A/N: I don't have much to say except I've been churning out future chapters on AO3, so if you have an account there, you can read them a few weeks in advance! Also I have a Discord, you can find the link on my Twitter at stardown77!
Also before we begin, I'm issuing a WARNING for a potentially distressing scene in the middle of the chapter.
I would like to thank Apotheosis0 for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
I'd also like to shout out Asriel in my Discord server for helping to catch some typos I missed!
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
8 Reviews
Monster King
Thanks! Here is the next chapter!
toantakeri
Only one way to find out if that happens! :D
Super duper waffles (first review)
I know there are a bunch of Sonic X fans who really wanted to see a Sonic Heroes adaptation, and that, along with Sonic Forces, was actually the basis of this arc! I built around that and threw in my own ideas as I went along. More on that in the ending author's notes of the last chapter of this saga.
1. Tails Doll doesn't exist in this story, although he does exist in my headcanon! Tails thinks he's a bit creepy and wishes Eggman made a Metal Tails instead XD
2. English is the only language I can think of that exists on Mobius, aside from other languages already established in media, like the Chao and Wisps. Just like Latin on Earth, there was probably an ancient Mobian language that everyone spoke.
3. Off the top of my head, the Chaos Competition was sponsored by Coca-Cola, Honda, Subway, Midas, Nike, and a few pharmaceutical brands.
4. Although the real-life wars played out differently, they mostly had the same results they did in the real world.
danielman21
I loved adding that little bit with Cream and Shadow too :)
blazenight01 (first review)
I will admit, Shadow is one of the trickier characters for me to write. I know the heart of his character seems to have been stripped in the IDW comics, which is something I'm trying to avoid here. My version of Shadow is based on his first appearance in Sonic Adventure 2, as well as several fanworks which I deem to be well-written. He acknowledges Maria's wish and will protect humanity, even if he dislikes humans for taking Maria from her, because it's what she wanted from him. But right now, although Shadow's negativity toward GUN has subsided and he actually supports them now that they had new management, he's currently confused about why they're after him now and why they deemed him a target without any explanation. He doesn't know how GUN exists on both worlds though. Shadow is not normally this paranoid, but he was sent to another planet with practically no explanation and he is still looking for answers.
I'm open to more feedback since he's appearing in this chapter too.
blazenight01 (second review)
That confused me for a second, I thought you were still referring to Shadow for a second! XD
But yeah, that's what I love about Eggman too! It's why he's one of my all-time favorite characters to write for.
thor94
Shadow is here, and so is the next chapter!
Super duper waffles (second review)
That is an interesting theory, but I can confirm that Earth didn't have its own version of Shadow, Emerl, etc. Plus, the E-100 series and the Egg Carrier are not Phantom Ruby illusions because Eggman built them from scratch on Earth. It's an interesting thought though.
It's all good, I always look forward to answering your questions!
1. As far as I know, no company, including Glico, appears on both Mobius and Earth. Mobius has its own separate and unique companies separate from Earth, although I haven't thought of what exactly they could be, but it does help with world-building and making Mobius come to life.
2. The real Earth does not exist in this continuity, but the Earth that appears in this story is as close to the real Earth as I can get it while still making coherent sense.
3. I haven't seen the MCU yet, so I'm not familiar with any exact details, but while Station Square has yet to appear in one of the movies, it was mentioned in Endgame as well as the What If...? series. While GUN put up a valiant fight, they failed to contain Ultron, and of course they couldn't do anything about Thanos. President Remerson has yet to appear in the MCU.
4. If Eggman did think of conquering another country, it took place in between chapters, but I would say Eggman has considered invading London, because all the aliens in Doctor Who keep invading London for some reason, particularly around Christmas. He also considered conquering Moscow, because if Eggman has control of the biggest country in the world, then he figured the rest of the world would succumb to the Eggman Empire. However, being the essentric villain that he is, he stays clear of Japan because he likes their culture and is saving them for last. The reason he is always targeting Station Square is because that's where Sonic lives, plus there's the anomaly of Station Square existing on both Earth and Mobius, and if Sonic falls, then it will be that much easier to take over the rest of the world.
Actually, that last idea is starting to give me a new story idea, because since anime like My Hero Academia and Spy x Family have accompanying movies, then I could do a Sonic X movie fanfic that could involve other parts of the world (in a fictional setting, of course, because I don't want to invoke real-world politics).
Chapter 51
Original Episode
Meticulous
Nevada – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
The X-Tornado cruised silently through the desert sky over Nevada. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were greeted by the sunrise as they looked around for any sign of the Death Egg or anything that resembled an Eggman outpost. Tails was convinced it was the Death Egg because of the nature of Eggman's message that he saw last night.
The trip was silent and thoughtful, until Tails noticed a soft yellow pulsating glow in the dashboard in front of him. The Emerald was reacting to something.
"I think we found the Death Egg," he said. He sounded very tired, and he hadn't said a word in what must have been thirty minutes. He had been concentrating on flying and finding Sonic the whole time. But then he looked crestfallen a moment later. "Actually, um… I don't think it's it… I don't see it anywhere."
"Maybe it means there's a Chaos Emerald somewhere below us," Amy speculated, looking down at the rocks below.
"Maybe," Tails shrugged. "But I don't know if we have time to get it now... because Sonic's kidnapped and we don't have much time left before Eggman–"
"Let me off."
"Wh–" Tails was surprised at Knuckles' request. "Why? Oh wait… Are you getting the Emerald by yourself?"
"Yes," Knuckles said firmly. "If we keep the Emeralds apart, Eggman will have a much harder time getting them all. Don't worry about me, I'll catch up."
"Okay, that's a good point," Tails said. "But then there wouldn't be anyone back there to protect the Corundum in case something happens."
"You'll be the one to protect it, Tails," Knuckles said with a firm nod. "I trust your piloting skills."
"Okay," Tails said with a smile, even though he knew the echidna couldn't see him. He gradually slowed the plane down and opened the back canopy. "Good luck, Knuckles."
As the wind whipped violently through his dreadlocks, Knuckles reached over the back of his seat and very carefully strapped the Corundum into its seat with the harness like he would with a child. Then, with a wave of his hand, he glided out of the plane, and Tails closed the canopy again.
"So… How many Emeralds d'you think Eggman has?" Amy asked Tails as she watched Knuckles disappear from sight.
"I know he has the one Jerome stole from me," Tails recalled. "And he probably also has the one Metal found. But I wouldn't be surprised if he has more than that."
Amy didn't reply, instead deciding to face forward in her seat again. The flight was quiet for a long while, with the only sounds being the quiet hum of the engines outside, while Amy pondered the whole situation. Finally she spoke.
"Hey Tails…? Are you doing okay?" she asked. "About… everything?"
"I… don't know," Tails said quietly, and Amy had to strain to hear him over the noise of the plane. "I'm... still really upset… but I feel like I'm too focused to be sad."
"It's okay," Amy said softly, reaching over and patting his shoulder gently. "I'll be right here with you, and you'll see Sonic again before you know it. Sound good?"
"Yeah…" Tails said, sitting up a little straighter in his seat. He sounded more relaxed now. "Thanks, Amy."
The Egg Carrier – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
The massive energy wave generated by the Egg Carrier's Egg Cannon was still trying to push against the Death Egg's dual Egg Lasers. However, even at max power, the Society found that their weapon was gradually losing momentum.
"We're as good as dead if the laser lets up now," Watcher said between gritted teeth. "Energy output is a hundred percent and we're still not making any forward progress!"
Passer pounded the console next to him in frustration, making sure to not accidentally press any buttons.
"We may have just sealed our fates," he said.
The ship was shaking from the violent impact of the two energy weapons, and both Passer and Watcher squinted at the blinding lights in front of them that seemed to dwindle, only to get brighter with bursts of green as the Death Egg lasers for even closer to them.
"All of you, get to the Valkyries and fire the supercannons at their lasers!" Watcher ordered.
"But we don't have time–"
"Just do it!" Watcher interrupted Dragg.
"Y-Yes sir!" Dragg said before hurting out of the room, followed by Passer, Li Yan, Browning, and Narasu.
"Man, I love being the boss…" Watcher said, swiveling himself around in his chair. However, Passer turned around and faced Watcher.
"Why are you still here, then?" he asked. "I thought this was a full-team effort."
"It is, but someone has to man the controls, and that someone is me," Watcher said, crossing his arms. "Also, the Organizer appointed me as the impromptu leader, and if you don't like it, go complain to him instead. Good luck with that though, he's extremely busy."
Passer huffed in annoyance and joined the others.
Little does he know I already did that, Browning thought to himself.
It took three grueling minutes for the five men to finally get down to the Sky Deck where the Valkyries were parked. The whole time, the ship was violently shaking, nearly throwing the men to the ground as the lasers pushed against each other wth tremendous force.
"Do you think this gonna work?" Passer asked no one in particular.
"I really don't know," Browning said as he opened the hatch of the Valkyrie closest to him, squinting at the intensely bright lights ahead of him. "I designed these superlasers to do a ton of damage, but I never stress-tested them against anything like this."
"We're about to find out the hard way, then," Narasu said before closing his own hatch.
A minute later, five of the Valkyries roared to life, and they gradually aimed their primary cannons at the Egg Lasers beaming out of the massive Death Egg ahead of them. At Passer's signal, all five of them fired at once, and the white lasers arced toward the spot where the Egg Cannon's laser met the Egg Lasers.
"Move your cannons down!" Browning ordered.
"What's that gonna do?" Dragg asked.
"Just do it!" Browning shouted.
As they moved their cannons downward, the lasers did too, and they were quickly absorbed by the Egg Cannon's laser, making it stronger, and the Egg Lasers were no longer gaining any forward momentum. In fact, the Egg Cannon's laser started to push back against the Egg Lasers seconds later.
"These things are laser-guided, they'll go in the direction you point them in with the cannon," Browning explained. "More power!"
However, none of them needed to apply any more power before both of the giant lasers ran out of power at roughly the same time, neutralizing each other. The Valkyrie's lasers continued onward and struck the bottom of the Death Egg, doing hardly any damage.
All of them took a deep breath.
"That was way too close," Narasu said, placing a hand on his heart as he pushed the hatch open and climbed out.
"Yup," Dragg said.
"Do a damage report and tell me what you find," Watcher immediately told them over their radios.
"Can't you do it just as easily from the bridge?" Dragg asked.
"Yes, but I can't get the full scale without a visual confirmation," Watcher told them. "You think I can run the whole ship by myself from the bridge? The answer is yes, with the right motivation."
"I hate that guy…" Li Yan admitted.
"I think we all do…" Dragg said as they all got out and made their way across the deck toward the general direction of the Egg Cannon.
Meanwhile, Watcher was sitting back in his command chair with his hands behind his back, swiveling back and forth. He kept an eye on the massive battle station ahead of him, where there were hundreds of Badniks patrolling it outside. None of them seemed to make a move toward the Egg Carrier, and this made him feel a bit uneasy.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flashing notification for an incoming call.
"Damage report already...?" he muttered under his breath as he took the call. However, instead of seeing any of his allies in the Society, or the Organizer, his heart skipped a beat when he saw that the face on the screen had an oversized reddish-brown mustache and goggles.
"S-So the doctor's doing a house call…" Watcher said, trying to maintain his composure. "Wondering what our strategy is, huh?"
"I can tell your 'intimidation' act is a bit forced," Eggman told him.
"Then why did you call us?" Watcher asked.
"I've been keeping tabs on all of you since close to the beginning of your foundation," Eggman said. "Your endgame is ambitious, but still weak. You can't simply expect to 'erase' all evidence of our existence." He emphasized his point with air quotes. "What's done cannot be undone. Your status quo will change on you whether you like it or not."
"So you know about us and our motives…" Watcher said, gripping the armrests of his chair.
Eggman chuckled. "Your former ally Jerome Wise provided more than enough evidence. It wasn't like he was ever subtle. And even though I shut off the EggNet in the Egg Dome you thought you so cleverly commandeered, I still had my ways of spying on you. Hacking all the house appliances in Station Square was a clever diversion, but still quite reckless by my standards. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you know."
Watcher gritted his teeth and sat up straighter in his seat. "Jerome told us he didn't leave a trace of his allegiance with us."
"Oh, but you don't understand," Eggman said, holding up a finger. "My robots are smarter than they let on. They were monitoring his every move, and it was painfully obvious that Jerome wasn't completely loyal to him. Besides, his usefulness was already long over. You know he wouldn't have joined the tournament on his own accord."
"So you did set him up," Watcher said.
"Let me tell you something, Mr. Watcher," Eggman said. "The reason I called Jerome in the first place was because I took interest in his distaste of Sonic, plus his own political past was of some interest to me. But more importantly, I needed a chaperone, someone who could help me learn the ropes of this planet. Sonic already had one in the form of the Thorndyke boy, so I couldn't let him stay one step ahead of me in that regard.
"His mind was like my own to a degree. And when bad came to worse, I offered him shelter from the law and immunity from the roboticizer in return for his servitude to me. I gave him all the mundane jobs like surveillance and oversight of the production of new Badniks. However, humans always tend to do things their own way, and he got squirrely ever since your Organizer first contacted him, so I had to get rid of him. And the Society's foundation provided me the perfect opportunity to do that.
"But enough about Jerome. I called to tell you that you won't find me to be such a pushover. Other than Sonic, I have faced many, many groups and people who tried to resist me, and all of them crumbled before me. You and your group are no different."
Watcher stood up. "I'm gonna make you regret the day you ever set foot on this planet, do you hear me?!" he exclaimed. "My army is ready for you no matter how many robots you decide to send at us."
"Your army…?" Eggman let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, Watcher, I don't need to do anything that complex. You see… all the resources I need are right there on the Egg Carrier."
With a wicked cackle, he pressed a button on his console before clasping his hands behind his back. His grin could not be contained.
The Death Egg – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
"What action have you taken, Doctor?" Decoe asked.
Eggman chuckled again. "Take a look at the Egg Carrier," he said. He and his robots could gradually see the carnage unfolding in front of them on the monitor.
"You are ingenious, Doctor," Bocoe said.
"Indeed," Eggman said with a grin. His attention was focused back on the screen again as he saw Passer frantically running onto the bridge.
"Damage is minimal, but now all the robots are turning against us!" he reported.
"Wait, what…?" Watcher navigated through several screens, and each one he saw made his eyes widen even more in horror.
"Eggman… What have you done…?" he asked in shock and anger.
"Like I just told Decoe, take a look around the ship," Eggman stated. "I commend you for managing to acquire GUN's entire robot force. GUN may have utilized them… You, Colonel Card Passer, may have been responsible for distributing them throughout GUN… but who do you think built them to begin with?"
He watched as Passer gritted his teeth in frustration.
"B-But… None of them had the Loyalty Code, Browning made sure of that!" Passer exclaimed desperately.
"I already took that into account," Eggman said, twirling his bushy mustache. "You did a decent job overriding them to make them obey you, but they were ultimately subservient to my backup power source. I only let you have them this long because I wanted to make you think you were winning. You may have been a worthy adversary, but in the end, I always come out on top. So here's a note for next time: if you truly hope to be like me, then make your own robots and quit stealing my technology!"
The hatred in Watcher's eyes was unmistakable.
"I don't know if you're aware of this, Doctor, but we are men of opportunity, acting under our leader's orders," he spat.
"Oh?" Eggman asked, leaning closer to the screen. "And who is this leader?"
Watcher crossed his arms. "Even if I knew, I'm not telling you," he said.
"Oh, that's completely fine!" Eggman said. "I too happen to be a man of opportunity, which is why I'm going to roboticize you with the robots you thought you so cleverly stole. And then you'll tell me everything about your organization. Oh, and before I go, it's been nice knowing you for the few days you have left on this planet. In fact, I'm impressed you managed to survive this long."
Watcher stared at Eggman. "What do you mean?"
"Care to tell me how you got that Emerald without detection?" he asked. "Don't bother, that was a rhetorical question. Besides, I already know. And there's a reason humans don't use Chaos Emeralds. Unlike Mobians, humans don't have any Chaos energy within their bodies whatsoever. So when you so cleverly used Chaos Control to escape Diamond Stadium with the Chaos Emerald, there was no Chaos energy in your body for the Emerald to pull from, so it pulled from your life force instead to compensate."
Watcher said nothing, instead starting in shock at the screen.
"The weakness you felt before was only the beginning. The few humans who used the Chaos Emeralds back home did so successfully, but all of them died within a few hours to days. And you are no exception."
"So I'm going to die because I used the Chaos Emerald."
Eggman grinned. "Exactly. However, I can spare you from the natural consequences of your rash actions if you submit to the roboticization process, which is far less painful than the Chaos Emerald eating you alive from the inside-"
"SHUT UP!" Watcher exclaimed. "I refuse to join you, Robotnik! We're here to destroy you, I thought you knew that!"
"Oh... That's a shame..." Eggman said. "Still, the destruction of the Egg Carrier with you inside is a swifter death than you using the Chaos Emerald. A bit unorthodox, but at least I'm merciful in that regard. Like I said, it's been nice knowing you, Mr. Watcher."
With a press of a button, he ended the call before letting out another chuckle.
"That'll keep them busy for a while," he said. "They think they're so tough, but even though they stole my Egg Carrier, I don't recognize them as a threat. Not in the slightest."
He turned to the console to his left and tapped a few buttons on the touchscreen. The overhead screen changed to a live image of the reactor, where Orbot and Cubot were stationed.
"Orbot, Cubot, this is a routine check of the reactor's stability," he spoke. "What is your report?"
"I'm pleased to report the reactor is stable," Orbot said, glancing at the three Emeralds resting in the core, along with the Phantom Ruby. "The spot for the Corona Cornundum has been prepared as you requested."
"I detected a Chaos Emerald on the Egg Carrier earlier," Eggman told them both. "I just gave my robots stationed there orders to retrieve it, so expect the fourth Emerald to come your way shortly."
"You know what they say, the more, the merrier!" Orbot piped up.
"…That's my line…" Eggman grumbled.
"Do you wish to deploy Metal Sonic?" Bocoe asked. Eggman looked down at him.
"I thought about it…" Eggman pondered. "But I have faith in my robots on the Egg Carrier. They are more than enough to get the job done. And I do have a few hostages in mind in case things get hectic." He paused in his tracks. "Actually, you know what…"
He sat back down in his command chair and typed a few things on a nearby keypad.
"Metal, report to the command center immediately!" he said.
Not even a minute later, Sonic's robotic doppelganger showed up in the doorway of the command center.
"Ah, Metal Sonic, my masterpiece," Eggman declared. "My magnum opus of world domination… I've got a special mission for you, my friend. I want you to go to Thorndyke Mansion and detain these hostages, and bring the Corona Corundum too."
As he spoke, he displayed an image of five individuals on the main screen.
"I will not leave any blind spots in Operation Endgame," he said with a chuckle. "That's right, nothing is left to chance! In the meantime, I'm going to set out to find the last Chaos Emerald. Tails has the other two remaining Emeralds, and knowing him, he'll bring them straight to me."
Thorndyke Mansion – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
"Welcome, Miss Rouge the Bat," Tanaka said, inviting her through the front doors of the Thorndyke family's grand estate. While it wasn't her off day, she did manage to find a little bit of downtime in her work.
Her gaze shifted to Shadow, who was sitting on the couch in the living room. While he had a cup of tea in front of him, Rouge could tell that he looked slightly tense.
"Hey, Shadow," Rouge said with a smile as she sat down across from her. "You too, Omega. Sure has been a long time, y'know. Never thought you'd find your way here of all places."
"I never planned on coming here," Shadow said without looking up.
"Neither did any of us, really," Rouge said. "And yet… here we are. As you can probably tell, some of us are living the good life here."
"Instead of actively trying to find a way back to Mobius?" Shadow questioned, now looking up at the bat. "Have you gone soft?"
"Oh no, not at all," Rouge shrugged. "There's only so much we can do until we get all the Chaos Emeralds together and make Chaos Control happen. I mean, Tails did try and build a portal, but then… stuff happened and we didn't get to go home. But I'm not complaining, I mean, GUN's just as much fun to work with here on Earth like they are on Mobius, and–"
"But they're literally on my tail right now, and I just got here," Shadow vented. "And besides, shouldn't they know who I am? I worked with them for years, and now they think I'm a threat."
"Different world, different people... different GUN," Rouge shrugged. "I know, it took me some getting used to as well."
"Also…" Shadow sat up. "Are you sure you're not taking a risk coming here? Because GUN could follow you."
"I already told Topaz about you," Rouge said with a small smirk. "So we're good."
"…Who's Topaz?" Shadow asked out of curiosity.
But before Rouge could explain, her cell phone rang.
"Sorry, I need to take this," she said before answering the phone. "Hello?"
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss Rouge, but we need you back at the HQ right away," her commanding officer on the other end of the line spoke. "We are ready to deploy troops to intercept the Egg Carrier, as well as accompany the imminent launch of the Gun Fort."
"On my way," Rouge said before hanging up. Business was business, as much as she wanted to talk to Shadow about his predicament.
She stood up and started to walk to the door. "Hate to say it, Shadow, but looks like our chat is gonna have to wait," she said, before she stopped. "Hold on, I just had a thought. You and Omega should come with me, and if there's any trouble, I'll do all the talking."
Shadow hesitated for a moment before she stood up and approached Rouge, and Omega lumbered after him.
"You're leaving already?" Chuck asked as he joined them in the living room.
"You know what they say, duty calls," Rouge told him as Tanaka held the door open for them. "I might swing by later when all is said and done, though. A little Flicky did tell me about a certain party."
"You have good ears, Rouge," Chuck said with a laugh. "Although, we did have to postpone it because, well… Sonic's not here right now."
Rouge blinked. "Not here, as in…?"
Chuck had a painful look before he finally spoke. "Kidnapped by Eggman."
Rouge winced. "I guess the doc is getting desperate, huh?"
"Well, all his friends went out there looking for him right now," Chuck told her. "They all got up in the middle of the night to go find him. So yeah, it's a big deal."
"Wonder if GUN knows about this yet…" Rouge pondered as she flapped her wings and lifted herself up into the air. "You coming, Shadow?"
With a curt nod, Shadow skated out of the house and joined Rouge at the front gates. He effortlessly leaped over them, and Omega activated his boosters and flew over them, and the three of them took off down the street.
"Omega, scan for any hostile units as we go, but do not engage them."
"Affirmative. Locating all nearby GUN units," Omega responded.
The whole time, Shadow was feeling slightly on edge, and he glanced around him for any sign of the special military force, be it personnel or vehicles. It felt too strange that the organization he worked for was now against him, and it was all Eggman's fault. They might as well have been a different organization entirely.
"I guess Team Dark is back together again, huh?" Rouge said with a smirk.
"I really wasn't expecting us to meet again here on this planet," Shadow admitted.
"Me neither, but life's no fun without surprises," Rouge said. Shadow could tell that she was feeling… giddy, was it? Granted, she hadn't seen him in two months. Not that they were in a relationship or anything, but they were business partners who worked on countless missions together, and they had surprisingly good chemistry, dating back to when Rouge first met Shadow shortly after he was awakened by Dr. Eggman.
"Give me about ten minutes, we'll make it there in no time," Rouge said from ahead of him.
"The people at the mansion told me the doctor tried to use the Phantom Ruby to recreate Professor Gerald's revenge," Shadow said thoughtfully as he approached Rouge. There was a hint of anger in his voice as well.
"And that's pretty much why GUN's after you right now," Rouge said, piecing it together.
"I figured," Shadow said with a shrug. "As much as I don't care for humans, the ones on this planet should not have to go through the horrors that the ones on Mobius did on that day. The doctor has sunk to a new low making them relive my history." He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "And on that note, I said it before and I'll say it again. No one should EVER have that kind of power."
Rouge silently nodded her agreement.
Thorndyke Mansion – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
WARNING STARTS HERE.
After Shadow, Rouge, and Omega left, the atmosphere in the house was quiet, if a bit tense, since everyone knew that Sonic was captured by Eggman in his death machine. Even though they knew that Sonic's friends were out looking for him, they couldn't help but feel that something felt off in the air.
Nelson and Lindsey had arrived the day before while Tails, Amy, and Knuckles were searching for Eggman, and they too knew about Sonic's capture. They were both away from home at the moment to take care of business-related affairs elsewhere in town, but they promised they would be back in time for lunch.
Cream, Cheese, and Chocola were happily watching Pokemon in the living room, while Vanilla was sitting on the other couch crocheting. Ella was taking care of the laundry, Mr. Tanaka was training in the gym, and Chris was up in his room playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It was business as usual in the Thorndyke household.
However, the late-morning tranquility of the house was shattered along with the living room window as Metal Sonic flew inside, sending glass raining everywhere. The robot was heralded with startled screams as Cream, Cheese, Chocola, and Vanilla scrambled backward.
"AAHH! M-M-Metal S-Sonic…!" Cream whimpered in fright. Vanilla ran toward the robot, and Cream was just about to stand up and fight for herself, but Metal Sonic was much faster than she anticipated, and he grabbed her and flew her outside, where he placed her in one of five clear capsules that were lying on the grass. Once she was sealed inside, Metal flew back in through the window to collect his next hostage. By then Vanilla had just returned from the kitchen holding a heavy wok, and Cheese and Chocola were hovering in place, ready to fight.
The two Chao made the first move. Chocola flew forward and headbutted Metal, but it didn't seem to do any lasting damage.
"Let my daughter go at once!" Vanilla demanded in an uncharacteristically stern tone, before slamming the wok down. However, it passed through thin air, and she realized that Metal was no longer standing there. She felt the robot grabbing her from behind and prying the wok out of her hands with his cold, sharp fingers.
Vanilla's struggles ceased as Metal fired a stun laser out of his fingers, and the effects coursed through the mother rabbit's body, and she fell limp.
"Chao chao chao!" both Cheese and Chocola exclaimed, feeling both scared and angry at what Metal was doing. But before they could attack, Metal was already outside placing Vanilla inside a capsule.
"What on Earth is–" Ella's voice died in her throat as she witnessed Metal Sonic flying in through the window for the third time. The first thing she saw was Cheese attempting to headbutt Metal, only to get backhanded hard into the wall.
This made Ella mad.
As Metal flew outside with Cheese, Ella stormed forward as fast as she could go, and she was just about to bend down and pick up the fallen wok when Metal suddenly returned and stood on it, preventing her from moving it. She figured it had to have anticipated her move. For a robot that was almost half her height, it was a lot stronger than she had bargained for.
Ella was just about to speak when Metal flew forward, pinning her to the wall with his hands around Ella's wrists, preventing her from moving. Even when Ella tried to kick the robot, it didn't do anything.
"Where are Cream and Vanilla?!" Ella exclaimed. "What did you do with them?!"
With a mechanical whir, Metal's head swiveled 180 degrees backward two seconds before Mr. Tanaka came in with a flying kick. It was like Metal knew he was coming. The robot was forced to let go of Ella to counter Tanaka's karate moves.
As the butler and robot fought, Ella was given ample time to retrieve the fallen wok. She assumed someone got it out to fight Metal with, probably Vanilla, which was a smart move. However, both fighters were fast, and Ella had to time it right for a few seconds before successfully bashing Metal Sonic over the head with a satisfying solid metallic clang.
The robot was sent reeling from the impact, and to add insult to injury, Chocola flew in and punched him with one of his stubby arms, sending him tumbling backward into the wall. However, as the Chao came in for a second attack, Metal slapped him away, then quickly flew over, scooped up the dazed Chao, and flew him outside with the others.
Mr. Tanaka wasted no time scrambling through the broken window, ignoring the shards of glass that scraped against his suit. Ella made her way through the door, and they saw Metal standing next to five transparent capsules. One of them was empty, but the other four contained Vanilla, Cream, and the two Chao. Only Cream was still conscious, and she was trying to shout something to them, but her voice was muffled by the capsule.
"Why are you here?!" Ella demanded as she made her way over with her wok. "Why are you terrorizing all of us?!"
But the robot didn't answer. Instead, he turned his focus on Mr. Tanaka, who was running straight toward him. Without breaking a digital sweat, Metal grabbed the butler's wrist and squeezed it tightly. Tanaka tried to break free and kick the robot, but Metal kept his distance while maintaining a firm grasp on his wrist.
"Let him go and fight me instead!" Ella demanded, holding the wok firmly with both hands. But the robot did not move. In fact, he seemed to barely register her as a threat.
And then he threw Tanaka's arm aside and activated its jetpack. With an incredible whoosh, he flew back into the house through the broken window. Ella's eyes went wide, she realized what he was going to do.
"Tanaka! Chase him!" Ella shouted, pointing at the house. Wasting no time, the butler sprinted across the lawn toward the window and leaped back through, once again managing to not cut himself on the glass. He didn't even bother massaging his sore wrist in the process.
Just as Ella was approaching the five pods, Chuck came running toward her from the garage,
"What's happening?" he asked urgently.
"Professor! Help me get everyone out of these pods!" Ella urged him as she held her wok more firmly.
Alarm was added to Chuck's confusion as he quickly summed up the situation. Cream was desperately trying to break free, or at least try to make her pod roll in the grass, but there was too much resistance on the ground. She was trying to say something, but her cries sounded muffled.
Raising the wok above her head, she slammed it down on the pod that Vanilla was encased in. However, absolutely nothing happened, and Ella winced as she felt the reverberation of her efforts flowing through her wrists as they briefly went numb.
"We don't have time to find anything we can use to break them, so all we can do right now is stall for time," Chuck told Ella. "Take a pod and run."
"Where?" Ella asked as she approached the pods again.
"Anywhere, I don't care!" Chuck urgently said. "Just away from here would be great!"
Ella quickly picked up the pod with Cream in it, and its occupant tried to steady her balance by placing her hands on either side of the pod walls. Chuck picked up the pods with Cheese and Chocola in them, and they both ran toward the car which was parked in the driveway close to the garage.
"It'll be all right, bambina," Ella tried to gently tell Cream, but her voice was too tense.
However, right as Chuck and Ella started running, they heard the sound of glass breaking from somewhere behind them.
"Don't look back, just run," Chuck said as he and Ella made it to the car. "In fact, let's split up."
Chuck made a beeline toward the garage. He had an awkward hold on both the pods he was carrying, and he didn't have enough time to stop and adjust them. He had to make do and keep moving. Fortunately, he left the garage door ajar, so he didn't have to stop to open it.
However, right as he reached the garage door, he caught sight of Metal flying back outside in the distance. He was carrying an unconscious Chris toward the last remaining empty pod. That was the last thing Chuck saw before he disappeared into the garage.
He ran as fast as his aging body would allow him before he set the pods down in front of the elevator and hurriedly entered the code with shaking fingers.
There was a sudden yelp outside, and the professor's heart sank when he realized that Metal got Ella. Everything was going so wrong, and all of Sonic's friends weren't there right now, so there was no one to help stop Metal. All he could do was stall for time. There wasn't even time to call the police, and besides, what could they do?
I'm not gonna let you two out of my sight, Chuck thought, as if speaking to Cheese and Chocola inside the pods. Not while I'm still breathing.
However, just as the elevator doors finally opened, he was suddenly punched in the back of the neck by something cold and metallic, and he immediately dropped to the ground unconscious. Metal wasted no time scooping up the two fallen pods and flying them back outside, where he flew past Ella's unconscious form next to the car and dropped them off next to the ones that contained Cream, Vanilla, and Chris.
Metal had already tranquilized Cream and the others, so they wouldn't put up a fight when he delivered them to Eggman. He aimed his left hand at the five pods, and an electric rope emitted out of each finger and connected to each of the pods, securing them to himself. He then turned to the sky and blasted off toward the Death Egg.
WARNING ENDS HERE.
Station Square – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
"That tournament the other day was crazy," Danny said, breaking the serene silence of his walk with his friends. It was not the first time he had said that.
He, Frances, and Helen had met up at Harris Bingham Memorial Park a few minutes ago, and Frances was pushing Helen's wheelchair at a leisurely pace. It had been a while since they hung out together, and they had picked the perfect time to do so, since there were only a few clouds in the sky and the weather was warmer.
"I know, were you guys okay after… that thing that happened at the end?" Helen asked. She hadn't checked up on them about that until now.
"Yeah," Danny said. "It was scary."
"Uh-huh," Frances agreed. "But we made it out okay, and that's what matters. But it took forever for us to get to the car, and it took us a whole hour before we could finally get out of the parking lot."
"Man, only an hour?" Danny said. "It took us almost two!"
"We were lucky we were able to get out early," Helen said, looking up at a robin as it flew from one tree to another. "But yeah… it was really crazy with all the traffic everywhere."
"And broken cars," Frances said.
"Yeah..." Helen said with sadness in her tone.
"You guys know what happened to Emerl?" Danny asked.
Frances shrugged. "Nope."
"I do," Helen said. "Chris called me last night. He told me Emerl disappeared after Cream beat him."
"Cream beat him?" Danny asked in surprise.
"Yeah," Helen said with a smile. "Well… Chris wasn't there when it happened, but Sonic told him that Cream kept throwing Cheese and Chocola at him. He didn't even get a chance to fight back!"
"Cheese Shot?" Frances asked.
"Yup!" Helen said.
"Man, I gotta go on more adventures with you guys," Danny admitted. "I am missing out!"
"Same here actually, I'm getting my confidence back flying in the X-Tornado," Frances said.
"Oh, nice!" Helen said.
"I am not gonna miss another adventure, that's for sure!" Frances said with determination.
"Me neither!" Danny echoed.
"Y'know, I'm definitely down to do the tournament again," Frances said.
"Same," Danny added. "I kinda wish I got to do more fighting, but whatever. It felt good helping Chris though."
"I'm really proud of you for doing that, Danny," Helen said.
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" Frances piped up. "I heard they're taking feedback for the tournament now. There were a lot of people watching, way more than they thought, but there were also a lot of people who hated it and refused to watch it because there were tens of thousands of people who signed up, but they were told they couldn't fight because the government wanted to choose who was going to fight."
"False advertising?" Helen asked in surprise. She didn't know about this because she didn't sign up for the tournament.
"But that doesn't even make any sense, like why did we get chosen over like actual wrestlers?" Danny asked.
"I don't know, maybe the government wanted certain people to fight? Maybe…?" Helen guessed. "It's good that they're taking feedback though."
Danny was just about to say something else when he heard the sound of a jet engine from close by. He looked up, and his friends followed his gaze to see a blue robot that seemed to resemble Sonic. It was carrying five capsules that were attached to its hand with yellow electronic ropes.
Helen let out an alarmed gasp.
"Ch-Chris!" she exclaimed, pointing up. "Oh my gosh, I see Chris up there!"
"Wait, are you sure?" Frances asked in surprise.
"I know it is! He's wearing the same red shirt he always wears!"
"Cream is up there too!" Danny pointed out as the robot gradually became a speck in the distance. "And there were a couple others too, but I didn't see who they were."
Helen shook herself out of her trance and reached into her wheelchair pocket for her phone. Pulling it out and unlocking it, she dialed 911.
"911, what is your emergency?" the operator asked her.
"I-I just saw a robot flying over Harris Bingham Memorial Park," she spoke, trying to keep her voice clear even though it was shaky. "It just kidnapped Chris Thorndyke and Cream and a few others."
"Okay, which direction did you see it going in?"
"Um…" she thought for a moment.
"Northeast," Danny quietly told Helen, looking up at the sky.
"Northeast," Helen repeated to the operator. "And it was a blue robot. It kinda looked like Sonic."
"Okay," she said. "We got a few calls already about a robot flying over Station Square, but yours is the first to mention kidnapping. Just to confirm, are you in Harris Bingham Park right now?"
"Yeah," Helen said.
"Okay, we're going to tell GUN about this, but in the meantime, we'll send a few officers to you so you can tell them exactly what you saw, okay?" the operator gently told her.
"Okay," Helen responded, sounding a little calmer now.
A moment later, Helen was allowed to hang up the call with the 911 operator.
"Uh, I just realized something," Danny said, looking a bit wary. "What if Eggman's gonna kidnap us next? Uh… maybe we should go somewhere safe and hide."
"The 911 operator told me she wants us to stay here because the police want to talk to us," Helen relayed.
"Okay…?" Danny said, sounding a bit unsure.
"He didn't look like he was interested in us," Frances said. "I don't think he saw us."
"And besides, Sonic said we're not on his radar," Helen said.
"Okay, that's good," Danny said. "I guess we can wait here then."
GUN Division Alpha HQ – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
Much to Shadow's expectation and annoyance, there was an uproar the moment he and his comrades stepped into the main lobby of GUN's main headquarters. Before Shadow could react, he and Omega were restrained by several soldiers in seconds. Shadow's arms were physically pinned behind his back.
"Nobody move!" one of the soldiers demanded.
"I am not programmed to comply with hostile apprehension," Omega told the soldiers. "Release us or face annihilation–"
"Stand down, Omega," Shadow told him. "Rouge has a plan."
Rouge nodded before she turned to the GUN soldiers detaining Shadow and Omega. "Any of you boys know if Topaz is around?"
"No, she is not," one of the base's head security staff members told her. "She is currently overseeing the departure of reinforcements to Area 99."
"Ah," Rouge said. "I was hoping we'd get to see her. Something really important came up and–"
"Hold on, are you with these two?" the security guard asked her suspiciously.
"More like these two are with me," Rouge corrected. "Though you might wanna go easy on 'em, they just came here and don't like when you roughhouse with them."
"We're not dumb," the guard said. "I don't know what you're thinking, but Shadow has been on our watchlist since December, and this robot with him is obviously Eggman's technology."
"Do not associate me with that egotistic dictator," Omega warned.
"I wasn't talking to you," the guard told him, before turning his focus back to Rouge.
"These two are my teammates," Rouge pleaded. "My friends even!"
"You have a questionable taste in friends, huh?" the guard told him. "We have confirmation that he broke into Superior and vanished afterward. It was only a matter of time until he showed up again."
"Hey, hear me out for a sec," Rouge said. "What if I told you the Shadow you're talking about was not the real Shadow? I was there on the ARK firsthand, so that's how I know this. So here's the deal. Ask Shadow whatever you want. Prove he's the real Shadow. He should tell you something the fake one doesn't know. I told you guys TONS about Shadow in the past, something should click–"
"All right, what's going on here?" came an authoritative voice from the other end of the room. Rouge and her interrogator looked up to see Topaz striding into the lobby. "And who are these people you're detaining?"
"Oh! Topaz!" Rouge said, turning to her friend. "Remember all those times I told you about Shadow and Omega? Well, say hi to them! Shadow, Rouge, this is my teammate Topaz!"
"Ma'am, Shadow is considered a federal enemy," the guard told her. "Disregarding the fact he was supposedly a Phantom Ruby illusion, he did resist arrest and destroy several vehicles, and this was last night. So you shouldn't get too comfortable with them."
"You're not listening to their side of the story," Topaz said, not sounding impressed with the guard's explanation. "Hear them out. Listen to what they have to say."
The head security guard looked from Topaz to Shadow. He didn't seem convinced by what Topaz said, but he was still interested in what Shadow's side of the story was.
"Right…" Shadow said warily, looking around the room. Two GUN soldiers were watching him carefully to make sure he didn't make any sudden moves.
However, about two minutes into his explanation, where he was telling everyone about how he and Omega left Seattle, a GUN secretary ran into the room.
"Ma'am, we have an urgent situation," he told her.
"Hold that thought, Shadow," Topaz said before turning to face the secretary. "What is it?"
"We received intel from SSTV that Sonic has been roboticized," he said. "According to several eyewitness, he has already kidnapped five hostages."
"Any word on who the hostages are?" Topaz asked.
"Yes," the secretary responded. "We have several reports that confirm without a doubt that Christopher Thorndyke and Cream the Rabbit are among the hostages, and allegedly Vanilla the Rabbit, Cheese the Chao, and Chocola the Chao may be the other three according to at least one report."
Rouge didn't say anything, but she could tell that the situation was grim by reading the room. Looking up at Topaz, she could tell that the gears in her mind were turning. Topaz was always fast-thinking, and the bat had come to expect this from her.
"Okay, I trust Rouge, and all of you will just have to take her word for it, because Shadow and Omega are coming with us."
"See, I told you everything would be fine, Shadow," Rouge said, approaching the black hedgehog as his captors released him. "Not that different from back home."
"That's true, in a way," Shadow said.
"Oh yeah, this is Sergeant Topaz," Rouge said, introducing the human to Shadow and Omega. "Together she and I are Team Jasper."
"Still think that's cringe," Topaz called from ahead of them.
"Hey, it's not my fault the name stuck around here, hon," Rouge said. "But yeah, she and I are super close business partners. Kinda like Earth's version of Madonna."
"I'm assuming you're not talking about the singer Madonna," Topaz said in a monotone voice.
"And your assumption would be correct," Rouge stated.
"I see you really have made yourself comfortable around here," Shadow noted as he picked up the pace to keep up with Rouge.
"Wasn't too hard," Rouge said with a shrug as she and her comrades rounded a corner. "They really know how to make a girl feel at home. They make coffee like no one's looking. So yeah, I know my peeps."
But no one responded to her, and Rouge realized that she was just rambling. Like Sonic, she tended to ramble when there was stress in the air, although she didn't do it as much as the speedy hedgehog.
"There's no way the doctor is this desperate this early," Topaz said quietly.
"What if he's not desperate?" Rouge asked. "For all we know, he could be making precautions to make sure we can't interfere with his plan… whatever his plan is."
They kept walking through the base for another two minutes before Topaz' shoulder radio crackled.
"Sergeant, we have located the doctor's battle station," a soldier told her over radio. "It is thirty miles east of Salt Lake City."
"Thank you, we're on our way to Area 99 now," she said curtly.
Rouge caught on to Topaz' demeanor. Something seemed off about the way she was acting. She didn't have that usual pep in her step that Rouge seemed to have rubbed off on her. And she was determined to get to the bottom of it.
The Great Basin – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
Knuckles was running through the rocky desert in search of the Chaos Emerald. While the air was hot and dry, the echidna was doing his best to not focus on that as he ran. It was quiet, with the only sounds being his own footsteps across the rocks.
Although he landed far off the mark, he could still faintly sense the Emerald in the distance. It was like a slight tingling sensation in different corners of his brain, and when he changed directions, so did the tingling sensation.
It didn't help that the desert was a lot hotter than usual even though it was late March, not to mention the glare of the sun was in his eyes. Plus, there were rocks everywhere, which made his job harder because everywhere looked the same as where he had just been. This was not like his usual Chaos Emerald hunts because the Great Basin was a lot larger than some of the deserts back on Mobius.
Sure wish I brought my favorite treasure-hunting hat, he thought.
With each step he took, he found the tingling in his brain getting stronger, and roughly eight minutes later by his estimate, he spotted a cyan light on the ground that shone in his eyes. Squinting, he bent down and picked up the Chaos Emerald.
I knew it wouldn't take long, he thought. And now to find the Death Egg. They better save plenty of action for me.
He took off through the rocky hills, gliding whenever he could to save his running energy. Judging by the position of the sun, he knew which direction the X-Tornado had gone in, so getting lost wasn't a problem for him.
The sound of a jet broke the morning silence of the desert, and Knuckles stopped to listen to where it was coming from. It was definitely not a plane of some sort. It sounded more like–
He whipped his head around to see Eggman approaching his general direction in his Eggmobile. There was a wrecking ball attached to the bottom.
Going old-school, I see, Knuckles thought.
However, it didn't seem like Eggman saw him, so Knuckles concealed the Emerald in his Hammerspace and hid behind one of the rocks, carefully watching the mad scientist to see what he would do next. He wasn't afraid of Eggman, but he wanted to see if he could ambush him.
"It's no use hiding, Knuckles," Eggman told him through the Eggmobile's loudspeaker. "I know you're back there with the Chaos Emerald."
Knuckles knew this was his time to strike. He leaped out of hiding and took a flying leap toward Eggman, but he dodged and swung his wrecking ball at him. Knuckles barely had any time to vault himself out of the way before it smashed through the rock face right near where Knuckles had just been standing.
When Knuckles turned back to Eggman, he saw that the doctor was flying too high for him to reach.
"You know you could have brought in something stronger, right?" Knuckles taunted. However, Eggman chuckled in response.
"On the contrary, Knuckles," Eggman said, "my 'weakness' is merely a facade."
He flew directly toward Knuckles again, but as he got close, the checker-patterned wrecking ball suddenly detached from its chain. Several panels on its surface slid around, and tiny engines emerged from the dark-colored panels to keep itself aloft, while laser blasters materialized from the light-colored ones.
"Huh, this is new…" Knuckles thought aloud. "The wrecking ball itself is a robot now. You're still going down the same though."
Knuckles picked up a nearby rock the size of a baseball, and hurled it at the wrecking ball robot. However, it did nothing. Eggman laughed.
"You must have forgotten how durable my wrecking ball is," he said.
"And you must have forgotten that this is near a state park!" Knuckles fired back.
Eggman paused, staring at him. "So what? What difference is that supposed to make?"
"It's protected land," Knuckles told him. "Just like Angel Island."
"It makes no difference to me," Eggman said, crossing his arms as the wrecking ball flew after Knuckles, firing lasers at him as he ran. "I deployed my E-47 unit to a state park, and my Egg Dome was built in a state forest. Land is land. It'll all be part of the Eggman Empire in the end anyway."
Knuckles skillfully dodged the wrecking ball's attacks, but then it suddenly changed tactics and fired at a rock above Knuckles. He didn't see it, and it fell on him without warning, sending him sprawling to the ground.
"Blindsighted as always, my friend," Eggman said with a grin. "Sorry I can't stay any longer, but Operation Endgame awaits and I must return to the helm. And I'm not worried about the Emerald. My robot will take care of things from here."
"Oh no you don't!" Knuckles growled, leaping to his feet and making a quick recovery. However, Eggman was already a speck in the distance by now, and his robot was gaining on him.
He tried to evade the robot by weaving his way through the narrow rock structures of Utah, but it was faster than he thought. He knew it was after the Emerald, but he had the advantage because the passageways were narrow. But even for him, they were quite claustrophobic, and he took special care to not get stuck anywhere. He blazed through the canyons as fast as he could go, using his legs and spiked gloves as leverage. However, he could still hear the small jets of the wrecking ball behind him.
Knuckles really wanted to catch his breath and call Tails to let him know he had the Emerald, but he wasn't able to do that with the wrecking ball so close behind him. It didn't have anything like rugged terrain to worry about like he did. And he couldn't make his way to the Death Egg without it being on his tail either, not to mention he didn't know if it could detect the Emerald.
The canyon started to widen the farther he got, so Knuckles broke into a glide before he spotted a cleft in the rock face near a creek that ran through the rocks below him. He flew into the cleft and waited there for a bit. The ground was uneven and there was only enough room for him, but he made do for now.
However, his suspicions were confirmed when he heard the robot slowing down outside his hiding spot. He burst out of hiding and glided to the other side of the canyon, which was only about twenty feet away, before rapidly scaling the near-vertical wall to the top. The robot wasted no time blasting at him, and one of the lasers impaled the rock right near his head, which urged him to climb even faster.
He reached the top of the canyon and pulled himself up, then looked down to see the robot floating up toward him. Knuckles looked further downstream, then reared his arm back and hurled the Emerald as hard as he could. It landed in the river, but Knuckles smirked in satisfaction when he saw the robot fly toward the Emerald instead of him.
Taking advantage of this distraction, Knuckles pulled his Shovel Claws from Hammerspace and dug a chunk of the cliff twice the size of his entire body out of its place, then lifted it above his head with ease and threw it directly at the robot. It easily hit its target, crushing the robot in midair and sending it plummeting to the ground, where it landed with a splash in the river below.
With Eggman's robot out of the way, Knuckles glided down toward the creek and landed in it. He felt the water rush around him, but fortunately for him, the water was chest-deep. He located the familiar glint of the Emerald and picked it up.
Even if Eggman tricks me all the time, he thought as he examined the Emerald, boy does it feel good to get him back. Or at least one of his robots, that is.
Stored the Chaos Emerald in Hyperspace, the echidna waded out of the creek and activated his comlink.
"Hey Tails, are you there?" he asked. "I found the Emerald, and I'm on my way to the Death Egg now."
"Perfect timing, Knuckles," Tails told him. "I can see the Death Egg now, which means we'll be landing there in a few minutes."
"Awesome, just make sure you save some action for me!" Knuckles said with a smirk. Hanging up his call with Tails, he hastily climbed out of the canyon and raced across the rocky desert.
A/N: And that concludes part five of the Operation Endgame Saga! And Danny, Frances, Helen, and Chris' guardians are finally back! :D
I was originally going to have Danny, Frances, and Helen's conversation be about Danny helping Chris get his motivation back. But I kinda felt like Chris got a lot of screen time already, so I changed it up to be a more general conversation.
I was also originally planning to have the humans incapable of using the Chaos Emeralds altogether, but then when I was writing this chapter, I was hit with a last-minute idea for new Chaos Emerald lore, that humans can die if they use the Emeralds. Now I'm kicking myself that I didn't think of it sooner when I wrote chapter 49! I'll still work with it somehow. As for the case of Chris in episode 18 / chapter 17, that will be revealed soon.
I named this chapter Meticulous because Eggman is basically playing 4D chess in this arc. He's not leaving anything up to chance this time.
Let me know your thoughts in the reviews! Every little bit helps!
Also, before I go, I'd like to hear your input on something. I'm working on plans for episode 62, and in the Japanese version, when Tails and Cosmo read the Metarex's plans, Cosmo sees something about "implementation of the the Galaxy Corridor Fortress Project. I know that the Galaxy Corridor, or the Intergalactic Cloister in the dub, is the tunnel that connects the two universes in episode 66. The project could be referring to the forestation project at the climax, but then where would the Galaxy Corridor fit in? It could also refer to Black Narcissus' base in episode 67, which also makes use of fake Chaos Emeralds, plus the base is practically a fortress. And just now I'm realizing that it could also refer to the space station in episodes 63 and 64! So my question is, What do you think the Galaxy Corridor Fortress Project is? I'm interested to hear your input!
Next time is part six of Operation Endgame! Don't miss it!
