Sonic X: Back To Earth.
Author's note: Well, before we begin, I have some bad news, because it's been confirmed in the latest global licensing magazine that 2022 will have "new games, movie, tv series, mobile, partnership and more", but no new games coming out for this year and the 30th Anniversary is mainly about merchandise.
I knew it would happen, but I was one of those people who held onto the false tiny hope that I was wrong. It's the case of the 25th Anniversary all over again. Sorry everyone, the new Card game is the closest we're gonna get. This was just announced just the other day. Anyway, to try and lift everybody's spirits, here's a new chapter!
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 13: Start Monkey Around!
During the first day of the Mutagen Crisis...
The city was in a huge crisis. Not only did Kai's mutagen go out of control and spread across the planet, it also effected and a large ape at the Station Square's Zoo banged onto the bars of it's cage so wildly that in the midst of the crisis, it broke free with a loud roar. The ape, all dark brown in fur colour, jumped out of it's pen and pounded it's fists to which it then stomped and ran away, climbing up from bar to bar and over the Zoo's walls before it ran off through the streets.
Anyone who would've noticed the gorilla's escape were all too busy with what was going on with the planet, which this would spell more trouble in the near future.
Present day...
"Well, what do you have to say for yourself...Agent Topaz?" Tower questioned.
Topaz, who had admittedly known this would happen to her the moment she released Chris Thorndyke with the risk of seeking help from Danny and Francies, just sat there in her cell after being found out and made the mistake of making that corner and thus being the main suspect for the de-aged boy's escape, especially when her fellow officers found no evidence of an attack on her vehicle or damage to where the prisoner managed to escape, which led to her arrest and job dismissal.
"What do you want me to say, sir?" The imprisoned woman questioned back, admittedly terrified of her superior's current condition, but she had to give Chris and his friends time to learn of the truth in order to clear his name and give Sonic a chance to fix things up before it would get worse.
"I shall ask the questions, you treacherous soldier! You answer them, or else you will be sentenced with the most severe and brutual punishment!" The commander barked furiously, making Topaz jump a little, but she kept her stance up as she was traned to do.
"If you want me to be honest, commander, the fog's mysterious substance is making you lose your mind!" Topaz blurted out, and while she did regret it a little, she needed to make it clear. "Instead of questioning Chris Thorndyke of what he knew about the fog, you simply just arrested him believing he is the cause of all of this where there's no evidence of his involvement!"
"Not yet, but we will find evidence. It would have been faster for him to admit it if you hadn't let him go! Why did you do it?"
"Because he's innocent!"
"He is the traitor to all of mankind!" Tower shouted, leaning dangerously closer to the cell, his eyes blaring in not their unnatural multi colour was born with, but the purple and red aura that made Topaz's own blue eyes widen in shock and fear, as well as an eerie aura surrounding the man's body which was very unusual. "Did you forget he shut down the porthole nine years ago in order to prevent Sonic the Hedgehog from leaving Earth at first before the hero vanished? Now because of him, Dr. Kai Narasu and Dr. Eggman, both worlds will lose time forever, merge together, and we must live with it, and they must be punished for their betrayal against humanity!"
"Sonic is out there attempting to solve the problem, though! We should give him a chance! And...even if we don't know where Dr. Kai Narasu is, wouldn't he be the true suspect? We should be going after him, not the Thorndykes!" Topaz pointed out.
The commander hissed. "It's too late for that hedgehog to fix this up. He is too dangerous to roam free. Sonic is a warrior and warriors should not be wasting time for freedom, because there is no such thing as that! He is to be captured and served as my new super soldier where he will be under my command, all of his friends and the Thorndykes and those loyal to them, especially you, will be either under arrest for life imprisonment or sentenced to death. Same with the President, because he has been arrested for his lack of support and poor leadership. Once all of this is sorted out and Christopher Thorndyke's partnership with Narasu is exposed and both and Dr. Eggman are captured and destroyed, we will hold an emergency election for a new president."
The young woman's eyes widened in horror as the older man before her spoke of this, as though he had not been speaking his mind, but rather being completely possessed by something of great evil, making him this way.
"You can't do that! Sonic is our only hope and you can't just kill everyone, even the President!" Topaz screamed, standing up quickly, only for Tower to lean back and snap his fingers, with one of the corrupted soldiers held out a rifle and shot fired a tranquilizer, hitting her in the leg where she winced and then quickly began to feel the effects of the dart, losing her balance and collapsing onto the bed of her cell.
"I am in charge of the world now, Topaz." Tower declared coldly, speaking to her before she would end up fully unconscious. "This is the new permanent era where all life must face the fact that time is destroyed, and we can only work on survival as much as possible. All traitors will be sentenced to death. All of the animals will obey my rule as will the rest of humanity. The new world is mine. Sonic is mine."
Topaz only managed to hear the last part of her corrupted commander's words before she lost consciousness and slumped in her bed. With that done, Tower turned to the soldiers and commanded, "Take this traitor to the new forests that has been recently appeared, and leave her there to be devoured by the mutant creatures. Then continue your search for the traitors, kill Shadow, and bring me Sonic and the Chaos Emeralds."
"Yes, sir!" The corrupted soldiers saluted.
While Tower felt a twinge of horror and guilt, beginning to question what he was thinking, the real part of him was becoming more and more buried within his body, trapped within the abyss, and the new, more evil side, the anger that he kept mostly in check, beginning to form a brand new dark soul which is already taking over his body. And this was spread across the merging planet by those who all had dark desires and lacked the lessons learned like Chris and his friends had done.
'You may have escaped me this time, hedgehog. But mark my words, you will be within my grasp soon enough, and all of your friends will not get in the way. As for you, Shadow...your life will be mine.' Tower hissed in his mind.
By the time Team Sonic and Team Rose got back to shore and shared their goodbyes to the two giant gentle sea monsters who sank back into the ocean along with the Ocean Palace which would never rise up again for another thousands of years, it was already dusk, creeping into night. So the seven heroes knew they had to keep going and decided to stick together and only split up when necessary. Along the way, the two groups shared stories on what happened, including how Sonic saw another dream of the mysterious hedgehog, how they discovered their world and Earth's history and such.
"So you guys were in the temple the whole time?" Sonic asked, shocked that his self-proclaimed girlfriend and her team had been in there as well.
"Yeah, but we didn't see any paintings that told us of the ancient past." Amy replied, still in shock herself to hear about.
"I can't believe you guys were in there the whole time!" Tails exclaimed, now feeling guilty for not having checked the ruins better, and that GUN had put everyone in danger.
"We're sorry, girls." The blue hedgehog sighed apologetically, scratching the top of his head.
"I knew the welcome back mat wouldn't last long." Knuckles grunted.
"I wonder why everybody's after us?" Cream asked worriedly.
"Might be because of me. I should've stopped Eggman's robot, but it was firing like crazy. I should've stopped him when we had the chance." The teenage hero lowered his gaze as they slowed to a semi-stop just halfway past Station Square from outside and towards the desert and canyon, wishing that they had the X Tornado or the Blue Typhoon. But then from what Amy, Cosmo and Cream have said, the military would shoot them down.
"But Sonic, if it didn't happen, I don't think anybody on Earth would be safe from the purple fog, even with all of the scary monsters." The little rabbit girl pointed out.
"Cream's right, Sonic. Whoever's made the purple substance clearly was just as evil as Dr. Eggman. We just have to figure out who after we've handled Eggman." Tails agreed.
"Still...It pretty much ruined everybody's lives here, and I made it even worse. Not just for the humans and animals on this planet, but also everybody in our world too, and if I don't do something to fix all of this mess up, the world's are gonna merge and time's gonna stop, just like that hedgehog guy predicted." Sonic said with a single-shoulder shrug
"And you say this hedgehog called Rusca is who you have been seeing, Sonic?" Cosmo asked, concerned.
"Yep, except I'm not sure what to make of this now." Sonic folded his arms in concern, remembering the painting in the Ocean Palace. "From what me, Tails and Knuckles can understand, there was a hedgehog that looks like Shadow in the painting, and he was fighting this giant hedgehog monster, and, I think like the both of us, he could transform into a super form, like Super Rusca or something. Or maybe...Raging Rusca."
"You've just come up with that one, didn't you?" The red echidna deadpanned at the blue hedgehog's choosing of powerful Chaos Emerald forms.
"I still don't trust that guy, Knuckles. For all we know, there's something we're missing and I don't wanna end up being tricked by him." Sonic responded, feeling more than a little uncomfortable. He then softly gasped and remembered something, then turned to Cosmo and asked. "Hey, that reminds me. Cosmo, before you came back, you told me that I can still save time and the two worlds, right? I've gotta ask; what did you mean by everything's gonna change forever?"
"Do you remember what I told you before everything was getting worse?" Cosmo began, and at first the group didn't know what they were talking, about, before Sonic blinked.
"That's right...You mentioned something about an elder who told you about a dark future in a prophecy." The blue hedgehog realized, recalling back to what she said., nodding. "What was the prophecy anyway?"
"I was told that the prophecy that had two futures; one to which if you hadn't gone to stop Dr. Eggman from using the porthole despite what that robot you mentioned had gone, he would have caused a catastrophic event that would have had time collapse in an instant, that a 'man's mutating creation' would have caused humanity to die almost instantly, and everyone in your world would have ceased to exist." The young seedrian explained, causing six of her friends to gasp in horror.
"What!?" Sonic exclaimed, his heart stopping a second or two.
"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed, covering her mouth in horror, and both Cream and Cheese looked scared.
"That's horrible!" Tails cried out, shuddering as he hugged himself. "Worse part is, I can see it happening."
"That scheming...! He almost destroyed us all!" Knuckles growled in fury, disgusted over what Eggman's actions would have done.
"But, even though I had the Chaos Emeralds, that stupid robot that wanted to get rid of Eggman made things more complicated, and not giving me a chance to use them." Sonic groaned, facepalming himself. "Instead of fixing things up instantly, Omega and I just delayed what's gonna happen!"
"That is not all." Cosmo spoke up. "In the other prophecy, even if the merge would be delayed and time would still move, the portals between worlds would also cause time to go backwards by years to match that of the world where the 'chosen one' has created for all evolved animals to live peacefully eons ago, the one who has defeated the monster created by negativity of anger and hate that was within the one who used false Emeralds and was taken over by those feelings completely, creating an evil being who sought destruction. But the chosen one who has destroyed the monster had be left behind because he had to sacrifice himself to split the worlds, knowing that only a true chosen one who would share their powers with their closest allies would be able to survive and restore everything, but via a difficult choice. At least, that's what I was told."
While the others looked uncomfortable with this prophecy, Sonic's eyes widened in pure horror, an unsettling memory of what happened to him back when he fought against Black Narcissus, how that cruel Metarex hurt Chris and Cosmo to force him to become consumed by his own anger, destroying the robots to use an experiment to make the blue hedgehog become a high soldier of evil and destroy the universe, how Eggman of all people talked him out of it, and that the evil scientist had been disgusted with the Metarex's handling in taking hostages, to which brought Sonic out of his anger and restored him to normal, and the fake Emeralds were destroyed.
"If that's true...then I almost made history repeat itself." Sonic shuddered, hugging himself as he felt cold and horrible, much to his friends' concern. "The Metarex almost created a new monster through me, not realizing what happened before. They would've created a monster through me using the fake Chaos Emeralds. I never want to go through turning all dark ever again. That was a real nightmare."
"But the fake Emeralds are gone, Sonic, and you returned to normal." The two-tailed fox quickly reassured.
"He's right. You need to calm down. You just need to keep on ignoring Rusca's words and focus on what's really at stake." Knuckles added, carefully rubbing his friend's/rival's back.
"It's gonna be okay, Sonic. We're here." Amy said softly, taking hold of her 'boyfriend's' hand. "You don't have to face this alone. Okay?"
"Please don't worry, Sonic. We still love you." Cream softly added.
"Chao." Cheese cooed.
"I'm sorry for scaring you, Sonic. I didn't mean to." Cosmo apologized, feeling guilty for having scared her friend.
Sonic sighed, realizing that his friends were right and nodded. "Right. Thanks, guys. At least it didn't come true...again."
"Even so, it's also said that should anyone attempt to try and use their own blood to get revenge on their own people, the portals, their own mutating creation and negative energy from the Chaos Emeralds would effect the creator, and bring out the dark anger they continued to live with for years and not being able to move on, or having desires that were never meant to be and not accepting the reality of not getting what they want and twist them into their own desires until those feelings are absorbed and transform that person into a monster and only the positive feelings of the true chosen one and their friends would stop them." Cosmo added, worriedly.
The group gasped in shock, as Tails realized. "And since everything's all lined up, it could be that those who are effected with the fog might be..."
"A mixture of that, the Chaos Emeralds, and both Chris' and Eggman's portholes. Maybe Tower had a grudge against Shadow for years for whatever reason and that's why he's after me." Sonic continued in realization.
"If we don't do something and find the Chaos Emeralds, all of those could effect the guy who caused all of this and turn him into a monster!" Amy exclaimed in horror.
"Not if I can help it!" Sonic declared, narrowing his eyes with determination. "First, we've gotta stop Eggman and find the Chaos Emeralds, and then find the creep who started all of this and framed Chris!"
"I thought Vector, Espio and Charmy were handling the figuring out who framed Chris part." Knuckles stated.
"I know, but they might not be able to. I trust them, but they have their own problems." The blue hedgehog reminded, then remembered. "Especially with Vector. Sure hope he's okay, but I think we should get moving. All seven of us."
Even though they had no idea how to accomplish all of this, they knew that he was right. So they all nodded and muttered their agreements.
"All right! Our next stop is back to the desert and the canyons!" Sonic declared, pointing at the direction where he remembered was another route to where the desert was, which he realized was where they first fought Eggman since coming back to Earth.
But when he then noticed strangely familiar buildings that seemed to make Station Square uncomfortably bigger, the blue hedgehog dashed off for a quick look, with Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese trying to catch up to their de facto leader as quickly as they could despite that none of them had the supersonic speed, the group leading the Seaside Hill Zone mixed with the Emerald Coast and Station Square behind. The teenage hero in the meantime quickly made it past the human city and instead of running up a rock the viewed the wasteland like he had expected and been to just yesterday, he ran up the side of an awfully too familiar building and stood on the roof of it.
The blue hedgehog gasped in shock, disbelief and dread as the city lights of this place made him realize so many things. He knew this place. He's been here before. Back in his world when he had his earlier adventures back before he ever heard of Earth, let alone travel and ended up trapped here accidentally. This place...it was like a giant casino with giant pinball tables and slot machines in odd places and even a bingo highway in the further distance.
"No way!" Sonic exclaimed, his emerald green eyes wide in disbelief. By the time his friends arrived, the only one who didn't recognize the new city was Cosmo, but she was none the less shocked to see that the desert she briefly saw when she first came here simply gone.
A moment of stunned and horrified silence followed.
"...Or at least to where the desert and canyons used to be." Sonic corrected himself almost in shocked blankness.
"I can't believe it! It's-It's-It's Casino Park and Bingo Highway!" Tails exclaimed, his sapphire blue eyes almost as white as two plates.
"When did those cities get here!?" Amy exclaimed.
"It must be the merge is happening faster than we thought." Knuckles grunted, clutching his fists. "The places in our world are already replacing those that are near the human places. I was in that desert just the other day!"
"If those cities really are from your world, then the merging is happening a lot more quickly!" Cosmo exclaimed worriedly, clasping her hands together in fear.
"At this rate, Time's going to halt and the timelines will collapse! If nothing else, it could take the exact same time as Eggman's ultimate latest plan!" Tails exclaimed in horrified realization.
Sonic narrowed his eyes, sweating nervously and in panic that he attempted to hold down. His best friend/little brother was right. If they didn't get moving now, then both worlds would be merged and the timelines were as good as gone.
"Then let's juice, quickly!" The blue hedgehog declared, having an idea and instructed his friends. "Ames, you take Cosmo, Cream and Cheese and search for the Chaos Emeralds if they're around here and meet us at the end of Bingo Highway. Tails, Knuckles, you're with me! We've gotta find Eggman and fast! Everyone, watch out for mutant monsters, Eggman robots and especially GUN!"
Just as his friends nodded in agreement despite the concern that something would go wrong, Cheese suddenly noticed something in the distance and chirped in alarm, causing Cream and soon everybody else to look. To their horror as the blue hedgehog let out a shocked and alarmed gasp, was a GUN helicopter flying in the distance not far from where they were.
"It's the military!" Cream exclaimed.
"How did they find us so quickly?" Cosmo asked, worriedly.
"I guess they're everywhere if they're that desperate." Amy muttered, now more annoyed before turning to Sonic's team and said with worry. "Please be careful, Sonic."
"Same to you girls, Amy." Sonic nodded back with a thumbs up.
After both teams wished each other to be careful, the pink hedgehog gestured her team. "C'mon!"
"Yeah!" Cream and Cosmo chorused before they and the Chao followed their leader into Casino Park to renew their search for the rest of the Chaos Emeralds.
"Go!" Sonic declared to Tails and Knuckles who shouted 'Right!' and the three boys leaped down on their own path to find Eggman, splitting off from Team Rose and hoping to get away before the helicopter in the sky wouldn't spot them.
Unaware that not only the pilots didn't see them, but the helicopter was actually already stolen by another team; Team Dark who were looking for a place to land in where the desert should have been, but as Shadow was flying his, Rouge and Omega's 'burrowed' ride over Station Square and purposely turned off the radio contact, the trio found what the other two teams have noticed and needless to say that even the black hedgehog was shocked by the sudden appearance of two new cities.
"Where did those buildings come from?" Shadow asked, his eyes wide in shock. While he saw glimpses of the desert a few times when he awoke months/years ago, he was certain that he hadn't been imagining it.
"Those are Casino Park and Bingo Highway! Two of the richest cities back where I come from. They weren't here the last time I was on Earth." Rouge exclaimed, which pretty much confirmed the Ultimate Lifeform's suspicions.
"The merge between your planet and this one is accelerating. I believe that the porthole created by that overweight individual was incorrectly linked to that of another at some point or the apocylpse of the two worlds is coming." Omega deduced, then turned into the direction of the two cities. "Dr. Eggman detected in the western side of Casino Park and Bingo Highway, along with detection of other individuals."
The robot then scanned the city and with it's sensors zooming in, he caught sight of a blue, yellow and red blur racing across the city's streets at one side, then detected Amy's group in another, and in two other separate parts of the newly arrived town's entrance, three young de-aged humans and a crocodile, a chameleon and a bee also arriving.
"Analysis complete: four other teams detected-Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles Prower, otherwise known as Tails, and Knuckles the Echidna, in the western side; Amy Rose, Cream the Rabbit and Cheese the Chao, along with an alien girl I cannot comprehend, on the left side; north side, Christopher Thorndyke, de-aged from twenty-one to twelve years old, along with two other de-aged humans; the Chaotix, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy the Bee, South side." Omega announced.
While both Rouge and Shadow(who had known that Sonic was around) were shocked to her Sonic's team split up into four teams and were also searching the cities, what their robot companion had said about the alien girl he couldn't scan shocked them both. There was only one who they knew of, one that that bat thief knew had stolen Tails' heart which had been broken the moment the young Seedrian sacrificed herself, one that Shadow intended on killing when he discovered that she was uninterationally a spy for the Metarex but Sonic prevented him from doing so. How could that be, though?
"Cosmo?" Rouge asked in disbelief, thinking that she heard wrong.
"So the young girl who was the unwilling spy of the Metarex is still alive." Shadow muttered, narrowing his eyes in suspicion before turning to the albino bat. "Rouge, do you know anything of her survival?"
To his surprise, she shook her head. "Nope. I was pretty certain that no one would ever see her again. Unless that flower of Tails' had something to do with Cosmo coming back to life or something."
"Flower?"
"From the seed that Sonic found not long after you pushed him to safety, back when you used Chaos Control to stop that explosion. From what I've heard, he gave it to that kid who planted it and for the last three months it grew into one of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen. I saw it back in the workshop before the three of us and Knuckles went to infiltrate Eggman's base." She explained.
"Could it have been a sign of her resurrection?" The black hedgehog questioned.
"How should I know? I hardly ever knew that girl, besides the fact that she's innocent enough, and poor Tails had been heartbroken for quite sometime." Rouge shrugged, before wondering aloud. "Wonder if he knows that she's back?"
"She's with that Amy girl and the little rabbit and Chao. Perhaps they do know." Shadow commented, narrowing his eyes even further. "The real question is, what are Sonic and all of his friends doing?"
"Logical answer! They are searching for Dr. Eggman! My Sensors also detected that Amy Rose also holds a Chaos Emerald, and another is somewhere within the cities!" Omega declared, just as the green Emerald in Shadow's quills began to glow, alerting all three of them while the black hedgehog and the white bat were shocked once more to hear what the robot also said.
"Hmm...Interesting." Shadow murmured, before smirking. "Well then, I suppose we should search this city as well, as the Chaos Emeralds are Eggman's top priority. One or two could lead us to the doctor himself."
"You can count on me to lead you. I know Casino Park and Bingo Highway like the back of my jeweled hand." Rouge stated with a sly smile of her own and a wink.
"A formative plan indeed. But we must make haste." Omega for once agreed and informed.
"Let's go." The black hedgehog declared, steering the chopper to make a landing somewhere close by without crashing into anything.
"Huh!?" Chris, Francies and Danny all exclaimed in shock the moment they found themselves in what was supposed to be the entrance to the wasteland, but instead was the entrance of another city they didn't recognize.
"Where'd did the desert go?" Danny asked, bewildered.
"I don't remember this being here!" Francies cried out.
"This must be fron Sonic's world too." Chris realized, his eyes widening. "The merge is happening faster and faster! Parts of our world are being replaced and merging with other towns and maybe even locations!"
"Does that mean time is slowing down?" The de-aged girl asked, worriedly.
"Well, it's 6:PM now, and the clock's still moving normally. Not sure how much time we have left before the merge is completed." Danny checked his watch.
"We'd better get moving. I have a bad feeling Eggman's going to make things more complicated." The other de-aged boy stated, taking the lead.
"Chris, we're going to get ourselves lost here!" Francies pointed out, making Chris stop and realize that she was right.
He turned around and placed a hand behind his head sheepishly. "Then I guess we'd better ask somebody for another map and directions."
That only made his two companions sigh, Francies shrugging while Danny facepalmed himself, to which Chris sweat dropped nervously and in embarrassment. This was going to be a long night.
When the Chaotix left the area to find the next clue in solving the case which they now knew was Dr. Kai Narasu, neither one expected to see Casino Park and Bingo Highway to unexpectedly replace the desert and canyon that now used to connect to Station Square.
"Well...didn't see this coming." Charmy muttered almost dryly.
"When did this town get here!?" Vector exclaimed, bewildered with a sweat drop. "Last time we were was five months ago!"
"Just as I feared. The merging between both worlds is getting faster by the hour, minute or even second." Espio muttered grimly, his tone dark. "If it was indeed Dr. Kai Narasu, he sabotaged Chris's porthole for his own twisted and now evil purposes. That, combined with Dr. Eggman's as well as the Chaos Emeralds, it's accelerating dangerously too quick."
"What was that guy's crazy plan? Make people get older but ended up getting younger?" The young bee shrugged cluelessly.
Vector was about to deny that claim, but then he had a thought about it and rubbed his chin. "You know what? That's not out of the possibility. Considering how Chris, his family and the rest of humanity de-aged, it might be part of his plan, besides in mutating all the animals around here."
"Either way, finding Narasu is our only option, apart from locating Dr. Eggman and stop them both." The purple Chameleon reminded, just as the walkie-talkie buzzed to life once more.
"Your next mission: Dr. Narasu or Eggman are located somewhere within that city that has appeared all of the sudden. It would seem that the merging between the two worlds is accelerating far more quickly than anticipated." The client spoke, which had the trio gaze at the communicator in shock. "And on that note, the former has a powerful device implanted in his body that controls the giant mutant animals, so watch out and be careful. Find the doctors and take them out!"
"Wait a minute!" The green crocodile shouted, snatching the communicator from Espio's hand. "That Narasu guy is the one behind the giant worm and bugs in the first place!? How'd he implant a remote in his body!?"
"That's left to debate. I'm counting on you." The mystery caller responded, before hanging up and leaving the three detectives with even more questions than answers.
"What's he talking about?" Charmy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmmm...Perhaps-"
"The only way to find out is to find Narasu and ask him some serious questions!" Vector cut Espio off, now more determined to get to the bottom of this.
"But how?" The young bee shrugged.
"With persuasion. Lot's and lots of persuasion." The detective leader smirked, taking the lead once more. "Come on, Espio and Charmy! We've got two crazy mad scientists to find!"
"Wait up, Vector!" Charmy quickly flew to catch up to his boss, while Espio remained behind for a little longer, now becoming even more concerned and putting more pieces of the mental puzzle together in his mind.
'If what the cilent says is true, then the mutagen has tiny micro chips...or perhaps Charmy for once is right and Narasu was also infected by the fog, and he has full control over it. Then...Vector...I have to warn him!' The detective ninja thought gravely to himself, before quickly hurrying to catch up to his co-workers and friends, knowing that time was running out. Both for the two worlds and time...and for Vector.
Meanwhile, the gorilla that escaped from the zoo had been wandering for days until it found itself within the new streets of Casino Park and Bingo Highway, causing heaps of trouble by smashing through things and even stealing pieces of fruit to eat before exploring it's new surroundings even more, hooting away and pounding it's chest. It then jumped and swung from pole to pole like monkey bars, scaring the residents that were also brought from Sonic's world, wondering what was going on and unaware that they too had been transported to Earth.
"What's with that guy?" A Mobian Goat exclaimed, not realizing that the gorilla was an Earth one, thus couldn't speak the same language as everyone in Sonic's world or humans.
"It's like he's gone all wild!" Said a bewildered Mobian Ostrich, his eyes wide.
Little did everyone know, Narasu was on top of a roof of another building and he was observing the situation with his sensor-eye, just as his pet fly Fulgar returned and buzzed, having recorded what it saw. He pulled out his mini-computer and scanned the footage.
"Hmm...So the merging is accelerating to the highest level. That means that rodent's world is once again merging with Earth, this time it will take a matter of the next 72 to 48 hours." The mutated scientist thought to himself, before grinning. "Well, if that's the case, then while it is sad that Time will have to be destroyed, as long as I can't age anymore, everything will be mine for the rest of the eternity which will never end! Bwahahahaha!"
But as Kai looked towards the city's streets, he instantly stopped when his eye caught sight of a blue, yellow and red blur zooming past the buildings. His original eye widening in shock, he used his other eye to zoom in and found, to his dismay, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles racing through looking for something, or someone, while taking out rouge mutant monsters and even robots that began roaming the streets.
"GAAAAH! It's that hedgehog and his friends!" Narasu screamed, panicking as he placed his hands onto his head. "If they find me and figure out the truth too soon, I'm done for! I've got to do something to distract them!"
Looking from side to side for a way out of this, the twisted scientist then detected something and looked down once more, not only he caught sight of, to his dismay, more of Sonic's people including Team Rose who were looking around for another Chaos Emerald, but also, to his shock across the city, Team Dark which made him worried, the Chaotix(which he couldn't believe that Vector was still there and not giant himself) and Team Chris("What!? That brat has escaped!?" He exclaimed in horror), and not too far from where they were, the escaped gorilla who, as far as he saw, had the chemicals of his Mutagen within it's body, meaning that it could transform into his latest mutated creation. Grinning wickedly, an idea formed in his mind.
"Well, let's see how long you, your friends and that Thorndyke brat can manage this, you blue rodent?" The mutated scientist chuckled, holding out his hand to where he saw the ape and a laser beam shot out straight towards the poor unsuspecting animal. "If people who are fans of King Kong would like to see him for real, they're in for a treat."
His work done after the beam was shot, Narasu gestured Fulgar to fly away before he hurried over on the other side of the building, and then went through his own transformation to begin the next part of his plan.
Even though they found two Chaos Emeralds so far, Amy had decided to leave the red one to Sonic's team and she, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese were racing through the city's streets, passing by the giant pinball and slot machines with many people from their world still wondering what was going on, though some have returned to their daily nighttime activities, so the pink hedgehog had hidden her Emerald within her pockets just in case.
"Just five more Chaos Emeralds to go." Amy declared as she lead her team through the Casino Park and towards Bingo Highway, having been here before.
"Do you think we'll find one here, Amy?" Cream asked as she stuck close to her friends.
"Chao, Chao?" Cheese piped up curiously.
"Either here in Casino Park or the Bingo Highway. Though it's gonna be hard since this place is usually packed, especially during the night." The pink hedgehog replied honestly. "But I'm sure we'll find it."
"Have you been these places before?" Cosmo asked, a little unnerved with the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Only a couple of times. This was way before we ever came here to Earth." Amy explained to her Seedrian friend. "It's mainly for people to gamble for money or just to have fun. You see those giant pinball machines? In there, you are the ball. You roll around like one until you reach the end and there are slot pictures that give you points or minuses. The better the picture of all three of the same thing or same person who's famous, the higher chances you get at winning."
"I'm...not so sure if I understand." The young alien girl muttered with a sweat drop.
"I don't understand it either. I heard that these games are really for grown up people." Cream agreed, rubbing her eyes cutely and tiredly. "I'm sorry, but I'm getting sleepy. I should be going to bed soon."
"Sorry, Cream. I didn't realize that we'd end up in this situation. I wish we could afford to go to a hotel or even have time to actually sleep." Amy apologetically responded, feeling guilty for having dragging her youngest friend into this, especially with the mysterious fog making GUN against them, Sonic's team, Chris and his family, and doing all sort of crazy and dangerous things. She hoped that once the fog is gone everybody would return to normal.
Just then, there was a loud yelling and screaming which caused Team Rose to pause in their tracks and looked up to see, to their shock, a large gorilla swinging by and making a mess everywhere, making alarmed Mobians to scamper out of the way.
"Where did that gorilla come from!?" Amy exclaimed, realizing that this gorilla was an inhabit of Earth and not her home world.
"He's not from this world. Somehow I can tell the difference between that and all of you." Cosmo realized, feeling very uneasy about this.
"Do you think he got out of the zoo?" Cream asked, a little frightened.
"Probably. That means more trouble." The pink hedgehog muttered, before something bright and red was shone from the sky, making her and everybody else to look up in confusion and saw a red beam shoot out of nowhere before hitting the gorilla and engulfing it. The three girls and little Chao all gasped in horror when they saw the poor thing become seemingly zapped by the strange laser after shielding their eyes.
Then all of the sudden, like when the mutant giant monsters de-transformed, the gorilla began to go through an unexpected growth and slight change, being covered in red and purple mists to which Team Rose's eyes widened as they saw what was happening, making them realize that the red beam was part of the reason how the mutation began to act up through out across the world. Metal parts began to form on the gorilla's upper arms and muscles and feet, it's eyes turning all red and it's teeth very sharp like a lion's, growing to an accelerating 30 feet, 40 feet, 50 feet and just kept growing.
"RUN!" Amy screamed, grabbing hold of Cream and Cheese before she and Cosmo and virtually everybody else ran away as far as they could while the gorilla continued to grow until it reached to a shocking 85 feet tall, towering over most of the buildings. Once it's transformation was complete, the now(unknowingly to everyone else) controlled giant gorilla roared and pounded it's chest.
Amy and her team, in a somewhat safe distance, and everybody else, could only stare in shock and fear as Cream huddled into her older friend's arms.
"The gorilla grew into a giant!" Cream whimpered, with Cheese moaning in fear.
"That laser...that is the reason why all of these creatures affected by the fog could grow. But, where did it come from?" Cosmo realized fearfully.
"If that's the case, then it must be the guy who's behind all of this and framed Chris!" Amy realized, her jade green eyes wide in pure horror while wondering if this was some sort of nightmare. "This is just like one of those monster movies!"
The now giant cyborg gorilla continued to roar, becoming instantly more violent and stomped it's way through the streets where the people scrambled to safety, including Team Rose who screamed and ran away as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, almost on the other side of Casino Park, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were taking out more mutant monsters with the powerful teamwork of Spin Attacks, and punches and kickes, that sort of thing and saving people who thanked them before being told to get to safety, with Team Sonic promising to answer their bewildered questions later as soon as they get the chance.
"Man! These guys are almost everywhere! It's like an alien invasion or somethin'!" Sonic remarked, but not at all daunted with this fact despite that they were running out of time.
"With both worlds merging faster than before, it won't be long before everybody's in real trouble!" Tails cried out as he and Knuckles tried to keep with their heroic leader.
"I think we can throw out the 'it won't be long before' part, especially since everybody's already in trouble!" The red echidna pointed out. "By the time this is over, we might not be able to create a new porthole to return everything back to normal!"
"Hate to admit it, but you're right. Plus, the only reason I was able to get back home was because I was able to use Chaos Control on myself, but when I tried to get all of us home the first time, it didn't work." The blue hedgehog agreed. "There's gotta a way to fix this all up, but time's finished!"
He just hoped that he could the solution on how to return everything back to normal, despite what Cosmo had said. The blue hedgehog still couldn't help but wonder...if he managed to stop the first prophecy, would that mean the second one might actually come true if he failed to stop the merge? He then thought of what Rusca had said in those dreams of his and even the voice he and his friends heard back in the Ocean Palace, and Sonic suddenly felt an irky feeling within his stomach.
"The merge...must be complete. The day of the union...and the reunion...it's coming. All beware of the coming...of the being born of negative energy."
"When the merge is being forced by outside force of two portals created by man, only the power of the Chaos Emeralds can fix it. The being of negative energy will return."
'Rusca...what do you really want with me? I don't like this one bit.' Sonic thought to himself uneasily, still not certain on whether the mysterious hedgehog was evil or not, but he didn't want to take his chances.
Suddenly there was a red flash coming from the sky which caught Team Sonic's attention as they looked up, the cobalt teenager brought out of his thoughts and skid to a stop as did his friends who nearly bumped into him and wondered what was going on. However, they soon got their answer as in the distance on the other side of the Casino Park, they saw something grow to a shocking 85 foot tall figure; a giant cybog gorilla who roared, pounded it's chest and then began stomping across the city. Those around Sonic, Tails and Knuckles saw this and ran away, screaming in fear while the trio stood there in shock and utterly dumbfounded.
"What the!?" Sonic exclaimed, his green eyes wide in disbelief.
"What just...happened?" Knuckles asked, wondering if he was dreaming.
Tails, shocked at first, then remembered all of the other giant monsters and then gasped in realization. "That laser! It must be what's causing all of those giant monsters to form from normal animals! Mixed with the fog, somebody's controlling them and is able to do as they please to attack people!"
The two teenagers were stunned at first, before Sonic came to the same realization and narrowed his eyes. "It must be the guy who framed Chris! There's no way even Eggman could pull this off!"
"Ah! Sonic! Isn't that where...Cosmo, Amy, Cream and Cheese are...!?" The two-tailed fox suddenly remembered, which caught his big brother's attention as he and Knuckles both gasped in horror.
'Amy! Cosmo! Cream! Cheese!' Sonic thought in horror, before narrowing his eyes with determination, grabbed hold of his friends and called out. "Let's go! We've gotta save the girls!"
Before his friends could protest even though Tails was in full agreement, fearing that he could lose Cosmo again, Sonic dragged them as he sped to the left to rescue Team Rose before it was too late.
After wondering for at least an hour or two, Team Chris managed to talk some of the suspicious but friendly locals who gave them directions on where to go, how Casino Park and Bingo Highway worked, and even a nice lady goat gave them a map to follow. The three de-aged children walked along the footpath while passing by the giant pinball tables and slot machines that looked like heaps of fun...at least it looked like fun to the de-aged girl of the group. The boys decided to avoid it at all cost.
"Let's see...through the 6th street not too far from here, we should be able to reach Bingo Highway and then towards...what this map says is Frog Forest?" Chris analyzed the map as much as possible, scratching the top of his head. "Looks like this place used to lead the way to that people cross another place called Rail Canyon."
"But it's now connected to Station Square and where both our canyon and the desert used to be." Danny realized.
"I wonder why they call it Frog Forest?" Francies asked curiously.
"Don't know. Let's hope it's just full of normal frogs, and not like the giant Metarex." Chris muttered, shuddering at the memory of the giant Jumpee Frog Metarex on Planet Secco which ate the found Chaos Emerald, tried to re-steal the Planet Egg, defeated Eggman's giant E-1000 robot, and it took the Sonic Cannon on the Blue Typhoon to defeat it as well as get the Emerald back and rescue Knuckles who caught the fake Planet Egg as part of the decoy plan.
Just then, they heard screaming and a distant roaring, making the trio stop in their tracks as they saw Mobians running for their lives from somewhere. Wondering what was going on, Chris, Danny and Francies shared glances before running to see what was happening, but they didn't need to get far as towering over the buildings was a giant cybog gorilla who roared and began to rampage the entire city, making the three de-aged humans gasp in shock and bewilderment.
"No way!" Chris exclaimed, his eyes wide in utter disbelief.
The cybog-gorilla roared, and smashed a couple of buildings with it's powerful fists, it's eyes all red and furious.
"It's a real King Kong!?" Team Chris shouted in fear and dismay.
"This is starting to become a nightmare!" Francies cried out, as she and her friends could only watch the giant ape cause more damage than the King Kong in the movies ever did.
"Can't help but wonder if they'll turn this into a new sequel movie or something." Danny muttered in half-sarcasm.
Chris groaned, facepalming himself. "If they decide to do so, my mom wouldn't miss an opportunity to be the star for that one."
"Guys! This isn't the time!" The de-aged girl exclaimed, making her two friends flinch in fright. "We have to do something or else all of these people will get hurt!"
"You're right! We've gotta help to get them to safety somehow! Come on!" Chris realized, and took the lead to try and get as many people to safety as possible. As his two friends followed, he thought to himself. 'I just hope we're not too late! Sonic, it's up to you to beat that thing!'
He just hoped it wasn't too late for these people.
When Shadow landed the helicopter onto the roof of a random building, he and his team emerged and immediately set out to find the other teams with a plan to find either one of them, or as they would preferred, to find Team Rose and gain access of their Chaos Emerald which they hoped would lead them to Eggman and settle the score with the evil scientist, and in Rouge's case, another Emerald to add to her collection despite that the black hedgehog leader was holding onto the green one.
Along the way, they raced and flew across the buildings since it would give them a better view on where to find Sonic and/or his friends. Though Team Dark ended up confronting more of Eggman's robots to which they were taken care of with the combined forces of Chaos Spear, Drill Kick and Omega's...rapid firing against his fellow creations which he deemed weaklings.
"These pathetic excuses of robots must be eliminated! FIRE!" Omega shouted, firing a couple of missiles at two overly-large turtle robots which only had a couple of dents, but Shadow took care of them with a combination of Spin Attacks and his Chaos Spear. The 'good' robot made a sound of a grunt of annoyance. "I had those under control. You took away my opponents."
"Hmph. You're welcome." The black hedgehog scoffed sarcastically.
"Now now, Omega. I'm pretty sure there are plently of other big bad robots for you to smash into pieces." Rouge reassured, patting the rogue robot on the arm in a faux reassurance.
"Your faux sympathy is annoying, Comrade Rouge. I would stick to actual emotion, if I were not a robot." Omega shook his head, as did Shadow who sighed while facepalming himself.
"Sorry." The white bat grumbled, rolling her eyes. As she did however, she, Omega and Shadow suddenly caught sight of something shining red in the distance and all three of them quickly turned to see what it was. The moment they did however, it faded and soon enough, something misty and red and purple formed from between the buildings and surely enough, to the trio's shock, a giant gorilla grew before it stopped and roared through the darkness of night.
"What?" Shadow gasped, his ruby eyes widened in disbelief. 'That red light...did it just make that ape increase in height and become a giant?'
"My sensors detect a sudden mutation and inner cell-control from whomever has sent out that laser, and caused a mutation and uniform expansion of cellular structure of that life form." Omega warned.
"Just as I thought." The black hedgehog surmised, narrowing his eyes now. "This is not the work of Dr. Eggman, is it?"
"Negative." The robot confirmed.
"So then it's the one who could be behind all of the purple fog and what's happened all across the planet." Rouge realized, cringing a little. "That ape had better not go all ga-ga on me! It'll ruin my style and I've already had that nightmare of being captured by that ugly snake earlier."
"As long as you don't get yourself captured, you should be fine." Shadow rolled his eyes, making his companion grumble.
Just then, Omega detected something else and exclaimed. "Sensors detect the Chaotix!"
The two blinked before gazing downward and surely enough, the Chaotix were indeed there, apparently also noticing something but unaware of the giant ape. Narrowing their eyes, Shadow, Rouge and Omega knew what they had to do.
While investigating Casino Park and making their way to Bingo Highway, the Chaotix still found no evidence or sign of either Narasu or Eggman. They did take out a good number of enemies while helping out people who were asking them questions and Vector attempted to reassure them that things were relatively under control. But when they noticed a red laser shooting somewhere from the city and into another part of it, the moment Vector saw it, the mixed up Mutagen within his body bubbled up even more, boiling and growing before shrinking to a decent size.
As such, he felt intense heat and unusual pain which made the green crocodile grunt and place a hand to his chest, bending on one knee and squeezed his eyes shut, unaware that he was glowing in red and purple for a few moments, but Espio noticed, while Charmy, completely oblivious, stared at where the laser was.
"Hey, what was that red shooting star?" The young bee asked, confused.
But he didn't get an answer, because Vector groaned louder, getting Charmy's attention and when he and Espio, who hurried over to his side and placed gentle hands onto his taller friend's shoulder, saw that the leading detective looked to be having another fever or was rather in intense pain, the youngest of the group almost instantly became worried and flew over.
"Vector, what's wrong?" The purple chameleon asked urgently.
"You gonna be sick, boss!?" Charmy asked, alarmed.
"I-I'm not sure...I feel like my insides are blowin' up or something." Vector grunted and groaned, sweating uncomfortably.
"What!?" Espio exclaimed, shocked.
"You look worse than when you were bed-ridden!" Charmy remarked very worriedly.
The oldest of the three panted, having a bit of trouble breathing. "I feel worse too all of the sudden to be honest. I'm not sure w-what's goin' on with me..."
A sense of dread filled Espio's senses as he knew, given that strange red light somehow made things worse, it was related to what was going on, and now was the time to tell his friend what was happening even as Vector then began to slowly return to normal, but still felt very uneasy, both literally and figuretively.
"Vector, there is something you should-"
"What's wrong with Vector, Espio? He looks like he should be in bed." A familiar woman's voice cut him off, causing all three of the Chaotix to look up and saw, to their shock, was Rouge who flew down before them and she did look rather worried. But the two she was with sent shock-waves into the trio;
An Eggman robot who jumped down and landed safely while the bat thief landed gently, and the familiar black hedgehog who looked stotic as ever, but even with the usual stern expression on his muzzle, the face being identical to Sonic's but with red eyes instead of green, whom Vector, Espio and Charmy never thought they'd see again, Shadow saw how unwell the crocodile was and in that instant it brought back memories...of Maria's illness and he immediately knew that something was wrong.
"Shadow!?" The Chaotix exclaimed in disbelief, eyes wide.
This was very unexpected today.
The giant cyborg-gorilla was really in for it, causing destruction all over the place as many people scampered to safety. Amy, who had her friends hide around the corner of another building and given Cream the Chaos Emerald, tried to hit the monster with several hammers, hitting it in the face which caused it to become distracted, despite her friends telling her to be careful and to run.
"Stop damaging so many buildings, you overgrown monkey! People are going to get hurt around here!" The pink hedgehog shouted angrily.
She jumped back to try and avoid in getting hit by the debris while Cosmo lead Cream and Cheese back to safety, only for the giant gorilla to stomp once more and caused Amy to stumble a bit and lost her balance while crying out in alarm. This gave the gorilla the opportunity to reach out to grab her.
"Amy! Look out!" Cream and Cosmo screamed out in horror, but it was too late.
When Amy looked up, she screamed in terror before being clasped tightly within the giant cyborg-ape's grasp, held in a King Kong style and brought towards it's face. She tried to pull herself free, but the grip was too tight and when she saw how close she was to it's face, it sneered at her while the pink hedgehog shivered in fear and tried hitting it's hand with her hammer, but then realized just how dangerously high she was, which meant that she would fall to her death if the monster let go of her.
"AAAAAHHHH! Let me go!" Amy screamed, and screamed louder when the giant ape turned and walked away with her in it's hand, and soon reached a building and began to climb up it towards the top.
In desperation, she exclaimed as loud as she could, hoping that her blue hero would come to save her. "HELP! SONIC!"
"Amy, no!" Cream screamed out, seeing her friend caught and almost began to cry.
"We have to save her somehow!" Cosmo exclaimed, trying frantically to figure how to save their own team leader.
But their only hope would be Sonic now.
Sonic ran as fast as he could, but the buildings and trying not to let go of his friends who were struggling to hold on were not really helping. He took many twists and turns before eventually the blue hedgehog ran up along a building with Tails whimpering and Knuckles trying not to fall off.
"Sonic, slow down!" Knuckles shouted.
"If he slows down now, Knuckles, we'll fall!" Tails pointed out.
"Sorry, guys! Can't slow down!" Sonic apologetically exclaimed, quickly reaching the top and almost had his friends crash onto the roof. But while they tried to recover even though they felt like their internal organs were about to explode and fall out, the duo and their hedgehog leader saw something neither of them wanted to see.
The giant gorilla reached down to pick up someone, and to their horror as it stood up, held a familiar pink and red figure who was struggling to get out of the grasp before the monster turned around to head towards a taller building and began climbing. Even from the distance, Team Sonic could hear who it was.
"It's Amy!" Tails exclaimed in horror.
"Oh no!" Knuckles cried out.
"HELP! SONIC!" Amy screamed from afar, frightened and desperate.
"AMY!" Sonic found himself screaming in horror, his heart happening too fast within his chest as he watched helplessly that his self-proclaimed girlfriend was within the grasp of the giant gorilla monster. He knew he had to save her, but he frantically tried and failed to come up with a plan.
The blue hedgehog was about to race over to rescue his friend when the red echidna, seeing this, quickly held him back by the arms which made the teenage hero struggle in a futile attempt to break free.
"Sonic, wait!" Knuckles grunted.
"Hey, let me go!" Sonic shouted, trying to break out of his friend's strong iron grip. "I've gotta save Amy!"
"You're only going to get yourself hurt or killed by that thing!" The guardian of the Master Emerald argued.
"I don't care! If anything happens to her or you guys or anybody else, I'll never forgive myself!" The cobalt teenager snapped, becoming more and more desperate. More than anything, he didn't want to lose her. He almost did too many times, and Sonic remembered how Amy almost drowned with him the time when she risked her life to try and rescue him from the Water Planet after he pushed her out of the way to prevent her from being swallowed by Dark Oak alongside him.
It was then he remembered why he'd been swallowed in the first place; Sonic didn't have a choice. It was a quick split decision and at that moment when that water jet almost shoved them both, he shoved Amy to safety to save her her life, ultimately almost sacrificing himself and he could hear her screaming out his name, and for that moment he'd been scared. Scared of drowning, scared of being digested, scared that he'd been swallowed whole down that giant throat, scared that...that he wouldn't see her or anyone else ever again. The blue hedgehog's eyes then mentally widened, especially when his soul had been briefly trapped in that dreamscape; he fought his way to return to his body, because of his friends who had been trying to save him, just as he had always saved them. They were always there for him, and vice versa.
At that time when he'd woken up, Amy had been there, and he floated to catch her, unable to believe that she had come for him. Yes she was strong, yes she did need to be saving, but Sonic knew that he had saved Knuckles too, despite that the red echidna was stronger. In the end, no matter how strong, tough, or even fast and brave they all are, together they were stronger, not just as a team, but as friends, and family.
"Well, rushing in like that isn't a good idea!" Knuckles snapped back.
"If only I had the X Tornado. How are we gonna...Huh?" Tails trailed himself off as he noticed something in another distance and blinked in confusion before his eyes widened. "Sonic! Over there!"
Before Sonic and Knuckles could argue, the two looked at their younger friend and followed his gaze to what he was seeing. There stood several blocks and buildings away was a GUN helicopter, sitting rather innocently unattended on a roof. Suspicious and on high alert, the blue hedgehog narrowed his eyes before racing over to quickly investigate as an idea formed in his mind, ignoring his friends' protests to wait. When he reached it and expected a trap to be set, Sonic quickly looked inside and found, to his surprise, it was completely empty.
Despite that it wasn't as fast as the X Tornado, it was better than nothing. He nodded to himself with very determination to save Amy.
"Hey! Let go of me, you giant stupid monkey!" Amy shouted, still struggling to pull herself free, even as the giant gorilla climbed to the very top and stood there, roaring while holding her within it's strong iron grip. Terrified, she screamed out. "HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!"
"Cosmo, what do we do?" Cream asked, tearfully as she, Cheese and Cosmo could only watch helplessly while trying to figure out how to rescue their friend without getting caught themselves.
"I don't know, Cream. We can only hope that Sonic, Tails and Knuckles will come soon!" The Seedrian responded helplessly, feeling horrible for not being able to do something, feeling useless to try and save her friends.
Just then, the three of them heard propellers fill their hearing and as they looked up, they gasped in horror as they saw the same helicopter they and Team Sonic noticed earlier and only stood there. To their confusion, however, it seemingly ignored them. But when they noticed the side door opened, they caught sight of a familiar blue hedgehog leaning out with determination.
Sonic, who was holding onto the ledge while impatiently waiting for the helicopter to go faster, noticed the bewildered girls and Chao down below and smirked, calling down. "Hey! Don'tcha worry, ladies and Chao! We're gonna save a tough damsel in distress!"
"It's Sonic!" Cream exclaimed happily and in relief, with Cheese cheering.
"But, if Sonic's here, then that means...!" Cosmo trailed off in realization.
Within the cockpit, Tails was piloting the helicopter with Knuckles waiting behind Sonic in the back while holding on for dear life, the two-tailed fox calling to his older friends. "We're nearing our target, guys! Get ready for operation rescue!"
"Just do your best, Tails!" Sonic encouraged, smirking as he felt the wind blow against his face and quills.
Amy, who had seen the helicopter, at first felt terrified even more as she thought that GUN had come to kill her and the giant monster, but when she saw a speck of yellow within the cockpit and a familiar blue figure leaning out from the side heroically, her eyes widened in shock, amazement and relief as she instantly knew who had arrived.
"Don't worry, Amy! Help is on the way!" Sonic called out to his self-proclaimed girlfriend.
"Sonic! You came to save me!" Amy exclaimed happily and tearfully.
Once the helicopter got close enough, the giant cyborg gorilla roared before making to punch Team Sonic and their ride. But Tails managed to maneuver it, narrowly avoiding the monster's attack and flew around, with the ape repeatedly missing it's targets while still holding it's grip onto it's prey who watched helplessly and told her 'boyfriend' and friends to be careful.
"Okay, Tails! You know what do to!" The blue hedgehog instructed once they neared a building.
"Remember guys, this is our only shot in getting it right!" Tails reminded firmly.
"Right!" Sonic and Knuckles both exclaimed with the latter joining the former.
"Here we go!" Sonic declared, before he and his older friend jumped out and sky-dived towards the giant gorilla who attempted to capture them. But the blue hero Spin Attacked it, spinning straight past it's massive paw and hit it in the face, causing it to roar in agony.
Knuckles quickly gave it a powerful punch right in the chest, shoving it backwards which it stumble backwards and lose it's grip on Amy who gasped and screamed as she began to fall.
"Amy!" Sonic shouted, kicking the giant gorilla quickly before jumping and free-fell towards his friend, arms out before he caught her. He then gazed up as the two hedgehogs fell dangerously towards the ground. "Tails!"
"Got it!" Tails nodded, pressing a button which shot out a hook and it perched into the side of a building.
"Hang on!" The blue hedgehog instructed the pink hedgehog who nodded, whimpering while holding on and closed her eyes, terrified that they would fall. But she didn't need to worry as he held onto her, back-flipped and landed neatly onto the rope of the hook before running up along it and then jumped right back into the helicopter, which signaled Tails to push another button and released the hook and rope.
"You okay, Ames?" Sonic asked as he gently set Amy onto the floor. As she could only nod and was about to hug him, he quickly her. "Save the hugs for when we get to solid ground, 'kay? Got a giant monkey to deal with."
He didn't wait for her reply as the blue hedgehog quickly headed back to the side of the chopper, while Amy, who'd normally complain of being ignored, was still a bit shaken from her experience and could only watch her hero to finish off the giant gorilla.
"Please be careful, my sweet Sonic." Amy whispered, clasping her hands together.
Knuckles in the meantime dodged the stumbling gorilla's attacks before being punched and hit the floor of the roof hard, grunting in pain. Hissing in agony, the red echidna glared up as the giant beast slowly walked towards him and made to grab him when the helicopter returned just above them.
"Hey, Banana-breath!" Sonic taunted loudly. "It's way past your bedtime, Monkey-boy!"
"Sonic, here!" Tails called out, tossing a ring at his best friend who caught it and absorbed it's power, glowing in a blue aura.
The blue hedgehog then jumped out and once again sky-dived before performing a Super Spin Attack, narrowly missing the giant's paws and hit it straight into the chest, causing the massive gorilla to lose it's balance and tumble and fall towards the ground, crashing and rolling into a ball, avoiding many people who ran out of the way even as it, completely defeated by Team Sonic, began to quickly shrink back to it's original form and size and surprisingly well out of Casino Park and Bingo Highway and straight back into Station Square, bouncing onto several trees and into the sky, right over the wall of the zoo and back into it's repaired cage, where the zoo keepers, who were still waiting for the reports of it's return, were startled in fright by it's sudden return.
The poor restored ape, still alive but dazed, laid there unconscious and also strangely healed. The zoo keepers stood there, stunned as they wondered what just happened.
Moments after defeating the giant gorilla, Tails picked up Sonic and Knuckles(who was grumbling for not getting any much action this time) before he flew them and Amy back down to the ground where the relieved Cosmo, Cream and Cheese ran up to them happily as the four hopped out.
"Amy! You're safe!" Cream cried happily as she ran into Amy's arms while her older friend hugged her, Cheese and Cosmo.
"Thank goodness!" The Seedrian cried in relief.
"I'm so sorry, guys. I tried really hard. I'm so happy that you're all safe." The pink hedgehog cried a little, tears in her eyes, while Sonic, Tails(who shut down the helicopter) and Knuckles stood there with relief.
"What's important is that you're safe." Cosmo replied. "We were very worried about you."
"Chao..." Cheese sniffled.
Sonic and his team all smiled happily, even as their friends slowly stopped their hug and Amy approached him, eyes full of tears as she quickly hugged him, making him almost fall over, but managed to keep his balance. His self-proclaimed girlfriend then really began to cry, so he hugged her back, feeling utter relief that she was safe and unharmed. While he didn't admit it, he'd been scared that he wouldn't have been able to save her, and while no one even noticed, tiny traces of tears filled up his eyes as he forced them back.
"Take it easy, Amy. Don't cry." Sonic said comfortingly.
"Oh, Sonic...!" Amy sobbed, crying her 'boyfriend's' shoulder. "I knew you'd come save me! We couldn't find that Chaos Emerald! And that ape...I tried fighting it, but he...!"
"I'm sorry, Ames. It's all my fault." The cobalt hero muttered, feeling guilty for having sent four of his friends on the Chaos Emerald search and not having known of the dangers there worse than the previous times and almost having lost his self-proclaimed girlfriend. In truth, he had been so scared in not being able to save her on time.
Plus, the entire situation made him begin to blame himself for what was happening and was completely scared for Chris' safety and what would happen to him if they couldn't find the true mastermind on time, and was extremely scared if he failed to stop the merge and save time itself. Sonic the Hedgehog, the heroic teenager with his friends and family, was terrified beyond belief and he knew he had to be strong for all of them. He couldn't fail. He couldn't lose everybody that he loved so much.
Amy sniffled, as Sonic gazed at her with a warm and reassuring smile, and while he cringed when she kissed him on the cheek, this time he just let her considering the situation. While Tails, Cosmo, who both shared a happy glance before blushing heavily when, during the whole moment as they all gathered around in relief, the two had unknowingly clasped hands together, felt their hearts beat and then looked away in shy embarrassment when they still had an audience around, and Knuckles tried not to laugh at the two hedgehogs' 'romantic' moment together, and Cream and Cheese beamed happily at their friends, the youngest duo of the group then noticed something shiny and familiar from around the corner.
"Huh?" Cream muttered in confusion, before she and Cheese shared a glance and then curiously approached the glimmering light which caught the attention of their friends.
"Cream?" Tails asked, confused.
"Whatcha doin'?" Sonic asked, blinking.
The little rabbit girl and chao didn't seem to be paying attention, as they crept closer the familiar sight, which had the rest of Team Rose and Team Sonic watch with caution. But they didn't need to worry as Cream gave a surprised gasp before reaching out for something that was hidden near broken debris and a cage that was dent and broken open, and pulled out a familiar gem which reacted slightly to the Chaos Emerald in her pocket.
"It's another Chaos Emerald!" Cream exclaimed happily, holding the yellow power gem in her two gloved hands, with Cheese cheering happily and then they showed it off to their friends while approaching them. "We've found it!"
While not having expected this, Sonic and the rest of the group felt like cheering themselves as he praised. "Sweet! Way to go, Cream and Cheese!"
"Talk about luck!" Tails exclaimed in excited surprise. "I can't believe we've found three in one day!"
"That means we have four more to find." Cosmo said happily and in relief.
"This is so great! Today's really shaping up for us!" Amy squealed happily, jumping up and down in excitement.
Knuckles was still in shock as this was the first time they'd ever found three Chaos Emeralds in a single day. "I can't believe it's been easier to find three Emeralds than all of the other times when it comes to Eggman. This has to be one of the craziest days of my life."
"Oh, right! Eggman!" Sonic exclaimed, as he and the others then quickly remembered the other reason of their adventure. "We still have to find him!"
Then as if on cue, they heard yelling and screaming above them and Team Sonic and Team Rose spun around to find the aforementioned evil doctor being flown away in a giant Albotross robot as though he had been defeated by somebody else. Eggman flew across the city while looking pretty furious, yet scheming as usual.
"There he is!" Tails cried out.
"Good! Let's get 'im!" Knuckles grunted.
"Let me at him! I wanna give that creep a piece of my mind!" Amy shouted. Sonic on the other hand was about to protest, when she glared at him which made the blue hedgehog flinch in fright. "And don't talk me out of it, Sonic! Okay, so I wasn't lucky with that giant monkey, and I'm worried about Cream, Cheese and Cosmo, but I promise that we'll be careful! Please Sonic, just this once..."
Sonic wasn't so sure, but when he turned to his friends for a little bit of help and Tails thankfully was very concerned for their safeties, he knew that there wasn't much time and they had to make sure that Eggman didn't get their three Chaos Emeralds. Then again, Team Rose did make a great team and were a huge help so far and he didn't want them to end up caught by anymore giant mutant monsters again. Sighing as he knew that this was going to take a lot of team effort this time to save both worlds and time itself, so he nodded.
"Just stay close and if it gets too serious, you, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese get outta here with the Chaos Emeralds." The teenage hero finally responded.
"You got it!" Amy nodded, understanding her 'boyfriend's' reasoning.
While Tails was worried about Cosmo and even the safety of Cream and Cheese, his 'girlfriend' gave him a reassuring smile to which he returned hesitantly. Knuckles looked uncertain and wondered if this was a bad idea, but it was six against one, so he just shrugged with an exasperated sigh.
"All right! Teams Sonic and Rose, let's go!" Sonic declared heroically, and his friends cheered before they all raced to catch up to Eggman.
Little did he, his friends, and the other teams across the city know that things were increasingly changing and Vector's condition is only getting worse...and far more dangerous.
A/N: Sorry I couldn't fit in the next battle in this chapter, and that Team Chris' scenes were shortened, but I'm trying my best here. Hopefully the next chapter will make it up for it, but I have been planning on the giant gorilla battle for ages and I finally managed to write it down! But things are getting even worse for the Sonic Heroes. Will they succeed? Only time and space will tell!
See you later!