Chapter 3: Over the Emerald Hills and Far Away
The already ruined Peridot Town was now set ablaze by the arrival of the Badnik Army. Ladybug-bots, bee-bots, crab-bots, monkey-bots, caterpillar-bots and bat-bots were charging furiously through the grey, murky area, obliterating houses and brewing up a storm of debris. Tails was observing the destruction from the air, looking out for places where Badniks might pop out. It was very unpleasant, indeed, for someone of his age to be seeing this once bright, wholesome district fall apart even more. At that moment, it was like he was waiting for a good excuse to get out of there and see anything else. As for the Badniks, he couldn't see any besides the ones that already came in.
Down on the ground, Tiara and Jun were about to attack the Badniks head-on; the manx girl was eager to thrash the robotic menaces, while the monkey boy was panicking. Flex had made a dash for the departing vehicles, determined to protect their passengers from any attacks directed at them. These large transport machines were moving reasonably fast, but not enough to lose Flex. He jumped on the one being driven by Banjo. Soon, Tiara and Jun had gotten close to their mechanical enemies.
"You vandalized the wrong neighbourhood!" Tiara yelled, tearing up a ladybug-bot and freeing it's fauna battery with her chakram. She swung it around, chopping off a crab-bot's claw before slicing it as well. Then, she spun around and threw the chakram into a crowd of ladybug-bots and crab-bots coming towards her. "Order Chakram, Aroundeos." she muttered, pointing at her thrown weapon. The chakram spun around like a crazy frisbee, taking apart the Badniks around it. Up above, bee-bots aimed their stingers and fired bullets. Tiara just noticed them in time to barely dodge them, but she fell right on her butt.
Jun was breaking another bunch of ladybug-bots and crab-bots with his trusty triple staff. After clearing it out, caterpillar-bots ganged up on him, with the most vile looks on their faces. "Back off!" he growled, sweat flying from his head as he swung his triple staff again. A strike to one caterpillar-bot's head destroyed it's whole body and released it's creature trapped inside, but by striking another in it's spiky, segmented body, it broke apart and separated it's segments in different directions.
Jun freaked out as he dodged the caterpillar-bot's head bouncing towards him. In that window of opportunity, the remaining caterpillar-bots lunged at Jun. One bit down on his triple staff, trying to pull it away. The others tried to bite or lash their spiky tails at him.
In the middle of the tussle, ladybug-bots, bee-bots and bat-bots were zooming past Tiara and Jun, approaching Flex and the vehicles.
"Guys!" Tails called out, noticing the passing Badniks. "They're breaking through-" He was interrupted by bee-bots and bat-bots smacking against him. He fell to his ground, his tails' rotation process slowing down significantly.
Tiara, back on her feet fighting, chakram in hand again, responded to Tails' notification with a "huh?", but her eyes soon widened when he saw him descend, looking hurt. "Tails!" she cried, coming over to the fox cub's side, dodging a caterpillar-bot's bouncing body part. "Tails, don't crash on us now."
"No, wait." Tails said, pointing over Tiara's shoulder.
"Tia!" Jun hollered, smashing up the caterpillar-bots' heads by swinging around the one biting down on his triple staff. "We're trying to be a line of defense here!"
"OK." Tiara said, looking back. Her eyes turned over to Tails one more time, with an expression of deep concern. "Just try to stay concious." She then ran back to the battle.
"I'll be fine." Tails assured, rubbing a bruise on his right waist. He got up and ran away from the action. There must be SOMETHING I can do, he thought. Clearly, watching out for threats from the air wasn't going to work this time.
"Order Chakram, Diggimus." Tiara murmured, pointing her right index and middle fingers down at the ground. The chakram disappeared into the soil, before springing back up on Tiara's mark - sticking up her right index finger and thumb. It struck many bee-bots and bat-bots up in the air before coming down to grind some ladybug-bots and crab-bots.
Jun finally got the caterpillar-bot off his triple staff, but it split apart. Looking at the ball shapes of the Badnik's body segments, he got an idea. He ran up to one of the segments as it bounced along. "Enough is enough!" He swung his triple staff and hit the segment into the crowd of evil machines, and it exploded upon impact with a ladybug-bot, taking it out along with some other Badniks in it's vicinity.
The spikes on the segments sprayed a fair distance. "Oh, more things to watch out for." Jun added in despondency. He spotted another segment, which had finished bouncing, and began to glow, as if it was about to burst. He smacked it into the Badniks and watched them break into pieces along with it.
Flex, riding on the back of Banjo's vehicle, noticed the Badniks heading towards him. Not only were ladybug-bots, bee-bots and bat-bots streaking his way, but so were bat-bots carrying monkey-bots. Aiming straight for the vehicles, the monkey-bots threw metallic coconuts. No way was Flex going to protect all of these large transport machines alone with so many incoming projectiles.
He did his best to protect Banjo's, though, shifting left and right and jumping up a bit to block the coconuts with his hard shell. The other vehicles were hit by the other coconuts, and they all felt the impact. They swerved a little out of control. More coconuts came their way, and that was more for Flex to repel.
Unexpectedly, some bright beams and crystalline arrows flew out of the sides of Banjo's vehicle and destroyed the coconuts out of Flex's reach. "What the..?" He thought out loud, noticing the coconut wave's complete disappearance. At that moment, the bee-bots pointed their stingers forward. They fired off a flurry of bullets, which were all stopped by those beams and arrows, while Flex blocked what he could with his shell.
"Looks like Banjo had a secret weapon. How long did he have that?" he said, a bit miffed at not knowing about this mysterious new defense. He watched the beams blast the monkey-bots, bat-bots and bee-bots out of the sky. Only the ladybug-bots on the ground remained.
"It's a good thing these are moving away from town." Flex said. "I wouldn't want them near this." He climbed up to the top of Banjo's vehicle and gazed down on the ladybug-bots, and all the beams and arrows that were flying towards the airborne Badniks.
Flex launched himself up from the surface of the trailer, and curled up into his shell. Abruptly, he dived down like a meteor, and hit the ground like one, too. Upon impact, he created a massive shockwave that made the ladybug-bots' eyes widen with fear, as they all exploded. Flex was relieved to have less Badniks to worry about, and he couldn't wait for this fight to end.
Tails was looking for something to do while his friends were holding their own. He noticed a downed ladybug-bot, and figured that he could examine it's technology. "I always wondered about the details of Robotnik's machines. Maybe I could salvage some parts, or analyze their programming." He thought out loud. To his surprise, some coconuts from the monkey-bots came at him.
"Order Chakram, Blockadeon!" Tiara chanted. Her chakram, spinning vertically in front of Tails, deflected the coconuts back to their owners. It whizzed back to her.
"Thanks, Tia!" Tails called out to the manx girl.
"No problem." Tiara replied, turning her attention back to her robotic opponents. "Order Chakram, Lumines." she murmured, holding her weapon in front of her face. A blinding light struck the Badniks and left them in a state of confusion. They were spazzing out. Tiara looked at them and smirked, muttering "Nailed it." at the result of her technique.
"Good move, Tia!" Jun hollered, swatting and squashing Badniks with his triple staff and feet.
"OK, buddy." Tiara said, to seemingly nobody. "Time to get some fresh air and exercise." She placed her free hand down on her belt and slide her fingers across it swiftly. Out of a slit on the belt came a blue cloud of magical energy. She held it up high and pointed her Order Chakram over to the incapacitated Badniks. "Containem." she whispered, and the magic cloud began to swirl around the killer robots, building a field of sparkling light.
It surrounded all of them, leaving them trapped in a column. She threw her Order Chakram into the air above the luminous pillar. "Order Chakram, Diggimus." The ring-shaped weapon dug into the ground and emerged beneath the trapped, helpless Badniks, slicing them apart. "Return!" she shouted, bringing the magic cloud back into her belt.
"Uh oh!" Jun uttered, in fear.
"What is it?" Tiara asked, feeling accomplished with her magic tricks.
"It looks like some Badniks have been sneaking past." Jun replied, pointing at some Badniks that were passing through the ruined town with no opposition, over on an empty street.
"Whoops!" Tiara yelped, smacking her head.
"Guys!' Flex yelled, running up to his friends. "Those Badniks, they're-"
"Yeah, I know." Tiara said, glumly. "Hey, what are you doing? The vehicles!"
"I know!" Flex continued. "But let me tell you something. Banjo has a secret weapon."
"What are you saying?" Jun asked, confused.
"When I was out there defending the vehicles, beams and arrow came flying out of Banjo's." Flex explained. "Something or someone was helping me. You know what that could mean?"
"Well, obviously, we should go and help them out!" Tiara snapped. "Come on!" She ran after the sneaky Badniks.
"Uh, actually, looking at them now..." Jun said, looking at how the sneaky Badniks were acting. "I don't think they're after the vehicles at all."
"How can you say that?" Flex barked.
"Well, i've got a feeling about them." Jun commented, not feeling 100% sure of what he was saying.
"A feeling?" Flex said, scratching his head. "Right." He ran off in Tiara's direction. As he vanished from sight, he took a quick glance at the Chemical Plant on Corkscrew Mountain.
"I'll catch up with you guys!" Jun said, cupping his mouth with his hands. The monkey boy sighed and looked up at the Chemical Plant as well. One thing was for certain: if anyone could efficiently take care of the extra Badniks that ran under everyone's noses, it was Sonic. His eyes then caught the hedgehog's fox brother, and he went up to check on him. "What are you doing with that bug?"
"Examining it." Tails replied. "I thought i'd get a good look into this Badnik's inner workings."
"Perhaps you could check out it's motivation?" Jun suggested. "I have a hunch that Banjo and the others aren't their main target."
"I heard." Tails affirmed. "Are you sure?"
"Well, no." Jun conceded. "But, if you- you know, do the thing?"
"Decipher it's coding? Sure." Tails said, hopefully. "I've been translating binary digits and hacking computers since I was 4, so this should be a walk in the park." Tails began to bring the ladybug-bot back online and dig into it's programming. "OK, let's see. Ah!" The ladybug-bot struggled to move, but it was too damaged to go anywhere.
Jun stomped on it to make it stop rattling. "There must be something in here." Tails uttered, inquisitively. "There's a control panel, and it appears to be linked to this holographic component issuing orders in numerical code. Let's call it a "command drive" for simplicity's sake." He added, pointing at a particular component in the Badnik. "If I can adjust the controller, I might be able to decrypt something that we can use." Tails configured the Badnik's "command drive" until he managed to unlock something.
"Alright, I got something!" Tails confirmed, with a smile.
"What do you got?" Jun asked, urgently.
"It looks like..." Tails started. "A map, and a compass. It's pointing to... something shiny. And there's five other shiny things on here, too."
"Huh. Shiny treasure, maybe?" Jun wondered, a little lost.
"Shiny treasure." Tail murmured. He gasped. "Oh my Angel! I think I know what this is! It's a map to the Chaos Emeralds!"
Jun's eyes widened with shock. He couldn't believe that such a map could actually exist. The Chaos Emeralds had been lost to time, and nobody had been able to find their hiding spots. Even the occurrence of a solar eclipse seemed more likely than the appearance of a Chaos Emerald map, what with Mobius having two moons.
"We better notify Sonic and Tiara as soon as possible." Jun said, gritting his teeth.
Up in the Chemical Plant, Sonic ran up to a platform suspended above many pipes, high above the lake of horrible purple liquid. He was pacing back and forth, wondering if the owners of the voices he heard were going to show up.
"So, are we going to do this, or what?" Sonic hollered, impatiently. "I've been wanting some payback, but i'll gladly shut down this dangerous chemical manufacturing factory, with or without a fight."
Suddenly, some grenade fell to the ground in front of Sonic. Realizing what they were, he quickly stepped back, and he felt the breeze that the explosions stirred up. Smoke obscured his vision, but then, the voices he listened to earlier came back.
"When you walked in the house, you sealed your fate." said the masculine voice.
"Consider it an honour, for we're the best to date." sang the feminine.
"We all stand tall now, but only one will crumble." the masculine voice continued.
"We're going to get rough, and you're about to tumble." the feminine voice chanted on.
Then the smoke cleared, revealing Ball Hog and Clucker taking their own fighting stances.
"We're the Master Badniks..." Ball Hog yelled.
"Ball Hog and Clucker!" Clucker tweeted.
"Take a minute to pray, then it's time to suffer!" they finished in unison.
Sonic looked at the two like he just saw the most embarrassing street performance in his life. "Dude, I don't think "suffer" rhymes with your name."
"Oh, of all the nerve!" Clucker shrilled, indignantly. "That was rehearsed day and night, and when you really think about, my names DOES rhyme with that word!"
"No, it doesn't." Sonic fired back, dully.
"Yeah, it kind of doesn't." Ball Hog said, in agreement.
"Shut. Up!" Clucker responded, through gritted teeth. Then she sighed in frustration. "Let's just beat this rat."
"Wow, I know you're a robot, but how dense can you be?" Sonic growled, taking the word "rat" very personally. "I'm a hedgehog, you see? What else do you need to learn? That water's wet, that the sky's really high, or that rocks are as hard as bricks? Please, ask me anything."
"Here's a good question." Ball Hog said. "What are you doing, and what do you want?"
"I was thinking the same thing." Sonic replied.
Ball Hog rolled up into a metal ball and charged towards Sonic. Clucker, using rocket boosters hidden in her wings, flew up into the air. Sonic dodged the pig Badnik's attack, and slid across the floor to avoid getting caught in the swooping chicken Badnik's talons. Ball Hog rolled back to Sonic, but he jumped over it with ease. Clucker tried to peck Sonic, but with his reflexes, he sidestepped away from her beak, then delivered a spinning kick to the back of her head, making her stumble. Ball Hog uncurled from his ball mode as Sonic prepared a Spin Attack into his torso. Ball Hog took the lightning fast hit and slid back.
Just then, Ball Hog released a wave of steam from his nose. Sonic felt the hot air hit him like a fireball, then he took the brunt of a strike from Clucker's head, which stretched from her body. The hedgehog fell over.
"Ow!" Sonic moaned. "Got to give credit where it's due, you guys are tough. And that is a problem I don't need right now." He dodged beams shot by Clucker, and when grenades from Ball Hog came his way, he kicked one back, damaging and disorienting both of his opponents with the explosion. However, he was blown forward by the other explosions, and that gave Ball Hog an opportunity to grab the hedgehog. Sonic spun into a ball while in the robot swine's grasp, but deciding to have some fun, Ball Hog dribbled Sonic like a sports ball.
"Clucker, spike him!" Ball Hog called out to his robotic poultry companion. He threw the curled up Sonic into the air, and Clucker flew up to strike him back down to the ground with her wings. Sonic was hurt alot by this coordinated attack, but he was still concious.
Well, Sonic, you might've bitten off more than you can chew. But this is what you wanted, he thought. It became clear to the blue hedgehog boy that he was in the middle of his hardest battle yet, and many thoughts were in his head. Surrendering, however, was not among them. "So, anything you want to talk about?"
"That's none of your concern, hedgehog." Ball Hog said, darkly. He lifted up Sonic with both of his large, metal hands.
"Come on... I insist." Sonic said, smirking weakly.
"You don't get to insist anything, vermin." Clucker snarled. "Not after we kicked your butt."
"But if you've... kicked my butt, and you're... about kill me, it'd make it more painful... for me after hearing something... very important." Sonic proposed. "Come on, I... I won't be around to tell anything. You gotta know... something good."
"Is he being serious?" Clucker asked.
"Yeah, what does he expect us to tell him?" Ball Hog wondered. "Lord Robotnik's moustache gel? Commander Rockbottom's raptor code? The Chaos Radar?" Clucker's eyes widened at the mention of the Chaos Radar, and Sonic began to smile again.
"Chaos... Radar?" Sonic asked, his spirits rising back up.
"You didn't hear anything!" Ball Hog hastily yelled.
"Yes I did." Sonic said.
"Yes you did." Ball Hog conceded, shamefully. He then got kicked by Sonic, losing his grip on the hedgehog.
"Now, let's try this one more time." said Sonic, confidently. He did a Spin Attack right into Ball Hog's face, knocking him flat on his back. As the porky Master Badnik clutched his nose in pain, Clucker flew away from Sonic and flapped her wings, releasing an electrical storm cloud. Sonic was almost hit by the lightning in the cloud, but he stepped away and saw that Ball Hog was turning into his ball mode. Sonic got an idea.
He curled up on Ball Hog, spun on him to get him rolling in Clucker's direction, then when the time was right, he jumped, launching up to the chicken Badnik and knocking her out of the sky with a powerful hit. Ball Hog got fried by the storm clouds and fell off the platform. Clucker went down with him.
"Score!" Sonic yelled, victoriously. "Sonic, 1, Master Badniks, 0." He looked down the edge of the platform and saw Ball Hog and Clucker lying on the one of the giant pipes in defeat.
Sonic smiled at the thought of a quick, silly idea. "When I walked in the house, I sealed your fate. You've pulled many tricks that were too little, too late. Once we all stood tall, and the two of you crumbled. You certainly got rough, but I hardly tumbled. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, last name Galethorn. I had this in the bag, not to toot my own horn." Then he felt a sharp pain in his sides and groaned. "Alrighty then. Time to take care of unfinished business." He walked away, grasping his sides, hoping for the pain to go away. He spotted an elevator in the distance.
Sonic took the elevator up to a large room filled with chairs, supercomputer consoles and animated billboards for Robotnik's Mega Mack product. Sonic looked around, determined to get things done quickly. "I just have to smash this stuff, and it's lights out for this dump." Though he was bruised, Sonic's body was as stubborn as his mind. It just didn't know when to quit. Perhaps he still had enough strength left to Spin Attack the consoles and destroy the Chemical Plant, even though he felt burning pain in the wounds he received from the fight. In any case, he couldn't work the supercomputer's controls in any meaningful way. That was Tails' thing.
Unfortunately, he had company. Out of nowhere, Ball Hog and Clucker appeared, the former carrying his flaming axe and the latter wielding her electrical club.
"SURPRISE!" the two Master Badniks screamed together.
"Ugh." Sonic groaned. "I'm getting bored of you guys."
"Bored?" Ball Hog said, his eyes twitching at that particular word. "You're bored of two Master Badniks? Well, don't worry, we'll keep this interesting!" He blew out another cloud of steam. It missed, for Sonic was prepared for it this time.
"Get out of the control center!" Clucker demanded.
Sonic hopped on to the supercomputer in the middle of the room, and waved to the Master Badniks. "Where are you looking?" he called, giving a cocky smile.
"Right at YOU!" Ball Hog growled, turning his head to the hedgehog boy. He let out a battle cry, along with Clucker.
The large, robotic villains ran at Sonic, and as Ball Hog swung his axe, Sonic jumped over him and past the weapon. The axe hit the supercomputer and got lodged into it, letting out lots of sparks. An electrical surge hit Ball Hog as he pulled his axe. He got cooked good by the time he pulled it out, accidentally hitting Clucker with it and sending her club into another console, letting out a second great shock.
Sonic took on his ball form again and smashed against a supercomputer's monitor with great force, sending it flying and crashing through a wall. The control center was going up in sparks and smokes, so Sonic bailed. On the other side of the opening he left, there was an edge he could jump down. He inspected the area below to find that there were pipes he could slide down. He jumped on the ruined monitor and dove down.
"CONTROL CENTER POWER GENERATOR STATUS: OFFLINE! CHEMICAL PLANT OPERATION: TERMINATED! RECOMMENDED ACTION: ACTIVATE REDUNDANT POWER GENERATOR!" said a robotic voice in the background.
The control center was destroyed; a fried Ball Hog and Clucker stood miserably in the middle of the wreckage.
"One hedgehog set foot on our doorstep, beat us up, broke our stuff and got away, all in one day." Ball Hog muttered in disbelief.
"You IDIOT!" Clucker shrieked, smacking her porky partner. "You couldn't have swung horizontally?"
"I-I thought you were-" Ball Hog defensively stated.
"And why on Angel's Mobius did you have to mention the stinkin' Chaos Radar!?" Clucker screamed, so livid she could go blind. "We agreed on the ride back to Metropolis that we would keep that a secret!"
"Oh." said Ball Hog, smacking his head. "I am terrible at keeping those."
"You think?" Clucker snarked.
Down on the pipes, Sonic managed to slide into some areas, where he found some giant halfpipes.
"Woo!" He cried out in excitement. He made sharp turns on his makeshift board to keep himself on the path, riding on the pipes and raising his hands when he went down a tall drop. Sooner than expected, he reached the end of the line. He made a big leap with his monitor board and soared through the air like a great bluebird. Down below him were towers of machinery, protected by a column-shaped barrier with a rounded top. He jumped right off the monitor and spread his arms out like an avian creature. The monitor fell into the barrier below, and it broke apart upon contact. Sonic, unfortunately, was falling towards it too.
"Oh no, no, no, no!" Sonic yelled. "ARGH!" He had to think fast to get out of this, but what could he do while plummeting to his doom? Then it hit him in the head. He decided to retry a trick that got him out of a jam not too long ago.
As he descended towards the barrier, which is actually protecting a giant generator tower, he curled up again and rolled down it's rounded top. He spun all around, descending with every cycle. After many cycles, and almost hitting the bottom, he stopped going down and rolled in a straight line, as if the gravity had lowered. He was going at a blinding speed, only getting faster and faster, until he finally created a cyclone.
The force of the tornado eliminated the issue of gravity entirely, lifting the hedgehog up the barrier. The wind wrecked the surrounding machinery and caused the barrier to vanish. Sonic flew through the air, into the area that was no longer guarded, and smacked into a smaller tower, and bounced into the generator tower, then another tower and back, like a crazy pinball. Quickly, he rose up the beaten generator tower and made a long jump from the tip-top of it, soaring over to an open, empty pipe. The smaller towers were loosened, and the tornado made them fall into the generator tower, causing a great eruption of sparks.
"REDUNDANT POWER GENERATOR STATUS: OFFLINE! CHEMICAL PLANT OPERATION: TERMINATED! STRUCTURE ENCOMPASSING EXPLOSION: IMMINENT! RECOMMENDED ACTION: ABANDON CHEMICAL PLANT!"
Over at the ruined control center, Ball Hog and Clucker had called for their hovering vehicles, ready to depart.
"Why couldn't we have just played a game of Mean Beans?" Ball Hog asked, hopping into his vehicle.
"Because you wanted blue needles on your hotpie." Clucker reminded, dismissively, while boarding her own vehicle.
"Oh well, at least I won't have to take Lord Robotnik's wrath alone." Ball Hog miserably noted. Clucker simply made a grunt, knowing that her comrade was right.
All around them, computers, worker machines, pipes, towers, silos, billboards and liquid tanks were bursting into flames. The entire Chemical Plant was exploding. Everything that was produced here was going to be lost, and Mega Mack production was brought to a halt, thanks to Sonic's actions and the Master Badniks' clumsiness.
Back in the Emerald Hill, Tiara and Flex have been following the Badnik Army, running with all their strength. The vehicles that left Peridot Town were far ahead by now. Every variety of Badnik they were fighting was now avoiding them, seeking a certain location.
"I can't believe I was distracted." Tiara groaned. "Those Badniks are going to hurt people, and we don't have any fast way to catch up."
"I fear the secret weapon is not working." Flex bemoaned.
"Well, the way I see it, this is no time for keeping weapons secret." Tiara said. "Badniks are on their tail, and they think it's appropriate to hide their trump card like that?"
"That's kind of the point of a trump card." Flex remarked.
"You get my point." Tiara said, annoyed.
"Guys!" Tails called out, catching up with Jun in his arms. "I found something! I looked into one of those bug Badniks, I decrypted it's coding and came across what looks like a map!" He let Jun down, and the two of them started to run with Tiara and Flex.
"A map?" Tiara inquired.
"Yeah, with shiny points on it and everything." Jun noted.
"So, they're on a treasure hunt?" Flex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I guess so." said Jun.
"But it's for the Chaos Emeralds!" Tails said.
"What!?" Flex shouted.
"So, you mean, they're really hunting for the Chaos Emeralds?" Tiara asked. She received a nod from Tails and Jun. "Then that means tearing down Peridot Town was just a bonus."
"Why attack Tiara, Jun, me and the vehicles then?" Flex asked, scratching his head.
"It's just all part of their natural, aggressive programming." Tails said. "If they see something that can interfere, they're going to try to subdue it."
As they continued to run, they heard a large explosion up on Corkscrew Mountain. They looked up and saw the Chemical Plant erupting in a ball of fire.
"Alright!" Tails yipped.
"Looks like Sonic did a lot of damage." Jun said. "Most admirable."
"Yeah, that's good for all the water and plants." Tiara commented. "But he better be on his way back. I'm missing the guy."
"He'll be here." Tails vowed. "But right now, we've got robots to catch." He observed the area where the Badnik Army was going. He saw a large mountain with a big hole next to it. "It looks like they're going to the Westside Island mines."
"The mines?" said Tiara. "There's a gaggle of shiny treasure there. A Chaos Emerald could be hard to dig for."
"Not when they have a map that'll lead the way." Tails reminded.
"Oh, yeah." Tiara muttered. She cleared her throat and took on a dramatic, commanding pose. "Gentlemen, i've got a daring plan that will give us the edge in our mine exploration. We could come out heavily bruised, but what's important is how we perform when we go in. The key is trust, coordination and putting on the best darn showcase you can. Follow my lead, and we'll be winning... the hunt."
"Well, she's back in the groove." Flex murmured, wincing at Tiara's theatrics.
Together, they ran towards the mines where the Badnik Army was headed. Now that they knew what their target was, they could get on their tails and hopefully beat them to the punch.
Over by the destroyed Chemical Plant, Sonic whizzed out of a pipe that was buried in the ground. He rolled forward a fair distance from the opening he made in the dirt until he came to a complete stop. He was sparkling with electrical sparks and feeling intense pain in body.
"Well, that was a ton of fun." Sonic said happily, but with a pained moan. "After all that, I could use a breather." He stood still, breathed in through his nose and breathed out through his mouth. He then prepared to run. "Done." But when he took off, he ached all over again, so he couldn't run anymore. He had to walk. "Ah, geez. Ow. This is like the worst part of hitting the gym. Ow, ow, ow." He groaned. He took a good look at the distance, gazing upon the afternoon sunlight. But there was something else. Lots of dots in the distance; one of them looked like an egg.
Sonic, despite being badly bruised and unable to run, wanted to make sure he could get to his brother and friends. Just then, a noise was growing in the background. A noise that sounded... familiar. It sounded like... a biplane. Sonic listened hard - his ears twitching from the approaching noise - and figured that he could be hearing only one thing. And there it was, when he turned around. It was a crimson red biplane with white stripes, coming in for a landing by the area on which Sonic was standing. As it came to a halt next to the hedgehog boy, it was revealed to be piloted by another hedgehog, also a shade of blue: a light, aquamarine blue.
Unlike Sonic, the hedgehog in the biplane's pilot seat is middle aged, sports a long, dark grey moustache on his muzzle, has many drooping quills fashioned into a mullet shape with dark grey tips, wears an old, brown jacket with badges all over it's front and the word "Blue Gale" on the back, all on top of a green and grey striped shirt, has violet eyes and doesn't wear gloves. He looked over at Sonic, who smiled.
"Hey, Uncle Chuck!" Sonic yelled in delight, recognizing the older hedgehog and waving.
"Hello, Sonny!" the hedgehog named Chuck yelled back, waving to the younger hedgehog. He hopped out of the plane and revealed more of his ensemble: a pair of dark blue jeans and red shoes with grey fasteners and soles. "I thought i'd come over and see how you're doing with your first day of freedom. I saw that factory explode, and well, here I am." He looked around and raised an eyebrow. "So, where are the others?"
"Oh, I left them down in Peridot Town to have some fun." Sonic confirmed. Then his body badly ached again. "Ooh!"
"Got into some painful scuffles, all by yourself?" Chuck asked.
"Oh no, it was cake." Sonic lied, grasping his sides. "I had everything under control. Oi."
"Really?" Chuck asked, tilting his head in doubt.
"OK, I got blindsided by some traps and fought a couple of really strong Badniks." Sonic confessed. "At least I broke the plant."
"True, but you lost your brother, your friends, and you're hurt." Chuck remarked.
"Oh, Tia and the boys can take care of themselves." said Sonic, smiling.
"Of course they can. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let you all go off and travel on your own terms." Chuck said, narrowing his eyes. "Now hold still, i'm going to fix you up." As he finished his sentence, he pulled out a jar of yellow, liquid-y substance from the plane.
"What's that?" Sonic asked, curious.
"It's Alleviation Sap, from the rare Tree of Alleviation, remember?" Chuck explained. "I would put this on you, Tails, Tiara, Jun and Flex all the time." He opened the jar, pulled out a knife from his pocket, used it to scoop some of the sap and smear it on Sonic's body. Sonic felt a burning sensation when the sap touched him, but soon, the aching pain in his body weakened, but was not gone entirely. The sap vanished as if it was assimilated by Sonic.
"Eh, good enough. Thanks." said Sonic, relieved. "So, hey, can you give me a ride to the others?"
"Alright then." Chuck responded. "Have any idea where they went?"
Sonic stared at him blankly, before shrugging with a nervous look. In the hopes that he would catch them in the distance, he jumped on the wing of the red plane and looked around the wide area. It didn't take long for him to notice the mine area - the very same one where his friends are going. He also saw the large vehicles in the distance, driving in a neat row, except for one that was breaking away from their path. "Let's try that rocky area." He suggested, pointing at the mines.
Chuck climbed back into the plane's pilot seat, fired up the engine and made the rotor on the front spin. "Tornado, all systems go!", he said about the plane. Tornado was, in fact, the name of this vessel. It even had the word "Tornado" written in bold, white letters on both of it's sides. Sonic stood on the wing, crouching down and hanging on to the front of the wing with his right hand. The Tornado was moving and lifting itself up into the air.
Back to Tiara and the boys, they had reached the mines. The Badniks were roaming around the large excavation near the giant mountain.
"Where do you suppose the Chaos Emerald could be?" Jun asked.
"Well, if nothing was found here before, I suppose it's buried so deep, they'll be reaching the core of Mobius by the time they're done." Tiara guessed.
Up above the excavation site, a floating vehicle descended, stopping a few feet above it. Tiara looked up and saw who was riding it: Doctor Robotnik.
"Guys, get down!" Tiara whispered urgently. She and the boys ducked down behind some rocks.
"Tia, did you see who it is?" Tails asked, worried.
"It's him!" Tiara whispered, freaked out. "It's Doctor Robotnik!"
"Don't worry, I won't let him hurt any of you." Flex assured, quietly.
"What's he doing here?" Jun wondered, in a low voice.
"Looks like he's been following the map just like his cronies." Tails whispered. "He's going to snag the Chaos Emerald, first chance he gets, unless we find and grab it first."
The sound of Doctor Robotnik clearing his throat over an intercom was heard.
"Ssh, team. Listen." Tiara demanded.
"Badnik Army, loyal comrades of the Robotnik Regime!" Robotnik loudly started. "It looks like our search has brought us to the Westside Island mines. If the Chaos Emerald really is here, then that means alot of good for me. The Multifighters will initiate our excavation. When you find the Chaos Emerald, bring it to me immediately. And if anyone, especially someone from the Fighters' Fellowship, tries to interfere with my business, I want them crushed on sight. Take no prisoners. Then take their bodies to be restored in my Robotomy Chamber." He then proceeded to press a button on a bracelet he's wearing on his left wrist.
From behind some rocks on the other side of the excavation site, six tall, orange, blue-eyed, humanoid Badniks jumped out with hard hats. They looked at the ground, and started making charging sounds. Out of their torsos shoot blue plasma beams, firing at the dirt. Tiara peaked out from behind her and the boys' rocks and got a good look at the Multifighters.
"Hey, those look like SWATbots." She whispered in astonishment. "But they look so much bigger, and more colourful."
"For real?" Tails said, interested. "They must be updated models, building upon the finer details of the originals and rectifying the previous version's kinks."
"Sure. That sounds about right." Tiara responded, indifferently. "Alright, team. I'll set up a distraction." Tiara took the magic cloud back out of her belt. "Go, my Lumina Flow. Distracto." The magic cloud - called the Lumina Flow by it's feline owner - came out of the rocks and flew up towards Doctor Robotnik. He moved out of it's way.
"What the heck!?" Robotnik growled. The Lumina Flow circled around the scientist. "What is that? Is that a swarm of honey jackets?" He swatted at the cloud like it was an annoying bug, consistently missing. "Get away! Get away! Argh!" Then it got in his eyes. "Ah, it's blinded me!"
"Flex, do the Hammer Drop." said Tiara, smiling.
"So soon, eh?" Flex commented, thinking about how he used his signature move not too long ago. He jumped out from the rocks, curled up into his shell and smashed into the excavation site, creating a massive shockwave that devastated the ground Badniks. Every ladybug-bot, crab-bot, caterpillar-bot and monkey-bot was destroyed, but the Multifighters only tripped.
The bee-bots and bat-bots took notice of Flex, and the former pointed their stingers for an aerial assault. Tails flew up into the air, holding on to Jun.
"You guys would make some good spare parts." Tails said, tearing up the bee-bots with his twirling namesakes. "But you are very annoying." He hadn't forgotten about how the airborne Badniks rammed into him earlier.
Jun, with his free arm, swung his triple staff at some bat-bots. He was swung back forth, as he and Tails exchanged which flying Badniks they would destroy. Quickly, their numbers decreased substantially.
Back on the ground, Flex was standing face-to-face with the six Multifighters. They faced him with those blue, toothy grins. They held their left arms up, and their left hands moved out of their natural positions, latching on to their left arms. They made clicking sounds as gun barrels popped out of the holes where their wrists were supposed to be.
"Well, i'm neck-deep in muck." Flex thought out loud, smirking.
"Oh my gosh, Flex! They have guns!" Tails shrieked with absolute horror.
Flex curled up into his shell once again and let a flurry of machine gun bullets at him. Thankfully, he proved to be bulletproof, as every shot bounced right off his thick hide.
Robotnik finally teared the Lumina Flow right off his face, and he saw Tails and Jun in the air. Tails was finally getting tired, and he panted heavily as he descended, holding on to a panicking Jun.
"Crud!" Tiara yelped. "Save my friends!" She directed the Lumina Flow down to Tails and Jun, saving them from falling into the waves of Multifighter bullets. Fortunately, the big Badniks would run out of firepower. Robotnik was fuming.
"Nice try, losers!" Robotnik snarled. He spotted the Lumina Flow carrying Tails and Jun down to the ground. As soon as they were let down, Doctor Robotnik fired a beam at it from a ray gun, damaging it and sending it back home to Tiara's belt.
The mad scientist followed the little magic cloud and saw it go behind the rocks. Smiling devilishly, he pushed his wrist button again, which seemed to issue a command to a Multifighter. It held up it's right arm, moved it's right hand, and out jutted a cannon made up of three segments. The cannon fired an egg-shaped object upwards, and it fell behind the rocks. Tiara realized what it was, as it made a beeping sound, and tried to climb over the rocks and get away. Before she could, the object exploded and blew both her and the rocks away into the excavation site.
The four friends were surrounded by the Multifighters. Flex had uncurled and was feeling a bit nervous.
"At least we took out most of them, right?" Tails said.
"That would make me feel good if this went swimmingly. But this? This sucked." Tiara complained.
All Jun could do was whimper, and all that Flex could do was silently glare at the elite robot soldiers. Thinking they could at least make some kind of dent in the Multifighters, they all attacked them, one each. Tails swung his namesakes at one, and it hit like blunt instrument, but had no meaningful effect. Laughing nervously, Tails backed off as the Multifighter threatened to pull out it's grenade launcher. Tiara threw her Order Chakram, but her Multifighter easily deflected it. Jun tried to swing his triple staff, but he was effortlessly thrown to the ground by the Multifighter he faced. Flex threw a punch, but his fist grabbed by the Multifighter he wanted to attack, and it punched back into his stomach, making him fall flat on his back.
"Before I terminate you, give me intel." Robotnik growled. "Are you with the Fighters' Fellowship?"
"Huh?" Tiara asked, confused.
"ARE YOU WITH THE FIGHTERS' FELLOWSHIP!?" Robotnik bellowed.
"Heck no!" Tiara snapped. "We don't belong with a commercialized military camp!"
"No matter! You're undoubtedly after my Chaos Emerald!" said Robotnik, angrily. "I will execute you and convert you all into spare parts in my Robotomy Chamber!"
Then a sound, a sound most familiar came heading towards the excavation site. It sounded like... a ground vehicle, making it's way towards where everyone was present. It seemed to be one of the moving vehicles from Peridot Town. Everyone turned towards the direction the noise was coming from.
Not far from the excavation site, Banjo's vehicle was moving at a high speed. He had a determined look. He pressed a button next to the steering wheel, making two doors on top of the vehicle open, and lifting parts of the left and right rows, hoisting up the two hooded figures.
"Now's the time!" Banjo shouted out to the mysterious characters.
"Been holding it in all day!" called the feminine voice from the left row.
As the elevated segments of the two rows came over the opened ceiling doors, Banjo brought the vehicle to an abrupt stop, launching the figures out into the excavation site. The one of the (vehicle's) right took out a crossbow and shoot those crystalline arrows down on the Multifighters, disorienting them and Robotnik. Immediately after, the one from the (vehicle's) left revealed their robotic left arm, and transformed it into a cannon. The cannon arm released a giant beam that circled around the heroes and Robotnik, making a fiery explosion ring, frying the tough-as-nails Badniks. Tiara and company couldn't believe what they just witnessed, but this lifted their spirits.
"What the-!?" Robotnik yelped, bewildered.
"Whoa, cool!" Tiara squealed, happily.
And then, it was like they like they all got a second wind. Tiara threw her Order Chakram at a Multifighter, and yelled "Aroundeos!" circling it around the Badnik and dicing it up like an apple. Tails spun around rapidly, delivering multiple tail strikes to another Multifighter, doing some actual damage to it this time. Jun swatted another Multifighter with his triple staff and gave it an aerial double kick. Flex grabbed the Multifighter he charged towards and slammed it into the ground, squashing it under his armored shell. The mysterious hooded fighters finished the other two - one with a punch from their robotic arm, and the other with their crystal ram horns. Then, everything went quiet.
In the middle of the battle, Doctor Robotnik managed to recompose himself and make a getaway into the nearby cave in the mountain while the heroes and their new acquaintances were occupied with dealing their finishing blows.
"We'll discuss this later, filthy maggots!" Robotnik barked. "I've got better things to do!"
After the dust had finally settled, everyone looked upon their saviors. They were eager to meet some new friendly faces. The hooded figures faced the heroes.
"Y'all are new to me." said the feminine figure.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." said the masculine figure.
"Thanks for the assist." Tiara said, truly thankful. "I was losing my head, and there was all these Badniks, and my brain was trying to think of how to lead in the situation, and i'm really wondering where my best friend is-"
"How's 'bout we start with names?" asked the feminine figure, jovially.
"Right." Tiara uttered meekly. "I'm Tiara Zircolight, team leader. Or at least trying to be."
"My name is Jun Songcloud." said Jun, bowing politely. "I like music and Yurashian culture."
"Call me Flex Hardshell." said Flex, pounding his chest with his fists. "Enough said."
"And i'm Tails Galethorn." said Tails, with a bright smile. "I'm fond of machinery, and people often tell me i'm smart beyond my years. I also have a brother named Sonic. He's not here right now, but I promise he'll be back for us."
"Pleased to meet you." the feminine figure responded, pleasantly.
"Ms. Zircolight, like rare stones reflecting the light of the sun, your eyes glimmer radiantly." the masculine figure complimented.
"Aw, thank you." Tiara replied, blushing.
Right after that, the figures removed their hoods and cloaks, revealing who they really are. One is a female anthro rabbit-type Mobian, and the other is a male anthro ram-type Mobian. The rabbit had her hair tied up into a long ponytail, wore a cowboy hat on top of her head, saw the world through the most beautiful pair of emerald green eyes, sported a purple leotard, complimented by a dark red shawl around her shoulders and neck, wore an iron gauntlet on her right arm and hand, and of course, had a robotic left arm and hand, along with pairs of robotic legs and feet. The ram had crystal horns, a magenta camoflauge shirt, a pair of long, black gloves, a pair of green army pants, two black boots with red fasteners, and a brown leather belt with a holster for his crossbow. He also had a beefy torso.
"I'm Bunnie Rabbot." the rabbit girl introduced herself. "Official representative of the Fighters' Fellowship."
"What?" Tails, Tiara, Jun and Flex said simultaneously.
"My name is Ari Tarius." the ram boy introduced himself. "Official representative of the Fighters' Fellowship."
WHAT!?" Tails, Tiara, Jun and Flex exclaimed all together.
Meanwhile, over in the entrance to the cave that Doctor Robotnik entered, somebody was watching in the shadows, observing everything that was going.
"So, Lord Robotnik's got some competition that ISN'T affliated with that bothersome, commercialized military camp." said a low, whispery, growly, but feminine voice in the darkness. "Who knows what other troublemakers could jump out and surprise us? That only means somebody will have to jump out and surprise THEM. An easy task, because there's one whom owns the shadows. Master Badnik Phage. Little old me. Lord Robotnik, Commander Rockbottom and my daddy will be pleased."
The owner of the voice steps out into the light a bit, revealing who they are. They happen to be a feminine figure dressed up in dark purple ninja garb, a couple of mahogany red boots, a pair of long, black gloves, a helmet with two big horns (one on the left, one on the right) and a feline-shaped mask with blank, glowing yellow eyes, along with dark grey, net-like armor covering her torso and legs. Surrounding the being was a frigid cloud that looked like it could freeze on contact.
"And lastly: Ball Hog, i'm right over here." Phage finished, with a sinister chuckle.
Back in Metropolis, Rockbottom Raptor is supervising a construction site, where a gigantic, spherical machine is being constructed, nearing completion. The villainous lizard walks through the area. The Robian workers have varying reactions to him walking past. Some of them salute him, like he's a respected hero, some of them back away in fear, and others... try to attack him.
"You piece of garbage!" yelled an angry male Robian cat with segmented metal whiskers, trying to strike Rockbottom with a torch.
He dodged the mad Robian cat effortlessly and smacked them with his long tail, knocking them over. Then he decided to walk over to them and pressed the bottom of his foot against the helpless slave's head.
"Lord Robotnik gives you a great privilege: freedom of thinking in subjugation, and you waste it on mindless resistance." Rockbottom growled.
"Better trying... to kill you... than to... lick your... b-b-boots..." the Robian cat hissed.
"No more defiance." Rockbottom said darkly. "Let me cure it. Apply medicine!"
On the Robian cat's body, two blue circles on his shoulders began to spin and make draining sounds. The blue liquid contained inside began to spiral into the Robian cat's main body, leaving black voids. As the liquid was absorbed, the Robian cat began to scream and spazz out. He rolled on the floor, and if he weren't mechanical, he would be shedding tears. His eyes lost whatever semblance of life they had, and his expression turned dull. He got back up, no longer able to speak or act against his commander.
"Return to your post, Cat." Rockbottom demanded, venomously. Cat returned to where he was before, picking up the torch he was using.
Clearly, Cat was not the only Robian to have suffered from this "defiance cure" that came in the form of the blue liquid from the Chemical Plant. Quite a number of Mobians were working silently, completely expressionless and doing absolutely nothing else. Nothing.
"Back to business." Rockbottom stated. "Keep working on the Ovoid Destroyer Project. As soon as we get the Chaos Emeralds, we can launch it up into orbit and begin the next phase of our master plan. Then the world will know true salvaton, all by Lord Robotnik's hand." Just then, a communication device in his pocket rang, and he answered it. "Commander Rockbottom speaking. Status update, General Ball Hog. WHAT!? THE CHEMICAL PLANT HAS BEEN DESTROYED!? FOR JUST ONE HEDGEHOG!?" In a huff, he put the communication device away in the pocket he pulled it out of. "Incompetent tools." he grumbled, with seething hatred in his voice. He stomped off.
In the middle of the construction site, a group of Robians were hard at work on the Ovoid Destroyer Project. They were a male and female hedgehog, a male manx, a female monkey and an elderly male and female armadillo pair. They seemed to be victims of the blue liquid too, as all they did was look at the gigantic, spherical mass and work tirelessly.
Peridot Town is evacuated and forever in ruins, the Badnik Army has been warded off for now, Banjo, Piccolo and the other innocents are safe and the Chemical Plant has been deconstructed. Heroes are coming together, and Sonic's group is closing in on a Chaos Emerald. However, so is Doctor Robotnik. The day is far from over, and another battle surely awaits in the cave inside the mine mountain. Can they reach the miraculous gemstone before the doctor claims it for himself? Have they really seen the bulk of the doctor's reinforcements for this mission? What will become of Banjo and the community of Peridot Town next? What kind of heroes are Bunnie and Ari, being representatives of the Fighters' Fellowship? What sort of Master Badnik is the enigmatic Phage? How far will the Ovoid Destroyer Project go? Keep on watching for the next chapter of...
Sonic Synthesis