SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Disclaimer: Tomo belongs to Kiba Sniper.
Chapter Thirty-Two: A Nack for Trouble
The scene opens up to a little town called Night Babylon, one of the most glamerous cities in the world. Most of the city was filled with clubs and casinos that rivaled Casinopolis. But hidden beyond the lights was a small pub where only the lowest, most heinous creatures visit. Visitors were either drunk, gambling, or killing each other, like always. But when the door opens, everyone stops. Metal Sonic and Metal Knuckles entered and closed the door behind them. Everyone was staring at them as they crossed they room towards the bar.
"What do you want?" The bartender said rudely.
"We're looking for someone." Metal said.
"Yeah, what's it to me."
"I think it would be wise to answer him." Metal Knuckles said; hooking the man's shirt with his spikes. "Otherwise, you'll be having an unfortunate accident."
"Try me."
The next moment, the bartender went flying across the room and straight out the window into the street. The gangs in the bar didn't take to kind to that and stepped up out of their seats. By just one look from Metal sent shivers down their spines, forcing them back to their seats. Metal turned to announce to the crowd.
"Listen up, you scum!" Metal said. "I'm looking for someone called...uh." Metal turned to his partner. "Who is it, again?"
"We're looking for Fang the Sniper!" Metal Knuckles said.
The tavern was hushed. Nobody made a move or sound, fearing it would be the last thing they did. Suddenly, they heard a noise: A coin being tossed. The metal duo looked down the bar towards the source of the noise. A purple weasel wear brown gloves with irons plates, brown belt and boots, and a brown western hat crowned at the top of his head. The weasel was grinning wickedly, tossing the coin up and down, as Metal came closer.
"Are you Fang the Sniper?" Metal asked.
"That's my alias." He said. "My real name's Nack the Weasel."
"That's nice." Metal sighed. "The only reason I'm hear is because you're considered the sharpest shooter in the world, you've never missed a shot. But my question is, is that true?"
Nack's grin spread wider. He flicked his thumb, sending the coin into the air. In that split second, Nack pulled a gun from his belt and shot at the coin without looking. Metal held out his hand and caught the coin as it came down.
"Impressive." Metal said; gazing through the new hole in the coin. "You clearly live up to your reputation."
"So, what do you want?" Nack asked.
"We need you're skills to kill a certain thorn in our side." Metal said.
"All right, but it'll cost ya." Nack smirked.
Metal Knuckles placed a small bag on the bar; opening it to reveal a small fortune of jewels, and said. "Will this be enough?"
"Oh yeah." Nack's eyes gleamed greedily. "So who's the poor sucker anyway?"
"I believe you've heard of him." Metal said as he placed a photo on the bar. "His name is Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Oh yeah, I remember him." Nack said grumpily.
"You know him?" Metal Knuckles asked.
"I had a run-in with him a few times." Nack said; glaring at the photo. "Looks like it's time for some payback."
It was a bright and sunny day at Station Square. It was such a great day, that our favorite true blue hero decided to spend the day in the park. He was joined by Tails, who had returned after being lost in the jungle for a week. The faithful brothers spent most of their day just lying in the grass, watching the clouds pass by.
"Man, this is something." Sonic said; unusually serene. "No Eggman, No Nazo. This is the life."
"And to think, this could happen everyday when beat them." Tails said; equally calm.
"Don't get your hopes up, pal." Sonic said as he turned to the fox. "We have a long way to go before we beat Nazo."
But unknown to them, Nack was standing on a tall mountain that conveniently happened to be in the park. He held a sniper rifle over his shoulder and aimed down below. Right between Sonic's eyes.
"This is going to be the easiest score I've ever made." Nack sniggered. "Goodbye, rat."
Nack pressed his finger against the trigger, only an inch from firing, when suddenly...
"Hey, Sonic!"
Nack's finger shot away from the trigger when some interception came in. Sonic and Tails shot up when the Babylon Rogues zoomed in circles around them on their Extreme Gear. They stopped in front of the blue blur and jumped off their Gear. Nack had trouble locking on to Sonic because Jet was in the way.
"Hey, Jet, whatcha up to?" Sonic asked.
"I haven't had a race in a long time and I think I'm getting rusty." Jet said. Nack moved sideways to get a better shot, but Wave was in the way. "How about a little one on one?"
"You're on!" Sonic exclaimed. Nack moved over again, but Storm was in the way. "Ready to get your feathers blown off?"
"No a chance." Jet said. "Three laps around the park. First one to cross the finish line wins."
Nack moved over a third time and now had a clear view of Sonic, but something didn't feel right. He tapped the ground with his feet, but he felt nothing. He looked down to see that he had absent-mindedly walked off the mountain. Nack tumbled down the mountainside screaming, losing his gun on the way down. Lucky enough, a rock ramp on the side of mountain curved away from the hard ground and into the nearby lake.
"Lucky this lake broke my fall." Nack said.
"Hey, did you hear?" Tails said as he held up a newspaper. "The mayor decided to put piranhas in the lake."
"That's stupid." Wave said.
"Piranhas?" Nack questioned meekly.
Nack felt a sudden snapping feeling in his lower regions. It didn't take long to realize what it was. Nack jumped out of the water with the piranhas still snapping at him and shot clear across the lake.
"Did you see that?" Storm asked; pointing at Nack.
"See what?" Wave asked; not seeing Nack.
"Never mind." Storm said.
"Grr. This is going to be harder then I thought." Nack said as he pulled himself to land. He felt something snap at his tails and looked back to find one piranha biting him. He slapped it back to the water. "Time for Plan B."
Sonic and Tails were walking back from their race; Tails was carrying the Blue Star. Sonic held his head down in shame. Sonic and Jet raced across the park three times and all through the race, it looked like Sonic would win. But then Jet came out of nowhere and won at the last second. The emerald hawk would be bragging about that for weeks.
"Cheer up, Sonic." Tails said soothingly. "It was very close."
"But Jet still won." Sonic grumbled.
"Hey, he may be fast on Gear, but you could still outrun him." Tails said.
"Yeah, you're right." Sonic said with new confidence. "His feet are as fast as his brain."
They got a good laugh from that. Meanwhile, Nack was hiding in one of the higher trees and looking through a pair of binoculars to keep track of Sonic.
"Gotcha now." Nack whispered.
Nack reached into his belt and pulled out a grenade. He pulled the safety pin and reeled his arm back. But suddenly, a new interruption showed up. A familiar red hover car flew up next Sonic and landed down on the ground. Sonic looked over to the driver's seat to find...
"Shadow?"
"Hey, Sonic, remember this?" Shadow asked; grinning madly.
"I don't believe it." Sonic said; half shocked, half happy. "The car!" Sonic nuzzled against the car door. "Oh, I missed you."
"Hey, hey, watch the paint." Shadow said.
"How'd you get it back?" Tails asked. "I thought the commander took it after the Arks of the Cosmos incident."
"Eh, I convinced the old man to give us another chance." Shadow said coolly.
"Shadow, if it wasn't for the fact that you're my best friend, and you're a guy, and it would be disgusting, I would kiss you." Sonic said; a little to happy for comfort.
"Keep your lips to yourself." Shadow warned. "I don't think Amy or Kumori would approve."
All of a sudden, a pair of clouds parted to send a ray of light to the car mirror. The light bounced off the mirror and glared at Nack.
"AHH, MY EYES!" Nack screamed; causing him to drop the grenade. The grenade dropped at the tree roots just as its last seconds were up. "Uh-oh."
The grenade exploded and blew the tree of its roots, which none of the heroes seemed to notice because they were still admiring Shadow's sweet ride. The tree toppled over and shot Nack out of it branches and into the lake. Nack screamed and jumped out of the lake as the piranhas started chasing him again. Nack slapped the single piranhas off his tail.
"Ok, time for Plan C!" Nack exclaimed.
Sonic, Shadow, and Tails were walking down the dirt path along the park. They would have used the car, but they weren't allowed to have motorized hovering vehicles in the park.
"Since when did they have laws like that anyway?" Sonic complained for the umpteenth time.
"The law was passed by President Martinez in 1986 when a..." Tails started to explain, but was cut off.
"He was being sarcastic." Shadow said.
But meanwhile, clear across the lake and away from the piranhas, Nack was looking through the scope of his newly ordered giant rocket launcher. Most of Nack's reputation had been flushed down the toilet, he was going to try and salvage as much of it as possible.
No way I can miss this time." Nack told himself. "You would have be an idiot to miss such an opportunity."
Back across the lake, the heroes were still conversing when Sonic flung his arms out to stop them.
"What is it, Sonic?" Tails asked cautiously.
"I think I know." Shadow smirked.
Tails was confused until Shadow pointed it out for him. Sitting in a circle of flowers was Amy along with Cream and Raine.
"What? Amy?" Tails asked.
"So, what are you going to do?" Shadow asked.
"I...I think I'm going to do it." Sonic said nervously. "I think I'm going to ask her."
"That's the spirit." Shadow patted him on the back. "Now get moving."
"Right!" Sonic shouted. A few minutes passed, but Sonic was still standing. "Am I moving yet?"
"No." Tails said. "Moving would actually require doing something."
"Gotcha." Sonic said. He finally took a step forward, but... "You know, she looks really busy. Maybe I should..."
"JUST DO IT!" Tails and Shadow yelled.
The two decided to give Sonic a push forward. Sonic stumbled into the flower circle and accidentally tripped on a hidden rock. The trip sent him face forward into the ground. And the embarrassing part was that he did it in front of Amy and her friends.
"Hey, Sonic, what are you doing here?" Amy asked as she wove a flower crown for Cream.
"Uh, hey, Amy." Sonic said embarrassingly as he stood up. "Listen, Amy, I want to ask you something."
"Yeah." Amy replied as she placed the crown on Cream's head.
"I was wondering...maybe...you would like to go somewhere with me." Sonic stammered a bit. "Like on a... (gulp)...date?"
"Oh, Sonic!" Amy cried.
"Gotcha!" Nack screamed.
Nack pulled the trigger and fired a heavy-duty missile. The missile came closer to its target, but missed because Amy glomped Sonic and pinned him to the ground. The missile flew into a conveniently large tree hollow and out of a hole in the tree branch. The sudden change of direction sent it soaring back at its user. The missile reached Nack and stopped inches from his face.
"Aw, damn!" Nack cursed. The missile exploded, which nobody noticed. Nack was lucky to survive with only his fur singed. "Well, at least there are no piranhas." Just then, piranhas flew out of the lake munched down on him, and flew back into the lake. "That's it! Time for Plan Q!"
"Don't you mean Plan D?" God asked.
"That's what I said." Nack said quickly. "Time for Plan D!"
Later, Tails and Shadow left Sonic alone so that he could spend the rest of the day with Amy for their date. Amy was happily cling to his arm, which Sonic did nothing to refuse. Meanwhile, Nack was in a nearby bush, watching as Sonic and Amy walked past.
"When in doubt, fall back to ol' reliable." Nack said to himself as he pulled out his favorite gun.
Nack took aim at the back of Sonic's head. But as usual, someone was there to interrupt. This time it was Team Virtex with Recter in the lead.
"Uh-oh." Sonic mumbled; noticing Recter's glare. "I knew this was too good to be true."
"Hello, Sonic." Recter said in his usual stern manner. "I hear that you are on a date with my little sister."
"How did you know?" Amy asked.
"Raine told us." Howl explained.
"Sorry." Raine apologized.
"Amy, you know how I feel about you with boys." Recter said. "Especially with Sonic."
"Please, big brother." Amy begged cutely. "This is the first time Sonic has ever asked me out. Please don't ruin this."
Recter was still glaring at Sonic. But when his gaze fell upon his sister, something in his heart caused his expression to soften.
"Fine." Recter sighed.
"You mean it?" Sonic asked, hoping this wasn't a dream.
"Yeah, I guess." Recter said; picking up a small rock. "But if you go to far, I promise you won't live to see tomorrow."
Recter threw the rock past Sonic's face, barely missing it by a centimeter, but leaving a small cut. Unsurprisingly, the rock was headed straight for Nack. The rock corked his gun. With the pressure already building inside, the gun blew up in his face, turning it into a blacked ash. Nack waved his hands in defeat and jumped into the lake to let the piranhas eat him.
"This sucks." Nack said.
The day had turned to night and Sonic's a date was over. Sonic found Shadow and Tails not to far away and decided to join them as they left the park.
"Man, this has got to be the greatest day of my life." Sonic said joyously. "I race Jet, I see Shadow's car again, and I got to go on a date with Amy. To tell you the truth, that was the best part."
"How sore do you think Recter will be when he finds out?" Shadow questioned.
"Actually, me and Amy ran into him earlier." Sonic informed. "I think he was drunk because he actually approved of our date."
"I think he's actually starting to like you." Tails said. "But just to be safe, you should probably go into hiding for a while."
"The important thing is, this was the best day ever." Sonic said. "And nothing can ruin it."
Just then, Nack jumped out a bush into the heroes path. He didn't look too happy.
"That's it!" Nack yelled. "I have tried too kill you over and over again all day. It's driving me nut." Nack was on the brink of ripping out his own fur. "Well not anymore! I quit! You hear me? Quit!"
"That's nice." Sonic said; his expression was one of confusion. "But...who are you?"
"He doesn't even remember me!" Nack cried and ran away.
"That was weird." Tails said.
"Who wants to go for a ride in my car?" Shadow asked.
"I call shotgun!" Tails exclaimed.
"Hey, no fair!" Sonic complained.
Meanwhile, in the Egg-Carrier III. Eggman, Metal, and the entire crew were watching the entire embarrassing expedition of Nack's day. Metal slapped his forehead with his claw and groaned.
"Who's idea was it to hire him in the first place?" Metal asked.
"Would you look at the time?" Metal Knuckles said; gazing at his imaginary watch. "I better go."
And with that, he left the room.
"Remind me to dismantle him later." Metal told Metal Espio.
The scene changes back to Night Babylon. Nack was trudging down the dark alley where the pub was located.
"After that experience, I need a drink." Nack said.
But as Nack reached for the door, a shuriken stopped him. Nack looked up and down the alley, but couldn't find a single being who would throw it. His gaze then slowly drifted up the alley wall. To his surprise, he saw a female chameleon he had never seen before actually standing on the wall with a kunai held out.
"Who are you?" Nack questioned.
"You won't live long enough to find out." Tomo stated.
Tomo reeled back her arm to throw the kunai, but at the split second she did, Nack pulled out a second pistol and shot at her. Tomo was caught off guard and fell into the trash cans below her, clutching her legs, which was bleeding. Tomo tried to stand, but Nack already had his pistol to her forehead. But instead of cowering as Nack had expected, Tomo was laughing.
"What's so funny?" Nack growled.
"They were right. You are the sharpest shooter in the world." Tomo chuckled.
"That's why you attacked me?" Nack questioned.
"Yeah, like a sort of test." Tomo said; cringing slightly when she ripped the bullet out.
"Test?" Nack repeated.
"And you passed." Tomo smiled. She grabbed his hand and shook it. "Let me be the first to welcome you to the Dark Rulers."
Meanwhile, Nazo and Black Doom were watching from the roof of the building.
"You can't actually be willing to accept him?" Black Doom said befuddled.
"Yes, I do." Nazo said coolly.
"But you saw him." Black Doom said. "He's a bumbling idiot."
"That may be true, but he will become an important factor in the future." Nazo explained.
"And how do you predict that?" Black Doom asked.
Nazo made no effort to reply. The demon hedgehog's eyes stared intently upon Nack and Tomo. He was sure Nack was shuddering slightly as if his gaze had pieced his skin. Nack didn't know it, but his fate had already been decided.
---20 Years Later---
Somewhere on a lone cliffside, two figures were standing at the edge; the wind blowing against their cloaks. One of the figures was Mephiles, who now donned a long black coat and black gloves. On the back of the coat was a white symbol shape like an upside-down heart with a cross at the top (the nobodies symbol). The second figure also wore the attire and had his hood over his head. The figure seemed to be in a trance until he turned to Mephiles.
"It is done. Nazo has been informed." The figure said.
"Do you really think this will help Lord Nazo?" Mephiles asked.
"No." The figure replied. "Nothing in the universe can change Nazo's fate. I am merely making sure that the existence of the Hakumei is assured and stable."
"It's still amazes me." Mephiles said. "You are able to communicate with Lord Nazo even through time."
"You shouldn't be." The figure said. "After all...he is my father."
The secret of Nazo's plot is revealed. Who is this man that calls Nazo his father? And who are the Hakumei? Find out on the next Sonic Heroes.