Chapter 130: Sonic Family Beatdown - Part 2

Last time on Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic and his friends and siblings made off to Spagonia in order to find the generator and Professor Pickle. However, their adventure took an unfortunate turn as Tails and Knuckles were imprisoned and Sonic and his siblings were put into a maze constructed by Thunderbolt, one of Jenni's Hive Minds. Put into a corner, Sonic, Sonia, and Manik fought in the city against Thunderbolt's army of Egg Fighters… But thankfully, help came in the most unexpected way…

Starring:

Sonic the Hedgehog - Hero of Mobius

Sonia the Hedgehog - Pulsing Heroine

Manik the Hedgehog - Electrifying Bad Boy

Aleena the Hedgehog - Mystical Songstress

Chip - Mysterious Entity

Tails & Knuckles - Captured & Imprisoned Hostages

[Spagonia - Outer City]

*Sonic and his siblings were surrounded by the Egg Fighters, getting encroached by the increasing numbers. But thankfully for them, the robots' attention were on another individual…*

Sonic: "Aunt Aleena!?"

Aleena: "Sonic~ Hiyaaa! How are you?"

Sonic: "Um… How does 'in between a rock and a metal place' sound?"

Aleena: "Oh! Right! Forgot about that! Let's clean up then!"

*As the Egg Fighters turn to prepare to finish off Sonic, Sonia, and Manik, bubbles shaped like notes floated out of the ground, much to the robots confusion. Aleena was singing a very soft song as these bubbles appeared. The Egg Fighters stared at the bubbles as they floated between groups of themselves, ignoring Sonic for a moment. With a snap of Aleena's fingers though, the bubbles exploded, destroying many of the Egg Fighters. Sonic stares with wide eyes before smiling.*

Sonia: "That…WAS AWESOME!"

Manik: "Can you teach me to do that, Aunt Aleena!?"

Chip: "Wh-Whoa! How did she use the Mystic Melody like that!?"

Sonic: "Everyone! Aunt Aleena thinned out the herd! Be quick and efficient; let's plow through the robots and get out of here to plan out our next move!"

Siblings: "RIGHT!"

*With a second wind, the hedgehogs scatter as the remaining Egg Fighters fire their blasters at them. The shield variants block Sonic's oncoming attacks, but their shields are knocked aside as blaster shots destroy them with friendly fire thanks to Sonic's quick thinking. Sonia and Manik use their respective attacks to thin the robots more, while Aleena dodges gracefully around the robots, kicking one away before jumping away from another. She then quickly uses her own Spin Dash to bowl over the robots.*

Sonic: "Whew. Looks like we might be able to get out of here soon!"

*Sonic then notices the sun setting, smiling a bit as things look to be getting better. Sonic writhes in pain for a moment as nighttime comes about, forcing him into his new form - Werehog - much to Aleena's shock.*

Sonic: "Alright… Who's first to get their world rocked!?"

*The Werehog was not hesitant in going on the attack, stretching out his arms to grab an Egg Fighter by the head and use it as a battering ram to clear out more of the robots. With a slam to the ground, the shockwave knocks the robots off their feet, allowing Sonia, Manik, and Aleena to run out. But as they did, creatures like the first one that Sonic fought at Castle Acorn start to crawl out of the shadows. With roars to announce their arrival, the creatures attacked both the Hedgehog family and Eggman's robots without much provokation.*

Manik: "Oh boy! Just sayin', this vacation sucks!"

Sonia: "Quit whining and get ready to book it!"

*Aleena had no idea what was going on; after all her own nephew was a wolf hedgehog thing, but she knew her family was still in trouble. Singing another Mystic Melody, she created platforms under Sonia and Manik, lifting them high in the sky and out of danger. They jumped from platform to platform, Sonic using his long arms to follow as the robots and dark creatures were too distracted fighting each other to bother with any chase.*

[Spagonia - Thunderbolt's Base]

*Thunderbolt was watching the whole fight unfold with a bag of popcorn on her lap. She was about to eat more of her snack when Aleena showed up, with the pause being extended once the dark creatures appeared. Once it looked like Sonic had thoroughly escaped, Thunderbolt lost her temper, tossing away her bag.*

Thunderbolt: "GAH! Idiots! Useless pieces of scrap metal! After all that planning, Sonic and his miserable pals still got away!?"

*Thunderbolt lets out a scream of anger as electricity surges out of her like a storm. But she stops as she quickly composed herself. She then smiled, realizing she still had her trump card.*

Thunderbolt: "Right, right… I forgot. I can salvage this. Sonic hasn't won yet. I still have the entire city locked down here. And Sonic's two buddies are tied up here too. I still have hostages! I can just use them to my advantage! Ehehehe! AHAHAHAHA! I'm a genius! A cruel genius!"

*Tails and Knuckles, who woke up, overhear this, gritting their teeth as Thunderbolts gloats.*

Tails: "Not if we can help it…"

[Outside Spagonia]

*Outside the city, Sonic and his family regroup as the part of the city they left had essentially become a warzone between two evils. With there being a break in the action, they could talk…but not before Aleena is hugged by her niece and nephews.*

Sonia: "Aunt Aleena! We're so happy to see you! Why are you here? And what are you doing here?"

Aleena: "Hehe~ I was on tour until a couple of nights ago. A tremor broke down my van after some lady came on the radio talking about Chuck like she knew her or something. I got bored of waiting for repairs on the van and decided to come to Spagonia. That's about when I saw you kids enter. …Got lost in the maze though."

Manik: "Oh… So we just so happen to meet up…"

Aleena: "I-I mean! It worked out, right?"

Sonic: "Hey, I'm not complaining. But we're gonna need a plan soon since Tails and Knuckles are still caught by the one leading those robots."

*Aleena looks at Sonic's Werehog form before…pulling at his face. Sonic angrily, pushes Aleena's hands off.*

Sonic: "Ah! Hey! Stop it! That hurt!"

Aleena: "Oh. So that isn't makeup or anything? And who's your friend?"

Chip: "Hehe~ Name's Chip. That's what these guys call me since I can't remember my actual name…"

Aleena: "Oh! I'm sorry to hear that. Reminds me of when I forgot to turn off the oven when I was making pancakes last month… My manager would not let that slide…"

Sonia: "...She left the oven on again…?"

Manik: "Glad things don't change even when the world is screwed up…"

Chip: "Um… Sonic? Why is she so…all over the place…?"

Sonic: "Sigh… This is our aunt, Queen Aleena. The 'Queen' part is actually her stage name. She's a singer who goes on tour frequently. She and my dad, Jules, are close and all, but don't see each other often because of her job. That said, she does write often…"

Aleena: "So what have you kids been up to? How's Jules been doing? Oh and Chuck too?"

*Sonic makes a time-out gesture with his hands at Aleena as he sighs.*

Sonic: "One thing at a time, Aunt Aleena… Let's play catch up after we save our friends…"

Aleena: "Ohhh, okay. I hear ya. Important stuff now and family stuff later! Gotcha~"

Chip: "She, uh, marches to her own beat… Huh?"

Sonic: "Chip. If you knew anything about her, you'd know she doesn't just march to her own beat… She sprints."

Chip: "...That's concerning…"

Sonia: "Okay, Sonic… What's the plan? If we head back to the city, we're likely to get lost in that maze again… It's like rigged against us…"

Manik: "Is there a way to get around the maze? Like… I dunno… A blindspot?"

Sonia: "Don't be ridiculous. There's no blindspot if that Egg Boss was thorough."

Aleena: "How about the sewers? Nobody with a sane mind would go through there."

*Everyone stares at Aleena as they thought about what they heard. …Thunderbolt was thorough…right?*

[Spagonia - Sewer Back Entrance]

*At the back entrance of the city sewers, which was quite a trek on foot which Sonic wasn't a fan of due to the slower speed in his Werehog form, the blue blur's arm stretched out to grab the grate and yank it off effortlessly thanks to the rust on the bars.*

Manik: "Sewers… Why is it always…sewers? Why can't we just…I dunno… smash through?"

Sonia: "Oh sure, good idea. Let's waste our energy scrapping metal. Come on, you big baby. Just…ugh…get used to the smell…"

Manik: "Oh it's not even the smell… It's the fact that it's so overused!"

Aleena: "I mean… Lamps are overused, but we still use them~"

Manik: "...Lamps are at least useful to nerds like Sonia…"

Sonia: "I heard that, punk!"

Sonic: "Keep it down. We need to be quiet in case this isn't as safe as we think it is."

*Sonic climbs into the pipe before pulling Sonia and Manik up. Aleena just jumps up like an athlete, posing as if she just finished a gymnastics competition. When she didn't get an applause - in fact she was ignored as Sonic and his siblings walked ahead - she hurriedly caught up to her family.*

[Spagonia - Sewers]

*The group went through the side part of the sewers, Aleena ahead of the group with a flashlight on to light the trail.*

Aleena: "Okay… I'll be the first to admit that this wasn't my best plan…"

Sonic: "A plan's a plan, right?"

Chip: "Yeah, but ugh! The pungent smell down here could shut down those robots…"

Sonia: "Hey, Manik? Is this better or worse than your sewer room?"

Manik: "Oh shut up. My room's better than your hair spray smelling room."

Sonia: "I need to smell good! Unlike you, mister 'I only bathe once a day'."

Manik: "Hey! I smell good too! And besides, I got better things to do than take three baths like you!"

*The two start arguing over personal hygiene, soon leading to petty insults. Sonic basically had that 'oh boy, here we go again' bored look on his face, as the arguing escalated.*

Aleena: "Boy, those two remind me of me and Jules when we were young~"

Sonic: "You two argued like that?"

Aleena: "All the time. Charles was a lot like you - the calm and composed brother who'd get annoyed at us for letting simple things get to us~ We argued, but we always loved each other. At least…until I did something bad…"

Sonic: "Hmm?"

Aleena: "So about your age, Jules started dating…your mother. Bernie. I knew Bernie, since she was basically a neighbor to me. The two weren't quite at first base yet, but there was a spark there. One thing about me is that I…was quite a prankster. I loved bullying Jules when I had an opportunity. Chuck would call me 'Aleena the Pain-quill'. …On account of us…uh…"

Sonic: "Yeah I got it. Continue."

Aleena: "A-Anyway, I did a pretty bad prank that went way too far. It was harmless at first, it being a simple ice bucket dump from atop a tree in the park. But…I accidentally hit Bernie and not Jules. Bernadetta got the wrong idea, almost calling off the date with Jules. I remember Jules yelling at me, saying 'I wish you were never been born' before running home in tears. The guilt I felt was…immeasurable."

Manik: "Wh-Whoa… Did…Dad ever forgive you?"

Aleena: "...Sort of… I called Bernie the next day and explained that I was in the wrong and not Jules. She was hesitant to forgive and forget, but she was very understanding. The two made up and…well… Me and Jules never really spoke. I am genuinely busy these days, being a singer on tour and all, but… Part of it is because I'm afraid of Jules. I've done some messed up things when we were kids and… I'd do anything to take it all back…"

*As the kids listened intently, they heard some soft crying before looking at Chip, who looked like he had heard the most beautiful story ever.*

Sonic: "Well… Why not come home to Knothole then? Patch things up with Dad?"

Aleena: "...I…"

*Aleena dodges the question by pointing at a manhole cover above. There was an eerie blue light above, which was different from the other covers they passed which had some light or no light.*

Aleena: "...I think we might be at our destination."

*Sonic looks at Aleena before sighing and punching the manhole cover off. The group exit the sewers and end up in front of the Spagonia University, which had been covered by some kind of forcefield, likely to hide the building from any intruders. With the building discovered, all that was left was to save the townspeople, Tails and Knuckles, and eject Thunderbolt out of the city. Sonic and Manik crack their knuckles as the group gets ready to enter the building.*

To be continued…