Chapter 99: Treasure

"Come on, guys! We got to stop Eggman and save Amelia!" Sonny said as he ran up the stairs.

"But Sonny, your Gear's been destroyed," Miles said, holding up what was left of Sonny's Gear. "By a sticky-bomb, no less."

"Oh, yeah," Sonny said as his steps faltered. "I can't believe Team Babylon would stoop to such dirty tricks just to win!"

"I don't think they were interested in winning for winning's sake," Miles said, then he took off. "I'll be right back!"

"Wait, Miles!" Sonny cried but his words fell on deaf ears.

"I wonder what he has in mind," Chuck said curiously.

"It doesn't matter," Sonny said and looked at the terrified crowds inside the stadium. "But in the meantime, we need to get these people out of here."

"Leave that to us!" Victor shouted from the top of his lungs as he, Charles, Espen, and Michael stood up in their seats. "The Chaotix Detectives have never failed when it comes to evacuating people from potentially dangerous situations!"

"And I'll help too!" Omochao said.

"Oh, no, you flying rodent!" Chuck said grabbing Omochao by its propellers. "You're not doing anything until you spill some beans for us."

"Yeah, I bet you knew Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic were hiding in this stadium the whole time," Sonny said and glared at the frightened-looking Omochao. "Now unless Eggman has programmed you to be silent, I suggest you start talking before we start pummeling you to rust!"

"Guys, stop picking on Omochao!" Crème shouted as she ran toward Chuck and snatched Omochao from him. Using both arms to shield Omochao, Crème said, "Can't you see he's scared?"

"He's also a creation of Dr. Eggman," Chuck said trying to grab Omochao from Crème. "Just because he looks like a Chao, Crème, doesn't mean he's trustworthy."

"All right, Chuck, that's enough," Sonny said pinching Chuck on the shoulder. "Intimidating Crème isn't going to get us anywhere."

"I'll tell you everything you need to know! Just don't hurt me!" Omochao exclaimed.

"I won't hurt you," Crème said and then glared at Sonny and Chuck. "Right, guys?"

"Yes," Chuck and Sonny said unanimously.

"Okay, ask me any question regarding my creator," Omochao said with slight relief in his voice.

"Did you know Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic were hiding in the stadium the whole time?" Sonny asked.

"No, but I did know that King Doc and Dr. Eggman were the same person," Omochao answered.

"That doesn't surprise me," Sonny said.

"Same here," Chuck added. "I thought King Doc was a stupid name, anyway."

"I was also aware that Team Babylon, who are known in the criminal underground as the Babylon Rogues, were working together with Dr. Eggman in order to find a place called Babylon Garden that could only be revealed by the seven Chaos Emeralds if they're in one place."

"Well, that explains the Chaos Emerald requirement for entering the tournament," Sonny noted. "So what is Babylon Garden?"

Omochao's camera-like eyes blinked for a second and then he said, "From what I picked up, Babylon Garden is the original homeland of the people the Babylon Rogues are descended from who originally invented Extreme Gears thousands of years before the current ones were made. There's a legend that tells of how the Babylonians were driven from their home because they angered the gods and were scattered throughout the world. It was assumed that all the Babylonians died long ago, but the Babylon Rogues are living proof that there are some remnants of their race still left."

"Okay, but why did they want to find Babylon Garden so badly?" Chuck asked. "Because they wanted to find their true home?"

"Partially," Omochao said. "They also heard that Babylon Garden was filled with countless treasures including a super special one they think will make them the richest people in the world. Of course, Eggman was also interested in the treasure so he offered to help them find Babylon Garden by using this tournament as an excuse to collect all the Chaos Emeralds. However, as you three clearly saw, he decided to betray their trust which I didn't know of beforehand."

"Sonny!" Miles said as he ran towards the group. "I found what I was looking for, though the sand made it difficult!"

Sonny couldn't believe his eyes. "Is that—?"

In Miles' right hand was a Gear that looked exactly like the one Sonny rode before it had been blown to bits.

"It's a new Gear I made for you," Miles explained. "Just in case something happened to your current one."

"Thanks a lot, buddy!" Sonny said and got on his Gear immediately.

###

"Hey, Jet!" Sonic said after Sonny allowed himself to be possessed only so he could catch up to the Babylon Rogues. He Tails and Knuckles had reached Babylon Garden which was enshrouded in giant gray clouds that came out of nowhere.

As Sonic caught up to Jet along the ring that orbited the main island, he noticed the Jet Sonny knew looked a little different. His clothes were still the same but apart from a feathery tail and his mohawk being replaced by green feathers, Jet's eyes were more hawk-like than before. When Sonic brushed against Jet's Gear briefly, Jet finally looked at him.

"Well, well, if it isn't Sonic the Hedgehog," Jet said grinning. "I thought I sensed my old rival in that new body of yours."

"I did too, Jet the Hawk," Sonic said. "Did the other Jet allow you to take over?"

"Of course," Jet the Hawk replied. "He and his friends discovered me and my comrades six years ago and with that we came up with this grand scheme to become super-rich! With Wave's help, Wade was able to replicate the Extreme Gears we rode in the past. But we needed money to mass-produce them, so we stole artifacts all over the world and sold them for money under the title the Babylon Rogues while moonlighting as Team Babylon, the best Extreme Gear Riders on the planet and owners of the company that sells Extreme Gear!"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed with your scheme."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"But so far, the biggest flaw was letting Dr. Eggman in on your plan and my host having friends who work for G. U. N.."

"G. U. N.? Hah! If they can't catch Dr. Eggman, then they won't get their hands on the Babylon Rogues!"

Then Jet flew ahead of Sonic, but Sonic managed to catch up to him once more. The two weaved between each other for several minutes until they reached Dr. Eggman who was standing in front of a giant pair of doors with the cube-shaped object in his hand. But before Sonic could get to him, Metal Sonic blocked his way.

"Ugh! I thought you were dead!" Sonic said angrily.

Metal Sonic said nothing and just flew right at Sonic. Fortunately, Sonic was able to avoid him and the two fought while Jet went for Dr. Eggman. In response, Eggman dragged Amelia out of the bushes who was wearing electrical handcuffs. Ignoring Amelia, Jet flew into the air in a circular formation and then he dive-bombed toward Eggman. Panic-stricken, Eggman took off dropping the cube-shaped object and Amelia in the process. Fortunately, Jet managed to stop himself just in time while Amelia covered her head.

"Heh," Jet said as he got off his Gear and picked up the cube-shaped object. "Piece of cake. Either Sonic has gotten dumber or I'm just smarter than he is."

"Why, you!" Amelia said as she transformed into Amy. "Take back what you said about Sonic, Jet, or—

"Or you'll what? Pummel me to death with your hammer?" Jet said mockingly. "I bet those electrical handcuffs are going to make it difficult."

Amy gritted her teeth and she pulled the handcuffs apart. After a few seconds, the handcuffs broke apart in a flurry of sparks and metal. Then as Jet approached the door, Amy tried to attack him but was suddenly hit from behind by a Gear. She landed on her rear-end and saw Wade and Sky fly right up to Jet only they looked different too. Not only was their hair more feather-like but their eyes were also narrower.

"Wave the Swallow, Storm the Albatross," Jet the Hawk said irritably. "What took you so long?"

"We had a run-in with some of Eggman's robots on the way here," said Sky who was possessed by Storm.

"Fortunately, we had a red-mutt and a little fox take care of them for us," responded the Wave-possessed Wade.

"Amy," Tails said as he landed right next to her on his Gear. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Amy said as she got up and pointed to a pair of small dots in the sky that were blue and colliding with each other. "But you've got to help Sonic! He's fighting Metal Sonic!"

"We're on it!" Knuckles said and took off into the sky along with Tails.

While they were occupied, Amy ran toward the Babylon Rogues as Jet lifted the cube-shaped device up to the door. Like with the Chaos Emeralds, the cube-shaped object glowed very brightly and then the doors automatically opened. But before Amy could catch up to them, the Babylon Rogues got onto their respective Gears and flew into a large circular chamber that lay inside the doors and into a dark hallway beyond that.

Several minutes later, Sonic and the others flew down with Knuckles dragging along the remains of Metal Sonic. After dropping it on the stoned path before the door, Sonic picked Amy up and together they rode into the circular chamber along with Tails and Knuckles. However, once they reached the dark hallway where the Babylon Rogues were the doors closed behind them.

"Greedy fools…" said a deep voice that echoed throughout the hallway. "Those who seek treasure will only find only…death!"

A bright light flashed and a giant monster appeared that looked like a humungous genie with a bird's head. It roared down at them loudly and flew away as the dark hallway was replaced by a hellish realm with a brimstone race-track and scattered torches. The seven riders pursued the monster down the track furiously with Sonic and Jet leading the way. They both took turns hitting the genie monster's floating jar with their Gears until the creature stopped and moaned loudly. As it dissolved, the hell-like realm disappeared as well. In the creature's place stood a red chest with gold lining.

"Finally," Jet the Hawk said inching towards the chest. "The long-sought after treasure of the Babylonians is mine!"

"No, it isn't!" Tails said blocking Jet's path. "This treasure and all the other artifacts you stole aren't yours to keep! They need to be shared with the world so people can understand long-forgotten cultures and learn from them to better our future! You guys are just tomb-raiders with no sense of cultural value!"

"What are you talking about?" Jet the Hawk said confusedly. "We never stole from archeological sites."

"Huh?" Tails exclaimed.

"What he's trying to say, Tails, is that we never took artifacts directly from the sites they came from," Wave said. "In fact, we actually stole from guys who stole artifacts and gave them back to the museums and archeologists they were stolen from for a price."

"Oh," Tails said, feeling dumbfounded. "And all this time, I thought you guys were heartless scumbags."

The clicking of guns suddenly got everyone's attention as Eggman stood right behind them.

"Thought you had seen the last of me, eh?" Eggman said and pointed to Jet. "Now hand over the treasure!"

Reluctantly, Jet the Hawk turned around and opened the chest. After seeing what was inside, he chuckled a little.

"What's so funny?" Eggman said irritably. "Hand over the treasure, now!"

"Fine, then," Jet the Hawk said and tossed something from the chest into the air. "Catch!"

Eggman caught the object, and was baffled. Confused, Eggman unrolled it, revealing the object to be a carpet with intricate designs. Then from the carpet came a piece of paper.

Eggman picked up the paper and read it out loud. "'At long last, we've completed our ultimate invention. With this, our lives will be easier and without the need to work so hard at keeping ourselves flying. Signed, the 13th leader of the Babylon Rogues'."

Everyone looked from Eggman to each other.

"I can't believe this!" Eggman said. "I spent all my time setting up the World Grand Prix and establishing the Kingdom of Toreggmania for this worthless piece of junk!"

As Eggman tossed the carpet down and walked away, Tails knelt down and examined the carpet closely. "Wait a minute."

"You see it too, huh?" Wave said walking up to Tails.

"See what?" Sonic asked.

"This carpet isn't a piece of junk," Tails said. "It's made from the same material as our Extreme Gears, and this was made thousands of years ago."

"Really?" Jet the Hawk said skeptically as the cube-shaped object suddenly started glowing in his hand.

To everyone's surprise, the carpet suddenly emitted a bright glow as it levitated off the ground.

"Whoa," Sonic said. "A real-life magic carpet!"

"Not exactly," Wave said. "I think it's more of a prototype Gear than anything else."

"But still," Jet the Hawk said as the human Jet returned. "I never knew my ancestors were capable of making such advanced technology back then."

###

As the sun set over the desert, Sonny and the others looked at the floating island that was Babylon Garden from below.

"So, Jet," Sonny said. "We'll straighten things out with G. U. N. and make sure they don't arrest you for crimes you didn't commit."

Jet scuffed. "You didn't have to. We could outrun the law any day."

"But once G. U. N. finds out about Eggman's involvement with the World Grand Prix, they'll take away any prize money you earned from the previous tournaments," Miles said. "You'll be flat broke!"

"I'm not too worried about that," Jet said. "The back of the carpet had some good words of wisdom. It said, 'This was invented to allow Babylonians to travel all over the world to gather treasure.' So that's what I'm going to do."

"Gather treasure?" Sonny asked.

"From those who've stolen it," Wade corrected.

"But next time we meet, Sonny, let's have a real race," Jet said looking at Sonny with determination. "No bombs, no transformations. Just a good old-fashioned race with our Gears."

"You bet!" Sonny replied confidently.

A brief moment of silence followed, then Wade said, "Come on, Jet, let's split already."

"Hey," Sky said as he slapped Wade in the back. "I wanted to say that!"

While Jet groaned, Miles said, "We'd better split too, huh?"

"Yeah, we should," Sonny said. Then he turned to Jet and said, "See you around."

Jet nodded and flew off along with Wade and Sky. At the same time, Sonny and the others flew off with Amelia still riding on Sonny's Gear. The four of them made it back to the Sand Ruins stadium as G. U. N. rescue planes appeared while Shawn, Rouge, Silva, Omega, and Blake were talking to the Chaotix Detectives. Upon seeing Sonny and his friends, they stopped talking and sauntered over.

"What were you idiots thinking?" Shawn said irritably. "Going after the Babylon Rogues, Metal Sonic, and Dr. Eggman all by yourselves? You could've gotten killed."

"We were just doing what we thought was right," Sonny argued. "Sure, Eggman got away again but we defeated Metal Sonic and it turns out the Babylon Rogues aren't bad guys, after all."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Rouge exclaimed. "So you called us to investigate this whole mess for nothing? Team Neo got captured shortly after they found out what the Babylon Rogues were really up to."

"Oh, so that's why you guys forfeited the race against Team Shadow," Miles said.

"Fortunately, I used by psychokinesis to break us out of our cell," Silva said.

"And my pyro-kinesis to set the Rogues' blimp on fire," Blake said.

"Are you nuts?" Chuck said. "That wasn't necessary!"

"It seemed appropriate considering what they did," Blake answered. "But maybe if you explain why they're not the bad guys you originally claimed, then maybe we can persuade G. U. N. to provide some kind of compensation for my reckless behavior."

"Fine, then we will," Sonny said and told the nine all about Babylon Garden and what happened.

To be continued…