A/N: I have to admit, fillers can be hard to work with.
Anyway, sorry this took so long for being such a relatively short chapter. 1: I got sick for a week. 2: One scene gave me writer's block; specifically, the one where Sonic returns home to learn about Eggman. 3: I couldn't find enough extra or filler material to make this a longer chapter.
Now that my brother is (finally!) watching more episodes of Sonic X, he told me that I didn't have to adapt every filler episode, and I've decided to take his advice. With that said, here are the episodes I will be omitting from this rewrite:
That's What Friends Are For – Only the Helen scene can be salvaged, but it still can't be salvaged because of the whole premise of their adventure to begin with. I can't have the government try to catch Sonic just because of a party. However, Sonic and Helen going to the island makes for a good oneshot idea.
The Dam Scam – I know, this is supposed to be character development for Tails, but there's no particular reason why they're out in the savannah. Besides, isn't the Egg Fort supposed to be under the ocean? Anyway, I could only find one scene to salvage from this episode.
Little Chao Lost – This is also 100% filler, except the Chao getting mentioned at the end of the Chaos Saga. I have no explanation for how Mr. Tanaka saw the Chao in his childhood.
Revenge of the Robot - I can't say much about this, but since this is pretty much a filler episode, with the exception of Gamma, I've figured out a way to splice the ending of this episode with the ending of "Heads Up, Tails!" and the beginning of "Flood Fight". Use your imagination to figure out what I did until I get those chapters out.
A Date to Forget - This is definitely filler. Bokkun is seen getting thrown in jail, but he's completely free in the next episode. Also, Amy has greatly matured in comparison to this episode. Otherwise, it would be fun to see her and Sam together.
Mission: Match Up - This story will basically be replaced by an all-new, original story.
I'm still debating on Fast Friends and The Planet of Misfortune. (EDIT: Fast Friends will be omitted because it is filler, and the only canon part is Jerome getting fired. The Planet of Misfortune is going to get the Dam Scam treatment. Also, I'm omitting Sewer Search.)
Also, this note to Kurama The Platinum Zoroark: I watched Sonic F, and I LOVED it. I think my two favorite characters in it are Mr. Stewart and Ella. In Sonic X, Ella is voiced by a man, so they made it no secret that she's voiced by a man here too. Not only that, but her voice is gruff. Also, Mr. Stewart is the epitome of the Chris haters, even in public. He has lines such as "Run along, red-shirted boy… while you still can…" Also, am I the only one who thinks Chuck sounds like DBZ Frieza? I'd say the only drawback for Sonic F is that it only updates once or twice a year.
Anyway, on to the chapter. I know exactly how Chris felt at the beginning of this chapter, as about this time two months ago, I was called in for jury duty. I never had to serve, though, and my number was not called again (apparently they can do that in my state).
Be prepared for a few surprises this episode, especially you, SonAmy shippers. Also, I'm going to rename the Octoron and Quizons the Nautilus and Termites, respectively. And this chapter is named "My Sweet Passion" after the song. I think it's fitting. :)
I want to thank Alexandria Prime, 193, Wiener Blut, and VictorAlucard for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
If the reviews are too long for you, just scroll down until you don't see any more bold. With that being said, let's get on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
gwencarson126
love this version, first chapter and I am already hooked
better than the tv series
better personality for chris, he always seemed spoiled to me
AWESOME
will metal sonic appear?
will we have more time with dark sonic ( in the show he had literally 2 minutes of fame with no further explanation or appearance)
new sonic x fav
Thanks for the positive feedback! Chris is one of the biggest changes I have had to make. It's good to know you found him to be better than his TV appearance.
Metal Sonic? I'm considering it, but not in the near future. Dark Sonic? Are you kidding? He's awesome! Yes, he's definitely going to appear, and not just that one time!
Animation Adventures
Great adaption.
I liked the expansion you did of a lot of scenes that you kept. Especially how Internet would also be affected by the satellite removal. The exploration of Super Sweeper's internal workings was neat. We don't usually explore the inside of Eggman's robots.
I'm surprised that Eggman put Chris high on his enemy list. If Chris interfered with more of his plans, that I'd understand. But all that after ONE time Chris kept the emerald from Eggman, guy can apparently hold a grudge.
I did think it was strange in the original that Tails didn't know what a stratosphere was. Until now, I honestly didn't know about the exosphere.
I know Tails is a talented engineer, but even I'm having trouble believing he could do all that in one night. Even Eggman lampshades how unrealistic that is.
Also, the concern for Chris going into space was good to include. Looking back, nobody batted an eye at the idea in the original. I'm surprised that Chuck didn't join Ella's stance on that subject. I was fully expecting Amy or Cream to take his place in the mission.
Good job with this one. Speaking of Team Sonic Racing at the end there, maybe you could adapt it for a season four saga after the Metarex saga? There's an idea. Until next time!
Thanks! I had thought about what would happen if Sonic and Tails were actually sucked inside the Super Sweeper, and how they would escape. Good to know it worked out as planned.
In the words of another fanfiction favorite of mine, "If anyone crosses paths with Eggman, he goes after them." Pretty much the case here, and yes, he can hold quite a grudge, but let's hope it won't last too much longer, especially with a Chaos Emerald appearing in the next episode.
Trophosphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, exosphere… The stratosphere is only ten miles up. You won't find any satellites up there. And how on Mobius did Tails, with all his scientific knowledge, not even know what a stratosphere was? Even worse, he didn't know what a dam was in "The Dam Scam".
I know, that's hard to believe too, but he was extremely motivated, not to mention he already had blueprints ready. Normally he doesn't build that fast.
I can see Amy over Cream going into space to fight the Super Sweeper, but had I included her instead, the episode might not have been as special, and Chris would once again seem like a useless side character. I may alter this scene later, especially since Chris is aboard the Space Colony ARK in the Shadow Saga. (EDIT: Fixed!)
As for Team Sonic Racing, I'm afraid I'll have to say no on this one, as fun as it may be. This Sonic X rewrite is an AU, and TSR would have to take place on Mobius. Otherwise, it might make a great addition.
GuardianDragon98
Awesome update! Loved the callback to all of Sonic's previous adventures, including Sonic '06 ;)
LOL, "The Last Resort" :D I hope we get to see Sonic freaking out over going to the beach. It's gonna be hilarious.
I love making callbacks. If SEGA doesn't really reference previous adventures, leave it to the fans to do that.
I LOL'd at the thought of Sonic freaking out about going to the beach. He'll probably be fine as long as he doesn't go into the water. It's his appearances in "Depths of Danger" and "Cruise Blues" I'm concerned about. :)
The Green Seer
Hello! Fair warning, this is going to be long. I'm writing this as I go over the chapter for the first time. Not how I usually do it but I got a lot of things to say and I don't wanna forget them.
1. I like how you modified the last part of the previous chapter. The meet and greet flowed much better. Mat didn't have much spotlight but that's okay considering he's a new character.
2. Something that I have notice, from a writing point of view, last chapter and this one, is that it was repeating that Matt was sad sometimes. And I want to stress the word 'sad' because reading it the fourth time near Matt's name was becoming annoying. I use Word to write, and this program saved me by having a synonym option.
"I will," Matt replied, though it sounded reluctant.
Short and to the point. I learned a lot of new words with that feature and I constantly use it to correct myself or search for words that flow better in the sentence or context. Also, Matt was so much better here and there's definitely something up with him. Hmm…earthquake, huh?
3. I used to do that too. Insert my voice in the middle of the narration. (I think I remember you doing this before but I let it slide) In my first few stories I was doing it a lot, which is part of the reason why I am very hesitant to go back and reread them because I will throw up. I understand this is fanfiction, there are no consequences here. But professional writers don't do that. You could leave an index number and have your input down at the end of the chapter, like in books.
You could also do it like I learned to do it. Make it subtle and part of the narration. I like to joke, so my writing has a sarcastic flavor to it. Sometimes I poke fun at the characters or the situation but I try to integrate it in the POV I'm writing in. You actually did it too about Barney the Dinosaur:
(He still didn't get why that show has so many haters)
That was a comment that was rather irrelevant, funny and it came from deep within Chris's character. (With a correction that it should be 'had' in the second part because you only use past tenses.)
4. Minor grammar mistake when the TV died: "We had did nothing…" 'Had' had no place there. There may have been more errors but I'll include them here when I remember. When Sonic found the cockpit of the Sweeper: "…it only took me a minute and change to make it back to Tails." I'm not sure if you forgot to erase 'and change' but it confused me for a second.
5. References. References everywhere! I love that you keep bringing up stuff from other games or series. It gives me more things to add to the timeline. I'll mentally add the OVA now.
6. SPACE! My explanation for why mobians can survive in space was like this: first of all, Mobius has a much wider atmosphere than Earth due to the amount of floating islands and lands. So they can go pretty far out without actually leaving their planet. This was for explaining some games things, like how Sonic was able to fight on Eggman's fleet back in Unleashed; second of all, chaos energy. In my mind, I assumed that all mobians naturally have chaos energy flowing through them, except the fact that it is too little for it to be noticed (except people like Sonic and co.), so the chaos itself is protecting them from the vacuum of space. It is just something that is unique to their species, that they are more susceptible to chaos and for those strong enough, capable of manipulating it at will.
Overall, I would say this was the best chapter so far. I loved it! From the logic of the scene order, to the casual interactions between the characters, it was very pleasant to read even if I had to take numerous breaks because of random reasons. This chapter had the best dialogue, I'd say. Everything felt natural and there was no (maybe a little) awkwardness in lines or somebody going on and then becoming awkward. I liked the competence of the humans. It wasn't very interesting but I appreciate you giving us the other perspective. Also I really admire your dedication with this story. I know it must be hard to write around 20k words per chapter but it will definitely help refine your writing and your patience.
Great job! Don't lose your inspiration, and until next time!
Hey, Green Seer! I love a good long review, so hopefully this reply will be equally as long! :)
Yeah, sorry about Matt. He's hot off the griddle, and won't appear for a little while, but I'm already planning on some decent character development for him in the future. Just a warning: It's not recommended to cope the way he does… Anyway, expect to see him next in "Emerald Anniversary". (EDIT: I fixed his personality!)
I knew I had to modify the last part of "Party Hardly". It made me cringe when I reread it, so I had to change it. I'm glad it looks much better.
I'm using Google Docs in addition to the FFN docs to write, and I'm catching more spelling errors. So basically, I should use more creative words (reluctant is a good one), as well as not using the same kind of word over and over, as I often do. I can go back and revise sad Matt so that sad is changed in a few of the instances (sorry to bug you there again :P ) Also, hopefully the inside jokes are more subtle. As for fourth walls, I want to limit them to Sonic, Amy, Eggman, and the Chaotix, as per the original anime.
I love a good reference. In fact, you might be able to find another one in this chapter. Also, I'm considering writing a story called "Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis of a Hero", blending the "Classic Sonic" games, SatAM, OVA, and Underground. This may be interesting, considering I'm a Modern Sonic fanboy.
I really like your explanation on how Mobians can breathe in space. It's really quite unique. However, I don't think this explains how they can breathe in deep space, or in the Galaxy Corridor in "Clash in the Cloister." Otherwise, it could actually be plausible.
My aim is to write at least 15k word per chapter, including A/Ns and review replies, but I know this one will fall short of the mark because I couldn't extend some scenes enough. But that's okay; I know this will still be a pleasant read that was worth the wait.
Alexandria Prime
Who-hoah! This was an awesome chapter! Really glad to see all those extra scenes! And Eggman- leave Chris alone!
Is Sonic ever going to say anything about his time during the Phantom War?
Thank you! And yes, Eggman really shouldn't obsess himself with Chris over a Chaos Emerald. But he has a new enemy directly allied with Sonic, and that's enough for him.
Sonic has been quiet about the Phantom War. I don't think he's ready to say anything yet. After all, it was quite a traumatic event for him.
A
Good chapter. Not a fan of the repetitive mentions of how many satellites were swallowed up or how many hours of sleep Tails had during the project… or all the real world things you're referencing. I think referencing other material outside of a crossover seems strange, but that might just be me.
I can fix the things you mentioned, especially the satellites and the hours… but the real world things? This is the real world, after all. (EDIT: Fixed!)
D.J. Scales
Well done on this chapter. I can see use for another filler chapter.
Thanks! I too can find use for them, especially if they could contribute to the plot, such as "Fast Friends".
Also, if anyone else is reading this, check out D.J. Scales' story that I'm betareading, "Sonic the Hedgehog: Dimensions in Danger"! It's a multi-crossover with franchises such as Skylanders.
SharpDragonKlaw
Poor Chris the fact that it only took foiling Eggman's plans ONCE to make it on his hit list must be terrifying for the poor boy. But the fact that Chris had actually helped by coming up with the idea to add more seats was a nice touch.
I wouldn't worry about Chris; he's in the safest hands possible. And that scene with Tails and Chris… when I saw it, I KNEW I had to extend it. I've seen people talking about who there weren't any scenes of Chris directly helping out Tails, and so I added this scene.
Franco Almiron
Dude i really like how you write your stories, you know i was wondering if you ever read any of the stories made by ZachaRicO, i really like his Sonic-Pokemon crossovers, and i would like to see one based on Sun and Moon, only if you are interested of course.
Thanks!
No, sorry, I'm not into Pokemon, nor have I heard of ZachaRicO, but I wouldn't doubt that one such crossover will come to light soon. (EDIT: I'm starting to get into Pokemon now, but only as far as the TCG so far, and anime clips.)
Disclaimer: Thorndyke Resort and Spa is a trademark of Thorndyke Industries, and must not be nuked by mad scientists for any legitimate reason. If infringed, call the Sonic hotline immediately.
Chapter 9
Episode 9
The Wrath of Amy Rose! Attack at the Thorndyke Villa
My Sweet Passion
Thorndyke Mansion – Sat September 11; 8:50 AM – Chris' POV
Today was it. The day that the Thorndyke Resort and Spa was going to open. The day I had been dreading the past few weeks.
I had just finished changing into one of my suits. Even though most people thought it might clash with my hair color, my family thought that a tan suit with a salmon-colored shirt looked good on me. It had become one of my favorite suits.
I ran out the side door in the living room and headed toward the garage, where I knew my grandfather and friends would be. Of course, Sonic wasn't anywhere to be found; I had seen him take off for one of his morning runs a few minutes before. Today he told me he would be out in Wisconsin somewhere, which was a good two thousand miles away. By this point I wasn't worried about other people seeing him; he was too fast for the naked eye.
I had known about the resort's opening for three weeks, and since then I had been trying to mentally prepare myself for this day. I felt nervous, to say the least. I had been to a bunch of big events and ceremonies before, but never without my mom or dad there with me.
When I reached the garage, I saw Tails sitting in the pilot's seat of the X-Tornado, looking over some of his monitors and readouts. I remember being surprised to find that the X-Tornado actually managed to fit in the four-car garage with room to spare.
On the other hand, Amy, Cream, Cheese, and Grandpa were packing lots of different beach toys and supplies into the back seat, which included swim fins, goggles, inner tubes, pool noodles, buckets, shovels, and a beach ball. I had known since yesterday that my friends planned to visit the beach near the resort, but it seemed that they would be very busy there judging by how much they wanted to pack.
Ever since Ella told my friends about the resort, the girls had been very excited about it, especially Amy when she learned that the Thorndyke Resort and Spa would have fancy restaurants, picturesque beaches, and lots of other amenities that would place it on par with, if not above, whatever Sandals had to offer. However, keeping my friends a secret from the whole world was the only drawback.
"I still wish I could go…" Amy admitted for maybe the twentieth time in the past week.
"Well, you know how things are, Amy," Grandpa replied. "No one knows who you are yet, what you are, even. And frankly… I don't think they're ready for you. Not for a while." He gave her a gentle smile. "But don't worry, there will be plenty of other opportunities."
Amy sighed. "Yeah… I hope so…" she said. "It's not fair we can't enjoy life like everyone else."
Grandpa nodded. "I know, but like I said, you'll get your chance, okay?" he assured. "Just sit tight for-"
"Hey Tails!" I called.
"Yeah?" he replied from the cockpit.
"Did you finish working on the X-Tornado yet?"
Tails nodded. "Yup, I sure did! I made sure the engines run at maximum efficiency, and I was also able to update the GPS program as well. There were a bunch of tweaks and changes I made that I somehow overlooked." He looked back at his dashboard. "Right now, I'm just making sure we set the safest possible course for the beach." The resort was located on the northwest side of Station Square, which meant that Tails wouldn't have to fly far.
Now that the time to leave was drawing closer, I felt a swarm of butterflies in my stomach… except those were not for excitement. Instead, I was feeling really nervous. It was like a huge burden was resting on my shoulders.
Grandpa seemed to notice my anxiety, because I could sense him walking over to my side without me even looking up.
"You doing okay, Chris?" he asked.
I sighed. "Yeah, but… I still wish Mom could still be there…" I said for what must have been the fiftieth time that week.
"I do too," Grandpa sympathized, "but like I said, she told us she had a last-minute change of plans with Valencia, and sadly, it was going to cut into her time to host the ceremony. And that's why she asked you to go in her place."
Furthermore, Mom was supposed to give a speech at the resort's opening about how it was designed with the snow birds in mind, as well as other facets of the resort, but since Grandpa knew I probably was not comfortable with giving a twenty-minute speech in front of adults like that, he was thoughtful enough to make arrangements for Mr. Tanaka to do it instead. I remembered being stressed out of my mind at the possibility of giving a speech if I was replacing Mom, but Grandpa told me that Tanaka would do it. That lifted a huge burden off my shoulders.
"Yeah, I know," I said. "I guess I just don't want to be bored is all."
Amy turned from her work to face me. "Hey Chris, I know you're feeling really stressed out about the ceremony right now, but it's gonna be okay, I promise," she encouraged. "Just take a few deep breaths. It's only going to be a few hours."
Tails nodded his agreement. "Yeah, and then you can come join us at the beach when you're done."
"Yeah, I guess so…" I nodded as Amy returned to packing the X-Tornado. To Grandpa, I quietly asked, "Are you worried that anyone's gonna see them?"
Grandpa looked at the X-Tornado, and even he was surprised at how full the back seat was getting.
"Honestly, not really," he admitted. "But if anything happens, I'll deal with the consequences myself." He looked up at my friends. "Now I know you all have been seen quite a few times already, but still, I can't stress this enough. You need to stay hidden as much as you can. Just because people did see you doesn't mean you should try to be seen, all right?"
"I understand, Grandpa," nodded Tails.
"Now Tails… I trust you made sure you took a secret route to the beach."
"Yup, sure did!" he replied. "It's gonna take us out over the water a bit, because… well, I can't really land straight-on without being seen."
"Yeah… That's a good idea," Grandpa nodded, before looking up. "Think it's gonna close okay, Amy?" he asked, looking up at the back canopy.
"We'll find out," she said as she finished packing the very back seat and patting everything down. "Even I'm surprised we wanted to bring this much stuff with us."
Once they were done, Amy and Cream climbed into the second and third seats respectively.
"Does anyone think that Sonic is gonna show up later?" I asked.
"I doubt it," Tails shrugged. "He doesn't really like being near the water, and that includes the beach."
Just then we heard a car horn coming from the end of the driveway. I turned to see Ella and Tanaka waiting in the car, and Ella looked like she was in a hurry.
"Christopher!" Ella called. "You need to hurry or we're going to be late for the ceremony!"
"Coming!" I called before turning back to my friends. "And, uh can you please not let anyone see you?" I begged them.
"I promise, I'll do my best,," Tails answered with a nod.
"Good luck with the party, Chris! And don't worry; it's gonna be over before you know it," Amy added, smiling as she gently patted my back.
"I hope so," I responded, more to myself than aloud.
"Have fun, Mr. Chris!" Cream called after me as I started toward the car. I had to smile. Cream was so cute, even though I knew I wasn't going to the resort strictly for the sake of fun.
"You too," I replied. "Bye!"
"Bye, Chris!" my friends called as the canopies closed over the X-Tornado. Since there were so many things in the back seat, I was really hoping it would be able to close.
I left the garage and hurried toward the car. I hoped there would be something I could do there while Ella and Mr. Tanaka were chatting with the guests, so that I wouldn't be too bored.
Mr. Tanaka held the back door of the car open for me, and I thanked him as I stepped in and sat down. He headed back to the driver's side of the car as I buckled in. Soon we were off for the resort and the ceremony.
The first few minutes after we drove away were silent. My heart started beating faster and faster. I was actually feeling a bit of stress welling up in me.
It's not that I was terrified. I wasn't; I was only nervous. Fear of the unknown was natural. In fact, when my uncle was twenty-one, he was picked for jury duty. Of course he didn't want to go; he was nervous too, but he was not selected for the jury, much to his relief. By that example, maybe things wouldn't be as bad as I was making them out to be…
Ella broke the strained silence. "You'll have plenty of time to play with your friends later, I promise," she said, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.
Tanaka nodded. "I concur, but this is one of your duties as a Thorndyke. It is upon you to represent your family during this ceremony."
"I know, but..." I sighed. It was a weight I didn't think I could carry alone.
"I know you will represent your family well, Chris," Ella encouraged.
I took a deep breath just as I heard the sound of an engine from somewhere behind us. Looking out the car window, I could see the X-Tornado rising into the sky above us. Naturally, it sounded different outside. It was like one of those fighter jets from the military base, but somehow quieter.
I let out my breath. How I wished I could go with them to the beach instead of a boring ceremony…
The beach – Sat September 11; 9:13 AM – Third-person POV
Now that the private beach near the Thorndykes' new resort was within sight, Tails slowed the X-Tornado down and pressed a few buttons on the console, hoping what would happen next would work out like he planned.
"Okay, get ready, we're gonna transform!" he announced.
"Wait, what do you mean?" Amy started to ask, just as there was a sudden jolt from the plane as its various parts all began to move at once. Both of the cockpits detached themselves and elevated off the rest of the plane. At the same time, the booster engines pivoted downward to act as legs, and the lower wings folded inward. Amy was left speechless at what was happening.
"Whoa…" she breathed.
The X-Tornado descended and made a smooth touchdown on the sand, and Tails breathed a sigh of relief. His transformation was a success.
"It works…!" he squeaked in glee.
"We really did change form?" inquired Amy, and Tails nodded. "You didn't tell us it could do that."
"Surprise!" the fox meekly smiled. "I wanted to make it do that so we could land in places that are normally impossible for planes to land in." As an afterthought, he added, "I was thinking maybe we can keep this a secret from Chris for now."
Amy was confused. "But why?" she asked.
"Because I think it's gonna be more fun if he finds out about it for himself," Tails answered as his smile changed to one of playfulness.
Amy smirked. "Okay," she agreed as Tails pressed the buttons to lift both canopies.
The three Mobians spent the next few minutes climbing down and removing their supplies from the back seat. It was a good thing the Thorndykes owned this part of the beach; it included a small resort house with a large deck that they could stay at for the day.
"Hey Cream, I hope it wasn't too tight for you two back there," Amy said to Cream and Cheese as they flew down from their seat.
Cream shook her head. "It wasn't, but… I really wanted to tell you something, and I called your name lots of times, but I don't think you heard me."
The moment Tails heard this, his eyes widened in realization and worry.
"Oh no!" he exclaimed as he facepalmed with both hands. "I didn't even think about that! I… I-I'm gonna do something about that first thing when I'm back home, I promise!"
"Hey Tails, it's okay, just take a few deep breaths," Amy reassured the flustered fox, patting his pack. "You were on a real time crunch when you built the X-Tornado, but now that you don't have any more rush, you can take all the time you need to improve it."
"Y-Yeah… You're right…" agreed Tails as he took a few deep breaths to calm down. "So the problem is making a way for the two compartments to communicate with each other." After a moment, he said, "That's no problem for Tails the Tinkerer!"
Amy and Cream giggled at this, causing him to blush a little bit.
As they unpacked the last of their gear, Amy turned to Cream. "So what did you wanna tell me?" she asked.
"Um… Did you think about what if Dr. Eggman comes?" Cream recited.
Amy frowned. "Yeah, I did… and if he does come, I'll be ready. But for right now, I don't think we need to worry about it." Just like that, the smile was back on her face. "After all, we're here to have fun, right?"
"Yup!" Cream chimed in. "And when Mr. Chris is done, he can come join us, and we can have even more fun!"
"Definitely!" Amy beamed as they ran toward the beach.
The beach – Sat September 11; 10:05 AM – Third-person POV
The next hour went by like the sea breeze for Tails, Amy, and Cream as they enjoyed their time at the beach. Some of the activities they were involved in included swimming, gathering seashells, and playing in the water.
After the three Mobians and the Chao stopped for a lemonade break, Amy decided to explore the beach on her own. She let her mind wander as she walked along the coast.
She really hoped that Sonic would get a chance to show up. Even though he didn't care for the water, and was naturally inclined to stay away from the beach because of his fear, Amy thought he should still drop by. Maybe they could still enjoy the day together nonetheless.
Even Amy was surprised at how much she had matured since the war, even since the whole ordeal with Dark Gaia. Even though she wasn't throwing herself at Sonic nearly as much as she used to in the past, she still loved him very much, and knew deep down that Sonic loved her in return. He had come to her rescue time after time. The first of many rescues involved her capture at the hands of the original Metal Sonic. He had also boarded the Egg Carrier with Tails to get her off the ship, even though she technically rescued herself. Amy had even gotten the chance to return the favor when she broke the blue speedster out of Prison Island.
Just then Amy caught pieces of a conversation nearby, and debated on hiding in case someone would see her. She almost second-guessed herself – the presence of her and her friends was already known on this planet, and it was no secret, so why hide? But then she realized that the conversation was on the other side of a rock separating the Thorndykes' private beach from one of the public beaches, so whoever was speaking wouldn't see her right away.
Even though she couldn't hear the conversation very well because of the distance, she caught the words "lucky charm". This automatically got Amy's attention. She used to use tarot cards up until the time she met Sonic. After their first adventure, she put them away for good. She told herself she wouldn't need them anymore, as she believed she had found her true love at last. But lucky charms existed on this planet too? She wasn't one to eavesdrop, but she just had to know more.
Carefully peeking over the rock, Amy could get a good look at the people talking. They were a young couple, maybe in their early 20's, not much older than Matt. They had their backs to her, and the man was holding a small bracelet the woman had just given him. It was made of seashells and twine.
"Yeah, it's a lucky charm," the woman was explaining. "They say it'll make you a better swimmer if you wear it."
"Really?" the man questioned.
The woman nodded. "Yeah. I know it doesn't seem like much, but I made it with you in mind, Chad."
Chad slipped the bracelet onto his right wrist. "Thank you so much, Wendy," he said. "I'm always gonna think of you when I see this."
Amy took in this romantic moment, even though she wanted it to last longer. She loved romance. In fact, witnessing the couple with their bracelet of seashells gave her an idea. What if she were to make own lucky charm out of seashells and give it to Sonic as a gift? She made up her mind right then and there.
One lucky charm coming right up, she thought. Then maybe Sonic is not gonna be afraid of the water as much anymore!
The beach – Sat September 11; 10:18 AM – Third-person POV
It didn't take Amy very long to scour the shore for eight seashells and some string. It was a good thing for her that Tails, Cream, and Cheese were too busy building a sand castle to notice, because things would have gotten a bit awkward if they found out too soon.
In fact, they didn't even seem to notice her heading back to the beach house's patio. She had to admit, the sand castle her friends were making looked better than most she had seen.
Sitting down in one of the reclining beach chairs, Amy got to work with her project. All she had to do was carefully thread the string through the shells. Except it wasn't that simple, because it took her several tries to thread even one of the shells through. Cream was much better at this kind of thing than she was. Amy tried making flower crowns once, but they never turned out to be nearly as good as Cream's, even though her younger friend complimented her for her efforts.
But Amy knew she couldn't ask Cream for help this time. She wanted to make this all by herself; it was her gift.
It took her ten minutes, but she finally finished her bracelet. As she held it up to the sunlight to admire her work, she noticed Cream out of the corner of her eye stepping onto the patio to get some more lemonade.
"There you are," Cream said as she saw Amy on the beach chair. The bracelet caught her eye, and she inched closer to get a better look at it.
"What are you doing, Miss Amy?" she asked.
Amy slowly tried to hide the bracelet on the other side of her, so Cream wouldn't see it. However, the small bunny could still see it anyway.
"Did you make that for Mr. Sonic…?" she asked curiously.
"Um… Well… Y-Yeah…" Amy reluctantly admitted as she slowly uncovered the bracelet so Cream could see it better.
"It's very pretty, Miss Amy," complimented Cream.
The pink hedgehog was about to reply when three loud explosions ripped through the air, rocking the resort in the distance. Amy and Cream could see the smoke rising into the air. Tails and Cheese also heard the explosions and immediately leaped to their feet.
"Oh my gosh," Amy realized. "Chris is over there, he's in danger…"
Thorndyke Resort – Sat September 11; 10:18 AM – Chris' POV
Even though the ceremony was due to start in ten minutes, I had been there for almost an hour, and I was already bored. All I was really doing was shaking hands with the newcomers, alongside Ella and Mr. Tanaka. Of course, all the guests knew ahead of time that I was standing in for Mom, so no one was left wondering why a kid was doing an adult's work. Some of the gentlemen had strong handshakes, and I didn't know if my hand bones could take much more of that.
At last, there was a much-needed lull in the flow of newcomers.
"When is the speech gonna start?" I asked, turning to my guardians.
"In half an hour," Ella replied. "And then lunch will begin." That was a relief, because that meant there would be food to look forward to, and Ella and Tanaka knew how much I loved to eat.
As more guests started approaching, Tanaka leaned toward me. "Remember that you are representing your family on this trip, so try to look interested," he whispered. "Rest assured the speech will be over before you know it."
I nodded. Now that I thought about it, this wasn't quite the mountain I was making this molehill out to be. All I had to do was shake hands with people for ten more minutes, sit through a speech, and then go eat. However, from a kid's perspective, a few hours felt a lot longer than that.
Five minutes later, the resort grounds were more packed than ever, and the seats at the tables were filling up fast. By my estimate, there must have been well over a thousand people; most of them being senior citizens.
That was a thousand people who suddenly found themselves in harm's way as a smoke bomb suddenly exploded about a hundred feet away, causing people to flee and choke on the smoke. A second smoke bomb burst closer to us, while a third hit not much further away.
Soon the whole area was filled with thick white smoke. The bombs had detonated close enough to make my ears ring.
"Wh-What's going on…?" I asked in panic.
"I don't know," Ella responded. I really hoped a certain madman wasn't behind this…
However, help came when security guards arrived on the scene in a flash.
"Everyone calm down," they ordered. "We called the police and they're on their way. Everyone, evacuate single-file to the nearest exit."
But there was no time for anyone to get in their cars and get out of there. Just then I noticed around two hundred small robots emerging from the ocean. All of my fears were confirmed. Eggman was attacking, and I was completely defenseless.
These robots in particular were armed with various tools of destruction, including tiny mallets, chisels, and claws. They even wore what looked like hard hats. They all hovered about twenty feet in the air, escorting an enormous robot that slowly surfaced from the water. It looked like an octopus with giant, highly-flexible black rubber tentacles. And accompanying them all was the doctor himself hovering in his Eggmobile.
"Best. Entrance. Ever," he quipped, followed by one of his gravely laughs. "Make way for the Eggman Empire!"
With that exclamation, the octopus robot punctured a nearby boat with one of its long tentacles, leaving a gaping hole in it, before completely smashing it into pieces with two others. It exploded, but fortunately, there wasn't that much far-flying debris to worry about.
With that distraction, the smaller robots began to fly inland above us. The security guards pulled out their pistols and shot at the robots. Most of the bullets missed, but those that did make their mark proved that it wasn't really worth the effort. In fact, the robots didn't even look remotely fazed.
As all of this was happening, we didn't just stand there idle, even though I was strangely fascinated at the sight in spite of my fear.
"We're leaving now! Hurry!" urged Tanaka. He grabbed both my hand and Ella's and took off running toward the parking lot, which was nearly full and quickly being filled up by frantic people.
"E-39 Termites!" Eggman ordered the tiny robots filling the skies. "Destroy those buildings! I declare this area the foundation of the Eggman Empire! No human structure will stand in my way!"
Doctor Eggman was unlike any other enemy I had ever seen. He was so pompous, so… wordy. In fact, he almost seemed too fake to prove himself a real threat.
Regardless, his command got through to his robots. The Termites, as he called them, immediately flew over to the resort buildings. I found myself looking back as they activated their tools and got to work demolishing one of the resort buildings.
To think that Mom put so much time and money into opening this resort. So much time into planning this ceremony. And now it was all being wiped away in a matter of mere seconds. I could only hope no one was in the hotel when it was destroyed.
Eggman was heartless.
"Don't look back!" Tanaka instructed. "Just run!"
The parking lot was getting closer, but in the heat of the moment, it felt so far away. I sneaked one more look back. What I saw was almost too bizarre for words.
Several other tiny robots were airlifting a giant gold statue of Doctor Eggman himself. It had to be a good thirty feet tall. It was placed down in the middle of the gathering area where Mr. Tanaka was supposed to have his speech. Eggman laughed once the statue was positioned.
"What better place to build Eggmanland than here!" he crowed as his octopus robot began to move ashore. I desperately began hoping that Tails and Amy would be able to come quickly, as I knew that the chances of Sonic showing up this early were downright unrealistic.
Tanaka pointed to our car ahead. "If we can at least make it to the car, that would be great," he said with as much optimism as he could muster.
It was a good thing I had brought my phone with me, so I pulled it out and started to call Grandpa. Already I could feel my lungs burning from how long we were running. Apparently the parking lot was a lot farther away than I thought.
"Chris, is that you?" Grandpa asked in surprise. He was probably not expecting me to call him now.
"Y-Yeah!" I frantically told him. "E-Eggman's here, and he's… h-he's destroying everything!" I threw a look back, and almost wished I hadn't. "A-A-And… I think he's coming toward us right now-"
Squeal!
Suddenly I got blasted by an earful of feedback coming from my phone, and that could only mean Eggman had just jammed the frequency. I cringed and almost dropped my phone as I covered my ears!
As my right ear rang from the sudden loud noise, I looked at my phone in dismay to see that sure enough, the call was disconnected.
Before we could go any further, about two dozen Crabmeat robots surrounded us on all sides, preventing our escape.
"Leaving so soon?" Eggman quipped as he moved his hovercraft a little closer. He peered over the rim of his glasses at me. "Ohh, and I wasn't expecting to see you here, Christopher."
"Leave him out of this!" Tanaka demanded. He stepped in front of me and Ella and took a defensive karate stance. I always felt safe around him, as he promised to protect us from anything, even at the risk of his own life. He wound stand strong to his dying breath.
"Now tell me, why are you here, and what do you want from us?" asked Tanaka.
"Answer my question first," Eggman stated. "A little Flicky told me that Sonic the Hedgehog is staying with you at your house. Is that true?"
I felt my heart pounding and my face becoming pale with dread. Tanaka hesitated before speaking.
"Indeed it is," he admitted.
"Hm… I thought so," mused Eggman before continuing. "And now that I know straight from the horse's mouth that you are harboring my arch enemy, I've decided that you three are going to become my first hostages. Oh don't worry; I'm not going to hold you prisoner forever. It's only until my new roboticizer is complete. Then you three will be my very first human robots!"
Tails… Amy… Please hurry, I thought. And Sonic… I really hope you can find out about this real soon…
Thorndyke Mansion – Sat September 11; 10:23 AM – Sonic'sPOV
After spending about an hour and a half up in the Midwest, I sped back to Chris' house carrying a bouquet of wild daisies. Now I knew a new place to find the perfect flowers, especially in case Cream wanted to make more flower crowns.
Since the front door was locked, I entered the living room through the side door and set the flowers down on the coffee table, knowing they would make the perfect addition to the room. Now all I needed was a vase.
I marveled at how quiet the house was. There was literally no one around. And then I suddenly remembered that today was the day of the big ceremony! Of course I would have the whole house to myself. I mentally slapped myself at how I had managed to forget about it so quickly. Furthermore, all my other friends were going to the beach to have some fun. While I wasn't really a fan of beaches, I figured I could pay my friends a surprise visit later.
Just then I saw someone coming in through the door, and I realized I had forgotten to close it. I turned to see who it was, only to be met by the surprised and urgent expression of Chuck Thorndyke.
"Oh Sonic, thank goodness you're back," he said.
The way he said that made me a bit worried. "What's up?" I asked.
"Chris just called to tell me Eggman's attacking the ceremony, but his call was cut off, and now I'm getting worried that he was just…"
I had only been away for an hour and a half, and so much had happened already. I almost felt like I let him down. While I trusted Tails and Amy to protect Chris whenever I was gone, I knew they would need some extra help this time.
"Just checking, is the ceremony up in the northern part of Station Square?" I asked, and Chuck nodded. "All right, hold the fort, okay? I'm gonna bring him back in one piece!"
I bolted through the open door and out of the neighborhood. I hadn't been there for him today. In fact, a dark part of me even thought I failed him. But if he called only five minutes ago, then maybe there was a chance he was still in the area of the ceremony. And if Mr. Tanaka and Ella were with him, then they were probably captured as well. But I still had to wonder…
Why is Eggman singling out Chris?
The beach – Sat September 11; 10:23 AM – Third-person POV
"He's in danger…"
As the white smoke continued to rise from the resort in the distance, Amy felt a sudden rush of determination, and she leaped out of her seat and ran for the stairs. Cream turned and followed shortly behind her.
When they reached the beach seconds later, they found Tails and Cheese staring in the direction of the smoke in pure disbelief.
"Guys… did you see that explosion too?" asked Tails.
"Mhmm…" Cream whimpered as she stood near Amy. "Dr. Eggman did come…"
"Tails, X-Tornado!" ordered Amy. "We gotta go!"
"O-okay, I'm on it!" the fox answered, now snapped from his trance. He sprang to his feet, spun his namesakes, and propelled himself toward the X-Tornado which was parked about fifty feet away. Amy ran after him as fast as her legs would allow her.
"You're coming too, Amy?" Tails asked, noticing her behind him.
"Yeah," the determined hedgehog said. "Chris and his family are gonna need all the help they can get."
Tails nodded. "Yes they do."
"And I'm not gonna sit this one out!" Amy added.
Once he was close enough to his plane, he pulled out a remote from Hammerspace and pressed a button, opening the front canopy of the X-Tornado. He then spun his tails more and lifted himself up into the air, then reached down and lifted Amy into the second seat before settling in the pilot's seat. He panted from his exertion as he buckled himself in.
"Hey Tails, did you bring your binoculars?" Amy asked as she too strapped in.
"Uh, yeah. I think they should be right here…" Tails mused as he retrieved his binoculars from a glove compartment next to him and handed them to Amy. "Here you go."
Amy accepted the binoculars and used them to try to find out exactly what was going on at the resort… or rather, the lack thereof. To her dismay, she could see that the resort's hotel was completely destroyed, and a giant Eggman statue was being set up where it once stood. This confirmed her fears.
"Yup… It's him," she reported as she lowered the binoculars.
Cream and Cheese were approaching the X-Tornado, both of them looking curious.
"Did you see anything, Miss Amy?" Cream asked.
"Yup… A giant Eggman statue," Amy replied, looking disgusted. "I think that tells us everything we need to know."
Cream let out a small gasp. "Then… Ch-Chris…!" The poor bunny couldn't finish her sentence, she was so worried!
"I know, and I promise, we're not gonna let Eggman anywhere near him," Tails said. "Now I need you both to stay here, and don't let anyone see you, okay?"
Cream nodded, and Cheese copied.
"Okay, good luck Mr. Tails!" she replied.
Amy and Tails waved goodbye before Tails pressed the button to close the hatch over them.
Amy took a deep breath. "Why's he still going after Chris?" she wondered aloud, anger seeping into her tone. "I mean, he's just a kid!"
"I know…" said Tails as he fired up the engine. "And this is not like Eggman at all."
"Yeah…" agreed Amy. "At this rate, we gotta do everything we can to make sure he stays safe no matter what!"
Three button presses later, the X-Tornado lifted off the ground. The legs converted back into engines, the wings rotated back into place, and the cockpits locked into the hull. Tails was grateful that the transformation back into a plane worked.
As all the beach supplies had been unloaded, the plane felt a lot lighter. The X-Tornado took off toward the resort, and Tails hoped that they would get to Chris in time.
Thorndyke Resort – Sat September 11; 10:22 AM – Chris' POV
My heart sunk in my chest as I looked up to see three of Eggman's dropships descending toward the beach. They touched down about thirty feet away from us. I couldn't even begin to predict what Eggman was going to do next.
"What are you going to do with us?" Tanaka asked as the Crabmeats moved around us. "Do you intend on taking us prisoner?"
"Why, yes, that's a genius idea! It boggles me how I haven't thought of that before," Eggman answered sarcastically. "Of course I'm taking you prisoner! And all three of you are going to be held in my fortress until my new roboticizer is complete."
"Um… D-Did you… Ummm… D-D-Did you start b-building it yet?" I dared to ask.
"Well…" Eggman rubbed behind his bald head. "Not exactly. I've been quite busy lately with- Wait, why are you changing the subject? Crabmeats! Escort the prisoners to the dropships!"
The Crabmeats all started to move at once toward the dropships. As they completely surrounded us on all sides, we were forced to move with them. I looked up to see tears pricking Ella's eyes, and she even let out a small sob.
"I-I'm scared…" I admitted as I looked around in worry.
"Anything can still happen, Master Chris," Tanaka tried to reassure me, but sadly, it was not working.
With the dropships only mere feet away, I found that increasingly hard to believe. But then the tide turned in the very next moment.
"Everybody get back!" came the familiar voice of Sonic the Hedgehog from on top of the destroyed hotel. He was standing there with his hands on his hips, and he was clearly not pleased with what Eggman was doing.
The Crabmeats seemed to be confused about whether they should guard us or attack Sonic. While they were doing this, Tanaka pulled us back from the dropships as Sonic spun toward them, spinning right through their cores and destroying them. Evidently the lack of an explosion was his intended result.
Turning to Eggman, he demanded, "So… this another one of your Eggmanland flops goin' on here?"
"Bite your tongue, pincushion," Eggman fired back. He gestured around him with a broad sweep of his hand. "As you can see, I have already claimed this land in the name of the Eggman Empire. There is nothing you can do about it."
Sonic smirked, despite the emotions that I could sense were channeling through his veins.
"Hey, just because you plopped a statue down doesn't mean you run the place," Sonic said.
"You don't get to tell me what to do, Sonic, especially since I've been expecting you to make one of your 'daring' last-minute rescues," he said, making air quotes with his fingers.
"Oh really now?" shrugged Sonic. "What do you got for me this time, Doc?"
"Just an E-38 Nautilus," Eggman stated, gesturing to the giant octopus robot in the distance. "I figured I could use it to stir up some fear and common sense in these citizens to make them know who's their ruler. But now that you're here… E-38, dispose of this hedgehog!"
I assumed the Nautilus was responsible for destroying boats and injuring a few people, but I refused to look at the carnage it left in its wake. But now it quickly located Sonic and immediately lashed out with two of its flexible black tentacles, but Sonic was able to quickly dodge out of the way.
As the Nautilus was recoiling from its attack, Sonic sped toward it, fully bent on shredding its tentacles off and preventing it from causing further damage. However, he was grabbed from behind by a third tentacle he didn't see. He was grabbed so quickly that the wind was choked out of him as it wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides.
"Pacific Ocean, meet Sonic the Hedgehog!" Eggman cackled as the Nautilus dunked Sonic into the water. I gasped. Even though he was Sonic's enemy, Eggman was incredibly heartless to exploit his worst nightmare like this. Sonic didn't deserve any of this!
"Let him go!" I screamed.
Eggman turned in my direction, and I didn't like the amused look on his face.
"Are you trying to humor me?" he said, holding back a snicker. "Because you can go places as a professional comedian-"
"But you're gonna kill him!" I interrupted!
"Pipe down," Eggman said. "I don't 'kill' anyone. That's not my nature. No, I'm merely exhausting him so he will be too tired to fight me while I set up Eggmanland. Besides, I'm sure you've read enough superhero comics to know that anyone like me will never give up on my mortal enemy. That blue pest you've befriended has been a thorn in my side for the past… twenty-five years, give or take. Time and again he has ruined my plans for world domination! And all I ever wanted to do was build a theme park for myself…"
"But that doesn't make any sense," Ella said frantically, before Eggman lifted a finger.
"I am in charge here, and I'll do whatever I want with this place!" bellowed Eggman. Turning to the Nautilus, he ordered, "I think he's had enough. Lift him out."
At last, after an agonizing thirty seconds, the Nautilus finally lifted Sonic out of the water. He seemed to lose his sense of cockiness I had grown used to. In fact, he looked downright traumatized. I had no idea his fear of water was that bad.
"Now do you surrender, Sonic?" Eggman asked.
I saw a glint in Sonic's eyes that showed that there was still some fighting spirit left in him.
"Take a look in my dictionary, Eggy," he retorted. "You're not gonna find that word in there."
Eggman sneered. "Arrogant 'til the very end, I see," he mused. "I guess this leaves me no choice…"
As the Nautilus moved its tentacle, still holding Sonic, back toward the ocean, I forced myself to look away. I felt completely helpless and hopeless. Eggman was destroying Sonic right in front of us, and there was absolutely nothing we could do. Our last hope was Tails and Amy, but they were back at our private beach, and I didn't know if they knew what was happening.
Just then I heard a high-pitched sound coming from the direction of the Nautilus. Looking up, I saw that it was not coming from the robot itself, but rather from Sonic. It was the sound of Sonic trying to break free of the octopus robot's tentacle by running at high speeds.
"It's no use, Sonic!" Eggman laughed. "E-38's tentacles are made entirely of my brand-new super soft elastic rubber alloy! In fact, now that I think about it, it's so effective that I plan to use it in a few of my other robot designs as well."
Sure enough, the Nautilus' tentacles were elastic. The more Sonic tried to run, the farther the tentacle stretched to accommodate him, and the more it tried to pull him back. There was nothing I could do to help. If I ran in to attack the tentacle, not only would I not faze it, but I could possibly be grabbed too, and I valued my lungs too much to go through what Sonic just did.
"Well, now that Sonic is out of the way for now," Eggman stated, "I have some unfinished business. Crabmeats, take the prisoners to the-"
Only then did he realize Sonic had destroyed the dropships, which were Eggman's only means of taking us to his base.
"He destroyed them that quickly, didn't he…? Well, no matter! Plenty more where they came from!"
I had to admit, it was weird, not to mention sickening, to hear Eggman sounding so optimistic about something so horrible. It was almost too fake to be real.
As Eggman began typing something on a keypad in his Eggmobile, an idea came to my mind.
"Hey Sonic!" I called. "Can you try running at the speed of sound?"
"Already tried that, Chris!" Sonic called. "This thing's got me real tight!"
Just then I started to hear the sound of an engine above us, and my heart raced. I thought it was more dropships coming to pick us up, and I felt so scared all of a sudden. I looked up, and my fear turned to immediate relief when I saw that it was the X-Tornado! Tails and Amy had finally arrived!
As the X-Tornado came into view, Eggman looked up from his keypad in surprise. He seemed to be taken by surprise. And then I realized that I had dodged a huge bullet by not mentioning anything about them in front of him.
"You would think I wouldn't count on backup," he groaned. "How could I possibly let my 300-IQ guard down?"
Then something happened that made our jaws drop, and I don't exaggerate when I say it was very very dangerous.
The X-Tornado's front cockpit actually opened in midflight. But what shocked us even more was the sight of Amy Rose, holding her hammer, leaping out of the back seat and diving toward the Nautilus. She raised her signature weapon above her head.
"LET HIM GOOOO!" she screamed at a ferocity that could wake the dead. When Amy got mad, she was frightening to be around. I was SO glad she was on our side.
Even so, her relentless determination still awed and scared me. So when Amy raised her hammer above her head and slammed it into the tentacle holding Sonic with brutal force, I cringed at the impact. As she broke her fall with her hammer, I wonder just how she didn't break her wrists. "Don't think about it too hard," she told me later when I asked her about it.
At the moment of impact, the stretched tentacle snapped, causing it to whip back into the Nautilus, which in turn stumbled uncontrollably into the ocean. At the same time, now that Sonic had no resistance, he ran forward several yards and fell over as the tentacle unwound itself from around him. Amy turned her attention to Eggman.
"How dare you do that to my Sonic!" she screeched. "He hates water!"
But Eggman was ignoring her for the most part.
"Comeoncomeoncomeon…" he urged the Nautilus, which was struggling to move now that it was no longer standing upright.
Meanwhile, Sonic was gasping for breath now that he was free. Amy rushed over to him and reached a hand out to him to help pull him up.
"S-Sonic…" she spoke, her voice trembling. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he breathed as he stood up and cast the wrecked tentacle aside. "That was a tight squeeze, but yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for saving me."
Amy beamed. "My pleasure," she replied.
The X-Tornado circled around to turn back toward us. As my eyes were focused on it, and the shiny golden ring it was firing toward Sonic, I almost didn't see Amy rush toward us, hammer drawn, to clear out the Crabmeats surrounding us. In fact, her sudden presence took me by surprise and made me jump.
"It's just me," she told me, even though it did nothing to calm my nerves.
Now that Ella, Mr. Tanaka, and I were finally free, Amy pointed toward the parking lot in the distance.
"Okay, I told Tails to pick you up at the parking lot. You guys get going!" she ordered.
"Right away!" Tanaka nodded before he took Ella's hand and ran as fast as Ella could go, as he didn't want her to be left behind.
"Run ahead of us, Master Chris!" Tanaka told me. "We'll catch up!"
I nodded and sprinted back toward the parking lot. At least Eggman had fewer resources he could use to recapture us this time around; not to mention he was preoccupied with Sonic, so we were safe for now… or so I hoped.
As we neared the parking lot, I caught sight of the X-Tornado descending toward the newly-paved blacktop. By now there were only a few cars left, and Tails was able to land nimbly in the parking lot… which surprised me, as parking lots weren't made for planes.
Once Tails came to a complete stop, he opened both canopies. "Get in!" he urged with a quick motion toward the seats behind him.
It took me another twenty seconds to reach the X-Tornado. When I got there, Tails took my hands and flew me up into the seat behind his seat. The sudden movement took me by surprise for a moment.
I felt very nervous; this was going to be my very first time actually flying in the X-Tornado. The last time I was in a plane, I got involved in a heated dogfight with Eggman's robots, and I was scared that it was going to happen again.
As I buckled in, I watched as Mr. Tanaka and Ella approached the plane. Sadly, I did not have a good view of Sonic and his battle with the Nautilus. I assumed they were fighting because by now, Sonic was ring-powered. Tails was standing outside the plane awaiting my guardians' arrival.
"How are we supposed to get in?" an out-of-breath Ella asked once they got close. "I don't see a ladder anywhere."
"Just take my hands and hold on tight," Tails instructed.
Much to Ella's surprise, he took her hands and, spinning his namesakes, flew her into the air. He grunted and panted a little bit as he carried her, before sitting her down in the fourth seat. Fortunately, he had an easier time carrying Mr. Tanaka.
"Sorry about that… I really wanted to build a ladder but I didn't really have a lot of time," Tails apologized once we were all settled in. To Tanaka and Ella he asked, "Hey Tanaka and Mr. Ella- UHH ummm, I-I-I mean Ella and Mr. Tanaka…? Um… Are you okay back there? Are the belts too tight or anything?"
He was blushing at his blunder as he nervously rubbed the back of his head. I had to smile; sometimes he was cute when he was flustered.
"Sorry about that…" he added quietly.
"No worries," Tanaka said. "Though, my seat belt is a little snug, but nothing too unbearable."
"Oh, that's because Cream was the last one to sit there," explained Tails. "There's a lever next to you that you can use to loosen it. But we really gotta get going now!"
He buckled himself in and shut the hatches. With about a minute's worth of back-and-forth maneuvers, he positioned the plane to take off from the parking lot. Pulling back on the throttle, he accelerated the plane forward and made it lift off into the air.
Right as we were taking off, there was a huge explosion somewhere behind us. I looked down to see the smoking remains of the Nautilus. It was good to know that Sonic finally managed to destroy the robot that had tried to drown him. He had avenged himself.
The flight home was rather quiet, and my guardians were especially quiet. Even though I couldn't see them, I knew they were thinking the same thing that I was…
When will it ever end?
Today had been a very long day. I chastised myself for wishing for excitement, because it would come, but not in the way I wanted. I got immediate flashbacks to when E-51 came to my school. I had wished for excitement back then too, and Eggman came.
But today, it happened again. Eggman came again. He was relentless in his quest for power. He would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. And today, he attacked my family's resort opening ceremony of all places! Why there? Was it because he thought it might strike a blow against Sonic through me somehow?
And then I realized that both today and the time when Eggman's teacher robot came to my school had one thing in common, and one thing only.
Me.
"Are you okay, Chris…?" Tails asked from his seat in front of me.
"I… I don't know…" I admitted, my voice sounding a bit scared as the events of today caught up to me.
Tails sighed. "I'm really sorry about not going to the beach like we talked about, but… I wanna make sure your safety always comes first."
"Yeah…"
There was a pause as we flew on. I began to mindless watch the scenery go by beneath us, but I wasn't really paying attention to it. So much was on my mind.
"So, um… did Eggman ever tell you why he wants you?" Tails asked as he glanced back at me. I could easily see the worried look with a hint of sadness in his blue eyes, and his ears were folded down slightly.
"Yeah, he did…" I admitted, and Tails looked up in interest before he returned his focus to the controls. Even though he couldn't look at me, he attempted a comfort method that worked the last time, and he reached his tails over and gently rested them on my lap. I still couldn't believe that anything or anyone could be this soft.
"What did he say…?" Tails softly asked.
"Um… He said he wanted to take us to his fortress to… um…. I don't know what the word is, but I think he wanted to turn us into robots, because it had the word 'robot' in it…"
"Roboticized?" Tails helpfully supplied.
"Yeah…" I replied as I hugged Tails' tails more, trying not to completely bury my face in them and let any tears flow. "I actually feel like if I'm not safe with my own family… then I'm not safe anywhere…"
I already felt tears appearing in my eyes. I absolutely hated feeling this helpless.
"It's gonna be okay," quietly reassured Tails. "Um… I know that Eggman made you one of his enemies… just because you hang out with us now, but… I want you to know that I wanna keep you safe no matter what. And… um, you know how Ella and Grandpa and Mr. Tanaka are your guardians? Well, um… what if maybe we can be your guardians too…?"
I smiled at this.
"Yeah…" I said. "Th-Thank you…"
"And of course, um… we're always gonna be your friends too, and taking care of each other is what friends are for."
"Yeah," I replied, still holding onto Tails' tails gently as the X-Tornado continued its course home.
Thorndyke Resort – Sat September 11; 10:30 AM – Sonic's POV
I drove my entire spinning body through the heart of the Nautilus with a ring-powered homing attack, then immediately ran back and watched as the robot exploded with a shower of shrapnel. Darting over to Amy, I stood in front of her with my arms stretched out, ready to shield her from any shrapnel. Fortunately no shrapnel flew our way, but some narrowly missed Eggman.
A piece of rubber landed in front of me, and I picked it up. I thought of an idea… Maybe Tails could work wonders with this new material…
"Is that all you got, Eggy?" I asked, cockily rubbing under my nose.
"No," Eggman scoffed, "but thank you for asking. And for your information, I'll be back, perhaps sooner or later, so I were you, I wouldn't let my guard down!"
Silence reigned once again as Eggman flew away. In his wake, he had left mass destruction - wrecked buildings, smashed boats, and now a destroyed robot. By now I didn't see any humans around, so they must have all evacuated. I knew there would be quite a cleanup effort…
The Nautilus had put up quite a fight. Even though I could have single-handedly destroyed it, Amy was able to get a few hits in and took out another tentacle with her hammer before I pulled out the plug on Eggman's monster of the week. That was not a trend I was very fond of.
"So what's gonna happen to the resort now?" Amy asked, looking around. "I mean, look at it! Everything's totally ruined!"
"I wouldn't worry too much about it, Ames," I replied as I looked around. "I'm pretty sure the staff is just gonna come by and clean up and reschedule the opening. And for extra caution, I'm gonna hopefully stick around, make sure Eggman's nowhere near here when it's time to reopen."
Amy nodded. "Good idea."
There was another pause as our adrenalin wore off. The area around us was completely quiet except for the sound of dying flames in the distance, as well as the ocean washing away some of the debris from Eggman's carnage.
"I hope Chris is gonna be okay…" said Amy. "I mean, he did get a bit of excitement today, even if it wasn't the kind he wanted."
"Yeah, true," I replied. "So did you make sure he got back home safe? And his family?" I asked.
Amy nodded, before she suddenly brightened up with a small gasp!
"Oh, wait wait wait! I know it's a totally bad time right now, but before I forget, I made a little something for you back at the beach."
That immediately got my interest. I could not for the life of me remember the last time Amy made something for me since my 25th anniversary of being Mobius' official hero, except for a cake here and there. But now I was curious about what she made for me today.
Amy pulled something from her dress pocket and held it up for me to see. It looked like a bracelet made of seashells.
"You made this…?" I asked softly as I accepted it from her.
"Yup, I sure did!" Amy responded. "It's a lucky charm I made to protect you in the water, and I think it can make you a better swimmer too."
I turned it over in my hands, examining it. "Just checking, is it, um… superstition or anything?"
"Maybe?" she shrugged. "But even if it's just mumbo-jumbo, I wanted to make it for you anyway."
I smiled at Amy's kindness. "This is pretty cool, Ames…!" I said. But just as I was about to slip it onto my wrist, a few hundred Mobian-sized robots appeared above the wreckage of the hotel in the distance. They floated toward us until they were about twenty yards away from us. Then the most remarkable thing happened. They began to stack on top of each other. A robotic head resembling a snake, which had been floating among them, mounted the very top of the stack.
Amy summoned her Piko Piko Hammer as, sure enough, the good doctor returned in his Eggmobile.
"Why do you all look so surprised?" chastised Eggman. "After all, I did tell you I would be right back. If only you had destroyed my E-39 Termites, this wouldn't have happened; but you didn't, and now it's too late. Now they have combined to become my brand new… er… I'm still kinda thinking of a name for it."
I tapped my foot on the sand impatiently.
"Maybe I should call it the Egg Serpent… hm, no, doesn't have a cockpit… Hold on, hold on, I'll think of something… What about Terpent?… No, too stupid… Okay, maybe Serpentermite?"
This was getting ridiculous…
"Hey, I got one! How about we just call it toast and call it a day?" I suggested.
"Pipe down, Sonic, it's not that easy! You shouldn't name things on the fly! These things take time, you know!"
I held back a laugh. "Pot calling the kettle black, then?"
"Just attack the hedgehog already!" he ordered through gritted teeth.
Now that it was officially fight time, I leaped clear over the snake's head, distracting it for a moment, before landing not too far behind it. I hoped Amy would be able to get a few hits in with that distraction.
"Yo, fang face!" I called. "Tasty hedgehog on the house! Come and get it!"
Luckily, Amy did exactly what I wanted her to do. She ran toward the snake, brandishing her hammer. Suddenly the snake made a sudden move I did not expect. Its head whipped around and fired a cyan laser at me, and I was left with no time or room to dodge.
The moment it hit me, my vision immediately got blurry. I could only make out a few faint shapes and colors, not to mention my hearing got very dull as well. Everything sounded like I was underwater, which was a very unpleasant feeling. I collapsed onto the ground, having lost all my energy. The pain that came with the impact wasn't terribly bad, but it could have been worse on someone with less stamina than me. In short: it was a stun ray.
I could feel the bracelet slipping out of my hand with the clattering of seashells, and the clasp came undone too. At the same time, I could hear Amy shouting my name in worry, but she sounded much farther away than she really was.
With the stun ray's effects, I could barely make out Amy hammering the snake's tail. The impacts of her hammer also sounded far away. But now that she had the snake's attention, she began to hammer the segments off one by one. It was so satisfying to watch. Her anger seemed to increase her strength drastically, and I marveled at the power concealed in what looked like a toy hammer. In fact, the robot looked like it was made for her and her alone to destroy it.
As the segments fell on either side of the robot, I could feel my senses starting to return. I could barely make out Eggman saying that he should have brought a bigger robot.
With all of the robot's segments gone, Amy began to focus her attacks on its head. I tried to stand up, but I immediately fell over again. I told myself to hang on just a little longer, and then my full strength would return.
Amy relentlessly struck the robot's head again and again. Then a spring inside its head activated, unexpectedly sending her flying through the air, and conveniently toward the Eggmobile. The head promptly exploded right afterward. Amy seemed to be caught off guard, but she got her hammer ready anyway.
"This is why I listen to the SonAmy fans and let them have their space…!" I could hear Eggman say in fright.
With one resounding clang, Amy slammed her hammer into the hull of the Eggmobile. Eggman cried aloud as he sailed out of sight!
Then I saw that Amy was going to land in a deep part of the ocean! I tried with all my might to resist the weakness and paralysis of the ray's effects as Amy landed in the water. Even worse, she didn't come up right away. She must have been knocked out the moment she hit the water.
This meant that I was the only one who could rescue her! Even though I had a huge fear of water, I knew I had to brave my fears and conquer the paralysis ailing me.
I forced myself and my aching muscles to walk over to the water's edge. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and dove into the ocean after Amy.
Thorndyke Mansion – Sat September 11; 11:12 AM – Third-person POV
Amy slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness. She had no idea where she was. The last thing she remembered was falling toward the ocean right after smashing his Eggmobile beyond the horizon. Now she found herself back at Chris' house.
She looked around to see that, sure enough, she was in the living room lying on one of the couches. She was still damp from being in the water, so she was covered in blankets to dry her, not to mention she had the uncontrollable urge to cough, since she was unsure if she swallowed any seawater.
"Miss Amy's awake," called Cream from just outside the room. She had been sitting next to Amy, watching her with worry until she woke up. Cream once again took her position next to the couch.
"Hi Cream," Amy spoke softly to her friend.
"Miss Amy, are you okay…?" Cream asked, her eyes showing her sympathy.
"I… I think so…" Amy slowly said as she held her head. "Just… have a headache…" She sat up a little more. "Did, um… Did Sonic bring me here…?" she asked.
"Yes he did," Cream nodded. "Mr. Sonic said he jumped into the water and saved you."
Amy was left speechless, he mouth hanging slightly open, and it took her a moment to figure out what to say.
"He… he actually… got over his fear…" At least, Amy hoped it was true. He knew Sonic was not the type to let his fears get in the way of the lives of those he treasured most.
Amy shifted her position on the couch. "Did Tails bring you and all our things back here?" she asked.
"Mm-hmm!" confirmed Cream.
"Well hello, Amy! Good to see you're awake," came Ella's voice as she entered the room. "Sonic told me you almost drowned…"
"Yeah…" Amy said quietly, shuddering at the memory.
"How are you feeling?" asked Ella as her features relaxed.
"I'm okay, I think… Just need to stay warm and dry," Amy replied as she wrapped her blankets around her tighter.
"That's always a good idea," Ella said. "Well, I'll go make a hot lunch for you whenever you're feeling up for it."
As Ella left the room, Amy remembered something. She sat up frantically!
"The bracelet!" she exclaimed! "Where is it? I think I saw it break when he got hit by the robot!"
"W-Wait, what…?! Mr. Sonic was hurt?" Cream was surprised and a bit shocked and worried.
"Yeah, but he told me it was just a stun ray," Amy recalled. "So I think he's okay!"
"And your bracelet's okay too," Cream said with a smile.
"Really…? It is…?" Amy said.
"Yeah! I fixed and gave it to Mr. Sonic like you wanted." Cream replied.
"Awww, Cream…" Amy scooped up her younger sister into a hug, forgetting her fur was still a little damp. "You're the best…"
Amy paused mid-hug as she became aware of footsteps entering the room. She looked over to see Sonic entering from the foyer, and she smiled when she saw that he was wearing the bracelet she made for him.
"Hey Ames," Sonic softly said as he looked down at Amy. "You feelin' okay?"
Amy nodded. "Mhm! I'm feeling a lot better now. Cream told me all about your rescue."
Sonic smiled. "It was nothing, really," he said. "It's just what I do."
"But it was something, Sonikku," she said with a smile, using her pet name for him. "You actually got over your biggest fear, even though that robot almost drowned you. I think something like that takes a lot of courage, you know?"
"Well, I wouldn't say I 'got over' it…" said Sonic. "I mean… I'm still, like… really afraid of water. And, uh… I don't know if that's ever gonna change about me. But another thing that's never gonna change is I never let my friends down. Hydrophobia can wait for a rescue."
Amy smiled at this as Sonic added:
"Now I gotta say, you were really cool with your hammer today. In fact, it's almost like that robot back there was made for you."
Amy chuckled. "Yeah… I feel like that's the most fun I had with my hammer in like… forever," Amy said. "Even though I was like, really mad about what it did to you."
"Hey, it's okay now Ames. All that matters is I'm back to being my old self again," Sonic said with his signature wink and thumbs up.
Amy grinned at this, and after a moment, Sonic allowed her to hug him. They had both been through a lot that day. They were both able to avenge each other in the same moment. For Amy, it showed that Sonic was never dismissive of her despite his laid-back attitude. For Sonic, even though their relationship was only platonic in his eyes, he was still very grateful to have Amy as a good friend.
A/N: And that's "The Last Resort"! As you can see, I changed the last scene because I thought it would make more sense. Chris was originally going to be in that last scene, but I removed him. After all, this is an Amy episode, not a Chris episode. We have too many of those :P
Also, I know the SonAmy scene was short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless. I'm not really a strict shipper, but I support SonAmy the most out of any ship. I also support Knuckles x Rouge and Silver x Blaze. As for Tails, I don't really ship him with anyone, but I would pair him with Cosmo over Cream any day. Tails and Cream are cute as friends, but I don't think they should be a couple.
Actually, now that I think of it, this could be a belated SonAmy week chapter!
Anyway, key differences!
- I wanted to add a few Badniks to the battle to make it more interesting, even though I don't know a lot of Badnik varieties, especially water-type Badniks.
- I also gave the Serpenter a stun laser because I thought it would be cool. And as I am taking this story seriously, I am not naming it (even though I am implying that Eggman is trying to name it).
- I made sure Chris received even more motivation from his friends, and I also gave more details to the ceremony which I thought were missing.
- As I am not really into writing overly romantic scenes, especially with Sonic and Amy, I reduced the length of the scene with Amy on the beach, as well as removed Sonic from the first scene.
- Instead of having Bokkun delivering the message to Sonic, I removed Bokkun from the episode, and I instead had Chris call Chuck and have him tell Sonic to come.
- E-38 Octoron has been renamed E-38 Nautilus, and E-39 Quizon has been renamed E-39 Termite.
- I made sure Chris and his family ran instead of just standing there, as that's another reason why people hate Chris.
I don't know if Eggman's personality changed a little too much during this chapter, but let me know if he or anyone else needs changing. If there are any OOC moments or continuity errors, please don't hesitate to drop me a review or PM describing them, and I'll do my best to get them taken care of.
I don't know how I did it, but I jammed more content into the next chapter's plot that I thought I would.
Next up is "Unfair Ball", where Sonic and Eggman go head-to-head in a baseball game for the second Chaos Emerald! Don't miss it!
