Chapter 10: Battle on the Highway
In Tails' laboratory, the little fox sat at the monitor while Sonic brought materials for the portal, Amy Rose happily talked to Dora, and Aki looked at the portal with admiration and amazement.
"This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Aki said loudly before he turned to Tails. "Tails, do you know when we will turn on your portal?"
"First, the portal needs energy and repairs." Answered the little fox. "And then we need to gather everyone from our world along with Doctor Eggman and his army here so we can all go back to our world."
"How long will it take?" The Asian teen asked again.
"I'm a little done with the repairs." Tails answered, turning to Aki. "What about everything else... Well, approximately it will take many hours, even days."
"Tails, I hope we collect everyone and the Chaos Emeralds in a quick period of time." Sonic said as he approached his friend. "Have you all forgotten who the fastest living thing in the world is?"
"Heh, I never forget which of us is the fastest." The little fox said, smiling, before the smile faded and he asked a question. "By the way, where is Julia? I remember that she left my workshop to just take a walk."
"I don't know." Aki answered. "Maybe she's still outside."
"GUYS!" Suddenly everyone heard the panicked voice of a red-haired girl who ran into the laboratory.
"What happened, Julie?" Amy asked worriedly.
"Look at the news!" Answered the red-haired girl.
"This is about us?" Tails asked worried, worried that they were on the news again.
"This is not about us!" The red-haired girl answered loudly. "It's about Eggman! Look here!"
Julia pulled out her phone and everyone in the lab looked at the phone screen, where there were live reports.
"Today on Road 128 we were attacked by strange cars that look like insects or large mammals in appearance. It is suspected that these cars belong to the notorious terrorist Dr. Eggman. The police and military forces are currently dealing with this problem. All drivers are advised not to use this road until the problem is resolved."
The screen shows badniks who have been terrorizing the road and attacking people unlucky enough to be on that part of the road. The police and military forces are trying their best to deal with the badniks, but unfortunately among them there were large types that were impossible to destroy even with the most powerful equipment that the military has.
"Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed angrily when he saw the badniks.
"This is very serious." Amy commented with a worried look. "We need to go there and help those on the road there. They might get hurt there!"
"You're right, Ames." Sonic said with a serious look. "I have a plan. I, along with Amy, Tails, and Julia, run there. Dora, Aki, you stay here. We don't want you to get hurt, since you don't know how to fight off badniks like us and Julia. But don't worry, Tails will turn on protection for you, which, if anything happens, can protect you inside from an external threat like an additional horde of badniks. Me and Tails will fight the badniks while Amy and Julia help people leave the scene of the attack."
"Sonic, will you mind that after I help people leave the place, I will kick these robots on their robotic butts?" Julia asked, preparing her fists and smiling self-confidently.
"Okay, Julie." Sonic allowed, then he looked at Tails, Amy, and the red-haired girl with a grin. "Let's go!"
Before leaving the laboratory, Tails turned on the shield to keep Aki and Dora safe and closed the workshop. Soon the blue hedgehog on his feet with the red-haired girl in his arms and the little fox who was holding Amy and flying in the air headed towards the highway.
They soon arrived at this part of the highway. There was real chaos in this part: people who tried to escape from this place were attacked or surrounded by badniks, wrecked cars lay around and fire was everywhere. The police and military tried to cope with the attack, but to no avail, as they were also attacked by the robots of Dr. Eggman's army.
Sonic and Tails released Amy and Julia, and the heroes separated. The hedgehog and the little fox ran towards the badniks and, curling up into spin dashes, began to break them. The badniks noticed this and began to attack the blue hedgehog and the small fox, thus leaving the people alone. Meanwhile, Julia and Amy helped the people: getting some of their cars out, helping the injured and the survivors, and at the same time fighting off the robots from the people. This, of course, surprised the police and military, who looked at all this with open eyes, not expecting such reinforcements.
While the team of heroes was busy fighting the badniks and saving people, someone above flew by unnoticed. Mid-flight, he looked at the battlefield and especially at Sonic. It's red optics lit up brightly before it flew on.
Meanwhile at Julia's house...
Arthur, Iris, and Mark were in the kitchen. They all looked worried as they had recently found out what happened on the highway. And this one hundred percent meant that Julia was already there with her friends.
"Do you think she will be okay?" Iris asked her husband.
"I hope so." Mr. Woods replied. "Her friends are with her and protect her. I think she'll be fine."
"Mom, dad." Mark turned to his parents. "Can I go to the room? I'll get something there for myself."
"Of course, Mark." Iris said.
The red-haired boy left the kitchen and went upstairs. Julia's parents looked after their son before they continued talking.
"He's very worried about his sister." Mrs. Woods said. "Like the time she disappeared."
"Dear, everything will be fine with our daughter." Arthur said, walking up to her and putting his hand on her shoulder. "I believe in her. As Sonic, Tails and Amy are with her, she will return alive and well to us."
"I know." Said Iris. "But I still worry about her, especially when there is a terrible and mad scientist in this world. He almost drained the life energy from her earlier, and he can do this not only to her and others, but even to others like us."
As soon as Julia's mother finished her sentence, when suddenly...
CRASH
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
"Mark?!" The red-haired girl's parents exclaimed at the same time.
As if by instinct, they hurriedly went up to the second floor to see their son. Once they were upstairs in the hallway, they saw some robot forcibly holding their son near the window. The window itself was broken and there were fragments on the floor.
"Who are you?!" Arthur Woods shouted at the stranger with anger in his voice. "Let go of our son, now!"
Instead of answering, the robot silently turned to them with red eyes with black sclera. It was Metal Sonic.
"Mom! Dad!" Mark shouted to his parents and tried to escape from the robot's hands.
But Sonic's robot double noticed and squeezed his hand tightly so that the red-haired boy felt pain.
"Ouch!" Mark screamed in pain.
"Let go of our son, you...!" Arthur began and furiously approached the robot.
Metal Sonic turned and, taking both the boy's hands, flew through him.
"MARK, NO!" Mrs. Woods shouted, and she and her husband ran to the window.
But unfortunately, the kidnapper had already flown away.
"No…" Julia's mother muttered, tears welling up in her eyes as her husband tried to calm her down.
On route 128…
"Did anyone even know about the mini boss?!" Julia asked loudly.
In front of her, Sonic, Tails and Amy stood a huge badnik, whose appearance resembled a mammal from the mammalian family. The metal on the badnik's body was in red and yellow colors. The badnik had pointed ears, a tail with a point at the end, and sharp teeth. The huge badnik quickly walked towards the four, preparing to attack them. Cannons appeared on the robotic cat's shoulders, and it began shooting at the heroes. Fortunately, the heroes fled from the scene of the shot, unlike the police and military who remained on the highway. The shots hit cars and military equipment, leaving them with absolutely nothing to help the heroes fight the badnik.
"Amy, let's show this bad guy what we can do!" Sonic shouted to the pink hedgehog with a grin.
"Okay, Sonic!" Amy said loudly and took out her hammer. "But I need..."
Amy didn't have time to say anything when suddenly someone from around the corner hit the robot cat in the face. When that figure landed on the ground...
"Mighty!" Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Julia said loudly.
"Hi guys!" Said the armadillo with a smile. "Long time no see! Would you mind if I and others help you with this?"
"You mean everyone who was in Tails' laboratory and ended up in this world?" Asked Julie.
"Not all of them." Mighty answered in turn. "Ray and Espio are with me now. Everyone else is on the threshold of your laboratory and waiting for you."
"Okay and thank you!" The blue hedgehog said with a smile, then he looked at the little fox with confidence. "Tails, can you help Amy to go up?"
The little fox took Amy in his arms and flew up. Meanwhile, Mighty and Espio distracted the badnik while Ray helped the injured police and military officers leave the area. Tails spun in the air before he let go of the pink hedgehog. She flew towards the badnik's head and hit him on the head with a hammer. This left a huge dent in the robot cat's head. The badnik then fell to the ground and Amy landed gracefully in front of her friends.
"That was great, Amy!" Julia said, giving her a thumbs up.
"I already helped these people leave the zone." Ray said as he approached his friends. "I heard that an ambulance would come for them soon."
"Well done, Ray." Mighty said and Espio took out the ring.
The chameleon threw the ring. This ring expanded to form a portal. The human girl and the anthropomorphic animals entered through the portal. The portal itself soon closed. There were pieces of the badnik horde left on the highway.
In the laboratory…
Once everyone arrived at the lab, Tails disabled the security and opened the entrance so everyone could ascend.
"Guys, we're back!" The red-haired girl said loudly as soon as she and the others entered Tails' laboratory. "How are you doing?"
"Thank God that you returned alive and well." Dora said with relief and hugged her friend. "I saw on the news how you and your friends fought with that badnik cat. It was cool!"
"Yeah..." Julia said with a nervous smile, as she realized that she was already on the news.
"Knuckles, what about the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked the red echidna. "We have three Chaos Emeralds."
"Honey, Mighty, Ray and I found three Chaos Emeralds." Answered the echidna. "They are with us if anything happens."
"Now we have six Chaos Emeralds in total." said Tails. "Only one left."
"The best thing is that we are gathered here, and we have six emeralds." said Vector. "The Hooligans is also with us, including their transport. They are the second reason we ended up here."
"The bad thing is that we're already on the news." Knuckles said. "This is especially for Julia. Absolutely everyone saw how she fought with us. I don't want her to be questioned after we leave. Or worse."
"Knuckles, you can worry about this." Dora said. "I'm sure Julie will be treated somehow... humanely."
As soon as the Latin American girl said this, the phone suddenly rang throughout the laboratory. Julia realized that it was her phone that she had left here and went to the box that had the phone on it. She picked up the phone and saw on the screen many missed calls from her parents. Worried that something had happened at her home, Julie pressed the call and pressed the phone to her ear.
"Mom, Dad?" The red-haired girl began. "What's wrong? I saw a lot of missed calls. Everything is with you..."
"We're glad you're okay." Julia's mother said into the phone, sobbing. "But…"
"What is the "but"?" Julie asked, worried. "What's happened?!"
"Mark..." Mrs. Woods began. "...He was kidnapped by some robot..."
"What?!" The red-haired girl said loudly in disbelief before continuing. "Mom, what kind of robot is this? I know this is from Eggman's army. Didn't it hurt you?"
"This robot is look like Sonic." Iris Woods explained through tears. "We tried to save Mark, but, unfortunately, the robot flew away with him. We now have no idea where he is or even if he is alive..."
"Metal Sonic..." Julia said in the realization of who kidnapped her little brother before she bared her teeth.
"What happened, Julie?" Amy asked, walking up to her, and noticing that she was shaking with rage.
"Mark, my little brother..." Julie began. "...He was kidnapped by Metal Sonic."
"WHAT?!" everyone in the laboratory shouted except Fang, Bean and Bark, who was still knocked out.
"Your brother is kidnapped by Metal Sonic?!" Knuckles asked in disbelief at what he heard. "He's a child, right?!"
"Yeah, Knuckles." Julia answered. "I swear that if something terrible happens to him, I will send Eggman to hell!"
"Um...Guys..." Suddenly everyone heard the shaking voice of Aki, who was looking at his phone and his face was as pale as a leaf.
"What is it, Aki?" Tails asked and walked up to him.
What he saw on the screen shocked the little fox. Everyone in the lab, except the knotted Hooligan team, approached Aki and Tails and looked at the phone screen to find out what exactly shocked the boy and the fox. What they saw shocked everyone. There, the screen showed Boston under attack by Dr. Eggman's army. People ran for their lives while the badniks destroyed everything in their path. Most importantly, they saw the evil scientist flying around in his Egg Mobile and laughing loudly as he watched the destruction around him as if it was a funny show for him.
"No puede ser*." Dora said with horror.
"Saiaku...*" Aki said quietly.
"Eggman!" Exclaimed the little fox in rage. "He sent his robots onto the highway on purpose to distract us!"
"Not only that." Julia said with growing anger in her voice. "He kidnapped my brother and is holding him hostage, that piece of…!"
"There's my mom!" The Latin-American girl loudly said, panicked and worried. "She works in our restaurant today!"
"I won't let him turn such a beautiful city into his terrifying amusement park!" Amy said with an indication of anger in her tone before she pulled out her piko-piko hammer.
Sonic stared at the screen, especially at his laughing nemesis, with narrowed angry eyes.
Get ready, Eggman. We are already coming for you. Thought the blue hedgehog.
Next time...Battle of Boston!
This chapter is short compared to the previous chapter and the others, but I intentionally did this because this chapter is a bridge to the ending of Sonic Realization 2, where the heroes will fight to save the city from Dr. Eggman's capture.
See you next month with the final chapters of Sonic Realization 2!
Notes:
No puede ser* - It can't be (Spanish)
Saiaku* - What a horror (Japanese)