(Pacific Ocean Airspace, prior to the spatial warp...)
"I must say, Mecha Miles," Alexei stated as he wielded a welding torch on his latest project, a metallic face shield protecting him from the sparks and bright light, "I am quite pleased at how matters are progressing as of late."
The robotic fox simply stood by as it watched the owl work, its optics scanning over the operation every so often. "They could be going better, doctor."
"True, and I will admit to losing myself and acting an insane fool at the worst moment." The avian powered off his tool and lifted up his mask. "Which, as you know, is why I am creating what you see before you."
The ferrous fox folded its arms. "A means to control the Cursed Corundums without any of their potential side-effects." It shook its head dismissively. "I still don't see the point of this when you can simply test the Ruby on me, doctor."
Alexei let out a long-suffering sigh. Whether because he wasn't his grand-uncle or some other reason, Mecha had not been completely subservient to him, nor would it hide its honest analyses. The owl recalled reading over what little remained of its original plans, locked solely in that unit's memory, how its ultimate design was meant to be a replica of the amber fox not just in appearance and abilities, but in personality, too. Not a perfect mirror, which was intentional, yet close enough that it could adapt physically and intellectually as well as the original vulpine. For all the faults of the original Dr. Fukurokov, he had made something truly unique that had endured despite the upgrades and deviations, and outlasted the rest of the original Empire.
"Because I would rather you expedite the steps of the plan I outlined specifically for you," Alexei told it with a stern scowl, "and need I remind you of the incident with the Dark Ring? I was almost unable to recover your memory after the damage you sustained. Not only that, but I lacked the assistance I had with reconstructing you the first time, hence why your Version 2 remodel took as long as it did."
Mecha felt a very strong urge to grab and choke the avian for bringing up that event and speaking to it that way, but it refrained from such. Alexei spoke the truth, and lashing out at someone for speaking it was the mark of foolish and short-sighted organics. It would save that energy for the targets that actually deserved its wrath, like those wretched children that had foiled its plans on Carnival Island.
"Let us not dwell on that, though," the machinist went on, "as I said before, I require your assistance." He stopped his task and flipped up his welding mask. "More than anyone, you wish for another chance at your organic original, yes?"
Mecha's optics briefly flashed from their usual cyan-blue to crimson red. They had fought each other once, back when the robot was sporting its Mark II design, which had ended in its defeat. The prerogative may have been hard-programmed into it, but it couldn't deny that there was a genuine desire for a rematch against the fox from which it was based.
"Search your data for what might most effectively bait him into a position advantageous to us," Alexei advised, "you may be eager to fight, but the time is not right just yet. Better to play him into our hands first."
The fox bot would have preferred to go face Miles itself then and there, though it didn't dislike the owl's suggestion. It reviewed all the information that it had, starting with more recent details that Alexei had acquired through his surveillance. The hero had quite a few friends and those he considered family, some of which lived close while others were farther away. One in particular Mecha found both intriguing and potentially useful.
"Yes, that will work," it murmured as it unfolded its arms and turned away from the doctor.
Alexei let a dark grin cross his beak. "Oh? You already have a plan?"
"Indeed, and I will be taking my leave so that I may carry it out at once," Mecha informed him as it started to walk towards the exit.
The owl said nothing more as the fox walked out of the bridge and took off into the sky. He wished that it wouldn't go off without seeking his permission, but Mecha hadn't truly disappointed him so far. He trusted that this creation of his predecessor would accomplish whatever it was that it set out to do, and that it would have the desired outcome. If nothing else, it would give him time to work without having it staring at him from across the room or hovering over his shoulder. He could focus on the things that needed to be done without feeling awkward.
'With that in mind,' he mused, walking over to his personal console and tapping at the keys, 'time to initiate another step in this grand plot of mine.'
As for Mecha itself, it wasted no time in orienting itself in the direction of the mainland. It fired up its jets to maximum thrust and put in a little Chaos "nitro" to beef them up even more. It produced a much greater boom than usual when it took off, becoming a dot on the horizon and then not even that in little more than a few seconds.
(Somewhere in the Emerald Archipelago)
Miles let out a grunt as his vision suddenly returned right in time for him to hit the ground. Thankfully, the fall had been very short and they'd landed on some fairly thick grass, so he'd come away unharmed. Pushing himself to his feet, he was able to ascertain a couple of things from his immediate observation of the area. First and foremost, Zero and the rest of the Jackal Squad were nowhere to be seen. And secondly, he most definitely was not on Angel Island anymore.
He had somehow ended up in a different tropical region, although still under the same clear blue sky. There was moving, almost bouncy flora that resembled sunflowers and lavenders, along with palm trees and purple stones that dotted the landscape. The grass around him was lime green while the soil sported an odd checkerboard pattern of lighter and darker browns. Strange totem poles were placed around the area, more so near the numerous wooden bridges that connected many of the cliffs and islets. Most notably, there was a large, clean, and beautiful lake whose waters trickled into cave openings below them, and was fed by a series of falls coming out of a range of short and spiky mountains in the near distance.
Miles turned around to check on the others, his fur standing up when he saw that not everyone was accounted for. Sonic and Knuckles were both picking themselves up, and they were the only two he found. The fox spun his twin tails and took to the air, his eyes scanning around a good few square kilometers. He couldn't detect a trace of Gadget, Gizmo, Lavender, or Remi, nor did he see any signs that suggested they had been in the area.
'So much for hanging onto each other,' he thought glumly.
"No sign of the others, Tails?" Sonic questioned.
The fox shook his head and grabbed the Miles Electric from his belt. "Let me try and–"
He stopped short when he saw the state of his ever trusty multi-tool. Physically, it was fine, but the display was corrupted and glitchy, blue and black pixelated static snapping across the screen rather frequently. The teen messed with the interface for a few moments, but while he was able to get it to change apps, the picture didn't improve. He tried sending out a transmission to one of the Wolf twins, even just a simple text message, though nothing came of his attempt. Not even the tracker he used for his companion or the Tornado could return anything more than garbled graphics.
"The energy from that sapphire really messed up the Miles Electric," Miles informed them, sitting down with a thump and letting out a groan, "I just upgraded it the other day, too." He glanced at the other two Animals. "How about you guys?"
Knuckles slammed a fist into a nearby rock, easily smashing it into pebbles and dust. There was no mistaking that kind of answer.
"The device you gave me isn't working!" the Guardian shouted out of frustration.
"Mine neither," Sonic added, tapping one foot impatiently as he messed with his comm, "looks like we're in a tough spot."
The vulpine heaved a sigh, while the Echidna was ready to knock a tree down to release some more stress. But, he stopped just before his fist struck the trunk. He remembered that the jackal known as Tao had been carrying a Chaos Emerald somewhere on his person. His head jerked to the east while he squinted suspiciously, taking a few slow steps in that direction. After a moment, his purple eyes widened and he visibly gritted his teeth.
"Those jackals ended up in the same Zone that we did," he told the others as he pointed one way, "over there, I can sense that bizarre energy from before not too far away, along with their Chaos Emerald."
"Wait, really?" Miles asked as he got back up, feeling a little more hopeful.
Seeing as he couldn't utilize the Emerald Radar at the time, the vulpine decided to put his sensing ability to the test. Even if it was still limited, he easily picked up Sonic and Knuckles' Chaos Energy signatures; to say they both had a lot of the latent power would be an understatement. He did his best to filter them out and focus in the direction that Knuckles mentioned, searching for whatever he could find. Many smaller signals swiftly came and went through his senses, which he figured were the Zone's local Critters. After several more seconds, he felt it: a huge wellspring of energy identical to the one coming from his own Emerald.
"You're right, I found it too," he told his friend.
"Good to see you've been practicing that technique," Knuckles remarked with a smirk, "now, let's get going before those thieves get too far ahead!"
Miles held up his hands. "Wait a minute, we can't just charge at them head-on! They might use the Sapphire and teleport us away again, possibly somewhere on the opposite side of the world from them. We should come up with some kind of strategy."
"Relax, Tails, that Zero guy didn't seem like he knew what he was doin'," Sonic said pretty confidently, "so we just gotta take it from him before he figures out how ta use it properly!"
The fox pressed his face into his palms and breathed out slowly. He might have beaten them before, but it hadn't exactly been easy; Zero and the Jackal Squad hadn't built their reputation on name alone, after all. If one of them could become proficient enough with an Emerald in the span of a few months like Tao apparently had, he didn't want to think about that principle being applied to the Sapphire. They had been simultaneously lucky and unlucky to have caught the canines off guard; it could've gotten nasty if the Squad had actually decided to dig in and fight.
The trio of Animals passed by several palms as they came to the first of many bridges, leaping up a few ledges and then crossing over a waterfall to a short cliff. They all jumped the gap to the next precipice, using the slope just beyond it to pick up speed and run through a loop. All of them Rolled through a couple of winding tunnels and shot up from a natural divot, landing close to the source of more flowing water. Past that was a second loop and a corkscrew bridge, which brought back a little nostalgia for the hedgehog and the fox.
"Ya know, this place ain't too different from Emerald Hill," the former commented.
Miles led the three of them as they went from one hovering bit of land to the next. "Well, if the stories and scriptures of the Last Great Civilization are to be believed, the islands of the Emerald Archipelago were once all part of the mainland. In that case, it's not surprising that some might share similar geography and geological composition."
"I cannot speak for the other islands," Knuckles joined in as he went into a glide beside the teen, "but it has been passed down by my ancestors that Angel Island used to be on the world's surface, back during the peak of my people's power."
"Until around 3000 years ago," the fox continued for him, giving his little buddy a hand up onto a ledge, "where some cataclysmic event caused their empire to effectively vanish overnight and sunder their territory, with Angel Island and the Master Emerald being sent into the sky."
The Echidna nodded and bowed his head solemnly as he came to land. "Even those that were left didn't know what happened. Many survivors believed that they'd somehow angered the gods, and that the downfall of our people and what happened after was our punishment. If any of them had once thought to abuse the power of the Master Emerald before then, there were none left after that fateful day." There was a pause as the monotreme climbed up a high wall, then turned back to his friends after reaching the top. "It still feels strange sometimes, knowing that they were afraid of you because of some prophecy." He gestured at Miles after expressing that, letting out a short chuckle and allowing a smile on his muzzle. "It's a good thing they turned out to be wrong, though."
Miles was on a mutual level of appreciation with that last statement. He'd come very close to proving the ancient Echidnas right when he'd undergone that transformation during his first time aboard the Battle Moon. It was thanks to Sonic and the others managing to survive and find him that he was able to come back from the brink of maddening despair and hatred. Knowing what that kind of power held, would Knuckles have been able to stop him if his rampage hadn't ended at the Kukkus? He had heard that the Master Emerald possessed the ability to neutralize the energy of the Chaos Emeralds, so maybe if all else had failed, that would've been an option. Still, there wasn't a need to think about it, because that hadn't been what came to pass and Miles never intended to let it reach that point in the future.
After dipping through yet another loop and dropping down a stone chute, there came a moment where the group had to continue on the lower path, and like many Zones they'd explored, there was a long and flat stretch for them to catch their breaths. Unfortunately, it appeared that they hadn't caught up with the Jackal Squad just yet.
"Guess those guys got a good head start," Sonic figured, "what's your energy sensin' tellin' ya, big guy?"
Miles took a moment to feel around for Tao's Emerald. Since he'd detected it earlier, it was considerably less difficult to do so the second time. In addition, they had apparently gotten close enough that he was able to suss out their five foes as well. Two of them stood out more than the rest, safely concluding that those had to be Zero and Tao. All the same, the teen could tell that while they were standing there, the jackals were steadily getting further away.
"Hmm, we've certainly caught up a bit," he announced aloud to the red and blue pair, "but they're still on the move."
"Not like they were on Angel Island," Knuckles said as he leaned up against the side of a small cliff, "which means they probably don't know that we're following them."
Sonic stretched out his legs, bouncing from heel to heel. "Eh, there's no way they could've outrun us anyway. Maybe see if ya can get your widget working while we take five, Tails."
Miles wasn't sure how much he could get done during a short rest, but he figured he'd take up his partner's suggestion. He grabbed a screwdriver from his pouch and undid the back cover of his multi-tool. There was nothing wrong with the wires or circuitry that he could see, although the Ring that served as the power source was dull and tarnished, and tainted with some strange black residue. The fox removed it and tossed it away, watching it dissipate into dark particles and then retrieving a replacement from his money pouch. Or at least, he would have if not for the fact that every last one of them had suffered the same fate, leaving nothing but disappearing matter as he opened out the bag.
"Good thing there are plenty around," he muttered to himself.
Grumbling at the loss of his store of convenient energy and money, Miles went to the nearest cluster of Rings to their position and grabbed them up. He placed one into his multi-tool, closed it back up, then rebooted it, crossing his fingers that it would work. To his relief, it did, powering on without any issues.
"Okay, let's see," he murmured to himself while flipping through the apps, "current location...the Green Hill Zone on the western edge of South Island. I'm pretty sure J has written at least one book about this place." He tapped a few more times. "Compared to where the Tornado is on Angel Island...wow, we got sent pretty far away."
The teen was startled and nearly fumbled the device when the emergency transmission alert went off for the second time that day mere moments later. Out of reflex, he answered it immediately, bringing up an audio-only reception.
"Miles, buddy, pick up!" came Charmy's voice after patching it through, "we've got a situation here!"
"Hey, Knux, he got the M.E. working again!" he heard Sonic proclaim.
With a couple inputs, Miles projected the bee's image for them to see. "What's going on, Charm? We're caught up in a bit of a potential crisis ourselves."
"Uh, maybe it'd be better if we let them explain," Vector answered.
The fox watched as the crocodile ducked out of the picture and was replaced by the Wolf twins. A wave of relief washed over him knowing they were okay.
"We're glad you and the other boys are okay, Miles," Gizmo said, echoing his sentiments. The smile on her face gave way to a regretful frown. "Things aren't so okay here in Seaside City, though..."
Miles grimaced at that. Not only had the others been sent all the way to a mainland city, it was experiencing its own troubles. But, there was something else besides that which he couldn't explain, like a gut feeling that was telling him something terrible had happened.
Gadget's bared fangs visibly showed his anger, while disappointment shone in his eyes. "I'm sorry, little bro, we were careless. Cream..." He couldn't bring himself to continue at that moment.
The fox felt a pit forming in his stomach at the news. The girl he liked had now gotten dragged into things?
"What happened?" Miles growled, starting to tremble, "what happened to Cream!?"
The lupine siblings glanced at each other, then back at their adoptive younger brother, their respective expressions deepening further.
"It started after we were sent through the anomaly on Angel Island," Gizmo began, "as luck would have it, we ended up in a rather familiar spot..."
(Floral Forest, some minutes ago...)
Branches cracked and swayed as the air rippled, a dark blue blot filling a large space in a familiar open glade. An unearthly noise reverberated throughout the region, and the disturbance shrank until it had disappeared. Not before ejecting four figures from its depths, each of which took a light fall onto the tall grass and wildflowers. Gadget, Gizmo, Lavender, and Remi all got to their feet, taking a moment to get their bearings on their surroundings.
"Everyone okay?" the red wolf asked.
"I'm alright, but," the cat replied hesitantly as he double-checked the area, "it looks like that whole 'grab onto each other' deal didn't work."
The teal she-wolf whipped her head around, searching for the other three members of their party. "Lav's right: Miles, Sonic, and Knuckles aren't here!"
"Don't worry, Sis," her brother assured her as he fiddled with his comm, "we just need to ping him and–" He trailed off when he saw that it wasn't working, even after several repeated attempts. Worse, the display was all but indecipherable due to distortions like he'd never seen. "Okay, that's definitely not good. Are your units functioning properly?"
"No, it's way too glitchy for me to make sense of," Lavender responded, showing how screwy his screen looked.
Gizmo shook her head. "I can't get it to do anything."
Gadget peered over at Remi, which was standing pretty unlike their communicators. Whatever that sapphire had done in addition to transporting them elsewhere, it apparently didn't affect their robotic friend. Or perhaps it did, but not to as great of a degree.
"Remi, how are you feeling?" Gadget inquired, "any notable malfunctions or damage?" When the bespectacled canine got a negative shake of the head and a cheerful chirp in response, he smiled. "Great to hear, boy. Are you able to contact or locate Miles?" His hopeful expression was soon replaced with a disappointed one upon receiving an apologetic whir. "Oh, I see. He and the others must be having the same issue we are."
Which meant that unless the fox was able to fix the issue on his end, they wouldn't be able to reach him even if they resolved it themselves. At the moment, it would be better to figure out where they were and where they should go next.
Remi perked up and stared off in one direction, which had the twins and the cat curious. Following several seconds of silence, the little droid emitted a friendly synthetic yip and started trotting forward. Not long after that, a familiar teen rabbit and her Chao companion came into the glade, two faces they were happy to see. More importantly, however, they now knew where they'd ended up.
"Cream! Cheese!" Gizmo exclaimed, "if they're here, then we must have ended up in Floral Forest! Thank goodness, somewhere that we're at least a little familiar with."
Cream slowed to a stop just in front of them, surprise written on her face. "What are you all doing here? I came out this way because I saw something strange."
In the interest of time, the twins and Lavender told the girl the most important bits of their journey up to then. How things had started with the cat joining their crew, then the call from Knuckles, the chase across Angel Island, and the warp that had apparently sent them to Floral Forest. Once they'd explained that and the fact that they were unable to reach Miles, the young lapine lady appeared more worried than she'd been when she arrived.
"So that terrible feeling I had earlier wasn't just my imagination," she mumbled.
"What's this about a terrible feeling?" Lavender questioned while he checked over his Gear.
Cream was reluctant to share, not sure if they would believe her account. But then, they'd seen more than their fair share of bizarre things in all the adventures they'd had, so maybe it wouldn't sound so odd to them.
"I saw what looked like a big metal eagle appear around here," she explained as best she could, "it flew away towards the sea right after, which is when I got this sense that something bad was going to happen soon."
"Big metal eagle, huh?" Gadget repeated as he considered that bit of information. He shared a gaze with his twin after a couple of moments. "That sounds like one of the forms of the machine from Speedy's tale, don't you think?"
Gizmo hummed as she searched her memory. "Yeah, the one that 'Gunner Green' used. Considering how we arrived not long after she's seen to be knocking around, there might be something to Cream's hunch."
"I just hope that Miles is okay," the rabbit said softly, with Cheese letting out a sad "Chao" of agreement.
"I wouldn't worry too much," Lavender told her, pleased that he was able to get his board back into the air, "Miles is something else, and he's got Sonic and Knuckles with him. Put those three together and they're pretty much unstoppable."
Given that the twins had seen for themselves how formidable each of the trio were in their own right, they couldn't argue with that. Still, they also knew better than most that those three could be caught unawares or taken by surprise like anyone else, just like they'd been only some minutes ago. Moments like that were all it took for someone to be brought low, regardless of whether they were good or bad.
Putting that rumination aside, the pair saw that Cream had apparently come to them when she was in the middle of something else. The rabbit was toting a brown backpack that seemed fairly large on her, looking as though it had been packed pretty tightly from how much it hugged against her. They hoped that they hadn't interrupted some plans that she'd made due to them unceremoniously dropping in. Then again, after hearing about her gut feeling, as well as one other detail they hadn't shared with Miles, they suspected that they had a pretty good idea of where she might've been going.
"So, what's with the pack?" the purplish cat asked for them.
Cream perked up as though she herself had nearly forgotten that it was there. "Oh, well, I'd already been planning to come out to Cocoa Island within the next few days. After what happened, I went home and left my mother a note explaining why I was leaving a little sooner than expected. I would've told her myself, but she wasn't there."
"Cream," Gadget said gently, "are you still willing to join up with us after what we've told you? These are very dangerous people we're dealing with."
The rabbit clenched both of her hands and nodded with determination, her little friend copying her. "I want to help however I can. I would prefer not to fight, but I won't hesitate if my life or yours are threatened!"
"Then we should get moving," Gizmo decided, "although I'm not sure where to, since we can't currently locate Miles."
Cream smiled and pointed off to the west. "Well, I was going to head to Seaside City and see if the Chaotix could help me."
"That's right, Charmy mentioned they moved there from Casino Night a couple months ago," Lavender recalled.
"It's a start," the red wolf considered, "plus, if the situation continues to escalate, then we might end up needing their help just like we did on West Side Island."
Given that the teen girl had already informed her kin that she'd be away, the group wasted no time in setting off for their next destination. Once they had exited the forest, the group of six journeyed to the western coast nearest to Cream's village, where many of the smaller uncivilized islands of the Archipelago could be seen some kilometers from the shore. Tall palms with straight trunks and egg-shaped crowns dotted the landscape, as did flowers with pink heart and diamond-like fruits. Hills, dips, and loops in the terrain were ahead on the path, similar to those they'd seen in many Zones. And all along the way in various places, they could see pairs and small clusters of Rings, some close to the ground while others went higher. If they'd had the time and didn't have to deal with matters at hand, it would've been a nice place to take a relaxing stroll.
They made their way across a flat stretch that gently sloped downward before long, though it just as quickly went up again as they passed a viewing ledge. The group continued to climb the hill past that until they came to a steeper decline, the twins and Cream curling up into Rolling Attacks and flying off a grassy ramp at the end. The others trailed closely behind, following the first three through two consecutive loops to a fork in the path where they could continue as they were or head up onto a small plateau. Choosing the latter option, the gang of six collected Rings while they ran to the opposite edge, where they hopped over onto a more modest cliff. From there, they got back down to proper elevation and even ground, which, in the past, often meant they were arriving at the halfway point of a Zone.
"Cream, since you're potentially going to be part of the group moving forward," Gizmo said as they slowed their pace for the moment, "I'd imagine Miles would want to meet up more frequently than once every couple of months."
The bunny girl contemplated that while she led the group up what seemed to be the highest hill in the region, being mindful of a thorn-filled ditch in front of another ramp near the top. She let her ears carry her across the gap to the cliff several meters away, then went into a Roll just as it started sloping down. The others joined her as they went through a loop that was larger than most before making two long leaps over spots where the ocean went a bit more inland. From there, it was a matter of traversing the shadow of a long plateau as they continued up the coast, the glint of sunlight off of glass and metal slowly growing stronger.
"I think it would be nice taking turns visiting one another," she posited with a light smile, "or maybe sometimes meet at a different place."
"And we don't always have to tag along," Gadget said, gesturing between himself, his sister, Remi, and Lavender. He cleared his throat. "Probably won't have many opportunities myself anyway, due to the baby on the way."
The rabbit hummed and nodded in understanding. The conversation dropped off when they came to the edge of their destination, everyone but Cream and Cheese gazing intently. Along and beyond the shore of a large bay was several kilometers of urban sprawl, buildings both short and tall dominating much of the area. The docks on the ocean side took up much of the coastline, with boats of all sizes coming to and from the harbor. It became more modest and humble the further from the sea it went, where farmland and wilds like those the group had just passed through could be seen.
"Whoa," Lavender remarked with awe as he dismounted his Gear, "I knew that it's a big port town, but it's different seeing it in person than in pictures."
Cream giggled a bit at that. "I know what you mean, I was pretty surprised the first time, too."
"We'll have ample opportunity to check out the sights another time," Gadget reminded them, "we need to get to the Chaotix first."
The gang hurried to the main metropolitan area downtown, minding themselves as they passed by pedestrians faster than most vehicles. Winding through several intersections, Cream and the rest eventually arrived at the corner of "Naka Drive" and "Oshima Street". Tucked in a lot between buildings on top of a wooden platform and next to a tree was a two-story structure that was a little rough in places. The roof was disjointed in parts by design, most of it slanted and layered with clay-red stone shingles. The base of the building was composed of red and brown bricks, while the rest was a beige cream sort of concrete with several long and skinny cracks here and there, papers and posters plastered in random spots. It had a couple shuttered windows with half-circle glass panes above them, and stairs that led up to a tall front door with a single globular light on one side. The doorbell on the other side of the entry was an actual hanging bell with an accompanying tiny mallet to strike it with, and a simple white sign with black text that read "Chaotix Detective Agency" was hung below the highest window.
"Here we are," Cream said as she went up the steps and hit the bell to make it ring.
Several seconds went by before they heard the lock tumble and saw the door open. Charmy was the one to answer it, looking pleased to see the people on his doorstep.
"Hey there, guys!" he greeted the twins, Remi, and Lavender enthusiastically, "I expected Cream to show up sometime soon, but it's great to see you, too! Come on in!"
Everyone accepted the invitation, getting a good look at the interior of the combination home and office. They either hadn't had time or money to paint over many of the white interior walls, nor did they have much in the way of furniture. The most decorated room was the office itself, which had nice brown hardwood flooring and green-gray walls. A green-blue desk sat near the back, with a black rolling chair behind it, several phones on top, and a bulletin board with several pinned postings on the nearby wall. Several stacks of papers and open boxes cluttered the room, though they were at least kept clear of the brown reclining chair and water cooler in one corner.
Espio and Vector were also present, and the nine total individuals sat down to hash things out. When the visitors were about halfway through catching the detectives up to speed, a second ring of the bell interrupted the conversation. Seeing as she'd already contributed her side of the story, Cream felt like being helpful and volunteered to answer it. Seeing as she'd done so for them before, the Chaotix thought nothing of it and let her go, prompting the others to continue. Cheese diligently floated by her side as she went downstairs and undid the lock so she could open the door.
The gang had only just gotten back to their conversation when they heard a scream that was swiftly cut off, followed by the distressed cries of a Chao and the sound of furniture being turned over. The twins were the fastest to their feet, practically flying down the stairs to see what was the matter, but they were too late. One of the chairs in the living room had been flipped onto its front with a notable hole in the backrest, the injured and grounded form of Cream's little friend nearby.
"Oh no!" Gizmo fretted as she went over and lifted the Chao into her arms. Cheese clung tight to her and began weeping, rubbing its face under her chin. In return, she held it gently in her gloves and tucked her head against its own, petting over its back lightly. "Poor little teardrop. Who did all this?"
"Whoever did this is getting clobbered!" Vector answered with a growl, "no one wrecks our stuff and hurts our buddies!"
"Or kidnaps them!" Charmy added.
Espio hummed as his eyes scanned over the sudden crime scene that had unfolded. Aside from the damage to one of their chairs and some scuff marks on the doorstep and entryway, there weren't any signs of struggle or foul play. There was, however, a loose sheet of crumpled and kicked paper left snug under one of the handrails of the steps outside their place. He retrieved it and read over its contents within seconds, double and triple-checking to make sure he got it all.
"It's for Miles," he informed the others, "and it's from a certain familiar foe of ours." Everyone else gathered around to try and get a peek at the note, prompting the chameleon to read aloud. "'I have taken your little rabbit. Tune in tonight to see a live broadcast from Studiopolis where she will star. I hope to see you and your friends soon, my organic prototype...'"
"'Sincerely, Mecha,'" the chameleon finished as they rounded back to the present.
"And if that wasn't bad enough, that creep wrote it on the back of the note Cream left for her Ma!" Vector growled.
"Which means Mecha went to Floral Forest first, saw the note, and wrote that ahead of time expecting to nab her," Charmy summed up with a frown, "I hope Vanilla and the other people there are okay. Still, I'm sorry, buddy."
Miles could barely remember the last time he felt his head heat up so much from sheer anger. He didn't blame his siblings or Cream for her decision to go along, but the fact that his doppelganger had now genuinely dragged her into their current conflict? And not only that, but they were uncertain of the fate of the others in Floral Forest Village, hoping that Mecha had simply stopped there for a hot second and left without issue. He was seeing red and shaking, a subtle cyan aura forming around him and eyes blinking back the salty sting welling up in their corners. He didn't want to admit it, but he was just as hurt and saddened by the news as he was infuriated by it.
"Cream," he choked out, his teeth audibly grinding as he uttered more sounds of distress, "Mecha..."
Sonic gave him a comforting pat on the side. "We'll get her back, big guy." His rare serious face came to the fore. "Count on it!"
"Have no fear, Miles," Knuckles declared, "that machine will get what's coming to it!"
The two-tailed teen ran a hand through his bangs and took a few deep breaths. Once the fire in his forehead had dissipated and the water dried up, he wiped his face and let out a chuckle, though without any amusement. It was more meant to try and help him feel better in light of the recent development.
"Yeah, you're right," he breathed out, putting on the best smile he could, "just like we got Fuchsia and the twins back during those times."
Charmy nudged his way into the picture. "If it helps you feel any better, we've already figured stuff out on our end. With the Sea Fox, we should be at Studiopolis in no time!"
"Thanks, everyone." Now more determined than before, Miles cleared up any runniness and squeezed his free hand. "We'll find a way to meet up with you guys, even if we have to run across the ocean!"
"Alright, buddy! You go take care of those jackals while we go get your girlfriend back!"
Miles was neither in the mood, nor did he have the energy to bite back at being teased about his relationship with Cream. He simply ignored it and dashed ahead, now more motivated than ever to see this situation resolved. If Alexei, the Jackal Squad, and Mecha were all connected, then all of them would pay for this and many more sleights against him and his band. And even if they weren't, they had to be stopped all the same.
He led them forward to a pulley, which he allowed Sonic to use since he couldn't glide or fly. The three all followed a quarter-pipe slant and used a red spring to propel them high up onto a cliff, crossing over a nearby bridge and Rolling into a tunnel. They shot out into a loop and over several hills, their ears assailed by the roaring waterfall the path brought them behind. Knuckles used his namesakes to punch through a rocky wall, leaping beyond a wide gap and dashing off a natural ramp to an unstable ledge. The Echidna momentarily ran along the ceiling of an overhanging bit of earth to reach another, waiting for the others to catch up before they climbed further. Of course, given how fast they were, the Guardian may as well not have even waited.
They continued together as they bounced off of a few springs onto the top of a hill, the bends in the terrain let them soar up past a rope bridge and Roll into a loop. The three smashed through terrain that blocked their way and jumped to yet another yellow spring. From there, the terrain flattened out as the boundaries between Zones became apparent. No sooner had they arrived there than the fox forced both of his friends behind a sizable boulder. Peeking out from the sides, they were greeted by a sight that many the world over would've found familiar, but not for good cause.
What many knew as the Grand Kukku Mobile Suit landed a few dozen meters away from the quintet that Miles and his companions had been pursuing, brandishing its bulky arms and glaring down at them. To think that six months ago, he'd had such a difficult time with that thing, though he was confident that he would be able to handle it fairly easily now. The Jackal Squad also seemed to think so as they stood strong, with their leader chuckling and flashing a toothy smirk.
"Finally found us, huh, Al?" he sneered at the machine, "took you long enough."
"And I see you've found the Shadow Star Sapphire just as I wished, Jackal Squad," the haughty voice answered the group in turn through the massive automaton, "excellent work. Now, if you'll hand it over to my robotic representative..."
"No."
The resounding dissension from Zero was enough to give the impression that the doctor blinked in confusion, even through his mech. Did this jackal-for-hire truly dare to defy him after getting significant advance pay?
"I...beg your pardon?" Alexei replied in a bewildered tone.
"Are you deaf? I said no!" Zero snarled, "you expect me to hand something like this over after I've had a taste of what it can do?" He chuckled darkly. "Tell you what, how about I keep this and the money you still owe me? You can hang onto that other thing you're looking for, I don't care."
If he could see the avian's face at that moment, the jackal imagined one of his red eyes to be furiously twitching. He settled for watching the arms of that giant robot shaking angrily instead; it was almost as amusing. He'd never gotten the chance to fight a giant robot yet, either, so that was a new and potentially exciting experience. Hopefully, it wouldn't go down too quickly for him to show off to Alexei just how skilled he and his followers were.
As for Miles, he wasn't too surprised that there would be a falling out between the Jackal Squad and their client. Even putting aside his personal history with them, one would have to be hard-pressed to trust them. He had to contend with a restless Sonic, though, who was itching for a fight while Knuckles stood there patiently.
"Come on, Tails," Sonic urged him quietly, "we can nab that gem while they're busy with that thing!"
The fox hissed as he held the hedgehog back. "No, Sonic, not yet."
"Miles is right," Knuckles concurred, "let them fight each other first, then we can ambush them."
The blue boy grumbled, but to his credit, he decided not to just simply ignore them and go ahead anyway. Besides, maybe it could be fun watching the bad guys have a go at each other.
"I am going to pretend that I did not hear that," Alexei responded with notable effort to not lose it, "now, please kindly hand the Sapphire–"
"Ah, so you're not deaf," Tao cut him off, "just a damn fool. Boss made himself perfectly clear, so give us our pay or we'll collect it from you by force."
Everyone in the Squad murmured their agreement, much to the owl's chagrin. They really were trying to strong-arm him, weren't they? Well, he wasn't about to let them intimidate him or break off their contract without suffering some form of consequence!
"If that is how you wish to do things," he told them, straightening the GKMS and clenching its fists, "then I shall take the Sapphire and use your broken bodies for 'unethical' experimentation!"
Zero grinned excitedly and drew his scimitar, the other members of his group following suit. "You're welcome to try, little birdie."
"I will teach you what happens when you bite the hand that feeds you!"
'And now we wait and collect some data,' Miles thought as he lifted his multi-tool up so that it could record the imminent battle.
The Squad started things off by separating and surrounding the mech, which launched a salvo of spiky explosives from the cylinders of its jet pack. Cress whipped a 12-gauge riot shotgun out from his pack and fired upon the projectiles, revealing that he himself was using incendiary shells, the fiery spread setting off most of the bombs in mid-air. Those that he missed were mopped up by a few throwing knives courtesy of Tao, the wiry jackal moving around and delivering a Chaos-powered Rolling Jump into the robot's rear. The GKMS stumbled forward a few steps, leaving it open to a few shots from the twins' sidearms, their armor-piercing rounds putting several holes in the armor. It regained its balance easily enough and extended one arm out to try and grab ahold of Zero. The Squad's leader hopped atop it with barely any effort, then zoomed up the arm while digging and dragging his blade through the metal, slicing into it like a hot knife through warm butter.
As the head of the jackals tore his weapon free and dove back to the ground, the second-in-command leapt on top of the mech's other, more intact arm. The twins took potshots here and there, attempting to keep the big bot busy while the Squad's Number 2 did his thing. As nice as they were, the small arms weren't doing their owners much good. Fortunately, they had their figurative pack mule to help them out, reaching into his bag to grab themselves a couple of LMGs and a few magazines to stock them with. They circled around and pelted the jet pack with five-round bursts, the black market steel solid ammo easily penetrating the plating. Even better, they managed to strike where the mines were stored, blowing the tubes to bits and disabling that particular form of attack.
Thrown off balance by the sudden loss, Tao took advantage by Dashing up the arm and slamming into the GKMS' face, knocking it onto its rear. It pushed itself up after a few seconds, aiming at the jackal and letting loose a great gout of flame from its beak, only to miss entirely when the wiry male bounded to its opposite limb, Stomping with enough force to further loosen it from its socket. It attempted to shake him off, but Tao sheathed himself in a yellow light and Rolled into one of the giant's eyes. The tempered glass fractured and collapsed from the blow, allowing him to slip inside and get a good look at the mech's cockpit. He was disappointed, but not surprised to see that the place was empty, meaning that Alexei had been controlling the machine remotely.
"Oh well," he mumbled and shrugged, hopping back over to the open eye socket, "yo, Cress, go ahead and send a big one. The owl's not here."
"You got it!" The short jackal stashed his shotgun and brought out a grenade launcher. He slid a cartridge into the breech before pressing the buttstock against his dominant shoulder and gazing down the side sight. "Fire in the hole!"
Tao leapt clear from the head just as the grenade round arched into the broken eye. The GKMS got to its feet as it attempted to dislodge the shot, but it was too late. The resulting boom blew more than half of its head off and caused it to topple over, leaving the mech unmoving. With that done, the Jackal Squad put away their weapons and gave themselves a breather, the girls and Cress patting themselves on the back for helping take down something like a giant robot.
Miles chose that moment to spring into action, him, Sonic, and Knuckles breaking into a run to blitz the Squad. That was until one of the GKMS' arms rose up in a sudden arc and went to slam its open hand over the clustered Animals. And though their fate seemed certain, the fox saw a yellow aura once again envelop Tao as the jackal reached into his tail and pulled out the yellow Chaos Emerald. As he put in a notably strenuous effort to call the energy, a translucent wave of similarly-colored light washed over everyone and everything within sight, causing them all to move slower than molasses.
Everyone, that was, except for Tao, who continued moving at normal speed while clapping his free hand over the Sapphire in Zero's own. For the first time since he'd trounced them, Miles saw genuine shock momentarily show on the wiry canine's usually calm face and in his eyes. Enough that his fingers momentarily slipped away from the gem, only to grasp it even more tightly, sparing the heroic trio a glance.
"Get us out of here!" he shouted at the Sapphire.
To their dismay, Miles, Sonic, and Knuckles found themselves once again getting swept up in a spatial rift like what they'd seen on Angel Island. And before they knew it, all of the Animals and the GKMS had disappeared from Green Hill. As had a good chunk from that portion of the Zone, leaving a gaping hole for the lake's water to fill.
Commander Richard Bullock infrequently visited the top correctional facility of his organization, and whenever he did make the trip out to Prison Island, he always avoided one section in particular. On that day, however, he put aside his personal sentiments and went to the elevator that would bring him into the depths of the facility. As per usual, the agent code-named "Jack" was manning the station near the lift, glancing between the window, console, and monitors every so often. Upon spotting the Commander, he got up from his seat and saluted his silver-haired superior.
"Commander!" he hailed Bullock, "this is the first time I've seen you when I'm at this post, sir!"
The other man returned the gesture. "At ease, Agent Jack. I'm going down into Basement 6 to speak with a certain prisoner."
"Basement 6," Jack repeated, sitting back down and tapping away at the keys in front of him, "shall I call an escort to accompany you, sir?"
"That won't be necessary," Bullock replied as he slid his identification card through the lift's reader, "prepare connection procedures for the cell of prisoner SP08041938."
"Acknowledged, overriding standard procedure." A few moments passed before a chime rang through the air. "The elevator is ready for you, sir, and the bridge should be up by the time you get there."
The Commander stepped onto the lift and folded his arms behind his back as the doors closed. Approximately three-and-a-half minutes later, they opened again to let him out onto the expected floor. While he hadn't traversed these halls in a long time, Bullock still knew the exact path to get to as far as where he needed to go; it helped that there were only a couple of them. Soon enough, he arrived at the long tube that bridged the main prison to the isolated underwater cell of one the island's most notorious criminal inmates. And there the old auburn fox sat waiting for him, dressed up in his tattered and beaten clothes and accessories just as he had been when they first put him away.
"Well, ain't this a fine howdy-do?" the Animal said with a devilish smirk, "thought it was odd that the bridge came up an' no one got here right away." He looked the human over. "Yer lookin' well, Rick."
The Commander frowned ever so slightly at the fox's easygoing behavior. "Hello, Silas. I came to thank you for your cooperation in helping to resolve the Flicky Island case."
"Tweren't nothing," Silas waved him off, "just storytelling with a couple of kids." He kicked away the papers that littered his space and strolled up to the glass that separated him from the human, fixing him with a knowing look to match the toothy grin he wore. "Now, why don't ya tell me why yer really here?"
Bullock nodded with a curt hum. "Very well, I'll not beat around the bush." He smoothed out his suit and returned the other's gaze. "I went over the audio recording of your conversation with Agents Ace and Rouge. Specifically, I kept a close ear on your account of what happened all those years ago to land you in here."
"Good times," the fox remarked with a chuckle, "I still remember the look on yer boys' faces when I made off with that pretty li'l thing."
The man resisted the urge to ball up his hands. He remembered why talking to Silas had been, at least for him, an agitating venture. Very little phased him and he was perceptive to boot, seeing through pleasantries and pushing buttons without having to try that hard. Still, the Commander had come to him for a reason.
"Even to this day, you insist that you don't know what you unleashed when you stole the Chaos Emerald," Bullock began, making Silas perk part of his brow, "but I refuse to believe that. You've always known more than you let on, Silas, and not just about that."
"This ol' song and dance again?" Silas taunted him, "I mean, that's why you've kept me alive instead of just puttin' one between my eyes, right?" His face hardened. "I'm not stupid. Why d'ya think I've kept my muzzle shut for so long about certain stuff? It's 'cause I know if I spill my guts, yer just gonna get rid of me afterward."
The human bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Silas, I wouldn't do that to you. I'm not like the previous Commander and his staff were."
"Oh sure, scrubbin' out corruption in the ranks and all that jazz," the old fox jeered, "yet I hear yer tryin' to take back the Emerald from my grandson, who's done nothin' to deserve ya houndin' him." That normally collected face morphed into one of calm, yet still visible anger. "Leave him alone."
Bullock folded his hands together as he met the irate gaze of the vulpine. "Were he to hand over the Chaos Emerald, I would be more than content to do so. However, he and those close to him have shown that they're unwilling to cooperate on that front."
"Cut the bullshit!" Silas slammed his hands into the glass. "Ace told me that rock's all he's got left to remember my son and my daughter-in-law by. How did ya think he was gonna react to yer agents tryin' to take it from him!?"
The human did his best not to show it, but he had flinched a tad at the fox's tone. Not that he could blame him, as his own son had recently gotten married and had discussed plans of expanding the family soon. That meant that he would be a grandfather himself before he knew it. Were his and Silas' positions reversed, he couldn't say his feelings would be that different, if at all. Even so, if the old vulpine was going to keep refusing to divulge what he actually knew...
The interrogation was stopped short by an almost deafening series of beeps that came from the communicator disguised as a lapel pin in the Commander's coat. Bullock would've been more irritated at this interruption if not for the fact it was transmitting the emergency signal..
"We'll continue this later," he told the fox as he hurriedly began walking back the way he came, "it seems there's a matter that requires my immediate attention."
Silas didn't bother to answer him as he went back over to the desk in his cell and took a sheet of paper from a stack provided to him. Normally, he'd be scribbling away, but in light of that conversation, he found himself momentarily stuck, fixated on the subject Bullock had brought up. As much as he enjoyed looking back on that heist, there were details about it that he wished he could forget, if only so the human would never know for himself.
After a few minutes, as if prompted by the unwanted memories, his pen hand began moving across the paper, slowly and meticulously drawing each letter of what came to mind. When it finished, he found himself staring at a simple, five-letter name that he'd always been fond of.
"Maria."
