Chapter Text
“...Akira Amamiya. You stand here today under charges of crimes against the Republic of Acorn.”
Inside a court room, there sat Sally Acorn in the court judge seat as she peered down at Gadget the Wolf who stood like a convicted man with Antoine at his side and acting as his defender. Behind them lies a nondescript seated crowd in attendance.
Over to the right of the room, there stood a row of jurors; all of whom are fellow Freedom Fighters. Sonic, Bunnie, Rotor, Johnny, Manic and Perci seated in the jury row with similar looks of disgust casted towards the red wolf.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Sally boomed as she looked down on him from above. Nicole standing at her side.
“Not guilty!” Gadget responded. “I'm an innocent, little flower that's a victim of injustice!”
“You speak of justice like you actually believe in it yet you subject poor Big and Silver to fates worse than death!”
“Those guys deserved it!”
The crowd behind Gadget gasps as did the jury. Bunnie fans herself in shock with Sonic reassuring her.
“It's clear to me that you have no regard for your fellow man other than your own preservation…” Sally shook her head. “As well as that, you have no sense of honor. You would happily betray us to our enemies for a fistful of mobiums and would use a Chao like a football for entertainment. Your cruelty knows no bounds.”
“There's also the fact that this treacherous devil is a two-timin’ womaniser!” Bunnie shot up from her seat, pointing an accusing finger at the bespectacled wolf. “He promised me that we would always have Soleanna… And yet the very next day, I catch him showin’ Perci what else those Enerbeams of hers’ can be used for!”
“There is nay a female heart that he wouldn't seduce and mess with for his own sick, twisted pleasure!” Said Perci as the beautiful lavender bandicoot dramatically shakes her head. “I really thought that I was the one for you!”
“That's what you think kiddo.” Gadget replied indifferently. “For me, it was simply a Tuesday.”
Perci couldn't believe what her ears were hearing. “Ugh, do you have no sense of love or decency in your cheating heart!?”
“I have love for wealth and I do have decency in me…” The wolf tutted with the rolling of his eyes. “The decency to listen to this stupid rabble!”
“Order! Order!” Sally slams her gavel to hush the room after it erupted into a sea of boos and hisses. “It is very clear to me, Mister Amamiya, that you are an unfaithful, amoral psychopath with no loyalty to anyone other than yourself.”
“You're just biased against me because I broke your heart once Ms. Acorn!” Gadget retorted with a smirk. “I gotta say, your hair's lookin–”
“Spare me the hollow pleasantries. I was once a young and naïve girl when you had me swooning over you like what you had done to my mother but I know better now. Know what a two-timing cheat you truly are.”
“What can I say honey? I'm just so dang fine that I can make the Master Emerald blush with a love sonnet.”
“Well, bad news for you; this will be the last sonnet you'll ever make.” Sally smirked deviously. “I would be lying if I say that this trial doesn't give me some level of satisfaction. The jury stands; what are your verdicts?”
“Guilty!” All of the jurors said in unison.
“Akira Amamiya. With your crimes against both the Kingdom of Acorn and to your fellow man, I hereby sentence you to…” Sally declares boldly as she slams her gavel on her stand. “Death!”
“Off with his head!”
“Hang him!”
“Feed him to the sharks!”
“Put him in a bodybag!”
The crowd behind Gadget chanted as did the jurors. All wanting to see him get his punishment while Antoine backs away from his condemned defendant.
“I have decided your method of execution befitting the type of man you are.” The red-headed princess tells him. “Nicole, call in the executioner.”
“As you command.”
A second later, a being emerges from seemingly the heavens as a blue transparent mantis-like being with glowing green orbs for eyes and lands in front of Gadget. A being known to him as the deity Chaos.
“Chaos shall deal with you as he sees fit.”
Chaos stared at the wolf before the tiles on the floors open up to reveal a pit below and he would grab him with his tendrils. Hanging him over the pit.
“Any last words?” Sally asked the condemned wolf.
Gadget locks eyes with his former redheaded ‘lover’. “Baby, I have nothing but contempt for this mockery of justice!”
With that, Chaos releases him as the red wolf falls into the pit… And splashed right into a pool of water below. He could hear the sounds of cheering and laughter above him that soon quieted down.
“Akira, you okay down there?” Nicole called out from above, peeking her head in to see how he's doing alongside Sally. “Did you land in the water alright?”
“Yeah, I landed in the water just fine!” Gadget shouted back, looking up to them. “It's about the right temperature too!”
“It took a few trials and errors to get the water simulation program to work properly including how it soaks you like real water does.” Sally told him. “Even the physics took some work to function just right.”
“From my first impressions alone, I say it's worth the trouble! You really hit it out of the park with this one!”
“Glad you approve. It's a miracle at all that we were able to salvage this tech from the Jurika and an even bigger miracle to actually get it working right in our base.”
“And the first thing we do with this amazing technology is to play ‘Guilty Yes, Guilty No’ in it where I apparently had an affair with you and your mother.”
Sally smiled as she chuckled to herself. “Well, the program is a sandbox to either make the most immersive courtroom drama like Twelve Unhappy Men or a complete farce where the most wild and out there things we could think of are treated as facts and where folks such as yourself get to ham it up to Luke Periwinkle levels of hammy.”
“It's also the most basic and safest program that you could put on as a test to see if it all works right. Easiest one for me to assess first-hand.” Nicole added, looking rather pleased with the results. “It looks like it's a hit.”
“This will certainly be a boon for us once we get all the kinks and bugs worked out. Help him out of the pool.”
“Will do.”
The chipmunk walks off to meet up with the others outside of the holo-rec and Nicole proceeds to summon a ladder for the wolf in the pool, materialising in front of him. “Here you go, Amamiya-san. You might want to take a shower after this.”
Just the way his surname rolls off the holo-lynx's tongue like honey could make a guy like him murr… And he quickly discards the thought as he snaps back into reality. “O-Of course!”
The wolf climbs up the ladder until he's finally out of the watery pit. As per Sally's statement, his costume was soaked as was his red fur with them clumping to his body and his skin having a wet moisture to them just like real water.
Once he was out of the pit, Nicole spoke to the holo-rec room's computer. “Computer, close ‘Guilty Yes, Guilty No’ program.”
“Closing program…” An automated masculine voice rang out as the entire court room environment disappeared into thin air. “Have a nice day.”
With the court room gone, the pair stood in a spacious black room with yellow gridlines and a doorway that leads out of it. A room that's capable of producing a life-like virtual recreation of Green Hill Zone with all the Badniks, Springs and set-pieces one could ask for.
“So, what did you think of my performance there?” Gadget asked. His shoes make squelching sounds while he and Nicole walk towards the exit.
“You did say you used to do drama and study theatre while in school.”
“With how much of an interest I have in literature, the art of the theatre and acting naturally appealed to me. Something like this is one which comes to me like…” The wolf snaps his fingers. “That. Know what I mean?”
“Others have told me you're quite the thespian with the last roleplay activity you guys did together and this is the first time I got to see those acting chops for myself. Amazing what a different person you become whenever you're playing a character. How much more confident, bold and commanding you become when you're on stage.”
“Heh, I knew I had to step up to the plate when I got the role of the defendant and pull from my own experiences to shape my character. Be cool like Johnny, be smooth like Sonic… You get the idea.”
“They certainly paid off in dividends. You were so convincing to where you even got me believing that you were always this confident and suave womaniser who could charm the Flickies out of the trees.” The holo-lynx admitted as the two exited the holo-rec room and out into the familiar halls of Central Freedom HQ. “Especially that part where your character said to my character that I'm like a beautiful angel who got banished to Mobius for just simply being too beautiful to be allowed to stay in Heaven.”
Before he could say anything, Nicole pulled up a screen in her palm when she got a notification just now. “Apologies, Porker Lewis needs me for something but I am interested to discuss more on this topic with you whenever I'm finished. Mata ne.”
The holo-lynx gave him a bow before disappearing from Gadget's presence. The moment she was gone, the wet wolf let out a big sigh.
“That wasn't me acting there…” Gadget mumbled to himself as he walked off to head for the showers. Making squelching footsteps while he did so.
When he's playing a character that's written as a ladiesman who has to disarm a female assassin with just his words alone, he can be so suave and charismatic while delivering his lines without a stumble. So smooth that he could make someone like Amy blush from a soliloquy or so his friends tells him from the last live action role play session they did together.
When he's just being himself in regards to romance in general however, he's about as elegant as Omega playing the role of Odette in a Swan Lake production and as smooth as Dulcy trying to mimic a hedgehog roll in her large form. Fighting all of Team Dark on his own would be a far easier task for him than it is for him to get his words out to Nicole that he really fancies her without tying his own tongue into a knot.
As a member of the K.F.F, he's a very capable team member. As a young man with romantic prospects, he's like a race car driven by someone who's never heard of the act of driving until the day of the event. Such as the life of Gadget the Wolf.
The Gamester
By
Talyllyn the Iron Warrior
May 9th, 3240
Central Freedom HQ, New Mobotropolis. Northamer
Afternoon
Down in the men's locker room, Rotor, Manic and Johnny would all recite their colleagues’ words in sync the moment Gadget emerged from a changing stall in dry clothes with a towel in hand. “...’I have nothing but contempt for this mockery of justice! I'm just so dang fine that I can make the Master Emerald blush with a love sonnet!”
Gadget rubs his head with the towel to dry it off his hair and goes over to his locker. “Oh come on guys, no love for the innocent little flower line?”
“Eh, didn't quite hit the spot as much as that sonnet one.” Johnny admitted. Staring at a mirror on his locker door while sweeping back his hair with a comb.
Rotor looked over to Sonic sitting next to him as he was putting his red and white sneakers back on. “I think Sally was trying hard to keep a straight face with that one back there.”
“Aye, I think I saw her pinch her leg just to keep herself in character. ” Sonic chuckled, adjusting his socks. “I don't think she was expecting that one out of him.”
“...I knew you were going to bring in a prop for the part where you testify about me “offing” Silver but I was not expecting the Silver Cube.” Gadget was saying to Manic who cracked a smile at that. “You made sure I didn't see what it looked like beforehand, did you?”
“The moment I first laid eyes on it man, I just knew that it had to go into that trial to see your reaction to it and watch you trying not to break character the whole time whenever you had to look at the thing.”
“You’re diabolical sometimes.”
“But you love me man.”
“Love… Is that something you can eat?”
“Yeah. It's something you put in your mouth.”
Gadget gave Manic a deadpan look. “Well, you certainly know a lot about doing that one alright.”
That elicited a hysterical laugh out of the other boys close-by. Johnny nearly dropped his comb when he suddenly let off a wheezing laugh.
“Whatever you say man.” Manic shrugged his shoulders. “Any of you guys headin’ down to Deer John's?”
“Gonna have to pass.” Sonic checked over his shoes. “Me and Sal have plans for the evening.”
“I'll meet you there whenever I get some stuff on my end sorted." Rotor replied, putting on his signature backwards cap. “What about the rest of you?”
“Got nothing else on for today.” Johnny looked over his shoulder at Rotor. “Free to enjoy the craic. What about you Gads?”
“I can head down but I have monitor duty with Perci tonight.” The wolf answered. “So my time may be short.”
“Monitor duty with Perci ey?” Manic hummed with interest. “My good man; a lot of guys would kill for that, you know. A night alone with the lavender beauty herself.”
Gadget rolls his eyes. “And people wonder why you're still single… It's just monitor duty; hardly the most romantic activity to be involved in.”
“People have done it with disabled toilets–”
“Manic, not this again.” The bespectacled wolf shuts his locker door. “Besides, Dini was supposed to take the shift with her but you know what happened yesterday.”
“Poor Dini. Hope he gets well soon.” The green hedgehog slips on his orange vest. “But still, I would have expected you to have found that special someone by now. You're hardworking, polite and diligent; you're more or less husbando material my dude.”
“What sounds good on sheets is a whole other story when it's practiced in motion. What someone wants out of a partner is a case by case matter.”
“Come on man, me and the boys here can be your wingmen.” Manic throws an arm around Gadget's shoulders. “Get you hooked up with a date and everythin’. With our help– ”
“Ignore the green prat in orange.” Johnny spoke up. “He thinks he can magically fix a problem with the wave of his wand and hey presto, you have a girlfriend.”
“Least I'm the one with datin’ experiences here.”
“One who's gone through around four breakups since the start of the year.” Johnny retorted back.
“Guys, let's not start an argument over this.” Rotor interjects after getting up from his bench. “Not everyone dates the same way as one another and that's perfectly valid.”
“Rotor's got a point here.” Sonic added. “It's not for everyone.”
“Easy for you to say bro because you're with Sally.” Manic points out.
“These days, yes but things weren't always the smoothest between us and we didn't always get on well with each other. You guys know the whole story.”
“Besides Gadget here but I get ya.”
“Say, where's Antoine at?” Gadget had just noticed the coyote's absence. “Didn't he leave the holo-rec with you guys?”
“Nah, he went his own way.” Rotor told him. “Says he had to go discuss matters with the King about our recent reports on the Dark Legion.”
“Not a month goes by without those bad dudes from the dark side poppin’ up to cause some mischief somehow.” Manic tutted. “And I don't know who is worse; their sympathizers or Eggman's.”
“No one's making a case for Eggman doing nothing wrong and calling him an outright tyrant in public forums these days isn't considered a controversial take either. Mayor Speechly would have to say screw Eggman and he'll get a cheap pop from the crowd.” Rotor gave his own two-cents on the matter as a former councilman. “The Dark Legion on the other hand, any debate on them like their motives or their former relationship with the Eggman Empire; you have enough revisionisms and whataboutisms going around to make your head spin at sonic speeds.”
Johnny slips his sunglasses on after doing up his hair and closing up his locker. “It sort of makes me miss the old days where everyone knew who the enemy was, what they're about and being united against them.”
“Well, I certainly don't miss not being able to go down to Deer John's without a Swat-Bot or Sleet and Dingo trying to harass me.” Sonic quipped. “People will learn to see the truth. I bet the good people in the Dark Legion would rather have peace than war and someday, they'll have the power to enact a reform for the better.”
Rotor looked up to the blue hedgehog. “Pretty optimistic of you there but if a Metal Sonic can develop a moral conscience, a more benevolent Dark Legion isn't that far out of the realm of possibilities.”
“I've seen enough miracles in my travels to not write off anything as impossible.” The blue hedgehog crossed his arms with a smirking grin. “Maybe my green bro will find a girlfriend that'll finally tame him. Like a housebroken pet dog.”
“Bro, why do you gotta do me dirty like that?” Manic groaned as the other boys barring Gadget hollered at Sonic’s unexpected roast as they finished up getting changed back into their regular clothes.
Soon, most of the guys headed out with Gadget being the last man to leave the men's locker room and saw Sonic waiting for him out in the hallway.
“Can I help you with something Sonic?” He asks. The hedgehog shook his head.
“Nah, I'm good.” Sonic replied as both he and the wolf walked together. “Figured I'd wait until it's just us two to chat. I know you’re probably getting tired of this topic but hear me out here; there is nothing wrong with not seeking out any romance right now or ever. You don't need to be in love with another person to find real happiness. I met monks who spent most of their lifetimes eschewing all romances in favour of spiritual enlightenment and carpenters that find true joy in crafting their masterpieces from wood without ever entertaining the notion of marriage.”
“What if I am actually in pursuit of romance?”
“Well, then I'll say this instead; there's nothing wrong with pursuing romance on your own terms and at your own pace. From what I've come to know from you as well as your own cultural upbringing, you're not one for rushing things through and you're more of the actions speaking louder than words type of guy.” Sonic turned his head over to him. “These things take time and as someone who's known Sally for years, I understand just how intimidating it can be to ask someone out.”
“Not everyone gets to be dripping with confidence like you.”
“True but you’re forgetting that I learn how to gain my confidence gradually and become as cool as my pal Johnny. The thing you gotta understand is that you don’t need to be the coolest dude on the planet just to win over someone's heart. In fact, there are plenty of people out there who would rather have someone like Tails for a romantic partner over guys like me."
“I don't suppose you could give me some of your pearls of wisdom on why that is?”
“For some people, a personality like mine might be too much to the point of being off-putting for their liking while finding the more gentle and humble nature of Tails to be just right for them. Heck, I have even known a few who'd rather have Knuckles for a boyfriend over me if you can believe it.”
“I'm not exactly Sonic, Tails or Knuckles; I'm just me.” Gadget sighed as he said that. “Just plain old boring… Me.”
“Buddy. A chick may think that a stoic bad boy rebel is all they need for love but deep down, they might want a man who's strong enough to be gentle and not afraid to cry… A man who's emotionally there for them when they need it most like how that old love song goes.” Sonic nudges his shoulder with a comforting smile as he starts to playfully hum a little tune. “~Ooooh, love me sweetly like the daisies of Soleanna on a midsummer's day~”
“Okay, okay; I get your point.” Gadget laughed. “Just save your love serenade for your evening with Sally–”
“All personnel in the base are to assemble in the Briefing Room at once.” Sally suddenly cuts in on the intercoms. “We have an urgent SOS on our hands.”
Knowing that meant, Sonic taps his friend on the shoulder and they both start sprinting in the halls. “Come on, we better see who's in trouble…”
“...Are you absolutely certain there are unusual activities in that ghost town?”
Sally was in the middle of speaking to a bespectacled brown dog on the holo-screen when Sonic and Gadget arrived at the Briefing Room. Gadget took his seat at the table next to Manic and Johnny while Sonic stood by the table.
“I'm sure there are strange things going on over there. It could be nothing but you know how dangerous this relay station is in the wrong hands.” Professor Cainestein said, adjusting his yellow glasses while he speaks. “For my peace of mind and yours’, it would be worth an investigation just in case.”
“We'll be over as soon as we can depart, Professor. For the time being, I suggest you put the whole station on lockdown while we go check out that town for the time being. We'll let you know if we find anything.” Sally nodded. “Hang tight.”
“So, what's the situation here Sal?” Sonic asked, leaning against the briefing table with crossed arms. “Base under siege?”
Sally looked over to him as she ended her holo-screen call to Professor Cainestein. “From what it sounds like, there's unusual activity going on in an abandoned town just about a half hour's walk away from the Saturn Relay Station.”
“Isn’t it the same station that's being used by the S.I.D to intercept transmissions from the Dark Legion near the Great Canyon?” Gadget points out. Sally gave a nod to confirm it.
“Unofficially, yes. Officially, it's being used to monitor radio transmissions up in space.”
“Think the Dark Legion might be involved in this?” Perci pondered. “It does seem like a tempting target for them.”
Sonic shrugged. “For all we know, Egghead might be making some moves again and his Badniks allowed themselves to get seen by the Professor.”
“It could be a trap.” Sticks spoke up. “That Professor seemed a little suspicious there…”
“We've had several correspondences with Professor Cainestein over the years and he is as trustworthy as they come.” Johnny sighed, not believing that the badger could make such an assumption on a man they both know well. “I swear, the number of people you don't suspect to be government agents, aliens or whatever on first impressions can be counted on one hand. Hell, you claimed the other day that you felt we were being watched by someone.”
“I'm telling ya John, there's a smell about this whole thing and I don't like it one bit!” The resident conspiracy theorist defended her stance.
“If it was a trap, then whoever orchestrated it picked a bloody terrible spot for it.”
“Believe what you want Long Ears but I have a hunch and that hunch tells me this is a trap! That hunch also tells me we're being watched by someone or something!”
“Trap or not, we all have a duty to answer the call of those that need our help.” Sally stepped in to stop the bickering between the two. “If it is a trap like Sticks says, then it's vital we go spring the trap for them and learn who's behind it. The safety of Saturn Relay Station is important enough to our war efforts to make this a top priority mission regardless.”
“Who do you want to bring along for this mission Sally-Girl?” Bunnie asked, tipping her hat back. “I'm game for it if ya need me for it.”
“We may need you for backup.” The chipmunk nodded, looking over the assembled group in the room to decide who to take along with her party. “Sonic, Gadget, Perci, Manic and Sticks; you're with me. Get all the gear you'll need before we leave.”
“Anything we can do on our end?” Rotor asked his leader.
“If you don’t hear anything back from us within the next seven hours, assume we've been captured.” The leader of the K.F.F responded. “For the time being, do check-ins with Professor Cainestein and let us know if anything changes. I'm leaving you and Antoine in charge. See to it that he’s informed of this.”
“Will do. Good luck.”
Satisfied with the response, Sally called out to the assembly. “You’re all dismissed.”
???
???
“...You're all dismissed.”
Unbeknownst to Sally and her team, the mission briefing was being viewed on a monitor screen with a perfect shot of the whole meeting. The visuals on the screen look very high quality for something that's being captured in secret.
None of them seem to sense they were being watched nor be aware of the extra eye in the room that's with them. As if the camera doesn't exist for them though Sticks seemed to vaguely sense it but no way to confirm it.
The monitor is one of a group of seven screens attached to a console inside a hi-tech room of some description. A glove hand rests on an armrest where a control panel lies and belongs to a seat which the observer is currently sitting on.
“Excellent, excellent.. " The viewer says with satisfaction while watching the Knothole Freedom Fighters exit the Briefing Room on the main screen, even catching a moment where Gadget lets Perci head through the door first like a gentleman. “It is all going to plan. They will all be playing my games very soon…”
Once Sally's away team were all geared up and ready to go, they made their way to the F.S.S Mk. III. Using that craft to make the flight down to their mission location and by the time they made a landing near the abandoned ghost town, it would be evening time.
The ghost town in question is dubbed Haunted Hill, a location Sonic had gone to one time on Halloween in hopes of encountering the supernatural there with Tails accompanying him on that night. To his disappointment though, he didn't see anything at all and was annoyed at the fox for letting him sleep through the minutes where the ghosts were supposed to show up.
Many years ago, it was once a prosperous gold mine town and according to legend; it had been built on ancient burial grounds which may have contributed to it becoming haunted by ghouls and ghosts. A number of people have gone missing over the years around Halloween time whenever they visit the abandoned town or so the popular myth goes. A perfect spot to host an attack on the Saturn Relay Station from Gadget thinks. Feeling a sense of unease just from standing in the outskirts of it with Sticks and Sally sharing his sentiments.
“...Looking forward to the night shift?” Perci broke the ice with Gadget.
Both them and Sally went on ahead in stepping foot in the Haunted Zone while the others stayed behind at the chipmunk's orders. Carrying torchlights due to the sun going down in the distance.
“Not really?” Gadget admitted. “It's going to be a long night and all.”
“Hey, I'm not too excited at having to do the night shift either but someone's gotta do it.” The bandicoot said in agreement. “Least I'll have you for company~”
“You’re not so bad yourself.” The wolf said rather smoothly before quickly correcting himself. “I-I mean that you're good to be around and everything!”
“Relax, I understood you the first time.” Perci assured him. “Oh, I never got to thank you properly for that time you helped me rescue Staci.”
“I know she means a lot to you being that she's family and all. Did what anyone on the team would have done.” Gadget nodded. “Don't fret, you have already–”
He suddenly gets a swift peck on the mouth from the bandicoot that leaves him a little stunned. “Thanked me enough…”
“I always appreciate good help…” Perci tells him, flashing the wolf a half-lidded toothy smile. “And a man who's handy with his tools~”
With an alluring half-closed gaze and a smile straight out of a Robert Timm pinup piece, Gadget was quick to avert his eyes while his cheeks grew very warm. He's got a mission to do and can't deal with any distractions right now, even one that's beautiful and attractive in the form of Perci the Bandicoot.
“Guys…” Sally glanced over her shoulder at the two. “Could you please save the flirtings for later? We're in the town and we need to be focused here.”
Perci nodded, quickly snapping to a more serious demeanour. “Understood.”
“You hear anything?” The chipmunk asked Gadget. “Anything that isn't the ambience.”
“Nothing that shouldn't be here.” Gadget reported, ears swivelling as he listened out for any movements that weren't theirs. “Turn off the safety?”
“Yes.”
The wolf turns off the safety on his modified White Wispon that uses conventional ammo when a corresponding White Wisp isn't present and fitted with an iron scope for better accuracy. He brought along his own signature modified Burst Wispon that rests in a holster belt and a bounce bracelet with three yellow spikes on top.
The very same bracelet once worn by Sonic during the Space Colony ARK incident and one he had gotten as a gift in that Christmas box. It has seen plenty of use from the red wolf on a number of missions once he had learned how to properly form a ball shape to make use of its bounce feature. Finding it pretty fun to use once he got used to it.
It also includes a Magic Hands function that can use weaker enemies like projectiles but Gadget finds it pretty situational in terms of usage since it's a little on the clunky side from the instances where he had used it. Often forgets it even exists most of the time; a sentiment Sonic also shares since he thought the yellow spikes were simply just for show until Tails had to remind him about what they're for. Said fox admitting that he doesn't actually remember if he had made the upgrades himself or Sonic had found them laying around somewhere and he just stuck them onto the bracelet.
The three walked through the abandoned Haunted Zone, seeing how much the old town has aged since it was last inhabited.
The buildings having been left marked with accumulated specks of dirt on the walls from all the winds over the years, the woodwork on several of the structures varying from being sound enough to interact with to be rotted out by termites and surfaces once vibrant now bearing prominent signs of sun fades like a barbershop sign that used to be white now having an almost mustardy shade to it in the present day. Paired with the near-eerie silence and the fact it has seen plenty of non-ancient burials from people in the underworld, you have yourself a location that would make even an experienced ghost fighter like Knuckles feel very wary when approaching spots that have more limited visual visibility.
With only the evident sounds of their own footsteps, Sally equates the experience to being in an intense scene from a spaghetti western. One where the protagonist is just one wrong corner turn away from getting sniped by a gunslinger who could killshot an eagle out of the air like an expert dart thrower and someone he doesn't know is in the area with him because he's too focused on a desperado who killed his beloved pet dog that's making all the commotion. It's that kind of atmosphere for her.
Then just like a great spaghetti western, Sally jumped when Gadget suddenly snapped to the left and fired a shot at a window belonging to a grain shop. The sounds of glass shattering and the pieces landing on the wooden surfaces rang out.
“I… I thought I saw something over there…” The wolf admitted a little sheepishly to his superior. “Almost like a set of grayish or blueish eyes… But uhh, that might have been the trick of the light on the window reflection…”
“Least we know you're just as quick on the draw as Kira is…” Sally mused before getting a hail on her earpiece. “Sally here, what's the update?”
Rotor informed her on the line. “I think Sticks was onto something there.”
“In what way?”
“We just got in touch with Professor Cainestein and he told us that he had never sent out any SOS today.” The walrus revealed. “He didn't even know you guys were in the area until just now.”
Quick to put two and two together, Sally furrowed her brow. “Then the Cainestein we've spoken to earlier is a fake… Where was the signal coming from?”
“According to our advanced security scans, there was an unusual signal coming from an unspecified point of origin at the same time we were getting that distress signal. Like it's coming from another dimension entirely.” Rotor reported. “The image we saw back there must have been a hologram. One that's more sophisticated than what even Eggman himself can produce to our knowledge.”
“If the Professor didn't make that SOS, who did and how do they know so much about that relay station?”
Just as she pondered on that question, Gadget got dropkicked by a streak of red and black from above before said streak quickly swept Perci off her feet. Before Sally could deploy her Ring Blades, she heard the cocking of guns and saw a few guns aimed at her.
“Hey Princess, fancy seein’ you.” Came the voice of a jacket-wearing green hedgehog with an all too-familiar smug grin and a swagger to his steps as he walks over to Sally. “I don't know what you chumps were doing but I know not to pass up a good catch when I see it.”
“Should have paid more attention to your surroundings and done less chatting.” A red vixen taunted as she pointed Gadget's dropped White Wispon at the chipmunk's stomach. “I wouldn't try anything rash if I were you.”
“Scourge and Fiona…” Sally's brow furrowed at the newcomers. “It's been about almost a year since we last heard from you and your gang. We were getting rather worried that something may have happened after all.”
“Your concerns are very touching.” Fiona responded mockingly. “I've heard a lot of stuff has happened since our last meeting. Major changes.”
“I hear y'all had that Phantom Ruby War and are currently at war with the Dark Legion from what I've gathered.” Scourge commented on what he had missed out on. “Shame I missed out on Blue Balls wreckin’ his public image after he punched that schmuck. It would have been fun to watch his fall live.”
“Yeah, such a pity…” Sally said with an edge to her words. Fiona smirked at that.
“Oh but he wasn't the only hero on your team that got raked by the press during those few weeks. Talk about a comedy of errors. Even Jimmy Robinson was talking about it.”
“And in the end, those same people that were ragging on us are either unemployed or disgraced.” The chipmunk retorted as she eyed the other Destructix members of Tovio, Levesque and Little Rascal; all bearing firearms on them. Soon she sees a new face she doesn't recognise in the group.
“I see you've finally gotten yourselves a replacement.” She commented with a gibe. “The goons for hire market on Moebius must be in a real recession these days if it took you this long to scrape just one off from the underside of a barrel.”
“Real witty little bitch, aren't ya?” Scourge scoffed, crossing his arms. “You realise our lives don't all revolve around you losers, right?”
“Now, that coming from you? I've seen neurotic people that don't project as much as you do your highness…” Sally said mockingly, then nudged her head towards the new Destructix member. “Are you going to introduce him to us or are we just going to call him Goon Number Seventy-Nine til the day he dies?”
Fiona points her thumb at the coyote Destructix member in black that's standing a little off to her right. “This is Coyote Deadly or C.D for short and our newest member. An inventor from your world and someone that fought for your Resistance until someone left it in the hands of Sonic's pink stalker. Not that I blame him though.”
At that point, Gadget was coming back around from the earlier dropkick and the first thing he saw when he recovered was seeing the crimson vixen that gave the boot to him. If the circumstances were better, he'd have been taken aback by how much more beautiful she looks in person than in the pictures.
“And I see you schmoes have been busy recruitin’ new members of your own since our last meetin’.” Scourge eyes Gadget up and down the way a predator in a pack sizes up their lessers, barely giving him an unimpressed look. “Is this supposed to be the Avatar himself? The one who supposedly helped you win the war with the Eggman Empire and helped save your little republic on Christmas? The leader of a new generation of heroes as you put it?”
Sally narrowed her gaze at Scourge. “Why, were you expecting someone different?”
“For a dude who went from a nobody to someone that fought the Masked Edgelord, Doctor Fatso and those Legionaries, I expected a more hard-lookin’ man here. A grizzled tough guy like Shadow the Hedgehog. A real alpha male.” The green hedgehog replied, gesticulating at the red wolf like he's just some sideshow attraction and not worthy of his respect. “Not some soy-faced poindexter that Fi here could probably lay out in a fistfight.”
Perci defended Gadget's character, glaring at the hedgehog. "He's more of a real man than you'll ever be when you ain't got your cronies to back you up!”
Scourge smirked as he stepped closer to Gadget, getting right up in his face. “Is that so, ey? What do you think?”
“Of what exactly?” Gadget asked. Doing his best to stay calm in his presence.
“Thinkin’ you're better than me. Thinkin’ you're slicker than me. Thinkin’ you're harder than me.” The hedgehog explained, poking the wolf in the chest with his finger. “Think you can actually beat me in a fight?”
“Not without some gear like an iron suit to keep up with your speed, no.” Gadget admitted truthfully. “...Not unless I can pull off what Mr. D'Coolette had done to you in the past.”
“That cheese-eatin’ twit only got lucky that day! I'd lay out that loser anytime!” Scourge was very quick to refute that statement on the spot before continuing on. “So, you admit to not being able to beat me in a fight. What about the other stuff outside of that?”
“Like what?”
“Like thinkin’ you can take my girl Fi here and show her a better time than me? Make love to her in ways that even I can't?”
A little baffled by that as was Fiona albeit a little more incensed by how she's being used like an object by her boyfriend, Gadget cocked a brow. “...Is something wrong between the both of y–”
“Answer the question Four-Eyes.”
“Uhh…” The wolf scratches his neck as he glanced over to Fiona who looked back at him before he looked back to Scourge. “I-I mean if she's not happy being with you or you being as categorically awful of a romance partner as Drago Wolf and she's okay in going out with me, I suppose I can try to give her a good time. Give her the love and affection that I can give like any good boyfriend should…”
“How sweet of you…” Fiona remarked before putting a hand on Scourge’s shoulder. “Hate to disappoint you though Red but I got all the man I ever want right here~”
Gadget could hear Sally sighing at that. Either because of Scourge’s own history of being a womaniser or Fiona actually believing in that nonsense given the type of guy Scourge is. Hard to say.
“You damn right babe.” Scourge gives the vixen a quick peck and gives the wolf a smug look. “You know what they say about nice guys; they always finish last~”
Quick to see the hole in that logic, Gadget points it out to him. “So, you admit that you finish first before your lady does?”
He could hear Sally and Perci both trying to suppress a laugh at the unexpected burn.
Even Scourge’s own team barring Tovio and Fiona snickered to that comment. Fiona was quite taken aback hearing that coming from a guy like him and how surgical he had attacked Scourge’s manhood there or so it appears on her end.
A fierce glare from Scourge shuts his gang up as he snaps his gaze back at the wolf, looking quite ticked off by his remark. “I've gotten more lady action than you've had relations with Palm and her five sisters! You may have fought bums, tincans and an edgelord in a mask but I'm the King here and I could easily chew you up like tobacco right now if I so wish! You're not even good enough to be my own punchin’ bag!”
Having heard enough and wanting to get some answers, Sally cuts in. “If you're done trying to heal your wounded fragile male pride, perhaps you or Fiona could be so kind as to explain what exactly is your game here this time?”
“What else but to defeat you, Blue Spaz and the rest of you losers of course.” Scourge proclaims, tearing his eyes off from the wolf to focus on the chipmunk and flashing her a cocky smile. “You virtually just handed yourselves to us on a silver platter.”
“So it was you that sent out the fake SOS to lure us out here.” Sally said, assuming the Destructix were the ones behind the signal. “I don’t know what you want with that relay station but I got to hand it to you and Fiona, you really got us good with that distress call.”
Rather than be greeted by smirks or smug grins whenever they see how well their schemes are turning out like the time they actually had Sonic and them on the ropes, both Scourge and Fiona instead looked at her confused. As if what she had just said is all news to them.
“What SOS?” Fiona said without any sarcasm or snark in her voice. “We only just got here when you suddenly showed up and we certainly know nothing about any relay stations. What would we even want with a relay station anyways?”
Sally knows Fiona to be dishonest and never one for being transparent herself; that much she knows from all the time she's known her for. Both when she was on her team and as an enemy of her team. Someone that once rolled with the twin sister of Nack would know a thing or two about being obtuse in regards to motive.
It would be easy for her to dismiss the vixen's response as another one of her ploys. Something like her attempt to prey on Tails’ old feelings for her to try and manipulate him before Sally gave the femme fatale a good fist to her gut to put a stop to that.
However, reading both her tone and body language with the experience she has from the world of politics; the chipmunk can't detect any deception from her and the Saturn Relay Station's secrets isn't something the Destructix would casually stumble upon on their own nor something Scourge would even give a thought about beyond what used it could serve as an ambush spot in his schemes against Sonic. Their former employer Doctor Finitevus would be more of the type to really consider the Saturn Relay Station itself in his plans.
Fiona might actually be telling the truth here and is genuinely confused. Neither her or the Destructix never transmitted that SOS and had no idea they were even coming until they showed up.
This whole ambush from her gang was all hastily thrown together without much time to refine it because they really weren't expecting them to show up here with them. If they didn't send out that SOS, then who did?
Before she can think any further on the big question, Sonic, Bunnie, Manic and Sticks all showed up to get the jump on Scourge’s crew to even the odds. Said crew having been too preoccupied by the exchanges between Scourge and Gadget to notice the rest of Sally's team sneaking up on them until Sticks’ boomerang struck Levesque.
Soon, a battle broke out between both the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Destructix in Haunted Zone with the two hedgehogs quickly duking it out around the abandoned ghost town while their respective teams fought one another in the meantime. The sounds of their fighting replacing the town's silent ambience. A town of ghosts and ghouls serving as their battlegrounds.
Little Rascal and Leveaque engaged both Bunnie and Manic in a shootout over by the old saloon bar. The good green hedgehog using a blaster pistol and Bunnie's nanites making a cannon arm for their gunfight with the two Destructix members. Waiting for a good opening to rush the two men.
Sticks, Perci and Sally were busy fighting Coyote Deadly and Tovio over at the town's water tower. Thanks to both Sticks’ boomerang and Perci's Enerbeams, the two men were left without their guns to give them the upper hand. Tovio locked blades against Sally with his laser blades locked while Coyote Deadly fought off Sticks and Perci with his own set of self-made gadgets.
Scourge and Sonic were trading homing dashes with one another down at the old jailhouse. After knocking each other back with a simultaneous dash, they took a little breather to exchange some words.
“...Heard that edgelord got the better of ya last year. Put ya out of action for six months on that Death Egg.”
“He was lucky once but I whooped him in the next meeting and the one after that when I got back from space!” Sonic retorted his doppelganger's points. “Rather rich of you to be calling anyone else an edgelord!”
“Least I'm not the one here that walked out on his own team and makin’ them all look bad!”
“If this is your attempt to get under my skin, then I'm sorry to say that it ain't working for me brother!” The blue hedgehog smirked at the bad green hedgehog. “On the other hand, it appears that Buddy has managed to get under your skin!”
“What would that loser know about me!?”
“He knows as much as I do!”
“And what would that be, Blue Balls!?”
“That I'll continue to grow everyday while you stagnate and know that under your so-called crown, you are nothing more than a pathetic coward of a bully who would much rather take the easy way out than have any principles!” Sonic replied with firm conviction. “One who's just one good day away from ending up nice like me!”
“Ha! In your dreams!” Scourge yelled. “You were just one turn away from realising that I was right all along!”
“Let's agree to disagree!”
The two hedgehogs quickly revved up their own spindashes. As soon as both get enough charge, the green and the blue spheres shoot towards each other until they collide. The pair separate from the clash as they quickly fight in a series of fast-paced martial arts moves with none of the flashy choreography from the movies before Scourge tackles Sonic through the entrance door to the old jailhouse to resume their fight inside.
While the others are preoccupied and able to sneak away in the chaos, Fiona makes her way to the top of a three-story inn building overlooking the area where the water tower is located with the stolen White Wispon in hand. Once she reached her vantage point, she pulled up the blaster and stared down the iron sight with Perci in view.
Just as she pulls the trigger, a flash of red in the form of Gadget suddenly tackles her to the floor and knocks the weapon out of her hands as it falls to the floor. Discharging a single laser shot at an aging support beam for the water tower instead of Perci with the bandicoot none the wiser to the attempt made on her life. The two red mobians struggled and rolled around the topside of the inn. The wolf is trying to subdue his foe while the vixen is wrestling to get free from her opponent and deal with him. Eventually, Fiona broke free when she elbowed him under his jaw and rolled herself onto her feet to try stomping on him but Gadget moved out of the way. He swiftly leaped up to his feet and the two stared each other down.
Now that she's got a proper up-close view of his face without Scourge being in the way, the guy actually ain't half-bad looking by her standards. Would even dare to consider him cute the same way Tails is cute because of his boyish face. The vixen is a little amazed at how young he actually looks for someone who fought as the Avatar during the Phantom Ruby War according to oral accounts. Then remembered that Tails was even younger than he was when he fought in the First and Second Robotnik Wars.
In the six months he's roughly been with the K.F.F for since the end of the Phantom Ruby War, he has managed to gain enough notoriety within the criminal underworld for her gang to know of him and a handful of the things he's been involved with before this meeting.
“You wouldn't hit a girl, would you?” Fiona asked the wolf sweetly. Thinking of ways to take him down.
“Only if they're not dangerous.” Gadget replied simply. He has heard enough about the vixen to be cautious of her and kept his hands up in case she tries anything.
If they were on more neutral grounds where their groups aren't fighting each other, he would have liked to speak to the former Freedom Fighter. Try to see her perspective beyond the accounts of her former colleagues who were burned by her betrayal years prior and might have some biased accounts because of it. Understand the real person beyond the reputation.
“Heh, I doubt your mother would be too pleased to know her son is going around beating up girls.” Fiona remarked snidely. “Not a very gentlemanly thing to do.”
“And it's not very ladylike of you to assault a child either.” Gadget countered coolly. “I don't take any joy in hurting people but unfortunately in most cases, it's unavoidable.”
“Sure. Whatever helps a noble hero like yourself sleep easier at night.” The crimson vixen said in a dismissive tone. Almost belittling him from the way she phrases it.
In her mind, he's probably another of those new Freedom Fighters they've been bringing in after she left the group that thinks they're all just and self-righteous just because they're on the same team as Sonic the Hedgehog. All while seeing her as some no-good witch because she left the team for unpopular reasons and she happens to be heavily tied to the time Sonic and Tails were both having problems in their relationship; a situation that the blue blur himself did more to foster than anything she actually did yet she gets all the blame for it as if it was all her own doing. Heaven forbids that Sonic and his chums do anything wrong or unjust in their starry little eyes she thought bitterly.
Tired of waiting, Fiona rushed the wolf to get him with a roundhouse kick but the wolf blocked the kick and responded back with a hand chop that she evaded. Gadget tried to shoulder toss her to the floor and given her acrobatic-like agility, the vixen was able to land on her feet. She swiftly turns around to do a high kick on him with the young war vet sidestepping the attack and catching the leg to flip her over yet she still landed on her feet.
The two were quickly trading and blocking a flurry of martial arts moves between them; both trying to take the other person down. Having an aggressive, dance-like rhythm in their fighting together. If the cosmos is an entity who decides for whatever reason that it'll have events which normally doesn't happen under regular conditions, then it must have decided on having the two combatants unwittingly doing their own version of the bachata dance together for its own amusement. A good hearty laugh at the sight of two people doing a dance form often performed by the likes of the D'Coolettes, not between combatants from opposite teams.
Eventually, the pair broke apart and backed away from each other. Locking eyes with one another while they both catch their breaths.
“Why don't you be a good wolf and just take a dive for a pretty girl like me?” Fiona panted, not expecting to find the wolf to be annoying to fight given the way he went down earlier from that dropkick. “I'll let you walk away with no bruises. Keep your cute little face intact.”
“After you had tried to shoot at one of my friends like that? No deal.” He responded and caught his breath as well. “Why are we fighting for anyways?”
“Listen, I'm in no mood for any philosophy right now.”
“What are we actually doing?” Gadget stressed to her. “You're not after any relay stations and you didn't know we were coming either. We're just fighting for the sake of it.”
“I…” Fiona realises he actually has a point there in what he says.
They're not battling for territory or anything that would justify the outbreak of a fight outside of the hedgehogs’ appetites for fighting. None of the Destructix were expecting to face the K.F.F this soon after acquiring a new sixth member. This whole meet-up seemed… Strange when she really thinks about it for a moment.
Sonic and Scourge’s fighting would bring them over to the inn building where they made a mess of the interior inside. The two soon collided once again with enough force to generate a shockwave that rumbled the building and caused it to begin crumbling.
The floor beneath Fiona gave way and would have fallen right through the newly-formed hole if Gadget wasn't quick to grab her hand to pull her away. With the inn rapidly falling apart from years of neglect, the two red mobians quickly evacuated the building by jumping down onto the entrance roof at the front and got clear of it. The hedgehogs did the same when they caught onto the fact as well though they went out through the back. Once they all got clear of it, Gadget and Fiona watched from a safe distance as the old inn soon became a pile of rubble. Leaving behind a cloud of dust in its wake.
The same time that was going on, C.D had managed to get Sticks with a surprise kick and knock the boomerang out of her hand which he caught. Not being as skilled with how to use the weapon as the badger is, he tosses it at Perci but the angle he threw it from made it miss her and go right for one of the water tower's supports. Whether it was because of Fiona causing damage to it earlier or the wood on the support beam has grown weak enough to be damaged indirectly, the old beam splinters from the weight resting on it including the water tank itself which despite being old could still crush whoever it fell on. The whole water tower proceeded to tip forwards.
While Sally, Sticks, Perci, C.D and Tovio were clear of it, Gadget and Fiona were right in its path. A fact the wolf just realised when he caught it tipping from the corner of his eye while Fiona had her back to the tower since she was facing the debris of the old inn and since it was evening, the shadows wouldn't have been much help in alerting her to the danger. There were also the sounds of fighting nearby which muffled the groans of the now-falling water tower.
Thinking fast in the time they have to avoid becoming flattened by the falling tower, Gadget fired his grappling hook at a still-sturdy hitching post over at the front of a nearby drugstore off to the left of the collapsed inn and threw an arm around a surprised Fiona before quickly rappelling his line. Narrowly clearing the danger that would have gotten them had Gadget been just half a second slower. Making a loud crash on impact and making a big dust cloud that nearly covered the whole area. The wolf and the vixen both zipped over to the hitching post with the pair crashing through it together.
When Gadget regained his senses once the dust settled, his whole face went as red as his fur once he saw where he had ended up. Presumably from the way they both landed, Fiona had ended up on the ground back-first and him landing on top of her. He's landed on top of others before but none where he's nose to nose with them nor have they shared a position as suggestive-looking as this one.
Having noticed the same time as him, Fiona blushed at her own current position and could almost feel his lips connecting with hers’ from how close their faces are. This embarrassment was very short-lived as her expression flashed from flustered to anger as she smacked him in the face while he was in the middle of getting himself off of her and she followed that up with a connected knee to his groin that earned a pained yelp out of him before rushing to her feet. All while still feeling embarrassed inside.
“Christ, you do that with every woman you grab!?”
Gadget defended himself and felt just as embarrassed. “H-Hang on for a moment, it was just an accident!”
“The hell it is!”
“I've just saved us from getting squashed by that tower over there!”
Fiona flicked a glance at the fallen water tower before snapping her gaze back to him. “So what, you want a kiss for it or something?”
“A thank you would suffice!”
“I suppose I could…” Fiona took a combative stance with a glare. “After I'm done giving a pervert like you a good hiding!”
“That will be all.” A new modulated voice greets them.
Before the two could throw hands again, everyone in Haunted Hill found themselves inside of glowing purple forcefields in pairs of twos. Sonic and Scourge. Bunnie and Leveaque. Manic and Little Rascal. Perci and Tovio. Sticks and C.D. Gadget and Fiona.
Sally is the only captive without a counterpart inside a forcefield with her. The Knothole Freedom Fighters arrived with a party of seven versus the six of the Destructix.
“W-What the hell's going on here!?” Scourge yelled, pounding his fists on the transparent walls and trying to bust out of it to no success. “Hey, you better show yourself asshole or I'll–”
Above the abandoned town, a holographic screen appears that shows a masked being inside a hi-tech control room. “I am the Gamester and I have been observing both of your groups for quite some time. I brought you both here to play games for me. Games that will determine your fates. Those who are successful in completing their challenges will be able to return home safe and sound.”
“Like hell I'll play games with you or play them with this blue loser here!” Scourge snarled at the idea of playing for anyone else's amusements as did Sonic who tried to break out of the forcefield to no avail. “If I can get out of here, I'll go find you wherever you are and kick your little ass right now!”
The masked being chortled at Scourge’s idle threats and the glares he got from the others for threatening a being that had the tech to hold them all in place. “Oh Scourge but I am afraid that you and Sonic will have to learn to play together or else you will never be able to beat the challenge that I have for you two hedgehogs…”
“How do you know our names!?” Scourge demanded to know but his question went unanswered as his’ and Sonic's purple circle glowed. The same happened for all of the other captives in the town.
Gadget and Fiona noticed that they were both glowing while floating off from the ground. Their forcefield began to have a sparkling effect as it glowed some more.
“Look, your hand!” Gadget points at the vixen's hand. Fiona looked down to see it dissolving to dust along with the rest of her.
The vixen who earlier wore a sneering expression now has a look of genuine fear and terror at her own situation. Even letting off a scream when most of her dissolves away with the dust going up into the light above.
She wasn't the only one that this was happening to. The other captives all found themselves turning to dust the same way.
“Let the games commence!” The Gamester declares on the screen with the same energy as a bombastic game show host. “Best of luck to you all because you will need it!”
After the entity had said that, both the Knothole Freedom Fighters and the Destructix disappeared into the purple lights...