Chapter Nine – Consequences
The four youngsters raced through the woods on Angel Islands. Zooey was right. Someone, incredibly disrespectful to the floating island, had definitely been through there. There were battered and broken plants and trees everywhere, where they had simply been pushed aside, to allow passage. They all looked around, horrified at the mess. But Violet growled, kneeling down to the floor. Shadow had taught her tracking skills, but she was fledgling and therefore still learning. But the hugely compacted vegetation, made it easy to work what had happened there. She looked up, as Max knelt down next to her. She growled.
"Looks like a large quantity of feet passed through here, either carrying or dragging something behind them." She heaved. But Max growled.
"Our parents." He hissed. Violet nodded, but then Max frowned, looking at her. "Dragged?" He wondered. She nodded.
"Yeah. That's Papa. He's extremely heavy for his size. So heavy, in fact, that he can barely be carried." She heaved, but then she frowned. "But Papa is not easy to take down. He's the Ultimate Lifeform, the strongest of them all." She gulped, but then she growled. "They came well prepared. They knew he was here." She hissed, but then Max frowned.
"Was he the reason why they came?" He wondered. But Violet just shrugged.
"I don't know, but truthfully, I wouldn't be surprised. Papa told me the stories. He used to get captured a lot, when Eggman was around." She shrugged. But Scarlet and Pearl just frowned, having finally caught the Hedgehogs up. The Echidna growled.
"Hey, Eggman's not been around for the last ten years. We can thank Max's Uncle Sonic for that." She heaved. But Pearl frowned.
"But if not Eggman, then who?" She wondered. They all shrugged, but again, that was all for their parents to work out and deal with it at the other end. They were the seasoned fighters. The kids knew as untrained, inexperienced youngsters, all they had to do was find them and bring them home. For everyone's safety, it was easier, just to keep it simple. They hadn't grown up during a decade long war, so they lacked the experience in fighting. That was both a blessing and a curse in disguise. At times like this, they all wished that they had that extra knowledge. Their parents hadn't taught them the art of guerilla war fighting, simple because during peace time, it was just wasn't needed anymore.
Regardless, what kids lacked in experience, they certainly made up for in instinct, especially in both Max and Violet. They both knew how to fight, having never really been in full-on battle, but their father and uncle's legacies had left their mark. They looked at each other and the road ahead. Yes, they could do this. But Scarlet and Pearl squealed at them, just as the Hedgehogs were about to take off again. Scarlet growled.
"Oi, guys. Your way to fast. We are desperately struggling to keep up." She panted, but Pearl practically jumps into Max's arms. She giggled.
"Hey, can we hitch a lift?" She beamed. Max smiled and immediately throws out his arm for Scarlet who takes it. With both girls on board, he turned to Violet.
"You lead, we'll follow." He nodded, recognised her skills in tracking. Violet smirked hard, and immediately took off, with Max and the others behind her. Through the woods and across Angel Island until finally they reached it's edge. The floating island was a high above the planet below, it seemed to be hogging the coast at the moment. If they jumped, and timed it well, they should hit land and not ocean. They all looked down.
To ease things, Pearl took to the air with her wings, and began slowly floating down. Scarlet, being a Echidna, suddenly realised she could so the same, and leaving Max's arms, began gliding down. Both Max and Violet took a deep breath and with a run up, jumped. They fell long and hard through the air, but both leant forwards, to gauge the angle of the fall towards land. After several seconds, they reached the top of the cliff and throwing out their feet, both Max and Violet did a perfect landing. Uninjured and as solid as a rock, both of them. Max looked down, and gulped.
"Whoa!" He stammered. The looked at each other. Violet had always teleported off the island and Max had just Super-Sped off it last time in panic, without thinking. Very stupid, really. This was much more controlled and significantly more impressive. Finally, the others joined them, and they all looked around somewhat nervous. None of them had been down on the planet alone, and it was very foreboding. But Violet noticed some distance down the coast, from where Angel Island had traveled from, a large amount of disturbance in the earth. Violet bolts there, and Max, having grabbed Pearl and Scarlet races after her. They catch up to see Violet examining the evidence. She growled.
"There looks like there was a truck here, of some kind, and everyone was placed in it. There is a lot of disturbance around the vehicle." She frowned, and then following the pattern in the earth, she looked up. She hissed. "It looks like it was driven at speed in that direction." She nodded, pointing with her hand. Unfortunately, she couldn't gather more information then that from the disturbance. Her father, Shadow, on the other hand, wow. He could tell you exactly what type of truck it was, the speed of travel and even the types of shoes worn by the captors, and how many of them there were. That took years of experience, which Violet just didn't have, but she was pleased what she'd managed to decipher so far. They all looked in the direction she was pointing and they all gulped.
Station Square.
Station Square wasn't the biggest of the cities on Mobius. Capital City, Central City, Empire City, Robotropolis, and Westropolis were all significantly larger, but Station Square was one of the most upmarket and was known for despising trouble of any kind. But what made the kids really gulp was the fact that their parents, especially the Hedgehogs, were extremely well known there. They, especially Max and Violet, were going to get recognised. But as they all heaved, they didn't have a choice. Their only lead was that way.
With time ticking on, both Scarlet and Violet jumped into Max's arms and disappeared, extremely fast, down the dirt track and towards the city. They twisted and turned and soon, they were on the wide, open but infamous Speed Highway, which famously did not like law breakers. Unsure what to do about that, Max and Violet just ploughed on, regardless. They had their parents to find. But as suspected, it wasn't long before trouble found them. Violet whirled around and swore.
"Max, look out, we're got company." She panicked. As suddenly, they were surrounded by police cars, as one officer spoke to them through a speakerphone. He growled.
"You guys are travelling at a hundred miles per hour in a seventy miles per hour zone." He screamed. "Stop now." He demanded, as finally, his vehicle became level with the speeding Hedgehogs. Terrified and desperately unsure as to what to do, both the Max and Violet just look at him. He is just stunned into silence. He gulped, lowering the speakerphone.
"No, it can't be." He stared.
Some fifteen years previously, the officer had been in charge of capturing Sonic in Central City, which Shadow first arrived and unfortunately, he got fired when the Hedgehog escaped. Then five years later, he got court marshalled and fired again, for life endangerment, when he worked for G.U.N. as a security guard commander when he chased down Sonic and Shadow on this very road, just before the Blue Blur himself died. Now he'd been reduced to a simple traffic officer, watching out for speeding cars, on the very road that cost him everything.
But seeing these two Hedgehogs again, it was just impossible. Both were dead. Sonic died in the final fight again Eggman. The world knew that and Shadow, with the destruction of the Ark, ten years ago, he'd just vanished into thin area, and had been declared dead, several years ago. But as the officer looked harder, he began to see some differences, which began making him think otherwise. These Hedgehogs looked significantly younger then they should have been. Offspring? What was going on? But suddenly, before he could do anything, the two Hedgehogs and their passengers, were surrounded by police cars. He looked again, as both Violet and Max just panic, and plunged their feet down on the accelerator and both were gone, in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't long before G.U.N. was involved.
Straight down Speed Highway, and around several corners, the Hedgehogs ground to a halt at a dead end, completely lost. Both Scarlet and Pearl were clinging onto to Max for dear life, shaking with fright, and looking down he growled, cuddling them hard. He wasn't letting go of them. But Violet desperately looked around, swearing.
"We need to get back onto the Highway." She spat. Max gulped but they all agreed. They couldn't stay where they were. So looking back, they steady moved down the backstreets, as quickly but as quietly as they could. Until finally, Speed Highway came back into view. But to their utter horror, it was now swarming with G.U.N. soldiers and various robots and flying machines. Now they were utterly terrified, but they had to get through and hope upon hope, that they got back on the trail of their parents before they themselves got caught.
Max was squealing in his mind, crying hard, desperately hoping his powerful telepathic father could hear him. He cried.
'Dad, where are you?' He stammered. 'Come on, Dad, give me something please.' He begged, but still nothing. Sukko, or hell, even Shadow, or any of their parents actually, could easier get them out of this situation, but now, they were completely on their own. Suddenly the G.U.N. commander walked past their hiding spot. He growled.
"Any sign of those Hedgehogs yet? They are both wanted for treason." He spat. But his subordinate just looked confused.
"What? Treason, sir?" He asked. "But both Sonic and Shadow are dead. How could it be them?" He wondered, but then he whimpered. "But the Blue Blur saved the world." He stammered. But his commander just rounded on him.
"Well, we have a sighting that says otherwise." He hissed, then he sighed, remembered himself what the Hero of Mobius did. "Look, we have to bring them in, regardless. We need to know exactly what's going on." He heaved, as he quickly moved on. But, unfortunately, none of the kids were watching behind them, as suddenly, G.U.N. agents caught hiding in the shadows between the two buildings. They all screamed, as Pearl pointed towards Speed Highway. She squealed.
"Run." She bellowed, and immediately both the Hedgehog's bolted, straight out of there. Max, first, still carrying Scarlet and Pearl, then Violet, equally as fast, skating beautifully behind them. Down Speed Highway again, but this time they stayed in the motorway, but it was a very risky move, but they didn't have a choice as suddenly, they were all rounded upon. G.U.N. had caught up with them, firing shots at them. Max growled.
"Hey, What the..? He wondered. But the pilot of the enormous machine behind them, couldn't have cared less. He growled down the speakerphone.
"Stop or I'll take you down. Oh, and don't try running away. This is the X5C Jumping Fox. The most advance speed machine in our fleet. It can go eight hundred miles per hour and is patched with a one thousand millimetres long range beam cannon. Any last words before we bring you in." He sniggered. But Violet lost her temper, as she whirled around, jumped and swung at it direction, scream at the top of her voice.
"Chaos Spear." She shouted and an enormous pale lilac spear exploded from her hands and went straight the machines cockpit, forcing the him to dodge. It missed by nanometres. Violet landed back on the road and tripped, but Max grabbed her, safely steadying her back into the road. She was panting hard. She didn't have many of those in the tank, without a Chaos Emerald, which she was forbidden to use without her father in tow. She heaved, but soon they were forced to speed up significantly as the X5C Jumping Fox floored it's accelerator in response. Violet panicked, turning to Max.
"I have one more Chaos Spear but that's it." She admitted, it was their only weapon. But then X5C Jumping Fox increased it speed again, pushing the pursuit dangerously close to the sound barrier. But Violet was being to tire. She gulped. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." She stammered. "That Chaos Spear has really drained me." She admitted, now swearing to herself. Doing that was a really stupid idea. She knew better then that. But Max, however, was fine. He had inherited his uncle's infinite stamina. Violet had also inherited her father's, when she better managed her resources.
But Max had been concentrating on the road ahead, deeply thinking about what was said. They were expecting Sonic and Shadow. But Max and Violet were not their uncle and father, respectively. They were different. He could see a route through the city on Speed Highway and out to the other side. There, he saw somewhere to hide. All he had to do was lose G.U.N.. Suddenly, his mind turned to his father. If Sukko couldn't give him something, then maybe he could get through to him, in the only way Max knew how.
With a bang. He heaved.
"They're expecting the King of Speed, right." He asked. All of the girls, including Violet, nodded at him. But Max smirked. "Well, they've got the King of the Hyperblast." He hissed, throwing out his hand towards Violet. "Get on." He ordered. He was well aware she couldn't run anywhere near that fast. With a huge smirk on her face, Violet immediately takes the hand and Max throws her onto his back. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his whist, and holds on and hard. Both Pearl and Scarlet grab him and cling on. Pearl then squealed as the saw the X5C Jumping Fox gaining on them, over the shoulder. She heaved.
"Ok, Berry Boy. Floor it." She screamed, and Max just went for it.
Holding the girls strong, he gritted his teeth and lent forwards slightly and pushed hard. He slammed down his accelerator and suddenly, he was thrown violently forwards. Still keeping the control, he smashed straight through the sound barrier, within seconds. But the X5C Jumping Fox was still in pursuit. Not for much longer, as Max began knocking down barrier like they were dominos, the machine falling desperately behind.
Mach one, done. Mach two, boom. Mach three, shattered. Mach four, smashed. The girls just gasped in utter astonishment. It was incredible. Not only the road beneath them had turned into one enormous blur, but their entire world, with everything around them, seemingly beginning to slow down. Pearl gulped, unable to make sense of anything of what she was seeing, but when she looked at Max, the level of concentration was epic. His eyes were utterly transfixed on the road ahead, his feet beneath him gone. He was so unbelievably focused, that you immediately knew that he saw the world completely differently to everyone else. He felt the resistance to the Hyperblast, but he just didn't care. It just want rid of G.U.N. Finally, at Mach four point six, he did it, right in the middle of Station Square.
KA-BOOM!
The Hyperblast shockwave ricocheted outwards from his location on the road, like a giant expanding rainbow, it violently shook the entire city. Building smashed and roads cracked as everyone screamed. Out of their ledge, G.U.N. just fell away utterly gobsmacked, completely outmatched and out gunned by the Hedgehog. As the shockwave travels through the city, so does Max, right to the other side and into the area where he spotted a potentially safe hiding place.
If Max was the King of the Hyperblast, they he was also the king of breaking as he slams them down and hard, to stop in record time. But all the girls scream at the horrendous g-forces but Max's body just beautifully bends and sways to them, his perfectly adapted, re-enforced cartridge skeleton, that he'd inherited, doing it's job. He barely feels it, as he slides forwards and violently throws all the girls into a small opening to a underground tunnel, with a bang.
He genuinely hadn't meant to hurt any of them but became incredibly guilty when, finally at a stop, he was greeted with tears all round. Even Violet didn't want to know. They all squealed. That really hurt. But as Max sees, all are in one piece and will recover, but he can't apologise enough. He cursed himself. He had three sisters, he knew better. He was so much more powerful then them, so he had to be so incredible careful with them, to desperately avoid tragedy. He was panting hard, but he didn't care. He was so desperate to get away from G.U.N. that he wasn't thinking out the well being of his passengers, and now he realised, that every time, he had to. He could have killed someone.
In their small tunnel, hidden away from view, Max collapsed to his knees, and arms out wide, tears now in his own eyes, to look of deep guilt clear. He sniffed.
"I'm really sorry." He whimpered. Finally, one by one, the girls took him back. Pearl, then Scarlet, eventually followed by Violet, all hugging him, very frightened. Max especially, having just learned one of life's toughest lessons.
That actions have consequences.
Now, crying his own heart out, he just wanted his Dad.