(Fanfic) Sonic Aftergame. part one

[Mobius_Historian]

Short tales of the adventures of Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, and Knuckles, along with Sonic's other friends and Allies. Tales that come after the games, set a decade in the future.  Prologue gives my origins of the characters, game/IDW universe but borrows from other universes. Set in the same universe as my story 'The fight for freedom', but not necessary to understand this story.

This is the story of a hero...

He hadn't always been a hero, of course. Once, in the days before fighting robots and zone running, before saving people and winning the hearts of the masses, there was a childhood. It was a childhood spent in a small village on the beaches of South Island, where there were few other children, and most adults were too busy to notice him very much. Here, he spent his days happily running across the endless checkered pathways, racing through loop-de-loops at top speed, and enjoying the fresh air and warm sunshine. It was a childhood of freedom, spent mostly doing whatever made him happy. And it would be that freedom, for both himself and others, that he would come to cherish more than anything else in this life.

There was a time before this childhood, so the ones that had raised the little blue hedgehog had told him. Years ago, he had been born on faraway Christmas Island as Sonic Parlouzer, one of three triplets born to a pair of happy hedgehog parents. His father had been Paulie Parlouzer, a rough-and-tumble pilot of cargo planes, and the mother was Queen Aleena Parlouzer, ruler of the small islander population of Christmas Island. Both were very, very happy they had given birth to their children; Sonic and his siblings, Sonia and Manic. But that happiness was not to last, as Aleena and Paulie were lost in a plane crash during a terrible storm. With no one able to care for the three babies together, the children were separated. Baby Sonic was sent to live with his uncle, Dr. Charles Parlouzer, an archeologist and scholar. Uncle Chuck was Paulie's brother who had left Christmas island long ago, and was happy to receive his infant nephew.

Here on South Island, Uncle Chuck had raised Sonic, educating him in the basics such as reading and writing. Most of this went straight over the speedy little hedgehog's head, though Uncle Chuck did instill a love of reading adventure stories in the boy, like the Arabian knights, or the tales of King Arthur. The village also had a protector; Longclaw the owl, last of a clan of warriors who defended the world from evil. Longclaw saw Sonic's incredible speed, and with Chuck's blessing, began to train young sonic in how to use his power to fight. The blue hedgehog learned how to curl into a ball and spin dash, how to roll and smash into an enemy, and how to leap great distances from surface to surface. For Sonic, it was all just fun and games, and Uncle Chuck and Longclaw were the only parents he had ever known.

There were many things Sonic learned from them, things about who they were, and their place was in the world. Uncle Chuck told Sonic that they were Islanders, a race of animal folk that lived on earth's islands, while humans lived on the great continents. Uncle Chuck said long ago, there had only been humans living on the world. But ten thousand years ago, dark Gaia and light Gaia woke from their eternal slumber to do battle. Although light Gaia had won and sealed the dark one away, the light and dark energy from their battle washed over the islands, slowly mutating the humans who lived there into short, anthropomorphic animal-like folk over the generations. Thus, the race of islanders was born, while those on the continents, untouched by the Gaia energy, remained human.

Longclaw agreed with this, and also told Sonic of the Chaos Emeralds- a set of seven mystical gems that draw upon the power of chaos magic, and turned peoples thoughts into power. Whoever possessed one of the chaos emeralds could perform wonders, and if anyone possessed them all, they would become an invincible being. Longclaw believed Sonic was a champion chosen by the chaos emeralds, and one of the emeralds had empowered him with his incredible speed. That is why the wise old owl sought to train young Sonic as her apprentice, and wanted him to become a protector of the innocent after she was gone. The speedy blue hedgehog did not know if any of this was true, but went along with the fun training to make Longclaw and Uncle Chuck happy.

But shortly after Sonic's tenth birthday, the Angel Island clan of Echidnas descended from the skies on hang gliders, and attacked the village. Uncle chuck and Longclaw thought they were after Sonic's power, and hid the Boy away, as Longclaw went out to face the invaders. The brave owl warrior fought valiantly, actually managing to slay all of the Echidna invaders, but soon perished from her own wounds, as well. Sonic was stricken with grief, and Uncle Chuck did his best to console the boy. But then and there, Sonic decided that being too tied to anything- a person or place- caused too much pain, because sooner or later that person would go away, or you would have to leave that place. And so, Sonic decided he would travel the world, free as the wind. Going from place to place and seeking all the thrills he could find. Running.. running was the one thing he was good at, and he would run as far and as fast away from the pain and loneliness, so they would never hurt him again.

Then one day, when Sonic was in his early teenage years, a madman came to South Island. This vile villain, a mad scientist by trade, started capturing the small animals of south island, and using them to power his robots. He had come searching for the fabled chaos emeralds, and was capturing and torturing the small animals Sonic had been friends with since the early days of his childhood. And so, with uncle Chuck's blessing, Sonic went out to face the madman. And thus began one of the most exciting and adventure-filled chapters of his young life.

...

This is the tale of a sidekick

This is the story of a two-tailed fox, who came from Westside island. He was named Miles Prower, and was the son of Kilo Prower, a famous scientist. Miles's mother had died when he was just an infant, and so Kilo tried to raise the boy with all the love and affection he could. While Kilo had taught Miles all about science, nature had gifted him with the ability to fly with his two tails. The rest of the village saw his two tails as an oddity, and treated the poor little fox as an oddity. Miles's uncle, Merlin Prower, was a wizard- a manipulator of Chaos energy though sorcery, who only barely got along with his brother, Kilo. Merlin tried to comfort the boy, telling him he had been born with two tails because he was a champion chosen by the chaos emeralds. Merlin believed the little boy was destined for greatness, though Kilo told his son to ignore uncle Merlin's crazy talk, and to concentrate only on his studies.

But the bullying and teasing from the other kids did not stop, and every time little Miles tried to build something, the bullies in his village would wreck it. But one day, Kilo Prower took his son to Coca island, to research some mysterious energy readings there. But tragically, the Battle Bird armada had built a secret base there, using the islands as a staging grounds to look for their tribe's legendary lost home, the Babylon garden. And when Kilo and his Miles accidentally stumbled across the battle bird forces during a training exercise, they were taken before the Great Battle Kuku, the leader of the bird forces. The battle Kuku was furious they had found his men, and had Kilo executed before his son's eyes. This would come to backfire on the birds, however, as the child prodigy proceeded to not only escape from the armada's clutches, but then used his technical skills to take down the entire battle bird armada with his bare hands, forcing the birds into retreat.

Poor little Miles then returned from Coca island, where Uncle Merlin then took him in. But the teasing still did not stop, and even only seemed to get worse. Although he had fought fiercely against the battle birds while enraged at his father's death, he could not bring himself to stand up to the bullies in his home village that had been tormenting him. Then one day, the evil Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, the villain who had been driven off of South island only a few months before, invaded Westside Island in his mad chaos emerald search. But tails was too busy being bullied by his fellow villagers to even notice.. until a mysterious blue stranger whizzed by, knocking the bullies dizzy, and impressing young Miles with his 'coolness'. Miles soon made friends with this mysterious blue hero, calling himself Sonic the Hedgehog, and was soon helping him is his battles against Dr. Eggman. Sonic soon began to treat the flying fox almost like a little brother, giving him the nickname Tails. Sonic was impressed with Miles'stechnical skills, and even let him work on and pilot the tornado, an old biplane that Sonic had inherited from the father he never knew.

It was here, with the blessings of Uncle Merlin, that Tails had found his place in the world.

...

This is the story of a heroine.

This is the tale of a pink hedgehog, named Rosie. She was from a small town on Northside Island, and grew up with all the love and affection a child could ask for from her community. Rosie's father was the town blacksmith, forging whatever metal supplies or parts the town needed with his great hammer. Her mother, named Amanda, was the town mystic. She used her deck of cards to foresee the future, and warn the villagers of impending danger. Little Rosie inherited the talents of both parents, learning how to swing a hammer with great force, as well as how to read the cards for mystical insight. Having been raised in such a loving environment, little Rosie had so much love to give, but not everyone was willing to receive that love and kindness. The only other hedgehog in town, a little girl named Breezie, seemed to rebuff every one of Rosie's attempts to make friends with her. She only bullied the other hedgehog girl, and treated her with contempt. Rosie never understood why the girl hated her, nor did she understand why Breezie left the village when she was twelve years old.

Rosie had a knack for getting herself into trouble, earning her the nickname 'Rosie the Rascal' from her fellow townsfolk. It was this penchant for getting into trouble that led her to break her people's greatest taboo. There was a location on Northside Island called Never Lake- a sacred place, where the people of the village were forbidden to go during a certain night of the year, when the fabled little planet was supposed to appear over the lake. Rosie the Rascal proceeded to ignore this taboo, and went to the shore of Never Lake, after getting a card reading that she would meet the love of her life there. Sure enough, the little planet appeared, and Rosie the Rascal met Sonic the Hedgehog, the hero who had saved both Westside and South Island from Doctor Eggman. Rosie was smitten with Sonic, and became convinced he was her knight in shining armor the cards spoke of. She followed Sonic up to the little planet, where the mad scientist was waiting for the hero. Rosy the Rascal then got herself kidnapped by a metal version of Sonic, and the blue blur had to save her.

Sonic defeated Eggman and metal, and returned Rosie to the surface of the earth as the little planet vanished. But when she returned to her home town, her friends and family were not happy with her. Rosy the Rascal's mother warned that the sacred time stones, the objects on the forbidden planet that protected the time stream, had been violated. And as a result, the demon known as the time eater would awaken in a few years, and threaten all of reality. Blaming Rosie for this, the town elders exiled her from her home forever, despite her mother's harsh objections, and pleas for mercy. This forced the sobbing little girl to pack her things, and leave behind the only home she had ever known. Her mother was willing to follow her little girl into exile, but her father, shamed at his daughter's actions, forbade it, leaving poor Rosie to fend for herself in a big and dangerous world.

Having nothing else to with her life as an exile, Rosie -now taking the name Amy Rose, in honor of the mother who had stood up for her- followed Sonic on his many adventures. Acting like a lovesick fangirl at first, Sonic was initially repulsed by her early advances. But as the years passed, many battles with Eggman and other foes tempered the excited little fangirl into a brave young woman. Amy Rose became a heroine in her own right, easily capable of taking care of herself, and forming a strong bond with Sonic. Now, a childhood crush on her hero has turned to adult love... a feeling Sonic now shares for her as well, even if he will not admit it, even to himself.

...

This is the story of a Guardian.

Knuckles the echidna...a brave warrior, last of the Angel Island Echidna clan, and Guardian of the master emerald. When Knuckles was born, his tribe was already a people in decline. Less than a hundred warriors remained, and Knuckles was the only child of his generation that did not die by either disease or accident. Knuckle's father, Pakal, was the tribe's guardian of the master emerald, and had been training his son to take up that duty some day. Pakal trained Knuckles how to fight, how to glide, how to read the ancient echidna texts, and how to treasure hunt. Knuckles always took his bloodline's duty seriously, and fully planned to live up to his duty to both his ancestors, and his tribe.

Knuckles was only a little boy, when the tribe learned the location of Longclaw, last of the owl warriors. Following the advice of their hot hothead leader, Chief Uxmal,the entire tribe foolishly decided to try and capture Longclaw to learn what secrets she knew of the master emerald. Knuckles, eager to share in the glory of battle, rushed to get his spear. But Pakal stopped his son, telling him his time to honor their tribe would come, but for now he should stay safe on the island. Pakal promised he and the other members of the tribe would return with the owl warrior in chains, and together they would have a great victory feast. And so, Knuckles watched the last members of his tribe descend to the surface by glider, and went back to his hut to wait for their return in triumph...

...Knuckles never saw his people again.

Knuckles spent the next several years growing up nearly alone, the animals of the island his only companions. The young echidna warrior, the last of the Angel Island tribe, learned to hunt and feed himself, strengthening his muscles and reflexes to the point he could break large boulders with a single punch. The island was like a large playground to him, and he freely explored the wild wilderness, as well as the many ruins that dotted the island. Knuckles would often visit the hidden palace zone, where he would meet with the only person on the island he could talk to, his great grandfather, Athair. Robed, wearing spectacles and carrying a trident-like staff, the old echidna would often lecture Knuckles about his duty, or share his wisdom and advice on echidna lore. It was Athiar who told Knuckles the fate of his father and the rest of the tribe, and the old man tried to comfort the young guardian in his hours of sorrow. Never seeing Athair outside of the hidden palace, Knuckles was not sure if this venerable ancestor was alive, a spirit, or somewhere in between. But he was grateful to have somebody to talk to, to keep from going mad from loneliness.

The last echidna of Angel island's solitude continued. Until the day a large, moon-shaped object crashed onto the floating island, sending it hurtling to the ground. This massive vessel was the death egg, and from it emerged a human scientist named Dr. Ivo Robotnik. The scientist then spun fantastic lies about the evil Sonic the Hedgehog, apprentice to the owl warrior Longclaw, who was coming to steal the master emerald. Knuckles was eager to believe him, blinded by thoughts of revenge, and agreed to join forces with the doctor. What would follow would lead to the super-strong echidna warrior changing sides, and forming a friendship with the hedgehog that would see them through many adventures. These adventures would also lead to the lonely echidna making many more friends and enemies, including a rivalry with a thieving bat girl, who would try constantly try to steal the master emerald. But she would only manage to steal the echidna's heart, just as he had stolen hers. From treasure hunting to fighting to help save the world, Knuckles the echidna has found a new family, as near and dear to him as the one he had lost.

...

This is the tale of a little lady.

Her name was cream the Rabbit, and she was a well- mannered little lady. Born the daughter islander bunnies Johnny Lightfoot and Vanilla Rabeau-Lightfoot, Cream the Rabbit grew up in Floral Forest village, an islander town located on a small island just off the coast of the united federation. Losing her father to illness at an early age, Cream was raised by Vanilla to be extremely polite and lady-like. Proper manners, proper etiquette, and proper grooming and dress were emphasized in the little girl's education. Vanilla thought of her younger rebellious sister, Scarlett Rabeau -nicknamed 'Bunnie'- who had run off to be the hairdresser and lady-in-waiting for some princess on Sabato island. No, Cream would be raised to be the toast of polite society, just as Uncle Beauregard and Aunt Lulumae had raised Vanilla to be. The mother and daughter also lived near a chao garden, from which Cream adopted her beloved little pet, cheese the those early years, Vanilla did everything she could to shelter and shield Cream from the cruelty and harshness of the outside world...

...but that could not last forever.

The day came, when Cream was still a little girl, that Dr. Eggman kidnapped her and her mother. Sonic managed to rescue cream and cheese, who them helped Sonic on his mission to rescue their mother. Afterward, Vanilla sadly realized she could not protect her daughter forever, and occasionally permitted Cream to join Sonic and his friends on their less dangerous adventures. During this time, Vanilla and Cream adopted a former Eggman robot named Gemerl, who turned on the doctor, and afterward became part of Vanilla and Cream's family. During these years, Cream grew closer to the young mechanical genius, Tails, and the two became the greatest of friends. Cream became something of a sidekick to Amy, a female counterpoint to Sonic and Tails's relationship. The little rabbit girl friendliness and kindness was the glue that held Sonic's crew together, even enabling Cream to befriend a fiery feline princess from another dimension. It was these years, and these adventures, that would lead cream from being the happy and polite little girl she was, into the beautiful and elegant young lady she has become now.

...Now, if only a certain two-tailed fox would notice her...

...

The years have come, and the years have gone for our brave heroes. They have faced Robotniks and badniks, Chaos and metal overlords, time eaters and Iblis triggers, so many foes and challenges. Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles have just arrived at adulthood, and Tails and Cream have come to their teens. Our Heroes can look back upon their long and heroic careers, and remember adventures beyond counting..

 

Edited March 10 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

Story One: Opening battle

(Westside Island, ten years after the events of Sonic frontiers)

It was going to be another one of those days.

Located on the Coast of Westside Island, Seaside City was one of the larger and more beautiful of the Islander cities. While not as big as Metropolis (the largest Islander city on the planet, than Robotnik briefly took over), or as Beautiful as Starlight City (South Island's glittering brownstone paradise, the current home of the aging Uncle Chuck), Seaside was just the perfect size, spaciousness, and cleanliness to suit Islander tastes, in comparison to a human city. It's just the kind of place that would be bustling full of happy animal folk on a warm summer day like this...

...if it weren't for the crisis that was unfolding downtown.

The downtown center was a disaster area. Overturned police cars, panicked and fleeing civilians, and terrified officers shakily holding up their guns. The band of five supervillains had just trashed the downtown area, smashing buildings and crushing vehicles-to making their point to the city's populace. Even now, one of those supervillains was currently holding a captured officer up by the throat, grinning murderously at him with razor sharp teeth.

"Please... please don't hurt me!" The officer, a terrified male goat islander, pleaded. "What do you want?"

"Don't worry, grass eater. You're not the one we're after!" Surge the Tenrec growled. "You and these other punks are just the bait to lure that blue boy scout and his four furry friends out!"

Surge the Tenrec- a super-fast, dark mirrored counterpart to the world's fastest hedgehog. A bright-green islander in punk clothing, even the sight of her was enough to send most people running in fear. This was not the original Surge, of course. That poor girl, a brainwashed tool who was the tragic victim of a madman's evil plan, had redeemed herself, and turned away from evil. That Surge had her cybernetic implants removed, returning to the life she had before, with no powers. This Surge was a clone of the original, made by some insane geneticist following in the late Dr. Starline's twisted footsteps. Unlike the original, this Surge's abilites were genetic mutations with no cybernetics. And also unlike the tragic original, whose fragmented post-brainwashed memories the clone had, this Surge were irredeemably evil.

"Don't worry, Mistress Surge. We'll lower those heroes out." Kitsunami the Fennec giddily agreed, keeping several officers pinned to the wall with a fist made out water. "Then I can mess up that little two-tailed freak, real good!"

Kit was Surge's little toady, who had the power to control water. Some believed he was a genetically enhanced clone like Surge, others believe he was the original, Serving the clone as he had his previous partner. In either case, he was still a destructive threat.

"Hey, you two are in it for revenge!" Rough, a sleazy-looking short islander skunk, hissed. "We're in this for the money, so the boss had better pay us well!"

"Yeah, this is for the dough!" Tumble, a taller and paler skunk, agreed with his brother. "He better pay us good, or we're wasting our time!"

Rough and Tumble were a pair of Skunk Brother outlaws, ones who worked for the highest bidder. They had faced Sonic and his friends many times, and Rough's natural stink powers- combined with tumble's great strength- was usually enough to at least annoy the heroes. Normally, they would enter the battle field with a catch phrase, but their latest employer had talked them out of it.

"Don't worry boys, you'll get your money." Mimic the octopus grinned, shape-shifting out of his disguise as one of the officers. "Just be sure to put on a good show for our current boss."

Like Surge, Mimic the Octopus was not the Original, but was rather the first Mimic's brother. He had taken taken the name after the first Mimic had been killed by Whisper the Wolf in self-defense. This Mimic had no thoughts of revenge, however, and was actually grateful the wolf had disposed of his treacherous sibling. This mimic shared his sibling's shape-shifting ability, but was far more loyal to his teammates... on the side of organized crime, of course.

The five fiends were still gloating over success, when a large shadow eclipsed the whole square. Looking up, they saw a circular airship, covered in a star pattern with large white wings coming out of each side. The vessel looked like a giant spring bumper with a star on top, like the ones you see out on open zone fields. It was a ship that all of the villains recognized, having been built by the fox Miles "Tails" Prower to get him and his friends around the planet quickly. Seeing the hatch on the ship open, the criminals braced themselves for battle.

"It's the sky patrol!" Surge grimaced, dropping the cop. "Team Sonic is here!"

The words were barely out of her mouth, when a blue blue came racing down out of the ship, and slammed into her. Blue quills, green eyes, white gloves... sonic the hedgehog, the world's greatest hero, landed a punch in the tenrec's gut, sending her flying backward.

"Boy Surge, you and your little goon squad here really messed things up, didn't you?" Sonic quipped, clenching his fists. "in you're case, I'll make an exception!"

"Save your breath, hedgehog!" Surge snarled at him, leaping into the air with an electrically charged fist. "I'm gonna enjoy giving you the shock of your life!"

Kit was about to intervene, when a small amber-colored robotic dog slammed into him, knocking the fennec backwards. Kit sent out a concentrated blast of water, blowing the little robot away, as a two-tailed islander fox holding a remote landed nearby,

"Aw, why'd ya have to smash T-pup, Kit?" Tails put the remote away, readying his own fists. "Looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way."

"Anytime you're ready, fox boy!" Kit snarled, launching a blast of water at his opponent. "I'll be happy to drown you!"

At the Same moment, Rough and Tumble were hit simultaneously by two attacks; Rough by a Piko Piko hammer to the head, and Tumble by a spiked punch. Both skunks were sent flying back into the wall. When the looked up, a Pink hedgehog and a red echidna stood over them.

"Hm, good thing The Chaotix asked them to keep an eye on Seaside city while they were gone." Amy Rose chuckled, raising her hammer. "Otherwise, these losers could've tore up the city."

"Less talking, more fighting." Knuckles grumbled, cracking his fists. "These fools are keeping me away from guarding the master emerald."

The four heroes and four villains entered a melee; Surge and Sonic trading blows faster than the eye could see, Tails zipping through the air, trying to dodge water blasts, while getting hits in whenever he could. Amy was covering her mouth and gagging from rough's evil toxic gas cloud, while getting strikes in with her hammer. And Knuckles wrestled with Tumble, grappling in a battle of strength that the large skunk was taking a long time too lose. The battle seemed to go back and forth several times, but the heroes were finally starting to get the upper hand. it wasn't long before all four foes were subdued, and Tails was getting four pairs of mechanical handcuffs out.

What the heroes had failed to notice, was Mimic turning invisible, and sneaking up to the Sky patrol while they were distracted fighting. Using a grappling hook to climb up to the open hatchway, Mimic sought out the ship's bridge, and was soon behind the controls of the weapons systems.

"Say goodbye, heroes." He said with a chuckle, aiming the ships guns at the four champions who had just handed his comrades off to the police. "You'll never see this one coming."

"Um, excuse me, mister Mimic?" A high pitched, female voice said from behind him. "I really don't mean to bother you, but I really can't let you blow away my friends like that."

"Oh no..." Mimic muttered, sitting there in shock. "We forgot about the bunny..."

The octopus went to jump up, but Cream quickly thrust both of her giant ears forward, smacking him on either side of his head like two giant fly swatters. Mimic stumbled backward out of the seat, before an angry blue chao in a bow tie jumped on him, punching and kicking like a rabid attack dog.

"Get him, cheese!"

"Chao! Chao!"

It wasn't long before the batter Mimic was subdued, and joined the others in mechanical handcuffs that blocked their powers. As the police took the villains away, two figures watched the scene from a stretched limo with tinted windows across the street.

"Well, I hope you were pleased with the performance. They did as you asked, and held back so the heroes could easily beat them." Clutch the Opossum told the hooded and robed figure sitting in the seat across from him. "I'll have them all out of jail within a few days, and ready for your next job."

"They performed adequately, and their battle told me that which I wished to know." The hooded figure hissed in a gravely voice, crossing his arms. "I now know what the heroes are capable of, and shall be ready for them, when the time comes!"

"Of course, my team and I expect to be well paid for this, as well as any future missions." Clutch smiled a gold-toothy grin, leaning on his polished cane. "Of course, that should be no problem for a 'sorcerer' such as yourself."

"Do not worry, my good felon. You shall be well compensated for your services." The hooded figure thew a bag of gemstones at the opossum with a clawed left hand, as the limo drove on down the street. "For I have plans do deal with these heroes. and the quickster and his allies shall learn I am a far deadlier foe, than Robotnik ever was!"

...

It wasn't that long after, before the Sky Patrol was hovering over Angel Island.

"Well, it's been fun, everybody. But I gotta get back to my duty." The red echidna said with a smile, as he walked toward the open hatch. "I hope that bat girl hasn't snagged the damn thing again, I don't want the island plunging into the sea for the twentieth time."

Everyone aboard chuckled inwardly at that. They all knew his relationship with Rouge the Bat had vastly improved over the past few years; her attempts to steal the emerald had actually become a playful game between the two.

"See ya later, Knucklhead! We'll radio ya if we have any more trouble!" Sonic laughed,. as the echidna leaped out of the open hatchway. As the hatch closed and the airship moved on, Sonic looked to Tails. "Hey little buddy, leave me off at Green Hill, I need to..."

"Uh, Sonic? Could you stop off at Studiopolis with me?" Amy pleaded with him. "I was hoping maybe we could visit the filming set of that new Ristar movie, and maybe get a bite to eat?"

"Aw, c'mon Amy!" Sonic groaned in annoyance."You know how much I hate waiting in line, especially to see a dumb movie set! Couldn't we visit the set of 'After Burner' instead? Or that ninja flick 'Shinobi'? "

Sonic looked at the downcast look on the pink hedgehog's face, and Sighed. In recent years, Sonic had changed how he thought about this little pink girl, going from a revulsion an annoyance at her obsessive fangirlish tendencies, to true friendship and affection. Sonic thought the change came about during the whole werehog fiasco, when Amy actually did not recognize him, he actually felt sad about that. Then, when she said she still loved him despite how he looked, he had agreed with a date with her after the Shattered World Crisis. He missed that date, due to getting sucked into a book about King Arthur and his knights. Amy's anger at being stood up caused her to briefly revert to her fangirl personality, making him miserable during the extreme gear Grand Prix. But her anger slowly faded, and by the time of the Starfall Island incident, Sonic had realized how he truly felt about Amy... and wished with regret he had made up his mind sooner.

"All right Amy, let's go to Studiopolis." The hero sighed. "But we're getting chili dogs afterward, okay?"

"Yaay! You won't regret it Sonic!" She clung to his arm, giggling. "I promise you'll have a good time!"

"Yeah, whatever Ames." Sonic Rolled his eyes. "Let's just get going."

Sonic faked a groan, to keep up his 'cool' image. As Tails stopped the ship over Studiopolis, the two hedgehogs leapt out of the open hatch, and down to the ground.

"Se ya later, Tails!"

"Bye bye, Cream!"

Tails then flew on towards Flower Forest Village to drop Cream off. It was then the teenage rabbit girl walked up behind Tails, and leaned on the pilot's seat, whispering in the fox's ear.

"Hey Tails... why don't you come back with Cheese and I for a picnic?" She smiled, looking over his shoulder. "I made some of that mint flavored cake you like."

Looking up from his console, Miles Prower turned around in his chair to face her. The aging process of islanders slowed down when they reached maturity,so Amy, Knuckles and Sonic looked now almost the same as they did back during the Starfall island incident, and how they would continue to look for decades-except for Amy's longer quills and low-cut white dress. Heck, Vanilla looked exactly as she did when Tails first met her, and it would be decades from now before she got her first gray hair! But him and Cream... they had grown up in the ten years since Starfall island, and were now much taller and more mature than the little kids they had once been. While Tails had simply grown in height, Cream had grown in... other ways. Ways that were shown off by her yellow Poodle skirt and tight wool sweater. Ways that the hormonal teenage fox couldn't help but notice.

"Uhhhh, no thanks Cream! I gotta get back to my workshop!" Miles turned back to his console, trying to hide his crimson red face, as his two tails thrashed about wildly. "We're over your town now. Give me a call later, okay? see ya!"

"Okay Tails, if that's what you want." Cream pouted, pushing out her bottom lip, making her way towards the exit. "Stop by mom and I's house if you change your mind, okay? I'll keep that mint cake in the fridge for you..."

As the teenage rabbit islander left, Tails found himself gasping for breath.

"Oh my gosh, if Vanilla knew what was going through my mind back there, she'd skin this fox!" Miles Prower thought to himself, burying his face in his hands. "What am I gonna do? I might be reading this wrong, but I think that Cream is starting to get to me!"

Trying to put that eighteen-year-old rabbit girl out of his mind, Tails flew the Sky Patrol back to his workshop in the Mystic ruins.

(To be followed up on in future Chapters)

Next Story: Whatever Happened to Mighty and Ray?

Edited January 11 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

Mighty and Ray's Unexpected adventure

(The Northstar Islands, many, many years after Sonic and his friends and their adventure there)

"Okay, buddy! These are the islands you and your little squirrel pal wanted left off at, right?" The human cargo pilot looked back at the two islanders, sitting in the cargo hold. "You sure you want to just jump out? You paid me really well for this flight, I can land down there for you, ya know."

Mighty and Ray's only response was to thank the pilot who had flown them here, then both leap out of the open cargo bay door on the plane together at thirty thousand feet. Two skilled and trained islander fighters such as themselves could easily survive this fall, a fact which the flying squirrel proved by opening his arms, and staring a gentle glide down towards the island. The armadillo, meanwhile, took out his extreme gear board, and glided on down to the surface in style. The two touched down on the island near the beach, and had a look around at all of the tropical beauty surrounding them.

"Ah, so this is Crescent Isle, largest of the Northstar Islands." Mighty exclaimed, stretching his arms widely after such a long fall. "Sonic told me about this place during our last adventure with him, looks like it will be a perfect place to do some training, and take in the beauty of Nature!"

"Ohhh, I wanna go explore!" Ray called out excitedly, zipping around over the armadillo's head. "Can I go have a look around while you set up? Can I? Can I?"

"All right, little buddy, you go ahead." Mighty replied with a laugh, starting to get the tent set up. "Just be careful, we don't know who or what is out there."

The eager little squirrel zipped away, and mighty continued to set up the tent. They were quite a pair, Mighty mused, the physically strongest islander on the planet, stronger even than Knuckles the echidna, and a crazy hyperactive flying Squirrel. Much like Sonic and his little pal Tails, the two of them wandered wherever the wind took them.

It hadn't always been that way, of course. Mighty had been born into a normal Armadillo family; with his father Blockhead Bill, and his older sister, Matilda. The armadillo's mom had passed away from NIDS when he was just a baby, and Mighty had begun showing his freakishly powerful strength from an early age. Both his father and his sister were freaked out by him, despite the words of the village shaman that his strength might come from being a champion chosen by the chaos emeralds, so Mighty left home at an early age to become a wanderer. His first adventure came when he and two other islanders, Sonic and Ray, were abducted by the evil doctor Robotnik, and forced to run through a series of laboratory tests on an isolated island so the mad scientist could gather data on them. The trio managed to escape together, and Ray and Mighty decided to stay together after Sonic continued on his journey.

The flying squirrel was an orphan, and so mighty became like a big brother to him. The two wandered the world for a while, until they met up with Knuckles and the Chaotix for an adventure on carnival island, where they defeated Dr. Eggman and a powered-up version of metal Sonic (Ray stayed back on Angel island for his own safety on that one). Mighty and Ray then spent a while with the Chaotix under Knuckle's brief leadership, then went their own way after Knuckles left the group. A little more wandering brought them into another adventure with Sonic and his friends, involving some kind of wired phantom ruby, buy after that gem was destroyed Mighty and Ray started their wandering again.

Mighty thought back on all of these adventures, as he finished putting the tent up. But as he stood up to look around at the surrounding treeline, the armadillo couldn't shake the feeling he was being... watched. as if there was someone out there in the trees, studying his every move from hiding. He considered going out to take a look, before Ray came zooming back to the campsite.

"Mighty Mighty, you're not going to believe it!" The flying squirrel shrieked excitedly. "There is a whole bunch of stuff on this island! There's an amusement park, some ruins, and even an abandoned factory here! I can't believe-"

"Whoah, whoah, Ray! Slow down, little buddy!" Mighty laughed, raising his hands. "Those are probably mostly leftover buildings and stuff from Eggman's time here. Did you actually see anybody on the island?"

"Nah, you and I are the only ones here." Ray stopped and thought for a moment. "Actually, I thought I saw this weird person in armor trying to sneak around, but it must've been my imagination."

"Hmm, I'm not so sure." Mighty replied, scanning the treeline suspiciously. "Keep an eye peeled, little buddy. I've got the feeling that we are not alone here..."

For the next several days, the pair of heroes explored more and more of the island together. Mighty was shocked at how large some of the non-intelligent animals on the island got- far larger than the animals on the other islands or the continents. He and Ray explored the twisty pathways of the bridge island zone on the coast, taking in the beauty of the rainbows and waterfalls, but neither of them could escape the feeling that they were being watched from nearby. This came to a head when the pair were going down a narrow pathway through the edge of the jungle.

"Hm, looks like our silent companion is behind us." Mighty whispered to Ray, looking back at the shadow moving through the trees without much stealth. "You see them?"

Ray looked back over his shoulder, and could glimpse a figure behind them. "Yeah, I see em'. What ya wanna do?"

Stealing brief glances back, they could both see the stranger was a slightly short figure, wearing a bronze helmet, bronze breastplate, black tights, and bronze boots, while carrying a spear. The figure moved through the jungle very clumsily, and without much stealth. Mighty and Ray nodded to each other, then quickly dashed backward, rushing up right into the face of their mysterious armored follower.

"Hello there." Mighty said, a smirk on his face."Can we help you?"

"HI!" Ray said simultaneously. "What's your name?"

The figure, started by their sudden movement, let out a squeak and tumbled backwards, and disappeared down a semi-deep hole. Looking down into the darkness, Mighty and Ray heard loud pitiful wailing and sobbing coming from deep in the hole.

"Oh no, it's a girl... an islander girl." Mighty suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over him. "Wait here, little buddy, I'm gonna go fish her out."

Mighty then jumped down the hole, and before the armored figure could react, scooped her up into his arms, and leapt back up onto the surface.

"I'm very sorry about that, miss, we didn't mean to startle you." Mighty apologized, setting the girl down. "But you were following us around the island and were hiding, and didn't know if you were friend or foe."

"Hey Mighty! This must be that girl who lives alone on the island, that Amy Rose told us about!" Ray exclaimed, looking over at the armored female. "Your name is Trip!"

The armored figure- Trip- perked up at the mention of Amy's name, pointing to herself and nodding.

"So you're trip, huh? A pleasure to meet you, Miss Trip." He bowed to her. "I'm really sorry to ask this, but we could really use a guide while on these islands..."

The next few months passed peacefully, with Mighty and Ray exploring every part of the island, along with training and exercise. After Mighty had saved her from the hole,Trip followed Mighty around almost everywhere on the island. She never spoke or removed her helmet, but she was always nearby, even setting up her own tent in the clearing next to Mighty and Ray's. Putting on a colorful and frilly apron, she started making pancake meals for them, which the pair greedily devoured, and then thanked her for. She would sit nearby and watch, while Mighty and Ray sparred and trained fighting with each other. And her jaw dropped in awe, when Mighty smashed huge rocks and boulders with his bare fists.

Oftentimes, Ray would go explore treetops, and would bring Trip back a gift of a fruit or a flower, which would make the little armored islander girl hug the flying squirrel joyously. On quiet nights, Mighty would sit under a tree, and read one of historical novels by lantern light (a pastime of his, few knew about) and Trip would often sit beside him, eventually resting her head on his shoulder, and falling asleep. Other times, Trip would repeatedly fall over from her clumsiness while showing them around the island, and Mighty would offer to carry her on his back. But the armored girl would always motion for the armadillo carry her in his arms like a princess, an action which Mighty would oblige.

Sadly, the ten months that the pair of friends were to spend training on the island was coming to an end. Mighty realized that he wanted to thank Trip for all that she had done for him before he and mighty said goodbye and left the island. He decided he should get her a really nice gift, but the flowers and fruits that he and Ray always gave her didn't seem to be enough of a thank you.

"Come on Mighty, she's the same age as you. It should be easy to think of a gift for her." The armadillo pondered thoughtfully. "Hmmm, perhaps if I check out the ruins of her people on the island, I might get an idea for a gift."

On the morning of the day they were to leave, Mighty asked Ray to take Trip over to the abandoned carnival to have a look around, to keep her distracted. Making his way to the half-sunken ruins of Lagoon City, Mighty began looking around through the ruins, for any idea how to thank the islander girl who had helped them so much. Mighty looked around at the sunken city in awe, built by the mighty tribe that Trip was apparently the last of. Not finding anything of value anywhere in the crumbling structures, the armadillo was just about to give up... when he noticed a very interesting painting on the wall.

The painting showed two figures, both wearing Trip's armor (though one was in bronze armor, the other gold), performing an elaborate dance while facing each other. At the end of the images of the dance, the two armored figures hugged each other.

"Hm, that must be a dance of friendship." Mighty concluded. "Performing it for Trip would be the perfect parting gift!"

Mighty took several hours, carefully studying each dance step, and copying its movement. By mid afternoon, the armadillo was sure he had all the steps down, and went racing back to camp to show Trip.

Trip and Ray had packed all the things from the camp, and the scheduled plane had landed nearby. Mighty came running up, and grabbed the armored girl by the hands. "Hey Trip, come over here, there's something I want to show you."

Pulling her aside, Mighty began to carefully perform the steps of the dance in front of Trip. Even though Mighty couldn't see it, a look of shock slowly spread across the armored girl's face as he danced, and when he had finished, she stood there for a few minutes, staring at him in surprise. Tears began to stream down Trip's face, and the armadillo began to worry he had done something wrong, when Trip suddenly began to perform the same dance in front of him. When she was finished, Trip suddenly threw off her armor and helmet, revealing a beautiful orange Sungazer Lizard girl in a zigzag patterned dress. Weeping tears of joy as she smiled, Trip rushed up to embrace him...

... and placed a deep, warm kiss on the lips of the shocked armadillo.

Trip then placed something on the confused Mighty's hand, then rushed off into the jungle for a few minutes. She quickly came back with several suitcases, and began loading them onto the plane.

"Mighty, where the heck did you learn that dance?"The shocked Ray asked in disbelief. "Big brother, what the heck did you just do?!"

Mighty looked down at the hand Trip had touched, and saw a golden ring with carvings on it. He then noticed a matching ring on the smiling and sobbing trip's finger. The tumbler's in his brain turned over, and he finally realized what he had done.

"Uh oh..." Mighty muttered,as they all loaded the rest of the stuff on the plane, then sat down, the smiling Trip snuggling up next to him. "Ray, I think you just gained a new big sister-in-law."

The armadillo then realized, whatever happened next, his life would definitely be more interesting from now on.

Edited January 13 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

Story Two: A run-in, and regret

Sonic and Amy had just finished up their backlot visit to the filming of a movie at Stuiopolis, and were now making their way back towards the front of the studio. And while they both agreed that the trip here had been worth it, the two hedgehogs couldn't be further apart on their opinions on the movie itself.

"Soooo Sonic? What did you think of the set of Ristar?" Amy asked him, as the walked out of the Studio back lot tour. "Pretty neat, huh?"

"Eh, it was alright. The sets and costumes look pretty lame, though." The blue blur shook his head. "I've met the real Ristar before, on a space mission. And he would fall over laughing at that guy dressed as him in the costume!"

"Huh, this coming from the guy who licensed his own likeness out to Breezie productions, to make those horrible 'Sonic-Man' movies."

Hey, they pay me pretty well for those movies! It pays my bills so I can spend time saving the world. "It also pays for stuff we do when we hang out like this."

"Hang out?! Is that what you think we're doing?!" Amy got mad, angry that Sonic was trying to say everything he could to avoid calling his personal time with Amy Rose a 'date'. "You are so immature sometimes Sonic! Refusing to see what's right in front of your face, if you don't like it!"

"Hey, isn't that what you like about me so much?" Sonic asked, smiling at her. "I mean, my cool rebel personality is why the girls have always liked me... and why you always proceeded to chase them away with a hammer."

"Ugh, do you always have to bring that up?" Amy puffed her cheeks out, pouting angrily. "Fine, you win. Nothing on our dates seems to make you happy! Maybe I should just stop trying!"

"Aw, come on, Ames! Don't be like that!" Sonic reached out, putting an arm around her. "You know I'm just kidding, right? Trying to act cool has always kinda been my thing."

"Hmmph, sometimes I wish you'd take our outings more seriously." She smiled at him. "Come on, lets head downtown, and see if we can find a big, fancy Studiopolis actor-type restaurant that sells chili dogs."

Sonic and Amy continued walking down the street, continuing their conversation, when the Pink hedgehog thought she caught a glimpse of a familiar face. Seeing her looking back, Sonic asked;

"Amy, is something wrong?" He asked, glancing back himself. "What do you see?"

"Hang on a sec, Sonic." Amy replied, making her way back through the crowd. "I thought I saw someone..."

Amy made her way towards the familiar figure- what looked like a female islander with orange-colored skin, and wearing a blue sundress with a straw sun hat on. She was looking at an open air fruit stand when Amy tapped her on the shoulder, and surprised islander girl let out a squeak, and stumbled over onto the ground, her hat falling off. Amy looked down in shock, seeing a familiar sungazer lizard girl with blue eyes and a horn for a nose, scramble pathetically to get her straw hat back on. It was at that moment that Amy Rose recognized a face she had not seen in years, one she had almost forgotten about.

"Trip?" Amy asked, not sure if she was seeing things. "Trip, is that you?!"

"I-I'm really sorry, miss." Trip muttered meekly, stumbled over her words as she stood up, and put her hat back on so the brim covered her face like her old helmet used to. "I really didn't mean to bump i-into... Amy?!"

Within seconds, the two friends were hugging and laughing, staring at each other in disbelief. Sonic just stood nearby, holding the shopping bags and smiling. It was good to run into another old friend again, especially one they hadn't seen in such a long time. Trip had changed somewhat, Sonic noticed- and it wasn't just her wardrobe that had changed. The sungazer lizard was now much taller, and nose horn and head spikes had grown slightly longer and more pointed. She had grown up just as much in the over a decade since they last saw her as Sonic and his friends had.

The two islander girls spoke for several minutes, before Amy directed them all over to a small table at a cafe. Trip and Amy quickly ordered themselves each a salad and a chaos cola, while Sonic simply got himself a cola and a chili dog. The blue blur simply sat there silently, while Amy tried to wrangle some conversation out of the shy sungazer.

"Gosh, it's been years since we last saw you, Trip!"Amy exclaimed. "Can you believe that we were just little kids when our team came to your island, and helped boot Eggman and Fang outta there."

"I-I know... it feels like ages ago, a-and like a different lifetime since all of you last came to see me." Trip kept her head as low as her voice, trying to keep her face hidden from the passing islanders. "I-I miss how you used to come visit me a lot after your adventure on my island. B-but then, your visits became less and less frequent, until till all of you s-stopped coming at all..."

"Hey, we didn't mean to!" Sonic spoke up, earning him a dark glare from Amy. "We were busy saving the world again and again, and life got in the way!"

"I-it's okay, I understand." Trip muttered, trying to put on a fake smile. "D-don't worry about it, Sonic... really!"

"What are you doing here on Westside Island, trip?" Amy, asked her, trying to change the conversation. "I thought you'd never leave the Northsar islands."

"A-actually, I don't live there any more, Amy." Trip gave a small smile, sipper her diet cola. "M-my husband and I are traveling the islands, and we're just stopping off here so I can s-see the sights, before we g-goes back to Seaside town. H-he's getting us a house there, and joining a detective business some of his friends own in the city."

"WHAT?! "At those wards Amy's jaw dropped open, and Sonic spit out his cola. It was only then that they both noticed the wedding band on her finger. "Y-you're married?! How?! When?!"

"Y-yes, a noble warrior came to my island to train with his little brother, and he saved my life." She explained, a warm smile spreading over her face. "He stayed on the island for nearly a year while courting me, then performed our tribe's traditional mating dance." Trip ceased stuttering, and got a faraway, dreamy look on her starry-eyed face. "He's been so kind and loving, carrying me when I fall over from my clumsiness, or comforting me when I have anxiety or get scared. But he's really really strong, too! I saw him and his little brother smash a whole army of badniks when we visited flicky island! But he's really gentle, too! Especially when we..." She stopped at that moment, realizing what she was about to blurt out. Her cheeks turned the deepest red from deepest blushing that sonic had ever seen on a girl, and she let out a loud squeak of embarrassment at what she was about to say. Trip then completely pulled her hat down over her face, and seemed seemed to want to hide under the table.

As Amy tried to get Trip back up to continue the conversation (Sonic hoped on a less...personal topic) The blue blur thought about the ramifications of what Trip had just told him. Here was a friend from the old days, one who Amy had once been close with, who had grown up asnd made a life for herself. As much as he ran from place to place at the speed of sound, he didn't like it very much when things changed around hi. And it seemed more and more, everything was changing around him at a rapid pace. Everyone who he cared about, they were all moving on with their lives. Some of them were moving on to bigger and better things, and others were moving into different jobs and responsibilities that would take them far away from Sonic and his adventures. It was something he had truly dreaded for a long time.

So many of his friends had moved on with their lives; Blaze and Silver never came around much anymore, one staying in his own time and the other in her own dimension- although they visited each other often, from what sonic had heard. Vanilla and Vector had grown much closer over the past decade, with Cream complaining to anyone who would listen that she may have a scaly green stepfather soon. The restoration had long since dissolved years ago, and most of the members of the members of the second team of diamond cutters had all retired, and started families of their own. Sure, Team Sonic was still hanging together as a family, but Cream had recently started trying to get Tails into a relationship, and Rouge had been putting pressure on Knuckles to Uncle Chuck, who Sonic visited every chance he could, was getting really old now. How long before something happened to him?

How long before all the people in Sonic's life went away, just like Longclaw did? How long before he was left alone again?The very thought of it made Sonic want to jump up out of his seat, and run. To get away from everyone and everything, no nothing could hurt him. It was his desire to not upset Amy that kept him in place, even as he fought off the urge to run away as far and as fast as possible.

It was while these two were holding their conversation with Trip, that Sonic and Amy failed to notice a familiar trio watching them from a table across the room. The trio had tracked the two hedgehogs here from Seaside city, and had been quietly tailing them throughout their trip through studiopolis. While the bird in the group happily tossed a bomb back and forth between his two hands, the bear snarled as he glared at their targets from behind a thick scarf. The leader of the group, an angry jerboa islander, stared at the trio of friends in anger.

That was the lizard girl who had so long ago messed him up so long ago on a mission for Doctor Eggman, and he had carried a viscous grudge against her ever since. The jerboa in a stetson hat glared at Trip, fingering the gun in it's holster at his waist. Ever since that day, he'd carried a bullet made of a special metal that could kill a sungazer in either islander form or dragon form, in a one hit. And even now, he was pulling out his gun, and loading that bullet into the chamber, and dreaming of a female dragon's head mounted on his wall. And to collect the hefty bounty that sorcerer guy had placed on the two hedgehog's heads.

"Boys, get yourselves ready." Fang the Hunter snarled. "it's just about time to earn ourselves a paycheck..."

[Mobius_Historian]

Life can be Chaotix- or, Cream Gone wild

In an old, Run-down warehouse in the Metropolis zone- Robotnik's old fortress on Westside Island- a crime boss of the underworld and a mysterious hooded figure were meeting. This was not much of a surprise- ever since Eggman had abandoned it, the massive city complex had become a home for thieves, con artists, and the other ne'er do wells of society. What made this meeting particularly eventful was that fact it was a meeting between a powerful mob boss... and a shady sorcerer.

"The Hooligans have found the two hedgehogs, as you requested." Clutch the Opossum declared, sitting at his desk as he spoke with the hooded figure across from him. "Fang tells me they are keeping tabs on both heroes, and will monitor their whereabouts."

"Excellent, that will keep the quickster and his pink lover from interfering with my plans." The hooded figure hissed, raising a hand to cast some kind of spell in they air. "tell them to follow the two hedgehogs, but do not attack until I am ready."

"As you wish, Lord Nagus." The mob boss leaned on his cane, uncertain what to make of the sorcerer. Rumors had it this lunatic had escaped from the special zone several years ago, during the brief time Robotnik had managed to conquer the planet. In the years since, he had used his magical powers to rise up through the islander underworld, and now he had hired clutch and his 'vast resources' to serve in his grand plan. Clutch made note of the fact that he had never actually SEEN Nagus under those robes of his; he occasionally glimpsed a claw-hand here, a horn on his head there, or large bat-like ears there. He wasn't even sure what kind of islander the islander the old mage might be. "And what of the other members of team Sonic? What of the fox, and the Rabbit Or that blasted echidna?"

"The guardian om the master emerald is too busy protecting his island at the moment." Nagus used his magic to call forth an image of Cream the Rabbit in the air before them. "As to this young one, while I cannot control her or anyone else's minds with my magic, I do have a spell that can suddenly push her unstable young emotions over the brink, and unleash a long pent-up anger and frustration that will only serve to distract these heroes, and further our cause."

The sorcerer laughed maniacally, as the image in front of him dissipated.

...

Cream the Rabbit came home, walking up to the house, and grumbling to herself. That dumb fox boy... what was wrong with him?! Couldn't he see how she felt about him?! All the hints she'd dropped, all of the flirting? Every time she tried to get close to him, he' get red in the face and flustered, and pull away. She was trying all of the tips and tricks Rouge had given her on how to win a guy over (given Amy's track Record with Sonic, she didn't have much faith in her best friend in that department) so why wasn't any of it working?

Cream barely had time to turn these thoughts over in her head... when she walked though the door, and into an unexpected situation.

"Cream, Dear, You're home!" He mother exclaimed, getting up the crate she was sitting on,and walking over to greet her shocked teenage daughter. "I have some wonderful news to tell you!"

Cream looked around the living room, and saw that everything-appliances, furniture had been packed into boxes and crates while she had been away. Moving men- mostly big burly islander bears and rhinos- were loading everything into a transport van. Running back to her room, Cream already saw that everything had already been loaded up and taken away- even her record collection and boy band posters. Rushing back out into the living room, the rabbit girl was barely able to hide her anger.

"Mother, what...what is going on?" Cream asked, as the confused cheese flapped around her head. "Why are all of our belongings being carried out of here?"

"Well, I was wanting for it to be a surprise but..." Vanilla put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We're moving to Seaside city! I found a wonderful house there, at a great price, and-"

The rest of what her mother said was drowned out by Cream's own thoughts, as she looked around the house... this had been the house she grew up in, the only home she had ever known. She remembered all of the birthday parties, the few faint memories of her dad here before he died. She remembered the tea parties out back in the garden with Amy and Blaze, and the times her mother took care of her when she was sick in bed here... every important memory, when she wasn't on vacation or on an adventure, was in this house. And now her mother just wanted her to forget all of that, and move away?

"So, you decided to sell the house, and not tell me?" Cream was trying to keep her composure, trying to keep some semblance of the sweet little girl her mother had raised. But with all of the stupidity Vanilla the rabbit had been pulling these past few months, that sweet little girl had been pushed to the breaking point. "Did you make this a 'surprise', because you knew how I'd react to it?"

"Wha...? Sweetie, this move is a good thing for us!" vanilla started, surprised at her daughter's sudden backbone for the first time in eighteen years."You'll be much happier in the big city, I've got everything planned out for you, and-"

There. That did it. Her mother had made an important decision without her, was already planning the next phase of her life, and just expected her to go along with it. Cream had been at least trying for the past several years to be that good, sweet, polite little girl that mama had raised. Even when her fellow teenagers at school had gone through through their rebel phase. But that sweet little Cream finally died inside of her in that moment, and the foul, potty-mouthed, disrespectful teenager who had been held in check until she was now an adult, finally exploded onto existence.

And all of the resentment came pouring out at once.

"Oh, don't worry. It's like, totally okay mom." Cream said in a slightly deeper voice than usual, shocking Vanilla by using the word 'mom' for the first time."I know exactly why your moving to Seaside city. It's so you can get into the local wildlife... chasing crocodile tail, to be precise."

"Ahhh..." Vanilla sputtered out in shock, not believing this was her little girl talking to her like this. Her face then turned beet red, and she yelled back. "Young lady, that's no way to talk to your moth-"

"No, this is exactly how I talk to a mother who wants to drag me along with every bad decision she makes, and expects me to go along with it!" Cream yelled, her rabbit ears going straight backwards in anger. "You know what? You're moving there on your own, I'm outta here!"

"Wait, where are you going?" He mother asked, her voice starting to fall. "I forbid you to leave!"

"You can't forbid me to do anything, mom! I'm eighteen, remember?" She turned to the chao flapping nervously overhead. "C'mon, Cheese, lets get outta here!"

As Cream walked back out the door, she saw Gemerl walking passed her, carrying boxes.

"Miss Cream, where are you going?" The puzzled robot asked. "Do you have any orders for me?"

"Hey Gemerl. Yeah, can you have my packed stuff sent to the sky patrol? I'll being living on board with my friends for while." She hugged the confused robot. "And would you please look after my mom? She's going to need all the help she can get now."

"Orders received and understood, Miss Cream." The robot hugged her back, almost sounding sad. "Please, take care of yourself."

"Cream, wait!" Her mother called out, standing in the doorway. "Please, we can talk this over..."

Cream did not hate her mother, but she was very, very angry with her. Angry for what she saw as a too strict upbringing, of all the well-intentioned but harmful smothering. Of putting that grimy gator before her father's memory. So at that moment, Cream the rabbit decided it was time to give Vanilla one heck of a shock to her system.

"Hey mom, I got a message for ya!" Holding up both of her hands, Cream flipped Vanilla a double bird. "Bet ya I can bed the fox, before you can bag your gator!"

Vanilla the Rabbit, so shocked and scandalized by what she just saw her daughter do, fainted dead away on the spot. Unfolding her eyes, cream flew up into the air, and left behind the only home she had ever known.

Taking off through the clouds, the flying rabbit planned to go back to her friends. But then, she was going to Seaside city, and give that walking leather handbag a piece of her mind...

...

The Chaotix mansion in Seaside city was quite a sight. A two floor, opulent estate, complete with parking garage, swimming pool, a training dojo for Espio, and a flower-filled greenhouse for Charmy.. Vector had managed to buy the place after some high-profile capers that netted the detective agency a tidy profit. Now, all the members of the team lived here, including new ones that had joined in the past few years, and would be sent out as agents on whatever assignments vector needed them for. It was into this setting that a familiar face came, one the Chaotix would be excited to see, after such a long time.

Vector was busy looking over the papers at his desk, when he heard a knock at the door. Removing his headphones, called out;

"Charmy, Espio! Could either of you get that?" When no answer came, her grumbled and got up. "Fine, I'll answer it myself."

The crocodile made his was over to the door, and opened it to find a familiar red Armadillo, and a yellow flying squirrel standing there.

"Hey Vector, it's been awhile!" Mighty greeted the shocked croc nervously. "Think an old friend could maybe come inside?"

"Hi, Vector! Long time no see!" The teenage Ray waved at him, smiling. "What's up!"

"Mighty! Ray! Good ta see you again old buddies!" Vector Greeted him, picking both of them up in a big hug. "It's been forever since I seen ya guys last! What brings you to Westside island?"

The two came inside and Vector invited to have seat in his private office. The crocodile poured Mighty a glass of brandy (which he declined) and both the Armadillo and the teenage Ray a can of chaos cola). After exchanging some more pleasantries, Mighty got right to the point.

"I know I've come back and done missions for the Chaotix now and then over the past decade, but I would like to come back to the team full-time, Vector." The armadillo explained. "with Ray and now my wife, to worry about, I have two mouths to feed, and-"

"Mighty! You got married? You sly dog, congratulations!" Vector slapped him on the back. "And of course you can come back; after all, once a Chaotix, always a Chaotix!"

"Really? Thank you, Vector. I really appreciate it!" The armadillo replied, sipping his drink. "Now, all I have to do, is find a place for Trip, Charmy, and I to stay..."

"Oh, nonsense, you and the missus and Ray can live here at the compound with the rest of us!" Vector insisted. "I'll get to rooms -one for you and Trip, and one for Ray- right across the hall from each other!"

"Are you sure about that?" Mighty asked nervously. "I don't want to impose on you guys or anything."

"Nah, there's plenty of room for everyone." Vector laughed nervously. "Though our two new members- Charmy's gal Betty the butterfly, and that echidna chick Alucion, that Espio has a thing for."

"Wait, you have an echidna here?!" Mighty asked in disbelief. "Knuckles isn't the last of his kind?"

"Well, she claims she's an echidna princess, but I took her to see knuckles, and he thinks she might just an anteater or bandicoot with delusions of grandeur." Vector chuckled. "She says she's from a lost echidna city in the forbidden zone, and got separated from her tribe in an earthquake. We found her during a case in oak tree village, where she was rummaging through old dumpsters to survive. She turned out to be quite the fighter, and helped us with the case. So we offered her membership, and she's been here with us ever since."

"And where'd the butterfly lady come from?" Ray asked curiously.

"Oh, she's Jewel the beetle's niece ... Jewel's brother married a monarch butterfly, ya know?" Vector gestured to all of the papers on his desk. "Anyway, I mentioned to Jewel that I was looking for a secretary, and she recommended her niece who just graduated from high. I hired her on a few years back, and she's been keeping the place clean ever since. She and Charmy really hit it off, too!"Vector looked around at all of the papers and dirt scattered everywhere. "It's a shame Betty and Alucion are away on a mission in Sloeanna, though."

"How, so now you have to girls on the team. Trip might get along really well with them." Mighty rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Still, I'm not so sure if we should stay here with you in the mansion, and not get a place of our own."

"Awww, come on, Mighty! We have to stay here! Vector invited us!"Ray pleaded, zipping around his friend's head. Pleeeease?"

"Oh all right." Might sighed, shaking his head. "Come on, let's go get our stuff from the hotel, and bring it back to the mansion."

As the two were heading towards the door, two more familiar faces came up the steps, having just got back from a mission. A teenage bee and and a ninja chameleon, both who were shocked to see Ray and Mighty again.

"Ray, I can't believe it's you!" Charmy flew up, giving the teenage squirrel a high five. The bee was twice the size he had been the last time Ray had seen him. "How's it been, man? I haven't seen you in ages!"

"Mighty, it is an honor to see you again." Espio bowed to his old friend, who returned the gesture. "I sense that you are back for good this time?"

"Can't fool those mystical ninja abilities, can I?" Mighty smiled. "Yep, I think I'm done wandering the world for awhile, time to settle down in one place... though there is always still room for missions and adventures!"

"Here, let Charmy and I go back and help you with your bags." Espio told him, and they left the mansion. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you again, Mighty. I believe things can only get better from here on in."

...

Tails had the Sky patrol out on a test flight, trying out some new weapons, when Cream the Rabbit suddenly came flying up to the port side entrance. Confused, Tails open the hatch for her, and the angry rabbit girl came storming in angrily.

"Hey Cream, I thought you went home." Tails asked, in a confused tone. "What are you doing back here?"

Without a word, the angst-ridden teen walked right up to the surprised fox... and planted a deep and passionate kiss on his lips.

"Wha-oh-uhhhh..." Tails's face immediately turn a deep shade of red, as he stumbled backward out of his chair, and fell to the floor. "Cream, what..."

"Mmmmm, tastes like mints." Cream smiled, wiping her lip with her finger. "I've been wanting to do that for a long, long time."

"Yes... but I... you... we... I had hoped our first kiss would be..." The confused tails stood up, cycling through his emotions. "I-I don't mind the kiss at all, it was kinda nice, but... this isn't like you at all. Cream... are you feeling okay?"

"Sorry, Tails, but sweet little Cream is out of the office for good." She went back the bedroom she had been using on the sky patrol for long missions, and dug intro the secret stash of clothes she and Amy had pick up from the mall without Vanilla knowing. The rabbit girl then came back out in tight blue jeans, a pink bare midriff t-shirt that said 'angel' on the front, and a pair of high heels on her feet. Tails also swore he could see her face covered in makeup. Cream pointed up to Cheese, who had been flying nearby, watching all of this in shock. "Be a dear, and take care of this little ball of goo for me, would you? Time for this bad bunny to step out!"

"Chao Chao?" The little hurt ball of fluff asked sadly.

"Stay here with daddy, Cheese." Cream cracked her fists. "Mommy has to go rearrange an arrogant reptile's face."

Tails just stood there, shocked beyond belief, as the eighteen-year old bunny girl sauntered over to the hatchway, swinging her hips where Tails could get a full view.

"Bye bye, Tails! I gotta go pound a certain crocodile into a leather luggage set!" She blew him a kiss, before diving out of the ship. "We'll try some more 'interesting' things together when I get back!"

As she leapt and flew away, a disturbed Tails and and a distraught Cheese stared at each other for a moment, wondering what just happened.

"Chao Chao?"

"Yeah, you're right. I'd better put a call in to Sonic and Amy about this..."

...

It was the middle of the Night in Seaside town, and all was quiet at the Chaotix mansion.

Vector sitting at his desk, leaning back and listening to his music, and thinking of how well things had been going. Not only had he gotten Mighty and Ray back and added another new recruit, but he had also convinced Vanilla to move herself and Cream to live here in the mansion. Pulling an engagement ring out of the desk drawer, the crocodile thought about how years of secretly dating Vanilla was finally about to pay off...

There was a loud BOOM! As something came smashing though the wall of the mansion. Espio was stunned out of his mediation, and Charmy and Ray turned off the video game they were playing in the bee's room. As they all came running out into the hallway, they saw Mighty and Trip coming out of their bedroom, the sungazer lizard in a blue lace nightgown, following her husband nervously.

"Trip and I were just getting to sleep,what's going on?" Mighty grumbled in annoyance, rubbing his eyes . "Ray, are you and Charmy setting off firecrackers again?"

"Hey, it wasn't us!" The two teens protested in unison.

"N-now dear, it wasn't that loud. I've heard l-louder in the jungle." Trip muttered nervously, putting her hand on her husband's shoulder, and trying to tug him back to their nice warm bed . "I-I'm tired. W-why don't we just go back in, and go to sleep?"

"it was coming from downstairs!" Espio yelled, racing down the staircase, as the others followed quickly behind. "Vector might be in some kind of trouble!"

The group raced down, throwing open the doors to vector's study. There, they saw an enraged teen rabbit standing over the shocked crocodile she had surprised with a sucker punch, her fist ready to pound on him further.

"C-cream?" Charmy asked in shock. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Hello Chaotix, good to see you all again." Cream smiled at them, glaring down at the still-stunned crocodile angrily. "Ready to see me pound your boss into worn out leather?"

Author's note: Princess Alucion and Betty the butterfly are pulled from other Sonic Media, and are here to replace Julie-su and Saffron as Chaotix members, respectively.

[Mobius_Historian]

The Guardian returns home

It was good to finally be home.

After the Sky Patrol had dropped him off, Knuckles the echidna glided down towards the surface of his island, gently touching down on the edges of Mushroom hill. Taking in a breath of fresh air, he glanced around at all of the plants and wildlife, happy to be back in familiar surroundings. After a few seconds, he broke into a run, racing his way across the island towards the master emerald's altar.

He was back where he belonged, Angel Island.

His beloved home in the clouds, left to him by his honorable ancestors, the many generations of Echidnas of the angel island clan who had come before him. His forebears had watched over this place and the emerald for generations, as a sort of penance for their ancient chief's mad grab for power by trying to take the chaos emeralds. After the monster known as chaos had decimated their tribe, the master emerald itself had raised the island high into the clouds, where the Angel Island echidna clan continued to thrive here. Now, Knuckles himself was the last surviving member of that tribe, the only echidna left to ensure the safety of the island and it's echidna ruins...

... that did not mean he was the only person living here.

As the echidna made it to the hidden palace, he could make out the sound of muttering and cursing coming from a young female islander. As the last of the Angel Island clan arrived in the long-abandoned great hall, he could see a blue pika islander, in a gray jumpsuit and jacket, studying some ancient echidna glyphs on a wall.

"Oh dash it all! I can't made head or tail of these symbols!" The pika girl complained, adjusting her spectacles. "They resemble the older form of the language in the temple, but I-" She looked up at the echidna warrior's approach. "Oh, halloo Knuckles! Jolly good to see you again, finish that heroing business of yours for the day, hm?"

"Hello, Relic, good to see you, too. Yeah we saved seaside city." Knuckles walked over to her, crossing his arms. "Anything happen while I was gone?"

"Not a blasted thing. Been quiet as a hen house without a rooster up 'ere', it has." Relic gestured towards the fall full of glyphs, and the book she was using to translate it. "I've been working on this infernal language all day, an' I can't make head nor tail of it despite my training, dash it all!"

If he were anyone else, Knuckles would have chuckled at that. Relic had been an archeology student from Spagonia university, and her mentor Professor Pickle had asked Knuckles if she could spend a few years on the island, studying it's many mysteries and wonders. Knuckles reluctantly agreed, and the little blue mouse had come to live here permanently. Except for the small runs she would make back to the surface in her small plane to turn in her research or to stock up on supplies, Relic could be found combing through the ancient building left behind by his people, or bugging the spirit of Tikal with so many questions, that even the gentle and easygoing princess would get annoyed at the squealing fangirl of ancient echidna culture, and disappear through a wall. Relic lived for anything about the ancient echidna tribe, and now seemed to know more about Knuckles's own heritage than he did.

"Why don't you ask Tikal about the writing?" Knux inquired. "Or my grandfather? Certainly they'd be able to help?"

"That echidna princess turns into a ball of light and flies away from me every bloomin' time I get near her... she still won't talk to me after I asked a purely academic question about the weaving of ancient female echidna knickers." The blue pika girl grumbled, in the thick accent of her home island, Albion. "And old Athair is no help, either... whenever I try and talk to him, all he does is mutter about 'chaos energies' and 'echidna magic', whatever he is, ghost or living man- he never actually answers my bloody questions!"

"Well, you could always use the communication equipment that eggman left behind to radio the surface, and contact Professor pickle about it." Knuckles suggested. "That's what you normally do about it, anyway." The echidna gave out a yawn, turning to walk away. "In any event, I think I'm going to go back to my hut, and rest awhile."

"Ummmm... Knuckles?" Relic asked him, her face turning red as she looked down at her hands, and tapped her index figures together nervously. "I-I knew you would be coming back today, and...I'll be cooking some Cornish hen and mashed potatoes, with a salad and tea cakes for desert." She looked up at him, her face beet red now. "Would you care to come over to my excavation camp, and join me for supper?"

Knuckles turned back to face her, and Relic turned away, trying to hide her blush. The echidna sighed, realizing why the usually well-spoken pika was stumbling over her words. She had been living alone with him on this island for so long, and had never spent enough time in her visits on the surface to socialize with men much. She was obsessed iwth ancient echidna culture, and as the last living echidna, he was the walking embodiment of that obsession. They had spent a lot of time together, looking over and translating documents, and she helped Tikal and Chaos watch over the master emerald while he was away on missions with Team Sonic. Relic rarely home-cooked a full meal, especially not for someone else, so this was a very nice gesture from her to him.

"All right, I'll come by after my nap." Relic eyes lit up at that for a moment. "It's always nice to have dinner with a friend."

Knuckles walked out of the chamber, and Relic's shoulders slumped. Turning back to her work, the blue pike made sure the guardian was out of range before muttering to herself;

"A friend, right Knux... that's totally what I meant, luv. My attempt to get his attention went all pear-shaped, now didn't it?" She went back to looking at her book and the symbols, as her eyes became slightly watery. "Oh bugger it, Relic old girl! What were you thinking! Why would he show any interest in the prim-and proper pika girl from Albion, when he can have the well-endowed bat?"

Shaking her head sadly, the mousy little scholar adjusted her spectacles, and dove back into her work.

...

Getting back to his bed, Knuckles crashed onto the pillows and sheets. Disappearing into blissful slumber, his dreams drifted back to warm and carefree days on the island, his father Pakal by his side, as the tribe hunted wild game together. That and other dreams kept him blissfully in slumber land for many hours, until a loud voice by his bed side awoke him.

"Knuckles, wake up!"

The ethereal voice broke him from his slumber, and he almost fell out of the bed trying to get up. Looking up out of his bed, the echidna saw a hovering ball of light making circles around the room.

"Tikal, what's wrong?" The last echidna grumbled, rubbing his eye. "Why in Gaia's name did you wake me up?"

"Knuckles, she's back on the island!" The ball of light spoke, in a way only the guardian could hear. "She's trying to take the emerald again!"

Without hesitating, Knuckles the echidna was of like a shot, racing towards the emerald altar as fast as he could run and glide. As he went running up the stairs, he saw Rouge trying to carry the large gemstone away with ropes.

"You never give up, do you!?" Knuckles leaped into the air, hitting the islander bat with a kick that sent her flying. "How many times have you tried this? And how many times have you failed?!"

"Hey good looking, nice to see you again, too!" She blew him a kiss, before diving at him, and knocking the echidna back with a punch."Besides, who else is going to keep you on your toes, so you can guard my emerald better?"

"Your emerald!? In your dreams, bat girl!" Knuckles roared, shoving rouge away, and grabbing the ropes and breaking them. "And in my nightmares!"

"You won't keep me away from this rock forever, Knucklehead!" She dove at him with a flurry of kicks, which he blocked with a flurry of punches. "After all of these years, I'm through playing around! I'm going to take what rightfully mine!"

They continued to trade blows, until Rouge finally saw an opening, and delivered a kick that sent the guardian flying. Normally, this was the place in their flirt/fight sparring sessions that the jewel thief would pull back, and Knux would get the upper hand, But this time, she caught him entirely off guard, and pressed the attack, pounding away on the last echidna, until he was teetering on the brink of unconsciousness.

"D-don't understand..." He muttered, trying to stay awake. "T-this isn't how it's supposed to go..."

"Awww, poor Kuckie-poo? You don't get that I'm tired of our little game?" She held up her hand... and showed Knux the engagement ring on her finger. "You had years to put a ring on it, 'guardian', but you never did. You always returned my flirting and teasing with mean insults, and 'get off my island!" She went to attach the ropes again. "Well, Shadow finally did put a ring on it, and so I'm breaking up with you, knucklehead! And I'm taking a consolation prize with me."

As the guardian slipped in and out of consciousness, he saw Rouge trying to fly away with the master emerald. Then everything went hazy, before he saw chaos confronting the bat girl, blocking her path. A third slip in and out of consciousness he saw Rouge washed over the side of the island by a wave of water from the liquid monster, and he saw the bat girl flapping away from the island, and cursing. Then, he saw a final vision of Relic come running up to him, screaming, "Knux, that the bloody hell?" concern for him showing in those eyes...

..all the years she had been on this island, and he had never noticed those big, beautiful brown eyes before...

And then, the guardian knew only darkness.

...

hours later, an aged red echidna shaman, wearing robes and spectacles, was sitting in his apothecary, sipping tea and watching knuckles and Relic through and enchanted mirror. The blue pika had taken the echidna back to her cottage on the island (a large stone echidna tribe hut she had fixed up) , and bandaged his wounds. The two were now enjoying the meal she had cooked, while Knuckles stewed over the betrayal he had not seen coming. As the old echidna saw Relic trying to comfort the betrayed guardian, a small ball of light appeared next to him in the room.

"That was a harsh lesson for Knuckles to learn." The ball of light chided the old man, before turning into the ghostly form of Tikal. "His heart is still torn over the bat girl, and even with her betrayal, he may try to win her back again."

"It was a harsh lesson he had to learn, Tikal. One that will burn itself into his memory for all of his days." The old echidna glanced back at her. "He must not offer his love and trust to those who do not value it." He looked back at relic in the mirror. "He must give to to those whose intentions and feelings are true."

"And how is he to know which is which, Athair?" Tikal asked the still flesh-and-blood echidna in annoyance. "Knuckles is naive and gullible. He did not have his father and his clan to guide him, and your guidance was minimal!"

"He will know those who care about them by their deeds, Tikal. He will know them by how they come to him with friendship and love, instead of treachery and deceit." Athiar reached out, and called his mystical trident-staff to his hand from across the room. "And he will need those friends and loved ones, in order to deal with the darkness that is to come."

Edited January 16 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

Even though next to nobody is reading this, I thought I'd give some story notes

 

1.) The purpose and theme of this story is moving on; of things staying the sane for so long, and Some of Sonic and his friends don't want to push things forward and have change. Sonic is sort-of sort not dating Amy, and fear of committing due to fear of loss after losing his adopted  mother, Longclaw. Knuckles enjoying his weekly sparring with rouge, and the attention he's getting from his 'guest' Relic, and not wanting to move on. Cream not wanting to accept that her mother wants to move on with her life, and has found someone besides her father (although cream does have a point in Vanilla's overprotective and controlling nature, and nagus exploits that with his magic) Characters that are moving on;  Mighty marrying Trip, Vector and the chaotix, they are actually prospering, while those who can't move on are having trouble.

 

2.) Mobians/ islanders- in my story, the Islanders (I don't use the term mobians because it evokes too much baggage) are evolve from humans that lived on earth's islands, mutated by dark giaia energy. Limited Gaia energy turned sonic into a werehog, so I surmised more long-term expose could turn humans into anthros. My take is all islanders are, truthfully, one single, genetically compatible species, and animal type/powers are basically treated as humans treat hair color, eye color, etc. any child of two islanders will result in the kids either being one or the other; example bat and echidna marry and have kids; offspring 50% chance bat or 50% chance echidna, no freaky hybrids. Some isolated groups (like the echidna tribes, battle birds, and sungazer lizards) produced only one animal type for generations through selective tribal marriages, but that kind of thing is mostly a thing of the past. Also, Islander aging is normal human for the first 18 years, then slows when they hit early adulthood, to where they won't age that much for decade after that. That's why, ten years after the games, Sonic, Amy, and Knuckles are all roughly in their twenties, Tails and cream are in teenage years of development, and Vanilla and Vector are still almost unchanged since we saw them last. Doesn't make sense with our understanding of genetics, but with dark gaia energy/chaos magic involved, the rules get kind of bent and twisted.

 

3.) Continuity- this universe is primarily following the IDW/Game canon, so all of those games (even knuckles chaotix and sonic spinball) and comics did happen in this universe. Characters from other canons (Archie, movies, cartoons, fleetway, manga, etc.) are worked in to fit the game universe, all past history from previous canons, if brought in, is modified to fit game canon. For example, Princess Salavtrice Ghianda (Sally Acrorn) in this universe did not grow up with sonic, she only met him once during the events of sonic spinball. She had a crush on him for a few years after that, but it eventually faded when he never came to visit her. Tekno the Canary from fleetway is in this universe an engineer in the battle bird armada, and an Apprentice of Dr fukrokov. She never met Amy Rose or the rest of the main cast, and would probably kill them on sight rather than make friends with them.

 

4.) Character appearance notes:No Penders characters. even if this is a fan work, I'm absoloutely not touching that hot mess.  Note that all of them have been replaced by other  characters. Also, Knuckles appears to possibly be the last living echidna- Athair night be a ghost/lich, and Alucion might be an echidna, or she might be crazy, who knows? So, while there may be other groups of echidnas out there, there will be no army of Knuckles clones. Mammoth Mogul existed as a really powerful ancient sorcerer in the past, but he was not immortal in this universe and is dead (as in no resurrection not coming back dead) There are islander royal houses besides the house of Acorn ruling different islands. Princess Lupe's father is still chief of the Wolf pack on thunder plains island, and Monkey Khan is the young ruler of the Sunrise islands (though here, he is just a martial arts master with powerful chi abilities, not a powered-up cyborg) 

 

5. ) Shipping- The most common/closest to canon ships will be front and center in this story; Sonic/Amy, Tails/Cream, etc. Knuckles has found himself in a good old fashioned love triangle; don't count Rouge out yet, what you saw in the fic may be deceiving. The metarex saga... a version of that DID happen in this universe, during the ten years I jumped over. Tails met- and lost- his first love five years before the events of this story. 

 

Mighty and Trip's marriage; yes, it came about because of a misunderstanding. But the two kind of grew attached to each other while he was staying on the island, and they had fallen for one another by the time of Mighty's 'mistake'. The trio (mighty, Ray, and Trip- team Explorer, if you will) had done some traveling and adventuring across the islands, before coming back to the chaotix to settle down- I might cover that in a spin-off story, if there is interest) Mighty helps trip come out of her shell and live a little, and. Mighty and trip can just look at each other, she calms mighty down. They actually don't talk verbally to each other that much, if you notice in the story (though she did call him back to sleep in an earlier chapter)  they seem to be able to communicate nonverbally with each other- wither that is telepathy, pheromones or some other sungazer power remains to be seen- but as you will se upcoming in the story, they can look at each other, nod, and exactly know the other's intention. (a tribute to how the classic versions of the characters are almost always silent). I'll explore that more in upcoming chapters.

 

Well, that's all for now. Hope I get some likes and reviews soon. Expect another chapter in the upcoming days!

Edited January 16 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

The Threat Grows

"Cream, please let Vector go." The chameleon ninja asked the enraged girl. "We don't want to have to hurt you, and we're not going to let you hurt him."

"This creep seduced my mom, Espio!" Cream snapped angrily, holding the still dazed crocodile by the gold chain as he lay on the floor. "He tricked her into selling our house, and moving here to be with him!"

"Cream, please don't do this!" Charmy pleaded. "Don hurt Vector!"

"I don't know who you are, young lady!" Mighty clenched his fists, taking a step towards Cream. "But what ever beef you have with Vector, this is not the way to-"

Trip out a hand on her husband's shoulder, and shook her head. "H-honey... no..." The Armadillo looked back at her for a moment, and then nodded his head in understanding.

"You're right, dear. We don't know what going on here." Mighty lowered his fists, and sighed. "I'll let Espio and Charmy handle it, unless I am needed."

"Cream... I didn't steal yer mom." Vector sputtered out, finally getting over the shock of being attacked by the daughter of the woman he loved. "She... she and I care about each other, a lot. And we want ta be closer."

"But why did my mom have to uproot my life, and try and control me?" Cream asked angrily, tugging harder on Vector's gold neck chain. "Why did she and force me into her happy little dream, without even asking me? I have a right to live my own life!"

"Yer mom did it because she loves you, and though she was protecting you. But what she did these past few years was wrong- I even told her ya had ta live yer own life, and ta let you go." Vector looked straight up at the rabbit girl looming over him, ready to beat the tar out of the crocodile. "But if you are so angry ya gotta beat someone up for it, pound on me instead of yer mom for it, okay? She loves you a lot, and she doesn't deserve to be hurting because she made the mistake of falling for a guy like me."

Cream looked down at the crocodile for a moment, and saw in his eyes the concern he had for her mother. The angry rabbit then let go of the gold chain, letting him drop back to the floor, and walking back towards the wall she had burst through.

"Whatever, I don't need your Chaotix crew to beat me up, just because I'm mad at you." Cream grumbled, exiting back through the door she came in. "I'm going back to my foxy boy and the rest of my friends, the people who really care about me."

After she had left, the rest of the Chaotix rushed over to Vector, and went to help him up.

"Vector, are you all right?" Mighty asked, as they all moved to help him back up. "What was all that about? Who the heck was that teenage girl?"

"Her name's Cream the Rabbit, and she's got every right to be mad at me." Vector sighed, as hew walked over to the smashed wall, in order to survey the damage. "Her mom and I have been... seeing each other, and making some plans, and we kinda left the kid out of the loop."

"I believe her reaction was... extreme, Vector. But you and Vanilla should have told her what you had planned." Espio added, crossing his arms in annoyance. "The two of you kind of just pulled the rug out from under her, and we both know Vanilla has been living in this little bubble where her adult daughter is still that sweet little girl Cream was, way back when we first met her. You and Vanilla both have some major issues do deal with that poor girl."

"Yeah, I know, Espio." Vector sighed, going over and shuffling the papers on his desk, and staring to clean up the room. "Vanilla will be here later, she and I really need to have a talk about this mess."

"Mighty, you and Trip should had back up to bed." Charmy told them, as he and Ray, and Espio went to help Vector clean up, while Espio went to get boards and tools from the garage for the whole in the wall. "I know you guys are tired from moving all of your stuff here today. Me and the others got this covered."

"Wow, Charmy, that's... very mature of you." The armadillo replied in surprise. "You really have grown up a lot since the old days."

"T-thank you, mister bee..." Trip stuttered, bowing to him and the other Chaotix. "C-come on, Dear... b-bed... s-sleep."

As Trip and Mighty headed back up the stairs, the sungazer glanced over at her husband, staring at him questioningly.

"What? yeah, I do have a crazy group of friends, I know." Mighty sighed, rubbed his arm nervously. "And they do have a habit of getting into trouble, just like Sonic's crew."

Trip raised an eyebrow at him, slightly frowning.

"What? No, I do not think they will be a bad influence on Ray!" Mighty protested. "Vector and the others have always been good and loyal friends! They'd give their lives for me, and I'd give mine for them!"

Trip smiled, and nodded in understanding.

"Thank you, Trip. It really means a lot to me that you're willing to give my friends a chance." He glanced back at her. "Hey, you didn't say a word during that whole conversation. How'd you do that?"

"I-islander lizards c-can sometimes communicate and r-read feelings without speaking them aloud. A-amy told me she found out your f-friend Espio c-can read peoples emotions with his n-ninja skills during a murder m-mystery b-birthday party s-she once had on at-train." Trip stuttered out, trying to explain. "We sungazers c-cant do that, b-but we c-can speak to our s-spouses without words, b-because the bond between h-husband and w-wife is so s-strong."

"Whoah, so that's how I know what you mean when you just look at me! I remember that even happening back when we were on the island!" Mighty replied in shock. "Wait, can you read my mind, then?"

"N-no darling, I can't read anyone's mind." She took a step forward, resting her head on his chest. "But I can open heart to you."

Smiling, the two turned around, went back into their room, and closed the door.

...

Back in the Metropolis zone 'Rouge the bat' came in for an unsteady landing on top of Naugus's lair, and entered a rooftop door to down into the structure itself. Walking through the many halls and passageways, 'Rouge' came walking into the main chamber, where the Wizard stood waiting.

"Ahhh, welcome back, my good thief." Nagus greeted 'Rouge' in a mocking tone. "How did the echidna take his 'beloved's' betrayal?"

"That Knucklehead bought it hook, like, and sinker." 'Rouge' shifted back to his true form of Mimic, removing the jet pack her had been wearing. "He's now convinced the bat girl betrayed him, though that stupid water monster threw me off the island before I could snag the master emerald."

"The emerald would have been a mere bonus prize had you been able to obtain it, no matter. The goal of throwing the guardian og, however, has been achieved." Naugus looked into his enchanted viewing glass again. "With the bat. that robot, and the Ultimate lifeform away on a mission in space, no one will be the wiser for your little deception up there."

"Glad to be of help, boss." Mimic smiled darkly. "So, most of team Sonic has been thrown off balance, what is the next part of the plan?"

"Now? Now we're going to stage some good old- fashioned princess kidnappings." Naugus declared, unrolling a spell scroll. "They are a necessary component for the spell that will take us well on our path to world domination!"

"Princess Abduction, huh? Can't go wrong with the classics!" Mimic sneered. "So, I take it the other are already on rounding up the royals?"

"Indeed, Surge, Kit, and the skunk brothers have already been dispatched." Naugus hissed, his eyes glowing under his cloak. "The maidens we need... Princess Salvatrice "Sally" Ghianda of Sabato Island... Princess Lupe of the wolf pack nation...Princess Undina of Meropis... Princess Sonia Parlouzer of Christmas Island... all these royals, all in one place." Naugus gazed upon his mirror, where the image of a grand masquerade ball appeared before him. "And I know how we can capture them, all in one fell swoop!"

...

"Cream, what in Gaia's name is wrong with you?!" Amy yelled at the teenage Rabbit girl. "How could you treat your mother like that? How could you go attack Vector?! What were you thinking?!"

The teen rabbit had comer back to the sky patrol, ready to pounce on Tails for some fun time, but found Sonic and Amy waiting for her instead. Tails had contacted the pair after she left, and they had raced back from their date in Studiopolis to intervene. Amy had taken Cream back to the pink hedgehog's room to talk, while Sonic spoke with Tails about what had happened on the bridge. Amy was not having as much luck with the rebellious rabbit.

"I can't believe you, Amy! I thought you'd be on my side!" Cream protested, barely containing her anger. "How can you support Vector and my mom! You supposed to be my best friend!"

"I am your best friend, Cream! But this isn't right!" Amy yelled back. "If you had just packed and moved to the sky patrol without any problems, I'd be behind you, all the way! But to tell your mother off like that... Cream, I know what she did was wrong, but that was mean!"

Cream sat on Amy's bed, stewing in her anger for a few minutes, before replying in a calmer tone;

"I'm sorry, Amy. I know my mom was really hurt by what I said, but she had it coming." Cream narrowed her eyes. "It was all right when I was a little girl, but once I hit junior high, mom... no, Vanilla...really started to clamp down on me. Every time I tried to listen to a boy band, she turned it off and made me listen to classical music. Every time my friends invited me to a party in high school, I was forbidden to go. The only time I ever got to do anything with anything was when we all went out to save the world." The rabbit looked away, as Amy was shocked by Cream switching to using her mother's first name. "she was smothering me, Amy. I couldn't be my own person, or live my own life. And her trying to get me to move to Seaside City with her and Vector, trying to play happy family..." Cream trailed off, tears running down her eyes, and she started to sob. "She wanted to change my whole life. And she didn't even talk to be about it, first. Why did she do that to me, Amy? Why?""

Walking over to the distraught rabbit, Amy put her arms around her, and hugged her best friend.

"It's going to be okay, Cream." The pink hedgehog reassured her. "You can stay here with us, on the Sky Patrol. Sonic and I already talked with Vector and the Chaotix, and they're willing to let this go. We can talk with your mom later, she needs time to sort herself out, and so do you." both girl sat there hugging each other, both of them sobbing now. "Don't worry, little sister. It's going to be all right..."

Meanwhile, on the bridge...

"Thanks for calling us back here, Tails. I think we averted a major crisis here." Sonic told his little buddy, as he paced the floor. "Poor Cream, this is so much for her to deal with. Amy and I had been so wrapped up in other stuff, we didn't even notice what was going on with her."

"I'm just glad you beat her back to the Sky patrol." Tails was sitting in the pilot's chair, his face buried in his hands. "If she had gotten here before you two... I think she would have tried to seduce me."

"You wouldn't have-" Sonic started, before Tails turned in his chair to give his best friend a troubled look. Sonic wanted to smack himself for forgetting his 'little buddy' was now almost a grown adult himself, with everything that entailed.

"Sorry, little bro. I often forget how grown up you are now." He laughed, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "Still, I didn't think you'd want another girlfriend so soon, not after..."

Sonic trailed off, and wanted to kick himself for being insensitive again, but Tails raised as hand.

"No, it's okay Sonic, really." He shook his head. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about her ,and how much I miss her. It probably why I never asked Cream out.

Both he and Sonic knew who he was talking about...

Cosmo the Seedarian, Tails's lost love.

It was an event that Team Sonic would never forget. Around five years ago, Cosmo's ship crashed in the Mystic ruins, near Tail's workshop, the two-tailed fox had found her. She was an alien plant girl- a seediaran, a race of intelligent plants from the world of green gate. When she came to earth, Cosmo took the form resembling an islander girl about Tail's age, in order to better communicate with the she awoke, the seedarian princess had a dire warning for Sonic and his friends; her home world and her people had been destroyed by an alien invader called the metarex, and now they were on their way to earth. The Metarex invasion lasted for eight months, with Sonic and his allies working with G.U.N. and even the Eggman empire, to drive off and defeat the aliens. Cosmo stayed with Tails, who became her bodyguard and protector during the Metarex war, and the two actually fell in love. In the end, Sonic and Shadow boarded the Metarex flagship, and Slew Dark Oak in a final epic duel.

Sadly, Cosmo and Tails were attacked by a whole platoon of Metarex in the final Battle, and Cosmo sacrificed her young life to save Tails. They buried her wilted remain with honor, and all that Tails had left from her was a small seed. It was now a tiny plant that he kept in his room on the sky patrol, a monument and memory to a lost love. Tails slipped into a depression afterward, and it seemed to get only get worse as time went on. Sonic and the others tried to get him out of his funk; setting up on a date with Zooey, an islander fox from Bygone island. But that relationship didn't last long, as she got angry at Tails for obsessing over 'that damn plant'. Then, another young vixen named Fiona seemed to catch Tail's eye, and for a time, she seemed to mend the young fox's broken heart. Sadly, she turned out to be working as a spy for Eggman, and she had perished in a trap that the mad doctor had set for the young Miles Prower. Tails had seemed to back off of all romance after that, until Cream started to show interest in him this past year.

Ya know, I know she really likes you, little bro." Sonic cautioned. "But maybe with everything going on with Cream, maybe you and her should just give it some time."

"Oh, you mean like the 'time' Amy has given you?" Tails snapped at him unexpectedly, clearly annoyed by what he perceived as Sonic's patronizing attitude. "I'm sure she loves how you've been dodging and running away from her for almost two decades now!"

"Hey, this is about you and Cream, not me!" Sonic put his hands up, getting defensive. "What have I got to do with this?!"

"Maybe, maybe we've all been wasting our time, Sonic... not with fighting villains, not with being and team and being friends, that's all fine. But... what about everything else?" Tails asked, shaking his head. "What about other aspects of our lives we've overlooked, spending so much of the time we aren't fighting bad guys doing the same things over and over? Even Knuckles... what if the five of us think we're going oh so fast, but our wheels are just spinning in place.

Sonic struggled for an answer to that, when the alarm on the Sky patrol went off. Tails spun back around to the console, and began looking over the monitor.

"Hey, we heard the alarm!" Amy exclaimed, as her and Cream came running out of the back. "What's going on? Is it Eggman?" Amy almost hoped it was. The had not heard from the mad scientist in almost a year, and all of Team Sonic was concerned what he might be plotting."

"Nope, looks like an attack on Starlight City." Tails replied, firing up the engines. "Should we stop over at Angel island, and pick up Knuckles?"

"Nah, if it's an emergency, we don't have time. Besides, I can always rib him later for missing out on all of the fun." Sonic walked back, and sat down in the captain's chair. "Fires up those engines, little bro! Let's go kick some bad guy butt!"

[Mobius_Historian]

The Princesses Arrive

(Starlight City, south island- early evening)

This was the event of a lifetime.

The International Islander royal ball- the event of events, the grand gala where the who's who of earth's islander royalty would attend. Every noble from the royal houses of the animal folk would be there, enjoying themselves on whatever finery was put together for this year, as well as to raise money for whatever charity most needed their aid. In truth, most of the islander nobility hated attending this 'ghastly' event, rather than actually being out in the field, and helping their people. But the money that wealthy corporate sponsors would donate to charity as just too valuable a resource to pass up.

So the royals and nobles arrived from every part of the globe, most of them staying at the respective embassies for their countries. But this year, the five royal princesses-the youngest, most eligible royal bachelorettes- were getting ready in the grand royal hotel, the most luxurious spot on South island. It was when their cars and carriages pulled up, that the press and the media were there, ready to annoy all of the guests who were currently arriving.

"Hello, everyone!This is your lifestyle reporter, Collie Chang, here!" A very curvy Siamese cat reporter in a purple halter top and mini skirt, greeted the audience. "And I'm here today to greet the royal princesses of the islands, who will be attending today's royal gala! There is quite a crowd of celebrity watchers on hand, to greet the blue-blooded arrivals, and here comes the first one now!"

A sea green limo, all decked out in pearl and clam shell theming, pulled up. And a purple fish islander, with a sea green evening gowns, stepped out of the car.

"Ladies and gentleman, please give a warm welcome to... Princess Undina of Meropis, who is here to pursue her cause of cleaning up the world's oceans!" As the aquatic princess came up the red carpet, the reporter held out the microphone to her. "Hell-oooo, Princess Undina! How are you today?"

"Hi, Collie, it's so wonderful; to see you and your wonderful audience here today!" She blew a kiss to the crowd. "And remember everyone, it's up to all of us to keep the world's oceans clean!"

"Thank you, Undina! It's always a pleasure!" Collie turned back towards the next arriving vehicle, which resembled an old west styled stage coach, and a lilac- colored wolf girl wearing a light blue dress with beads and buckskins on it stepped out. "And coming next, dear viewers, is the fair princess Lupe, daughter of Chief Thunderpaw, leader of the wolf pack nation. Greetings, Princess Lupe! How are you this fine evening?"

"Salutations, Miss Chang, it is wonderful to see you here." The wolf pack leader inclined her head, before turning to the camera. "And I'd like to remind all of our viewers out there, to give any time and financial resources to the protection of our world's forests. Remember, we need those trees to breathe!"

"Thank you, Princess Lupe!" Collie waved her off, and Lupe headed inside. "And up next, it looks like we have Princess Sonia, the hedgehog heir to the throne of South Island!" The peach-colored hedgehog girl in the regal purple dress had barely gotten off her large, expensive looking motorcycle, when Collie was in her face with the mike. "Princess Sonia, is there any truth to the rumors that the world-famous hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, is your long-lost brother? Also, what about the royal gossip surrounding your brother, prince Manic, trying to court Princess Lupe?"

Sonia, angry that this paparazzi had ruined her entrance and charity pitch, snarled and grabbed the mike from the shocked reporter. "First of all Collie, there is no way in Dark Gaia's name that I'm related to that spiky blue rube." Sonia snapped. "Secondly, yes I will confirm my brother Manic is chasing wolf tail, though I don't know how successful he will be. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I will now head inside. My fiance, Lord Bartleby, is waiting for me."

As the disgruntled hedgehog princess stormed into the building, collie turned back to the camera. "Thank you for, uh- those lovely words, Princess Sonia. I would now like to take this opportunity, to remind our audience that all of the lovely outfits the princesses will be wearing today, were designed by Honey Brand Clothes and Accessories. And here to tell us about it, is the CEO and chief clothing designer, Honey the cat!"

At that, an amber-colored feline in a red dress and pig tails stepped forward, and balled up her fists like two paws, winking at the camera. "Thank you for that introduction Collie, Nya! I'd just like to remind all the ladies out there, that our new spring fashion line will be in stores in February, Nya! The finest jeans, skirts, blouses, and sweaters, all at affordable prices you can't pass up, nya! Be sure to get out there, and check out my latest masterpieces, nya! Bye byeeee!"

"Nya indeed, Miss Honey." Collie replied, stifling a giggle at a fellow cat's usage of 'nya' to look 'cute' and sell clothes. "I sure know where I'll be spending my rings, when it's time to update my wardrobe." She looked at her watch. "Well that's all the time we have for now, so thank you for joining us for this wonderful look into the lives of are royals. Back to you in the studio, Scarlett Garcia."

Meanwhile, in the royal suite in the hotel behind them, a chipmunk princess with light-brown fur and red hair was glancing out the window, staring down at the crowds below.

"Oh mio Dio, there's a lot of people here, Scarlett." She stated, her voice thick with a Spagonian accent. "I didn't think so many people would be interested in a silly gathering of royals. Don't the people have more important things to do, than watch us blue bloods make utter fools of ourselves, non è vero?"

"Oh come on naow, Sally girl! Y'all know this is big a big shindig for all you royal types!" Scarlett "Bunnie" Depardieu, the princess's rabbit handmaiden, was unpacking their dresses and garments, and pulled the undressed princess away from the window. "Naow quit peekin through those curtains, before some paparazzi snaps a photo of y'all in your current undignified state."

Princess Salvatrice "Sally" Ghianda, called 'Sally Acorn' by the world's english-speaking press, was the most popular of the islander royals to the public. youngest sibling of the Ghianda royal family, She and her older brother organized the Sabato island resistance- nicknamed the 'freedom fighters', during Eggman's takeover of the planet. As a result, the media followed her everywhere these days, from every charitable event, to every diplomatic meeting she attended. It amazed the royal family that the public had so much interest in her, rather than crown prince Alfonzo, her older brother who would actually inherit the throne.

Scarlett, meanwhile, was an english speaking southern belle from an island of the coast of the United Federation. Niece of the famous Baron Beauregard Rabeau (owner of the Baron's Fried Chicken chain, the largest poultry restaurant on the planet) and Aunt Lulumae, Scarlett and her sister Vanilla hadbeen raised by their aunt and uncle to be proper southern ladies. But when King Umberto Ghianada had sent out a call for young ladies to be raised at court as handmaidens to his daughter, Scarlett had been sent of to the royal court of Sabato island at age ten- a move her aunt and uncle felt would better her social ,standing, and increase her chances of finding a husband. Scarlett's sister Vanilla was not happy with the decision, however, and so the two had not spoken for years. Scarlett even had a famous niece, named Cream, whom she had never been allowed to meet.

"Certamente Scarlett, I know the importance of this day." Sally replied, snapping on her lacy brazzire, and slipping on her floral print underwear as she started to get dressed. "This is a davvero enorme opportunity, to push my fund to open orphanages for all the bambini e bambine who lost their parents in the war with Robotnik."

"Oh, but it's an opportunity for more than thait, Sally girl- arms up, please." Sally raised her arms, and Scarlett put on the chipmunk princess's underlayer of petticoats. "This is the perfect opportunity to meet a royal feller- y'know, a prince ta sweep y'all off yer feet, like Antoine did with me."

"Mio caro amico, you were lucky to end up with a man like your husband, guard captain Depardieu." Sally kept her arms up, as Scarlett slid a beautiful blue ball gown over the chipmunk's head, then began to lace up the back. "No prince will come within a hundred yards of me, due to those rumors about me and-" Sally narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth. "-Sonic."

"Ugh, the sugar-hog..." Scarlett sighed at the mention of the blue hedgehog, who had had such a big impact of their lives. Sally and Scarlett had only actually ever met the hedgehog in person once, when we saved them during the so-called 'spinball' incident (Sally hated remembering that mess, as the acids and pollutants in Robotnik's volcano fortress had temporarily dyed her fur pink, as well as almost completely burning her clothes off- leaving princess Sally in an undignified and humiliated state and crying her eyes out when Sonic freed her). She had a crush on Sonic for a few years after that, though that faded over time. Later, it was Sonic's heroism that inspired Sally and her brother to create the freedom fighters, in order to resist Robotnik's rule after Sonic was imprisoned on the death egg.

But after Robotnik's defeat, an animation studio in the united federation had made an animated series with 'Princess Sally' as Sonic's love interest. It had been near impossible to court any prince on the islands with the 'Sonic' issue coming up, and Sally had to put up with her celebrity groupies constantly saying Sally and Sonic should 'be together'. While this drama had little effect on the indifferent Sonic's life, it certainly complicated Princess Sally's life to the point she couldn't hear the Hedgehog's name or see his face without feeling sick to her stomach. It wasn't the hedgehog's fault at all, of course. but the publicity surrounding the mess had wrecked Sally's social life.

"Awww, I wouldn't worry about thait none, Sally girl." Scarlett giggled, pulling a pair of white, satin elbow-legnth gloves up Sally's arms. "Way I hear talk, a certain ol' friend o' yours is gonna be al the ball... prince Ken Lau of the Sunrise islands is gonna be there! This is y'all chance to rekindle an' ol flame!"

Sally's heart leapt at that. Ken Lau; the eastern prince the media had given the nickname Monkey Kahn! A martial arts master from the same islands as Espio the ninja, Kahn had so mastered the mysterious skills of kung fu, that he could smash through egg robos with swift punches and kicks , and destroy whole egg pawn armies with mighty ki blasts from his mystical staff. She had met Kahn years ago at a diplomatic conference, and the two had dated for several months, until the Eggman war called him back home to the Sunrise islands. After single-handedly freeing his homeland from the eggman empire, Kahn had stayed away from Sally when the Sonic rumors were swirling about. Perhaps... perhaps this was the opportunity to rekindle that flame of romance between the two of them?

"Forse... perhaps this ball will be worth it, after all." Sally replied, as Scarlett applied lipstick, mascara, foundation, and eye liner to the princess's face. "Aspetta un attimo, Scarlett... where are Danton and Alfonzo? I thought they would becoming to this ballo reale with us."

"Oh, Antoine and yer brother are getting ready back at the Sabato island embassy." Scarlett told her, as she sat her down in front of a mirror, and began working on her hair. "They'll be along in time, y'all don't need ta worry bout thait none."

The rabbit hairdresser worked for nearly an hour; curling, combing, and untangling the mess on top of Sally's head. Finally, the princess's hair was all styled up into a giant pouf, with strings of pearls and other ornaments woven through her red hair. Scarlett then spun her around to face the mirror. And the princess's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Oh Scarlett, è bellissimo... it is beautiful!" The princess exclaimed, as Scarlett slipped golden rings on each of her gloved fingers. "But... should you have done the makeup before the hair? And what about getting yourself ready? You're not even-"

"Eh heh heh..." The bunny girl laughed nervously. Scarlett looked down at her cybernetic right arm, and lower legs that were cybernetic from the knees down, as she stood there in her undergarments. "I forgot to dress myself first. Uh, maybe Lupe, or one of the other princesses can help me?"

Princess Sally just laughed, and shook her head.

...

As the ball preparations were being made downstairs, everyone was running in every direction frantically, trying to get everything done on time. Nobody really noticed the mysterious large crates that were brought in, nor the fact that they were owned bu Clutch the Opossum industries, incorporated. Nobody noticed the fact that if one listened closely, they could hear the sounds of breathing coming from each of the crates. And nobody noticed that if you were to look inside of one, you would've seen a pair of eerie glowing eyes looking back out of them. The ball's security detail and the royal guards were in for the shock of their lives...

Edited January 21 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

The Plot thickens... thicker

It was early evening in the skies over Angel Island, when a large plane was flying on a path to the island. Resembling something like a souped-up cargo plane with jet engines, the vehicle was painted a dark green, with the letters C-H-A-O-T-I-X spelled out on the side. Having been built by Tails at Vector's request, the aircraft served as the team's vehicle for overseas missions. Currently in the pilot seat, was a pink-and-white striped teenage butterfly islander about the same size as Charmy, with a green blouse and yellow skirt (copied off of the outfit Amy Rose had worn as a young teenager, which the butterfly had seen in old pictures). The in the other pilot's seat was an orange female echidna,wearing a leopard print Mayan-style dress. The two were flying home to Westside Island from the city-state of Soleanna, where they had just completed a mission under Vector's orders, though they had had a very rough time doing so.

"Ugh, that was like, so totally a nightmare!" The butterfly grumbled. "Can you believe those Destructix creeps were trying to get away with the duke's scepter? It's a good thing we were there to kick their tails in!" She stretched her arms. "I can't wait to so totally get back to the mansion, and soak my wings in a nice hot bath!"

"Hmph, I just wish that Chauvinistic duke had paid us the full amount we were owed!" The angry echidna girl snorted. "Imagine Betty, trying to short change us because we weren't the 'real chaotix'- just because we're girls, that was entirely humiliating!"

"Eh, don't worry about it, Alucion... the duke's daughter Elise secretly forwarded what we were owed to Vector's business account. We'll get full pay for this." Betty laughed. "But I received a call from Vector, and you won't believe what's happening back home!"

"What, did Vector get in trouble again for black market trading with that con man, Wes Weasley?" Alucion inquired, rolling her eyes. "Or did he manage to find Charmy's stash of 'insect illustrated: bikini edition?"

"I.. did not need to hear that about my boyfriend." Betty replied, eye twitching. "No, he told me old Chaotix members Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel have rejoined the team. And best of all, Mighty has brought his wife, trip the Sungazer, with him."

"Oh, good! With Vanilla moving in soon, that's two more women we can rotate cooking duties with." Alucion sighed. "That'll give me more time to practice fight training with Espio, and you more time to work with those flowers of your in the greenhouse, and read those sappy romance novels of yours."

"Hey! I've seen you snag and read a few when you thought no one was looking, Princess!" Betty sneered at her co-pilot. "besides, why don't we actually let the boys try and cook some meals sometimes? Charmy has a honey cake recipe he's just been dying to try."

"Ugh, just what we need, cakes made out of your boyfriend's sugar vomit." The echidna princess stuck her tongue out in disgust. "No, I am not trusting any of those males with preparing our food. Espio is the smart one, and even he burns toast! Do you really think this 'Mighty' and a teen squirrel are going to be any better?"

"...point taken. At least your chameleon ninja boy-toy helps with the cleaning. Vector and Charmy leave dirty socks, gloves, old pizza boxes, and burger wrappers scattered everywhere." Betty sighed, flexing her wings. "Last week, I found something blue and furry behind the couch that I think used to be food.I'm starting to wonder if the boys were raised in a barn."

It was at that moment, that the floating island came into view on the horizon. Alucion looked up at the sight of massive floating chunk of dirt in the heavens, and smiled.

"Ah., Angel Island... the original home of my people." The echidna princess smiled. "My tribe's ancestors migrated from that place centuries ago due to overcrowding, and settled in the forbidden zone where they now dwell. The guardian is doing a fine job of protecting our home and the emerald, the ancestors would be proud."

"Yeah... speaking of Knuckles..." Betty quickly changed the subject, not wanting to dwell on her opinion of Alucion being an echidna princess."I heard though the grapevine from Amy that Rouge is tired of waiting on the knucklehead, and is planning on proposing to him when team dark gets back from it's mission in space."

"Really? That is most pleasing news." Alucion smiled. "Despite being a thief, that bat is very brave. And i can tell from talking with her that she loves the guardian very deeply. I shall have to visit with Knuckles, and ask him what he knows of the wedding customs of our people."

"Well, Angel Island is right there." Betty gestured to the floating island ahead. "Want to stop by, and see your fellow echidna?"

A smile went across both of their faces, as they brought the plane in for a landing.

...

Meanwhile, back at the Chaotix mansion, a sparring session was taking place in the dojo,

"Ha, you are fast, my ninja friend!" Mighty declared, dodging several punches. "But you will find I am much faster!"

"We shall see, my undisciplined gaijin friend!" Espio retorted, dodging a few kicks from the armadillo. "Let's see how well you can handle the moves of a true warrior!"

Espio threw several shuriken at the armadillo, which he ducked to avoid, before launching into a spin dash at the chameleon. Espio back flipped out of the way to avoid the attack, then hurled a Kunai at the armadillo, who deftly caught it between his hands.

"So, I was wanting to ask you, what do you think of Trip?" Mighty asked, throwing the kunai back. "I know you have been spending some time with her these past few days, I wanted your personal impression of her, lizard to lizard."

"Your wife is especially devoted to you, Mighty. She spoke highly of you in our conversations. Loyal, caring..." Espio did a spin kick, sending the Armadillo stumbling backwards back. "She is your Aisuru tsuma- your beloved wife, who loves you more than any other living being on this planet."

"That's how I feel about her, too." Mighty replied, getting up and lunging at the ninja with another punch. "How do you think she's taking to life here in the mansion?"

"Well enough. She's started watering and caring for the plants out in Charmy and Betty's greenhouse, and she joined a local crocheting club." Espio was hit by Mighty's blow, and sent flying back into the wall, hard. Gasping for breath, he stared at Mighty. "I am beginning to see her as my Imōto- my little sister. If you hurt her in any way, Mighty the Armadillo..."

The chameleon disappeared, vanishing like a true ninja. Suddenly, he was hit by a flurry of punches and kicks from every direction, knocking Mighty off his guard, and sending him stumbling to the floor.

"... I will personally see to it that you regret it."

"Okay, I get it." Mighty replied with a laugh, as Espio reappeared and helped him back to his feet. "so, what's this I hear about you and an echidna princess...?"

"That... that is a private matter, that I do not feel like discussing." Espio turned away, hiding hisnow bright red face,and heading out of the dojo. "Now come on, your wife probably has supper ready by now."

By the time mighty and Espio had gotten to the dining room, the rest of the crew were gathered around the table for an early supper. Trip had already set the table, and set down several plates filled with Barbecue pulled pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cherry pie for desert.

"Mmmmm, this looks really good, Trip!" Vector growled happily scarfing the food down messily. "Glad ta see ya know how ta make more than pancakes!"

"T-thank y-you, mister V-vector." Trip bowed to him politely. "I-I a-am afraid I burned j-just as m-much of the i-ingedients as I u-used."

"Awww, don't worry about it Trip!" The bee replied, greedily digging into his pie first. "This desert is yummy!"

"T-thank you, Charmy." She smiled at him, patting him on the head. "T-that means a lot to me."

"Geez Charmy, we're teens. Why are you still acting like a little kid?" Ray shook his head. "Just because we're small and can get away with it, doesn't mean we should."

As the others all started talking amongst themselves, Trip looked over at Mighty hopefully, her eyes inquiring.

"Oh, yeah, it tastes great!" Mighty replied, drinking his glass of orange juice. "Best I've eaten in ages!"

A frown formed on Trip's face, and Mighty quickly backpedaled.

"No, no! I meant your cooking is the best I've ever eaten as a whole, not just this meal." Mighty smiled at her. "Your food tastes better than anything Ray or I ever cooked up."

She smiled at that, and shook her head.

"Yeah, I kind of figured you were just teasing me." Mighty replied, taking a bite of his pancakes. "By the way, we all wanted to thank you for hwlping to clean the house last night, dear. It was a really big help."

Trip glanced over towards Charmy, a troubled look on her face.

"Wait, what do you mean you found a magazine in Chamy's room called 'grasshopper girls gone wild?!" Mighty yelled angrily, as the look on Trip's face turned to one of disgust. "It had WHAT in it!?"

"Dammit, Charmy! I told you to not leave that junk out where people could see it!" Vector slammed his hand on the table multiple times, angrily. "What if that had been out when Vanilla got here?"

"Vector, don't worry so much about it,the kid won't let it happen again" Mighty added. "Let's talk about something more pleasant... like that royal ball thingy, they mentioned on the news today."

"The annual south island ball? Oh yes, I forgot that was happening this weekend." Espio added, taking another bite of his food. "All the big islander royal families will be there, and all the TV stations will be covering it."

"That annual ball was only started about fifteen years or so ago, when the president of South Island's daughter, Sara, was kidnapped by metal Sonic." Vector explained. "See, Sara was a human-islander hybrid... human on her mom's side, I think-... and Robotnik nabbed her, some people think to take her as his wife. Anyway, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles managed to go up to the arctic, and fought both metal Sonic, and Eggman in a mech called Metal Robotnik."

"That's the mission where knuckles first war that silly cowboy hat of his." Charmy chimed in. "And Tails ended up grabbing Sara's b-!"

"We... don't need to talk about that, Charmy!" Espio replied, putting a hand over the teen Bee's mouth. "Anyway, after Sonic rescued his daughter, the President ordered a grand ball to be held every year, and for all the Islander royals and world leaders to be invited every year. The event outlasted that president's time in office, and it's become the Biggest shindig on South Island."

At their words, Trip got a dreamy, faraway look on her face.

"Yeah, I imagine you'd love to go to that, huh?" Mighty shook his head. "Who knows, honey. Perhaps you'll get your chance to go one of these years..."

Before anyone else could say anything, a loud pounding came at the door. Vector went and opened it, and there stood Vanilla, crying her eyes out. Taking a step, the rabbit woman stumbled, and collapsed into his arms.

"Vanilla, baby..." Vector gasped,as Trip came over to help Vanilla to a chair. "What's wrong?"

"She's gone, Vector, my little girl has abandoned me!" Vanilla cried. "She's run off, and I don't know where she's gone!"

As the beleaguered mother continued to bawl and sob, the others, knowing that this was coming, could only shake their heads sadly.

...

The Chaotix's plane had touched down upon Angel island, and Knuckles and Relic were soon out to greet the new the red echidna was suspicious of the Newcomers at first, Knuckles smiled when he saw the Chaotix logo on the side of the plane.

"Greeting guardian, it is a pleasure to see you again." Alucion greeted Knuckles. "How stands the floating island of our people?"

"Oh, hey there, Echidna fangirl." Knuckles returned the greeting sarcastically, still not believing this girl was an echidna. "MY island is just fine, thank you."

Alucion started to get angry again, when her companion stepped off the plane, and greeted the echidna.

"Hey Knux, how's it going?" Betty the butterfly greeted him, as the two girls stepped off of the plane. "been awhile since we last laid eyes upon ya-how's the guardian business going?"

"Oh, I can't complain too much... except for the fact that Rouge betrayed me." The guardian grumbled. "She came right up to the island, and tried to steal the master emerald."

"It was the bloodiest damn thing." Relic added, shaking her head. "I found Knuckle's unconscious after that accursed bat's attack, she would've bloomin' takin the emerald, if it weren't for Chaos stopping her!"

Betty and Alucion looked at each other in surprise, before the female echidna replied.

"But... that's not possible!" Alucion yelled in protest. "Team Dark is on a mission in space, tracking down some remnants of the black arms! There is no way Rouge could've been here!"

Knuckles and Relic barely had time to process this information, when a loud blast suddenly shook the island. The four of them looked up, to see several dark shapes on the horizon.

"Bloody hell..." Relic squeaked out, as the ground shook beneath their feet. "Knuckles, the island... it's under attack!"

as the mysterious attackers' crafts began to land,the four islanders heard a voice call out;

"Priority one, by order of Nagus! Capture the echidna princess, and retrieve the master emerald, if possible!" The hollow, metallic voice commanded. "Tear Angel island Apart, find them!"

Next: The true battle begins!

Battle at the Ball

It was past 10 'o clock at the Starlight City grand hotel, and the international royal ball was in full swing. All of the royals and nobles, dressed in all of their finery, talked and laughed with one another as the hours dragged on. Many of the younger ones were dancing, while their elders discussed everything from personal business, to political matters.

Over by the punch bowl, King Umberto Ghianda (Called by the western press Nigel Acorn) of Sabato Island had a glass of red wine with King Komometz of Kalong island. Both were watching the younger nobles at the party, dancing and making revelry.

"I say, it appears my children are enjoying the event, or at least trying to." Umberto sighed, red squirrel in blue jacket and diadem crown took a sip of his drink. "At least our youth may get something out of this, eh vecchio amico?"

"Do not speak to me of my sired offspring, Umberto. Only one has brought me honor." Komometz hissed,as the large gray bat with white tunic and crown slurped down his wine. "Although my son Prince Tyson is a true and faithful son, his sister became a jewel thief, and was stripped of her royal title, she is dead to me!"

"Oh, dear... Mi dispiace tanto, I had no idea. You never told me before." Umberto apologized, getting his friend another drink. "Come, let us forget such matters, and discuss instead our planned trade deals..."

Out on the dance floor, several of the princesses were enjoying their time with the eligible young princes and nobles of the kingdoms.

"By the spirit of Gaia, Manic... I was not aware that you were such a talented dancer." Lupe complimented her dance partner, as they waltzed across the floor. "For a member of the hedgehog royal family kidnapped and raised by thieves, you handle yourself extremely well."

"Hey, what can I say? Ya pick up all sorts of skills on the street." Manic replied, smoothly dipping her almost to the floor as they danced. "Besides, Captain Argus of the South island Royal guard found me as a teen, so I did grow up partially at court."

"Still, you turned out as a real wild boy... and this wolf likes wild boys." She growled softly in his ear. "What do you say we ditch this boring party, my spiky prince, and you join me back at my room to have a howl at the moon?"

"Manic, if you want to go for a run with that she-wolf, that's fine." Sonia whispered, as she and Bartleby danced close to Manic and Lupe. "But please wait until after the ball, and use some discretion."

"Hey stop treating me like I'm your kid brother!" The green hedgehog with the wild mane of quills glared over at his sister, as both he and Lupe glared at Sonia. "Just because you and Sonic were supposedly born a few minutes before I was-"

"WE ARE NOT RELATED TO SONIC!" the hedgehog princess practically screamed, embarrassing Bartleby, and getting the attention of all the other surrounding young royals. "He has nothing to us, would everyone please stop acting like he's supposed to be a part of our family!"

"Would you please close your muzzle Sonia, and stop being such a bitch." Princess Undina snapped at the whining hedgehog princess, while jumping from nobleman to nobleman as dance partners. "Ohmygawd, this is why Sally, Lupe, and all the other princesses never invited you to any royal sleepovers!"

"Sonia darling, she's right... you're making a scene..." Baron Bartleby MontClair, the pretty boy mink who was Sonia's fiance, tried to calm her. "This i no way for the crown princess of South island to act!"

As Bartleby tried to calm the temperamental princess down, her received a slap and the declaration that their engagement was over. Unidina then stepped in and proceeded to rip Sonia a new one.

"Good gravy, that sister of mine is annoying!" As Undina and Sonia continued their petty little argument, Manic went back to his dance with Sonia."She has always lived in denial about our bro, calling him 'uncouth' or whatever."

"Sounds like you have met your famous brother personally." Lupe asked as they danced, curious. "have you ever met him in person?"

"A few times. Uncle Chuck arraigned a few meetings for us, where we actually got to hang out and have fun. Sonia wanted nothing to do with it, she hates Uncle Chuck, too." Manic sighed. "Good thing for her Sonic renounced his royal title, and isn't a prince."Manic shook his head. "The funny part is, during the eggman war, my sis and I went into hiding as a traveling rock band, called the Sonic underground. We got a hold of a repaired mecha Sonic, reprogrammed him to sing with us, and traveled around on missions to help the resistance around the world." The green hedgehog laughed. "During one of our missions, Sonia even met Knuckles the echidna, and got a crush on him."

"Wow, that must've been a shock for poor Sonia." Lupe stifled a laugh. "I met Sonic several times... particularly the time he came to our island during the shattered earth crisis, when he thought my tribe might have a Gaia key." Lupe explained. " The werehog helped protect my tribe's Gaia temple, and aided us in driving off Robotnik's forces. I also here about him a lot about Sonic from one of my sisters-in-arms, Whisper, who left the wolf pack to join the Diamond cutters during the Eggman war." Lupe explained, as Manic led her in an underarm turn. "She did not come back to the pack until after the Resistance dissolved a few years back. Whisper is very shy and quiet by nature... but she spins a good yarn to the pack's cubs around the longhouse fire, let me tell you."

"Wow, the wolf pack sounds amazing, Lupe. A wonderful group of islanders to rule over." Manic noted, as they finished up their dance with the song ending. "And you'll rule it all yourself one day?"

"Eh, the pack is made up of mostly noble canines, thoguh we have a few bad eggs we've cast out of the pack; like that horrible Hocke-wulf who works for that vile Wendy Witchkart, of that slime ball Sleet, the bounty hunter who pals around with that big dumb dingo." Lupe leaned forward, softly licking his cheek. "As for the pack... yes, I will become queen one day, with my father having no other children. But whatever prince I take as my mate, will one day become chief."

There was a few minute break between songs, before the music started up again, and all of the dancers returned to the floor. In the next number, Monkey Kahn was slow dancing with Princess Sally, both enjoying the moment of calm, in the sea of chaos and confusion that was their royal lives.

"It is wonderful to see you again after all these years, my dear Salvatrice." The prince of the Sunrise islands told his dancing partner. "It has been far, far too long since we last spoke."

"Si, Ken. It's been a long time since our... failed courtship." Sally frowned, looking away. "It was such a wonderful time back then, so many meravigliosa memories."

"Remember the lantern festival at my father's palace?" Kahn reminded her. "Remember how when danced then, enjoyed the fireworks, and that magical night under the cherry blossom trees in my father's garden..."

Salvatrice blushed at the memory, before resting her head on the simian prince's shoulder. Nearby, two other dancers -a coyote and a rabbit- watched the couple with some amusement.

"Aw, ain't thiat sweet naow!" Scarlett sighed, as her husband turned her in aside reel. "What y'all think they're chances are o' making it work this time, Antoine hun?"

"Perzonally, I zink zier relationship is doomed once again, malheureusement." The coyote sighed. "Zhey are vrom two different worlds, mon bien-aimé, and zhey zier love, it mixes like -how you say?- Ze oil and ze water."

"Hy, ya'll could be sayin' the same about us, Antione, darlin!" She rested her head against his soft shoulder. "Let's just forget about everythang else, and enjoy this dance."

The two dance together on the floor, the only sounds they could hear were the music, the beating of each others' hearts... and the whirring and grinding of Scarlett's servomotor joints in her right arm and legs.

Sadly, this pretty scene was not to last.

Suddenly, the Skylight imploded overhead, raining shards of glass down on the confused and terrified crowd. Royals ran in ever direction, as a large army of robots descended though the skylight, and filling the room with their large numbers. Large, black armored humanoids with a single, v-shaped red eye- these were the Swatbots, badniks made in the hundreds of thousands by Dr. Eggman, then never used in his war against Sonic. Clutch the Opossum had acquired Robotnik's entire stock of what he considered a 'failed project', and reprogrammed them into the service of Nagus. The badniks fanned out in every direction, attack every one of the screaming and fleeing royals. Security, which had been ready to deal with any regular intruders or criminals, was quickly overwhelmed by the attacking hordes.

"Priority one: capture the Princesses." One of the bots declared, in a metallic voice. "All other royal guests are disposable." The robots then spread out, attacking the guests with powerful punches, and firing red beams of energy from their eyes.

That is not to say the royal went down without a fight.

Umberto and Komometz each drew their blades, slashing and hacking away at the robots, chopping many of them to pieces. Manic and Sonia curled up curled up into balls, and spin dashed the bots,while Lupe activated a magical ring on her wrist, which turned into an energy bow which she used to fire arrows at the 'bots. Salvatrice, likewise, activated her wrist wrings, and tore into the swatbots with the two wrist blades that popped out.

"Ugh, this is so lame! These badniks are ruining out outfits!" Sonia shrieked as she fought, slicing a robot in half with her spin dash. "I thought Eggman had disappeared a few months ago!"

"Looks like the stronzo decided to make a comeback." Salvatrice chittered angrily like a chipmunk, as she decapitated two swatbots with her wrist blades. "I'm certa I have seen this model before, I think Eggman used them in the war on Sabato island!"

"I have had enough of that madman's evil!" Lupe snarled, unleashing a flurry of energy arrows, that toppled several swatbots. "Let of make an end of these mechanical monstrosities, who had ruined our chance at a joyous night!"

Meanwhile, Sally's brother Prince Alonzo, who had been standing over in the corner brooding (as usual), drew his blade, the magical sword of Ghianda, and tore intro the swat bots on his own. While Monkey Kahn retrieved his magic staff from the coat check, and unleashed a furious combination of Chi blasts and martial arts upon the robots.

"Ah, Ken Lau, good to fight beside you in battle again." Alfonzo greeted him, having stayed mostly out of the ball earlier. "Confido che tu abbia trattato mia sorella onorevolmente- I trust your intentions towards my sister at this ball have been honorable?"

"Of course, Prince Alfonzo. I would not do otherwise." The simian prince unleashed a series of chi-powered kick, shattering the robots to pieces. "But come, let us concentrate on smashing these fiends."

The royals fought on long and hard, but the endless hordes of Swatbots just kept coming. As the battling nobles began to fall one by one, Salvatrice found herself back to back with Bunny and Antoine.

"Putain tout ça! Zhere are too many of zhem, ve ar being overwhelmed!" Antione growled, as he slashed away at the badniks with his sabre, dropping over a dozen of them. "Zhey keep coming by zee hundreds, and ve are being ze extremely exhausted!"

"Hai ragione, Danton- you are right." Pulling out her PDA, Princess Salvatrice called out. "Nicola, are you there? We've been attacked at the ball, and we're being swarmed by Swatbots! Aiuto! We need a way out!"

"Sally! I've gotten word from the Starlight City police, it's caos totale outside of where you are!" The holographic form of a lynx appeared, a worried look on her face. "Is your brother all right? Where is amore mio, Alonzo?"

"He's figtin' fer his life, Nicole! just like we all are!" Scarlett interjected, kicking several swatbots to pieces with her cybernetic legs. "Cain y'all focus, help us out here a bit?"

"O-of course." Nicola stuttered, as numbers and letters flashed across the screen, as a beam out of the PDA scanned a nearby smashed badnik. "This swatbot model is capable of self repair, that's why you're having the trouble!" A look of fear spread across the holo-projection of the lynx's face. " There are thousands of these thing attacking the hotel, ones you destroy keep rising over and over again! Princess, you've got to get out there, subito!"

Before princess Salavtrice could respond, the Swatbots swarmed in, finally overwhelming the few remaining fighters. Dropping her PDA, the princess heard the screams of her friends as they went unconscious like all of the she saw only darkness.

"Princess Salvatrice, are you there!?" The panicked Nicola called out. "Sally!"

One of the Swatbots stepped on the PDA, smashing it to pieces, and the holographic image of the lynx girl in the purple dress fizzled out.

Next: Team Sonic enters the battle!

[Mobius_Historian]

Team Sonic enters the battle!

Hel-oooo, South Island! This is Mad dog Max, your DJ and commentator for R.E.B.E.L. radio! You have Just been listing to country Sensation Catty Carslisle's chart topping hit; 'Sweet Home Southern Baronies" Up next is pop sensation Mina Mongoose, and band the Forget-me-Nots, with their hit song, 'Can you feel the Sunshine?'. But first, the news from our correspondent, Tuftee the Squirrel.

Thank you, Mad Dog. In news from Westside Island today, professional con artist Harry the Hawker was arrested last week, for trying to sell a fake chaos emerald to eccentric millionaire collector, Alf Bandstand. It is reported the shifty parrot tried to hawk his fake gemstone for more than 20 million rings, and is facing serious fraud charges. Sorry polly, no cracker this time.

In human news from the continents, is reported brilliant G.U.N. scientist Professor Dinglehopper Von Schlemmer was caught in a tragic explosion yesterday, after some' 'under-the-table' experiments with Chaos drives. While the good professor did indeed survive the explosion, sources say the latent Chaos Energy actually turned his skin blue, and has driven the poor scientist insane. Known for working on several scientific inventions with known genius and team Sonic member Miles 'Tails' Prower, after the explosion, the professor is reported to have stated;

"Ok, I kan zovle zis in under five minutes, using Professor Caninestien's zheory of positivity, und Professor Turtle's procrastination principle! Just et me a spectrograph analyzer, und a bobby pin."

In business news today, famous restaurant owner and entrepreneur Bert Whoo has decided to franchise his small chain of chili dog stands to all over the islands. Famous for being the Chili dog stand of choice for world-renowned hero Sonic the hedgehog, the owl seeks to capitalize on this fame to expand his business. The chain is infamously known for it's ties to the blue blur, particularly based on the claims of two lovely young waitresses, Miss Roxy Racoon and Miss Possum, that they actually dated Sonic. While the blue Hedgehog was unavailable for comment, a spiky pink source close to the blue blur had this to say;

"Lies! All lies! My Sonic has never dated at any of those girls, ever! He never dated those two waitresses, he was never with that slutty squirrel princess, never dated that spoiled president's daughter, and never dated that Tiara Boobowski chick! And he most certainly never dated Princess Elise of Soleanna- she's human! What's wrong with you news people?! I'm the only one who's actually dating sonic, and you totally ignore me! Urrgh, I hate the media!"

And finally, authorities on Westside and South Island today, managed to uncover major spy ring among the islander republics, rooting out over two hundred foreign agents in high government, military,and professional positions. These spies were apparently infiltrators sent by the rouge military junta known as the Battle Bird Armada. Among those arrested were television personalities Soar the Eagle and Throbbin Screech, eccentric government courier and liaison old man owl, newspaper caricaturist Sketch Lampoon, Westside island senator Nephyths the vulture, and renowned South Island government scientist, Tekno the Canary. When being taken away in handcuffs with her lover, battle bird collaborator Shortfuse the Chipmunk, the deranged songbird had this to say;

"Bloody hell! You bloomin' plonkers were too naff to catch me an' Shorty! It was that witch Amy Rose who foiled me plans to sabotage the South island defense systems, after pretending ta be me best chum! I swear, when the Great Battle Kuku gets Shorty an' me out o' the bridcage, I'm gonna slit that little pink hedgehog tart's throat! An' Shorty will get his powered armor, and crush her little blue boyfriend! Glory to the Armada! Glory to the Armada!"

The canary spy's rant was then cut off, as she was placed in a police car, and hauled away to Everhold prison to await trial. Meanwhile, several other prominent bird islanders, such as radio personality Night the Owl, have condemned the action of their Armada-loyal brethren. have condemned the action of their Armada-loyal brethren. Ironically, the tip off that led to these arrests came from none other than known conspiracy theorist and agitator Sticks the Badger, who had been predicting such a spy ring for several years now;

"I told em' those birds couldn't be trusted! They're too shifty, and are plotting against us all! My shadow told me so,just like he told me about the little man in the refrigerator who turns the lite off when you close the fridge door...we still have to catch him!"

It is believed current Supreme battle Kuku Speedy will open negations for a prisoner exchange with the Westside and South Island republics, in order to get the prisoners back. It is reported that Speedy has asked Armada agents the Babylon Rouges to act as liaisons for the exchange.

Well, that all the news for today, be sure to stay tuned for-

Wait, this just in... there appears to to be some kind of massive Badnik attack on Starlight City, chaos and panic have erupted in the downtown area, apparently concentrated around the Starlight city grand hotel. We take you now live to our on-the-scene correspondent, Collie Chang!

...

As the sky patrol arrived over Starlight City, all sonic could see below was Chaos, Islanders running in every direction in a panic, cars overturned and burning, and swatbots swarming over everything like insects. It was like something out of his team's nightmares, and the blue blur was just glad his team was up to the challenge.

"Oh my Gaia." Amy exclaimed, covering her mouth. "It looks horrible down there!"

"It seems to be focused on the grand hotel." Tails noted. "My guess is, if Eggman really is back, then he's targeting the nobles at the ball."

"Wow, it really does look like anarchy." Cream added snarkily, the rebellious rabbit now wearing an orange tube top and mini skirt. "So, what's the plan, oh fearless leader?"

"Give me a moment to think." Sonic replied, looking over the situation below. "Amy, you and Cream head down to the streets, and try to help people, and clear out some of the swatbots."

"Got it, Sonic." Amy replied , as she and Cream jumped out of the hatchway. "Cheese, stay on the ship!"

"Chao chao!" The frustrated little puffball replied.

"Tails, stay aboard the sky patrol, and see if you can find if the robots are being controlled remotely. You may be able to hack in and shut them down, or at least find out their plan."

"Will do, Sonic." Tails agreed, as Sonic himself leapt out of the hatch. "Good luck!"

The blue blur dropped down onto the roof of the hotel, and readied himself to attack the swatbot swarm. But as he went to spin dash, a green blur blocked his path. Knocked to away by another spin dash, sonic landed on his feet to see a familiar face in front of him.

"Oh, Surge... I had a feeling you were involved in this." Sonic smirked, taking a fighting stance. "I kicked your but last week, and I'll kick it again now!"

"Uh-uh, not this time, ya blue needlemouse." The green tenrec smirked. "Last time, I was paid to put on a show. This time I'm bein' paid ta beat ya!"

Surge lunged at at the blue blur, catching him off guard, and hitting him with a flurry of punches. It took a moment for Sonic to recover, and he returned the blows just as hard and and as fast. But while Surge was slightly slower then Sonic, the electricity loaded in her blows left him singed, and gasping for breath.

"You know what you're problem is, Sonic? You run from everything." Surge lunged at him, hitting him with another flurry of blows he speedily moved his fists around to block. "And I don't mean running from battles or challenges, you face those without fear. You run from responsibility, from change. You running from the one force no one can escape."

Surge kicked him back, sending him skittering across the rooftop, before he jumped back to feet, and lunged at her again.

"You're running from time, Sonic the Hedgehog... and the changes it'll bring to your little bubble of a heroic world."

Sonic Spin dashed right into her, almost sending her off the roof of the building. Surge grabbed the edge, and barely pulled herself back on.

"Oh, sure, we're islanders. You have... what? Sixty or seventy years before you even start to slow down a bit. But your friends, your allies, they're growing up and moving on with their lives." She rushed forward, hitting Sonic with an electric kick, that knocked him off of his feet. "Some of them want you to move on with your life, too. But you keep spin dashing in place."

"S-shut up." Sonic growled, trying to keep his anger down. He rushed forward to deliver another blow, but Surge caught his fight, and socked him with a blast of electricity, sending the blue blur stumbling backwards. "I live my life by my own rules, the way I want to!"

"Yeah, right... I'm sure you actually believe that load of B.S... Gaia below, you're pathetic!" She laughed, circling the blue hedgehog, looking for an opening. "Everyone thinks you run from your little pink girlfriend because she annoys you, because you don't want to be tied down, and be free as the wind." Surge pointed an accusatory finger at him. "But that's not true, is it? You love her, you love more than anyone else on earth, and deep down, you want to be with her. You want to stop running away, and start loving her."

Sonic tried to reply, tried to deny what she was saying, he could not. Not matter how much he didn't want to admit it., deep down he knew he did indeed love Amy Rose, he did want to start dating her, and eventually, walk her down the aisle as mighty did with Trip. But, but...

"But you can't, because you're afraid! Afraid that if you change the status quo!" Sonic threw another kick at her, which Surge flipped out of the way to dodge. "Something could go wrong, or she could decide she loves another! Or something horrible could happen to poor little Amy Rose, just like it did to Longclaw!"

"Shut up! Just shut up!" He roared at her, finally losing his cool entirely. "Don't you dare say that name!"

Sonic spin dashed at her in anger, and she counterattacked the same way. The two spin dashed at each other several times, bouncing off and being sent flying back every time they made contact. Finally, Surge managed to hit Sonic at just the right angle, sending him to the ground again. She was on him in an instant, fingers around his throat, and began choking and electrically shocking him at the same time.

"Even the original Surge has moved on, she's a farmer off somewhere, with a hubby and a crop of kids! I'm just a clone who inherited her anger and hatred towards you!" Surge laughed manically, as Sonic writhed in agony from the choking and electric shock. "Face it... deep down, you're just a pathetic little boy, whining for bird mommy to come back!"

"SHUT UP!" Sonic finally broke free, and with a last burst of strength, tackled Surge and sent them both tumbling off the edge of the building. The two weakened combatants landed in the alley below, alive but unconscious.

Meanwhile, Amy and Cream had been fighting off the swatbots on the streets below, the pink hedgehog smashing the badniks to pieces left and right, while cream spin dashed into them for similar results. Suddenly, a foul-smelling odor began to fill the air.

"Ewwww, that's totally gross!" Cream yelled in disgust holding her nose. "Amy, did you have too many chili dogs with Sonic?"

"That's not me-" Amy protested, her bloodshot eyes watering, as she held her own nose. "If it's not either of us, then it must be-"

"You better be quick!"

"You better not stumble!"

"Because now you're facing-"

"ROUGH AND TUMBLE!"

As soon as they both appeared, Cream and Amy began trading blows with the two skunks. Though the cloud of stench, it was hard to see them, so the girls had to listen carefully for the twos approaches. Sometimes, Amy would get a hammer blow in, or Cream would spin dash straight into one of the skunks, bonking them on the head. Other times, one of the skunks would land a blow on one of the girls, sending them stumbling backwards. After several trading of blows in this haze, all four of those fighting had had enough.

"I can't take this anymore!" Amy yelled in frustration. "I wish I could see something, anything!"

"Your wish is my command. Amy!" Cream replied. The rabbit flapped her big ears, using them as fans to blow the smoke away...

...Just in time to see the two skunks standing right in front of them.

"There they are!"

"Eeeeeeek! Stinky!"

"Get them!"

"Watch out!"

All four of them rushed to strike at once, which led to all four of them were knocked unconscious.

Meanwhile, up in the Sky patrol, Tails had been trying to get the signal, when a watery tentacle curled around his neck. Kitsunami had snuck onto the ship, and had caught tails by surprise.

"End of the road for you, Prower!" The Fennec grinned wickedly. " You and your little friends are done for!"

Next: The aftermath!

Edited January 30 by Mobius_Historian

[Mobius_Historian]

Aftermath

"End of the road, Prower." The fennec's eyes narrowed. "Give my regards to Light Gaia in the afterlife."

Tails struggled for his life, as the mad Kitsunami gleefully tired to drown him with the water coming from his pack. Reaching out from the column of water he was trapped in, the two-tailed fox managed to hit a button on the sky patrol's computer console, that sent an electric shock tight through the spot Kitsune was standing on.

"AHHHHHHH!" The fennec cried out, as Tails manged to break free of the column of water. The two-tailed fox then spin-dashed at Kitsunami, sending him flying backwards.

"Still at it, eh Kit? " Tails snapped, as the fennec shot a blast of water at Miles Prower. "I can't believe you're still caught up in this life, long after your partner let go of her hatred, and gave it up!"

"Shut up! You and your blue buddy are the reason the original Surge left me!" The fennec wailed, slapping at Tails with two water tentacles from his control pack. "I had to make a new one, just so I wouldn't be alone!"

"She walked away from that life, Kit, not you!" Miles replied, flying around in circles to avoid the tentacles. "The original Surge wanted to take you with her, as a little brother! The G.U.N. scientists were going to remove your cybernetics, just like they did with hers! You could've gone back to your original life, but you threw it all away!"

"I didn't remember that original life, Surge was all I had!" Kitsunami wailed, launching at Tails with his own spin dash, which Miles Prower easily dodged. "Now, I'm gonna take away everything YOU hold dear, when the time is right!"

"You, Kit! What's taking you so long?!" Clutch voice came over Kit's communicator. "We got the princesses, and we're pulling out!"

"What about my mistress!" Kit wailed into the communicator. "You can't just leave her there!"

"We found her unconscious body in an alley, but we have to move fast!" The crime boss replied. "Hurry up, and met us at the rendezvous point!"

"Sorry, two-tailed freak, but I gotta run." Kitsune launched himself backwards towards the open hatch with a blast of water, then leapt off the Sky Patrol. "I'll have to beat kick your tail in some other time!"

Tails rushed to the hatch, but the fennec fox was gone.

"Damn..."

Rushing back to the console, Tails performed a scan on the city to get an idea of the situation below. "I sure hope Sonic is okay."

...

It was early in the morning, when Sonic finally came to amongst the rubble on the alley. Pulling himself back to his feet, the blue hedgehog look around at all of the shattered pieces of swatbots, and the debris from the buildings and cars. Looking around, he noticed that the body of Surge was gone, and he assumed that her allies had rescued her. Wandering out into the street, he saw damage and destruction everywhere, as medical and emergency first responders were helping to clear away rubble, and tend to the wounded. The blue blur was about to go see if the rescue teams needed help, when a voice cried out;

"SONIC!"

The still groggy blue blur turned, and was almost tackled to the ground by a rushing ball of pink quills in a red dress, with a concerned look on her face.

"Oh, Sonic! Thank Gaia I found you!" She sobbed, holding him tightly. "I thought that green electric bitch had killed you, for sure!"

"It's good to see you, blue boy." Cream snarked out, standing nearby and crossing her arms. "Tails would never forgive me if something happened to you."

"It' okay, Amy... Cream. I'm all right, I-" Sonic trailed off, as he saw a familiar green plane land nearby, just outside the debris field. "Wait... the Chaotix plane? What the heck are they doing here?"

The blue blur's question was soon answered, as Relic and Betty stepped off of the plane, helping a limp and wounded familiar red echidna.

"Knuckles!" Sonic called out, rushing over to his friend. "Are you all right, buddy?"

"Grandfather Athair said you and the others would be here." Knuckles coughed out, as the two girls tried to hold him up."Sonic, the swatbots attacked the island... they're were two many of them... with chaos's help, we protected the master emerald, but..." he coughed up a trickle of blood. "... Alucion. T-they took princess Alucion... I was so blind, why did I not see she was..."

Knuckles almost collapsed, and Sonic motion the girls to the sky patrol. "Get him on board! I'll ask one of the paramedics to come and look at him in our med bay!"

As the Pika and the butterfly helped him to the ship, Sonic saw several of the wounded being brought from the hotel. He saw that coyote- Antoine, sitting on the edge of a stretcher with a bandaged head, while his rabbit wife stood nearby in her torn ballgown, holding his hand. Then he the bat King, Komometz, limping out of the building, wings shredded. He just couldn't believe the level of devastation he was witnessing.

"Sonic!" A voice called out. The blue blur turned to see a familiar green hedgehog with spiky hair limping towards him. "Bro, over here!"

"Manic!" Sonic zoomed over towards the green prince. "Manic how is everyone? Is our sister safe?"

"Sonic... they took her... they took Sonia, they took Lupe, they took all the princesses." Manic sputtered out, still in a daze. "We all fought back, but there were too many. Monkey Kahn, King Umberto... they're all getting they're wounds treated, but..."

"Where did they take her?!" Sonic demanded, taking his brother by the shoulders. "Please, where did they go?"

"Get your team assembled aboard the Sky Patrol, Sonic." Manic replied, shaking his head. "Prince Alfonzo wants to have a word with you all."

...

"His name, is Ixis Nagus." Alfozo told the gathered heroes, as a holographic image of a horrible looking being materialized on the screen. "He is a powerful sorcerer, and the one responsible for kidnapping the princesses."

Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, and the still-wounded but recovering Knuckles were sitting in a circle of chairs in the Sky Patrol's briefing room, while Prince Alfonzo Ghianda was briefing them about the recent events, and what led up to them.

"In the time of my grandfather, King Lorenzo Ghianda, Nagus was the royal court mage of Sabato island. He had learned Chaos magic at the feet of his teacher, the previous court mage." The prince looked away from the image, and to the assembled heroes. "At first, he performed Chaos magic that was beneficial and useful to the people. But then, one day he began to delve into the energies of dark Gaia, which bubbled up from the planet core through a secret volcanic vent on the island he had found." Alfonzo closed his eyes. "The dark Gaia energy twisted and mutated his body, giving him the body parts of different islander animals, and drove him insane. He then used his dark magic to try and take over the island, but my ancestor defeated him. Nagus was then banished to the special zone- a twisting and turning maze of strobing lights and psychedelic colors. he remained imprisoned there... until recently."

Everyone looked back at the hologram of this hideous monster; who seemed to have the face of an ape, the sharp fangs of a tiger, a pair of bat-like ears, and a rhino horn on his head. He also had a short white beard, one claw-like hand, and purple robes that covered any other mutations over his his entire body- in other words, being fully clothed, something extremely physically uncomfortable to male islanders, due to the sensitivity of their fur and skin.

"That's a very interesting history lesson, your highness." Knuckles piped up respectfully. "But what does it have to do with the grabbing of the princesses?"

"Naugs continued to be imprisoned in the zone for centuries, until Eggman's takeover of the planet ten years ago. When he conquered our island, Robotnik banished Salvatrice and I's father, King Umberto, to the special zone. Sally let a team in to rescue our father, but apparently Nagus disguised himself as a team member, and hitched a free ride out of the zone with the rescue squad. We believe he's been laying low for the past ten years, using his magic to hire goons and build up his resources in the criminal underworld, until he was ready to make his move... which he has now done."

"Great Gaia, so that's it." Amy shook her head in disbelief. "But why kidnap the princesses? Why not take more valuable hostages, like the kings or queens?"

"I've talked to the other royals, before they were taken away. We don't think he was after hostages, e think he's after something far worse." Alfonzo stopped to take a breath. "I take it every one of you, being an islander, has heard the name of Mammoth Mogul?"

The utterance of that name aloud, made everyone in the room's blood run ice cold. There was silence for several minutes, before Sonic finally spoke up.

"I know of him, from the storybooks and legends Uncle Chuck gave me." The blue blur looked around the room. "Mammoth Mogul was the first great islander conqueror, from thousands of years ago, when the Ancients arrived on earth with the chaos emeralds. Mogul went to the Starfall Islands, and stole the emeralds from the ancients, using their power to turn the ancients into the harmless chao, and then used the power of the chaos emeralds to launch a war of conquest across the islands."

"Yes Sonic, that's correct." Alfonzo nodded. "Using the power of the emeralds to enhance his chaos magic, Mammoth Mogul waged a war of conquest across the islands, in an attempt to unify all islanders under his tyrannical rule. It was only a small group of five heroes- a hedgehog, an echidna, a squirrel, a wolf, and a fish- who were able to steal back the emeralds, and discover the power to go super for the first time. These five champions were able to defeat his armies, and slay the tyrant. The freed islanders were so grateful, that they made the five champions their rulers. The first five royal houses among we islanders- The hedgehogs of South Island, house Ghianda of Sabato island, the chiefs of the wolf pack nation, the royal aquatic monarchy of Meropis, and the royal house of the echidnas- are the direct descendants of the five champions."

"So... he's going to sacrifice the princesses, the descendants of the ones who slew Mammoth Mogul, in an attempt to resurrect this ancient powerful being." Everyone in the room stared at him in surprise, and Tails just shrugged. "What? Sonic and I watch a lot of fantasy and action movies, this stuff happens all the time in them."

"How did you come by Mogul's plan, your majesty?" Cream asked suspiciously. "It seems awfully convenient that you're telling us this now."

"The royal houses have... a spy in Nagus's forces." The prince held up a communicator. "He only discovered the full nature of the Wizard's scheme after the princesses were abducted. We have 48 hours until Nagus begins the ritual, he won't harm the girls until then."

"We have to rescue the princesses, and stop Mogul's rebirth." Sonic declared, standing up. "Alfonzo, give tails the coordinates for the location of Nagus's hideout. Cream, go tell Relic and Betty to head back to the Chaotix mansion, and wait for us there. Knuckles-"

"I am over my wounds, so I am going with you." The proud echidna warrior declared. "I did not believe Alucion's claims that she was a princess, and that has contributed to this problem. I will not abandon her to that mad wizard's scheme."

"All right, if you feel up to it." Sonic hit his palm in his hand. "Okay, team! As Princess Salvatrice would say- 'let's do it to it!"

"Sonic, please don't quote that so flippantly." Alfonzo groaned, as everyone ran off to complete their tasks.

...

After having programmed in the coordinates, Tails had returned to his room to get some rest. There was a soft knock at the door, the fox hit the button to open it.

"Come in." The two-tailed fox hit the button, and the door slid open.

"Hello tails, I just got Cheese to sleep." The bunny girl sauntered over to Tails bed, and sat down beside him. "I thoguht I'd come see how you were doing."

"Oh, I''m okay, just got done making the preparations for tomorrow." Ttails looked away from her, and sighed. "Look. Cream... I'm sorry I called and snitched on you to Sonic and Amy, after you came back here. It's just, you weren't acting like you... the sweet and gentle Cream I know and..." He hesitated, his face turning a deep shade of red. "...and love."

Cream's eyes went wide, and for a brief moment, Miles Prower caught a glimpse of the sweet and innocent young woman he had come to love over the past decade. But it was gone in a flash, and the rebellious young rabbit was there before him again.

"It's okay Tails, you were just trying to look out for me, and I really appreciate that." Cream took his right hand in hers, and gently caressed his cheek with her left hand. "But my mom tried to protect me too, and it was a bit smothering. I'm a big girl, and I can look after myself."

"Yeah, you're mom was wrong to be so overprotective..." Tails hesitated. "... but don't you think you might be going a little bit overbroad with the whole 'youth rebellion' thing?"

"I don't know Tails... but what I do know is, we're going on a mission tomorrow, we may not be coming back from." Cream reached over, and hit the switch to close and lock the door. "I think we should enjoy what time we have left... "

"Uhhh, Cream? What are you doing?" He asked nervously, as Cream removed her tube top and miniskirt. "I don't think we-"

"Hey Tails, you're a genius..." She got closer to Tails, as the two-tailed fox's heart was now beating faster. "...want me to show you how rabbits multiply?"

"Wait... I...errr... mmmmmmmm." He was cut off, as Cream's lips pressed against his. Tails tried to think, but as the hormones and adrenaline rushed though both of their bodies, suddenly neither of the two young adults could think.

Needless to say, neither Tails nor Cream got much sleep that night.

...

Later that evening, Sonic the Hedgehog was on the roof of the sky patrol, looking up at the stars, when he heard a pair of soft footsteps come up and stand beside him.

"A ring for your thoughts." A pink female hedgehog's voice spoke.

"Is that all they're worth?" He replied, looking over at her.

"A red ring, then." Amy gestured beside him. "Mind if I lay down here?"

The blue blur shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The two lay there for several minutes before Amy Rose spoke up. "You know, we've faced a lot of crazy things over the years; Chaos...the Timer Eater... the deadly six... the Metarex invasion... and even thoguh the stakes have been higher before, I've never been this scared we're not going to make it this time."

"We'll make it though just fine, Ames." Sonic just shrugged. "Always have, always will."

"Boy I wish the rest of us could have your confidence." She laughed. "I almost envy it sometimes."

Things were quiet for another minute, before Sonic drew a breath, and worked up his courage.

"Amy, just in case we don't make it this time, there's something I want to tell you, I lo-"

"Wait, is this the long awaited 'I love you' confession?" She laughed aloud. "Sonic I've known that for years. Thank you for finally stop pretending that you don't thoguh."

The blue blur's years perked up in shock. "What?! Wait, when did you-"

"It was back during the Starfall island incident, ten years ago, remember?" She looked over, smiling at him softly. "Don't you remember saying 'Amy, I wish I'd made up my mind sooner'? That was the moment I knew you loved me... the moment I knew we belonged to each other." She began softly running a gloved hand through his spiky quills. "Don't you remember all the times sense then? the dates at Twinkle park? The delicious meals at restaurants around the world- we didn't have to take a train or plane, you carried me there at super-sonic speed!" She laughed. "Don't you remember the time we watched the sun rise on highest peak at ice cap zone on New Years day together? Or the time you took me to meet your Uncle Chuck, who asked 'hey sonny boy, when you gonna put a ring on the finger of this little sweetie pie?' You don't even remember the weekend at casino night zone, when you and I had alcohol for the first and only time in our lives, and security caught us drunk and making out by the swimming pool?" Amy giggled at the memory. "Good thing they caught us before we went farther than that."

"Huh, I guess we have been dating this whole time, and I'm the only one who didn't know it." Sonic shook his head. Rolling over, he gently caressed the pink hedgehog's cheek."I'm sorry I let fear hold me back for so long, and kept me from being there for you fully."

"Sonic, you don't have to be afraid. The world will always change, and things and people will move on and cease to be..." She rolled over on her side, staring straight into his deep green eyes. "... but the one thing that will never ever change, is my love for you. I promise, no matter what happens, I will always be with you, in body in this life and in spirit in the next, throughout all of eternity. I love you, Sonic the Hedgehog, I always have, and I always will."

Sonic stared back into her deep green eyes for a moment, then pressed his lips against hers. For both of them, the moment was bliss; they drank of each other, Sonic tasting the sweet scent of roses and the fire of her passion, and Amy tasting speeding blue wind and his fierce desire from freedom. Both found a boundless joy in each other, but it ended as soon as their lips parted.

They stared at each other for a moment, both of their faces a deep burning red, before Amy finally spoke.

"Oh... uhhhh... I'd better get to bed... gotta get up early tomorrow, you know." She laughed nervously, getting up and practically running for the stairs. "You coming, Soni-" She cut herself off, using that name to address Sonic the Hedgehog for the last time "You coming, honey?"

"Nah, I think I'll stay up here for a little while longer." He laughed, as she went down the stairs. "See you tomorrow, Ames!"

As his girlfriend (damn, it felt good finally thinking that!) went back down the stairs, Sonic gazed up at the stars, sating at then in infinite wonder.

Next: Back to Chaotix Manor!

 

 

Back at Chaotix manor

"I-I don't understand! How could she do this to me?!" Vanilla wailed, while sitting on the couch. " She has never gone against me like this! I just don't know what went wrong!"

"There, there, darlin'. It's gonna be all right!" The crocodile put his arms around the sobbing mother, trying to comfort her. "You did the absolute best you could."

Vector, Espio, and Charmy were trying to be there for Vanilla, who was sobbing her eyes out following her daughter's 'rebellion'. They all knew what needed to be said to the poor woman, but it was hard to tell the grieving mother what she needed to hear. Finally, it was Espio who finally worked up the courage to speak;

"Miss Vanilla, I do not mean to be rude, but..." The chameleon swallowed hard, before continuing. "... have you ever considered while you might have had the best of intentions, you might have been a little... overprotective of her?"

"W-what...?" Vanilla asked, shocked by what Espio had just said to her. "What do you mean?"

"Face it, Vanilla! You were waaay too bossy With Cream!" Charmy blurted out, with all the tact of a bull in a china shop. "She told Tails and I you were smothering her."

Vanilla then thought for a moment remembering all the times she had criticized her daughter about her clothes, music tastes, and manners, even when Cream was trying her best. She thought about how she forbade cream to go on dates, or go out with friends, or do anything but be at home with her, and go out to save the world with sonic. Had she been too hard though? After all, Cream was only eighteen, and-

Vanilla stopped, running that thought through her head again.

Her daughter was eighteen now; a grown adult, and she had never allowed her any freedom at all during her teen years. Vanilla had kept seeing Cream as that little eight-year-old girl, and not as the growing teenager she had been. Cream had never been allowed to have any freedom, and it was all Vanilla's fault.

The full impact of what she had done to her daughter, hit the poor woman like a tidal wave.

"OH NO, I'M A HORRIBLE MOTHER!" Vanilla wailed even louder, burying her face in Vector's scaly chest. " VECTOR, I WAS TERRIBLE TO CREAM! I'M AMONSTER!"

With a sigh, Vector and the others realized this was going to be quite a mess for them to work through...

...

"Hey Ray, could you go over two aisles, and get the spaghetti sauce?" Mighty asked his little buddy. "Trip and I'll get the pizza and the ramen."

The trio were currently at the nearby grocery store, picking up a list of supplies that Vector and the others had asked them to get. Mighty was having a field day, picking up new foods and flavors, and eating better than he had when he and Ray had been world traveling. Since marrying Trip, she had already worked to improve his diet and worse habits, but there was stuff here that his wife was piling into the cart in bulk.

"Umm, honey? Are you sure we need all of this stuff?" Mighty asked Trip, pointing down into the cart. "I mean, do we really need seven different flavors of pancake mix?"

Trip frowned at him sadly, before looking down at the groceries.

"But dearest, neither you nor I even eat raspberry flavor!" The armadillo protested. "And besides, how many pancake breakfasts can you make?!"

Trip's frown worsened, turning into a pout.

"Honey, please... I don't think you're going to burn as many pancakes as you used to." He reached into the cart, and took a few of the pancake mixes out. "Aw, come on, you sure I can't put a few of these blueberry mixes back?"

The sungazer glared at him in annoyance, and Mighty threw his arms up in defeat.

"Okay, okay, you win! I'll leave the stuff in the cart." He sighed. "Please leave my 12-pack of diet dr. chaos cola in the cart, that's my guilty pleasure."

With a soft laugh, she gave him a pack on the cheek, and smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll go get the milk." He laughed, heading around the corner. "Be right back in a sec."

He had only been gone for a second, when a dark shape walked up behind her.

"Well well well, look what we have here." A familiar voice from the past hissed, sending shivers up the sungazer's spine. "Long time no see, girly."

Trip spun around, and saw an islander than filled her with revulsion, disgust and hate. It was a male jerboa with purple and white fur wearing a stetson hat, and a pop gun holstered at his belt. His smile revealed a single sharp tooth sticking out of his mouth. The sungazer knew very well who this was, even though she had not seen him in over fifteen years.

"Fang the Hunter..." She hissed, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. Bitter, painful memories of being yelled at, kicked around, and being told she was worthless and incompetent filled her mind. She had tried to be friends with this monster and Dr. Eggman, even though they had come to her island and caused noting but damage and destruction. Although Eggman had mostly ignored her, Fang had shown the sungazer nothing but contempt and cruelty, which she put up with until her dear friend Amy Rose came along and showed her an act of Kindness. Trip then turned on the two evil villains, and with the help of Sonic and his friends, drove them from her island. She hadn't seen Fang since the battle with the dark dragon, and she had hoped it would have stayed that way,... until now.

"What do you want, you miserable little rat!?" Sher hissed, clenching the handle on her shopping cart so tightly, she almost broke it.

"Awww, is that the way you greet an old boss? What would your hubby think?" Trip went pale at that, and Fang's dark smile widened. "Yeah, I know all about your marriage to that idiotic armadillo, me and the boys fought him and the Chaotix many times back in the old days." Fang looked at her thoughtfully. "So, you and Mighty, huh? Man, he must have to wear a blindfold when you two do the horizontal tango, seeing how you're so ugly and scaly. That why i never laid a hand on you back on the island, you've might've given me rash or something. Wonder if I should tell him what an untrustworthy little reptile you really are?"

Trip's rage and fury burned even hotter than before, making her shy stutter disappear.

"You vile, chauvinistic piece of dung! I have never made love to anyone besides my mate, ever!" She gave a draconic snarl, her teeth looking almost like pointed fangs for a moment. "My husband means more to me than anything on this planet! If you so much as lay a hand on him, I swear I will take dragon form, and burn your worthless flesh right off of your bones!"

"Ah ah ahhhh... nice try, Toots! But we both know you can't go dragon, unless you got the chaos emeralds." Her took out his gun, and pointed it at her head. "And I ain't giving you the chance ta go out and find them."

Wanting to sob, Trip closed her eyes, emotionally sending her her husband a loving farewell, and prepared for the end. But at that moment a rush of wind suddenly went by her, and she opened her eyes to a flash of red and black.

"NACK THE WEASEL! GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY WIFE!" Mighty the Armadillo roared, his fist slamming into the Jerboa's face. "HOW DARE YOU THREATEN HER, YOU SON OF A WITCH!"

The jerboa was sent flying, by what felt like to him getting hit by a semi truck in the face. Fang was sent hurtling through the aisles like a rag doll, slamming through the store's front window,and landing in the grass outside.

"Honey... are you all right?" He took her in an embrace, which the relieved sungazer returned. "I felt you were in trouble, and-"

"I-I'm fine, don't w-worry about it." She looked at the broken window. "Let's go kick his b-butt."

As the panicked people from the store ran in every direction, Mighty and Trip went out though the hole made by Fang's speedy departure. Ray, who had heard the noise from elsewhere in the store, zipped around the corner, and was floating in the air above them.

"Whoah, what happened here!?" he asked in shock. "Hey, is that Nack the Weasel?"

"You stupid punks, my boys and I were paid by Nagus just ta keep you busy, but I think now we'll rub ya out!" Fang climbed onto his hover bike, the Marvelous Queen, that had been parked nearby, and flew up into the air. "Get em', boys!"

Mighty had barely taken a step, when he was tackled to the ground by a large polar bear, who began to wrestle with him, in a contest of strength. Meanwhile, a cherry bomb hit Ray from behind, sending him flying backwards.

"Ohhh, little squirrely boy boy got hit by boom-boom!" A green Woodpecker laughed manically, twirling a bomb on his finger, before running away. "Come and get me, little squirrely, before I make more boom-boom on innocent civilians!"

"Bean the Dynamite!?" Ray went racing after the woodpecker. "Hey, get back here, you blasted bird! You can't run around making boom-boom with bombs!"

"Well, well, well..." Fang hovered up on his bike, grinning wickedly. "Looks like it's just you and me, girly!Ready for a rematch?"

"Bring it on, rat-boy!" Trip snapped, leaping into the air to attack the deranged jerboa.

...

Meanwhile, back at the Chaotix mansion, the trio had finally gotten Vanilla off to bed, and were all hanging around in the living room.

"Aw man, poor Vanilla." Charmy sighed, as he straightened up the pillows on the couch. "I feel so sorry for her, with Cream going all 'bad bunny', and all."

"It is sad, but she sort of had it coming, Charmy." Espio replied, leaning up against the wall. "But band-aid needed to be peeled off, and now both mother and daughter can begin to heal."

"I'm just glad we have a place for everyone ta live here now, with our team upgrading to this sweet mansion." Vector boasted proudly. "Just another testament to my great leadership skills!"

"Speaking of which, boss, I was wondering..." Espio asked, finally broaching a subject he had been putting off talking about. "How exactly did you afford this place and the jet? I know we have more work and an expanded caseload, but even that should not have paid for all of this."

"Oh, just though my know how of balancing the books, ya know?" Vector laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck. "Save a ring here, save a red ring there... it's really not that hard to do."

Chamy and Espio looked at each other, then looked back at the crocodile suspiciously.

"Okay boss, we know your hiding something." The bee flew us in Vector's face. "Out with it!"

"Okay, Okay, I'll tell ya the truth." The crocodile looked back and forth between them nervously, then sighed. "Remember those goofy sonic cartoons that aired on television a few years back?"

"You mean that one that Had Robotnik chasing around Sonic and tails, like that Coyote chases the roadrunner?" Charmy asked. "The one where Eggman has three idiot badnik henchmen, and says 'pingas' all the time?"

"Then there was the one where Sonic and his close friends all lived with some human kid and his family in Station Square." Espio added. "That show portrayed the three of us as incompetent clowns, I wasn't very happy about it."

"Heh, that kid was Christopher Thorndyke, a major fan of Sonic. His wealthy parents helped sponsor the show, if the producers put their family and their household staff into the show." Vector began to sweat a little. "Welllll... I sorta kinda might've told everyone I had the right to negotiate for Sonic's story... and I sorta kinda might've sold the rights to use all of us in cartoons and movies to Breezie media."

At these words, Charmy and Vector's eyes almost bulged out of their heads in schock.

"Okay, first of all, having watched the show... I'm totally shocked that grandpa Thorndyke, Mr. Tanaka , Ella, and Sam Speed are all real people. Secondly..." A look of pure anger crossed Espio's face. "ARE YOU INSANE?! You sold the rights to our lives to Breezie?!"

"Sonic AoStH, Sonic SATAM, Sonic Underground, Sonic X, and Sonic Boom... all those came from a deal you made?" Charmy shook his head. "No wonder Tails and Amy couldn't figure out how Breezie could make those cartoons legally."

"Vector do you realize the damage you caused?! Sure, Sonic and shaodw may not give a care how the cartoons show them, but everyone else's private lives were put on the TV screen for all to see!" Espio snapped at him. "You've sullied the reputation of the royal houses of Ghianda and South Island, revealed sensitive information like Sonic's true parentage to the public, and made all of us look like complete idiots and fools over and over again to the children of this world who watched those cartoons!"

"Oh, man! Knuckles was sooo mad how that one cartoon made him look like a pumped-up meathead!" Charmy laughed. "And Amy hates how everyone thinks sonic has all these girlfriends now!"

"Geez, they're just cartoons!" Vector protested. "How could they hurt anyone?"

"Vector, it affects people more than you know. How do you think Tails felt watching Cosmo die all over again... and the series depicts him as the one who fired the shot that killed her! Sonic told his young Miles couldn't sleep for weeks after that!" Espio crossed his arms. "And how do you think your fiance Vanilla will react when she learns you were responsible for her and Cream being in Sonic X? She never told you about the harassment and paparazzi she and Cream had to deal with for months after that show aired!"

"Okay, okay... I screwed up, all right?" Vector sat down on the couch, and sighed. "After this drama is worked out between Cream and Vanilla, okay?"

"You'd better, Vector T. Crocodile." Espio warned. "Because if you put this off, I swear I'll tell everyone what you did."

Vector was about to reply, when the trio heard the plane landing outside on the mansion's airstrip.

"Huh, sounds like the girls are back." vector sighed, getting up off the couch. "Come on, let's go out to greet them."

NEXT: Team Hooligan vs the Chaotix! And the return of Bomb and Heavy!

Chaotix vs Hooligans

Trip spin-dashed into Fang's hover bike, knocking it backwards several feet, and denting up the front. The jerboa fired three missiles at the sungazer, who smashed the first two with spin dashes, but the third one exploded, and sent her crashing back into the ground.

"Looks like you lost a little bit o' your touch, girlie!" Fang chortled. "I'm gonna enjoy turning yer scaly hide into a trophy!"

"W-we'll see about that..." She curled up in a ball and rolled towards the wall of the nearest building, using her back scales to climb up the wall higher than Fang's bike was flying. Jumping straight over the startled jerboa's head, and drop dashed right onto him, knocking Fang out of the Marvelous queen, and sending him slamming into the ground again.

"I-I won't let y-you hurt m-my beloved or h-his little b-brother Ray!" Trip Hissed angrily. "I-I'll hurt y-you instead!"

She dove at him again, but he rolled out of the way, and was back in the air with his damaged bike yet again.

At the same time, Bark was locked in fierce combat with Mighty, the two throwing fierce punches at each other, grappling and wrestling with one another in between blows.

"Bark, you don't have to do this!" Mighty grunted, while grappling with the bear. "I know you're not evil like Nack, why do you serve him?!"

The polar bear's only response was to grunt, and kick the armadillo backwards. Mighty retaliated with his own furious punch, that knocked the back.

"Okay, since you won't listen to reason," Mighty cracked his knuckles. "I'm just going to have to beat some sense into you!"

Mighty slammed his fist into the ground, sending out shock waves that cracked nearby windows, and set off car alarms a mile away. Bark was knocked clean off of his feet, and Might was quickly on top of the polar bear, wailing on with a flurry of punches.

"I hate doing this, Bark!" Mighty growled, throwing another punch. "But I can't let you hurt anyone else!"

Bark caught the last punch, and grabbing the armadillo by the wrist flung him high into the air. Mighty went into a spin dash on the way back down, but the polar bear caught him in ball form, slamming him into the ground.

Ray, meanwhile,was chasing after the demented lunatic, Bean. The crazy woodpecker was running away at top speed, tossing bombs out to the left and right as fast as he could- into open cars, open windows, onto benches. And Ray was quickly following behind, catching the bombs, and tossing them high into the air to explode harmlessly.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! So many boom-booms!" Bean laughed gleefully. "Bigger than the bat spy's pair of boom-booms!"

"Hey, watch where you're throwing those bombs!" Ray pleaded, as he tossed another one up in the air to explode harmlessly. "If you're not careful, somebody could get hurt!"

"Awww, who cares?!" Bean shrugged, tossing another bomb wildly. "If bombs go boom boom beside somebody, that person goes boom-boom-bye-bye!"

This time, Ray wasn't able to get to a car he tossed a bomb into in time, and the vehicle exploded into a flaming wreck.

"Oh no!" Ray gasped out, a panicked look on his face. "I'd better end this, before he kills somebody!"

Ray chased the wacky woodpecker around an entire city block, back to the spot where Trip and Mighty were fighting Bark and Fang. Looking up from where he was wrestling the polar bear, Mighty got an idea.

"Ray, the next time he tosses bombs, throw one to me and one to Trip!" Mighty looked over to his wife, who gave a quick nod of understanding. "We'll turn their own firepower against them!"

Ray thought for a moment, then smiled. "Ohhh, I get it!" The flying squirrel then stuck his tongue out, making a mocking face at the woodpecker. "Hey, Bean! Bet you can't hit me with three bombs at once!"

"Ohh, that makes me mad! You want boom booms..." He hurled three bombs at Ray, who quickly chucked one towards Mighty, one Towards Trip... and one back at the crazy bird. Mighty caught his bomb, and shoved it into Barks face, while Trip caught her bomb, and threw it at the marvelous queen, while Bean just caught the bomb tossed back at him. The three heroes then each jumped back from the bad guys holding the bombs.

"BEAN, YOU IDIOT!" Fang howled in anger. "NOOOO!"

BOOOOOOOM!

When the smoke cleared, the three members of team hooligan were laying on the ground, unconscious. Mighty looked over at his two teammates.

"Hey, is everyone okay?" He asked, as both Trip and Ray rushed over to hug him.

"I'm okay, Mighty!" Ray replied. "What about you, Trip?"

"I-I'm all right, thank you." She replied, though the look she gave Mighty told him far more than her few words did.

"Okay, let's get these three tied up, and hand them over to the police." The armadillo sighed. "After that, maybe we can finish our grocery shopping."

...

Back at Chaotix manner, the trio had greeted Betty and Relic, who explained the entire situation to them.

"WHAT?! Alucion's been Kidnapped!?" Espio yelled in anger. "We must go and rescue her, at once!"

"So, an ancient wizard, huh? Figures Sonic and his pals would've gotten themselves into some kind of trouble." he motioned for his teammates. "Relic, you stay here and tell Vanilla what's going on when she wakes up. Betty, Charmy, Espio... let's get to the plane, we gotta go help our friends!"

But as the four Chaotix approached the plane, something slammed into vector, knocking him off of his feet, and sending the crocodile stumbling to the ground. As Espio and Charmy went to help their boss up, Betty could not believe what she was looking at.

It was... a pair of robots, a ridiculous- looking pair of robots that looked like they belonged in a kid's cartoon. One looked like a coffee pot with arms and legs, the other like a cherry bomb with arms and legs. The butterfly would laugh at how silly the pair looked, if the coffee pot shaped one hadn't just knocked vector clean off of his feet. After helping Vector back up, Espio and Charmy stared, as if they had seen a ghost.

"Bomb... Heavy?" Vector asked in disbelief. "What're you guys doing here?"

"You know these 'bots?" Betty asked in disbelief. "Who are they?"

"Honey, these are two badniks that turned on Robotnik, and helped us out back on the carnival island caper!" Charmy explained. "We lost track of them after that, but now our pals found us again!"

"Charmy, I don't think they are our 'pals' any longer." Espio warned, pulling out a shuriken. "I think they are here to destroy us."

"The chameleon is correct." Heavy replied, in a metallic voice. "Clutch has reprogrammed us to serve Naugus, after finding us in an abandoned badnik supply depot.

"We cannot let any of you interfere in the great ritual!" Bomb agreed. "We would prefer not to harm old allies, but we will not allow you to get on that plane!"

The Chaotix all looked at each other, and leaped into battle. Betty and Charmy began spin-dashing into bomb, knocking the spherical badnik around. While Vector and Espio attacked the larger Heavy, the gator curled into a ball, slamming intro the robot with a ground roll, while the chameleon hurled ninja stars at his springy limbs.

"These attacks are a futile gesture." Heavy told them, smashing Vector and Espio in the face with a metallic fist as each one attacked. "You both know my hard exterior is impervious to any physical attack that you may render upon it."

We are well aware of that fact." Espio replied, spin-kicking the bulky robot, and sending him spinning backwards. "That is why we aren't trying to hurt you..."

"...We're just trying to keep you off balance!" Vector replied, ground rolling into the robot again, and sending him fling. "Ya can't attack if we don't let ya stand still!"

"Enough of this foolishness!" Heavy declared, his arms launching out on their springs, and punching both Vector and Espio back into the wall. "If I have to terminate both of you to stop you, then so be it!"

Vector and Espio kept launching themselves at Heavy again and again, only to get punched back by his springy arms. Finally tired of being hit, The two huddled outside of the robot's hearing and reach to formulate a plan.

"Heavy's design has been upgraded since we last saw him. His springy arms now have a long reach." Espio noted. "Perhaps if he were tangled up in them?"

"Way ahead of ya." Vector agreed. "Go invisible, and get into position. I'll keep em' busy."

Espio vanished, and Vector began taunting heavy.

"Hey ya big bucket of bolts!" Vector curled up, and rolled around and around in circles just outside the robot's long reach. "Bet ya can't catch me!"

Heavy's springy arms chased Vector around and around, tangling the robot up in his own limbs.

"Error...error... limbs tangled, cannot move..." The robot droned.

Suddenly, a kunai shot out at the robot's vulnerable springy neck from behind, severing his head from his body. Both head and body exploded, leaving a pile of scrap behind.

"Thanks Vector, I couldn't have gotten close without your help."Vector looked back at the pile of scrap. "We'll give that to Tails, maybe he can rebuild Heavy without better programming."

"Yeah, then maybe and and Bomb could find a home on that island of rebuilt good badniks, Scrapnik island." Vector laughed, looking down at the smouldering scrap pile. "You know, the one that Belle the Tinkerer moved to after the Restoration dissolved. I think she and her, er... 'husband' Mecha Sonic are king and queen there, right?"

"Never mind that..." Espio replied, looking around. "Where's Charmy?"

Charmy and Betty had been kicking bomb back and forth, not letting him touch the ground.

"How do you like that, you dumb robot?" The butterfly taunted the badnik, kicking him back to the bee. "Instead of being a bomb, you're a football!"

"I don get it, bomb! Why'd ya turn bad?" Charmy asked. "We were you friends, how could you do this to us?"

"I know how you are with your friends, Chramy bee." Bomb replied, trying to goad the islander insect. "Wasn't there a bee friend of yours that Clutch sold some illegal drugs to, that lead to his life terminating? What was his name... Bart the Bee? Barfy the bee?"

"No, Charmy!" Betty tried to warn him. "He's just trying to goad you!"

But the angry bee did listen, and flew straight at the robot, punching him. The moment Charmy's fist hit Bomb, he exploded in midair.

"ARGAHHHHHH!" The bee cried out, tumbling out of the air.

"NO!" Betty wailed, tears forming in her eyes, as she caught the ash-covered small form falling back to earth. "CHARMY!"

"Oh no, Charmy!" Espio yelled running over. "He's been hurt!"

"Espio, go call an ambulance, NOW!" Vector roared, as he helped lay the scorched be into Betty's lap. "We gotta help our little buddy!"

As everyone scrambled to help, a small scorched helmet and pair of goggles lay on the grass behind them...

...

Elsewhere, watch the scene through his magical viewing mirror, Naugus was laughing.

"Excellent! With their little bee friend injured, that will keep the Chaotix out of my hair." The evil wizard turned to Clutch. "You and your minions and robots have done well, my servant. You will be well rewarded for your actions."

"Why, thank you Lord Naugus, it's been a pleasure!" He bowed to the wizard. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go see to our defenses, in case that blue troublemaker and his team arrives!"

"I very much doubt that will happen, I have broken those fool's spirits." Naugus waved a claw dismissively. "But if it makes you feel better, you may go."

Clutch walked out of the room, where Surge was waiting for him. After they were well out of the wizard's hearing range, the tenrec asked; "So, what's the plan, boss?"

"Get everyone into my helicopter, along with all of Naugus's treasure you can carry. We'll leave the swabots here to serve him, but we're takign our pay and more, and getting out of here."

"Whoah! We're betraying the wizard? Cool!" Surge laughed. "after all the help we gave him though, I gotta ask why."

"I'm a businessman, Surge. I'm in this for the money. And the end of the world is bad for business." Clutch leaned on his cane as he walked. "Sonic and his team are not nearly as broken as he thinks, and they will come and defeat his little scheme. After all, I've been feeding information to the royal houses about Naugus's plans this whole time."

"Ohhhh, my boss is a double crosser, how devious!" She grinned a fanged smile. "But, it really makes me sick that we're helping a goody-good like Sonic, even if it's for our own benefit!"

"Surge, Surge, Surge... you have to take the long view in these things... survival and self-preservation over villainy." They arrived at the door to the roof, where the copter awaited. "I've been a mob boss long enough to remember when we fought an earlier generation of heroes... like Captain Rescue, and the super heroes of the Justice Brigade. Sonic may win today, but we can always get the better of him tomorrow." He pointed back into the building. "Now, go back and get the others. I don't want to be here when Naugus finds out we betrayed him, or when Team Sonic arrives."

...

Deep in a chamber in Naugus's lair, Princess Salvatrice Ghianda finally came to. She was shocked to find herself chained to an elevated stone slab, and even more horrified to see her fellow Princesses; Undina, Lupe, Sonia, and... what looked like an echidna princess (judging from the crown) all chained up beside her, and... most humiliatingly, and dressed in golden tiaras, gold metal bikinis, see-thru skirts attached.

"Oh merda!" She cursed aloud. "We've been kidnapped by a pervert!"

"Well, well, well... look who decided to get her royal butt out of slumber land!" Sonia groaned, looking over at Salvatrice in Contempt. "If it isn't Princess Sally Acorn, Sonic the Hedgehog's side chick, who gets Amy Rose's sloppy seconds."

"Sonia, would you kindly shut your Gaia-damned mouth! You're getting annoying!" Lupe growled at her, before looking back at the chipmunk princess. "Are you all right, Sally? Did they hurt you bringing you in?"

"No, everything feels all right...though Sonia knows I hate that 'dating Sonic' thing." Sal whispered, glaring at Sonia angrily. "Oh mio Dio, where the heck are we, anyway?"

"Judging by our outfits and the slabs we're on, I'm guessing we're going to be sacrificed some kind of ritual." Undina replied, gently tugging at the chains. "My guess is Sonic and his friends will be along to rescue us shortly."

"Ugh, great, we're damsels in distress." Lupe groaned, rolling her eyes. "How humiliating."

"Aw, come on, Lupe! We're princesses! Getting kidnapped and rescued is an expected part of our lives, di sicuro." Salvatrice replied. "Besides, I doubt you'd object if Manic came in here to rescue you."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I have no problems getting rescued by a handsome prince, at all." Lupe corrected her, pulling at her metal cuffs. "I just wish it were possible to get ourselves out of here, before we get sacrificed."

"No argument there." The Echidna princess spoke up, pulling at her own chains, to no avail. "I too hate the fact that we have to rely on the guardian and his friends, instead of freeing ourselves. But... there is a tradition of echidna warriors rescuing maidens, this is acceptable."

"Oh, you haven't been introduced... Salvatrice, this is Princess Alucion. She says her brother the Eastside island tribe of Echidnas," Undina introduced her. "It seems knuckles is not the last of his kind."

"Buonasera, principessa Alucion." The chipmunk royal greeted her, not losing her manners even in their current predicament.. "It's an honor to met you."

"A pleasure, Princess Sally. Though I wish it were under better circumstances." Alucion sighed. "I just wonder what thier plan is."

"Actually..." Sally replied, looking up a a carving of a large, furry elephant-looking islander above them. "I'm afraid I think I might have a guess at why our captor is going to sacrifice us..."

Next: Rescuing the princesses!

The Final Battle

The morning of the attack, all five members of Team Sonic filed onto the bridge, all totally focused on their tasks, and what they needed to do. With the exception of the strong willed, independent-minded Sonic, of course, who noticed the serious demeanor and grim determination of everyone on the bridge. Sure, he was able to smile and chat with Amy a bit, and Knuckles was obviously upset about his mistakes with the echidna princess. But Tails and Cream were... oddly distant. As they stole nervous glances at one another, before looking back at their consoles. Walking over from the command chair to Tail's workstation, the blue blur spoke up.

"Hey, little bro... you look kinda troubled." Sonic asked in a hushed tone, so the others couldn't hear. "You... wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, I'll be okay, Sonic." Tails whispered, realizing his 'big brother' could tell something was wrong. "Cream and I just, we spent the night together, and..." The two-tailed fox sighed. "...let's just talk about it later, okay?."

"Right..." Sonic replied, trying to hide the shock on his face."We'll talk about it when this mission is over."

Sonic continued to circle the bridge. Walking over to Knuckle's station, he asked;

"Ready to do this, man?" He asked the always angry echidna, the rival who had over time, had become his best friend. "I know you're upset about the echidna princess."

"I am prepared to fight with honor." Knuckles replied in a harsh tone- not directed at Sonic, of course, but rather the current situation. "We shall rescue the princesses, and foil this madman's scheme."

Sonic looked over to Cream, but Amy was already by her console. "Don't worry, darling! I got this one!" Sonic could see the two had been quietly talking to one another. "You go ahead with your preparations!"

Sonic returned to the command chair, and soon preparations were complete. The sky patrol's engine's roared to life, and soon they would be in the Metropolis Zone, where Naugus had taken refuge.

"Tails, take us out over the ocean, and approach from the coast. He probably won't be expecting an attack from there." Sonic looked over the tactical data the turncoat Clutch had given them. "Cream, you and Knuckles concentrate on the swatbots that will come pouring out to fight us. Tails, get busy on your computer, and see if you can finds away to shut down their Auto-repair feature. Amy, get over to the Sanctuary, and free those princesses." Sonic pounded his fist into his glove. "I'm going after the wizard."

Amy glanced up and Sonic, with a mix of pride, and sadness. The free-spirited hero never wanted to be a leader, a commander... but time and the situation had forced it upon him, and they had all found he was scarily competent at it. Fortunately, he was the leader they needed, right now. And that was all that mattered.

As the Sky patrol came soaring in from the ocean, the five heroes leapt of the vehicle, which flew off on autopilot. Tails, Cream, and Knuckles glided towards the shore, while Sonic ran across the water, carrying Amy. Upon touching down on dry land, the three fliers came under attack from the swatbots, who opened fire on them.

"Priority one alert!" One of the badniks called out. "Destroy the hedgehog and his friends!"

Knuckles plowed right into the robotic swarm, smashing away at them with his fists, left and right, and shaking off their powerful punches like they were drops of rain. The echidna's fierce blows were shredding the robots like cardboard, though the swatbot's laser eye blasts did indeed sting a great deal. Meanwhile, cream flew around overhead, zipping and dodging past the eye beams, while zipping down between blasts, and spin dashing the swatbots to pieces.

At one point a whole swarm of Swatbots seemed to engulf the echidna, until Cream swooped down, and picked him up out of the sea of Robots. They flew high up over the endless army, before slamming down, destroying hundreds of the robots at once.

"Thank you, child." The echidna smiled at her.

"You're welcome, Knuxie... " She dive bombed a few more swatbots, trashing them easily. "...but don't call me child."

As Cream shot back up into the air, Knuckles dug underground, confusing the badniks, until he exploded up from the soil, sending them flying everywhere. The rabbit and the echidna and the rabbit fought on, destroying as many robots as they could.

On a nearby rooftop, tails was working away on his data pad, trying to hack into the robot's programming systems.

"Hey, cutie? not that I'm meaning to complain here..." Cream said sweetly, as she smashed another robot. "but how long do you think your little hack job is going to take?"

"I don't know, Cream, their systems are pretty sophisticated." Tails complained, as a small number of swatbots climbed the building to attack the fox, and he kept swatting the back to the ground with his two tails. "I'm gonna need at least ten minutes!"

As Cream and Knuckles continued to fight off the badniks, the two noticed the robot's bodies thy had smashed were beginning to reassemble themselves.

"Uhhhh, Tails?" Knuckles called up to him smashing another swatbot. "I really don't think we have that long!"

While the others had the badniks distracted, Sonic was able to zip around a building, and set Amy down. As both looked around the corner, at the fight Sonic stated;

"Looks like they got everything under control here." He looked back at Amy. "You going to be all right?"

"Don't worry, honey. I'll be fine." She gave Sonic a peck on the lips. "Go kick that wacky wizard's teeth in."

Smiling, both of them ran off to deal with their respective missions.

Meanwhile, Naugus was in the high tower of the Metropolis Zone, and was chanting over a bubbling cauldron, and throwing odd ingredients in. Suddenly, the smoke and elixir in the cauldron began to glow an eerie green, and Naugus let or a laugh in satisfaction.

"Ahhh, the spirit of Mammoth Mogul has answered my summons! Soon, he shall depart from Dark Gaia's prison for damned souls, and reemerge into this world!" Naugus chortled with laughter, picking up the large knife covered in ancient symbols. "It was my study of his ancient texts that allowed me mastery of Chaos magic, and the knowledge of how to resurrect him! Once I sacrifice those princesses, and let their blood flow over the altar, he shall return under my control! With his power, we shall conquer this world!"

"Sorry that's not going to happen!" Sonic suddenly smashed through a large overhead window, landing on his feet in front of Naugus. "That mammoth is going to stay a memory, and You're going to a nice, magic proof cell at Everhold prison!"

"The Quickster! You were not supposed to be here!" Naugus hissed. "You and you're teams spirits were broken! I saw it with my own eyes! How is this possible!?"

"It takes more than a lousy, two bit supervillain to stop my friends." Doing a spin dash, he knocked over the cauldron of green goo, sending it's contents down a nearby drain. "Now, you're little hocus pocus experiment just went down the tubes."

"No, you fool! You have disrupted the ritual!" He hissed, picking up his magic staff, and charging up an attack spell. "Now,without the elixir and the sacrifices, Mogul will be reborn a mindless monster! You have ruined everything!"

The infuriated wizard fired a bast of magic at Sonic who zipped out of the way, as the blast froze the spot he had been standing with ice. Naugus then hurled a fireball at the blue blur, which he again dodged. this caused the wizard to only howl in anger, as he then summoned forth several large chunks of Crystal.

"You cannot dodge forever, quickster!" Naugus yelled. "Sooner or later, I will crush you!"

Using his magic, The wizard hurled the massive crystal blocks at Sonic. He managed to dodge a few, but some on them shattered against his body, causing him great pain.

"Ow!" he yelled, as the blows knocked him around. "That magic of yours packs a punch! Lets see how you like a taste of my power!"

Sonic spin-dashed straight into the wizard, smacking into him with a spin dash, and causing some serous damage. The blue blur managed to get several more hits in, before Naugus caught him with his clawed hand.

"A brave effort on your part, quickster!" Naugus boasted, slamming Sonic into the ground at his feet. "But it will do you no good in the long run!"

Naugus fired a lightning bolt at Sonic who barely rolled out of the way.

"Your giving me a pretty good fight, you silly sorcerer!" Sonic stood up again, catching his breath. "I guess you call me 'quickster' because of my speed, huh? Man, you're no good at insults!"

They continued to trade blows like that, Sonic getting a hit in now and then, Naugus hitting him with a magic blast. Both of them were wearing down, and both knew they could not keep up the fight forever.

With the bulk of the swatbots distracted, Amy Rose easily made her way through the swarm of swatbots, occasionally having to crush one here or there with her hammer. Stopping off at a storage room where the princess's confiscated weapons were being kept, before making her way towards where the girls themselves were being held.

Inside the large chamber with the captive princesses were being kept, the girls were still struggling against their bonds. Suddenly, they heard a cracking sound from the nearby wall, as it began to crumble.

"This is it, girls!" Sonia wailed to the others. "We're done for!"

"Not if I can help it!" A pink hedgehog with a hammer came smashing though the wall. "Hi there girls, can I lend you a hand?"

"Amy Rose! It's been along time since I saw you last!" Lupe called out, as Amy broke the shackles holding her, and handed her her weapon. "Thank you for this timely rescue!"

"Good to see you again, Lupe!" Amy replied. "Let's hope we can get out of trouble again this time!"

"So this is my brother's concubine." Sonia added, as Amy freed her. " Despite the fact you're connected to that blue spike ball, I am grateful for your help."

"Since you're my boyfriend's sister, I'll let the 'concubine' crack slide." Amy added. "besides, Sonic isn't a prince anymore-never was, as far as he's concerned."

"Hey Sonia," Undina called out, as Amy freed her. "I thought Sonic WASN'T your brother!"

"SHUT UP!" Sonia fired back, as all of the other girls suppressed smiles.

"How... disappointing." Alucion sighed, as Amy freed her. "While I am grateful for your help, Miss Rose, the other girls had me talked up to being saved by a handsome prince or hero... or at least the guardian."

"Don't worry about it, 'Cion." Amy reassured her. "Knuckles came here to help rescue you! He's fighting the badniks outside, with the others."

Finally, Amy managed to free princess Salvatrice, and she and Amy stared at each other awkwardly.

"So, you're Princess Sally..." Amy greeted her nervously, handing Salvatrice her weapon. "I've heard a lot about you, your highness..."

"Amy, look, I don't want your boyfriend!" Sally interrupted. "He was just a childhood crush, honest! I barely even know him!"

"Relax, princess Sally." Amy laughed, waving it off. "I know how the media can be... don't worry about it, it was just a silly cartoon made for humans."

"Yes... a cartoon that implied I'm a nudist in boots and a vest." Salvatrice blushed in embarrassment, instinctively covering herself with her arms. "Speaking of which, let's get out of here, and get some better clothes on."

Once they were all free, Amy and the Princesses all got up, and turned to leave. Suddenly, dark clouds began to swirl overhead, and bolts of chaos energy fired in every direction. The five girls tried to stay strong and brave, as a dark portal in the shape of a ring opened in the far back of the massive chamber. The five royals could see the dark silhouette of a humanoid mammoth, began to take shape deep in the portal.

"RROOOOOAARR!" The giant, elephantine monster emerged, covered in shaggy brown fur, and the golden armor of a warlord. Hius green eyes blazed with a mindless fury, and he looked upon the princesses with a feral hatred.

"It's Mammoth Mogul!" Princess Salvatrice exclaimed. "Madre di Gaia! Nagus has resurrected him!"

"Then it will be up to us, to send him back to extinction!" Alucion declared. "Come on, girls!"

All of the Princesses- descendants of those original heroes and heroines- attacked the giant beast, along with Amy. Energy arrows and energy blades from Sally and Lupe cut into his flesh, and spin dashes sliced into him from Sonia and Undina. The massive prehistoric islander lowered his head, charging the four princesses, and ramming them with his gigantic tusks. The four girls were sent flying, but Amy and Alucion struck at him from either side- the hedgehog with her hammer, and the echidna with her spiked fists. This caused Mogul to roar in agony, then he picked up the two warrior maidens, and threw them against the wall. But that had given the other girls time to recover, and they were back into the fight.

"Amy, Cion! Are you two okay?" Lupe asked the two groggy girls, as she shot a volley of energy arrows into the mammoth's leg, bringing him down to one knee. "Are you two okay? you took quite a hit there!"

" We'll be all right." Amy replied, as she saw Sally stab the beast in the arms several times with her wrist blades, causing the mammoth to roar in pain again. "Let's just concentrate on bringing the big guy down!"

Amy and the princesses exchanged blows for several minutes, before another tusk charge sent Sally and Lupe flying back into the wall again. At that moment, Amy Rose suddenly had an idea.

"Sonia, Undina... spin dash him from each Side!" The pink hedgehog yelled. "Take off those tusks!

The spiked fish and sharp-quilled hedgehog complied. spin dashing from either side of Mammoth Mogul, and shearing off his large tusks. This only seemed to anger the giant, who slammed the ground with both of his hands, the vibrations knocking all of the girls off of their feet. Mogul began to pound and thrash about wildly, and all of the girls spin-dashed out of the beast's reach

"We've got to bring him down!" Amy thought for a moment. "Sally, Lupe, hit him in the legs with energy attacks again, get him off his feet!"

"Got it!" Both replied in unison. Sally ran by quickly, stabbing her energy blades multiple times into the monster's right leg. Lupe fired a barrage of a dozen energy arrows into the left leg. Mogul came down to his knees again, grabbing both legs in pain.

"Alucion, follow my lead, NOW!" both of them leapt into the air, bringing hammer and fist down upon the giant monster's skull. Mogul gave one last howl of agony, then dropped to the floor unconscious.

"We...we did it! We won!" Amy stuttered out in disbelief. "God job, girls! We won!"

"Come on." Lupe motioned to the others. "Lets get out of here!"

Meanwhile, Tails had tried again and again to hack into the swatbots's systems, but to no avail. To his surprise, however, he was able to get into Eggman's old computer systems of the metropolis zone mainframe.

METROPOLIS ZONE MAIN GENERATOR: SELF-DESTRUCT/REACTOR MELTDOWN SEQUENCE-YES/NO?

With a grin, tails hit the 'yes' option, and yelled to the others:

"Cream, Knuckles! Get up here!" He called out to the other two. This whole base is gonna blow!"

"On my way!"Knuckles called out to the fox, smashing one final robot, before running over and scaling the building with his spiked gloves.

"Coming, baby!" Cream replied sweetly, flying up and landing next to tails.

"Hey Sonic, AMY! We gotta go!" Tails yelled into his communicator. "This whole place is gonna go up in a ball of fire!"

Sonic was still fighting with Naugus, dodging blasts and hitting with attacks,when the message came through.

"I hear ya, Tails!" Sonic replied into his communicator. "Be there as soon as I can!"

With that Sonic dodged a few more blasts, before diving straight at Naugus in a spin dash. The wizard reflexively raised his staff to block the hedgehog. Much to Naugus's surprise, the staff shattered into pieces, diminishing the wizard's power to almost nothing.

"Foolish quickster! You have ruined ten year worth of planning!" Naugus roared. "But this is not over! Someday, when you least expect it, we shall meet again!"

Sonic Rushed for him, but with the last of his magic, Naugus teleported away before the blue blur could nab him.

"Damn, he got away." Sonic's eyes widened. "Uh oh... I'd better do the same!"

At the exact moment the magic staff broke, Cream seemed to snap out of a trance.

"Tails? Mister Knuckles? Where am I? What's going on?" She then looked down at herself, and her eyes went wide in horror. "OH GREAT GAIA, WHAT THE HECK AM I WEARING?!"

As a red-faced Cream tried to cover herself, Amy and the princesses came through the building's roof entrance, the same moment Sonic came running up the side of the building. All three of the males present eyes almost rolled out of their heads when they saw what the princesses were was wearing.

"W-woah, your highnesses... interesting change in wardrobe." Sonic couldn't help but stare at all the girls, except for Sonia. "We have some extra outfits on the sky patrol, if you ladies want to change."

"I-I did not know the princesses were so... well-endowed." Knuckles blurted out. "Such shiny fur, that must take a lot of shampoo."

The girls were all ready to slap him, even though they all actually were well endowed, until they realized he was just talking about their fur.

"Silly old Knuckles." Alucion smiled at him. "Naive to the end."

"Hey sis... it's been awhile." Sonic looked away, out of respect. "How's Manic doing?"

"He's fine, Sonic." She sighed, looking away from him, as well. "Look, sorry I'm so hard on you sometimes. Thank you for helping to save me... brother."

At that moment, the Sky patrol arrived in the air above them, and cheese was lowering a ladder.

"Well, looks like our ride is here." Tails told the others. "Come on, it's time to go!"

They all went up the ladder, and the sky patrol flew high into the clouds... just as the Metropolis zone, and the unconscious form of the feral Mogul, went up in a huge explosion behind them.

Hello, everyone out there, this is Andy Pandatelly, your Panda anchor, reporting! In today's news, South island miner Spelunk the mole struck a vein of gold in the marble zone yesterday, leading to a rush of potential prospectors to the long-abandoned zone filled with ruins. Spelunk is demanding others stay away, and claiming he will defend his claim with cannons, if necessary.

In entertainment news, recording Albion islander pop star Fabian Vane will be appearing in concert in emerald town tonight, and tickets are already sold out. Vane is a subject of much controversy recently, with accusations by former band member, Justin Beaver, that Vane lip-synced all of his records. Vane is expected to makes appearance on Comedy Chimp's talk show, this Saturday night.

In other news today, Known mob boss and businessman Max Gamble, owner and proprietor of the Casino Night Zone, was brought down this past week by two local vigilantes- a pair of bear brothers called Mad Mike and Big Griz- known as 'Da Bears'. The brothers ran afoul of the crime boss recently, and after a dangerous conflict with the vile reptilian criminal and his mob, actually managed to topple Gamble's entire criminal empire. Gamble is expected to be facing multiple grand felony charges, while 'Da Bears' will be receiving the key to the city from the mayor.

And in publishing news today, former member of the Albion branch of the resistance, Porker Lewis, has published a tell-all book about his time serving during the six month long Robotnik war. The Albion resistance, often nicknamed the Albion 'Freedom fighters', is already a controversial group, with former members Tekno the Canary and Shortfuse the Cybernik in prison. But Porker Lewis's book manages to stir up even more controversy, by making fantastic claims, such as the group's mysterious leader, Beaky Bob, was actually Sonic the Hedgehog in disguise,even though Sonic was imprisoned on the Death egg at the time. Or that Super Sonic is a separate, malevolent entity. With preorders already sold out, this book is already predicted to be a massive success.

And in our top story, famous heroes Team Sonic did it again last week, rescuing several princesses from an an evil sorcerer. It is reported that the chaos magic wielder, identified by Sabato island scholars as Ixis Nagus, had abducted several royal princesses gathered at the Annual Starlight City royal ball. Sonic the Hedgehog and his team managed to fly in, and save these damsels in distress from the vile wizard. It is reported four of the princesses have been returned to their homes, while an alleged echidna princess went back to hr current position, as a member of the Chaotix detective agency.

Speaking of the Chaotix, we bring tragic news on this front. Yesterday, well-known and loved Chaotix member, Charmy Bee, was injured in the line of duty, in a case that is believed to be tied to the princess abductions. Charmy is currently convalescing in Seaside Hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery. It is reported that Charmy's lady love, Betty the Butterfly, and Vector the Crocodile, his foster father, have not left his side in days.

And now, here with the celebrity gossip, is Collie Chang.

Thank you, Andy. And speaking of romance, gossip of love now swirls around Sonic and his team. celebrity rumor has it that yesterday, Rouge the bat, noted jewel thief and rumored paramour of the echidna guardian, returned to Westside Island to find her red romeo in the arms of another islander woman- namely, noted archeologist and scholar, Relic the Pika. It is reported the two got into a cat fight outside of a swanky cafe in Emerald Town yesterday, that ended with several trashed tables and chairs, and many broken windows, while the reportedly confused and clueless echidna merely stood by and watched. The incident ended when police were called, and was peacefully resolved without any arrests. It is reported that Rouge was seen flying away from the city in tears, while Knuckles and Relic took a plane back to Angel island. While some gossips speculate this is the end for the echidna and bat, but others believe it is merely the start of a guardian love triangle.

And finally, more gossip from the world of Team Sonic, it appears two long time rumored romances, namely of Sonic the Hedgehog himself and longtime companion Amy Rose, along with famous inventor and noted former Sonic Sidekick Miles "Tales" Prower and the lovely young Cream the Rabbit. Both couples were seen in public today, with both men showing great affection towards their girlfriends, confirming long-running rumors about both couples. While news of Sonic and Amy dating are long-expected, is is rumored that Cream's relationship has caused a rift with her mother, one that may be tied top the announcement of Vanilla the Rabbit's engagement to famous Chaotix leader, Vector the crocodile. While the young fox and rabbits relationship may be in for a rocky road, celebrity pundits see nothing but smooth sailing ahead for Sonic and his hedgehog lady love.

On the bridge of the battle bird armada flagship, great battle Kukku XVI- known by his nickname Speedy, paused the news video on an image of Sonic and Amy kissing.

"The fools, they think they are safe." He snarled, glaring at the screen. "They have no idea what is coming!"

Reclining on his velvet-cushioned throne, and flanked on either side by two bird women from his harem- a beautiful white dove on one side, and a gorgeous golden pheasant on the other- seated on cushions while one fed him grapes and the other held his wine goblet, the leader of the battle bird armada reveled in the luxury his position provided him. All was going according to plan, and all was going exactly the way he desired it to. It was then, that the door chime to the bridge sounded.

"Enter." He called out.

The door slid open, and a green female Canary in a battle bird uniform top and miniskirt, came in and kneeled before the great battle Kukku. "My lord, you summoned me"

"Ah, Tekno! We are pleased to see you are free of that horrible prison." Speedy snapped his fingers, a sign for her to rise. "We trust you and Shortfuse had few problems?"

"That is correct, m'lud. We were freed by your negotiators without much trouble." She stood up, looking up at the great battle Kukku expectantly. "Blimey, I trust you have some new assignment for me?"

"Yes, as you may know, our chief scientist, Dr. Fukurokov, is in need of new blood in his research are sending you to be his apprentice, and second in command." He motioned towards her. "With your technical skills, I believe you can brainstorm up the next generation of extreme gear."

"I am honored, m'lud." Sher bowed her head again slightly in gratitude. "I trust I will be granted the technical supplies to maintain Shorty's cybernik armor? It is his life support system, ya know."

"Of course, my dear. your squirrel lover had been as great a service to the armada as you have. " Speedy gestured magnanimously. "By the way, We were watching a story on the news that spoke about your days as a member of the Albion resistance. That friend of yours, Porker Lewis was having some fun with the truth in his little book."

"Ol' Porker is a good chap, he is. Probably exagerattin' ta sell his copies of his bloomin book." Tekno shook her head. "Those were some exciting times, m'lud. The Albion resistance... Me, Shorty, Porker Lewis, ebony the Cat, and our leader, Bob Beaky."

"And he wasn't really Sonic, we take it?" The battle Kuku asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Course he wasn't! That was just a joke, among me and me mates. Sonic and Beaky even met after the war, and had a laugh about it." Tekno shook her head. "Maybe in some other bloomin' reality, the stuff in Porker's book is true. But 'ere it's just a good story."

"And... what of your hated of Amy Rose?" Speedy asked, curiously. "We take it that has to do with your time in the resistance?"

"Yeah... ol' Amy, I really admired her, I did. The way she took charge o' the resistance under Knuckles, an' led the fight for freedom!" Tekno seemed to smile at the memory. "She even came to Albion to help our resistance branch on a few missions- accidentally left her hammer behind, an' was really good with a crossbow." Tekno's look became distant "I thought she was my friend..." She looked up at the screen, scowling darkly. "But that bloomin' tart made her choice! She sold me out when I was on that spy and sabotage mission last month, rattin me out and turning me over to the bobbies for spying, what an absolute rotter!"

"Ah yes,Team Sonic's fight to stop your sabotage mission, that's how Shorty got his fatal injuries." The battle Kukku looked back to her. "Do not worry, the discovery of all our spies and agents was all part of a bigger plan. A plan that will see the battle birds conquer all of the islands, and defeat Team Sonic. A plan you will be a part of, my dear."

"Just one question, m'lud..." She looked back at the monitor, with the image of Sonic and Amy kissing, a cruel and sadistic smile forming across her face. "Will I get to kill Amy Rose, slowly and painfully?"

"Don't worry about that, my dear, we're going to kill them all." He took the wine glass from his harem girl, and raised it into the air. "Glory to the armada!"

-THE END-

(TO BE CONTINUED IN Sonic Aftergame: Rise of the Armada!)

 

Edited March 17 by Mobius_Historian