Chaos Race Part 3: Yellow 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.] ****** "Gee, Antoine, I never knew you could stay silent for so long." Tails slowed down his flight, set his friend on the ground gently, and landed. "You can relax now. I'll have to rest a bit before carrying you any further." Antoine did not move a muscle. "Antoine? You ok?" Tails waved a hand in front of the nearly white, tailless fox, prodded him with a finger, and watched in surprise as Antoine tipped over backwards. Antoine caught himself just before he landed, snapping out of his reviere. As he spoke, he slowly recovered his natural brown color. "What was zat being for?" "You were frozen stiff. You wouldn't talk to me. I thought something happened to you." "To moi? Do not be silly. Ah am perfectly ahlright. Now, let us get goeing. Ze Princess has aurdered us to find ze yellow emerald. We must depart without delay..." "We're almost there." Antoine blinked, looked around, and saw Great Forest's border miles behind him. At the moment, he was standing on a barren, sandy plain that was a corner of the Great Desert. "How did we get zo far?" "I carried you. Don't you remember...oh, I get it. You paniced." "Paniced? Moi? Ah told you before, do not be silly. Ah never panic." Tails giggled. "Sure, Antoine. You were just pretending, right?" "Well...ok, maybe zis once even I, Antoine DeCoolete, was scared. But zere was being a good reason. Just before we left, I remembered where we were going." "There's nothing scary about it." "Au contrair, mon ami. Rosie told me about it many years ago. Eet was a place of evil, even before Robotneek came along." Antoine stroked his chin briefly. "She nevar deed specify what kind of place, now zat I think about it." "Aunt Rosie didn't tell you what it was?" "No, just zat it was evil. Ah shudder to guess what it could have been: a den of cannibals, an experimental roboticizer, a monster's lair..." "It's a casino." Antoine paused, stared off into the distance, and sheltered his eyes with his hand. "A casino?" "Yeah. You can't quite see it from here, but Sonic and I went there once. I guess it's deserted now." "A casino? Rosie made eet sound as if eet was ze worst spot in ze Kingdom of Acorn." "Maybe it was. But it's not anymore, thanks to Robotnik. Besides, I think Aunt Rosie just doesn't like gambling." Tails cracked a smile. "You should've heard her when Sonic and I got back. We kicked Robotnik big time, hung around to play the slots a bit, and actually won some money. Aunt Rosie said Sonic was corrupting me. The whole village heard, 'cept for you. You were on guard duty at the time, so you were...too far away to hear." Tails wanted to say "asleep", but he figured that Antoine would not want to be reminded of that at the moment. "Ah was scared of a casino?" Antoine's fur was starting to bristle. "We shall see about that. Come on, Tails, we have an emerald to find." He set off towards their destination. Tails walked briskly to keep up, his tails still a bit tired from the flight. "Hey, wait up. What's the big rush?" "Zis ees only ze first emerald we were sent for. Packbell's robots will probably beat us to it if we do not hurry." "Alright, hang on..." Tails took off, grabbing Antoine as he passed overhead, and accelerated towards a building near the desert's edge. ****** Tails nearly crashed into the casino's revolving doorway. He sailed through its empty doorframes, whose glass had long since been removed; then dropped Antoine on a large cushion before landing, falling on his face, and skidding to a halt on the lobby's thick carpeting. Antoine picked himself up and ran over. "Mon dieu! Do not be telling me zat you are practicing Dulcy's landings." He checked his friend over for injuries, and was relieved to find none. "I'm fine," Tails wheezed between gasps of air, "just tired. You're heavier than you look." "Hmm? No, it ees my uniform zat ees being heavy." Antoine dusted his jacket off and patted his ceremonial sword's scabbard. "Eef you had given me some time to prepare, ah would have changed to a lighter one." Antoine lifted Tails off the ground, noticing that Tails was limp from exhaustion. "I shall find ze emerald while you recover." "But how..." "Ze emerald crashed in from above, no? Therefore, it would have left a hole in ze roof. I just have to find zis hole, then follow it down." Antoine looked around. "Of course, even scanning ze whole roof will take a while." "Maybe I can help." Antoine turned around, to find a pig who had snuck up behind him. The pig was dressed in a surprisingly clean three piece suit, top hat, and polished black boots, with an old fashioned monocle and jeweled walking stick. He had apparently eaten very well over the years; his suit was a tight fit, but just loose enough to keep all but his hands and head from showing. "And who are you being?" "I am Cap I. List, owner of this fine establishment. But you can call me Cap. Heck, you can call me just about anything. I'm just glad for the company. No one's been around here since...hey! Look who's back. It's the furball who took me for some serious moolah. How ya doin', kit?" Despite his exhaustion, Tails managed to smile. "You said you could help? Do you know..." "...where that glowing yellow rock that gave this place a new skylight is? Yep, I sure do. Tell ya what, I'll show you where it landed." "Mon ami! Zis is being wonderful. I am in your debt, sir." "Hey, no problem. No problem at all. Just leave your friend here. It's a bit of a climb to the roof - the elevators died some time ago - and I don't see why you have to exhaust yourself more than necessary." "Will he be safe?" "Of course he will. Why, there's nobody here 'cept for you, me, him, and Missy." "Missy?" "Oh, that's right, you haven't met. Oh, Missy, come here, please." Antoine's eyes nearly leapt from their sockets when a workerbot, who looked like it could have been Cap as a robot, walked in from the shadows. "A w-workerbot?" "Missy here is...was my wife, before Robotnik got ahold of her. I didn't want to fight, but she wouldn't listen. She's always been strong willed. Well, when Robotnik came by, he roboticized her and left her under my command, to guard the casino. He said that she was a reminder of what would happen to me if I ever disobeyed him." A tear rolled from under Cap's monocle. "I didn't dare resist. At least this way, I got to keep Missy...what's left of her, anyway." "Are you sure it is being alright to trust her?" "Sure I'm sure. Missy was programmed to take orders only from Robotnik, Snively, or myself. Packbell never got added to that list. Robuttnik and Snidely can't give her orders from beyond the grave, so she'll only obey me now. And if I order her to help Tails recover, she'll do that." Cap made a hand gesture, then pointed to Tails. "ORDER ACKNOWLEDGED." Missy walked up to Antoine, then held her arms out. "IF YOU PLEASE." "Well...do you trust them, Tails?" Tails nodded his head. "Why not? They're cool." "Ok." Antoine placed Tails, still limp, in Missy's arms. "Take care of him." Missy turned and left without saying a word. "What'd I tell ya? She only takes orders from me. Now c'mon, I've got to show you my new skylight." ****** Missy walked into a room that was strewn with machinery, and two things that reminded Tails of roboticizers. "Is this where Robotnik did you?" Tails had gotten his breath back, but he was still tired. The workerbot plodded on silently. "Oh, sorry, guess you don't like being reminded of that." Missy placed Tails on a metal chair, then walked to a corner of the room. "Look, I know you aren't programmed to talk to me, but this is a bit spooky." Tails was so tired that he almost slipped off of the chair. "Could I rest somewhere else?" Missy returned with a long rope and started to loop it around Tails' body. "Thanks." Tails tried to drag himself to an upright position. "This way, at least I won't fall off. It's a little tight, though. Could you... waitaminute..." Tails suddenly realized that Missy had tied his paws together. The workerbot looped the rope around his ankles, tied it securely, and started looping it around his legs. "Missy, what are you doing? This isn't funny!" He struggled against the bonds, but to no avail. Missy just looped the rope around Tails a few more times, tied it off, and then walked out of the room. ****** Antoine marveled as he travelled across a catwalk overlooking several roofless enclosures, each one shining as if it had been built from pure gold. "Ah have never dreamed of so much wealth..." "That's just paint. Real gold wouldn't stand up under the beating those rooms used to get." Cap snorted. "Course, it tricked more than a few gamblers into thinking we could cover the huge payoffs we promised. Not that they ever won, mind you." "And eef they had?" "They couldn't have. We rigged all the games with large bets. That was the real game: find out how much you could bet, and still have a chance of winning. We never told anyone in so many words, but if they couldn't figure it out..." Cap shrugged. "...their loss." Antoine turned a wary eye to the pig. "Sir! Do you mean zat zis casino cheated honest Mobians out of zeir money?" "Money was power, so I pursued it with all my heart. But now, I realize that money isn't everything. I would have given it all to keep Missy." Cap sighed. "But Robotnik wasn't interested in money. And now, this is all I have to show for my work." Cap gestured to the vast, empty floor below. "So, where is ze Chaos Emerald being?" "Hmm? Oh, that. Almost there." Cap hustled a few steps, opened a small door that lead into a dimly lit room, and motioned Antoine to enter. After a few more steps, he tapped a spot on the ceiling with his walking stick, which caused a panel in the roof to slide back, revealing a jagged hole about the size of his head. "It came in here." Cap then pointed to a hole in the floor, which looked like it had been ripped out by a falling object. Antoine looked at the roof's hole, then scanned the ground. "Ah do not see ze emerald. Ees it below?" "Yes." "Hmm...how to get down?" "I'm afraid you won't. I need the emerald for my own purposes first, so you'll have to stay here until I'm done with your furry friend." With that, Cap slammed the door shut and locked it from outside. "Cap, what is ze meaning of this?" Antoine shrieked. He ran to the door and tried to open it, but it refused to budge. ****** Tails was still struggling against the ropes when Cap arrived. Even if he had been at full strength, Tails could not have broken the bonds. As it was, Cap did not even notice Tails' efforts. Tails looked up. "Cap! Something must be wrong with Missy! She just tied me up and..." He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw Missy walking in right behind the pig. A glint of yellow shined from within her robotic hands. Tails squinted to see what it was. "Nice job, Missy." Cap said, looking at Tails. "Sorry to have to do this, furball, but it's you or her." Cap walked over to the machine's control panel, took the yellow object from Missy, and placed it inside the machine. "What the...that's the Chaos Emerald!" Tails blurted out. "You had it all the time! Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Cap sighed. "This machine is a deroboticizier I've been working on for quite some time now. I've been trying to find an adequate power source for months, with no luck. Then guess what just dropped in?" Cap closed the panel again and flipped a switch, starting up the machine's generator. "Unfortunately, this emerald will only let me transfer roboticization. I have to roboticize someone to deroboticize Missy. I would've done your friend, but he was easier to bump off." Tails' eyes widened in disbelief. ****** "Oh no! I ahm doomed! Doomed!" Antoine wailed, still desperately pulling on the door. Even thinking of what this crazy pig could do to him gave him the creeps. He dearly wished that he never had agreed to go after those stupid emeralds. If Tails had not made him come, he would still be safe and sound at home. He tried his best to stop his knees from trembling. Tails...this reminded him of something. Cap said he wanted to do something to Tails! "No! I will not allow zees!" Antoine said to himself with new-found bravery. "I will save him from zees evil swine! Zere must be a way out of here." Almost without thinking, Antoine whipped out his sword and jammed it into the doorjamb. Thankful that it was not purely ceremonial, he gripped its hilt and pulled with all his might. With an unpleasant *CRUNCH*, the doorbolt gave way and sprang out of its frame. After taking a moment to steady himself, Antoine yanked his sword free and took off in pursuit of Cap. ****** "Hey, look at it this way. At least you'll live." Cap made a gesture to Missy, who picked up the tied fox, placed him on the machine's left platform, then walked to the right one. "You-you don't have to do this, Cap," Tails argued. "Aunt Sally and the other Freedom Fighters have also been working on a deroboticizer. It can already deroboticize someone for a short time..." "Sorry, kit. I've been trying to build a deroboticizer for years, and I miss her so much...I want her back NOW." "Tails! Where are you?" a slightly trembling voice suddenly yelled, coming from the casino lobby. "That's Antoine," Tails shouted with joy. "Ant, I'm MURF!" Cap had quickly pulled out a large piece of cloth from his suit and shoved it into Tails' mouth. "Oh, no you don't! Not when I'm so close!" He flipped another switch, causing the glass tubes of the deroboticizer to come down, trapping Tails and Missy inside. "And now for the final part..." Cap moved his hand to a big red button in the middle of the control panel. Tails' eyes bulged. "MMM-MMMM!!" Cap hesitated for a second, then pushed the button. The machine started to hum. Yellow beams surrounded Tails and Missy... ...and abruptly stopped when, with a loud *CRASH* and a shower of sparks, the panel went to pieces. A sword vibrated where it had been thrown, sticking right in the middle of the mess. "What?" Cap turned around, only to be knocked aside by a snarling Antoine, sending Cap to the ground. Antoine winced. His throw had come too late. The machine had been activated. "Non dieu! What ahm I going to do now?" Inside the glass tube he could see Tails' body stiffening, his fur slowly turning into a metallic grey. There was only one chance. "'Ere goes!" The fox grabbed the closest piece of equipment, smashed the glass tube where Tails was trapped, and pulled him out. More sparks came from the machine. The beams turned from yellow to a bright white, and finally disappeared. In one fluid motion, Antoine dove forwards, snapped up his sword, swung it around to cut Tails free, and brought it back to just short of Cap's throat before the pig could get up again. "Fraize." Cap's eyes were glued to the blade as if it was the only thing in the room. "P-p-please don't hurt me. I only w-wanted Missy back..." "And you've got her," a female voice spoke from near the roboticizer. "Missy?" Cap almost sat up into the blade on hearing her voice, but when he felt its pressure, he settled for just shifting his gaze to his wife. "In the flesh. Now you, young fox, put that sword away this instant. You could hurt someone!" Missy, now deroboticized, still looked so much like Cap that she could have been his sister. She was even wearing a tuxedo that could have been one of Cap's spare suits. Antoine backed off, levelling his blade at the two of them. "Missy! I missed you so much..." Cap rushed over to his wife to try to embrace her, but she pushed him away. "You! How could you try to turn this poor little fox into a robot, just to save me?" Missy reproached him. "The Cap I knew was different. Greedy, yes, but he still had a kind heart!" "But, Missy...I didn't want to do it. I simply had no other choice. I was all alone, with no one to help me...and I was scared." "We came for ze emerald." Antoine interrupted. "We would have gladly alped you eef you had asked, but you did not. Is zees not right, Tails?" Tails was still sitting on the ground, checking over his body. Having found no robotic parts, he breathed a sigh of relief, and cast an evil glance toward Cap. "You would have just...helped us? If we'd asked?" "Oui." Cap was at a loss of words. "No-no one's offered that since before the Great War. I...I feel so ashamed." He looked at Tails. "Can you forgive me, kit?" "Uh..." Tails looked at the couple. It must have been pretty hard for Cap to live with his roboticized wife for all those years. And he had sounded so happy after Missy had finally been restored to normal... Tails grinned. "I forgive you, under two conditions!" "Conditions?" Antoine, Cap and Missy asked in unison. "First, we take the Chaos Emerald back to its rightful owner." Tails stood up, opened the smoking panel, and removed the emerald. "And second...?" Cap asked hesitantly, expecting the worst. "Second, from now on you will call me TAILS!" Tails could not help but giggle. Antoine and Missy smirked. "But...but of course...Tails!" Tails smirked again, and walked over to Antoine. "Alors. Then let us be going," Antoine said, moving towards the doorway. Cap exchanged a glance with his wife. "Missy, should we tell them?" "Yes. It's the least we can do." "Tell us what?" Antoine had stopped in the doorway. "Robotnik had a minor supply depot here. That's where I got the parts for the deroboticizer. He ordered us to tell no one, and set Missy to kill me if I tried to make anyone stumble across it. Once Robo-tink bought it, I turned his orders around: we weren't to tell anyone, even Snively or Packbell. But we were still stuck with the stuff, so I fixed up the place and waited for someone to come. Now that you're here, and Missy's herself again, we can give you access to the supplies." "Alright, show us zis depot." ****** Antoine and Tails followed the pigs cautiously, watching for possible traps but seeing none. "How much further?" "Not long, no sir. Right here, in fact." Cap pushed a button that opened a hidden trap door. Beneath was a stair case, and a sight that had both foxes staring in awe. Tails was not content to just stare for long, though, and quickly flew in to get a better look at the depot. "We could keep going for years with this stuff." Antoine followed the pigs inside. "Oui. Eef zey are not trapped for boobies." "Perish the thought, good sirs. Robotnik made sure none of his enemies even knew about this place. Booby traps were unnecessary. Why, he even had a cargo transport making regular runs to this place...at least, he did until we shut it down to keep Packbell from finding us." "Does eet still work?" "Sure. It's right over here." Cap pointed to an oversized, weaponless hoverbot, with a huge rear hatch. "Hmm. Tails, I am thinking. Perhaps ah should be taking some of zis back to Knothole, yes?" Tails quickly slowed to a hover, then looked back at his friend. "This isn't the best time, Antoine. Remember the emeralds?" "Yes, oui, I would be safeguarding the yellow one as well." "But...I could use your help with the rest of 'em. Packbell's robots are probably already near the green emerald." "All ze more reason for me to make sure we do not lose what we have." "Oook, if you say so." "So, how are you going to get to the green emerald? I mean, you can fly, sure, but you're in no shape to fly all the way over there and back. Would you like a ride, sonny?" Cap started walking towards a large door on one side of the depot. "Only if it's fast." Cap chuckled. "Always the speedster, aren't ya? Well, you'll like this." He pointed with his stick to a small, sleek hoverbot that could have easily fit inside the transport twice. "Only enough room for one in there, but it goes faster than even Sonic. You might even beat Packbell to the next gem, if you hurry." "Yahoo!" Tails was inside in a blink. "Catch ya back at Knothole, Ant." Missy tapped a wall panel in a few specific places, causing the depot door to open into a concealed passage to the outside. Tails' craft was out of sight in no time.