Author's Note: Okay, so this is now turning into a four(or five)-parter, just to let you guys know. But now things are really heating up as we're almost there to the end of the arc.
Get ready for a wild ride!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega. I only own the OCs.
Episode 28: The Frantic Air-Battle!
Last time, Dr. Ivo Robotnik and the Iron Empire have began assaulting Station Square with their never ending armies, GUN fighting back to protect the city.
But when Sonic and Knuckles attempt to try and reach Cream and Cheese, Julius has sent a powerful robot that steals their Chaos Emerald, forcing them to split up to try and prevent the rest being stolen.
Meanwhile, Tails and the others arrive on the scene, only for the Empire to finally rise Angel Island and have taken it over, and have succeeded in kidnapping Cream and Cheese, and taking both the gang's set of Emeralds as well as Robotnik's in a surprise attack, and revealed the final one they had been searching for!
Now it's a race against time as the gang including Chris who decides to join them on the rescue mission hurry to the Iron Empire's base.
Will Sonic and his friends be able to save the world?
Cream couldn't believe this was happening. What had started as a decent day turned into a living nightmare that has finally began to come true for everyone. She whimpered and shed silent tears, sniffling as the Warrior Slayer-Gold robot carried her and Cheese, and the four Chaos Emeralds straight towards Angel Island, and through the roof entrance where they gently descended through the metal tunnels.
'This is all my fault...It's my fault! I never should have asked Mr. Sonic to find my Mom...He wouldn't get hurt!' The distraught and guilt-ridden child thought frantically, her heart racing and burning.
All she could think about was the very sight of Sonic actually being defeated and badly injured moments before she was taken away. Now it was because of her that Mobius was doomed to be taken over by the Iron Empire, and it was really her fault.
By then, the two Warrior Slayers, with a third one that had stolen the Chaos Emerald from Knuckles, had landed on in a large circular room which was dark and dim, the Gold version dropping Cream as she squealed in fright into a large glass ball pod which closed shut, trapping her inside while holding the terrified and frantic Cheese within it's grasp.
"Chao chao, Chao!" Cheese exclaimed, reaching out for his very best friend and surrogate big sister, only to squeak in pain when the giant robot tightened it's grip on him.
"Cheese!" Cream exclaimed in dismay, helpless as she was now taken away from her beloved Chao and left all alone trapped inside this capsule.
"Bwahaha ha ha ha ha ha..." A dark, evil voice chuckled from not too far from where she was, and the young rabbit girl and her captive Chao looked up to see the terrifying figure of Julius Iron Robotnik with his hands clasped behind his back, mockingly reassuring. "You have been such a very naughty little girl. Running away from those who would take better care of you, and should have stayed home to obey your mother's rules to not leave the house."
The man in question emerged from the shadows with a huge grin that was just as scary as Dr. Ivo Robotnik's, peering down at the frightened child.
"You're...Mr. Julius Robotnik...!" Cream shivered, leaning back as far as she could despite being imprisoned. She was suddenly very more afraid of this man than she was with Sonic's long-time enemy.
"Mister, you say? It's not very often I would be called that. Your mother as raised you well, I see. But not well enough." Julius's grin only widened, his eyes glowing more purple and omnious the more he spoke.
Despite being captured and helpless, the young Mobian girl tried to glare back. "Why do you have to be so mean? Why do you want take my friend Cheese away, take my Mother and hurt other people? It's wrong!"
Frowning now in deadly anger and disdain, the Iron Leader growled in his throat. "You know so little of your beloved little pet, brat."
"Cheese isn't my pet! He's my very dear friend!"
"It makes no difference to me," Julius scoffed, snapping his fingers as the three large Robots, under his command, walked past him with Cheese squeaking away while trying to free himself. "Here's a simple life lesson, little girl: The world will always be cruel, there will always be others to hurt people because they are all nothing but worthless parasites. Humans, Mobians and Mobini alike. Chao on the other hand hold a deep secret power and connection with the Chaos Emeralds, and that connection leads straight to you...And your mother."
"But why?" Cream didn't understand at all.
"So naive, just as expected from a girl of your age. You may understand of the Chao language but I believe you're far too young to be my fuel until you are old enough to be the replacement. Seeing you now..." Julius trailed off, grinning as dark, vivid images came to him. "Yes...Yes, I remember now..."
As he was saying the last part of his sentence, the Iron Empire leader removed his glasses, to reveal is pitch-black eyes and horrifying pupils of red and purple that glowed, making the five year old scream in fright, just as the alarms set off and causing both of them and the still squirming Chao to glance up.
"Oh, don't tell me..." Julius growled.
"Sir!" A soldier's voice called out from the intercom, sounding all frantic. "We have incoming sights of the X Tornado and GUN fighter jets! Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles the Echidna are among them!"
"Ngggggghhhh! Of all of the interference! Open fire at will and don't let any of them get in!" The evil Leader roared, grunting as he wondered if today was really going to be a mixture of good and bad luck. Especially with Mobian teenagers and a bumbling buffoon of a scientist who was unfortunately related to him on the loose.
Hearing what the intercom had just said despite her fears and worries increasing by the second, Cream couldn't help but feel a sense of hope that not all was completely lost. Sonic, and the others...they were alright, and they were coming to save Mobius!
"En route to Angel Island, and to the Iron Empire's base!" Tails announced firmly, going as fast but carefully as he could, still feeling guilty that the X Tornado could only fly at an average speed now that their Chaos Emerald was in Julius' hands.
"I can't believe those Iron creeps had the last Emerald and were under the ocean the whole time!" Amy grunted angrily, after Sonic explained as briefly as possible on how bad the situation was.
"Yeah, of all of the places they've hidden themselves, it had to be the last place that's my biggest weakness!" Sonic agreed, still berating himself for not having realized this sooner. He narrowed his eyes, forcing himself not to dwell into the past. "Well, now Ju-loser just made a mistake in rising it up, 'cause we're gonna hit those monsters nice and hard and rescue our friends and all of those people!"
"We're with you all the way, Sonic!" Vector declared boldly, making the hedgehog glance at him in surprise, the green crocodile smirking at him with a thumbs up. "We're all on the same team, aren't we? I ain't gonna let some creep to get away with hurtin' folks or cause damage!"
Seeing how the crocodile detective was actually very serious, given his history with Vanilla, yet at the same time the older Mobian really did help out a few times in the past, and with Charmy, Espio, and especially Tails, Amy and Chris all nod in agreement, Sonic smiled sincerely back at all of his friends both old and new. Vector was right: They were all a team and they all shared the same goal.
"Thanks, Vec'! Thanks guys! Let's do it to it!" The fourteen year old winked back with a thumbs up.
"Yeah!" The group except for Espio who simply nodded with a smirk, all cheered, just as sudden loud noises caught their attention and they all turned to see what was going on.
"Whoa, incoming!" Chris cried out, horrified with his heart dropping, while the others all gasped in disbelief. From the hatches opening from the sides of the base that surrounded the altir of the Master Emerald Shrine, several fighter planes and robots came deployed out for an immediate destruction of incoming intruders.
"Uh...Tails?" Vector began, nervously.
"On it! Hang on!" Tails shouted, quickly maneuvering the X Tornado flight-styled loops before he quickly opened fire at the robots and planes while dodging their own attacks.
"We gotta get through the air-fleet!" Sonic grunted, his eyes narrowed. If they went down now, there would be no chance in getting to Cream and Cheese, Vanilla or the trapped villagers."
"I have an idea! It's a risk, but I shall handle it!" Espio, without waiting for questions or responses from his friends, closed his eyes and focused while turning invisible.
"Espio, what're you doin'?" The blue hedgehog asked, bewildered with his heart racing. 'Man, this is the lousy time to turn invisible!'
Yet the purple Chameleon had leaped and jumped, secretly tossing his mini-shurikens expertly at certain robots and planes before he landed back onto the X Tornado's wing while Tails continued to air-fight the enemies.
'One...two...three.' Espio mentally counted.
BOOM!
The next thing the heroes knew, the robots exploded on the outside with energy cores falling and descending towards the ocean way down below, while at least four planes were badly damaged, the pilots inside panicking as they began to lose altitude.
"We're going down! Something was implanted onto our planes!" One of the Iron Empire Pilots screamed, frantically, struggling to regain control.
"Mayday! Mayday!" Another exclaimed hysterically.
"We need to eject, fast!" A third quickly went to eject his seat, sending him out of his downed plane before he activated his parachute to descend gently.
"Roger that!" A fourth agreed, doing the same, as did the first two pilots who didn't really want to die. As they all floated downward, he sighed with resignation. "Why did I ever agree to join the Iron Empire? We're so going to jail after this is over..."
"What the? How did that happen?" Sonic blinked, he, Tails, Amy and Chris all surprised, while Vector and Charmy both smirked. Unlike them, the duo knew exactly what happened.
"Great job, Espio!" The crocodile gave his invisible friend a thumbs up, just as the fifteen year old detective returned to visibility.
"Whoa! You actually did that? How?" Amy exclaimed, admittedly amazed.
"As a Ninja, attacking enemies without them seeing you is sometimes the key to success." The teenage Chameleon wisely answered with a small smirk.
Sonic whistled, smirking. "Thanks, Espio. Nice work!"
"Incoming, guys!" Chris quickly warned, pointing up ahead just as more enemies began to approach.
While some of them grew even more worried, Sonic grunted before smirking. "Well, I guess this is the invitation to the welcome mat! Let's give 'em a house-warming gift in exchange!"
Just as the Iron Jets and Robots made to open fire at the X Tornado, Tails quickly fired back and flew around while the blue hedgehog leaped and spun with his Homing Attack, shouting as he hit as hard as he could against the robots, creating a lot of dents and smashing into them where he took out the cores at the smaller ones before emerging. Seconds he did, the Iron Empire machines exploded in midair combined with the two-tailed fox cub's piloting skills, and Espio jumping and tossing more of his own weapons, slicing the heads of some of the robots off and damaging the enemy planes' wings to send the pilots spiraling out of the control as they screamed.
"Sir, the hedgehog and his friends are taking us and the deployed soldier-bots out!" One of the Iron Soldiers reported, panicking. "We may need to retreat!"
)-(
"NO! Don't you dare surrender to that blue child! Keep firing! Destroy them all!" Julius roared angrily, thrusting his fist at the dashboard as he was monitoring the heated battle through the surveillance monitors, with Cream trapped inside the capsule behind him, and Cheese still within the clutches of the Warrior Slayer-Gold's clutches.
Cream watched on fearfully, seeing how terribly hurt Sonic was, yet the blue hedgehog was still fighting strong with the aid of everybody in the X-Tornado. Her heart raced with anxiety and prayed that her friends would be alright.
"AH! OH NO!" Another one shouted, fearfully.
"Now what!?" The evil Iron Leader growled, exasperated.
"We have GUN Air fleet coming in!"
"WHAAAAAAT!?" This wasn't what he was expecting. Julius quickly turned back to the screens and gasped in shock, as true to his soldiers' words, the large fleet of GUN Beetles and Jet Fighters were coming in ready to battle.
No! This cannot be happening!
)-(
"This is Beetle 1 to Beetle 2, we're in position." One of the GUN pilots reported through the radio.
"Hold on, Sonic and his friends are here on the X Tornado." Another quickly responded, as he took notice of the young Mobians and Chris already fighting the Iron Empire forces.
"New mission objective: Take out the GUN soldiers! We can't let them attack our base!" One of the Top Soldiers commanded, controlling a more powerful Fighter Jet with a dark snarl.
While this was happening and now the GUN Jets and Beetles were causing a massive assault against the enemy organization, one of the planes included Rouge and Topaz who were about to get hit when they saw a missile about to hit them, they gasped in shock, Knuckles, still hanging on with determination, gritted his teeth when he too saw this coming.
That, and seeing Sonic and the others struggling to get through, fueled his desire to help them and set things right.
"Incoming!" Rouge warned, her eyes widening.
"Hold on!" Topaz instructed, quickly pulling a lever which had her plane to open fire as well, another missile being launched and collided with the enemy's in a huge explosion. She and her friend both smirked and cheered with high-fives.
Unfortunately, the victory was short-lived as something came flying in shockingly high-speed straight towards them, causing the two women to turn and flinched when they saw it was another Iron Empire robot, crafted in a shape of an Eagle what let out a loud shriek. It's beak was wide open as it made to fire more attacks.
Just as Topaz was frantically making to move out of the way, all of the sudden a familiar red figure came leaping off, unbeknownst to her and the stunned albino bat who gaped in surprise, from their plane and with a mighty yell, punched incoming rocket that was fired right off course and sent it flying towards another Iron Robot which met it's early demise by being hit straight into the chest, destroying it and it's core instantly.
"You think you and your leader can get away with taking over my island, kidnapping a little girl and her Chao and her mother, and other people, you messed with the wrong GUARDIAN!" Knuckles yelled, using his gliding ability to keep himself from falling, glaring at the robot, known as the Soar-5, heatedly.
"It's Knuckles!" Topaz blinked, genuinely surprised at the unexpected rescue.
"Hmm...Never thought I'd say this, but I think I can admit that he's my hero." Rouge remarked slyly with a teasing grin, causing her human partner to sweat drop at her with a deadpanned expression.
Without waiting for a response as the Soar-5 prepared to attack again, Knuckles glided in an impressive speed with his fists ready, punching away and knocking back more rocket jets in careful but every direction before he landed onto the giant robot itself, bashing away it's eyes which cracked and sparked with electricity while it let out a seemingly pained cry. But it began to sway it's head to try and get him off, the echidna holding on for dear life as he grunted to prevent himself from falling.
"Here's another round for you, bot-heads!" Sonic shouted, using his super speed to leap from one flying robot to another, somersaulting and flipping with a smirk while the machines opened fire at him and his friends. He Spin Jumped out of the way when another missile unintentionally destroyed it's own comrades.
Espio did the similar thing, Air-Kicking at another robot's missiles before he tossed more of his weapons to avoid them from hitting the X Tornado which continued to open fire while Tails was skillfully maneuvering his plane at the right moments. The two-tailed fox cub gritted his teeth while his friends cried out in alarm, or in Charmy's case, super excitement.
"Oh, man! Sure hope our insurance covers this!" Vector gulped, his fingers becoming sore from gripping the sides of his seat for so long with his heart pounding in his ears.
"Tails, look out!" Amy shouted, pointing to the right.
"HUH!?" Tails glanced to see and gasped in horror along with the others as Eagle robot, being Soar-3, was flying straight towards them with it's beak open to engulf them.
Thankfully Sonic saw what was happening and gasped in dismay before he quickly used the other robots's bodies and heads like stepping stones, missiles destroying them in their failed attempts to eliminate him despite Julius' orders in order to save his friends.
"Noooooooo!" The blue hedgehog quickly Axe-Kicked at the later robot's face to steer it off-course and sending it losing altitude.
Having an idea as he saw that it was about to recover, Sonic quickly used his Homing Attack just as the Soar-3 managing to reposition itself with it's mouth open. The rest of the group noticed and cried out in dismay, realizing what he was about to do.
"Sonic, no!" Chris exclaimed, his hands placed against the glass, but there was nothing they could do to save their friend.
Sonic spun right into the Soar-3's chest, bashing his way against the walls with huge damage and reached the robot's core right at the heart of it. He wasted no time in smashing it into pieces, sparks quickly esculating with the robot about to explode.
"Sorry, Big Bird! You are so grounded!" Sonic taunted with a smirk, quickly racing back up the chest as it began to rejuvenate before he spun straight out of it, escaping just in time with a leap while the robot was destroyed seconds later.
Smirking confidently despite time running out, Sonic casually reclined with his hands behind his head, waiting expectantly just as Tails called out his name. Seeing this had the blue hedgehog flip and landed back onto the plane's wing safely.
"Nice entrance!" Charmy commented, his eyes sparkling in awe.
"Heh, thanks!" The teenage hedgehog winked back.
BOOM!
"WHOA!" Everybody screamed as the sudden explosion that was far too close for them done by the combination of GUN Beetle and an Iron Empire Robot sending out laser shots at each other caused the X Tornado to tilt dangerously to the side and began descending out of control.
This also made Sonic lose his balance, nearly falling off in alarm before he quickly held onto the wing but was left perilously dangling while Tails struggled to get the plane back into position, the young fox and the rest of the group including Espio, who was riding on another robot to attack more when he saw what happened and gasped in horror.
)-(
"Mr. Sonic, no!" Cream shouted in distraught, seeing what has happened along with Cheese who squealed in dismay.
"Bwahahahahaha! It seems that the blue child's days are now over! Iron Army! Be rid of that hed-hm?" Julius, in the middle of his victory, cut himself off when he saw yet another intruder coming his way. "What in...Oh no! Don't tell me!"
What he saw only made things even more frustrating.
)-(
True to the Iron Leader's fears, the still up and running Egg Fort was also making it's way straight towards Angel Island despite the damages. But Robotnik was strongly determined to end his brother's regime to claim his own victory.
"Charge in straight towards that Iron Warehouse, on the double! Those GUN clowns and Julius' little cub are too busy fighting each other!" Robotnik commanded, gritting his teeth.
"Yes, doctor." Decoe and Bocoe quickly set their course straight towards the base, despite that things were looking extremely bleak and dangerous even for their own good.
Yet as they flew in straight ahead with their enemies finally taking notice, yet could only focus on their battles before some of the fighting forces of both sides were quickly ordered to take him out as well, the two robots noticed something with the designs.
"Doctor, look at this." Bocoe leaned forward at the monitor.
"At what?" The evil scientist asked, irritated.
"This is the inside of both the GUN and the Iron Empire's robots." The grey robot was quickly doing some scans of the schematics of one of the GUN Beetles and the Soar-5.
Quickly reading through the blueprints and data, they were all shocked to find the mechanics were extremely familiar.
"They're exactly like yours, doctor!" Decoe exclaimed in disbelief. "The Iron Empire must have copied your designs in the recent years and that's why they have taken extra precautions on their robots! The GUN must've done something similar too!"
This didn't please Robotnik at all, as he realized that all the broken pieces may have been taken from his previous defeats against Sonic and the blueprints from his destroyed base weeks ago that somehow survived.
"How dare that incideous murderer and those underhanded hoodlums steal my ingenious robot designs to use in those revoltingly inferior hunks of junk monstrosity!" The mad doctor growled dangerously. "I'll show that Iron-Fan-Club and that gang of sneak thieves what happens when they cross Dr. Ivo Robotnik!"
)-(
Knuckles eventually pulled out his Shovel Claws, after struggling to regain his balance, hissing lowly before he thrust right into the Soar-3's head by slicing it off. Grinning at success, he then swung his way right into the robot's body and slid his way through.
"Sonic and the others are gonna need all the help they can get! I have to at least give them an opening somehow!" The teenage echidna narrowed his eyes, refusing to let everybody down.
At the same time, Espio made to jump off to help Sonic who was struggling to pull himself up, and Tails straining to pull the X Tornado back up before they would end up falling into the ocean.
"Tails! Sonic needs help, and we're about to crash!" Amy screamed, frantically, as she feared not only for her 'boyfriend's' safety, but also that if her younger friend didn't pull up soon, they were done for.
"I know!" Tails cried out, silently pleading for his aircraft to regain altitude quickly for everybody's sake.
)-(
"Sonic is about to fall off the X Tornado! I don't think even he will be able to get to the Chaos Emeralds!" Decoe exclaimed, worriedly. As much as he didn't like Sonic, he had to admit that things were getting very desperate.
"He'll be fine, as usual! For once, we'll worry about that hedgehog, later!" Robotnik grunted. "Launch Egg Beam Cannonball!"
)-(
By then, Knuckles had successfully destroyed the Soar-3's core and busted himself out while spinning, quickly using more robots that were close by to jump and leap while the Iron-Eagle exploded behind him. He then noticed the X Tornado, which Tails finally managed to pull back up with a loud cry of determination, and Espio jumping to land onto the left wing.
"AH! NO! NOOOOO!" Sonic screamed, losing his grip despite that his little brother managing to regain control of the plane.
"Sonic! NO!" Tails cried out, only to jump in shock when Chris, narrowing his eyes and no longer able to sit by and watch anymore, squeezing his eyes shut, forced open the hatch and awkwardly climbed out onto the wing. "Chris, wait!"
"What are you doing!?" Vector exclaimed, bewildered.
Amy, gasping, narrowed her eyes before she too quickly stood and joined Chris who wobbled a bit, nearly falling off but was saved when she helped him to stand. The human boy nodded in gratitude with a smile which the pink hedgehog returned, before they quickly reached out to save their friend.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The blue hedgehog braced himself as he finally began to fall.
"I gotcha!" A human hand quickly grasped onto his left arm, much to Sonic's shock as he looked up and saw, much to his relief, two of his friends having caught him in time.
"Hi, Chris! How ya' doin', Amy?" Sonic smiled weakly, deeply grateful.
"We're not gonna let anything happen to you, sweetie! We're all in this together to save Cream and her mother!" Amy reassured with a playful wink, as she and Chris quickly pulled the cobalt teen back up.
Sonic sighed in relief before standing. "Thanks, guys! Now let's bust our way through that Iron Creep-House!"
"Hey, look! Isn't that Knuckles?" Charmy gestured, pointing at the left.
Everyone else turned with their eyes widening in surprise to see that the young bee was right, as the aforementioned echidna, who secretly smiled in relief to see Sonic was safe for now, glide his way over to the X Tornado, landing on the other wing moments after Espio who gave a silent nod of greeting. Knuckles returned it with his own.
"Knuckles!" Chris beamed happily, waving in relief.
"Heh, glad ya' could make it! Came to join the party, huh, Knux?" Sonic greeted his older friend half-teasingly, his trademark grin and wink while providing a thumbs up.
"I came here to settle the score with the Iron Empire, and get my island back!" Knuckles grunted, clutching his fist tightly. He then softened his expression a little. "Plus, Cream and Cheese are in there. I'm not going to let them get hurt. It's my fault they ran away."
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm no better in being a babysitter." The blue hedgehog confessed sincerely, gazing back to the island. "But we're gonna get our friends and Angel Island back together!"
Any further the conversation would go was suddenly stopped when the heroes all heard a loud engine, casting a glance over their shoulders at the same time as Rouge and Topaz, who were nearing the island itself. A simultaneous collection of gasps was echoed when the Egg Fort was directly right behind them and a large blue laser cannonball coming straight towards them, the GUN Beetles and the Iron Jets.
"PULL UP!" Sonic gave a panicked cry, quickly helping a twice as panicked Amy and Chris back into their seats.
Tails didn't need to be told twice, screaming before hoisting his plane further upward, while Topaz narrowly managed to maneuver her jet hard to the left. Robotnik's attack soared directly by them and unfortunately for the the Iron Soldiers and GUN pilots, they weren't so lucky, because they were directly hit with a massive explosion. The heroes were forced to shield their eyes while Sonic, Knuckles, and Espio retained their balance to prevent themselves from falling over.
"Hey, cool it, Robotnik!" Sonic shouted to his enemy. "Somebody could've gotten hurt or killed!"
"That was the idea! I may have missed you and your friends in the firing range, but at this moment, you all are the least of my problems!" Robotnik growled, still furious. "I am through with that murderous second-rated Iron-Punk, so now I'm returning the favor, by blowing up his base!"
"Wait! Cream, her mother and Cheese and other people are trapped in there! I'm not gonna let them die!" The blue hedgehog protested.
"Well, then, perhaps you'd better get to it and while you're busy, those Chaos Emeralds will be mine!" The evil scientist cackled, his ugly grin widening. He cared little for the welfare of the hostages. That was Sonic's problem.
Many air crafts of both sides were heavily damaged, not even the GUN Beetles could much up against Robotnik's machinery, while the Iron Jets collided into either the enemy crafts or into each other. More and more pilots, screaming in fear once they realized the situation is far more dangerous, were forced to eject themselves, leading into a parachute fight once the soldiers nearly collided.
"Looks like Robotnik's making things more complicated. We're going to have to do this the hard way, and team up with Sonic's group." Rouge dryly sighed, she and Topaz now realizing the end result of this ongoing battle.
"You're right. I hate to admit it, but this is one of those times I'll have go against the code. People's lives are at stake!" Topaz reluctantly agreed, squeezing her eyes shut momentarily before snapping them open, determination fueling her instincts. "We're going in!"
The bat agent held a sly smirk, clearly impressed with her partner's slight change of heart to go against orders for the sake of innocent civilians.
Meanwhile, Sonic and his friends were left to deal with two sets of problems, casting either angry glares or horrified expressions at Robotnik's direction. Tails began struggling with the continuous threats of the Iron Jets opening fire and the evil scientist getting in the way at the same time.
"We'll never rescue Cream, Cheese, her mother or the Floral Forest Villagers at this rate!" Chris frantically held on, dread having already planted itself into his chest and stomach, his heart's rate making it as though it threatened to explode.
"Yes, we will! Just need to get Egghead off of our tail, fast!" Sonic's eyes narrowed, fueled with determination blocking off any negative emotions creeping up. The adrenaline of thrill, excitement and courage engulfed him like a powerful blast of wind and sunlight.
"We'll keep Dr. Robotnik busy! Sonic, I think you'll have to in without us!" Tails, a heavy weight of hesitation forming, instructed while gesturing at himself, Amy and Chris who blinked in surprise.
"I'll keep the Iron Losers busy and hold them back!" Knuckles volunteered, the burning sense of responsibility raging in. As much as he wanted to get to the Master Emerald, he knew that other people's lives couldn't wait any much longer.
"And we'll go find the other kidnapped citizens and get 'em out!" Vector quickly added, he, Espio and Charmy all giving the blue hedgehog a salute.
"While we do that, the rest is up to you, Sonic," Espio firmly concluded, a knowing look into his eyes staring right at the fourteen year old's. "You are the Chosen One, and if anyone can overcome this obstacle, it's you."
Not too keen on leaving his friends behind to drive off Robotnik or the Iron Empire, Sonic knew that there was no other options left. Plus given how much they all had been through, he had strong faith in everyone with him to come back safely and alive by the time this was all over. Right now, he had to rescue Cream, Cheese and Vanilla, get the Chaos Emeralds back and defeat Julius once and for all.
He wasn't going to back down! Not now, not ever!
"Roger that, guys! I'm countin' on ya's!" Sonic responded after a brief moment of hesitation, his trademark grin firmly in place. He gave the team a two-finger salute. "Let's do this!"
"Need a hand, hons?"
The sound of the familiar voice startled the group, all of them glancing up to find the aircraft Knuckles had secretly been riding on hovering quite close to them. At first they tensed up, believing that GUN would be attempting to tell them to leave this mission to them, but then Sonic realized he recognized who it was.
"Because it looks like you and your friends really need it, Big Blue." The voice of Rouge continued, a hint of teasing very noticable.
"It's Rouge!" Sonic cried out, half-relieved, half-surprised.
"Bah! Not that thieving bat again!" Knuckles on the other hand, was far from pleased in seeing the female agent/jewel thief.
"Huh? Who's Rouge?" Charmy asked, blinking in confusion.
"Long story." The blue hedgehog quickly responded, shrugging. While GUN did still make him uncomfortable and pretty shady, Rouge may be after jewels, he trusted her enough to call an ally.
"What is she doing here?" Amy demanded, having heard about the female bat who had saved HER Sonic and if she didn't know any better, Rouge was out to take him away from her!
"Nice to see you again, Sonic, but I think you should tell your little girlfriend to not get her quills in a knot," Rouge heard what they all said, much to Topaz's sheer embarrassment, and they both could have sworn that they heard Amy hiss in sheer anger. "You're a gentlemen, but you're not my type unfortunately."
"Uhhhhh...Yeah, sorry Rouge. But feelin's mutural...!" The hero of Mobius tried to keep himself from squeaking in fear, as he and the rest of the guys gazed at the blazed-glaring Amy who looked ready to simply bash everything in jealously.
The albino bat giggled, "Not offended. Besides, that red guardian friend of yours is more cute to me."
"Wait, what!?" Knuckles seethed, his eyes widening in sheer shock. Did that bat just call him cute!? Again!? What was she playing here?
"Alright, that's enough!" Topaz' voice commanded impatiently, quickly ending the increasingly awkward bickering. "This is Topaz. We're here to help you to rescue the kidnapped cilvilians, this includes Cream and Cheese. Sonic, we know that you were attempting to find her mother, so you'll have to locate them and stop Julius. We'll the rest and don't worry, there will be no casualties. You have our word for it."
"They really want to help us?" Chris asked, bewildered. Even the twelve year old boy didn't see that coming.
"Any help would be really great right now. We're gonna need all we can get!" Tails pointed out, his eyes narrowed since now wasn't the time for judgement or arguements.
"I'm kind edgy with GUN in general, but I trust you guys," Sonic called up to the two agents, giving them a wink and a thumbs up. "Thanks a bunch, Rouge and Topaz!"
Knowing that time was running out and things were accelerating heavily, and with both Sonic and Tails deciding to give their trust into Rouge and Topaz(much to Knuckles' dismay), everyone else decided that the two brothers were right.
"By the way, thanks for saving us earlier, Knuckie." Rouge commented to the red echidna, who felt even more angry.
"I don't remember saving your life..." Knuckles gritted his teeth, his temper attempting to explode and unleash here and now. "And don't call me Knuckie!"
"Looks like Knuckles is already getting a crush on that Rouge gal'." Vector remarked half-teasingly, making Charmy giggle, Espio expressing a semi-horrified expression, and Sonic, who tried to stifle his snickering by covering his mouth with his hand, Tails, Amy and Chris to sweat drop incredulously.
"Wha-What are you talking about!?" The aforementioned echidna demanded, his face flushing with a dark pink hue.
"So, when's your big date, Knux?" Sonic grinned teasingly, and while now wasn't the time, this was the perfect opportunity in getting his revenge for the bet on being forced to take Amy out on a date for Valentine's Day.
"Shut up, Sonic!"
"You pipsqueaks are not going anywhere!" Robotnik interrupted, getting everyone's attentions once more. "Stay out of the way, or else!"
"Sorry, Buttnik, but I've got dibs on Ju-Loser!" Sonic mocked a salute, quickly getting back into action.
"Blast them away!" The evil scientist ignored the blue hedgehog's response, with his two robots opening fire more missiles, both at the X Tornado, the GUN plane and the Iron Jets.
Seeing this, Sonic, Knuckles and Espio all shared a nod, the trio leaping off, using the launched larger missiles to their advantage in leaping and jumping on each one. Knuckles punched one that came to his direction which it swivered and swayed out of control before colliding with two more missiles, a huge explosion in mid air. Espio kicked and dodged several more, using his explosive shurikens to defend himself, the deep passion of setting things right surging through his blood. Sonic in the meantime laughed as he homing attacked more, and landed on another missile that was heading his way, this time from Soar-7 as it opened it's mouth to reveal a smaller missile.
The cobalt speedster grinned, leaping just in time when the missile he rode on was hit by another. He caught the Iron missile easily with a glint straight at the Iron soldier who, seeing this sweat dropped nervously when the zoom in feed caught the teenager's expression.
"Uh-oh..." The soldier murmured, his voice in a high-pitched squeak as he began to fear for his life.
"Sorry, but this is the wrong address. Please return this to the post office!" Sonic tossed the missile right back to the plane, while silently hoping that the pilot would be able to get out, as he didn't like in taking people's lives.
Fortunately, he didn't need to worry, as the screaming soldier quickly got out of the jet before gently descending to wherever with the plane being destroyed in an instant. Even though Sonic made to continue leaping, he gasped when Soar-8, the final plane of the Soar Fleet, expanded it's wings with multiple machine guns and hearing the cries from his friends with Tails attempting to speed up the X Tornado in order to save him, the blue hedgehog began to fear that he was as good as dead.
)-(
"Yes! That hedgehog is finished! Goodbye forever, Blue Child!" Julius cackled, the radiation of madness sweeping all throughout his body with a frightening display of red and black aura creeping up into his vision.
Cream let out a dismayed and horrified gasp to see that Sonic was trapped, unable to escape. The guilt she felt was so powerful, she felt like she was held tightly by an evil giant in the giant stories her mother and her friends would read to her.
)-(
Little did she and the evil Iron Leader know, Sonic, with the sense of uncertainty, had an idea that was risky, but he knew there was no other options left. He had secretly been training once he began learning a bit more of the inner power he never knew he had. The blue hedgehog thought back of that secret skill and now the time has come to put it to the test.
"Here goes...Hope this works." He whispered, silently praying for a miracle.
Taking a daring jump in mid air the moment the lasers were fired upon him, Sonic spun quickly into a tight ball, but didn't move an inch, much to his friends' confusion. Yet something very amazing happened: His body quickly glowed in blue aura in a similar way to when he fuses with the Power Rings, only the light formatted out and created some kind of barrier right in front of him, instantly protecting Sonic from the lasers which were reflected and sent right back to the plane that was hit and heavily damaged into falling towards the ocean below, and the horrified pilot screaming in shock and panic.
Everyone that witness such new display were stunned, almost completely speechless.
"Whoa!" Tails, Chris, Charmy and Amy gaped.
"Could it be...?" Knuckles murmured, as though he had seen this before, but only in the ancient gryphics he'd discovered recently.
"A Chaos Energy Shield...The legends are true." Even Espio couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Sonic just created a shield all by himself!?" Decoe thought he was having a dream mode, unable to believe what he just saw.
"How did he do that? It's impossible!" Bocoe cried out, now getting even more scared of the Mobian teen.
Robotnik couldn't comprehend his enemy's newest ability either, and just when things couldn't get any worse for him. This was starting to really make him even more concerned. "As much as I hate to admit it, but from what I can analyze with the increase of Sonic's Chaos Energy, he has unnaturually developed new abilities while able to harness them without causing harm to himself."
"Yeah!" Sonic cheered once he uncurled himself, descending for a perfect landing onto the X Tornado's wing shortly after the older two teens did. "How's that for an instant shield?"
He admittedly couldn't believe he managed to pull it off, having been worried tha he would get killed and his new skill would fail. Sonic was so glad that his new power not only kept him safe from harm, but it was so strong that it even sent back the attacks without too much damage.
"What the heck was that?" Vector asked, perplexed and dumbfounded with a sweat drop. He didn't even see this coming.
"His Chaos Energy is growing," Espio responded, catching his friends' attentions. "It's clear that Sonic has been training and developed an increase of his Chaos Force itself. I have studied that those who have a much higher levels of said energy are able to open up more abilities with cautious training. I'm surprise that Sonic is able to use this technique."
Inside his base, Julius was far from pleased, having witnessed what Sonic had just done. Unbidden fury rose from the pit of his stomach right up to his very dark, evil mind that one would think he would explode like a volcanic eruption. Cream and Cheese in the meantime were greatly relieved to see the heroic blue hedgehog safe and sound.
"Oh, thank goodness! Mr. Sonic okay!" Cream exclaimed, emotional tears forming in her eyes.
"Grrr...THAT DOES IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! THERE'S ONLY ONE WAY TO DESTROY THAT IRRITATING HEDGEHOG ONCE AND FOR ALL AND I WILL TAKE OUT NOT ONLY HIS PITIFUL FRIENDS, BUT ALSO IVO EGGMAN ALL AT ONCE!" Julius roared in such pure rage that both of his hostages shivered and leaned back in fear.
Without saying anything else, he snapped his fingers which the lights dimmed to the point where the five year old little girl screamed in fright, and Cheese could be heard squealing away, also scared. Cream whimpered, deeply worried for her beloved Chao, her mother, and all of her friends. She could make out the sounds of the giant robot stomping of heavy metal clanking, and the sillhouette of Julius sitting.
"I never would have thought I would be using all of this power against one, small, infidual rodent, but now I am left with no other choice." Julius hissed, as in the dark that his prisoners could not see, he began hooking himself up with wires connected with sucken cups, having taken off his dark cloak.
Cheese squeaked, panicking before he was dropped right into another capsule, where he looked around worriedly. The little Chao then glanced around, whimpering just as he began glowing in white light. It was then that another soft glow appeared, in the form of an orb beginning to take shape of a familiar figure the same size as him. He gaped in surprise, to see a guilt-ridden and saddened Ghost-Chao who whimpered, before flying away unnoticed by the evil Iron Leader.
Yet Cream saw the little ghost and, confused, she placed her hands onto the glass and witnessed it penetrate the walls, unaware that the ghost of the Hero Chao was off for one final mission: to lead Sonic into the chamber to rescue her, Cheese, Vanilla and get the Chaos Emeralds back before it was too late.
"By the time Sonic the Hedgehog gets here, I will be at my full strength, and soon all of Mobius will bow before me..." The twisted man grinned, just as the Iron-Slayers began connecting the Chaos Emeralds into a glass capsule, also hooked with the glowing hum of the Master Emerald...
Hidden beneath the cover to hide it's light.
"Okay, this is it! While I go inside that base, Tails, you keep Eggman busy! The rest of you, find the missing villagers and the Master Emerald and get out before they catch you!" Sonic instructed, just as they were nearing the edge of the island, finally having to drive off most of the Iron Soldiers who were too occupied in taking out GUN soldiers and Robotnik being briefly blocked off as well.
"Got it!" Tails replied with a confident thumbs up.
"You can count on us, Sonic!" Vector grinned, winking.
"Here we go!" The blue hedgehog declared, once he was satisfied with everybody else's responses.
Now flying over the base itself and lasers from the X Tornado and the GUN Beetle opening fire along the walls and roof, taking out security machine guns that didn't have a chance to even take time, Sonic and Knuckles both made the daring leap off from the former plane, the cobalt speedster crashing neatly through similar to how he broke into Robotnik's island base.
Multiple security Iron robots spun around upon impact with the alarms blaring, just in time to see Sonic, despite not being able to see straight away due to the dust which thankfully dissipated, stand there confidently and he smirked upon seeing the machines.
"Whoops! I didn't bring my invitation card. Guess I'll have to give you guys a refund." He mocked, grinning right before he Spin Dashed into the robots almost single handedly, making sure he destroy their power cores to avoid in them rejuvenating.
Sonic chuckled as they blew up right behind him, winking at the wrecked machines with a faux send off. "Keep the change...or keep your metal charges."
Without wasting anymore time, he hurried through the corridors in hopes of locating where his kidnapped friends and the other hostages were held at, and to take out Julius' evil plans once and for all.
Back with Knuckles and the others, while the red echidna glided is way towards another part of the building, Topaz and Rouge were already barging in with the Chaotix also nearing the point as Tails hovered the plane close to the edge of Angel Island.
"I'll have to drop you guys off here. We can't let Dr. Robotnik get any closer." Tails instructed, sweat forming and his heart beating with anxiety. Time was running out and they had to all end this fast before it was too late.
"Understood." Espio nodded, as a panic-stricken Vector and an enthuiastic Charmy climbed out of their seats, ready to take the leap.
"This is so cool! We're gonna be savin' people! Wheee!" Charmy exclaimed, excitedly, waving his arms about.
The Mobian Crocodile on the other hand, quivered like a leaf in an awkward position as he wobbled onto the wing that seemed to be a bit too small for him. He wasn't afraid of heights, per se...He just wasn't used to this sort of thing.
'Man...If this is what Sonic does all the time, that kid's sure darn crazy and reckless, more than me!' Vector mentally gulped, silently praying for nothing else to go horribly wrong. "Well...Here goes nothing...!"
With a mental countdown, the three detectives made a daring leap(except Charmy since he can fly), and began to quickly descend towards the island, with Charmy grabbing hold of Vector's right hand, and Espio grasping at the crocodile's legs. What really surprised Tails, Chris and Amy who were about to fly towards the Egg Fort, was the five year old bee managing to actually hold onto his larger friends and guardians.
"Oof! You guys are kinda heavy!" Charmy grunted, straining to hold on and not let go. While he was seeing his mission as exciting and fun, he knew that that he couldn't let his mentors down. They, Sonic and little Cream depended on him to ensure this case was a success.
"Just don't drop us, Charmy! We've got a damsel in distress and people to save!" Vector firmly reminded, sweat dropping and just how high Angel Island really was. He made a mental note to ask Knuckles on how the Master Emerald's power can keep it levitated, let alone float freely everywhere.
"Sure thing, boss!"
It wasn't long before the Chaotix landed just near the other hole where Knuckles, who saw what Sonic did, punched his way through and Topaz and Rouge landed their large ride, racing into the building. Sighing in relief with Charmy and Vector panting and complaining about either the strain or the near fall(not that they did even experience in wobbling but still), before Espio reminded them that they had work to do. The three then quickly hurried after their other allies to find and locate the kidnapped prisoners.
Back up in the air, Tails, Amy and Chris shivered as they charged towards the Egg Fort, the giant vessel firing at them to which the seven year old fox cub returned almost instantly, maneuvering sharply to the left.
"There goes the large amount of luck, doctor." Bocoe sighed, shaking his head in growing exasperation.
"At least Lucky isn't around to give you anymore of the bad luck you already have." Decoe stated, though he began to worry that unless something was done, Sonic could be finishing them off once he defeated the Iron Empire once and for all.
That, or Robotnik's brother could do so himself.
"BE QUIET!" Robotnik snapped, beyond furious by now. He has had enough of both Sonic's continuous interference as well as Julius getting in the way and repeatedly stealing his ideas. "Julius dares to use his big guns, does he? I'll show that muderous Iron-Head not to mess with me!"
Upon hearing that and seeing what their creator was about to do, the doctor's fingers flicking a few switches that lit up before a small hatch opened to reveal a red button, Bocoe and Decoe recoiled in fright and horror.
"Doctor, are you thinking what I think you are thinking?" Bocoe questioned, fearfully.
"I think that is what he is thinking." Decoe responded for the human scientist.
Robotnik grinned, chuckling darkly under his breath. After all, desperate times called for desperate measures, his sunglasses glinting. "Good thinking. For the first time, I, the great Dr. Ivo Robotnik, will transform the Egg Fort into the greatest robot ever created. I was saving it for a special occasion, but why put it off any longer? After all, I'm feeling lucky!"
That was what the two droid assistants feared the most.
Back within the Iron Empire base, Knuckles and his group, once reuniting and getting a few clues on where the prisoners were, thanks to the red echidna, Rouge, Espio and Vector making playful threats to a couple of the Iron Empire Soldiers who feared for their own lives, hurried down the corridors and tunnels in hopes of locating the trapped prisoners.
Knuckles was busy punching the A.I living out of the Iron Robots that opened fire right at him, but he dodged swiftly, smashing right into their chests to take out their power cores, while Vector swung it's tail at several power with a battle cry, grunting when one managed to nearly scraped him on the arm.
"Ugh! Ow!" The Mobian Crocodile hissed, clutching his arm that was slightly burnt from an unexpected laser.
"Boss! Are you okay?" Charmy asked, worriedly when he and Espio saw what happened.
"I-I'm fine. Don't worry about me." The nineteen year old responded, glaring heatedly at the robot, an Iron Ninja, swirling it's ridiculous looking shuriken rapidly.
"I will handle this one," Espio declared boldly, taking a cautious step forward. "That machine cannot be deemed as a true ninja."
Using his camaflaouge ability, the purple chameleon silently but swiftly dashed forward, much to the surprisingly bewilderment of the robot who, seeing the fifteen year old disappear, glanced around hoping to find it's target. Unfortunately for the Iron Ninja, explosive shurikens were placed firmly onto it's back and torso, before they ignited and ultimately destroyed the outer layer, severely damaging the core that it dropped out and landed on the floor, and Espio dismissed his ability.
While Charmy cheered on and Vector gave Espio a thumbs up with a praised grin, they heard more Iron Soldiers charge in, much to their, Topaz who ducked and dodged another she was busy fighting before kicking him squarely on the head, hearing him grunt in agony as he hit the floor hard, out cold, and Rouge who drill kicked several more robots that stood in the way, irritation.
"Man, these guys sure don't know when to quit!" Vector remarked.
"Maybe they would like some bumping!" Charmy stated, charging at a couple of the soldiers with two of his friends, quickly fearing for his safety, hurrying to join him. The enemy froze at the charging Mobians, the young bee shouting. "Take this, bad guys!"
Aiming his sharp stinger right at them, he was surprisingly so fast that all his opponents could do was scream comically before they were poked and stabbed all over the place by his attack, Vector using his jaws to chomp the weapons into pieces, and Espio leaping and thrusting straight at them, the soldiers attempting to dodge out of the way.
"Mommy!" One of the soldiers screamed pathetically after he and five more soldiers were left with bad stings, running away back to where they came from.
"I hate bees!" Another wailed.
"That's it! I quit this job!" The third shouted, finally having enough of this nonsense.
"Forget the boss!" Said the fourth.
"Can we go home now?" The fifth pleaded, crying loudly.
"There's no way we can win now!" The last one exclaimed.
Vector and Charmy both cheered on victoriously before sharing a high-five, and Espio folded his arms proudly, Topaz and Rouge, both panting, smirked in satisfaction and Knuckles grinned.
"Great job, guys! C'mon, let's get those people and the Master Emerald out of here!" Knuckles praised, quickly taking the lead.
"For once, I'm with him on that one." Rouge agreed, taking flight after her rival.
"We'd better hurry. They might not have much longer." Topaz instructed, and the three detectives nodded in agreement.
But as the six of them began to near their destination, none of them nor the rest of their allies or even Robotnik knew of what was about to happen.
Sonic continued fighting his way through the other part of the base, axe-kicking at several robots and soldiers, knocking out the latter enemies since he didn't want to end up killing them, punching at a few more and either Spin Dashing or Homing Attacked the rest. He raced into one tunnel to the next, but to his frustration he wasn't getting anywhere in finding Cream, Cheese, Vanilla, Julius or even the Chaos Emeralds.
"They've gotta be around here somewhere! I wish I didn't knock those other guys out cold!" The blue hedgehog grunted, chasiting himself for not thinking things through.
"Chao..."
"Huh!?" Skidding to a stop upon hearing a familiar, soft, but echoing squeak, Sonic softly gasped to see a floating figure, tiny and white with light blue, hover straight towards him.
His eyes widened in sheer shock upon seeing who it was, memories of when he first encountered the small ghostly creature: The same Ghost-Chao that lead him to the Chao Garden, helped him to save Chris at Silver Valley Lake and helping out the Galoon, and even gave him a few odd clues. It came crystal clear to him now.
"The Ghost of the Hero Chao..." Sonic whispered, just as the little one stopped inches from him, the truth forming as he creased his brows in sympathy and concern. "It's you...You're...Clover, aren't you?"
The ghost of Clover the Hero Chao, the previous incarnation of Cream's precious friend Cheese, slowly nodded before he pleadingly gestured right at the large door that held the symbol of the Iron Empire not too far from where they were. The fourteen year old, gazing at it, suddenly felt the increase of Chaotic Energy coming from within and his heart froze, fear, worry and realization dawning onto him.
"The Chaos Emeralds are in there...are Cream and Cheese in there too?" He asked, pleadingly, and Clover nodded, tears forming in his little eyes with a look of guilt and sorrow.
Seeing this made Sonic's heart ache, feeling guilty for not realizing this a lot sooner, that this little Chao was the one for having stopped Johnathan many years ago, yet failed to prevent history from repeating itself.
"Hey, it's not your fault, little guy. You were a great help. I'm sorry for not being able to keep this from happening all over again," Sonic reassured, gently reaching up and, surprised that he could actually touch the Ghost-Chao's incorporeal body, gave him a soft rub on the head. "But I'll stop Julius and save our friends. I promise!"
Clover's eyes widened, before forming an emotional smile, hovering over to nuzzle at the hedgehog's face which resulted in him chuckling affectionately. Just as Sonic was about to thank the Ghost-Chao once more, he blinked in surprise and reached for it with a plead to wait as the spirit then vanished in sparkles. Saddened by the sweet, brave Chao's departure for now, Sonic then gazed at the doors, determination rising to it's max.
'Hang in there, guys. I'm on my way. Cream, I won't let you down again!' Sonic steeled himself up for the possible confrontation against Julius.
Sonic almost instantly than Homing Attack straight towards the doors, bursting straight through before landing on the floor and skid to a stop, glancing around only to gasp in shock to see several wirings and capsules, with imprisoned Flickies and to his horror, several wild Chao, mostly the same as Cheese, but those whom were like the ones back in Mr. Tanaka's homeland in the Chao Garden. In fact, he was fairly certain they were precisely the ones from that place.
"How did Julius get to the Chao Garden? I thought it was secret!" He exclaimed to himself, his heart breaking at the sight of the poor little things trapped against their will. Was this why the Hero-Ghost Chao lead him here? Was it really...Clover leading him to try and save Mobius all this time?
"Mr. Sonic!"
Gasping softly at the welcoming familiar voice he had so desperately sought out since coming to infiltrate the base and spun to his right. There he saw his youngest sweet friend who was curled up inside the glass orb, trapped and desperately planting her hands onto the thick walls.
"Cream!" Sonic cried out, immediately hurrying over and placed his hands on the glass as well. "Cream, are you okay?"
"I'm okay...But Cheese, and all of those Chao...I'm so sorry, Sonic..." The distraught little girl began to shed even more tears, weeping in guilt. "It's all my fault!"
Seeing his friend cry broke his heart, and even worse, she was still blaming herself for what has happened. If only he could hug her, hold her into his arms.
"Shhhh...Cream, it's okay. Everything's gonna be alright. I'm here now, and I'm gonna get you, Cheese, your Mom and the rest of the kidnapped people outta here. I'm not gonna let you down again." Sonic softly vowed, hoping that his supporting words would give his sister the much needed comfort as she needed.
"You're too late, hedgehog," The familiar dark voice spoke behind the hedgehog who along with the young child gasped in alarm, and the teenager whirled around to see where it was coming from. "Everything is going according to plan..."
"Julius...!" Sonic hissed, only making out the silhouette of the evil Iron Empire Leader while standing protectively in front of his youngest friend.
The lights then flickered on which made Sonic winced a little, until his vision cleared up to find none other than Julius Robotnik sitting on a throne, slots with all seven of the Chaos Emeralds surrounding him. To the horror of the two Mobians with wide eyes, there were several more pods around the throne, including the now turning white and blue Cheese the Chao who moaned weakly on the evil man's right, and to his left, was a larger capsule that held a seemingly unconscious and imprisoned Vanilla the Rabbit, the mother of Cream.
To make things more concerning, Julius now donned a tight suit with a dark green chest-plate with a silver buckle, sleeves and pants all black with dark grey gloves and boots, with attachable suction cups on his arms, chest and legs with wires connected to them and even towards the capsules with the trapped mother and Chao, and even where the Chaos and Master Emeralds were...the giant Emerald behind the evil man himself.
"Although I didn't think you would come and make it this far...So I suppose it is a great pleasure to give you a last minute invitation to observe the greatness of my absolute power." He continued, his grin just as cold and twisted as Sonic had ever seen him, and it was terrifying.
But the hedgehog's and even the little rabbit girl's attentions were solely onto the trapped prisoners next to the Iron Empire Leader.
"Mama! Cheese!" Cream cried out in terror and distraught, horrified at how badly hurt her mother and beloved Chao were.
"Mrs. Vanilla...It's her.." Sonic whispered, instantly recognizing the mother of his youngest friend, more identical to the child in real life. His heart squeezed in guilt as the very sight of how weak Vanilla and Cheese were.
Many questions ran through Sonic's mind. How is he going to able to rescue Cream's mother and Chao, the rest of the Chao Colony and the Flickies? Will he and his friends be able to save the world and stop Julius from harness his most evil plan yet?
From the looks of things, this was just the beginning of the greatest terror of all time!
To be Continued!
A/N: Yeeeeeaaaah...Definitely a four/five-parter finale. Because the next episode (assumingly, I'm not sure at this point) will be the end of the current Arc for real. Sorry for not keeping up with my plans, guys. Hopefully the next arc won't have the same problem, but ideas always tend to either extend original ones or replace them.
Anyway, brace yourselves for more shocking revelations and(hopefully this time) the epic final battle between Sonic and Julius, with a few extra unexpected help along the way.
See you later!
