-Chapter 100-
Powder Keg
Heads up: All text in bold is in Chinese/Chun-nese.
Egg Utopia
Eggatha and Robotnik sat in his lab, both of them holding their Chao in their laps.
"I think we'll need to create some sort of fresh water spring back in Robotropolis," Eggatha mused. "Nothing too fancy. Oh, and they apparently like fresh fruit. There's even a special tree that grows these Chao Berries."
Robotnik nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
"That reminds me, have you named it yet?" Eggatha asked. "Mine's named Pitch."
"I've been thinking it over," Robotnik replied. "His name is Nik."
"Ooh! Like Badnik! Or Robotnik. It's perfect!"
There was a knock on the door at that. Robotnik sighed.
"Well, at least they learned to knock," he passed Nik to Eggatha and opened the door. "What is it this time, Snively?"
"My apologies for bothering you, sir," Snively told him. "But I just received word of our... recurring nuisance."
Robotnik tensed, Eggatha perking up.
"Again?" she asked.
"They're persistent, I'll give them that," Robotnik replied. "Show me."
Snively held out a datapad, tapping the screen. Shockingly, the image didn't show Sonic, or any member of the Freedom Fighters. Instead, it showed a large, green dragon with matching eyes, a large pink fin reminiscent of hair on her head and pointy golden horns, roaring at several Badniks. The dragon was dressed in a blue, yellow and black gown with black shoulder pads, blue and gold gauntlets, black pants, and blue, white and gold boots, a black ring through her nose and murder in her eyes.
"She's been wreaking havoc with our forces in the Hot Crater Zone," Snively explained.
"Damn it…" Robotnik cursed. "You'd think after eluding her for months, she'd just give up and go home."
"That's not all, sir…" Snively went on. "Sonic and his team appear to be headed for the crater as well."
Robotnik stiffened. "Did I hear you correctly?"
Snively nodded. "But that shouldn't be an issue. From what we can tell, the Dragon does not appear to speak English, and I highly doubt Sonic speaks..." He looked at his pad. "Chun-nese."
"Yes, you're right," Robotnik agreed. "Nobody in his group speaks any other language, except for Antoine, who dabbles in French, that chaotic badger, who has thankfully not been seen in awhile, and the Winters girl... Who was born and raised... in Chun-nan…"
Snively gulped as Robotnik realized what he said as he was saying it. He suddenly twitched before clutching his chest as if having a heart attack. He stood back, grunting several times before standing stick-straight, his face turning beet-red before he managed to compose himself.
"Snively…" he began. "Ensure that Sonic's group, especially that red-haired menace, do not meet our recurring problem. Have I made myself clear?"
"Y-yessir," Snively stammered. "Your orders?"
"Dispatch the Bomber Tanks to the Hot Crater. By the time they're through, we'll be sending Sonic and his little pals to the morgue in a sponge."
Hot Crater
Meanwhile, Sonic and his crew arrived in Hot Crater. The entire area was riddled with steam vents and magma pools. Sonic rubbed his eyes, looking at the Zone, then back at the lush, beautiful forest.
"How do these two Zones just exist next to each other?" he wondered.
"Probably for the same reason South Island just happens to have the Frozen Zone in-between the Labyrinth and Star Light." Hope offered.
"Geography is weird," Kat mused.
They took in the sights, seeing all manner of metallic pathways and machinery spread across the Zone, extending from what was undoubtedly a Badnik processing plant in the distance.
"And lo and behold, Badniks," Antoine said.
"This'll be fun," Kat punched her fist into her palm and instantly regretted it as pain lanced up her arm. "Shit! That was stupid…"
Before they could make a move inward, they heard a loud, powerful roar from the plant, followed by the sight of a jet of flame.
"What on Mobius?!" Chris exclaimed.
They looked up, seeing the dragon from before diving at the plant, letting out a large plume of flames at the building.
"Is... that what I think it is?" Keith questioned.
"It's… a dragon," Hope managed.
"Pretty damn far from Yurashia, ain't it?" Bunnie pondered.
"More than that, that's a Protector-class dragon," Kat pointed out. "They don't leave Dragon's Nest unless the clan is at risk. For one to come all the way out here…"
"C'mon, let's check it out," Sonic insisted.
They closed in on the base, seeing the Badniks scrambling to fight back against the enraged dragon. It said not a word, merely melting the bots to slag in blind fury. As the organic batteries within were freed, they scrambled to escape the dragon's fiery wrath.
"Normally, I'm all for Eggman's toys getting wrecked, but we need to stop that overgrown lizard before it does the wrong kinda damage!" Sonic insisted.
"Agreed," Antoine nodded.
"You young'uns stay back," Bunnie ordered. "Ya ain't ready to face a dragon."
"No argument here," Chris told her.
"Nope," Keith agreed.
"I'll gladly stay," Hope assured.
The dragon continued to swoop. Sonic looked around, soon seeing a rock formation he could use as a ramp.
"Been working on this for a while," he mused. "Time to kick things up a notch!"
As he ran down the ramp, he threw his arms behind him, rapidly accelerating until he was surrounded by a shield-like Mach cone, a sonic boom sounding as he launched himself into the air (1). He went flying right at the dragon, hitting her hard in the side. She roared as she was knocked off course, Sonic clinging to her scales.
"Listen, lady!" he shouted. "I'm all for smashing up Eggman's clunkers, but you need to chill out!"
"Qǐng bié dǎrǎo wǒ! (2)" the dragon snapped, grabbing Sonic and tossing him aside.
He hit the ground rolling before getting to his feet.
"Of course," he sighed. "She speaks Chun-nese and not English."
"You knew that was Chun-nese?" Bunnie asked.
"Kat talks in her sleep sometimes," Sonic explained. "She used to say that exact phrase a lot."
"Bon sang… (3)" Antoine cursed. "If she can't speak English, then we can't reason with her."
"We can't," Sonic clarified, looking back at Kat. "But she can. We just need to get her close enough."
He darted over to Kat, quickly explaining the situation.
"The dragon speaks Chun-nese. I need you to translate for me so this won't have to end the hard way."
"Alright," Kat nodded. "I'll do what I can."
Sonic pulled her onto his back, Kat wrapping her good arm around him.
"Hold on tight!" Sonic declared before taking off at full speed.
He began bouncing on the various Badniks, trying to get closer. The dragon was still in full fury. She took a deep breath, preparing to let loose another flame before Sonic and Kat got to her, Sonic grabbing onto her back. The dragon snarled, trying to buck them off.
"Wait!" Kat cried in Chun-nese, the dragon pausing upon hearing her native tongue.
"None of these automatons speak this tongue…" she let out.
"We're not with them! We're not your enemy!" Kat insisted.
The dragon turned to look at them, Kat's words seeming to break through her berserker rage.
"Can you please land?" Kat requested. "My friend cannot hold onto you, and to me. And I believe you have done all you can do to the Badnik plant."
The dragon nodded, descending carefully. Once she landed, Kat and Sonic slid off. Sonic dropped Kat and rotated his arms.
"I've gotta stop skipping Arm Day…" he muttered.
"Thank you," Kat said. "What can we call you?"
"My name is Dulcinea," the dragon answered. "Call me Dulcy."
"Alright Dulcy, what's going on?" Sonic asked. "From what my friend says, having a dragon like you this far from your nest isn't common."
Kat translated, and Dulcy's eyes darkened.
"It happened a few months ago. Dr. Robotnik led an attack on my nest. We managed to beat most of them in battle and keep the fiends away, but my mother... Sabina…" Her fists clenched, claws scraping against scales. "She was taken in the raid. I hunted her down, but by the time I found her, it was too late. She had been transformed into an automaton."
By the time Kat finished translating, her voice was cracking from emotion, turmoil shared by everyone in the group. Sonic reached up, gently patting Dulcy on the arm.
"No wonder you were so pissed… losing your mom like that." He sighed. "I know how you feel. Robotnik roboticized my uncle right in front of me."
"And I lost my entire village to him," Kat added.
"Village…" Dulcy repeated. "Shēngcún Village?"
Kat nodded. Dulcy's wing came down, gently curling around Kat.
"We saw the flames from the nest. You have my condolences."
Sonic thought it over for a minute, then nodded. "Dulcy, he recently attacked another village not too far from here. Burned it down and took all the villagers prisoner. We're on our way to save them. Care to join us?"
"The villagers live?" Dulcy asked.
Sonic nodded. "No bodies were found, and Eggman's known for taking prisoners to roboticize."
"I will gladly aid in preventing another travesty," Dulcy assured. "However, I foresee some difficulty with only one of you speaking my tongue."
Sonic winced at that. "Oh… right."
"Easy fix," Kat insisted. "Keith, you still got those walkies? The long range ones you've been tinkering with?"
Keith dug around in his bag for several minutes. He tossed one to Kat, who caught it in her good arm.
"I'll go with Dulcy," she decided. "We'll be eyes in the sky, and use these to communicate. With my bum arm, I'm useless anyway, so getting me out of the way is for the benefit of the group."
Before they could do anything else, they heard a crashing sound, followed by a missile that narrowly missed them. Everyone whirled around to see numerous new Badniks with green coloration consisting of humanoid upper bodies fitted to tank-like bases riding up to them, numerous rocket and grenade launchers in their chests and arms.
"They're bringing out the heavy artillery!" Chris cried.
"Guess Eggman stopped pulling punches today!" Hope agreed.
Dulcy grabbed Kat, dropping the girl onto her back. "These machines will not be easily defeated, even with my flames. We must work together!"
"C'mon, spread out!" Sonic yelled.
They took off running, giving the tanks multiple targets. Sonic charged at one, tucking into a ball and launching himself at it, only for his Spin Attack to bounce right off. He landed hard, feeling more than a little bruised.
"Okay…" he sighed. "This is just not my day."
"You are trespassing on a restricted area!" one tank declared. "The penalty for transgressing Dr. Robotnik is death!"
"The penalty for anything is death, as a matter of fact." a second tank remarked.
"The doctor is harsh, but fair," a third remarked before thinking. "...Well, okay. Maybe they're not fair, but we like them!"
"This just keeps getting better and better," Bunnie sighed.
Sonic quickly thought of a solution, standing before them all.
"You guys are pathetic, you know that?" he taunted. "I've never met one of you rust buckets that could shoot straight!"
They angrily fired on him, Sonic darting out of the way. "How 'bout I make things easier for you? I'll come over where you can get a better shot at me."
He stood right in the middle of them, the tanks all aiming at him simultaneously. Sonic smirked, and just as they fired, he launched himself upward. Dulcy caught him, watching as the tanks blew themselves up. He snapped his fingers with a grin.
"There you have it," he quipped.
"Well done," Dulcy set the hedgehog down.
As Sonic landed, he spotted something sparkling in a pouch on Dulcy's belt
"Hey... what's that?"
Kat took a look, her eyes widening.
"Dulcy, do you have a Chaos Emerald?" Kat asked.
"I was not about to let Robotnik get his claws on it."
She reached into the pouch, pulling out a red Chaos Emerald, holding it out.
"That makes three," Sonic remarked, "if you'll let me take it."
He opened his jacket, revealing the two he had already collected. Dulcy eyed them, handing over the gem with a curious gleam in her eyes.
"I thought I sensed Chaos energy on you, but not just from your pockets. Both you and this child are surrounded and full of Chaos energy. Just who are you?"
"He's Sonic the Hedgehog, hero of Mobius," Kat informed her.
"And you?"
"Kat Winters, survivor,"
"Alright," Antoine cut in. "Now that that's done, where to next?"
"The next Zone is the old Music Plant," Bunnie said. "This big theme park I took Cream to once or twice. It's been shut down for years."
"Calling it now," Chris piped up. "Revamped into a money making scheme."
"Does seem to be the running theme when it comes to theme parks," Keith mused.
"Well, he's gotta be funding his operations and getting his resources somehow, considering as far as we know, his Robotnik Empire hasn't really spread past Robotropolis," Hope pointed out.
"No point wondering where he gets all those wonderful toys," Sonic cut in. "I'm more concerned with breaking them."
"I'll take Kat and keep to the skies," Dulcy said. "We'll report anything we find along the way."
"You got it," Sonic nodded. "Let's get going."
Egg Utopia
Robotnik tucked Eggatha into bed, the girl hugging Pitch in her arm. He gently pet her, pulling her tiara off and setting it aside before slipping out of her room. He closed the door, smiling.
"Sir?" Snively's voice cut in, wiping the smile off his uncle's face.
"Let me guess," Robotnik sighed. "The Bomber Tanks failed, and now the dragon and Sonic have teamed up."
"Y-yes, sir." Snively stammered. "The Winters girl is with the dragon, acting as translator."
Robotnik seemed about to explode, and Snively immediately stiffened before putting on a helmet. Instead, Robotnik held up a finger before going into another room off to the side, safely out of range of Eggatha's room. He suddenly heard Robotnik screaming in enraged, incoherent gibberish for several moments, before the door opened and the good doctor came out, red-faced but composed.
"This... just made things more complicated," he muttered. "Now Sonic has a dragon on his side. And with the Winters girl with it-"
He cut himself off, pausing before thinking a bit. The red in his face seemed to lessen a bit. "Snively, still with the group, or has it split off?"
"They've split off, sir," Snively answered.
"And did it take the girl with it?"
"Yes… Why?"
Robotnik grinned, an idea forming. "It seems we can still use this situation to our advantage."
Author's Note:
(1): Yep. The debut of the Sonic Boost.
(2): "Leave me alone" in Chinese.
(3): "Damn it" in French.
What could the good doctor be planning? Stay tuned…
Dulcy is from SatAM and Archie, just FYI.
Voice cast for this chapter:
* Dulcy - Liu Yufei (Mulan in the live-action Mulan remake)
Please R&R. Until next time!
