Chapter 9
It took us going through numerous parts of the ARK to find the room in question, where we actually arrived at the same time as Eggman had, so we simply hid ourselves in three different locations. Maria hid via invisibility technology, Rouge hung on the ceiling (as bats do) and I hid myself underneath the bridge that Eggman was on. And neither of the two heard us or saw us, just as I'd hoped.
"I see you decided to come," Shadow said as Eggman then hopped out of his mech in intrigue. "Now I will show you what Professor Gerald, the world's most brilliant scientist, has created," Shadow smirked as he produced a lot of computer screens around the place, which included the ARK's experiments, the numerous GUN weaponized robots, and the Eclipse Cannon. "The ARK was the very first space colony created by mankind. But not many people knew that it was also a research facility that made weapons of mass destruction. And this machine is one of them, a laser capable of destroying an entire planet. Codenamed: The Eclipse Cannon!" Shadow gawked.
"My word! My grandfather must've been very amazing to have built all of this!" Eggman gawked.
"However, in order to power the Eclipse Cannon, we'll need these," Shadow said as he produced his Chaos Emerald and placed it in the machine, it being the green one. "In order to power it to full charge, we'll need the power of the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Once you have that, you will gain the ultimate power of destruction to use as you please. And then... the world could be yours!" Shadow said with a smirk. And Eggman looked very pleased by his words.
"AHAHAHAHA! This is amazing! All I need to do is find the Chaos Emeralds and show the world of the power I now yield! I will become the ruler of the world! OHOHOHO!" Eggman shouted as I then spoke in an accent.
"Do you really think it would be that easy, mate?" I asked in an Aussie accent as I then detached myself from under the bridge and flapped my new wings to be on the bridge, as well as Rouge and Maria simply appearing from their hiding places as well.
"What the-?! How did you get on the ship?! And Maria?! What are you doing here?" Shadow asked in shock. I also noted that Eggman had a Chaos Emerald in his hand as well.
"We simply found a strange teleporter and found this place by accident..." Maria said with a smile.
"And who are you three, then?" Eggman asked.
"I am Samus the Peahen. This is Rhea the Bat, and this is Maria," I smirked in my accent still. "But if you'd be willing to let us have a look at that there emerald, we might be able to help you. Whaddaya say?" I smiled.
"And if I do, what's in it for me?" Eggman asked.
"You need Chaos Emeralds for this plan? And I want revenge for what GUN did to me... and as for you, Ivo. Don't you recognize me?" Maria asked him, that making Eggman gawk.
"Wait... the pictures I had... that was you?! Maria Robotnik?!" Eggman gawked.
"It's nice to meet you in person, cousin Ivo... I wish to help you. And I happen to have an added perk to my body, because of what GUN did to me," Maria said as she then produced two antenna from her head, which surprised Eggman. "I have a built-in sensor that can locate anything that I hold in my hand from around the world. If I hold that emerald in your hand, I can find out where the remaining four emeralds are located," Maria smiled.
"Four? But we only have two," Shadow frowned.
"No, you have three. Because I am a treasure hunter that specializes in all kinds of jewels," Rouge said as she produced her Chaos Emerald from a personal purse she had on her leg, like with Sly Cooper.
"Hmm... you seem to be quite the capable bunch. To stumble here by accident, wish to help me, and be good at finding the emeralds we need... very well, we will allow you to assist," Eggman said, Maria smiling as she then had the emerald in hand and then let out a signal on her antenna. And after doing so for a bit, she then had a pinging sound happen from her mouth like she were a radar. And after a few seconds, she then had a jitter happen to her head.
"Found them! One Chaos Emerald is on its lonesome, currently on the move someplace. And three others are on a secret island base owned by GUN... I can finally get some revenge on them," Maria said with a frown.
"Maria..." Shadow said as he then came closer to her and she simply sighed.
"When GUN rescued me, they turned me into a robot, very much against my will... I still have the mind and voice I had at the same time I had died, but I am unable to age. Immortality is a curse I would not wish on anyone," Maria said with a frown.
"I'm still surprised that you're still alive after all this time. It happened over 40 years ago, the day you died, that is. And how come you're still alive when pronounced as dead?" Eggman asked.
"Because I was going to be used as a weapon by GUN... but I was rescued by a rogue agent, who placed me in witness protection by changing my last name to Raiden instead of Robotnik," Maria said with a sigh.
"Well then, I'd say it's time to go and get to finding those emeralds," Shadow smirked.
...
...
While getting on the way to the island in question, I contacted Topaz via telepathic speak in their minds specifically.
"Colonel, can you hear my voice in your head?" I asked her, me knowing she was spooked. "Don't go for your radio, just think what you want to say and I will hear it. I have a status to report," I said, her then thinking to me afterwards.
"What's your status, Agent Cheryl?" she thought to me. And how could I use this power? The silver emerald could allow me to speak to people in their minds along with the life force stuff.
"Myself and Agents Maria and Rouge have convinced Doctor Eggman and Shadow that we're on their side. We need to get access to the Chaos Emeralds on the island base where the other Agents are. We need you to get them to have the personnel evacuate and leave only robotic weapons in attack mode. We don't want them to think it's too easy, got it?" I said, that making Topaz chuckle in her mind.
"I see you value your fellow soldiers, Agent Cheryl. A very good trait to have as an agent. I'll get to telling the Agents to evacuate the others," Topaz said in thoughts, me smirking at that as we continued through the jungle via our own feet... or in Eggman's case, a walking mech. And after walking for roughly half an hour, we finally got to an area that looked out to the island from the jungle and Maria's antenna were still going, but now they had changed color to the point that they were blinking red.
"My radar says the 3 emeralds are roughly 4 miles near us, on that island somewhere," Maria smirked.
"Very well. Let's discuss how we are going to do this," Eggman said as he then held a bomb in his hand, it being a timer bomb. "Once inside of the base, Shadow will place this bomb on the generator inside the base and set it on a timer. Once we get those Chaos Emeralds, we leave the place as fast as we can and get back to the ARK," Eggman said, me nodding at him as I noted that there was one single boat that was escaping towards the north of the island, out of sight of Eggman... but not to me.
"Got it, let's get going," I said as our group proceeded to fly our way there (Shadow used his jet shoes, cheater) and when we got down there, we saw that there was a singular person that was actually trying to escape the place... with a little friend.
"Oh dear, we got out, but I don't know where to go... what do you think, Cheese?" asked the incredibly innocent powerhouse known as Cream the Rabbit to a little Chao named Cheese.
"Oh? Who do we have here?" Eggman asked as we then landed on the ship and Cream looked surprised.
"Oh, hello, there. Who are you? And can you please help me out?" she asked, me looking at her in confusion... did she... not know Eggman?
"Well, maybe I can help both you and your Chao. Wouldn't you like tha-" Eggman was about to say before I spoke over him.
"No, no, I can. Trust me, Robotnik, you don't wanna try anything mean involving the Chao, especially after what one of your enemy drongoes did to ensure that harming them could be subject to insane punishments," I said, him then groaning.
"You've done your homework again... fine, go ahead," Eggman said as I then smiled at her.
"What can I do to assist you, mate?" I smiled at her, still in my accent.
"Well, I wanted a bit of help... I had to rescue Cheese from this place because the people here were trying to copy the DNA of Chaos to make a new super soldier machine... but there are still 10 other Chao around the place that need rescued. Please help me out?" she asked, me smiling and nodding at her.
"I can do just that for you, mate," I smirked.
"Oh, I didn't introduce myself. How rude of me! I'm Cream the Rabbit... and this is Cheese," she said, me smirking and giving her a head pat as I then looked at Eggman and the others and knew that there was something going on with GUN if they were using Chao for these machines. And now I knew how the Chaos robots were created. I needed to have quite the talk with Topaz and the commander about what was going on. And if the Chao were getting hurt? Then they could be subject to serious punishments, such as decades behind bars and massive fines!
"Permission for me to try and find these Chao while the rest of you enact the plan? I'll make sure Cream and the Chao get away afterwards," I said with a wink.
"Very well, I shall allow that. Just make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew, Samus," Eggman frowned as we then proceeded to go out and into the base. I had a new mission now, to find the 10 Chao that were on the base before the bomb went off.
Once inside, I saw that the area I was going to be infiltrating was none other than Prison Lane. And I noted that there were numerous machines in the place that were still operating despite there being no humans or Mobians around. I proceeded to go through the place and destroy any robot that shot at me with my Chaos Emerald powers (namely fire and wind shots) until I found the end in only 4 minutes. And when I saw what was going on, I understood what was going on. There were exactly 10 Chao in the room and they were in cages... cages that looked to be filled with scanners. And they were scanning the Chao one by one in unison and sending their data to a computer. And this computer? It was making Chaos Robots, which I DID NOT allow GUN to do at all! In fact, this was a direct violation of the rules I'd put in place. In fact, it was rule number 1! No inhumane experiments were to be performed on Chao or with them. I then proceeded to take a picture of the machines in the area and then free the Chao that were trapped, them cooing in joy when I did so, which made me happy.
"I'm in position, doctor. Tell me when," Shadow said on his intercom.
"There's been an unexpected delay on my end. We've no time to waste! Set the timer for 20 minutes! Let's go, everyone!" Eggman shouted as I then gathered all the little Chao up into my arms and proceeded to fly us out of the room and through the roof hatch above us! I then let the little guys go, just in time for Cream and Cheese to appear.
"Oh! You saved them! Thank you so much, miss Samus!" Cream smirked as I then turned off my radio and smiled at her.
"Fun fact, that's just a fake name to confuse the bad guys. My real name is Cheryl... I'd suggest you and your Chao friends get as far away from this island as you can, because some bad people I'm fooling into an alliance have set a bomb to go off in less than 19 minutes," I said, her gasping and then looking shocked.
"B-But what about any of the humans?" she asked.
"I had them evacuated before we arrived... as far as I'm aware, you and the Chao were left behind. And I'm gonna chew out the owners of this base for that, believe me... just go, get going, quickly!" I said, her then flying off into the distance while waving goodbye to me.
"Bye, miss Samus, winkwink! I hope we meet again!" Cream smiled, me nodding as I simply sighed at how cute she was. Shame that she got redacted after her final appearance in Generations... hell, she didn't even appear in Team Sonic Racing and got replaced by the worst Chao ever, Omochao!
"Now to check on the others' status, starting with my friends that evacuated everyone. And the one I decided to check on first was Tikal.
"Tikal, can you hear me? It's Cheryl," I thought to her, Tikal then thinking back to me.
"Yes, it's me. What's going on with this plan of yours?" Tikal asked.
"I had the place evacuated, or so I thought. The personnel of GUN had captured 11 different Chao, including one that was owned by a little rabbit Mobian. I had to rescue them and took photos of the different things they were doing to them. And I need to know if you can find out if any of the GUN agents knew about it," I said, her then speaking afterwards in my brain.
"I'll do that. Believe me, I'm able to sense when anyone is lying. That's how I knew you were telling a white lie about what you were explaining about your real past... but I think it'd be better if I don't know," Tikal said, me sighing in relief at that as I noted that it was now roughly 5 minutes since the bomb had been set. So I had to ask one more thing.
"And what of the others in our group? Are they also out of the range of the island?" I asked.
"Everyone but Sonic. He insisted on running as opposed to flight, so he's still nearby. Please find him," Tikal said, me nodding as I then proceeded to sense where Sonic was... and I sensed him in the Green Jungle, running through it towards the end. He was already out of the blast radius, so I felt he'd be okay... but as for the others? Shadow was on his way away from the place and Eggman had already jumped ship. But Rouge and Maria were currently still inside of the vault!
"Maria, Rhea, what's your status?" I asked them both via the walkie-talkie.
"W-We've hit a small problem... we got locked in the safe after we stole the emeralds! I guess I won't be able to call myself a treasure hunter anymore..." Rouge said, that making me frown. I then sensed through the complex with my Chaos Emerald sight... and I saw that the place was set to automatically lock anyone inside the vault after they took the emeralds. And it was set at least 2 minutes before we arrived!
"Shadow, you and me, we have to go in there and rescue them!" I shouted into the walkie-talkie, me then hearing him speak afterwards.
"Got it, let's move!" Shadow said in it as we then rushed towards where the vault was at, me being surprised at how deep in the base it was, it being in the deepest underwater part of the base, meaning we had to go in there without letting the place flood! I managed to get there first and saw that the vault was completely locked up with extremely strong metal doors. I then proceeded to punch the doors down with my fists, using the purple emerald to make my strength increase! And after roughly 8 different punches, I managed to pry apart the doors with a big enough opening for Rouge and Maria to rush out with all three of the emeralds. And thank goodness, because we only had 4 minutes left until the bombs went off!
"Shadow, we need help, now! Please!" Maria shouted into the walkie-talkie. And shortly after, with three minutes to spare, Shadow arrived and executed his signature move.
"CHAOS CONTROL!" he shouted, focusing the power on all four of us and the Chaos Emeralds, us then being enveloped in a bright light before arriving in the Space Colony ARK, in the area that allowed you to look at Earth.
"Hah... hah... that was scary... thanks, mate," I sighed in relief, still in my accent.
"Hmm..." Shadow frowned at me as I then decided to tell the truth, since I got nervous tinkles, as I called them.
"I gotta go use the little girl's room... where is it?" I asked.
"Down the hall and the first door on the right," Maria said, me going in that direction and sighing in relief when I got to said bathroom and deciding to contact Topaz... with my brain once again.
"Colonel Topaz, I have a bit of a problem that I need to speak with you about," I thought to her.
"Yes, what is it? Did anything problematic happen during your double-agent work, Agent Cheryl?" Topaz asked as I sensed that she was legitimately worried.
"While on the place, I found that the place wasn't evacuated. They had 11 Chao that were locked in cages and doing experiments on them for some new form of weapon called Chaos Robots. And when we went to get the emeralds in the vault, Agents Rouge and Maria were trapped in there because someone set us up, making the vault lock up the moment they got a single Chaos Emerald," I thought.
"Dammit!... I had no clue of any of this! I need to find out what happened on that base! Trust me, I will find out who was responsible for both of these crimes among our ranks, I promise," she said, me noting that she was being truthful with what she said and that she was very upset at what she'd heard.
"It'll be tough to find out the one responsible for the Chao experiments, but I can say that the one to set up the trap in the vault was a few minutes before we arrived. You're sure to have the surveillance footage uploaded somewhere else. And I'm sure your lie sensors can find the culprits and get them punished according to the laws we made," I said.
"Well... I just wanted to let you know one thing. The commander said he was planning on making a new weapon to use against Eggman. I don't want to rule out everyone... but if he happens to be the one to be responsible... I don't know how we can punish him due to his powerful position," she said, me frowning at that.
"Then I guess I'll have to contact him myself with my mind powers. I can also sense lies. And if I find out that he's being truthful, I'm going to hurt him where it hurts him most. His pocketbook," I frowned.
"Okay, I trust your judgement," she said to me. It was time to find out the truth.