Ch 9: Hunted
Sonic and company found themselves looking up at the majestic Quarts Quadrant Zone. The tall, stone spires created reflections as a crisp, cool breeze blew over them. It was truly a beautiful sight. Elise, Cosmo, Tails and Cream stayed behind this time. "What a shame," Bunnie said as she adjusted her robotic arm, "If we weren't trying to stop an invasion, I'd take it in longer."
"So what's this place?" Knuckles asked.
"This is the Quarts Quadrant Zone," Sally explained, "It's an abandon mine that thinks it's a mirror house in a fun fair."
"So what's the plan?" Silver asked.
"The Quarts Quadrant is very deep so it's easy to get lost," Sonia explained, "Maybe we can spread out in teams; that would make it easer to look for the Time Stone."
"There's eighteen of us, but six different paths," Sonic said, "The best thing to do is to split up and see what's there."
"Sound's reasonable," Ash nodded, "Ok guys, we all have way's to contact each other, right? Once the Time Stone is found, let's get out of here."
Everyone nodded and went their separate ways. The triplets went into one path, Knuckles, Rouge and Omega into another, Shadow, Silver and Blaze in another, Bark, Ash and Mina in another, Sally, Fiona and Honey in another and Bunnie, Amy and Mighty went into the last path.
Unknown to them, they were being watched by the bounty hunter trio from another cave, "So the blue rat brought some company with him," Sleet said as be observed, "This may take awhile…"
"So, what do we do now, oh fearless leader?" Whiplash asked mordantly.
He made a short glare, "They defiantly outnumber us now, but if follow them in separate paths, we might be able to pick them off. I will follow that black Sonic doppelganger. Whiplash, you take the robot, and Dingo, you get the Freedom Fighter leader."
"Good!" Dingo smiled dumbly, "Now I won't be forced to attack Sonia!"
"Huh? What's that suppose to mean?"
"Uh…. I have a third nipple!"
"Blockhead," Whiplash shook her head, "Come on boys, we have another hunt."
As the bounty hunters departed, another figure that was clad in green and red armor with a vulcan machine gun strap to his shoulder watched them from the higher peek. His face was cover in a helmet but red glowing eyes could be seen in his shadowy visors.
"So the blue punk is here after all… hump! I never imaged that kid could survive that final blast! Never mind, I'll get him myself!"
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Shadow, Silver and Blaze ran though a long, reflective tunnel with seemingly no end. Because the Time Stones didn't use Chaos Energy, they had a hard time trying to see if this location was the right one.
"If the Quarts Quadrant is like a maze," Silver thought out loud as they continued running, "Then how are we suppose to find our way out here; let alone find the Time Stone?"
"While the traces of Chaos Energy are limited on this planet," Shadow elaborated, "We can still use our Chaos Sense to find Sonic as he is the only other one who can use Chaos Powers. You forget that I can still use Chaos Control without an Emerald."
They soon reached a dead end that had more mirror like walls, "Look like we've reached a dead end," Blaze commented.
"What do we do now?" Silver solicited.
"Guess we go back," Shadow frowned.
They were about to leave, when Blaze's ear twitched as she heard a footstep. She turned swiftly as she snapped her fingers and threw out a fireball. The purple dog jumped out as he yelped in surprise.
"Who are you!?" Blaze tensed with her hands still flared up. The other hedgehogs also tensed, "And why were you following us?!"
Sleet merrily chuckled, "We're looking for the same object. And I don't like competition."
"You mean the Time Stone?" Silver questioned.
"You made a big mistake following us!" Shadow growled.
"Maybe I did. Maybe I did not. My name is Sleet. I will be entertaining you today."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense!" Shadow retorted as he fired a single red laser shot. Sleet sidestepped from it letting it bounce of the walls for several seconds. Everyone quickly evaded the shot until it finally halted.
"Not very smart are you?" Sleet grinned cheekily, "Reflected surfaces can reflect laser shots," he pulled out a complex looking gun, "Luckily my weapon doesn't need lasers."
Silver quickly used his psychokinesis to the pull the gun away and pined Sleet to the wall, "You didn't see that coming did you?"
"Now then, Sleet," Blaze began, "We have questions that we want answered, and you'd better answer the correctly."
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Knuckles, Rouge and Omega went into a large, underground room with earthen walls crystal, rotted wooden support beams and piles of crates in the corners. It looked like a storage area for mining equipment.
"Sweat gear," Knuckles said in amazement.
"I wonder what kind of treasures are in these mines," Rouge smiled.
"Knuckles, Rouge," Omega reminded them, "Remember that we have mission to complete. Do not be distracted."
"Yeah, yeah," Rouge huffed, "Ya know Omega, your computer personality can be such a pain in the ass sometimes."
"For once I agree with you," Knuckles nodded.
Rouge smirked as she clicked her tongue, "Hmmm, another thing we have in common," she smiled as stroked his firm arms, causing him to blush.
"Unknown, lifeform approaching," Omega alerted suddenly.
Knuckles and Rouge quickly tensed and then pressed each others backs, "Who's here?!" Knuckles challenged.
"My, my, my," came a feminine voice, "You three aren't so far off, are you?" They looked up to see the green cobra sitting on a jagged edge with her legs crossed and lusty smile. She instantly dropped down.
"Who are you?" Rouge asked with an eyebrow arched.
"The name's Whiplash. For like one, I am as sensuous as I am fatal."
"Speak like a normal person, will ya?!" Knuckles frowned.
"Well, tough guy are you?" she purred, sauntering towards Knuckles, "If you are as aggressive as you are with back talking, then I think I'm gonna enjoy this…"
"Enjoy… what…?" Knuckles stammered as he suspiciously watched her move around. Rouge, however, slipped into a casual battle stance, ready to leap forward at a moment's notice.
"You're looking for another Time Stone, am I right?" she said as she came face to face with him, "What would you want with some rock? Come with me and I'll show you what you want…"
Rouge's eyes bugged, "You'd better not be saying what I THINK you're saying..." She may have been a lot of things, but she would NEVER use her body like that.
"My sensors indicated that your stress level is rising," Omega stated, "Are you alright, Rouge?"
"…" The bat remained silent.
"I'd never go anywhere with a bandit like you," Knuckles said, "Least of all anywhere that would hurt my friends."
Whiplash's eyelids lowered as she pressed her warm, soft hands on his chest; instantly his face went red and he bit his lip, "Really…?" she asked as she massaged his stomach, "That's a pretty bold statement, considering what I'm offering..." Instantly, her eyelids rose as her blue eyes turned in to swirling red ones. Knuckles soon felt lightheaded and dizzy. Her eyes returned normal as her mouth moved towards his and she closed her eyes...
Just then, a great pain ripped through her tail, and she flew through the air like a pillow sack. She crashed down into the dirt. "Wh-what the hell?!" she snarled as she struggled into a sitting posture.
Rouge now stood before Knuckles, a look of lethal rage in her icy eyes, "Stay away from him!!"
"Oh, so that's it, hmm?" Whiplash muttered as she got to her feet, "You want him, too?"
Rouge didn't answer the question, "You… throwing yourself on someone else just for lust and pleasure... I HATE people like you!!!" She turned to Knuckles and punched him lightly on the chest, "Don't let her get to you, Knux! She's nothing but a slut!"
Knuckles blush faded as he shook his head, "Gahh… thanks Rouge." He glared at Whiplash as he put up his fists, "That was a real dirty trick you tried to pull. Trying to hypnotize me into doing whatever you want!"
"So what if I find you attractive," she said quietly as she made a pouting face, "You are just as cute as the blue hedgehog prince after all." She drew out her whip and twisted it into the air as it made a cracking sound, "So... if I can't give you the pleasure of your desires, the least I can do is give you the release of death."
"Bring it, sister!" Rouge laughed as she struck a kickboxing stance.
Whiplash threw out her whip at them as they quickly jumped from it. She saw Knuckles come and tried to kick him, but he blocked it and kicked her. She rolled across the ground and quickly leaped back on her feet. She lunged and continued to try and strike him as he dodged the whip strikes the best he could. She twirled her whip on to his leg and jerked it to make him fall. He tried to get back up but she pressed her red boot on his chest, "Checkmate, my dear," she smirked voluptuously.
She suddenly felt a powerful kick and slammed into the wall. She glared up at Rouge who still stuck a stance from her roundhouse kick, "Never let you guard down!"
Whiplash snarled as she lashed out again, but Omega stepped in and stuck out his arm to grab the whip and threw her into the air. As she landed, the renegade E-Series robot fire missiles, but Whiplash caught them with her whip and threw the warheads at them. Knuckles threw a crystal rock to cancel them out in a huge blast. This could take a while….
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"Hmmm..." Ash murmured as he stared hard at the purple mist drifting around him. He waved his hand through it and it dispersed easily, "This is very strange, I never saw this gas here before."
"What is it?" Mina asked.
"Not sure, but it moves like normal gas. I don't think it's fatal so there shouldn't be anything to worry about."
"That's good," Bark nodded.
"Let's see if anyone has better luck then us," Ash said as he turned his communicator on, "Hey, Sonic! Do you read? ….Bunnie? Sally? Anyone??" he turned off his communicator and faced the others. "I can't reach them. We must be in really deep."
"Yeah, doesn't seem really good," Bark frowned, "You think we should go back?"
"Looks that way."
As the turned to leave, the bulky orange dog jumped in with an aerial back flip, "Going some where? Heh heh heh!"
"Dingo?!" Mina gasped, "You followed us?"
"That's right, 'Songoose!' I knew by following you guys I'd get somewhere!"
"So then Sleet and Whiplash are somewhere around these mines too," Ash frowned.
"Yep! Don't know where there are now…. but at least I can't I hurt Sonia from here!"
"Yick!" Mina frowned in disgust, "I can't believe he's still obsessed with Sonia!"
"What a moron," Bark frowned as his fist glowed with icy energy, "You wanna fight?"
"Guess so!" Dingo said as he held out his arm and it turned into a machine gun, surprising the trio, "Like it? Sleet gave me an upgrade; now I can transform whenever I want!" The machine gun fired rapidly around the room. The mongoose siblings jumped around in swift blurs while the cryokinetic polar bear put up an ice shield to block the assault. The mongooses slammed into Dingo, pushing him back and making him fire a few shots into the ceiling. Bark launched some beams of ice to freeze Dingo's arms. Dingo quickly turned his arms into heat generators and melted the ice.
"He's defiantly improved!" Ash examined.
"Well we can fix that!" Bark shouted as charged up the ice beam to max power and fired a huge ice blast. Dingo quickly jumped from the freezing shot as everything froze behind him. Dingo fired more heat shots as Bark cancel them with icy volleys from his free hand. Let's just move on to the other team…
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The triplets found themselves in the more crystallized room of the mines. Old, rotted support beams hung above their heads and old crates were piled up in several corners. Sonia looked around in awe, "It's beautiful."
"This is one of the farthest places of the mines, right?" Sonic asked.
"Yeah," Manic nodded, "This place is the farthest the miners could go… hey look!"
Sonia looked were her youngest brother pointed and smiled. She ran to the quarts pillar and grabbed the red Time Stone, "Got it! Three Time Stones down!"
"Cool!" Sonic smiled with thumbs up, "Now let's get out of here!"
Suddenly, loud bashing sounds were heard from beyond the wall, "You hear that?" Manic asked.
"Hear what?" Sonia questioned.
"Something coming…"
The wall yielded, creating a cloud of smoke and dust, and a mechanical armor from where the wall used to be appeared. Sonic's eye's widen, "Alastor?!"
The bounty hunter laughed manically, "Ha ha ha! My waiting has finally come to an end!!"
"What are you doing here?!" Manic demanded.
"Isn't it obvious? Rumors went around about Sonic coming back from the grave or something. I guess they were half right."
"How did you-?"
The armored being spoke before Sonia could ask, "Sorry. It's not for me to say. You know how much I enjoy leaving you in the dark."
"Forget all this garbage, Alastor!" Sonic demanded, "Either back off or we'll get through you!"
Alastor continued to laugh, "How I've missed you, Sonic! Let's say we make most of this reunion and have a little fun!"
Alastor took to the sky with his jet packs and fired a glowing bomb at the three hedgehogs. The jumped away as the bomb exploded.
"Manic! You get somewhere safe!" Sonic told him, "Me and Sonia can take care of this punk on our own."
"No need to tell me twice, bro!" Manic said as hid behind a quarts stone, "This guy is freakin' crazy!"
Sonic and Sonia faced Alastor in battle stances, "Come on, Alastor! You wanted a reunion, so now you got one!" Sonic challenged.
"Now that's what I'm takin' about!" Alastor laughed as he fired missiles from his cannon. The siblings produced their shields to block the attack. "Hump, you two are still at your prime… no worries. There's more then one way to skin a cat!" Alastor charged at them as they both canceled their shields and jumped away. Sonia glanced at Sonic, who nodded immediately. Alastor saw the Azure Wind coming in his direction and prepared his cannon to intercept him. However, as he arrived, Sonic instantly ducked on his right side and revealed the older sister who fired magic shots to blast Alastor back.
"Are you finished yet, Alastor?!" Sonia demanded.
"Not even close! Eat this!" he snarled as fired small, rapid blasts from his fist. Sonia grabbed Sonic and made a platform to make them float in the air. The shots were unable to get through.
"Damn it!"
"Now, Sonia!"
She dashed downward to Alastor and caught him at the edge of the platform. She tossed him around for awhile before throwing him into the air. "You never know when to quit, do you?" Sonia grunted.
"The hell I don't!" Alastor fired a huge blast from his cannon. Sonia swiftly flew from it as it exploded in a huge blast. Alastor laughed manically as he fired more Banzai Bazookas at the fleeing hedgehogs. They were running out of steam…
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"Do you WANT to be killed?" Shadow asked in irritation. They were not getting answers.
"I deal with your kind everyday," Sleet shrugged despite being under intense pressure; "I know how to deal with you. But kill me now and you may not get what you need if I deiced to give it to you."
"This guy is gallingly resourceful," Silver frowned as he kept his hold, "Every time I increase my grip he says he'll talk or it's the other way around. Ether way, he knows how to stall."
"Then maybe I should burn him," Blaze suggested.
"That wouldn't make a difference," Shadow said.
The three didn't see Sleet reach for a small gun from his sleeve. He fired at Sliver, blasting him back and disrupting his psychokinesis.
"Sliver!" Blaze gasped.
"Time to go!" Sleet said as he ran off.
"Stop!" Shadow yelled as he started after him, "Damn him! What a dirty trick!"
"Silver!" Blaze said as she held him closely, "You okay?"
"Yeah, just a stray shot."
"We have to go after him," Shadow said as he looked at where he ran, "We still need answers."
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"It's over," Knuckles growled as he, Rouge and Omega stood over Whiplash.
"Oh think it's that simple, hm?" Whiplash sighed.
"Shut it!" Rouge snapped, "You lost! Deal with it!"
Whiplash grinned evilly as a dull boom was heard, "The game ain't over yet!" she laughed as she threw her whip up and hoisted herself to a hole.
They all looked at where she disappeared, "Wanna follow?" Knuckles asked.
"Yeah…" Rouge nodded.
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Sally, Fiona and Honey and Bunnie, Amy and Mighty quickly bumped into each other as they were still exploring the cave. They looked at one another in surprise.
"This is one heck of a maze isn't it?" Amy commented.
"Sure looks that way," Honey nodded.
"Guess we have to go back," Sally said.
Just then, the wall blasted open, surprising them, and Dingo jumped out and blasted another wall with his arm weapons before jumping through.
"Wasn't that Dingo?!" Fiona gawked.
"Sure enough, that means Sleet and Whiplash are somewhere in these mines too," Mighty frowned.
"Man he's fast!" Mina shouted as she, Ask and Bark jumped through the hole, "Oh, hey guys! I'm sure you all saw Dingo pass by here, right?"
"Sure did," Bunnie nodded.
"I wonder where he's headed now," Sally said thoughtfully, "Let's go after him!"
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Alastor continued to laugh as he fired nonstop bazooka blasts at the hedgehogs. Sonia blasted magic shots to counter them.
"Sonia, you can really keep this up?" Sonic asked.
"Mother's been training my to be a full witch like her ya know! I can handle myself much better!"
"Give it up, you two!" Alastor grunted, "You'll have to run out of steam sometime today!"
"And so do you!"
"Wha-!?" was all Alastor could say before he was hit by a stinger on his back. He yelled in pain as his gear got fried and he crashed in to the ground. He looked angrily at Manic who grinned as he juggled with some more stingers.
"Why… you…!!"
"Comin' through!" Dingo said as he slammed through the hole.
"What?!" Sonia frowned, "Not you again!"
Soon after, Sleet and Whiplash dropped down from another hole, "So you three are here too, eh?" Sleet commented, "At least the Time Stone is here."
"What do you want with the Time Stone anyway?!" Sonic demanded.
"That is not any of your business, handsome," Whiplash answered, "Now we can do this the easy way…" she then licked her lips, "Or the other way."
"Out of my way, you second rate rejects!" Alastor snarled, "They're mine!"
"Uh oh!" Manic gulped as he realized they were surrounded.
Luckily, their buddies came down from the same holes that the bounty hunters came from. They stood by the triplets and face the enemies.
"Not so fast!" Silver shouted.
"You still have us to deal with, remember?" Knuckles added.
"Just try and test us!" Sally challenged.
The bounty hunters stared at the competition, seeing that they were the ones surrounded now, "I… I suggest a tactical retreat." Sleet stammered.
"Admit defeat!" Alastor snapped.
"We don't have a choice, Alastor!" Whiplash retorted, "We are already surrounded and the Freedom Fighters' new recruits are too much of a wild card!"
"…Fine!" Alastor sighed. Dingo turned in a jet bike as the bounty hunters jumped on and escaped out of the mines.
"Everyone alright?" Fiona asked.
"Could have been worse," Sonia smiled, "Thanks."
"Now we just need four more Time Stones," Ash said, "Where should we go next?"
"What about the Metal Valley Zone?" Mina suggested.
"OK, let's go there."