As the sun rose over the disaster zone that was Robotropolis, a single ray of light somehow penetrated the smog that shrouded the once proud city. It struck a tiny flower that had been hidden for years, easing it out of its cocoon with the promise of new life. The plant slowly, almost cautiously, unfurled its leaves to catch the wisp of sunlight. Gradually, it began gathering energy to launch its long dormant seeds, intending to spread them all over the city... ...only to be hit by a stray laser shot from a hoverbot, which burnt the flower to ashes as Sonic raced by. "Aw, man. I was hopin' to pick that for Sally. Now I'm really mad." Sonic turned down a dead end, leapt up, jumped off the alley wall, and buzzsawed through his pursuer. The hoverbot crashed into the wall while Sonic ran off, rounding a corner just in time to miss seeing the sunlight vanish. Tails was waiting in the junkyard, lowering a set of binoculars from his eyes as Sonic ran up. "Did you get it?" "I got it." Sonic brandished a plastic card in his fist. "One Identicard, good for all the synthesized food we can carry away. Just in time, too...I'm getting tired of nothin' but salads. So, anything happen here?" "Not much. You missed a great sunrise, and the start of an eslip." "You mean eclipse? There ain't supposed to be one of those anytime soon." "Well, one happened." Tails handed his binoculars to Sonic. "See for yourself." Sonic took the proffered vision aid and looked through it. "That's no eclipse, Tails." His voice took on a note of worry as he saw what was sillhouted against the sun. "That's the Floating Island." "Where Knuckles lives? What's it doing here?" "Good question. Maybe Sal will know." They sped off in unison back to Knothole. ****** Chaos Race Part 1: Chaos Written by: Adrian Tymes and Alessandro Sanasi [Legal disclaimer: This story is based on characters created by SEGA and Archie Comic Publications, Inc., and Commander Packbell by David Pistone. Permission is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as: a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who distributes the story, and b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored. In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it. Copyright (c) 1996, all rights reserved, et cetera.] ****** "Sally!" Sonic burst in through the door just ahead of Tails. The noise of their entrance was enough to wake the Princess, who did not look pleased. "Do you two know what time it is? The sun isn't even up." "It is too up." Sally started to respond, but decided it was too early to argue with Sonic. "Then why is it so dark?" "'Cause the Floating Island's blockin' the sunlight." "Sonic, Knuckles would never be crazy enough to move it this close to Robotropolis." "He is now." Sonic offered the binoculars to Sally. "Check it out." Sally took the binocs, walked over to the window, and looked to where the sun was. With just her naked eyes, she could make out something large in the air between her and Mobius's star. She almost dropped the binoculars out of shock when she used them. "Wake the others. I have a bad feeling about this." As Sonic and Tails raced to comply, Sally muttered to herself, "What is that echnida doing here?" ****** Deep in the bowels of Robotropolis, Packbell monitored a live satellite video feed. Most of the picture looked as it had for years; almost all of the damage that the Freedom Fighters had inflicted was mercifully hidden by the smog, and very little else in the satellite's field of view had changed much since the coup. The most recent significant change was the circular top of the Floating Island, which seemed to crawl across the screen at a snail's pace. A data box superimposed on the video showed that the island's speed was actually 20 kilometers per hour, which was a decent clip for something that large. From a ventilation shaft behind Packbell, Snively watched the same image. That was not all he was watching, for a robot that he had reprogrammed had just entered the room. Packbell turned towards the diminuitive servicebot, curious. "Why are you here?" "REQUEST CLARIFICATION REGARDING REASON FOR NOT ATTACKING FLOATING ISLAND." "You can't figure it out? Ok, I'll tell you. That island is headed directly for Robotropolis." "LOGIC INDICATES TERMINATION OF POTENTIAL THREAT BEFORE IT CAN LAND ON ROBOTROPOLIS BASE IS DESIRABLE." "I will terminate it. But I want it as close to us as possible when we shoot it down, to make it difficult for those Freedom Fighters to harrass my workerbots while they salvage the island's wreckage. And now I have a question: why did you bother me about this? You are not programmed to ask such things." The servicebot made no reply. "I see." Faster than Snively could perceive, Packbell whipped out a laser rifle and scrapped the 'bot. "You're fired." Snively frowned at the waste of a robot, but balanced that with the knowledge that it had served its purpose in extracting Packbell's plan. "But the real question," Packbell mused out loud, "is what that echinda is doing here." ****** "Mon, will somebody remind me what I am doing here?" "Filling a promise to someone who saved your hide." Knuckles glared at the responder, then reminded himself that what she said was true. Amy Rose had saved his life when his attempt to buy some supplies had turned into an ambush. If she weren't so sweet, Knuckles knew he would blame her for the surprise. As it was, he was suspicious of her just happening to be in the right place at the right time. "A promise to take you to Knothole. Which is the only reason I let you up here. But what I still don' understand, girl, is why? If you got somethin' at Knothole, couldn't you just walk? Or stay there?" Amy Rose stared off into the Great Forest, searching for any disturbance that could mark the Freedom Fighters' base. "It's been so long since I was there, I don't remember where it is anymore." "So, why'd you leave? What's changed since you left, that you wanna go back now?" "Sonic." "That hedgehog? What you want with him?" Amy's face hardened into a look of cold determination. "I want him. Princess Acorn stole his heart, but with Robotnik out of the way, she'll be too busy running things to keep me from stealing it back. And that is exactly what I intend to do." "Riight. Sure you will." "What is that supposed to mean?" "Umm...err..." Knuckles paused as the Chaos Emeralds, which he was telepathically linked to by virtue of being their guardian, signalled that he was slightly off course. "Hang on, course change." The island shuddered a bit as the emeralds, at Knuckles' command, altered the island's direction so that it was headed for Knothole instead of for Robotropolis. ****** Packbell was not happy when he heard the status update. "What do you mean, it changed course?" "DIRECTIONAL SHIFT CONFIRMED. FLOATING ISLAND NO LONGER HEADED FOR ROBOTROPOLIS." "It looks like I'll have to use my backup plan, then. Prepare the image seeking missiles; we'll have to take the island intact." In the shaft, Snively quickly recalculated, updating his own plans. ****** Knuckles hefted a backpack in his arms as the island slowed to a stop. "There. Knothole is directly below us." "How am I going to get down? You locked away the rope ladder we used to get up." Amy kneeled on the edge of the island, unable to see any distinguishing marks in the forest canopy just below the island's bottom. "Put this on." Knuckles handed the pack to Amy. "Ok..." Amy strapped it to her front, out of fear that the spiky quills along her back would puncture it. Knuckles put her hand on a handle attached to the pack's straps. "Pull this if you want to live." "Huh? Why?" "'Cause now, you will..." Knuckles lifted Amy over his head. "...GET OFF MY ISLAND!" He threw her over the side. Amy had enough presence of mind to pull the handle, which deployed the parachute that she had just put on. ****** "Well, that explains it." Sonic was staring upwards through the binocs, where he saw something being dropped on Knothole with a parachute. "What?" Sally gazed upwards, but could only see a vague movement at the island's edge. "Floating Island express. Looks like Knucks wanted to make a delivery. I just hope Packbell doesn't take the hint and look for Knothole here." "So what did he drop?" "I can't tell, it's too far away. Tails, could you escort whatever it is away from us, just in case? Sal and I will meet you where you land." "Sure thing." Tails flew straight up as fast as he could. ****** After tumbling around for a bit, Amy resigned herself to drifting on her back for the rest of her flight. She started to daydream as she floated, which stopped her from hearing a familiar whirring, or from noticing that she was being pushed away from straight down. Amy did notice when Tails put his face in hers. "Amy? Are you alright?" "Tails?" She spent a few seconds waking from her daydream, then hugged Tails fiercely. "Tails! It's been so long..." "Eew! Lemme go!" Tails struggled to get out of the female hedgehog's embrace. Amy did as asked, then saw Tails brushing himself off. "What's the matter?" "You put girl cooties on me." Amy giggled, then craned her neck to see downwards. "Is Sonic here?" "Yeah. He-" Amy interrupted Tails by taking off her parachute. "I can't wait to meet him." She let it go, and dropped like a rock. Tails flew down, faster than she fell, and caught her. "Can you at least wait 'til we're on the ground?" She looked back up at Tails, and smiled mischeviously. "Hurry it up then, or I'll kiss you." "Do it and I drop you right now." "You can't drop me if..." Amy threw her arms around Tails again. "...I'm hugging you." Tails sped towards the ground as if his life depended on it. ****** Sonic and Sally had lost sight of the parachute, so they kept pace with how Tails had been pushing it. They heard a noise behind them and, as one, turned around to see an airborne ball of orange fur and pink quills heading their way. "Help, help, getheroffme!" Amy had wisely stayed away from Tails' tails, so he was able to steer them towards the now-smirking hedgehog and squirrel. As they neared, Amy released Tails and used her momentum to go into a cartwheel. She landed on Sonic's upper torso, knocking him down. "Sonic!" Amy proceeded to cover his face in kisses, only missing his lips. Unnoticed by anyone else, a scowl briefly darkened Sally's face at this sight. "Hey, Amy, cut it out," Sonic laughed. "Oh, sorry, it's just so good to see you again." Amy stepped off of Sonic, beaming. "That's alright, but - hey!" Sonic started to get up, but Sally pulled him upright all of a sudden. She gave him a long, deep kiss that eventually made Sonic go limp in her arms. Tails turned his face away and covered his eyes in disgust. Behind Sonic, Amy went from shock to anger to barely controlled rage. Sonic's eyes were closed, but Sally's were open just to see this. Sally smiled through her kiss, which just made Amy madder. When Sally came up for air, Sonic asked, "What was that for?" "Nothing, my love." Sonic straightened out at this. "'My love'? You've never called me that before." Tails had returned his gaze to the scene. "That's because she's almost never met any of your other girlfriends before." Sally and Amy both looked to Tails. "Other girlfriends?" "Yeah. There's Aunt Sally, Amy Rose, Tiara Boobowski..." "Tails!" Sonic looked around, blushed, then cleared his throat nervously. "Umm, T2 and I need to have a little chat. Hedgehog to fox, you know?" Amy and Sally were glaring at each other. Neither replied verbally, so intent on each other that they had barely heard Sonic. "Right. We'll be back soon." Sonic grabbed Tails by the arm and ran away. None of the four noticed a flock of missiles streak overhead. ****** Mighty the Armadillo was as happy to see Amy leave as Knuckles was. "Sheez, just because she saves your hide means that you gotta risk this entire island?" "Well excuse me, mon, but I be da Guardian o' the Chaos Emeralds. I'm the one who determines where dis island floats to. I promised her anything I could do, and what does that crazy girl ask for?" Knuckles shook his head. "Next time, you get the supplies - you can't be tricked into makin' dat kind of promise. Besides, what's Packbell gonna do to us way up here? Try to shoot us down?" Mighty pointed. "Sure looks like it." Knuckles turned around just in time to see two missiles incoming. He ducked, as did Mighty, letting the missiles fly overhead. "Only two?" "Packbell must be goin' after us, not de island. Here they come again!" Sure enough, the missiles had turned around. Each had been programmed with the visible image of their target, its infrared signature, and data for every other sensor Packbell could cheaply include; one missile had been launched for each known inhabitant of the Floating Island. Knuckles ran ahead of his missile, summoning the speed that he had once used to race Sonic. Mighty was not as quick. "MIGHTY!" Knuckles saw the missile detonate directly in front of Mighty. The warhead's explosion, tinged an odd green instead of the usual bright orange, swallowed his friend up before Knuckles' eyes. "You will pay for that, android. By the Emeralds, if he does not live, neither will you." He knew his threat was wasted on the missile since Packbell would not bother to monitor its camera, so Knuckles made a mental note to repeat his vow when he saw Packbell again...if he lived that long. As he ran, explosions elsewhere on the Floating Island showed Knuckles that the other missiles had all found their marks. ****** The quiet that followed Sonic's departure was so charged that a robot could have run itself on it, and recharged its batteries at the same time. Eventually, Amy broke the silence. "How DARE you kiss my Sonic." Sally was just as angry as Amy, and she let it show. "Your Sonic? We went through this last time you were here. That hedgehog is royal property. Keep your hands, and lips, off." "You don't own him. He can choose who he wants to love." Amy's voice froze to the point that Sally thought she saw icicles on her breath. "And he will choose me." "Sonic deserves far better than you." Sally smirked as she taunted Amy. "You're just a peasant." "At least I'd have time for him. After all, unlike a certain princess..." Amy jabbed a finger at Sally as if to toss it like a dagger. "...I'm not so busy running everything that I'd ignore Sonic. Besides, you're a squirrel, and Sonic is a hedgehog. Who do you think he would fit best with?" She smiled, retracted her hand into a fist, and extended its thumb towards her chest. Sally's fur seemed to turn red, but then Amy realized that the red was from Sally's skin. "How dare you! I have known Sonic for far longer than you have. You only noticed him after he...after WE started fighting Robotnik. I know he loves me, even if he rarely says it. What does he say to you?" Amy only growled in reply. "Ooh, that much, eh?" Sally was starting to lighten up, having, in her mind, won the discussion. "Well, let me tell you what my Sonic and I..." Sally's retort was interrupted by a massive explosion that rocked the Floating Island, shaking it to a point that was visible even from the ground far below. ****** Oblivious to the both the chase far above and the arguement he had left behind, Sonic came to a halt far out of hearing range of his duelling girlfriends. Tails had been flying just above the ground as he was dragged along. When Sonic stopped, Tails landed rather than spend the energy to stay airborne. "What'd you do that for?" "'Cause it ain't nice to make Sal and Amy jealous like that." "What do you mean? They asked a question, so I answered with the truth." Tails cocked his head. "Wasn't that right?" "Well, umm," Sonic started, but was at a loss for words. "Look," he eventually said, "girls are a bit different, you know...sometimes it's better not to tell them everything in detail, or they might get upset." "So that's why you never told Amy that you love Aunt Sally?" Sonic winced at the memory. A long time ago, the blue hedgehog had been on a routine mission in the Great Unknown, when he and Amy accidentally met. For her, it was love at first sight. Amy was nice and friendly, and Sonic liked having her around, but his love already belonged to Sally. Not realizing the true reason for Amy's affection, he did not tell her about his relationship, and Amy never asked. She was just happy to be with him. So, when Sonic returned to Knothole, Amy learned of Sally the hard way. He still vividly remembered the shocked expression on Amy's face when Sally rushed up and gave him a long, deep welcoming kiss. For weeks, Sally and Amy vied for Sonic's love, neither one recognizing that Sonic had already chosen Sally. Eventually, Amy left Knothole, but she never forgot him. Her love only grew while they were apart. "Look, Sonic...I'm sorry." Sonic got on one knee so he could make his eye level even with Tails', then put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's ok, big guy. I just hope they don't fight again." "Maybe we should..." Tails' suggestion was interrupted by a rumbling from above. As Sonic and Tails looked up, they saw seven colored points of light streak away from the Floating Island. ****** Knuckles tried the old trick of stopping in front of a wall, waiting, and dashing out of the way just before the missile hit. Unfortunately, the missile turned too quickly. No matter what he did, the echnida could not shake his pursuer, so he headed for the one thing that could save him: the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles raced for the Chaos Chamber, located deep under the surface of the island. Just as he was about to leap into the tunnel leading to the chamber, Knuckles tripped over a rock and landed flat on his face, heavily dazed. The missile tried to change course, but before it could, it had flown into the narrow tunnel. Having lost its target, the missile hurtled downwards. A loud explosion, which shook the whole island, was the last thing Knuckles heard before he passed out completely. ****** Instinctively, Sally plucked her minicomputer from its usual boot holster, and flipped it open. "Nicole: what caused that explosion?" "WORKING..." Sonic and Tails raced up just as Nicole finished its computation. "EXPLOSION TYPE: STUN EXPLOSIVE - ANTIPERSONELL MISSILE WARHEAD. EXPLOSIVE FORCE INCREASED BY UNKNOWN METHOD, EXPLOSION LOCATION SUGGESTS CHAOS EMERALD INFLUENCE LIKELY." Amy stopped scanning the skies. "Was that Packbell's missile, or..." Nicole interrupted, "WARNING: KNOTHOLE VILLAGE IN DANGER. CHAOS EMERALDS HAVE BEEN EJECTED FROM FLOATING ISLAND BY EXPLOSION. REMOVAL OF CHAOS EMERALDS DISALLOWS MOVEMENT OF FLOATING ISLAND. LACK OF CHAOS ENERGY WILL CAUSE FLOATING ISLAND TO FALL IN TEN HOURS." Sally's face mirrored her quick comprehension. "And it's right over Knothole." "ANALYSIS INDICATES DESTRUCTION OF ALL BUILDINGS AND CREATURES IN KNOTHOLE TEN HOURS FROM NOW UNLESS ALL CHAOS EMERALDS ARE IN PHYSICAL CONTANCT WITH THE FLOATING ISLAND SIMULTANEOUSLY BEFORE THEN." "Nicole, where are the Chaos Emeralds?" "STILL AIRBORNE FROM EXPLOSION. COMPUTING PROBABLE LANDING SITES..." A holographic map of the nearby portion of Mobius popped up, with seven dots distributed in a rough circle. Each dot was colored to match the emerald that it stood for. Sonic snapped his fingers. "If Packbell's using stun warheads, he's probably gonna try to take the Floating Island. It'll be hard to return the emeralds with his 'bots all over the place. We'd better juice back and get the others. Grab on." Sally and Amy both hugged Sonic quickly. Sally shifted around to try to "accidentally" knock Amy off, but Amy lightly pressed her quills into Sally's stomach to ward off the attempt. Sonic and Tails took off, faster than either Sally or Amy could travel alone, and returned to Knothole in a matter of seconds. At the village, most of Knothole was already discussing what the Floating Island's presence could mean. They had assembled to wait for Sally, Tails, and Sonic to return with whatever had dropped; their reaction to Amy was mixed. More than a few were concerned that she meant bad news for Sally, but most just welcomed the child as a long-gone friend. Sally waited for the reaction to die down before addressing the crowd. She pointed to two Mobians, then to herself. On her gesture, Bunnie and Antoine came forwards. Bunnie was one of those acting friendly towards Amy Rose. She smiled, reached over, and mussed up Amy's head quills as she asked, "What're you doin' back heah, you rascal?" Sally responded before Amy could. "We have a problem. The Floating Island will fall in ten hours unless we can get the Chaos Emeralds back. And it looks like Packbell may attempt to take the Floating Island in that time. Can we evacuate Knothole before then, while still keeping Packbell off the island so we can safely return the emeralds?" Anotoine shook his head. "Zat would be empossible, my prinzess. Ahur most recent attack on Robotropolis resulted in many wounded; without vehicles, eet would take twelve hours to move zem far enough away. Zat eis if we abandon all of ahur heavy equipment, and do not even try to defend ze island." "Then we have no choice: we must recover the emeralds. Nicole: display map." The same holographic map appeared. Sally pointed to the appropriate parts of it as she continued. "We need everyone to help evacuate Knothole and defend the island, so I can only assign a few to search for the emeralds." She looked around. "Sonic, you get the blue and grey emeralds, then return here." Sonic saluted. "Right away." And was gone, leaving only a sudden breeze to mark his passage. Sally's fur was ruffled, but she did no bother to smooth it. "Antoine, you go for the yellow emerald, then work your way around. You think you can do it?" "But my prinzess," Antoine began, his knees starting to tremble. "Wouldn't it bee better if I stayed here and helped ze others with the evacuation?" "Ah, stuff it, Ant," Bunnie interrupted, "Ah'll get that gem!" "I'm afraid not," Sally said to Bunnie. "I need you to coordinate the defense of the Floating Island. I think Packbell's already knocked out the inhabitants; you'll have to wake them up. If we don't return in six hours, evacuate as many people as you can." She sighed. "If we take that long, you can assume we won't be coming back." "W-won't be coming back?" Antoine's face turned pale, making him look like he would faint any second. "Um, my prinzess, perhaps we should not be going unaccompanified?" "I'll go with him!" Tails piped up, pleased of the opportunity to finally go on an adventure. Before Antoine could react, Tails grabbed hold of his arm and was ready to speed off. Sally looked a bit worried, but finally nodded in agreement. After all, Tails was old enough to be a Freedom Fighter, and because of his flying abilities he was probably the best one she could find for this task. "All right, but be careful. I will go for the remaining gems." "All right!" Tails smiled broadly, then took off in the opposite direction with Antoine in tow, leaving just as much wind as Sonic did. The breeze ruffled Sally's fur again, exactly countering what Sonic's wind had done. "I want to come too!" Sally turned around to find herself face to face with Amy, whom she had completely forgotten about. "No. You stay here and help the others," Sally replied, with a sharp edge to her voice. "I have as much right to go as you have! I made Knuckles bring the island here in the first place; it's my fault that he's in trouble now." Bunnie looked from Sally to Amy, then back to Sally. "Are y'all sure you two should be workin' togethah?" Sally thought for a moment, then grinned. "Yes. And after all, we have... unfinished buisiness to take care of. Why not take care of it at the same time?" Before Bunnie could object, Sally grabbed Amy and ran off. ****** Packbell studied the pattern of seven dots that had been superimposed on the satellite's picture. "Attention, SWATbot batallions two through seven: prepare to intercept the Chaos Emeralds. Coordinates will be provided shortly. Your orders are to harrass the Freedom Fighters, and capture them if you can. The Chaos Emeralds themselves are a secondary objective. If there are no Freedom Fighters present when you arrive, secure the emerald and wait. Hoverbot squadrons Beta, Foxtrot, and Dino: attempt to secure the Floating Island. Hoverbot Alpha, prepare to launch." At the flick of a switch, the room shut down, and Packbell ran to leave it. "I wonder where he's going in such a hurry?" Snively crawled out of the shaft once Packbell had left, turned the room back on, and studied a map of Robotropolis. "And using hoverbot Alpha, too...Robotnik's old craft." He looked around to make sure he was alone, then started typing away. "Good thing he thinks I'm dead, or he'd have better security. Like he could lock me out of Robotropolis's computers. I designed them for Robotnik, and even he could not have locked me out entirely." After finishing his typing, Snively turned the room off again. He cackled as he headed for SWATbot batallion two, "Now the robots shall deliver the emeralds to me. With the power of the Chaos Emeralds, Packbell and the Freedom Fighters shall all be my slaves. And even if I only get one, I can still come out ahead." ****** "Owww...mon, dat hurt." Knuckles woke up in front of a smoking tunnel, covered with dirt and rubble. "Now where's..." He froze as his telepathic call to the Chaos Emeralds went unanswered. Looking around, he realized what had just happened. "Uh, oh...this is not good." Within minutes, Knuckles was kneeling besides Mighty, checking for a pulse. "C'mon, Mighty, you can't die on me..." As if in response to Knuckles' command, Mighty's pulse beat once under Knuckles' finger. Pressing a bit harder, Knuckles felt a weak sign of his friend's survival. Almost at the same time, a scent drifted into Knuckles' nose. "Wait...I know that smell. Dat be stun gas." Knuckles inspected a nearby shard of the missile that had taken down Mighty. "Packbell wanted us alive. Well, he won't get us." He removed his hand from his friend. "Wait here, mon. Knuckles be right back with da emeralds. Everything's gonna be ok." Near the center of the Floating Island, a shaft had been drilled to allow access to the island's vast interior. A corkscrew ramp ran around the shaft's perimeter, terminating at a pit opening at the surface and a hidden cave opening on the bottom. As Knuckles ran down this path, he mused that the same chaos energy that had magnified the warhead's explosive power had also lessened its stun power. The emeralds seemed to delight in chaos, even though they supposedly only possessed enough of a mind for telepathy, and certainly not enough to experience happiness. As he got to the bottom, he noted that a few treetops were just below the shaft's exit, as they were when he had parked the island to drop Amy off. He leapt down to a tree, climbed to the ground, and once again tried to contact the emeralds telepathically. He only sensed one, so Knuckles took off towards it. As he ran, he yelled, "Packbell! You messed with my friends, you messed with my gems...now, android, you mess with ME."