GammaTron: *walks in* Just saw the new Sonic game coming out in 2017. Glad to see them return to their roots of the 2D games but also let us play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles along with the new Drop Dash move.
SZ: Eeyup. Plus we got some new Zones to go through. I'd love to play this, but I can't…*slumps* I have no PS4 or XboxOne…*cheers up* but I don't care! We finally getting a Sonic game that isn't Sonic Boom!
GT: True. I don't have either system, but it's still good we don't have another Nintendo Sonic game. Sonic Boom wasn't even supposed to be for Nintendo and the engine they were using for the game wasn't compatible with Wii U.
SZ: Eeeyup...the 3DS Sonic Boom games did a bit better though. Wii-U version...even worse than '06, even with the patch to fix the bugs and glitches. Ahem...anyways, I think we might be getting off we start with the story, or do ya have something else to say before we begin, GT?
GT: Start the story! *jumps up and pulls down the screen*
"Good luck, Sly-Itoko-tachi!" Roll waved as the Cooper Van drove off.
"No, I am serious. I am here in Soumerca right now," Carmelita informed on the radio, "...Si. ...Si. ...Que? No! ...Si, I understand."
"I take it they didn't believe you could get here so quick," Makoto noted as Carmelita hung up.
"No..no they didn't," Carmelita replied, "In fact, I am still having trouble understanding that this vehicle was able to get all the way from the middle of the ocean near the equator to Soumerca in just under two hours."
"Oh….well it was a little confusing at first," Makoto admitted, "I've been with these guys for nearly three-quarters of a year now and I'm still trying to get use to some of the stuff we've been dealing with."
"I see," Carmelita noted.
"Yeah, but hey... Some of the adventures I've been on with Sonic and the others have been pretty exciting," Makoto added, "Speaking of…" she ran into the driver's room, "We getting the lead out already?! The longer we wait, the longer Noel's going to be stuck with Eggman!"
"Don't worry, Makoto! We'll be there as quickly as possible!" Sonic replied.
"We better, because I want to introduce that fatass to two friends of mine the moment we get there; McStrike and McSlam!" Makoto added, holding her fists up for emphasis.
"Lucky for us, Rook remembered standard protocol for Plumbers and is currently letting out a signal from his badge," Ben noted, looking at a holographic radar being displayed from the dashboard on the passenger seat's side.
"Sheesh. These Plumbers sure sound a lot more prepared for things than the NOL ever did," Makoto noted.
"They have to be since they deal with a lot of different types of aliens," Ben shrugged, "And that's just in the Milky Way Galaxy. There are aliens all over the universe and four of the aliens in the Omnitrix are actually from the Andromeda Galaxy of all places."
"Huh...cool," Makoto nodded, "Heh...man...if Cajun-chan heard that, she would not stop bombarding you with questions."
"Cajun?" Sonic repeated as he started to drive off towards where Ben was directing him to.
"A friend of mine from my days at the Academy," Makoto explained, "She was a roommate of Mai's, another friend of mine, Noel, and Tsubaki's. Heh, we even had this one club we formed called Remix Heart."
"A club?" Sonic repeated, Makoto sliding in-between the two as a third seat was deployed by Ben for her.
"Yup. And man did we get into some strange situations," Makoto chuckled a bit, "Oh! Like this one time me and Noel were eating some watermelons, and while we were all out in the forest, the seed Noel had ended up swallowing started growing from her bellybutton and...eh heh….most of us ended up getting caught in the vines. If it wasn't for some quick thinking from Mai, Noel would've had a watermelon explode out of her stomach, and me, Tsubaki, and Cajun would be stuck in the vines."
"A seed she ate started growing out of her body?" Sonic raised a brow.
"Wow. Remind me not to eat the watermelons there," Ben joked.
"To be fair, it was because of the Siethr in the area," Makoto explained before chuckling a bit, "But...heh, yeah. We didn't eat watermelon for a few weeks after that incident." she sighed while her ears drooped.
"...Hey. We'll save her," Ben assured, patting her shoulder.
"Yeah. I mean, what's the wors…" Sonic began.
"Don't say it!" Ben yelped.
"Say what?"
"'What's the worst that could happen?'" Ben replied before facepalming, "And I just said it."
"..." Sonic looked around a bit before looking outside, "...Well look. Nothing has ha-"
*BOOM!*
"Son of a bitch!" Sonic cursed as something slammed against the bus.
"Madre de dios!" Carmelita yelped.
"What did we hit?" Knuckles demanded, running out into the driver's area.
"...Uh….Bro?" Manic spoke as he looked out the window, "We got Dark Legion on our tail!"
"Wh-?" Sonic began before the bus was hit once more, "Gah!"
"Roll, get to your station!" Ben shouted.
"Hai!" Roll nodded as she ran upstairs.
On the outside of the bus, a side of the bus slid out and extended a pair of large gun barrels. Roll entered the control room for the gun and Yacker quickly went into his console for it, switching to his Laser Wisp form to power it.
"How did they find us so fast?" Sonia grumbled as she slid a window down and summoned her keyboard-laser.
"They must have hacked into the transmission between myself and the Interpol HQ here," Carmelita frowned as she poked her head out a window and aimed her gun out.
"That's impossible. Who c-" Manic began.
=Hello, Freedom Fighters~=
"...Oh no...oh no…" Knuckles paled a bit as he recognized that voice, "No no no no. Not her again!"
"Who?" Sonic asked, "Old girlfriend?"
"I swear that I will punch your head off if you make that joke again," Knuckles growled, "And no! It's that crazy chinchilla that's obsessed with Eggman!"
=His name is Lord Robotnik!= Thunderbolt argued over the radio =And there's no way I'll let any of you get to him!=
"You are interfering with official Interpol business!" Carmelita informed, "Stop or you will be charged with interfering and will be arrested!"
=Ha! Good luck with that! Even if you could capture me, Lord Robotnik would wage war with your pathetic little Interpol to get what belongs to him back!=
"Which would be in violation of the agreement between the ruling class of Mobius and the countries that make up Interpol; one of which has made it very clear that they have the technology to nuke all the countries under Eggman's control the moment he tries that," Sonic informed.
=Mmm...that would be a problem...If Lord Robotnik wasn't already ruler of Mobius! So therefore, your little tragedy is null and void! So ha on you, you blue rat!=
"She's delusional," Sonia muttered with a facepalm.
"Told ya. She's obsessed with Eggman," Knuckles stated.
=IT'S LORD ROBOTNIK!= Thunderbolt snapped before yelping =HEY! WATCH THOSE!=
"Drat. We almost hit her vehicle," Carmelita scowled.
'I think we're making it easy for Sly's gang to do what they need to do…' Makoto sweatdropped.
=GRRR….That's it! Men, my suit!=
=But w-=
=NOW!=
=AHI~! Y-Yes, Lady Thunderbolt!=
"...Damn it...can this thing go any faster!?" Knuckles demanded..
"...How bad is the suit she mentioned?" Ben asked.
"It shoots lightning, can magnetize said lightning, and I barely escaped it after a long chase all the way up to Northamer," Knuckles replied.
"Okay. Makoto, keep direction Sonic where to go," Ben replied, getting up and walking off, "I'll try to distract her."
"Okay. Be careful out there," Makoto said as she looked at the holographic screen.
Roll yelped as the barrels of her guns were blown apart by a blast of electricity, making the part retract back into the bus and a smoking Yacker to float out, "We just lost one of the guns!"
"And there's more where that came from!" Thunderbolt's voice shouted from outside.
Ben climbed up to the top of the bus and activated his Omnitrix. He selected an alien and pressed out on it. In a flash of light, Articguana held onto the top.
"Time for you to chill out!" Articguana declared before inhaling deeply and exhaling a blast of icy winds, freezing the ground behind the bus all the way past the charging vehicle with Thunderbolt in her suit on top, causing the vehicle to start skidding out of control.
"Ahh! Hey, idiots! Watch where you're steering!" Thunderbolt snapped at the soldiers inside the vehicle.
"We're losing control!" one yelped, "This thing was not made for driving on ice!"
"Wheeee~!" another cheered.
"Damn it, Gev!"
"Ugh...do I have to do everything myself?!" Thunderbolt snapped as she hopped off the vehicle, jet boosters popped out the back of her mech as she flew over to the bus.
"I think not," Articugana frowned before slapping his Omnitrix, being replaced with… =Upgrade!=
"?!" Thunderbolt tensed as she skidded to a halt mid-air, having read a report on this specific alien.
=Now...how's about a free…=
"RETREAT!" Thunderbolt shouted as she flew off, "I don't want the suit Lord Robotnik gave me to be used against him!"
=Huh?= Upgrade blinked his 'eye' =Guess Eggman warned them about what Upgrade can do= he went back down before changing back into Ben, "They're leaving."
"Dude, what did you do?" Manic asked.
"I just turned into Upgrade and was going to take over her suit when she gave the order to retreat after seeing me," Ben replied.
"Upgrade?" Carmelita raised a brow, "Do you name all your forms?"
"That's where most of the fun of having this come from," Ben chuckled, tapping his Omnitrix.
"...I see," Carmelita noted.
"The jungle's a bit too dense for us to use the bus in," Sonic informed as everyone got out of the bus, "We're going the rest of the way on foot."
"A jungle?!" Sonia exclaimed, "You've got to be kidding me!"
"Nope," Ben replied as the holographic map came from his Omnitrix as he activated the bus's suitcase mode, "Rook's signal is coming from here."
"I see their truck," Roll added, lowering her pink and black Binocucom from her eyes, "Looks like they had to leave it behind when they went in there."
"...?!" Knuckles looked out at the area, "I can feel shards of the Master Emerald here."
"Huh?" Sonia turned to him before he ran off down a split path, "Knuckles?"
"I have to find the pieces of the Master Emerald!" Knuckles stated as he went into the jungle.
"Dude is paranoid," Manic muttered.
"Roll and I will go after him," Sonic shook his head, "You guys go meet up with the others."
"If Haseo-chan gets hurt, I will be very displeased," Roll informed, narrowing her eyes at everyone while hugging Haseo close, "Got it?"
"I'll do my best to keep him guarded at all times," Carmelita assured, the others sweating heavily at the Mama Bear glare Roll was giving them.
"Good…" Roll responded before looking down at Haseo with a sisterly look, "Now you be good for Inspector Fox, hai? We'll be there as fast as we can once we find Knuckles-san."
"H-hai...Onee-chan," Haseo nodded.
Roll nodded before pecking his forehead, "Be safe."
Sonic and Roll ran off, following Knuckles into the direction he went. Ben looked at the map.
"Okay. They're in that direction," Ben pointed to the other path, "I need to stay here and fix some things in the bus up," Ben informed, "That landing was a bit too wobbly for me to consider it safe enough to use again."
"Got it," Carmelita nodded.
"Let's get going then!" Makoto ran off.
"She must be really worried if she's just charging in like that," Sonia noted as they began to run after her.
"Everyone be on the ready in case we end up running into anything or anyone with ill intent," Carmelita advised, "Haseo, stay close."
"O...Okay," Haseo replied as he stayed close to her.
"Ugh. Where is that knucklehead?" Sonic frowned as he and Roll skidded to a halt before looking around, seeing old ruins consisting of large walls covered in moss and overgrowth while in the center of them was a tall tower-like structure, parts of it eroded away while the front showed a statue of a soldier of some sorts on one side of a set of stairs and a bauble on the other, partly eroded away at the top, "Seriously, what is with him?"
"..." Roll looked at the structure, her thoughts flashing back to what had happened on the Underground Ship near Kaine Island.
"You okay?" Sonic asked.
"Eh? H-Hai," Roll nodded before they heard stone grinding against stone, making them look up at the top of the stairs to see a snake's head-like structure rising up, "Eh?"
On the other side of the structure, Knuckles narrowed his eyes at the collapsing floor between two echidna statues he had laid down in slots. He could sense the shards were inside the structure and this was the best access to them. He jumped down as Sonic and Roll ran up the stairs and into the 'snake's' jaws and into a drop.
"So you get a hundred billion Rings, but for the rest of your life, whenever you sneeze, you start to sing," Jacky suggested as Alpha was in the lead, his big gold sword's upper half split down the middle and spinning like a saw to cut through the foliage in their way.
"What would you be singing?" Ragna asked.
"Anything. Any type of music genre; rock, hiphop, punk, J-Pop, anything. Always changes when you sneeze," Jacky informed, "And you couldn't stop yourself from sneezing no matter how hard you'd try."
"...I see…" Ragna noted slowly.
"Would we actually know the language of the song we'd sing?" J asked.
"Oh no," Jacky replied, "You wouldn't know the language of the song unless you know the language and you'd make an idiot of yourself if it involved a long rapping segment of it."
"Yikes," Tsubaki cringed.
"Okays. So is a hundred billion Rings, but the sneezings make you be singing for rest of life," Jetfire tapped his chin, "I woulds be takings it."
"Hell. No," Ragna shook his head, "I wouldn't take it."
"Nope," Tsubaki shook her head.
"Sorry, Jacky, but I'm gonna have to say no," Alpha replied.
"My apologies, but no," Rook added.
"No offenses to brother, but no as well," Jetstorm agreed.
"Aw, that is okay, Brother," Jetfire patted back, "Guess no ones else is having goods singing voice."
"Are we close yet?" Tsubaki asked the two.
"Yes. We is to being very close now," Jetfire nodded as Alpha cut a wall of vines and Makoto jumped back with a yelp on the other side.
"Whoa!" Sonia gasped as she and Carmelita aimed their weapons at the group.
"Don't shoot!" Jacky yelped before running behind Ragna, "Okay. Now shoot!"
"Why you little…!" Ragna growled in annoyance.
"Wait wait! Don't shoot!" Tsubaki called out as she stood in front of the group.
"...Tsubaki?"
"This is your friend that reported the kidnapping?" Carmelita questioned, lowering her gun.
"That's right," Makoto nodded before looking at Alpha, "Seriously, watch where you're going. I was this close to losing another pair of clothes."
"Sorry," Alpha apologized, changing his arm back to normal.
"You're an officer?" Tsubaki asked, walking up to Carmelita.
"Inspector Carmelita Montoya Fox of Interpol," Carmelita confirmed, "You are Tsubaki Yayoi, the one who reported the kidnapping of a Noel Vermillion by one of the creations of Dr. Ivo Robotnik?"
"That is correct," Tsubaki responded.
"Oh! You is being the fox lady that I was to be seeing when I be escaping from bad place in mountain," Jetfire blinked twice.
"Eep," Haseo squeaked at seeing him and Jetstorm.
"Easy now, Haseo. They're good," Alpha assured, "They're on the run from Eggman right now."
"We be to failing very important mission for Mustard Eggyman because of mean combiners striking us when wes got to raccoon first," Jetfire noted, "And Mustard Starscreaming be taking little shy Overlander so he's to not beings scrapped like Brother and I are to being now."
"Little shy Overlander was nice," Jetstorm added, "She not being involved with that and we's be wantings to be the helping her."
"Yes. So we's are showing our new comrades were Mustard Eggyman's new base is," Jetfire added.
"New base?"
"Yes. It is beings called…" Jetfire paused as he pondered a bit, "...Brother, was it being called the Egg Carrier, or no? I am not recalling what it is being called."
"I be thinking that is right, yes," Jetstorm tapped his chin in thought before walking ahead, "Ah! Is here!"
Everyone moved over to him to see a large door themed after Eggman's face with the teeth as the door. It was connected to a long tunnel reaching towards an area even further away.
"Oh, good. It is to not be launching yet," Jetfire noted as he and Jetstorm ran up to the door and the blue robot began to type something on the computer beside the door, causing it to slide open.
"Is this way, new comrades!" Jetstorm waved before hearing a launching siren going off, "Be hurrying! We do not have the moments to losing!"
The tunnel shook just as the last of them got into it. The tunnel began to quickly retract all the way towards where it had come from. Once it was fully back, the area began to rumble before the ground began to rise and break apart. Animals flew and ran away from the area as something massive began to rise from the ground.
"Woah!" Sonic yelped as he nearly lost his footing, "What the heck was that?!"
"I'm not sure," Roll replied, "Ah mou...Where did Knuckles-san go?"
"Not sure," Sonic replied as before he stopped walking, "Uh...Roll, do you see the red ball of light?"
"Hai," Roll nodded slowly before the ball zipped down a path, "I...I think it wants us to follow it."
"...We might as well," Sonic shrugged as the two ran down the path, chasing after the ball of light and into a large chamber with small waterfalls at the sides, "What is this place?"
Roll looked ahead and gasped, "Sonikku, look!"
Sonic looked ahead and cringed. Before them was a large stone mural, depicting a massive serpent-like beast unleashing destruction upon something. It seemed to show it creating floods, destroying structures.
"There it is!" a voice called before Knuckles came out of one of the falls, grabbing a shard of the Master Emerald as both landed on the floor.
"There you are, you knucklehead!" Sonic snapped.
"Hmm?" Knuckles blinked as he looked up to see Sonic and Roll staring at him, the former giving him an annoyed glare, "...Oh hey."
"Oh, don't you pull that crap on me! We've been looking for you!"
"I didn't tell you to follow me," Knuckles frowned before the ball of light floated between the three, "Oh not you again!"
"You've seen this too?" Roll asked before a flash of light from it made them shut their eyes.
"Goddamn light!" Knuckles snarled as the light faded...and gave way to the smell of smoke.
"Smoke?" Roll pondered before opening her eyes and gasping, "Oh kami…"
Sonic and Knuckles looked in the direction she was facing to see a temple on fire in the middle of the night. The three ran towards it to see the temple was already in ruins with small little creatures scattered about, some bleeding, others not even moving.
"Why?" the three looked to see Tikal, gazing at the ruined temple in tears.
"Tikal-san…" Roll whispered.
"Why did this have to happen?" Tikal questioned before seeing the three, "It...It's terrible! My father...he and the tribesmen they…" she looked up at the Master Emerald, the only emerald still in the ruined shrine, "I...I need to stop this."
She ran up to the shrine. Sonic was about to follow when one of the burning trees around the temple fell over, stopping them from following. They saw a golden light coming from the top before a white flash of light blinded them again.
"Why does it always do that!?" Knuckles snapped as the light faded.
"Ano...How did we get out of there?" Roll pondered, seeing they were no longer in the ruins, but now on a small island connected to land by an old wooden bridge, a set of ruins on the island with a shattered emerald on the top.
*CHOMP!*
"Chomp?" Knuckles turned to see his pet dinosaur looking over at them at the shrine, "Did you bring what was left of the Master Emerald here?" Chomp nodded, "I see…" he ran up the stairs and took out the eighteen shards he had found, "Hopefully…"
He held them up and the shards began to glow. They floated above the largest piece in the shrine before a flash of emerald-green light came and went, revealing the Master Emerald...with one small chunk still missing. Knuckles scowled as he saw the piece was missing.
"Damn. There's still a few pieces missing. But where?" Knuckles pondered.
"This is almost like with the Oracle…" Sonic muttered as he and Roll walked up to the emerald.
"...Ano...I...I think I see something in the emerald, Knuckles-san," Roll noted.
"What?"
Knuckles and Sonic looked at it before their eyes widened. Inside of the emerald was the image of a massive aircraft decked out in reds, blacks, and yellows...with Eggman's symbol on the sides.
"Is...What is that?" Sonic pondered.
"Is the Master Emerald telling us where the last pieces are?" Knuckles pondered.
"Probably…" Sonic shrugged before looking at the image closer, "...And telling by the looks of it...Eggman most likely has them stored away in that thing. But question is...where is this p-"
"Ano...Sonniku...Knuckles-san?"
"What?"
Roll said nothing as she pointed up. Sonic and Knuckles blinked as they slowly looked up, seeing the very same aircraft that was shown in the Master Emerald, seeing it was much more massive in size as it flew over them. It let out a beam of light, hitting the water nearby, much to their confusion. It wasn't until they saw Chaos 4 floating up into the ship by the light did they realize what it was.
"A tractor beam!" Sonic realized.
"If we get to the top of those mountains, we might be able to get on it in time," Knuckles advised.
"Demo...should we go t-" Roll began.
"I don't think we have enough time to tell Ben and the others," Sonic responded before the three went off towards the mountains, "Besides, they most likely saw it as well, and are most likely going to intercept it."
"Phew, we mades it," Jetfire sighed in relief.
"Where are we?" Tsubaki asked, looking around the room where containers filled with a glowing liquid and floating machinery in them laid about.
"Is R&D room," Jetstorm explained, "Is here Mustard Eggyman makes his new robots. Is where Brother and I were made."
"Door over there leads to training room," Jetfire pointed down at a lower level and then to a door on their floor, "That should be leading to center of ship. Is there where everything goes to everywheres else."
"Good. The faster we get to where Noel is, the faster I can punch Eggman's face in," Makoto stated as she cracked her knuckles, "CHARGE!" she ran through the door before walking back in, "How big is this place?"
"There is blueprint over there," Jetstorm pointed at a wall.
Makoto walked over to it. She looked it over, primarily the dimensions of the ship. She walked back into the next room and then back in.
"Eggman knows how to do what Ben did for the bus and the Cooper van," Makoto slumped.
"...What?" Tsubaki blinked twice before she poked her head into the room and then out, her eyes wide, "Okay. That man is resourceful."
Carmelita raised a brow as she and the other-minus Jetfire and Jetstorm, stepped out to look into the next room, their eyes widening at how massive the ship's inside looked after seeing the blueprint.
"...Is...Is that a train?!" Manic exclaimed as he saw what looked like a monorail train on the blueprints.
"Oh yes that…" Jetstorm spoke as he poked his head in, "That is being for the Dark Legion soldiers to getting around faster for the transportations and in casing of emergency attacks."
"...I….I see…" Manic slowly noted.
"...And Noel is where?" Sonia asked.
"Since she is being prisoner, most likely she is to being held in cells," Jetfire replied, "They is actually in room in main area."
"Please tell me that's near here. I'm not walking around this entire damn ship just to look for the main area!" Jacky exclaimed.
*BZZZRT*
"I changed my mind. Walking is good exercise…" Jacky groaned, sparks coming off him.
"Good," Carmelita agreed, blowing the smoke off her shock pistol, "Now let's get going. Keep your weapons at ready for anything we encounter. Jetfire, Jetstorm, you seem to know the most about this place, so you'll be guiding us to the main area."
"Okie for dokie!" both saluted.
"Last we did this with newer robots in line, we's get to main area in under five minutes," Jetstorm noted.
"Let's hope you're right…" Ragna muttered as he slung Jacky over his shoulder as the group ran off into the area.
"Hey! Let me down! I-" Jacky began before he ended up hitting his head on some pipes, "Grandad….you ran over another stop sign…"
"Sadly, grandfather was notorious for his bad eyesight but famous for driving over ten thousand SWATBots in a single hour just trying to cross the street in his car," J admitted, "We're still unsure how he ended up in Chun-nan of all places."
"How the hell…..nevermind. Forget I said anything," Ragna muttered.
Knuckles dug himself out of the ground and looked around. A yellow and blue pair of blurs stopped as he got out and Sonic and Roll looked out.
"There it is!" Knuckles pointed, seeing the Egg Carrier ascending by them.
"Let's get on before it gets too high!" Sonic ordered before extra rockets emerged from the bottom and it shot off past them, "...And it got too high."
"I think Knuckles-san already jumped before it did that," Roll noted, looking up to see Knuckles digging his shovel claws into the side of the flying fortress.
"...Darn it, Knuckles!" Sonic facepalmed, "Ugh….great. Now how're we gonna get on?"
=Guys, you read me?= Ben asked.
"Hai, Ben-san," Roll answered, "We have a problem, though. Eggman-hakase is too high for us to get onto the ship."
=Don't worry, I've got your coordinates and will be there shortly= Ben replied =I almost forgot about the surprise Tails put in here until we got the Cooper van in the garage and have been doing some final checks on it=
"Tails?" Sonic repeated.
A minute went by before Roll's right ear twitched and she looked out. Sonic turned and saw something blue approaching them. A moment later, and a blue biplane with yellow details flew over to them, piloted by a small red imp in black and green aviator's gear, the Omnitrix on his chest.
"Say hello to Juryrigg!" the imp laughed, "Fly-fly-fly-fly-fly! Ahahahaha!"
"..." Sonic slowly blinked as he and Roll looked at each other.
"I didn't know Ben-san could turn into a Gremlin," Roll noted.
"ALIEN!" Juryrigg shouted, "Now get on! On-on-on-on-on-on! Ahahahahaha!"
The two jumped and landed on the back, Roll holding onto Sonic to help steady herself. The biplane went off into the air after the Egg Carrier. Inside of it, an alarm went off a few minutes later.
"My lord, we have a small biplane heading for us. The eldest prince is on it," Starscream informed, "Shall I deploy the air force?"
"Of course. Send out some traps and arm the cannons as well," Eggman replied.
"I have got to tell Tails this is a great plane," Sonic noted.
"Hai…" Roll agreed before her eyes widened, "I...incoming jets up ahead!"
"Whoa!" Sonic yelped.
"No worries!" Juryrigg beamed as he pressed a button on the dashboard, "Tornado, transform!"
A mechanical claw emerged from the side, grabbing Sonic and Roll. It rose them off the plane as it changed from biplane to fighter plane with its wings becoming an 'X' shape, the propellers going into the engine while a jet engine emerged underneath the back of the plane while it rose up. Sonic and Roll were lowered on the back as guns emerged at the sides of the engine. Juryrigg cackled as he began to open fire at the enemy jets.
"...Okay. Now this is awesome," Sonic grinned.
"Ahahahahahahaha!" Juryrigg laughed maniacally as he flew the Tornado through the air, dodging the cannon blast and gunfire from the jets.
"I think Ben-san is not right in the head in this form like with Rath-san," Roll whispered, sweatdropping at Juryrigg's...enthusiasm.
"...I was thinking the same thing," Sonic whispered, sweatdropping as well.
Juryrigg simply continued laughing, performing an aileron roll to dodge a charging fighter jet and releasing a missile from under the ship's canopy and sent it at the jet, blowing it up. His eyes widened as he saw cannons emerge from various places on the ship that began to fire spiked iron balls at them. He let out another laugh as he began to fly out of the way, in and out, and all around the attacks, Roll and Sonic holding onto the Tornado as tight as they could.
"Hey Ben! Take it easy! W-" Sonic began before a laser nearly hit him, burning a bit of his head fur, "Woah!"
=Blasted hedgehog! Don't think I'll let you on my masterpiece, the Egg Carrier so easily!= Eggman snapped over the ship's speakers as the Tornado flew in front of the Egg Carrier and began to fly at it =You want to play chicken, eh? Fire the Megaton Laser Cannon!=
"Uh, Roll? Is Yacker…" Sonic began.
"Gomen nassai. I left Yacker-chan in his bed since he's still out of it from what M-Hakase did," Roll apologized, waterfall tears going down her cheeks.
"Uh-oh," Juryrigg gulped as he saw the front opening up to reveal a large laser.
He slapped his Omnitrix and Upgrade was at the control. He put his hands on the machine and quickly melded with the Torso. The wings extended with blades lining them as the single engine split into three. A pair of lasers emerged where the guns had been while Sonic and Roll were put into two seats, one for a pilot and one for the passenger behind the pilot.
=Hold on tight!= Upgrade advised, dodging the massive red laser that rocketed from the aircraft.
=Blast it! Fire the Megaton Cannon again!= Eggman ordered.
=Oh no you don't!= Upgrade snapped before firing lasers at the giant one just before it closed up to recharge the laser.
=Megaton Cannon at 75 percent health!= Starscream yelped.
=Damn! Fire the missiles!=
"Whoa! Incoming!" Sonic yelped.
=I'm on it= Upgrade assured, dodging the missiles and firing at them.
=Megaton Cannon at 75-80 percent charge and rising, my lord!=
=Perfect! Once it's fully charged, blast that hedgehog out of the sky!=
=At once!=
"I think that's the last of them!" Sonic noted before seeing the laser open up again, "And there's the laser!"
Upgrade fired on the laser before dodging just before it fired. He was able to get another round of shots in. Just before it closed, tiny explosions were seen on bits of it.
=Ah! T-Twenty-five percent remaining!= Starscream yelped.
=What?! Impossible!=
=Well, I'm sorry, sire, but the hedgehog is proving difficult for us!=
=Illogical. The reason we are losing is because of Ben Tennyson using that machine-based form to upgrade their vehicle. I recognize the unique pattern of this form from video files and images= Shockwave noted.
=Then do something about it, Shockwave! Take him out, and the hedgehog will follow!=
=Unfortunately, I have yet to figure out the correct audio signal to force the separation from machines for this form= Shockwave replied =However, we have enough charge in the laser for one widespread blast. Should we begin to fire as we open it, there is a 0.00000001 percent chance of them being able to fire anything before it can fire=
=...I'll take that chance! Prepare to fire the Megaton Cannon again!=
"Oopsies, we took wrong turn," Jetfire blinked twice as the group entered a room with electrical cables connected to various machinery, all ending up going into a device with a large crystal above it, "We is in Megaton Cannon Charging station."
=Prepare to fire the Megaton Cannon again! Full spread! I want that Hedgehog, that Hedgefox, and Ben Tennyson taken down!=
"E-Eh?" Haseo gasped.
"Oh my word, it appears that Ben, Prince Sonic, and Roll are out there!" J realized.
"They must be trying to get on here," Rook noted, looking around the the cables began to glow.
Alpha ran over to a computer and put his hand on it, causing gold data lines to appear on the terminal.
"...This is bad. This thing is going to fire as it opens up so they can't hit it," Alpha noted, "It's in a widespread state as well, meaning everything before it will be wiped out."
"How was he…" Makoto began.
"An accident infected Alpha with nanites that allow him to create the structures you've seen emerge from his body," J explained, "An artificial organ inside of him that they've made make even more inside of him in case some of them are lost inside of the builds. Furthermore, he can 'speak' with computers, able to get some basic things from them."
"How long do we have before the thing fires?" Ragna asked.
"Not long. Probably three minutes," Alpha replied, taking his hand off the computer, "Our best bet is to start destroying stuff. We destroy enough stuff in here and the power influx will cause the Megaton Laser to self-destruct."
"Glad to hear," Ragna smirked as he walked up to a computer while cracking his knuckles.
=Fire the laser!= Eggman ordered before the front of the ship exploded =What just happened?!=
=It seems that there was a power flux inside of the charging station for the Megaton Camera= Shockwave informed.
"Okay! Let's get to landing!" Sonic grinned.
=Uh...Funny story about that= Upgrade noted, his head poking out of the Tornado =This form...doesn't have landing gear=
"NANI?!" Roll freaked.
"We're gonna crash!" Sonic screamed before the Tornado skidded on a landing point, eventually halting halfway down it, "Ugh...That was...ow."
=Ugh...You be part of the the machine and tell me what you think of that= Upgrade groaned as he split from the Tornado and back into Ben.
"S-Sugoi...This place is deka…" Roll awed.
"No time to gawk. We need to find Knuckles," Sonic frowned.
"Right," Ben nodded.
=Don't get too many ideas, you fools!= Eggman's voice came out of the PA system =You have yet to witness the power my Egg Carrier really has! Get a load of this!=
The Egg Carrier tensed before side panels on the side of the vessel rotated upwards ninety degrees before flipping downward and rotation a hundred and eighty degrees at the halfway point of each. The front half of the Egg Carrier proceeded to lower itself and then extending out.
"It...It can henkei!" Roll gasped, seeing that their landing point was now far far away from the control room.
"This makes things a bit harder," Ben frowned as Eggman laughed on the PA.
=I bet you weren't expecting this! The only way to get to me is through the Sky Deck! I doubt that any of you can figure this one out!=
"Oh yeah? Well I'll you show you, Eggman! Bring it on!" Sonic declared.
"...I am thinking he had went overboard back there, correct brother?" Jetfire asked as the group searched around the inside of the ship
"I am thinking so, Brother," Jetstorm agreed before opening a doorway, "I be finding center room!"
"Finally!" Jacky exclaimed as he hopped off Ragna's shoulder and ran in, only to run back and hide inside a nearby trash can, "Nope! Nope! All kinds of Nope!"
Manic raised a brow as he peeked in, seeing a plethora of EggPawn soldiers walking around the area, blasters ready. Jetfire and Jetstorm looked at each other with grins.
"You be thinking I am to be thinking?"
"Oh yes, Brother. It's time to…"
"DOUBLE UP!" both declared as they ran into the room, the door closing behind them.
"What the hell?" Ragna raised a brow before the group heard the sounds of explosions, shots being fired, metal being torn to shreds...and a goat bleating.
The door slid open and Jetfire poked his head in, "Is to being clear now."
"Yes. It is being the very safe and sounds," Jetstorm added as the group entered to see the EggPawns torn to shred, melted, frozen, or in a combination of the three with a pile of them set into the words 'WE QUIT' nearby.
"..."
"Is very good therapy for what had to be happening to us," Jetfire beamed.
"...Understandable," Ragna nodded, picking up a half melted EggPawn head before throwing it, tearing the head of the last EggPawn there just before it could stab Jetstorm in the back, "You missed one, though."
"Oops," Jetstorm sheepishly rubbed the back of his head while Carmelita ran over to an intact console.
"What are you doing?" Sonia asked.
"Looking up prisoner records," Carmelita replied, typing away, "Buena, found something. 'Subject Noel Vermillion - taken immediately to Lab Area 1. Reason: Unusual energy readings and biology scans have been detected on Subject Noel Vermillion.'"
"That does not sound well."
"Thanks for stating the obvious, Rook."
"You are quite welcome, Ragna. ...Wait. That was a sarcasm moment, was it not?" Rook blinked twice at the annoyed look Ragna sent him, "...I...will stay quiet now."
"Wait, she's where?!" Makoto asked.
"Oooh…" Jetfire cringed, "Is Mustard Shockywaving's personal lab."
"We better hurry th-and she's gone," Manic noted as Makoto was long gone, "...and it looks like she took Tsubaki with her."
"There's a map of the interior here in both modes," Carmelita noted as she printed out two sheets of paper, "Okay, in the current mode...It's three floors above us."
"...crap."
"This is awesome!" Sonic laughed as he, Roll, and Fasttrack were sent shooting out of a large cannon, "Whoo hoo hoo~!"
"You seem chipper," Fasttrack noted.
"Are you kidding me?! It's been nothing but stealth, be sneaky, and not really all that much speed for me for the last two months!" Sonic replied as the three landed and ran along a path, avoiding EggPawns shooting at them along with turrets and cannons firing plasma shots, "I've been needing something so fast-paced like this! I'm having a freaking blast! How about you, Roll?!"
"Oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my!" Roll repeated, pulling her sword out and zipping ahead of the two, cleaving an EggPawn that had jumped out ahead of them.
"I'm thinking she's never used her speed for this kind of stuff before," Fasttrack noted.
"Ahh...well now's a good enough time for her to practice using her full speed!" Sonic grinned as he dashed ahead, "WHOOO!"
Fasttrack sighed, 'Didn't matter how fast I went when it was needed the most…'
"Noel!" Tsubaki and Makoto shouted as they tore down the steel door, "?!"
"There you two are!" Sonia exclaimed as the others ran up, "...Is everything okay?"
Rook looked over them and inside, "Oh dear."
Everyone looked and froze. Noel was in the room, but her clothes were missing while she was floating in a tube of liquid, an oxygen mask on her face. Cables were connected to devices on her body while monitors were displaying multiple readings.
"...What….the….hell…" Ragna whispered as Haseo quickly covered his eyes.
"Stay on your toes," Carmelita advised as they entered the lab, the fox pursing her lips as she saw the various dissection tables with machinery on them in the lab.
Alpha walked up to one of the computers surrounding Noel's chamber, "It says that her body is producing some sort of strange energy, yet one it leaves her body, it immediately converts into some sort of harmless radiation."
"Eh? H-harmless r...radiation?" Haseo repeated.
"Yeah. It doesn't harm anything or anyone even with prolonged exposure," Alpha continued to read before pointing at a tube connected to Noel's left lower leg, near the calf, "That cable there is trying to get a reading on the energy, but it keeps coming up inconclusive. But it seems to closely related the few readings he got from his fight against…" he looked over at Ragna, "You, Ragna."
"Me?" Ragna blinked.
"You mean Noel naturally produces Seithr?" Makoto asked, looking at the comatose blond in the tube.
"No. He's recorded this 'Seithr' stuff you mentioned and that bracelet…" he pointed at a bracelet on Noel's right wrist, "...Is recording any minor amounts of Seithr she might try to call on and inject her with a tranquilizer when it detects it. But the question is….why?"
Rook looked at another monitor, "Hmm...It appears that it involves her biology."
"Biology?" Makoto repeated.
"...Based on what he's discovered so far, Noel Vermillion isn't a human," J looked at the monitor, "It...Oh dear."
"What? What is wrong with Noel?" Tsubaki asked in concern.
"It says she's closer to being a Homunculus," J read.
"So she likes only girls?" Jacky raised a brow, earning a slam to the top of his head by the butt of Carmelita's shock pistol.
"No. A Homunculus is an artificial being," J explained, "Considered possible through alchemy. But...it doesn't make sense. If she were an artificial being, she would have no belly button which is where our umbilical cords were once in place while we were within th…" he got elbowed by Alpha, who motioned to Haseo who now had his ears covered by Carmelita, and then to Makoto and Tsubaki, who looked as if they were in shock, "...Oh dear."
"Y...you mean...Noel...isn't human?" Tsubaki whispered in shock, "But...But that's impossible…"
"The readings don't seem to lie," Alpha replied before Manic plugged a USB into the machines, "?"
"A special little virus given to me by a cool dude," Manic explained, "It'll take all the data Shockwave's got in these computers and load it into the bus's computers. His original one was used for Interpol and putting the stuff into the Freedom Fighter's computers. We can take a better look at all this stuff later."
"Right," Alpha nodded before putting his hand on the computer attached to the front of the tube.
The data lines formed where his hand touched before vents opened in the bottom of the tube. The liquid was drained from the tube before it opened up. Ragna pulled off his jacket and caught the falling Noel in it, the devices connected to her falling off as she fell. Jetfire and Jetstorm ran about, looking for Noel's clothes or at least something for her to wear aside from Ragna's coat. Carmelita's eyes widened as she saw Ragna's Azure Grimoire.
'What happened to his arm to cause it to look like that?' Carmelita pondered.
"I….Is Noel-Nee alright?" Haseo asked, worry evident in his voice as he looked at the unconscious blond.
"It will be a bit before the tranquilizer inside of her goes through her systems," Rook noted, scanning Noel with his Proto-Tool.
"Good. Now let's hurry and find Jake before…" Ragna began before an explosion went off outside of the room, "...What was that?"
"WHOO-HOO-HOO~!"
"...I thought he was acting funny," Manic noted.
"It has been a while since he's gotten to go all out on his speed," Sonia added.
"That was Sonic?" Carmelita asked.
"Yup," Manic nodded.
"Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my!"
"...And that must've been Roll," Sonia noted.
"She must've never needed to do something like this with her speed before," Manic noted with a shrug.
"We'll make sure you get a copy of everything we've found in here, Carmelita," Sonia informed.
"Um...Gracias?"
"This is feeling quite awkward if they are acting like this while their brother, sister-in-law, and most likely Ben and Knuckles are out there in constant danger," J noted before a grinding noise made them turn to see a passageway opening by Jetstorm, who had fallen over a hidden switch.
"Oops. Did not be meaning to do that," Jetstorm blinked twice as Jetfire ran down it and then back up.
"Is way to center of ship," Jetfire noted, "We's can be getting to top of ship and control room on top of ship there."
"Good thinking. We get to the control room, we can access the main terminal of the vessel and gather more evidence for dealing with Robotnik," Carmelita noted, "Perhaps even force his ship into going away from his territory so Interpol will be authorized to arrest him."
"So in short, win-win for us, lose-lose for ol' eggbutt," Manic grinned.
"Sweet! Then let's find Jake, get to the control room, and give Eggman something he'll never forget!" Jacky exclaimed.
"But first, we need to figure out where Jake is exactly, Jacky," J stated.
"Rats," Jacky frowned as they went down the secret path, entering a large room with multiple doorways and a large gold/metal platform shaped like an egg's lower half.
"WHOO!" Sonic landed down beside them with Roll and Fasttrack, "Man, that was great!" he looked around before frowning, "Is that it?"
"It might be," Fasstrack replied as he changed back into Ben before seeing the others, "Oh, hey guys."
"Oh! Is you!" Jetfire ran up and shook hands with Ben, "Brother, this is one who was to be doing the very good helping in the freeing of me in Chun-nan!"
"He is? Oh, to be giving you much thanks. We is very thankful for you in to be saving Brother from being taken apart," Jetstorm smiled.
"...Uh...no problem," Ben replied.
"Did you find Knuckles?" Manic asked.
"..." Sonic hit his head on a wall.
"We forgot," Roll blushed before noticing the unconscious Noel, "Oh! I-is she…?"
"She's out cold right now," Ragna replied with a scowl, "Hey, you two, where do we go to next?"
"Is up there," Jetfire pointed at a tunnel in the ceiling.
"We just be using that to get up there," Jetstorm added, pointing at the half-egg platform.
"And from there, getting to the control room will be being the easy breezings," Jetfire added.
"We could probably have Ben go Feedback to handle any robots we run into," Ragna noted, catching a glimpse of Ben tensing up at that name.
"...Feedback?" Sonia repeated.
"He's never turned into Feedback around you guys?" Ragna asked, "Conductoid? All black with a white chest and gold plugs for fingers and on the ends of his tail and antennae?" Makoto, Tsubaki, Roll, Haseo, and the triplets shook their head, "Seriously?"
"He used it rather abundantly when he was eleven, but then simply...stopped almost four months of use," Rook noted, recalling what he had read on about Ben Tennyson.
"Really? Why?" Tsubaki asked.
"I do not know, but from what I do recall from an old report...the last time he used, it was against a Galvanic Mechamorph named Malware."
"Malware? That crazy bastard?" Ragna raised a brow, "I thought he was long gone after what happened in Mount Rushmore." he looked over at Ben, who was looking down, "Ben, what the hell happened and why did you stop using Feedback after fighting him again?"
"..." Ben sighed, "Feedback was my go-to alien once I unlocked him. I don't know why I liked being Feedback so much. It just...felt different...better...like he was a part of me."
"Yeah. The old man and your gramps noticed you liked to use that form more than when it was needed," Ragna recalled, remembering Ben using it for helping stop a building fire of all things.
"That day when I fought Malware, I was just using Feedback and practicing with it at a junkyard, absorbing the energy in old car batteries and then throwing them up to blast them out of the sky," Ben went on, "I went back to the RV and it turns out that it was an intervention for me on using Feedback. Grandpa Max even got Amuth there."
"Azmuth?" Sonia repeated.
"That little smartass?" Ragna gawked.
"I take it you had…" Alpha began.
"Little bastard kept trying to take my arm when we first met him," Ragna frowned, looking down at the Azure Grimoire, "Keep going, Ben."
"I...didn't react well to the intervention, even if it was to help me not grow too dependant on one alien form," Ben complied, "Gwen followed me out and we ended up in an argument after I accused her of setting it up because she was jealous that I could turn into aliens. Malware attacked after that, having located Azmuth inside of the RV." he looked out at nothing in particular, the meories coming to him, "Gwen told me to go Diamondhead since that was the only form that seemed to be able to beat the guy, but I just had to prove a point. I turned into Feedback and argued with Gwen while fighting. That gave him an opening to grab the Omnitrix."
"What?!" Ragna gasped, looking at the Omnitrix.
"It's fine, Ragna," Ben assured, "But...it wasn't fine at the same time. Malware...was able to remove the Conductoid DNA from the Omnitrix and destroyed it right in front of me. I...overloaded the Omnitrix and punched Malware right in the gut. The energy overloaded him and he exploded, destroying him."
"So why didn't you just scan another Conductoid?" Ragna asked.
"A failsafe in the Omnitrix prevented you from getting another one," Tsubaki didn't ask, but stated in realization.
"Yeah," Ben nodded, "That's what happened to Feedback...and it's all my fault." he looked over at Ragna, "Happy now?"
"Nope," Ragna replied.
"I am sorry for helping with the subject, Ben," Rook apologized, "I did not realize."
"Just forget it, all right?" Ben walked down to the platform, "I wish I could...among other things."
Everyone aside from Ragna shared glances with one another, the white-haired man simply following Ben to the platform with Noel in his arms. Minutes later, the platform rose up and went into the tube on the ceiling.
"...Okay. It is being the close is clears," Jetfire noted as he looked around, "So no needing to be w-"
"No!" Manic hissed.
"Eh?"
"It is very bad if you say 'that', or you'll jinx us!"
"What is that?" Jetstorm asked.
"'No need to worry!' Or worse, 'what could possibly...go...wrong…'" Manic whispered before facepalming, "...I walked RIGHT into that."
"...We know who to blame now if something happens," Makoto deadpanned as they rose up onto the deck of the Egg Carrier.
"Hey! It's not my fault! He…" Manic began before a series of EggPawns surrounded them, "...Crap."
"Hmph...This was almost too easy to predict," a voice spoke up as Starscream walked out from behind one of the Eggpawns, "That echidna girl was right that you'd most likely come up to where the main switch for the transformation controls of the Egg Carrier were."
'Echidna...girl?' those who knew Knuckles thought with surprise.
"Now...why don't you all come along nicely and stay in the cells we've prepared?" Starscream smirked as the EggPawns aimed at the group, "Plus, it would be helpful to return that doll there to Shockwave's lab. I mean, I didn't go through the trouble of capturing her myself so that…"
"Enough, Starscream," Shockwave intoned, walking up beside the flyer, "It is rather illogical to gloat at this time. Wait until they are locked away before you continue."
"...Fair enough, Grandmaster," Starscream shrugged.
"Wait...Grandmaster?" Manic repeated.
"Due to what happened to Dr. M, Lord Eggman has promoted me to Grandmaster," Shockwave informed before the Combaticons walked over, carrying a Roboticizer.
"We brought it for you, sir," Brawl informed.
"Excellent," Shockwave spoke, looking over at the five as they lowered it, "Start with Tennyson."
"What?!" Sonic gasped.
"It is illogical to let you stay in a cell when you have proven yourselves to be able to escape from them within a time range of a few hours to mere minutes," Shockwave informed as two Eggpawns approached, grabbing Ben's arms and began to drag him towards the machine, "Therefore, Lord Eggman has allowed me the authorization to begin immediate Roboticization of you three and any comrades that are with you. I am merely taking out the most logical threat first."
"Ben…." Makoto whispered, her fist starting to clench up as she glared at Shockwave, "Onore, Shockwave…"
"I would suggest you act logically in this situation," Shockwave advised as the Combaticons aimed their blasters at her, "Should any of you move, all of you will be killed immediately."
"You…"
"Makoto, stop," Tsubaki spoke up, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder, "As much as it pains me...he's right. Right now, we're surrounded on all sides and if any of us tries something…"
"Any last words?" Starscream asked in glee as Ben was finished loading into the Roboticizer.
"..."
"None? A pity then…" Starscream noted before pushing the button, "...But not really."
The metal walls blocked off Ben to everyone as the machine began to activate. Unaware to them all, Rachel was gazing down at them, sipping tea served by Valkenhayne.
"Now let us see how you will get out of this, Benjamin," Rachel noted.
Ben looked around and his eyes widened. He was…He was on Earth. In front of him was a one-story home in a small neighborhood. Ben easily recognized the place despite how long it had been since he had last entered it.
"W…Wh-What?! I'm home?" Ben blinked in surprise, "How did I get here?"
The sound of a vehicle stopping caught his ear. He turned to see a somewhat beaten RV stopping.
"The Rustbucket," Ben whispered as young Gwen and Ben as an 11-year-old stepped out.
"I like school, but I probably learn more with Grandpa Max," Gwen noted.
"Oh, great. More time travel," Ben sighed.
"Go on. Say it," Gwen spoke before mocking Ben as his younger self closed the door, his head down and his eyes closed, "'You like school? What a dweeb!'"
When she didn't get a response from Ben, she looked at him in concern. Ben began to walk to the walkway to his house.
"You've been awful quiet, kiddo," Max noted.
"Yeah. I guess," Ben replied.
"You've been through a lot in the past few days. Go on in and rest up," Max encouraged as younger Ben walked through his older self as if he wasn't there, "You'll feel better."
"What the heck?!" Ben exclaimed.
"Grandpa, is Ben gonna be okay?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah. Just give him time," Max replied as Ben followed his younger self inside where Azmuth was currently waiting at the couch.
"I come 76,000 light-years and I don't even get a formal greeting?" Azmuth asked as young Ben collapsed on the couch, his face buried into the cushion.
"Oh…Hey, Azmuth."
"…Wait. I remember this," Ben's eyes widened, "But from a lower angle."
"So, how is my greatest invention?" Azmuth asked as he walked over to Ben's head, "You haven't blown it up or dropped it into the toilet or anything?"
"No, I-I guess not."
"You know, you've been doing a lot of winning since you took possession of my Omnitrix."
"…So?"
"So, you don't learn anything when you win, Ben Tennyson," Azmuth replied as both Bens looked at him, "Losing this transformation you call 'Feedback' was hard, wasn't it?"
"…" young Ben sat up, "Yeah…It felt like he was a part of me. And a piece of my memory from this summer."
"Well, let that one loss define you from now on," Azmuth informed as he walked out before stopping at the door and gave young Ben a small smile, "Or you can learn from it."
Ben watched as Azmuth left.
"Did you?" Ben looked to see his younger self was looking right at him.
"Huh? You can see me now?" Ben asked as the area changed into a green area with various black bubbles floating around.
"Did you learn from it?" young Ben demanded.
"…" Ben knelt down to his younger self, looking him straight in the eyes, "Yeah. That losing Feedback hurt bad and that losing bites."
"Oh…" young Ben looked down until his older self put a hand on his shoulder.
"Look, I don't think there was any big takeaway from our failure that day."
"Guess you're still mad at me, huh?"
"…" Ben hugged his younger self, "I'm not mad at you…er, me. I just have to accept that what happened was bad and that it's time to move on, to forgive what happened that day."
"You do?" young Ben asked as Ben moved away from him, keeping his hands on the eleven-year-old's shoulders.
"Yeah. We're not losers. Look at what we've done since we lost Feedback. Dude, we saved the Earth more times than we have fingers and more than enough times with the entire Galaxy and Universe," Ben chuckled, "Beating ourselves up over that one failure is just doing all the villains we're going to be going up against a favor. So from now on, let's save the beatdown for the bad guys, okay?"
Young Ben looked up at him with a small smile. The two shook hands, giving each other the same small smile. Their Omnitrixes activated, filling the area with a green light.
"Sy-Systems are overloading!" Starscream gasped as the Roboticizer began to spark.
"Improbable. I made sure that no alien he has would be able to work," Shockwave informed.
"Ben-kun…" Makoto whispered as the Roboticizer began to spasm.
It cracked before unleashing a massive lightning-blue and white beam into the air, dispersing some of the storm clouds around the airship. Slowly, a figure began to emerge. His body was primarily black with a green center. His long tail and antennae ended in gold plugs while his four fingers were plugs as well. Going up his arms to his shoulders were gold disks. The figure grinned, showing the two fangs in his teeth, while his lone green eye gave an eye smile.
"Hey, everybody! Did ya miss me?" Feedback smirked, crossing his arms over his torso's Omnitrix Emblem.
"Improbable. You did not have this form before," Shockwave informed before firing a laser from his arm cannon.
Feedback's antennae flipped ahead and the beam struck them. Everyone watched as the beam was actually absorbed into Feedback's antennae.
"Now I remember why I like this guy; Feedback rules!" Feedback grinned, clenching his fists.
"Madre de dios," Carmelita whispered with wide eyes as Feedback absorbed the remaining energy from the laser shot.
His antennae flipped back before the Conductoid swung his arms, releasing a wave of white electricity that slammed into the EggPawns, electrocuting them and causing them to start to explode. Ragna erupted from the smoke, the Azure Grimoire erupting in the black and red 'flames' he could call upon.
"Hell's Fang!" Ragna roared, slamming it into Brawl's face and sending him off the side of the ship.
"Vortex, get him back!" Onslaught ordered.
"I'm on…" Vortex began before a large energy fist hit him in the back, sending him flying as of fell off the side.
"Hey, assholes!" Makoto shouted, getting the remaining Combaticons' attention as she stood there, "I hope you're ready, because what I just gave your friend there was only an appetizer."
Shockwave and Starscream moved back as the remaining EggPawns began to fire at the Freedom Fighters and one Interpol Officer. Carmelita crouched down before jumping high over the shots, firing a few rounds at the EggPawns, the shots blowing apart any of the robots that they hit. Sonic, Sonia, Manic, and Roll began battling a few of the EggPawns as the remaining three Combaticons began to fight Ragna, Tsubaki, and Makoto. Alpha roared as he turned his arm into its BFS mode and began to slice through some EggPawns while Jacky and J hid nearby with Noel and Haseo. Jetfire and Jetstorm skidded under an EggPawn and caught Carmelita before the three ran through a doorway nearby.
"Hah!" Makoto shouted as she jumped up and punched Blast Off's hard in the face, sending him staggering back a bit as she charged and delivered a rising uppercut on his chin, "Corona Upper!"
"Gah!" Blast Off grunted as he staggered back some more, "Why you…" he switched into his rocket mode and took off, firing lasers at him as he swooped at the Beastkin, "Take this!"
Makoto said nothing as she punched the floor hard, the force propelling her up into the air as she landed on top of Blast Off.
"H-hey! Get…"
"Particle Flare!" Makoto declared as she punched downwards, the resulting large energy fist sending Blast off crashing back down to the Egg Carrier as the Beastkin landed a few feet away from him.
"Grr…." Blast Off growled as she shifted back into his robot mode, "You little…"
"Big Bang Storm!" Makoto shouted as she rapidly punched forward, firing a flurry of energy fist at Blast Off as he was sent flying off the side.
"...Um…" Starscream began, 'paling' a bit after seeing the relentless barrage of attacks Makoto gave Blast Off before Makoto shot a glare at him, "?!"
"You…" Makoto frowned as she started walking over to him.
Shockwave threw a sphere at her. Makoto punched it and it erupted into a large cloud of smoke. Makoto charged out of the smoke to reveal Shockwave and Starscream were gone.
"...Grr...damn it!" Makoto cursed as she slammed her first on the floor, "Starscream, Shockwave, you better pray I don't find you, because I'm going to make you both pay for what you did to Noel, you mechanical bastards!"
"Okay, I'm in," Carmelita smirked as she stood at a monitor while Jetfire and Jetstorm were throwing out the remains of frozen/melted EggPawns from a window.
"Please be hurrying, Miss Fox. More EggPawns might be on there way," Jetfire advised.
"Already on it," Carmelita replied as she started entering commands on the console below the monitor, "And...There!"
"Looks like they got to it," Sonic noted as the carrier changed back to its previous state.
Onslaught caught Swindle, scorch marks littering Swindle's body, before looking at the situation. Feedback smirked as he held up a hand, electricity sparking in-between the plugs on his fingers.
"We're retreating for now," Onslaught ordered, running away while grabbing Blast Off before jumping over the side, "The ship's lost, but Lord Eggman is making sure Chaos gets stronger for his rule over all of Mobius!"
"...Anyone else aside from me thinks that sounded ominous?" Manic asked.
"...Ah! He must have Jake!" J realized as the three ran out of the doorway they had gone through.
"Just as we were leaving, I spotted the cowardly dictator on the platform over there," Carmelita informed.
"Good! Because he's next on my shit list!" Makoto snapped as she ran out, "Eggman! I'm coming for you, you fat bald bastard!"
"Ah! To be waiting!" Jetfire gasped, "There is…"
*BZZRT*
"A...Beastkin and Mobian-activated...security wall…" Jetfire cringed as Makoto collapsed, an electric fence having popped up before she could have dodged.
"Is why only EggPawns are on this ship," Jetstorm noted, "Would be doing the zappings on Darky Legion members."
"S….S-bzzt! soka…" Makoto noted, sparking a bit before the vessel rumbled.
"That didn't sound good," Feedback noted as he changed back into Ben.
"Are we...decreasing in altitude?" J asked, looking out at the clouds.
"The fighting out here and down there must have been too much," Sonic noted before looking over at the two Flyers and Haseo, "You guys get everyone off the ship. Roll and I might be fast enough to avoid triggering any of the traps between us and Egg-head."
"I'm coming as well," Ragna spoke as he cracked his fist, "I want to personally meet that fatass face to face."
"I'm coming too," Ben frowned.
"Us as well," J gulped as he and Jacky walked up, "Jake is our brother and if Robotnik has him, we intend to give it our all to save him."
"Yeah! No way am I letting Eggbutt do whatever it is he's gonna do to him!" Jacky added.
"Okay," Sonic nodded.
"H-Hold on," Haseo gulped as he flew into the air and grabbed Carmelita's hands.
"Okay! We be making sure to be taking them off this place!" Jetfire saluted as he and Jetstorm turned into their jet modes, letting the others get on their backs.
"You be safe, got it?" Makoto frowned at Ben.
"I'll do my best," Ben replied.
Makoto nodded before the three flyers went off the ship. Ben turned into XLR8 and let Ragna get on his back while Roll and Sonic got the two raccoons. The three speedsters quickly zipped towards where Eggman was, floating in his hovering throne with a steel cage attached to the underside, thrashing violently. Beside him, Chaos 4 looked at the six as they skidded to a halt before them.
"Ahh...Sonic. Right on time," Eggman smirked before looking at XLR8, turning back into Ben, "And a pleasure to see you too, boy."
"Grr…" Ben growled as Eggman looked over at Ragna next.
"Hmm...you must be a member of that new Freedom Fighter Group. The Rebellion Freedom Fighters, correct?" Eggman asked.
"That's right...been wanting to meet you for some time now," Ragna responded.
"Oh? Why's that?" Eggman asked, the grin never leaving his face as Ragna glared at him.
"So I can beat that god damn face of yours in," Ragna frowned as he clenched his fist.
"Ah, I think not," Eggman replied, "Oh, Chaos! Here is your missing half!"
The cage was dropped and fell apart, exposing the mutated Jake. The possessed raccoon hissed and snarled before locking eyes with Chaos 4. The two stared at one another before Jake jumped at Chaos 4, releasing a flash of light. The light faded, revealing that Chaos had transformed once more, this time into a form that was far different than what had been seen before. Over three times the size of Humongousaur's initial size, it had a massive body with two extensions/antennas on its sides, two pair of digit-less legs, and a similar pair of large hind legs bending backwards. It had as well a large mouth with razor sharp teeth and two large eyes aligned vertically on its face with three smaller eyes aligned horizontally on each side. It also had a zigzagged tail with a blunt tip. Running through its hind legs were grey bones, connected in the rear by a pelvis-like bone, with a Chaos Emerald embedded in each of them. In its belly lied its bone-covered core, encircled by four standing bones, each with a Chaos Emerald on top.
"It changed again!" Sonic gasped.
"Jake!" J gasped, seeing their brother floating inside of Chaos 6, back to normal and unconscious.
"Just leave it to us," Sonic assured the taller raccoon.
"Oh hohohoho! This is excellent!" Eggman laughed in glee, "One more Emerald, and Chaos will reach true perfection!" he looked over at the six, "Chaos, get them!"
Chaos 6 hissed as it threw its stinger at the group at near high speed. Ragna swung out his sword, grunting as it blocked the stinger while making him skid back a few feet.
"You guys have fought this guy before, right?" Jacky asked, "How do we beat it up?"
"We'd normally aim for the brain in it, but…" Sonic looked at where the brain was, "...It's way too protected now."
Ben quickly slapped his Omnitrix and Articguana jumped out of the way of another stinger attempt, "Well, let's be trying to think about how to beat it up now."
Chaos 6's form began to shift as it formed into a water pillar of sorts, its stinger now resembling a guillotine, various water tentacles shooting out from all sides as it separated the group.
"...Oh man…" Jacky gulped, seeing the guillotine aim at him, J, and Roll.
A stream of ice slammed into the guillotine tail, freezing the entire body. The three turned to see Articguana closing his mouth.
"I think that worked," the blue lizard-like alien noted before Ragna swung his fist at Chaos 6's frozen body, shattering it to reveal the body intact, but in its standard state, giving out a groaning noise.
"No, I cannot believe this!" Eggman gasped before he began to fire lasers at them, "You won't win!"
"Gauntlet Hades!"Ragna declared.
"Huh?" Eggman blinked before yelping as he barely dodged Ragna's overhead kick, "Watch it! I just got this throne polished!"
Chaos 6 jumped into the air before slamming down, releasing a large shockwave.
"Ahh!" Jacky screamed as he hid behind J, who hid behind Jacky, who then...ahh you know where I'm going with this.
"Dead Spike!" Ragna shouted.
The demonic beastial head emerged from the ground before Ragna, roaring as it took the brunt of the shockwave. The head vanished after that as Ragna looked at the unconscious Jake.
"We need to get him out of there," Ragna spoke up, "Any ideas?"
"I have one," J noted as he dug into his hat and pulled out a wrapped cookie, "This is one of the last chocolate chip cookies made by our grandmother, bless her soul."
"And how is that going to get him out?" Artiguana asked before firing another blast of ice at Chaos 6, who jumped out of the way, "Ghhh...It's learning."
"Simple: Jake is the only one that is capable of eating her cookies due to the powerful scent on them that overloads the majority of the olfactory senses," J explained before removing a tiny piece of the wrapping, "Watch."
Jake floated there in his unconscious state before his nose began to twitch, "?!" he sniffed a few more times before he sniffed the exposed piece of cookie outside of Chaos 6, "...blrbl…" his eyes snapped open before he shot out of Chaos 6, exposing the core in the process, "COOKIE!"
*CHOMP*
"...He's eating my arm, isn't he?" J asked, his arm holding the cookie currently halfway inside of Jake's mouth.
"Yes...yes he is," Jacky nodded.
"Oh...Very well," J nodded before letting out a loud scream as Ragna charged, stabbing his sword into the exposed core and earning a screech from Chaos 6.
"Take that, you son of a bitch!" Ragna growled before jumping away from an attempted sting from Chaos 6's tail.
"I love grandma's cookies...yummy…" Jake smiled dopely once his mouth was removed from J's saliva-engulfed limb.
"...He looks so content...oh Jake. Jake…" Jacky began before grabbing Jake and shaking him, "Snap out of it, lumpy!"
"Huh?" Jake blinked before looking at his two brothers, "...Hi, guys!" he looked around, "Where did the library go? Is it playing seek and go hide?"
"He's back!" J cheered, hugging Jake while Jacky patted Jake's back.
"Good to have you back, Lumpy," Jacky grinned before a roar from Chaos 6 made them freeze, "Oh, crap. Forgot about him."
"Run away!" Jake screamed, picking up J and Jacky and ran off, falling off the platform and landing on the runway at the front of the Egg Carrier.
"Oh no you don't!" Eggman pressed a button on his machine and an electric fence closed the platform off, "Chaos, finish them!"
Chaos 6's mouth opened wide before a powerful suction erupted from his gaping maw. Sonic summoned his sword and quickly stabbed it into the ground with Ragna and Roll following his lead, Ragna grabbing Articguana's arm before he was sucked in, the Omnitrix running out just as he grabbed him.
"Is that thing trying to eat us?!" Ragna snapped, unaware of the sphere on the Azure Grimoire flickering open and close in time with the pulse of the Chaos Emeralds inside of Chaos 6.
"Yes, that's it Chaos! Eat them alive!" Eggman laughed.
"Eat this!"
A small ice-blue and white egg-shaped robot flew over the fence and landed in Chaos 6's mouth. The creature gagged mutely before its body froze into ice.
"What?! This can't be!" Eggman gasped as Knuckles glided over the fence and slammed a fist into the Chaos 6, shattering it and dropping the six emeralds at his feet, the frozen core falling over the side of the ship.
"Knuckles!" Ben gasped as the echidna smirked, holding up three Master Emerald shards.
"I got them all," Knuckles spoke, "And I saw you guys having some trouble with that thing, so I thought why not throw one of the damn ice making robots that kept trying to turn me into a popsicle into it."
"Glad you could finally make it," Sonic noted, "I thought you got lost or something."
"Until we meet again!" Eggman growled as he flew off from the ship, the electric fence shutting down as another explosion rocked the ship.
"We've got a plane down there!" Ben shouted...before seeing the Tornado fly off.
"Jake, stop manhandling the controls and me!"
"Tag, you're it!"
"Oh bother!"
"...They just stole Tails's plane," Sonic deadpanned.
"Why did we have to save him again?" Ragna's eye twitched before seeing Knuckles gliding off, "...Oh sure. You can glide. Whatever the hell that guy is, damn him to hell."
"As rather amusing as your reactions are, I do find this storm rather bothersome."
"?! Usagi?" Ragna looked around before darkness engulfed them, hints of red within.
A sphere of red and black energy appeared outside of the Underground Bus and the pickup truck before the four were dropped out of it. The sphere dispersed, revealing Rachel finishing a small cup of tea and handing the emptied cup to a bowing Valkenhayne.
"Why the hell are you here?" Ragna groaned as he got up.
"My my, how ungrateful, Ragna," Rachel noted, putting her hands on her lap while looking at the four as they got up, "And after I gave you a way of escaping from that crashing vessel when your other options were lost."
"Arigatou," Roll bowed.
"It seems that one of you has the proper manners in accordance with giving thanks," Rachel quipped, pulling a lock of her hair behind her ear.
'Oi…' Ragna and Ben's eye twitched.
"Well, at least we took care of Chaos," Sonic noted.
"Oh, did you now? You are sure that the threat he poses is no longer there?" Rachel questioned, "Only a fool would believe they had won without making sure of it first."
"Dammit, so that thing's still out there," Ragna scowled.
"You are dealing with a literal God. Killing them is not easy nor simple, for they are immortal," Rachel informed, "You have, however, reverted Chaos to its original state and have allowed preparations to be made."
"Preparations?" Sonic repeated before Valkenhayne walked up and bowed, presenting Sonic with a paper.
"A message your mother asked my Lady to deliver to you," the butler informed.
"From mom?" Sonic blinked twice before taking the paper, "..." his eyes widened, "A...Are you sure?"
"The Oracle has confirmed it, yes," Rachel replied.
"What's wrong?" Ragna asked, seeing the hedgehog take a shaky breath.
"It...It's time," Sonic replied as Rachel and Valkenhayne left the same way they came, looking at the sky to see the faint images of a pair of approaching Flyers and a twin-tailed fox, "...We're heading for Robotropolis...for Mobotropolis."
GT: Hoo-boy! Things are coming to a head now!
SZ: Eeyup. It's finally time. Time for the final battle...well, the final battle of this arc that is.
GT: Probably the final battle. *gets booed at by the readers* What? Just trying to be trollin' here.
SZ: Yeah. You don't have to bite our freakin' heads off. But yeah...next chapter is gonna be a big one!
GT: *nods* That it will. So until next time, I am GammaTron…
SZ: And I'm Seanzilla115, and we bid you all a good day.