I've been gone for about a week I think. Oh well, I'm back and there is nothing you can do to stop it. That's just the way it works. Here's the next chapter.
Chapter 18: The Fall of Karst Kingdom
"Miss Rouge the Bat! Step forward to the council!" Shouted one of five men in very high seats. They sat and waited, and waited, and waited. "MISS ROUGE!!!" Shouted a very impatient man.
"Okay, I'm coming. Jeez! You G.U.N geeks really don't have much respect for a woman's natural ability to look beautiful before presenting herself in front of men do you?" Complained the thirteen-year-old bat as she strolled into the extremely dark room. In fact the only thing visible was two empty seats and the five council members in their high chairs. The councilmen ignored her and proceeded.
"Mr. Big the Cat! Step forward to the council!" Shouted the five men. It wasn't very long before he strolled in with his pet frog over his shoulder as well. The bat and cat took their seats in front of the council. Smokestack was also in the room but he wasn't very visible. However, being a bat, Rouge was able to use her sonar ability to see him and everything else in the room. It was basically one huge empty room.
"Now we may get started. Miss Rouge…" started one of the councilmen.
"Hi yah." She merely said.
"Don't 'hi yah' me! We are your superiors! Not only that but you're a jewel thief and we're G.U.N councilmen. We could arrest you if wish to." Said the angry council member.
"So why not do it already?" Rouge asked wondrously. The councilmen ignored her question and continued with the procedure.
"We understand that you are a jewel thief but we are willing to VI pass that fact in order to protect the nation. Our intelligence reports state that you are very cunning and smart witted. Am I correct."
"Hey, your talking to a jewel thief who leaves behind pictures of herself on cards and loves making silly faces at the security camera. Of course I'm cunning and witty." She laughed.
"Then we must ask you and your partner here a favor." Said the second councilman.
"Huh? A favor?" asked Rouge.
"What kind of favor?" Big asked intrigued by their conversation.
"We were wondering if you would join G.U.N and be a mercenary spy." Asked the third councilman. Both Rouge and Big sat there wide-eyed.
"A…a G.U.N mercenary spy agent…y-you're kidding right." Rouge was astounded. She was never easily surprised in the first place.
"Cool." Big merely said.
"So do you accept?" the fourth councilman asked toward Big. Big nodded violently. Froggy immediately croaked in excitement. When Big heard him croak he looked down at his chum and looked back at the councilman.
"Can Froggy be an agent too?" he asked.
"What? Of course not!" the fourth councilman shouted.
"Just let him join." Said the fifth councilman.
"But he's a mindless frog!" argued the fourth councilman.
"He seems to know what is going on and what we are talking about. That doesn't make him mindless in my book." Said the second councilmen.
"…Fine." The fourth one agreed.
"Then it's settled. Your frog can join as well." The first councilman said. Big and Froggy got of the seat and started to cheer.
"What of you miss Rouge?" asked the third councilman.
"…Do I still get to rob jewelry stores?" she asked.
"What you do outside the G.U.N army is none of our concern. Besides it's not like the army is going to rush to city because a small gem was stolen. The police will take care of that." Explained the first councilman. Rouge smirked knowing she could obviously handle the police.
"Okay you guys I accept." Rouge said.
"Good. Smokestack." The first councilman nudged toward Smoke. Smoke nodded and walked toward Rouge, Big and Froggy. He pulled two badges out from his pocket and gave them to them.
"Where is Froggy's badge." Big asked.
"You two can share the same one." Smoke said as emotionless as ever. Big nodded and accepted this.
"Your first mission will be assigned by me." Smoke said.
"We're having our first mission already? Can't we tighty up first?" Rouge asked.
"Tighty up from what? You haven't done anything. Besides you spent like 30 minutes in the bath alone then spent an extra 45 minutes doing something with your hair. Honestly, do all woman take that long to 'tighty up' in the bathroom?" Smoke asked.
"Well, not all woman…but most do. Hey, it's not a crime to want to look good." Rouge said. Smoke sighed then began to tell them their mission.
"Your first objective is to travel with me to a place called Magma Mill and steal a chaos emerald from a red generator. The next objective will be to send all of Sector B on a suicide attack mission on the palace that was built on Magma Mountain." Smoke explained.
"Our first mission is a suicide mission? Sounds like fun." Rouge smiled, as did Big and Froggy.
"We have no time to waste. I'll gather all of Sector B together and we'll be on our way at 13 hundred hours." Smoke said leaving the room.
"Thirteen hundred hours?" Big asked scratching his head.
"That's 1:00 pm tomorrow in army time. Since it's past Midnight we can't do the mission today. Now I can have some beauty sleep."
"Does that take a long time too?" Big asked.
"You know it." Rouge smirked.
Back on Christmas Island or Karst IslandTodd Banks and Yaupon went back inside after the scene they saw with Karst and Sonic. Sonic took Tails away because he knew Todd's messed up house was no place to get healthy. Todd and Yaupon had lost hope a long time ago so they didn't really think Sonic could do much to help them. And after they saw Sonic bow to Karst they were sure of it. Todd watched Yaupon walk to his room. Todd never once tried to assure Yaupon that it wasn't his fault his mother died. He just let him believe that without even caring if Yaupon was sad or not. He sometimes wondered if he still cared about his son but would always let the idea slide.
"Well, I guess I should get some sleep." Todd proceeded to walk to his bedroom when unexpectedly his phone rang. That was a sound he hadn't heard in a while.
Todd heard it ring again. He was a bit scared. No one ever called him because he never interacted with anyone after his wife died.
Another ring.
Maybe it was just a prank. Or maybe it was a death threat. He flinched at that thought but then realized it wasn't possible since interacted with no one. He barely talked to his son.
The phone began to ring again before Todd finally picked it up.
"Hello." He spoke into the phone.
"Hi, Todd. It's me, your favorite ruler." Said a familiar and heart stopping voice.
"K-Karst. What do you want?" He asked a bit taken a back.
"I'm planning an elimination attack on your town tonight so I want you to dress nice and be prepared to scream and run." Karst said.
"W-what? Why are you telling me this?" He wanted to know.
"Because, I know you don't care about any of those people anymore. Besides I bugged your house when I threw the brick though your window. It detached from the brick and is probably hovering right by you this second. Don't bother looking for it. It's too small to see with your underdeveloped naked eye."
"…"
"If you told anyone that thing would fly inside your head and shoot a huge hole in your brain. But, we all know you won't tell."
"…"
"But enough time wasting. The reason I called you is so you can send a massage out to the blue hedgehog and his fox friend."
"…I'm listening."
"I'm a bit worried you'll refuse."
"…I'll do anything you ask. Like you said I only care for myself."
"Good. Now then…I want you to kill your 4-year-old son!"
"…" Todd stood there not very shocked by the request but he was speechless. He hasn't really 'loved' his son in a long time. Todd barely considered Yaupon his son anymore. Why should he care if he died? After all he only cares for himself now.
"So, will you do it?" Karst asked.
"How will this send a message to Sonic?"
"Don't worry. He'll return here and find your dead son. I'll make sure of it. Now do we have a deal?"
"…Of course. I'll get right on it." Todd agreed.
In Yaupon's roomYaupon sat on his floor and began crying. He hated it when he saw blood. It always reminded him of when he failed to safe his mother from dying. He spotted a small pottery cup on the floor. He immediately picked it up and held it close.
"I'm glad this is still okay." He said between sobs. Him and his mom made this together and it was basically the only thing he had left to remember her by. "I miss you mommy. Why? Why couldn't I save you?" He asked as his tears began to fall into the cup.
It was then that he heard a thump. It was so unexpected that it startled him, so much in fact that he accidentally dropped the cup onto the floor. It immediately shattered into pieces. Yaupon stared at it for a minute then began to burst out into loud uncontrollable tears.
"NO! Mommy! I broke her cup!" Yaupon gathered the pieces together and began to reshape it. The pieces weren't really small so it was easy to reshape it but he couldn't put it back together again. It slumped apart as soon as Yaupon put them together. Then he heard another thumb. It was louder this time.
"H-hello. D-daddy is that you?" Yaupon asked. The thumbing grew louder. Yaupon grabbed the pieces, stood up, and put them on his dresser. The thumbing was growing even louder. He was starting to get scared. His father never really came up to his room, not ever. He would always call him down if he needed him.
"D-daddy?" he asked again. The thumbing grew closer to his room. He then realized the thumbing was merely loud footsteps. Yaupon backed against the wall as a shadow made itself visible at the bottom crack of his door. The doorknob turned and opened. Yaupon WAS staring at his father.
"DADDY!" the silver hedgehog yelled as he ran toward his father. "Daddy, I broke it. I broke mommy's cup! I'm sorry!" He cried. His father unexpectedly did not yell at him for crying. Instead he bent down and gave him a hug. Yaupon looked out into space clearly surprised. It has been a long time since he was given a hug by anybody. He took advantage of it by hugging him back.
"It's okay Yaupon." Todd assured.
"Sniff' Are you sure?" Yaupon asked.
"I'm sure."
"Okay daddy."
"…Hey Yaupon."
"Yeah."
"…Goodbye."
"Goodbye? Are you leaving?" Yaupon asked before he felt a searing pain in his back. He didn't know what had just happened until he felt pain grow worse. Blood began to seep out of Yaupon's mouth.
His father had just stabbed Yaupon in the back with a knife.
"No I'm not leaving. But you are…forever." His father stated. Yaupon didn't answer. His eyes were wide open but they showed no signs of life.
"…Daddy… I said I was sorry… for breaking the cup …" His body went limb and the pain stopped.
"… Like I care." Todd stated as his now dead son hit the floor.
Back at Antiguan's hotelSonic had gotten back to Antiguan's hotel a few minutes after the ordeal with Karst. Antiguan was fixing the poor sleeping fox some soup while Sonic tended to his wounds on the couch. The blue hedgehog then noticed Tails start to move. Sonic smiled and saw his little buddy open his eyes toward him.
"Tails? You alright buddy?" Sonic asked.
"…Sonic…why…why am I always the one getting hurt. I've been beat up all my life and even after I met you I'm still being hurt more…maybe the whole world does hate me…I'm worth-" Tails began.
"What did I tell you about saying you were worthless!?" Sonic shouted.
"…" Tails didn't answer.
"Well!"
"…To not say I'm worthless." Tails finally answered back.
"That's right. Your not worthless Tails. We made a pact to each other that none of us would say the other or themselves were worthless."
"No we didn't." Tails corrected.
"Well we are now." Sonic informed. Tails smiled then felt a small pain in his arm.
"Sonic…my arm…it hurts." Tails flinched. Sonic checked both arms and saw a huge gash on his left one. He was going to apply some of the alcohol medicine on it but then surprisingly, the gash disappeared.
"W-what the?" Sonic saw it but couldn't believe it. That's when he remembered Tails' kitsune self. It was still a huge factor that they needed to find out. Sonic saw that Tails stopped wincing in pain and started to relax.
"That's right, just relax buddy. I'll get you some soup." Sonic said as he raced to Antiguan who was in the kitchen. As soon as Sonic got in there he went to Antiguan's back and tapped his shoulder. The brown hedgehog didn't turn around.
"Antiguan? Hello. You there buddy?" Sonic walked around his body and saw the horrible thing Antiguan was looking at.
There on the wall, written in blood was a message: Yaupon is gone and soon you will all be, tonight! Love karst.
Sonic and Antiguan stared at the spine chilling message and kept reading it over and over again. Sonic was a little shaken by the way the message was presented to them. They had no idea how it got there. They had no idea when it was written. They didn't even know whose blood that was. Eventually Sonic broke the silence.
"…Yaupon…dead? C-could he mean…" Sonic started before he saw Antiguan shaking his head. "Oh no!" Sonic ran out of the kitchen and out the front door leaving a cold breeze of wind to smack the relaxing fox.
"Sonic? Where are you going?" Tails asked as he got up. He got no answer for Sonic was already gone. Tails hopped off the couch and ran out the door. It was a little weird that he could run after the beating he had earlier but Tails dismissed the thought. He needed to find out what was wrong.
At Todd's houseSonic rushed into the cracked and worn old house and started looking everywhere for Yaupon or Todd. He looked in the living room, the kitchen, and the bathrooms before going up stairs. Sonic searched all the bedrooms until there was only one left to search. The blue hedgehog knew this had to be it. His heart thumped at the thought of what might lie behind this door. He reached for the knob, grabbed it, and turned slowly. As soon as the door was open he was greeted with the unwelcoming scene of a 4-year-old hedgehog's corpse on the ground.
"…Yaupon…" Sonic mumbled as he knelt down to look at his body. He searched his body and found a huge hole in his back, obviously made from being stabbed. Sonic couldn't believe it. Who would do something so cruel to an innocent 4-year-old with a crushed spirit?
"W-what happened to him?" asked a scared voice from behind. Sonic turned around and saw the frightened look on his little two-tailed buddy's face.
"He's…he's gone Tails…" Sonic said while picking up the corpse. This was a little too much for a little kid like Tails to take in so quickly. Actually, everything they were going through was too much for him. The fox had been introduced to so much death since he met Sonic. Tails started to wonder if his life would ever pick up. It was then that Sonic grabbed Tails arm and they left in a flash.
Inside the hotel"So it was true. Does this mean Karst is going to get rid of all of us?" asked Antiguan as he and many others stared at the silver hedgehog's lifeless body. Sonic stood there tapping his fingers on the table frustratingly. He couldn't allow what Karst was going to do to happen. However, he beat Sonic so easily. How could he fight back?
"Sonic…" Tails began. Sonic turned to his fox friend.
"Yeah buddy?" Sonic asked.
"I have an idea…"
"What is it?"
"I could… I could sneak inside the castle and…"
"No. No way am I putting you in harms way."
"Listen to what the kid has to say Sonic." Antiguan said from behind. Sonic turned to see his tall buddy with the most serious look he had on his face since they got here.
"… Okay. What's your plane Tails?" Sonic asked not wanting to start an argument with Antiguan at this moment.
"Is this going to be a complicated plan? My brain gets all messed up when I hear really big words." Knuckles asked. Tails ignored the echidna and began telling them his plan. When he was done they all stared at him with blank faces.
"T-that's just plain suicide Tails! You can't do that!" Sonic shouted.
"I gotta try Sonic. You and Knuckles are the only ones tough enough to take down that much robots at a time. Plus if I go alone I can navigate more freely. It will work. Don't you trust me?" Tails asked in a pleading voice. Sonic stared down at the fox feeling a bit awkward. Eventually Sonic sighed and answered the fox.
"Yeah, I trust you. You do your thing and I'll do mine. Amy!" Sonic shouted the pink hedgehog across the room. Amy immediately lifted her heard off the couch she was lying on and looked over at Sonic.
"Yes Sonic." She asked.
"I need you to take Tails to Karst's palace, use your hammer to make a huge hole in the wall, and let Tails take it from there. Once you've done that meet us back down here." Sonic explained.
"Don't worry, you can count on me." Amy assured. Sonic then turned to Tails and put his hands on the fox's shoulders.
"I'm counting on you too buddy." Sonic said. Tails smiled and made a salute with his hand.
"I promise I won't let you down!" The fox said.
10 minutes later
Karst and his troops all marched toward the small town in threes. It was time to carry out Eggman's will. He was going to capture the fox and kill that pesky blue hedgehog once and for all. The ice themed half-robot glided over the air on a small hovering platform and looked down at all his troops. Seeing them march equally and harmonically made him feel even more giddy and hot headed then before.
"This is fantastic! I've always wanted to be the one to make a negative difference in everyone's life. Not only did I do that but…" Karst pulled out his mirror staff and looked at himself. "…I'm incredibly handsome too."
Eventually the troops made it to the town, completely overlooking the pink hedgehog and the two tailed fox sneaking behind the trees, and they all lined up in front of the citizen's homes. Karst landed his platform and looked onward.
"Citizens of Karst Island, heed me at once!" Karst shouted. No one answered. No one even showed up. This got Karst angry. "I said get out here at once!" Still no answer. "That's it! As ruler of Karst Island I demand for you to come out!"
"Oh shut up your vapor venting hunk of steam driven crap!" Shouted a familiar voice.
"What? Who dares…" Karst began.
"I dares!" Sonic all of a sudden fell out of the sky in his ball form and slammed Karst on the head. This caused him to fall forward but he didn't hit the ground however. Sonic ricocheted off Karst's head and began doing fast and vicious homing attacks against all of the guards. After he hit and destroyed 12 of them he landed back on his feet in front of Karst. The half-robot looked really pissed off.
"You…irritating blue rodent!" Karst said as stood up straight and held out his mirror staff. "You've got some nerve taking me on like that. Too bad your weak attack did me no damage. My ice is HARD son!"
"Blah, blah, I just wish you had the balls to stop gloating and face me like a real man!" Sonic shouted.
"Isn't 1 against…10 thousand a bit unfair." Karst stopped to do a speed count during that sentence.
"I think we can mange." Sonic answered back.
"We?" Karst asked. All of a sudden numerous full-bodied men flew out of the ground. "What the?" Before Karst could do anything else they all landed a huge punch at the half-robot's face. The force sent Karst backwards and made him slam into and destroy a few of his guards.
"Man, how I've always wanted to do that!" Shouted one of the men. Suddenly a huge metal tentacle lashed out at the man who said that and struck him hard across the face. Everyone else watched in amazement as the clearly surprised man flew into a building leaving a small trail of blood behind him.
"Ha! Like you'll ever get the chance to do it again! Now my servants! Destroy them all!" Karst yelled. The robots all held out their guns while Sonic, Knuckles, Antiguan, and the others all got into a fighting stance.
"Charge!" Antiguan shouted.
Meanwhile in the castleTails ran through the halls trying to find his way to what might be the center of the palace. When he and Amy showed up here they were both surprised at how big it was. The fox knew it would be impossible to find a lost sock in this place.
"Aw man! If I only had a map I could find this place's center point. Maybe I wasn't cut out for this. Maybe I should go back…" Tails began then remembered the last words Sonic said to him before the plan was executed.
'I'm counting on you too buddy.'
'I promise I won't let you down!'
"…No! I promised Sonic that I wouldn't let him down!" Tails ran around a corner and found himself in prison area. There were cells everywhere. In each one there was a skeleton either hanging by chains on the wall or just lying there frighteningly on the ground. Tails grew a bit freaked out but kept going.
He then passed a cell that he could have sworn he saw something blue in there. The fox trailed backward a few steps until he met the cell door he saw. In the cell were two hedgehogs. One was male and one was a female. They looked like they hadn't had a decent meal in months. The two were cuddled together and seemed to be crying.
Tails didn't know what to make of this scene. He wondered who these people were. That's when he remembered the reason Sonic wanted to come here in the first place. The fox thought for another moment then decided to speak to them.
"E-excuse me." Tails began. The two blue hedgehogs's flinched and turned to face Tails.
"Y-yes, who are you." Asked the male hedgehog.
"Are…are you Sonic's mom and dad?" Tails hesitated. The hedgehog's eyes widened as they slowly got off the ground and walked toward the cell door.
"Why… yes. Do you know are son?" asked the male. Tails nodded.
"Please, can you get us out of here?" The female asked. Tails nodded and began to think. These people were Sonic's parents. They didn't sound like they were in any eternal suffering however. They sounded normal. Tails also noticed that they sounded equally sad. He wondered how this could be but decided to let them go first. He would ask questions later.
Back at the townThe huge fight had scattered all across the island. Many citizens and robots were in town, others were in the forest, and a few more were near the mountains. Everyone fought persistently and valiantly. They even thought it was sort of fun taking down these mindless bots.
Sonic raced around the town with many robots following him. As soon as he turned a corner another robot burst through the wall of a building by his side and he had to make an unexpected turn or jump. Maneuvering like this was fun but if he kept it up the town would most likely be destroyed. It was a good thing he was almost at his destination.
Sonic ran toward a building and stopped in front of it. He then turned around to see the bots coming his way. They all stopped in front of him and pointed their guns at the hedgehog. All Sonic did was point up. The robots looked up and saw numerous children with water balloons in their hands.
"Take this you mean robots!" The kids then all started to pelt the robots with water balloons. Their water seeped into their metal and fried their circuits. Once that happened Sonic took them all out with a homing attack. Once they were destroyed he gave the kids a thumbs up and they all gave one back.
At the mountain areaThe robots had all followed the large men and a red echidna to the side of a mountain but found nothing.
"Hey ice boxes! Up here!" Knuckles shouted. The robots looked up and saw the echidna, Antiguan, and many other buff men behind a certain boulder. The robots all had anime sweat drops. "PUSH!" Knuckles shouted. As soon as he said that they all pushed the boulders down the mountain and created a huge rockslide. The robots turned to run but were already crushed when they lifted their feet.
"HA, HA, HA, HA! That will show them!" Antiguan laughed.
Over the islandKarst looked down at his robot soldiers in disbelief. They were losing. Neither Karst nor followers of him ever lose! This was impossible!
"Arrgh! You big wimps!" Karst then heard a very faint ticking sound. Since he had super sonic hearing he could make it out. "A-a bomb? Coming from…my palace!"
Inside the palaceTails set the time bomb for 60 seconds. It was the highest set time bomb Antiguan could find. Immediately when he did he and Sonic's parents ran toward the exit, or what they thought was the exit.
"Are we going the right way?" Tails asked Sonic's dad.
"I'm not sure actually. We've been locked up for so long we kind of forgot what anything outside our cell looked like." He said a bit worried. Tails gulped. If they couldn't find their way out then…
44 seconds remaining
Karst flew toward his palace in fear. If what he thought was happening was indeed taking place then he'd be in big trouble.
36 seconds remaining
Tails was starting to panic. They were clearly running in circles. None of them knew how they got in and worse how to get out. According to Tails' head count their was 28 seconds left. They continued to round corners but to no avail. Why'd this place have to be so big!
16 seconds remaining
Karst flew up toward his palace until he was flying directly over it.
"No one's destroying my palace!" he shouted as he flew toward the roof.
7 seconds remaining
Something tense began to form in Tails' stomach. He has had this feeling before but he didn't know when. Suddenly he saw his fur turn a blackish color.
"W-what's…what's going on?" He asked himself.
3 seconds remaining
Karst was only a few feet away when the ticking suddenly stopped.
"…Uh oh." Karst mumbled. Suddenly the palace exploded getting everyone's attention. Sonic, Knuckles, Antiguan, and everyone else looked in the palaces' direction. The magnitude of the explosion sent Karst off his hovering platform and down into the forest. He hit the ground with a thud so hard that the light blue chaos emerald in his arm fell out and landed on the grass. He reached for it but saw a gloved hand pick it up first. He looked up and saw a smirking pink hedgehog.
"Hey there. Is this what you want?" She said holding out both the chaos emerald and her hammer. Karst growled, crawled toward his hover platform and flew back into the air.
"This isn't the end! I'll be back!" With that he took off. Amy watched him go then turned back to the castle. Suddenly a blue gust of wind went by her and ran toward it. She knew it was a worried Sonic.
Sonic stopped in front of the castle and stared at it in horror.
"TAILS!" he shouted in a fearful voice. No one answered back however.
I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while. School and homework and projects every week were starting too...you know pile up. But I will try to update as soon as I can next time.