- Chapter 48 -

A Pressing Matter

Press Garden Zone

Sally, Amy, and Sticks walked out of the Warp Ring to find themselves outside an ancient temple. Pink vines grew around it, and a thin layer of snow covered the ground. Cherry blossom trees decorated the area as well, snow and petals filling the air.

"So this is the Press Garden Zone," Sally mused.

"It's so beautiful," Amy said. "Are you sure Robotnik's here?"

"Oh, the Eggman's here all right," Sticks confirmed. "I can smell him."

Amy blinked. "His cologne's that strong?"

"You learn to ignore most of what she says," Sally explained. "Besides, I highly doubt Robotnik's actually here. Just one of his schemes."

Suddenly, they heard some smashing sounds from inside. Hurrying in, they were surprised to see Ray and Mighty dismantling a horde of Badniks.

"Hey, it's those two from the Egg Dungeon!" Sally exclaimed.

"Looks like they could use a hand," Amy mused.

She drew her hammer before charging into the fray. Sally summoned her Ring Blades and Sticks tossed her boomerang, all of them running in.

Before long, all the Badniks were scrapped. After a minute, Mighty turned to acknowledge them.

"The Freedom Fighters?" he remarked. "Didn't expect to see you all the way out here."

"Same could be said to you," Sally replied. "What brings you here?"

"We've been traveling for a while," Ray explained. "Were in the neighborhood when we found out what Robotnik was doing in the Press Garden."

"What is he doing?" Sticks asked.

Everyone jumped when they heard a cry of pain and rage from Amy. They turned to see her holding a wanted poster, looking it over.

"T-this is an outrage!" she shouted. "Look what they're making me look like!"

She showed them the poster, revealing it to be a picture of Amy with the expression of a maniac, wielding a large, spiked green hammer.

"I'd say it's pretty spot on," Sticks said bluntly.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Amy demanded, offended.

"Tails did say Robotnik's using this as part of a propaganda campaign," Sally recalled. "Try to demonize Sonic."

"Not just Sonic." Ray had retrieved another poster, this one depicting Sally with shark-like fangs set in an evil grin, her Ring-Blades, red as if soaked with blood, crossed over her chest.

Sally's eyes went wide. "WHAT?!"

"Eh, seen worse," Sticks shrugged. "So... what's mine look like? Crazy eyes with a boomstick in one hand and a chainsaw for the other?"

"Uh…" Ray began, "we… haven't found one for you."

Sticks was instantly offended, gagging before scowling.

"What?!" she shrieked. "He considers these two a big enough threat to make them wanted posters, but not me?!" She slowly turned to Sally. "Requesting permission to kill."

"Denied," Sally told her. "Maiming is allowed, though."

"I'll take what I can get," Sticks decided.

"We came here to destroy the printing press," Mighty cut in. "Return Press Garden to the way it was before, and stop the propaganda."

"We highly doubt anyone in their right mind will be tricked by these posters, but better safe than sorry," Ray added.

"Let me at the thing," Amy insisted. "I'll turn it into scrap metal!"

"Simmer down first," Mighty told her.

Amy let out a growl, but still tried to calm down. Once she was a bit less trigger happy, Mighty gave a nod.

"Follow us," he told them, leading them into the temple. Sticks was immediately on the hunt for traps, scanning the area with an appraising eye.

"Can I just say that Robotnik going to all this trouble to make these posters is a bit pathetic?" Sally noted.

"Right?!" Ray said. "I mean, come on! One look at the posters and you know the guy's full of it!"

"For an evil genius, he's pretty stupid," Mighty remarked.

"The vibe I'm getting from all this is less 'evil dictator wanting to besmirch his enemy's name' and more 'bratty child throwing a temper tantrum.'" Sally clarified.

"Oh yeah," Mighty agreed. "Just check out Sonic's."

He held it up, showing a Sonic with pitch black eyes with red irises, razor sharp teeth, and blood covered gloves.

"Really?" Sally said, totally deadpan.

"Yeah, really," Ray confirmed. "He looks like some indie-horror game villain. Or one of those Scarynoodle stories."

"Can we get to the smashing now?" Amy asked.

"Just up ahead," Mighty told her.

They arrived in a wide open room, seeing the printing press rapidly churning out newspapers and more unflattering wanted posters.

"Oh, come on!" Sticks whined. "They made one of Mina, but not me?!"

The Mina poster showed her in a punk outfit, smoking and giving the camera the bird.

"Alright, that does it," Amy raised the Piko Piko Hammer, which glowed before increasing in size.

"Whoa…" Sally let out. "Since when could you do that?"

"It's one of the hammer's abilities," Amy said simply."Like how I can just pull it out of nowhere."

"I hate magic," Sticks sighed.

"You hate everything," Sally pointed out.

Amy raises her hammer, preparing to smash the printing press, but something flew in, lashing out with a buzzsaw that she jumped back to avoid. They took in the attacker, seeing it was an engine-like robot with a rubber-based pump up front and a gray metal cap on the top and bottom of said pump. The exhausts on these components were seemingly arranged so its front looked like a face. On its back, it also carried two large freeze tanks, which were connected to its body by black tubes. It also had two round orange shoulders with pole-like gray arms that each carried a circular saw made of ice.

"That's one big robot!" Sticks exclaimed.

"Of course Robotnik wouldn't just leave this place unguarded," Sally mused.

"Of course not," said Mighty. "It'd be too easy then."

They scattered as the bot came down toward them. It loomed over them before lashing out with one of its saws. Mighty curled up into a ball, and the saw shattered against his shell.

"Nice going, Mighty!" Ray cheered.

"Watch your tail!" Mighty warned.

The robot's arm retracted as it constructed another saw from ice, and Sally drew her Ring-Blades.

"Ice, huh?" she pondered. "Let's see if it can take the heat."

The robot kept extending its saws, Sally's blades clashing against them. The lasers cut right through the ice. The robot seemed to register a moment of shock before the Piko Piko Hammer came flying in, smashing it right in the face. Finally, Sticks came running in, raising her Chaos Shard spear over her head.

"Eat this!" she shouted as she stabbed it into the robot's face. The robot hoisted the white flag and came crashing down on the printing press.

"Who's not worthy of a wanted poster now?!" Sticks taunted.

The robot sparked and smoldered, and seeing what was about to happen, everyone rushed outside just as it exploded, taking the printing press with it.

"Woo!" Ray cheered. "Now that was fun!"

With that, they looked around, seeing outside of the castle was a surreal winter wonderscape within a Japanese garden.

"So this is the true beauty of the Press Garden," Sally said.

"I don't think so," Amy cut in. "It's supposed to be spring, so why is everything covered in snow?"

Sticks opened her mouth, about to say something.

"No, it's not frost giants or wind demons." Sally cut her off.

Sticks just shut her mouth.

"Amy's right," Ray agreed. "I'm no Yurashia local, but I know enough about cherry blossoms to know they only bloom in the spring. This snow isn't natural."

"There's another robot around here somewhere," Mighty deduced.

"How clever of you."

The five were instantly on the defensive.

"Who's there?!" Sally demanded.

"I am the silent death. If you see me... you are already dead."

"Sounds like a coward trying to hide in the shadows," Sticks retorted. "Show yourself, creep!"

Something came spinning in from above. Sally jumped out of the way as a clang sounded. They took in the sight of one of the Heavies, wielding a blue sword that froze the ground on impact.

"It's one of the Hard Boiled Heavies!" Amy exclaimed.

The Heavy rose to his feet. "I am the Heavy Shinobi. Remember the name well... for it is the chilling sound of your doom."

Ray snorted, snickering as he covered his mouth. "Did... you just make an ice pun?

The Shinobi stood tall, performing a prana (1) hand seal before suddenly producing a starfish Badnik which it held between its fingers.

"Okay, less funny, more serious," Ray confessed.

The Shinobi chucked the Badnik right at Ray like a shuriken. The squirrel ducked, the shuriken flying over his head and embedding itself in the wall behind him. Much to their surprise, it suddenly began beeping and flashing. Ray scrambled out of range as it exploded, sending spikes flying in five different directions.

"That's not good!" Mighty exclaimed.

"We gotta put this guy down!" Amy yelled. "Now!"

She charged at the Shinobi, hammer clashing against his sword.

"You know what killed the Mobosaurs?" the Shinobi asked before deflecting her hammer. "The Ice Age!"

Before Amy could react, she was struck in the side by the flat of his sword, freezing into a block of ice.

"Amy!" Sticks and Sally screamed.

Mighty quickly charged at the ice block, punching it and shattering it, freeing Amy. With that, Sally extended her Ring-Blades, charging at the Shinobi herself. Their blades crossed.

"Can you feel it, Princess Sally?" the Shinobi mocked. "The icy cold of death's embrace, wrapping its arms around you?"

"Actually, I thought it was just something I ate," Sally shot back.

She charged at Shinobi, her ring blades clashing with his. The heat from them did threaten to melt the sword, but Shinobi just kept refreezing it. While he was distracted with Sally, Ray took to the sky, carrying Mighty. When they were in position above the Shinobi, they nodded at one another.

"Alley-oop!" Ray shouted.

He tossed Mighty into the air, who curled up into a ball before suddenly dropping down with such speed that he left afterimages in his wake, the air spiralling around him. The armadillo came in like a wrecking ball, smashing the Shinobi's head in before bouncing back onto the ground. The headless body wavered for a few moments before collapsing.

"And that's how we do things back home," Mighty bragged.

With that done, the group went further into the Press Garden, soon coming across the purple Chaos Emerald plugged into a supercomputer. Amy yanked it out, while Sally plugged Nicole into the resulting socket to hack the system.

"Oh, no…" she let out after a few minutes.

"What's Eggman done now?" Sticks questioned.

Nicole brought up a screen, revealing the mechanized Little Planet, once again chained above Never Lake.

"The Little Planet's back?!" Amy exclaimed. "But... that's impossible! It's not supposed to reappear over Mercia for months!"

"I'll betcha Eggman used the Phantom Ruby to summon it," Sticks suggested. "That man has no respect for the laws of nature!"

"That's exactly what he did, according to the files," Sally confirmed. "And he's using it as a base to construct this thing."

The image changed to a picture of a mech resembling a cross between the Death Egg Robot and the Heavy King, but this one was so big it made the Great EggRobo Sonic fought on the Death Egg look like a pint-sized action figure.

"He calls it the Titanic Monarch," Sally went on. "Once it's finished, he's gonna plug the Phantom Ruby into the power core."

"Uh-oh…" Amy let out. "That's not good. Like at all."

"Seems you ladies could use a hand," Mighty offered.

"Please and thank you," Sally turned to the others. "We better hope Sonic and the others get the rest of the Chaos Emeralds. If the Titanic Monarch gets off the ground…"

"It won't," Amy assured. "We'll stop it. I know we will."

Little Planet

Beyond the Metallic Madness Zone, Robotnik was overseeing the construction of the Titanic Monarch with Snively and Grimer at his side.

"So this is what the Phantom Ruby's power can do," Robotnik mused. "It rivals the Master Emerald. And once my Titanic Monarch receives its power, Mobius will be mine."

"It seems we won't need to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds anymore," Grimer said. "Should we just leave them be, Doctor?"

Robotnik shook his head, turning to face them.

"Even if Sonic does retrieve all seven Emeralds, he'll be no match for the ruby-powered Titanic Monarch," he began. "But why take any chances? I've underestimated that speedy rodent before. I refuse to do it again."

Snively nodded. "Very well, sir."

Author's Note:

(1): A hand seal/sign performed by touching your ring and pinky fingers to the tip of your thumb, while keeping the other two fingers straight.

There we have it. Can the Freedom Fighters stop the Titanic Monarch, or be able to stand against the power of the Phantom Ruby?

Voice cast for this chapter:

* Heavy Shinobi - Keone Young (Luong Lao Shi from American Dragon: Jake Long, Joe Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden)

Please R&R. Until next time!