A/N: Sorry this chapter is really late! I wanted to finish this chapter for a while now, but I got a bit lazy and tired, not to mention sick recently, but I'm doing better now. I'm glad I was finally able to finish.
Also, I wanna thank you all for helping this story get to 300 reviews! I still can't believe I would ever get this much support, and without you, this would not have been possible. I can't begin to say how much I love reading your reviews when I get them; they make me all giddy inside, especially when you come up with ideas and even theories. Thank you all for reading and reviewing!
This episode is my personal favorite from the Chaos Saga, because we got to see more character development for Tails, and how kind Amy is to Gamma, not to mention all the battle scenes! I can't wait to show you guys this episode!
I would like to thank Vraigard, Vgn Golley, Harry Bols, danielman21, AitoLight145, SpeedytheMemeLord, Nate Nakamura, Mechasonic, Pinkipoo, elizaveta2000kuz, Strange Shards, sakuyamon2001, and Ifound11998 for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
Shoutout of the chapter goes to VirgoDrago for his amazing reviews! I always look forward to their reviews because it makes me really excited on the inside when I read them :)
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
Ushigomesan123
I love replying to everyone's comments :) It's my favorite part of finishing a chapter. And thank you so much for the review! I will definitely do my best to make this a Sparkling Heart Pounding Year for you and everyone else :D
benjaminanderson685
You're welcome :) I really enjoy reading everyone's ideas.
I just watched the first episode of Xonic S on Odysee now, and I really love it! I'm gonna watch the other six as soon as I finish posting this chapter. And it's really cool that Time8th and Hieifireshadow are in it!
As for Pokemon: The Bridge Series, I've never seen it before, but since I'm becoming more of a Pokemon fan lately, I will definitely check it out. I've seen the shortened versions of Pokemon episodes by Hug a Torchic, and a Pokemon abridged series seems like it's right up my alley.
I heard of all three of those series! Though, I have never seen Sonic For Hire or Christmas with Sonic before, but I have seen every Ask the Sonic Heroes to date. In fact, I regularly watch their weekly Fun Friday streams, and I'm even a regular member in the SonicSong182 Discord server.
It's okay, I love answering questions. ;)
I'm not familiar with the other voice actors you mentioned, but from what I heard about Rick and Morty, I can see Chuck with Rick's voice. And I will admit, I thought that Chuck sounded better than usual in episodes 47 and 48 for some reason.
dbehi1
Chris naturally has a kind heart, so it didn't take him long to get along with Big, even though he may think that chasing after a frog is silly, but still, Big is his friend too!
Also, I want to ask that you please don't self-promote in the reviews. Thank you.
GuardianDragon98
Tails has been in a few scrapes before, and even though this one seems bad, I have a feeling he'll be all right.
blazenight01
That actually gives me an idea, maybe I could write something about Eggmanland on Earth as an alternate scenario in Sonic X.
That's a great idea, even if it's a bit late for GIN to have a scene to themselves, I can still have them take care of evacuations in the background.
And yeah, I have no idea how that's the case, or how miraculously no one died to Perfect Chaos.
VirgoDrago
I love your reviews! :D
While I've never seen Red vs. Blue before, I have seen RWBY and Dragon Ball Z, but only the first three seasons of RWBY, and that was years ago. I'm starting to become a fan of DBZ recently as well, though.
But yeah, poor Knuckles needs a break, with everyone stealing or breaking the Master Emerald (or in some cases, both!). Don't you hate it when your floating island keeps falling?
Thanks for your review, and it's okay, take your time!
Animation Adventures
Big is smarter than he looks, at least in my headcanon, and he really doesn't deserve all the hate he gets. But yeah, he does remember bits and pieces of what happened, enough to know that something feels off.
I know that Amy must have interacted with Orbot and Cubot in Boom at some point, but it's been so long since I watched it that I don't remember either.
That's true, but the people don't have a lot of time to escape. It's only been a few hours since the announcement went out, and by now there are probably traffic jams everywhere. Hopefully that's where GUN steps in.
I too wish the mandates didn't have to be a thing, but it is what it is, I guess. At least with fanfictions, we don't have to live with those rules. And I agree, the Archie Sonic comics have more depth than the IDW comics ever will. With some of the recent comics and their new characters, I can tell that there's starting to be a little more depth, but it's a bit slow in terms of development.
Once I'm finished this chapter, I can work full-time on the Creepy Stewart story while I get everything ready for the next chapter.
BazookaM1A1
Sadly, Nazo will not appear in this story.
snake screamer
That's a possibility. Though, I will admit, it was pretty cool watching Amy embedding several hammers into the hull of the Grand Egg Imperial in episode 52.
I always thought that Infinite had a mental connection to the Phantom Ruby, at least, the one in his chest. I'm not sure if it's still there after he lost in Forces.
I heard a lot of bad things about Sonic For Hire, so I may stay away from it for now.
PowerKey
Oh, can you imagine if they made a Sonic X-Z? That would be incredible!
Anyway, this is gonna be a tough one for our heroes to get out of for sure. Stay tuned for the next thrilling adventure... of Sonic X-Z!
Just-A-Fan
I agree that no one is doing Blaze justice lately, and as for her appearing, I'm still considering it, but I'm having a hard time finding somewhere for her to fit.
Really great series! I did want to ask though, is Blaze gonna show up at any point in the future? She's always just been a personal favorite of mine, and it sucks that not a lot of Sonic media nowadays seems to give her any spotlight.
CreativeKitty975
This is the perfect opportunity and example for Eggman to use his 300-IQ brain! But I agree, Eggman does tend to slip up sometimes XD Orbot and Cubot are not much better than Gamma in that regard. I do agree, Amy seems to be better off with one hammer, because I can't possibly see her with more.
I'm glad you liked the Chris and Big scenes from the last chapter, because there's more where that came from this chapter too!
As unexpected as Eggman's welcoming committee was, Sonic and his friends have come to learn to expect the unexpected, but will that be enough to help them? Stay tuned!
Before I posted this chapter, I made sure to go over the timestamps, and I'm glad I did. I have no idea how I messed all of them up that bad XD
Youre welcome! I really wanted to shout out my readers, and I'm glad I started doing that. Here is the next chapter!
Guest
Sadly, I don't do review requests.
Five-Chosen
1. I really like that idea, but I have different plans for Shadow for how he gets amnesia.
2. This idea, however, I can see myself using! I can see a spot where Silver can fit into the story, and I can actually combine your idea with mine if I do end up using it. And I really liked the scenario you wrote! :D
3. I'm not sure if Blaze and Marine will appear in the Metarex Saga, mostly because I can't find a way to add them in a way other than the fact that they're just... there. If they do appear, I would probably need to add the Sol Emeralds too, and I'm not sure where to add them either.
As for your account, I did a bit of research, and it doesn't seem like anyone else has the same problem that your account does. At this point, I would just go ahead and make a new account. But at the same time, to me it also sounds like you're trying to sign up with a new account under the same name. Did you try logging in first?
I hope I was able to help you out.
Here is the next chapter!
Chapter 29
Episode 30
All for a Frog!? Battle on the Egg Carrier!
Unify the Chaos
The Egg Carrier – Sat November 19; 10:05 AM – Sonic's POV
Tails, Knuckles, and I were staring down an entire army of robots, led by ZERO, who had just placed all of us under arrest. I wasn't about to comply, even if it took us closer to Amy's cell. Besides, I knew there was a chance she could get out on her own.
"Tails, see if you can fix the Tornado," I told my friend. "Knux and I'll take care of this."
Tails looked up briefly from where he had been analyzing the damage.
"Okay," he said quietly as he pulled out his toolbox and got to work repairing his plane. "Just try and hold 'em off for me."
I smiled. "Leave it to us!" I told him with a wink before turning back to ZERO.
"All right, I'm all ears now, thanks for being patient," I said to the robot. "You were saying something about a rest, yeah? 'Cuz I sure can take one of those as soon as I put you down to rest!"
"Hey now, don't get too cocky," Knuckles warned me, holding one of his large hands out. "We're outnumbered like a thousand to three, and these are pretty tight quarters."
"He said to the hedgehog who's gotten outta tight spots before," I replied. I stepped forward before launching into a spin, tearing straight through the first group of robots.
Knuckles saw what I was doing, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see his fists flying and reducing the nearest robots to scrap metal. Hundreds of lasers, claws, and missiles kept missing us, but it only added to the fun. I eventually got into a sort of rhythm as I smashed my way through the army with a series of punches, kicks, and homing attacks.
"Hey, keep an eye on ZERO," I told Knuckles once he was close enough. "Don't let him get anywhere near Tails."
Knuckles curtly nodded. "Will do."
Some of the robots I was dealing with included the occasional Super Badnik, like Egg Hammers. They took a bit of extra effort to get through, but it wasn't anything that whipping up a supersonic tornado couldn't fix.
"Resistance is futile," I could hear ZERO saying from behind us. "You are outnumbered, and your odds of survival are-"
"Like I hadn't heard that a hundred times," I said as I kicked a Crabmeat into a group of approaching Motobugs. "I would've thought Eggman put a cliché detector in you."
"Resistance is still futile," ZERO insisted. I smirked.
"Well, I guess it can't be helped. They don't call this the meta era for nothing," I shrugged.
"Funny hearing that from you, Mr. Baldy McNosehair," quipped Knuckles from my left.
"Hey, I wasn't the one who started that, the Wisps did!" I shot back. "I just happened to jump on the-"
"Sonic, watch your back!" Knuckles suddenly shouted. I turned around just in time to see a pair of Egg Hammers bearing down on me, their hammers raised.
I immediately thought of a strategy on the fly, and positioned myself directly between the two Egg Hammers. There were several Badniks rapidly closing in on me, but if my strategy worked out, they wouldn't reach me.
I jumped out from among the crowd just a split second before the Egg Hammers struck. As I expected, they hit each other on the head with their massive mallets, creating a dual explosion that took out all the Badniks that started to gather around. I made sure to keep my distance from the fiery explosion.
"Wooo, that was a blast!" I cheered. "Pun totally intended, thank you, thank you."
"So are we here to bust Amy out of prison and get her off the ship?" Knuckles asked as he finished launching a Motobug into another group of robots.
"Yeah, pretty much," I nodded. "How's the Master Emerald hunt goin' for you, Knux?"
"Got all but three of 'em," Knuckles replied as he stepped back toward me. "I figured the rest were up here, just like the last time."
"Makes sense… in a weird kind of way…" I commented.
We looked around, and I felt satisfied that we wiped out most of the robot horde. I checked for ZERO, but he was nowhere to be seen, which was concerning.
Knuckles smirked at the smoldering carnage that we left on the ship's deck.
"Heh, well, it looks like my work here's done," he stated. "Time to find the last of the shards. Good luck with you guys."
"You take care too, Knux!" I called. And with that, he ran off and disappeared inside the ship.
As soon as the echidna was gone, I started to return to Tails, when I discovered he wasn't alone, and ZERO was no longer missing. Tails was so focused on his work that he had no idea that the big green robot was approaching him!
Without wasting a second, I sprinted toward ZERO and launched into a spin-dash. But somehow, he saw me coming and moved aside to avoid my attack.
"Resisting arrest will only add to your consequences," ZERO warned as he tried to punch me, but I dodged out of the way.
"Then let's set a record, shall we? Most consequences?" I quipped as I ran toward him again. But ZERO held out its hands, and out of each one came an energy field, just like it used on me when I was trying to stop it from capturing Amy.
Once again, I didn't see the attack coming, and I got a face full of force field as ZERO levitated and flew away from me.
He seemed to be processing something, because he abandoned his approach on Tails and flew away from me and back into the ship.
"Huh. Would'a thought Eggman was smart enough to iron out the cowardice this time around," I thought, knowing that in reality, ZERO was probably receiving new orders from his maker.
Turning my attention back to Tails, I ran over to the Tornado, where the little fox was still hard at work fixing his plane.
"Hey, you okay there, bud?" I asked.
Tails sat up, and he looked confused, and his head tilted slightly to the side.
"Huh? What happened?" he asked as he set down his wrench and picked up a blowtorch.
"ZERO was comin' right for you," I told him. I saw his startled look of surprise, and added, "Already took care of it."
"So, uh…" Tails started, scratching behind his pointy ears. "Was he coming to get me because I wasn't fighting? Did he think I was weak?"
"Yeah, probably," I said as I leaned on the fuselage of the Tornado. "Even though me and Knux are doing all the fighting, you should probably keep your guard up, just in case."
"Yeah," Tails nodded.
I took a few steps back to look at Tails' handiwork.
"So how's the plane looking?" I asked. "Is it, uh… Can it fly?"
"I think…?" Tails asked, not feeling completely sure. "I mean, it's not perfect, but it should be enough to get us off the Egg Carrier, at least."
"Still think it'd be more fun to fly the whole ship back ourselves," I commented, thinking about how ridiculous it would be if we commandeered the Egg Carrier. "But yeah, that's good to know. How's your headache?"
"Hmm… I still feel it…" Tails said after a moment. "I'm hoping it'll go away on its own soon, but… Now I really wish I brought some medicine…"
"It's all right, you'll be just fine," I told him. "I say leave the bandages on. You did get a nasty bump up there."
"Yeah…" Tails said as he stood up and put his tools away before he smoothed out his fur after the crash. "I'll be careful, I promise," he said.
"All right, but I'm gonna keep an eye on you just in case," I told him.
"It's okay," Tails nodded as he reached my side. "I'll be okay."
"Yeah, but I'm here to help you be okay-er," I added. "Now let's go get Amy off this thing!"
The Egg Carrier – Sat November 19; 10:01 AM – Sonic's POV
Amy was blindly running through the brig, desperately searching for a way out. She had no idea what the ship's layout was, so her guess was as good as anyone's where all the corridors and exits were. Even more confusing was, she had technically been on the Egg Carrier before.
Her first priority was to get her hammer back, because she was defenseless without it, and no other object she could swing felt quite the same as her Piko Piko Hammer.
But she was getting slightly more frustrated when she couldn't find it in plain sight. It wasn't lying around in any of the corridors, so that meant ZERO probably locked it in a closet somewhere.
She found one such closet just outside the brig: however, it was locked with a passcode. However, she decided to try and open it anyway, just in case the robots were as dumb as she thought they were.
Wow, he seriously didn't lock it? Amy thought as she was able to easily open the door. She was astounded at how easy that was.
Squinting, she peered inside the closet. She could see various objects, including electronic handcuffs, which she was glad Eggman decided not to use on her. But more importantly, she saw a familiar red and yellow object lying on the floor.
Here it is! she inwardly cheered as she bent down and picked up her hammer, grasping it firmly with both hands. She immediately felt stronger.
Wow, I'm so lucky! They shouldn't have put it so close to my prison.
"You good, Lily?" Amy asked as she looked around her, making sure there were no on-duty guard units anywhere.
Lily replied with a quiet chirp of affirmation, and Amy knew she felt safe with her.
"I guess everyone's out fighting Sonic, huh," she stated once she saw that no one was coming to challenge her. If it remained that way, her escape would be perfect.
She pressed on, taking quiet steps and checking frequently to make sure Lily was still at her side. The Flicky was just as nervous as Amy was, but Amy was glad she could take care of the bird the whole time they were in the cell. However, now was not the time for comfort; they had to find a way off the ship.
The pink hedgehog was looking around for any sign of an elevator or stairwell to take her up to the top deck. After she left the brig, it didn't take her long to spot an elevator nearby. It was a stroke of luck that it was only a few minutes' run away from the brig.
Stopping to catch her breath, she pressed the button next to the elevator, hoping the doors would open immediately. But it didn't, which most likely meant it was on another floor.
"Come on come on come ooonn…!" she impatiently urged, crossing her arms as she looked around for any sign of mechanical life. With any luck, Orbot and Cubot wouldn't have followed her so soon.
Finally, after the most agonizing twenty seconds of her life, the doors finally jerked open, but not before several Badniks rounded the corner in the distance. She immediately grabbed Lily and darted into the elevator. She pressed the button to close the doors right as the Badniks got to it.
Amy pressed the button for the top floor, then slumped onto the floor, leaning against her wall, and her hammer lying on the ground next to her.
"You'd think Eggman would make his tech as fast as Sonic by now…" she panted.
That was a very close call she had. Now that she had been seen out of her cell by Eggman's robots, they would be sure to raise the alarm.
Now that she finally had a small pocket of safety to herself, she could think for a moment about everything. And it didn't take her terribly long to realize that, besides ZERO, she hadn't seen a single E-100 Series robot so far since she was brought on the ship. It made sense why none of them came to retrieve Lily, because if they did, Eggman was probably sure they would resort to treason or even protect Amy, like Gamma did back in the day.
From here on out, everything was going to be totally different.
Amy thought of her escape plan. There was no way she could get off the ship on her own undetected, even if it landed, and she didn't know how to fly any of Eggman's shuttles. As long as Sonic and Tails was coming to rescue her, she figured the Tornado was her only way off the Egg Carrier.
Froggy was loose on the ship, as per the announcement Eggman made over the intercom earlier, which meant there was a decent chance Big wasn't too far behind. In fact, he was potentially on the ship too. She could only hope Chris didn't come with him.
Her thoughts drifted to Cream and Chris. She hoped they weren't caught up in any of this, because Cream was too young, and she already had a close call with ZERO about an hour ago. Chris was a human and didn't have any power or agility the way Mobians did. Having either of them being involved was the last thing she needed.
The elevator finally slowed down, which was Amy's cue to get herself ready. She stood up and gripped her hammer in both hands. Only now did she realize she was lucky the elevator wasn't overridden with her still inside.
Amy glanced up at Lily, hoping she was going to be okay as the elevator doors opened. She squinted and held her hand up to her eyes at the suddenly bright sunlight that was coming through the window straight into her eyes. She saw that she was on one of the ship's interior decks, with a window that ran the entire length of the deck. Eerily, there was not a single robot in sight.
She crept down the deck quickly but cautiously, looking everywhere for robots in case they showed up. She took it Lily was on edge too.
"Calm before the storm… I don't like this…" Amy said quietly, brushing her bangs aside. "But don't worry, I'll get us outta here… and then find a way to get that Chaos Emerald out of-"
"Escaped prisoner Amy Rose detected," came a suddenly familiar robotic voice from in front of her. She saw ZERO and a large group of Badniks coming through the door at the other end of the hall.
"Oh, not you again…" Amy said under her breath.
"Surrender the Chaos Emerald," ZERO ordered as he got closer. Amy gripped her hammer tighter.
"You guys are all one-note today, aren't you?" Amy stated.
"I am programmed to follow orders, unlike you," ZERO replied.
"Oh, you're trying to humor me?" Amy said. "Well, now you're definitely not getting it. You're gonna have to come and get it yourselves."
ZERO paused for a moment before replying, "Do as she says."
As the robots all closed in on her at once, Amy instantly regretted her choice of words. She brandished her hammer, and took a step back before looking at Lily.
"Lily, go," she ordered, before she took a deep breath and threw herself at the robot horde. She smashed Badnik after Badnik, feeling satisfied at the amount of destruction to Eggman's robots she was causing. It was a way for her to relieve any stress she had.
"Yipe!" she yelped as a loose saw blade flew just shy of her head. That was a wake-up call for her to not let her guard down.
She looked up to see that several robots were firing lasers at Lily to try and tranquilize her, but thankfully, all of them missed.
"There she is!" called a familiar young voice from nearby. Amy looked up, feeling delighted to see Sonic and Tails running onto the deck. They immediately summed up the situation and got to work smashing the robots, and with the extra help, Amy felt extra determination and fought even harder.
Even with the three Mobians fighting the majority of the robots, several Buzz Bombers found their way toward Lily, which drew Amy's attention to them.
"Lily!" she called as she raced toward the bird. "Guys, help me with Lily-"
Taking full advantage of the distraction, the robots blasted her from behind with trank lasers. The pink hedgehog fell limp and crumpled onto the ground. Sonic was completely unaware of the situation, and he couldn't hear her over all the noise he was making destroying the robots.
"Sonic!" Tails called, cupping his hands to his mouth. "Sonic, they got Amy!"
Sonic was able to hear Tails this time, and he ran over to join his friend, who was standing next to Amy and protecting her from the nearby robots.
"She got tranked?" Sonic asked, and Tails nodded.
"Yeah…" Tails said. His ears were slightly drooped, and his tails were standing on end. He was clearly on edge.
Sonic's expression was grim. "All right, I want you to get Amy back to the Tornado and off the Egg Carrier, okay?"
Again Tails nodded.
"O-Okay, but what about you?" Tails asked, looking up at his big brother.
Sonic looked back at the robot horde, which seemed to be swarming around ZERO instead of fighting the heroes. Only then did Sonic remember about the Flicky that was with Amy, and the Emerald that it had. He couldn't believe he didn't remember sooner.
"I'll find my own way off, don't worry about that," I told Tails. "But first, I got a couple loose ends to tie up."
"Okay, good luck, Sonic!" Tails called as he carefully picked up Amy and carried her off the deck and away from the robots. Luckily, they didn't chase them.
Meanwhile, the Badniks were grouping around ZERO, protecting him as he activated the protocol to extract the Chaos Emerald from Lily.
"Doctor Eggman, the Chaos Emerald in Amy Rose's possession has been obtained." ZERO reported.
"Excellent! I expected nothing less," Eggman praised. "Now stay there while I make a little announcement."
A second later, the doctor's voice boomed over the intercom.
"Attention all E-100 Series units!" Eggman announced. "ZERO and the other units are to switch tasks. ZERO will now search for the escaped frog, and the E-100 Series will now hunt down and capture Sonic at all costs. The sole exception is E-102 Gamma, who will continue to search for the frog."
Sonic heard the announcement too, because he now looked more determined than ever. He could only wonder why Gamma was singled out. It might make sense if he wasn't allowed to go near Amy, because he hadn't run into any of the other E-100 Series robots thus far. But with Amy out of the way, Eggman probably deemed it safe for Gamma and the other robots to find Froggy.
And then Sonic had an instantaneous double take. Froggy was on the ship. He could only hope Big and Chris weren't on board either.
"Hey, uh, sorry to be a party pooper, but I gotta go find a giant water creature," Sonic announced as he ran off before the robots could process what had happened.
The Egg Carrier – Sat November 19; 10:04 AM – Chris' POV
The more I wandered around the Egg Carrier, the more lost I felt. And even though Big was with me the whole time, I still felt alone. My heart was beating faster than usual, and my hands were getting sweaty. I didn't like the tense atmosphere I was in.
The twenty minutes I was on the ship felt like forever, and I didn't know that time could crawl this painfully. And it didn't help that we had a few close calls with patrols and solitary robots.
"I still can't believe no one caught us," I quietly remarked.
Just then we heard Eggman's voice echoing through the intercom across the entire ship. I didn't really understand what was going on, but I was able to figure out that they were switching tasks. While I had no idea who ZERO was, I assumed the E-100 Series was the group of robots that took Froggy away from us.
Big looked at me quizzically. "What does that mean?" he asked.
"I think he's giving his robots new orders," I said as I looked around. I took a deep breath, then quietly let it out.
"Oh, okay," Big said as he lumbered on ahead of me.
"And it also means Eggman's looking for Froggy too," I said, before realizing Big was no longer next to me.
"Wait!" I called in a hushed tone as I caught up to him. "We gotta stay together, or else we're gonna get caught."
"But they can't really catch us if we split up," Big pointed out.
"Yeah, but… Look, this ZERO guy is really dangerous. Eggman said he has a whole patrol, and they outnumber us, and besides, we've never been here before, so we have to stay to- Whoa, what was tha- was that Sonic?"
I was startled to see a sudden blue blur speed down the hall ahead of us. Even if it was for a split second, I could tell by the blue motion trail that it was indeed Sonic.
"Wait, what?" Big asked.
"Yeah, Sonic's here…" I mused.
Big stepped closer to me for more security, and I wasn't sure if I felt comfortable with him being that close to me. He was just as afraid as I was, and I couldn't blame him.
"Maybe he can help us," Big suggested.
"Yeah, but…" I said, before I thought back to when Sonic called me, telling me to go back home and get out of Station Square. If he saw Big on the Egg Carrier, I was sure he could only hope I made it back home, but if he saw me there, then I didn't even want to think of what his reaction was, even if we were after Froggy for the Chaos Emerald he had, or, in Big's case, Froggy himself. And I couldn't risk calling for Sonic either because that would bring the robots running.
"Chris?" Big asked.
"Uh… I actually think we should try and get Froggy ourselves," I said as I started walking. Big had a double take and followed after me.
I had severely underestimated how massive the ship was on the inside. It was bigger than the glacier cruise yacht I was on last year. There weren't a lot of signs pointing to different sectors and rooms, so we were practically just wandering aimlessly around.
After we turned down another corridor and passed by several locked doors, I looked up to see that Big looked uneasy.
"I don't like this, Chris…" he admitted.
"Y-Yeah, I don't like it either, but we're gonna be okay. We just need to get Froggy and get off the ship. And I have a feeling Sonic can help us," I said.
"But he doesn't know we're- Look!"
Big suddenly pointed behind him, and I too looked just in time to see ZERO's platoon way in the distance. I wasn't sure they saw us, but I wasn't about to find out.
Stifling a yelp, I ran to the nearest corner, which was only a few feet away, and pulled Big back with me… which didn't do much, because he was extremely heavy.
My heart was racing, but I had to know if they saw us or not. I tried to peek around the corner, and Big let out a worried whimper as I saw the last of the robots rounding a corner and heading out of sight.
I couldn't believe my luck. They didn't see us.
"That was… that was way too close…" I said as I put my hand over my heart. "We definitely gotta be more careful…"
"Yeah…" Big admitted as he started walking again. I joined him, looking around everywhere for any signs of more robots.
After a little while, Big looked back at me.
"You're really brave…" he admitted.
I blinked. "N-No I'm not…" I said.
"But… You were really scared when the water monster came… You're not scared now."
"It's… Um… W-We're not dealing with Chaos now…" I said. "That's different… And also, I think that I can try and be brave on the outside even though I'm scared on the inside."
"It must be really hard to be brave…" Big said.
"Yeah… Especially when I have to do things by myself…" I looked down. "Or when my friends aren't with me… Like now…"
Big stopped in his tracks, and it took me a moment to process that he stopped before I did too.
"Am I your friend?" he asked.
I blinked again. That came out of nowhere.
"Y-Yeah…" I admitted. "I mean, like… I'm friends with Sonic, and you're friends with Sonic… I guess that makes us both friends… maybe…?"
Big smiled. "Thanks, Chris, It's really nice to have friends. I don't have a lot of those… Except Froggy, and Cream, and Amy, and- Froggy!"
I chuckled. "Uh, you already said Froggy!"
Big held his hands out. "No, no, listen!"
I stopped talking and strained to listen to whatever it was Big heard. Aside from the ambient sound of electronics and machinery, it was eerily quiet. And then I started hearing a croaking sound coming from somewhere above us!
"It's Froggy! He's up there!" Big exclaimed, pointing to the cover of an air duct that was above us.
"Shhh!" I warned, putting my finger to my lips.
"Sorry…" Big whispered.
"It's okay, now we just gotta think of a way to get up there," I said. The vent was a good thirteen feet up, and there was no way I could get up there on my own.
"I can't go up there, I can't fit," Big stated, voicing the lesser of my two concerns. The other was how we would even reach it to begin with.
"Um… M-Maybe you can pick me up and I can try and reach it…?" I asked. I didn't know why, but I felt nervous asking it.
"But are you gonna get stuck too?" Big voiced his concern.
I squinted. "I don't know, but… I think it's worth a try."
"Okay," Big said, before he wrapped his hands around me and lifted me high above his head. It was scary, and I was forced to splay my arms out for balance.
"I got you!" Big confidently told me.
I shouldn't have looked down, because the moment I did, I yelped and began to wobble a bit.
"Aahh! Bad idea bad idea!" I whimpered. But then I spotted another vent cover nearby, this one close to the floor.
"Wait, I think I found another way in," I said between short breaths.
"Where?" Big asked, looking around.
"Uh, p-put me down and I'll show you," I said. "S-Slowly!"
I felt myself being lowered back down to the ground, and once my feet touched solid ground, I leaned against the metal wall, panting from my scary ordeal, before I walked over to the vent cover.
"R-Right here," I said. Big walked over next to me and looked down at the vent cover.
"Hmm… It looks like it can fit you," he said. "Maybe I can open it."
"Okay," I said as I stepped back. Big out his hands around the cover and to my surprise, he was able to rip it free from the vet with the greatest of ease. Either he was that strong, or the cover was not properly secured.
I took a deep breath before I got down on my hands and knees and poked my head into the air duct. While it was dark, it didn't feel dusty at all.
"I think I can fit," I said. "I… kinda feel scared though…"
"It's okay, you're doing this for Froggy and Sonic," Big told me. "I'll put the cover back when you're inside."
"Okay," I whispered. Taking a deep breath, I started crawling inside the vent.
"Good luck, Chris," Big said as he pushed the cover back into place, reducing the amount of light behind me and making my trek significantly darker.
I had to admit, I had always wanted to crawl through the air ducts like they did on TV and in the movies, but I never thought I would actually have to do it, let alone to rescue a frog of all things. It was quite scary, because I didn't have a lot of room to move, so I couldn't really turn around even if I wanted to.
Yet as tight as it was, the vent system was surprisingly sanitary. There was not a lot of dust anywhere, so I didn't have any risk of sneezing and giving myself away. However, I was sure the robots could still hear me if I crawled too quickly on the metal floor, so I had to make sure I moved quickly yet quietly.
I spotted a ladder in front of me, and I assumed it led up to the ceiling, as well as the other shaft I couldn't reach earlier. As claustrophobic as it was, I knew I would be able to scale the ladder without too much of a problem.
My hands grasped the cold metal rungs, and I used them to pull myself up. This was the only spot in the whole duct system so far where I could fully stand up.
As I climbed up the ladder, I really hoped Froggy wouldn't make things more difficult than they already were. I had barely seen Froggy for a split second yesterday, and I knew he wasn't sentient like Mobians or humans were. That meant I couldn't possibly reason with him. Aside from his unusual shape, he was just like ordinary Earth frogs.
When I reached the top of the ladder, I was forced to duck because the ceiling was unexpectedly low, and with some difficulty, I crawled off the ladder and into the shaft, which was to my left. I followed it into a much longer shaft, which I assumed was the one I had tried to get into earlier, because there was a grate right in front of me where I could see straight down into the main hallway. Looking down the shaft, I could see similar grates lining the shaft every fifty or so feet.
I started crawling through the shaft, but my progress was impeded by the low ceiling and metal floor. In fact, the walls and ceiling were metal too, and after a while, I was even starting to taste metal.
Not even a minute later, I became aware of some sounds from beneath me. I made my way to the next vent cover and got down on my stomach, leaning toward the cover to try and listen to what was going on.
Without lying directly on top of the cover, I was able to see into the hallway, and I could hear the sound of metallic marching.
"You will tell us the location of bounty 'Christopher Thorndyke'," came a robotic voice.
"I don't know, I don't know…!" Big's voice whimpered.
"My sensors indicate you are lying," the robot said. "Several units in this platoon have observed him with you approximately eight minutes ago."
"He ran away…" Big said.
Everyone came into view, and I watched in shock as Big was being escorted down the hall by several robots, and an unusual green robot whom I assumed was ZERO. The poor cat was bound in electronic handcuffs.
"You will be taken to the brig for further interrogation," ZERO said. The rest of the conversation got too far away for me to hear them.
My heart sunk. They got Big the Cat.
Even worse, I realized, this meant there was no way I could get back down by myself, except for the ladder, which I was too scared to go back down that way in case I would be captured too. In fact, I was too scared to leave the air duct at all. My best bet was to ask Sonic to get me down, but he was probably busy; plus, I didn't know if Eggman could trace my comlink calls.
I was on my own.
A croaking sound from ahead of me reminded me of my mission, and I realized it sounded closer to me than I thought. I hoped that none of the robots could hear Froggy, but at the same time, I wanted him to keep making noise and give me something to go on.
Despite the tense atmosphere, I could have laughed to myself. The thought of crawling through the air ducts of a high-security flying fortress commanded by the most evil mad scientist I had ever known, all for a mere frog… That sounded absolutely silly. But the difference was, this particular frog had a Chaos Emerald, which meant it was anyone's game. Whoever got the frog would have a huge advantage.
I heard another croak, then a third. They sounded like they were coming from somewhere below me, yet they were still inside the vent system. I figured Froggy had fallen down a ladder somewhere.
So I made a left off of the main shaft and into a smaller adjacent one. The croaking sounded louder there, which meant I was going the right way. And just as I figured, there was a ladder that led down to the lower air ducts.
Because the ceiling was low, I found it to be much harder to mount the ladder going down than it was going up. I had to hold onto the ladder with my hands, and then shift the rest of my body past my head in order to stand on the ladder. It was definitely not made for humans in the air ducts.
Crawling down the ladder felt treacherous, but at least I was able to rest my back against the narrow shaft wall behind me in case I needed to rest.
The ladder felt a bit longer this time than the other ladder I had gone down earlier, but at least I reached the bottom. To get off the ladder, I kind of had to turn myself around in the shaft and then duck down to enter the next shaft.
To my relief, through the darkness, I spotted Froggy ahead of me. He was facing away from me, which gave me ample opportunity to catch him.
I tried to be as quiet as I could as I crawled toward him. But I couldn't help the sound of my sneakers making contact with the metal bottom of the shaft as I went.
Froggy took one small hop away from me, and he looked like he was going to hop away some more before I caught him. I took a moment to relax, making sure I was holding the frog securely. He squirmed a bit, but I wouldn't let him go.
But then I started to hear a new voice coming from a room close to where I was. I slowly and quietly crawled toward the source of the voice, and I was met with a dead end. Or rather, it was a dead end for me, anyway. I had run into a grate that led into a surveillance room of some sort. I assumed it was one, because there were screens and monitors everywhere in the darkly-lit room.
Someone was sitting in the office, but his back was turned to me. He was wearing headphones, which would explain how he didn't hear Froggy the whole time… or me, for that matter.
The man was listening to a report coming from one of the robots. I couldn't really hear what the robot was saying, but the man nodded his reply.
"Yeah, I'll tell him now," he said. I was shocked at what I heard. Unless I was mistaken, this man sounded exactly like the former Chief of Staff Jerome Wise! Furthermore, he looked just like him from behind!
Jerome then proceeded to switch frequencies, and I assumed he was contacting Eggman who was on the bridge.
"Report," came Eggman's gravelly voice, and I was surprised I could hear him at all. He was probably on loudspeaker.
"Just heard back from Beta, he told me he can't detect Tails, Amy, or the Tornado anywhere on the ship," Jerome said.
"Yes, I watched them fly off less than ten minutes ago," Eggman said. "Anything else?"
"Uh, let me see… Uh, yeah, Knuckles is down in the hold, he's gathering all the Master Emerald shards down there."
"And security didn't stop him?!"
"Th-They did, they did, but he kinda overpowered them," Jerome said.
"Rrrrgh… You had better report some good news," Eggman said, sounding like he was losing his patience.
"Yeah, I was saving the best for last," Jerome said. "Your ZERO unit just detained a prisoner, named 'Big the Cat', and they're on their way down to the brig now."
"Hmm…" Eggman pondered this information. "How did he get on the Egg Carrier?"
"I was watching them the whole time, and they somehow sneaked on board the E-100 shuttle," Jerome said. "They legit thought no one was watching-"
"Jerome." Eggman's voice was stern. "That was nearly half an hour ago. Why didn't anyone tell me about this?! Also, who's 'them'?"
"Well, the thing is, I was busy making 'em think it was safe, I was- I was guiding some of the Badniks away from them on purpose, letting them find the frog for me- us- y-you, I mean. You. A-Anyway, anyway, I was keeping close tabs on 'em, and as soon as it seemed like they found the frog, bam! I struck.
"Hmph," Eggman said. "So in other words, you allowed them to be loose on the ship for half an hour."
"Umm, th-they weren't doing anything yet-"
"You were making them think they had the upper hand," Eggman continued. "Quite a clever plan, I must say, almost as clever as my plans. But you keep saying 'they' and 'them'. Who else is with Big?
Jerome almost laughed. "Believe it or not, Chris Thorndyke."
"Hm, interesting," Eggman said. "Okay, wait there for a moment."
There was silence before the intercom went off again.
"New orders for ZERO!" Eggman announced. "You are to bring Big the Cat to the main deck. Make sure he doesn't get away."
I was scared for my friend. He wasn't going to the brig after all. It seemed like he had a much worse fate than I realized.
"Isn't that where Chaos is?" Jerome asked.
"Yes," Eggman replied.
Jerome leaned forward. "Wait, hold on, I thought you were feeding that thing Chaos Emeralds, not prisoners!"
"I was doing that, but there has been a slight change of plans," Eggman said.
"But that wasn't part of the-"
"It's a hostage situation now," Eggman clarified. "I'm going to have Chaos absorb him, and therefore flush Sonic and Knuckles out into the open, where Chaos and the E-100 Series will deal with them both."
"Heh…" Jerome allowed a soft chuckle to escape his lips. "Sounds like a plan."
"Music to my ears," replied Eggman. "And where does that leave the boy?"
"Chris?" Jerome asked. "I, uh, didn't see where he went. I was kinda busy with ZERO and Big, uh…"
I had gotten so comfortable listening to the conversation that I almost didn't notice Froggy starting to glow in my hands. The purple glow lit up the entire vent, and I was shocked. I tried to stifle the glow, but it was really hard to without Froggy trying to squirm and escape from my grasp. In fact, I didn't know how Jerome didn't see it.
"Uh, hold on…" Jerome said, squinting at a screen. "E-102 is stalled in the corridor near my office."
Eggman chuckled darkly. "You might want to take a look in the air duct behind you, Jerome," he said.
My heart sunk. I had no idea how Eggman knew I was there when Jerome didn't, but one thing was sure: I was good and caught.
I forced myself to turn around in the narrow shaft, but it was really tight, not to mention uncomfortable. It was a tight squeeze, but I turned around right as the former Chief of Staff finished removing the vent cover. He narrowly missed grabbing my leg.
"I know you're in there, Thorndyke," he called.
I was crawling as fast as I could, and I was free to do so now that I didn't need to worry about noise any longer. I was busted. And I didn't know if Jerome could fit in the vent, but I wasn't about to find out.
"C'mon, I don't get paid enough for this," Jerome continued, before adding, "Eh, who am I kidding, I don't get paid at all."
I could feel my adrenalin pumping as I heard him crawling after me. Fortunately, I was smaller and faster than he was, which put me at an advantage. However, what scared me more was this was exactly like the Poppy Playtime video I saw that gave me a nightmare last month.
"Just come out and make things easier for both of us, will you?" Jerome called, sounding more desperate. I ignored him and reached the ladder, which was closer to me than I thought it was. I grabbed the rungs and pulled myself up before scaling it. While it was easier going up than down, it was way trickier because I was carrying Froggy at the same time, and I didn't want to accidentally crush or drop him.
As soon as I reached the top of the ladder, I got off and kept crawling as fast as I could while carrying a frog in one hand and having a ceiling that was barely two and half feet high, which meant I had to duck down lower than I was comfortable with. To my incredible luck, Froggy was not trying to escape from me.
My heart was threatening to leap out of my chest. I had to keep moving, and move fast, somewhere, anywhere, to get away from Jerome or any robot that was trying to catch me. Eggman said Big was going to be absorbed by Chaos. If I was caught, I knew I would meet the same fate. I didn't want that to happen to me, especially because I didn't know if Chaos had gotten stronger since the last time I saw him.
Several turns and two ladders later, and once I was sure I was safely away from everyone and I couldn't hear Jerome breathing down my neck anymore, I finally stopped. I was left gasping for air, and I collapsed onto my stomach. My grasp on Froggy loosened, and he hopped out. I thought he was going to flee, but he didn't. In fact, he stayed near me, like he trusted me.
Now that I was finally alone, I was able to process everything that had happened.
Knuckles was there on the Egg Carrier. That was new. I had no idea how he got there, since I didn't feel us landing at all, so he must have been dropped off or brought there the same way I was.
Tails was there and gone without ever knowing that I was on the ship. It was probably for the better, now that I thought about it. And in return, I didn't know he was there until Jerome brought him up.
Tails has succeeded in rescuing Amy, which was good. However, since he probably took the Tornado off the ship, that left me trapped there, and I didn't know anything about flying any of Eggman's ships.
And even if I could leave on my own, I would feel guilty about it, because Big was a prisoner, and that would potentially strand Sonic and Knuckles. So now my only hope would be to find the security of either one of them. Sure, I would probably get chastised for not leaving town with my family, but it was sure better than having a monster drown me.
Finding either Mobian was easier said than done, because I would have to risk leaving the air duct with everyone looking for me. And chances were much higher that the robots would find me, or even worse, Sonic and Knuckles would leave without ever knowing I was on the ship… and then the robots would find me anyway. I was trapped either way, yet I couldn't risk exposing myself. So I figured my best option would be to hide out in the air duct for a while.
One small thing I had going for me was the fact that the vents were clean and well-filtered, so I didn't have too much of a risk of sneezing. But the bigger factor I had to deal with was Froggy, and the Chaos Emerald he had swallowed. That thing blew my cover, and I didn't want that happening to me again.
I started to hear metallic marching underneath me, and I held my breath. I expect them to pass by and keep moving onward, but instead, they stopped.
"Fugitive Christopher Thorndyke, you have been detected. We know you are within the filtration system. Surrender immediately."
ZERO's voice took me off guard. I didn't know if he was just saying it, or if he actually knew my exact location. So I remained still.
"E-102, activate your scanner," ZERO ordered.
A second later, the Chaos Emerald, and Froggy by extension, glowed intensely, and I was forced to shield my eyes. I grabbed Froggy and started crawling as fast as I could.
"Emerald location confirmed," E-102 stated.
"Excellent. Neutralize target," ZERO said.
Within seconds, a few Buzz Bombers burst through the vents in the floor above and behind me, completely surrounding me and preventing my escape. The ones behind me closed in on me as the ones in front of me started to move away from me.
The Buzz Bombers behind me prodded me, which almost felt like actual bees stinging my back, and it caused me to yelp and move away from them. Only then did I realize they were guiding me to the vent entrance in front of me.
Looking down, I could see ZERO, Gamma, and the other robots standing underneath me, and the other robots were forming a circle around the vent entrance to make sure I wouldn't escape.
"Exit the filtration system immediately," ZERO said. "We have you surrounded."
"H-How do I-I get down…?" I asked in fear.
"A thirteen-foot fall is survivable," ZERO said.
"I-I'm not gonna jump that far!" I squealed before the Buzz Bombers prodded me again, making me cry out again.
"U-Um… S-Sonic can do it, but not me!" I admitted.
"You are not Mobian. Your agility levels are impaired," ZERO said. "I will have to catch you."
He posititoned himself under the vent to catch me, but that didn't help me much more. I was about to finally get down when the Buzz Bombers practically pushed me down, and I fell into ZERO's awaiting hands, almost making contact with the floor. It hurt a lot, and I felt like there were already some scrapes and bruises from my rough landing.
Before I could recover, ZERO immediately grabbed my arms and bound them together with electronic handcuffs. Granted, I had never seen anything like them. And now that I was standing, it felt strange after crawling for so long, and now I realized that my knees felt bruised too. I told myself to never go to another McDonald's Playplace after this…
"March forward," Gamma ordered. With no other choice, I had to comply, and the robot horde moved with me, with ZERO and Gamma sticking with me to make sure I didn't pull any stunts.
"Wh-Where are you guys taking me…?" I asked, even though I already knew the answer.
"Under Dr. Eggman's current orders, you are to serve as bait for Sonic the Hedgehog," ZERO said.
I knew it…
"In this same way, Chaos will also obtain the sixth Chaos Emerald," ZERO continued, referring to the one inside Froggy.
"Wait, he has that many already?! Where did he get 'em all?!" I asked incredulously.
"That is irrelevant," ZERO replied. "Keep moving."
It took ten, maybe fifteen slow and agonizing minutes of winding through the many corridors, as well as going up flight after flight of stairs. I would have thought that they could have taken the elevator instead, but there were a bunch of robots with me, and I didn't know if they could all come if we took an elevator.
Not only did my knees hurt, but now my feet were hurting by the time we finally reached the main deck – and natural sunlight at last. There were just as many robots on the deck as there were with me, and they were all surrounding Big. But instead of Gamma, there was a blue robot that looked just like him making sure Big didn't go anywhere.
Eggman was also on the deck in his Eggmobile, floating next to Chaos, who didn't even look recognizable. Now it looked like a giant pillbug with watery spines protruding out of its back.
Big looked worriedly at me, and I felt the same way he did – pure dread, and the urge to not audibly whimper.
"Heheheh… Emerald number six has just arrived, and so has my bait," Eggman said. "Now all I need is one more Emerald, and Chaos will achieve absolute perfection. It will consume all, starting with you two!"
With that, he pointed toward us, and the robots cleared out as Chaos advanced toward me and Big, and we took a few steps back. I started to run, but it was hard with my hands cuffed behind my back.
Big wasn't as fast as I was, and before I knew it, Chaos had glomped him, and now I could see his terrified face as he floated inside the massive watery body of the monster in front of me.
"Y-You're not gonna put me in there!" I shouted.
"Ah, but I can't defeat Sonic without bait," Eggman pointed out. "Rest assured I'll let you go as soon as the hedgehog is disposed of. As far as rescue goes, I wouldn't hold my breath, but for your sake, I would, and I mean that quite literally."
I looked up to see that Chaos was right about to engulf me, and right as I was about to make a sharp left and avoid it, I tripped, turning my ankle and falling onto the deck. I couldn't help but scream aloud in both pain and fear as Chaos absorbed me and Froggy.
The Egg Carrier – Sat November 19; 10:39 AM – Sonic's POV
No matter where I looked, I couldn't see any sign of Chaos anywhere. By now the Emeralds that Lily and Froggy had would have been absorbed by the water monster, but even with its increased size, I still couldn't find it. It was boggling my mind.
Even weirder was that I didn't see a ton of robots anywhere, and the few I did encounter I quickly destroyed. Where was everyone? Was this a trap? I was sure the party was located somewhere on the ship, and while I had already combed through pretty much all the accessible parts of the ship, the robots were probably somewhere I hadn't checked yet.
And then I thought of a place: the deck.
I had no idea why I didn't think of it sooner, but I was glad I remembered when I did. So I made a beeline for the Egg Carrier's outer deck, and just forty seconds later, I arrived to see the doors to the deck sealed off. Nothing a spin-dash couldn't fix…
So after I sawed my way through the wall with the greatest of ease, I landed on the deck and surveyed my surroundings. The first thing I saw was Chaos in the middle of the deck. That was one mystery solved. But in reality, the mystery deepened, and I was shocked to see Chris and Big floating inside Chaos' body!
I was baffled. I thought I had told Chris to get Big back to his house, take his family, and leave Station Square. So how did they nd up here, trapped inside Chaos?
My only logical explanation was that Eggman somehow captured them on their way home. When I spoke with Chris, he hadn't found Froggy yet, but maybe they did, and when Eggman captured Froggy for the Chaos Emerald he had, he captured Big and Chris along with him. These thoughts urged me to rescue them even faster.
Almost as soon as I arrived, Eggman turned his Eggmobile around to face me, and so did all of his robots, including ZERO and the entire E-Series.
"So the hedgehog has arrived at last," Eggman grinned.
I was not in a mood for games, but I didn't think Eggman could tell.
"Tell Chaos to let my friends go, right now!" I demanded.
Eggman smirked. "I thought you knew me better than that, Sonic. Chaos listens only to me. Speaking of which… Chaos, destroy Sonic!" Eggman ordered, pointing right at me. "And the rest of you robots, remain on standby for further orders."
I sized Chaos up. It was much larger, and it definitely looked like its Chaos 6 state. It was a shame I couldn't see it with just five Chaos Emeralds, but it didn't really matter.
Chaos launched several of its liquid spines from his back directly at me, and I stepped back to let it extend as far as it could go. Then I grabbed onto it and rode it back to Chaos. As soon as I reached the water monster, I stretched my hand out toward my friends, and that's when I noticed Froggy inside. That confirmed that Chris and Big had managed to find him. However, I had to free everyone fast. They were trapped inside a being made of pure water, and there was a significant lack of air in there.
I processed all of those thoughts in a supersonic second. However, Chaos suddenly raised its back so fast that it threw me off balance. I was able to land on my feet some distance away, though.
Eggman was watching the battle with a confident smirk on his face.
"All I need now is just one more Emerald," he said. "Then Chaos will achieve perfection, and Station Square will be no more!"
"Not on my watch, Eggman!" I declared as I weaved my way around another round of watery spines. "Station Square is my city, and I won't let you touch it! Oh, by the way, Eggman, word of advice: no need to waste any building material on a second Egg Carrier like last time. You remember last time, right?"
"Don't rub it in, hedgehog," Eggman grumbled, and I smirked, remembering that painful blow to Eggman's pride. "Everything has been taken into account. In fact, this here is the second Egg Carrier, so to speak."
"Huh, guess you really did learn- yipe!"
I nearly tripped over one of of Chaos's spines as it whipped right past my head.
"Whoa! Keep your spines away from me, pal!" I exclaimed, right before I tripped on one of his spines for real and landed hard on the deck. Before I had a chance to recover, another spine slammed me clear across the deck, and I crashed into Knuckles who had just come through the hole I made in the door earlier.
Letting out a groan, Knuckles stood up and rubbed his now-sore chest. I didn't even know he was coming, so now I felt bad even though it wasn't my fault.
"Well, that's some way to say hi to me," he said sarcastically.
"Hey, don't look at me, Chaos is the one playin' pinball with me as the ball," I said as I too got up. "Also, he absorbed Chris and Big."
Knuckles gritted his teeth. "Eggman's using 'em as bait…" he said in a dangerously low tone.
I nodded and took up a fighting stance, looking straight out at Chaos. "Yup… You know the strategy. Hit the brain, get our friends to safety."
"Careful…" Knuckles cautioned me. "This is Chaos 6 we're dealing with. It's one Emerald away from being perfect."
"Knux, get down!" I warned the echidna as Chaos sensed his presence. It lunged at us with its tentacles, but Knuckles saw it coming and leaped to the side. I did too, and rebounded off of one of Chaos' tentacles before squarely striking Chaos' brain. However, I met with unexpected resistance, and I bounced off before being whipped aside by one of Chaos' tentacles.
"Forgot about that…" I mumbled. Now that Chaos had even more Emeralds than before, I had all but forgotten that Chaos' brain was too deeply situated inside its head to be damaged the same way as before.
"I don't regret to inform you that there will be no gimmicks for you this time, rodents," Eggman said, his arms crossed. "Not with your friends still inside."
Last time I fought Chaos like this, Eggman kept sending out a bunch of satellites to freeze me with, but I was able to use them on Chaos to damage it, since I couldn't hit its brain. This time, though, I was gonna have to damage it another way.
"Okay, I can work with that," I said. "Knux, any ideas?"
"Will these do?" Knuckles asked as he donned his Shovel Claws.
I nodded. "Yeah, perfect!"
"All right, hope this works," Knuckles said as he gritted his teeth ajnd charged toward the water monster. However, Chaos saw him coming and slammed him to the ground with the sudden tentacle attack. Since he was only a few feet away from Chaos, the monster started inhaling him in.
I saw what was happening and immediately made it to Knuckles' side, before I grasped his arm tightly and starting running as fast I could to escape the suction. I took note of the Chaos Emeralds inside it glowing as it inhaled.
But then Chaos stopped inhaling so suddenly that I almost ran off the deck with Knuckles in tow. I had to admit, that was a clever move. And it didn't help that Eggman found it hilarious.
"Is Chaos as strong as you remember, Sonic?" he asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," I said as I set Knuckles back down. "Nothing we can't beat, though."
"I wouldn't be so cocky, Sonic," Eggman said. "Need I remind you that time is running out on the fat cat and the rich brat?"
Insults to my friends aside, I smirked confidently.
"Eggman, you've known me for years. Tight time limits are when I'm at my best," I said. "All right Knux, time for round two, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Knuckles exclaimed as he prepared himself and leaped into the air. This time, he was faster than Chaos' tentacles and spines, and he ferociously slashed away at the water surrounding Chaos' brain.
"Got an opening!" Knuckles told me, and I wasted no time in rebounding myself off the floor and into the air. Knuckles was doing a good job at keeping the monster's tentacles at bay.
I willed myself to speed up even faster, and I smashed my way through the brain with all my might. The incredible impact caused Chaos to explode into a watery mess. Now there was water all in my fur that left me shivering.
Chris and Big were much worse off. They were trapped for who knew how long inside a being made almost entirely of water, and they were gasping for air. I felt really bad for them, because they both looks really weak. And while Big was too scared to speak, Chris was actually crying between violent coughs.
"Chris," I told my friend as I gently patted his back, but he flinched because his shirt was soaking wet and sticking to his skin.
"D-Don't… w-wanna drown… don't wanna drown…" he told himself, like it was a kind of mantra that would help protect him.
"You're okay, you're okay now," I said. "You too, Big. Knuckles and I took care of Chaos."
"It felt like I was drowning… And… I was too weak to move…" Chris' voice was shaking, and he sounded like he was trying not to sob. My heart immediately went out to him as he broke into a fit of heav coughing.
Then I noticed that Chris' foot looked like it was twisted, and there were a couple bruises on his arms.
"Wait, hold on… He didn't heal you…?"
Chris looked up at Sonic with confusion.
"I thought Chaos… y'know, heals people if he absorbs them. Besides the drowning part. I kinda found that out firsthand a long time ago. Probably has to do with the Chaos Emeralds. But he didn't heal you for some reason."
Chris blinked in confusion before he wiped away his tears. He was still sitting on the deck, and I helped him up and turned to do the same with Big, but he was already standing up and holding onto Froggy.
"But now what I wanna know is how come you guys didn't go back home when I told you to?" I asked.
Chris looked a bit guilty.
"B-Big found Froggy, and… Um… I-It's a long story…" Chris admitted. "I just need a little bit to calm down-"
"Okay, where are the Emeralds?!" came Knuckles' frustrated voice. I turned to look up at him, and he looked both annoyed and bewildered.
"Wait, what do you mean? Are they not there?" I asked as I joined him.
"What do you think?! I mean like, all the other times we fought Chaos, he always drops the Emeralds, but this time, they're not even here?"
"That is weird," I admitted.
"I saw Dr. Eggman taking them," Big finally spoke.
Knuckles deadpanned for a moment, before he exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
"Hey, hey!" I did my best to try and calm Knuckles down. "Easy, Knux. Easy. Big was traumatized."
"Sorry…" Knuckles said quietly.
"S-Sonic…" came Chris' weak voice.
"It's okay buddy, I'm here now," I gently said, holding the boy's hand to let him know I really meant it.
"R-Robots…" Chris whimpered.
I looked up, and sure enough, the E-100 Series robots were all closing in on us. Knuckles and I had already taken out Chaos for now, and with Big and Chris in such a weak state, I couldn't risk another fight.
"All right, yeah, we're gettin' outta here," I said grimly. "Knux, take Big and follow me. Try and keep up."
"All right- urgh- up you go," Knuckles grunted as he awkwardly picked up Big, who was still holding onto Froggy. "How am I supposed to keep up? You're the fastest-"
"-thing alive, yeah, I know," Sonic said. "I'd carry him, but you're kinda the strong guy around here."
Knuckles nodded. "Fair enough," he said.
"All right Chris, hang on tight," I said as I picked up the distraught boy, who was still coughing up Chaos water.
"O-Okay…" he said weakly as he tried to hold onto me. But his grip wasn't that strong, so I had to do most of the work. I was holding him bridal-style, which offered me a good look at his face, and he looked a little green.
Knowing I wasted enough time already, I raced through the ship, carefully making my way through the hole in the door. And I realized, it wasn't big enough for Knuckles and Big to fit through. To make matters worse, the approaching robots all shot lasers at us, knowing we were resisting them.
As if it was a plot device, a heavy laser flew just past my head and hit the door, widening the hole and making it big enough for Knuckles and Big to fit through without stopping.
"Hey, thanks!" I called as I leaped through the hole. I stopped for a moment to make sure Knuckles was behind me. Seconds later, the echidna made his way through, still carrying Big, who was still holding onto Froggy.
"Just do what I do and don't look back!" I called.
"Got it!" Knuckles called.
I took off through the ship for all I was worth, making various aimless turns at different corridors and intersections. I went fast enough that the robots couldn't possibly track me, but slow enough so that Knuckles could keep up, all the while keeping a firm hold on Chris.
It took a few minutes, but I finally reached a part of the ship I was sure was empty. No one was around, which meant we all could finally take a breather for the time being. No one got in our way on the way there, so we had smooth sailing.
I gently set down Chris, making sure he cound stand on his own, before trying the door in front of me. To my surprise and delight, it opened, and I stepped inside the storage room. There were mostly shelves everywhere, and a few big metal crates on the floor, but other than that, it was empty.
As soon as Knuckles and Big entered the room, I ran over and shut the door before locking it. I stepped back, and Knuckles picked up one of the crates and put it down in front of the door.
"Just in case," he said.
"All right, we got a few minutes to breathe before we get out of here," I said. "Chris, you okay with telling us what happened with you guys? 'Cuz now I'm really curious how you guys wound up inside Chaos."
"They wanted Froggy…" Big recalled, holding onto his frog, before he shook out his fur, spraying water everywhere. I flinched, trying not to let any water droplets into my fur. I failed miserably.
"Hey, easy there!" I cautioned. "Yeah, I know that, but like, how did you get up here? Did you get kidnapped or something?"
By now, Chris had calmed down considerably, to the point where I felt like it was okay for him to tell us what happened.
"I really wanted to go home, but Big was trying to find Froggy," Chris said, shivering from his wet clothes that were sticking to him. "Then Big finally found Froggy, but then Eggman's robots came and shot me with a stun ray or something… And then I think Big picked me up and carried me in the shuttle, and that's how we got up here."
I smiled at Big. He was a lot braver than he gave himself credit for.
"You did good, Big," I said.
"I didn't wanna go alone," Big said quietly, looking down at Froggy. "And Chris is a very good friend and I knew I could count on him to help me."
"Good job, you guys," I responded with a thumbs-up.
"So we were walking around, trying to find Froggy, and then we heard him inside a vent, and Big got me inside, but then he got captured, and I had to find a way out on my own. I found Froggy, but then the robots found me and captured me too, and that's- that's how we got eaten by Chaos…" Chris shuddered visibly. "It felt like I was drowning…"
"Me too…" Big said. "We could have died…"
My expression became more grim when I thought about what happened less than ten minutes ago.
"Yeah, well, I'm gonna make sure that never happens again," I said. I mentally kicked myself; every time I promised to protect Chris, something would happen and he would get captured or run into some other kind of danger, even if his other friends were there with him. I couldn't let that happen.
I glanced over at Knuckles, who seemed to be more alert. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded, but now he was leaning toward the door.
"Knux?" I asked. "You, uh…"
"Guys, I hear footsteps," Knuckles said. "We gotta find a way off this thing now. Chris, you know the way?"
"I think it was the hangar bay?" Chris said with uncertainty. "It was a really big room, and there were some robots and ships in there."
I nodded. "Definitely the hangar bay," I said.
Chris was opening his mouth to say something else, but before he could speak, there was a knock on the door.
"Surrender, fugitives," came the voice of ZERO from the other end.
"How did they find us?!" Chris almost exclaimed.
"Surveillance," I said as I scanned the room for a second door. "Eggman's pretty thorough with that kind of stuff. Anyway, I don't see another way out, so-"
"Not even the vents?" Big asked.
I looked up near the ceiling, before down along the wall near the floor. "Uh… Nope. Not in here."
"I guess we have no choice," Knuckles said as he grasped the metal crate and slid it away from the door. "Time to greet our guests."
"We don't have time," I replied as I carefully lifted Chris into my arms. "Hope you don't mind, Chris, but we're gonna wing it."
"Wha- We're not fighting? We're just gonna run past 'em?" Knuckles voiced his confusion. I couldn't blame him, he was all ready for a fight.
"Yeah, Chaos is still out there, and we gotta get moving." I secured Chris in my arms. "Ready when you are, Knux. As soon as we get this door open, run."
Knuckles nodded and threw the door open. Outside were dozens of robots, and of course, ZERO himself.
"Cease your hostility-" he started, but Knuckles punched his head in, completely short-circuiting it. Without stopping to take care of any other robots, he kept running, and Big ran with him. Chris and I brought up the rear, something I didn't usually do when I was with my friends.
"Whoa, there's a lot of them…" Knuckles breathed as he ran. He was right. There were hundreds of robots in the halls. Eggman had come prepared, but not prepared enough.
"It would be different if it was just us!" I called to Knuckles as I bobbed and weaved around the robots.
Things got worse when they started firing lasers at me, and one of them narrowly flew right by my ear, causing me to flinch. I ducked down as I ran and cradled Chris closer to my body. He was clinging to me with everything he had, and I made sure he wouldn't fall.
I was able to easily catch up to Knuckles and Big.
"Hey, I think I see the end of 'em," Knuckles said. "Uh, nope, there's more…"
Seriously, there was no end to the robots that were all coming to stop me and my friends.
"Hey, anyone know the way to the hangar?" I called to no one in particular. Of course, I didn't get any reply from them.
Big tried to swat the robots nearest to him with his fishing pole that he got from inside Chaos, but he couldn't make a dent in any of them.
"They're really strong…" he admitted.
"Don't worry about 'em!" I called. "Just keep moving."
"It would really help if there were signs around here," Knuckles said as he looked around the ceiling and walls for directions, which there were none. It made sense from Eggman's perspective, since he could easily program a map of the ship into his robots' systems.
"Hey Chris, you did a lot of wandering too, think you can help us out with where we are?" I asked, looking down at my friend.
"O-Okay…" Chris said, trying to look up and around himself. "I think these hallways look familiar…?"
"All right, good!" I praised. "Now let's see if you can remember the restr of the way back."
"They all look the same to me…" Knuckles said as he punched an Egg Pawn aside.
I could tell Chris was struggling to think as we were all being blasted at. I would have thought Eggman put targeting computers in all of his robots, because some of the robots were accidentally blasting each other to pieces. But there were still hundreds more to replace them.
"Uhh… L-Left! Left!" Chris called, and I looked to see a hallway to our left.
"All right, this way!" I called, heading down that corridor. Knuckles had kept going straight, so he had to turn around and follow us, and Big followed him as well.
Everywhere we went was a complete mess. There were robots everywhere and lasers flying everywhere I looked. I could even smell smoke from the robots that had suffered from friendly fire.
At last, we entered the ship's giant hangar bay. There weren't a lot of robots in there, but there were a few Super Badniks which were active and patrolling the place. As soon as they saw us, the robots opened fire, which or course meant more bobbing and weaving for all of us.
Big was starting to slow up a bit. I took it he wasn't used to running this far for this long, nor had he seen activity like this since he arrived on Earth.
"You'll get some rest soon enough, big guy!" I told him.
"I hope so… I'm really tired- whoa!" he exclaimed as a heavy laser landed a few inches behind him.
"You said you guys came here in a shuttle? Which one was it?" I asked as I looked around at the dozen or so shuttles parked in the hangar.
"I-I don't know, they all look the- Wait, I think that's it!"
He tried to point, but he yelped as he felt himself losing his grip on me, and he instantly grabbed onto me again.
"That one forgot to close its door…" Big said as he looked over at one of the shuttles. Sure enough, its hatch was wide open, and a ramp was extended to the ground.
"This the one?" I consulted Chris.
"Uh, yeah," Chris responded when he looked up.
"All right!" I exclaimed as I ran inside the shuttle and set Chris down. Knuckles ran inside the shuttle after me, followed by Big.
"S-Sorry about your fur…" Chris apologized, looking down at his wet shirt.
"Hey, it's all good," I responded, knowing it was the least of my worries.
As Chris tried to wring the water out of his shirt, Knuckles looked outside the shuttle.
"They're coming," he warned us.
"I know, just give me a sec!" I said as I looked over the shuttle's controls. "There's gotta be a button that closes the hatch somewhere!"
Normally I left the flying to Tails, but he wasn't here now. However, I still had some flying skills, and even though they were a bit rusty, I didn't really have a choice. I could only hope I could set an autopilot. One thing for sure, though, was that the controls weren't made with Mobians in mind.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon," I urged myself as I scanned the control panel. "Where is it? Is this it?"
I found a button I thought was the right one, but it was hard to tell because they were pretty much all the same. However, I was in luck, because the hatch closed, sealing us safely inside.
But that was the least of our problems, because now I had to start the engine.
"Guys, they're closing the big door!" Chris called. Sure enough, the giant hangar bay door was closing. Eggman was attempting to trap us inside the ship.
"I know, I see it!" I called. "This has gotta be the one to start this thing, right?" I asked myself as I pressed another button. The shuttle roared to life.
"All right, get ready, gang! We're gonna juice it loose like there's no tomorrow!"
With that, I threw the shuttle into takeoff mode, and we shot forward. However, all the approaching robots chose that moment to fire upon us. Countless lasers whizzed past us, and some of them almost hit us.
I felt the craft shaking, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chris running down some steps into a compartment below us I didn't know was there. Big saw him and followed.
"Is that a storage area down there?" Knuckles wondered aloud as he peeked inside.
"I think so…?" Chris said, shivering a little. "This is where Big took me."
As we started to lift off the ground, I took a glance back. "There's a whole 'nother room down there, huh?" I asked.
"Yeah, and these two were stowaways!" Knuckles realized.
"Hold that thought, we're almost out! It's gonna be tight though!" I warned as I put the shuttle in full throttle. I felt us increase our speed, and I was looking forward the whole time, making sure we would make it out safely.
With only feet to spare, we made it safely out of the Egg Carrier moments before the bay door closed and sealed itself. All the robots were inside the ship still, so we were safe for the time being. If Eggman was going to send robots after us, at least he was delayed.
I let out a sigh of relief and, after setting the shuttle on autopilot, slumped against the console, since the shuttle didn't have a command chair because it was made for robots. At least the floor was better than nothing.
"So you were saying you found like a storage area down there?" I asked.
"Y-Yeah," Chris replied from below us, before he winced from his injured foot.
"Try not to walk on that foot too much there, Chris," Knuckles cautioned.
"O-Okay," Chris replied.
My eyes widened. "Wait, what happened to Chris?" I asked Knuckles, but Chris answered.
"I fell and kinda twisted my ankle when I was trying to run away from Chaos…" Chris said.
"Oh man…" I replied. "We gotta get you patched up ASAP."
"I think it's okay to come back out, we're in the clear," Knuckles said as he reached his hand out to him. Chris took the echidna's hand, and he was helped up the ladder to the main deck. Big climbed up after him.
"Big was hiding me down there, and somehow the robots didn't see us," Chris said.
"Really?" Sonic said. "They're usually pretty thorough, at least, the advanced bots are. You two were mondo lucky."
Then I remembered something, and I looked up at Chris before standing up.
"Oh, and uh, you looked like you wanted to tell me something earlier, Chris," I recalled.
"I did…?"
I nodded. "Yeah, right as we were about to leave the closet. Hey, it's okay if you can't remember."
Chris blinked, before he let out a small gasp.
"O-Oh yeah, I remember now! I actually– You're not gonna believe this, but I actually saw Jerome Wise in there," he said.
"You did…?" I questioned him.
Chris nodded. "Yeah, he's working for Eggman now."
That was something. I hadn't heard from Jerome in so long, ever since her got exposed for partnering with Eggman and fired. Then he disappeared off the face of the Earth for almost a year, only for him to turn up inside the Egg Carrier.
That made so much sense.
"Huh," I replied. "Sounds like he's workin' for him full-time now."
"Who? Jerome?" Knuckles asked. "Hey, isn't that the guy who got exposed like a year ago? The President's aide?"
"Yeah that's him," I nodded. "He's been a pretty shady guy from the start from what I heard."
I looked back at the controls, still not able to make heads or tails of them. Speaking of Tails, I thought about my little bro. I hoped he was able to get Amy back home safely. He had been really brave so far despite everything he went through. But now I had to think about my own current situation at hand.
"All right, Eggman's got six Emeralds, so now we gotta talk about finding the seventh one," I proposed.
"I can't believe we're this close to Perfect Chaos already…" Knuckles said.
"Well, not if we can help it," I replied. "Knux, think you can sense it? 'Cuz it doesn't look like this ship has a Chaos Emerald tracker thingy."
"And we don't have an Emerald of our own," Knuckles added as he closed his eyes. "Sure, just give me a–"
"Guys…?" came Big's voice from the window. "We got trouble…"
"Wait, trouble…?" I said as I ran over to the window, and the others joined me. We could see the Egg Carrier high above us, and it was sending down several aerial robots to chase us down.
"Huh?!" I exclaimed. "Whoa, didn't think they could get the door open that fast!"
"No," Knuckles said. "The Egg Carrier has a second hangar. I forgot all about it."
"Oh…" I realized. "All right, Chris, Big, get below deck. It's gonna get rough."
Chris nodded and scrambled toward the ladder, with the large feline right behind him. Meanwhile, Knuckles rushed to the controls. The console was small, which meant I didn't have much room to stand next to him, and there was nowhere to sit.
"Okay, where's the gun button?" Knuckles pondered impatiently as he frantically scanned the console. "Is this thing armed?"
"Nope," I replied from my position at the window. "It's just a transport shuttle. Probably designed to have escorts or something."
"But I didn't see any escorts when I was in here," Chris called from down below, "at least, not that I know of."
"Huh, Eggman's getting bolder, I'll give him that," I added.
"They still after us?" Knuckles asked me.
I nodded. I didn't know why Eggman's robots were after us when we weren't carrying anything with us. We didn't have any Chaos Emeralds with us; they were all with Eggman for him to use at his disposal with Chaos. But then I thought of another reason.
"You got all the Master Emerald shards?" I asked Knuckles.
"Y-Yeah, I only needed three, but what does that have to do with–"
"Good, 'cuz that's why they're after us. All right, let's try and lose 'em in the forest below us."
"What, are you crazy?! That's gonna destroy us!"
"Not us, this ship. It's gonna make our 'demise' all the more convincing," I smirked.
I ran over to the controls and pushed the control stick forward, drastically dropping the shuttle's altitude. I could hear a pair of startled cries from underneath. We wouldn't be in this situation for too much longer.
"Who knows, if we're lucky, they won't even shoot at–"
Several lasers flew just wide of us. Knuckles saw this from outside the window and deadpanned.
"You just had to jinx it, Sonic," he said in an annoyed tone, right before the entire craft shook from a laser blast to the engines.
"Chris! Big! Get up here!" I called. "Now or never…" I added as I pressed the button to open the back hatch. The sound of the rushing wind was suddenly deafening, but it was a small price to pay for our freedom.
Chris' head popped up first, and I took his hands and helped him the rest of the way out. A few seconds later, Big appeared, and I tried to pull him up too, but he was heavy. Luckily, Knuckles was there to help him the rest of the way up.
"Wh-what's going on?!" Chris exclaimed.
"Knuckles, take Chris and jump!" I ordered.
"What?!" the boy yelped.
"I'll do the same with Big!" I added.
There was a deafening screech, and the craft shook even more as we scraped the tops of the trees.
"All right, hang tight, kid," Knuckles told Chris as he held him securely and jumped out the back. I could hear Chris let out a slight scream, and I felt bad for him, but at the same time, I knew this would all be over soon enough.
As I saw the two of them rolling for a bit before stopping, I made sure I was holding Big in my arms as well. I had to hold him above my head, because he was really big for a Mobian. And I couldn't really jump out of the ship, but it was more like stepping off of the ramp, because I couldn't jump under Big's weight.
I landed painfully on my feet, and it sent a shock through my body, not to mention I was stumbling under the cat's weight. I set him down, and I was able to see that he still had Froggy with him, which was good.
It was a good thing we jumped the moment we did, because the ship crashed through the trees. The smoking mess was now hanging from the branches. We had all dodged a huge bullet.
"You okay, Big?" I asked. Big was shaking, and I gently patted his back.
"Listen, it's gonna be all right," I told him as we started walking back to Knuckles and Chris. "We'll get you outta here safe, okay? Just hang in there."
"It's just really scary…" Big admitted as he cuddled with Froggy.
"Yeah, it's scary for me too, but you'll be all right," I said.
"I hope so…" Big said.
It took about three minutes to reunite with the others. I didn't realize how far away we had landed from each other, but at least we were able to locate each other in the thick forest.
"Hey! Long time no see!" I greeted with a wave. As a response, Chris ran to me, his entire body shaking, and his clothes were still wet as he hugged me.
"Hey, easy on your foot, Chris," I cautioned.
"I-It's too much…" he admitted, trying his hardest not to cry. I took it this would deter his skydiving dreams if he had any.
"Yeah, I know, bud…" I said gently, patting his back. "We're gonna get you home as fast as we can, and knowing me… that's fast."
I didn't want to tell him that Eggman could easily intercept us on the way back home, because he was already scared to the bone. Not to mention I couldn't find a safe way home besides running. Sure, I could run Chris back home, but I wasn't sure if he could tolerate the high speed after swallowing half of Chaos.
Knuckles looked around the forest. "Okay, but what about the Chaos Emerald?" he asked.
"We'll come back for it," I proposed. "Or, even better, I get these two back, and you can- YIPE!"
My heart leaped out of my chest as the shuttle we had just jumped from finished falling out of the trees and landed on the ground. Even though it was far away, it was still loud to me, and, looking around, I saw that I was not the only one who got scared.
"Oh, that scared me big time," Knuckles said, putting his hand over his racing heart.
Big looked like he was about to reply to that pun, intentional or otherwise, when I suddenly realized something.
"Everyone get back!" I called. "That thing's gonna explode any minute!"
I ran back, and looked back to make sure everyone was following. Knuckles and Chris were able to keep up, but Big had some trouble scrambling over the roots and undergrowth of the forest.
Something happened, but it wasn't the craft exploding.
The Badniks that had been chasing us flew into view, but they were high above the treetops, which meant they couldn't see us.
"What…?" Knuckles started to say, but I put a finger to my lips as I watched them. Chris was shivering, but he tried his hardest to stay quiet too.
But the quiet environment didn't last, because the forest lit up with blaster fire from the Badniks and various other robots. The shuttle didn't stand a chance as the robots relentlessly blasted it. Suddenly there came a fiery explosion that rocked the air as the shuttle was completely destroyed. Chris and Big were forced to cover their ears. We were hundreds of feet away, so we weren't in danger of any flying shrapnel, nor could the robots see us.
Then the robots descended into the forest, and I was debating telling everyone to run, until I saw that they were congregating around the shuttle. There was a hissing sound, and soon all the smoke and fire was gone.
"Wh-What are they doing…?" Chris whispered.
"Seems to me like they're checking for survivors," Knuckles replied.
"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing," I added.
"G-Good thing we weren't in there…" Chris said.
I nodded. "You were brave, Chris. You too, Big."
"Thanks," Big said, trying his best to make sure Froggy didn't run away again.
After a few minutes, the Badniks regrouped and flew back up out of the forest before making their way back to the Egg Carrier.
Now that we were finally alone in the forest again, I was able to let out my breath. I noticed that Chris winced from his ankle, and he was leaning against a tree, trying not to let his leg touch the ground too much.
"We'll get you patched up, Chris," I told him. "Just hang in there."
"Okay…" Chris quietly said.
"Wh-Whoa, whoa!" I heard Knuckles exclaim, and I looked over to see a green glow coming from his Hammerspace.
"What's up?" I asked.
Knuckles closed his eyes for a moment, focusing. "I think the seventh Chaos Emerald is somewhere nearby. Both the Master Emerald and my senses are telling me so."
But as our luck would have it, we still weren't out of the woods yet… figuratively and literally. We started to hear the sound of more engines, and I did my best to usher everyone back as one of Eggman's Egg Dropships flew past us above the treeline. It was hard to make it out, but no other craft looked the way it did with its flat bottom and sleek design.
"What's that?" Big asked as he tried to cover his large ears.
"He's sending a dropship…" I noted. "That means he found the Emerald too."
"Yeah, but- Ah!" Chris swatted a mosquito away. "Why is he using one of those things?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure he's up to something," I said, before turning forward. "That's the last Emerald out there, and one more is all Eggman needs to make Chaos perfect. Which is why we gotta quit wasting time and get that Emerald now!"
I took off through the forest, and Knuckles, Chris, and Big did their best to keep up with me. I could tell that Chris' ankle was getting a little better already, because he was able to run a little faster than before, but I didn't know how long it would last, because it could act up at any minute.
I tightened my fists, feeling super glad I warned the town ahead of time of the dangers of Perfect Chaos. But I didn't know if it would be enough time…
A/N: And that concludes "Heads Up, Tails!" I know that Tails didn't appear too much in this chapter, but it's okay, because I wanted to focus on other aspects of the story instead. And it's not going to go exactly the same way it did in Sonic X, for reasons you'll find out very soon. ;)
I forgot to mention this last chapter, but if you notice that Orbot and Cubot could be changing character a lot, it's because I'm still getting used to writing them.
I really enjoyed writing Chris' scenes in this chapter, especially the parts where he was crawling through the air ducts. I feel like I did a much better job writing Chris and Big's scenes than the original episode.
I wasn't planning on having ZERO's demise this early, but I realized that I kinda forgot about him later on in the backlog, so I wrote it into this episode.
Chaos being able to heal people he absorbs is a creative liberty I took, but otherwise use sparingly. However, even though anyone he absorbs are healed of physical injuries, they can still drown.
Also, just a heads-up, I will not be adapting the next episode, "Revenge of the Robot", for this story. The original episode 31 was wrapping up Amy and Gamma's side of the story, and since Gamma is already reprogrammed to serve Eggman, it wouldn't work for Chaos on Earth. And besides, I was able to find a way to seamlessly transition directly from episode 30 to episode 32.
As usual, if anything seems off, or if anyone's out of character, please feel free to let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.
Next time is "Flood Fight", where Sonic takes on Perfect Chaos in a fight for the fate of Station Square! Don't miss it!
