Sonic Haven Season 2 – Episode 11
Sonic jumped over Fleetway in an attempt to keep him between him and Scourge. It was kind of working, but it was also kind of not working. Fleetway was faster than both of them and was making it plainly obvious that it wouldn't be easy to take him down. What Fleetway didn't know was that they had backup.
In the couple of minutes that had passed since the start of the fight, both Blaze and Tiara had made their way into the factory and were hiding behind a set of crates that Sonic was very careful to keep the fight away from. No doubt, Sonic thought to himself, the two were just waiting for the right opportunity to jump in and turn the tide of battle, and he trusted them to make that judgment.
Scourge rolled to his left and behind the shell of a fallen Guardian. He ended up on his back after the maneuver, giving him the opportunity to kick the husk toward Fleetway. He thrust his right heel into the side of the downed robot which sent it flying through the air and straight into Fleetway's back. Then he jumped to his feet and charged in right after the projectile, hoping there wouldn't be any opening for Fleetway to turn and counter. He managed to land a kick on Fleetway's head before he could turn around but it was far too soft to do much good.
Sonic dashed forward and planted his right hand on the ground, using it as a pivot point and spinning around it with his right leg extended to take out Fleetway's legs. His attack connected shortly after Scourge's, leaving Fleetway reeling and spinning around on his back as he careened across the floor to the far end of the factory floor.
As he lifted his head he saw Sonic, Scourge, and Blaze, who'd decided now was the best time to join in the fight, all jumping through the air at him in an attempt to overwhelm him. He'd had enough!
Fleetway flipped to his feet, doing several rapid frontflips and landing on his feet before finding his footing and flipping the other direction, kicking Sonic, who was on his left, and Scourge, who was on his right, right in their noses. Then, mid flip and with the realization that Blaze had under jumped, he kicked his legs out behind him and thrust himself downward on top of her, balling his hands together into one large sledgehammer and dropping himself down on her head.
Blaze hit the concrete hard enough to knock her out for a few seconds, and when her consciousness returned, she pulled herself dizzily to her feet and put one hand on her throbbing head. She looked off to her left where what seemed like two Sonic's were fighting a blurry Fleetway at a speed that was far too fast for her to keep up with. All she could make out was a flurry of punches and kicks from both parties. Must be double vision.
Scourge stood off to the side of that conflict, wondering when exactly he should jump in. He risked a glance at Blaze, noting her wobbly legs and distant expression; and also the large purple mark on her forehead. He cringed a little at the sight of it, but quickly returned his gaze to the blurry mess in front of him.
Tiara, meanwhile, was still crouched behind a stack of dusty old crates with undiscernable red markings on the side of it, probably the remnants of a shipping label of some kind. She was trembling and having second (and third) thoughts about coming here to help. But, deep down inside, she knew that she should do anything she could to help her friends, it's what any good person should do... right? Or was she just delusional and here in a misguided attempt to assist, only to fall at the hands of that glowing monster? She shook her head before that train of thought went any further. She didn't want to think about it. And besides, it was too late now.
Fleetway jumped away from Sonic and took a breath as Sonic stood a few feet away from him, panting in exhaustion. It was quite obvious who was winning the fight, as Fleetway himself only seemed a little winded.
As both of them paused for a moment, Fleetway broke the silence, speaking, not to Sonic, but to Scourge. "So. Where did you come from then? I saw that portal you jumped through."
"Don't answer him!" Sonic commanded through his gasping breath.
Scourge, not seeing the issue here, answered the question anyway. "From another dimension, one you won't have the luxury of touching!"
Sonic winced. Fleetway was just the kind of person to take a challenge. If he decided that that's what Scourge's comment was...
Unfortunately for him, Fleetway smirked in reply. "Really? And you're going to stop me how?" He paused, letting his words hang in the air as if for dramatic effect. Then he continued. "Let's see what's on the other side, shall we?" He disappeared in a flash, leaving Sonic and the others alone in the factory with only broken guardians and useless crates to keep them company.
Sonic groaned as he hit his face with his palm. "Ughh... you idiot. Fleetway just dashed over to the portal to head into my dimension!"
"Hey!" Scourge protested. "Look, I just came back over here to fight him and save you!. If not for me then you'd be dead!"
Blaze held up her arms towards both of them, interrupting the argument. She said woozily: "Hey, stop. Both of you. Arguing won't help anyone." She turned toward Sonic, her head spinning in the process and nearly causing her to fall over. "What do you think we should do?"
Sonic took a deep breath. "Well... step one is obvious. We need to get back to my dimension."
"Oh... thank you for your brilliance!" Scourge said sarcastically.
Sonic glared at Scourge but made no comment.
"Ok then." Tiara chimed in as she came around the corner of the stack of crates she'd used as a shelter. "Let's go!"
Sonic nodded and picked her up so that they could move swiftly. Scourge did the same to Blaze so that she wouldn't have to handle maneuvering at high speeds with her concussion. Taking a deep breath, Sonic took off, following Scourge and Blaze to the portal. It only took about five seconds to get back across town, hop through it, and land on the other side, much to Sonic's relief.
As they acquainted themselves with their new surroundings, Sonic found it odd that nobody was manning the portal from this side. It had simply been left on!
"Huh, guess the other guys left." Scourge said with a shrug.
Sonic let out a breath in relief. "Thank goodness. Fleetway wouldn't have left them here alive when he came through." He turned toward Scourge who was, strangely, the only one who had any idea as to what was going on here. "Where are the others?"
Scourge pointed to the ceiling. "On the roof turning off some kinda machine."
"We best hurry." Blaze said as she started walking toward the door. "If Fleetway is looking for victims, then he's probably up there with them."
Both of the hedgehogs nodded and moved to follow Blaze out into the hall and up to the roof. They walked through several hallways and walked up several more flights of stairs before they finally surfaced, coming out onto the roof and walking into a crowd of high-spirited individuals.
As they approached the group, it became clear to them that Fleetway hadn't come up here. Though, to be honest, how could he possibly know that they were here? He must've gone down instead, though, toward what, Sonic wasn't sure.
Sally noticed the approaching group and, along with Tails, rushed up to meet the group. After they started toward them, however, the rest followed suit.
She gave Tiara a quick hug, then walked over to Sonic. "You've been missed Sonic." She said nonchalantly. "My plan making skills have missed your unique skill set." The way her tone came through was quite odd, sounding very formal, yet in such a way as to be almost a joke.
Sonic just smirked in reply. Then, much to his surprise, Sally smirked back. He was about to introduce her to the others when he felt someone nearly tackle him from his right and then start squeezing. It was Tails.
"I missed you Sonic." He said as he slowly loosened his tight grip.
"I missed you too little buddy." Sonic replied as he ruffled Tails fur on the top of his head.
"Stop that!" Tails objected. "You know I don't like it when you do that."
"Right, I forgot." Sonic said with a chuckle as he again ruffled Tails fur.
"Did a golden hedgehog come through here?" Blaze asked, interrupting the reunion.
Sally rubbed her chin in thought. "No, not that I can remember. Why?"
"He came through the portal just before we did." Sonic explained. "He's bad news." There was a note of fear combined with disgust in his voice.
"Well, Rotor was supposed to be watching the portal." Sally turned toward the walrus that had joined them on the roof just a moment ago. "Rotor?"
"Right, I forgot." He started to say. "I came up here to make sure that you guys were alright. Before I went back down to the portal, Sonic and Tiara came up. They must've come in behind me.
"Well, if he didn't go up... And it doesn't look like he's come out of the building so..." Scourge used several incomplete sentences to convey his train of thought.
"Right." Sonic chimed in.
"He must've gone down." Both Sonic and Sally said at the same time. They looked at each other. Then Sally said: "It's the only thing that makes sense." To which Sonic nodded in agreement.
Sonic spoke up to the whole group. "Alright everybody. Let's go We've got another maniac to stop."
Surprisingly, everyone started moving to the stairs, following Sonic without question. Even Scourge, though he did hesitate first. It was quite impressive, and Sally took note.
She walked over to Tiara, who was in the back of the group, and asked: "What happened to you guys over there?"
Tiara dropped her head. "We ran into Blaze and her team and tried our best to help them, and they tried to help us. At first it was fine, until we made it to Fleetway City. We lost Ray there, Fleetway killed him. It shook everybody pretty hard. I mean, just imagine if we went to another town and came across a nearly invincible person who killed Tails in cold blood. That's kind of what happened to us.
"To make things worse, " she continued, "Fleetway continued to give us trouble after that. He followed us back to our hideout and attacked us the moment we were trapped. If not for Scourge's interruption, then Blaze would be dead too. Now Sonic, Scourge, and Blaze to an extent, have all fought Fleetway extensively. Fighting someone that powerful and that evil is life changing."
When Tiara finally stopped, Sally gave her time to catch her figurative breath before trying to lift her spirits. "That sounds terrible! Still, going over there couldn't have been all bad. After all, we now have more allies, which is exactly what we need! And now that the team is this big, Fleetway should be easier to deal with. Besides, you got to spend a little more time with Sonic..." Sally nudged Tiara's arm, managing to get a smirk out of her. "Well, what happened?"
"Nothing really." Tiara said, surprising even herself. "To be honest, I thought that spending more time with Sonic would allow me to get to know him better and maybe start to like him a little more. Instead... eh. I mean, he is nice, but the more I tried to get to know him, the more the crush kinda... died. He's a great friend, but I don't really think we would work as a 'couple.'"
"Well that's a shocker!" Sally said.
Tiara sighed. "His energy and enthusiasm is exciting, but it can be just a little too much for me to handle. He'd just make me tired." She paused, then slowly let a smug grin cross her face. "I do know who he'd be perfect for though."
Sally asked "Who?" but already had an idea of where Tiara was going with this.
"You." Tiara said simply.
Sally smirked and shook her head. "Of course."
"No, really." Tiara started. "You're the one who was always spent summer afternoons at the Acorn Palace complaining that life was boring and that you wanted a little excitement and adventure in your life. Sonic is literally what you used to tell me you wanted. I'm just saying."
"Yeah, you're right." Sally conceded. "I did. But there's a lot more to a relationship than just being exciting."
"Yep. I know." Tiara said. But she still held that smug expression on her face. "I'll leave that to you. Right now though, let's take care of Fleetway. Then we'll finish this conversation."