Sonic X: Back To Earth.
Author's note: Sorry that this chapter was a bit late. It's been a busy week.
Anyway, happy reading!
I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog. The rights of the franchise and all Sonic characters and media belong to Sega, Sonic Team and other connected companies. I only own the OCs.
The Mutagen Saga.
Chapter 5: Mutant Problems and Robots.
While Shadow didn't want to waste any time and Omega was in some form of agreement as the annoying robot made comments about 'distractions leads to elimination' or something, Rouge suggested that it was late and that they should at least rest up until early in the morning before beginning their search for Eggman. The white bat knew that Sonic and his friends would be alright without her for the time being even if she should meet up with them soon, they were bound to meet up with the blue hedgehog's group at some point anyway.
So the newly formed unlikely trio agreed to rest for the night, and while Rouge would've prefered a hotel, and despite being a bat, she was pretty exhausted, and so she slept up in a tree. Omega switched into sleep mode. Shadow on the other hand, was unable to sleep as many thoughts ran through his mind. Such as everything he has been through since the day Eggman had found him, right up to the situation he was in now.
How was he going to find his place while here on Earth? The black hedgehog didn't belong among humanity, and he felt out of place among Sonic's group as well. Memories of how he punched Sonic away just as the younger hedgehog was about to perform Chaos Control along side him emerged. The pained shock on the teenager's face filled his mind. Despite their fights from when they first met, and then from when he lost his memories, the truth behind Shadow's origins seemed to have made the cobalt young hero respect him even though Shadow didn't want it.
That 'faker' was incredibly one lucky hedgehog, having so many friends and having such freedom to go where he wants, to be who he wants to be. Having that cocky, over-confident and happy-go-lucky personality annoyed Shadow, but at the same time, Sonic had the love for adventures and speed, maybe compassion. He was strong in will, fast in speed, and very brave. He knew where he belonged.
'For a blue faker, he has more enjoyment of life than I ever did.' Shadow thought to himself bitterly, folding his arms as he gazed up at the night sky.
Maria would have loved this, if she were still alive and cured from her illness. She never got the chance to live life on Earth as she had always wanted. He remembered standing by her side in the ARK, gazing at the planet, and while Earth felt so empty now without his first and closest friend, back then he admitted that it was beautiful. But now...he had felt he no longer had any interest apart from keeping his promise he made to keep the planet and humanity safe.
"Maria...Would you know where I would find my place? If you were still alive, would it...be here on this planet?" He whispered, wondering if she could hear him despite that she has been gone for over fifty years.
Sighing, Shadow shook his head to rid those thoughts, telling himself that he needed to focus. It didn't take overnight for his memories to come back, because the Ultimate Life-form knew that it was going to take a while to learn where his place was in the Universe.
He just wished it would be easier and quicker if he didn't have a jewel thief and a stupid robot by his side. But he trusted the former, even if she can be...annoying at times.
Shadow was brought out of his thoughts and he suddenly sensed movement and sharply looked to his right, demanding. "Who's there?"
The only thing he managed to get a glimpse of was an already disappearing figure vanishing into the darkness of the trees like a ghost. The black hedgehog's eyes narrowed deeply. Something wasn't right in this world.
He could feel it.
The next morning, back at the Manor, Sonic and his friends were wide awake with a treat of Ella's delicious warm meal, something that Sonic and Tails have missed and that both Cosmo and even Knuckles enjoyed. After that, Amy, Cream and Cheese returned along with Vanilla, whom her daughter invited to come along, before Tails took the X Tornado back to use the Blue Typhoon to carry the Chaotix who had been shocked when they heard the news of Cosmo's return as well as the situation, and while Vector wasn't a sick as he had been in the last couple of days, he still felt strange which disturbed his sleep.
The three detectives by then explained Vector's dilemma to Chris and Chuck who quickly became concerned over this.
"But ever since that weird light show started up, I haven't been feeling as stuffy as yesterday. But now I'm having trouble...sleeping." Vector yawned which he tried to cover up, but was unable to do so.
"Don't you guys usually sleep a lot, though?" Sonic couldn't help but tease, earning him a glare from Vector and Espio who Charmy blinked in confusion. Amy looked at him with a scolding expression, Tails and Cosmo sharing a glance while Cream and Vanilla both sighed, Chris shrugged as did his grandfather and Knuckles rolling his eyes over the blue hedgehog's sad attempt of a joke.
"Yeah, well, not like this." The crocodile pointed out, folding his arms in annoyance.
Sonic held up his hands quickly in surrender with an apologetic smile. "It was just a joke."
He then sighed and said firmly. "Look, I don't know where Espio got the idea that the Mutagen stuff might be still inside you from, but we can't just jump into conclusion like that. Besides, it's only started now, right? There's gotta be an explanation to all of this."
"I have a question. What makes you think it is the Mutagen in Vector's blood system, Espio?" Chuck asked, curiously.
"From what Vector described, the dizzy spells reminded him of the time when the Mutagen flowed into his body after being hit by that dart meant for Sonic. It can't be a coincidence as it is not a normal illness." Espio explained, his arms folded once more.
"I thought it was an allergic reaction at first." Charmy spoke up.
"Yeah, but then I realized there wasn't anything that I'd be allergic to." Vector shrugged, making everyone else share glances and shrugs of their own. "At least not where I was around of or what I've eaten or drank."
"The only guy crazy enough to make that stuff that woulda turned me into a giant was Narasu, but like Chris said last night, he ain't a scientist anymore." Sonic stated.
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, that's true. But what are we gonna do with so many problems around? I mean, seriously. Sonic has a mysterious dream, Eggman makes a Porthole to come back here just for documents to create a robot army of Shadow, all of us, our entire continent and my island being brought back to Earth, some weird purple fog reverses almost everybody's age by nine years including Chris, Cosmo comes back to life, and we have to find the Chaos Emeralds, now Vector's mysterious illness. It's crazier than when the Metarex attacked."
"Speaking of dream, you said that that guy that looks kind of like Shadow said something else, right, Sonic?" Amy spoke up to her boyfriend who nodded.
"Yeah, he said something about the day of the union and reunion coming." Sonic replied, before frowning deeply in concern. "But I have a real bad feeling that guy's up to something terrible. It doesn't help that the dream shifted straight to the nightmares I've been having lately, and while they've started to slow down, last night it was like the first time...back when Dark Oak had eaten me and I almost drowned on that planet that he...well, turned into his stomach."
Chris shuddered at that thought. "I had nightmares of the Metarex stealing all the Planet Eggs and everybody was gone for five months since I got home."
"Guess that means we've got two more months before we stop having them." Tails remarked softly. "But the Metarex nightmares are the least of our problems. Sonic's right. There's something wrong with the way how the person in his dreams said about the merging, and the Union and Reunion stuff."
"But what about the fog? Is there a way to turn everybody here back to normal?" Cream asked, worriedly.
"Hey, I smell a triple case coming on! Three cases that are full of mysteries!" Charmy exclaimed excitedly, receiving weirded out looks from everyone else.
"Well, if we can get a sample of that stuff, and maybe a small sample from Vector, those may give us a head start." Chuck stated.
"Then I say we split up into teams." Sonic decided suddenly, and when everyone else gazed at him curiously, he continued. "One team will go out looking for Eggman even though he almost always manages to appear out of nowhere, another will find samples from the weird fog that de-aged everybody by nine years and turning worms into mutant robotic giants, and the third team will look for anybody who's seen how this mess started. While we're at it, we can look for the Chaos Emeralds. Chris and Chuck will motify us along the way and if we need their assistance in person, they can come to us in the one of the Tornadoes. With any luck, one of our groups might be able to find Rouge if she isn't found by GUN already."
Everyone stared at him in surprise, before Knuckles asked suspicously. "Alright, who are you and what have you done with Sonic?"
The blue hedgehog smirked with a shrug. "What? Can't I be serious once in a while."
Knuckles blinked before shaking his head with his own smirk. "For somebody who likes to think on his feet, you came up with a plan that makes sense like back on our planet."
"I have my moments." Sonic replied, rubbing his nose.
"Sonic, I still have the capsule that'll help you with your shoes in case of emergancies." Chris spoke up, a bit disappointed in missing out but he felt that it would be best to heed Sonic's words this time and instead help his grandfather seeing that they already have Tails. He walked over and handed over the familiar yellow capusle and handed it to the blue hedgehog. "You can install in one of the Tornados. I've made a back-up one, since I kinda had a feeling would it help out and I had thought of sending it over when I got the chance."
"This'll really come in handy, Chris. Thanks." Sonic said, winking with a thumbs up, which his human friend returned.
"In the meantime, I'll see if I can up-link the Miles Electric and make smaller copies of them, so that way we can communicate with each other and keep up with anymore news." Tails added, showing off his latest invention which made Chris and Chuck gaze at it in awe. "With any luck, it'll make finding Eggman's locations a lot easier."
"My, my, Tails. That is the most fascinating invention I've ever seen." Chuck chuckled, amazed by his young friend's latest creation. The young fox giggled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"Mama, can I help with this adventure?" Cream requested hopefully to her mother who smiled warmly, even though Amy looked a bit worried.
Then the pink hedgehog remembered how Cream proved to be quite a fighter despite her age, like how when Sonic took the hit for her as Emerl punched him meant for the little girl, the six year old had been so upset that he had risked his life to protect her, and that the Gizoid had hurt others that she and Cheese teamed up to defeat him in guilt in many ways. She was quite mature and very polite and knew from right and wrong.
"Of course, Cream. You just be careful." Vanilla replied, and hugged her daughter lovingly as Cream returned it.
"Don't worry, Mrs. V. We'll make sure Cream is safe and protected. I promise." Sonic reassured. His friend's very kind mother nodded.
"I know she will. You dears be careful, too." Vanilla said. She was always fond of her daughter's friends. To her, Amy and now Cosmo were like two more daughters, while Sonic, Tails and even Knuckles were like sons she never had. They treated Cream like she was their own, and deeply cared about her. They were all family.
"Hey, you said there'd three teams, right?" Charmy suddenly realized something. "There's already the three of us, and you guys. So who's the third team?"
An awkward moment of silence.
"Good question. Haven't even thought of that." Sonic shrugged, sheepishly.
"Maybe Amy, Cosmo and I can be the third team." Cream suggested as the idea formed in her mind, causing everyone to gaze at her in surprise and confusion. "That way it can be a team of three each."
"That's a great idea, Cream! You, me and Cosmo can be an all-girl-power team!" Amy replied, liking the idea.
"I'm not sure how I can be much of a help, but it does sound like fun." Cosmo admitted, liking the idea despite that she and Tails shared a concerned glance, given how they had just been reunited last night. But then again they wouldn't go too far and would meet up again to catch up, and so they agreed.
"Cool! Then that leaves me, Tails and Knuckles as our own Team, no doubt." Sonic beamed, liking where this was going, even though he was worried for the safety of the girls, one who, he wouldn't admit it to anyone, even to himself, had gotten closer and closer to lately, another who was very young, and the third who had just come back to life but has given him hope and great advice.
"A very wise decision. Then it would make Master Chuck, Master Chris and I a team of experts, and fighters and I am more than willing to risk my life on the battlefield." Mr. Tanaka agreed, which made the Thorndyke family and Ella look at him with slightly dry looks, while Knuckles raised a skeptical eyebrow and the rest of the group staring at the Butler like he's gone crazy.
"Uh, no offense, Mr. Tanaka, but you were never that good on the battlefield. I mean, you're a great pilot and very loyal, but not...a very good fighter." Chris pointed out carefully.
"Chris is right. Even after nine years, you still don't know anything about an actual fight. You should really do actual training instead of repeatedly watch those silly martial arts and kung fu movies." Ella agreed in slight annoyance, her hands on her hips, which made the butler clear his throat in embarrassment.
The Chaotix blinked dumbfounded, with Vector asking about Mr. Tanaka. "What's wrong with that guy?"
"As Sonic and Ella said, he watched too many Kung Fu movies." Knuckles shook his head in expersation with a shrug.
"Maybe it would be best if the three of us head out to find Eggman before he enters the city to find those documents or the Chaos Emeralds, and maybe make sure the government did get rid of them and if not, we do it ourselves." Tails suggested while gesturing at himself, Sonic and Knuckles in hopes to change the subject.
Amy nodded in agreement, saying, "Cream, Cosmo and I will ask around on where the fog came from and how it started." Her newly formed team nodded in agreement.
"I'd be more than happy to help and be part of the team again. It's been so long." Cosmo added, feeling excitement after being dead for three months in Sonic's world and three years here on Earth.
"Then that leaves us Chaotix to find the samples of the fog stuff. Looking for clues is on the job description of our agency." Vector declared with determination.
"Yes, it would be best if we handled the sample collecting." Espio nodded in agreement.
"Yeah! I can't wait to go searching and solving the case!" Charmy cheered.
"And we'll keep up to date on anything else that might happen." Chris concluded, with his grandfather nodding in agreement.
Sonic grinned, pleased that things had sorted out and that they had a plan. "All right then! In the meantime, if we find any clues on how to un-merge our worlds and save time, we'll let each other know. Let's do it to it!"
"Yeah!" Everyone except Mr. Tanaka, Vanilla, and Chris's parents who all smiled cheered.
It was settled, as it was Vector, Espio and Charmy of the Chaotix, Amy, Cream and Cosmo of the newly formed Team Rose, and Sonic, Tails and Knuckles of the trio of Team Sonic, to begin their, Chris and Chuck's quest to set things right, unaware that another team was out there, and that the challenges were coming up ahead.
Back at Eggman's new base which is already almost completed, the evil doctor was busy making the finishing touches of his latest large robot which looked a bit like the Grim Reaper with a scythe, only it didn't have a cape, it's arms were muscular, and it had wheels instead of legs like a bulldozer. It's head was, well, where Eggman's Egg Mobile would attach itself into.
Well, at least his minions were making the finishing touches.
"Once I gain access into my grandfather's documents, all that's left is to find a way back to Sonic's world and begin my construction on the Shadow Android Army. Then nothing, and no one, not even that irritating hedgehog, will stop me!" Eggman declared with an evil grin, rubbing his hands together with a cackle.
"I think this is going to be a repeat of the last time we were here on Earth." Decoe muttered secretly to Bocoe as they both panted while finishing up the large robot their creator had finished designing in the record of 24 hours.
"Not if Sonic is already on his way here, if he isn't here already to derail Dr. Eggman's plans like back at home." Bocoe pointed out dryly.
"Quit yapping, and keep working!" Eggman grunted impatiently, making the two minion robots to quicken their pace, before he turned back to the monitor once more, his hands behind his back. "My Egg Reaper must be complete by noon, to remind the people of Earth, my fellow man, of my ultimate power."
"But it's only 9:30 AM, Dr. Eggman, and it's only going to take another five minutes to finish the Egg Reaper." Decoe pointed out.
"To which you will have exactly three and a half hours to spare." Bocoe calculated as he screwed in the last bolt in place.
"And we already made checks so that the Egg Reaper won't fall apart on it's way to Station Square." The taller robot continued.
While the evil scientist wished for his two blabbering idiotic robots to shut up, he was admittedly pleased with the results as he declared. "Then we'll go early, so finish it up so we can have lunch by the time we return with those documents!"
Just then, Bokkun came flying in with a bewildered look on his face which was odd as he then landed on the floor, panting. "Dr. Eggman! You've gotta see this!"
"What is it now? Can't you see I'm already making an early preparations of a full scale attack on the city?" The fat scientist grunted impatiently, not in the mood for any nonsense on what his smallest robot was looking all panicked about...which now that he thought of it, he then asked hesitantly. "...It's not Sonic, is it?"
"Well, I heard rumors this morning that Sonic and his friends saved the city from a giant worm last night, but there's something else you should see! It's weird and super duper creepy!" Bokkun insisted.
"WHAT!?" Eggman bellowed about the news of that, quickly realizing that during the malfunctioning which resulted in his porthole swallowing him and his minons back to Earth, it had done the same with Sonic's group. He growled angrily. "Curses! I hate that hedgehog! He follows me around wherever I go like a magnet!"
Suddenly, there was a loud CLANG! Which startled Eggman and his robotic minions as they jumped in fright.
"What was that!?" Eggman demanded, before whipping around to glare at Decoe and Bocoe who both held their hands up in surrender.
"We didn't do it!" Decoe quickly defended himself and his 'brother'.
"It came from outside!" Bocoe added, nervously.
"That's one of the other things you gotta see." Bokkun muttered with a sweat drop.
Not wanting outside trouble and thinking that Sonic has found him already, Eggman quickly set up the security cameras to see what was going on outside of his new base. To his and the other two robots' bewilderment, it wasn't the blue hedgehog he had been dreading. Instead, it was a giant Eagle, or at least it looked like one. It had a head of it, but made of metal, wings normal, but it's legs also metal and apparently it's transformation, unknowingly to them, caused by the fog, resulted it's head and legs being too heavy for it and thus hit the side of the base hard before falling onto the ground outside, unconscious.
"What's this? Who in their right mind would partially roboticize that bird and grow it into a giant?" Eggman asked with a sweat drop. Yes he had an idea of roboticizing citizens in the past, before realizing it was, even in his opinion, really cruel and just sticked to making people obey him through lies and/or fear and build his own robots since it was less inconvenient.
"Maybe there's another evil scientist in this world that may be trying to outrank you since you're absence, doctor." Bocoe said, thoughtfully.
"Yeah, and why there was a giant worm last night, if the rumors are true." Bokkun added.
"Which means the mysterious fog may be this new evil scientist's creation, mutating lifeforms." Decoe theorized.
That angered Eggman to no end. To think that this world had it's own evil scientist attempting to do worse than what he would, transforming animals into robots and rule it before he could begin his attack, it was almost as bad as what the Metarex had done. And Sonic was already ahead in stopping this new crisis, which meant that it was going to be twice as hard in getting those documents now.
"Well, I'm not about to let some amature scientist copy my motivation! Whoever it is, we are going to stop that person, learn more of this before Sonic and his friends do, and THEN we get those documents!" Eggman declared, clenching his fists tightly, before commanding. "Ready the Egg Reaper and send out spy bots to find anyone suspicious! I want a sample of the fog as well!"
The robots did as they were told, sending out a spy camera bot on it's way, while Decoe and Bocoe completed the Egg Reaper to which began to operate under Eggman's command, ready to begin it's task in letting people of Earth know that he was back.
In his own style.
Speeding through the forest, Shadow, Rouge and Omega were heading into what they thought was the right direction of towards Dr. Eggman as well as locating Sonic and the others despite that the black hedgehog really didn't want to waste anymore time than necessary.
None the less, his own issues would have to wait, and given what Rouge had told him last night, it disgusted Shadow to think that Eggman would make an Android Army of him.
It wasn't until the trio heard rustling ahead of them that the Ultimate Life-form skid to a stop while Rouge landed safely on the ground and Omega's scanners picked up something.
"Alert: Mutated life-form approaching. I cannot comprehend what it is, scanners can't pick up what has happened." The rogue robot warned, standing ready to ready.
"Mutated life-form?" Shadow asked, raising an eyebrow. He half wondered what Omega was talking about, and half thought that maybe what he saw last night had followed them or it was something completely different.
"Why am I getting a bad feeling about this?" Rouge asked, feeling somewhat uneasy.
The sound was getting louder and louder, which told the team that whatever it was, it was getting closer. Shadow and Rouge tensed while Omega stood ready to fire what anything. The thing could be seen from the trees, which alarmed the black hedgehog as the same thing he saw vaguely last night and narrowed his red eyes.
What they didn't expect to see was...a giant Earth-mouse with dog ears and it's tail replaced with a parrot's tail feathers. It was holding an apple in it's mouse as though it was a cherry.
"Huh?" Shadow and Rouge both muttered, bewildered with their eyes wide as they and even Omega sweat dropped as it the giant mouse innocently walked past them, not even making any attempts to attack. The trio could only watch it walk away and then slowly disappear into the trees, completely speechless.
"What...in the world?" Shadow could only say, never having seen anything as strange as this before, and from the look from the albino bat, neither has she.
"Can somebody please tell me what's going on? Mice aren't that big, or looking like that either." Rouge asked.
"Scanners detect unusual substance within that thing's body. It's origins are unknown. This doesn't compute." Omega responded, sounding quite shocked himself.
Shadow's brows narrowed as he remembered the substance last night before reuniting with Rouge, and the figure he also saw as well.
"Hm...It must be because of that un-natural fog has somehow done something to the life forms here on Earth." Shadow said.
"I thought I saw the strange ugly stuff, but this isn't anything Eggman had in mind. My money's on that it's someone or something else's doing." Rouge folded her arms, before turning to the robot and asked. "Right?"
Omega nodded, "Affirmative. Dr. Eggman had no plans for this unusual mutation. He seeks the documents of Shadow the Hedgehog to create an Android Army to stop Sonic the Hedgehog."
"Or maybe this is a back-up plan." Shadow suggested darkly, lowering his head. It couldn't be the Metarex since they were destroyed, and unless Eggman did something like this instantly after returning here, this meant there was another enemy around.
His mind then returned to the mysterious rock-alien that sent him back, one that acted too friendly for his liking.
"I may look like a rock on the outside, but deep inside, I am all flesh and bone, same as you. If you can trust me, you may be able to find your place in the universe, by starting with returning to the planet of your origin."
'Who is he? Could he be behind this? I don't trust him.' Shadow thought to himself deeply.
"Shadow?" Rouge's voice made the black hedgehog snap out of his thoughts. "Is something wrong?"
"No. It's nothing. We should get moving." Shadow replied, turning to continue onward. "Our top priority is finding the doctor."
"You have spoken with perfect logic. I will annhiliate all Eggman robots!" Omega declared, gearing up.
Seeing her two comrades quickly race onward, Rouge groaned before quickly following them while still thinking about how she ended up in this mess.
"If either Sonic or Shadow smack Eggman into next tuesday, I'd be more than happy. This girl really needs a week of Spa Treatment." The bat thief muttered to herself.
Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles rode on the X Tornado as the Blue Typhoon did have many of the young fox's planes inside which made things a bit easier to find Eggman as well as locating where they needed to find the base and the Chaos Emeralds.
"Man, I can't believe it's been ages since we last been here. This is way past cool to see the city again!" Sonic remarked as he sat in the seat behind his little brother.
"It's only been nine months back at home, but it does really feel like years." Tails agreed, glancing a little as he piloted the plane.
"In this case, it has been years. Though you wouldn't think given how everybody's been de-aged. What kind of fog was it that caused this?" Knuckles questioned, his hands behind his head.
Sonic shrugged, "Who knows? That's why we have the other teams looking into it. I'm sure we'll solve the mystery before the Time-stopping thing happens."
"Yeah, but our whole contintent ended up here. That's going to really difficult in putting it back to our planet." Tails said worriedly, and while thinking about how his reunion with Cosmo had her join Amy and Cream on their own team, and while he knew that they would be together again, he couldn't help but fear that he would lose her again.
The blue hedgehog smirked at his little adoptive brother, and reassured confidently. "Not to worry. We'll figure this out and if that guy from my weird dreams is real, I'll be sure to teach him a lesson he'll never forget! Nothing's gonna stop us as long as we're together as a team."
"Speaking of team, since when did this come into play, if you don't mind my asking?" The red echidha quired.
"Hey, even I can't do everything by myself. Plus, when's the last time we hung out like this?" Sonic shrugged, glancing at his slightly older friend. "I know you love to watch over that giant shiny rock of yours, but you gotta admit you'd like to take a bit of a break do to something new, right?"
Knuckles glared at his friend in irritation, "It's the Master Emerald, and I'd rather be there right now, especially since it ended up back here!"
"Not my fault Eggman's latest evil plot involved coming back to Earth." Sonic retorted. "Besides, the sooner we find that Eggster and clobber him into next week, the sooner we can figure out how to get the Island, our continent and ourselves back home."
"And figure out what's going on here on Earth, too. Chuck already called the President and is letting us investigate the base just in case the army missed something." Tails reminded.
"That too, little buddy." Sonic agreed with a nod. "Plus, we already have the other teams look into the situation and what's going on with Vector."
"Yeah." The young fox nodded, his mind wandering a bit as he concentrated on locating the abandoned base where Eggman had first found and freed Shadow. Tails could only think about Cosmo's return, and while he was happy that she was back, he thought back to how he was the one responsible for her death in the first place even though she told him to do it for the sake of the Universe.
And how Sonic solemnly handed him her single seedling as the blue hedgehog had tried very hard to find her alive, but failed. Tails remembered being so heart broken that he blamed his older brother for days on their way home, to which the teenager took very hard which by the third day, Sonic came in wanting to talk to him.
Tails laid on his side of his bed with the Blue Typhoon still on automatic pilot, gazing at the single surviving seed that was all that was left of Cosmo, the beautiful, sweet, kind, caring and brave Seedrian he had fallen in love with, but now had lost her forever. To make matters worse, he felt awful. Everyone was surely going through the emotional break down through everything they went through. Shadow was gone forever this time, and Sonic...
The two-tailed fox felt fresh tears fill his eyes. He could clearly remember Sonic apologize to him before handing him the seed. Not long after, Tails had yelled at his face, blamed him for Cosmo's death, and refused to talk to him, when now, days later, he regretted it. The blue hedgehog had almost died that day too; first being swallowed whole alive by the Final Nova, and then almost drowning in that water planet that was used as Dark Oak's stomach before Amy risked her life to enter it to save him, to which both hedgehogs were saved by the world's Planet Egg, allowing Sonic and Amy to fly out and land safely on the wing of the Tornado Chris piloted.
Yet Tails had only thought about losing Cosmo, when he almost lost his big brother, and now the young fox was even more upset, this time with himself. Sonic was probably angry with him and after being yelled at, he probably doesn't want to talk to him anymore either.
His thoughts of misery and guilt were cut off when there was a knock on his door, and despite still rendered to tears, Tails weakly sat up and wiped them away, in a futile attempt to hide them while calling out, his voice raspy from the days of crying. "Come in."
It was probably Chris, Amy or Cream to check up on him. Knuckles was still focusing on the Master Emerald's shattered form while keeping an eye on the newly retrieved Chaos Emeralds. The Chaotix were still coming to terms of what happened as well. And Sonic...who knew what he was thinking.
But as the door opened with the air of hesitance, the voice that spoke so softly it was barely a whisper didn't belong to the human boy or either of the three girls.
"Hey, Tails." That voice...it belonged to Sonic.
Surprised, with relief yet more guilt and anger washing over him all over the place, Tails wanted to turn around and look, but his body refused to cooraperate. Instead, he muttered. "Sonic?"
Sonic hesitantly closed the door behind him and slowly walked towards the bed with a saddened and guilt-ridden look that he attempted to hide with a look of simple solem, walked around it and awkwardly took a seat on the edge next to Tails' right.
"How're ya' feeling?" The blue hedgehog asked softly.
"I'm fine." Tails said coldly, and instantly regretted the tone of voice but he couldn't help it. "What do you want?"
He missed the heart-broken look in his adoptive older brother's eyes and didn't know that Sonic felt like he was stabbed straight into the chest along with the feeling of being punched in the gut. The blue hedgehog looked away.
"I wanted to see that you were okay, but I guess that's a stupid thing to assume." Sonic shrugged weakly. When Tails said nothing, the blue hedgehog sighed, closing his eyes as he continued. "Tails, I...I'm deeply sorry. It's all my fault."
Tails felt his innocent heart crack when he heard the tears in his big brother's voice, not once having seen Sonic cry in sorrow before. Not even in guilt. The battle against the Metarex has taken a heavy toll on all of them, even Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive who was usually easy-going and purely optimistic. Sonic had gone through a lot, being a target for the evil robot-aliens who wanted to use him as a warrior, and brutually murder him when he utterly refused.
"It's because of me that all of this happened. Sure, we saved the Universe and all of the Planet Eggs like I promised...But, this wasn't how I wanted the mission to end. I wanted all of us to go home together, and invite...and invite Cosmo to live with us. She's been such a great friend and very important to you, bro. I...I could tell that...that you really loved her. I was happy that you two were happy together." He continued, struggling to hold back the tears, his voice beginning to crack.
The two-tailed kit felt a fresh wave of sorrow, even though he felt embarrassed that his love for Cosmo was obvious, but nothing. Instead, he left his older brother continue.
"I'm a stupid hedgehog. I never should've sent the Chaos Emeralds across space, but I couldn't think of any other way to stop the Metarex from getting them. Cosmo's wrong. I wasn't the one who would save the Galaxy. It was...It was Shadow she should've gone to, not me." Sonic added, sniffling as he wiped away his tears despite that they were stubborn and kept on forming and leaking. "Now he's gone, too. Why could he have...Why couldn't he have let me do it?"
Tails bit his lip, hesitantly looking at Sonic and his own tears instantly fell to see his best friend begin to sob in guilt and sorrow.
"I'm the one who should've died...! Not Cosmo, not Shadow, nobody else but me!" Sonic softly cried. "I don't deserve to live, not after...not after I hurt you, and everybody else! Cosmo's gone and you lost her because of me! Tails, I'm so sorry! I'm an awful friend and big brother...!"
Sonic finally had the courage to gaze at his friend and the tearful look in his little brother's eyes broke his heart even more. "You deserve better, Tails...I don't have any right to be with you anymore. I hurt you, and I don't know how to fix it. But I want you to know, that you'll always be my little brother. I'd die to protect you, and everybody else. It's not fair on Cosmo, and Shadow had a tough life as it is, even if we didn't get on well."
Trying to calm down, Sonic turned to gaze at his tearful but silent little brother and said. "I love you, Tails. Even if you...don't want to be with me anymore. I understand. I just...wanted to let you know that and how sorry I really am, despite that there's no way of sorry that can fix any of this."
Finally unable to take it anymore, and heart-broken for making his brother believe he didn't want to be with him anymore, regretting in ever blaming Sonic for trying his best, Tails let loose crying and almost literally leaped into the hedgehog's arms, his tears soaking his chest.
"Don't go, Sonic...! Please, don't go!" Tails sobbed, hugging his big brother tightly. "I almost lost you, too...! I'm sorry...that I blamed you! I-it's not you fault...! C-Cosmo t-told to-to do it! I...I killed her! The-The Metarex did this...and almost killed you!"
"Oh, Tails..." Sonic whispered, unconsciously letting loose of tears of his own but didn't care. Instead, he hugged his heart-broken little brother back, gently rocked him back and forth to give him the comfort and love he desired and needed. "Shhhhh...Easy, little guy. Easy does it."
"I-I don't want you to go..." Tails cried.
"Shhhhh...It's gonna be okay. I'm not goin' anywhere. I'll stay as long as you need me." Sonic whispered in a soothing voice, gently pulling him closer. "Tails...You didn't kill Cosmo. The whole mess started when the Metarex destroyed her home. They killed her people. They're responsible for everything, and now they're gone. They paid for their crime of murder. You did what you could. We all did, and I'm sure Cosmo knows that too."
They stayed like this for a little while longer, before Sonic sighed to calm himself down, and continued to rub Tails' back gently to comfort him. Tails eventually rendered himself to sniffles, before looking up at his big brother who held a sad smile.
"I know it's hurt to accept this, but Cosmo is always with us, especially you. Right here." Sonic told him, and gently tapped his little brother's chest in the center where the younger sibling's heart was.
Tails blinked before placing his hand to his chest and while he still felt heart-broken for the loss, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that Sonic was right. Plus, it wasn't just his heart that a part of Cosmo slept, but also in everyone else's, and the little seed the blue hedgehog had found. It was going to take a while to accept it, but he knew that eventually he will recover. Not all was lost, after all. He still had his friends...especially his big brother.
"It'll be alright. You'll see." Sonic continued, gently ruffling at his friend's head, making Tails giggle lightly, and for the first time in days, the young fox smiled warmly.
"Thanks, big bro. I love you, too." Tails replied. "Wouldn't trade ya for the Universe. Don't wanna do the same thing that happened to Cosmo happen to you."
"Hey, now. It's my job to keep you guys safe and happy. We're brothers and everything except blood." The blue hedgehog chuckled lightly, which instantly made the young fox laugh as well, feeling mostly better. If there was one thing Tails knew that Sonic was very good at, it was his skill in making others feel better given the hardships they went through.
While Tails had lost Cosmo, he wouldn't trade Sonic for anything.
"Tails? Yo, Tails?"
"Huh? What?" Tails blinked, as his big brother's voice brought him out of his thoughts and looked over to Sonic who gazed at him, concerned, as did Knuckles.
"You okay, buddy?" Sonic asked. "You've been awfully quiet."
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry, I was just thinking." Tails sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head.
While Sonic saw the concerned, happy and sad look in his little brother's blue eyes and felt he knew what Tails was thinking about, Knuckles, not thinking of the problem and instead thought the youngest member of their current team was thinking about a certain girl, smirked.
"You've been thinking about your girlfriend, haven't you?" The guardian teased.
"W-what!?" Tails yelped, blushing heavily before focusing on the flight ahead while protesting. "C-Cosmo's not my girlfriend!"
"Sure she is. It's not hard to figure out that you've been thinking about her a lot, and we're all glad she's back among the living-"
"Zip it, Knucklehead. Tails has been through a lot, and I'm pretty sure he's just worried about her right now." Sonic grunted, unamused with their older friend's teasing.
"And you haven't been worried about Amy?" Knuckles teased once more, this time at the blue hedgehog who growled and looked around pouting, folding his arms with a light blush on his muzzle.
Sonic then thought of an 'evil' idea and grinned, saying smugly. "Oh, and I'm certain that you're just as worried about a certain pretty, jewel-loving bat girl you really like, but you're just too stubborn to admit it."
"Wha-HEY!" The red echidna snapped angrily, now being embarrassed and feeling insulted as payback for him doing it to both Tails and Sonic. "I do NOT like that batty thief! She's the bane of my existence, and at the moment it's a huge relief that she's not around. But for all I know, she might've landed on the Island and is biding her time to steal the Master Emerald!"
"Whatever you say, Knux." Sonic shrugged mockingly, snickering as his red friend growled but feel silent, before the blue hedgehog winked at Tails who, despite the embarrassing arguement, was relieved that his big brother came to the rescue despite that Kncukles was admittedly right. The young fox just wasn't ready to fully admit it yet even though he knew he was like an open book.
'Thanks, Sonic.' Tails mouthed.
'No problem.' Sonic mouth back with a warm smile, which his little brother returned, only to gasp when he spotted something up ahead and cried out, pointing in front of them. "Tails! Look!"
Blinking in alarm on what had Sonic panicking, Tails looked back ahead as did Knuckles and they too gasped in shock as coming from the desert was a huge Grim Reaper like Robot, the Egg Reaper coming towards Station Square, ready for a full scale attack. Instantly the trio knew what this meant.
"It's Eggman!" Tails cried out.
"Boy, that clown sure knows how to build his toys fast." Sonic admitted, narrowing his eyes as he was determined to quickly stop the evil scientist and fast.
"Well, at least he made things easier for us to find him." Knuckles remarked.
"That robot looks pretty tough." The young fox informed them seriously. "We'd better be careful and take it out fast!"
"Ha! Fast is my middle name!" Sonic declared with a joke and a smirk, unbuckling himself and before his friends could ask or protest, he lifted the hatch open which let the winds glow against their faces, and then leaped out of his seat and onto the wing of the X Tornado. "Time to smash that thing!"
Sonic then leaped off and landed safely on top of a building before dashing and leaping away to battle the giant robot, leaving behind a trial of blue blur while his friends followed in the X Tornado, and while Tails smiled awkwardly at his best friend's usual heroic and dramatic entrance, Knuckles sighed.
"Showoff." The red echidna muttered, folding his arms.
Meanwhile, Amy, Cream, Cheese and Cosmo went around the city asking as many people as possible as to what happened last night. While some looked at the young alien girl oddly, they relaxed as those who had known of Sonic's heroics recognized the pink hedgehog, little rabbit girl and her Chao which made them soon agree that Cosmo was also a friend.
"A giant beam shooting up into the sky?" Amy asked after hearing what a nice lady, who had been 30 years old in appearance and true age before the substance de-aged her back to just being 21 psychically, had said.
"Yes. It hit the moon before reflecting back onto the ground somewhere. I'm not sure what shot it or who was responsible." The human woman replied, looking quite worried and rather having a bad night sleep. "And just when I had celebrated my 30th birthday, now I'm back to being 21!"
"Aw, don't be sad, ma'am." Cream muttered, feeling sorry for the kind woman.
"We're terribly sorry for what has happened, miss. But we will do what we can to solve this mystery and return you back to normal." Cosmo added and promised.
"My friends are right, ma'am. Plus, Sonic's here, so he'll know what to do, and we'll all help." Amy reassured with a kind smile.
The woman smiled softly, feeling a little better. "Oh, thank you. You're all so sweet. It's amazing that you all and Sonic have come back after nine years. It's strange how you haven't changed a bit."
The pink hedgehog scratched the top of her head slightly which prefectly copied how her 'boyfriend' would normally do. "Uh, well, let's just say time in our world is a bit different and we haven't even noticed."
Just then, Cheese noticed something behind the nice human lady and squeaked in alarm. "Chao, chao!"
When Cream looked up to see what had her Chao so scared, she gasped as she pointed. "Look!"
Amy, Cosmo and the lady, long with other pedestrians looked, to their shock a large black cat that looked about the size of a black panther leaped out from the alley between two buildings which scared the citizens who froze in shock with screams, stumbling back. Amy's group gasped before the pink hedgehog immediately told the woman to get behind her as she summoned her Hammer and got ready to fight.
"Don't worry, I've got this!" Amy declared bravely.
But when the large cat turned to her direction, it strangely had the face of a dog with googily eyes, which made them all confused.
"It looks strange and silly." Cosmo remarked, surprised. The surprise and confusion only increased as, with a bit of the purple fog steaming out from the cat's back which caused everyone alarm, it grew out a pair of a pigeon's wings before it was lifted into the air and flew off and all over the people who could only watch in fear and dumbfoundment. This was followed by kittens that were the size of Cream, having the same mutation and let out cute meows.
Amy, Cosmo, Cream, Cheese, and the human people all sweat dropped in bewilderment at the sight before them.
"First everybody here de-aging, then a giant worm, and now this?" Amy asked, lowering her hammer as she couldn't figure out how this was happening. "What kind fog that caused all this is it? Am I dreaming?"
"This is so strange." Cream muttered worriedly, with Cheese echoing his agreement.
"I've never seen anything like this. But maybe there's more to the mysterious fog, if it has changed the appearence of animals and de-aging everyone by nine years. Whoever is responsible for this might have done something more than simply wanting to make everyone younger." Cosmo stated in concern.
"We better tell Sonic and Chris." Cream said.
"Yeah, and then keep looking for more clues on who's behind all of this and how to stop the fog from making things worse." Amy nodded in agreement as she turned to her friends, only for the ground to shake and a huge metallic noise forming. When they all looked up and into the distance, they caught sight of the Egg Reaper of the city from where they were.
People began screaming and as Amy quickly pulled out a pair of binoculars, she gasped as she caught sight of the familiar evil scientist in the cockpit of the robot.
"It's Eggman!" She cried out in anger and worry, before noticing a familiar trail of blue blur appearing out of nowhere and hitting the side of the robot which caused it to stumble.
Instantly she knew what it was.
"It's Sonic!" Cream cried out, as she faintly noticed the blue blur as well despite not having a pair of binoculars herself, as Cheese cheered in relief while Cosmo sighed in relief as well, which meant that not only was Sonic already in action, but Tails and Knuckles weren't that far behind.
"Yeah, you go, Sonic!" Amy cheered despite that she knew her boyfriend wouldn't hear her.
Sonic had things under control with Eggman. He always did.
Nearing Station Square's entrance, Eggman's Egg Reaper was getting ready to slice through the buildings with it's scythe, with the evil doctor, Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun in the Egg Mobile that was attached to it.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! That's right, people of Earth! I'm back, and I'm ready to cause just as much harm as I did the last time I was here!" Eggman laughed evilly with a big, nasty ugly grin.
"It kind of looks different from the last time we saw it." Decoe remarked.
"Yeah, and kind of damaged too. Looks like whoever did this is already one step ahead of us." Bocoe added, noticing the damaged buildings.
"Well then, I'll teach whoever has done this a lesson before we search for those documents, and this time, Sonic will not get in my way!" Eggman declared.
Unfortunately for the villains, he spoke too soon, because a blue blur suddenly zoomed in and Spin Dashed into the side of the robot, causing the Egg Reaper to stumble a bit and it's pilot and passengers to cry out in alarm while hanging on for dear life. The giant robot though managed to regain it's balance and as the evil doctor looked down to see, Sonic materialized half way in front of the entrance of the city that separated it from the desert.
"Nice way to say good morning, Eggman." Sonic greeted sarcastically.
"Sonic! You irritating hedgehog! How did you know I was here?" The evil doctor demanded.
"I didn't. But I was looking for you, so that I can kick your butt outta here and stop you from hurting these people. They already had a bad night as it is, with a giant robot-worm appearing out of nowhere." The blue hedgehog said, glaring hard. "Was that your doing? If so, then since when did you decide to mutate and roboticize animals?"
Eggman was about to respond that he didn't, when Decoe and Bocoe both had an idea and the former robot whispered to him. "Maybe this will distract Sonic into having more things to worry about, Doctor."
"Yes, you did want to collect the samples of the purple fog. Why not make it as though it was your doing?" Bocoe suggested.
Realizing that it may be somewhat easier to get the documents, the evil doctor grinned and turned back to Sonic, saying. "So what if it was? You know that I never run out of brilliant ideas to conquer the worlds. Giving these people a little fear while I take over your world is a small price to pay."
"You think I'm gonna let that slide?" Sonic asked angrily, standing in battle stance. "What kind of idiot do you think I am? You know what happens as long as we stay here! Time's gonna be destroyed if we don't get back home, and I won't let you hurt these people or their world, and I'm not gonna let you make that stupid army!"
"You won't be living for long to see your home once I'm through with you. My Egg Reaper will be the end of your little heroic life!" Eggman declared, as the aforementioned robot raised it's scythe before thrusting it downward towards Sonic who glared back and easily dodged it so fast that one wouldn't have time to blink. The weapon in the meantime hit the ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust which covered the area and both Sonic and his enemy had trouble seeing each other.
"*Grr*! Where is he?" Sonic grunted, coughing up dust. He yelped as the giant weapon swung aimlessly towards him sideways, forcing the blue hedgehog to duck and jump back with back flips and somersaults, each time the weapon smashing the ground and creating thicker dust clouds which was making things harder and he didn't want to risk in getting any in his eyes or else he wouldn't be able to see at all and then he'd be a sliced up hedgehog.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! Not only my Egg Reaper thrusts like a Grim Reaper, it also has scanners to see through the dust cloud, so no matter how many times it blocks the sunlight, you are on the losing side, little hedgehog!" Eggman grinned evilly, having already closed up the hatch so that he and his robot minions wouldn't end up getting covered in dust themselves.
"In your dreams, Egghead!" The blue hedgehog retorted before his eyes widened as the giant syche came straight at him from the dust once more, forcing Sonic to jump back, yelping as the very sharp blade was frightfully a couple inches from touching his chest, leaning back even further and ended up falling onto his back.
Sonic sweat dropped nervously but masked the expression with a glare. "Man, this over-sized kitchen knife almost sliced me like a tomato!"
Just as the dust began to clear which gave Sonic a chance to run quickly, the Egg Reaper attempted to thrust at him again by having it's weapon have another blade from the bottom of the scythe come out, along with over separate knives from along the metal stick. The giant robot, under Eggman's command as he fiddled with the controls, then spun it around and charged, forcing the young hero to change course while making sure it was well away from the city.
'I've gotta find a way to distract this thing, but what? I can't attack it without it causing another dust cloud.' Sonic thought to himself as he found himself thankfully outside of the dust, but found it difficult to still see the giant robot which could easily spot him.
He then attempted to run around and around the cloud of dust using his speed which effectively created a dusty tornado that made the Egg Reaper get caught and spin along with Eggman and his minions who all screamed while getting dizzy.
"That infuriating blue pest!" Eggman grunted while holding on for dear life.
"I'm getting really dizzy!" Decoe wailed.
"I think I'm gonna lose my bolts!" Bocoe cried out.
"Stop the ride! I wanna get off!" Bokkun screamed, feeling sick in his mechanical stomach.
Half way across the battle was the X Tornado as Tails and Knuckles attempted to join in, but were forced to stop and hover when they saw what was going on and had trouble finding a way to get inside without accidentally hitting Sonic. When they saw their friend make a, well, tornado, it only made things worse.
"That robot must have a scanner that can see through the dust whenever it uses it's syche to hit the ground while trying to hit Sonic." Tails analyzed worriedly, concerned about his older brother.
"At that rate this is going, he's only going to make things worse!" Knuckles grunted, mentally questioning Sonic's mentality.
"Well, maybe while it's spinning, it might make it harder for Eggman. We've gotta get to Sonic." The young fox thought, already piloting his plane to try and get closer without getting caught into the tornado the blue hedgehog was creating.
"If that's how you want to play, Sonic, then have some of this!" The evil doctor hissed dangerously, and despite feeling like he was going to be sick, he held on tightly while pushing a red button which had side cannons on the Egg Reaper's body open up.
When Sonic stopped running around, his eyes narrowed only to gasp in shock when hundreds of arrow-balls shooting out of the tornado and all over the place. Forced to run out of the way, he gulped nervously as when they hit the ground, they exploded like bombs, though they didn't seem to be effective against rocks, so the blue hedgehog quickly hidden himself behind a large one while he noticed the X Tornado coming into few, and Tails attempting to fire the missiles at the giant robot, but only managed to make the aimed arrow-balls explode in mid-air. The young fox and Knuckles cried out in alarm and were forced to fly up higher.
The Egg Reaper in the meantime stopped spinning and shooting even though it, and Eggman, Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun were all dazed with groans.
"I hate merry-go-rounds." Eggman complained.
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Decoe moaned.
"Don't you mean break down?" Bocoe groaned.
"Hey, what happened to Sonic?" Bokkun asked, puzzled.
That caught the trio's attention as, while recovering and checking the scanner, Eggman soon realized a set back in creating the Egg Reaper. It scanned through the thick dust which was clearing, but unfortunately, it couldn't see through behind rocks or underground.
"Oh no!" Eggman screamed in dismay, his hands on top of his head. "The Egg Reaper can see through dust, but not underground or rock!"
Deciding another risky factor, he declared. "I'll smash every rock and ground that hedgehog is hiding to find him!"
"That's a bad idea, doctor!" Decoe and Bocoe both yelped in fear.
Up in the air, Tails and Knuckles saw the dust beginning to clear and that the Egg Reaper was about to fire and smash through everything again, it's back turned to them while Sonic kept himself hidden behind the rock while trying to come up with a new strategy. When the blue hedgehog peered around the rock, he saw that it was looking around wildly, making him realize something.
"Looks like it can't see through rock or the ground. But I bet it's gonna rapid fire soon." Sonic muttered to himself, quickly hiding behind the rock again.
"This could be a chance to distract it while I look for Sonic." Tails informed.
"Leave it to me!" Knuckles declared, as his younger friend opened up the hatch which allowed the red echidna to leap out and as he jumped, he let out a battle cry before rapid-punching it on the back, causing some decent damage on the thing and forcing the giant robot to stumble forward, while Eggman and the other three robots screamed in alarm.
"What!?" Eggman looked over his shoulder, only to lean forward forcefully and hit a button which caused the robot to let go of the giant syche.
While Knuckles was punching the Egg Reaper like there's no tomorrow, Sonic peered around the rock again and smirked, seeing his chance to finally fight it as well. The blue hedgehog ran around from the rock and sped up towards it before going into a Homing Attack several times, bashing it's arms off and hitting it on the sides and front, leaving the robot no chance to attack against the two teenagers.
"You brats! Just because you can hit the Egg Reaper all you want, it will take a combination of flight and attacks to fully disable it!" Eggman warned, pushing another button which had the Egg Reaper thrust Sonic and Knuckles back as they both cried out in alarm.
But what they and even Tails who fired more missiles at the robot without hurting his friends heard gave them each an idea. Knuckles, being known to glide a little, flipped and steadied himself while Sonic smirked and whistled out with his fingers and mouth.
"Got it, Sonic!" Tails called out, thankfully having installed the capsle into the X Tornado, pushed a button which opened up the hatch underneath the plane and shot out a light beam which hit the blue hedgehog's shoes, transforming them into his hover shoes and allowed Sonic to copy the Guardian's movement, floating in the air.
"Yeah, now we're talkin'!" Sonic chuckled, pleased as he actually missed Chris' invention.
"I'm coming too, guys!" Tails exclaimed, placing the X Tornado on auto-pilot before opening the hatch once more and leaped out himself, spinning his twin-tails to float next to his friends who stared at him in shock, muttering his name. "It's gonna take team work, right? This time, I'm not missing out!"
While concerned for his brother's safety as he was known for being a pilot, Sonic did admit that Tails was a good fighter, and he hasn't seen him fight since the time of the Emerl situation. He smirked with a nod.
"Alrighty, then let's mosey!" Sonic declared.
The trio formed in line and flew/glided down towards the Egg Reaper who turned around and Eggman's group saw, to their horror, what was about to happen. Sonic went into a Spin Attack, while Tails went for an Axe-Kick, and Knuckles went for a Knuckle-Punch, all three friends yelling out battle-cries. Knuckles punched and disabled one part of the robot which fell off, Tails kicked the other side which met the same fate, and Sonic smashed and hit the head which forcefully unattached the Egg Mobile away, before he kicked it off so hard that Eggman, Decoe, Bocoe and Bokkun went flying high into the air out of control and screamed. The four of them vanished like a speck twinkling.
"Sonic, here's a ring!" Tails called out as he and the others hovered back, tossing the golden ring towards his older brother who caught it.
"Thanks, Tails!" Sonic replied, catching it and held it tightly, feeling it's energy flow into his body in a bright glow, before he went into a final Spin Attack, smashing and hitting the Egg Reaper which was now left helpless and with a final spin attack, he smashed straight through it's torso and out while the giant robot exploded into rubble almost instantly.
Sonic landed safely on the ground as his shoes returned to normal, while Tails and Knuckles joined him, before the blue hedgehog cheered. "Yeah! Team work success!"
"We did it!" Tails cheered happily, sharing a high-five with Sonic and even Knuckles who smirked.
"Saved the day again." Knuckles chuckled.
"Thanks to you, guys. Thanks for the save." Sonic chuckled back, shrugging with a wink. Tails chuckled while rubbing the back of his head, while the red echidna just waved it off proudly.
"Still, Eggman's another huge problem. Could he have been behind the giant worm attack last night?" Tails muttered after a moment of silence.
Sonic fell silent for a second, before gazing at the sky. "He said that he'd never run of ideas to rule the worlds, but I have a feeling that he was tried to lie to me."
"How come?" Knuckles asked.
"Because he came here last night like we did, and Chris said that the weird fog happened an hour before we got here. There's no way Eggman could've pulled that off." Sonic replied, before narrowing his eyes in concern. "But if he finds samples to it, it's gonna be even more dangerous."
His friends fell silent to that as they looked up at the sky, realizing that Sonic was right. They may have won the battle today, but if Eggman finds a way to harness the fog for his future plans, or perhaps even use it to fuel the Shadow Androids...
Then things are going to get more dangerous, just as Sonic predicted.
Sonic then smirked and quickly reassured confidently. "But hey, we'll stop him every step forward!" He winked at his best friends with a thumbs up, to which despite they were still concerned, they knew that he was right.
Sonic chuckled before turning back to the sky once more as the midday sun shone over the continents of both Earth and their home world. The newest adventure was just the beginning.
A/N: Not the best chapter, but I'll do my best with the future ones and hopefully we'll see Team Rose, Team Chaotix and Team Dark into action of their own. It seems the Mutagen has effected more than just de-aging humanity. Will Sonic and his friends solve the mysteries?
Find out next time! See you later!