Chapter 158: Fire & Ice
The shuttles were ready for takeoff, all the participants were racing through Deco City in hopes to qualify for the next game. "Hey! Hands off the bling!" Vector the Crocodile shouted, holding Espio and Charmy in his hands as someone tugged against his gold chain. Before he knew it, he fell flat on his chin and saw someone launch overhead.
"Sorry, guy! I'm going for first place!" Tangle the Lemur exclaimed. "Oh and by the way, that wasn't my hand that's my taaaaaiiiiiiillll!" She called, flying over the fray.
Tangle landed on her feet, on the frontlines. "Whoops, shouldn't make too much of a scene. Let's hang for now…" She shot her tail to a bridge overhead, grappling up and scampering across the girders. She watched with a glint in her eye as everybody below fought over shortcuts and trampled over each other. She then heard a propellor sound next to her. "Whoa! It's YOU?!" Tangle asked, impressed as Tails flew next to her.
"Uhmm… yeah? Drat, looks like you figured out my strategy," Tails chuckled, trying to speed up despite his exhaustion.
"Hey, where're you going?" Tangle asked.
"I… can't stick around!" Tails exclaimed, shooting forward. Tangle started running on all-fours to keep pace. Even then, she was falling behind. "It's nothing personal! But you know how the climate has shifted here. Everyone's trying to get rid of one another!"
"Oh… Nah, I don't wanna hurt anybody," Tangle replied with a smile. "You're on Team Dark, right? I can't blame you for being jumpy… yikes!" Tangle dodged as someone fired at her.
"Yeahhh, most of my own teammates would probably kill me," Tails sighed, looking down at the other racers. "Oh, and by the way, you shouldn't take jewelry here."
"What?!" Tangle cried, realizing she had Vector's chain around her tail.
"System override! Affiliation variable conflicts with 'bro-code'," Omega droned, putting holes in the bridge. "Momentary truce with Team Chaotix achieved! Stop, thief!" Omega didn't seem to care that he was practically shooting at Tails, too.
"Careful, dude! You don't wanna destroy her, him, my chain, or the bridge!" Vector shouted.
"You don't know that," Omega replied.
"I'm sorry your team is so awful to you," Tangle sighed, tossing the gold chain over to Vector to distract Omega. Vector leapt out of his way to catch it, everyone else passing him as he happily put his chain back around his neck. "If you want, I'll help out when I can."
"Thanks, I… appreciate that," Tails laughed slightly, as the two boarded the shuttle in unison. Soon enough, the shuttle was at full capacity, and anybody who didn't make it was left behind.
…
"Here's the plan, guys. That stupid old dog thought it wise to have a snowball fight on a collection of ice caps surrounding a volcano," Clutch said from the cockpit, as a White Wisp-shaped blimp floated high above Glacierland, planet Breezy. "Sonic, Penumbra, Raster, you're gonna go inside of that volcano. Whisper will stand outside on watch duty. Blow up the volcano's core to make it erupt, then get out… preferably. If the participants and audience are smart, they'll leave too before the ash reaches them. Then, heheheh… the game's over." Sonic turned to his teammates, there was a lizard girl there he couldn't recognize. According to Clutch, this was Raster. An uncertain look appeared on the Blue Blur's face. "This is Sonic and Raster's first mission with us. Penumbra, make sure they don't screw up." Penumbra jumped out. Sonic and the others followed, plummeting down to Ice Mountain amidst the snowfall.
"Alright everyone, spread out. We'd best not be spotted until we're out of bounds from the games," Penumbra said. Whisper used her Wispon to hover away from the others, Penumbra shot away with a rocket leg. Sonic and Raster were left alone.
"So, you don't talk much, huh?" Sonic asked. "You didn't say anything the whole flight." Raster looked away, clenching her sharp teeth. "Hey, we're all friends here… I think… so you don't have to be so moody." Sonic backflipped and landed in the snow, Raster rolled down an icy slope, avoiding the players coming their way. Sonic turned around, only to see Cream and Big walking towards him. He stepped back.
"Mr. Big, I'm sure there's not that many fish here. The water's too cold!" Cream exclaimed, pulling on Big's arm as the large feline walked towards a frozen pond. Sonic stood completely still, feeling as though the ice and snow was keeping him frozen in place. "Oh! Hello, Mr. Sonic!" Sonic stepped back, unsure of what to do. He couldn't just run off now.
"Where's Amy?" Sonic asked, awkwardly. Cream looked to Big, concerned.
"I don't know," Big said. He walked right past Sonic, and sat down by the water. "She was sad, though. I think she misses you." Something was different, Sonic could hear it in his voice. This was not the same Big that he had befriended on Kronos Island. Did the guy even remember?
"You're not gonna try and make me lose, are you?" Sonic chuckled, a drop of sweat freezing on his forehead.
"No, I know you're not competing anymore, Mr. Sonic," Cream giggled. She began rolling up snowballs to pelt some unsuspecting stragglers from Team Search & Smash. Sonic hid his face. "But whatever you're doing here, I'm sure it's for the best! We'll cover for you!"
"Hey! It's SONIC!" Scratch shouted, running after the hedgehog and discarding his snowballs.
"Yeah! Forget the other ones! We've got beef with that blue pork rind!" Grounder exclaimed.
"You're a real one, Cream. Hey, real quick, make sure to get closer to the exits…" Sonic cleared his throat. "Tell the others too, if you can." Sonic zoomed off. Cream was left a little shaken as she threw the snowballs at Scratch and Grounder. BZZT. They were out!
"What did he mean by that?" Cream asked Big, sending Cheese with an armful of snow to finish off their robotic opponents. "You don't figure he's doing something bad… right?" Visions of Grand Metropolis flashed through Cream's mind. She dropped the leftover snowballs. Big didn't seem to have been paying attention. "I wonder who we can even trust anymore…" Cream sighed.
Her mask over her face, Whisper kept running along the Frozen Junkyard bridging the main arena and the volcano. The sounds of creaky, forgotten machinery were the only guides she had. Her vision was obscured by filthy snow and toxic ash. This was not a good place to stay in for too long, but it was her best bet at staying hidden.
"Help!"
Whisper stopped in her tracks. That sound had come from far above her… it sounded like Sonic, but she couldn't be sure. She took a deep, controlled breath. She didn't raise her head, she raised her Wispon. It swapped through multiple different shapes, each one containing the power of a different Wisp. "This one should suffice…" she whispered to herself, switching to Hover mode. She felt eyes drilling into the back of her skull.
"I'm… going to fall!" A metallic snap, then a scream. Whisper shot upwards, ripples appeared in the air. She then spun around and switched the Wispon to a red flamethrower. Someone descended right in front of her, the blast slowing their fall. Whisper pointed her flamethrower right at the hazy figure inside the blizzard.
"Newbie…" Whisper muttered, annoyed. She kept her Wispon pointed ahead.
"Whew, I thought I was toast! Buuut I guess it's too cold here to toast much of anything," Sonic chuckled, walking towards Whisper. Slowly. Calmly. With his arms up. He knew what he was doing. "Relax! I'm on your side, remember?" Whisper took a second, and lowered her Wispon.
"Very well. Let's hit our target and be done with it," Whisper replied. She walked along with Sonic following. "By the way, you shouldn't be climbing around here."
"Why not? It's a great vantage point, and somebody needed to watch our backs," Sonic sneered.
"We should split up. If we're spotted in the same place, it'll make our jobs much more difficult," Whisper said. She readied her Wispon.
"Hey. This is a dangerous place for a little lady like you. And if you're on your own, somebody could EASILY merc you," Sonic argued. Whisper held her Wispon laser gun up to him.
"I know how to take care of myself, I can cover my tracks," Whisper growled. "You just worry about completing the mission, or I'll give you a reason to worry about me." He gave Whisper an odd look, then let out a dry laugh.
"Of course, of course. That's what it was always about to me," he said. Whisper wouldn't blink or take her eyes off of him for another second. "I'll meet you at the Hidden Volcano. Glad to have someone like you at the Dodon Games." He walked off.
Whisper exhaled, switched her Wispon to a pink sawblade, and ran along.
…
Cheese followed close behind the Metal Fighters, hiding in bushes and branches to avoid their watchful eyes. Just when he was about to strike, somebody grabbed him by the bowtie. "Hey, I didn't know there were Chao Gardens here," Zor the Hexi murmured, barely awake. "I would honestly hate to take these from you if I could be bothered to roll up my own." Zor took away Cheese's snowball collection, much to his offense, and looked overhead at Tails, flying above and dropping mounds of snow onto those below. She commanded the Metal Fighters to shoot in front of Tails. He stopped flying forward, at which point she nailed him with a stolen snowball. A loud buzzing sound came from the megaphones all around the arena, signaling that somebody was out. At that very moment, Sonic scrammed out of bounds. The buzzing sound overpowered the frequency that was released when he stepped foot outside of the arena. Sonic took a long sigh, and smirked. He was home free.
Looking back, his smile fell. Sonic saw Stake the Mosquito right behind him, his wrinkly hand outstretched right up to the out of bounds line. Sonic kept running, and Stake didn't even attempt to follow. Sonic looked straight ahead, feeling a sense of dread as he entered the Hidden Volcano.
Sonic screeched to a halt in front of an opening to the volcano's interior. "Took you long enough! You're losing your touch, blue," Penumbra scolded Sonic. Whisper held her Wispon up to him, standing further away than anybody else.
"Sorry, got a little… startled," Sonic cleared his throat. He waved the ash out of his face.
"Did someone spot you?" Penumbra asked, scuttling on all her legs through the gash in the volcano. "What were you thinking, dilly-dallying inside the arena?!"
"Well, Cream said she'd cover for me!" Sonic snapped back, rolling into the volcano only for Raster to break a giant hole in the wall with her Spindash. Penumbra blocked her head from the volcanic rubble as Raster ran in after them, clenching her fists underneath her torn black gloves.
"Did you hear what happened to Trip?" Sonic mumbled to Penumbra, looking to his blurry shoes with a frown.
"Of course. I just wish we could've done something," Penumbra hissed. She sped up to Sonic's side. "She was such a sweet young lady. I wonder why she'd even end up somewhere like this."
"It's a tournament that prides itself on teamwork, maybe she just wanted to make some friends?" Sonic asked. He shook his head. "I dunno."
"Watch it," Raster grumbled. Sonic looked straight ahead, and stopped walking. He was on a ledge overlooking a twisting drop into the volcano's core.
"Yow, thanks for the heads-up!" Sonic exclaimed. Penumbra readied her arm rocket.
"There's no way it'll reach on its own," Penumbra hummed. "Time for Plan B. One of you need to take my arm rocket and scale the tunnel. It's pretty risky, but Sonic can run on walls." Penumbra raised an arm to Sonic. He flinched. "Pull it out." Raster watched from behind the two as Sonic grabbed hold of Penumbra's arm and slowly unsheathed it from her torso. "You need to chuck it at just the right speed, it shouldn't detonate before then. But you don't want it to collide with something and blow us up, too." Sonic held the rocket in his shaking arms. He could hardly lift it.
Not because it was heavy, no. It looked like he didn't want to.
"Hold on, Sonic. You can't do this on your own," Raster said. She apprehensively placed a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "I'll help you. I can roll on walls, I'll hold the rocket, all you'll have to do is throw it." She looked down, her face now obscured. "There'll be nothing to worry about." Sonic took a deep breath.
"Alright, Raster. Sounds like a plan," Sonic sighed. He carefully placed the rocket into her arms. "C'mon! There's no time to waste." Sonic ran right down the tunnel, deeper into the increasingly hot volcano. He looked above him. Raster was spinning in some kind of Ring form. Her spikes clung to the walls so she wouldn't fall.
The wide open, unexplored tunnel became their racetrack. The crystal walls merged together into a blur of color. Sonic and Raster kept delving deeper into the planet, the air getting hotter and the walls burning them ever so slightly.
"Haha! You're a natural, new girl!" Sonic exclaimed, he and Raster running around flames and blasts of lava. Sonic looked ahead at a wall of flame, and spun enough to sweep it all away in the wind. They were here. The core. Raster tossed the rocket over to Sonic. He caught it.
"Uh, Raster? Problem," Sonic chuckled nervously. The rocket was beeping. "I guess that's what happens when we get carried away."
"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-orry!" Raster exclaimed, unable to calm herself down or stop Ring Rolling.
"Eh, it's not a big deal. You get back up to the surface! I'll take it from here!" Sonic shouted.
"Okay!" Raster exclaimed, slowly decelerating as Sonic sped up. He wound up a throw, as the beeping grew faster and louder. His head pounded from the heat and the stress. His shoes were set ablaze.
"I won't let you down, Shadow!" he exclaimed. He aimed, his brain running faster than his body. He then tossed the rocket into the volcano core. BOOM! Sonic was thrown into the air by the force of the explosion, little bits of magma splashing onto him. Raster had already started rolling up the wall, and just when Sonic had reached her level, he began to fall. He had almost touched the rising lava when she pulled him in. He was now Spindashing in the center of her Ring Roll, their speed combined. They blasted upwards, right past the platform that Penumbra was standing on.
"Already?" She whispered, looking up. She rode one of her rocket legs up to them.
Whisper leaned against a rock, eyes darting everywhere as she shot down passing balloons and drones. As focused as she was, she was also nervous. "That was definitely… him…" she whispered to herself, her hands shaking as she shot down a balloon shaped like Shadow's head. Broken bits of a large camera fell all around her, pelting the outside of the volcano everybody else was inside of.
Suddenly, the ground began to rumble. Lava shot up everywhere, and Whisper leapt to higher ground. Right as the volcano was about to blow, Penumbra grabbed her hand as the whole team rocketed out of the volcano together, back onto the Wisp Blimp!
…
Sonic and the rest of the squad entered the Dirty Victory hideout. The higher floor seemed to be part of an old abandoned arcade. Run-down game machines and flickering neon lights everywhere. Nobody so much as glanced their way, they seemed far too busy planning for whatever the next plan was. Or simply getting wasted. "Huh, I was expecting some kind of fanfare," Sonic mumbled, as Raster and Whisper went off to do something else. Sonic reached out for them, before letting his arms fall back to his sides.
"I knew you were an egoist, but you're really that desperate for attention?" Penumbra asked with a giggle.
"You're the one who flirts with the people you end up killing," Sonic replied.
"Is that how you saw it? I suppose the people I get sent after tend to be just screwed up enough to enjoy their last moments with me," Penumbra said, slinging an arm around Sonic. "Besides, I've pretty much learned to just do the job, take the money and leave."
"Hey, don't get too cozy," Sonic huffed, looking away. "I don't think Amy would be happy." Sonic and Penumbra nearly jumped as they heard glass shatter. They looked over to see that Raster had thrown an old beer bottle off the counter. She was staring right at Sonic as she sat down, the disgruntled bartender sweeping up the shards.
"What's her problem? I thought we made a good team… but she's been giving me death stares the whole way back," Sonic muttered.
"Teams are more a Dodon Games thing. Most people come to Dirty Victory for their own reasons," Penumbra replied. The two sat down. "Although, I didn't see Raster here before today. I've been doing this gig every year since the games started, but if anything, she coulda come here after you did. She really wanted to come along on that mission when she heard you were going, too." Sonic glanced to Raster. She hadn't looked away.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Sonic asked. Penumbra nodded as the two saw Raster slowly get up, and trip a little on her way to the corner of the room. Away from the commotion. They both sighed in relief, before covering their mouths and beginning to laugh.
"Yep! That's her."
…
Rouge was sitting in the hideout's waiting room, waiting for Clutch to let her onto the Dirty Victory. Her mind was racing with thoughts of Shadow. How Dodon Pa and countless other people had mocked his hospitalization. That spider girl who tried to kill him, and essentially succeeded. As soon as she learned there was an anti-Dodon Games organization, she knew she had to join to avenge him. But… Shadow couldn't have been a fake the whole time, right?
"What am I doing?" Rouge whispered, head in her hands. "I came here for the prize money. I came here to spend time with my friends. Now…?" The doors opened. She gasped, looking to the left. She was expecting Clutch to initiate her, but instead… "Ah. I wasn't expecting you to show back up anytime soon, 'Guardian Angel of the Battlefield'." Whisper the Wolf stood in the doorway.
"How curious. I could've sworn I saved you once during the war," Whisper said under her breath. "Follow me, Rouge."
"What are you mumbling about? I was perfectly fine when you showed up back then," Rouge huffed.
"You were trapped in a containment pod," Whisper replied, her footsteps echoing through the dark and damp hallway. "I did not have to do anything, my team was after Eggman's treasure in that base so we could use it as ransom against him, anyways."
"Treasure? The only thing Omega was picking up in that base were the… Shadow Androids," Rouge replied. Whisper clenched her jaw. "But I guess you Diamond Cutters use whatever you can get your slimy hands on."
"Shut up," Whisper hissed. Rouge opened her mouth, before the barrel of the wolf's Wispon was shoved between her lips. Rouge froze, before hearing footsteps overhead. "You're a jewel thief, you should know when to lower your voice." Whisper removed the Wispon from Rouge's mouth and kept walking.
…
Trip, or "Raster", was refilling her drink at the soda dispenser, looking at her reflection in the screen. That face… It bothered her so much. There was a reason she had kept her armor on for as long as she did. Amy's reaction to her Eternalist nature only reinforced her reasoning.
She heard Sonic's unmistakably quick footsteps behind her. She wasn't sure whether to turn around and face him or not. With her armor gone, a steely demeanor was the only thing left that could keep people out. She couldn't let anybody know who she really was.
"Trip, you doing okay? You gave me a scare there," Sonic said.
Dang it…!
Trip began to walk away, pretending she didn't see, hear, or care. "Trip dearie… first of all, we're so glad you're still in one piece," Penumbra followed up, seeming as if she had appeared out of thin air. "If you want, we can pick up where we left off and—"
"Peni! It's okay, I'm okay we're—!" Trip gasped, squeezing her Red Burst soda cup and making it splash onto the floor. "I'm really bad at this… Leave me be!" Trip ran off, hitting the wall and sticking to it with her forehead spike. Penumbra wrapped a web around Trip's torso and pulled. Sonic was unsure of how to help. But he didn't think about it for long, as the door to the rec room quickly opened. He glanced over to see Rouge and Whisper. Trip held her head as she was unstuck from the wall.
"Great, just the people you would never want to see in a room together," Sonic muttered under his breath. "Peni, got any valuables on you?"
"No?" Penumbra replied.
"Good. Try not to make eye contact with Rouge over here," Sonic grumbled.
"This is the rec room," Whisper told Rouge. "Most of the members gather here, I'd like to avoid it right now." Whisper moved along, Rouge followed her through the next door. However, as she caught sight of Penumbra in the corner, she shot her a death glare. Penumbra's flat expression broke and was replaced with a smile.
"Why is she here? She's a homicidal maniac," Rouge asked as she kicked the door shut behind her.
"Don't judge her too harshly, she was probably just doing her job," Whisper said, walking along. She readjusted her mask. "Besides, Team Dark was born of necessity, was it not?"
"Like YOUR team wasn't?" Rouge argued.
"I really wish I wasn't supposed to show you around…" Whisper spat. She realized she had just been taking Rouge from room to room, without any explanation.
"Feeling's mutual. Shadow was important to me, how do you think I feel now that he's probably not even going to make it?!" Whisper looked down, and thought about it.
"... I didn't know it was like that," Whisper replied. "Don't worry, his recovery is coming along well. You'll most likely see him again." Whisper looked to the Wisp Blimp, and held her Wispon tighter. "This is the launch bay. You'll probably be needed here soon, so just… be ready." Whisper walked by Rouge. The bat hardly reacted, her eyes wide open.
"Shadow…"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone