SONIC HEROES: THE SERIES
Chapter Fifty-Five: Mysterious Machine
The scene opens up to the forest surrounding the Sonic Heroes' base. Cream was peacefully taking a walk through the trees with her pet chao, Cheese. At that time, there were a lot of things going through the young rabbits mind. The fact that Cheese was the oldest living creature on the planet was defiantly something to think about. But what concerned Cream the most was her mother. She had sent the older rabbit many letters, but she has no received no reply for weeks.
"What do you think happened to mama, Cheese?" Cream asked her pet.
"Chao, chao." Cheese replied.
"Do you think something bad happened?" Cream asked concerned. "Amy said Sonic went to check on mama out our house, but she wasn't there. Maybe she went on vacation or..."
Suddenly, a series of thuds and clanking noises came from the side, followed by a soft rustle. Cream quickly grabbed Cheese protectively and waited for any more movement. There was another series of clanks and thuds, this time getting closer.
"What do you think it is, Cheese?" Cream asked; the thuds getting closer. "Well, better to find out later."
Cheese understood what she was getting at and willingly allowed himself to be curled into a ball. Cheese made a firm grip for the Cheese ball (No pun intended) at shot it straight through the bushes with unbelievable force. There was a whizzing sound, shortly followed by a hard thud.
"Chao!" Cheese cried.
"I'm coming, Cheese!" Cream shouted.
Cream pushed through the brush of trees and bushes towards the direction of Cheese's chirps. After a couple of minutes, Cream found Cheese floating around something; most likely the thing she hit.
"Chao chao chao." Cheese squeaked.
"What do you think it is?" Cream questioned curiously.
Of course, Cheese wouldn't have the answer; neither of them had seen one before. It defiantly looked like a robot, but no one Metal or Eggman would make. It was a small yellow robot about Cream's size. It had an orange crest erect from the center of its head, broad-chested body with three beige caps, large blue eyes, and olive-brownish hands.
"Chao chao." Cheese squeaked, poking the robots head.
"Don't do that, Cheese." Cream said sternly. "I wonder what it is. Maybe Tails will know something?"
Cream grabbed the robot by its arm and started dragging it back to the heroes' base. Back at the base, most of the heroes were gathered in the living room. Tikal, finally adjusted to living with Wave, was practicing the ancient art of watching TV; Blue was the teacher. Amy was trying to convince Sonic to go out on a date with her, but the blue blur was afraid Rector was watching. And Tails was having a conversation with Omega about building a new project called the X-Tornado.
"I understand you hypothesis, but how would we apply the method and the funding?" Omega questioned.
"I made some plans on how we can build the X-Tornado." Tails replied. "But what we have to worry about is how to convince G.U.N. to..."
"Hey, everyone, I'm home!" Cream called.
"Hey, Cream, where have you been?" Amy questioned. "I thought you would have been back a long time ago."
"I was coming back when I found this?" Cream said, pulling the strange robot into view.
"What is that?" Tikal asked, finally breaking from her televised trance.
"Do you think its one of Eggman's machine?" Blue questioned.
"I don't know." Sonic said thoughtfully. "It's not really Eggman's style. He usually builds them as big as possible."
"We better scan it in the workshop to make there's nothing dangerous." Tails suggested.
The heroes nodded while Omega lifted the little robot into his masculine arms. The walked past the hanger to Tails' workshop and set the small robot at the examination table. Everyone waited patiently for the examination to finish, or for the next two minutes. After that everyone just got bored at left to do their own thing. Tikal and Blue were back at the television, Cream helped Amy cook dinner, and Sonic was running around on the ceiling. No one knows how he did it. After several minutes of mindless boredom, Tails and Omega finally appeared.
"Hey, guys, we're finished." Tails said proudly.
"So what'd ya find out?" Sonic asked, jumping down from the ceiling.
"The mechanical unit is a subspecies from the machine class known as the Gizoids!" Omega stated.
"What is a Gizoid?" Tikal asked curiously.
"It was in Professor Gerald's records." Omega explained. "It says that he came across a Gizoid mech while he was in the process of completing Kumori. The Gizoid is said to be an ancient weapon from another planet. The professor discovered it and attempted to tame its destructive powers, but failed. In a desperate act, Professor Gerald finish Kumori early and released her to the Gizoid. Kumori succeeded in destroying the Gizoid, but was unable to be complete. That's why the professor built Shadow."
"So then this thing is dangerous, too?" Blue questioned seriously.
"But if he is, he would have attacked me." Cream defended. "I don't think it would hurt anyone."
"Cream's right." Tails nodded. "We checked all its programming and system, but there was nothing dangerous about it."
"That's good." Amy said. "So where is the little guy?"
"We just finished fixing him up." Tails stated, standing aside to reveal the mysterious robot. "Say hello."
The little robot's eyes flashed for a moment, meaning he was back online after the incident with Cream. The first thing he saw was Tails' smiling face, which confused him for a moment. He was frightened by the sight of Omega and Blue, but calmed down when Tikal kneeled down to him and patted him affectionately. Cream and Cheese eyed him strangely like he some kind of alien, which he was. But when his senses roved over to Sonic and Amy, they received a completely different reaction.
"Mommy, daddy!" The robot cried. Unexpectedly, the little robot ran to Amy and hugged her fearfully. "Mommy, daddy, I thought I lost you."
"Aw, isn't that cute." Amy giggled, looking to Sonic. "He thinks he's our baby."
"I think you got the wrong hedgehog's, buddy!" Sonic yelled frantically. "We're not your parents!"
"Then who are you?" The robot asked.
"The ones you called mommy and daddy are Sonic and Amy." Cream explained giddily, pointing to the people she called. "And that's Blue, Tikal, Omega, and my boyfriend, Tails."
"I'm not your boyfriend!" Tails yelled.
"I'm Cream and this is my pet chao, Cheese." Cream continued, ignoring Tails' outburst. "What's your name?"
"Emerl." Emerl stated.
"Emerl, what a sweet name." Tikal smiled. "It sounds just like emerald."
"So, Emerl, where did you come from?" Blue asked.
Emerl seemed loss for words at the moment; he was hesitating. The group of six, not counting Cheese, moved closer, gazing at the robot with a suspicious look. Suddenly, the alarm went off. A video screen emerged from the wall and flipped on, revealing the G.U.N. Commander on the other side.
"Yo, what's up?" Sonic asked coolly.
"The Dark Rulers are up to something again." The commander explained. "Reports from Station Square say Black Doom is currently robbing a local jewelry store. We believe he may be looking for a Chaos Emerald."
"But we have three of the Chaos Emeralds." Tikal stated. "And Nazo should have the other four."
"Then it must be the last Sol Emerald." Blue said. "Come on, we have to hurry before Nazo gets stronger."
At once, Sonic zipped into the storage room and made a grab for the green Emerald. He ran back to the others and tossed the Emerald to Blue, who grasped it firmly in his claws. Tikal wrapped her arm around Blue's and linked arms with everyone else.
"CHAOS CONTROL!!" Blue shouted.
And in a flash of green light, the six heroes vanished to Station Square, leaving little Emerl back at the base. But the robot didn't seem at all phased by their disappearance. In his eyes, the scene was playing over in his artificial mind, scanning the Chaos Emerald and Blue as he performed the Chaos Control.
"Chaos Control: copy complete." Emerl said seriously. He raised his hand and called out. "CHAOS CONTROL!!"
And in a brilliant flash of light, the mystery robot mimicked Blue's ability and vanished.
The scene alters to the heart of Station Square, close to the home of Team Virtex. Seriously, are they ever home? The Black Warriors, the standard soldier of the Black Arms, were clearing out the streets while their leader was inside the jewel shop. Inside, the traitorous overlord, Black Doom, was holding one of the employees of the shop in the air by his neck.
"I will ask you one last time." Black Doom growled. "Where is the yellow Sol Emerald?"
"V-v-vault." The employee gasped.
Unfortunately, he responded too late. By the time he answered Black Doom, he had already died of suffocation. But Black Doom obtained what he wanted, that's all that matters. He tossed the dead human aside and floated over to the back of the store, where he found a large steel vault. It would take a normal person several hours to crack the vault, but Black Doom was far from normal. With a simple thought, Black Doom crushed the vault from the inside. The alien overlord held out his hand and a yellow object went flying into it; the yellow Sol Emerald.
"Another Emerald to add to my collection." Black Doom said malevolently. "Now all I need is the Emeralds from those accursed heroes."
"Why don't to try asking nicely?"
At the sound of the voice, Black Doom shot around towards the entrance of the store. Out of nowhere, the Black Warriors were being tossed randomly at their master. Black Doom swatted them away, draining them of their life force, and gazed at the entrance where the Sonic Heroes were guarding.
"Do you cease to annoy me?" Black Doom said irritably.
"Sorry, comes with the job." Blue joked.
"Surrender the Sol Emerald!" Omega commanded, transforming his claw to a gun. "Or face eradication!"
"Sorry, I have my own plans for the Emerald." Black Doom said wickedly.
"Please return the Emerald to us." Tikal pleaded. "You don't understand what could happen if all of them were brought together."
"I don't think that's gonna work, Tikal." Tails stated.
"Whatever the case," Amy smirked, pulling out her Piko-Piko Hammer. "We'll just have to take it by force. I'm sure Nazo would be too happy if we took the Emerald and beat up one of his men."
"You still think I'm serving that lowly rat?" Black Doom cackled.
"What do you mean?" Cream asked frightfully.
"I have defected myself from the Dark Rulers." Black Doom explained. "I realized that "Lord" Nazo was unfit to rule the world, let alone the entire universe. I have taken into my hands to complete my destiny. I have already taken more than half of the total Emeralds, and the one I hold shall further complete my collection."
"You seem confident." Sonic complimented. "Think ya can take all of us?"
"In this form, no." Black Doom replied. "But that's where my new body comes in."
Blue was done talking and stretch out his claw to the alien overlord. Blue's attack nailed Black Doom in the center, but something didn't seem right. All of a sudden, Black Doom's body started to crack and shattered to a number of pieces. When Black Doom's default body disappeared, Blue found his claw captured by the alien's new body. The body looked almost human, with the exception of the red scales covering him. He had five horns jutted from his head and a red lashing tail from behind. The new Black Doom tugged at Blue's arm, pulling him it that direction. Once close enough, Black Doom whipped his new tail and sent the Chaos clone flying to the other side of the street.
"Ok, didn't see that coming." Blue groaned.
"I know this is a bad time," Tails said. "But that was cool."
"You haven't seen anything yet." Black Doom grinned.
Black Doom took in a deep breath and exhaled with a wave of black flames. Sonic grabbed Tikal and Amy before jumping outside the shop away from the flames. Omega crouched in front of Tails and Cream, deflecting the flames away from the children. The force of the flames was strong enough to push Omega out of the shop, dragging the two children with him. Once outside, Tails grabbed Cream by her arm and pulled her away from the fight. Omega tried to follow, but before he could even stand, Black Doom jumped out of nowhere and stamped down on the robot, smashing him to the ground. Black Doom inhaled once again, but lifted his forearm to block a kick from Sonic on the side.
"Hey, not bad." Sonic commented. "You're pretty good for a circus act."
"And the fun has only just started." Black Doom replied, pushing the hedgehog away. "I think we should move onto the finale."
"Let me do the honors!" Amy shouted.
The pink hedgehog ran up behind the mutated alien and swung her hammer across his head. But to the heroes' surprise, Black Doom retracted his head back into his shoulders. Amy was sent overhead of the alien overlord at the time and was dazed at Black Doom's unusual tactic. Suddenly, Black Doom's head emerged from his shoulders and slammed into Amy's gut, sending her into the side of a building. Enraged by Amy's injury, Sonic dashed around Black Doom, forming a whirling tornado of blue winds.
"You're going to pay for that one, Doom!" Sonic yelled furiously. "SONIC WIND!"
Sonic jumped out of the tornado over Black Doom's head with his signature technique in hand. Just as he was about to bring it down, Black Doom's tail acted on its own accord. The red tail wrapped itself around Sonic's wrist, dismissing the Sonic Wind, and tossed him to the side of the street, ending the blue tornado.
"You truly didn't think it would be that simple, did you?" Black Doom cackled.
"Please, heed me, Black Doom!" Tikal preached peacefully, stepping in front of the overlord. "We don't have to do this. There must be a peaceful solution to all this."
"It will all be peaceful once you're dead." Black Doom stated.
Black Doom took control of his tail and lashed it at Tikal. The echidna priestess closed her eyes from fright, waiting for whatever pain would come; but it didn't. Instead, Tikal opened her eyes to find Blue pushing the tail back with his forearm.
"Blue." Tikal murmured gratefully.
"You dare to attack Tikal." Blue said angrily, tossing the tail aside. "Now you'll have to pay. You with me, Omega!"
"Affirmative!" Omega replied.
Blue grabbed Tikal around the waist and jumped away before Omega went all out with his gatling gun. Thanks to the scales of his new body, Black Doom was impenetrable to bullets. Black Doom once again exhaled a flare of black fire, sending the massive machine crashing into a nearby convenience store. Blue set Tikal down away from the fight and charged forward to Black Doom. The Chaos clone extended both of his arms, wrapping them together to form a jet of water. Black Doom gracefully jumped over the torrent and landed on top of it with ease. Before Blue had a chance to react, Black had already run up the clone's arms and kicked him across the face. While still off the ground, Black Doom flipped around, grasped the clone by his head and flung him down the street and into a brick wall, splattering him across it.
"Ugh...anyone got an aspirin?" Blue groaned.
"At that takes care of that annoyance." Black Doom said, gazing at the yellow Sol Emerald in his hand. "This will prove to you who is that strongest, Nazo." All of a sudden, Cream flew past Black Doom, taking the Emerald. "What?!"
"Looking for this?" Cream asked, holding the Sol Emerald while still in midair.
"Return that Emerald at once!" Black Doom commanded.
"Sorry!" Cream called back. "But I'm not allowed to give Sol Emeralds to villains!"
"You insufferable little creature!" Black Doom roared.
Black Doom up to the small rabbit and swiped his claws to her. Cream stopped flapping her ears for a moment so that she would drop slightly to avoid Doom's claws. Cream recalled Cheese in her hand, curled him into a ball and shot the tiny chao at the alien overlord. Black Doom merely swatted the tiny creature aside and swung around for his tail to get a good angle at the rabbit. Doom's tail swiped across the rabbit's face, forcing her to flop onto the ground, unintentionally releasing the Sol Emerald. Black Doom calmly walked over and picked up the Emerald; but not before kicking Cream one last time in the face.
"Cream!" Tails cried, running to her side. "Cream, are you all right?"
"Tails..." Cream whispered hoarsely.
"It's all right, Cream." Tails assured. "I won't let anything happen to you." He glared at Black Doom. "How could you do that? She's just a little girl!"
"It matters not what she is." Black Doom answered coolly. "Any one who interferes must pay the price of their deeds."
"You heartless monster." Tails growled.
"You flatter me." Black Doom chuckled. "What's say I put an end to that creatures misery?"
"NO!!" Tails screamed.
But it was too late. Black Doom breathed in and exhaled a massive wave of black flames. Worried for Cream, Tails covered her body with his own, embracing the flames that scorched his body. Black Doom smiled with a malevolent victory; he had won. Or so he thought. All of a sudden, the black flames turned red and faded, leaving Tails' body unmarked. But Tails was different. His fur was bright orange and his eyes were blood-red.
"What is this?" Black Doom mentally questioned. "I haven't seen this sort of power except with Nazo."
Tails stepped forward, crouched down on all fours, and guarded Cream's body protectively. Tails uttered an inhumane growl from the back of his throat, signaling his rage. The changed kit ran forward without thought and jumped at the alien overlord. But Black Doom's worry seemed to fade as he watched the small fox's movements. He simply swiped the hand and smacked the small fox to the side. As Tails tumbled across the ground, his features slowly returned to normal.
"Ugh, what happened?" Tails said, not remembering his change.
"How unusual." Black Doom pondered. "He has great power trapped inside of him, but seems unable to control it. If he ever learns how to master that power, it would become a hindrance to me. Best finish him off while he's still young."
Black Doom calmly stepped forward; his shadow looming over the small animal. The other heroes, including Cream, recovered from their fights and saw Black Doom approaching Tails. They tried to stop him, but Black Doom was already prepared to kill the fox on the spot. Just as he was ready to breathe his flames, Emerl appeared in a flash of light in front of him and kicked the alien overlord across the head. While Black Doom tumbled to his feet, the others stared at Emerl.
"Emerl? Where did he come from?" Sonic asked confused.
"It looks like he used Chaos Control." Tikal stated. "But how did he do it?"
"During our search, we came across something unusual in his system!" Omega explained. "We were unsure what it was and decided to best leave it alone. It appears the Gizoid has a unit to mimic the tactics of others."
"So he can copy our moves?" Amy simplified.
"Affirmative!" Omega replied.
"Well, I've got to hand it to the little fella." Blue nodded appreciatively.
"Go Emerl!" Cream cheered.
"Huh, Emerl?" Tails muttered noticing his savior. "When did you get here?"
"Don't worry, Tails." Emerl replied confidently. "Just leave everything to me."
"It doesn't matter what you do." Black Doom grinned. "In the end, I'll be sending you to the junk pile."
At once, Black Doom inhaled and exhaled another wave of black flames. Emerl waited and scanned his memory banks from the earlier part of the fight. He found the memory of Sonic using his signature technique and scanned it.
"Sonic Wind: copy complete!" Emerl stated.
Emerl held out his mechanical hand and called forth a large amount of orange chaos energy. He compressed it together and forced it into the shape of a sphere, similar to Sonic's attack. With the attack set, Emerl ran forward with the attack in front. Against all odds, Emerl pushed away the black flames and drove the Sonic Wind into Black Doom's chest. The real Black Doom had no other choice but to flee and watch as his newest body shattered to pieces. He could barely contain himself when the robot stole the yellow Sol Emerald from him.
"This is the end, heroes!" Black Doom screamed before he vanished.
"That was tight!" Sonic cheered, wrapping his arm around Emerl's shoulders. "Sweet way to use my move!"
"I think he used it even better than you." Amy commented.
"No way!" Sonic exclaimed.
"I must admit, he is better than I thought." Blue nodded. "He would be a great addition to our team."
"Addition?" Emerl repeated. "You want me to be on your team?"
"Of course, silly." Cream smiled sweetly. "You were a great help and you could do even more good against Nazo."
"So what will it be?" Tikal asked. "Will you join us?"
"Of course!" Emerl yelled excitedly.
"All right!" Sonic hooted. "Party for Emerl at the base!"
And so the team returned to the base, where Cream introduced the little robot to the rest of the team. It took much convincing from Sonic before Shadow would accept him. Upon hearing his victory over Black Doom and the addition of their newest Emerald, the team hosted a small party in commemoration for Emerl. The entire thing was a hit; except for Blaze chasing Gary (Thought I forgot about him, didn't ya?) After an hour our celebrations, everyone went to bed; Emerl stayed with Cream and Blaze. The two girls were sleeping peaceful, but Emerl reawaked for some reason.
"Mission 1: complete." Emerl stated silently. "Mission 2: engage."
Stealthily, Emerl snuck past the girls bed and silently walked out the door. He was walking down the hall with as quiet as possible until he heard a noise. He stepped to the wall and slowly looked around the edge; Tails was working late in his workshop. Taking the data of Sonic's speed, Emerl ran past with the young kit noticing. After making sure he wasn't followed, Emerl entered the computer room. He stepped up to the computer and held out his hand. His palm suddenly opened and a wire connected him to the computer. The computer screen lit up and Metal Sonic was seen on the other end.
"Have you succeeded?" Metal questioned.
"Yes, the heroes have accepted me as one of them." Emerl reported. "I have already scanned the data of seven heroes. If I can convince them to take me on their missions, I should be able to copy the rest."
"Perfect." Metal said victoriously. "We will be able to destroy the heroes from the inside. They won't know what hit them." He gazed down proudly at the little robot. "You have done well. Your mother and I are so proud of you, Emerl."
"Thank you, father." Emerl said happily.
The heroes recieve a new friend and enemy. Will Black Doom obtain all fourteen Emeralds? Will the heroes discover Emerl's secret? Or will Metal Sonic's son be the downfall of the Sonic Heroes. Find out on the next Sonic Heroes!
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