Chapter 43: Getaway

"Oh, man, that Egg Hawk was too easy!" Sonic said looking triumphantly at the wreckage of a metal plane shaped like a bird with a red-faced Eggman in the driver's seat. "I think you're getting too soft, Eggman!"

In response, Eggman detached the Egg Mobile from the Egg Hawk and flew away shouting, "This isn't over, Sonic! You still have yet to find my Ultimate Weapon!"

"Shoot, he's getting away!" Knuckles exclaimed and was about to glide upward when Tails stopped him.

"He's too far away for us to follow on-foot," Tails said. "Plus he's heading out to sea, which would be a problem for Sonic."

Knuckles shrugged Tails' hand off. "So what? We can just follow him in the Tornado 2."

Tails shook his head. "We left it all the way back at Seaside Hill, remember? By the time we get back there and hop in, Eggman will be long gone from here."

"Oh, yeah, you're right," Knuckles replied as he scratched his head. "So what are we supposed to do?"

"For now, we should take this Chaos Emerald back to the base and plan our next move," Tails responded, holding up the Cyan Chaos Emerald in his other hand.

"Good idea, Tails," Sonic said. "We wouldn't want to carry around something that valuable while we're hunting Dr. Eggman."

###

"Ooh, I hate you, Eggman!" Amy shouted as Dr. Eggman got away from yet another Egg Hawk. "You prevented me from pursuing Sonic!"

"Don't worry, Amy," Cream said hugging Amy from behind. "We'll catch him later. But right now, we should probably head back to the hotel. My mom will be worried if we don't get back by dinner-time."

"Yeah, and I'm starving," Big said, rubbing his stomach as a growling noise emanated from it.

"Oh, all right," Amy said reluctantly.

As the three of them ran back the way they came, an explosion occurred off in the northern section of Ocean Palace followed by another in the southern part.

###

"So that's Eggman, huh?" Shawn said, watching Dr. Eggman take off. "He looks like an older version of my cousin Ivo."

"That's because he is Ivo," Rouge said casually, causing Shawn to look at her with wide eyes. "Four years ago, your cousin was possessed by a 'spirit' of sorts who called himself Eggman. He's a mad genius who wants to take over the world and create his own empire over what remains after he's finished waging his wars."

"You sure know a lot for a thief," Shawn replied dubiously.

"I know this because I too am possessed by a spirit, who knew Eggman in a previous life," Rouge said, and changed into her human form without the bat ears and wings. "My real name is Rouge Baxter, and the spirit's name is Rouge the Bat."

"I see, so who is Shadow?"

Before Rouge could answer, Omega abruptly said, "Can we pursue Dr. Eggman now? The further he gets away, the harder it will be for me to get my revenge."

"Be patient, Omega," Rouge said changing back into her human-bat form. "That's just what we were about to do."

As Omega took off into the air on his jet-powered rocket feet, Rouge picked Shawn up and flew right after him.

###

"Aw, man," Charmy said, sighing as Eggman flew off in the Egg Mobile. In appearance, Charmy looked like Charles except with slanted pupils, bee antennae and wings protruding from his head and back, and a small but noticeable stinger poking out of his rectum. "Just when we found Dr. Eggman, he got away."

"Well our client told us to find him, but not necessarily catch him," Espio said, who looked like Espen except with slanted pupils, a streak of yellow in his hair, and a purple chameleon tail. "So technically we've finished the job."

"Hey, you're right," Vector responded. He looked like Victor except he had a clean shaven head, slanted gold pupils like Charmy and Espio, and a crocodile tail. "Let's call our client and tell him."

Then with that, Vector picked up the yellow and red walkie-talkie he had been carrying in his back pocket the whole time and pressed the call button.

"Hey, mister," Vector said casually. "We've found Dr. Eggman at Ocean Palace near Whale Island."

"Excellent!" the voice said from the walkie-talkie. "Did you get him?"

"He, uh, got away," Vector answered sheepishly.

"Well, no matter," the voice said after a pause. "Continue searching for him."

"Yes, sir," Vector answered and hung up.

"What did he say?" Charmy asked.

Vector sighed and said, "He wondered if we nabbed Dr. Eggman, and when I told him we didn't he just told us to keep searching for him."

"Odd," Espio muttered. "Why would our client want us to find Dr. Eggman but not nab him?"

"Who cares as long as we're getting paid for it," Charmy said.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Charmy," Vector responded.

Espio scuffed. "Very well, then I suggest we head back to Central City immediately. We can call the Commander of G. U. N. from there and see if he might have some ideas on where Dr. Eggman could be hiding."

###

The next day, Sonny and Miles were in their apartment eating a chili-dog and cereal respectfully in silence. They weren't able to find Dr. Eggman using the Emerald Detector, leading Miles to assume that Eggman hadn't collected any Chaos Emeralds so far, which seemed odd compared to their previous encounters with him. Chuck had to go back to Angel Island to check up on the Master Emerald at sunset, so that left Sonny and Miles with no choice but to go back to Central City. Sonny glanced casually at the TV, which was on, where an anchorwoman was talking next to a picture of Eggman's grinning profile from the ARK broadcast.

"Hey, Miles, look," Sonny said, pointing at the TV.

Miles looked back and immediately picked up the remote on the couch's armrest to turn the volume up.

"The notorious Dr. Robotnik, whom G. U. N. has now renamed Dr. Eggman, was spotted in Grand Metropolis this morning as he was leading an army of deadly robots with the intention of taking it over. G. U. N. forces are already on their way but what's keeping The Blue Blur?" the anchorwoman said as Eggman's profile was replaced by a picture of Sonic running with two blurry objects in his hand. "Here is the first and only known photograph of the mysterious hero who has stopped Dr. Eggman's nefarious schemes many times in the past and was recently pardoned for a theft he did not commit. Will The Blue Blur save the day again or will the Eggman win? Stay tuned for more on this story!"

Miles then turned the TV off and went in his room to get dressed. Sonny did the same, and called Chuck in the process. After explaining the situation to him, the two boys ran out the door and caught the nearest bus that would take them outside the city to the secret base.

###

"Hey, um, Ms. Hare," Amelia said hesitantly during breakfast with Crème, her mother, and Biggs. "I was wondering if Biggs, Crème, and me could…go to Grand Metropolis for the day."

"You mean the one that's being talked about on the news?" Ms. Hare said nervously.

"Please, Mom, we have to go there," Crème insisted. "Sonic can't fight Dr. Eggman alone."

"I know, sweetie, but I don't want you getting hurt," replied Ms. Hare.

"Don't worry, Ms. Hare," Biggs said through a mouthful of pancakes. "We'll protect your daughter."

"Yeah, I promise," Amelia added.

Ms. Hare thought for a few minutes, and then she sighed. "All right, but call me if anything comes up."

"We will, Mother," Crème said, and left the table in an excited hurry.

Amelia and Biggs followed her example as they raced up to the hotel room to start packing.

"You did great, Crème," Amelia said cheerfully. "Now we can go look for Sonic without worrying your mother."

"I know, but I still feel bad about lying to her," Crème said with her eyes downcast.

"You didn't entirely lie to her," Amelia said assuringly. "We might be able to kick Eggman's butt in the process of finding Sonic and who knows? Maybe we'll find Froggy and Chocola in Grand Metropolis."

"I miss Froggy," Biggs said absent-mindedly. "I hope he's doing all right."

"Same with Chocola," Crème said, then she turned to Cheese who was sitting perfectly still like a stuffed animal. "We're ready to go, Cheese."

"Chao! Chao!" Cheese said as he flew toward Crème's shoulder.

###

"Hey, Victor!" Charles said, calling to him from downstairs behind the desk with the walkie-talkie in his head. "Our client wants to talk to you!"

"Oh, really?" Victor said, stumbling down the stairs with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. "What'd he say?"

"He says it has to do with Dr. Eggman's whereabouts," Charles replied.

"That seems surprising," Espen said standing in his usual corner. "Even G. U. N. couldn't tell us where Eggman was yesterday."

"Maybe this guy has his own means of finding information like that," Victor said, and answered the walkie-talkie. "Hi, mister, you wanted to say something to me?"

"I've figured out Dr. Eggman's location. It's all over the news!"

"Well, we don't have a TV, or a radio for that matter," Victor replied.

"Oh, my! You must be really broke if you can't afford those things." The voice cleared his throat and said, "Nevertheless, head for the city of Grand Metropolis which Eggman is currently taking over as we speak!"

"No way! We'll be right there!" Victor said, and hung up. "Remind me to get a radio or television set after we get paid for this job, Charles."

"Why do you say that? You don't like television that much," Charles responded.

"Because Eggman is taking over Grand Metropolis, and we didn't hear about it because we don't have radio or television in the house," Victor answered and ran back upstairs.

"I think he's getting more invested in this case than he should," Espen said while Victor was changing into fresh clothes upstairs. "We hardly know anything about our client, or why he wants to find Dr. Eggman so badly."

"Don't worry about that, Espen," Charles said. "It's not important."

###

"Finally," Shawn said, looking over the vast array of skyscrapers that made up the downtown area of Grand Metropolis. "We made it after spending a restless night in that cheap motel on the way here."

"It wasn't that bad," Rouge Baxter responded. "I just didn't want to draw attention to ourselves, especially now that we have Omega tagging along."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Omega asked.

Rouge turned to look up at Omega and said, "To be frank, you're quite intimidating for a robot and it would cause alarm once people realize that you're one of Eggman's robots."

"Is that why you had me stay in that abandoned garage last night?"

"Yes, though I feel bad for making you do it."

"I understand the necessity for it, so you don't need to apologize."

"Okay, I'm glad we're on the same page." Then Rouge turned back to Shawn as she changed into Rouge the Bat. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, let's rid this town of the robots that infect it," Shawn said and for a second a black aura surrounded him but died down before it could completely envelop him as he leaped off the building and warped down onto the sidewalk.

"Did you see that black aura?" Omega said, turning to Rouge.

"I did," Rouge responded. "That means it won't be long before 'he' wakes up."

To be continued…