A/N: Wooo! 20,000 words!
And yeah, sorry if this is a little delayed. I've been expanding my backlog for this story. So far, I've completed through "Cracking Knuckles" and have started "Techno-Teacher" a couple days ago.
As I said in the last chapter, I placed Station Square in that part of California just south of Santa Maria and Morro Bay. If you live in that area, let me know if you got Sonic's autograph and I'll be more than happy to repost on Twitter! :D
Also I decided to rename some of the E-Series robots so that Eggman doesn't go around saying "Da-Dai-Oh" or "Gorru-Gaooh". However, for lack of a better name, I'm keeping the name Missile Wrist.
Anyway, this was a fun one to write. I named it "I Am the Eggman" after the song, because he's the man with the master plan!
I want to thank singsong182, One Nutty Author, SwanGirl24, doomxdesire94, Ryu the Weredragon, and JakandDaxterFan42 for favoriting and following since the last chapter!
Without further ado, and after the review replies, heeeeerre's Missile Wrist Rampage!
GuardianDragon98
1. Love how you included those subtle fourth wall breaks.
2. Definitely improved scenes that, for me when I watched the series, used to be impractical.
3. Giving time to explore side characters like those scientists in Area 99 and giving them names so they don't feel one-dimensional.
4. I am curious how you're going to do the Shadow Saga since Sonic already knows Shadow in this rewrite of yours.
This update was worth the wait!
I love me some fourth wall breaks. In fact, I can't get enough of them. Most fourth wall breaks will come from Sonic, but as per the original anime, I'll try to have Amy, Eggman, and the Chaotix break the fourth wall to some extent as well.
Improving scenes is how we roll! That's what defines a rewrite!
I'm trying to only name characters who will be recurring. I'll admit, the Area 99 scene was fun to write.
I hear the Shadow and Metarex Sagas are favorites among fans. And yes, Sonic already knows Shadow. I've got big plans, my friends… *Darth Sidious voice* Big plans…
I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoy this one as well!
The Dragon Legend
(Chapter 1)
Nice, but you didn't need to put the S-Team's radio chatter in bold. It was already obvious what was happening there.
I plan to split that scene into two or three smaller scenes. I also plan to change Tails' and Sam's perspectives into third-person POVs. It was kinda strange, and I'm only doing first-person in Chris' and Sonic's POVs from now on. An update should come for this chapter some time soon.
(EDIT: Fixed!)
The Dragon Legend
(Chapter 2)
Right now, what I'm wondering is: Why do Chuck and Sonic say "it'll be different for a mobian" as if the law would go easier on him? Because… it wouldn't. If caught, Sonic probably wouldn't get a trial. Just killed and dissected. Humanity is not kind to those that are different.
I should change this as well. This doesn't seem to be as big a change as Chapter 1, but it should be changed nonetheless.
(EDIT: Fixed!)
On a side note, I loved reading your "Shadow Says" and "Cards Against Mobians"! I've also read what you have for "Shadow's Odyssey" so far, and all I thought as I read was "Welp, there goes Grievous…" and so on. Now we know why Shadow's an anti-hero.
The Green Seer
Oh boy! I love Sonic X, no matter how cringy it gets sometimes. It was my introduction to this franchise and it still holds a special place in my heart. I've wanted to read a rewrite of the series for a while and I'm very happy to have found this story, with long chapters just how I like them!
I'll be honest though, the first person POV is not something I'm very into but I'm willing to compromise. (And you still have third POV as well!) The story is good so far, a few grammatical errors but that always happen so whatever. I do enjoy the new scenes and the better dialogue, and I'm very curious how you'll go about writing the second season. If you decide to adapt more games into the storyline that would be amazing. It would be great to see the Riders series or Unleashed introduced in this new setting with those characters.
About Chris now; yeah, I had no idea he was so hated among the fans earlier on. I just thought he was a meh character personally. I was always more interested in Sonic, his friends and Eggman. The Metarex saga I believe was a really cool concept. Could have been better but for an original idea it was pretty good. I do hope you'll enjoy watching it.
I'm happy you're writing this story and can't wait for the next installment.
I've always loved Sonic X, even if I'm a more recent Sonic fan. It's my favorite Sonic TV show, right up there with SatAM. This makes me wish there was a new Sonic anime, or even a serious animated TV series.
While this is my first time writing in first-person, I find it rather effective. The only characters who will have first person are Chris, Sonic, and Cosmo in the Metarex Saga rewrite.
I also found the second season somewhat inconsistent with the first season in some ways. As for more game adaptations, unfortunately, I don't think that will happen, but I doplan to show you what I'm made of at the end of Season 2!
Also, I think Chris helps to define Sonic X. You can't have Sonic X without Chris. You just can't. In fact, every time in think of Station Square, I think of Chris. As he is a very toxic and touchy character, I'm trying to be careful with how I use him.
As for the Metarex Saga… Where do I begin? It's awesome. The Metarex really are awesome bad guys. I can't wait to see the generals! Right now, I just finished "Trick Sand" and am about to move on to "Ship of Doom". The two episodes I'm looking forward to most are "Teasing Time" and "A Revolutionary Tale". I've got big plans for Dark Sonic. I am sorewriting it once I finish Season 2. Of the 35 pages of ideas I have, five are dedicated to what I've seen of the Metarex Saga so far.
And yes, I know what happens to Cosmo… :'(
I'm glad you enjoy the story so far, and I hope you enoy this chapter as well!
Disclaimer: I do not own any elements in this story except for my own characters. Sonic the Hedgehog is owned by SEGA, who does not endorse or affiliate itself with this work of fiction. Real world locations and organizations are used fictitiously. Real world people will be mentioned, but will not appear, in order to adhere with "Entries not allowed" Rule 4.
…Still don't see why disclaimers are used if this is naturally a work of fiction…
Chapter 3
Episode 3
We Are Together Again! Dr. Eggman's Ambitious Invasion
I Am the Eggman
Eggman's base – Sun August 21; 10:33 AM – Third-person POV
Sunday had arrived in the city of Station Square. The weather was beautiful, with only a few clouds dotting the sky here and there. It was one of those picture-perfect days where nothing could go wrong.
But Dr. Eggman had other ideas. This would be the day he began his conquest of this new planet. Today he would lay the foundation of his glorious Eggman Empire.
Eggman woke up at ten that morning, much later than he had wanted to. This was because he has done more physical work than he was used to overnight, and he was catching up on sleep.
The doctor blacked out the moment he was engulfed in the freak accident. When he woke up, he eventually discovered that he had been transported to an entirely new world in the early morning hours of Sunday, August 21. Somehow this world's calendar wasn't all that different from Mobius'…
The Chaos Emeralds alone had never caused Chaos Control on that scale before. Eggman assumed it was either the wiring of the machine, or the damage it had received when his E-13 Guardian was destroyed. Either way, he was safe within the walls of his fortress.
Eggman remembered doing a double take right then. Was it possible that he was never Chaos Controlled to begin with? He had to find out. There were too many questions simultaneously racking his 300-IQ brain.
To his mild surprise, he had awoken in his sleeping quarters, and he assumed his robots had put him there to rest. Rising from his bed, he headed toward his command center, which was just down the hall from his room. Upon entering, he saw the broken Chaos Roboticizer still in the middle of the room, and he stifled a yawn. Being unconscious for a while did nothing to improve his need for sleep.
The only other one in the command center at that time was Bokkun, who was studying the broken Chaos Roboticizer. He turned and looked up at his creator, a big smile on his face.
"Good to see you're awake, Dr. Eggman!" his over-cheery voice echoed through the room. Unfortunately, Bokkun was no substitute for caffeine.
"Bokkun," Eggman started, "where are Decoe and Bocoe?"
"Oh, they're downstairs getting a crew together to clean up this mess. Um…" Bokkun pondered what he was going to say next. "I-Is that something you would do?"
"Yes, exactly, Bokkun. Carry on with the cleanup." Eggman was tired, and he didn't want to deal with the aftermath of the Chaos Control event that night. But before he went to bed, he just had to know if he was still on Mobius or not.
He wandered over to the console, which had several large viewscreens situated above it. Surveying the room, he saw that, aside from a few pieces of metal and glass embedded in the walls, the only real damage done to the room was smoke, which had blackened several spots on the walls. It was nothing his hench-bots and Badniks couldn't fix.
He pressed the button for the outside security cameras, and blinked in surprise at what he saw. Instead of his usual grand array of security measures, ranging from floodlights and barbed-wire fences, he saw… a beach. That was the last thing he expected to see. As Eggman watched the waves gently lapping against the shore, he was immediately filled with conflicting emotions.
While he wasn't surprised to find that he was indeed Chaos Controlled to a different location, he was shocked to find that his entire fortress was transported as well. It remained to be seen whether he was on another planet entirely.
Eggman pulled up the radar and zoomed all the way out. He quickly found out that he wasn't on Mobius anymore. This filled him with many more questions.
"How did Chaos Control transport my whole fortress to another planet?"
"Was that annoying pincushion and his friends sent here as well?"
"Is my fortress' foundation stable?"
"What about the underground Badnik factory?"
"Can I get back home?"
He quickly answered Question 5: No way was he getting back home, not without the Chaos Emeralds.
"Bokkun," Eggman spoke.
"Yes, Doctor?" the robot replied, looking up from his work.
"Did your research find any sign of the Chaos Emeralds' whereabouts?"
"No, Doctor," Bokkun said with a hint of sadness. "We made them our first priority. They're totally gone."
Eggman gritted his teeth. "They can't be," he said. "They have to have been sent here as well; otherwise, we're stranded."
Walking over to the Chaos energy scanner, he pressed a button. Nothing. He figured the scanner was damaged in the explosion, which meant he had to add console repairs to his ever-growing bucket list.
As for Sonic and his friends, he assumed they were also on this planet, as were the Emeralds. As inconclusive as his deductions were at the time, there was no reason they weren't on the planet. But how were they not in the fortress, and he still was?
Just then Decoe came through the door, followed by various Egg Pawns.
"You're awake, Doctor," Decoe stated the obvious. "I had to bring a large quantity of Badniks – this cleanup will be time-consuming."
"I was afraid of that," grumbled Eggman.
"You four, clean the ash and smoke off the walls and remove anything embedded in it," the tall, yellow robot instructed four of the Egg Pawns. "The rest of you will dismantle and remove the broken Chaos Roboticizer."
To Eggman, he asked, "Do you wish to recycle the spare parts?"
"Yes," Eggman replied. Just because he was a supervillain did not mean he didn't believe in environmental friendliness. "And also… I need to know if the fortress's foundation is safe and in one piece."
"We have already analyzed our surroundings," reported Decoe. "The structural integrity of the fortress is sound. It's almost as if this is the original location."
"And the factory?"
"Completely intact, Doctor. However, the hidden runway is blocked off by the natural landscape of this island. I have already dispatched a team of Badniks to deal with it."
"And where is Bocoe?" queried Eggman. "Why isn't he here?"
"I regret to inform you that Bocoe has sustained moderate damage from the explosion. Fortunately, we are programmed to resist any elements that would otherwise cause us to black out, as organic lifeforms put it."
Eggman nodded. "Carry on with your work. I'm going to get some sleep if I can. Tomorrow, we'll make sure our Badnik army is in order, and I'll study the lie of the land before our conquest."
That was Saturday night. Eggman did manage to sleep that night, knowing that, as long as Sonic wasn't on Earth, he could easily turn this world into the Eggman Empire. While he currently lacked some of his greatest resources such as his fearsome Egg Fleet, or the supplies to build a new Death Egg, he still had a massive army of Badniks and E-Series robots at his disposal, and they could still prove themselves to be a threat.
The Eggman Empire was Dr. Ivo Robotnik's dream. It would encompass the whole world, and would see everyone, except for a select blacklisted few, transformed into robots. It saw the ultimate demise of Sonic and his friends. It saw the rise of its star attraction, Eggmanland.
These thoughts helped him drift off to sleep that night.
Meanwhile, Decoe and Bokkun spent all night ordering the robots to make sure the other Badniks were in order, repairing Bocoe, and trying to keep the hyperactive Bokkun out of his candy stash (which was a guilty pleasure of Eggman's).
When Eggman woke up the next morning, he researched his surroundings himself on a digital map. At a closer inspection, he found that he was on Santa Rosa Island, which was part of a national park. Checking the satellite map using the internet, which was slightly different than the internet on Mobius and took a while to get used to, he found that the nearest mainland was a country called the United States of America.
Furthemore, the nearest city he could invade was Los Angeles, until his eyes came to rest on the name of another city that lay just north of it.
Station Square.
Eggman gasped. How on Mobius did Station Square exist in this plane of reality too?! He knew it was destroyed by Perfect Chaos some time ago. Wisely choosing not to think too deeply about it, he decided it would become his first target instead. Time for Dr. Eggman to show his face to the world.
The mad genius contemplated his choices. He could easily launch an entire army of robots and take the city by storm. Sure, it would get the job done with ease, but if that pesky pincushion and his friends were to show up, he wanted to make sure he wouldn't diminish his resources too quickly. This time, he wanted to simply test the waters.
The Egg Fleet was definitely out of the question because it didn't make it to Earth along with the fortress. There was nothing to stop him from building a new cruiser, though. But as for right now, he pondered what he should deploy first. What would bring the world to its knees? What would make those miserable human beings call Dr. Eggman their master?
He finally decided on one of his E-Series robots, along with a few swarms of Badniks to back it up. While he knew from the top of his head which Badniks to deploy, he had no idea which of his many E-Series robots to choose. E-38 Nautilus was devastating. E-90 Super Sweeper was treacherous. Even some of the weaker E-Series robots like E-88 Lightning Bird could strike fear into the hearts of the populace.
"You appear conflicted in your decision, Doctor," Decoe pointed out.
Eggman sighed. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Will the Robot Selection Cards assist you?" continued Decoe, ignoring his creator's sarcasm.
"Yes. Are they still in the drawer over there where they usually are?"
"Yes, Doctor," nodded Decoe. "I made sure of it during the cleanup efforts. I know how much you can be conflicted in choosing robots for invasions."
As the lanky robot walked over to retrieve the deck of cards, Eggman linked his hands behind his head. "Not always. But when it comes to tasks where I could use many different kinds of robots that can do them with equal success… that's when I need the cards."
Decoe quickly found the cards and handed them to his master. The mustached villain opened the case, revealing the cards. Any time he created a new robot, he used another machine to create a new card for it, which meant it could randomly be chosen by the Robot Selection Machine that was set up in the room. It was a large slot machine he had taken great pains to purchase from an auction at Casino Night Zone. It cost him a lot of rings to buy, but it was still discounted because it was an older model. He had since modified it to randomly select one of his robots. All he needed to do was insert some or all of his cards into a slot, close the hatch, pull the lever, and watch the slot machine display the chosen robot.
Eggman opened the clear plastic case, revealing his over one hundred cards. He laid them out upon the console, and filed out all the E-Series cards. Then he put the rest of the cards back in the case before inserting the E-Series cards into the slot of his Robot Selection Machine. He closed the hatch, pulled the lever, and watched the slots spin.
Eggman knew this seemed redundant and unnecessarily extravagant, but he was an over-the-top villain, a man with class. Besides, didn't all mad scientists have giant inventions that can do simple things, even if their creators may or may not have known there was an app for that?
As the slots began to slow down, Eggman recognized a few robots that could make the short list. Would it be E-74 Weasel? Or E-42 Checker-Wrecker? Likely not, for the slots passed them by, and it would take a whole revolution of the slots for them to show up again.
Eggman's eyes were glued to the slots as they slowed on E-35 Fujita… but they inched forward again, finally stopping on what he deemed as arguably one of the best robot choices: E-23 Missile Wrist.
The mad genius snickered in delight. What a wonderful first robot to unleash on Station Square! Soon they would be vanquished and the Eggman Empire would be founded on their remains!
He was so excited to get ready for the invasion that he almost forgot to look at the selection menu on the touchscreen near the center of the console. It displayed three options: "Confirm", "Spin Again", and "Cancel". With glee, he pressed the "Confirm" button.
The cards immediately ejected, and Eggman knew that his chosen robot was being prepared beneath his feet. The Robot Selection Machine was directly hooked up to the underground Badnik factory, which also served as their barracks. Missile Wrist was being prepared for the mission.
He picked up the cards, then pulled a rubber band from his suit pocket. Using it to bind the E-Series cards together (he wanted to use them for future attacks), he handed it along with the card case back to Decoe.
"Is this choice satisfactory, Doctor?" Decoe asked as he put the cards back in the drawer.
"More than that," Eggman said as he stood up. "It's perfect!"
Eggman practically ran toward the metro elevator that was cleverly concealed in the back right corner of the command center.
"Will you personally escort your robots again, Doctor?" Decoe asked. Eggman turned around.
"Of course!" he exclaimed. "Why would I ever watch my own conquest from the back seat?"
"Understood, Doctor."
"And while I'm gone, I want you to personally oversee Bocoe's repairs, and above all else, keep Bokkun out of my candy!"
"Yes, sir!" Decoe saluted.
Eggman pressed the button for the elevator, and the door opened immediately. The elevator was always set up for a quick escape, so Eggman could head directly to the ground level or the underground factory right away.
He stepped inside and pressed the button for the underground robot factory. The doors closed, and the elevator shot downward at a dizzying rate. It was moving so fast that he almost reconsidered taking the stairs, but the elevator was much faster nonetheless.
It took mere seconds for Eggman to reach the bottom. The door opened, and he found himself in the massive launch room. Directly in front of him was a giant runway, with an enormous five-story-high door at the start of it. There were stairs that descended to several levels of the Badnik factory, but Eggman did not need them, not when the Eggmobile was conveniently parked right near the door.
He stepped into his personal hovercraft and pressed a button that activated its miniature engines. The hovercraft was customizable with a pair of sidecars for his former hench-bots Orbot and Cubot. He had yet to build some for Decoe and Bocoe. Bokkun, on the other hand, didn't need one; he had a built-in jetpack that provided far more mobility.
He sat there in the Eggmobile and waited for Missile Wrist to emerge from the giant door. Moments later, Eggman was a little startled as the door slowly groaned upward, reverberating in an eerie matter in the vast space. Behind the door was a long corridor flanked by many machines and Badniks. Missile Wrist emerged from the corridor. Eight E-33 Buballs were floating above the giant robot. Their name may have been strange, and Eggman was planning on changing them at some point, but their purpose was simple: escort and airlift large ground-faring Super Badniks and E-Series robots.
Eggman snickered. He was sure the city would be upon its knees by sundown.
He slowly piloted the Eggmobile into takeoff position, then began to pick up speed. The Buballs generated a small field of energy around Missile Wrist, which lifted it into the air, and followed their creator up the runway. A door at the end of the runway opened, and Eggman and Missile Wrist emerged into the open air.
He looked down to see what the island looked like from above. Not an ideal place to build his fortress, but the secret runway was very cleverly concealed. Plus, the view was amazing. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.
He set his sights ahead of him. He would have to memorize the way back, but why do that when Decoe could help direct him back? Never mind that; he was about to take his first step into a larger world – a first step that would lead him to world dominion, starting with Station Square.
Station Square - The sewer — Sun August 21; 10:42 AM — Third-person POV
Knuckles the Echidna was wandering aimlessly through the sewers beneath a city he was sent to last night. The smell was eyebrow-raising, but questionably tolerable. There were so many thoughts on his weary mind.
It was Chaos Control that sent him here. Or at least, that's what he thought it was. But it couldn't possibly have been. Chaos Control had never been caused on a scale that massive before by the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles thought he knew a lot about the Emeralds. Apparently there was still so much to learn.
Then again, Chaos Control may not have been caused by the Emeralds' power alone. They were, after all, powering a machine that influenced their power somehow. Perhaps the shrapnel from the robot he destroyed damaged the machine in such a way that power was forced back into the Chaos Emeralds, and thus invoking Chaos Control. He decided not to think about it too deeply, though. He was tired.
Whatever the cause, he had had a whole night to think about his situation. What a way to go for the last of his kind and sole guardian of the Master Emerald.
Ever since he woke up in the sewer, he had decided not to leave it, as he didn't want to know what this world's humans thought about seeing a Mobian in their midst. That would spell immediate trouble, and he wasn't about to discover the consequences of being an alien on a distant world.
Instead, he stuck to aimlessly wandering the sewers, trying to find a safe place to emerge into the daylight. Any length of time in this dark, damp place was not his cup of tea, and he had to stay on one side of the sewer passage to avoid treading water. The shallow stream was probably calf-deep for a human, but for a Mobian like him, it would come up to his knees. He tried using his senses to see if there were any Chaos Emeralds nearby. He thought there was a very faint signal of an Emerald, but the exhausted echidna dismissed it. Every now and then he would climb the ladders and peek out of the manholes to see if it was worth the risk to leave. He knew he had to at some point.
This morning, looking out the manholes had finally paid off. He had realized he was in a city of some sort. And he had picked the right time to do so, because he also spotted a figure moving carefully through the city, one he immediately recognized to be Amy Rose.
Flashback
To say the least, Knuckles was surprised to see the pink hedgehog. She was wearing what appeared to be an old oversized bathrobe over her to conceal her identity, but the echidna was still able to recognize her regardless.
"Amy!" he whispered as loud as he dared, but quietly enough to not attract the attention of any nearby humans. Fortunately, the manhole was located in an alley, where he knew no one would go in. He considered it sheer luck that he was able to find her at that exact time and place.
Fortunately for Knuckles, she heard him the first time, and quickly hurried over.
"Knuckles!" she nearly squealed, before realized that she needed to be quiet.
"Down here, quick," the echidna instructed.
"What? But… Wait, I'm not going in there!" Amy exclaimed.
"Amy, you gotta," persuaded Knuckles. "It's your best chance at no one seeing you."
"But it's so dark and-"
"You get used to it after a while. Now come on."
Amy let out a sigh and took a few steps toward Knuckles, and he helped her down the ladder and into the sewer. She scrunched her nose at the sudden scent of the tunnel.
"I'm really… h-happy to see you!" Amy said as tears threatened to leak from her eyes. "I… I-I thought I was alone here…!"
"Yeah… same here, actually." Knuckles noticed that Amy sounded really tired and less cheery than she usually was, most likely because she was alone and without food for a long time. He was grateful Mobians could go longer without food or water than humans.
"Now I can finally get rid of this," she said, removing the bathrobe she had been wearing.
"Let me guess, you were trying to use that to blend in?"
"Y-Yeah… I got it at the landfill," she answered distastefully. "I'm legit surprised nobody looked twice at me in that thing."
"For real?"
"Yeah… I had to sleep in an alley last night. I don't wanna do that ever again…"
"I don't blame you… It was hard enough hiding from Eggman." He closed his eyes. "Here we're hiding from… well, pretty much everybody."
"I know… I don't like this, Knuckles…"
"Me neither… that's why I decided to stay down here, ever since I got here."
"So you were here in these filthy tunnels all night?"
"Yup," Knuckles replied in disgust. "I'm hating this place more and more."
"Tell me about it…" Amy replied as she looked down, flinching as her boot accidentally touched the edge of the water. "Uh, how long do you want us to be down here?"
"Oh, I'd say like… one more day. Then we're gonna have to brave the public whether we like it or not."
"One more day?!" squealed Amy.
"Hey, I don't like it either, Amy," Knuckles responded. "But it's gotta be this way. Either we can stay down here a little longer and come out when the time is right, or we can just blow our cover and bring the whole town running. Take your pick."
Amy thought for a bit. Knuckles was a great friend, but sometimes he could be so blunt, not to mention annoying.
"…Fine, we'll stay here," she said. "But only for one day. Besides, I haven't eaten anything since last night."
"Me neither. But this is far from the worst thing we dealt with. In fact, this is actually kinda tame."
"Knuckles, going without food or water for a whole day is not tame. Neither is being stranded on an alien planet."
"I know. Like I said, it's only going to be one day, unless we can emerge somewhere with no people."
Amy sighed. "If you say so…"
End flashback
Knuckles had a lot of thoughts going through his poor, tired brain — the same thoughts that racked him ever since he arrived on this planet.
"Something on your mind, Knuckles?" Amy asked, trying to ease the tension.
"Everything…" sighed Knuckles.
"Yeah…" agreed Amy. "Same here."
"And… I don't know how to say it, but… it kinda feels like I'm the one responsible for getting us into this mess."
"Knuckles…"
Amy felt sympathetic. Knuckles wasn't known to cave to stress, but this was a life-changing event. She knew he was taking it out on himself because he punched the robot into the machine, which caused it to malfunction.
"Knuckles… Look, I know you're stressed, I totally get it... but I don't think you should beat yourself up over this. You didn't even know this was gonna happen. None of us did."
Knuckles simply shook his head, and Amy took his hand in her own to comfort him. She had a gentle smile.
"Besides… if it's anyone's fault, it's Eggman's. He's the one who built that machine to begin with."
Knuckles was about to say something further, but then he stopped.
"Hey… You know what? You're actually right about that. Yeah, this would never have happened if it weren't for Eggman!" The familiar glint of confidence returned to the echidna. "I think something in that machine must have been damaged, and that's how we got here… But hey… at least we stopped Eggman's plan."
Amy smiled. Knuckles was finally seeing things the way she did.
Knuckles pulled away from Amy as he realized something else was wrong, and he found himself becoming more desperate.
"We have to go back. Now."
"I know you do, but-"
"No, you don't understand! It's the Master Emerald, I have to protect it! And at the very least, I gotta be there to keep that pickpocket Rouge off my island!"
Amy tried to hide her amusement. "I don't think you should worry about it too much, Knuckles," she said. "Rouge gave up being a jewel thief back when we were the Resistance, remember?"
Knuckles crossed his arms. "Doesn't change the fact she can always go back to her old ways," he muttered. "Well… at least she isn't here."
"Yeah, that's true," Amy thought. "Oh hey, since we're here, I have a good feeling Sonic made it here too!"
Knuckles smirked. Amy had eyes only for Sonic, enough to keep Knuckles thinking of ways to tease him about his relationship with her. But not now, though. The situation was too grim for that.
"Yeah," Knuckles nodded. "Same with Tails and Cream. And uh, speaking of them… did you ever see them at all? Since you got here, I mean."
"No, sorry," reminisced Amy after a moment. "I would've told you if I did."
"Yeah. Gotcha." Knuckles took a breath. "So if I woke up down here and you woke up at the landfill, I'm thinking we all got sent to different places on this planet, so… We're mega lucky we found each other. I mean, what are the odds that we-"
"Oh my gosh! Cream!" Amy exclaimed. "She's out there all by herself somewhere! I can't… I-I can't even think about how scared she must be right now…"
"I know, and that's all the more reason why we gotta find everyone," Knuckles said with determination. "I'm just hoping someone's taking good care of her."
"Me too…"
Amy counted on her fingers to figure out how many people were sent to this planet. "So who all was sent here…? I think it's… me, you, Sonic, Cream and Cheese, Tails, and Eggman and his robots?"
Knuckles nodded. "Sounds about right. And if Eggman's here, he's probably gonna keep us guessing when his next attack is."
"Yeah… But on the bright side, at least Sonic won't be bored." She knew Sonic could be driven insane if Eggman wasn't around to occupy him. He was practically lightning in a bottle on those days.
"Yeah… He's not bored because I'm pretty sure he already let the whole world know he's here!"
That was a bold accusation. Amy tried to hold in her temper. She didn't like it when anyone spoke negatively of her Sonic.
"Wh… What makes you say that?" was all she could say.
"What makes me say that? He's always reckless, always throwing himself into danger headfirst, always getting us into and out of trouble… And you know what?" He stopped pacing, a smirk forming. "I don't wanna see him change."
Amy felt relieved. At least he wasn't trash-talking her self-proclaimed boyfriend. That was the last thing she needed now.
She smiled. "Me neither," she added.
Station Square Beach — Sun August 21; 10:49 AM — Third-person POV
It was a beautiful day at the Station Square Beach. Kids were building sand castles. Teens were surfing. Some of the older folks were reading or sunbathing. Today was the last day of summer vacation, which meant there were more people than usual throughout the sandy coast. The lifeguards were going to be busy…
A young man and his girlfriend were playing volleyball. It was a good thing the nets were set up beforehand, since volleyball was a favorite sport at this beach.
When the ball bounced to his side, the boyfriend accidentally spiked the ball a little too hard. It landed in a shallow part of the ocean not far away. Fortunately, there was a sea breeze that day, so there was no risk of the ball being washed away.
"Sorry!" he called as he ran toward the ocean to retrieve the ball, but his girlfriend was faster.
"It's okay; I got it," she replied.
As she stepped into the waves to retrieve the ball, she couldn't help but notice a dark, foreboding shadow in the distance. She knew enough about sharks to get out of the water if she spotted one. But Station Square hadn't had a shark attack in nearly sixty years. Besides, this was a little too big to be—
Then it started moving toward her.
Closer and closer.
She soon figured out this was no shark.
No, it was far too large and metallic. And tall. It had to be a good fifty feet tall.
Whatever this thing was, it was downright unearthly.
Speaking of unearthly, that was the kind of scream she let out as she ran from the water, abandoning the beach ball, and joined her boyfriend. They, like everyone else, began stampeding and running for their lives as the giant machine began to lumber out of the water and onto the beach.
The lifeguard on duty blew his whistle. "Everyone, get out of the water and off the beach!" he ordered, though his words fell on deaf ears. Besides, they were doing that anyway.
The lifeguard began to quickly climb down the ladder of the lifeguard tower, but the robot had other ideas. It pointed its conical hand directly at him like a weapon. Before the lifeguard could react, the robot launched its hand at the tower like a rocket, completely splintering it. Pieces of the tower flew everywhere, and the impact sent the lifeguard flying a good ten feet away. Fortunately, he landed on the sand and managed to escape with only minor injuries.
The robot began to turn away from him, so he took this as his opportunity to dial 911. He pulled out his cell phone and punched in the three-digit number.
"911, what is your emergency?" said the operator.
"Uh, there's a giant robot coming ashore at Station Square Beach. It sounds crazy, I know, but you gotta believe me!"
"I do believe you. And you're not the only caller. We're already dispatching officers to the scene as we speak."
The lifeguard watched as the giant robot began lumbering across the beach. It moved surprisingly quickly for something that big. The lifeguard cringed as he heard the sound of cars being crushed in the parking lot. He feared this was only the beginning of its rampage. Unfortunately, he was right.
He stood up and, while running to safety, watched the robot cross the street in the distance, smashing several more cars in the process. But that wasn't the only threat. No, there was someone far more intelligent flanking the robot.
The lifeguard was able to see someone sitting inside what looked like a round hovercraft floating near the robot. Even over the screams of terrified people and the honking of horns, he was able to clearly hear him shout something to the robot.
"Welcome to Station Square, E-23 Missile Wrist!"
Thorndyke Mansion - Outside — Sun August 21; 10:53 AM — Chris' POV
It had only been an hour since I met Tails and Cream, and they already felt like friends that I had for a long time. I felt so lucky.
Grandpa thought it would be a great idea to treat us to Dunkin' Donuts after Sonic's big adventure this morning, so he had bought us all two dozen donuts. The donut lover that I was, I was sitting at a long white plastic folding table that was set up in the grass near the driveway, thoroughly enjoying the donuts. While dessert in the morning was a no-no in Ella's book for the most part, Grandpa saw no harm in bending that rule a little. Besides, it wasn't like Ella knew about my new friends anyway.
Cream and Cheese were also sitting in a seat next to me. There was a seat for Tails too, but he said he would have them later because he was busy giving the Tornado a well-needed cleaning. He also said sleep could wait, even though he was tired. Grandpa was standing by, ready to help out wherever he was needed.
"I gotta say, Tails, this is a really nice plane you have," Grandpa commented as he examined the small biplane's fuselage. "I know I probably already said that, but still."
Tails smiled, blushing a little.
"I wanna know, Chuck," he spoke as he swept the power washer across the left wing, "how are you gonna keep us a secret from your guardians? Because I'm thinking they probably heard the engine already."
"Oh, that was easy," Grandpa chuckled.
Tails momentarily stopped his work and turned to look at Grandpa, his head cutely tilting to one side in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when I went inside earlier, I told them I was gonna work on a 'secret project', and they might hear an engine sound every now and then. So far, I think it's working."
"Yeah, but I don't know how long that's gonna hold out," Tails pointed out. "You know they're gonna find out eventually."
"In due time, yes," Grandpa said as Tails finished with the cleaning and turned off the hose. "But for now, it's not time yet. I'll know when that time is."
"Okay," the fox nodded as he began to put the hose away. He stifled a yawn. "I can't really sleep at all… but I'm so tired… I do wanna re-evaluate the Tornado to make sure it's 100% okay before I try and take a nap."
"That's a good idea," nodded Grandpa. "Anything I can do to help?"
They soon began their work, launching into gearhead talk that went over my head — ironic, since I wanted to be an inventor like my dad and grandpa when I grew up.
I looked back at Cream, who was sitting across from me. "Um… I-I'm wondering, do they have donuts on Mobius?" I asked in curiosity.
"Yes they do," Cream responded once she finished swallowing, "but Cheese and I only had them two or three times, and those were at birthdays or other parties."
"I'm sorry about that…" I said after a moment's pause. "Um… m-maybe you can have them more here…?"
Cream immediately smiled. "Yes please! Thank you, Chris!" she exclaimed.
"Chao chao!" Cheese chimed in.
I assumed the times they did have donuts, they really liked them. I was so happy they could have more of the things they loved now that they were staying with me. But I felt a tinge of sadness too. I was enjoying having my new friends around too much. I chided myself to not become too attached to them because they had to leave after they gathered all the Chaos Emeralds. But I brushed that thought away as a new question popped in my head.
"Um… I'm just wondering, where's Sonic?"
"Mr. Sonic said he was running," the young rabbit answered. "He wants to run every day so he can know about this planet better."
I tried to hide my frown, knowing that Sonic would be caught in a heartbeat, but Cream easily saw through my masquerade.
"Is something wrong, Mr. Chris?" she asked. I had to smile at the child's politeness.
"Y-Yeah…" I admitted. "I'm just worried about Sonic. I feel like he's gonna be seen by everyone!"
"What's wrong with that?" Cream asked.
I wished Cream could understand the whole situation. It wasn't something I could tell her easily. Rescuing her from Area 99 was one thing, but running around just because he could was foolhardy. Even if he said he wouldn't be seen, I was still worried about him.
"Um… I know Mr. Sonic, and I know that no one can catch him," Cream answered, trying to reassure me. "Mr. Chris…" She leaned forward across the table. "Um... I think your grandfather would want you to believe in him…"
I wanted to say something else, but Cream was right, as much as I didn't want to admit it. At the same time, though, as young as she was, she didn't seem to grasp the full concept of being trapped on a planet she had never been to before, inhabited with people who were pretty much trigger-happy when it came to dealing with aliens.
I knew that Grandpa wanted me to believe that Sonic could overcome his trials and eventually get himself and his friends back home. He may have been cocky and a little reckless when it came to getting Cream and Cheese out of Area 99, but he still got the job done, just as he said he would. That was reason enough to trust him, but…
I think it was because of trust issues I had growing up. There were times my parents said they would come home… but they never did. Then I would have to wait weeks or even months before I could see them again. I couldn't deal with it anymore.
And I was only twelve.
In Sonic's case, though, he vowed to rescue Cream and Cheese from the government, and he did just that. That was what made him different from my parents. He actually carried through with his promises.
As I slowly chewed on my second donut, a Boston creme one, a new thought came to mind. What if Sonic was running to cope with everything?
I imagined being thrown into another world without any explanation would be pretty traumatic. Being forced against your will to leave everything and everyone you've ever known, and finding yourself in a foreign land, surrounded by unfamiliar people and scenery, with no one to trust and turn to. It didn't help that everyone was pretty hostile to them so far.
Sonic seemed to be handling this situation quite well. I asked him if he missed Mobius, and he told me that while it's fun to explore new places, even new planets, there's really no place like home. I had to agree. This was why I wanted to help them return home as soon as possible.
Tails was doing a good job coping with being away from Mobius himself. He had a small moment of being homesick, and he was trying his hardest not to cry, but I was super grateful for my grandfather for being there for him. He was like an emotional painkiller in human form.
Cream, on the other hand, was really brave. She was only six, and earlier that morning, when I asked if she was going to be okay, Tails told me that she broke down crying thinking about her mother, and how she missed her. That broke my heart as well. That was an even bigger reason to get everyone home as soon as possible.
"Hey Chris?" Grandpa called from somewhere behind the Tornado.
"Yeah?" I called back.
Grandpa came into view. "I'm gonna go inside and check up on Ella and Tanaka. Can you stand by in case Tails needs you for anything?"
"Okay, Grandpa!" I answered.
"I'll be back in less than five minutes!" Grandpa called as he broke into a run toward the house.
I stood up. "Um… Is it okay if you can save me a donut for after I'm finished?" I asked Cream.
"Okay, Mr. Chris," she answered sweetly, beaming at me as I headed toward Tails and the Tornado. I couldn't help but smile when I was around her now. She was so polite, which was something I sadly couldn't say about many people today.
I casually glanced at Tails. He was lying on a dolly, busy working underneath the Tornado. A case of tools and a cloth were next to him. It really amazed me that someone as young as he was could build all this neat stuff, not to mention he could actually fly a plane. Here, you had to be in your late teens to early twenties at the earliest if you wanted to fly.
"Do you need any help?" I asked, hoping to do more than stand around and watch.
"Um, not right now, thanks," he replied as he tightened a screw. "But can you please turn off the TV in there? It's kinda distracting."
"Okay," I replied, and headed into the garage. As I climbed the wooden stairs into Grandpa's lab, I could tell that the TV was left on the news channel. Grandpa's room was set up as both his research room and bedroom.
The TV remote was left on the desk on the other side of the room. I reached for it, and just as I was about to press the button to turn it off, I became aware of what they were saying on the news.
My eyes were drawn to the largest words along the bottom of the screen, and they widened when I saw the live feed.
"Giant Robot Attacking City"
Sure enough, the live drone feed was recording a giant robot stomping on cars and using its stretchy hands to randomly punch holes in buildings. This was awful. The damage cost would be staggering, and so were the number of questions in my head.
I couldn't watch any more.
Forgetting to pause the TV, I raced down the stairs, almost tripping along the way, and ran out of the garage.
"Guys! You gotta see this!"
"What? Wh-What is it?" Tails became flustered.
"G-Giant robot! It's on the news! C-Come quick!"
In hindsight, that sounded very weird coming from me. Usually, giant robots were only in fiction, but no, this was very real. I was wide awake. And I shouldn't have been this excited. No, I should have been terrified that my own city was being destroyed by a robot. Perhaps reality didn't kick in yet.
Tails immediately rolled his dolly out from underneath the plane and leaped up, being careful not to hit his head on the Tornado's wing, before running after me into the garage. Cream also got up and followed us, carrying Cheese with her.
"That's gotta be Eggman!" Tails exclaimed as we climbed the stairs.
There was that name Eggman again. I had a lot of questions.
"Wait, who?" I asked.
"I'll tell you as soon as we're done seeing this," promised Tails.
In seconds, Tails, Cream, and I were up in the lab, standing in front of the TV. Local reporter Mark Lopez was covering the story.
"…the man inside that hovercraft is believed to be directly responsible for the attack. The police have been called out to deal with this ongoing situation. If you are just joining us, a giant robot is wreaking havoc in Station Square as we speak. This is not a hoax. We strongly advise you to evacuate the following areas…"
Tails let out a sigh. "That's definitely Eggman," he confirmed before turning to me. "Um… Can we mute this for a bit?"
I nodded and reached for the controller, then pressed the mute button. Tails looked more serious than I had ever seen him before, and he looked me right in the eyes. In fact, I would even say his baby blue pupils were adorable if the situation wasn't so serious.
"Okay, so Chris… I think you need to know who Dr. Eggman is. Um…" Tails tapped his chin, thinking of where to begin explaining him. "So he's a mad scientist, and we've been fighting him for a really long time. And he makes all kinds of robots, and he's trying to use them to take over the world and make what he calls the Eggman Empire. And he also wants to try and turn everyone into robots too."
I felt my pulse starting to get a little faster, as if my moment of running earlier didn't make my heart pump faster already. This sounded really bad.
I didn't know what to say. In fact, I felt a bit panicked. My eyes were glued to the screen as it showed the robot's rampage. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and yet I couldn't look away no matter what. I was fascinated and terrified at the same time.
"Chris…" Tails said, noticing how panicked I was looking. "Chris, don't panic, it's okay…"
He gently took my hand to comfort me and show me everything was okay.
"Don't worry… we stopped his plans lots of times. I know we can do it again." He smiled mischievously. "And Chris… wanna hear something really funny about him?"
"Okay…?"
"Well… One thing Eggman really wants to do is make a giant carnival called Eggmanland!"
I actually chuckled a little. "Wait, really?"
"Yeah, for real!" Tails laughed as well. "He's actually not like real bad guys at all for some reason."
Cream was sitting on one of the new beanbags Grandpa had bought not long ago. "When is Mr. Sonic coming back?" she asked as she looked up from the muted TV.
"Um… I'm not sure…" answered Tails. "I think he told me he wanted some time to get used to this planet." He glanced at the clock. "I think we should give him like half an hour, okay? I know he's gonna find out Eggman's here, and then he's gonna come back to kick his butt!"
Tails looked back at the TV. "In fact, I should probably try and stop him myself. And even if I can't… at least I can stall him until Sonic returns."
"What are you all doing up here?" a new voice asked in curiosity.
We all turned to see Grandpa emerging through the trap door and entering the room. His eyes were immediately drawn to the TV, and I could see shock forming on his face.
As Tails began explaining the situation to Grandpa, I became more and more frightened the more I looked at the screen and saw the robot's rampage. I couldn't believe that my city, my very own home city of Station Square, was being destroyed by a mad scientist and his giant robot as we spoke.
I suddenly had a very scary thought. I became afraid it would eventually come after my house next. I didn't know why I was excited earlier.
Before I knew it, Cream and Cheese were by my side, trying to comfort me. "Please don't be afraid, Mr. Chris," she said sweetly. "Mr. Sonic can easily defeat Dr. Eggman."
"W-Wait, can he really…?"
I immediately regretted what I had just said. I was doubting Sonic again. What was wrong with me?!
"Can he?" Tails laughed. "Yeah, you bet! It's pretty much child's play for him, actually."
I was about to tell him that this would bring even worse consequences for us, but I heard Grandpa's voice from earlier today telling me to have the kind of faith he had. After all, I didn't know if Sonic would be our last hope against Eggman.
"Hey, you know what, Chris?" Tails began. "Maybe you can come with me in the Tornado and help me look for Sonic. And if we don't find him before long, then we can fight Eggman's robot. Besides, you'll be able to see—"
"Tails, no, he can't," Grandpa cut him off before he could get too excited. "First off, Chris has never been in a plane that small before, and two… I'm not gonna let him get hurt."
"Okay, Chuck… S-Sorry about that," responded Tails.
"And you both don't have any idea what that robot is capable of."
Tails ran his hand through the fur on his head. "Y-Yeah, you're right… Even I haven't seen this kind of robot before myself. But… m-maybe we can compromise! I can still take Chris with me to look for Sonic, but I'm not gonna fight Eggman yet."
"And then you'll drop him off here before you go fight, yeah?"
Tails nodded firmly.
Grandpa was silent for a moment as he considered Tails' words. "Okay… He can go, but… please promise me you'll take really good care of him. I don't wanna lose my only grandchild."
Tails nodded. He looked so serious right now, He was like… eight, and right now he promised to protect someone four years older than him. Age on Mobius didn't seem like everything after all.
Finally Grandpa nodded. "Okay, Chris, you can go. And… now that I mention it, you probably should. You always told me you don't wanna grow up to be a bore in the office like your dad, right?"
I blushed. "U-Um… P-Please don't tell Dad I said that…" I pleaded. Tails actually giggled, which made me blush even more.
Tails smiled and shook his head in amusement before he turned toward the stairs. "Okay, Chris… follow me, please," he instructed.
He propped open the trap door and started down the stairs. I followed behind him, watching his tails swaying behind him as he ran toward his plane.
"Wait, Chris? I think you should bring your football helmet," Grandpa called from upstairs.
I was confused for a moment, but I nodded. "Okay," I said as I scooped up my red helmet from a shelf and strapped it on. I had it so I could practice at home for my school football team.
Once I reached the plane, I stopped. I had no idea how to climb up and get inside. Fortunately, Tails was already standing on the left wing, and he reached for my hand and pulled me up onto the wing. I had to admit, for someone as small as he was, he was pretty strong. From there, I stood up on the wing, and spread out my hands to keep my balance. I then carefully walked over to the back seat and sat down.
"All set back there?" Tails asked as he sat down in front of the controls.
I buckled in, listening for the satisfying snap of the seat belt. "I-I think so…" I replied, feeling slightly nervous. Not only was this plane really small, but I was about to fly in a plane for the first time in a year.
"Okay, I'm gonna start the engine now!" announced Tails as he pressed a button. The plane roared to life, which startled me. I had never seen it fly before, so I had no idea how loud it would be.
"Bye-bye! Have a safe flight!" I heard Cream call as she and Cheese emerged from the garage with Grandpa just behind them.
"Chao Chao!" echoed Cheese as he waved.
"Bye!" I waved back.
"Take good care of Chris!" Grandpa called. "And Chris… listen to Tails if he needs you for anything, okay? And I want you to stay safe and have a good time."
"Okay!" I replied.
I waved back to everyone as we began to taxi forward. I was actually a bit nervous. This was my first time in any kind of open-cockpit plane, and the engines were a little loud, loud enough that I couldn't really talk to Tails if I wanted to.
Just when it seemed like we were running out of driveway, Tails pulled back on the joystick, and we lifted off into the air. I felt the pressure on my chest as we smoothly rose into the air.
Sonic could be anywhere in this city. Where would a hedgehog who could run at the speed of sound be hiding? And could we find him before Dr. Eggman succeeded in his goal?
Only time would tell. And time was very much of the essence.
Station Square - Uptown — Sun Aug 21; 10:59 AM — Third-person POV
East 82nd Avenue was a mess.
Some cars were completely crushed, while others had their alarms blaring everywhere. There were random gaping holes in buildings, and people were clearing out of the streets of uptown Station Square very quickly. Pandemonium hung in the air as Missile Wrist rampaged through the city, followed closely by Dr. Eggman in his Eggmobile.
At last, tires squealed as several police cars pulled up, followed by some police vans. Officer spilled out of the vehicles and prepared their riot gear and guns, hoping they would be of some effect.
Police Captain Stanley Albright stepped out of his car with a megaphone. He held it up to his mouth and addressed Eggman.
"In the name of the Station Square Police Department, I order you to stand down and surrender your robot!" He never imagined he would ever say those words in his wildest dreams.
Eggman dropped his altitude to Albright's level. "The police…" he sneered. "What makes you think you can stop me?"
"Don't resist," Albright retorted. To the other police, he said, "Get your weapons ready and find any weak spots on that thing."
It took mere seconds for the other officers to prime their weapons.
"Fire!"
The officers fired at several potential weak points, the neck pivot and knee joints being two of them. To their shock, the bullets harmlessly bounced off the robot's armor, and empty bullet shells began littering the street.
"Cease fire!" Albright ordered. "It's not gonna work."
"Of course it not gonna work!" crowed Eggman. "This is exactly why my technology is superior to yours! Nothing you pathetic humans can create will ever outperform, or even rival my tech. You may as well give up now."
Albright seemed unfazed. "…Who on Earth do you think you are?" he demanded.
"Ah-ah-ah!" the rotund man waved a finger. "I wouldn't rush my schedule if I were you. All will be revealed in due time."
"Surrender, now!" shouted Albright.
"So you think you have a chance at stalling me, the greatest genius of our time?" Eggman leaned forward, looking very amused. "I'm actually amused. Try me. I dare you."
Without a word of retort, Albright drew his Glock and fired a few rounds at the Eggmobile. Not only did it do nothing, but a round energy canopy surrounded Eggman, effectively protecting him. The mad scientist laughed heartily.
"Okay, this officially got boring," Eggman declared, crossing his arms. "You just proved to me that you're the weakest link in your infrastructure's chain of command. I want to talk with your higher-ups."
"Um…" Albright was taken aback at this sudden request. "That would be the Chief of Police. If you're not gonna answer to me for your crimes, you're gonna answer to him."
"Not good enough!" Eggman interrupted with a dismissive wave of his hand. "If this is the best the police has to offer, how much better will your chief be? No, I'm going higher! Get me the mayor!"
He pointed forward, and Missile Wrist began to stomp menacingly toward the officers. There was no time for them to get to their cars. They were forced to leave on foot as Missile Wrist made short work of the law enforcement vehicles.
All twelve of them.
The sewer — Sun Aug 21; 10:55 AM — Third-person POV
Knuckles and Amy were taking a well-needed rest in the sewer. They couldn't really sit down, as they had been trudging through dark, murky water for most of the time, and they weren't about to get their fur even dirtier than it already was.
"Knuckles… How much longer are you gonna keep us down here?" asked an impatient Amy, who was sitting on one of the ladder rungs nearby so she wouldn't touch the water.
"Don't know yet," Knuckles spoke for the first time in some time. "But it's gonna be soon. Even I can't stay down here forever."
He promptly returned to his thoughtful silence. Needless to say, he was thinking about the Master Emerald again.
However, Amy broke into his thoughts once more. "Knuckles…? Do you think we're gonna be able to go back home? Like… ever?"
Knuckles opened his eyes. "I don't think, I know."
Amy turned to him.
"This is not how the story's gonna end," Knuckles continued. "I will gather all seven Chaos Emeralds, I will have Sonic cause Chaos Control, I will get everyone back home, and I will get back to the Master Emerald."
Knuckles was so determined, and Amy knew it.
"Yeah, but not without help!" she replied. "We're a team, remember? We can do anything together! You, me, Tails, Cream, and Sonic… we can all get through this together!"
"While I'm not really one to ask for help with finding treasure…" He took a deep breath, and let it out. "…Yeah, I'm gonna need it this time." He paused for a second, glancing upward, before speaking again. "I'm gonna need all the help I can get. The sooner we get all the Emeralds together, the sooner we can get off this—"
"Shhh…"
Knuckles quieted down, feeling a bit annoyed at being rudely interrupted.
"What?"
"Um… W-What's that…?"
Her voice trailed off as they strained to hear the noise that increasingly reverberated through the tunnel they were in. It sounded like a deep, steady thumping noise. The way it echoed through the dark sewer tunnel was almost like it came out of a horror movie. It sounded like a monster's heartbeat.
Amy hopped off the rung she was sitting on and hid behind Knuckles, holding onto his shoulder. She was glad Cream was not here; she would have thought this was too scary.
"Eggman!" Knuckles leaped up, almost slipping on the wet tunnel floor, and startling Amy. "About time he showed up around here."
"Wait, Knuckles!" Amy stood up as well. "I don't think it's a good idea for us to fight him yet. We need more energy!"
"We don't have time for more energy!" Knuckles justified as the thumping got louder. "Safety first. Them's the rules of the Resistance."
Amy couldn't deny that. The safety of civilians always came first, no matter whatever personal ailments the Resistance had. Unless they were injured, which they weren't in this case; only hungry and tired.
"Yeah, but how are we gonna do this? They're all gonna see us!"
Knuckles turned to face Amy. "We're gonna have to bite the bullet, Amy. There's no other way."
"O-Okay…"
The echidna walked over to the ladder and placed one foot on the first rung before turning to Amy. "I'll go first to see what it's like up there. For all I know, it's probably too dangerous for us now."
"Okay," the pink hedgehog nodded as Knuckles mounted the ladder. He carefully lifted the manhole cover and surveyed his surroundings.
The carnage told the whole story. Cars were destroyed. A few buildings were on fire. Shattered glass was everywhere. The sounds of people screaming could be heard in the distance, and police officers were trying to control the crowds. The street was heavily cracked at intervals.
Turning the other way, the echidna could see more of the same destruction, but he also saw the giant robot walking away. This confirmed everything. Eggman was behind this for sure.
Knuckles quickly replaced the manhole cover and looked down.
"Well?" Amy wondered.
"It's bad," Knuckles said. "Definitely Eggman." He took on a look of confusion. "But what I don't get is, I only saw the one robot… I feel like there should have been more."
"Yeah…" Amy mused. "But like, what if he still has everything he needs in his base?"
"Yeah, right… If his base made it here."
"Were you able to tell what kind it was?" Amy asked as she started to climb the ladder.
"What kind what was?"
"The robot," Amy clarified.
"Um… It was pretty far away, and I don't have all the names memorized like you and Tails probably do, but I think its name was, uh… Missile Wrist, I think…?"
"Missile Wrist?" Amy repeated, and Knuckles nodded. "Oh gosh, that sounds like we're gonna be in for a real challenge…"
"You know I don't back down from a challenge," Knuckles said as placing one hand on the manhole cover. "You ready for this?"
"You bet," answered Amy.
"Then let's do this."
He pushed the manhole cover aside and climbed out of the sewer, squinting at the suddenly bright sunlight. After helping Amy up to the street as well, they ran in the direction Knuckles last saw the robot go in.
The Eckstein Center – Sun August 21; 11:02 AM – Third-person POV
Today was not a particularly busy day at the Eckstein Center.
There were only a few dozen people here and there inside the eighty-story skyscraper. Ranking among the tallest structures in Station Square, it consisted of mainly offices dedicated to the technology industry, but it also had a Starbucks on the first floor. However, it was best known for being the headquarters of Station Square's branch of Starship Soft.
Sundays were off-days for most employees at the Eckstein Center, but there were still some workers here. Today they were performing the final touches on a new computer program that would greatly benefit the WM garbage company.
They were completely oblivious to the giant robot outside…
Until now.
A security guard frantically entered the main lobby from one of the side doors. "Everyone out!" he warned. "Giant war machine outside! Evacuate now! Out! Out!"
Even though they were very confused, everyone on the ground level immediately heeded the warning and filed out the fire exits. In the very next moment, the giant robot crashed through the front door, as well as the surrounding wall and windows, giving way to screams and dropped possessions. The robot began to meander further into the building. Sadly, a few people were injured in the resulting stampede.
The robot stopped moving once it reached the center of the lobby. Several other security officers ran into the room and fired their pistols at the robot. Round after round pinged off the machine's armor.
Just then a man in a round, egg-shaped hovercraft flew into the lobby through the hole created by the robot. The officers trained their weapons on him, but the man didn't seem to notice.
"Missile Wrist, meet me at the top of this building. It's time for me to prepare my big speech." With that, he flew back outside.
Now that there was nothing left to do, the security guards ran back toward the elevators, but stopped so they could still watch the robot and see what it would do next.
One of the guards turned to another. "You guys saw that man in the hovercraft? I think he's behind all this."
"Yeah, I agree with you," the second guard said.
"Just called the military. They're sending in GUN troops as we speak," a third reported, having just entered the room.
"Hope they get here in time," the second guard said, looking around at the damage the robot had caused. "Assuming we're still alive by then."
Suddenly the robot pointed its right arm upward, and converted its conical hand into what appeared to be a grappling hook.
"Whoa, whoa! What's it doing?!"
"I think it's heading for the roof!"
"Clear out! Now!"
The robot fired the grappling hook through the ceiling, resulting in many crashing sounds and more screaming above them. After fifteen seconds, the cable went taut, and the robot began to slowly rise into the air, gradually picking up momentum. It effortlessly burst through floor after floor until the sound died down, raining bits of ceiling and dust down.
The guards were speechless for a while. Finally, one picked up his radio.
"Get some paramedics to the upper levels and ensure that everyone is out of the building."
"Copy that."
The officer put away his radio. It was going to be a loooong couple of weeks until this building was back in business again…
The mayor's office — Sun August 21; 11:01 AM — Third-person POV
A frantic advisor rushed into Mayor Aaron Pinsky's office.
"Sir, are you aware of the ongoing situation?" he asked.
"I am," the mayor replied. "I just got off the phone with the head general on base. They're dispatching GUN units now."
"Well, we just got word from the police that the man behind all this wants to meet with you in person immediately," the advisor reported.
"The man's a terrorist. He doesn't have any right to demand anything from me." Mayor Pinsky stood up and walked toward the door. "And I'm not getting my hopes up, but if there's a chance I can negotiate with him, maybe he'll listen and stop destroying my city. Get my limo ready. I'm heading out there."
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:03 AM — Chris' POV
As we circled around Harris Bingham Memorial Park, I couldn't help but admire the incredible view of the city from above, even though I was getting slightly dizzy.
I was very nervous, especially since we were about a thousand feet up, but the scenery below us completely made up for it. The statue of the city's first mayor, the park's namesake, appeared to be smaller than it really was. Even the fountain and playground looked like toys from up in the sky.
And that didn't even mention how great Tails was as a pilot. He kept us flying smoothly during our whole flight so far. In fact, he wasn't just gifted. He was a natural.
But no. This wasn't a joyride. We were supposed to be looking for Sonic. The city was in danger.
The plane's single engine was pretty loud, and the monotonous drone it produced probably would have lulled me to sleep if Tails didn't speak up just then.
"You doing okay back there, Chris?"
"Y-Yeah," I shouted back. It was a little difficult to hear myself over the engine. I was slowly getting used to it, though.
I held onto the side of the plane as Tails banked left, grateful that even Mobian vehicles had seat belts. As we leveled out once more, I scanned the ground both directly below us and in the distance.
Sonic came up to just below my chest, which meant he would be barely above waist height for the average adult. Since he was about the height of a kindergartner, more or less, he would be tricky to spot, especially if he was standing still. And since he also claimed to move faster than the speed of sound (I still had to see that in person), spotting him in motion wouldn't be any easier.
Where was he?!
"Still don't see him!" I reported as I scanned the horizon for maybe the twentieth time. I knew everyone below could see us, but if our city was in danger, did all of that really matter?
"Hey Chris, I wanna tell you something about Sonic I think you need to know," Tails told me over the noise of the engines.
"Yeah?" I asked.
Tails scanned the roads and buildings himself for a moment before answering. "He's got a kind of sixth sense for danger, so I think most of the time, he's gonna know what's happening and come to the rescue right away."
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
I hoped to myself that I would never be put in enough danger to need rescuing myself. Then again, my new friends only just got here. It was way too early to count my chickens.
So Sonic could sense that his friends were in danger? That was something. I began wondering how that worked. I didn't know if Sonic was telepathic or not. It didn't seem like he was.
Just then I spotted something in a compartment next to Tails' seat. It looked like a yellow tablet. I think he called it the Miles Electric or something.
Then I got a random idea.
"Um… I-I'm wondering… c-can we see if we can find where Sonic is using your tablet?" I suggested.
"S-Sorry…" he responded. "I-It doesn't really work that way. That is a good idea, though."
Well, that was a disappointment…
To think that a kid from another planet built a tablet himself… That took nothing short of a prodigy, and I began to wonder if there were others just like him on his world, other than Eggman.
It was very little wonder Grandpa took an immediate liking to him. And since I was kinda into tech myself, I could imagine me and Tails having a lot of fun together!
And I still couldn't get over the fact that he actually built this plane himself from scratch. Absolutely no person on this entire planet could do anything like that. He could very easily give Elon Musk a run for his money!
"Chris, look," Tails called, breaking into my thoughts.
"Huh?" I looked up to see nothing but a giant holo-screen being projected into the air. On the screen was a man with pince-nez glasses, a pair of goggles up on his bald head, and a giant brown mustache. He was grinning evilly, and a sinking feeling filled my stomach.
"I-Is that Dr. Eggman?" I asked.
"Yeah," confirmed Tails, "and I got a bad feeling he's gonna tell us what he wants this time."
Dr. Eggman cleared his throat.
I gulped.
"Greetings, citizens of Station Square," he spoke in an unexpected gravelly voice. "In case you haven't noticed, I took the liberty of hacking every single television, phone, and tablet in this city to bring you an important message you dare not miss.
"First of all, my name is Dr. Ivo Robotnik, or, if you wish to take after my nemesis, Dr. Eggman will suffice as well. I am a genius scientist with one goal in life, one single goal… and that goal is to establish the Eggman Empire. That's why I'm here, to lay my empire's foundation upon the smoldering ruins of this wretched city!"
I almost choked. Even though he looked like a cartoon character, he seemed to be dead serious about his threat. Dread overcame me as Eggman continued his monologue.
"Resistance is futile, in case you haven't already guessed. And should any of you dare raise a voice or hand against me — and this goes especially to you, military — you can be sure I will deal with you swiftly. And all those who resist me will be transformed into my robot slaves without a second thought!"
Eggman rambled on further, mentioning a couple things about Sonic being his enemy, but I stopped listening around that point. I could tell Tails was still listening intently to Eggman's terms and boasts, but I couldn't listen to him anymore. In fact, I was already starting to feel sick to my stomach.
"Submit to me, or be the first to be punished by the great Dr. Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik!" he finished, followed by a sinister bellowing laugh.
This can't be happening…
This guy's a real villain.
Tails probably saw me go pale or something, because he looked really concerned when he turned his head around to look back at me.
"Hey Chris? Are you okay…?" he asked.
"N-No…" I quietly admitted. Even with Tails' great hearing, I was still too quiet.
"What did you say?" asked Tails, before shaking his head. "Chris, this is all the more reason we need to get Sonic back here!" He looked around at the streets below us. "So for now, let's see if we can find the robot."
Oh no. I did not like where this was going.
"B-But w-wait Tails, I thought Grandpa said we're not supposed to—"
"I hate to say it, but it's too late now," Tails said. "It's gotta be around here somewhere."
I too scanned the streets of the city below. "I don't see it," I reported, before I did a double take when I saw a large figure just beginning to come into view, and I pointed at it. "W-Wait, I see it! It's down there!"
The robot was emerging through the roof of the Eckstein Center, one of the tallest buildings in Station Square. I knew the damage inside had to be catastrophic, and it would probably take a very long time to fix. I hated to even entertain that thought.
"Okay… I-I don't know if we have a choice here…" He glanced back at me, looking very concerned. "Chris, we're gonna have to fight it. There's no other way. Are you gonna be okay?"
"I don't know…" I shakily responded.
"It's okay... I'm gonna do my best to keep you safe!" Tails vowed as he gradually steered us toward the Eckstein Center, the robot… and hopefully not our impending doom, I silently hoped.
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:08 AM — Third-person POV
Eggman pressed the button that deactivated his giant holo-screen. Now that his message had been broadcast to the entire city, it was up to the humans to respond as they saw fit. Not that it mattered to him, of course. He overpowered them a hundredfold, and he wasn't afraid to prove it to them.
A quick glance at the street below revealed to him that people everywhere were holding up their cell phones to record him. He had assurance that he definitely had the city's attention, exactly as he has planned. Knowing humans, they would spread his presence all over the internet. Now all he needed to do was meet with the mayor and demand the surrender of the city.
He looked down again to see a black limousine pull up underneath him, along with a police escort.
"Finally," he muttered under his breath, even though it had only been roughly ten minutes since he demanded the mayor's arrival.
Mayor Pinsky stepped out of his car with a megaphone and took a deep breath.
"Dr. Robotnik, we have a warrant for your arrest. You are completely surrounded. Come down here immediately."
Eggman reactivated his microphone and chuckled, amused by the mayor's authoritative, yet pitiful attempt to get him to surrender.
"You think you have the audacity to order me around? Who do you think I am?" Eggman retorted.
The mayor was silent for a moment.
"Listen, if you come down here without pulling anything on us, we will negotiate the terms of your-"
"No!" interrupted Eggman. "I don't negotiate with pushovers. And just so we're clear, you are the ones who are going to surrender. Remember who's controlling the giant robot around here." There was another moment of silence. "No surrender, no city. Missile Wrist will see to that. Is that enough motivation for you?"
The mayor took another moment before responding. "In that case, I refuse to negotiate with a blackmailing terrorist like you!"
Eggman wagged his finger in chastisement. "I'd watch your language if I were you, dear mayor. There may be children watching. I must admit, 'terrorist' is a very strong and violent word to describe me. All I want is for you to surrender your city to me so I can build my Eggman Empire. Really, that's all I ask!"
"No, I'm sorry. I have no right to yield the city to you, and even if I did, the act of yielding to the demands of someone like you would leave a black mark on my country, my city, and my own personal record."
Eggman frowned. "Please. It's got a theme park for the kids!"
"You're looking at bribery on your list of crimes," warned the mayor.
Eggman crossed his arms. "Let's just say… a black mark on your record will be the price of remaining in your organic body. At least I have the mercy to spare you that misery."
He reached for a button.
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:08 AM — Third-person POV
The last words of Eggman's message rang in Knuckles' and Amy's ears. He was making quite a strong first impression on this foreign world.
"Huh. So apparently he can still invade stuff here. I thought it was just him who came to this planet and not his robots," Knuckles mused, crossing his arms.
"Well, we don't know for sure," replied Amy. "But I think you're on to something, Knuckles. If he... if Eggman got sent here like we did, then how did he get to build a new robot so fast?"
"Maybe he didn't," Knuckles speculated. "I think the Missile Wrist was one of the robots we found during our base run, was that right?"
"Yeah…" Amy slowly realized. "Yeah, it was… W-Wait, hold on, are you thinking that—"
"Yeah," Knuckles nodded as they continued running through the streets. "Call me crazy, but I got a bad feeling his whole base got sent here too."
Amy was intrigued. "That's exactly what I was gonna say," she replied. "Which means if his base is here, that means there's nothing stopping him from taking over this city!"
"I know. We're gonna have to look into it. His base being here, I mean."
"Yeah."
Just then they heard the sound of a propeller high above them, and Amy held her breath as she looked up.
"Wait, is that the Tornado?" wondered Knuckles.
"I don't know-" began Amy, before she could see the familiar biplane flying into view among the skyscrapers. It was very high up, near the top of a nearby building, and it looked like it was firing at an object on top of a roof.
"It is!" squealed Amy, bouncing up and down a little bit. "He made it, he made it! I'm so happy!"
Knuckles looked back up at the building, and he figured the robot somehow made its way up to the top of the building from the inside. That was a gruesome thought, but he didn't want to think about it.
"Amy, come with me," he curtly ordered as he broke into a run toward the skyscraper. Amy ran after him, and about a minute later, they reached the front doors of the skyscraper.
Just as they thought, there were police officers and security guards everywhere. Knuckles and Amy were able to run past the surprised personnel and enter the building. However, it didn't take long for the authorities to regain their composure.
"Hey! Stop them!" one of the guards shouted.
Once inside, one of the first things they saw was a gaping hole in the ceiling, which opened up to several more holes directly above it. While it was a pinpoint, they could eventually see the sky through the holes.
"Oh no…" Amy whispered, covering her mouth. It was way worse than she thought.
"Amy, focus! See any stairs anywhere? An elevator?" Knuckles frantically asked, looking around.
"Uh… Th-There, there!" Amy pointed to a nearby pair of elevators. There was a staircase there as well.
"Take the elevator! I'll cover you!" ordered Knuckles as he stood in front of Amy, ready to protect her from the officers.
"Right!"
Amy rushed over to the elevators. She had to reach way up to press the button, since Earth elevators were not designed with Mobians in mind. Fortunately, the elevator was already on the first floor, and she darted in. Looking out, she saw Knuckles fighting off the guards.
"Close the doors! I'll meet you up top!" he shouted.
"Come on, come on, come on," she said to herself as she tried to locate the correct button. This world's elevators were not designed the same way as the elevators back home.
At last she pressed the button, and the doors closed in the nick of time, as some of the guards were getting too close for comfort.
Amy knew she couldn't stay inside the elevator forever. The structural integrity of this skyscraper could be at risk, especially since the robot probably crashed through every single floor to get to the roof. Besides, the guards could try to gain control of the elevator.
She quickly found the button for the roof and pressed it. Again, she had to really reach to get to it. She hoped she would be able to get back home to Mobius soon, where there were normal-sized elevators for once.
As it rose, Amy pulled her trusty Piko-Piko Hammer from out of Hammerspace and braced herself for the coming fight. She knew she would have to help — Knuckles, Tails, and hopefully Sonic would be there to help her take on Eggman and his robot.
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:09 AM — Chris' POV
I should have seen the look on Dr. Eggman's face as we passed just a few feet from the hovercraft he was piloting. That look of shock, as well as seeing him cowering back in his seat — it was priceless.
"Tails?! How are you here?!" I had to strain to hear the doctor's angry voice over the roar of the Tornado's engines. "I should have known you and your pathetic friends would…"
I couldn't hear his last words, but as I continued to watch him, he turned to the robot and shouted something which I could only guess was an order to shoot us down. And I was right.
Suddenly the robot's rounded hands launched themselves off the arms they were attached to, and I yelped loudly and cowered as I saw them speed right toward us. They missed, passing only a few yards from us, and I saw that its hands were tethered to the arms. I dared to look up, and I was surprised to see that the robot had nearly lost its balance on the roof from launching its hands.
"Oh gosh, that was close! Are you okay!" Tails asked.
"Yeah," I breathed, waiting for my heart rate to slow down.
Tails banked left. "Hopefully it's not gonna shoot again for a few seconds. I think we can use this chance to do a little damage of our own."
The young fox immediately twisted the yoke, and the plane banked left and turned to face the robot. Pressing a button, he fired a steady stream of lasers at its head, neck, and chest. This fascinated me immensely; I had to know how laser blasters worked. Even more than that, I knew Grandpa would be all over this new tech. It could even be revolutionary. Then we would actually have Star Wars in real life!
I watched the lasers directly impacting the robot, but they did absolutely no damage whatsoever.
"Daahh! I forgot Missile Wrist had Egg Fleet-grade armor!" Tails groaned in annoyance.
"W-Wait, is that its name?" I asked.
"Yeah. Chris… I'm gonna need some concentration here."
"Okay."
Missile Wrist? That name seemed to be a bit on-the-nose. I was hoping for something cooler like Titan or Marauder. But I couldn't judge a robot by its cover. It had already proven itself to be very dangerous, because we had nearly been swatted out of the sky like a mosquito. I was really hoping it wasn't capable of anything else.
Just then we heard Eggman's voice over the plane's engine again, and I assumed he was speaking into a voice amplifier of some sort.
"I'm sorry you thought he was too easy for you," he said in a fake apologetic tone. "So I brought some friends to keep you both. Buzz Bombers! Attack!"
Throwing a quick look back, I saw the fat man in the hovercraft press a button on his wrist. It didn't take me long to find out what these "Buzz Bombers" were he had just summoned.
In a moment, the sound of about a hundred tiny drone-like engines could be heard, and I saw many, many purple bee-like robots fly out from behind a building. While they had small engines, they also had wings which added their voice to the chorus of noise around us. They also had what looked like laser blasters in their stingers — laser blasters which were pointed directly at us.
"Oh, not these guys again!" exclaimed Tails as he gripped the controls harder and prepared to take evasive action.
"Wait, what do you mean, again?" I was confused.
"They're the reason I had to repair the Tornado yesterday!"
I recalled Tails saying something about the Tornado being damaged yesterday. Now he was dealing with the exact same threat, but this time, I was unfortunately along for the ride. I could only hope they didn't cause us to crash. That was the last thing we needed.
Before I knew it, the sound of their wings and engines became louder, and soon they weren't just behind us. They were above and below us, to our sides, and even in front of us! Assuming those were laser blasters they had, I was surprised they hadn't used them by now.
"They're not shooting at us…" I pointed out.
"Yeah, I just noticed that…" Tails responded. "I feel like they're leading us into a—"
Before he could finish, I saw that the Buzz Bombers were forcing us to bank right and head back toward Missile Wrist. The giant robot immediately shot one of its hands at us again. A snapping sound from nearby told me its hand had found its mark.
"Aaahh!" exclaimed Tails.
"Did it get us?" I asked, not seeing where Missile Wrist struck us.
"Yeah; we just lost the propeller!" Tails answered.
Things just went from bad to worse before I could register it. Without the propeller, we would go down in flames in seconds flat.
I was scared.
Already the plane started to plummet. I let out a cry as we began to drop.
"I can fix it! Just hang on!" reassured Tails as he rapidly pressed a few buttons on the console in front of him.
The Eckstein Center — Sun August 21; 11:10 AM — Third-person POV
After ensuring Amy's safe departure in the elevator, Knuckles decided this was his chance to make his own escape. He saw a few guards rush for the stairs. He figured they thought the elevator was too risky for them because of the potential state of the building.
"Let her go," one of them ordered. "GUN'll be here in two minutes."
Knuckles almost froze. GUN? Here?! That was impossible. How could GUN exist in two separate worlds, universes even? Or was he just hearing things? Either way, he knew he couldn't stick around to find out.
"Freeze!" one of the officers commanded Knuckles, pointing his pistol at him.
"Hands in the air!" ordered another.
Knuckles wanted to argue back, but there wasn't enough time to pick a fight with someone who clearly didn't have any experience with Mobians before.
He looked up through the holes that led to the roof — and the robot. Taking a deep breath, he made his first leap through the hole and landed perfectly on the second floor. Fortunately there were no people to be seen, and the guards below were too shocked at what he just did to do anything.
As he leaped from floor to floor in his ascent to the roof, he saw only a few people here and there. They were either staring in disbelief, or assisting some of the wounded. There was destruction everywhere — broken-up pieces of floor and ceiling lay on what was left of the floor.
This whole time, he kept thinking about GUN, and why they were here on this planet as well as back home. Knuckles knew deep down this was not Mobius, and Amy had confirmed it earlier as well. Besides, the city's layout was different, and its climate was warmer. But there was one thing that still remained the same — the city was situated next to the ocean. And yet Knuckles knew this was not his Station Square. There was no evidence that Chaos was ever there.
There were too many mysteries, and no time to think about them. Right now, his sole goal was to destroy this robot and save the city, with or without Sonic.
The west coast — Sun August 21; 11:09 AM — Sonic's POV
I gotta say, I kinda liked this new planet already.
So far, I checked out some places like San Francisco, Seattle, Boise, Salt Lake City, Denver, and made that left turn at Albuquerque to head through Las Vegas. This country really reminded me of the United Federation back home. From what I picked up, it was called the United States. Similar, yet different…
San Francisco looked really similar to the old Station Square back home. It even had a giant bridge like the once-prosperous city did back in the United Federation. They never did recover after Perfect Chaos, sadly. Once the world got used to me, I would have to return to San Francisco and check it out in greater detail.
I was spending the morning getting a feel for this new planet, exploring the west coast of the United States. Tomorrow I planned to check out the central states, and later on the east coast.
I spent only like thirty seconds in Las Vegas. It actually reminded me of Eggmanland for the little time I spent there, and it was not my cup of tea. But at the same time, another part of it reminded me of Casino Night Zone, so I penciled in a return trip.
About now I figured it was time to head back to Station Square. Darting through Arizona and the desert of southern California, I decided to give Area 99 a wide berth and stay far away from that place. I cut through San Diego and Los Angeles en route to Station Square. Hopefully Chris didn't miss me too much while I was gone. My thoughts shifted to him.
As I entered Talbot, which was a small town in the Station Square metro area, I noticed a group of people talking. I didn't pay any attention to them, until I heard one of them mention the name "Eggman". That instantly got my attention. I wanted to see if I could listen to any more of what they were talking about.
Jumping up into a nearby tree, I hid behind the branches so that no one would see me, and listened to them talking. It was a bit hard to hear from the distance, but I managed to pick up words like "plane", "robot", "building", and "hovercraft".
It took me only a second to piece together the situation. Tails was in the Tornado, fighting one of Eggman's robots near one of the buildings. Even though I knew Tails could take care of himself, I figured I should head over there and give my high-flying best buddy some well-needed aid.
I jumped down from the tree and ran toward the heart of the city. It seemed Eggman was up to his old tricks again. I would not let him take over any part of this planet. I would personally see to that.
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:11 AM — Chris' POV
"Aaahhh!"
The Tornado continued to plummet at an alarming rate. As the ground drew nearer, I closed my eyes tightly, expecting a fiery crash. I was too young to die. But I knew I couldn't just doubt Tails. After all, he did vow to take care of me while we were out. And if he said he could fix the plane, I knew I needed to trust him to do it.
But there was no crash. In fact, the sensation changed. I heard the sound of a rocket engine, then we stopped falling. In fact, we started rising again. I slowly willed myself to open my eyes again and see what could possibly prevent us from crashing.
I immediately saw that the plane must have changed shape, because it looked really different. Instead of two wings, there were now four, and they were folded out in an X-shape. A pair of jet engines were propelling the Tornado to a safe altitude. Now there was no need for a propeller.
"That was really scary… Are you okay?" Tails asked in concern.
After I worked on keeping my lunch down, I responded. "N-No…" I swallowed the nauseating feeling back down again. "Wh-What happened…?"
"I transformed the plane in case of emergencies," Tails explained. "This is one of my older planes, but it's a newer modifi– Whoa!" He suddenly sent us into a dip to the right to avoid the Buzz Bombers that nearly got us again, and that almost made me want to throw up again. "Can't talk now. Sorry!"
He pressed a button that caused a yellowish-green gas to come out of a canister in the back of the plane. I watched in awe as it shorted out most of the Buzz Bombers, causing them to drop like flies from the sky. Those that survived began to fire lasers at us. One of them came within inches of my shoulder, causing me to yelp and flinch. My heart was beating so fast.
As we dipped again in an attempt to dodge the increasingly thick lasers, I saw three large black vehicles pull up outside the Eckstein Center. I had never seen a GUN vehicle in person before, but now I was watching three GUN mobile headquarters right now.
"I see some GUN cars down there," I pointed out.
Tails turned to look at me, a mixture of seriousness and shock on his features. "W-Wait, d-did you say GUN?!" he exclaimed.
"Y-Yeah," I nodded, thoroughly surprised at the young fox's reaction.
Tails dodged more lasers, followed by another punch from Missile Wrist. "Can you tell me what they're doing?"
"O-Okay…" I replied. I strained to see what the GUN soldiers were doing below us, but it was hard to since we were moving so fast.
I hated this with every fiber of my being. I was so scared of being caught in a dogfight. It was one thing on TV and in video games… but in real life… I never thought it would be this scary and life-threatening…
The Eckstein Center - Roof — Sun August 21; 11:11 AM — Third-person POV
At last, Knuckles finally reached the roof. He panted from the effort he put into leaping through hole after hole, having counted at least eighty stories in this building. He hoped the structural integrity would last, at least until Missile Wrist was destroyed. The damage that Eggman's three-ton robot did to the skyscraper was quite severe.
The Tornado was visible not too far away from the skyscraper, distracting Missile Wrist, which was awkwardly and vainly trying to punch it out of the sky. A swarm of Buzz Bombers was on its tail, shooting at the plane. Knuckles was glad he wasn't involved in that situation.
The echidna considered his options. He could easily tackle the legs of the robot and send it toppling into the streets below. It would do a lot of damage, but there were innocent people down there, as well as the authorities, not to mention the added fiery explosion would make a bad first impression for him on this world. There had to be another way. Perhaps he could discuss a strategy with Amy once she arrived.
Just then a chime indicated that the elevator had arrived. Knuckles turned to see Amy emerge from the elevator. She was holding her Piko-Piko Hammer in a battle-ready position. However, she looked a little dizzy and had a little trouble standing up. She was not used to elevators that moved that fast.
"Just in time," Knuckles stated. "We gotta think of a strategy."
"So far it hasn't noticed us," Amy said, "so I think we have a good shot from behind."
"That's where I was going," Knuckles said before shaking his head slightly. "But we can't just knock it down in the street. There's people down there."
Amy frowned. This was a difficult situation.
It took another moment of thinking before the echidna made his decision. "Okay, you distract it, and while it's focused on you, I'll do the real damage."
"Okay," Amy replied.
Preparing her hammer, she ran toward Missile Wrist. She hoisted her hammer over her head and slammed it down with punishing force onto the left leg of the robot. The resulting vibration traveled through the hammer and into Amy's hands. Yelping in surprise and pain, she dropped her hammer and held her sore hands, attempting to rub them. The robot was completely unfazed.
"I'm coming!" Knuckles shouted as he ran toward Amy and Missile Wrist. Suddenly the giant robot turned around and fired its left hand at Knuckles, hitting him right in the chest and sending him sprawling into the wall next to the elevator. He could only watch in worry as it picked up Amy with its right hand, hoisting her into the air.
"Aaahhh! Help me!" she cried.
Immediately Knuckles got up and ran back toward Missile Wrist, but Dr. Eggman swooped down in his Eggmobile, cutting him off and blocking his path.
"Outta my way," growled the echidna.
"Your heart's bigger than your brain, Knuckles, but I'm afraid I can't let you destroy my creation that easily," the doctor grinned. "Not when I have a hostage now!"
Knuckles gritted his teeth. "Don't you dare," he snarled, pushing his way past the Eggmobile to get to Missile Wrist. Eggman snapped his fingers, and as if on cue, the robot began to squeeze Amy.
"Aaaaahhhh!" she screamed.
Knuckles reluctantly took a few steps back, now completely out of options. He stared up at the doctor, his eyes reflecting his anger.
"You see?" Eggman said, arms folded smugly across his chest. "My hostages stay put until my demands are fulfilled. Interfere with my plan and Amy Rose will pay very dearly for it!"
Knuckles was breathing heavily. He couldn't just stand there and do nothing, because if he did, Eggman would succeed in his plan, who knew what would become of Amy, and besides, GUN was probably running up the stairs right now. If he attempted to rescue Amy and destroy Missile Wrist, Amy could be killed.
"Let her go," he demanded.
"You think I would simply let her go, just like that?" mocked Eggman. "Amy was clearly the instigator here. All Missile Wrist did was protect itself."
"Yeah? Well, who's the bad guy here? Not me!" retorted Knuckles.
"That's right!" Amy chimed in. "You better give up now, because I know Sonic is gonna get you!"
Eggman gave an amused grin. "Come again?"
Amy smiled determinedly. "Well, since the three of us are here, that means Sonic has to be here too!"
With its free hand, Missile Wrist threw another punch at the Tornado.
"So you say," Eggman said after a moment's silence. "But I'm afraid he didn't make it. I studied the Power Rings he so often uses, and I found out that they neutralize the effect of Chaos Control on him. This means he never came!"
Knuckles knew Eggman was trying to trick him. Yes, he was gullible, but even he knew Eggman was not sincere this time.
"That's a lie!" he shouted. "The Power Ring's effect wore off long before Chaos Control. Besides, Power Rings don't have any effect on Chaos Control and you know it!"
"Hm. Touche," Eggman said. "Well, even if Sonic was here, I can still get away with establishing the Eggman Empire! Just you try and stop me this time!"
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:13 AM — Chris' POV
We were getting further away from Missile Wrist in our fight to destroy the Buzz Bombers that were still chasing us, which was good, because then we wouldn't have to deal with it attacking us for a while. Even though Tails was able to destroy most of them with a gas that emitted from the back of the plane, there were still about eight of them left, and they were shooting at us with everything they had. Some of them almost hit us.
"I'm sorry, Chris!" shouted Tails from in front of me.
"I-It's okay!" I replied, even though I knew deep down it really wasn't. I watched as more gas spewed from the Tornado and shut down all remaining Buzz Bombers.
I had to know the magician's secret.
"What's that gas?" I asked.
"EMP gas," answered Tails. "It shuts down all Badniks on contact. See any more robots?" he asked.
Badniks? I thought they were all called Buzz Bombers.
I took a careful look around us. "N-Not yet— W-Wait, m-more of them are coming!"
Sure enough, about twenty more robots appeared from behind the Eckstein Building where Missile Wrist was. Except these robots didn't look like Buzz Bombers.
"They're different…" I pointed out.
"Those are Hoverbys!" Tails clarified. "And I think they were upgraded!"
These Hoverbys looked very different than the Buzz Bombers we had just destroyed. Not only did they have more obvious-looking engines, but they also had small buzzsaws. If I wasn't scared by our situation, I would say they reminded me of Star Wars' buzz droids.
Once they got close enough, the Hoverbys activated their saw blades. Their whirring sound could be heard even over the Tornado's twin engines. About three or four of them approached each wing of the plane.
"Do you have any more EMP gas?" I asked in worry as the Hoverbys neared the wings.
Tails checked one of the gauges. "We're out!" he reported.
The Hoverbys' buzzsaws were getting louder, and a few of them even landed on the wings of our plane. I cringed as the saws made contact with the wings, sparks flying everywhere. The sound the saws made when they cut the wings was quite loud right near my ears. I knew this would spell the end for us if Sonic didn't show up soon…
I was literally trying not to panic, but a few sparks touched my sleeve, and I yelped.
"Hang on!" shouted Tails.
If Sonic really does have this sixth sense thing like Tails said, he probably should have arrived by now, I thought. Where is he? Is he gonna make it before these robots make us crash?
But wait.
I caught the briefest glint of blue below, kind of like the trail The Flash made.
"There he is!" I shouted, amazed at the sight and greatly relieved that Sonic had finally returned. Which made me wonder, where was he this whole time? He did mention wanting to get a feel for the planet, but I would have to talk to him about that later.
Sonic must have spotted us first thing, for I saw him leap high into the air toward us. Then he did the most remarkable thing.
He literally curled into a ball in midair, spun at insanely high speeds, and bounced himself from robot to robot, destroying them on the spot. I watched as they began to plunge toward the ground, and small animals flew out of them. Of course, I questioned what I saw, but the situation was too dire for me to keep thinking about the animals that were inside the robots.
Sonic drew nearer, destroying some of the more immediately dangerous Hoverbys.
"Hey Chris?" Tails spoke.
"Yeah?"
"Do you see that bag next to you?"
I looked down to see a large tan satchel next to my seat. "Yeah, I see it."
"I need you to reach in there and get out a Power Ring, and hold it out to Sonic," instructed Tails.
Looking inside the bag, I saw dozens of large glowing rings. I took one out and saw how it shone in the sunlight.
"What do these do?" I asked.
"No time to explain!"
I nodded and looked over to Sonic. Kicking away the last of the Hoverbys, he landed on the wing of the Tornado, shaking it a little. I nervously held out the ring to him. While he was more than a little surprised to see me in the Tornado, he saw the ring and took hold of it. It was amazing how he started to glow as the ring dissolved into him. By the looks of things, his power was increased, and he was ready for a serious fight.
Station Square — Sun August 21; 11:15 AM — Sonic's POV
Consuming the ring's essence, I felt its raw power course through my veins, giving me the added strength I needed to win the fight. It was a good thing Tails had plans to start making his own Power Rings. That way, I would never have to worry about running out of them. While we didn't have the Great Forest here on Earth, being sent to another world no longer meant we had to worry about running out.
I home-attacked the rest of the Hoverbys surrounding the Tornado, and as I passed by one of them, I couldn't help but notice they had been upgraded. Also… I could have sworn I saw Chris in the back seat of the Tornado. Why was he there? This was the last place I wanted him to be.
In any case, this marked the first time Tails had a human as a passenger in any of his personal aircraft. I would have to talk to Chris about it later. Maybe Tails approved?
But now that all the Hoverbys were gone, Tails and Chris were momentarily in the clear, and I could focus my power on Eggman's new toy.
"So you made it after all, Sonic," muttered Eggman through his voice amplifier. "Why am I not surprised?"
"I never disappoint ya, do I, Egghead?" I shot back.
Eggman grinned. "No, you most certainly do not. Missile Wrist! Get rid of Amy and destroy that hedgehog!"
The giant robot on the roof casually tossed Amy into the air behind her while simultaneously firing six missiles in my direction. Now it got real. All I needed to do was run up the skyscraper and catch Amy. But with a group of missiles to deal with as well, it was going to be a bit tricky.
So I ran up the outside of the skyscraper, dodging to the left of the missiles that passed by me. Without even looking, I could tell they were turning around and coming back up after. They weren't my priority; Amy was. Safety always came first.
In two seconds flat, I reached the top of the building, and I was met with a crazy sight. Eggman was in his Eggmobile, which was floating next to Missile Wrist. Knuckles was there as well, and he was panting after he made a flying catch to save Amy. I felt huge relief, not just because of Knuckles' save, but that both he and Amy were here to begin with. I knew they would show up. Now we were all together again on Planet Earth.
Before anyone could say anything, I saw the missiles fly up past me and into the air above us. Then they began to arc down toward us. So I leaped on top of Missile Wrist, using it as leverage to boost myself toward the speeding projectiles. I could hear the faint sound of energy being used behind me, but I couldn't look now; I had to deal with the missiles first.
I executed a homing attack toward the first missile, and easily destroyed it, escaping the ensuing explosion. After doing the same to the next three missiles, I kicked the fifth into the last before aiming myself back toward the roof of the skyscraper. Then I saw what had caused that energy burst.
Missile Wrist was generating a force field out of its chest, imprisoning Knuckles and Amy inside. Missile Wrist was already next on my to-do list, but now I had to destroy it to free my friends.
"Sonic! Look out!" Amy called just after Missile Wrist fired both of its hands at me. It was obviously trying to punch me out of the sky. I figured I had no choice but to give it a slap on the wrist… literally.
I hopped on top of one of its rounded hands and prepared to ride it back to sender. But when its other hand decided to punch me as well, I hopped on to that hand instead. And so the process repeated, with me jumping from hand to hand, dodging punches, and getting closer and closer to Missile Wrist in the process.
"Why does my arch-nemesis always have to be such a big showoff?" complained Eggman.
"'Cuz it's fun!" I teased.
Now that the arms were fully retracted, I stood there on its left arm and waited for its right arm to smash me in. Fortunately, it did exactly what I wanted it to do, and I hopped off its arm and onto the roof as the other hand smashed where I was just standing. Hopefully this way I could… disarm it, pun intended. But nope, both hands were intact. This made me wonder what they were made of.
Now that I was back on the roof, I quickly located the shield generator embedded in Missile Wrist's chest. A single spin dash made short work of the generator, and I turned back to watch as the force field vanished from around Knuckles and Amy.
"Payback time?" Amy asked Knuckles as she pulled out her Piko Piko Hammer, which made me flinch a little.
"Payback time," Knuckles agreed, bumping his fists together. "You take the left hand, I'll take the right!"
"Got it!"
Both of them rushed toward Missile Wrist's hands, and I decided to step back and let them take care of things. Several first and hammer hits later, Missile Wrist's hands were quickly reduced to scrap metal.
"Don't just stand there, E-23!" screamed Eggman. "Use your missiles! You still have those left!"
Missile Wrist immediately fired six more missiles directly at me. Making sure I was in the clear, and they weren't going to hit anyone else, I vaulted myself clear over them and onto Missile Wrist's head. It took about six seconds for the missiles to head back toward me, and by extension, Missile Wrist. Now that everything was going according to plan, I hopped off of Missile Wrist and ran back to my friends.
"Get back! It's gonna explode!" I warned.
Ironically, for being the fastest thing alive, my warning came almost too late. No sooner had I said it than the missiles made contact with Eggman's robot, creating a giant explosion. My ears immediately started ringing from the blast, but fortunately, no shrapnel flew in our direction. E-23 was officially history.
"Give up, Eggy?" I said to the mad doctor in the Eggmobile. He growled in frustration, a sound that was music to my ears. As he started to fly away, he left behind a foreboding message.
"You may have won this time, rodents, but don't you for one moment think this is over. This world hasn't seen the last of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik!"
I for one knew that Eggman never made any empty threats. If he said he was going to show up again, then I was given the liberty to count my chickens before they hatch, because he would most certainly return.
I turned around just in time to see Amy running toward me.
"Sonic, I knew you'd make it!" she squealed as she began hugging the living daylights out of me.
"Ngh… Ch-choking… me a little…" I protested. "But it's good to see you're here too, Ames!"
I turned to Knuckles. "And you too, Knux!" I said as we fist-bumped. Just like old times…
Now that all the danger was finally over, I looked up, and I could see the Tornado start to head back toward us. A rope ladder was draped over the side.
"Climb on!" Tails shouted to us.
However, Knuckles took one look at the ladder before he made up his mind.
"…You know what, I think I should stay," he said. "You know, to make sure things are okay around here, and get a start on searching for–"
"No time!" I shouted as the door behind him opened. Several armed men came into view and pointed their guns at us.
"Nobody move!" one of them shouted the moment Amy and I grabbed onto the passing rope ladder.
"Gah, I forgot about these guys!" I could hear Knuckles moan.
As Knuckles ran off the roof and glided toward the rope ladder, I couldn't help but notice how similar their outfits were to…
No… No, it can't be…
I was flabbergasted. GUN was here too?! If Station Square was also here, then the two had to have been connected somehow. That was a mystery I had no answer to. I didn't think anyone had any answers.
I was willing to bet this world not only had its own Commander Abraham Tower, but also its own South Island, New Mobotropolis, and even Chao colonies. But that was all speculation.
But now that I thought about it, it felt really strange running from GUN. It gave me bad flashbacks of when they thought I was someone else. They were the good guys on my world, but here, they knew less than nothing about me. Give them a few weeks, and I would be on a list of their most invaluable allies.
As there was no way I could communicate with Tails and Chris due to the plane's loud engines, I could still fill in Amy and Knuckles on what was happening lately.
"Thought you said you weren't coming, Knux," I stated.
"I got no choice with those GUN guys back there," Knuckles said. "But I'm only gonna come with you guys for a quick bite to eat. I've been doing an all-nighter on an empty stomach."
"Ouch," Sonic winced.
"So where have you been staying, Sonic?" Amy asked.
"Oh, you're gonna love it," I responded. "It's this big house just outside of town. I actually discovered it by accident."
"How so?" inquired a curious Amy.
"Long story short, I ran from the cops and fell in the pool," I said matter-of-factly.
Amy looked shocked. "W-Wait, you almost drowned?! What happened after?"
"A kid who lives there got me out."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I owe him my life. In fact, he's up in the Tornado right now!"
"You sure it's safe for us to be around humans, Sonic?" Knuckles raised an important point.
I shrugged. "For the most part, I wouldn't. Can't be too careful, you know? But the humans at the place I'm staying at – they're cool with me and Tails and Cream."
"Good to know."
As Tails steered us back home, I could imagine that we were going to have quite a conversation once we landed now that we were all finally back together again.
Thorndyke Mansion - Outside – Sun August 21; 11:39 AM – Chris' POV
At last our giant driveway came into view. I had to admit, it looked quite different from above. In fact, having a birds-eye view of our entire property was really spectacular.
But then I realized something. Our driveway was long, but not that long. How was it possible for us to land a plane there? Grandpa and Dad had never tested full-sized aircraft on our driveway. But if Tails could land here yesterday, then he would probably have no problem landing today either.
As the engines grew quieter, the wheels of the Tornado touched down amazingly smoothly on the driveway, and we taxied toward the garage. We were actually doing it…
Even so, I was nervous that we were going too fast. However, we slowed down and eventually stopped before we reached the garage door, much to my relief.
I carefully removed my football helmet, fearing what my helmet hair would look like in a mirror. I hoped no one would laugh at me like some people did at school. My hair tended to be wavy on its own. I wasn't the kind of person to fuss about their hair, but I still wished it was straighter.
Sonic and his other two friends I didn't meet yet jumped down off the rope ladder. One of them, a girl in a red dress, ran over to Cream, where they had a tearful reunion; while the other, a muscular figure, kinda stood there on his own looking around.
After Tails pulled the ladder back into the plane, he began to move the plane back and forth, turning it around in the driveway so that it would be ready for its next takeoff.
Once we slowed to a complete stop, Tails converted the Tornado back into its original form, damaged propeller and all, before shutting off the motor. At last, silence filled my ears, and I found it to be a very welcome sound.
I looked down, wondering how I was supposed to get down from the plane on my own. I didn't see any steps or footholds anywhere. Fortunately Tails noticed my predicament.
"I can help you down if you want," he offered.
The fox stood up in his seat and turned around to face me. And then he did something that shouldn't have even been logically possible at all. His twin tails started spinning at a high speed behind him, fast enough that they sounded like helicopter propellers. Then he actually lifted himself into the air using his tails as a propeller, and extended his hands to me.
"Grab on!" he invited.
As awe-stricken as I was, I nodded and took hold of his hands. It felt strange to be lifted out of my seat and into the air by an alien I had only just met a couple hours ago. He was surprisingly strong, now that I thought about it. The wind his namesakes generated whipped my hair around a little bit, but I didn't mind. He gently lowered me to the ground before landing in front of me.
If only Grandpa saw that…
"Y-you can fly?" I forced the words out. "But… H-how…?"
Tails blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "I-I guess it's just something I can do."
"Did… Did you just…" Grandpa's voice came from the garage as he made his way over to us.
"Grandpa, he can fly," I repeated in awe. "Show him, Tails!"
Tails chuckled nervously before he spun his tails once more and flew a few feet off the ground. He moved to another part of the driveway, and I shielded my eyes from the wind he kicked up. He set himself down on the driveway again.
"…I… I don't know what to say…" Grandpa said after a stunned pause. "You are all full of surprises…"
"Grandpa and Cheese and I made sandwiches!" Cream called from the garage.
"Chao chao-chao!" Cheese added.
Oh boy! Sandwiches sounded great after the adventure I had. Our victory worked up a big appetite in all of us.
We headed into the garage to find that two folding tables and five chairs were set up. On each table was a few plates of cold cut sandwiches, as well as several small bags of chips. For drinks, we were given a choice of Sprite, grape juice, or water.
The girl Mobian walked toward us and extended her hand to me.
"Hi there! I'm Amy Rose," she introduced, and I shook her hand first, then Grandpa. "I just wanna say thank you so much for letting us stay here!"
"Our pleasure," replied Grandpa.
"My name's Knuckles," the other Mobian quietly said. We too shook his hand, and I had to say, for someone as muscular as he looked, his handshake was surprisingly more gentle than I thought.
"I'm Professor Charles Thorndyke, and this is my grandson Chris," Grandpa introduced both of us as he got two more chairs for us. "Now why don't we all take a seat and dig in? Cream made these sandwiches all by herself, with a little supervision from me. And while we eat, I'm pretty sure we got a lot to talk about."
With that, he walked over to the head of one of the tables and sat down, and Sonic sat next to him. I sat down across from Cream and next to Tails, while Amy headed over to speak with Sonic.
Knuckles and Amy… they seemed like an unlikely pair. I had only just met them, but I could tell they probably didn't eat anything since they arrived on Earth. I had questions on how their metabolism worked. They were still in a good mood; at least, Amy was. Knuckles struck me as the kind of guy who preferred to stick to himself.
We reached for the sandwiches, and I had just taken my first bite when Knuckles passed by my seat and approached Tails, who looked up. He looked like he was concerned about something.
"Hey Tails," he started. "Is it really a good idea to take a kid with you to a fight? Or at all, for that matter? They're gonna see you!"
Whoa. I didn't know I was going to be a reason for concern. I understood Grandpa not wanting me to go into battle in the Tornado, but not being able to fly at all? That seemed a little overkill.
"I-I know, but I couldn't control it," Tails said as he poured himself a glass of grape juice. "He wanted to come help me look for Sonic, but… then Missile Wrist came, and by then it was kinda too late to go back."
"But you could have gotten him killed!" Knuckles fired back.
"Y-Yeah," Tails replied, trying not to raise his voice. "If I had known I was gonna battle Eggman right away, I wouldn't have brought him with me."
It was good to know he took responsibility of me well.
"Um… I-I'm still alive…!" I piped up after swallowing.
Knuckles crossed his arms. "Barely. Probably due to luck or something. Well, if you want to stay alive, you gotta leave the fighting to the experts."
Tails blinked. "But I couldn't control it-"
"Just saying for next time," he grunted before walking back to the other table. He took his seat on the other side of Grandpa, across from Sonic.
Tails remained quiet after he spoke with Knuckles, wordlessly eating his sandwich and chips. I wondered if he was starting to regret taking me with him. Today, I was shot at by robots, nearly swatted out of the sky, and even took a nosedive to near-death had Tails not acted quickly, all in less than ten minutes. Plus, I had never been inside an open-cockpit biplane before. It was really scary now that I thought about it. In fact, it kind of scared me to go in the Tornado again.
Once she finished talking with Sonic, Amy walked over to our table and sat down at the end, between me and Cream. She turned to face me.
"Hey Chris, I wanna say… you were so brave rescuing Sonic last night," Amy said.
"Th-thanks…" I replied. I was a bit nervous talking to her for some reason.
"You're welcome! And also, he's really afraid of water. Like, he thinks it's gonna kill him one of these days."
"W-Wait, he actually can't swim?" I questioned.
"Yeah, he just sinks like a rock. And I even tried giving him swimming lessons. I tried like, three different times, and he won't stop being paranoid. Ugh, sometimes he gets me so worked up!"
"Miss Amy," Cream said gently, trying to calm her down. The hedgehog sighed.
"Sorry, Cream," she said quietly. "You know me with Sonic."
"Wait, does that mean you're…" I couldn't think of how to finish the sentence.
"Dating?" Amy suggested, and I shrugged. "I wish. It's not that he doesn't love me, it's just…" She sighed. "I think he just wants to be free to run wherever he wants to do, and he doesn't want things like love getting in the way… I've been kinda learning to respect that, but still… it doesn't stop my heart fluttering every time I see him."
I didn't want to probe into their love life, so I remained quiet after that and returned to my food.
We talked for another fifteen minutes, and I got to know my friends a little better, mostly about stuff I did…Okay, so maybe they got to know me a little better. I was a bit of an introvert, so I was kind of awkward for the most part, but fortunately, Amy and Tails helped me out.
Knuckles, who was thoughtful and mostly silent for the entire meal, scooted his chair back and stood up.
"I don't care who was responsible for causing Chaos Control," he declared. "It's not about why started it, it's about who finishes, and wins this battle. And I'm gonna make sure we get all seven Chaos Emeralds and keep them away from Eggman for as long as we can until we all get back home."
"I know you always loved your treasure hunts, Knux," Sonic teased. "We got an extra big one ahead of us."
"I know… But this time, it's not just a treasure hunt. This is something that will impact our future as we know it. This is gonna decide whether we can go back to our home planet or not." Knuckles paused as a new thought crossed his mind. "And frankly, I don't wanna think about Rouge touching the Master Emerald while I'm away."
"Hey, relax!" Sonic reassured. "We don't know if she's here yet, but if you're lucky enough, she probably is here and away from the Master Emerald. And I'm pretty sure she's out looking for a certain red echidna–"
"Stop it!" Knuckles roared, blushing a little. This made Tails and Amy giggle. I didn't see what was so funny, though. I must have missed the joke.
"But seriously, Knuckles, we'll help you find the Emeralds. We're a team; we're all in this together, am I right?"
"Yeah, definitely," he said, and he and Sonic fist-bumped. "I may work on my own a lot of the time, but this time, it's gotta be a full team effort."
Now that he finished his sandwiches, he turned toward the open garage door. "Welp, I'm gonna go get a head start on those Emeralds. Thanks for having me, Chuck. Take care."
We watched as Knuckles walked down the driveway. Was he not going to stay with us? What if everyone saw him? They would capture him like they did with Cream!
"Wait, is he leaving?!" I asked.
Sonic, who had overheard me, got up and walked over to my table.
"He kinda like to do things his own way," he told me. "That's just how he rolls."
Amy stood up too, and Cream looked at her sadly. "Are you going to leave too, Miss Amy?"
The pink hedgehog immediately smiled. "Not at all! I wanna stay here with Sonic and Tails and you too!"
She leaned toward Cream and hugged her gently, and I had to smile. I barely knew them so far, but they were like sisters to each other. I wished I had sisters.
Sonic, Tails, Cream, Knuckles, and Amy… Those must have been all the Mobians that landed here on Earth. I wanted to make sure that there weren't any others out there.
"Sonic?" I asked.
"Yeah?"
"I'm just wondering... Did anyone else come here with you?" I asked.
It didn't take Sonic even two seconds to ponder my question. "Well, um, unless you count Eggman, then no, I can't say that I do. I do have other friends back home, though."
"Mr. Chuck?" Cream called from her half-eaten sandwich. "I can't finish…"
"Chao…" Cheese echoed. Apparently the Chao could get full quickly too. Yet he was a voracious eater earlier when we were having donuts.
"That's okay, Cream, I can put it away for you for later," Grandpa replied as he got up with the sandwich and walked out of the garage. "Don't go anywhere, okay?" he called behind him.
"So yeah, we're all together again," Sonic stated absent-mindedly once Grandpa was gone, and the others smiled. "That all was… really scary. And interesting too."
"Yeah…" agreed Amy.
As I took the last bite of my sandwich, finishing just behind Tails, my thoughts began whirling faster. My new Mobian friends had terms that didn't make sense!
Chaos Emeralds?
Eggman's machine?
Chaos Control?
Master Emerald?
Rouge?
"Um… I-I have a few questions," I asked after a few moments, breaking the thoughtful silence. Everyone else turned to me.
"Go right ahead," invited Sonic.
"Um… You guys were talking about… I don't know, it sounds really strange… Like, what's Chaos Control? Is it a weapon or something?"
"Not exactly," Sonic explained, slightly bemused, which added to my confusion. "The way I see it, it's kinda more like a–"
"Sorry to interrupt," the returning Grandpa broke in, "but Chris, Ella's cooking lunch for you right now, so you're gonna have to excuse yourself from your friends for a bit in just a few minutes."
This was bad.
"But I just ate…"
"I know. Try to eat as much as you can anyway, and if you can't finish, that's fine. I'll just tell her you ate a big breakfast, and if that doesn't convince her, I'm pretty sure the donuts will." I nodded.
I was very grateful for Grandpa; he really knew how to cover for me. Even when the paparazzis and news crews were talking about us all across the country, Grandpa was there to protect me from them. He even asked Tanaka to tell the Sun and other news magazines to stop writing articles about us. All we wanted was a nice, peaceful, normal life… Well, as normal as we could be for one of the richest families in the world. And with the addition of several alien superheroes, normal would be just a memory.
"Hey Chuck? Is Ella getting suspicious that there's bread missing from the kitchen?" Tails asked.
"No. At least, not yet," Grandpa answered. "Good thinking though. And I checked on her, and she said she's making soup and fruit today, so she's not going to be anywhere near the bread." An idea formed in his head.
"Actually, I gotta go and buy some more bread to replace the loaf we just went through, and hopefully curb Ella's suspicions. And I can get you guys some beanbags too, and maybe a hammock if I can find one."
Ella was not one of those people you wanted to get on their bad side. She saw through Grandpa's white lies before, and she even convinced more than a few news crews to stop taking too many photos of us.
"That's a good idea," I said.
"Okay, Chris, I think you should go inside now. It's gonna be ready any minute," Grandpa suggested as he walked out to his car, which he parked on the grass next to the driveway to make room for the Tornado.
"Sorry guys, I wish I could have told Ella in hindsight that I was making sandwiches while working on our 'secret project," he apologized from outside.
"Wait, there's a secret project…?" Tails questioned, confused.
"U-Um, not really…" I answered. "I-It's… something Grandpa came up with so that Ella and Mr. Tanaka don't come in here and see you… So what were you going to say, Sonic?"
Sonic thought for a moment, then frowned. "Sorry, it completely slipped my mind…"
"You were going to answer his question about Chaos Control," Tails gently reminded.
"Oh yeah, right, thanks Tails." Then a second thought crossed him. "Um… Hold that thought. Mind if I tell you another time, Chris? You got lunch, and we kinda need to rest up a bit. It's been pretty rough for us."
"Oh… okay…" I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't learn their fancy terms. If Chaos Control was a weapon, then it sounded like a powerful one for sure.
"Tell you what," Sonic smirked, placing a hand on my shoulder. "First thing tomorrow, come see us, and we'll tell you and your grandpa about how we all came here. Sound good?"
I considered this. I didn't see why they couldn't tell us about it sooner, but they were tired, and frankly, beggars can't be choosers.
"Okay."
I turned to head outside. "Bye, guys!"
Everyone waved and said goodbye as I exited out the side door, noting that Grandpa's note from yesterday was still there. Hopefully it would hold out for a little while longer.
I broke into a sprint toward the house, feeling an air of fresh excitement rush through me. I had not one, not two, but four friends living here with me! And all of them were nothing like any of the other kids at school. These were genuine friends, and I hadn't even known them for a whole day!
The more I thought about them, the happier I became. No way would I sleep tonight. I would be wide awake with excitement. I couldn't wait for tomorrow, so that I could hear their story of how they got here. That story would be better than any history lesson I was ever taught, and I hadn't even heard it yet.
Even if Dr. Eggman was out there, I knew my friends could stop him. They certainly proved themselves today. And Sonic was mind-blowing in the way he fought the robot. He actually used his own body as a weapon. That was really cool.
Eggman wasn't one of my current problems. My only predicament was how I was going to hide my uncontrollable wide smile from Ella and Tanaka.
Eggman's base – Sun August 21; 11:09 AM – Third-person POV
Eggman rode the metro elevator directly from the hidden runway back to his command center, pondering the day's invasion and conflict with Sonic the Hedgehog. He was not overly surprised that he and his friends showed up that day to thwart his plan to take over Station Square. He also wasn't surprised at the mayor's resilience. After all, not too many people, Mobians and humans alike, agreed with blackmail and guilt tactics. He promised himself that he would return tomorrow with a stronger robot, and teach that hedgehog a lesson, as well as make the city pay for their senseless resistance to such a simple demand.
As soon as the doors opened, he was greeted by the sight of both his hench-bots, Decoe and Bocoe, who were seated at the console. They rose at the sight of their master.
"Welcome back, Doctor," Decoe greeted.
"Ah, I see you've repaired Bocoe," noted Eggman. "Can't have my strategy specialist without a weapons specialist. Anything else noteworthy that went on here? Namely, Bokkun?"
Decoe and Bocoe looked taken aback a little.
"I can see the guilt in your eyes, and you're not even organic," Eggman remarked. "Bokkun got in my candy supply. Why didn't you stop him?"
"It isn't my fault I was preoccupied with Bocoe's repairs!" Decoe shot back.
Eggman wisely held back his temper. It may have been a small matter, but Eggman valued his candy supply which he had in his little spare time. "How much did he eat?" he sighed.
"My post-analysis indicates Bokkun ate 23% of your candy supply before the security robots finally arrived to neutralize him," Bocoe answered.
"We apologize, Doctor," Decoe responded. "However, there is good news."
"Well? Tell me!" begged the doctor.
"The Chaos energy scanner is once again operational. An initial scan reveals large quantities of energy in the northern part of Station Square."
Eggman's eyebrows raised. He immediately realized what this meant. This was the best news he heard all day.
"A Chaos Emerald…" he deducted.
"Affirmative."
"What measures do you wish to take, Doctor?" Bocoe asked.
Eggman thought for a moment. "As much as I want to get my hands on that Emerald now, I'm not going back to Station Square today. Instead, I have… other means. Decoe, prepare a Spy Bot. I want to keep tabs on the Emerald until it's ripe for the picking."
"Yes, Doctor."
As the tall yellow robot left the room, Eggman looked around the command center. It was absolutely spotless. Not a trace of the Chaos Roboticizer was left in the room. It was just like that unfortunate incident never even happened.
While he waited, Eggman walked over to his drawer of robot cards and opened it. He removed the rubber band from the deck and began to search for a particular card. Bocoe took note of this.
"I thought you stated you were not returning to the city, Doctor."
"I'm not," Eggman replied. "I'm just separating the Missile Wrist card so it's not accidentally chosen again tomorrow. Remind me to produce more of them. Ah, here it is."
He pulled the single card from the deck and placed it alone in the drawer before binding the cards back together. Placing the deck back in the drawer, he closed it. Just then Decoe returned with one of the doctor's old Spy Bots floating next to him.
"Here you are, Doctor," Decoe presented.
Eggman crossed the room and opened another drawer. "Bocoe, download the coordinates of the Chaos Emerald into the Spy Bot," he instructed.
"Yes, Doctor," responded Bocoe.
It only took a few moments to download the Emerald's coordinates into the Spy Bot.
"Download complete," reported Bocoe, turning away from the monitor.
"Excellent," replied Eggman. "Now let's send it off to Station Square, and as soon as the humans find it, they will practically be handing it to me."
Eggman sat down in his command chair and pulled up a live image of Station Square. He leaned back in contentment. The Emerald was practically in his grasp. The only downside was that anyone could find it before then… but he highly doubted it.
All told, today was not a total loss for Eggman. Instead, it was more like testing the waters of a whole new world. Come tomorrow, he would be ready to jump in the deep end. Victory would be his. He was sure of it.
A/N: And that's "Missile Wrist Rampage"! I loved writing the Eggman scenes. I'm also amazed at the way Amy came out.
- First off, I greatly extended the first scene with Eggman to show his perspective when he arrived on Earth.
- It was very hard for me to come up with an explanation as to how Knuckles and Amy ended up together in the sewer, but hopefully it's plausible enough.
- This episode takes place on the same day as the last episode.
- I wrote an explanation as to how everyone knew that Missile Wrist was in town.
- I had Tails and Chris leave the house to look for Sonic only once instead of twice, as it made more sense that way.
- I removed all the one-off scenes with Sonic except the one where he returns to the city.
- I gave Chris more doubt and fear regarding flying in the Tornado.
- I made the battle much more intense with adding Badniks, as well as a near crash-landing. Also, I took a creative liberty by upgrading the Hoverbys.
- I added an all-new scene toward the end, as I wanted to write when Knuckles and Amy were introduced to Chuck and Chris, and everyone discussing what was next.
- I also added a second Eggman scene at the very end to lead into the next episode.
Let me know how I'm doing with everyone's characters - even Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun; they were used a lot during this chapter. Reviews and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated.
Next time is "Chaos Emerald Chaos", where the first Chaos Emerald turns up in town and everyone makes a mad dash for the first key to returning home! Don't miss it!
