Chaos Race Part 8: Conclusion 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.] ****** Sonic and Knuckles almost collided as they raced for the entrance to Knothole from opposite directions. Sally, still in Knuckles' arms, barely filled the gap between them when they stopped. Sonic was not amused. "What the...let go of her. She's mine," he declared. "Yours?" The echnida set Sally down. "She be no one's, unless you've been treatin' her like a slave." He bared his fists. "You become a slaver, mon?" "Slaver?" Sonic stepped back into a fighting pose. "You're calling me a slaver? That's it, you asked for it." "STOP IT!" Sally got up and held them at arm's length. "You two seem ready to fight at the drop of a hat. I've fought with enough allies today; I don't need you two to go at it now." Sonic and Knuckles unclenched their fists, but kept wary eyes on each other just in case. "Good." Sally turned to Sonic. "Amy's going for the pink emerald; have you heard anything from Antoine and Tails?" Before he could answer, Sonic had to duck as a hoverbot transport nearly ran him over. The hoverbot landed, bounced, and skidded to a halt. The hedgehog got up, and saw the others already punching away at the vehicle's doorpad, trying to open it. Sonic ran to help them, but Knuckles had already managed to force the door open. The echnida was inside instantly, quickly followed by Sonic and Sally. Sally had to stifle a giggle when she saw the hoverbot's pilot, whose neck was encased by Knuckles' hands. Sonic was the first to speak. "Let him go, Knuckles. He's harmless." "Leesten to 'im. Ah am 'armless in ze extreme." Knuckles regarded Antoine. "The way you tried to run us down, I should leave you armless. But alright." He dropped the fox. Sally glanced around at the hoverbot's full cargo bay. "Where did you find all this? And where's Tails?" Antoine produced the yellow Chaos Emerald from underneath the controls. "Ah thought eet best to safeguard what we had found. Tails went for ze green emerald without me." "You..." Sally froze. "You abandoned him?" "Umm...well...oui. But ah have ze utmost confidence zat he shall reteurn unharmed, with ze emeralds. Speaking of which..." Antoine handed the yellow gem to Knuckles, who touched it to the purple emerald. "...do we have what we were to find?" "Well," Sally counted off on her fingers, "Tails is going after the green emerald, Amy's on the pink one, we have red and purple, and you came back with yellow. That leaves blue and grey. Sonic?" The hedgehog shook his head as he produced the blue emerald. "I couldn't find the grey one. Packbell probably got it before me." He did a double take. "Wait a minute. What do you mean, 'Amy's on the pink one'? You didn't just...?" Sally nodded. "We had no choice. She took Nicole with her, and Knuckles refused to track her down." "With all those robots out there? That's suicide!" Sonic turned to leave. "I have to find her!" Before he could leave, a blaze of pink energy formed in front of him. When it faded, Amy Rose was giving Sonic the most meaningful kiss she had ever given him. The pink Chaos Emerald and Nicole tumbled out of mid-air, both sliding to their respective owners. When Amy let go, Sonic was stunned, standing there with his mouth open. But when he looked at Amy, he saw tears running down her face. "I realized who you love, and who you have always loved," she said calmly. "You'll never love me, at least not as much as you love Sally." She turned her back on everyone, trying to keep them from seeing her crying. "You should have told me." Sonic put a hand on her shoulder. "I couldn't. I knew it would break your heart to know the truth. I...I just couldn't bear to make you feel so bad. You're my friend, Amy, and I never let my friends down." Sonic turned away from Amy, only to have Sally rush up and kiss him even more deeply than Amy had. He could only catch his breath when Sally finished. "What...was that...for?" Sally smiled. "Oh, nothing. I just remembered why I ever liked a certain hedgehog, that's all." All three of them felt a rough landing, and turned as one towards Antoine. "Zorry to interrupt, but while you lovebirds were taking care of buisiness, ah decided to get ze road on ze show." "That's, 'show on the road'," Knuckles corrected. "I don't know if we can do much with only five emeralds, but we've got to try. Who knows, maybe Tails will make it back in time with Green, too." "So?" Sonic tapped his foot impatiently. "What're we waiting for? Let's get back to the island." Knuckles rolled his eyes. "From what I heard of Sir Charles, stupidity should not be in your genes. But in your case, maybe a recessive one came out." He sighed. "Where do you think Antoine's just taken us?" ****** Sure enough, the hoverbot had landed on the Floating Island, near the ruins of the Chaos Chamber. The Freedom Fighters, along with the revived Chaotix, had already secured the area. Bunnie greeted them as they approached. "What took y'all so long? Much longer, and this here island wouldn't be called 'floating' anymore." "Indeed." Mighty pointed to a speck on the horizon, which rapidly grew larger. "Although I had expected Packbell to attack again before you got back." Everyone turned to look at the single hoverbot. They all knew it could not be a threat; if it tried to attack, its enemies were in a position to strike it down before it got its second shot off. But instead of attacking, the hoverbot landed, discharged two passengers, and powered down. Those assembled gasped as they saw the figures march towards them, one with the green Chaos Emerald and a laser rifle, the other with his head drooped in shame. "'Ze utmost confidence'?" Sally frowned at Antoine. "If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I will personally roboticize you." Antoine cowered in fear. He had been cowering since Snively's arrival, though, so no one noticed a difference. "Greetings, fellow Mobians." Snively's grin stretched across half of his face. "I offer you a trade." "Let Tails go," Sonic shouted. "Oh, but I will. I just need him as insurance, to make sure you don't double cross me while we make our exchange." "What do you want?" "From you, hedgehog? Nothing. My buisiness is with Knuckles." "Me?" The echinda looked around. "I got nothin' for you, mon." "Yes, you do. I want the Floating Island's technology. All the discoveries and secrets buried in the ruins of your ancestors' civilization. Give me that information, and you can have your precious Chaos Emerald back. I'll even let Tails go, once I'm off the island." "Don't do it," Tails shouted defiantly. His retort was cut off when Snively jabbed him in the side with his rifle. "Shut up, little fox, before I change my mind!" Snively held up the emerald. "It's a fair exchange, don't you think? Some ancient technology for a whole island. I - YEOWCH!" Snively's speech was cut short as metal hands grabbed him from behind and held him aloft. Tails was sent rolling to his friends, along with the emerald. "So, you live after all," a familiar, sinister voice echoed through the robot's speakers. "Well, well, well. This is quite unexpected." Sally helped Tails get up, then froze. "Packbell?" "Yes, Princess, it is I. And I want the Chaos Emeralds." "Then come and get them," Sonic challenged in a mocking voice. "We've got six, and you're outnumbered." "But I have the grey one." Packbell tossed Snively to the side and produced the grey Chaos Emerald. "It gives me total control over the others." Knuckles, realizing what was about to happen, sent a telepathic command to the floating emeralds. They dispersed, each landing in the hand of one of the Freedom Fighters: red to Knuckles, blue to Sonic, pink to Amy Rose, yellow to Antoine, purple to Sally, and green to Tails. "Now that I am close enough to the other emeralds, all I have to do is command it," Packbell continued. "And I command it to gather its siblings." The other six emeralds started glowing, and were pulled towards the grey one. Each holder resisted with all of their might, putting their body in the path of the emerald and bracing against the ground. It was a losing fight, though; each emerald slowly advanced on the grey, taking its holder with it. Packbell laughed. "When the emeralds get close enough, I can absorb their power. When that happens, victory shall be mine. Nothing you can do can stop me." "Then what are we," Bunnie asked, "chopped liver? CHARGE!" It took Packbell a second to count the number of Freedom Fighters and Chaotix who suddenly descended upon him. Their combined mass was enough to make the ground shake. Within two seconds, Packbell had to flee. With its holder's concentration distracted, the grey emerald's call ceased. Knuckles collected the six gems, while the other five holders joined their colleagues. Snively, seeing an opportunity, dashed into the hoverbot and piloted it away. ****** Packbell was not the fastest robot in existance, but he did manage to evade his numerous pursuers long enough to get to the edge of the island. Packbell held the gem above his head as he stood on the cliff. "Stop, or I will destroy this emerald." "No you won't," Amy yelled as she jumped at Packbell and started to beat away on his head. Her first blow damaged Packbell's visual sensor array, the second cut off vital connections in his neck circuity, and she was only getting started. Sonic mused that her fighting skills had definitely improved over the years, ever since she attacked her first SWATbot to save him. Packbell was taken by surprise. He dropped the gem and tried to shake Amy off, stumbling around helplessly, screaming with rage. The robot toppled over the cliff and dropped out of sight, taking Amy with him. Packbell looked around, scarcely believing what had happened. "You pink maniac! You have only doomed yourself. Surely you know that my 'soul' is but a program. This body may be scrapped, but I can just copy myself to another body in Robotropolis. You, on the other hand, will not survive." He chuckled ominously. "How mortal of you, to sacrifice yourself like this." "It doesn't matter. If I can't have Sonic, I have nothing to live for. I loved him with all my heart. But he only loved Sally." "You have...my pity. Goodbye." The robot shut down as Packbell returned his conciousness to Robotropolis, and proceeded to contemplate why those words should occur to him. He had never pitied anyone before, and wasn't sure that he sincerely pitied Amy. Amy closed her eyes and released the robot. She had heard that falling produced a quick death, if you fell far enough. The hedgehog's thoughts were of Sonic as she felt a sudden deceleration. She kept her eyes closed for a few more seconds, then noticed something unusual. Only her arms had been jerked up; the rest of her body felt like it was suspended from them. Amy opened her eyes, and saw that someone had grabbed a hold of her. "Tails!? You came to save me?" "Of course I did," Tails replied. "We don't want to lose you. We all need you." "Really?" Amy smiled. She completely forgot that she still had lots of friends, who would help her whenever she had problems. Remembering this felt good. The fox strained as his tails slowly lifted both of them back towards the island. "Geez, Amy, you need to go on a diet." "Are you telling me I'm fat? How could you? Waah!!" "I save your life, and all you can do is cry?" Tails shook his head, smirking. "Girls..." ****** When they finally reached the Floating Island, Tails set Amy down in an empty clearing, then landed to catch his breath. "Oh, Tails, thank you," Amy said, beaming. "Don't mention it." "No, really. You were so brave, and so quick...and so handsome..." Amy advanced on Tails. Tails looked at her blankly, wondering what she was up to. ****** Snively's last remaining squad arrived just as Sonic saw Tails snatch Amy. "Yes!" He looked up, and saw the incoming warriors. "No!" The combat was brief, but intense. Unused to outnumbering the enemy, Sally nonetheless managed to direct a complete massacre. Within minutes, not a single functioning robot was in sight, and none of the Freedom Fighters or Chaotix had been injured. Sonic bounced a SWATbot head off his quills as he rolled around. "Well, Sally, I think that's the last of 'em." "Looks like..." A loud scream interrupted Sally, but was abruptly cut off. "What the...?" "That was Tails' voice. We must've missed a SWATbot somewhere!" Sonic turned and pointed. "Come on!" ****** When Sonic and Sally raced up, they saw Amy looking confused, pondering over Tails' unconcious body. "All I did was kiss him," she offered. Sonic and Sally looked at each other, and broke down laughing. ****** Hours later, as the Floating Island finally floated out of sight, Sonic put his arm around Sally's shoulder next to a campfire. "You know, Sal, I'm glad you and Amy have stopped fighting. She's right; I was hurting worse than you two were." Sonic squeezed the squirrel. "Where'd you learn to be so jealous, anyway?" Sally giggled, and patted Sonic on the back. "From a friend of mine. He's always trying to make sure 'his girl' stays his." "Moi? Oh, come on, Sal. Sure, I might not like it when anybody else makes moves on you, but jealous?" "Just remember that next time Antoine pays me a compliment, ok?" Sonic looked at Sally, and pulled his head back. "Antoine? Well...ok, if you say so." He sighed. "It's fights like today's that make me wonder if we'll ever win. I mean, wouldn't Mobius be better place by now if we were making a difference?" Sally mused. "You're right. But..." ****** Elsewhere in Knothole, a pair of packrats rejoiced as Bunnie brought their long lost son back to them. ****** Cap hugged Missy tightly. "I love you. Oh, I missed you so much." "You've been saying that all day." Missy smiled. "Keep saying it." ****** Tails sat down on a log next to Amy. "So, what'd you have to talk to Sally about?" Amy sighed. "Just making up for keeping Sonic from her." He wrinkled his face in disgust. "What, you actually apologized for interrupting that disgusting stuff?" She turned to Tails. "It's not that bad. I like it." "Must be an acquired taste." Amy slid closer to the fox. "Would you like to acquire it?" "Not in a million years." She smiled slyly, and bear hugged him. "How about now?" Tails gulped nervously, unsure of what to do. But eventually, he smiled and hugged her back. ****** Having finally gathered all the scrap from the robots that had tried to invade the Floating Island, Knuckles sat down with the Chaos Emeralds. A few magical flares later, the scrap's atoms had been rearranged into a new Chaos Chamber, which Knuckles reverently placed the emeralds into. "Justice is mine." ****** Off in the Forbidden Zone, a piece of semi-sentient magic reflected that it had granted another wish. The Wish Zone had had to see one less Mobian pleased to death. ****** "...I'd say it is." Sonic snuggled closer to Sally. "If you say so."