Sonic and the Freedom Fighters: Parallel Dimensions
Chapter 10: Interference
-Near Unknown Island-
The Freedom Fighter Jet had taken off and was in the air, rushing towards the island that the mysterious readings were coming from, with the Freedom Fighters all geared up and ready to tackle whatever was waiting for them there, with Amy, Cream, Blaze and Silver in tow to help with the mission. Tails and Rotor were in the pilots' seats as they manoeuvred the jet towards their destination.
"We'll be arriving at the island in about three minutes." Tails said from his seat on the jet, with Sally and the others listening in from the back.
"Good. That gives us time to go over the plan." Sally replied, bringing up a holographic map of the island courtesy of Nicole. "Nicole has detected some odd signals originating from this island. We don't know what it is, but if it's related to Eggman recently acquiring the Sol Emeralds, we can assume it's nothing good. So our mission is to find out what caused the signal and investigate it."
"So we just drop in and kick some butt? No problem!" Sonic replied, showing a great deal of confidence.
"Not quite. There is one more issue. I'm detecting some jamming signals emanating from the island. Once we're within range, we may experience interference with communication." Nicole replied, displaying markers on the approximate locations of the signals on the island.
"So our priority is finding and destroying whatever is sending out those signals. Nicole is picking up three of them, so we'll be splitting up into three teams to deal with it." Sally continued.
"Uh... is Nicole gonna be okay once we get there?" Amy asked, concerned for the digital lynx.
"The jamming signals are only interfering with radio communication within the vicinity of the island. Rest assured, I will remain unharmed." Nicole assured the hedgehog.
"Now then, Sonic, Amy and Blaze will be Team 1, Team 2 will be me, Nicole, Tails and Rotor, and that leaves Bunnie, Antoine, Cream and Silver in Team 3." Sally continued. Once she was finished, Sonic promptly got to his feet.
"Alright! Team Sonic, ready to roll!" He declared enthusiastically
"Whoa, hold on there. What do you mean, 'Team Sonic'?" Amy interrupted, arms crossed. "There's only one member of Team Sonic even on this team. If anything, it should be Team Rose."
"And I say it should be Team Sonic." Sonic argued back, glaring at her.
"Team Rose!" "Team Sonic!" "Team Rose!" "Team Sonic!" The two hedgehogs bickered back and forth, much to Sally's chagrin.
"Does the name of the team really matter right now?!" Sally interjected in frustration.
"YES!" The two shouted back.
"Uh, guys? I hate to interrupt, but... well, you'll probably want to see this." Rotor said from the front of the jet, pulling up a display of the island in front of them... showing that a massive metallic structure had been built on the far end of the island.
"What is that?" Sally asked, tilting her head as she looked at the mysterious structure. Blaze leaned in for a closer look, recognizing it almost immediately.
"That... looks like one of the sections of Venom's hideout. Did she move it through dimensions?" The pyrokinetic cat wondered aloud.
"Hmm... Okay, once we take down the jammers, we'll investigate whatever that is." Sally responded.
"Alright then, let's roll out!" Sonic declared, pressing a button and opening the loading doors before leaping down towards the island. Amy and Blaze looked back at Sally, and once she gave them the go-ahead to follow him, they jumped down after him, using the environment to lessen the final impact of their landing. While the rest of the team landed elsewhere, the trio quickly surveyed the surroundings to look for the jammers.
"So what should we be looking for, anyway?" Amy asked the others as she kept looking around.
"Uh, probably anything out of the ordinary. So, wires, huge towers... something like that." Sonic replied before racing around the location, looking for anything that looked suspicious, while Amy and Blaze moved forward. All the while, Blaze looked extremely tense.
"Uhh... Blaze? You okay?" The hedgehog asked, concerned.
"I'm fine. Let's just get this done quickly so we can get the Sol Emeralds back." Blaze replied as she pressed on, before noticing something within a nearby alcove. She and Amy approached it and discovered a moderately sized metallic tower, containing a strange device in the centre, partially obscured by the surrounding rock face.
"Hey, Sonic! Come check this out!" Amy called out to the blue hedgehog, who came speeding towards the two to check out the metallic structure.
"Huh... You think that's the thing we're-" He began to ask before Blaze suddenly launched a fireball at the middle of the structure, causing the device to explode and the surrounding supports to slowly melt under the intense heat before Blaze turned and walked away.
"Done. While the others focus on the remaining jammers, we should find the entrance to the lab." Blaze said curtly, the two hedgehogs following after a few seconds of surprise. As they did, Sonic opened up his communicator and tried to contact Sally...
Elsewhere on the island, the others had split up into their respective groups, with Sally leading her team as she tracked the jamming signal. As she did so, she received a call from Sonic from her communicator, and while it was still mostly incomprehensible, she could make out a few words from it.
"Sounds like Sonic's taken down one of the jammers. That should leave just two more." She replied as she put the communicator away and continued tracking the signal, while Tails followed at her side.
"I hope we're able to solve this soon..." Tails said, catching Sally's attention.
"What do you mean?" She asked as she continued heading in the direction of the signal.
"Well... I'm worried about Blaze. She seems to be really stressed about the Sol Emeralds, and this 'Venom' person..." He explained, obviously concerned for his friend.
"Yeah... I can see why. We'll find out what we can from here and then figure out our next move from here." Sally assured him, before Nicole appeared in her holographic form beside her.
"Sally, I'm detecting an intense reading coming from the west. It's likely the source of the signal." The AI explained, prompting the team to start rushing in that direction, where they came upon a rock face with a gap between some of the rocks, large enough for Sally to observe that there was something inside.
"Rotor, mind clearing the way for us?" She asked, standing back to give Rotor some space.
"I'm on it!" He replied as he approached and observed the gap in the rock wall, before placing his hands where the structure was weakest and pulling. Before long, the wall came apart and revealed the source of the signal, a metallic tower with a disruptor in the center. Sally approached the structure, activating one of her Ring-Blades and driving it into the disruptor before pulling away, causing it to spark and eventually explode. Once that was done, Sally pulled out Nicole's handheld computer and confirmed that the signal from this tower had stopped, leaving only one signal remaining.
"That's us done on our end. We'll wait until the last jammer is destroyed and then regroup." She said as she walked away from the destroyed tower.
Elsewhere, Bunnie and Silver had taken to the air to search for the remaining signal jammer while Antoine searched on the ground level, trying to make sure that they left no stone unturned. Silver quickly came back from searching to meet up with the other two, having been unable to find the jammer.
"Found anything yet?" He asked Bunnie and Antoine as he descended towards the ground.
"Ain't found nothin' on our ends yet, Silver. Cream's still lookin'." Bunnie replied. Silver sighed and clutched the side of his head in response.
"Ugh... this is all my fault. If I'd just helped with getting the Emeralds away, then-"
"We'll get 'em, sugar, don't ya worry. Bunnie interrupted, placing a hand on his shoulder to soothe him, before Cream and Cheese came flying towards them.
"Miss Bunnie! I found the signal jammer. It's over to the right of here, but it's very well hidden." Cream said as she landed.
"Good job, sugar!" Bunnie replied, rubbing the younger bunny's head affectionately before taking off in that direction, letting Cream lead her in the direction of the jammer, with Silver and Antoine following close behind. Within less than a minute, Cream landed in front of a rock face, with an opening covered by some large boulders.
"It's in there, but the entrance is blocked off." Cream explained as they approached the rock face. Silver wasted no time in using his psychokinesis to move the boulders out of the way, revealing the jammer to the rest of them and allowing Bunnie to instantly fire an energy blast at it, causing it to spark and eventually explode.
"Perfect! Now let us see..." Antoine said as he opened his communicator. "Antoine to Sally, Team 3 has destroyed ze jammer."
"Copy that, Antoine." Sally replied from her side, noticing that the communicators were no longer experiencing any interference. "Okay, sounds like all three jammers are down. Now we just need to find the-"
"Hey, Sal? I think we found the entrance." Sonic's voice suddenly interrupted from the communicator. True to form, Sonic, Blaze and Amy were standing outside the entrance to the lab, blocked off by what looked to be nothing more than a metal gate.
"Okay, just hang on we're... to your..." Sally's voice said from Sonic's communicator, but for some reason, the interference suddenly came back, drowning out her voice.
"Sal? I think we still got some interference." Sonic replied, thumping the side of the communicator in an attempt to sort it out. But when the static disappeared, a completely different voice came out.
"So these are the so-called 'rodents' that Robotnik's been having trouble with. I had a feeling moving my lab to this dimension would draw your attention." The new voice said, surprising everyone.
"Who the heck is this?" Sonic asked, while Blaze's eyes narrowed as she looked at the communicator.
"Wait... that voice..." She muttered, recognizing who was on the other end...
"Oh, of course, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself to you all. You may call me Venom." The voice continued. "I must admit, you've caught me a little underprepared. I haven't even had enough time to arrange a suitable welcome for you. But no matter."
"So, you're the one who's been helping Robotnik this whole time. I'm guessing it was you who abducted Mina as well?" Sally surmised.
"Ah, and this must be the brains behind your little resistance. Very perceptive of you, Princess." Venom replied, her tone making it difficult to tell whether she was being genuine or sarcastic.
"You know why we're here, Venom. Hand over the Sol Emeralds and I might be inclined to let you go." Blaze growled into the communicator.
"Oh, but I've barely begun to tap into the near-limitless well of energy stored within these Emeralds. And I'm a very thorough researcher. Speaking of which..." Venom responded, and a few seconds later, an Egg Pawn landed in front of Sonic, Blaze and Amy, bearing lines on its body that glowed with an orange light, while a rigid electrified barrier rose from behind the group.
"Dang it... It's a trap!" Amy yelled as she saw the barrier behind them.
"I have an experiment that requires the use of a few guinea pigs. Now then... let's begin." Venom continued, the Egg Pawn getting into a fighting stance.
"Pfft, one Egg Pawn? That's it? You're making this too easy." Sonic snarked confidently, before Blaze lobbed a fireball at the robot, causing a small explosion... but when the smoke cleared, the Egg Pawn was still standing, and rushed towards the trio with alarming speed, giving them barely enough time to dodge its charge.
"Uhhh... okay, why didn't that work? That totally should have worked, right?" Sonic asked, completely confused by the robot's apparent immunity to fire. Blaze glared at the robot, sensing something radiating from it.
"Wait a minute... She's using the energy of the Sol Emeralds to power them?" Blaze gasped.
"Huh?! How does that-" Amy began to ask.
"She must have designed this particular Pawn to be resistant to heat and fire." The cat interrupted. Sonic and Amy rushed in to attack, the Pawn showing a surprising level of strength as it managed to defend against their attacks before knocking them back with a swipe.
"Sonic, are you alright? What's happening?" Sally asked through the communicator, causing Sonic to quickly evade the robot as it went on the offensive while he talked to her.
"Uh, well, we're trapped with a powered-up robot and my gut tells me it ain't the only one." He replied, leaping back from the robot as it prepared a powerful strike.
"Okay, just hold out for a little longer, we're on our way." Sally replied. Sonic rushed in for a counterattack and knocked the robot back, slamming it into the gate behind it.
"Wow... well, at least this thing's more of a challenge than Egghead's Pawns usually are."
"We're running out of time. We need to get into that lab now!"
"I know, but how do we-" Amy asked before she realized something. "Wait... if they're using the Sol Emeralds as a power source, then... they must be using something like those Chaos Cores, right?"
"Huh... would explain the boost in power it got after Blaze hit it with-" Sonic remarked, before instantly remembering the fight with Metal Sonic on the Death Egg, and how he beat him by overloading his core with Chaos Energy. "Hey, wait a minute! Blaze, you have to hit it again!"
"Pretty sure we established that it's impervious to my flames." Blaze replied incredulously.
"It's absorbing the energy from them. All we gotta do is feed it more than its core can handle." The hedgehog explained.
"Okay... so all we have to do is stop it from moving so Blaze can overload it?" Amy asked, with Sonic nodding in response.
"Let's hope you're right about this..." Blaze sighed as the two hedgehogs charged at the Pawn, dodging its counterattacks as they manoeuvred it into position while Blaze charged up her attack. Amy managed to keep the robot occupied by matching its blows with her hammer while Sonic darted around and struck from every angle he could, until he finally swept at the robot's legs, allowing Amy to launch it into the electrified gate. The resulting surge of electricity coursed through the robot and interfered with its AI, immobilizing it and letting Blaze launch a full-power burst of flames at the Pawn. With no way to vent the excess energy, it was only a matter of time before the robot overloaded and exploded, punching a hole in the gate and disabling it. The trio barely had time to celebrate before Blaze fell to her knees in exhaustion.
"Blaze! Are you okay?!" Amy asked as she ran over, helping the pyrokinetic feline up.
"I'm fine... that just... took a lot of energy..." She replied, catching her breath. Before they could do anything else, however, a trio of Egg Pawns leapt into the makeshift arena, all three of them bearing the same upgrades as their fallen ally.
"More of them?!" Amy gasped as she readied her hammer again, the three Mobians grouping up in a defensive position.
"So, uh... don't suppose you have enough for three more robots, Blaze?" Sonic asked.
"What do... you think?" Blaze replied, still panting from exertion. Sonic and Amy both prepared for the worst... before a certain cyborg rabbit flew in and punched one of the robots away, with the rest of the Freedom Fighters rushing in to defend the three of them from the robots' counteroffensive.
"We'll deal with the rest of the robots. You three get inside and follow Venom." Sally ordered, looking back to Sonic as she stood defensively in front of him.
"Be careful, Sally. These things are tough." Amy warned, prompting the princess to flash a smile.
"So are we." She assured him before leaping into battle, taking on the wave of empowered Egg Pawns while Sonic rushed inside with Amy and Blaze. The three of them raced through the lab as fast as they could, looking for where Venom would be hiding, until they entered a large circular hangar that appeared to be a workshop of sorts, with various automated welders circling a large mech in the centre of the room. The mech in question had a serpentine form, with a large spherical core for the cockpit and several long-necked, draconic 'heads' attached to the core.
"So, this is the blue hedgehog I've heard so much about. You did well to get past my Sol Pawns." Venom's voice called out from above, the trio looking up to find the red-scaled serpent on a metal platform above them. "And I see you brought the Guardian with you."
"Enough games, Venom. Return the Sol Emeralds, now!" Blaze snapped, stepping in front of the others.
"Unfortunately, I can't do that. Not until I have what I need from them." The serpent replied.
"I'm not about to let you misuse the Emeralds for your own selfish end any longer!" The princess growled, eliciting a glare from Venom.
"You, a member of Laevatein's royal family, would dare lecture me about the improper use of a powerful artefact? I hardly need to remind you of the last time your family's use of them went unchecked." She retorted, causing Blaze to step back a bit in realization.
"...The Great Cataclysm? That's what this is about?" She asked, utterly baffled.
"Okay, what the heck are you two talking about?" Sonic asked, leaning into Blaze's peripheral vision.
"So the Guardian never told you about the Great Cataclysm? How her family-"
"Don't you dare lump my family in with that tyrant!" Blaze snapped, interrupting Venom's accusatory statement.
"'Tyrant'? Blaze, what's going on?" Amy asked, worried for her friend. Blaze glared at Venom for a bit longer before sighing and preparing to explain her kingdom's history...
"...500 years ago, the reigning Queen of Laevatein, Inferno... she grew obsessed with gaining as much power as she could. She gathered as many artefacts from our world as she could, hoping one of them could grant her the strength she was looking for. She succeeded... but it corrupted her, warped her body and mind into something far more insidious. And when the people of Sol turned on her, she used the power of the Emeralds in one last desperate attempt to turn the tide..."
"Destroying much of Sol's landmass in one fell swoop, in an event we now call the Great Cataclysm. And thus was Inferno, the Queen of Black Flames herself, sealed away from the world for eternity." Venom interjected, finishing Blaze's explanation.
"Okay... so what I don't get is why you're siding with Eggman, of all people. I mean, sounds like the person you have beef with is already six feet under." Sonic asked, still not understanding Venom's choice of allegiance.
"Because he alone has the resources and vision to help me restore Sol to its former glory. I merely aim to expand his plans for this dimension into my own." She explained, causing Amy to gasp in horror.
"Wait, you can't mean... you're going to roboticize your own home? But why?!" She asked.
"Because as long as people continue to have free will, they will continue to make choices that aid them and them alone... choices that tear apart the world around them. We already lost so much to the Great Cataclysm, and I will not allow it to happen again!" Venom replied in a sombre tone.
"But the longer the Sol Emeralds stay in this world-" Blaze tried to argue.
"I am aware of the risks." Venom interrupted. "But I have considered every possibility, and this is the best option for our world. I thought you, of all people, would understand my perspective..." She continued, before she stepped into the mech's open cockpit and sat down. "But if you continue to interfere, then I will have no choice but to eliminate you. Crimson Hydra, engage!"
The mech's cockpit closed, and the serpentine robot slowly came to life, its many heads staring down the trio as they prepared for a fight...