let's hurry, I don't want to be caught out in the open like this." Sonic said, starting to climb down.
Eddy flew down, followed by Snowdrop and Snowflake. Ed began to climb down after there was enough room he was then followed by Manic, Shadow, Shelby, and then Sonia, who covered the hole as she climbed down.
After a minute of going down, Double D slipped and fell. He then hit some sort of water, and he shivered badly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! GET ME OUT OF THIS FILTH!"
"Chill out, Double D." Sonic said, jumping down from the ladder.
Eddy then landed next to him, and Snowflake land gently in the water. Ed had slipped and fell face first into the water, and Manic had let go on purpose, just so he could return to the sewer sooner. Shadow activated his air shoes, allowing him to hover about the water, keeping him dry. Shelby jumped from the bottom of the ladder and into the murky water, Sonia brought up the rear, trying her best to find the most shallow of the water.
"Home sweet home." Manic smiled.
"Only to some of us Manic, only to some of us." Shelby reminded.
"Very well said." A voice spoke up.
"What?" Double D cried.
He looked up to see a female fox with a red and white striped bandana on her head, three long and thin bangs sticking out from her forehead, a gold hoop earring hung from her left ear, she had white gloves and sneakers similar to Tails'.
"Gemstone!" Shelby said. "I should have known you would be here."
"You know her?" Eddy asked.
"Yep, she's the famous Gem the Fire Kitsune." Snowdrop said.
"Famous?" Sonic asked.
"I've heard of her!" Manic said. "She was the first mate of a the Black Pearl pirate ship!"
"I've heard of that crew." Sonia said. "But all of them were hung from gallows!"
"All but me!" Gem said. "The captain let me go, the whole crew agreed that if there was one survivor it would be me."
"But why would people call you a kitsune, and what is a kitsune to start with?" Eddy asked.
"They're mystical foxes with nine tails from Japan, Eddy." Double D said.
"Yep, and they don't call me that for no reason." Gem said.
Nine long fox tails popped out behind her, like peacock tail feathers.
"And they didn't put "Fire" on for nothin' either!" Gem said, and in less then a second, flame engulfed her tails.
"I see your point." Double D said.
"I can also make them longer." Gem said, and they grew longer and longer.
"Enough already, Gem!" Shelby snapped. "You're freakin' 'em out!"
"How is she able to do that?" Sonia asked.
"It's the power of the Chaos Emeralds!" A young voice chirped.
Standing near Gem was a small black fox with silver eyes and three long bangs wearing classic blue jeans, a pearl t-shirt with a small heart near the collar, white gloves, and sneakers similar to Tails'.
Next to her was an emerald green fox with hot pink eyes, a blue tank top, blue jeans, and purple sneakers.
"Onyx, Emerald! It's been a while!" Shelby said.
"I know! Oh? Emerald says: Yeah it has!" The small black one said.
"I've missed you guys." Shelby smiled.
"Emerald says: We've missed you too." The black one said.
"What's she talking about?" Sonic asked.
"Sorry, I've forgotten our manners." The black one said. "I'm Onyx the Fox, and this is my younger twin sister, Emerald."
The small green fox simply waved.
"Why doesn't she say anything?" Sonia asked.
"She's shy something awful, so I speak for her. I'm in her mind, so all she has to do is think what she wants to say, and I'll say it for her."
"Interesting." Sonia said.
"Hey, they've got two tails just like, Tails and Topaz!" Manic pointed out.
"You're right, Manic!" Sonic said.
Sure enough, the two foxes had two tails.
"That's normal were we're from." Onyx said. "Almost every fox we know had more then one tail."
"That's right!"
They looked above them to see,
"Topaz? What are you doing here?" Sonia asked.
"I'm a Fox Cub Scout too!" The orange fox said. "I got a call from them just after you guys left, and joined them on the rescue mission. We stopped so the others could catch up."
"Others?" Double D asked.
"Yeah, the others who were waiting for your return, they wanted to come along. As well as the colony we saved."
"Colony?" Eddy asked.
"Yep, a colony of Flickies!" Topaz giggled.
"Flickies?" Eddy asked.
"They're a type of tiny bird found only on the Flickies' Island." Onyx explained. "Robotnik was going to roboticize them so he could find the seven Chaos Emeralds but we got them out before anything could happen."
"Hey, there they are!"
The others looked down the sewer to see the others come running and followed close behind was a flock of birds of all colors of the rainbow.
"There you guys are." Nazz said, slowing to stop.
"Oh great, the dorks are here." Kevin groaned.
"Would you stop it with that dorks talk?" Nazz asked.
Kevin groaned and then grumbled something under his breath.
"He's gonna become a 'No-Heart'." Topaz whispered to Onyx.
"Without a doubt." Onyx replied.
Emerald simply nodded.
"How do we get out of here?" Johnny asked.
"The sewers go on for miles, we could be lost down here for a long time." Onyx said.
"No problem." Manic said. "I know these tunnels like the back of my hand, better actually."
"Really?" Gem asked, slightly annoyed.
"Yep. At the end of this tunnel there are three more, the one on the right leads to the open ocean, the one on the left leads outside of Robotropolis, and the middle one leads into the heart of the city." Manic explained.
"Well we can't return the flickies to their island moment, they'd just be recaptured." Onyx said.
"Maybe we can take them home until its safe for them to return." Snowdrop suggested.
"I like the sound of that!" Onyx said.
"It's not like we have any other choice." Gem said. "Okay, we'll take them home but they're not staying there forever."
"The Urban Rangers shall take these Flicky birds home for." Rolf said, and the Eds noticed that he, Johnny, Plank, and Jimmy were in their Urban Ranger uniforms.
"Thanks but no thanks." Gem said. "The Fox Cub Scouts can handle ourselves."
"Surely you jest nine tailed one, female as soft as yourself cannot even hope in handling such a journey." Rolf said.
"PHST! I've fought in daring sword fights, kraken, giant squids, rode on the back of Moby Deep, stared Pyro the Hedgehog in the eyes, I think I can handle it." Gem said.
"Bah! Only men can handle such a journey, and the Urban Rangers are just that, unlike pathetic, wimpy female foxes, who should be learning how to be Mamas." The mobians who knew Gem well gasped, he had just crossed the line.
"WHAT YOU SAY?!" Gem roared.
"Gem, calm down." Topaz said nervously.
Gemstone spread her legs apart and lowered herself down until her hand touched the ground.
"Gemstone, please calm down?" Onyx asked.
Emerald turned to Rolf and waved "bye-bye" to him.
"FOX TAIL INFERNO!" Gem yelled.
Blue balls of fire appeared at the tip of each tail.
"HIT THE DIRT!" Onyx cried.
Everyone ducked, just as Gemstone threw one of the fireballs. When they looked up, they saw a scorch mark behind Rolf. If that had hit, well, let's just say it would have been ugly.
Rolf opened his mouth to speak but Onyx and Emerald pushed his head into the water.
"Don't even think about opening your mouth!" Onyx snapped.
"Yeah, don't make her do her "Fire Dance"." Topaz agreed.
"As you can see, I can myself." Gem said. "Now I suggest you keep your trap shut or you'll lose it!"
Rolf simply gulped.
"Looks like there's another rival scouting group for the Fox Cub Scouts." Shelby said.
"What do you mean?' Sonic asked.
"Those guys are the best of the best. You need to have two or more foxtails to even try to get in. They have so many badges, that they need three sashes to fit 'em all on. And to get the "Flaming Fire Fox Badge" forget it, only Gemstone has been able to earn it. I can't tall you how many times I've seen people get hurt in it." Shelby explained.
"Alright! Let's move out!" Gem told Onyx and Emerald.
"Gem stone, I'm going to stay with Shelby a little while longer before I come home, is that okay?" Topaz asked.
"Very well then." Gemstone said.
"We should try to get back to HQ." Sonia said.
"Then we'll have to take the middle tunnel." Manic said.
"Alrighty then, let's go!" Sonic said and Manic took the lead.
Everyone followed Manic to the middle tunnel, amazed as to how well he knew it. Double D crawled along the walls and ceiling seeing that it was the only way to stay away from the murky water.
"Wait, hold it!" Sonic cried.
"What now?" Eddy yelled.
"Look!"
He was pointing to a latter that led above ground.
"Nice eye, Sonic." Manic said.
"Thanks, now let's get out of here, I'm starting to smell like this place." Sonic said.
Sonic was the first to look out of the hole.
"It's cool." He said and pushed the manhole cover out of the way.
Everyone scrambled out of the hole, most of them were glad to be out of the sewer.
"Where are we?" Knuckles asked.
"My guess that we're in the heart of the city." Double D said.
"Wonder how close we are to…" Sonic's sentence trailed off.
"Sonic, what's up?' Manic asked.
"Guys, I know where we are." Sonic said.
"Where?" Sonia asked.
"Look." Sonic said he looked pale.
He was pointing to an old junk heap.
"So, it's just a pile of junk." Sonia said.
"Don't be so sure Sonia, because many times it is not what is on the outside that matters, but more often then not what is on the inside." Topaz said.
"Very well put." Shelby said.
"Well if it's not a junk heap, what is it then?" Sonia asked.
Sonic walked up to the heap, picked a brick off the ground, beat it against a pile nearby in a sort of code, and part of the heap lifted up!
"I KNEW IT!" Sonic cried.
"Knew what?" Sonia asked.
"This is where me and my Uncle Chuck spied on Robotnik! C'mon!" Sonic sped inside. The others looked at each other, shrugged and ran in after him.
The inside was that of a cozy little home, with a fireplace, couch and a room full of computers.
"Wow." Sonia said.
Double D took to the computers at once.
"Incredible, I've never seen such work before."
"Man you had this whole place to yourself?" Eddy asked.
"Yep, just me and my Uncle Chuck." Sonic said with a smile.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Topaz looked at the watch on her wrist.
"Shelby, I'm getting large amounts of energy coming from this house." Topaz said.
"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.
"There's a powerful source of energy coming from…the closet?" Topaz said.
"What's up?" Sonic asked.
"Topaz's watch can pick up strong energies and it seems there's one coming from the closet." Shelby explained.
"Let me check it out!" Tails said and dove into the closet.
After a few seconds something popped out of the pile of stuff on the floor. It was a sort of very large gold ring, and it was glowing!
"What is it?" Tails asked.
"Beats me, I've never seen it before." Sonic said.
"Uh, guys?" Topaz said. "The scanner is going way over board. There's some sort of energy coming from that ring, and it's so powerful, it's off the chart."
As soon as she said that, something exploded in the watch, forcing her to throw it on the ground.
"Whoa, nothing can do that to one of Shurie's scanners." Shelby said in awe.
"Nothing short of a Chaos Emerald or one of those…what she call it?"
"Power Rings, Topaz.
"Yeah, that's it."
"But the only one who ever succeeded in creating them was the minister of science."
"What's a Power Ring?" Sonic asked.
"Power Rings allow you incredible power for a short time, they would make you much faster then already are, Sonic." Shelby said.
"Really? Let me see that?" Sonic said, snatching the ring from Tails.
Almost the second he did, Sonic was engulfed in light. When it died down, Sonic was standing there with ring in his hand. Sonic turned to a wall, and started running, he even went up it and onto the ceiling.
"I'm faster then ever!" He cried.
"Wait, You said your uncle was called Chuck?" Topaz asked.
"Yep."
"And he was a hedgehog right? Light blue with a white mustache?"
"Yep."
"Then that means, your Uncle was Sir Charles Hedgehog, the minister of science!"
Sonic fell off the ceiling when he heard that.
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SONIC'S UNCLE WAS THE INISTER OF SCIENCE? Now that was unexpected. R&R please.