Sonic X-Generation: Episode 8

Sonic X-Generation
Rating: T
Genre: Action/Adventure; Comedy; Drama


EMERALD SAGA
Episode 8: Unfounded Conflicts


*MYSTIC RUINS*
It was an early morning in the murky lands of the Mystic Ruins, around five o’clock or so. The atmosphere was fresh and cool, and the sky is dyed in a deep shade of blue. It was a very peaceful morning. At this time, every Mobian would resume in continual slumber until the sunrise comes. Today, however, was not the case for two young Mobians.

While obscured by shadows, their forms were still clear to make out. One appeared to be a female wolf, the other a male duck; both of them appeared to be in their early teens. Along with the two was what appeared to be their chao. They were scurrying through the forest toward a cave that was in front of large mountains. Inside that cave appeared to be a shimmer of silver light coming from the end. As the light started to float away from sight, the two Mobians immediately went into follow it. There was a moment of silence until the sound of gushing winds erupted from within the cave.
…

*LATER, IN EMERALD TOWN*
The sunrise has finally arrived to the tropical neighborhoods in Emerald Town. While everyone else is out and about, today is not the day of relaxation for our heroes.

Sky, Cocoa and Marshmallow were playing outside while their parents were in the house working on errands. Their playtime was soon interrupted by what sounded like bombs exploding at once from a distance. When they looked from behind the house, they witnessed a sight even their parents would dread.

Across the neighborhood was none other than Bean the Dynamite – 40 years old. He still had his signature red ascot, but wore a pair of red and white boots. He was also running past numerous houses, throwing numerous bombs across the neighborhood in a fit of rage. Behind him was his wife Sapphire the Arctic Wolf – 39 years old. She was wearing a full-length medium blue dress, white formal gloves and azure lipstick. She had been calling out to her frantic husband, attempting to calm him down to no avail.

Tails and Cream got outside and took notice of the ruckus as well.

-TAILS: “Cream, get Sky and Cocoa! I’ll go call Sonic and Amy!”

*MOMENTS LATER…*
After what felt like hours, the Prowers – along with Sapphire –managed to calm Bean down. This had been done with the assistance of Sonic and Amy, of course. The green duck was sitting on a couch, with his wife by his side.

-SONIC: “Alright, now that the mess outside is taken care of… would you mind telling us why you were throwing bombs around the neighborhood??”
-BEAN: [takes a deep breath] “Well, it goes like this… last night, Jolly and Perry were asleep in their room like always, and when we went back to their room this morning, they were gone. Heck, Bubble is missing too. So that’s why I started throwing my special bombs from home all the way to here.” [begins to lose it again] “I mean, how else would I relax without all the explosions and all the BOOM?!” [growing irrational again] “Until I find my offspring in one piece, I will do the OPPOSITE TO EVERYTHING IN MY WAY!!!”

Bean was about to go berserk until Sapphire stopped him in time.

-SAPPHIRE: [holding Bean’s arm, worried] “Bean, sweetie? You’re doing it again…”
-BEAN: [sits back down, embarrassed] “Sorry, Sapphy…”
-CREAM: [shocked] “Jolly and Perry are missing?!”
-SAPPHIRE: [nods frantically] “We are worried that they are either kidnapped, ran away, or worse! At this rate, something terrible could happen to them!” [starts tearing up, being comforted by Bean]
-AMY: [speechless] “Oh dear…”

While Sapphire was being consoled, Sonic noticed Tails being deep in thought.

-SONIC: “What are you thinking about, Tails?”
-TAILS: “…I believe I may have a solution to this problem.”
-BEAN AND SAPPHIRE: [surprised] “You do??”
-CREAM: [relieved] “Oh, thank goodness…”
-SONIC: [curious] “Really? What is it?”
-TAILS: [pulls out his radar] “Last night, I was adding some modifications onto this radar when I received a signal from another Chaos Emerald. It then read its location close to what appears to be a cave in the Mystic Ruins Zone.” [turns to Bean and Sapphire] “Knowing their interest for shiny objects, the Chaos Emerald might be more than a coincidence for their disappearance.”

This bit of information relieved the couple and their friends.

-SONIC: [pleased] “That’s awesome, Tails!”
-TAILS: [confident] “Thanks.” [turns to the rest of the group] “You guys stay put, I’ll go ahead and give a call to the kids.”
…

*LATER, IN MYSTIC RUINS*
Since the Mystic Ruins wasn’t too far from Emerald Town, the Sonic Team (consisting of Dash, May, Sky and Cocoa) decided to travel through regular flight instead of taking the Tornado 3. Sky held Dash, while Cocoa held May with Marshmallow alongside them. Upon landing, Sky set the radar on to read the current location of the Chaos Emerald.

-DASH: “Alright, we made it to the Mystic Ruins without a hitch. Is the radar picking up anything, Sky?”
-SKY: “As of now, yes. The radar is telling us that the Chaos Emerald should be over…there.”

Sky pointed to where the radar was directing. The Sonic Team saw a cave in front of a group of huge mountains, just outside the forest. As they went inside, they found nothing but gaping pits in the very center, one on the ground and the other on the ceiling.

-DASH: “Do you think they jumped through here?” [looks down at the pit]
-MAY: “It looks like it.”
-SKY: “Try not to lean too far, Dash! We don’t know if that pit is bottomless!”
-DASH: “Relax, Sky! There’s nothing this hedgehog here can’t-!” [suddenly gets blown upwards until he is unseen] “GYAHHH!!!”
-MAY, SKY AND COCOA: [surprised] “Dash!!”

Wasting no time, the three kids jumped into the winds and were pushed in the same direction as Dash. Shortly after, they made it to another location: a large set of greenery ruins set high in the clouds amongst strong gusts of wind. This location is none other than Windy Valley.

-MAY: [amazed] “Wow… look at this place...”
-COCOA: “It’s so open and pretty! Wouldn’t you agree, Marshmallow?”
-MARSHMALLOW: “Chao!”
-SKY: [looking around] “Now where could have Dash landed?”
-DASH: [yelling from a distance] “Hey guys, heads up!!”

The kids turned to see Dash literally running through the winds at ease. He soon skidded in front of them with a grin on his face.

-DASH: [fully excited] “This place is great! We’ve got to keep coming back here sometime!”
-SKY: “As fun as that sounds, we have to start searching for the twins.” [looks around once more, dumbfounded] “And since this place is huge, who knows when we will…”

As Sky was about to finish talking, the group noticed a wolf, a duck, and another chao riding along the winds opposite from where they were standing.

-DASH: [pleased] “Well, this whole search was easier than I thought.”

The foursome hurried to the other side of the hills. Instead of jumping on them, however, they chose to run along the winds. They were making it towards the platform, until that same chao decided to collide with Dash’s face.

-DASH: [surprised] “Hey, watch it!”

Because of this, Dash lost his focus and fell onto the grass… with the chao lying flat on his face. The female wolf landed on the lush grass and skipped towards the two. She had true green fur with forest green on the ends of her hair, ears, and tail; she also had a pair of royal blue eyes. She wore a typical schoolgirl outfit: a white sleeveless top, a pthalo blue skirt with an indigo and sky blue linear design, white long socks and black shoes.

-??? (WOLF): [picks up the chao, very happy] “That was AWESOME!! Wasn’t it, Bubble??”
-BUBBLE: [clapping] “Chao, chao!!”

The chao turned out to be a pet of the twins named Bubble. Unlike Marshmallow, Bubble is completely pale blue, wore a small white bow tie, and is slightly chubbier.

-??? (WOLF): [looks down at Dash, giggling] “What’s up, Dash?”
-DASH: [slightly disoriented] “Heh, hi Jolly…”

The rest of the group soon caught up with Dash and the twins.

-MAY: [chuckling] “You alright, Dash?”
-DASH: [responds sarcastically while getting up] “Yeah, May! I’m just dandy!”

Shortly after that, the Prowers rushed to the four, along with the male duck. The duck had his father’s light green feathers and his mother’s medium blue eyes. He wore a sky blue and white ascot, along with pairs of gloves and boots in matching colors.

-??? (DUCK): [giggling] “We gotta do that again sometime!”
-SKY: “[notices the duck, grew happy] “Hey Perry!”
-PERRY: “High Sky!”

The two ran to each other and were caught in a big hug. Soon, the girls caught up to the rest of the group.

-MAY: “Why did you two come all the way from Emerald Town to here?”
-COCOA: “Don’t you know how worried your parents are?”
-JOLLY: [guilty] “We’re sorry about that, but we have a good reason.”
-PERRY: “Yeah. Iiiit’s sort of a long story.” [starts explaining] “Last night, Jolly and Bubble and I noticed something shiny from a distance and we followed it all the way to the Mystic Ruins…”
-JOLLY: [continues, though excitedly] “…Then we were suddenly blown up from a spooky cave to here and started having the time of our lives! Oh, and we also found this!” [pulls out a silver Chaos Emerald]
-THE SONIC TEAM: [excluding Sky] “A Chaos Emerald!”
-SKY: “Hmm… let me take a look.”

Sky grabbed the Emerald from Jolly and closely examined it.

-JOLLY AND PERRY: “Hey! We found that first!”

After examining it, Sky turned to the Sonic Team with an incredulous look on his face.

-SKY: “This isn’t it.”
-THE SONIC TEAM/JOLLY AND PERRY: “What?!”
-MAY: “How can you tell??”
-SKY: “Look closely.”

Sky brought the Chaos Emerald close to the others, including Jolly and Perry.

-SKY: “Notice anything?”
-PERRY: [leering at the emerald] “Hmmmm…”
-JOLLY: “It’s very bright and very shiny. Duh!”
-SKY: “True, but notice how hollow the center is?” [looks at a random wall] “I wonder…”

Sky walked to the nearby cliff wall and smashed the Chaos Emerald, breaking it into pieces. This brought everyone to shock, including the dynamic twins.

-JOLLY AND PERRY: “No!!”
-COCOA: “It’s a fake?!”
-SKY: “Yeah. That could also mean one thing.” [looks into his radar for a moment] “Our radar tells that the real Emerald is straight to the other side of this zone.”
-DASH: [impressed] “Huh. This should be easy.”
-SKY: “Apparently. However, the given path is filled with numerous hills and other obstacles along the way.”
-MAY: [whips out her Piko Piko II] “That should be no problem.”
-PERRY: [eager] “Yeah! Lead the way, little bro!”
-DASH: [boastful] “Hey, I’m supposed to say that!”

The foursome and the twins made their way to the Chaos Emerald’s destination. Unbeknownst to them, a tall figure was watching them from one of the higher hills. They immediately turned on their familiar blue-and yellow-vehicle and drove after the heroes.
…

*MEANWHILE…*
The group managed to get past the obstacles of Windy Valley. Their most recent is getting across a broken bridge while pushing through the harsh winds. Along the way, they noticed the winds were suddenly stronger than they were the first time. On top of that, there is no longer any hint of sunlight – only large, gray clouds. The group took a sudden break in the middle of the pathway, this one being on some of the higher platforms.

-DASH: [sighs] “Alright, Sky, we’ve been walking around this place for Chaos knows how long. Are we almost there yet??”
-SKY: [looks into the radar, quizzical] “Our radar tells the Emerald’s current location is over here, but it’s nowhere to be seen.”
-MAY: [groans] “How would we know if it’s anywhere above or below us?”
-JOLLY: “The first option would be fun, but…”
-PERRY: “…yeah, the second would be most likely.”
-SKY: [nodding] “Well, let’s check and see.”

The group reached the end of the platform and jumped off to the path underneath. This path, however, had nothing but a sizeable dead end. They took a look at the radar, which was still scanning for the Emerald.

-COCOA: [dismayed] “It’s still reading…”
-JOLLY: [already irritated] “AW, COME ON!!”
-MARSHMALLOW AND BUBBLE: “Chao…”
-SKY: “I thought I was able to read the Emerald in an immediate rate!” [disheartened] “I guess not…”

Perry and Dash walked to Sky to comfort him. The green duck kneeled down to the fox’s level.

-PERRY: “Don’t get so down, High Sky. We’ll get the Emerald easy-peasy!”
-DASH: “Perry’s right. Wherever the Emerald may be, we’ll be able to retrieve it with your help. Just like always.” [giving his trademark smile]
-SKY: [smiling timidly] “Thanks, guys… Alright, we’ll have to keep searching. If not here, then the Emerald may be over us the whole time.”

He, along with everyone else, looked up at the dull gray sky.

-MAY: “But how can we go all the way up? There are no other platforms except the one that are floating away from each other.”
-COCOA: “And Sky and I can only fly up to a certain height.”
-DASH: “Okay, question now is: how can we get up there with no problem?”
-???: [in an Australian accent] “Wouldn’t you like to know, mate?”

The heroes looked around to find the source of the voice.

-COCOA: [pointing] “Over there!”

Everyone looked to where Cocoa was pointing, and found what – or whom – she saw: there on one of the high platforms stood a purple-and-white weasel, appearing to be in his early to mid-forties. He had light blue eyes, and his attire assisted of brown fingerless gloves with metal plates, a brown belt with a handgun, and brown-and-black boots. He even wore a brown, worn fedora. Other traits of the weasel’s appearance included a scar across his right eye and cheek, and, more importantly, his familiar large tooth.

-DASH: “Who are you?”
-???: “Heh, figured your old man would tell little about lil’ old me. Allow me to introduce myself.”

The weasel suddenly jumped off the platform and impressively landed right in front of the heroes. He got up with a sick grin on his face.

-???: “I’ve been known by some as a bounty hunter. A criminal, even. But it’s not just a minority who got to know me.”

The strange weasel turned his focus on Jolly and Perry and slowly walked to them.

-???: “I happen to have dealt with a couple of former partners of mine, both of them you all should know very well.” [grinning widely] “Surely, your dad and uncle told you about your ‘uncle Nack’, didn’t they?”
-JOLLY AND PERRY: "N-Nack??"
-DASH: “Hold on! Nack? As in, Nack the Weasel??”
-MAY: “The bounty hunter who our parents dealt with before??”
-NACK: [turns to the Sonic Team] “Who else?? In case you all don’t know, those two nitwits backstabbed me right when I actually needed them! I was stuck in the brig thanks to them and that blue do-gooder! I have faced the ULTIMATE HUMILIATION!!” [calms down a bit] “I managed to dig my way out, fortunately, and continued my bounty career solo. Throughout all these years, I have improved my hunting skills – along with my senses – waiting for the perfect time to get my revenge. And what better way to do start…” [reaches for his gun] “…Than to create two casualties?”

In the blink of an eye, Nack pulled out his handgun and shot at Jolly and Perry. But the lively twins were able to literally dodge the bullet. Before Nack was able to shoot another bullet, Jolly threw an array of cherry ice bombs at him. He managed to dodge them with an impressive back flip, however. Dash and the others joined in as well. The rest of the conflict involved the heroes’ share of hits and misses. Before the battle could continue, the strength of the wind currents grew more excessive.

-MAY: [nervous] “Um, guys??”
-DASH: “Yeah, May?”

Before May could respond, the winds’ strength increased to the point where they reached storm levels. Nack took notice of this, along with something else, and used his tail to hop back to his original place. He came out seconds later riding his vehicle – the Marvelous Queen – and quickly drove off to the sky.

-DASH: “Now where’s he going??”

The rest of the team took notice of the weasel’s departure and set foot after him. But before they could, they got sucked into the tornado.

-JOLLY AND PERRY: [screaming in excitement]
-BUBBLE: [clinging on to Perry’s tail feathers, eyes closed]
-COCOA: [panicking] “Sky, Marshmallow, HOLD ON!!!”
-MAY: “How will we get out of this twister?!”
-DASH: “I have an idea!” [calling out] “Everyone, follow my lead!”

Dash made a quick jump to a platform above the group and repeated the action on the next, with the others following. They jumped upward for several moments until they finally reached the top of the tornado. Once they did, they all got harshly thrown out to another location: unlike a floating set of greenery ruins, there was a set of aerial spiraling tracks a open blue sky. The team stood on a flying platform in awe.

-MAY: “Are we still in the same location?”
-JOLLY: “We have to be!”
-PERRY: “Otherwise, we’d be in heaven!”
-SKY: [excited] “I got it!”
-DASH: “Got what, Sky?”
-SKY: “The radar is picking up the Emerald’s signal. It’s somewhere around here!”

Before they could rejoice, however, a certain purple weasel ascended from underneath the same platform onto its track.

-NACK: “Good t’hear, kid! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be making my way to the Emerald!”
-JOLLY: “NO YOU WON’T!!!”

The foursome and the twins started to run the track. Along the way, they had to avoid being shot by Nack, while attempting to strike him. Dash even attempted to lay a Homing Attack on the purple weasel, only for him to hit the hedgehog with his gun. Having had enough, the team jumped to a nearby floating ruin and then landed on another track. They continued their way and later appeared to have passed the bounty hunter, as they were unable to see him on their previous track. While they felt some relief, the heroes were still uncertain.

As they reached halfway to the end of the track, the heroes peeked below them. Hovering in the middle of the lower platform was a silver Chaos Emerald. May noticed something else, though.

-MAY: “Guys, look!”

Their delight was turned to shock, however, when they noticed Nack already standing in front of the powerful jewel.

-NACK: [grinning greedily] “Finally… it’s all mine.”

Just as Nack got a hold of the Chaos Emerald, he heard a voice from above.

-PERRY: “Freeze, buck-tooth!”

Thankfully, Perry shot a “Freezing Winds” attack and froze Nack on the spot. Jolly pulled out a cherry bomb, planning to do the unthinkable.

-JOLLY: [grinning madly] “When people upset me, I make them go BOOM!”
-THE SONIC TEAM: “</b></i>NOOO!!!</i></b>”

Jolly threw the bomb at the frozen weasel. While the explosion left Nack thawed and scorched, the Chaos Emerald flew out of Nack’s grasp all the way to the atmosphere, never to be seen again. This took the heroes by surprise, but more so with the weasel.

-NACK: [frustrated] “Bloody hell!! Another award gone to waste!”

Nack abruptly turned to the team and the twins.

-NACK: [glaring] “This won’t be the last time you see me, and that goes for you two!”

Nack hopped onto his Marvelous Queen and drove off. After he was completely gone, the young team came together for their shared loss.

-SKY: “There goes the Chaos Emerald…”
-DASH: “Right.”
-JOLLY: [guilty] “Yeah, and we’re both to blame.”
-PERRY: [sad] “Yeah. Sorry…”
-SKY: [comforting] “It’s alright, guys. ”
-MAY: “Yeah. At least it’s not a total loss, right?”
-COCOA: “Right.”
-MARSHMALLOW AND BUBBLE: “Chao!”

This cheered up the dynamic twins.

-JOLLY: “Yeah, you’re right. We got to have all the action to ourselves, plus Perry’s coldness and my explosions saved the day!”

Everyone chuckled from that statement, thus brightening up his or her mood.

-PERRY: “There’s one question that’s been getting me.”
-DASH: “Yeah?”
-JOLLY AND PERRY: “How do we get back down?”

~