x
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Nelson, Lindsey, and Chuck were gathered once again in front of Chris' portal. "There's no doubt about it," said Chuck, pacing the floor. "Chris built this machine to teleport himself to Sonic's world."
"Then let's use it to find him," said Nelson.
"Unfortunately, Chris seemed to have designed the machine so that nobody but him could be teleported," Chuck replied.
"What?" said Nelson, surprised.
"Can't you reprogram it?" asked Lindsey, the two parents understandably worried about their son.
Chuck shook his head, Lindsey crying into her husband's shoulder. "But there is one thing," said Chuck, typing on a computer. "Even though we can't teleport ourselves, it seems we can use the machine to teleport material objects to Sonic's world."
Lindsey and Nelson looked up with hope. "Really?" asked Nelson.
"Yes," Chuck answered.
………………………………………………………………………
On Angel Island, Vanilla was standing alone at the empty Master Emerald altar. "I wonder where Cream and the others are and how they're doing…" she said. "I hope everything's okay."
Suddenly, there was a bright light where the Master Emerald usually rested. When it died down, there were boxes of stuff. A baseball fell off the pile and came to rest in front of Vanilla, who picked it up. "This looks like–" she said, only to be interrupted by a pile of clothes falling on her.
………………………………………………………………………
At Team Chaotix's detective office, Vector the Crocodile was resting on the couch when the phone rang. "Charmy, get the phone," he said, feeling groggy from his disrupted sleep.
Said bee, who was as tired as the crocodile was, flew down from upstairs. He picked up the phone– and promptly dropped it onto Vector's head, waking him up instantly. "Gahh!" he yelled painfully. "That's not what I meant!"
"You'd better answer before they hang up," said Charmy.
"You little…" Vector grumbled as he answered the phone. "I already told you the check's in the mail!"
"Vector, is that you?" asked Vanilla.
Upon hearing her on the other line, Vector instantly dropped his cranky attitude, his cheeks turning red. He'd had a crush on Vanilla for a while because of her kindness and had always wanted to impress her. "Ah! Cream's mother!" he said. "How've you been?"
………………………………………………………………………
"I'm calling because I need your help," said Vanilla.
"My agency's at your service, ma'am!" said Vector eagerly.
"I'd like to explain a job to you in person," replied Vanilla.
………………………………………………………………………
Vector immediately agreed. "Sure! We'll come over right away!" he said.
He hung up the phone, whose cradle was still resting on his sore head. Of course, he totally forgot about that until it came back at him when he hung up. "Ugh!" he grunted.
Charmy laughed, finding this hilarious, which offended Vector. "What are you laughing at?" he said.
At that, Charmy's laughter immediately turned to tears. "Hey, don't cry," said Vector, putting the phone back; it wasn't like he was meant to be harsh or anything.
Charmy instantly stopped crying. "Oh. OK," he said, grinning.
"Now, where's Espio?" asked Vector.
"He's right there," said Charmy, pointing to the corner where said chameleon was meditating.
"Get me the pepper mill!" said Vector.
"Sure, boss," said Charmy.
Now why did Vector need a pepper mill? So that he could grind it over Espio's head to wake him up. The chameleon sneezed, then looked up at a grinning Vector and Charmy, not feeling amused. "Can't you buy an alarm clock?" he said.
………………………………………………………………………
Soon, the Chaotix met up with Vanilla at the Master Emerald's altar. "All of this suddenly… appeared out of nowhere," Vanilla was explaining. "Chris' family must have sent his belongings. He's traveling in space with Cream, and I was hoping you could deliver these things to their ship. And please check on Cream; I've been worried about her."
"Don't worry, ma'am!" said Vector. "We'll take care of it no problem!"
But Espio wasn't too keen on the assignment. "Vector."
"What's the matter?"
"We can't do this job."
"How come?"
"If you think we're cruising the galaxy without a spaceship, you're spaced out."
Espio had a point; they didn't have a spaceship of their own to use. "Where can we get a ship?" asked Vector.
As if someone answered his question, a red spaceship suddenly appeared and landed at the base of the altar. "Looks like that problem's solved," said Charmy.
"I hope you boys have a safe trip," said Vanilla.
What either of them didn't know, however, was that a certain badger came across the ship and decided to sneak on board.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, in the Blue Typhoon, everyone was relaxing and hanging out on the bridge. "It looks so peaceful out here," said Tails.
"No sign of any Metarex," said Chris, the two exchanging a thumbs-up.
Amy was drinking some tea and reading a magazine. Cosmo and Grace, who had just gotten done training with Wallflower, were currently looking out the window with Cream. "It's nice to travel in space when you can take the time to stargaze," said the rabbit.
"They really are beautiful," Cosmo agreed.
Grace was awestruck at the sight. "Wow," she breathed out. "I haven't seen this many stars in my life."
Creecha smiled, looking up from where she was leaning against the wall, Bible in hand. "And trust me, there's a lot more of those everywhere in the galaxy," she said.
Nearby, Sonic and Knuckles were playing some chess. Knuckles was struggling to make a move; chess was a lot harder to play than checkers. "Why don't you make your move king?" said Sonic, still not getting a response. "Well, call me when you make your move. I'm gonna go for a run."
With that, he ran around the outside of the Typhoon. Sometime during that point, Knuckles finally made a decision– he moved his black knight. "That's check– wha?!" he exclaimed.
Sonic wasn't there. "Where'd Sonic go?" he said.
Seeing the hedgehog run by the window, Knuckles picked up the chess game and carried it outside. Sonic didn't see him. "Hey! Sonic!" Knuckles called. "It's your move!... You're not giving up, are ya?"
Sonic finally saw and skidded to a halt, but since there wasn't any friction in space, he ended up floating out into space. "Sonic!" Knuckles called.
Sonic panicked as he floated further and further away gettin the Typhoon. "That's just great!" Knuckles grumbled. "Sonic can't get back, so somebody has to go after him!"
"Say what?" Amy exclaimed when she heard what happened. "Sonic can't get back to the ship?"
Knuckles nodded. "And he's getting farther away from us every second!" he added.
Amy freaked out. "We have to go rescue him now!" she cried.
"I know," said Knuckles, "but how will we get to him? Think of something fast before he's out of reach!"
Amy quickly thought of something. "I got an idea," she said, "but first, we need to find a rope."
They took off running.
………………………………………………………………………
Soon, Knuckles was back outside with some rope and a pair of rocket thrusters strapped to his back. "Hang in there, Sonic," he said. "I'm comin'."
Using the thrusters, he flew off in the direction Sonic went in. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about floating away; the rope was tethered securely to the ship.
………………………………………………………………………
When Amy returned to the ship's bridge, a twinkle could be seen. "What's the matter?" she asked.
"We're being followed!" Cream answered.
"That ship will catch up to us soon," added Cosmo.
Sure enough, they could see a spaceship in front of them. The holo-map projected the distance between the ship and the Typhoon. Notably, the other ship was carrying the Chaotix's office on top of it. "Who are they?" asked Amy.
"We can't be sure yet," said Chris.
"But they're probably Metarex!" Tails concluded.
Creecha was the only one who disagreed. "I don't know," she said. "I don't recall a Metarex ship being red with a building on top."
Chris scanned the ship. "Our sensors aren't picking up any weapons on the ship," he said.
"Do you know where Sonic and Knuckles are?" asked Cream.
"Sonic slipped off the ship," Amy answered, "so Knuckles had to go take a rocket back and go rescue him."
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Rainbow, looking up in surprise.
Tails and Chris were also surprised. "But we could've gone after him in the Blue Typhoon!" said Tails.
"Right now, we have to worry about getting the ship battle-ready," Chris replied. "That other ship is definitely trying to intercept us."
Cream, Grace, and Cosmo looked back at the ship in front of them. "What if they board our ship?" asked Cosmo.
"We'll be ready!" Tails reassured her.
………………………………………………………………………
Unaware of what was happening, the Chaotix approached their destination, Espio and Vector piloting the ship. "I wish we knew how to use the ship's communicator," said Vector. "I guess we'll just have to surprise 'em."
Charmy, meanwhile, was eating a bag of snacks. "Want a chip?" he asked.
"Stay out of those boxes!" Espio scolded.
"Espio's right," Vector agreed. "We was hired to deliver that stuff, not devour it!" Sometimes, Vector spoke a little funny, but that's just the way he was.
………………………………………………………………………
Team Chaotix's ship soon docked itself with the Blue Typhoon. "I'm gonna go let 'em know we're here," said Vector as he left.
Having been hiding behind Chris' care package at the time, the badger silently snuck out and kept herself hidden by climbing into the air ducts.
………………………………………………………………………
Soon, Vector entered one of the corridors. "Which way's the bridge?" he asked himself.
Then, he saw a sign with an arrow pointing through a door. "Must be that way," he said.
Unknown to him, Chris, Cream, Cheese, Tails, Cosmo, and Amy were setting up an ambush on the other side of the door. They were holding a Piko Piko hammer and a few different household appliances. Tom and Jerry had joined them mostly because they thought it'd be like their TV show days. "Alright," said Chris. "Everybody get ready."
Everyone nodded. Chris pressed a button that turned off the light in the room they were in. Vector approached the door and banged on it. "Hello!" he called. "Anybody there?"
The door opened to reveal a pitch-black room. "I've come to–" Vector began saying.
But he ended up getting interrupted by Chris dragging him into the room and getting comically beat up by the gang.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, back at the ship, Charmy was drinking from a canteen while he and Espio were waiting for Vector to report. What they got, however, was an injured crocodile with bandages and a black eye falling into the room. "I haven't been this beat up since the time we staked out that shark tank!" he said as Charmy and Espio approached him.
"Really?" said Espio.
"You mean those guys attacked ya?" asked Charmy.
"I think it would be better if I handled this," said Espio.
With that, he focused on becoming invisible. Blending in with their environment was a special advantage that every chameleon had.
………………………………………………………………………
Back on the Typhoon, Amy was on a small ladder, repainting the wall. "What a mess," she said. "It's lucky that Metarex didn't get past us, or it could have wrecked the whole ship."
Just then, the door opened and an invisible Espio entered. Amy didn't see anything– until she actually got paint on something else other than the wall. Confused, Amy glanced behind her and, seeing a blob of gray paint seemingly floating in the air, painted it a little more to see what the heck it was. And though Espio was glaring at her, he also wasn't expecting it. "Uh oh," he said.
Amy screamed, causing Chris and the others to come running in from downstairs. "Amy?" asked Tails.
"What's going on?" asked Chris.
Having broken into a cold sweat, Amy couldn't answer. All she could do was point towards a fleeing Espio. "L-L-Look!" she managed to say.
"It's an invisible Metarex!" said Tails.
"Let's get it!" said Chris.
And so the gang tackled and attacked Espio in another comical beatdown.
………………………………………………………………………
Still invisible and not only still covered in paint, but also covered in injuries, Espio showed up hurt in front of Vector and Charmy. He was also covered in bandages. "I am in pain," he said.
"Looks like you're covered in paint too," Vector observed, noticing the gray paint blob on him.
"I can't believe I was discovered so easily!" said Espio, sitting on the floor. "I'm so humiliated I wish I could just disappear."
"Maybe they'll listen to me, Vector," said Charmy.
"You sure?" asked Vector.
Charmy nodded. "I won't let you down!" he promised.
"Just be sure to protect yourself, Charmy," Vector warned. "It's dangerous in there!"
"I know!" said Charmy, putting on a helmet.
………………………………………………………………………
At the bridge, the gang was hanging around until Grace sat up, confused. Her nose caught the smell of something, but she didn't know what it was. "Hey Mom," she said, "are you smelling something?"
Creecha glanced at her. "Not really?" she said. "Why'd you ask?"
"Because I don't know why, but I'm smelling something… *sniff, sniff, sniff*... cakey," Grace replied, sniffing a few more times. "And also something a little fruity."
Creecha sniffed at the air herself. "Huh," she remarked. "Now that you mention it…"
Grace's thoughts about it ended up being answered when Cream, Cheese, and Cosmo wheeled a cart of sweets and tea onto the bridge. "Snack time, everybody!" said Cream.
"We've got tea and cake," Cosmo added.
"Wow, perfect timing!" said Chris. "I was just starting to get hungry."
"Well, that explains the smell," said Grace as she and Creecha were both handed a cake slice each. "To be honest, I was wondering what I was smelling earlier."
"This looks delicious!" said Tails as Chris tried to reach down for a cake slice Cream had for him. "What kind of cake is it?"
"I call it Cream Strawberry Cream Cake," said Cream proudly. "I made it myself."
Creecha had a taste– and her eyes widened. "Wow," she said. "I love it. Especially with those strawberries inside. This is amazing. Thanks, Cream."
Confused, Grace picked at her cake slice until she had a strawberry in her fingers. "That explains the fruitiness," she said, eating it anyway.
"I vote that we make Cream the chef of the ship," said Amy.
"She can make cake for every meal," said Cosmo.
Everyone laughed. "I just hope we don't eat too much of it," said Creecha. "Wouldn't want us all to get stomachaches."
"Happened to you once?" asked Grace.
"Yup," Creecha nodded. "But that was years ago."
"Did someone say cake?" said a voice.
There stood Charmy, wearing ridiculous makeshift armor made of various appliances and carrying a welding mask as a shield. "It's a Metarex!" Chris exclaimed.
"Let's get it!" said Tails.
"Yeah!" said Chris and the girls.
"Chaaarge!" Amy exclaimed.
Quickly recognizing who it really was, Creecha tried to stop them, but Charmy also suffered a comical beatdown. By the time he was finally able to escape, he was also covered in bandages, not to mention he was also crying.
Creecha face-palmed herself, sighing irritably. If this was the kind of nonsense she kept hearing about from the team, then it was gonna be a while until they found out who those "intruders" really were.
………………………………………………………………………
Soon, all three of Team Chaotix were bandaged up. And they weren't too happy at what had occurred. "It's totally unfair!" Charmy exclaimed. "We came in peace, and got torn to pieces!"
"Yeah!" Vector agreed. "We flew across the galaxy to help these guys. I didn't expect a party, but they didn't have to treat us like piñatas!"
"They are most ungrateful," said Espio, "but I will not step quietly through the door of defeat."
"I say we head for home, pronto," said Charmy.
Vector disagreed. "We ain't gonna give up yet, Charmy!" he said. "The reputation of our agency is at stake, and we are gonna do the job we was hired to do! We're gonna board this ship again, and this time we'll succeed because I'm totally fired up!"
As he said this, a fiery aura briefly appeared around him. "And, while I'm gettin' warmed up," he continued, "let's go cool off and think of a strategy. I mean, there's no rush or anything, right?"
He headed back for the ship's controls. "Come on; let's take a coffee break!" he called.
Espio and Charmy sweat-dropped. What the heck had Vector got planned this time?
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, Chris was finally able to enjoy his cake in peace when he noticed something. Tails's ears perked up. "Huh?" he said, setting down his tea mug. "Chris, do you see somethin'?"
"Looks like the Metarex are takin' off," Chris replied.
Sure enough, Team Chaotix's ship had undocked and was now leaving. "They're escaping?" said Tails. "Don't worry; I'll go stop 'em in the X-Tornado!"
"You're really gonna go after them all by yourself?" asked Chris, full of disbelief.
"Relax," said Amy, not even bothering to look up from her magazine. "You said yourself that the ship doesn't have any weapons on it."
"That's right!" said Tails.
Chris had to agree. "I guess if they're retreating, they can't be very tough," he said.
………………………………………………………………………
On the Chaotix's ship, Vector sneezed. "Huh?" said Charmy, taking notice.
"You know," said Vector, rubbing his nose, "my snout's strartin' to feel stuffed up. I wonder if I'm gettin' a cold."
Espio shrugged. "Maybe you're just allergic to space," he suggested as the spaceship flew away.
………………………………………………………………………
The X-Tornado was soon prepared to launch. Tails descended from the shoot and landed in the seat of his plane. "All systems ready!" he said. "Now let's go!"
As in times past, the X-Tornado was moved up the runway, the catapult was set up around the front wheel, and a flap extended behind the plane. "Catapult is set!" said Tails. "Take off!"
The catapult slung the X-Tornado into a speedy takeoff, and Tails turned around and pursued Team Chaotix's spaceship. Only then did he notice the Chaotix's office on top of the ship. "Hang on a minute," he said. "That rickety little house looks familiar. It couldn't be…"
Now knowing who it really was, Tails flew upside-down and looked in the attic window, seeing Vector. "Hey, it's okay, you guys!" he called. "We didn't know it was you!"
………………………………………………………………………
"Looks like he wants to negotiate," said Vector. "Should we talk?"
"It's probably some sort of ruse," said Espio.
"Espio's right," Charmy agreed. "I bet they're tryin' to trick us."
"Nobody tricks me!" said Vector. "Hold on to your seats, boys; we're gonna shake this turkey! Here we go!"
………………………………………………………………………
With that, Team Chaotix's ship flew away at maximum speed. "They're too fast," said Tails in realization. "I'll never be able to catch 'em in the X-Tornado."
He contacted Chris via radio transmission. "I saw everything," said Chris. "Looks like that spaceship is gonna be harder to stop than you've thought.
"Yeah," Tails agreed, "you'll have to catch 'em in the Blue Typhoon after all."
"Will do," said Chris.
………………………………………………………………………
"Once you catch up to 'em," Tails instructed, "try grabbing onto the hull of their ship with the mechanical claw."
Chris was excited upon hearing this. "I've been wanting to use that…" he said. "Hold on, everybody! We're gonna pull a quick 180!"
The Typhoon turned around in a quick 180° turn. "Let's catch those Metarex!" said Chris.
"Uh, correction, Chris: That isn't a Metarex ship after all," Tails corrected, sounding a little embarrassed from his recent discovery.
Chris was confused upon hearing this. "Then who are they?" he asked.
Creecha face-palmed while giving him a look that said, "I told you so."
………………………………………………………………………
"What is it, Charmy?" Vector asked the bee, who was looking at a monitor.
"It looks like they're tryin' to chase us down," answered Charmy.
"No way!" Vector exclaimed.
But Charmy's radar showed a blip approaching from behind them. "See?" said the bee.
"Well, uh…" said Vector, now a little nervous, "I'll bust this space bucket tryin' to escape if I have to!"
He put all power to the engines, Espio quickly realizing that it was a bad idea. "Vector, no!" he exclaimed.
But it was too late. However, it only complicated things because since there was too much power put into the engines, the ship ended up flying around erratically. "Slow down, Vector!" Espio exclaimed, not liking this at all.
Charmy, on the other hand, was enjoying the turbulence. "No! Speed it up!" he said.
Suddenly, the turbulence wasn't there anymore. "We stopped," Espio realized.
"Wasn't me," said Vector.
"So then… How'd we stop?" asked Charmy.
………………………………………………………………………
The Blue Typhoon was drawing the Chaotix's ship into itself by using an arm.
………………………………………………………………………
"I've completed the capture, Tails," said Chris. "I'm bringin' the ship in."
The X-Tornado flew back to the Typhoon, the Chaotix waiting for their supposed "doom". "It's Vector, Espio, and Charmy," said Tails. "Their radio must be broken or something."
"You mean it wasn't a Metarex?" asked Amy.
Chris shook his head, causing Amy to sweat-drop. They all made a big mistake. Creecha had been right: they weren't Metarex after all.
………………………………………………………………………
Speaking of which, said girl had decided to go take a walk in the hallways to cool herself down. She knew it wouldn't be wise to yell at everyone, including her daughter; they'll figure out their mistake eventually. As she strolled down the long corridors of the ship, something above her moved. Creecha froze, looking around her. She didn't recall being followed or anything. Uncertain, she had just begun to move on when she heard it again. It sounded like some sort of shuffle from above her. Looking up, she realized that it was coming from somewhere in the air vents.
She was about to go up and have a look when an air vent cover fell from the ceiling and almost landed on her. Startled, Creecha quickly stepped back a foot, the cover landing about a centimeter from her feet. Still recovering from the shock, Creecha forgot to see who was in the air vents– until something landed on her back. "OW!!!" she exclaimed.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, everyone else was now down at the hangar with the Chaotix. "We're sorry, you guys," Chris apologized.
"Sorry," the kids agreed.
"Well," said Vector, "at least it's all settled now."
"We forgive you," said Charmy.
"It was just a big misunderstanding," Espio added. "Let bygones be bygones."
The others breathed in a sigh of relief. "Thanks guys," said Grace.
Just then, Creecha entered. "Glad you guys figured it all out," she said. "I was wondering when that was… ow… gonna happen."
Grace chuckled. "Yeah, you're definitely right on this one, Mom," she said. "They're definitely not– What the heck happened to you?"
Upon turning around, she was confused at her mother's state. She was kind of bent over and she was holding her back, a little bit of a pained expression on her face. The others quickly took notice. "Are you okay?" asked Amy.
"How'd you end up like that?" asked Tails.
Creecha just gave them a look and turned a little. "Ask her," she simply said, pointing to an orange and brown badger behind her.
Amy and Tails's eyes both widened as they saw who it was. "Sticks!" they exclaimed, rushing up to her.
Sticks smiled as the three hugged, Cream joining in not too long after. "How'd you end up in here?" asked Tails. "I thought you'd be back home."
"I stowed away on their ship," Sticks answered, gesturing to the Chaotix's ship. "I saw this big, red ship next to the Master Emerald's altar, and I figured that since I didn't know where the heck y'all were, I was gonna stow away here and find ya. The first time they docked, I snuck onboard here and hid in the air vents for sometime. I wasn't even spotted until I accidentally dropped an air vent cover onto the floor and shortly afterwards landed on her back on accident."
She turned to Creecha. "Sorry 'bout that, by the way," she said.
"It's alright, Sticks," said Creecha. "But next time, how about you wait until the coast is clear so that you can fall out the vent without injuring someone, okay?"
"Gotcha," said Sticks, chuckling sheepishly.
"Now that that's settled," said Vector, "why don't you guys help unload the stuff Chris' family sent for him?"
Curious, Grace peeked in. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. "That's gotta be the biggest care package I've ever seen!"
"You guys go do that," said Creecha. "I'm gonna go to the medbay and see if Matt's in there helping Starlight with something; see if he could help get my back better." With that, she headed to the medbay.
Everyone else unloaded box after box in a sort of relay line, with Espio and Vector carrying numerous packages while Charmy pushed some on a cart. As Chris picked up the last of the boxes, he looked at the spaceship. "They sure went through a lot of trouble," he said.
………………………………………………………………………
Eventually, Vector finally set down the last box. "I think that's everything," he said.
"Thanks, Vector," said Chris. "I'll do the unpacking and everything else myself."
"Great," said Vector as he left.
Chris looked up at the boxes. Grandpa must have found a way to teleport these things from home, he thought to himself. They don't even know if I made it here okay. I wish I could find a way to tell 'em I'm alright.
Among the stuff piled up, there was a photo of a younger Chris with his parents.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, Team Chaotix were walking down the hall together. "Alright guys," said Vector, "let's go home."
"Hey!" someone called.
Team Chaotix turned to see Amy and Cream running towards them. "Wait up, you guys!" said Amy. "Don't leave yet! Come have some tea!"
"We've got cake, too!" Cream added.
Charmy was excited. "Alright! Cake!" he exclaimed.
Espio tried to politely decline. "What Charmy means to say is we must be leaving," he said.
"Hang on, Espio," said Vector. "These folks are offerin' us their hospitality. We don't wanna be rude, do we?"
Espio sweat-dropped; he was outnumbered.
………………………………………………………………………
Soon, Team Chaotix were having tea and cake with Cream, Grace, and Cosmo. Sticks had just entered and was chatting with Grace about various topics. "Vector, would you like thirds?" asked Cream.
"You bet!" said Vector happily.
Cream served Vector some more cake. "By the way, Cream…" said the crocodile.
"Yes, Vector?" asked Cream.
"Creamy," said Vector, "I hope you'll forgive me if I sound just like a nosey old croc, but are you sure you should be playing around in space?"
Cream was offended at this. "I'm not playing around!" she objected. "I'm helping to save the universe!"
"I don't think Cream realizes what's at stake here, Vector," said Cosmo. "We're on a mission to stop the Metarex. It's serious business."
That got Sticks' attention. "The who, now?" she asked.
Grace chuckled, knowing that Sticks would have to hear about this at some point. "Come on, Sticks," she said, standing up. "Figured you'd hear about this eventually." With that, the two left the room.
"Maybe it is," Vector acknowledged, "but I think Cream's mother wants Cream to come home!"
"And why is that?" asked Cream.
Vector shrugged. "Who knows?" he suggested. "You may need to get married and have your own kids someday. Something like that."
Cream was cross. "My mother doesn't want that," she said. "She trusts me 'cause she knows I'm here to help my friends! Come on, Cosmo!" With that, she left, Cosmo following her.
Espio was confused. "Why did you say that, Vector?" he asked. "Cream's mother didn't tell us to bring the girl home. She told us to check on her."
"Yeah, that's what she told us," said Vector, "but she was tryin' to be strong. She was really thinkin', "I'm so worried about my little baby! You gotta save her, Vector! She's too young to be out there all alone"!"
"Hold on!" said Espio crossley. "Cream's mother never said that!"
"She thought it, and I'm a detective," replied Vector. "So I detected it!"
All that was playing in his head was what he thought Vanilla wanted him to do: "Oh, Vector. Please bring Cream back home to me. I can't bear to think of the dangers she may be going through in space as her mother."
"Her mother!"
"Please understand how I feel. I know you'll do it, Vector. Please bring my baby back home to me."
"Of course I understand you!"
An angry Espio had to bang on the table to get Vector back to reality. "You don't understand anything, do you?" he said. It was clear that the delusional crocodile wasn't paying attention.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another episode of Delusional Thinking with Vector!" Charmy teased.
"We're takin' Cream with us!" Vector decided.
"But Vector–" Espio tried to say.
"No buts about it!" Vector interrupted. "I made a solemn promise to Cream's mom, and I ain't goin' back on my word!"
"You never made any promise," Espio objected.
"I made a promise," said Vector, standing on the table. "You just didn't hear it! Cause I made it from the bottom of my heart!"
Espio face-palmed and covered his head in annoyance. This is hopeless, he thought. I can't argue with someone who refuses to see sense.
Vector pulled out a bag. "I'm tossin' Cream into this bag and then we're gone!" he said.
Charmy, meanwhile, was still dancing around and teasing him: "Just look at him go, ladies and gentlemen! He's out of control! There's no stoppin' him!"
………………………………………………………………………
On the bridge, Chris was typing a few buttons on his keypad. "It doesn't look like we're gonna find any Chaos Emeralds around here," he said.
"I agree," said Tails as he pulled up a gravitational field reading. "Since there aren't many planets around here, the Emeralds wouldn't be drawn this way."
During this time, none of them noticed Team Chaotix sneaking onto the bridge. "Why's that, Tails?" Amy was asking.
"Because Chaos Emeralds are attracted by the gravitational fields around the planets," Tails explained.
Vector snuck up behind Cream, who noticed and smiled, unaware of what he was really doing. "I see," he said, pretending to pay attention.
"We'd better search someplace else," Chris decided.
At that, Vector plopped the bag over Cream and Cheese, then waved to the others. "Time for us to skedaddle, folks," he said. "Heheh!"
"You sure you don't want to travel with us a little?" asked Chris.
"We can use all the help we can get battling the Metarex," Amy agreed.
"We will fight with you in spirit," said Espio.
"That won't do us much good," said Amy.
"Oh, that reminds me," said Creecha. "We just got a new crewmate."
"Really?" asked Chris.
"Yep," Creecha nodded. "Grace must've told Sticks what was going on because she offered to help us out."
"But I thought she wasn't a big technology fan," said Tails. "You know how old-fashioned she can get."
"That may be," said Sticks, "but when push comes to shove, I would no doubt get over that to help out others."
Amy smiled. "In this case, welcome to the crew, Sticks," she said, causing the badger to smile.
"Keep up the good work!" said Vector. "The galaxy appreciates your heroic efforts!"
"Catch you later!" said Charmy.
With that, they left in their ship– with Cream and Cheese. "Well," said Chris, "that was fun."
"Hey," said Amy, "where did Cream and Cheese go?"
Tails looked around at this. "Cosmo and Grace were here too, weren't they?" he asked.
"They were here until Vector and his gang showed up to say goodbye," said Chris.
Realizing what had taken place, Creecha was very cross. "They've all been kidnapped!" she exclaimed, standing up and slamming her hands down on the counsel.
………………………………………………………………………
In the Chaotix's spaceship, Vector plucked Cream from the bag and set her down on the floor. The little rabbit was not too happy about her predicament. "What do you think you're doing?" she asked.
"Chao, chao!" Cheese added, floating from the bag.
"You're going back to your mama," answered Vector.
"And we are too?" asked Cosmo as she and Grace both rose from the bag.
Vector was surprised to see them. "How'd you both get in here?" he asked.
Grace smirked. "We both knew you were up to something fishy," she said. "So when you got Cream and Cheese into that bag, we tagged along by rolling in there gymnastics style so that we could infiltrate the ship and get them both out of here. Pretty clever, huh?" She felt very proud of her plan.
"And besides," Cosmo added, "you didn't think we were going to let you take Cream and Cheese, did you? Well, we're not going to!"
Grace instantly went to Cream and Cheese. "Are you both okay?" she asked.
"We're okay," said Cream. "We're not hurt or anything."
"Chao," Cheese agreed.
" *Phew*," Grace sighed, wiping her forehead. "That's a relief."
"This don't have nothing to do with you and your friend, Missy!" said Vector as he tried to grab Cosmo.
Luckily, Cosmo was quick enough to jump behind him. "No stowaways allowed on this ship!" said Vector as he tried to pounce on her again.
But he ended up missing again. "You are taking me and Grace back," she said, "and taking Cream and Cheese too."
Angered, Vector repeatedly tried to grab at Cosmo, but thanks to her training with Wallflower, the Seedrian was too fast for him. "Woohoo!" Grace cheered, clapping her hands. "You go, girl!"
"Alright!" Cream also cheered. "Give it to him, Cosmo!"
"Chao chao!" Cheese chirped.
Encouraged by the cheers, Cosmo floated down next to where Charmy was. "I'm here, Vector!" she taunted, waving at him.
Charmy had seen everything. "I wanna play too!" he said.
At that point, Vector missed again, causing Charmy to change his mind as he realized how agile Cosmo was. "Maybe not," he said.
"Well, don't just–" Vector started to say in irritation.
But then, Charmy saw something on the radar. "What is it?" asked Vector.
"We've got company!" said Charmy.
Sure enough, the Typhoon was there, using its claws to attempt to grab the Chaotix's ship. "I'll handle it this time," said Espio.
Aside from his invisibility, Espio also had explosive shurikens that, when hitting their intended target, would explode in a couple seconds. Not wanting to fail like last time, Espio leapt outside the ship and threw two shurikens at each of the two claws. "1… 2… 3…" he counted.
The shurikens exploded, damaging the claws. Luckily, they weren't completely destroyed. "That kind of worked," Espio remarked.
………………………………………………………………………
"They just broke the ship's claw," Chris reported.
"At least the claws weren't destroyed," Sunset remarked.
"Well, there's gotta be some way to catch them!" said Amy. "We can't let 'em get away with Cosmo, Cream, Cheese, and Grace!"
Tails had an idea. "Let me try to get the backup claw working," he said.
………………………………………………………………………
While all this was going on, Knuckles was still flying after Sonic. It took a long while, but he finally reached him. "I thought I was gonna run out of rope," he said, offering the speedster a spare jet-pack.
"Thanks a bunch, Knuckles," said Sonic, grateful as he strapped on the jet-pack. "Gotta fly! I'll see ya back at the ship!"
With that, he flew away. "Uh… Sonic!" Knuckles called as he was left behind.
Just then, a portal appeared from beside him. Trixie emerged from it. "Come on, Knux," she said. "Let's get back to the ship."
She took his hand and they both entered the portal.
………………………………………………………………………
"So can you get it to work?" asked Amy.
"I think," Tails answered, "but it'll take a little ingenuity on Chris' part."
Chris grinned. "No problem!" he said.
Just then, there was a tap on the glass. When Chris and Tails saw who it was, they couldn't have been happier. "Sonic!" they exclaimed.
And sure enough, there was Sonic, giving off his signature thumbs-up. Tails jumped from the captain's chair and raced over to him. "Sonic! Thank goodness you're okay!" he said, hand on the glass.
Sonic smiled as he placed his own hand over where Tails's hand was. "You had us worried," said Chris.
Tom glanced up. "Hey, hey. Look who's back," he said.
"Sorry about that, guys," said Sonic. "I forgot that there wasn't any friction out in space."
"It doesn't matter now Sonic," said Tails, his forehead now on the glass. "Oh, I'm just so happy you're here."
Even though the contact wasn't physical, Sonic couldn't help but place his own forehead on where Tails's forehead was. They were both just happy to see each other again. Chris smiled at the scene as Amy approached them. "Sorry if I'm interrupting something," she said, "but think you can catch a ship while you're out there?"
That got Sonic's attention. Tom's too. "What's going on?" the gray cat asked.
"Vector took Cosmo, Cream, Cheese, and Grace!" Amy answered.
Sonic's expression showed determination. "Tails, you and Tom are comin' with me," he said.
"But what about the ship?" asked Tails.
"Don't worry Tails," said Sunset. "I can take over as a substitute until you get back."
Tails smiled and thanked her before racing off. "I just need to get Creecha," said Tom as he also raced off. No one kidnaps his daughter and gets away with it.
………………………………………………………………………
"Come on!" said Vector meanwhile. "Gimme more speed!"
Espio and Charmy were outside, repairing the detective's office after it'd been accidentally damaged thanks to the chameleon's shurikens. Sonic located their ship and, to Espio and Charmy's surprise, broke through the house window. "You made it!" exclaimed Cream and Cosmo.
Grace could only smile. "End of the line for you," said Sonic as Tails flew in after him. "I don't know what this is about, but Cream and the others are comin' with me!"
"I don't want to fight you, Sonic," said Vector as Espio and Charmy entered the room from above, "but I said I was gonna bring little Cream home to her mama, and no one's gonna stop me!"
"That's a lie!" Cream objected. "Mother would never ask you to do that!"
Vector glanced over at the bee. "Well, Charmy?" he asked.
All Charmy could do was turn away to the side and nervously whistle a tune as if he were innocent. He wasn't. "Trust me, Sonic," said Vector. "According to my instincts, Cream's mother, without saying a word, would want me to bring her back home. I know what I'm doing."
"You're crazy!" Sonic replied. "You don't know what you're doing! Now let her go, or you'll be sorry!"
"Oh yeah?" Vector challenged. "It's lucky for us you're so blue, 'cause nobody's gonna notice your bruises when I'm done whooping ya! Now put up your dukes!"
"Uh oh," Tails mumbled, shrinking a bit.
Vector launched a punch at Sonic, who dodged it. "Is this what you meant to do?" said the hedgehog, stomping Vector across the room. "There's plenty more where that came from!"
Espio and Charmy surrounded the duo. Luckily, Tom chose that moment to leap through the hole in the window and land in front of Tails. Giving him a reassuring look, he turned back and glared at his daughter's kidnappers, almost looking ready to fight himself. Said girl, meanwhile, while glad to see her dad, was nevertheless nervous at the outcome. This is bad, she thought. If this isn't stopped soon, something messy will no doubt come out of it.
Luckily, Cosmo was able to stop the fight with just a couple questions: "Will you please stop fighting? Don't you understand? Only one of us gets to decide what Cream should do."
Cosmo's wise words resonated in them as silence filled the room, knowing that she was right. "Or rather, we let Cream herself decide what she should do," said a voice.
All eyes turned as Creecha entered, white wings and dress glittering and giving off a nice contrast to outer space. "Because Cosmo's right," she said as she landed. "We can't force what we want her to do onto her. That would mean we're not allowing her to make her own choices. In the end, the choice to either go home or help us: it's all up to her to make that decision."
Vector was confused. "But... But Cream's mother told me to bring Cream home," he tried to say.
Tom rolled his eyes. "Yeah right," he said. "You didn't really listen to Vanilla. Plus, you were just trying to impress her."
"Both Cosmo and Creecha are right," said someone else.
And there was Chris, entering the ship with a spacesuit on. "Cream's mom may worry about her and want her to come home, and we may want her to keep traveling with us. But we don't get to choose what Cream does. Only Cream can decide that."
Chris and the girls were right. "Sorry, kid," said Vector, finally realizing his mistake, "but you know how parents are."
Chris smiled in understanding. "Believe me, Vector," he said. "I do. But still… My family misses me too, but they trust me. Real families stick through thick and thin together, despite how far they are."
Creecha smiled. "Trust me, Vector," she said. "Take from a parent who knows how it feels."
She then looked at Chris. "Wise words," she said. "You've definitely grown a lot, kid."
Chris smiled. "So," said Sonic, "what's it gonna be, Cream?"
Cream didn't hesitate to say her answer: "I want to stay here and help because it's important to me. I'm sure my mom's worried, but I also think she trusts me to do the right thing."
Creecha's smile was glowing as she picked up the little rabbit and hugged her, Cream returning it. Vector knew that she already made her decision; there was no changing her mind. "... Espio, Charmy, were outta here," he said. "... Our mission has been accomplished, guys."
"Huh?" said Charmy, confused. "Weren't we supposed to take Cream?"
"We were sent here to make sure Cream was okay," Vector answered, "and that's what we've done."
The group smiled. "Mom! Dad!" Grace exclaimed as she hugged her parents.
The two laughed happily as they hugged their daughter back, glad she was safe. Sonic smiled at the scene before turning to Tails and picking him up, hugging him close. Tails didn't hesitate to hug back, his tails wrapping around him like a second set of arms. "Let's go guys," said Chris as he approached the ladder. "Everyone's waiting."
They all followed him up the ladder back to the Typhoon, Tom quickly thwaping Vector on the head. "Ow!" exclaimed the crocodile. "Hey! What was that for?"
"That was for kidnapping my daughter, even if you didn't realize it," Tom replied good-naturedly as he turned to catch up with the others.
Charmy chuckled while Sonic was carrying a cuddling Tails in his arms. Meanwhile, Creecha was busy catching him up on what happened previously while occasionally smiling at the cute fox he was cuddling with. She figured that Amy was probably doing the same for Knuckles. "Glad your back's not hurting anymore, Mom," said Grace.
Creecha smiled as she turned to her. "Thanks sweetie," she said. "Your Uncle Matt was a great help."
Cosmo followed them up as well, she and Grace sharing a smile at each other. That risk they took was worth it. "Hey, Cream!" said Vector.
"Yeah?" asked Cream.
"Be sure to drop your mother a line from time to time," Vector advised.
Cream smiled. "I will!" she promised.
Charmy took a picture, beaming happily.
………………………………………………………………………
Back on Mobius, Vanilla heard her FAX machine activating. "What could that be?" she wondered.
When she saw that it was a photo that Charmy took, she smiled. "I miss you, Cream," she said, "but I know you're doing something important."
Cream was right; her mother did trust her to do the right thing.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, the Crimson Egg was also in the same area of space where Tails and the others had been previously. They hadn't had any luck either. "No Chaos Emeralds in this area," said Cubot.
………………………………………………………………………
Meanwhile, having infiltrated the ship for a Chaos Emerald, Rouge would instead find something else after entering a room. "Why's that capsule here?" she asked, curious.
Upon getting a closer look, she was shocked at who was inside. "No… it couldn't be…" she said, speechless.
The machine she was looking at was akin to Project Shadow. And there, laying inside it, was a familiar black and red hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
