Chapter 6: Further Plans


Sonic closed his eyes, rested his forehead against the cold bars of his cell and let out a big sigh. He gingerly touched his leg and winced as pain shot through him again. His leg remained broken and Eggman had apparently agreed to give him painkillers. The blue hedgehog had seen neither Eggman nor his counterpart since. This was quite a while back, possibly a few hours ago, but Sonic wasn't keeping track of the time.

"You're in luck, Sonic. After much deliberation, we've decided to move you."

Sonic snapped his eyes open and whipped his head towards the voice, clenching his teeth in another slight wince at the sudden movement he made. Just outside of his cell stood Eggman Nega and Metal Knuckles. The red robot pressed a button on the nearby wall, which caused the cell bars to retract suddenly into the floor. Sonic was unprepared for this and promptly fell flat onto his face. He growled in pain as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Take him to his room, Metal Knuckles," Eggman Nega ordered.

The robot scooped up Sonic roughly with one of his massive forearms and turned quickly, making the hedgehog's leg hit against the wall in the process. Sonic had to bite his lip and squeeze his eyes shut in order to keep a cry of pain from escaping his throat.


The nighttime train to Mystic Ruins normally did not have many passengers, and tonight was no exception. The clouds had darkened considerably since morning, making the nighttime seem darker than usual. The train's whistle blew loudly, signaling that it was preparing to depart. Seven Mobians could be seen running as fast as they could, desperate to catch the train before it left the station. Knuckles and Rouge were the first ones to dash through the closing doors, followed closely by Blaze, Cream, and Tails. Jet and Storm brought up the rear, barely making it aboard by their tail feathers. Tails, Cream, Blaze, and Rouge held on to nearby seats to steady themselves as they caught their breath, while Knuckles, Storm, and Jet all flopped face down on the floor, panting. All of them were thankful to finally be in some warmth.

The train gave the slightest lurch as it pulled out from the station, beginning on to its destination to Mystic Ruins. Save for the group of seven, and one armadillo who was fast asleep in the back, the entire passenger car was empty.

"So then, let's go over the plan one more time," Tails said, sitting down on one of the seats and pulling out his two map printouts.

As the train moved, the remaining six Mobians gathered around the fox. Knuckles, unable to hear very well outside of the circle, attempted to get in closer by squeezing in between Blaze and Storm. The albatross grunted in protest as he was shoved slightly, while Blaze gave Knuckles a disdainful glance.

"When we get to Tails' house, Tails, Blaze and I will go get the Tornado 3," Cream began, reaching into her purse. She pulled out some Com-Links that she had picked up at Sonic's house, and passed one to everybody.

"Yes, and then we will meet in front of my house. Knuckles and Rouge will use my custom Extreme Gears. Jet and Storm have their own gears, so they're all set to go right now," Tails said, pointing at each person respectively.

"After that, we'll all head for Eggman's base. From there, we will make further plans," Rouge finished. She looked at Tails and gave him a look that was somewhere between confused and disbelief. "That's sort of unorganized, isn't it?"

"It's how Sonic always did it," Tails muttered, shrugging.

Taking this as a motion to end the planning, everybody proceeded to take a seat elsewhere in the car. Knuckles was the first to do so, plopping down on the burgundy cushion next to Tails. The echidna yawned and slumped forward slightly, resting his chin in his hands. It was now ten o' clock at night, and as such, he would have normally been asleep by now. They would have gotten to the train station far earlier, but Tails had been required to make more Com-Links for the others, which had taken a while. He closed his eyes for a couple of minutes, the silence remaining unbroken excepting for the steady rumble of the train on its tracks.

Without warning, the train's wheels let out a loud groan. The vehicle's sudden stop nearly jolted everybody out of their seats, shaking those who were nodding off out of their impending slumber. The seven Mobians stood up, with Knuckles grumbling as he did so. When the group walked out, he took happy notice of the fact that it was a lot warmer in Mystic Ruins than it was at Station Square, although it was no less dark. They all headed towards Tails' house in silence. Once they got there, Knuckles and Rouge began to run towards the house, but Tails stopped them.

"Hold on, I need to turn off security first," the fox said. He went up to the keypad by the door and typed in a long, overtly complicated sequence of numbers. A resounding click sounded from within the house, and Tails opened the door, motioning to the waiting echidna and bat.

"The Gears will be in the first closet on the left!" Tails called after the two as they went inside. Then he ran to catch up with Blaze and Cream, who were already outside of the nearby hangar.

"Thefirst closet on the left? How many closets does he have?" Knuckles muttered to himself, spotting the oak door immediately. He went over and opened the door without problems. Just as Tails had said, there were two Gears propped up against the wall of the closet. There were various gadgets and miscellaneous trinkets littering the floor, but the echidna paid them no heed.

"Here," Knuckles said, grabbing the Yellow Tail board and passing it to Rouge. He withdrew the Red Rock board and closed the closet door.

Rouge examined the custom board as they walked outside, a small frown on her face. "How on Mobius are you supposed to use this thing?"

The echidna thought of teaching her how to use the Extreme Gear, but decided against it. Smirking, Knuckles told her, "It's easy... well, for me, anyway. You'll get used to it."

They walked up next to Jet and Storm, who were holding their respective boards. After a few minutes in awkward silence, a low rumbling could be heard. The four turned their heads towards the hangar, nearly getting blinded by the bright lights that turned on. They managed to shield their eyes, and after rapid blinking, were able to see a golden yellow biplane wheel out slowly. Knuckles assumed that this was Tails' latest project, the Tornado 3. The Com-Links around everyone's wrists hissed with static briefly before Cream's voice could be heard through it.

"Okay, everyone! Follow the Tornado 3, please!" she said, sounding excited.

The four all hopped onto their Extreme Gear and waited for the Tornado to take off. Knuckles was barely able to keep a laugh restrained as Rouge wobbled slightly.

"Hold on a minute! How are we going to use the Extreme Gears when we're going to be over water?" Rouge asked. The hoverboards that she had heard about never worked over water.

Tails' reply came over the Com-Link. "That's easy! Turbulence!"

A loud roar filled the night air as the Tornado 3 took off, a long tail of air flowing behind it. Jet and Storm, being experienced racers, were able to press through the thick turbulence with hardly any effort. Knuckles had to exert more force to follow the two Babylonians, not bothering to look back at a struggling Rouge. The turbulence was not something she was accustomed to, and therefore its strength repelled her attempts to follow the others.

"H-Hey! Wait! How do you use this thing?" she yelled from behind.

Without warning, the bat pressed through a lot quicker than she expected. She zipped past Storm, giving a scream as she nearly fell off the board. Flaring her wings, Rouge was able to regain her balance quickly. Knuckles snickered to himself as Jet sighed in annoyance.


"How on Mobius are we going to get out of here, Shadow?" Amy asked, pacing in front of him.

"We don't," Shadow replied bluntly. He was feeling a bit better than he had been earlier, but he still had a pounding headache. "The doctor specifically designed this room so that you can come in, but you can't come out."

Amy stopped and faced Shadow, a tense expression on her face. "B-But Eggman's work always has faults. How else would've we beaten him in the past?"

Shadow opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off as the metal door suddenly slid open. A most familiar azure form was tossed in, and the door slammed shut. Shadow took half a second to look at the hedgehog, his answer to Amy's question immediately turning into something else.

"Well. The faker was captured, too?" he said dully, attempting to annoy the blue hedgehog.

Sonic's only reply was a yelp of pain, his hands flying to his broken leg. Shadow looked over at Amy, half-expecting her to run over while screaming Sonic's name in happiness, like she always did. That did not happen, instead replaced by the pink hedgehog crossing her arms and turning her back on the hero.

"It would be nice if someone helped me out here!" Sonic whined, looking over pleadingly at Shadow and Amy. The ebony hedgehog gave Sonic a look that read 'yeah, right' and turned away from him.

'The doctor really must be up to something. Normally he wouldn't leave the faker in such a pathetic state,' he thought. Upon hearing a hiss of pain and a grunt, he turned his head, glancing at Amy. With a bit of difficulty, she had managed to lift Sonic up and was currently carrying him over to the other bed. She set him down, taking care not to hurt his tender leg, and then walked down to the bathroom, leaving Sonic and Shadow in silence. The blue hedgehog sighed, bringing Shadow's attention to him.

"Eggman has crossed the line between good guy and bad guy," Sonic said.

Shadow was about say something, but Amy had returned with a first-aid kit, so he decided to keep quiet. He watched as Sonic winced when Amy wrapped a long bandage around his leg.

"Will you stop moving around so much, Sonic?" Amy snapped, not looking up at her patient.

Shadow was most taken aback by her attitude. Never before had he heard Amy talk like that to her 'hero'. Judging from the surprised expression on Sonic's face, Shadow deduced that the blue hedgehog felt the same way he did.

'Maybe she finally grew up,' Shadow thought, crossing his arms. 'Then again... she looks rather upset.'

"A-Ames..." Sonic stuttered, as she finished tending to him. "Look, Amy. I'm sorry."

Amy turned her back to him and coldly replied, "It's a little too late, Sonic."

With that, she walked off, her fists clenched. Shadow watched her walk off, and then lazily looked over at Sonic, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Faker, what did you do to her now?" he asked.

"Nothing!" Sonic exclaimed defensively. "I guess she's just a little cranky."

Shadow shook his head and sat up straighter. Then he proceeded to look over his shoulder and speak in a leisurely way. "Well, you were her idol the last time I saw you two. You've obviously done something."

Amy returned, a damp cloth in her hand. The wrinkles in the cloth hinted that she had just wrung it of excess water. She folded it into a neat rectangle, and then placed it on Sonic's forehead.

"Get some rest. It'll do you good," she muttered, not looking at him.

"Amy, I said I was sorry," Sonic started. "What else do you wa--"

"I said, get some rest," Amy snapped, clenching her fists even tighter.

Sonic looked at Amy for a moment, cut by her outburst, before he closed his eyes, trying to drop off to sleep. Shadow shook his head in disbelief, immediately regretting the action the moment his headache berated him for it. The angered female stormed over next to Shadow and sat down on the bed. He looked down at Amy, who was staring at floor. Her gloved hands were squeezing the ends of her dress, much like she had wrung the cloth earlier.

"It's too late," she muttered under her breath.

Shadow waited a few minutes before looking over his shoulder again. Seeing that Sonic was either in slumber or faking it extremely well, he turned back to Amy.

"Not that this is any of my business, but why do you hate him all of a sudden?" he inquired, his voice a whisper.

Amy's reply was just as quiet. "You're right, Shadow. It's none of your business."


Blaze looked at the darkness below the wing of the Tornado 3, biting back a wave of nausea. Air travel was not something the cat was accustomed to, and it had taken all of her willpower to restrain her fear of heights. She had required a bit of help as the Tornado 3 had ascended into the air. Even though she was seated within the closed-up cockpit, safe from the wind, it did nothing to calm to her uneasy stomach.

"I can't believe I agreed to this," Blaze muttered into the Com-Link, knowing perfectly well that the other two in the Tornado could hear her quite well without it. Using the device helped get her mind off the fact that she was in the air, no matter how slight the distraction.

"Don't worry," Cream said in a reassuring way, looking back at Blaze. "At least you're not on an Extreme Gear!"

"Yes. I suppose you're right," Blaze sighed, attempting to make herself more comfortable. She didn't know how Cream and Tails were able to not be airsick, but she was grateful that she did not have to ride the turbulence. The cat could not even begin to fathom how Knuckles, Rouge, Jet or Storm could manage such a ride.

A steady beep resounded from the front of the cockpit, attracting Cream's attention. The rabbit peeked over Tails' shoulder in curiosity.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's a--" Tails was cut off when a loud yelp sounded over the Com-Link. Everyone in the cockpit winced slightly at the amount of decibels Rouge had ended up using.

"WILL YOU GET OFF?" came Knuckles' voice a second later.

"It isn't my fault if a gust of wind nearly made me fall off!" Rouge retaliated.

"Yeah, that's right. Just go and latch onto ME for help!"

"WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP?" Jet roared.

Tails gritted his teeth and winced further, pulling the earpiece away from his ear before any permanent damage could be done.

"Is it possible that if any particular party was making a lot of noise, that they could maybe turn the Com-Link off?" Blaze asked into the Com-Link, directing her question at the four Mobians on Extreme Gears.

She was given the reply of "Sure," from the four tailing the plane. Tails sighed, while Cream giggled a bit.

"They're so funny," Cream said.

"Yeah, but also annoying," Tails muttered. "Anyways, that beeping is the sound of the tracking system on the plane. It's letting me know that we are getting close to our destination."

"That's... good," Blaze said, her voice slurring as her airsickness was renewed.

Tails couldn't help but laugh slightly as he lifted the Com-Link to his mouth. "Okay, everybody! We're going to land now, so get ready!"

The Tornado 3 made a sharp turn as it descended, eventually landing smoothly on a rocky formation above the ocean water. The turbulence still lingered behind the plane even after it had landed. Cream opened the door to the cockpit and hopped out onto the rocky ground, with Tails following suit. He heard a nauseated groan and turned around to see Blaze leaning lightly against the side of the plan, looking somewhat green.

"Are you okay, Blaze?" Cream asked, walking forward.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit woozy," Blaze replied, rubbing her temples.

Without warning, Tails was hit in the head with a flying Extreme Gear, which had no rider on it. Cream raced over to his side, while Blaze was slowly dispelling her airsickness with slow breaths.

"I'm okay... ow..." Tails groaned, rubbing his head.

"Sorry 'bout that, kid," Rouge called, as Knuckles, Jet, Storm and herself walked over from the back of the plane.

"Looks like Red Mutt forgot to tell Rouge how to stop!" Storm let out a laugh, and gave Knuckles a punch in the side of the head.

Rouge joined in with Storm's laughter. "Red Mutt. I aught to use that one. Thanks, albatross!"

Knuckles glared and returned Storm's punch, aiming this one at his forehead. "I hate you right now!"

"You guys, now isn't a really good time to be fighting," Tails said loudly from his spot at the edge, interrupting the looming clash. Knuckles and Storm abandoned their fighting stances, joining everyone else around the fox. "I just tested the water to see if we could swim in it. It's safe, but according to the map printouts, the base is really far down."

"Yeah, so what? We could easily swim down there," Jet said in annoyance.

"No. I mean, it's really far down," Tails grumbled. "It's so deep down that we wouldn't be able to hold our breath that long if we tried to."

Knuckles removed something from the wrist of his glove, uncurling it. "I have my Air Necklace."

Tails looked at the necklace and nodded, looking around at the others. "That may be, but there's only one Air Necklace, and seven people."

"That plane is new. I recall that you mentioned putting an underwater mode on it?" Blaze asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, but it was just in the works. I didn't expect Dr. Robotnik to put a base of his underwater so soon," Tails replied, slumping his shoulders. "There's a risk that the Tornado's structure could shatter under the pressure of the water."

"We'll just have to take that risk, then!" Jet snapped, glaring at Tails angrily. "I came here to find Wave, and I plan to leavewithWave! Besides, Sonic and Amy are down there, too! What else are you going to do, Prower?"

"Yeah, Boss is right!" Storm growled, clenching his fist.

"B-But-!" Tails tried to protest.

"I'm sure we'll be able to make it, Tails. Let's just try!" Cream said, drawing Tails' attention to her. The doe gave him a reassuring smile and placed a hand on his shoulder. The fox gave a small smile back.

"Fine," he said. "I'll just be a second."

Tails walked back over to the Tornado 3, jumped back in, and pressed a purple button on the dashboard. Everyone took a half step back as the plane transformed. Eventually, it became what appeared to be a larger, but otherwise identical to the first Tornado 2's transformation. There were now three seats inside the cockpit, excluding the pilot's seat.

"Okay. Cream, Blaze, Rouge? I'll take you guys down first," Tails said via the Com-Link. "Be sure to bring the Extreme Gears with you. Knuckles can swim down beside us, and then I'll come back to get Jet and Storm... that is, if it holds up."