Sonic X: Back To Earth.
Author's note: Creeping closer and closer to the end of the Mutagen Saga, and I think it'll be another two or three more chapters to go. But the story will continue as this is the beginning of a life-changing event!
I will do my best with it, and how the ending of this Saga will go since I had the idea of it planned out since the beginning, so please bear with me and I hope you all enjoy it. Here we go!
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 18: Edge of the Storm.
Everything was becoming more and more chaotic, all across the merging worlds, with more and more affected people and mutated animals going on a rampage, others who were the least effected running and fearing for their lives. Even the corrupted GUN forces that were under Commander Tower's orders to capture anybody who would resist were losing it. While still within the hiding house, Helen and her parents could only watch on the news over the frantic reports that things were getting just as bad, fearing for the worst and perhaps the end was nearing for them and everybody else.
In the Area 51 Cells, all of those wrongly arrested including Chuck, Sam Speed, Nelson, Lindsey, Ella, and Tanaka, all felt the ground begin to shake which meant that the merging was getting worse and began to cry out in alarm.
"Whoa! Okay, this is seriously bad!" Sam shouted as he leaned against the wall for support.
"The merging between two worlds is getting worse!" Chuck exclaimed, gazing up at the ceiling. "I hope Sonic and the others can stop the destruction before it's too late."
However, little did everybody know that their lives were going to change forever.
As Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark, Team Chris and the Chaotix raced to try and get to the main fortress, all sixteen of them stood before the huge armanda that began to rise as the third and final day dawned with the sun beginning to rise, and the final battle was much closer than they knew. Some of them were scared, others were determined, and the rest knew that once this battle was over, their lives will ultimately change.
"This is it, guys." Sonic announced firmly, clutching his fists and narrowing his eyes. "There's no turning back now. Are you all ready?"
"Ready when you are, Sonic!" Tails declared bravely.
"No way I'm won't back out from this now! Eggman and Narasu are gonna get squashed!" Knuckles added, cracking his knuckles.
"Me either! Those guys are going down!" Amy added, twirling her Piko Piko Hammer, ready for the final showdown.
"I hope it's not too late." Cream muttered, with Cheese chirping in agreement.
"The fate of the entire Universe rests in our hands once more. We must make it count." Cosmo declared, and while she wasn't sure if she could survive this, this time she was determined to make sure nobody dies today and no more sacrifices will be made.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say those fleets might be flying up into space." Rouge commented.
"Either way, Dr. Eggman and Dr. Narasu will not get away with the crimes they have committed." Shadow said darkly, narrowing his eyes, and Omega readied his guns, and Topaz turned to gaze at the GUN fleets that were also slowly approaching.
'I wonder...once everything goes back to normal, will the Commander come to senses as well? Or is he...beyond saving himself?' The former GUN agent thought to herself in concern.
"We're almost there. I sure hope everything will be alright." Chris muttered, and both Francies and Danny nodded in agreement. He fingered his engagement ring again, remembering the night when it all started, the night when he had just proposed to his future wife Helen, but that had ended with a change that could force him to wait for another nine years.
"Helen...Will you marry me?" Chris asked, softly.
"Chris..." Helen whispered, before happily replying as tears filled up her eyes. "Yes! Yes, of course I will."
Chris beamed a smile, all nervousness and fears being washed away. He almost couldn't believe it, and half-thought that he was living in a dream and would end up waking up disappointed. But no, this was definitely real.
As much as he had wanted to get married, it was wrong to force Sonic and everybody else in the blue hedgehog's world to lose nine years of their lives, especially for those like Cream. If Chris had to wait another nine years to marry the woman he loved, then it was a sacrifice he would be willing to make. For everybody's future. Plus it could give him more time to maybe find a cure to give his fiancee the ability to walk she was denied of for years.
"Once we've start a job, we finish a job. That's our policy!" Vector declared, despite that he felt like he was about to boil over with the intense effects of the mutated Mutagen that continued to grow within his body, attempting to take control over him. "Let's show those two bad guys what we're made of!"
"Yeah!" Charmy cheered while Espio folded his arms.
"This will not be easy, but we will not surrender and grovel to our enemies." The purple chameleon agreed.
Once he knew that all of his friends and allies were ready to go, and while Sonic knew he had to make his decision through out the final stretch of this adventure, he felt that he knew the answer, but it just didn't feel right either way. But the teenage hero knew that there was no other choice. He had hoped that everything would go back to normal, but now that was just a wishful thinking.
'Do I really have to choose between humans and my people? It just doesn't sit right. But...if Rusca is right about it, then I have to make the hard decision.' He thought to himself, then smirking as he mentally boosted himself with his never-dying confidence.
"Alright...Let's get this party started." Sonic declared, ready to take the lead. "Watch out, Eggman! Here we come!"
That said and done, the five groups of heroes hurried as fast as they could while hoping to try and reach at least one or two of the Egg Fleet and catch up to the main Fortress. Team Sonic jumped and leaped to the one on the left with Tails carrying Sonic and Knuckles in mid-air, Team Rose close behind Cream carrying Amy and Cosmo, followed by Team Chris who used their grapple hooks with Francies and Danny holding onto their leader, Team Dark doing the similar thing, and the Chaotix being the last.
Once they all made it, they hurried to catch up to Eggman and/or Narasu.
"Mwahahahahaha!" 'Eggman' laughed from the main control room, watching the Sonic Heroes attempt to infiltrate his Armanda. "You fools must have a death wish! Witness this invincible battleship, built by the hands of a genius. Its power... unmatched throughout the universe!"
Around the corner, Fulgar appeared buzzing just as 'Eggman' morphed back into his true self as Narasu, grinning wickedly as the evil scientist patted his pet on the head.
"Perhaps it's time to see how far they will come, don't you agree?" The twisted transformed man grinned, before turning back to the monitor, watching the five teams race and bash away robots the moment they arrived, keeping his eye on Vector who is showing brief signs of the Mutagen taking over. "Pretty soon, that lizard will be under my control and with his unstoppable strength and size, nothing will stop me! Especially not Sonic the Hedgehog! Bwahahahaha!"
His evil laughed echoed, only to pause and held up a finger before morphing back into his 'Eggman' disguise and cleared his throat before laughing once more, this time in the other evil scientist's voice.
This was heard everywhere throughout the fleet which set the heroes a bit on edge, and unbeknownst to them, the real Eggman and his robots who gazed up at the ceiling before the evil scientist growled in anger and feeling insulted.
"How dare that buffoon ingrate steal my voice and laugh as though he owns it!? No one is allowed to laugh like that except me! The one and only true Dr. Eggman!" Eggman growled furiously.
"I hope Sonic and his friends stop that crazy Narasu guy." Decoe muttered nervously as he held onto Bocoe who was just as scared.
"This is worse than when the Meterex tried to take over the universe." The grey robot shivered.
Back at the GUN HQ, Commander Tower was becoming more covered in the Mutagen's aura which is taking over his mind almost entirely, and with the air fleet zeroing in on Sonic and Shadow, he narrowed his eyes.
"We have our targets locked on, sir. Also, our missing allies are also reported to be held hostage in one of those fleets of Dr. Eggman." One of the soldiers reported as he and the other men checked on the monitors.
But the Commander no longer cared for the trapped people, all he wanted was Sonic in his grasp and Shadow and Chris both dead. "Bring me Sonic, and eliminate the rest."
"But sir-!" The soldier exclaimed as he and everyone else gasped in horror. Their commander was still willing to throw away lives and capture the teenage hero who had risked his life for everyone?
"THAT'S AN ORDER!" Tower shouted, his eyes now glowing a dangerous hue of red and purple, snarling at the soldiers who looked horrified as even down below they could see that he has lost his mind. None the less, they reluctantly nodded and gave out the orders.
Yet none of them would let him hear that they were also giving out orders at their own turf to not harm the heroes and only damage the Egg Fleet to make it as though they were missing the group poorly.
As Sonic, his friends and allies sped their way through the ship they landed on, almost immediately they were met with several robots and lasers from all over the place, to which they quickly fought to keep going. Sonic Spin Attacked through several with ease as the machines blew up, Tails flew over and kicked three one by one on top of the head, and Knuckles with a growl punched five, denting them before smashing them into pieces.
"HAAAAAAAAA!" Amy bellowed as she swung her Hammer straight at a large robot and smashing it's head right into it's shoulders, grunting with a powerful determination.
Cream and Cheese both flew up into the air and the former somehow flipped before she stomped right on top of another and Cheese flew in to bash it shortly afterwards which surprised some of the others who haven't seen the duo in action before. Cosmo levitated a bit as she jumped and did her best in using her wits to distract the robots that came charging at her before she kicked one in the arm, causing it to lose aim and shot at another robot who fired back, the two machines destroying each other as a result.
Francies charged with a yell with her club as she dodge-rolled out of the way when three robots fired lasers at her, only to smirk when Chris and Danny both used their grapple hooks to lift themselves over her and they both charged with nun-chucks and clubs in one hand each. The de-aged Thorndyke kicked on the face and smashed it's chest simultaneously while the other de-aged boy swung his weapon at the laser arm, smashing it off and gave the de-aged girl a chance to finish off the one that was distracted.
"Take that, you dumb robot!" She shouted, smashing it before it had a chance.
"Must eradicate all Eggman robots! Annihilate! Annihilate!" Omega shouted, firing rapidly at several robots, which made everyone who weren't that busy in fighting the other robots slightly groan with sweat drops, but decided not to question it for the time being.
Topaz jumped and leaped while punching and kicking another robot with a grunt, and, seeing a broken pipe close by, hurried towards it while Rouge covered her by using her drill kick at another robot, smashing it into pieces while proclaiming. "You know, it's not very nice in attacking defenseless ladies like that!"
"Thanks, Rouge!" The former GUN agent exclaimed, before she made to attack her opponent once more and smashed it in the torso with a good hard swing which impressed her former partner and still good friend.
"Chaos Spear!" Shadow shouted, forming the golden spears and unleashed the attack at the robots that stood in his way, before the black hedgehog hissed when he saw more began to emerge. "Rusted metals. Don't stand in my way!"
He then Spin Attacked several of them not unlike Sonic and destroyed them almost instantly.
"Take this, you bad robots!" Charmy shouted, dive-bombing with his stinger right into the eye of one robot which caused it's vision to malfunction and just as it was about to attack recklessly, something invisible attacked it with several ninja stars that caught it and another off-guard and made the two robots explode while the young bee and the invisble attack, revealing to be Espio who returned to visibility, moved out of the way.
Vector in the meantime punched at several more while using his tail which, as he felt the painful effects of the Mutagen get worse inside his body, enlarged itself and easily knocked away more robots before he growled and breathed out fire to burn the rest without causing the ship he and everybody else were on from losing altitude and would then end up crashing. For a brief moment his eyes glowed once more, but the sounds of the others shouting and Espio's warning that another robot was about to fire brought him back to his senses. The green crocodile yelped before moving out of the way.
"That...was close." Vector sweat dropped nervously, having narrowly avoided in having his tail zapped off.
"Yah!" Tails yelped as a couple of lasers came dangerously close in burning off his fur, as he tried to avoid them.
"Tails!" Cosmo cried out, before she was pulled to safety by Amy and Cream as everybody else had to then quickly dodge out of the way by more of the attacks from the robots...except for Omega who continued to fire and forced Rouge, Shadow and Topaz to pull him to the side.
"Hang on, Tails!" Sonic exclaimed when he saw what happened and dashed back to save his best friend/little brother. The blue hedgehog scooped him up while easily avoiding the lasers and sped away with the two-tailed fox in his arms. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah! Thanks, Sonic!" The young kit replied in relief.
"Hey! Heads up!" Knuckles pointed up ahead, and when his friends saw what it was which made Sonic skid to a stop, there they saw a huge robot with a large hammer that held it really high above it's head, being the size of two cars glued together. The trio sweat dropped nervously at the sight of massive bot that stood before them.
"Well, if that ain't a giant heavy hammer, than I don't know what is." Sonic remarked with a frown, as Tails gulped nervously while Knuckles gritted his teeth along with Shadow and Espio and everyone else stood in either defense or fear.
"It is known as the new T-Series, Heavy Egg Hammer. Another worthless machine created by Dr. Eggman." Omega explained and if he could, his red eye would've narrowed in anger
The Hammer Robot, or rather the Heavy Egg Hammer, leered it's eyes before it swung it's hammer down at the heroes who leaped out of the way as it smashed the metal floor, creating a huge dent like a crater, before Sonic tried using his Spin Attack and Knuckles and Tails both following in suit, creating multiple dents in the machine but to their shock it wasn't enough, forcing them to jump back and avoid more of it's attacks, yet the Heavy Hammer did manage to catch Sonic and Knuckles off-guard, smacking them to the side as they screamed in pain before hitting the wall hard, slumping a bit, much to everyone's horror, but they were blocked as the Heavy Hammer smashed part of the wall and caused a large crate to force them back and blocked them from the path, separating everyone else from Team Sonic.
"Sonic! Knuckles!" Tails cried out in horror, only aware too late as the Heavy Hammer loomed over him and he froze in place.
As Sonic and Knuckles both winched over the attack they'd been hit with, the two teenagers looked up and gasped in horror, with the blue hedgehog screaming out. "Tails, look out!"
The two-tailed fox spun around and flinched, almost frozen in fear as the robot attempted to squash him flat. In a frightened desperation, he surprisingly spun tightly into the ball and to the amazement of his friends, performed Sonic's Spin Attack and smacking it in the face. It wasn't much, but at least it distracted it enough for it to stumble back slightly and the young cub uncurled himself, shaking away the dizzy spells before he realized what he just did.
"Whoa, Tails! That was...That was incredible!" Sonic remarked, attempting to ignore his injuries and approached the stunned youngster along with Knuckles who's eyes nearly popped out in disbelief. "How'd you manage to use my spin attacks?"
"I...I must've seen you do that so often I just...sorta did it." Tails stuttered, scratching the back of his head, not sure if he was dreaming or not. He then began cheering. "But I did it! I actually did it!"
"You did great, buddy! I'm real proud of ya." Sonic praised with a wink and a thumbs up, making his friend giggle excitedly and slight embarrassment.
"Not to ruin the moment here, guys, but the robot's not done yet!" Knuckles interrupted, even though he was impressed with how Tails managed to actually save them and himself from the giant robot.
The duo looked up and saw that he was right as it began to recover.
"Time to wrap this up! Ready?" The blue hedgehog smirked as he, and his two friends stood ready, this time using their teamwork to finish off the robot.
"Yeah!" The two-tailed fox smirked in return, this time feeling like he had many times before, brave alongside his best friend/big brother.
"Ready!" The red echidna added, while thinking. 'Finally.'
Just as the Heavy Hammer lifted it's weapon to attack again, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles leaped up and the blue speedster held out the Chaos Emerald he found and when his friends saw what he had in mind, they nodded and held hands with Sonic and Tails both touching the emerald together. When the robot saw what they were doing, the trio smirked confidently at this as they burrowed the power of the emerald that gave them the strength to finish it off.
"Bye-bye!" Team Sonic chorused and like two days before, they Triple Spin Attacked straight through the robot's torso and out of it's back where it exploded upon defeat.
When the trio landed safely, they all shared a high-five, cheering. "Yes!"
By then, Shadow, Vector and Omega broke thruogh the broken metal piece that blocked them and they and everyone else saw what happened, and the only ones not stunned in amazement were Amy, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese who had seen Sonic, Tails and Knuckles do the same thing before.
"Whoa, guys! I didn't know you could do that!" Chris exclaimed in awe as he and most of the others hurried over, with Amy, relieved to see Sonic safe, hugged the blue hedgehog tightly.
"Whoa! Amy, easy." Sonic yelped, cringing a little but relieved that she and everybody else were safe, before responding to his human best friend's remark. "It's a new trick me, Tails and Knux did a couple days ago. Pretty cool, huh?"
"I say it was totally awesome!" Francies stated.
"Yeah, you guys were really cool!" Danny added.
Sonic smirked proudly while Tails giggled excitedly and Knuckles reflexed one arm with a smirk of his own over their successful teamwork.
"It did look cool and really fast too." Charmy stated as he, Espio and Vector, who were both completely speechless, had their mouths gaped open while Topaz blinked, Rouge looked a bit impressed, Omega just stood there, and Shadow scoffed.
"Show off." The black hedgehog grumbled under his breath about Sonic, folding his arms as he looked to the side.
Unfortunately, the moment of celebration had to be put onto hold as the Ultimate lifeform and soon everyone else heard faint sounds of helicopters despite the engines of all of the fleets blocking most of the sound in the air.
"Alert! GUN forces approaching Eggman Fleet!" Omega alerted as it was the first to scan out the danger.
"What!?" Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Chris all screamed in horror as they and the rest of the group looked up to their right side of the ship they were on and to their dismay the helicopters they saw earlier was getting closer and closer and unless the Sonic Heroes moved now, they will be seen and caught without a doubt.
"RUN!" Sonic shouted, quickly leading Tails, the de-aged children, and the girls(and Chao) up ahead while everyone else hurried to follow, even Omega who, for once, didn't like the odds and agreed before hurrying along and the Chaotix running in alarm.
As they ran and hurried into the corridor while hoping to avoid in being seen, the GUN choppers, despite being outnumbered by the Eggman Fleet which began to open fire at them while the army did the same with the air force coming in for back-up, yet with the large number of the fleets, it was a hopeless cause and the evil scientist's ships were only getting higher and higher as though it was about to leave the fusing two worlds' orbit which, for the humans within Sonic's group, wasn't a good thing.
"We've lost sight of the targets, sir." One of the helicopter pilots reported, before he and the other soldiers within the aircraft screamed when one of the Egg Fleet nearly hit them, but it did hit the side of the chopper, forcing them to descend towards the ground that was so high up that the altitude was too much for the helicopters to handle.
"We're losing altitude!" The co-pilot exclaimed.
"It doesn't matter. Fire at will, and make sure you bring me Sonic!" The Commander ordered coldly, much to the men's horror as they realized that he was so corrupted now that he was sending them and the other soldiers to their deaths in an now futile effort to capture Sonic the Hedgehog. "NOW!"
"Sir, we can't! We're going to crash!" The pilot pointed out as he struggled to maintain control.
"DO AS I SAY! I WANT THAT HEDGEHOG AS MY SOLDIER! HE IS MINE! HE BELONGS TO ME!" Commander Tower shouted, punching the window next to him which made a huge crack as the corruption of the Mutagen was reaching it's maximum peak.
Now everyone within the HQ were gazing at their leader with absolute fear and dismay, realizing that he wasn't himself anymore, but a monster under the influence of the fog which controlled his mind and his anger and hate has taken over his senses as well as stability. Many people's lives were about to be lost and Tower's corruption was making him wanting nothing more than to capture Sonic and force the young hero to become his slaved soldier, no longer caring for Time itself or the worlds that were merging faster than ever.
"GIVE ME SONIC! I WANT SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" The Commander continued to rant, just as the power suddenly died down and the lights turned off, much to his confusion and further anger, while the other members of GUN wondered what was going on.
Before they could figure out what was happening, the doors all around both on the lower and top levels were burst open and more military uniformed men barged in with rifles ready and surrounding the people who, shocked, and under orders to freeze, held up their hands in surrender and fear. Tower on the other hand stared down in disbelief and fury.
"What is this!?" He hissed darkly, only for a shadowy figure behind him to whack him on the back of the head and with a sharp gasp of pain, the man in charge lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
The figure then emerged from the shadows in the dim-lit room and revealed to be the former Spy of the Government that once kept tabs on Chris at his school, Mr. Stewart.
"This is Homerun Charlie. I've knocked out Commander Tower and we're about to take him to the dentention cells for questioning." Stewart reported on the communicator.
"Well done. We've got the President and are taking him to the safe house until the situation's under control. Make sure you get answers out of Tower to free the Thorndykes. In the meantime, give out the orders to the soldiers attempting to fight Dr. Eggman's fleet to fall back." An unfamiliar man's voice ordered.
"Right." Stewart nodded, and then as the power turned on, he quickly took over command for the time being. "Attention, GUN troops fighting Dr. Eggman's fleet! This is Agent Homerun under orders by the President! You are to land where the captured prisoners are on the main fleet and then fall back and return to HQ, effective immediately! I repeat, you are to fall back and return to HQ!"
Hearing the command from Stewart and, realizing what was going on and that their only hope for victory now rested in the hands of Sonic and his friends. Responding with an affirmative, all of the GUN crafts quickly made to reach the Final Fortress to rescue their captured comrades and then escape as much as possible.
"Let's hope Sonic will be able to save us all." One of the Pilots remarked worriedly, and no one argued with him.
The President, who had been locked up in the security room for days now, was finally released thanks to the secret mission and orders he gave out and as he got the reports from the High Agents working for him, he was somewhat relieved to hear that Sonic's group weren't captured.
"Good work. Now, inform the General to issue the order of evacuation of Station Square as well as other cities including the evacuation of Sonic's people, but do not harm them. Treat them as you treat the rest of humanity as normal citizens." The President ordered firmly, having been given frequent updates through out the whole ordeal.
"Yes, sir!" The two soldiers saluted, as they and the rest of the men guided the man in charge out to safety.
'Even though Agent Topaz was captured, Commander Tower's actions can no longer be ignored. Even if everything returns to normal, I can't let him be in command until his mind is cleared.' The President thought to himself, before he pulled out a photo from nine years ago; the one that had the former President before him with Sonic, Chris and the duo's friends that was given to him to always remember the teenage hedgehog's courage and kindness. 'Sonic...You and I may never meet, but the rest is up to you. Please, for the sake of both worlds, you must save us all.'
However, what even the President didn't know was that things will never be the same again once this was all over.
Back with the Sonic Heroes, the group had to try and avoid in getting caught when they realized that they had to try and get up higher to reach the flagship which, as they thankfully reached the exit of the corridor and noticed that they weren't spotted yet by GUN and had taken out more robots, they saw that it was enormous, behind the rest of the Egg fleet, blue and red in colour.
"This must be Eggman's headquarters." Sonic guessed correctly.
"It's huge!" Chris exclaimed in disbelief.
"That's what I call a giant airship!" Charmy added.
"It looks really big!" Cream gasped nervously.
"Chao!" Cheese moaned in fear.
"We've gotta get up there fast!" Sonic grunted, his eyes narrowed as time was running out and given how it had taken all day already to fight their way through, the third and final day was reaching it's end and it wouldn't be long before Eggman and/or Narasu would attack and it was game over.
"Easier said than done. If only we had the Blue Typhoon, but GUN is still after us." Tails pointed out worriedly, knowing that it was impossible to get there.
"We can't just give up! Everybody's counting on us!" Amy protested.
"No way I'm giving up that easily!" Knuckles grunted. "We just need to figure out how to get up there before it's too late!"
Shadow narrowed his eyes deep in thought until he noticed how the airships were somehow attached and then he saw that they were close enough to jump to, reaching up towards the main flagship itself.
"I have a proposal." The black hedgehog spoke up, making everybody else gaze at him in confusion and surprise.
"What are you talking about, Shadow?" Chris asked.
"Look over there. Do you see those air fleets?" He questioned, pointing at the ships to the right and when the rest of the group did as he instructed, he explained. "If we can fly and jump from each one of those, it will lead us straight towards our destination. It will be a huge risk, but it's the only way to get to the doctor's vessal."
While most of the group felt unsure about this, the others realized that he was right and felt an inkling of hope rise up into their chests.
"Shadow, this is a really cool and great idea!." Sonic spoke up, grinning as he felt that this was the best way to get to the flagship.
"Are you sure it's such a good idea? It looks too dangerous and risky." Cosmo muttered worriedly and Tails shared the concern since he looked and felt nervous.
"It's the only way in. We don't have a choice, and the day's almost over." The blue hedgehog said firmly, and true to his word, the sun was setting over the horizon, beginning to disappear in the clouds and it didn't help that the weather looked like there was a storm coming.
"He's right. We have to take the risk, or else all is lost." Espio agreed.
"Then what're we waitin' for! Let's-GAH!" Vector suddenly cried out in pain once again, kneeling over as he placed his hand to his head, much to everyone's alarm and saw, to their horror, the Mutagen was acting up again.
"Vector!" Cream screamed out worriedly.
"Vector, stay with us! You're gonna cured, I promise! Just hang in there!" Sonic cried out, placing his hands onto the crocodile's shoulders and gave him a bit of a shake, feeling his heart hammer in fear for his friend's life and free will.
"Please, Vector! Don't let the Mutagen take you over!" Cosmo pleaded.
"You've gotta fight it!" Tails added.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese chirped pleadingly.
Vector could barely hear what his friends were saying, or even feel Sonic shaking him, the effects of the Mutagen becoming stronger and stronger that when he opened his eyes, they were red and purple, making the teenage blue hedgehog gasp in horror, his emerald green eyes wide in fear and dismay as did everyone else. The crocodile detective then roughly grabbed him with his left hand and held him above his head while standing up, as Sonic grunted at the tightness while being trapped in the grasp of his possessed friend.
"No! Vector!" Most of the group exclaimed in horror.
"Sonic!" Amy screamed out, fearing for her boyfriend once again.
"Ugh! L-Let me go...!" Sonic strained, struggling to break free as he knew that while the hand wasn't enlarged by the Mutagen's power again, it was still large enough to hold him without the need of the other hand. "Guys, d-do something! Knock V-Vector to his senses or anything!"
Apparently someone did decide to knock Vector. Literally.
CLANG!
Because Amy used her Piko Piko Hammer to whack the unsuspected crocodile on the head while Knuckles, Espio, Chris, Danny, Topaz and Tails tried to get to Vector who blocked them with his tail and fist, knocking them back while the others tried to prevent Omega from attacking him. The impact of pink hedgehog's strength made Vector yelp and groan in pain while dropping Sonic who, now freed, fell and landed safely on the floor. The green detective then fell backwards which made the ground shake a little and a caged like object fell from the pile of crates close by and tumbled close to Chris who, while recovering as he held a hand to his head before hearing the clattering noise, looked to his right and saw something shine from within the cracks.
"Huh?" The de-aged boy murmured in confusion, blinking as the light seemed to be familiar. While worried about Vector, curiosity got the better of him as he went to investigate.
"Vector!" Espio cried out after he and the others recovered and went over.
"Are you okay?" Francies asked worriedly.
"...Please tell me I didn't go all bonkers again..." Vector groaned as he opened his eyes, which while back to normal, he thought he was seeing stars and fireworks in his dazed position.
"Sorry, Vector. This time I had to do something." Amy apologetically said, which confirmed what he did and he mentally thanked her despite that she gave him a great big headache.
"You alright, Vec'?" Sonic asked as he approached.
"No...I feel like I'm gonna lose my lunch." The green crocodile admitted, sitting up as he rubbed his head. "This Mutagen stuff is driving me nuts, and not just because I can't control myself."
"But, we didn't buy any lunch." Charmy pointed out cluelessly.
"I mean that I feel like I'm gonna throw up!" Vector snapped, making the young bee recoil a little.
"Sor-ry." The youngest detective responded defensively.
"Thanks, Amy." Sonic whispered gratefully to his self-proclaimed girlfriend who gazed at him with a soft smile despite that they both felt guilty for what Vector was going through.
"I didn't want to lose you again, Sonic." The pink hedgehog girl replied. "We're all in this together, no matter what."
The blue hedgehog was surprised to hear her say this, but while he knew that they would be alright in the end, he wasn't sure if he could make the call on the decision in order to save the worlds and Time itself. For the first time in his life, he had to choose which side of age to save and which one to alter and/or sacrifice. His chest felt heavy with guilt, because it wouldn't be fair to lose nine years of life, but at the same time, he didn't want to alter Earth's history to make it so that only nine months really did pass.
Either way, there was no stopping the fusion between two worlds.
'How could I make the decision if both are really hard to make? It's all wrong...What'm I gonna do?' Sonic thought helplessly to himself, still unable to decide which choice to make. It wasn't fair!
While the others were talking and Chris saw that Vector was alright for now, he approached the small cage-like box and, seeing how it somehow managed to stay open yet it was unlocked, the de-aged boy opened it up and gasped in shock, disbelief and relief to see a familiar gem with great power; the white and final Chaos Emerald!
"No way...!" Chris's eyes widened, before he beamed a smile of excitement and stood up quickly, calling out. "Sonic, guys! You won't believe it!" When his friends all turned to see what was going on, he took out the Emerald from the box and held it out to show them. "I've found the last Chaos Emerald! Look!"
No one could believe what they were seeing, unable to comprehend that the last Chaos Emerald has been discovered, and just before the end of the third and final day, that they now had all seven of them which gave them the advantage against Eggman and whatever giant robot he had...and also to help Sonic to save the worlds and Time.
"The Chaos Emerald...!" Cosmo murmured in awe.
"I don't believe it!" Tails exclaimed, his eyes widened.
"Where'd you find it?" Knuckles asked, now convinced he was having a dream.
"It was in this box that just tumbled here. I guess Dr. Eggman found it earlier and put it up top of these crates or something when we would least expect it." Chris guessed, shrugging.
"Way to go, buddy! Talk about a lucky find!" Sonic praised with a wink and a thumbs up.
"Not the smartest thing to do on Eggman's part." Charmy remarked while almost everyone else was speechless.
"For a bad scientist, Eggman's pretty dumb." Danny stated.
"Let's worry about that later. We must get to the flagship immediately before it's too late." Espio reminded firmly, which quickly brought everyone back to the reality of the situation, just as the clouds above and below them began to cover up the sky, and sounds of thunder booming and hints of lightning flashing caught their attention.
Tails flinched in fright at the sounds of a storm which made him try not to whimper due to his fear of Lightning, before Sonic, seeing this, gently placed a comforting hand on the now terrified fox's shoulder to try and soothe him as much as possible, to which the two-tailed fox gazed up at the blue hedgehog who held a warm smile, silently telling him that everything would be alright, making the younger brother smile back with a grateful nod.
"Alright! Next stop, Eggman's Ugly Ship Fortress! Let's go!" Sonic declared, pumping his fist into the air and most of his friends and allies cheered, while Knuckles, Omega, Espio and Shadow stood in silent agreement.
So once Chris tucked away the Chaos Emerald into his pockets and hoping to not end up losing it, the five teams hurried and made to jump as far as they could towards the next airship, with those who can fly carrying their teams while mindful of the weather, and while Tails was a bit frightened, gazing at Cosmo who gazed back made him feel a bit more comfortable and the two young lovers nodded before they continued to make their way towards the flagship itself.
Eventually as the groups all landed on the massive Final Fortress, Chris still holding onto the final Chaos Emerald, they hurried as fast as they could, racing towards where they hoped Eggman was. But because it was the size of a huge city, maybe two cities combined, the Sonic Heroes quickly realized that this was going to take them forever to find where Eggman was. At least they managed to steer clear from the GUN choppers which, to their surprise, didn't seem to be attacking them anymore, or at least tried to avoid in getting shot down.
"What's with them now? Aren't they still following us?" Amy wondered aloud.
"I thought Tower was after us to make me work for him and get rid of Shadow and Chris." Sonic added with a shrug. "What's up? They aren't even fighting Eggman's fleet anymore either!"
"Maybe the soldiers finally realized just how wrong Commander Tower is or that his mind's all messed up and decided to try and help us instead?" Francies suggested. "It looks like they're searching for something else now."
"Or someone else. Maybe the client might know." Vector added, before grumbling as he held the walkie-talkie in hand. "Though he should be calling any second now-"
"Excuse me? I might know what now?" Speak of the devil.
"Something's going on with those GUN guys. You got any detail on what else is here?" The green crocodile quickly replied, while Sonic furrowed his brows once more.
The blue hedgehog knew that voice was familiar, but at the same time he couldn't figure out how or why...unless it was a trap.
"As a matter of fact, perhaps there is. You three boys have done an excellent job and I am almost proud to say that this is your final mission!" The mysterious cilent responded, which surprised the Chaotix who all held stunned expressions.
"Yay! It's our last mission! And we just got praised!" Charmy celebrated.
"Settle down, Charmy." Espio informed him and suggested. "Let's hear what he has to say."
"There are GUN officials that have been captured here earlier and the doctor has bragged about how they were fools. How I know, because, well...I have been captured and held captive here in one of the rooms of this flagship." The client explained, somewhat nervously which shocked everyone else.
"You've been here the whole time!?" Charmy exclaimed in disbelief.
"Why didn't ya say anything!? We could've come rescue you sooner!" Vector shouted loudly into the communicator, and he could've sworn he heard the man cry out at the loudness of his voice. "That you were held captive along with the handsome pay, we would've been here already!"
"Unless the guy's who I think it is..." Sonic whispered, folding his arms in suspicion.
"Er...Well, I-I wanted to see if you were strong and intelligent enough to make it this far, so yes, I've been here the whole time. Your mission is to find five keys to unlock all of the cells at the back of the ship, which each have five locks-obviously. I'm counting on you, so hurry before the entire ship is brought down!" With that, the caller hung up.
Everyone shared uneasy glances as they tried to make what the client was talking about.
"Eggman's captured GUN officials? How does that make sense?" Chris asked, frowning in deep concern, folding his arms. "None of this is adding up, unless Narasu is behind half of all of this."
"Or maybe he's behind all of it." The blue hedgehog spoke up, making everybody else gaze at him. "Not sure why, but I've suddenly got a gut feeling that Eggman didn't even kidnap the GUN soldiers. He would've avoided them like nobody's business."
"You know what? I'm getting the same feeling too. I've been feeling it since the whole thing started." Vector confessed. "This is gonna be really tricky."
"Then let's split up into two groups. Vector, you, Espio and Charmy go find and save the client, and take Chris, Francies, Danny, Topaz, Amy, Cosmo, Cream and Cheese with ya'. The rest of us will handle Eggman and if we find him, Narasu." Sonic declared with a firm tone.
"Sonic!" Amy exclaimed, horrified on what the blue hedgehog was saying, even though some of the group did agree that it probably was a safer option.
"Don't worry, Ames. Me, Tails, Knux, Shadow, Rouge and Omega got this. With the six of us against Eggman and whatever stupid robot he's got? No problem!" Sonic reassured confidently with a wink.
"They'll be okay, Amy." Chris added, gently placing a hand onto the pink hedgehog's shoulder. "You know Sonic does this all the time, and it's like he said, with the others here, they can handle it. Right?"
"Yeah! Piece of cake!" Sonic confirmed.
Despite that she was still worried as were Cream and Cosmo, they knew that the two boys were right. Though they were all worried about what Narasu had in mind even though they still didn't know where he was and time was running out for both their planet as well as Earth and time itself. None the less, they had to make this count.
"Alright..." Amy conceded, before smirking. "Just knock Eggman on the head big time for me."
"Gotcha!" The teenage hero promised, grinning.
"Please be careful, Tails. You and the others." Cosmo requested worriedly as she approached the young fox who held hands with her.
"Don't worry, Cosmo. We'll be fine." He responded to the young Seedrian, and while Tails had no idea what would become of them once Sonic makes his decision, at least they would all be together no matter what. What the two-tailed kit didn't expect was Cosmo blushing a little before she leaned over and kissed him gently on the left cheek, making him blush heavily and his eyes sparkled over the overwhelming adrenaline of love washing all over him.
Everyone else, much to Tails' embarrassment, noticed as Amy, Cream and Francies cheered on at the romantic moment, Sonic stared on a bit shocked for a moment before he smiled warmly and gave his best friend/little brother a thumbs up, Chris smiled warmly as well while Danny, Topaz and Omega just stared in disbelief, Rouge smirked slyly at the cute scene, Shadow and Knuckles both blinked blankly before sharing a glance, Espio folded his arms with a surprised smile, and Charmy and Vector grinned like idiots to see this.
"Looks like it's mission accomplished with those two, finally." Charmy whispered.
"I knew that little guy would come around. True love conquers all." Vector whispered, very pleased with Tails and Cosmo as they belonged together.
"Didn't see that one coming." Topaz confessed. Since when did Tails fall in love with a friendly alien girl?
"Kids really do grow up fast, don't they?" Rouge said, secretly proud of the two young lovers.
Cosmo's eyes sparkled as she gazed at Tails' before they smiled warmly and reluctantly parted ways and both went to their respective groups, with Sonic softly praising the young fox before he lead him, Knuckles and Team Dark to where they hoped to find Eggman and/or Narasu, and Amy and Vector lead the rest to find the keys to save the prisoners.
As Amy's group hurried to find the keys while taking out more robots that stood in the way, the weather was really starting to become more violent that some of them jumped a little with lightning flashing in the sky dangerously close to the flagship.
"Whoa! That was a close one!" Charmy exclaimed, a little too excitedly.
"It's getting pretty dangerous up here!" Chris cried out.
"We really have to pull ourselves together if we gotta help the people who got captured by Dr. Eggman." Cream said worriedly, gazing at the sky with the clouds almost pitch black.
"You're afraid of storms, Cream?" Francies asked as she, Amy and Cosmo gazed at the young rabbit girl, who shook her head.
"No. I actually like them. I used to watch them from my bedroom window all the time." Cream explained. "It's just this one is more...dangerous."
"So are they!" Danny exclaimed suddenly, causing everyone to look up and saw, to their shock, more Mutated Monsters in forms of chickens-cross-dogs, clucking and barking strangely enough, charging straight towards them.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" The de-aged Thorndyke groaned.
"This is getting ridiculous! We're facing mutated chickens for crying out loud!" Vector complained, wincing as the Mutagen inside his body was acting up like crazy.
"We have to stop them!" Topaz grunted, getting ready to fight.
"Let's get 'em!" Amy yelled, her hammer ready as she then quickly whacked one of the monsters that jumped straight at her, but didn't get a chance to attack the pink hedgehog. "Don't mess with me, featherbrain!"
The Chicken-Dog Monster clucked in pain and panic like a normal chicken would, feathers flying everywhere as it returned to...being a normal dog? Everyone sweat dropped at this as while Chris and his team leaped over more thanks to their grapple hooks that they attached to part of the pipes above them, Topaz and Cosmo both jumped and stomped onto more on the backs, Cream flew as she and Cheese both dodged two more that accidentally crashed into each other.
"Bad doggies! You're all in big trouble!" Cream scolded angrily.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese added, waving an arm.
"Take this!" Charmy yelled, actually bashing one on the head with his fist so hard that his hand only stung a little and he shook it, wincing. "Ow! Gotta work up on my strength."
Espio in the meantime tossed many ninja stars at more of the Mutated monsters, but was shocked when he missed and seeing this made him turn invisible once more. He moved out of the way while his opponents stopped in shock to see him disappear, only to end up somehow bonked on the head before passing out while returning to normal and the purple chameleon revealed himself, narrowing his eyes at them.
'There's not much time left. We have to keep moving before it's too late.' He thought to himself, then heard Vector yell out loudly, causing Espio to glance up and gasp in horror to see his friend's arms having enlarged once more as the green crocodile punched and whacked robots that came charging as well and then used his fire breath at both the machines and three mutant animals, burning them into crisp while the monsters were still alive, and returning to normal.
"This is getting on my nerve!" Vector growled, unaware that his was glowing in the Mutagen aura again which thankfully faded and his arms returned to normal and groaned moments later over the headache which was getting worse. "So is this Mutagen stuff..."
"How are you feeling, Vector?" Chris asked, worriedly as he and the others, once the coast was clear for now, stood by the detective in concern.
"More woozy than before, and I think I'm having a bit of trouble breathing..." Vector admitted, his chest feeling tight like someone was squeezing his lungs.
"Maybe you should take a break and let the rest of us handle this, boss." Charmy suggested worriedly.
"For once, Charmy's right." Espio agreed, surprisingly. "You've been through a lot and you need to rest."
The green crocodile shook his head, standing straight. "I ain't gonna call it quits now! Besides, if me and Sonic are right, then the real Eggman's around here somewhere and the others are gonna be facin' another fake! C'mon, let's go!"
He then ran up ahead while the others blinked in alarm that he wanted to keep going, but also in confusion on what he just said.
"What is he talking about?" Amy asked, placing her hands on her hips before groaning. "Ugh! He's just as stubborn as Sonic!"
"Welcome to my world." Espio sighed in exasperation. None the less, he and the others knew that they had to keep an eye on Vector, so they quickly made to follow their friend and find the keys.
Meanwhile, Team Sonic and Team Dark were using broken parts of robots that they smashed to glide their way to the lower level of the fortress as boards, save for Tails and Rouge who both flew and Omega was having a bit of trouble of keeping his balance. Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow on the other hand were doing just fine with the pieces of metal as though they were surfing. Of course, Sonic decided to show off even as Tails warned him about the ledge he was heading straight towards to, the blue hedgehog laughing with a smirk.
"YAAAHOOOO!" Sonic cheered as he went airborne, doing tricks with the board in style, while his friends and allies watched on before they too ended up flying over the ledge, but the teenage hero was the only one enjoying the thrill of it.
Thankfully as Tails grabbed hold of Knuckles and Rouge grabbed hold of Shadow who held onto Omega, they and Sonic landed safely on the other side with the young hedgehog landing stylishly and stood up, rubbing his nose.
"Too easy!" Sonic smirked.
"Show off." Knuckles shook his head, shrugging. "If you're done playing around, can we get moving and stop Eggman before he launches his attack?"
"Sorry, I can't help myself. I just thought it was fun." The blue hedgehog chuckled, already taking the lead with full speed, with Tails flying to keep up with him, Shadow skating his way and the others following in pursuit.
"This a serious matter and all you care about is fun? What is it with you, hedgehog?" Shadow grunted, glaring at his look-alike.
"Hey, I am taking this seriously, but I can't just frown all the time!" Sonic retorted at the older hedgehog.
"You really confuse me, faker." The Ultimate Lifeform sighed, which began to quickly aggravate the cobalt teenager.
"Look, I'm focused on this, but can't a guy multi-task? Besides, I'm still having trouble on what I had to do in order to save the worlds and Time itself, but I can't let that distract me!" The blue hedgehog argued, mentally wincing over the fact that he just couldn't decide and it felt wrong in both cases.
"This does not compute." Omega butted in. "You should choose. I would suggest creating a new time-line of humanity on Earth and have it as though only nine months have passed, just as it has for our world."
"And force everybody to have their lives expanded and all the kids that were born to be placed into another separate time-line where none of this happened?" Sonic grunted as he narrowed his eyes over the, in his opinion, horrific idea, before grimacing as he realized what he said. It was the same idea Chris suggested and yet the cobalt speedster wasn't sure.
"Would you rather all of you to lose nine years of your lives?" The robot questioned.
"NO! I don't want either one to go through a time-change! I never wanted any of this!" The blue hedgehog snapped as he and the others came to a stop with his friends and allies staring at him. He panted a little while trying to calm down. "Look, I just want everything to go back to the way were, and this whole mess is all my fault! If I'd been more careful and Eggman's stupid machine didn't cause that messed up Chaos Control, none of what we've been through would've even happen."
"You do realize that if that were not the case, I would not have helped you to defeat the Metarex as you were not strong enough on your own." Shadow pointed out sternly.
"Yeah, but still..." Sonic trailed off and walked a couple of steps before stopping, and sighed. The overwhelming sense of guilt and responsibility was getting way too much even for him, as the teenage hedgehog rubbed his arms. "I'm sorry...All I've been doing was dragging everybody into endless dangers, caused by the mess I made, this whole disaster. I...I don't want anybody to put themselves at risk for me. I almost lost you guys and the others, Cosmo died before being brought back to life, Chris ended up de-aging twice, you risked your life to give me another chance, Shadow..."
The blue hedgehog felt tears form in his eyes and felt frustrated for being on the urge to cry which he hated, so he wiped them away yet they just kept forming while he continued. "Even Vector's on a brink of being lost if we don't find a cure for him, and Narasu wouldn't have gone all crazy. This is all my fault...If anything happens to everybody, I won't be able to forgive myself. Now Rusca is expecting me to choose between aging us or changing nine years of Earth's history to match our nine-months...It isn't fair!"
"Sonic..." Tails murmured worriedly.
"...I can't do this...I...I just can't choose!" Sonic covered his face with one hand, feeling so lost and, for the first time in his life, defeated.
Shadow was about to angrily punch Sonic over the latter's hesitant when Rouge quickly held him back and when he looked at her, she shook her head firmly and held him until he grudgingly backed off. Knuckles sighed while Omega just stood there, not sure how to help even though the robot's self-inserted purpose was to take down Eggman. Finally, Tails, who knew what it was like to make difficult choices, approached his best friend/big brother and stood in front of him.
"Sonic...what does your heart tell you?" The young cub asked gently.
"Huh?" Sonic lowered his hand, and Tails' heart cracked to see actual tears leaking.
"None of this was your fault, I told you that last night. I know what it's like in making difficult choices. Like the time when Cosmo told me that she had to sacrifice herself to help us save the Galaxy. She didn't get a choice, and...at that point even as Eggman told me to fire, I didn't want to lose her, but I didn't want the universe to be destroyed either..." The two-tailed fox sniffled. "In the end...I knew that I had to choose...I had to give up my happiness to make sure...to make sure everybody else would be safe and all of the planets would get their Planet Eggs back."
"Oh, Tails..." The blue hedgehog whispered.
"As much as I'm kinda bracing myself to be nine years older, it doesn't seem right. Sure a lot of people including Chris, Helen, Danny and Francies would have to live through nine years growing up again, but on the bright side, they would get another nine years of slight expansion of their lives of this generation only, and the ones that were born would be safe in another time-line where the merging wouldn't even happen. It's like two presents with the same past, leading to two different futures. There'll be not just another version of Earth, but another version of us too, because everything in the new timeline separate from our own would still have us in the original memories." Tails continued, smiling softly and with support.
"So you're saying that I could end up creating new versions of us that won't have a clue about what's going on?" Sonic asked, rather worried.
"Potentially, yeah. But whatever you choose, whatever you feel is more right, that's up to you and as we said, we're gonna be right there. Chris understands that too."
Sonic still wasn't sure, but he then remembered what his human best friend said earlier, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it did make a whole lot of more sense than simply going for aging himself and everybody else by nine years which sounded even worse now that he thought about it. Most wouldn't even have a chance to experience life growing up, and those like Tails, Cosmo and Cream wouldn't grow into teenagers, they would be forced to come teenagers without being ready.
"I know it's your choice to make, Sonic, and I do want to get married with Helen, more than anything, but I don't mind in waiting for another nine years with my new memories and all. You can't force yourself or everybody else in your world to lose the future nine years of your lives. It's up to you to choose." Chris said encouragingly, with the other humans nodding in agreement.
"...Just one question." The blue hedgehog began, hesitantly. "Can't I just prevent time from stopping and merge the worlds where everybody can just go back to normal?"
"No. I calculated the time zones of the two worlds and, Earth's time has been moving too fast since we left, so it would be out of balance. If we did that, then time would increase for both worlds that everybody would age rapidly and all life would be lost. The only two choices is the only way to have Earth's time to return completely back to the same flow as ours. There is no third option, and using Chaos Control for that is way too dangerous." The two-tailed kit apologetically explained, which as he did, the group ended up having the image of what could happen if Sonic did try that third idea which resulted in them seeing babies age into adults within days and not years, which was even worse.
'Was worth a shot.' Sonic sighed, knowing that there was only one option left, and he conceded. "Then I guess that's it then. I have to choose which one to change..."
He closed his eyes to feel and hear what his heart was telling him, and like his mind even though both choices weren't fair, he knew that only one was more right than the other and then opened them.
"To tell the truth, aging us by nine years is definitely worse than the second option. You're right, Tails. It would give humanity an extra nine years to live, at least in this century or whatever." Sonic breathed in deeply before exhaling, declaring with determination. "I'm going to save our time-line. It's better that way and it would give everybody another chance while those who were born would live in the new time-line without worrying about any of this. I just hope they'll be alright when they get to the new time-line itself. I'm nervous about the kids, but...they have to be safe, right?"
Tails smiled in relief despite the choice, and Knuckles sighed while Rouge smirked, Shadow and Omega just shared a surprised glance, while the blue hedgehog wiped away the last of his tears and smiled at the two-tailed fox before hugging him, to which his little brother returned for a few moments before letting each other go.
"Thanks, Tails. I needed that." Sonic said gratefully, playfully stroking his little brother's head which made the two-tailed fox giggle before they and even Knuckles shared a high-five, before the teenage hedgehog pointed up ahead with determination. "Let's go! That Egghead is about to become scrambled!"
"Yeah!" Tails cheered.
"Let's end this!" Knuckles agreed.
"Agreed." Shadow nodded.
"Dr. Eggman will be destroyed!" Omega declared.
"Sounds good to me." Rouge nodded.
Sonic nodded, smirking as he once again took the lead with his friends and allies following once more.
Team Rose, Team Chris and the Chaotix searched far and wide through out part of the back of the ship finding the keys to the cells when Amy, Cosmo, Espio, Charmy and Vector found them in separate areas before they, Cream and Cheese, Chris, Francies, Danny and Topaz hurried to what they found were two cells at the very back on a lower level.
"There they are! Let's bust our client and the other prisoners outta here!" Vector declared, punching his palm with his fist.
Everyone was about to cheer in agreement when Cheese heard something behind them and looked and chirped in alarm, making Cream to turn around and she gasped in horror.
"Oh no! The GUN people are here!" Cream screamed out, covering her mouth with her hands. Her friends all turned to see and they all gasped in horror and dismay when they saw the remaining fleet of GUN forces heading straight towards them.
"That's not good!" Charmy gulped with a sweat drop.
"We're trapped!" Topaz exclaimed in dismay.
"What do we do?" Cosmo asked fearfully, her hands clasped together.
"Let's just hope that Sonic and the others will beat Eggman and find Nasaru before we end up caught." Chris said nervously, thinking to himself. 'C'mon, Sonic...Don't quit now...Everybody believes in you...'
"Sonic...Please, be careful." Amy whispered to herself, clasping her hands together as well as she knew that her 'boyfriend' was their only hope now.
On the upper level not too far from Amy's group that found themselves trapped, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge and Omega made it to the back of the Fortress themselves where they saw more fleets surrounding them and, as they heard more sounds behind them which made them stop, they turned around and at Omega's announcement of alert of GUN forces approaching, they all gasped in shock and horror.
"These humans really don't know when to quit." Shadow hissed, gritting his teeth.
"They're heading straight towards Amy and the others!" Tails realized in horror.
"NO!" Sonic screamed out in dismay, fearing for the rest of their friends' safeties and even worse, he couldn't take on an entire fleet and he didn't want to kill anyone either.
"Well, it looks like you've got your hands full, Sonic!" Eggman's voice suddenly bellowed from above, making the blue hedgehog gasp before he and the others spun around to see the evil doctor hover down in his Egg Mobile, grinning evilly at them. "Did the rest of your friends get lost following you while trying to find me?"
"Eggman!" Team Sonic bellowed, narrowing their eyes as they and Team Dark quickly stood ready to finish this once and for all.
"Assuming that is the real one." Shadow murmured, gazing at his robotic companion and questioned. "What do you think, Omega?"
Omega attempted to scan Eggman but only found static and responded. "Sensors jammed. Real Eggman ID not possible."
"Well, either way, it's no more games!" Rouge declared. "I knew you were hiding something, doctor, but this is too much! You think you could mess with me, huh? Well, not this time!"
"You won't get away with this!" Tails added angrily.
"Give it up now!" Knuckles shouted.
"Looks like it's checkmate, Eggman." Sonic bravely took a couple steps closer, glaring up at his enemy. "If that is who you really are. Let's end this!"
'Eggman' growled before snapping. "Enough of this, you troublesome fools! Time to meet your maker! I'll show you what real evil is!"
As he pushed a button on the Egg Mobile, the floor suddenly opened up between where he was and where six of the Sonic Heroes stood as the two teams were forced back a little just as a giant golden mechanic suit that reminded Sonic of the E-18 robot from ages ago emerged, only that it had lance-like arms, approximately about 60 feet tall considering. Eggman then controlled his mobile to attach it to the robot, cackling manically.
"Behold my latest creation, the terror of your worst nightmares! The Egg Emperor! Oh ho ho ho ho ho!" The evil scientist bellowed, with lightning flashing in the background to make the effect more terrifying and rain began to pour onto the deck, the winds beginning to pick up.
The two teams stood ready, bracing themselves for a really hard battle.
"This is it, guys." Sonic breathed as he glared up at the giant robot and it's evil creator. "We came this far, so don't hold anything back!"
"I just hope Amy, Cosmo and the others won't get caught by GUN, but I'm ready!" Tails nodded, a little nervous as the storm wasn't helping, but he refused to give up. He wasn't about to lose his friends again.
"It's gonna be okay. I know we can win!" Sonic encouraged.
It seems that the final battle was about to begin, though where was Dr. Narasu? Will Sonic and his friends save the captives and defeat the two evil scientists? Will they be able to cure Vector in time and save the worlds and time itself?
The fate of Space and Time was now hanging on edge!
A/N: I was going to have the Eggman battle in this chapter, but it ended up being like this instead as the real final battles are about to begin in the next chapter and more revelations are to be seen. Hopefully I'll be able to update this again sooner than the last time, but we'll have to wait and see. Again, I'm really sorry for the long wait and I tried my best with this chapter, and Sonic's decision making.
In response for a third option, I came to realize that it wasn't possible as it would cause more harm than good for both Sonic's World and Earth. Again, I'm really sorry in advance.
See you later!