I got some amazing responses! You guys are the best! Shout outs to guest reviewers "Jess" and "Guest." If you're the same "Guest" who's posted before, thank you especially, and sorry I've been gone so long! (Life happens to everybody... ugh.) There are also two fellow ffn users: emzhao07010 and JoyoftheStorm. Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure! Y'all should check out their stuff too!
I own nothing. Enjoy!
Actually! To anyone who's been reading these little blurbs, I have a challenge for you. This next chapter is called "Blink and You'll Miss It." What do you think "It" is? Leave your answer in the reviews and I'll try to message you. If you're a guest reviewer, I'll try to give you a shout out in the next chapter!
Rouge watched the girl and the two hedgehogs disappear in a flash of light. They'd be safe with the Freedom Fighters. She was going to have to pick on Shadow later. That was just not fair, dropping a bomb like that and disappearing. Maria was alive? His Maria? The one that died on the Ark FIFTY YEARS AGO? How did that even work? Although it did a lot to explain how… rattled Shadow had been acting.
Talk about frustrating, and her day was only getting started.
Rouge headed straight back to her club. GUN HQ wasn't the easiest nut to crack. She'd done it before of course, but they were disappointingly competent when it came to base security. That being said… having regular access to the building and a decent number of their schematics did make her job a good deal easier. She was just going to need a few tools.
A few hours later, she got a ping on her communicator. It was Sonic letting her know that the surgery went well and that Maria was moving Shadow to a recovery room. It didn't matter that Shadow was supposedly the ultimate life form. She was just glad he was going to be alright. She sent back a quick thank you.
Waiting for the right time to break into a building was always the hardest part for Rouge. It always paid to be prepared hours ahead of time, but it always left her impatient to get started. Professionalism was key though… thieves who jumped the gun on timing more often than not found themselves behind bars. The stakes on this job were even higher. GUN had a shoot first policy.
After a brief sleep, her window of opportunity opened. She liked working at two AM in the morning. It was still going to be dark for a few hours, and most of the die-hard night owls would have at least gone home by now. HQ did still have a skeleton crew to watch over the place, but it would mostly be sleepy guards who didn't expect anything exciting to happen on their shifts. Perfect conditions for a bat burglar, though she would never leave anything to chance.
The camera's on the outside of the building hadn't changed from the last time she'd broken in. Even the pattern of their sweeps was unchanged. Maybe she was over estimating their competence after all… She landed on the sill of a window she'd unlocked earlier that day and was a little relieved to find it open still. The less evidence of a break in she could leave, the better.
The offices on this level were dark and silent, just as she'd been hoping for, and they hadn't bothered to post guards this high up in the building. Things were going her way so far. She chose a computer in an office that had no windows and plugged in a usb drive that had a decryption key. It would allow her to log into the system without leaving even a single time stamp behind. It also gave her the same level of access that Commander Towers had.
She sat down at the keyboard and stretched her hands. Time to get digging.
Much earlier that same day…
Knuckles didn't bother sticking around the shop long. He figured Tails would latch onto Maria and they'd get buried in scientific things he had no hope of following, and Sonic and Shadow looked ready to crash even though the day had barely started. So he left soon after the Tornado touched down on the tarmac. He had something he needed to look into anyway.
It took a while to get to the Green Hills Zone, and he began to jog along the track Sonic liked to follow. The day was pleasant enough, but his meditations from this morning had him worried. The Master Emerald had still been unsettled even after curing Sonic and Shadow the night before. Unfortunately, as urgent as its message had been, the only thing he'd really been able to understand was something about danger in the Green Hills area. Just another day in the life of a guardian.
He had to go pretty far before he found it, not that he even knew what he was looking for, but this was most certainly it.
"That's… not good," Knuckles said surveying the damage.
Tails was doing a last sweep of Station Square with the Tornado when he got a message from Sonic. Activating the autopilot function, he opened the message to learn that Shadow had been injured and that they were going to the Freedom Fighters for assistance.
Things had been really tough on Sonic lately. Shadow's luck hadn't been much better. Talk about a rocky start. That, and Eggman was definitely up to something, or at least had something of an idea for a scheme. Trash day was a favorite opening gambit of his. Everyone would be on high alert for a while now. Maybe it would be a good idea to start getting a little more serious about finding the chaos emeralds.
Instead of flying back to his shop in the Mystic Ruins, Tails decided to head out to the Marble Zone to see if his detector got any pings. They hadn't searched that area yet. Really, they'd barely started searching at all. Sonic had gotten lucky with the one he had. He'd found it while he'd been out searching for Shadow.
He was just starting to think he'd picked the wrong zone when the detector came to life. It was deep down, but sure enough…
"Gotcha!" Tails said and began to look for a clear landing zone. It would still be a bit of a hike, but it would be worth it.
Sally dismissed her generals and ducked away before Antoine could latch onto her. They had just gotten news of activity in one of Eggman's manufacturing plants. The last thing she needed right now was his fawning. She took a winding route to the cafeteria for good measure. It might give her a few minutes lead before he found her again, though if she was lucky he might be too tired himself for this song and dance.
Bunny was in the cafeteria when she got there. The rabbit was staring into her untouched plate like she'd just discovered a fly in it.
Sally slid into the seat beside her with her own meal. "You know, rations aren't so tight anymore," she said. "If you want to throw that out, I wouldn't tell anyone. Although, you could probably give it to Rotor. He'll eat anything."
"Hey there sugar," Bunny greeted her in a dispirited fashion, and began stabbing tentatively at a few veggies with her fork. "There's nothing wrong with the food, it's just… I met Sonic the Hedgehog today."
"I thought you were a fan," Sally said, glancing at her friend in concern. If that hedgehog had done anything to upset her… "Or is this a case of 'never meet your heroes?'"
"Nothing like that!" Bunny said, defensively. "He's always made me think of one of the Fighters we lost a few years ago. That Sugarhog… Olgilvie. Such an unfortunate name… but he was the sweetest."
Sally's heart clenched painfully at the reminder of her dear lost friend as it always did. Chaos, she missed him. It had been years, but she still felt his absence.
"I always thought Sonic reminded me of that sweet Sugarhog when I saw him on TV, but in person… they're even more alike," Bunny said sadly. "I know that I wasn't around long before he disappeared, but he was the one who pulled me out of that roboticizer. That kind of thing stays with you."
Sally nodded. "Olly was a hero," she said. "Just like Sonic. Only difference is that he doesn't- didn't… he didn't have Sonic's chaos abilities."
Bunny chuckled a little. "He had the wildest quills," she said. "Never could get them to cooperate."
"It always upset him too," Sally said, letting herself smile at the better memories. "And his mouth was as quick as his feet. If I asked him to be serious for a minute, he'd always say that his limit was thirty seconds!"
"Oh mah stars!" Bunny laughed somewhat wetly. "I remember that. He had an answer for everything… I miss him."
"So do I, Bunny," Sally said. "So do I."
Tails landed the Tornado on the tarmac leading up to his workshop with a sigh of relief. The Marble Zone hadn't gotten any easier to traverse. Although, he had gone without Sonic this time, and he'd emerged victorious! So that had to count for something. Sonic always made it look so easy! Show off…
He taxied the plane into the hangar and cut the engines. It was routine for him to inspect his aircraft and he was about to get started when he realized the TV was on. He made his way into the room to see Knuckles watching from the couch.
…citizens rose up, some with improvised weapons to protect their homes in Station Square. Many of the people involved said their actions were inspired by none other than the blue blur himself who was also there to save the day yet again. People in the city are ecstatic over their success as well they should be! There are three individuals who are in critical condition, and fifteen others ended up going to the hospital, but there have been no fatalities as of yet. For those just joining us, this is Scarlet Garcia, reporting live from Station Square. Be sure to check on the news website for the amazing footage captured during this most recent of Dr. Eggman's trash days! Back over to you, Soar the Eagle.
Thank you Ms. Garcia. It just goes to show that the recent rough history for Station Square has given its populace a set of teeth! I just watched some of that footage myself, and I have to say: the city is in good hands! Dr. Eggman will have to think twice before setting foot there again! In other news, for those astronomy fans out there, it looks like The Black Comet will be passing close to the Earth on its fifty year rot-.
Knuckles shut the TV off and stood. "Seems you guys saw some excitement today," he said. "Where are the others?"
"It was actually a little too exciting," Tails said, ushering the echidna into the kitchen. "Shadow got injured, so they took him to Knothole to patch him up. Sonic was a little vague on the details though, so I don't know when they're gonna get back."
"What took you so long getting back?" Knuckles asked him, a slight note of accusation in his voice.
"Problems have been piling up thick and fast," Tails said as he began to rummage the fridge for dinner items. "First there's our GUN problem, now Shadow's hurt, and Eggman is definitely back in action. I thought it might be a good idea to be prepared." The fox backed out of the fridge and produced the white chaos emerald he'd picked up. "So look what I found!"
Knuckles' eyes widened in surprise. "Good work, Tails!" he said, reaching over to ruffle the fox's ears.
"Aaawww Knuckles! You're messing up my fur!" Tails fussed, trying to duck out of his reach. "You're brushing it the wrong way!" He managed to escape by taking a short flight to the top of the fridge out of reach. "Sheesh! Sonic does this enough!" he said, raking his fingers through the mussed fur. "You've been gone all day, come to think of it. Where did you go, Knuckles?"
"Green Hills Zone," Knuckles said. "We've got a situation. I need to get to Angel Island as soon as possible."
Tails hopped down from the fridge with a short whir of his namesakes to soften his landing. "Sounds serious," he said. "What's wrong?"
"Pretty sure it's Pandemonium," Knuckles said. "It's spreading through the zone like an infection."
"Uh oh…"