Sonic X 5: Worlds apart

Chapter 9: Rescue and Escape

"Dad!" Jason said, glad to see the Blue Blur.

Sonic raced in and the next second, we were all free, but Silver and Doc still had the bands. Tails and Knuckles would have to get them off.

"Thanks Sonic!" I shouted as I helped Sleek up.

"No sweat!" Sonic shouted back.

Robert then pulled a silver whistle from his vest and blew. I didn't hear anything, but Blade cringed and yelped.

Moments later we were silenced by a clinking sound like metal on metal floors. Then my blood froze at the sound of buzzing hisses and shrieks. We look around and see several pairs of glowing red eyes coming toward us. Soon we were looking at seven metallic scorpions the size of bug cars. They were steam-punk styled but fully armored and operated independently.

After these came my worst nightmare other than Robert, robotic spiders. They were also in a steam-punk style, but they scared me more and I almost froze. Leading these insects was a green robotic beetle. It was steam-punk like the other insects, but clearly had more hours put on him. It was also much smaller than the others, more like a cat.

It trotted over to Robert and crawled up him to his shoulder.

"Thank you Zong-Li." Robert said to the beetle.

"Em!" Jason shouted. "You, Doc, Silver and Metal get to the portal! Sleek will help you!" He didn't get more out at a robotic spider pounced on him.

"LETS GO!" Sleek shouted and we followed.

I hated leaving my friends back there, but I knew if we didn't get to that portal, we wouldn't make it either.

"Blade?" Silver asked.

I turned to see Blade was coming with us.

"I'm not loosing you again Silver." He told him. "No matter what this time!"

Silver smiled and kept running. Scorpions blocked our way at every turn. Silver and Doc used their telekinesis to slam some into the walls while Blade and I cut others down. I earned a thin cut on my shoulder from their razor sharp stingers, but I hardly noticed.

Metal did his best to help fight, but with his new body, it was harder for him to focus right. Sleek shot many down with his arm-crossbow.

Soon we were ahead of the robots and running to the portal room. We leap into the room and Sleek and Blade close the door, barring it. The robots banged against the door, knocking Blade and Sleek back a little.

"Hurry up with that portal Doc!" Blade shouted.

Doc was already at the consol and firing it up. Metal, Silver and I stood at the ready for if the robots came through. I was shaking with one of Blade's swords in my hand, Metal to my left and silver my right, but I was scared stiff. Each time the robots slammed against the metallic doors made me shiver and my mouth go dry.

Sweat was beading at Doc's brow as he punched in the coordinates for home. Suddenly the portal came to life. "It's up! Everyone in!" Doc shouted.

Blade came back and shoved Silver through with him, then Metal went in. Doc and I paused seeing Sleek hadn't moved.

"Sleek!" I shouted over the throbbing roar of the portal . "Come on!"

Sleek shook his head. "This is my home! The New Freedom Fighters are my family! I can't abandon them!"

"You'll die if you stay here!" I shouted again.

Doc suddenly pulled out the a small black box, poked a few buttons on it and tossed it to Sleek. "It's good for three jumps! Get your friends out of here and back to the Hideout!"

Sleek nodded and activated the portal. A small opening appeared next to him and he jumped through.

Doc set a charge at the base of the portal before pushing me through. I heard a blast and felt the heat of a fire before landing in a patch of green grass. I was dazed and dizzy from the jump so I just laid there in the grass. A light drizzle was hitting me as I lay there before a pair of arms gently picked me up. I could hear Knuckles and Tails talking, but I was exhausted and drifted to sleep.

I'm not sure how long I slept, but I knew I didn't want to wake up. The blanket was to warm and comfortable to leave it. That is until I sensed someone was in the room with me. I slowly and reluctantly opened my eyes to see that Doc was there, probably checking on me guessing from the look in his eye. He always got that look when he was using his abilities.

"Hey," I said, causing him to blink and smile back.

"Hey," He said. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," I answered as I sat up. "Did we make it?"

Doc nodded. "We made it. We're back safe and sound in our own Mobius."

"What about Silver and Blade?"

"Silver's looking after Blade," Doc replied. "Apparently he's sensitive to loud sounds, so the blast from the portal hurt his ears."

I nodded in understanding before a thought worried me. "What about Metal? Is he okay?"

Doc gave a gentle smile before turning to show that Metal was behind him. He looked like a normal hedgehog, flesh and all, but there was a slight glow in his red eyes and he still had a mechanical look when he moved, but he had fur and I think muscle tone over his metallic form.

Metal smiled at me. "Hello Operative Emily." He said, his voice only having a hint of a mechanical tone.

"Metal!" I said, getting up and hugging him. He was in fact very soft for a hedgehog, so I smiled when he hugged back. "You really scared me back there! Are you okay?"

"I'm functioning well Em." He said. "There are still a things I need to get used to though, such as this fur, and…" He reached out and touched my arm. "Feeling."

I smiled back and hugged him again. "It's a great thing once you get used to it."

Metal smiled and looked at Doc.

"There are a few things though," Doc said. "Metal may be weaker than he used to be for a while. He'll need to rest more and eat more nutritious foods to help him rebuild his strength."

"We can do that." I said. "But for now, lets check on everyone else."

With that we walked downstairs to see that Blade was awake and having a staring contest with Knuckles. With them both being Echidna's, I hoped they would get along. Tails was sitting beside Blade, also looking at him closely.

Silver looked up and smiled. "Em! Thank God you're okay! How are you feeling?"

"Better than before, that's for sure." I answered. "Everything okay here?"

"Yeah," Knuckles said.

Blade was the first to break the stare by looking at me. "It's good to see that you're alright. We were getting worried when you passed out in the portal."

"The chaos levels in the portal spiked from the blast," Doc explained. "That's why she passed out, there was too much."

Tails then looked at me. "You sure you're okay?"

"Absolutely." I replied. "But I am hungry though…"

Knuckles Smiled and got up. "I'll make lunch then. Silv, Blade, wanna help?"

Blade looked at Silver, who smiled and followed Knuckles. "Sure!"

Blade followed his brother wondering if this was in fact a second chance. If it was, he didn't want to mess it up.

I smiled and looked outside at the rain. "Well, there never is a normal day around here."

"Life would be boring if it was." Doc said in my head.

I look at him and give him a mock scowl. "You know I don't like it when you get into my head."

"I know." Doc said. "But you do like it a little."

I laugh and roll my eyes as thunder rolled outside.