Chapter 71: Iron Tour
Within the Dragon City, a female yellow fox with red hair escapes from the grip of her future husband to be the Iron King. The huge Ox Mobian along with his Swat Bots are seeking her out. "You bucketheads, find my lovely wife, ASAP," the Ox King ordered. The menacing robots swarm the massive city for the yellow fox hides under a stone bridge to pull out a datapad to send out a message to the Echidnas.
"I need safety and there is a group of people fighting back against these assholes. I hope someone finds my message," she said to spread her message on secured channels.
Soon enough Belle picks up the signal from the coded message. "Oh, how interesting," Belle said, contacting Sonic, Mina, Silver, and Bernadette to come to the lab. Shortly after, the four came to the lab to be told of their next mission. "Okay everyone, I got this coded message from a young lady named Mindy Latour. She will give us an Anarchy Beryl in exchange for her safe passage," Belle said as Mina knows that name.
"LaTour, she is a big underground singer here in Moebius. On the news, Ash tried to get her onto his business but she refused to give in. Ash sold her off to the Iron King to be his wife but thank goodness she escaped," Mina said as she was happy to meet with the infamous singer hated by the powers that be.
"Big fan huh?" Silver asked as Mina blushed at this.
"Yeah I am, she is like me of this world. Lifting people with her music trying to give hope but she got crushed," Mina feels saddened by this.
"Well, we better give her a helping hand," Bernie said as she sent the coordinates to the stealth craft in the hangar.
"Your location is Dragon City which is the capital of the Dragon Kingdom ruled by one of the Miles' underlings the Iron King," Belle said as Mina and Sonic were familiar with this place.
"Another tyrant, another guy to be slammed into the dirt," Sonic said.
"Yes, I am very familiar with the region since I came from there," Mina said as her hometown of Okina City is quite close to that region. Her mother used to take her there when she was younger. "They make the best silk dresses there but they do send them to Okina City as well. I bet I can grab some Cheongsam dresses along the way," Mina said.
"Let's get going," Bernie said as they headed over to the hangar to take the stealth ships and fly out of the dome and into the ocean. They soon get out of the water to speed towards the landmass of Yurashia.
"I wonder what Okina City in this world is like. Is the version of my mother still living there as well?" Mina wondered as she recalled a memory of her time in Dragon City when she was pretty young and her young sister Melody was still in her mother's stomach when her father passed away around that time.
-Flashback Begins-
7-year-old Mina is with her mother in the cobblestone lanes of the ancient Dragon City the centerpiece of the impressive Dragon Kingdom which is one of the oldest regions in Mobius. Isabella is holding onto Mina's hand with her own and placing her other hand on the large belly holding her sister. "Oh boy, stick close to me Mina, these streets can be quite tightly packed," Isabella said as they brushed through the crowds of people trying to get on with their lives.
"We are like sardines here," Little Mina said as the seven-year-old was amazed by the ancient city with statues of serpent-like dragons, buildings that are a mix of modern and ancient in a perfect blend, and food stands serving local foods to the people.
"Keep close okay honey, we need to grab some spices here and head back home," Isabella said as they went into a grocery shop which has the spices she needed for her Tofu dishes.
"Hello, Mrs. Mongoose. How are things going lately?" the shopkeeper asked as Mina was looking at the cute-looking fruits in the bins.
"Just getting by, of course. Working on the family Tofu business," Isabella said as Mina was looking at a dragon fruit which is quite weird to Mina's eyes.
"How are you holding up with your husband losing his life in battle?" she asked as several weeks ago he lost his life in a battle to defend the city-state of Okina City against a group of rogue militiamen.
"I will get over it but the little one has taken it pretty hard. She is trying to be a good girl and trying to move on as well. Sadly, Melody will never know about her father as Mina does," Isabella looks at her young daughter.
"I see, I hope you two are the best and for the pregnant to play out well," the shopkeeper said as she handed the older mongoose her spices.
"Thank you so much, Mina let's go," Isabella said as she took the little girl's hand to head outside for them to have some time left to look around the grand city. "Hey Mina, we can go get some ice cream before we head back home," she said as Mina showed a sad smile to nod her head.
"Okay Mommy, I would like that," Mina said as they headed for a food stand that gave out different types of ice cream.
"You need something madam?" the male alligator asked.
"Well, we would like two scoops of Berry Mint cream please," Isabella said as the shopkeeper handed the daughter and mother ice cream scoops.
"Here you go you two, enjoy," he said as the family duo sat down on the bench.
"Oh goodness, this is pretty tasty," Isabella said as she was licking it while her daughter was enjoying the ice cream despite sporting a frown on her little face. "What's wrong honey?" she asked but she knew why she was sad.
"I miss Daddy," Mina said as she had been a bit sad even after the funeral. "Even when he died her hero, I still feel sad," she said as Isabella kissed her on the forehead trying to comfort her.
"It's okay to be sad honey. Even if he is not with us now, he will always be within our hearts," Isabella points to her chest as Mina looks on with confusion.
"You sure?" she asked.
"Yes with those memories you shared with your daddy. You always keep you in your heart, he is not gone in a way," Isabella said trying to comfort her as Mina showed a bright smile to kind of get what her mother was saying.
"Okay, I guess I know what you mean. I will always remember my daddy in my heart. Thanks, mommy," she said.
"Thanks, little one, let's eat up, and let's shop around. I can get you something nice," Isabella said as Mina's little face brightened up with happiness.
"Mommy, really?" she asked.
"Of course," Isabella said as Mina looked up to one of the huge holoscreens on the side of a skyscraper showing a popular idol named Vivi who is a purple minx girl in her late teens sinning her heart out.
"Vivi is on, she is so cool," Mina said as she loved the teen idol with her cute outfit, her beautiful hairstyle, and her killer yet silky voice.
"Yes I know, you have her posters everywhere in your room," Isabella said as they finished their snacks for them to head for one of the shops. Isabella has a good gift idea for Mina to cheer her up. They walk by one of the clothing shops for Mina is awestruck by the beautiful silky cheongsam dress worn by a manakin.
"Wow, that dress is so pretty," Mina said as the red dress had a green serpent dragon in the front of it.
"Well, when you get older, you will be able to look lovely it in," Isabella said as she does plan on giving her one on her 15th birthday.
"I can't wait for it," Mina said sounding pretty happy for them to head into a store filled with all kinds of things with Mina seeing all sorts of holoscreens and other electronic devices. Isabella finds something perfect for her daughter.
"Mina, I am going to buy you this," Isabella said as she showed her a wireless mic.
"Oh my gosh, it's like the one Vivi uses when she performs on stage," Mina said as her big green eyes widened by this.
"I am going to give you this as a gift since you love to sing. I think it is best to give you something that will help you," Isabella said as her little girl went to hug her and lay her head against her big belly.
"Thanks, Mommy. You are the best," Mina said as Isabella returned her hug.
"Of course, I am, come on. Let me buy this for you and we can get out of here," Isabella said as Mina held onto the microphone to hug it to my chest.
"With this, I can be an idol just like Vivi. Daddy, I hope you can see me, I am going to make you proud along with my mommy," Mina thought as she sought to become an idol with her mother putting her on the right path to success.
-Flashback Ends-
Mina remembers those simple times as herself a little girl wanting to become an Idol and brighten up Mobius with her music. Then Ash gave into her life and made that part very hard. "You seem distracted?" Silver asked as Mina snapped out of her daze.
"Oh sorry, I was thinking about my time in Dragon City back home," Mina said.
"Hey you two, after we finished this mission. We can hang out at my house, I need to catch up with you too after all this craziness happening lately," Bernadette said,
'Cool, that would be great Mom," Sonic said as they rapidly headed for Yurashia to fly into the mountains to land in an opening into the forest.
"I don't trace any signs of life here," Silver said as the four got onto the grass to see the huge Dragon City in the distance. Mina can see it looks quite the same as one from her world.
"We should contact Mindy," Bernadette said as she pulled out her comlink. "Hello, this is Bernadette. My team was sent to pick you up. Where is your location?" she asked.
"Thank goodness. I am so gracefully for you all to come to rescue me. The Iron King is on my tail and I need your help to escape his wraith," Mindy said.
'Where are you now?" Bernie asked.
"I am in the Starlight Inn's basement. The good people here let me rest here for now," Mindy said.
"Alright, we will meet up with you there," Bernie said as they entered the city with one of the drones noting their presence to the Iron King still on the streets looking for his wife.
"Sir, we have detected Sonic the Hedgehog along with his allies," the Swat bot said.
"Those rats are in my city, how disgraceful," he said.
"Should I order the troops?" the machine asked.
'No, they are here for Mindy. Let's them go towards her hiding spot and they will lead us to her," Iron King said.
"Of course, brilliant plan," Swat Bot said.
"It is indeed, prepare for the ambush once they find her," the Iron King ordered as they tracked them down without noticing the presence of the drone.
The four walk through the cobbled streets with Mina feeling comfortable here despite it being under the tight control of the Iron King. "It's nice to be something familiar here. Everyone is so tightly packed in these lanes as always," Mina said as she had sweet memories of herself and her mother here.
"Well, the inn should be close by," Silver said as they saw a big sign with the name Starlight Inn in bright neon lights.
"This is the place," Sonic said as they went inside to meet up with the shopkeeper with the drone getting close using its listening devices to wait for Mindy's voice to be picked up.
"Do you know Mindy is here?" Bernie asked.
"Of course, this is the way to the basement. Make it quick, the Iron King will not stop until he finds his wife," the shopkeeper said as she unlocked the door to let them go down into the basement to see the yellow fox woman with her blazing red hair and matching long tail.
"You must be the backup sent here to pick me up," Mindy said.
"Yes, we are here to take you away. Where is the gemstone?" Bernie asked as Mindy gave them the Anarchy Beryl. "Let's move quickly," Bernie said as Mina was pretty happy to see the underground singer in the flesh.
"Hello there, My name is Mina Mongoose. I am a big fan," Mina said as she shook her hand.
"Oh, good to know. You got killer hair by the way," Mindy said as Mina smiled at this.
"Thank you, follow us. We will protect you," Mina said as they sneaked out of the basement but a swarm of Swat Bots, Assault Drones, and Assault Walkers surrounded the Inn.
"Hello, there my love. I have come to take you back to my castle," the Iron King said with a booming voice and towering over them.
"Oh crap, now this big idiot again," Mindy said as she gets behind Mina.
"It was a pretty good idea to let you roam in my city while I track you with one of my drones. Time to give up, you are surrounded," the big Ox said.
"Not so fast," Silver unleashes a blast of psychic energy to lift all the Swat Bots to toss them into buildings breaking on impact. "Let's get out of here," Silver said as they got assaulted by tons of machines with the huge Ox Mobian on hot pursuit. "So many robots," Silver sends out a psychic wave to blow away lots of drones.
Sonic and Bernadette curl up into balls to use double Spin Dashes to crash into several groups of Swat Bots. Bernadette uncurls to use her energy blades to crop up incoming robots to clear a path with Mina using a series of fireballs to burn out several robotic targets.
The people are confused as fighting is taking place on the streets with some enjoying the fights while others flee for their lives. The Iron King is bashing and killing anyone who gets in his way. Silver is grabbing tiles and rocks to send them flying into the raging bull but it barely stops him.
"Gee, what a brute," Bernadette is using a spin dash to knock down groups of Swat bots with Silver using lifting machines to toss them at the raging Ox but he easily brushes them aside. Mina summons blue cubes and exploding clones trying to slow down the big Ox but nothing is stopping him.
"Damn it, this guy is relentless," Sonic said as he uses a Light Speed Attack to slam into the Iron King's armored chest. The Ox looks down to take no damage from Sonic's attack.
"Don't make me laugh with that pitiful attack," Ox punches Sonic to send him flying into the air.
"Sonic, Quake," Mina is trying to slow down the charging Ox with stone walls but the looming Ox smashes right through them. She summons large stone spikes trying to gore him but he stops his advance with Mina entrapping him in a blue cube making it explode to knock him onto the streets.
Bernadette kicks down a drone as she leaps into the air with her energy wrist blades to slice up incoming several flying drones. "We need to keep going to the forest now," she said as Sonic and Mina used their powers to entomb the raging bull in a thick coffin of rock. They both make the rock tomb implode to manage to knock the Iron King out while they escape the city to go into the forest.
Soon enough the Iron King managed to wake up pretty shortly after not suffering much damage from the battle. "Well, Mindy if you want to play this game. I going to seek you out, find one of your concerts, and show the world how useless your message truly is," the Iron King is beginning to plan his next move on his wife to make his robotic forces disengage letting them escape.
The group managed to get the stealth ship to enter inside as their mission was a complete success. "Well, that was insane," Silver said as he was out of breath from running in the forest trying to dodge killer robots.
"Thanks for the aid everyone, I am grateful for your help. I want to speak with the Echidna leader to seek shelter for the time being," Mindy said.
"Of course, I will ask O'Nux about your shelter within Echidnapolis," Bernadette said.
"That Ox was insane, we threw everything at him and nothing seemed to stop him," Sonic said.
"Well, the Iron King is using some powerful cybernetics empowered by Chaos energy allowing him to become a living battering ram," Mindy said.
"Pretty crazy, we need to keep that in mind next time we face him," Silver said as Mina got close to the singer.
"It's pretty cool you are staying in the city, I want us to share some songwriting tips," Mina said.
"Oh, that sounds pretty cool. What is your stage name?" Mindy asked.
"I am the Songoose," Mina said with boldness.
"Oh Songoose, a pretty clever play of words. I have not gotten a stage name yet but I am working on it," Mindy said.
"So, I heard about you being sold off to Ash recently," Mina said as Mindy felt ashamed of herself.
"Yeah, he managed to catch me but he tried to turn me into one of his plastic singers. I refused and he sold me off like a cheap hooker to the Iron King himself through one of his agents. Gee, I will never be part of a corporation, all they do is suck you dry until you are replaced with another victim," Mindy said.
"I 100% agree with you on that one. We are going to be good friends," Mina said as the two singers gave each other a friendly hug.
"Oh, I can ditto that Songoose," she said playfully as they headed back to Demon Island to claim their sixth gemstone.