-Chapter 89-

Eye of the Stormlands


Stone Stormlands Zone

As they walked, the Freedom Fighters soon found themselves in a large, grassy steppe covered in rocks and stone structures.

"Well, I see why they call this the Stone Stormlands," Chris remarked.

"It's beautiful," Kat sighed. "I love the rain."

She tilted her head back, smiling as the rain washed down.

"You're weird," Keith deadpanned.

"And that's news to you?" Kat questioned.

"Maybe we should focus on finding shelter," Hope insisted. "We'll catch our death out here."

"I see something up ahead," Sonic said, a hand over his eyes. "Looks like some kinda temple."

They ran ahead, ducking into the temple Sonic mentioned. It was an ancient, worn stone structure, holding up well despite the ravages of time.

"I know I am," said Rotor.

"Agreed," Porker nodded.

Kat looked around, her eyes glittering with recognition.

"What's going on, Kathryn?" Longclaw asked. "You seem lost in thought."

"It…" Kathryn began, "it's a Gaia Temple."

"Uh... are we supposed to know what that is?" Tekno questioned.

"A shrine to the Gaias," Kat explained. "The entities of Light and Dark. There's an ancient story about them in an eternal conflict. One that rages across the world in the past."

"I believe I've heard this tale once or twice," Longclaw mused. "Light Gaia, incarnation of light, day and rebirth. Dark Gaia, incarnation of darkness, night, and destruction. They've existed from the dawn of time, and have lived within Mobius since the planet's beginning. Every ten thousand years, the Time of Awakening arrives, and they emerge from the planet's core and battle in a cycle of destruction and creation."

"Basically, yeah," Kat ran her hand along one of the wall carvings.

"How do you know all this, Kat?" Tails questioned.

Kat hesitated for a moment, her hand resting on the carving.

"I... used to run around the Temple... near my village. I knew those tunnels like the back of my hand."

They winced at that reveal, before they heard a strange chirp. They perked, looking round.

"You hear that?" Tekno asked.

"What was that?" Hope pondered.

Something brushed past Sonic's leg, making him jump.

"What the-?!" he let out.

He looked down, seeing what looked like a sentient bouncing ball hopping between his legs. It was a little blue critter, with beady eyes looking up at them.

"Uh… guys?" he began. "You seeing this?"

"Yeah…" Chris replied. "What are these things?"

"They're Mips," Longclaw explained. "Native Mobini to this region."

Keith looked at the ball. "That's a Mobini?"

"A rare breed of them, yes," Longclaw replied. "They can only be found here, in the Great Canyon and its surrounding Zones."

A few of the Mips hopped right over to Kat, one jumping really high. She caught it on instinct and it snuggled into her hands, purring and vibrating lightly. The others gathered at her feet, making similar noises. The others kicked back, relaxing.

"I know this sounds weird, but those little noises they're making... I find them really soothing," Tails admitted. "Like all my problems and fears are gone."

"They're known to have a calming effect on those who are near them," Longclaw said. "Though it's rare for so many to flock to a single person. Perhaps they're drawn to her latent Chaos Force."

"They can sense that?" Tekno questioned.

"Mips tend to appear in areas where the Chaos Emeralds and their byproducts have surfaced, so yes," Longclaw confirmed.

Sonic looked down at the creatures again, and while most of the Mips were around Kat, there were more than a few pooled around his own feet, chirping and purring in that same comforting manner. He knelt down, petting a few. However, the peaceful moment was cut off when they heard a crash noise, followed by two familiar voices.

"Yee-haw! Git along, little Mips!"

"Your voice chip is malfunctioning! We need to fix that!"

The Mips jumped, letting out fearful screeches before retreating into the shadows.

"Orbot and Cubot…" Tekno let out.

"If they're here, my uncle's not far behind," Hope realized.

"And it seems they're after the Mips," said Porker.

"They're not getting them," Kat vowed.

They ran out, seeing Cubot and Orbot chasing after several Mips, herding them like sheep. Cubot was swinging around a butterfly net, trying to catch them. He swung down, catching something.

"I got one, Orbot! Yee-haw!"

"Good for you, Cubot…" Orbot said in an annoyed voice.

"Darn tootin'!"

Then he looked, seeing he had snagged Orbot in the net rather than a Mip.

"You got me, you big dummy!" the red robot snapped.

"Sorry pardner, but ya gotta admit, ya look like on uva little doggies."

"Not when I flatten him like a pancake," Kat growled.

The bots looked up, seeing the Brain Trust, Sonic, Longclaw, and Kat surrounding the pair. Kat cracked her knuckles, Sonic popped his neck, Longclaw ruffled her feathers, and the others just looked menacing.

"I reckon we're in trouble," Cubot remarked.

"Yeah, I reckon you are," Sonic said, mocking Cubot's cowboy accent for a moment. "What's with chasing the Mips? Start talking."

"No way we're gonna tell you that the Mips are ideal organic batteries like the Flickies, so Dr. Robotnik sent us to round 'em up!" Cubot declared defiantly.

Orbot facepalmed in annoyance.

"What else aren't ya gonna tell us?" Porker asked.

"Maybe the location of Eggman's base?" Rotor offered.

"Hey, I ain't that dumb!" Cubot insisted.

"Is that so?" Keith deadpanned.

"Come on, Cubot," Hope pleaded. "I really wanna see my Uncle. Can't you tell us where he is?"

She put on puppy dog eyes, jutting out her lower lip in a pout. "Pleeeeease?"

Cubot began sparking and fritzing, unable to resist her puppy dog eyes.

"Don't say anything, Cubot!" Orbot warned. "You spill the beans, it's the junkyard for us!"

"Come on, Cubot," Chris urged. "You can't resist Hope. She's Robotnik's niece after all."

"She's the enemy!" Orbot yelled.

"She's a Robotnik," Keith said, giving Hope's shoulder a squeeze to apologize for calling her a Robotnik. "So you gotta listen to her."

"He doesn't have to do anything unless the doctor tells him to!" Orbot shot back.

"But, you have to listen to Eggatha, right?" Hope asked. "And do whatever she tells you, right? And she's Eggman's niece too. So if you have to listen to her, you have to listen to me too."

Cubot clutched his head. "Mercy me, this is drivin' me nuts!"

"I can't believe this is working," Kat whispered.

"Me neither, but the doc's as good as ours at this rate," Sonic whispered back.

"Alright, alright!" Cubot gave in. "You win, little missy. Dr. Robotnik's base is at the-"

Sonic looked up at that, gasping. "Duck!"

"What?" Cubot asked, misunderstanding. "There ain't no duck around there."

"No!" Sonic clarified. "Duck!"

They hit the dirt as a missile sailed over their heads. A familiar figure flew down from the skies, landing before them.

"It's Metal!" Rotor exclaimed.

Sonic and Tails looked up, taking in its appearance.

"No, it's Mecha Sonic!" Tails clarified. "The one Eggman sent against us on Angel Island!"

Kat looked at the bot, snorting and covering her mouth. "Oh Aurora, it still has the dent from me drop kicking its head!"

Indeed, it was the same Mecha Sonic, complete with a visible dent in the side of his head from when Kat drop-kicked him off the Sky Sanctuary.

"I knew Cubot wouldn't be able to resist Hope's charms forever," Orbot said. "So I called in a little backup."

"Thanks, pardner," Cubot said gratefully. "You saved my bacon."

Sonic looked Mecha Sonic up and down, crossing his arms.

"No Metal this time?" he asked.

"Mecha Sonic was brought in for test drives!" Cubot boasted. "Potential upgrades for Metal himself in the field, and if he kills you, all the better!"

"Will you stop monologuing so we can take cover already?" Orbot snapped.

"Oh, right. Let's go over yonder."

They fled into one of the ruins.

"How do we wanna handle this one?" Tails asked.

"Kat and I will take care of it," Sonic decided. "The rest of you free the Mips. Hope, Keith, Chris, you go talk to Orbot and Dumbbot. Make them spill."

"Barring that, we can tail them back to Eggman's base." Chris noted.

They split off to do so.

"Alright Mecha," Sonic began, "Ready for a matching dent on the other side of your head?"

Mecha extended his arm, the machine gun popping out before he opened fire on Sonic and Kat, the two running for cover.

"What's the plan?" Kat shouted.

"I'll draw his fire," Sonic decided. "You get behind him and start ripping out wires."

Kat nodded. With that, Sonic ran out, waving his arms.

"Yoo-hoo!" he called before jamming his thumbs into his ears, waggling his fingers at the bot mockingly. "Nyah-nyah!"

Mecha began open firing on him, spraying the ground with bullets as Sonic remained safely out of range.

"Wow, your aim's gotten worse since last time!" he taunted. "Must be processor damage!"

Mecha just fired again, Sonic running around.

"I've seen better aim on that Z-Team show I used to watch with my dad!" he mocked.

Kat snuck up behind Mecha, waiting until the bot was engrossed in the shooting before latching onto its back. She shoved her hand through the plating on its back, latching onto some wires.

"Let's hope this is important!" she declared before pulling with all her might.

Mecha spasmed and struggled, trying to fly away as Kat kept a firm grip on the wires. He began doing barrel rolls, trying to force her off. She lost her grip on him, but the wires remained firmly in her hands. Mecha turned around, aiming again, but his bullets just went every which way, missing everyone.

"Would it help if I stood, I dunno, about three feet in front of you?" Sonic offered.

Kat looked at the wires in her hand, then held them up.

"Hey! What did I grab?!" she called.

Tails stuck his head out of the Mip pen, a dozen of the little balls on his head and in his arms.

"That's his targeting system!" he replied.

"Sweet," Kat grinned. "It was important."

Finally, Mecha ran out of ammo. He lowered his gun, Sonic standing in place.

"You want me?" Sonic did a sweeping bow. "I'm right here."

Mecha vented harshly, revving his engines and shooting forward. Sonic waited until the very last second, then zipped five steps to the left. Mecha ended up plowing right into the wall of the temple, causing Tails to peek out again.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you also knocked out his navigation system." he remarked.

Kat looked at the wires, seeing another set in her hands.

"Fair assessment!" she called back.

"Well, now that that's done, let's go help with the Mip roundup." Sonic decided.

He and Kat headed into the pen, seeing numerous capsules, several of which the others were in the process of opening. Sonic began bouncing across the tops of each capsule, hitting the release button. Kat then ripped the fencing of the pen out of the ground, allowing them to escape. The Mips all chirped and cooed gratefully as they hopped off.

"Not bad," Rotor said.

"I could get used to this," Tekno remarked. "Being out in the field and actually helping people."

"So, what now?" Porker questioned. "Wait on word from Hope and the boys?"

"They'll let us know if they find something," Sonic decided. "We'll be patient until then."

They sat down for a while. Eventually, Chris, Keith, and Hope returned.

"Any luck?" Tails asked.

"We lost track of Cubot and Orbot around the time they headed into the next Zone over," Chris said. "Some kinda Green Hill-style area."

"The Jade Gully Zone." Longclaw realized.

"For small bots with no rockets, those two are incredibly fast," Hope remarked.

"Don't sweat it," Rotor assured. "At least we know where to head next."

They gathered themselves up, then began making their way towards the next Zone.


Misty Peaks

At Misty Peaks, now a fortified military base, Robotnik stood outside Gazebo's forge, tapping his foot impatiently. He pulled back his sleeve, checking a clock built into his mechanical arm.

"It's time!" he declared. "A new Silver Moon Ring should have been finished hours ago!"

He stormed in. "You're stalling, aren't you, Boobowski?"

"I'm telling you, the process takes time," Gazebo insisted.

Robotnik saw movement behind Gazebo.

"Is that so?"

He suddenly grabbed Gazebo and shoved him aside. Doing so revealed a group of about five Mips, one of which had a Moon Emerald in its mouth. Meeting Robotnik's eye, it swallowed the Emerald.

"Funny thing about Mips," Gazebo remarked with mild smugness. "they can digest just about anything."

Robotnik slowly turned to face him.

"Did you really think you could fool me like this?"

"You can do what you want with me, Robotnik, but I won't be a part of your evil schemes any longer!"

Robotnik fumed, before sighing and putting on a grin.

"Oh, that's alright, Gazebo old chum." He put an arm around him. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to do…"

With a maniacal look on his face, he yanked Gazebo forward by the collar.

"AS LONG AS YOU DON'T MIND BEING THROWN INTO A DUNGEON FULL OF SNAKES AND EATING DEAD SPIDERS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"

Shockingly, Gazebo remained defiant.

"Go ahead, do your worst," he said. "You'll never get a single Moon Ring out of me."

Robotnik was shaking with rage, but then he seemed to calm down.

"Alright then," he said as he turned to go, stopping and turning his head only slightly. "By the way, Gazebo... I'm taking the liberty of having my Badniks bring your daughter here."

Gazebo stiffened as Robotnik went on.

"I would spend many sleepless nights if anything... unfortunate were to befall her."

"Tiara…" Gazebo stammered. "No... you wouldn't… You can't…"

"I will establish the Robotnik Empire, by any means necessary. And now that you know who's in charge here…" Robotnik whirled around threateningly, "GET TO WORK!"

Reluctantly, Gazebo took the few Emeralds that had not been eaten and got to work. With that, Robotnik departed, smirking as he heard the hammer clanging on the Power Rings.

"This is the sort of thing that makes being a rotten villain worthwhile."


Author's Note:

Another one down. And we have the introduction of Cubot's voice chip running gag, and a hint at Unleashed down the line.

The Mips were meant to replace animals in Sonic X-treme. My take on them takes more than a few cues from the Tribbles of Star Trek, and them eating anything, like Chaos Emeralds, was suggested by Author of the Insane.

Please R&R. Until next time!