Chapter 29: Preparation
Around 7:00 AM, Sonny attempted to sneak out of Miles' house in order to go look for the last Chaos Emerald which Dr. Eggman demanded cryptically in the hacked broadcast the day before. He quickly got dressed, brushed his teeth, and grabbed Miles' Emerald Detector before going. Outside, the sky was still dark with only a faint light coming from the East. After transforming into Sonic, he took off with only a flashlight to light his path.
Thirty minutes later after running the entirety of the island twice, Sonic found the Red Chaos Emerald at a workbench near a small house on the outskirts of town. However, the workbench was occupied by a teenage girl with brunette pigtails wearing a green tank-top and black shorts. She didn't notice Sonic as she was looking at a series of charts on the workbench. From the back Sonic noticed that the girl had a pair of raccoon ears and tail that were partially lit by the kerosene lamp that lay on top of the workbench. Then Sonic accidentally stepped on a twig, which caused him to flinch and the girl's ears to perk up.
"Who's there?" the girl asked. She then turned around and her eyes widened. "Sonic?"
"Marine?" Sonic said, mildly shocked.
"Bless my sails!" Marine said as she ran over and hugged Sonic tightly. "I thought you were a goner, lad."
"Yeah, I did too," Sonic replied, struggling to breathe. "But I'm back."
Marine then let go of Sonic and looked around. "Where's Tails?"
"I believe you met him yesterday at the West coast beach when he rescued you."
"You mean that boy Miles was actually Tails?" Marine blinked. "Blimey! No wonder I felt so comfortable around him."
"So if you remember what happened yesterday, then I take it you and Marina are in touch."
"Oh, yeah, we've been in touch since she was seven when her interest in shipbuilding began. In fact, I was just making plans to build a new ship after my previous one got destroyed by cannonballs yesterday."
"Right, well if I could have that Chaos Emerald that's on the table that would be great," Sonic said as he pointed to the Red Chaos Emerald.
"You mean this thing?" Marine asked as she picked up the Red Chaos Emerald.
"I need it to save the hostage Dr. Eggman took yesterday."
"Oh, I see." Marine stared at the Chaos Emerald for a few seconds and then she gave it to Sonic. "Well, I was going to use it for a power source on my new ship, but your need for the Emerald is greater than mine."
"But you could still help," Sonic offered. "My friends and I need to get to the Egg Carrier somehow, and so maybe we could use your boat. How long will it take you to build it?"
"Normally, it'll take me three or four hours, but I don't have any shipbuilding Materials."
"Tell me what you need, and I'll get them for you."
Surprised, Marine looked behind her and picked up a piece of paper. After reading it, she said, "Okay, um, so I'll need large quantities of these items I found scattered about the island called Materials that appear either as gemstones or metals. But in order to recognize them you'll need a Material Detector."
Marine then went back into the house and came out a few seconds later with a device that looked similar to Miles' Emerald Detector except it had outlines for nine differently shaped objects instead of just one. She in turn explained each Material to Sonic who listened closely and tried to picture each object in his head. Afterwards, Marine gave the Material Detector to Sonic.
"Thanks, Marine," Sonic said as he nodded.
"No problem, lad," Marine replied. Then she said, "And while you're running around collecting Materials for me, tell Miles to meet me here as soon as possible. He said he'd help me rebuild my ship."
"Sure thing!" Sonic said before taking off.
###
In half an hour, Sonic was able to find all the Materials Marine needed. On his way to delivering them to her, Sonic decided to stop by Miles' house to see if he was awake. Indeed, he was but also not too pleased to see Sonic.
"I thought we were going to look for the Chaos Emerald together," Miles said irritably.
"Yeah, but I got anxious," Sonic said sheepishly.
"It's okay," Miles said, taking the Emerald Detector from Sonic's outstretched hand. "So I take it you found the Emerald already?"
"Yeah, but that's not why I came here. I ran into Marina and she wants to meet up with you as soon as possible."
"Did she see you the way you look now?"
"Yes, but she's possessed by a friend of mine named Marine so she wasn't surprised. In fact, she's offered to allow us to use her boat to get to the Egg Carrier for the ransom exchange once it's been built and wants you to help her."
"Oh, uh, then I should get going," Miles said as he prepared to close the front door he was standing in. "I'll tell Amelia and Chuck, so you can go on ahead to the West coast. Marina and I will meet you there."
"Okay, see you then," Sonic said as Miles closed the front door.
###
After giving the Materials to Marine, Sonic payed a visit to the Chaotix Detectives who were about to meet up with G. U. N. to help them look for Dr. Eggman.
"But I thought you were getting paid to investigate Eggman's old hideout," Sonic said after the Chaotix Detectives were done explaining.
"They said they'd pay extra doe if we helped them find Dr. Eggman," Victor said grinning.
"You may not know this, Sonic, but Victor loves money when he can get his hands on it," Charles said wearily.
"That reminds me of Vector," Sonic mused. "He loved money a great deal."
"Look, Sonic," Victor said defensively. "Just because the spirit of Vector inhabits my body doesn't mean I'm exactly like him."
"Are you actually going through with the ransom?" Espen asked standing in his usual corner by the water cooler in the main office. "You'd just be playing into Dr. Eggman's hands."
"I know that, Espen," Sonic replied. "But unless someone comes up with a better idea, it seems like the best option to save Ms. Hare."
"Poor Crème," Victor said shaking his head. "She must be pretty shaken up by the whole event."
"Yeah, and that's why I've got to fix it as soon as possible," Sonic said confidently.
"Then I'm going to assume that you want us to stall G. U. N. until after 12:00," Espen guessed.
"I, uh, didn't consider that," Sonic said scratching the side of his head in embarrassment. "But if you could—
"We'll do it for you!" Charles cried. "And Crème!"
Once Victor and Espen nodded in sync, Sonic quickly left the house and made his way to the West coast beach.
###
Three hours later, Amelia, Chuck, and Crème showed up at the beach where Sonny was snoozing underneath a palm-tree near the shoreline.
"Sonny," Amelia said irritably as she walked up to him. "How can you be sleeping at a time like this?"
"Hey," Sonny said as he rubbed his eyes. "I was getting my beauty sleep."
Amelia scuffed. "I hope you were being sarcastic, Sonny, because that wasn't funny."
"You sure seem moodier than usual, Amelia."
"Don't question it," Chuck said. "She's been like this ever since Crème decided to tag along with us."
"Crème," Sonny said as he got up and walked over to her. "What are you doing here?"
"I want to help you rescue my mom," Crème said sternly.
"You realize what you're getting yourself into, right?"
"Of course. Cream told me that she's fought alongside Sonic before, and I have Cheese to help me out as well. He may not look much, but he's really strong."
As if to demonstrate, Cheese flew towards the palm-tree Sonny was lying under and punched it really hard with his stubby hand. The tree shook a little, and a coconut came falling down. Satisfied, Cheese flew back to Crème's side.
Sonny paused, and then he sighed. "Fine. You can come, but don't get into too much trouble."
"Yay!" Crème said excitedly.
Then from around a bend on the far left side of the beach came a small ship. It had the face of a raccoon on the mast, and a roof made of sticks and leaves. The one who was piloting the ship was none other than Marina with Miles standing by her side. She steered the boat close to the shore and pressed a button that released a ramp from the hull that touched the sandy beach.
"Hey, guys," Miles said walking down the ramp.
"How were you able to navigate through the fog?" Amelia asked.
"Marine showed me the way," Marina said, jumping over the ramp and onto the sand. Then she held her hand out to Amelia and said, "That's the name of my spirit. I'm Marina."
Amelia hesitated for a second, and then she shook Marina's hand. "I'm Amelia."
After that, Marina introduced herself to Chuck and Crème before arriving at Sonny.
"Aren't you Sonic?" Marina said with mild confusion.
"No, the name's Sonny," Sonny replied. "Sonic's the name of my spirit whom you saw this morning as Marine."
"I see," Marina said as she went ahead and shook Sonny's hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you anyway, Sonny."
"So who is Marine?" Amelia asked coming between them. "My spirit Amy doesn't seem to recall her at all."
"That's because Sonic and Tails encountered her in another dimension they got accidentally sent to during a freaky tropical storm," Miles answered.
"Oh, yeah," Amelia said holding the side of her head. "I remember they went to look for a strange signal that Tails detected on The Tornado's radar — I mean, that's what Amy remembers."
"Uh, guys, shouldn't we get going?" Chuck said impatiently.
"Relax, big guy," Marina replied casually. "We've got at least fifty minutes before we need to meet Dr. Eggman. Might as well take care of whatever's throwing those cannonballs out there."
"Good idea, though if it's related to Dr. Eggman it might not attack us once we show the Chaos Emerald," Miles said.
Marina smirked. "True, but we won't know until we get to it."
"I say we should go," Crème said loudly. "The sooner we can save my mom, the better."
"All right, then let's get going," Sonny said, holding his hands up in surrender.
"Okay!" Marina said as a chestnut-brown aura surrounded her. Once that was done, Marine said, "Climb aboard the SS Marine and prepare for battle, lads!"
The others followed her example and transformed into their other selves as well. Afterwards, they all boarded Marine's ship and sailed off toward the ocean. It wasn't long before the fog completely enveloped them, making it difficult to see anything, as several distant explosions occurred.
To be continued…