Ch 11: Dangerous Tides

Mighty was snoozing on a chair as the two ships were approaching the Tidal Tempest Zone. He wasn't always the lazy one but it was a very long time since he and the gang stayed up through the night. Right now he was having a dream… about a very cute yellow cat girl…

BANG!

"Wha!?" Mighty gasped as he woke up with a start.

Manic stood in front of him with a grin, his fist on the wall. "Sal told me to wake you up. We're almost at Tidal Tempest… heh heh! Wait till I tell everyone that you we're having wet dreams of Honey!"

"You astroprojected!?" Mighty shouted with an angry blush. "If you tell anyone I'll-"

"Chillax dude. Just teasing. Anyway come on, let's go!"

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Minutes later, the Typhoon and the Storm landed into the shores of the Tidal Tempest Zone. Everyone stepped on to the sandy area of the beach. "Wow, this place hasn't changed at all." Sonic whistled.

"Yeah. This place hasn't changed much." Mina said. She saw an icy blue stone and picked it up. "And lookie here! Another Time Stone already!"

"Well that sure was fast." Ash smiled. "Come on, let's get going."

Blaze's eyes narrowed at the horizon. She saw something approaching them. Fast.

"Look's like we have company."

"What?" Knuckles wondered.

The figure got closer and closer. Finally it went up and landed in front of them with a crash. It was a Metarex hawk that had on red and blue armor.

"Another Metarex!" Silver shouted. "Man, those guys are persistent!"

"I'll say!" Honey nodded.

"I guess we'll have to take care of this one before we move on!" Shadow frowned.

The MetaHawk spread out its wings in a huge gust and flew towards them and began shooting with machine guns. Everyone jumped out of the way quickly, but Bark used his density control power to turn into something harder than crystal to deflect the shots. Then he jumped up and slammed into the alien machine to make swerve.

"That thing is way tough!" Bark shouted as he landed with a huge crash and nearly sank into the sand. He returned to his white furred self. "I actually hurt myself!"

"Then what are suppose to… huh!?" Ash noticed that the MetaHawk was going after his sister. "Mina! It's after the Time Stone!"

"Sonic! Go long!" Mina threw the Time Stone like a football and the MetaHawk made a U-turn from her to the Stone. Sonic dashed of with the turbulence of the sand kicking up from his feet, running to get the stone. He grabbed it and broke the sound barrier to lose the MetaHawk as it fired the guns at him.

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Seen from the distance, a loud boom could be heard. They were so strong that they prompted a man in his thirties with red hair and blue eyes, wearing clothing like that of a Native American and war paint on his face and a green female dragon that, although large, appeared to be young looking looked up to see what was up.

"Whoa, did you see that?" the dragon gawked.

"Yeah… there's only one guy that I know who can make a boom that loud." The man nodded. "But isn't he…?"

"I heard that he's still alive. Been hanging around a blue planet."

"What?! Why didn't you say anything Dulcy?! Come on, we'd better check it out!"

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At the same time, the bounty hunters, all four of them, saw the same thing from the other side.

"So the Freedom Fighters are here too." Sleet arched an eyebrow. "They must have most of the Time Stone by now."

"I don't care about that, those royal pains are gonna get this time!" Alastor sneered as he flew towards the area.

"Alastor, wait!" Dingo shouted. Their competition was out of earshot.

"That guy is hopeless." Whiplash frowned as they went after him.

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Sonic continued to run from the MetaHawk as it chased him. It was far away now, but it proved to be persistent. In a split second, Sonic reached his friends and allies and briefly turned into a tornado keep them from getting buried in sand.

"That thing sure is inexorable!" Sonic said as he saw it still approaching.

"Here he comes!" Knuckles shouted as he balled his fists.

"Hang ten!" a perky female voice shouted.

A huge gust of wind blew over them and the green dragon flew up and after the MetaHawk. "Dulcy and Raph! Yeah!" Sonic grinned.

Dulcy flew at the MetaHawk and fired series fireballs at it. The attacks didn't seem to do much, but the MetaHawk was distracted long enough for Raphael to jump onto its back lace a rope around its neck and drive it into a cliff. This caused some rocks to break off and fall. Honey happened to be underneath.

"Look out!" Mighty shouted as he jumped in to shield Honey. He used his geokinesis to move the rocks out of the way.

"Um, thanks, Mighty. I didn't see that coming." Honey smiled.

"Y-yeah, close call, huh?" Mighty blushed.

"Sonic!" Dulcy squealed as she crashed into him. "So you are alive! It's great to see ya again!"

"Hey, Dulcy!" Sonic smiled with a sweatdrop. "Nice to see you, too!"

"So you survived that explosion after all, huh squirt?" Raphael grinned as he jumped off. He turned to Mighty and Honey. "Sorry about that."

"No sweat."

"Wow! A real live dragon!" Amy gawked.

"I never thought get to see one!" Cream added.

Before the introductions could begin, the MetaHawk slowly removed its head from the cliff and began to fire again.

"Raphael! Here!" Sonic shouted as he tossed the Time Stone to him. He grabbed it as the continued to jump from the bullets. As Sonic continued to run from the attacks, he slid on the sand and found himself staring into the barrel of a bazooka.

"You didn't think you could get away that easily, did ya?" Alastor snarled.

"Just can't quit, can you!?" Sonic shouted as he jumped and kicked Alastor in the chest. He dashed off with the bounty hunter after him.

"That guy never gives up!" Silver frowned.

Raphael soon saw the three other bounty hunters running towards him. "He has the Time Stone! Get him!" Sleet shouted as he brought out his laser gun and fired shots at him. Raphael brought out his tomahawk and deflected the shots.

"Shoot! This is too much!" Knuckles shouted.

"Out of my way!" shouted a ruddy voice. A robotic red crab jumped from the sky and landed in front of the MetaHawk.

"Eggman!?" Sonic gasped as he screeched to a halt.

"Woah." Dingo blinked. "So the boss man's still alive too."

"I'll deal with you soon enough, rodents!" Eggman sneered. "Let me just take care of the robo bird!" He noticed Alastor hovering nearby. "Well, if it isn't E-99 Alastor!" he smiled.

"E-99!?" Shadow gasped. "That bounty hunter is one Eggman's E-Series robots!?"

"Don't look at me!" Sonic said. "I didn't know that either!"

Alastor growled angrily. "I am NOT your lackey, old man!" He aimed his bazooka and fired. But the shot was deflected by the armor.

"Nothing can get past the Egg Crab's polimar alloy!" Eggman laughed. "Now then birdie, time to shred you!" He charged at the MetaHawk as it continued to fire. The shots bounce harmlessly off.

"With Eggman preoccupied, we can get away!" Ash shouted as he and the Freedom Fighters ran back to the ships. The Typhoon and the Storm quickly took off.

"I suppose we should go too…." Alastor grimaced as we walked off. Sleet, Dingo and Whiplash watched, still shocked about his true identity, and then followed.

To make it short, the Egg Crab ripped the wings of the MetaHawk and made it crash into the sea. "Bwahahahahahahahahaha!" Eggman laughed. "Even one of the Merarex's mightiest solders cannot stop me! Now you little rodents, give me the-" He turned around only to see that he was the only one left on the beach.

"Aw, sonnof a…."