A/N: RIP Rachel Lillis. I found out about this the other day and I was honestly quite surprised. Not only was she the voice of Misty, Jessie, and Jigglypuff in Pokemon, but she also voiced Danny in Sonic X. It's pretty shocking that she was as young as she was when she passed away. She will be dearly missed.
On a happier note, hi everyone! I'm back (again again)!
I seriously didn't plan on taking another hiatus so soon, but the site had been having serious problems with emails. However, not only are they being restored, but the whole website is being migrated to new servers, which should help things in the long run. In the meantime, I've been regularly updating on AO3, and I have a hefty backlog of chapters that I'm gonna start posting here every Thursday, and so far it'll take us into mid-October!
If you're in my Discord server or following me on AO3, you've probably seen this chapter already since all future chapters are posted there first for diehard fans of my stories. In fact, I'm nearly finished Season 2 on AO3, and in time, all of those chapters will be published here!
But anyway, I hope this chapter has been worth the wait!
Speaking of waiting, I know a lot of people are impatient for the third movie trailer. However, the trailer for the second movie didn't come out until four months before the movie, and we're four months away from the third movie, so we should get the trailer any time now.
Also, I'd like to make a special announcement! This year, I wanna see if I can try my hand at Whumptober 2024! I know I haven't been updating my other stories nearly as much as this one, but I want to see if I can give Whumptober a try. I've been excited about it since June, and I have plenty of experience with whumping on Chris, including several times in this story, as well as in Proving Innocence and True Intentions. Even if I don't finish all the prompts, I will definitely try as many as I can.
Also, I want to thank you guys so much for helping this story get to 300 favorites!
I originally finished this chapter on April 17, 2024, and posted it on AO3 on June 1, 2024!
I would like to thank manyv04, Pikapikauser4788, LazinessRules, Angel Marlow, Aussie-Soviet-2024, Lady Aiko2, Channel 101 Productions, LegendaryUbisoftDiCMovieMaster, Paradox9120, WasteMyTime247, and Methew for favoriting and following since my last chapter!
Without further ado, let's move on to the reviews and what matters most: the story!
12 Reviews
danielman21
With any luck and hope, someone will be rescuing them soon! As for Metal Sonic, it's easy for humans to jump to conclusions because they don't know about Metal Sonic, so they naturally think Eggman roboticized Sonic.
Monster King
Thanks! Here is the next chapter!
blazenight01
That's an interesting thought... Don't worry, there's gonna be an explanation for that coming up soon.
I had a feeling that's what the Galaxy Corridor Fortress Project might have been, but I think the "Galaxy Corridor" part was what threw me off. Maybe the project was to make the forestation project spread through the Galaxy Corridor to affect all known universes?
You know, that could be a possible scenario during the six months of peace between Seasons 1 and 2! And not only that, but that's what the Freedom Movement in the original anime should have been about, rather then everyone acting like Sonic because they feel like it! So yeah, I can totally see how Angel Island being brought over would inspire the nature lovers, although I'm sure a certain echidna wouldn't be too happy with a bunch of people walking around on his island XD
Super duper waffles (first review)
1. Since the United States' division of GUN uses the Greek letters Alpha through Zeta, the other divisions in the world use the letters Eta onward, although I don't think there are enough divisions in the world to make it all the way to Omega. As for their role, it is largely the same as the divisions in the US: they are essentially a special division of the military that defends the host countries on the civil level. Since the UN has peacekeeping officers, the UN commissioned GUN to be a peacemaking army. GUN forces usually don't travel outside their home countries or divisions since that's what the rest of the military is for.
2. Yes, all five of the main Sonic cast have played Smash Ultimate! Since I've never played it myself, I'm not sure who they would main, but I would imagine Tails would main Fox and Amy would main someone like Lucario, but if I do get a chance to play it myself, I'll definitely revisit this question!
3. Yes, each of the S-Team members carry handcuffs cand other police gear with them on each of their missions! However, while the cars could technically be equipped with a section for carrying prisoners, it wouldn't be aerodynamic or practical, so they need to wait for actual cop cars to come pick up the criminals.
4. The United Federation was founded almost twice as long ago as the United States, and they were founded in a similar way too: to express freedom. I'm not sure of all the details yet surrounding their founding, but I will say that the United Federation was the inspiration for the early Mobian governments, who in turn later evolved to become their own unique entities.
I really like that idea! While I can't guarantee that it would be made anytime soon, I would imagine that Tails would have a very hard time explaining how he would be considered fiction in another universe, or how someone would have heard of Sonic and everyone else and made video games, comics, and TV shows of them. But he would eventually come to the conclusion you mentioned about Earth being a middle ground. But yeah, I could likely make a oneshot of it, maybe Eggman hears about it too and tries to find a way to go there but Sonic stops him as always. Thanks for the idea!
thor94
Now why would I kill off Eggman? If I recall correctly, whenever Eggman wasn't around for long periods of time, he got a bit antsy, and in turn, Eggman wants to defeat Sonic on his terms, even going to make sure that other villains don't do it in his place. It's like they need each other in a strange way.
Five-Chosen (first review)
I could see the Metarex doing something like that with the Chaos and Sol Emeralds. Maybe when Final Mova enters its final stage, it attempts to use the combined Emeralds to destroy the universe altogether, and since the two sets of Emeralds can't normally coexist with each other, that's how Dark Oak could do it.
Five-Chosen (second review)
That would be incredible if Metal Sonic and Amy get to appear in the third film! And I'm surprised they didn't do anything with the quill in the second movie, but I'm hoping they pick up that loose end in the third movie.
And I know, that is super annoying about FFN's comments, which is why I like the AO3 comment section better in my opinion.
Five-Chosen (third review)
I'm not sure if I'll have the big misunderstanding with the Chaotix that would lead up to that moment, because the heroes should be able to recognize the Chaotix' detective agency at a glance, even if they don't recognize the ship it is attached to. But if I did incorporate that, it would be a cool idea for the others to have their own hammer in a different color as a reference. Maybe there's a way I could incorporate that elsewhere.
Also, I never thought about the heroes bringing Wispons into space, but I can learn more about then and see if there's a way I could incorporate them somehow.
Five-Chosen (fourth review)
While I did realize the connection between Black Narcissus and the flower he is named after, I don't think I ever realized that detail from Greek mythology! That would probably explain why he is named after a flower while all the other Metarex generals are named after trees.
I also had no idea that galax and cosmos flowers were a thing! I always thought that 4Kids gave Galaxina her name because it sounded like a space name, similar to Cosmo.
(On a similar note, I gave names to the Metarex leaders' ships, which I'll reveal in the story in due time :) )
Super duper waffles (second review)
It's all good, keep those questions coming! :D
1. As far as I know, none of them have seen A Quiet Place. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream aren't too big on horror, although Sonic has seen a couple horror movies, but not too many.
2. In addition to the MCU, an alternate version of GUN has appeared in the DC Comics universe, but they have also appeared in National Treasure (which has more than two installments in this universe), the Ocean's Eleven franchise, and a few action TV shows that are similar in vein to Black Mirror, Doctor Who, and a few others whose names escape me.
3. Sonic and friends have collaborated with a few different car and insurance commercials (think GEICO and Progressive), as well as doing commercials for sponsoring events. I don't know which companies in particular, but I'll be sure to update this answer when I think of some. But the commercials they're best known for are their PSAs. In a way, they're similar to the PSAs at the end of every Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog episode. For example, Tails' PSAs have a strong anti-bullying stance, and he encourages people to believe in themselves, and Sonic coves a wide variety of different topics. It might be fun to explore these in more detail sometime.
4. Sonic and his friends do use social media, and they all have their own accounts, but they don't use them as much as humans do. Amy uses her account the most of all the Mobians, Sonic takes pictures of places he's been whenever he remembers to bring his phone, Tails shares videos and vlogs of his various projects, and so on.
Five-Chosen (fifth review)
Okay, I REALLY like that idea! Eggman Nega would almost certainly lose to the Metarex because of how strong they are, and since I'm sure Blaze won't tell them anything about the Sol Emeralds' capabilities, they capture Marine instead, and she spills the beans. I may actually incorporate this into the story, thanks for the idea!
Chapter 52
Original Episode
Operation Endgame Part 6: The Escape
Thorndyke Mansion – Tue March 21 – Chris' POV
I slowly opened my eyes, finding myself in bed. I vaguely remembered struggling against something, but that was all I could remember. It felt very real, but I knew it was just a dream. Sometimes dreams had a way of working like that.
I wanted to ask someone about that, just to make sure it was a dream and not my mind playing tricks on me. But then I remembered that Sonic was kidnapped last night, and all my friends were out looking for him. And Shadow showed up, only to leave just as quickly. It was probably the Chaos Emerald I had used last night when I was freeing my friends from the Society. Maybe it was playing tricks on my memory. There were a lot of reasons everyone told me to never use the Chaos Emeralds, and not just because I was human.
I slipped out of bed and made my way out into the hall. I was too curious now, so I completely forgot to brush my teeth and change into my day clothes. But I looked down to see that I was already wearing my day clothes. And then I remembered, it was the same outfit I was wearing when I blew up the Egg Dome. Somehow it wasn't ragged and torn considering the force of the explosion I had made.
However, when I reached the top of the stairs, I didn't hear any activity anywhere. I knew for a fact that it was not my birthday, so no one was hiding somewhere to plan a surprise for me. Otherwise, I was almost never home alone because my guardians and friends knew I was scared of being home alone. I thought it was strange that I didn't see or hear any signs of life by now.
I made my way down the stairs. Usually I could hear activity in the living room and dining room from the stairs. But there were no sounds other than my sneakers on the tiled stairs.
I ran through the foyer, calling for my guardians, but there was no one in sight. I ran through every room downstairs, but five minutes later, I still didn't see any sign of anyone. Now I was panicking.
I burst through the living room door and ran out to the garage.
Please be in there… Please be in there…!
But when I opened the garage door, I was greeted with silence in both the garage and Chuck's lab! I ran back down the stairs to the big garage door and looked through the small windows to see that the limo, Grandpa's car, and the X-Tornado were all gone!
I was home alone!
And no one told me anything about this!
The only place I hadn't searched in the house was the underground workshop. At this point I knew it wasn't a surprise party, because if it was and everyone was down there, then it was a sick joke everyone was playing on me, and I knew everyone well enough that they would never do something like that.
I entered the code for the elevator and waited impatiently for the doors to open. When they finally opened, I wasted no time running inside. The doors shut, but I did not expect what happened next.
Everything became pitch black. Not even the overhead light was on.
And then it started free-falling.
I screamed as the elevator fell, and I clung to the walls to maintain my balance. Besides being home alone, two of my other biggest fears were falling and darkness, and now they were combined in one terrifying moment.
I trusted Tails when he flew his planes, so I wasn't afraid of falling when I was with him. Otherwise, this fear was one of the reasons I didn't like drop rides at the carnival, which was odd since I loved roller coasters.
The elevator slowed to a sudden stop, and I felt very lightheaded from my descent, not to mention I felt weird in my stomach. I didn't feel sick, just strange. And then the doors finally opened.
Except I wasn't in the underground lab.
I immediately recognized my surroundings as the park I was in with my friends back when the Solar Balls were active!
I stepped out of the elevator and looked around. Instead of it being completely dark like it was over a month ago, it was sunset, so there was still plenty of light left. But it didn't make sense because it was morning when I woke up ten minutes ago.
When I looked behind me, I saw that the elevator had mysteriously vanished. That should not have been possible, as if it not taking me to the underground lab wasn't impossible enough.
I felt my breathing getting faster as reality started to set in. The park I was in was a huge field, and I estimated that it would take me a whole two minutes to reach the trees at the closest point if I ran at top speed. That was how big the park was.
But as I scanned the trees, I noticed the X-Tornado parked on the other side of the park, as well as Tails, Sonic, Amy, and Cream all climbing inside the plane. I didn't know if they saw me. I really hoped they did. They wouldn't leave me behind away from home after dark.
"Wait!" I screamed as I ran toward them with everything I had. "WAAAAIIIIIIT!"
I was running so fast that I tripped and fell on my face in the grass. I barely had the time to catch myself as I fell. When I looked up, the X-Tornado was already flying away without giving me a second thought.
Not only was I alone once again, but now I felt alone. My worst fear was in maximum overdrive. And there was no one I could turn to for help. I had to run somewhere, anywhere.
But as I ran toward the tree line, the darkness started to close around me, eclipsing the setting sun and the moon that gradually started to rise in the east. The sky was completely pitch black now, but I could still faintly see the trees ahead of me. However, the closer I got to them, the farther away they seemed to get.
"Wh-Where are you?" I called. "P-Please come back! Don't leave me!"
I sounded pathetic in hindsight, but I was so overcome with emotion that I couldn't control what I was saying.
Before long, I was surrounded by complete darkness. The trees were long gone, and even the grass had vanished. The only thing I could see in the pitch black environment was myself, which surprised me in a way, since I half expected that I wouldn't be able to see myself anymore.
If I wasn't alone before, I definitely was now. Not only was there no one else nearby, but there was nothing else too. It was like I was going through sensory deprivation, but I could still see myself and hear my own heart beating in my chest like a jackhammer.
After nearly thirty seconds by my estimate, I heard what sounded like a shredding noise coming from nearby. I froze in fear at the sound that seemed to echo from everywhere. It sounded like a chainsaw cutting through a chainlink fence in a haunted warehouse in the wee hours of the night. It was like a horror movie, but somehow worse.
It died down after a while, and silence reigned once again. I felt tears pricking my eyes. I was surprised I hadn't cried before. Everything I was going through was too much for me to handle. And nothing around me was familiar because I couldn't see anything at all. I couldn't hear anything at all either, not after that mysterious shredding sound. I could only guess what that was.
Suddenly I felt a pair of hands grabbing my shoulders from behind, and I screamed!
"Hey, easy, easy!"
That was the first familiar voice I had heard in what felt like all day. The hands pulled me out of the black realm I was trapped in and brought me back to reality. I didn't know what was happening. I felt disoriented, and I was hyperventilating. The pair of hands were holding onto my shoulders to keep me steady. My eyes were darting everywhere, until they locked onto a pair of emerald green eyes and blue fur and quills.
"S… Sonic…?"
"You're okay, Chris," he told me. "You're in a prison on the Death Egg."
That was news to me. I blinked again as I studied my surroundings. Just like Sonic had said, I was in a small prison cell with three walls and a transparent panel that served as a door. It was so small that the only way I could lie down without bending my knees was if I lay down corner to corner.
I was so overcome with emotion that I immediately grabbed Sonic and hugged him tightly, tears spilling freely from my eyes. I was still in shock, so I didn't say anything, but my heart wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn't bring myself to do it because I was emotionally distraught.
Even though Sonic didn't say anything, I knew that just him being there for me was a huge help. I hugged him for a moment longer before finally letting go.
"I… I was home…" I said in shock. "And then I was in a big park… and now I'm here." I looked back at Sonic. "I… I think I had a nightmare…"
"It wasn't really a nightmare," Sonic said as he stood up. "But it sure felt like one, didn't it? Yeah, I know what you went through. I went through the exact same thing myself a couple times after I woke up. You must have breathed some Phantom mist when you were waking up."
I stood up as well and wiped the tears from my eyes. "I… thought the Phantom Ruby couldn't do that," I said.
"Me neither, but Eggman told me he found way to extract a mist-like something or whatever from the Phantom Ruby and pump it through the vents. And it's powered by the Death Egg itself. The mist is new from the last time I was here on the Death Egg."
"Um…" I looked down at him in concern, only noticing a hole in the wall between my cell and what I assumed was his. "Are you okay talking about this?"
"I'll make it through," Sonic told me with a thumbs-up. "There's no mountain I can't run across. Now, how about we find a way outta here?"
"Did you try escaping before?" I asked.
"Is water wet?" Sonic responded. "Yeah, all night. I tried the door, the ceiling, the walls – this thing's pretty much airtight. Even the vent wouldn't move an inch."
"Then how did you break the wall to get to me?" I asked, looking at the hedgehog-sized hole in the wall and the metallic debris underneath it.
"It was already pretty weak from all the times I tried to break outta here, and the moment I heard you makin' noise, I literally gave it my all. It's not like I'm gonna let a wall separate me from my buddy."
Of course, I was scared that we were both in prison. The last thing I remembered before I woke up was me in third place at Sunshine Airport in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Then there had been a sudden crash, and before I could react, I felt myself looking up at a robot version of Sonic before getting sleepy.
I was scared, but I didn't want to let my fear show in front of Sonic because I knew he was scared of the Death Egg because of the Phantom War. If it weren't for Tails and Amy telling me about it on the cruise ship, I would never have guessed that he went through any form of psychological trauma.
I looked up to see that there was an entrance to the air duct above my cell too.
"Maybe we can try escaping through there," I said, still looking up.
"Already tried the vent," Sonic said. "It wouldn't move, but then again, I only tried bouncing myself into it, and I didn't have enough room to even do that. But I didn't try opening it normally 'cuz I'm not tall enough for that.
"No, I mean, like you can push me up there and I can escape," I clarified. "And then I can pull you up."
Sonic looked at me in concern. "But there's Phantom mist being pumped through the Death Egg, Chris. It's all flowing through the vents, so if you go in there, you're gonna end up breathing a lot of it."
"But we have to do it," I told him. "Because you said you couldn't break any of the doors and walls, so going in the vent is the only way to get out of here."
Sonic smiled. "That's really brave of you, bud. All right, get ready, I'm gonna boost you up there."
Suddenly that sounded like a bad idea. I looked down at Sonic.
"Actually… I don't know about that because I'm bigger than you," I said.
"I carried you lots of times, Chris, no sweat," Sonic told me, also looking up at the vent cover. "You know what, maybe it is better if we do it the other way around. You boost me up and I'll pull you in. Sound good?"
"But what if you fall?" I asked Sonic.
"No big deal," Sonic said, giving me a thumbs-up. "Plus I'm strong. Trust me, I'm not gonna fall."
I glanced around outside the cell to make sure I didn't see any robots. Fortunately, I didn't see any. I didn't want anyone to see us trying to escape.
"I know, looks are deceiving," Sonic told me as he joined me in front of the door. "But this place is heavily guarded. The ol' Egghead's got surveillance covering every square inch of this place."
"So that means he'll see us escaping?" I asked in concern.
Sonic shrugged. "Probably, doesn't mean he can do anything about it."
I spent a moment examining the door that separated us from the hall. There were other cells, but I couldn't see anyone in them. I could see keypads next to each cell, but I couldn't see the one outside of our cell.
"Everything looks electronic…" I mused.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Sonic responded. "Kinda tempted to use one of my quills to pick the lock, but this is definitely not like Robuttnik's old prisons." He took a step back before looking back up at the vent cover. "Think you can give me a boost, Chris?"
"I can try…" I said as I got behind Sonic. I took a deep breath before wrapping my arms around his waist and lifting him off the ground. It wasn't my first time picking him up, but I didn't do it often, and he was roughly the same weight as me. Plus I had to be careful to not get pricked by any of his quills.
"I-I don't know if I can do this!" I grunted.
"No, you got this!" Sonic said.
I tried to resposition my legs so I would have better balance. But when I looked up, I could see that the vent cover was just barely out of Sonic's reach.
"Just a little more…" he told me in a strained voice.
"I'm holding you as high as I can," I said. I didn't want to drop him, not when we were so close. But my arms were starting to feel tired.
"Hold on, I got a new idea," Sonic said. He bent his legs backward until he was standing on my shoulders. "Okay, grab my legs!" he instructed. I carefully let go of his waist and grabbed his legs, so now he was standing a lot taller than before. With this extra height, he was able to reach the vent cover. However, it was still fastened very tight.
"It's gonna be one of these covers, huh…?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"It opens inward. Rare, but not impossible. Even when I bashed myself against it, it still didn't budge. Maybe it just needs a little constant force."
I heard him grunt as he pushed against the cover, which also added more pressure on my shoulders, and I tried not to wince in pain. But before long, I heard a pop from above me."
"Got it! Thanks, Chris!" he called. He grasped the ledge and pulled himself up into the vent, and I massaged my aching shoulders.
"Up here," I heard him call softly, and I looked up to see him leaning down from the vent's entrance, reaching his hand down to me.
"Uh, is there enough room up there for me?" I asked cautiously.
"It's a little bit of a tight squeeze," Sonic said after a moment, "but yeah, I think there's enough room for you."
"Okay," I said. I reached both my hands up toward Sonic's hands, and fortunately he was able to firmly grasp my hands and slowly lift me off the ground. Even though I had witnessed Sonic's strength hundreds of times before, it amazed me that he was able to lift me into the air from his otherwise cramped position.
I was slowly pulled into the vent, and I ducked my head once it was inside. Sonic backed up a bit, and I eased myself forward on my stomach, allowing the rest of me to enter as well.
"There you go," Sonic told me. "You mind backing up a bit so I can put the cover back on?"
I nodded before scooting myself backward. However, I misjudged how big the opening was, and I almost fell back into the prison cell. My heart skipped a beat.
"I gotcha," Sonic told me as he grabbed my hands again. This gave me the confidence to move my legs back to the other side of the cover and scoot myself back. He then eased the rest of me across the gap before putting the cover back.
"That was close," I said, looking at the cover. It was translucent, which meant I could see through it, but not clearly.
"You okay?" Sonic asked, looking up at me.
"Yeah, you were holding onto me," I said.
"I meant in general," the hedgehog clarified. "Like when you got over the Phantom illusion when you woke up, you immediately started crying." He glanced down before looking back up at me. "What exactly did you see?"
I told him what I had seen as best as I could, and Sonic looked thoughtful over everything.
"So Eggman's using the Phantom Ruby to bring out our worst fears," he mused. "Not a trend I wanna see more of… not after the war."
"Wait… is that what you went through in the war…?" I asked cautiously. Sonic averted his gaze for a moment, before quietly sighing and giving a small nod.
"Don't worry about me, I got more hope now than I did then, so yeah," he said as he gradually rolled over to face away from me. "We gotta get a move on, Chris. Don't wanna lose the element of surprise, now do we?"
Sonic started crawling through the air duct, and I crawled after him, which was hard to do since I had to keep my body low to the ground. The air duct wasn't exactly made for people to crawl through, yet it seemed to be a recurring trend.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"I'll figure that out along the way," he said nonchalantly. "But I could probably look for the Chaos Emeralds somewhere."
His response didn't surprise me in the least. I had spent so much time around Sonic that I had grown used to his carefree attitude about these things, and in a way, it was starting to rub off on me.
"Something's been bothering me for some reason," I said.
"Hm?"
"When I was watching the news earlier… it said you were turned into a robot."
"What are you talking about?" Sonic asked in confusion. "Ohhh, Metal Sonic, huh? Oh, that makes so much sense now! The doc said something about me being dead to the world and having plans with Metal or something or other. That makes sense now!"
"I think he was the one who brought me here," I recalled, straining to think back."
Suddenly sonic flinched at something in front of me and almost jumped back in the vent. I had to stop before I bumped into him and got a face full of quills.
"Wh-What is it?" I asked, not expecting this sudden stop.
"Phantom mist…" he breathed.
"What did you see…?" I asked him.
"Thought I saw Caterkillers up ahead," he said. "Dangerous things. They're practically made to flush people out of air ducts."
"Really?" I asked, now feeling more alert.
"It was just a Phantom Ruby illusion," Sonic explained. "Like I said, Eggman's pumping mist through the vents to try and discourage us from interfering with his plan, whatever it is. So us being up here is incredibly risky, and we're gonna see things that scare us, but trust me, it's a whole lot safer than running through the halls guns ablazing, even though I don't think it's much safer down there either."
"That's true," I said. "But wait, you're the one who always runs through the halls guns ablazing."
"Touché, but even I have my limits," Sonic said. "Hold up a sec."
He paused near a vent cover I hadn't noticed until now, and his ears twitched as I too picked up the sound of metallic marching below us, as well as a familiar mechanical whizzing. Even though the vent cover was translucent, I could make out the forms of a few Egg Pawns, Egg Knights, and Motobugs as they passed directly underneath us.
I didn't realize I was holding my breath until I realized I couldn't breathe. I let it out, and I heard a similar exhale from in front of me as Sonic kept moving. I followed suit, with the only sounds now being our hands, knees, and sneakers making quiet metallic contact with the floor of the air duct.
"We're still in the prison block," Sonic told me. "It's pretty big, bigger than I thought, actually."
That update was good to know, but it also meant the Chaos Emeralds were farther away than I thought.
Sonic stopped again, and I peered over his shoulder to see that we stopped at a junction. He looked both ways a couple times before he crawled down the path to his right. I followed him, and I figured that he was following his instincts. I came to trust him completely, because his instincts seemed to be right more often than not.
Suddenly a red laser came flying straight at me from the other corridor, and I gasped, flinched, and squeezed my eyes shut tightly all at the same time! But when I opened them again, there was nothing down that way. My heart was racing.
"It's all right, it's just an illusion," Sonic said softly.
"I-It's like when I stay up late for a really long time and I'm seeing things that aren't really there," I said, my voice starting to shake a little. "But I'm wide awake right now and the laser I saw looked really real."
"That's the Phantom Ruby for ya," Sonic said.
"So do we find the Phantom Ruby first or keep looking for the Emeralds?" I asked.
"The Emeralds," Sonic responded briefly as he started to crawl a little faster. "They come first. The Ruby's just a distraction."
"Oh, okay," I said.
Everything was silent after that as we made our way through the prison block.
"Wh-Whoa whoa whoa!" Sonic suddenly yelped, and he scrambled backwards straight into my face, forcing me to shield myself. My heart leaped at his sudden reaction.
"Wh-What'd you see?" I asked.
"Water coming right at me, I even heard it," Sonic said. I could tell that even though he was trying to maintain his composure, his voice was shaking a little.
"Does that mean the illusions are getting stronger?" I asked.
"They are," Sonic said tensely. "Either we're getting closer to the Phantom Ruby, or Eggman just cranked it up to eleven. But either way, change of plans. We gotta get the Ruby out of Eggman's hands ASAP."
The desert – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
Preparations for the flight to Area 99 took longer than Topaz wanted, but she, Rouge, Shadow, and Omega were finally on their way there in a military helicopter. The flight was quiet, and Topaz was looking down most of the time. She hadn't said a word since the flight took off.
"Topaz."
The sergeant looked up to see Shadow looking at her.
"What is the GUN Fort?" he asked pointedly.
Topaz thought for a moment for a suitable explanation. "Eggman used to have a flying fortress called the Egg Fort. Sonic shot it down, and sometime after that, CLIP resurrected it and converted it into their own flying fortress."
"Hmph…" Shadow said, crossing his arms. "Didn't think the doctor had the time to build a flying fortress in that short of a time. He hasn't even been gone from Mobius for two months."
Topaz gave him a funny look. "What are you talking about?" she asked him. "It's been two years."
Shadow blinked in surprise. "Two years– That's impossible. There's no way it's been– There's no way Dr. Robotnik has been on this planet for that long."
"Increased likelihood of a time anomaly," Omega stated.
"So two years on Earth is two months on Mobius," Topaz repeated, just to clarify it with herself.
"Then it's definitely a time anomaly," Shadow concluded. "One of the few fields of study that Professor Gerald didn't specialize in."
"Didn't we also confirm that Earth and Mobius are parallel to each other?" Rouge asked, joining the conversation.
"I think so?" Topaz said with uncertainty. "I don't know about this as much as Professor Chaco Bankissy. Has a Ph.D in astrophysics, she's a great woman, I got the pleasure of meeting her once. Early on in the eclipse, she looked into that. She looked into the potential long-term consequences if anyone or anything from Mobius were to stay here. She said it doesn't matter if both worlds are parallel, but if they're interdependent, then there would be a chance of more and more things from Mobius being sent here, thus resulting in a time stagnation, and that's the best-case scenario. But that's only if the worlds are interdependent."
"Well, Angel Island eventually showed up, and then the Chaotix, and now these guys," Rouge added. "But you guys got too close to Eggman's base when you got sent here, right, Shadow?"
"Yes, but I'm not an expert when it comes to parallel universes," Shadow told her.
"That's fine," Rouge said. "Neither am I. My expertise lies in jewels and five-finger discounts."
"I still think that's petty," Shadow said in a monotone voice.
"You do you, Shadow," Rouge said, her smile not letting up.
"Rouge, if you have existed in this dimension for two years, chances of time stagnation are approximately 2%," Omega calculated.
"But not zero?" Topaz asked her.
"Margin of error is also 2%," Omega followed up.
"Okay, so what you're saying is there's pretty much no chance of anything catastrophic happening due to Earth and Mobius colliding or anything like that?"
"Affirmative," Omega stated.
"Okay, good to know," Topaz said. "But Rouge, you were here for two years, and then three months ago, the Chaotix showed up, and just last night, we get Shadow and Omega. So if Earth and Mobius were to start merging, then now would be the time. But I still feel like we're missing a few parts of the puzzle."
"Hey Shadow, tell Topaz how you showed up here again," Rouge said. "'Cuz that might be one of our missing pieces."
"I don't see how it would help," Shadow said, "but Omega and I went to Robotnik's headquarters to investigate why he seemed to vanish after two months. The Faker and his friends weren't around either, not that I'm complaining. But when we arrived, we were exposed to some form or radiation, and before we knew it, we were sent here."
Topaz leaned forward in her seat. "Radiation?" she asked, before her face went pale. "Oh no… We didn't scan you for radiation before we got on this flight–"
"Relax, hon," Rouge said, waving her hand. "It's not that kind of radiation. It's more like the Corona Corundum left behind some kind of haze. Shadow told me when I went to pick him up."
"And somehow it caused Chaos Control without there being any Emeralds there…?" Topaz said. "I don't get it."
"Neither do I, Topaz," Rouge said as Topaz's phone rang, and she answered it.
"Whatever happened, we have to find a way back," Shadow said. "We're wasting time if we don't find all the Emeralds and return to Mobius."
"Well, what do you think we're doing, Shadow?" Rouge said, glancing in his direction.
"Analysis inconclusive," Omega stated. "This is contrary to my memory of the Chaos Emeralds."
"But there were no Chaos Emeralds there," Shadow recalled. "There haven't been any on the entire planet for the past two months."
As Topaz spoke with the GUN officials on the other end of the phone, Rouge was in deep thought over all this.
"Call me crazy, but I kinda have a hunch that something like this happened before," she said, "but this is in reverse." Shadow looked at her quizzically. "Well, let's be fair, Tails would know about this better than I do, but before Angel Island was pulled here to Earth, the Emeralds were supercharged by something called the Corona Corundum, and only the Master Emerald was able to neutralize them."
"Corona Corundum…?" Shadow asked, looking directly at her.
"It's a little something the good doctor found awhile back," Rouge explained. "It's an absolutely gorgeous gem that can make the Chaos Emeralds a lot stronger than they usually are. We got it back from him last month. But that's beside the point. The way I see it, the reason it's happening all backwards is because Angel Island and the Master Emerald are not on Mobius anymore, which means they can't contain the most that the Corundum drew out of the Emeralds. But I'm just speculating, I'm no Professor Bankissy."
"Flaw detected in your logic," Omega said. "One month elapsed between the disappearance of Dr. Eggman's fortress and the disappearance of Angel Island."
"Which means the mist had to have gotten there another way…" Rouge thought, before she shook her head. "All this is making my head spin. A girl needs a break from all this parallel universe stuff."
Topaz hung up her call and put her phone away. She looked like she was trying not to lose her temper over something.
"Do I wanna know what happened?" Rouge asked her.
"The GUN Fort departed an hour ahead of schedule," Topaz said in a low voice.
"And that's a bad thing?" Rouge asked, tilting her head slightly in confusion.
"Yes!" the human snapped. "We were supposed to be on that thing and it took off without us!"
"Typical GUN," Shadow mumbled, crossing his arms.
"This is not normal GUN protocol," Topaz said. "I don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but I'm going to give the people at Area 99 a piece of my mind."
"You are speaking my language," Omega said. Although his robotic voice was void of any discernible emotion, Rouge could tell that he said that with passion.
The Death Egg - Outside – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
"Is the Corundum safe?" Tails asked quietly, breaking the thoughtful silence as he made his final approach on the Death Egg.
"Yup," Amy said. "It's in the back seat where Knuckles left it, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Tails realized as he gripped the yokes a little more firmly. "I think I'm more tired than I thought."
"We'll get through this together, Tails," Amy assured him.
Tails' eyes darted in the direction of the Death Egg as hundreds of robots flew out of the hangar bays to join the hundreds more that were already swarming around outside. He recognized huge swarms of Buzz Bombers, as well as a few varieties of E-Series robots like Falcons, Bubbles, Beacons, and even an E-88 Lightning Bird. He remembered the time last May when he went up against several E-Series robots and was shot down.
"I won't lose this time," he said with determination. "Amy, see if you find a clear way into the Death Egg."
"Got it," Amy said as she looked out the window at the battle station.
The fox steered his plane toward the Death Egg and opened fire on the closest group of Buzz Bombers, completely vaporizing them. He was glad he upgraded the X-Tornado's weaponry during the eclipse, because his lasers and missiles were much stronger now.
"Wait, Tails, are you sure that's okay?" Amy asked all of a sudden.
Tails blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked, trying not to sound flustered.
"There could be Mobinis in there!"
"Oh!" Tails realized. "Y-Yeah, it's okay. I didn't see any Mobinis when we fought the Badniks here on Earth before… well, except for Lily and the ones on Angel Island, but as far as I know, Eggman hasn't been anywhere near Angel Island lately."
"Oh, okay, that's– whoa!" Amy cowered back in her seat, shielding her face as the plane took a near hit from a passing Falcon.
Tails spotted another Falcon nearby, and he fired his lasers at it, destroying it in midair. However, at a glance, he counted six more nearby. Even though this fight was much harder than his last major midair battle in May, he was confident he could win this time.
And then he recognized among the robots the newly-upgraded Hoverbys that had nearly sliced his plane apart the first full day he was on Earth. He told himself to stay awake and be more aware of his surroundings, because they had proved they were not to be underestimated.
Tails tapped a few buttons on his keypad, and a small door next to his seat opened, which contained a Power Ring. He picked it up, then opened another compartment containing four wires, one red, one blue, one yellow, and one green. He connected the ring to the blue wire, and once it was absorbed inside, an energy shield was formed around the plane, boosting its defenses as well as Tails' confidence.
"Hey Tails, I think I see the Egg Carrier over there," Amy pointed out to her right.
"I can't look now, I'm busy," Tails told her as he banked to the left.
"It looks like it's… leaving…?" Amy added with uncertainty.
"That's strange…" Tails said before dipping under two of the Falcons in front of him. However, just as he expected, they locked onto him again and continued chasing the plane.
The four Beacons that were in the fight all activated pink energy shields to protect themselves. Tails chuckled under his breath.
"This time I'm ready for you," he said quietly as he opened fire on the bird-like robots. Their shields offered no protection whatsoever as Tails' lasers ripped through the fuselage, destroying them on the spot.
"Y'know… Maybe I don't have to destroy all of them in order to go inside," he mused.
"Okay, just as long as they don't think about following us inside," Amy said, her eyes darting from robot to robot outside.
Several Badniks pursued the plane from behind and opened fire, but their lasers were absorbed by the X-Tornado's shield. Spotting a conveniently positioned group of aerial Badniks to his left, Tails pressed a button that fired a pair of rockets in their direction. The explosions were nothing short of satisfying to watch, as were the large chunks of debris that fell from the sky.
However, the Lightning Bird picked that exact moment to leap into the fray. It opened its beak, unleashing a powerful energy wave that instantly shorted out its shield. The plane shook from the impact, but it remained in flight.
"Okay, that was close," Tails breathed in shock.
"It's not done yet!" Amy called as the Lightning Bird prepared a second round. This time Tails was ready and he dove to starboard as the energy blast passed directly overhead.
"I can't crash, I just can't," Tails told himself as he gripped the controls more firmly. Amy scanned the Death Egg for any signs of approaching Badniks. None of them seemed to be approaching them directly, but something else caught her eye.
"I see a hangar bay behind us, at 8 o'clock!" Amy called.
"Perfect!" Tails exclaimed as he steered the plane in that direction. However, the Lightning Bird anticipated his move and cut in front of him before opening its beak again. And then before Tails realized it, everything went haywire.
The Lightning Bird's electric blast it launched from its mouth flowed around the entire plane, and it overloaded the Chaos Emerald in its compartment in front of Tails. It had a near-meltdown, completely overriding its safety circuitry and electrocuting Tails, who cried out and gripped the controls until his knuckles under his gloves turned white. Even worse, the surge was building in strength.
"Tails!" Amy exclaimed, but she was forced to duck as the electricity being channeled through the Emerald arced directly above her through the canopy.
Even though his pain, Tails thought fast and disengaged the safety lock before throwing open the front canopy. The wind rushed in his face, but the energy now started to flow directly upward. It struck the Lightning Bird directly, shorting it out and causing it to plummet toward the ground below.
Tails was gritting his teeth tightly as the Emerald finally stopped reacting, and once he was sure he was safe again, he reached up and closed the canopy again.
"Are you okay…?" Amy asked, sounding worried. She was about to say something about how fast Tails' reaction time was, but she brushed that thought aside; there was a time and a place.
"I feel tingly all over, I don't like being zapped…" he said quietly.
His grip on the controls wasn't as strong as it once was, and he accidentally started to steer the plane off course. Amy let out a soft gasp; she was worried that the electrocution Tails went through was messing with his coordination.
"N-No…" Tails realized he was starting to go off course a little more, and the hangar was now at their 2 o'clock. It looked like Tails' hands had gone slightly numb from the shock, and Amy knew she had to do something to help.
I don't know if this is gonna work, but I have to try! She thought.
"Hey Tails, listen to me," she told him. "We're starting to lose altitude, so can you try and pull up?"
"Pull… up…" Tails spoke. He sounded disoriented, but he reached for the controls and pulled up. However, his grasp was weak and he only managed to level out the craft. Amy's strategy was not working as well as she thought it would, but she had to keep trying.
"More," she instructed. "Take us higher."
Tails couldn't pull back on the yokes anymore because he was numb and tingly all over, and Amy wanted nothing more than to help her friend land safely.
"I… can't…"
Even if Amy couldn't guide Tails to the hangar with her words, she got a new idea. Unbuckling her seat belt, she reached over the side of Tails' seat and placed her hands on Tails' hands.
"What are you–"
"It's okay, we can do this together," Amy told him as she pulled back on the yoke, and with their combined strength, they managed to pull up and regain their altitude.
Tails then tried to move the yokes to the right to make the plane go in that direction, but his grip was weak, so Amy helped him to guide the plane to starboard. Even though she was leaning forward at an uncomfortable angle for her, she had to do this for her friend. She wasn't even thinking about what would happen if the robots outside attacked them.
The only other problem with her plan was she didn't know how to engage the landing gear or convert the plane to X-Cyclone mode, not that there was any time to now that the plane was already entering the hangar.
"Okay, we're in!" Amy said. "Now let's slow down and get the landing gear ready."
Tails looked a little flustered. It was too much information to process for him since he was still recovering from the shock.
"You get the landing gear," Amy told him quickly, since the back wall was coming at them fast.
Tails pressed the button for the landing gear just in time as Amy pushed the yokes forward as hard as she could, and the wheels popped out of the bottom of the plane as they quite literally screeched to a halt. The X-Tornado stopped within three feet of the back wall of the hangar. To Amy's relief, the Badniks outside did not follow them in.
"That was perfect!" Amy cheered as she opened the canopy and gave Tails a big hug. "You did it, Tails! I'm so proud of you!"
However, there were swirls in the young fox's eyes, a sign he was still disoriented.
"C'mon, we gotta hurry and find Sonic!" Amy urged him once she let go. But Tails was still sluggish, and he couldn't get a good grasp on his seatbelt to unbuckle it. He looked frustrated that he couldn't get a good grasp of himself.
Amy had an idea. She unbuckled Tails' seat belt, then scooped him into her arms. He was a little heavier than she anticipated, but once her grasp on him was firm enough, she jumped down from the plane. Shock ran through her body, jarring her the moment she landed, but she didn't let go of Tails.
She looked around to make sure they were in any immediate danger before leaning Tails against the wall. She then pried open the door to the side compartment and got a bottle of water out.
"I hope this works…" she said under her breath, right as she became aware of metallic marching coming her way. Looking up, she saw several platoons of Motobugs, RhinoBots, and Egg Pawns rushing into the hangar.
She unscrewed the cap and hesitated for a moment before pouring a little of the water onto Tails' head. He let out a small gasp and looked up, the swirls in his eyes vanishing.
"Wh-Wha– Amy?" Tails spoke before he stood up, all his senses returning at once.
"Careful, careful…" Amy said, holding him steady.
"I think I'm okay now," Tails said, carefully shaking the water out of his fur. Once Amy saw that he was able to stand on his own without any trouble, she let go of him. "That was scary… And I don't like burnt fur…"
"Huh?" Amy suddenly looked behind her, but not in the direction of the approaching Badniks.
"What is it?" Tails asked.
"That was weird, I thought I heard Sonic," Amy said, before turning her attention on the Badniks. "Probably my imagination."
"We have to get moving, Amy," Tails said, fully alert once again. "No time to fight, we gotta go!"
Amy was slightly disappointed that she couldn't fight the Badniks head-on. Tails spun his namesakes and hovered above Amy's head, and the hedgehog instinctively grabbed his hand as he flew her over the robots. However, just as they both expected, they started shooting at them.
"They're not making this easy," Tails remarked as a laser whipped right past his right ear.
Amy summoned her hammer in her free hand. "I wouldn't have any other way," she said with a smirk as she bashed the nearest robots as she and Tails passed them.
The lasers that passed them were thicker than Tails had bargained for, but he and Sonic had gone through many training exercises to prepare for something like this, so he had little trouble navigating them to get to the other side of the hangar toward the exit.
Meanwhile, several of the flying robots outside made their way inside to intercept the two Mobians, and out of the corner of their eye, several of the Egg Pawns were carving their way into the X-Tornado.
Tails gasped. "Oh no! The Emeralds!" he exclaimed.
He immediately dropped Amy, turned around in midair, and flew back toward his plane, but it was too late. The robots were already collecting not only both Emeralds, but also the Corona Corundum in the back seat!
"I won't let you get away!" Tails declared as he flew as fast as he could with Amy in tow. He swooped down and managed to grab one of them from the Egg Pawn that was carrying it. However, he was caught off guard by the flying robots that made their presence known out of the corner of his eye, and they flew straight toward him.
"I'm coming, Tails!" Amy called as she ran toward him.
Tails spun his tails even faster and made his way toward the other robots. However, something happened, and Tails blinked before his eyes sparkled in wonder.
"Mint candy~" he said softly. This confused Amy greatly.
"Tails…?"
Tails shook his head and snapped out of his trance, but right as he ran after the Emerald, he was blasted from behind by an Egg Pawn, causing him to collapse onto his hands and knees, and the Emerald he had been carrying carried clinked onto the ground. Amy wasted no time pursuing the robots, but they were faster than her. They picked up the fallen Emerald and made their way toward the other exit of the hangar.
Tails was frustrated with himself for falling for whatever happened to him back there. He picked up Amy and flew after the robots again, all the while avoiding lasers that flew at them and hit the walls all around them. Tails flew out of the hangar and around a few corners, but the robots were out of sight by now. With a dejected sigh, Tails finally set his friend back down and landed on the ground next to her.
"What happened back there?" she asked in concern. "Where did you see mint candy?"
"The Emerald turned into mint candy–"
He paused mid-sentence and gasped.
"Oh… It's the Phantom Ruby…" he realized. "It's here on the Death Egg affecting us. Which means we might be seeing more illusions soon."
"That figures," Amy said, glancing down the hall to make sure no robots were coming their way. "That would also explain me hearing Sonic."
"Mhmm," Tails said.
"Let's stick together in case one of us sees another illusion," Amy said. "Chances are we're not gonna both see the same one."
"Good idea," Tails said. "We should try and find where the prisons are. But it's gonna be a little hard since the Death Egg is a lot bigger than the Egg Carrier."
"Yeah, but it's nothing you haven't done before, Tails!" Amy said, giving him an encouraging smile. "Sonic is counting on us to save him, so I know we can do this!"
Pulling out her hammer, she led the way.
"W-Wait for me!" Tails called as he ran after her.
Thorndyke Mansion - Living room – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
"Are you kidding me?!" Lindsey exclaimed as soon as Chuck told them the news that Cream, Vanilla, and Chris had all been kidnapped. "Please tell me you're joking. This cannot be happening."
"This is not something I would joke about," Chuck told her.
"Oh, I can't believe it," Lindsey lamented, collapsing onto the couch. "I just can't believe it. My babies… My darling son…"
Nelson, on the other hand, was pacing the floor.
"We're gone for only two hours and something like this happens," he ranted. "And this is on top of Sonic getting kidnapped last night. And for all we know, everyone else has no idea this even happened. And this… This is on top of Chris getting kidnapped all those other times. We can't have another May 13. We just can't. You know what…"
He aggressively pulled his phone from his pocket.
"I'm gonna get Chris some personal security, something I should have done a long time ago–"
"Nelson!" Chuck said in an unintentionally loud voice which caught his son off guard. "Nelson, put the phone down," he said quieter.
"But Dad, no one knows that–"
"Put. The phone. Down."
Nelson hesitated, but he finally set his iPhone 13 down on the coffee table.
"Nelson. Look at me," his father said, and Nelson looked at him. "Do you not think that I feel the same way as you do right now? When Eggman captured Chris for the first time, I was this close to calling personal bodyguards for him. He doesn't need that kind of attention. He's only thirteen years old. And besides, I want you to do me a favor and put a little more trust in Sonic's friends. Sonic isn't the only hero from Mobius that we have."
"But what if they're not enough…?" Lindsey asked warily as she sat up on the cough.
"Trust them," Chuck repeated. "I know your first instinct is to call the authorities and then cross your fingers and hope they can defeat Eggman, but between your long hours at work, have you seen what kind of enemy Eggman really is? He can easily destroy military vehicles. And that kind of thing is child's play for him! Imagine what he can do with even more power." Chuck stopped for a moment as he sat down in the other chair. "And now let's take a look at Sonic and his track record. Quite literally every time he and Eggman cross paths, Sonic and his friends come out on top. It doesn't matter how many times Eggman decides to come back, Sonic always wins in the end. Always. And so do Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Cream. Because what can the military do that Sonic can't? And what can bodyguards do that Sonic can't?"
He paused again as Nelson and Lindsey looked at him.
"Because as a direct result of all the danger Chris found himself in, Sonic told me that he and his friends unanimously vowed to protect Chris from any and all harm."
"Then where were they on May 13?" Nelson snapped. "Huh? Where were they when our only son was kidnapped and put in danger multiple times. Where were they when he almost drowned inside a water monster? When he was left alone in space overnight? And where were they today?! Chris was kidnapped by Dr. Eggman again! They should have been here to protect him and prevent that from happening! They keep saying they're going to protect my son, but he keeps getting in danger over and over again! He keeps having his life threatened! And we can't always be here ourselves because you know we have demanding jobs!"
Chuck was quiet as he let his son rant his heart out, before he finally spoke.
"That's… part of the problem," he said simply.
"Oh, so you're blaming us for Chris getting kidnapped?" Nelson asked. "I see how it is!"
"No, that's not it at all! Let me finish!" Chuck interjected. "Look, I know you both work long hours day in and day out, but your son is already thirteen years old. He's going to grow up without a mother and father in his direct life. You're rarely home as it is, and I and Ella and Mr. Tanaka have to fill the shoes of both the mother and the father to make ends meet for him. And like I mentioned before, he didn't have any friends until Sonic and his friends came here to Earth, and it's only because of them that he was able to make human friends when he did. But one of these days, they're going to have to go back home to Mobius. And they can't fill the mother and father shoes either. When they go home, he'll be right back where he started, just with human friends. Listen, Chris wants nothing more than to have loving parents in his life to take care of him, because Sonic can't replace you as the parents, and he can't always be here to protect him. So I want you both to think about this very carefully. Which is more important to you, your jobs or your son?"
Both his son and daughter-in-law were quiet after that as they let his words sink in. It was evident that they had never heard the situation put that way.
"You don't have to make a decision right this second, it's just something I want you to think about," Chuck said.
"I want to do more than think about it," Nelson said. "Chris is very important to me, it's just that I can't pull myself away from work long enough to spend any amount of quality time with him." He looked down. "I see that's something I'm gonna have to work on."
"Same here…" Lindsey said, finally contributing to the conversation. "I'm guilty of that too. I mean… I love my job, but… you're right. I shouldn't let it rob our child of his childhood. And for that, I'm… I'm very sorry."
"Chris is the one you should be apologizing to, not me," Chuck said. "But I at least appreciate that you're willing to evaluate your lives so you can be there for Chris once again. He would appreciate it too."
Lindsey nodded quietly before Ella walked into the room.
"Oh, you're both back!" she said. She had a small bump on her head from where she had been attacked by Metal Sonic, but she had already dressed the wound. "Can I get you both something to drink?"
"Coffee, please, the usual," Lindsey said. Nelson nodded his agreement.
"All right, I'll have it ready for you shortly," she said as she left the room.
Chuck checked his phone to see the news. There were various news articles he scrolled through. The first one was a call from the President to all citizens to report any evidence of Eggman's return to a certain hotline. He had already seen it on TV that morning. At the time it was posted, there was no sign of Eggman, so it was greatly appreciated by the government if anyone reported evidence of Eggman directly to them.
The next article was on Vivian Turner's bombshell testimony about Jerome Wise and what he was like. He had been a fairly normal person at home and he loved her, but as soon as she found out that he was working with Eggman, she was ready to report it, but she was paid hush money by an unknown benefactor to keep quiet about it. But she told the government anyway, and they issued a national manhunt for him. She didn't seem too distraught about breaking up with Jerome because it was the most logical thing for her to do, she said. She didn't return the feelings he had for her.
But then Chuck's eyes were drawn to the third story. It detailed Chris, Cream, Vanilla, and the two Chao's kidnapping from their house in broad daylight. But more importantly, it also mentioned that Sonic was robiticized and he was responsible for the kidnapping.
Chuck was alarmed at the way the news was reporting this. There was a chance that they were jumping to extreme conclusions. He had seen the robot personally. Yes, it resembled Sonic, but he refused to believe that Eggman turned him into a robot. That would be the absolute worst-case scenario.
The Egg Carrier – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
Complete chaos was unfolding on the decks of the Egg Carrier as the six members of the Society were forced to flee the bridge thanks to the GUN robots. Admittedly, it was a genius move that they never saw coming, not even Passer who distributed them to GUN in the first place. Not even his override code was working, so everyone's best hope was to run and hide somewhere or evacuate, and since they had come so far, evacuation was not an option.
Watcher was reckless running through the halls trying to hide somewhere. He and his comrades had to split up to reduce the chances of the robots picking them off one by one. But everywhere he ran, there were robots, and they were all firing lasers and bullets at him. Even though Eggman had told him that his using the Chaos Emerald would eventually kill him, he refused to let the robots do him in first. He was afraid to die, which was why he told himself he had to find a hiding place as fast as possible and prolong his life as fast as he could.
One of the lasers hit him in the right hip, but he kept running. He forced himself to suppress a snarl. He hated Eggman even more now.
Meanwhile, Browning was hiding around the corner from another group of GUN robots that were flying down the hall. If he had been directly in front of them, they would have easily caught up to him. Fortunately, they didn't seem to see him, and they disappeared around a corner in the distance.
Once they were out of sight, he ran in the same direction the robots had gone in. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to hide somewhere away from the robots. He frowned; that would only work for so long before he was discovered.
But then he got a new idea.
Just then a door opened at the end of the hall, and Browning froze. However, he relaxed when he saw that it was just Narasu, who ran toward him.
"They almost got me," Narasu said as he caught up to Browning.
"Yeah, same here," Browning panted. "Listen, I got an idea, but it may be a little risky. We need to get down to the lab and activate Beta. He's our only shot we have at reclaiming the ship."
"Okay," Narasu said as they got moving. "I already tried the elevators. They're all locked down."
"Thanks for the heads up," Browning said. "Probably not a good idea to take the stairwells either. Actually, hold up, is there anything in the closet back there we can use to fight the robots?"
Narasu shook his head. "Nope, it's completely empty. Eggman was very thorough when he cleaned up here."
"And our blasters are back on the bridge…" Browning sighed. "What we're doing is a huge risk. But it's the only risk worth taking."
They made their way through the corridors, watching for any signs of approaching robots. They couldn't sneak through the vents because it was too big of a risk, because there was always a chance they would be caught off guard by the robots as they were entering the vents. Plus the Beetles were small enough to fit in the vents.
It took about ten minutes of careful sneaking, nearly getting caught, and making a run for it, but the two men finally made it to the entrance of the Egg Carrier's onboard laboratory.
"Okay, Beta's still in there," Browning said in relief.
He was further relieved to find that the door was unlocked, so after taking one last look around the adjacent four-way corridor, he stepped into the room, and Narasu followed behind him before he closed the door behind them.
However, Narasu froze when he heard metallic footsteps approaching from outside the room.
"They're coming…!" Narasu hissed.
"I know!" Browning saaid as he bent over Beta. "Just give me a few more minutes… Probably shouldn't have turned him off to save power…"
Suddenly a heavy spray of laser fire and bullets hit the door with tremendous force, threatening to blow it off its hinges. Right as the door exploded inward, narrowly missing Narasu, Beta Mk. III's eyes glowed as it came to life, and it sat up and detected the Laser Hunters and Beetles that were entering the room.
To their surprise and amazement, their strategy worked. Beta shot forward in a black blur and made short work of the robots, leaving behind scrap metal as it escaped the lab and disappeared from sight.
"Well that worked," Narasu said with a nervous chuckle. He looked down at one of the destroyed Beetles and held up a scrap of its outer armor. "It's a shame they had to go this way, but… damage control is better than us dying."
"We still have the Valkyries though, they're not fully robotic," Browning said.
Narasu shrugged. "Yeah."
The Death Egg – Tue March 21 – Third-person POV
Sonic and Chris were still crawling through the Death Egg's ventilation system fifteen minutes later. The winding corridors seemed to go on forever, and both of them encountered a few Phantom Ruby hallucinations here and there.
They stopped at another three-way junction, and after looking both ways, Sonic crawled down the right corridor, and Chris started to follow him.
"Do you know where you're going, Sonic?" Chris asked.
Sonic shrugged. "Just following my instincts," he said.
As Chris started to crawl down the right path after Sonic, he glanced to his left, and wished he didn't. He yelped and scrambled forward, accidentally bumping into Sonic, who was startled by this turn of events.
"Whoa, what happened?" Sonic asked. "What'd you see?"
"I saw a Caterkiller…" Chris said, his voice shaking a little.
"Oh… yeah, that's a big yikes," Sonic commented. "Caterkillers are made to fit in air ducts. It wasn't real though, right?"
"Yeah, it wasn't real," Chris said.
However, less than two minutes later, Sonic froze in his tracks.
"Whoa, Caterkiller!" Sonic exclaimed, his fur bristling ever so slightly.
"Illusion?" Chris asked. Sonic shook his head.
"Nope, this time it's real," he said.
"A-Are you sure?" Chris asked.
"Way past sure," Sonic responded.
Now's not the time for 90s slang, Sonic… Chris thought.
"Yup, it saw us," Sonic reported. "I think it's time we got out of these cramped ducts. I like running better!"
But by now, the Caterkiller was approaching them at a rapid pace, and it was already getting uncomfortably close to the hedgehog. There was no room for him to fight or protect Chris. He had to find a way out of the air duct.
"Chris, get back," Sonic told him, his voice carrying a edge of tension.
"There's one behind us now– AAAAAAHHHHH!"
"Oh! Man, that scared me!" Sonic yelped, clamping a hand over his heart. "I never heard you scream like that before!"
"I-I saw Amy…" Chris admitted. "The Caterkiller turned into Amy, e-except she was possessed like that one time… I-It's gone now…"
"Okay, yeah, we gotta a find an exit like right now," Sonic said, his green eyes rapidly darting around the air duct ahead of him.
"There's another one…" Chris said, fear etching its way into his voice as a third Caterkiller showed up from the path he and Sonic had just come from. Now they were effectively and completely surrounded.
"Heh, you guys must be mondo desperate, crawling through these super tight vents just to see me!" Sonic quipped "I get I'm famous, but a hedgehog's gotta have some personal space! Oh yeah, while you're at it, take me to your leader! Heh, I always wanted to say that…"
However, none of the Caterkillers budged an inch. That was when Sonic noticed an exit about ten feet beyond the Caterkiller ahead of him.
"Hey, mind if I get to that vent behind ya?" Sonic asked as he pushed against the Caterkiller, but it was strong and it started to push back against him.
"You're not making this easy for me, huh?" he said. "Well, I'm just gonna have to return the favor!"
Sonic let out a grunt as he braced himself against the floor of the vent and pushed back against the Caterkiller. It took some effort, but he started to force it backwards. Chris followed him, but he looked behind him to see the two Caterkillers approaching him.
At last, Sonic made it to the vent cover and pulled it open before holding it between himself and the Caterkiller. However, right as he was about to drop down to the ground below, he heard Chris yelp behind him. Looking back, he saw one of the Caterkillers biting down on his pant leg to keep him in place.
In a daring move, Sonic rolled over and let go of the vent cover before grabbing Chris and jumping down from the vent. He practically dragged Chris out of the vent, and he caught him just in time before kicking the Badnik off of Chris.
"You okay?" Sonic asked as he put Chris down.
"Y-Yeah," Chris said, his voice shaky as he looked back at the fallen Caterkiller in disdain. "It could have been a lot worse though…"
Sonic nodded before picking up Chris again. "Sorry about this, but like I said, I like running better. It's a lot faster!"
"Whoa!" Chris yelped as Sonic took off, and he clung to him tightly as the hedgehog expertly ran through the hallways. "Wh-What happened to us being stealthy?"
"The Caterkillers know we're here, which means Eggman knows we're here," Sonic said as he rounded a corner at a near 90-degree angle.
About fifteen seconds later, Sonic skidded to a stop and set Chris down.
"Sweet, an elevator!" he quipped as he studied the doors in front of him.
"Wait, is it too risky to take the elevator?" Chris asked. "Because the robots could be waiting for us when we get out."
Sonic looked at Chris with a grin that Chris knew could only mean trouble.
"Who said anything about riding inside the elevator?" he asked before turning back to the doors. He quickly spindashed the doors, revealing the bare elevator shaft.
"Sonic–"
But the hedgehog was already checking to make sure the elevator was on a lower level. Satisfied that it was, he turned back to Chris.
"All aboard!" Sonic called. Chris had no time to react before Sonic scooped him back into his arms for the third time in five minutes and ran straight up the shaft wall. Chris was scared, and he was holding his breath and clinging to Sonic the whole time.
Once Sonic ran all the way to the top of the shaft, he rebounded himself off the wall and kicked the elevator doors outward, shielding Chris from the impact. The doors landed on the ground, and Sonic landed next to them before setting Chris down again.
"W-We're gonna have to talk later about this," Chris said between pants. "My heart is pounding so hard right now."
"Aw, where's your sense of adventure?" Sonic said with a grin.
"I mean… I do wanna admit, you grew on me, but… my life is in danger as long as I'm here, and… I don't really like that kind of adventure."
Sonic's experession relaxed. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you," he told him firmly. "Want me to find another air duct for you to hide in while I go have a look around?"
"N-No, no," Chris quickly said, shaking his head. "Not after what we just went through."
"Oh yeah, good point," Sonic said as he started walking. "Stick close, you don't know what's up here. I don't know what's up here, but that's part of the fun, I guess."
The human and the hedgehog continued to make their way through the hallway, which was narrower than the halls they had previously traversed. There was metal everywhere, and every now and then they could see parts of the wall and banners adorned with Eggman's emblem. But this floor seemed to be different. There were a lot of doors everywhere, as well as glass windows, something that surprised Chris.
"This looks like an office…" he realized.
"Sure does," Sonic said. "Stay back for a sec." He zipped to the three-way interaction before quickly peeking around the corner. After another second, he returned to Chris. "All clear."
As they continued straight, Chris glanced down the hall to his left. There were more doors that led to offices. He didn't know what Eggman needed officers for if he had robots.
"I-I don't remember the last time I had an adventure like this," he said. "If I can even call it an adventure. Because it's always a lot of fun to read about it in comics and watch it on TV, but… but how can it be this scary in real life. To be honest, I never thought about it that way. Like… I don't know how to say it, but for some reason, it feels like even though you're here in my world… it feels like I'm in your world instead right now. And… even though you said you're always gonna protect me no matter what… What if I'm all by myself somewhere? What if I can't call you?"
"That's exactly why we've been getting you in on the sparring action," Sonic explained. "Even Tanaka's been teaching you karate. Trust me, even if I'm not around, you're gonna do just fine." He winked at Chris. "Who knows, maybe they're gonna be a time where I'm the one who needs help, and you're the one who helps out!"
"But you're like a superhero," Chris said. "You're unstoppable!"
"Maybe not unstoppable," Sonic said with a chuckle. "Just really, really hard to keep me down. It's kinda the reason why Eggman hates my guts. But yeah, even people like me have our weaknesses." He gestured around him as he walked. "I mean, look around you. This is the exact same kind of place that traumatized me all the way back in the Phantom War."
"But you're being so brave right now!" Chris said.
"Being brave is having the confidence that you can make it through okay even when you're scared," Sonic said. "That's why I always hold onto hope that things will work out in the end, no matter how bad things get. You'll never get where you need to go if you don't keep running."
"Badniks!" Chris quietly warned Sonic before taking a step back. He had been listening to Sonic, and he didn't want to interrupt him, but it was absolutely necessary to do so now. They were in an adjacent corridor, and they were heading back in the direction Sonic and Chris had come from.
"They're gonna see the broken doors," Sonic realized, before glancing at Chris. "We gotta hurry."
As they picked up the pace, Chris looked back at Sonic.
"But anyway, yeah, you're right," Chris said. "To be honest, it's like… really hard to be brave. I honestly don't know how you don't start crying one of these days… especially since we're here in the Death Egg."
"Hey, everyone's got their inner demons," Sonic said. "Some of them are a lot bigger than others. Mine are pretty big, but it's how I react to them that matters the most. I don't tell this to a lot of people… except for Tails, and Amy, and Knuckles. They all keep me going, because even I know I can't save the world all by myself. I mean, look at Tails. He's only eight years old, but he stopped a giant missile from blowing up Station Square, and he beat Eggman all by himself one time. When he met up with me later, he couldn't stop bragging on himself that he did all that all by himself. I was so proud of him. I can't even begin to tell you how proud I was of my little bro. He grew up a lot that day and showed off an incredible amount of potential. And now look at him. He's the one who got me out of the Death Egg back in the Phantom War."
"He's really incredible," Chris admitted.
"Yeah," Sonic said with a fond smile. "But my point is, so are you. I mean, you used a Chaos Emerald to get your buddies out of the Egg Dome! Let me tell you, humans never use Chaos Emeralds, and there's a really good reason for that." He glanced down, as if debating whether to tell Chris the next part, before looking up.
"What is it…?" Chris asked. "Did… I do something wrong…?"
"Not at all, bud, you did the only thing you could do in that situation!" Sonic said. "It's just that, well… humans kinda aren't supposed to use the Chaos Emeralds. Remember all the way back when we first got here, when I told you you couldn't use Chaos Control or Chaos Blast?"
"Yeah…?"
"Well… I kinda didn't tell you the whole truth. You see… All Mobians have just a little Chaos energy in them, but I have a whole ton of it, which is why I can turn super. But humans… Humans don't have any Chaos energy in them at all. So if they try to use Chaos Emeralds… there's no Chaos energy for them to use, so the Emeralds take hold of their life force… In other words… it kills them after a little while."
Chris looked alarmed, and his chest sank and pupils shrunk.
"Y-You mean I'm gonna die…? Because I used a Chaos Emerald?!" Chris exclaimed.
Sonic hesitated for a moment, before he stopped walking when he noticed Chris wasn't following.
"I'll fix this," Sonic said with determination. "I promise. You're not gonna die. Not on my watch."
Chris still looked a bit scared, but Sonic was completely sure of what he was saying. If Chris could trust Sonic all those times before, surely he could trust him now.
…Right?
"C'mon, let's keep moving," Sonic gently told him. "I won't let anybody hurt you. Not while I'm here."
"Okay…" Chris said. His expression was still hollow as he followed Sonic. He couldn't believe his best friend told him he was going to die for doing the right thing. He was only thirteen. He wasn't ready to die yet. He certainly didn't feel like he was about to kick the bucket, aside from lingering fatigue from yesterday.
About two minutes later, they arrived what what appeared to be a highly-secured office block. There weren't any robots there, but there was a doorway that looked eerily similar to a TSA checkpoint at an airport, with windows on either side, and beyond it was a large office-like room.
"Hey Chris, from here on out, I get the feeling things are gonna get ugly once we set foot in there, so just in case, I may need you to stay here for a bit until I get back," Sonic said.
"A-Are you sure that's a good idea?" Chris asked, nervously looking around.
"You got a better idea, bud?" Sonic asked me.
Chris shook his head. "N-No…"
"I don't know about you, but I gotta get in there. What I'm looking for is probably in that office. I see a bunch of computers in there, which is a sight for sore eyes. I was getting tired of all these halls and doors that lead to boring nine-to-five offices."
"What are you looking for?" Chris asked, his voice unusually quiet after the bombshell news.
"Anything I can find about Operation Endgame," Sonic said. "Jerome didn't tell me everything about it, and Eggman never told me anything. He said the less I know about this, the better, which is exactly why I have to find out more. With a name like Operation Endgame, it has to be bad."
He looked at the door for a second, before taking a deep breath and spin-dashing his way through the door. Suddenly an alarm went off throughout the block, and another door fell from the ceiling. However, it never touched the ground. Chris was surprised to see that Sonic was holding the door up with all his strength.
"Changed my mind… Get in!" Sonic grunted.
Chris didn't have to be asked twice. As quickly as he could, he crawled under the door past Sonic, whose arms were shaking from the effort he was putting into holding the door open. As soon as Chris was inside, Sonic darted inside and let go of the door, which fully descended and sealed itself.
"That was a close one," Sonic said, glancing back at the door. The alarms were still going off both inside and outside the room, and red lights were periodically flashing as well.
There was a whole bank of computers lining the back wall, as well as a computer console under them and a table in the middle of the room. It looked like the kind of table that could project holograms, but it was turned off at the moment.
"How did you know about this room?" Chris asked as he looked around.
"I've been on the original Death Egg," Sonic explained as he looked around the room. "Both of 'em, actually. The layout's mostly the same, but there are a couple differences here and there. This block is the same though. But yeah, this is the computer room, where Eggman keeps some really important top-secret stuff. You can tell he really doesn't want us in here," he added with a chuckle. "I don't have Tails with me, but I'll see what I can do on my own. Feel free to help however you can, but just be careful."
"Are we gonna be safe in here?" Chris asked, looking at the windows on either side of the door where they had just come through.
"For now," Sonic shrugged as he approached the computers. "But we're not safe from this annoying alarm, that's for sure!"
As Sonic tapped through the various buttons, both physical and digital, Chris started looking at another monitor which displayed a grid of various camera angles situated across the Death Egg.
"Surprised these things aren't more guarded than they were," Sonic mused. "No password or anything? I'm kinda disappointed."
But Chris didn't respond to him. He was busy scanning the many camera angles on the screen. He was amazed at the hundred camera angles that were all displaying in a grid pattern. He was nervous to scroll through the cameras because he didn't want to touch something and set off the alarms even more than they already were.
But then something else caught his eye.
"Tails and Amy are here!" he gasped, pointing to one of the images on the bottom left of the screen.
"Yes! I knew they'd make it!" Sonic cheered as he zipped over to Chris' side and saw his two friends making their way through the various hallways. "We're gonna meet up with 'em first thing after we get some info on Operation Endgame.
"We can try calling them," Chris suggested as he scrolled through the cameras, now comfortable with the fact that he wasn't blocked out by a password.
"Can't," Sonic said as he walked back to the screen he had been looking at. He held up his wrist to reveal he wasn't wearing his comlink anymore. "Eggman took my comlink when he threw me in the jail cell, and it wouldn't work anyway because Eggman's been known to track our calls."
"Oh…" Chris looked down. This meant they had to navigate their way through the Death Egg again. He didn't care for when Sonic had to rush him straight up the elevator shaft, but it couldn't be helped given their dire situation. Then he looked up again when he realized something.
"Hey, I just realized…"
"Hm?"
"We haven't seen any illusions since we came in here."
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Sonic said. "I'm guessing Eggman didn't have enough, or… or maybe it's just focused on the lower levels to–"
"Sonic, Eggman's coming back!" Chris alerted as he saw another camera angle. Once again, Sonic was at his side.
"Didn't realize he was ever gone…" Sonic said. "Gotta make this fast…"
Sonic spent the next few minutes scrolling and poring through various files. It looked somewhat complex for him, but he tried to understand what he was looking at. He saw information on the Egg Carrier, as well as the Corona Corundum.
Meanwhile, Chris was feeling on edge, and while he kept looking at the monitors, he found himself nervously glancing at the doorway every ten to fifteen seconds. He knew he shouldn't be in the office, but it was for a good cause, and he was with Sonic, so he hoped that would mean everything was okay.
He watched Tails and Amy cross from camera angle to camera angle, but he could only guess exactly where on the Death Egg they were. And Eggman was getting closer and closer to returning to his massive battle station.
"Eureka!" Sonic declared.
"Did you find it?" Chris asked as he left his monitor and joined the hedgehog.
"Yep," Sonic said with a nod as he pointed to the screen and scrolled through a few more sub-files. "Thought he could hide it by renaming it to 'Mean Bean Machine.'" He chuckled. "That's the same thing he did last time with the Ultimate Annihilator! He's not foolin' me!"
After a moment, his expression relaxed as he read a few of the files.
"Some of this stuff looks super complicated," he commented as he stopped on a particular file. "So I'll see if I can ask Tails to come up here and collect some info on this, but…" He squinted. "I'm looking at schematics for a Chaos Roboticizer 2.0…?"
Sonic paled, and he looked uncharacteristically alarmed.
"Wait, what…?" Chris asked in concern.
"I'm not 100% sure about all the details yet, but from what I'm seeing here… there's a roboticizer onboard that's gonna roboticize all plant, animals, and humans within a thousand miles. Not only that, but the Death Egg is on a course for Nebraska for maximum damage…" He stopped reading for a moment, but his eyes were still glued to the screen. "The doc is really rolling Second Chance into Endgame… He's not messing around this time, he already got hostages even when he didn't need them yet… and…"
He took a deep breath before letting it out, before rereading the Endgame schematics to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
"No… It's too soon…" he said under his breath.
"Sonic?"
"Chris?"
Chris looked at Sonic, feeling even more worried for his friend.
"I don't know how to say this, Chris, but… I… I think it's time…"
Chris blinked. "For what…?"
Sonic was just about to speak when the door slid back up into the ceiling, startling both of them. They turned to the doorway, and both of them got a sinking feeling in their chests when they saw Neo Metal Sonic standing there.
A/N: And that concludes part six of Operation Endgame! This was a super fun chapter for me to write, especially all the Sonic and Chris scenes!
The whole time I'm writing all the scenes that take place inside the Death Egg, I'm having trouble not imagining the inside looking like the Death Star XD I know there's more to the Death Egg than bland gray hallways, and it's more complex than the Death Star, but I have been looking at various images of the Death Egg. I could always come back to this chapter and touch up the scenery a bit.
I know I've been having Chris doubt himself a lot, and I probably said this before four chapters ago, but it can be easy to doubt yourself when you're scared or anticipating that something bad is going to happen.
Next time is part seven of the Operation Endgame Saga, where the adventure on the Death Egg continues, and there may or may not be a bit of emotion! Don't miss it!
