Author's Note: Before we begin, I'd like to apologize first as I realized when I posted the previous chapter, this was actually the third story I've updated since the beginning of the year. My mistake on that part.
Anyway, onward as we are reaching the near end of the first Arc! Let the final battles of the Cream and Cheese Saga begin!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 27: The Robotniks Strike Back!
Last time, Sonic and his friends continue to try and locate the Iron Empire's base while they make connections with his dreams of the situation. But when Cream's hopes fade into not wanting to get her new friends hurt anymore, she and Cheese take the Chaos Emeralds and run away, when Chris notices and goes after them.
Meanwhile, Knuckles attempts to form a truce with Dr. Robotnik, but his friends strongly disagree and to make things worse, the Iron Empire is already making their move after secretly spying on the Government who are also attempting to solve the issue.
As Sonic goes searching for Cream and he and the others find out she has ran off with their four Chaos Emeralds, he runs into Knuckles only for both of them to find Robotnik and the Iron Empire now making their way back to the city!
It's a race against time! Will Sonic be able to find Cream and get the Chaos Emeralds back, or is Mobius about to meet doomsday?
Cream and Cheese had been running along the streets of Station Square for what felt like forever, only for the little rabbit girl to slow down and glanced around their surroundings. She began to feel uneasy, as while she and her beloved Chao have been here for months, the five year old still wasn't used to being in such a big city. Buildings towered over her, people crowded the streets, cars driving back and fourth, and...there didn't seem to be a way out anywhere.
"Cheese...I think we're lost..." Cream murmured, becoming quite scared as she clutched the back-pack with all of the Chaos Emeralds inside.
"Chao, Chao..." Cheese chirped, worriedly as he hovered closer to his Mobian best friend.
"How are we gonna leave if we can't find a way out of Station Square?" Maybe running away wasn't such a good idea after all. In her desperate attempts to keep everybody else safe and ask the Iron Empire to let her mother go in exchange for her freedom, Cream now began to realize just how foolish she had been.
But she didn't want Sonic and the others to get hurt anymore. Cream felt like the whole thing was all her fault, and she never should've sought out the hero of Mobius. She had been foolish into believing even the blue hedgehog could make things right when she ever done was push him to his own limits despite his never-ending kindness.
"Cream! Cheese!"
Snapping out of her sorrowful thoughts, Cream and a startled Cheese turned around to find Chris who finally managed to catch up to them.
"Mr. Chris!" Cream cried out, surprised, relieved but quickly guilt-ridden.
"Thank goodness you're guys are okay!" The twelve year old boy leaned forward, panting but smiled with relief. It quickly faded as he asked. "What're you doing running off like that? The Iron Empire could find you!"
"I know...But you, your family, Mr. Sonic and everybody always get hurt because of me. I don't want those mean people to do that anymore. Cheese and I going away and not coming back...! It's all my fault!" Cream, tearful with her heart swelling up once again, began to cry.
"No, it's not! It's Julius' fault that all of this happened to begin with! Everybody's doing their best to find and save your Mother! We'll find a way, you'll see." Chris attempted to reassure, before noticing the pink bag his youngest friend was carrying, but didn't think it was anything serious. "Please, Cream. Don't run away. Everybody will be worried about you."
When the five year old girl didn't respond, the young boy sighed and bend low to her level. "I know how much you miss her, and we're really sorry for not finding your Mother sooner than we had hoped. But that doesn't mean we don't want to take care of you. We made that promise, remember?"
Cream looked up at her human friend, seeing his gentle, kind, warm smile was almost exactly like Sonic's, and in that instant she remembered the day she and Cheese first met all of their friends and the promise Sonic had made.
"Don't cry, Cream. I'll get your Mom and the other people back. I'll search all over Mobius if I have to, and I know that I'm not your parent or brother, but me and my friends will do our best to take care of you and Cheese until then. I promise."
'Mr. Sonic...' Cream thought tearfully, remembering once again the good times she and Cheese had spent with their new friends since that day. Even when Sonic was babysitting her, he enjoyed their company, comforted her during the sad times, and he, Amy and Ella would read the both of them stories, Tails and Chris would show her a lot of neat things, and even during times when the Iron Empire and/or Dr. Robotnik would try and capture or hurt them, things always turned out alright in the end.
Even without her mother, Cream and her Chao were never alone for long. In the loss of her family, she gained a new one. Now...now she was attempting to throw it all away by making a terrible mistake just to get her Mother back and hand herself along with the Chaos Emeralds to the meanest people on Mobius: Dr. Robotnik and his cruel brother Julius.
"Come on, let's head back home and we'll discuss things over, okay?" Chris gently suggested.
"O-Okay..." The five year old girl nodded, sniffling.
All of the sudden, a there was a loud roaring engine sounds which had Chris, Cream and Cheese, and virtually everyone else on the streets to look up in alarm. They all gasped when they saw a giant familiar fortress making it's way straight towards Station Square.
"It's Dr. Robotnik!" Cream exclaimed in fear.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese chirped worriedly.
"Him again!" The twelve year old boy grunted, narrowing his eyes. "Doesn't that creep have anything better to do?"
To make matters worse, more sounds came which had the trio and the people turn to the direction of that with their eyes widening and their hearts dropping into their stomachs. Because there they saw a large number of air-ships that had the terrifying symbol of another evil enemy that was finally about to make the full assault onto the city itself.
"Oh no! Here come the Iron Empire!" The five year old girl whimpered, clinging onto Chris' shirt. "Mr. Chris, I'm scared!"
"It's gonna be okay, Cream. We just have to get home before those guys or Robotnik spot us. C'mon!" Chris, not wanting to take any chances, had his two youngest friends to follow him as they quickly ran away towards his house as quickly as possible.
Up in the air in the Iron Fleet, the army of the Empire's soldiers and robots were ready to be deployed from the hatch of the airships.
"Station Square is within our sights, sir!" One of the Iron Empire pilot's reported.
"Excellent. Be ready to deploy the decoy group, and make sure those government fools are taken down." Julius ordered calmly as he was now within another room of his base, watching the whole invasion through the monitors.
Back in the city, the soldiers and robots were attached to grapple hooks that were about to send them onto the ground to make the attack, when one of the other pilots noticed something on the scanners.
"We have detection of fast movement on the ground and air, sir, and six varieties of Chaos Energy strangely on the move." He reported, before he and other soldiers who were busy with the controls before zooming in on the cameras in five different areas for their Iron Empire Leader to see.
Within his base, one image showed Robotnik's Egg Fort, another showed Sonic and Knuckles racing towards Station Square in a major hurry with the two teenage Mobians holding looks of determination, the third revealed to be the X Tornado with Tails, Amy, Vector, Espio and Charmy, the fourth having a large group of GUN fighter Jets, having caught wind of the incoming double attacks, and finally...the fifth revealing what Julius had wanted and hoped for: Cream and Cheese running away with Chris leading them, and the energy of the Chaos Emeralds coming from the little five year old girl's back-pack.
"Well, well...this just made things easier yet more complicated. Especially with those children, useless Government fools and Ivo Eggman getting in the way." Julius murmured to himself, narrowing his eyes darkly.
"Sir?"
"There's a slight change in our mission. Leave that mansion...Deploy the soldiers, the Warrior Slayers, and capture that girl with the Chao. They have the other four Chaos Emeralds..." The evil Iron Leader grinned, another realization since Knuckles and Robotnik both still had their Emeralds in hand. "All of the Emeralds are coming together as we speak. Make sure you collect them...and take those who oppose me out. Do not leave them alive."
"Yes, sir." The soldiers acknowledged, knowing that now was the Iron Empire's true chance in finally recollecting the Chaos Emeralds, and to destroy Sonic and his friends once and for all.
Just as he witnessed his soldiers and robots being deployed to attack Station Square at full scale, Julius hissed, his eyes never leaving Sonic and Cream. The blue hedgehog who has been such a nuisance since the very beginning, and the little girl who has sought out the teenager's aid in a foolish attempt to find and reunite with her mother, and from what the evil Iron Leader was seeing, she has finally decided to take matters into her own hands...for a trade.
"You're such a foolish and naughty little girl, child," Julius grinned wickedly with a low chuckle. "You are just leading yourself, that Chao and those Chaos Emeralds straight for me, where I will finally have you all within my grasp. But do not fret, you will see your mother again, and be together...when you die! Bwahahahahaha! AH HA HA HA HA HA!"
First, he must capture them, and then get rid of Sonic, his friends, and Robotnik once and for all, then Mobius will soon belong to him.
Back with Sonic and Knuckles, the teenage Mobians kept their eyes on the incoming fleet and each of them had their own thoughts running through their minds, hearts pounding within their chests, and while they were the exact opposites to one another, the duo had each of their own loyalty and courage in every possible.
'This is all my fault...I should've done a whole lot better to comfort Cream and save her mom. Julius is not gonna get away with it!' Sonic thought, the ache in his chest only getting worse, as the image of seeing Cream cry.
Sweet little Cream, the gentle, kind and very well behaved five year old girl, who unintentionally won over the hearts of the blue hedgehog himself, as well as Amy, Tails, Chris, Ella, Chuck, Lindsey, even Mr. Tanaka, Helen, Frances, Danny, Bernadette and Jules, heck, even Knuckles started to really like her yet the Guardian of the Master Emerald wouldn't admit it. She was the light brighter than the sun, her sweet demeanor could easily soothe people's spirits.
Yet why couldn't the hero of Mobius do the same? How could he have failed so badly? Why did Julius had to ruin her life?
All of this and he couldn't stop thinking about what he heard her say to Ella earlier, and the lump in Sonic's throat continued to grow, squeezing his heart as though someone had just shoved their hand into his chest and grabbed hold of it, threatening to cause it to burst. The words echoed on repeat and didn't stop. They would continue to haunt him until he would set things right.
'Cream...If anything happens to you, I'll never forgive myself. Everything's gonna be alright. Just please, please be okay! You're the little sister Tails, Ames and I never had...I love you.' Now more determined to find his youngest friend, his surrogate little sister, Sonic felt the burning sensation to rescue Vanilla, save Cream and Cheese, and end the nightmare of the Iron Empire once and for all.
Knuckles in the meantime, holding onto his younger rival for dear life, felt so ashamed for nearly falling into Robotnik's trap, and on top of everything else, not staying behind to ensure Cream would continue to be safe within the Thorndyke household. He felt fully responsible for Cream having to run away with the Chaos Emeralds.
'I really messed up. How could I have let Cream run off like that, and having thought of trusting Robotnik to think of a truce?' The red echidna squeezed his eyes shut, guilt raging through his entire body, thinking back on why it was such a bad idea to ask for Robotnik of all people to help solve this problem when it would only make things even worse.
"But, Mr. Knuckles...Dr. Robotnik won't listen. He's a very bad man." Cream gently protested. "He lies all the time and he could lie to you."
"Are you nuts!? Forming a truce with a bad guy is a crazy idea!" Charmy, being louder, added in agreement.
"...I'm gonna be frank on this with three simple words: Really, bad, idea." The blue hedgehog held up three fingers to make his words very clear.
Looking back at the two airships now, ready for an attack, and realizing far too late that the robot he found was all part of Robotnik's trap just to get the Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles knew that, for a couple of five year old kids, they were right. And so was Sonic. If the fourteen year old hedgehog hadn't come looking for Cream and met up with him, the fifteen year old echidna would've fully fallen right into the trap for real.
Knowing what to do in order to set things right, the Master Emerald Guardian knew his only real chances now was to help Sonic to find Cream, to rescue her and get the other Chaos Emeralds back, and perhaps this would be their only chance to find the hidden Base of the Iron Empire, get Angel Island back and rescue the hostages once and for all.
"How are ya' holdin' up, Knuckles?" Sonic, snapping himself out of his thoughts, looked over his shoulder to his older friend.
"About as holding back the urge to just simply rip all of Robotnik's and the Iron Empire's robots...!" Knuckles responded with a grunt.
"That makes the both of us," The younger Mobian lamented, before narrowing his eyes once more.
Right before they both sensed something and Sonic snapped his attention ahead, the two gasping to find a large Samurai looking robot of the Iron Empire descending from the sky, forcing the hero of Mobius to skid to a stop after grabbing hold of Knuckles' waist to make sure the Guardian didn't go flying off and crashing accidentally. The two teenagers jumped back to avoid in getting crushed by the approximately 27 foot tall machine that kind of looked like a real samurai, complete with a katana sword, coloured in red and dark grey with glowing eyes as it scanned at the young heroes who glared back at it.
"Identifying Mobians: Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna. Mission Objective Confirmed. Must eliminate." The large robot spoke in a deep, monotone voice chip, positioning itself to kill Sonic and Knuckles as they gritted their teeth in frustration, equally clutching their fists tightly.
"Out of the way, you metal-armored scrap!" Knuckles demanded angrily.
"We don't have time for playing around!" Sonic added, even though he and his friend knew they had to take this robot out in order to each Station Square.
The Samari Robot, known as the Warrior Slayer, instantly thrust it's sword right at the teenagers who leaped in the opposite directions while avoiding the attack, the larger sword creating a small trench on the ground. Sonic and Knuckles both instantly fought back, the former hitting it with a Spin Dash and rapid karate-kicks on the side of it's head, while the latter used much of his strength to thrust his fist at it's left shoulder. To their shock, they only managed to make nothing more than dents in their respected targets.
"What!?" Sonic and Knuckles exclaimed simultaneously, their eyes widening just before the Warrior Slayer suddenly extracted two extra arms from it's back and smacked them both off.
"GAAAAH!/AAAAAH!" They screamed as they were sent backwards, tumbling and rolling on the ground, but managed to flip the right way up, wincing at the unexpected attack before shooting glares at the robot which charged straight towards them with it's sword in hand.
"I said we don't have time to play here!" Sonic shouted, frustrated that Julius somehow thought of really ahead this time to prevent him from saving his friends.
Even Robotnik didn't think this far ahead and be secretive about it!
Just as the Warrior Slayer was about to slice them into pieces, the blue hedgehog tried using his Spin Dash, easily dodging the giant katana and went for the chest, while Knuckles went for the legs, punching at the right one in impressive skill, strength and speed. They managed to force it to stumble backwards, leading the duo to attack mercifully with a combination of Homing Attacks and powerful punches.
Yet the Iron Empire Robot's eyes brightened a little before it spun half of it's body which bashed Sonic, who was still in his sphere form in his attack, to be bashed away like a baseball while he screamed in alarm and uncurled himself, spinning around and around uncontrollably, wincing at the hard hit.
"Take this!" Knuckles growled, furious after he saw what just happened, and decided to bash at it's legs straight up to pull the upper half of the body off.
But the robot had other ideas and reached out just as the red echidna was about to attack, to which Sonic noticed as he made to land, gasping in horror. "KNUX, LOOK OUT!"
Too late, the Warrior Slayer punched the young guardian who shouted in surprise and pain, was sent flying himself but not far enough because grabbed him before rapidly spinning around while Sonic, who hissed and placing a hand to his left shoulder and attempting to ignore his injuries, hurried over to try and save his friendly rival. Yet the robot simply tossed the echidna straight towards him, and the hedgehog had no time to dodge, the former crashing into the latter and they ended up accidentally rolling and tumbling before coming to a stop, lying on the ground.
"Guess Eggman's Ro-butt-nik brother has really stepped up on his game, this time. It was never this hard before." Sonic remarked in a pained, raspy voice while surprisingly on top of his friend who had swirls in his eyes, groaning.
"Yeah. It's...pretty tough." Knuckles reluctantly admitted, hissing once he managed to regain his senses a little.
"Well, I'm not callin' it quits!" The hero of Mobius grunted, wobbly standing up before pulling the older teen who winced. The two glared up at the giant robot who made to attack and finish them off.
"This is getting us nowhere. We can't even break through that armor to reach it's core." The fifteen year old was beginning to sweat nervously. How were they going to beat this thing and reach Station Square?
Yet just as the duo were about to attack again, the Katana sword then opened up to reveal electrical cables which made the teenagers sweat drop nervously, their eyes widening right before it flashed, forcing Sonic to shield his eyes while Knuckles squeezed his own closed, before it coiled around them by the waists and lifted them off the ground, much to their alarm. They attempted to pull themselves free right before they were electrocuted.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic and Knuckles screamed in agony, the burning electricity paralyzing them.
It then stopped before they were about to fall as the electrical cables left them go, only for the Warrior Slayer's non-sword hands to catch them both and grabbed hold of them tightly.
"Targets apprehended. Proceeding in annihilation." Warrior Slayer declared, squeezing it's hold on the captured Mobians
The two winced with cries of alarm, almost severely injured, struggling to free themselves as they wriggled and squirmed. As Sonic and Knuckles tried to escape it's clutches, the Warrior Slayer scanned them before detecting the red Chaos Emerald within the latter's quills, before it put away it's sword and used it's free hand to ruffle through the echidna's dreadlocks and plucked the precious gem away, much to their horror.
"Hey, give it back!" Knuckles demanded, grunting and groaning to try and reach out.
"Chaos Emerald located: Priority one. Retrieve and eliminate the enemy." With part of it's mission done, the large robot then casually dropped the teenagers who grunted and winced while it began to fly away with it's jet-pack. "Mission Accomplished: Next priority, destroy Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna."
As Sonic strained to push himself up, frustrated that not only Cream and Cheese were in danger of getting kidnapped, with their four Chaos Emeralds also on the line, and Station Square about to become a Warzone, but now the most toughest robot of the Iron Empire had actually succeeded in stealing Knuckles' Emerald, he saw what was about to happen and gasped in dismay.
The Warrior Slayer's two upper arms then transformed into cannons and prepared to fire, blasting a beam of energy straight at them.
Without much time left, Sonic ignored his injuries, wincing painfully, before he grabbed hold of Knuckles by the waist and sped away, thankfully out of the firing line and the robot's vision just as it's attack blasted at the ground, sending fire, smoke, rock and dirt flying everywhere.
By this time, the hero of Mobius glanced over his shoulder, gritting his teeth in frustration and guilt. Now he and his friends were all pretty much Chaos Emerald-less, Cream having run away with four of the ones they had and unless she and Cheese were found soon, no doubt Julius will finally catch her for his evil plans or Robotnik could get them himself, and then his brother go after both for Robotnik's Emerald as well as locate the last one.
"That thing's got my Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles shouted angrily, his own frustration and guilt increasing as they had just lost the fight, and were running away. He grunted while trying to wriggle out of Sonic's hold. "Let go! I wanna fight that thing!"
"That thing's too strong for us, Knuckles! We gotta find Cream and Cheese and the other Emeralds before those creeps or Eggman do! It's our only chance left!" Sonic pointed out, silently praying that the Iron Robot wouldn't be chasing after them.
Even though the young guardian looked ready to protest, he knew that his younger rival was right. Not only they now lost two Chaos Emeralds, but they were on a brink of losing the rest as well as Cream and Cheese, and with the last one on the line, it has now become a race against time.
With that thought in mind, the two continued their way straight towards Station Square, while the Warrior Slayer, not detecting any signs of life and coming to an incorrect conclusion that it eliminated the two Mobians, flew off with the red Chaos Emerald in hand, ready to deliver it to Julius.
Now the Iron Empire had two emeralds in their possession.
"Lousy robot! He's turned out to be very UNLUCKY! What's taking him so long!?" Robotnik shouted in agitation, when it was apparent that Lucky has failed to lure Knuckles in or even bring back the last Chaos Emerald they needed.
"It was a very pathetic robot to begin with, I had my doubts he would get the job done." Bocoe sighed, dully.
"And I have my doubts with your loyalty if you don't turn off your voice chip and shut up with your witty comebacks!" The evil scientist growled dangerously, causing his robotic minion to recoil in fright, shrinking back into his set.
Decoe made to try and defend his companion when he noticed something on the surveillance monitor, his eyes widening in horror to find a lot of problems. "Dr. Robotnik, Sonic and Knuckles are following us, and the Iron Empire are also heading straight towards the city!"
"WHAAAT!?" Robotnik exclaimed, his heart freezing up slightly before turning to see that it was true: both the blue hedgehog and red echidna were in pursue of him as well as, to his dismay, his twisted, murderous brother who was deploying robots and soldiers. He gritted his teeth in fury. "This will not stand! I will not run from that buffoon copy-cat! Deploy every single unit we have and fend off those pipsqueaks and pieces of junk! Don't let the Iron Empire get to MY emeralds!"
"But we'll be defenseless against Sonic and his friends if we focus more on the Iron Empire!" Decoe protested.
"And they're gaining on us! We have to do something, boss!" Bocoe added.
"They'll be busy with both sides, anyway. We will focus more on collecting the other Chaos Emeralds..." The mad doctor trailed off when he then noticed what else was on the monitor's screens and perked up with interest. "What's this?"
On the screen were Chris, Cream and Cheese still trying to escape from the firing line, yet the monitors were picking up a rapid Chaos Energy reading from the little girl's back-pack. Blinking in surprise, Robotnik turned to pull out a case that had his white Chaos Emerald which began to shine more brightly than before turning back, and then he noticed readings also coming from Sonic and Knuckles since the latter had the red Emerald.
Seeing this made Robotnik grin evilly. "Heh heh heh...Well, it seems the little lady is doing me a far more easier favor. Guess we don't need to visit that Thorndyke brat's house after all."
But little did he know that he wasn't the only one tracking down Chris' group, because the evil scientist himself was also luring himself into his own brother's trap.
By this time Sonic and Knuckles, who was still kicking himself for failing to secure the red Emerald, made into the city and gasped in horror to find Iron Empire robots and human soldiers already being deployed, attacking buildings, fighting against, much to their shock, GUN soldiers that were also here in fighter Jets, or on the ground, and even Robotnik who was just about to launch his own attack as well.
"We've gotta stop them before they wreck the city and people getting hurt!" Sonic grunted, speeding up to reach the three armies.
"What about Cream, Cheese and the rest of the Emeralds?" Knuckles reminded.
"I know we gotta find them, and with any luck, Tails and the others are searching for them too! Our only hope is either of us to find Cream and the Chaos Emeralds before Buttnik and Julius do!"
By then, the Iron Empire Army as well as the Swat Bots caught sight of the approaching Mobians and the human soldiers gaped in shock to see more enemies approach.
"It's Sonic and that echidna!" One of the soldiers cried out, feeling his heart leap into his throat in panic. He has heard the strength beholding the two Mobians and now is worried that they about to lose ground.
"Don't let them get in the way! Open fire!" The head soldier commanded, determined to let their Iron Leader to gain success and claim Mobius as his own.
"Iron Robot Squad, engage!" Another soldier commanded.
The Iron Army robots, locking in on Sonic and Knuckles who were getting closer and closer, opened fired at will to kill them. Seeing this made them both leap out of the way, splitting up despite still severely injured from their failed fight against the Warrior Slayer.
"You take the left side, I'll take the other!" The fifteen year old echidna instructed.
"Got it!" Said the fourteen year old, giving his friend a thumbs up as he went over to his position with the robots of both Robotnik and the Iron Empire firing straight at him as well as the ongoing forces of GUN who, seeing the hero of Mobius and his friend having arrived, felt some hope and relief while continuing to battle their own opponents.
"I won't let you creeps get away with this!" Sonic shouted, zig-zagging out of the firing lines before he Homing Attacked at both sets of robots, which even though the fight against the Warrior Slayer left him winded, at least the smaller robots were a little easier to handle.
"Terrible news, doctor. The Chaos Emerald is no longer in the possession of Knuckles." Bocoe sadly reported with grave concern.
"And Sonic and Knuckles are already taking out the fleet of both yours and the Iron Empire's." Decoe added grimly, and if he was organic, he would've gulped nervously.
"What!? How did that Knucklehead lose the Chaos Emerald?" Robotnik demanded, shocked that while his own units were equally fending off the GUN forces as well as half of his brother's, it soon quickly became clear to him that things were really not going the way as he wanted it to be.
True to his robots' words, the footage leak saw another large robot which held a red Chaos Emerald and was heading straight towards the flying Fortress of the Iron Empire, and a badly injured Sonic and Knuckles how in the city fighting his forces as well as Julius'.
"Send in the capture units! I don't care if we have to hold hostages of a five year old bunny, a little Chao and a rich kid, get me the rest of those Emeralds!" The evil scientist commanded impatiently.
"Right away, boss!" The two lackies quickly did as they were told, rushing about in sending out more robot fleets to locate Cream's group.
'This is beginning to become more agitating and serious. If that hedgehog is now having difficulty in taking out my brother's forces, Julius could very well get all the Chaos Emeralds at this rate. I've got to get those gems, or else it's the end of my Robotnik Empire before it even begins...!' The more the mad doctor thought about this, the more terrified he was really becoming.
Not to mention that Julius' goals was far more deadly, because what his plan was...Robotnik just had a wrench-gut feeling he wasn't going to like it.
Worse case scenario for him is for Sonic to retrieve the Emeralds and very likely use their power once more to save Mobius.
"Things are really heating up fast, aren't they?" Rouge remarked grimly, as she, Topaz and the GUN agents had caught in on the approaching attack from both Robotnik as well as the Iron Empire. At this moment, they were all riding in one of the planes ready to fight back the approaching enemies.
"The city is being evacuated as we speak, except for a few occupants," Topaz nodded, a nervous sweat forming on her head. "Reports say that Cream and Cheese have vanished, and Chris Thorndyke isn't among the evacees either. Even worse, the four Chaos Emeralds they have are missing."
"I think I know what's gonna happen," The white bat closed her eyes in horrified but knowing resignation, making her human partner glance at her worriedly. "That poor little kid is going to sacrifice herself to get her mother back...without realizing what she's about to do."
"But...She can't! She'll risk the lives of all of us!"
"Do you think she knows that? When I was five, I didn't even know who my parents were until my caretaker told me two years later that I was abandoned when I was just a baby, and at first I went out of my way to find them, until I realized that they were among the cruel people in the world." The Bat Thief narrowed her eyes, rendering her friend to a silent shock.
"W-What?" The female agent half-whispered. This was the first time she heard anything like that.
Rouge smiled softly in sadness, "Kids that age need to have an innocent, peaceful life, hon. Sure I made a good living in stealing jewels, but even I know what it's like not having birth parents. I wouldn't want that on anybody," she turned back to gaze outside, admitting part of her past she previously kept to herself.
But since she and Topaz were partners and admittedly good friends, Rouge figured that it was about time someone learned of her sob story. "And I know that Sonic doesn't want that either. He has parents, but that little fox kid brother of his clearly was left all alone too, so that hedgehog took him in to give him a family, and we all know that Knuckie is the last of his kind. You can't expect a five year old to be intelligent like an adult. When it comes in wanting to see their parents again, they'd do anything to do that."
"...I see your point. It would be wrong to take Cream and Cheese away from each other, and from Sonic and the others, like you said." Topaz lowered her gaze, torn as even as a tough agent, she wasn't completely heartless. Plus, to her, Cream and Cheese were very cute, and well behaved. The little girl was just desperate and obviously didn't want Sonic to risk his life anymore, fearing that she would lose him and everybody else as well.
'I'd take those Chaos Emeralds when I get that chance...But that kid doesn't deserve to end up without a birth mother. Sonic's gonna need all the help he can get this time...' Rouge narrowed her eyes, determined to see to her mission she sees fit.
While she still hardly knew Sonic, the fourteen year old has already proven how much he cared and how he would risk his own safety for the sake of others. Now it was her turn to help him, and to make sure Cream would be with her mother.
Thankfully Station Square was being evacuated, but it wasn't enough as the GUN soldiers were already fighting in a futile attempt against the Iron Empire's ground and aerial forces, the evil soldiers and robots already tackling and knocking out the government army who cried out in alarm and agony, their weapons rendered useless in the attacks.
To make things worse, Robotnik's unit of Badniks, Swatbots, ect., were also facing the Iron Army, with a little more success. During this time, Sonic and Knuckles came charging in, the blue hedgehog Spin Dashing with his incredible speed to take out a large line of robots of all kind almost single-handedly, grunting with his eyes narrowed in pure determination to find and rescue Cream and Cheese and get the Chaos Emeralds back before it was too late.
The red echidna in the meantime battle-yelled while punching the robots with his incredible strength, even thrusting one up above his head with a grunt before he spun around multiple times while using the hopeless machine to defend himself from other incoming attacks, destroying other robots as it did. Once that was done, he tossed it aside where it crashed into both Robotnik's and Julius' robots that were destroyed almost instantly.
"HAAAAAA!" Sonic yelled as he axe-kicked at an Iron Empire soldier in the head, shattering the man's helmet while his opponent shouted in alarm, having been caught off-guard by the teenage hero. He then side-punched and karate-kicked at more that came charging at him, both soldiers and robots of two evil brothers, flipping and dodging their weapons and attacks.
"Where is my island!?" Knuckles, having managed to snap one of the soldier's weapons in half, grabbed him by the collar and brought the terrified but still stern lacky close to his face with a snarl.
"Like I'd ever tell you, you over-grown Ant-Eater...!" The Iron Soldier scoffed, only to be lifted up high above the enraged echidna's head, panicking with a scream.
"Tell me now, or I'll snap your back, and don't think I won't!" The fifteen year old threatened darkly. While he wouldn't really do that and Sonic would disapprove strongly, he wanted to get the message clear in hopes of finding another lead.
"Uh...E-Even if you could find it, you and that blue hedgehog are too late!" The soldier stubbornly said, though he failed to hide the high-pitched squeak in his voice, terrified that the smaller yet far stronger fighter would really break his back.
"How are we too late?" Knuckles questioned, while Sonic, having just managed to take out his half at least already, panting, approached to help out his older friend and having overheard the conversation.
"What is it that Julius knows?" Sonic added, slightly surprising the older teen who then quickly refocused on his captive.
"Because the Iron Leader will soon have all of the C-Chaos Emeralds, he will use them, the Master Emerald and the Chao for his ultimate goal for supreme power to rule over Mobius! If you were looking for more, you're wasting your time, because we already had found the purple one weeks ago."
"...WHAT!?" The teenagers exclaimed in horror, sharing a glance with their eyes wide, the youngest having his eyes shrink.
The Iron Empire...already had the last Emerald!?
"That means the Empire's got two now!" The hero of Mobius cried out, dismayed. How could they have not seen this!?
Now Julius not only had the purple Chaos Emerald they had been searching for yet were already too late since the Iron Empire had found it before Robotnik had claimed the white(and the true last) Emerald, which meant the heroes were down to just having four of them and the evil scientist still having only one...
But things could change quickly if Cream and Cheese are caught, and even worse, even 'Eggman' was falling right into his own brother's trap which could soon lead to either him getting all of the remaining crystals, or, the most likely and horrific scenario, Julius getting all of them and then it was game over.
"Looks you finally lost, Sonic the Hedgehog. You and your friends will never defeat the Iron Emp-IEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" The soldier was cut off when Knuckles, having enough and in fury, tossed him straight into the air where he went flying before disappearing in a twinkle.
"Sonic, you'd better go on and find the kid and the Chaos Emeralds, before it's too late! I'll keep these guys busy!" Knuckles quickly turned back to the blue hedgehog.
Sonic for once was hesitant, as with so many numbers in both the Iron Empire soldiers and robots, as well as Robotnik's Badniks on the rise, he was a bit scared that not even Knuckles could hold them off for long. Even with GUN here, things are about to get far too dangerous. But at the same time he knew that he was the only one fast enough to get to Cream and Cheese and the Chaos Emeralds. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, fighting with himself as he didn't want to leave his friend behind, but at the moment he had to put his faith and trust in the older teen since he was stronger out of both of them.
"Right! I'm countin' on you, Knuckles! Be careful!" Sonic finally responded, giving his friendly rival a two-finger salute and a confident smirk before dashing away to complete his objective, but managed to find a few seconds of time to completely wreck ten robots, five each of the Robotnik brothers, to make a clear path and ran further into the streets.
Not having missed the look of hesitation on the younger teen's face, the red echidna's expression softened a little. While he wasn't certain if he was right or not, but he could sense that Sonic didn't want to leave him alone in this fight. A few times he had thought the blue hedgehog as an enemy, no thanks to Robotnik's lies. But he came to think of him as an obnoxious, cocky, overconfident, snarky and chattering annoyance.
At the same time, however, there was no denying in Sonic's loyalty towards others, or his kindness and great courage, the optisim he had within his heart and always willing to risk his life to rescue many, to fight evil...for the sake of Mobius' safety and freedom. Seeing this made the fifteen year old remember the times when he himself would ensure the younger Mobian's safety and ensuring the job would be done.
Three years ago: His first time facing Robotnik via the Chaos Emeralds not long after Sonic did, nearly dying after his transformation as Hyper Knuckles, the tearful looks on the hedgehog's and Tails' faces which soon turned to relief the moment the echidna opened his eyes...finding himself in Sonic's arms on the Master Emerald Altair.
Just a little under a few Months ago: When Knuckles had destroyed the robot that held Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese and Chris captive yet Sonic managed to save them...and when the blast blew the echidna away, he faintly heard the hedgehog cry out his name, and caught him, saving his life. That sheer disbelief on how the hero of Mobius had once again selflessly risked his safety without hesitation, but with pure determination.
That time, as the two recovered, Knuckles couldn't deny he was grateful for Sonic having saved his life, and while he wouldn't say it out loud, he still smiled none the less, and the younger teen didn't brag on needing gratitude. Instead, he informed his younger friends that they both had it under control despite their fight.
'Back then...It made me remember what Sonic said to me...when we were kids.' Knuckles thought to himself, while multi-tasking on punching the head of another Iron Empire Robot which was sent flying backwards and the rest of it's body slumped forward before exploding.
It had only been three years, but that day mostly faded from the guardian's mind...until now. How Sonic told him, their bad first meeting aside, how they were friends, the blue hedgehog seeing the good side in the red echidna, telling him the importance of friends and family.
How a simple smile was really the main gratitude the teenager really wanted.
Time and time again, Knuckles questioned his own loyalty towards Sonic, and questioning the blue hedgehog's motives. But as each time has passed, with every meeting, Sonic's beliefs in others and his benevolent personality never changed. It only increased. He did like to show off, but his friendship in others never withered, only grew.
Tails obviously still loved Sonic as though they were brothers, Amy...well, she was a love-sick girl who thought of the blue hedgehog as her Knight in Shiny Armor, and the new people...Chris the human boy whom saved Sonic's life...
And Cream. The sweet little five year old girl who sought out the hedgehog's aid to find her mother, and the little Chao whom was the proof that the little one's own kind even existed. Since she came into everybody's lives, the fourteen year old's bonds and determination really increased that he would do anything for her.
'As much as I hate to admit it, if there's anyone who can save the world and bring that kid back to her mother, it's him. But he'll need all the help he can get!' Knuckles narrowed his eyes as he soon found himself surrounded by the Badniks who encirled the echidna, trapping him. Yet he wasn't fazed by this.
"Robotnik! Julius! You both are gonna regret in messing with me...and MY FRIENDS!" He roared loudly towards the sky, preparing himself to finish off these worthless machines and help out the others as much as he could.
No matter what it takes.
Back within the Iron Empire base, the Master Emerald was glowing rapidly now, and the workers had just finished the final touches with Vanilla worriedly watching on from her prison capsule.
"All systems locked. Ready at your command, Lord Iron." One of the scientists reported through the intercom.
Within his base, Julius grinned with a dark evil chuckle. Not only he got word that his Warrior Slayer had succeeded in stealing Knuckles' Chaos Emerald despite the failure in killing him as well as Sonic, but now the rest are all gathered within the city with Cream and Cheese very close by.
'At last...The time has come to fufil the final phase. I have been waiting for this day.' The evil Iron Leader just knew that by the end of the day, he will be the ultimate victor.
Mobius would soon be his.
"Rise the base and the Island. Show the world the might of the Iron Empire!" He commanded, spreading his arms out.
Announcement alarms blared all over the base, and the workers, soldiers, and even the prisoners of both Floral Forest Village as well as the Construction Workers that had been trapped in their cells for months, and all of the innocent Flickies looked up, wondering what was going on. Just then, they all cried out in fear, confusion and panic when the whole underwater city began to shake violently.
Outside of the facility, the whole building lit up with lights flashing on, the roof being slid open with bubbles bursting everywhere as a gigantic sphere holding not just the Iron Empire City was revealed, but Angel Island being quite close to it. The main sector was actually no bigger than a smaller island, as it was being carried by a crate and put straight near the altar where the Master Emerald once rested.
Then the entire island itself was being lifted and the flash of the giant Emerald, it flashed before being carried straight up towards the surface.
In the air, the X Tornado flew straight towards the battle grounds as the two huge fleets were threatening to destroy Station Square and render it into rubble. Tails, Amy, and the Chaotix all agreed to try and locate the missing five year old girl and Chao as well as help Sonic to fend off the evil forces.
The only one standing on the wing was Espio since the plane only had four seats, and he had decided to act as the open air force in case things would go wrong. Plus without the Chaos Emeralds, they had to be extra careful now.
"I'm locking in on the fight. The Iron Empire must've figured out what's going on." Tails narrowed his eyes, his heart leaping in his throat as he prayed that they weren't too late.
"We just have to find Cream and Cheese! The poor things must be so scared." Amy reminded frantically, struggling to hold back the urge to cry as her heart sank at how her youngest friend, who had over time become the little sister she never had, would run away just to try and get her mother back.
'How could we have failed her so badly? I promised I'd help to find her mother, but now all of this happened. Cream...Please be okay, sweetie. I love you so much...' The eleven year old girl thought, gazing out desperately of the window as tears silently slid tree. If anything happened to her sweet, surrogate little sister, Amy would never forgive herself.
"Ya' sure you wanna ride on the wing, Espio? It's pretty dangerous there." Vector, glancing at his fellow detective and co-worker, questioned a bit nervously yet attempting to hide the fact he was admittedly terrified.
Normally he would do the flying(even if Espio and even Charmy both silently agreed the crocodile was a prett terrible pilot), but as the X Tornado was faster despite not having a Chaos Emerald, he reluctantly obliged into this instead. But in truth, his stomach lurched at the very idea of riding in a small but still semi-fast plane...flown by a seven year old little fox cub that had two tails which made the kid very cute.
"There isn't enough room or seats on this plane, Vector, and as a trained ninja, I have more balance at this sort of thing," Espio responded firmly, before smirking a little. "Not to mention Tails' piloting skills outclass even the most of professionals for a young cub."
"Hey, I'm a pretty cood airplane pilot too! And I'm nineteen, so I'm more capable of flying!" The head detective protested angrily.
"Really? I think Tails flies way better than a grown up pro, and didn't he and that old guy Chuck make this thing?" Charmy raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"Excuse me!" Tails quickly interrupted impatiently, getting quite annoyed as he made a quick glance over his shoulder at the trio, while Amy seemed to be completely ignoring the tensions of an argument quickly accelerating. "We're here to rescue Cream and Cheese, get the Chaos Emeralds back, and help Sonic to fight off Eggman and the Iron Empire, so if you guys would please not start an argument on my plane, and just focus?"
"Erm...Sure. Sorry." Vector blushed, sheepishly. The kid made a very good point, and from this height, there was no way out and anymore arguments would cause a crash and they couldn't afford that at all.
"Our apologies." The purple chameleon bowed his head in respect.
"Sorry, our bad." The young bee shrugged, lowering his gaze as he still felt guilty for not going his job properly in keeping an eye on Cream and Cheese.
Suddenly there was a loud sound of a air-rippled boom which nearly shook the X Tornado out of altitude, making everybody scream in panic and the fifteen year old detective nearly fall off, but kept his grip on the right side of the wing.
"What's happening, Tails?" Espio exclaimed.
"I-I don't know! I'm picking up huge radius of Chaos Energy coming from the ocean and it's somehow rising!" Tails grunted, struggling to keep the plane from losing power.
"AH! TAILS! LOOK!" Amy screamed all of the sudden, her heart hammering as she pointed up ahead to see what the problem was.
When the seven year old kit and the Chaotix looked up, they all gasped in shock and horror to see something rise from the ocean from the off-shores of Station Square. Something huge and fortress-city like also attached to it.
"It can't be!" Tails screamed out in horror, while the pink hedgehog behind him covered her mouth with her hands to muffle her gasp, and the Chaotix's eyes widened and nearly bulged out of their heads in disbelief.
"What the heck is that!?" Charmy exclaimed, dumbfounded.
"That's not what I think it is, is it!?" Vector gaped, his mouth hanging open with a sweat drop.
"If what they say is true, then I'm afraid it is..." Espio grimly nodded, yet even his voice was shaking slightly.
They weren't the only ones noticing, because all of the GUN soldiers, including Rouge and Topaz who both gasped in shock and disbelief, eyes wide as dinner plates, and especially Knuckles who, having finally managed to defeat his opponents, all could only watch in horror at the sight before them.
The teenage guardian was the most devastated of all. His island, his entire home...the Master Emerald...It was taken over, hidden beneath the ocean and now the Iron Empire had risen it again as a base to declare dominance of Mobius.
"Julius...You snake! I will not let you fully take over MY ISLAND!" Knuckles shouted in absolute fury, his eyes narrowed as he made a reckless dash to try and reach his home and get to it before it was too late.
Unaware that things were much worse than he thought.
Meanwhile, Sonic was racing through the city streets that was usually full of life, but now felt like a ghost town/Warzone and his heart raced with the terrible sounds of explosions, firearms, soldiers of GUN and Iron Empire yelling out, the sense of dread that neither of the rest of his friends had been seen, and there was still no sign of Cream and Cheese.
"Maybe they went back home and were evacuated. Oh, please, let them be okay!" Sonic whispered, struggling to remain calm until he spotted something just up ahead and softly gasped.
A mixture of colours of white, a tinge of brown, yellow, orange, light blue and...red and blue with ginger on top? He instantly recognized the two figures and even felt the familiar chaotic energy coming from the pink back-pack within, and soon realized he even knew who the third figure was.
"Cream, and Cheese! And what's Chris doing? I thought he'd evacuated." The blue hedgehog felt a sense of dread, realizing that neither of them had returned home or managed to escape Station Square. Knowing what to do, he quickly sped up, and even noticed a small looking robot with them, Lucky, and when he heard another loud engine soar, he glanced up and narrowed his eyes to see that Robotnik has arrived and detected them.
Not aware of Sonic actually being behind them at first, Chris, Cream and Cheese, in the mist of the evacuation, ended up getting separated from the evacuated people and tried to make their way back home, only to end up getting seriously lost and ended up joined with Lucky who wobbled a bit, wondering what they should do with it now that they met up with the unusually clumsy machine.
"This is all my fault...I never should have took the Chaos Emeralds," Cream sniffled, hugging close to Chris who held her and Cheese in his arms. The young girl began to once again burst into tears. "Mr. Chris, I'm so sorry! I'm...I'm so scared!"
"Chao chao..." Cheese whimpered, carefully holding the pink bag with the emeralds in it, his little heart racing in anxiety and terror that either Robotnik or Julius could find them.
"It'll be okay, Cream. I promise." Chris attempted to reassure, while Lucky gazed on, admittedly looking quite sad.
Yet, at the same time, with the four Chaos Emeralds within that bag, he knew that he had to get it to Dr. Robotnik and then the evil scientist would have five of them, much to his luck.
Just as Chris, Cream and Cheese were wondering what to do with Lucky, just then they heard the dreaded engine sounds and all gazed, gasping in horror to see that Robotnik's Egg Fort has arrived to claim the Chaos Emeralds.
"It's Eggman!" Chris exclaimed in dismay quickly standing in front of the terrified youngsters, while Lucky, feeling relieved to be 'rescued' waved at the ship to get Dr. Robotnik's attention.
Within the ship, the evil scientist saw his clumsy robot and grinned evilly, having succeeded in getting to the children and the gems first.
"Ah. There's my little good luck charm. I just knew he'd lead me to the Chaos Emeralds." Robotnik smiled in victory, while Decoe and Bocoe both looked annoyed that despite what their creator had said earlier, the pathetic robot on the ground was getting praised for just simply walking into Cream's group by mere coincidence.
"I am surprised he didn't crash into them and drop the emeralds." Bocoe dryly remarked, grumbling in his hard drive.
"He sure is a klutz, isn't he?" The taller, yellow robot mumbled in agreement.
"Hey, he is a bit clumsy. I better grab those emeralds," Robotnik declared, controlling the fort to send out a giant robotic hand as he knew the children and Chao had nowhere else to run. He called out to his prized creation in an almost sing-song tone. "Lucky, come to daddy."
"Here he comes!" Cream exclaimed, clutching both Cheese and her bag tightly, while Chris narrowed his eyes despite being absolutely terrified himself.
However, just before the claw could grab hold of the group who made the attempt to run, Sonic came charging using a Spin Dash to smash the hand and landed in front of his friends who gasped in shock and soon quickly growing relief, while Lucky wobbled in shock and disbelief before falling onto it's back comically.
"Sorry, Eggman," Sonic taunted with a mischievous grin, placing his hands on his hips. "You're gonna have to be faster than that."
"Sonic!" Chris cheered in relief.
"Mr. Sonic!" Cream exclaimed happily, with Cheese cheering on.
"What's up, guys? Sorry I'm late," The cobalt teen winked over his shoulder with a wave. "How about we high-tail outta here and meet with the others?"
As much as he knew Cream was in for a lecture, if anything, Sonic blamed himself for his failure in finding her mother and knew he had to make it up for it. But first, getting her, Cheese and Chris to safety as well as keeping the Chaos Emeralds out of the enemy's hands was the top priority, especially since now the Iron Empire had two while Robotnik had one.
The evil trio were shocked as they gasped upon seeing the hero of Mobius having arrived just in time to save the brats and the, as much as Robotnik hated to consider it, admittedly very cute Chao. But there was no way in the Universe Dr. Ivo Robotnik would ever admit that! He is an evil scientist, the Emperor and Ruler of Mobius!
"Why does that heinous hedgehog always have to ruin everything?" The mad doctor grunted furiously.
"That is just our luck: Bad." Decoe deadpanned hopelessly.
Unfortunately for both sides, things were going to get worse, because there was another sound of more engines and when Sonic, his friends and enemies quickly turned to the same direction, they all gasped in horror to see a huge Fortress with, to their horror, Angel Island emerging all of the sudden with water draining from it.
"What's that!?" Chris exclaimed in shock.
"It's...a flying island!" Cream half-screamed, shivering.
Sonic's eyes widened in horror and realization, recognizing it as Knuckles' home, and the unmistakable Base that was now on it. Even from the distance and with water flowing off of it, the hard truth hit him really hard and he mentally cursed at himself for not seeing it sooner. The symbol on the building, large as life, just proved it.
"The Iron Empire's secret base...It was underwater in the ocean with Angel Island all this time! No wonder I couldn't find it!" The hero of Mobius shouted, resisting the urge to hit himself on the head in frustration and guilt. How could he have not seen this sooner!?
Even Robotnik was beyond horrified by what he was seeing, sweating with perturbation, nervously gulping. "Oh dear, I have built underwater bases before, but that insane brother of mine has managed to seal and take control of Angel Island even without my acknowledgement!"
"How can we ever go up against the Iron Empire now?" Decoe shrank back, shuddering.
"What if they are far too strong even for Sonic to handle?" Bocoe began to believe that this was becoming a very deadly and dangerous situation.
This only distracted the heroes and villains, however, as all of the sudden Sonic sensed far too late of an incoming attack and glanced up with a gasp to see yet another Iron Empire Robot-no, wait, two, of them, both being more prototypes of the Warrior Slayer, onle one was painted in dark gold, and the other a crimson red, charging straight towards both Sonic's group as well as Robotnik's Egg Fort.
"Look out!" Sonic shouted, quickly scooping up his three friends as well as the back-pack, and sped out of the way just in time while Lucky wasn't...so lucky, because it was sent flying backwards screaming when the golden robot launched a missile.
But it did no good because the force of it even surprisingly caused the hero of Mobius to lose his balance and he and his friends were sent flying forward across the street, screaming...with the fourteen year old losing his grip on them. To make things worse, the Warrior Slayer-Gold extracted it's two extra large arms which successfully caught Cream and Cheese in one hand, and the bag full of the four Chaos Emeralds within, bringing them close to it.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Cream screamed in fright, with Cheese squealing away as they both were held tightly within it's grasp.
"CREAM!" Sonic and Chris, who were about to crash into the street, screamed out in horror and dismay, their hearts leaping into their throats and beating rapidly. The blue hedgehog grunted as he flipped and landed awkwardly, before speeding to crash his human friend who hissed at the unexpected attack.
"Cream, Cheese! NO!" Sonic shouted, as his worst fears and nightmares had finally come true. Not them! Not his sweet little sister and her adorable Chao! He had to save them, fast!
"HELP! SONIC!" The frightened five year old girl pleaded, whimpering and beginning to cry as guilt threatned to squeeze her tightly.
"Hang on, Cream! I'll save you!" The hero of Mobius responded.
"Sonic, look out!" Chris suddenly warned, terrified.
By the time Sonic noticed with a gasp, the blue hedgehog was forced to leap back as another missile was launched, sending out thick smoke and the two boys winced while trying to prevent themselves from having dust going into their eyes as it covered them both. At the same time, the Warrior Slayer-Crimson, without warning, sliced through the glass and shattering it, forcing Robotnik, Decoe and Bocoe to duck as they screamed in horror, warning sirens blaring as the large robot towered over them.
Yet it's focus was on a simple capsule which held the white Chaos Emerald as it shone and easily extracted it's arm to break through and clasped the gem into it's right hand.
"Egad! My Chaos Emerald!" Robotnik shouted in dismay, seeing what has happened. He growled furiously, waving a fist. "You give that back, you over-sized Armor!"
"Chaos Emeralds and targets accquired. Mission Accomplished. Proceeding to return to Base." The two Warrior Slayers announced, before flying off with the captured rabbit girl and chao who both screamed once more, and now five more Chaos Emeralds.
"HEY!" Sonic shouted angrily, gently setting the horrified and now guilt-ridden Chris on the ground, and leaped up in a desperate attempt to save his friends and get the Emeralds back.
Even Robotnik, who attempted to control his Egg Fort to go after the robots, made to follow.
But the two Iron Empire machines spun around and sent out a blinding flash of electricity which sent Sonic to fall backwards as he screamed, hitting the ground hard, and Robotnik's vessel to lose altitude and sent spiraling into the sky with the evil scientis and his robots letting out panicked screams before they vanished with a twinkle.
Cream gasped in horror to see the blue hedgehog being badly injured and defeated, having failed to save her before tears of fear, sorrow and crushing guilt began to overwhelm her to the point that she began to weep and cry. She blamed herself terribly, having caused this to happen: If she hadn't run away with the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic wouldn't be hurt, the city wouldn't be in danger, and the Iron Empire wouldn't have the Chaos Emeralds.
Now Julius was on the brink of winning this war.
"Sonic!" Chris exclaimed, horrified as he raced over to the injured hedgehog, who winced in pain and discomfort, kneeling on one knee with one hand to support him. The twelve year old boy knelt beside him, crushing guilt seizing up inside his chest with tears forming. "Are you okay?"
"Ugh...Tch...D-Don't worry about me, pal," Sonic wheezed a little, but refusing to give up despite how bad the situation was. "The Iron Empire's winning, and we gotta stop them. They got Cream and Cheese, Angel Island...and now they have all of the Chaos Emeralds."
"What?!" The young Thorndyke was taken aback on what his older friend had just said. All of the...Chaos Emeralds?
"Turns out they found the other one we were looking for, so they had one like Eggman and Knuckles did the whole time, but one of those robots ambushed us and stole the one Knux had. We're runnin' out time...!" The hero of Mobius reluctantly revealed the terrible news.
"I'm so sorry...! This is all my fault! I tried to protect Cream and Cheese and the Chaos Emeralds...! I should've tried harder!" Chris lowered his gaze, his chest squeezing in the horrible revelation and truth. If only he had done better to protect Cream and Cheese, and the Chaos Emeralds. Now Julius was going to win, all because of him...!
While Sonic felt twice as awful for his failure in so many ways, he was strongly determined to set things right. Narrowing his eyes and taking a bit of a breather to regain his strength, he pushed himself up and placed a comforting hand on his human friend's shoulder, making the tearful and crying boy to gaze back up at him.
"We'll get them all back, Chris. I'm not giving up!" Sonic vowed strongly, which stunned Chris before for the former smirked with a thumbs up to prove that everything will be alright.
Despite feeling that things were only going to get worse, to see that Sonic the Hedgehog was still determined to keep on fighting and to save the world and their friends, the twelve year old boy nodded.
"Hey, Sonic!"
Blinking at the sound of Tails' voice, Sonic and Chris looked up to see the X Tornado fly over them with Espio on one of the wings, the young pilot within the plane waving at them.
"Sonic! Chris! Up here!" Amy cried out.
"Here comes the cavalry!" The hero of Mobius grinned in relief. This made things easier to get to Angel Island.
"I'm going with you!" Chris suddenly declared, with determination. Earning a startled, 'Huh?' from the blue hedgehog. "Cream needs us!"
"Chris, it's too dangerous. You'd better get back home and wait for Tanaka. I don't want you to get hurt." Sonic firmly shook his head. The poor kid went through a lot already, and this was twice as dangerous now. If anything happened to his friend, the blue hedgehog would never forgive himself.
"I can't just sit by and do nothing! I might not be much of a help, but I have to at least try! I know you're worried, but I'm not running away! Please, Sonic...Let me help you." The young boy stubbornly pleaded, his eyes narrowed with growing courage, courage that he had found within himself ever since he first began adventuring with Sonic, glowing within his eyes.
Sonic murmured his friend's name, fearing for the kid's safety. But then again, Tails had risked his own life and he was younger than both of them. Plus with time running out, and perhaps Chris would be a bit more safer in the X Tornado, there's no telling what will happen. Eventually after fighting within himself, he nodded.
"Alright, then let's do this!"
Chris smiled happily, earning a bro-fist from the teenage Mobian who smirked.
Moments later, Chris had taken Charmy's seat after the young bee offered it to him while he sat with Vector, and Sonic perched onto the left side of the wing as they all now flew straight towards the invaded Angel Island that was taken over by the Iron Empire, with ongoing spectators watching on worriedly.
'Hang in there, Cream, Cheese, Mrs. Vanilla, everybody...I won't let you down again!' Sonic narrowed his eyes, ready for the upcoming final battle against the cruel and evil Iron Empire.
"Watch out, Julius! You won't get away with this!" He shouted loudly as he and his friends were heading towards one of the biggest battles of their lives, with allies of friends and possibly unexpected help soon following them.
But will Sonic be able to stop the Iron Empire and save Mobius, Cream, her mother, and the Chao? The clock for the fate of the world was now ticking faster than ever before.
To be Continued!
A/N: This is really turning out to be a bit longer than I expected. While I am still determined to ensure this will be a three-parter finale of the Cream and Cheese arc, the other case scenario is that it may most likely become a four-parter. Guess we'll see what happens.
However, I won't be writing for a little while as this weekend I'll be busy with a full schedule. But I'll be back as soon as I can.
See you later!
