Sonic Aftergame 2: Rise of the Armada

Prologue- approaching storm above the clouds

(Six months after the defeat of the Wizard Naugus by team Sonic.

The night skies over earth... these days, a mostly serene and quiet place, far away from the hustle and bustle far below. A cold wind blows around here in the upper atmosphere, where the glittering stars above are your ceiling, and the rolling clouds below your floor. It was into this serene silence that a massive airship rose up through the clouds, parting it as it rose like some mighty bird towards the heavens.

It looked like... a galleon. A massive, ironclad Spagionian sailing galleon, over half the size of the egg carrier, with an elegant black and gold paint job covering the whole vessel. A massive battery of plasma cannons and blasters stuck out on either side. And golden billowing sails, that were obviously solar collectors that powers the ship, hung off the masts. . But it wasn't the gigantic vessel, larger than any other islander airship on the planet, that caught the eye. No, it was the large ship's figurehead, of the upper body of beautiful, red-haired female chipmunk wearing a crown, and a long and elegant blue dress, with a sad look on her eyes.

Queen Callisto's Revenge- the royal Airship of Sabato Island. Named for King Nigel Umberto Ghianda's late wife, the Sabato island salvage teams had built it out of the parts stripped from a crashed egg carrier, then covered it in the hull of an old Sabato island warship. It was the pride of the Sabato island royal air navy, and was so massive and powerful, that Silver the hedgehog has once told everyone the Royal family still in used it in his time. The crew, accustomed to coming up to this high altitude, continued working on the decks. While the figure of a red European squirrel islander in a diadem crown and blue jacket stood on the deck, looking out at the stars.

"It's so peaceful out there, isn't it, brother?" A female voice asked from behind him. Prince Alfonzo spun around, to se his sister walking up to stand behind him on the deck. The two were on their way home after a diplomatic visit to the United Federation, and neither of them could wait to be far away from the hustle and bustle of the public eye. "Hard to believe that these skies were filled with warships and battle, not that many years ago."

"That was in the days of Eggman, Sal, which are now long behind us." He told her with a reassuring smile, as the brown chipmunk girl in a blue ball sequin dress and tiara came up to stand next to him. "Thanks to Sonic and his friends, the world is a safe place again."

A burst of cold blew across the deck, and the prince shivered.

"Great Gaia, it is far too cold up here." He pulled his jacket tighter around his body. "If it weren't for the clear view we get of the Stars, I wouldn't even bring the ship up to this altitude."

"Maybe you should try wearing some pants, dear brother." Princess Sally told him with a laugh. "That is why we female islanders wear clothes all the time, unlike you boys, who only wear shoes and gloves. Our bodies are too sensitive to the temperature and air pressure around us, it's a hard-wired biological instinct we girls keep ourselves covered."

"You don't gave to give me a biology lesson, Sal." Alfonzo sighed, knowing his sister liked to explain things he already knew to annoy him. "Do I really need your teasing, after such a long and tedious diplomatic mission?"

"Whatever you say... Tuftee." Sally used that annoying nickname from his childhood, sticking her tongue out at him. "Even after all this time, you're still so much fun to annoy."

"What am I going to do with you?" The prince asked, rolling his eyes, before looking back up to the stars again. "I just wish you didn't get Bunnie, Antoine, Rotor, and Dulcy in on your dumb pranks-"

BOOM!

A loud noise suddenly shook the skies all around them, and nearly knocked both royals, along with all of the ship's crew, off of their feet. A stray cannonball had whizzed by the ship, and Alfonzo immediately pulled out his electronic binoculars, and spied off towards the direction the shot had come from.

"What is it, Fonzie?" Princess Sally asked, trying to squint as she looked in the same direction. "Are we under attack? Should we put the ship on high alert?"

"No... but I think it would be wise for us to make tracks, and get the heck out of here." He handed the binoculars off to his sister. "It seems the peaceful skies of earth are not so peaceful anymore."

Princess Sally look through the lenses, and saw two fleets of ships duking it out. One was clearly a few ship from the Apotos royal navy, while the other... were several vessels from the Battle Bird armada, exchanging fire with the defending vessels.

"What in the world? What the heck is going on?" Sally lowered the binoculars, shaking her head in disbelief. "Attacking human ships? Has Great battle Kuku speedy gone mad?!"

"This must be important to Speedy, if he's willing to bring G.U.N. down upon his nation's head."Princess Sally knew her brother was right; while Islanders were individually physically stronger and faster than humans, their taller hairless cousins had the more advanced weaponry and military... including nuclear warheads. The islanders were just lucky that they had been friends and allies with humans since the copper age, with virtually no hate or animosity between the two related species throughout most of their histories. "They must be after something really important."

Looking back through the binoculars, the prince saw the battle birds had successfully shot down the last Apaotoisan carrier, and were now moving on the freighter they had been escorting. For a moment, the prince thought about engaging the battle bird ships and trying to help the humans; but before he could give the order, the battle bird ship quickly tethered the cargo hauler, and zipped off at a speed greater than anything the Callisto's Revenge was capable of.

"The birds just made off with something valuable. It's a good thing they did not see us over here." Alfonzo sighed, as he and his sister headed below decks."We probably could've taken such a small number of ships, but the crew would have definitely would have sustained serious casualties."

"So... what are we going to do now?" Sally asked, as they both headed back for the bridge. Climbing up to the royal balcony,The prince plunked down in his command chair, and his sister plopped down into the smaller throne beside it. "We can't just do nothing!"

"We'll fly over, and try to help the human survivors in the downed vessels, as well as any that parachuted towards the ground." He shook his head. "After that, we need to radio the Sky Patrol. It looks like the world is going to need the help of Sonic and his friends, once again..."

The prince gave the order to Captain Finny down on the bridge floor, and the giant vessel lurched forward, racing towards what was left of the damaged human fleet.

...

On board the freighter, all of the human soldiers who had been guarding the cargo were dead, except for one, who was on his knees before Tekno the canary and the platoon of armed Battle Bird troopers accompanying her. The solider, quivering in fear, pleaded for his life.

"P-please, don't kill me." He begged, graveling in front of the canary. "I have a wife and children, just take the treasure and-"

"Calm down, luv. We're not going ta off ya." Tekno told him, in her thick accent. "We just want the treasure, and-"

At that moment, a battle bird soldier stepped forward, and shot the man in the head, executing him in cold blood.

"What the hell! Ya didn't bloody have ta do that!" Tekno protested angrily, wiping the man's blood off of her face. "He had already bloomin' surrendered!"

"Battle Lord Speedy's orders, officer Tekno." The trooper saluted her respectfully. "There are to be no human survivors... no witnesses."

With a sigh, Tekno callously kicked the man's corpse out of the way, and stepped towards the treasure vault. Entering the security codes, and opened the vault... and pulled out the blue chaos emerald.

"Well, we got what we came for. Let's get off this bloomin' tub, and let the explosives finish off the evidence." She held the emerald high over her head, and yelled out; "Glory to the armada!And death to the two-tailed fox, killer of the previous great battle kuku!"

"GLORY TO THE ARMADA! DEATH TO THE TWO-TAILED FOX!" They chanted back, raising their guns over their heads.

"And death to that bloody brass nail who betrayed me, Amy bloomin' Rose..." She thought to herself, as she and her troops exited the cargo ship, and returned to the battle bird galleon.

The armada ships cut the tether, then sped off towards home, as the cargo hauler exploded behind them...

TO BE CONTINUED...