Ch 8: Through the Fire

"Bamboo Forest," Sonic spoke as he jumped out of the Leaf Storm, "Brings back a lot of memories."

"People say that this is the place where Eggman first appeared," Sally said as she stood next to him, "Though it is beautiful…" she noticed Sonic looking sad and disheartened, "…Something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothin'. Seriously."

The rest of the Freedom Fighters stepped out, "So the second Time Stone is here?" Honey asked.

"Yeah, I traced the Stone's location here," Sonia answered, "I should be hidden somewhere."

"So where do we start?" Tails asked.

"Hey Tails…" Mina started with a smile, "Why don't you and Cosmo set this on out?'

The twin tailed hacker blushed, as did the Petaligan, "Wh…why?"

"Oh nothing. I just figured it would be good for you two to watch the ship. Besides… I think you two should get to know each other."

"Well… if it's just to look after the ship," Cosmo said with a blush still on her face as she and Tails went back inside.

"…Why'd you do that for?" Ash asked his sister.

"You saw how those two stared at each other, right? Who am I not to play matchmaker?"

Sonic chuckled, "You haven't changed Mina, ya still like playing cupid, huh?"

"Yep! That's right!"

"Come guys," Mighty said he went forward, "The Time Stone should be somewhere here…."

Meanwhile, back in the Leaf Storm, Tails was checking the systems as Cosmo looked on. Tails was as uncomfortable with girls as Sonic so he felt uneasy being with a cute girl.

"So, Tails," she asked him with her hands behind her back, "Can I ask how old you are?"

"Oh! Um…. I'm 8½. What about you?"

"I turned 9 some weeks ago."

"So,,, then you're older than me."

"I suppose…"

The uneasy silence settled in again as the two kids looked at one another again, "Cosmo… can you tell me about your parents?"

"I can, but it makes me sad when I think about them."

"At least you got to know your family."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay."

"Well, first my mother, her name was Hertia. She was one of the wisest and most beautiful of all my species. She had pale green hair with a white flower on her crown. Her eyes were icy blue. Then came my sisters. First the youngest next to me was June. She had jungle green hair. I barely ever saw her eyes because they were cover by hair most the time. Next was Peach. She had golden hair with fruit baring flowers on her head. Her eyes were amber. Then there was Petunia. She was the strongest and tallest of all of us. She had brown hair and gold eyes. Finally came my oldest sister, Gloria. She was my best friend. Her eyes were an amethyst color. She resembled my mother expect with blue hair."

"And your father?"

"He died weeks after my birth, so I never knew him. My mother told me that he was a noble Thorngian."

"Oh. They all sound nice."

"Yes, they were…" Cosmo said quietly as tears formed in her eyes. Tails saw them and went to her to wipe them away.

"I'm sorry I made you cry by asking that."

"It's alright," she said as she wrapped her gentle arms around him and held him for comfort. Tails returned the hug and held her close.

'Everyone I know is gone… I feel alone now…' Cosmo thought to herself as she held him tighter. 'Please stay with me Tails…'

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As for the rest, the got to Bamboo Forest as well. Amy took a strong whiff in the air, "Ahhh, this place feels relaxing!"

"Wow! Look at all the bamboo trees!" Cream exclaimed as she looked around, "There all so tall!"

"The Oracle said that Sonic and those other guys are here looking for a Time Stone, right?" Blaze incurred, "I wonder what these Time Stones are… well when we find them, maybe they'll tell us," she saw Silver looking at a bare area with a wide hole inside it, "What's up?"

"…I sense something anomalous about that area over there. I wanna get a close look," he said as he walked closer.

"I'm coming with you," Blaze said as he followed, "Around these days, you can't seem to stay out of trouble."

"…Hey, I'm gonna follow," Elise said as she went after them, "The rest of you go ahead. We'll catch up with you."

"…Does she know something that we don't?" Shadow said suspiciously.

"Yeah, she said that she knows us even though we never met her," Knuckles added unanimously.

"She doesn't seem to be doing anything dubitable," Rouge said, "Let's get going."

Silver and Blaze jumped down into the whole and took a look around. It was an old laboratory, trashed and burned, maybe several years old. There was an old living room and kitchen as well. "What… happened here?" Blaze stammered.

"I'm not sure…" Silver answered, "Maybe an ambush?"

"Guys!" Elise called as she came through the hole, "What did you find?"

"All of this," Silver said as he pointed at the ruined lab.

"'Wacky Workbench'…." Blaze read off a sign, "Who would call their laboratory the 'Wacky Workbench?'"

Elise looked at the wrecked room, "I think… I think this was Eggman's very first base. When he was still friends with Sonic…"

"Really?" Silver eye's widened, "Then let's look around. Maybe we could find some clues."

The girls nodded and they all went forward, being careful not to step into any trash. As the continued on, Blaze saw something beside her feet. She took a closer look and saw what it was.

"Hey! Come over here!" Silver and Elise and to where she was and she showed them a long thin wire, "You guys know what this is?"

"It's a trick or invisible wire." Silver observed. "It's used in pranks and stuff like that. To make people trip; I have one just like that."

"Yeah… remember what Shadow said? That someone turned Eggman evil on purpose?"

"So… someone did do it." Elise gasped. "I wonder why…?"

Uneasy silence swept through for a few seconds. Silver was the first to speak, "…Well, whatever the case may be, we can try to think about this later."

"R-right," Blaze nodded, "Let's get going."

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"Hey yall! Look!" Bunnie shouted. The Freedom Fighters ran to her location. Bunnie produced a buzz saw from her robotic arm and sliced some of the bamboo trees away. After they were gone, her arm went back to normal and she pulled out a yellow Stone.

"The second Time Stone!" Manic smiled, "Good eye, Bunnie!"

"So now we need five more," Sonic said, "Right?"

"That's right!" Mina smiled, "Let's get back to the Leaf Storm and-" she was cut off by a noise somewhere around the trees.

"What was that?" Bark tensed.

"Stay sharp!" Ash warned.

Soon, loud snapping noises were heard as the trees came down bunch by bunch. From the fallen trees jumped out a silver and blue robotic panda bear armed with missiles and bomb launchers. "He he he he he! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haa!! Guess who?!" taunted an eerier familiar voice that made the Freedom Fighters gasp in shock.

"It's… it's… it's…" Sonia stammered.

"Eggman…!" Ash snarled as he clenched his fist.

"So then you did find out about the attack on Soleanna," Sonic frowned as he tensed for a fight, "You never give up, do you? Even when we trash you down, you always come back!"

"That's right, folks! I'll do it again and again and AGAIN!" Dr. Eggman laughed evilly. "This time I'll be picking a fight with you whenever I can; just like old times! Now, come and get me and my Egg Panda! Give me a good fight like you always did!"

"Com'ere you egg shaped freak!" Bark growled as his fists charged with freezing energy. "Let's dance!" He shot out blasts of icy volleys at the Egg Panda. Some parts of the machine to freeze.

"Oh ho ho ho ho! Is that all you got?" Eggman laughed as he fired missiles from the back, "Let's see if you can all get away from this!" The Freedom Fighters all ran away from this missile blast. Ash and Mina had in fare chance to dodge the blasts. They weren't as fast as Sonic but because they were mongooses they were still speedy.

"Sheesh! You never quit, do you!?" Sally frowned as she jumped from a missile, "You can't seem to stop causing trouble; even after all these years!"

"And we're sick and tired of it!" Sonia shouted as her hands glowed with purple light, "Flet Une Vente! Flans Saltatio Pulverea!" she used her magic blast to flip the Egg Panda onto its back.

"I see you have become stronger with your magic, Princess Sonia," Eggman commented as the Egg Panda struggled back up, "Luckily it'll take more then that to beat me now! Bombs away!" Bombs launched from the back and more explosions erupted all around that did a greater deal of destruction.

"Wow! He really improved his machines!" Manic shouted as he evaded another bomb blast.

"But I've improved too!" Sonic shouted as he curled up into a Spin Dash and slammed into the Egg Panda. It was thrown into the air and crashed to the ground.

"Gah!"

"Thought that hurt?" Sonic taunted as he took out his Copy Emerald and formed an aerokinetic ball in the free hand, "This'll hurt even more! Sonic Cracker!" he jumped up and threw the ball at the Egg Panda. As it collided it exploded with Hero Chaos Energies, causing more damage.

"Wow! Sonic, you're amazing!" Mina exclaimed in awe at his upgraded powers.

"Aren't I always?" Sonic snickered as he rubbed his nose.

"How bout this?!" Mighty shouted as he grabbed a bamboo from the roots and slammed it repeatedly on the Egg Panda. After a few hits, the Egg Panda grabbed the bamboo by the mouth and threw Mighty away.

"Now it's time to get serious!" Eggman shouted as he fired more missiles all over the forest. Now they all had a harder time dealing with them.

"Damn it! Now what!?" Fiona swore, "We can't keep this up forever!"

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho!!" Eggman laughed haughtily, "Now what are you gonna do?! Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho- OW!"

The robotic bear slammed in to the other bamboo trees from a powerful punch. The one who delivered that punch was none other than Knuckles the Echidna, "Looks like you guys are in quite a fix!"

"Yo, Knux!" Sonic smiled, "What took ya so long, slowpoke?"

"We made some detours here and there but we made it," Knuckles smiled. Soon, the rest of Sonic's Earth friends came.

"I see Eggman followed us after all," Shadow frowned.

"So we take care of him the hard way, right?" Silver suggested.

"Let's do this!" Sonic grinned.

"…Huh?" Sonia wondered as the three Apocalyptic Hedgehogs surrounded the machine and began glowing in their respective colors; Sonic in blue, Shadow in red and Silver in green. Strange circle images representing the past, present and future appeared underneath the hedgehogs and created another circle image resembling a sea lizard under the Egg Panda.

"Atomic… Twister!" the three Apocalyptic Hedgehogs shouted as a red whirlwind of green and blue Chaos Energy engulfed the Egg Panda. The Egg Panda was unable to handle the intense pressure of Chaos Energy as it soon exploded in a blinding flash of light.

"Bah! I held back this time!" Eggman shouted as he escaped in his Egg Mobile, "Next time we fight, it'll be different!"

"All right, Sonic!" Amy squealed as she pulled him in a hug, "You really showed that Eggman!"

"…W….WO….WOW!" Sonia finally exclaimed, "Where did you learn such a powerful technique! I defiantly couldn't pull that off without breaking a sweat!"

"The only one who can use the true power the Chaos Emeralds is me," Shadow replied smugly.

"Yeah, yeah, always full of yourself, huh Shadow?" Silver said as he rolled his eyes.

"Howdy, hotshot," Bunnie said as she got close to Knuckles, "That was pretty hot the way you punched out that robot. So what's your name, huh?"

"W-well… um…." Knuckles stammered, his face beet red, "It's Knuckles…"

"Knuckles, huh?" Bunnie flirted as she battered her eyes and held his hands, "It can see why they call yo that."

"HEY!" Rouge scolded as she pulled Bunnie away from him, "Get your metal paws away from him!"

"What? Is he your boyfriend or somethin'?"

"No!" after all the times he knew her, Knuckles had never seen Rouge so insecure, "I'm his rival!"

"Oh?" Bunnie responded blinking, "Well, for a rival you sure are protective of him."

"Grrrr!"

"So that is one of the Time Stones?" Cream asked Sonic as she looked at the item curiously.

"Yep," he said as he gave the green Stone a small toss, "These Time Stone can actually let people travel any where in time. Use one Time Stone and you can travel to yesterday or tomorrow. Four Time Stones and you can travel to three years ago or three year into the future. All seven and you can go anyway in time you want."

"Just like Chaos Control," Knuckles said.

"'Chaos Control?'" Mina asked.

"I'll let you in on it later," Sonic said, "Now it looks like we need five more Time Stones to get."

"Let's try Quarts Quadrant," Sally suggested.

"Right," Ash nodded, "Let's get going."