The Chameleon Chronicles

Chapter 10 - Rescue

"No! No! No, no, no!" Eggman moaned. "Why? Two of me would have been able to conquer Sonic once and for all!"
"Like it helped last time?" Knuckles asked, looking at Eggman on the floor.
"Well, there were two of Sonic then, and now there's only one again. With my old self as a partner, we could have won."
"This machine is broken beyond repair," Espio commented, looking at the now destroyed portal machine. "And if I'm not mistaken, this base seems unstable."
Eggman picked himself off the floor and walked to the left side of the room. The glares of Mighty and Vector followed him. After a few presses on a control board, a muttering started up from him. He looked up with a wicked grin on his face.
"Well, the base is fine," he said. "Just needs a bit of work done to the stabiliser, so I'll get off and fix it up." He ran from the room, stopped at the exit to turn back and say, "Bye. Enjoy the flight." Then he was gone.
The Chaotix let him go. Espio is still focused on the broken machinery. Vector and Mighty had moved to the control board Eggman had stood at, Charmy was hovering around, and Knuckles was looking for something to do. Zoin and Krona looked out to where Sonic and the robot were fighting, hardly even visible any more, wondering if their sister would survive.
"Knuckles? Espio?" Vector called. "We need to do some quick working."
"What's wrong?" Espio asked.
Zoin heard this, and followed the other two as they moved to look at the control board.
"This base is slowly losing all of its power," Mighty explained. "Soon there won't be enough power to stay afloat."
"All of these chao need to be moved, and fast," Vector added.
"Krona, Charmy and I will look for something to move them with," Espio said.
"I'll help," Zoin offered.
"We need to be quick. Boxes, containers, anything that can hold chao. Let's move."

Krona was still looking out at the distant fight when a hand rested on his shoulder. Krona's head turned slightly to recognise his brother.
"We need to be moving," Zoin said. "We can't stay still."
"We found our sister," Krona quietly said. "But her fate lies outside of our control."
"Don't you trust Sonic to rescue her?"
"Of course I do, but there's always the chance..." He couldn't even think that. "Is there anything I can do?" he asked in a firmer, louder voice.
"Me, Espio, and Charmy are on the lookout for something to help move the chao," Zoin informed. "You wanted to the help the chao, so help us to help them."
"Shouldn't be too hard." Krona ran from the room, and quickly set to searching.
Zoin caught up, and the two worked together on the eastern side of the base. There were numerous supplies which were turned out of containers, and the two debated whether a large plate of a robot would work as good.
Returning back with the eight containers and robot plate, they saw that most of the vats had been opened, and the first lot of chao had already been loaded into the two boxes that Espio had brought back. A much larger box held Cream and her chao.
"We're back," Zoin announced.
Espio and Knuckles turned to see, then ran to help push the boxes to the others. The robot plate was placed aside as an extra. With the boxes in place, Krona had moved back to his previous position. The battle between Sonic and the dark chao was now too far away to see, but Krona felt sure the battle would soon be won by Sonic. Only he could be allowed to win.
For otherwise, he knew, their sister would be lost.

Zoin had noticed Krona return to where he had last stood, but felt that this time it was best to leave him. With five of them now working to swap the chao from vats to boxes, the work was being done quicker. Half of the containers had been loaded, and the others were quickly being filled. Knuckles and Mighty paused for a second, and looked around, but otherwise the procession of loading didn't stop.
The next noise made everyone stop.
The procession carried on, quicker than before, until the last container was finally filled with chao. But a temporary stopgap. How to quickly get away. Another explosion made that decision for them.
"There's nothing for it!" Vector yelled. "We'll have to push them all!"
"That should be no problem," Knuckles answered.
"But where's Charmy?" Espio asked.
"Right here," a voice came out of the communicator of Vector. "Outside. There's someone coming to meet you."
"Who?" Vector asked. The sound of jets could be heard slowly manoeuvring closer.
"Who?" Vector asked again.
A blue double wing wobbled into view, followed by a configuration and friend Team Chaotix knew very well. The transformed bi-plane inched closer to the opening, with the yellow fox inside waving for attention.
"Get Cream in the second seat," the fox commanded, "and see if any chao will fit in there as well."
It took a bit of hard work to get Cream into the back seat of the bi-plane, but with a bit of work both she and a boxful of chao were loaded. On Vector's word, the bi-plane headed out.
"Okay, Charmy," Vector called into his communicator. "Tails just took Cream and a boxful of chao. So where are you?"
"By a transport," Charmy matter-of-factly said. "Though it won't fit in that gap. You'll have to drag the remaining chao through the base and back to the front entrance."
"Okay. Just give us a few minutes to get there."
The remaining nine containers were split between the six of them, with Knuckles, Mighty, and Vector taking an extra one each. The journey through the base took quite a while, with numerous detours having to be made around the larger destroyed robots. The chao remained still in the containers.
Checking in with Charmy again to make sure they were heading in the right direction, the group hit another roadblock at the place Charmy said he was.
"Are you sure there are no other entrances?" Vector asked through his communicator. A louder explosion and a slight tilt of the base had given a rough edge to his voice.
"I was going to tell you about the robot blocking the entrance, but I tried to move it myself," Charmy replied. "There's enough of it through this side that I tried driving into it."
"Which caused it to get stuck."
Mighty and Knuckles were working away at moving it as fast as they could. While a sizeable gap had formed, it wasn't enough yet to get the containers through. Another explosion sounded, and this time there was a definite drop felt as the base lost a lot more power to its engines.
"Alright! That's enough. You two, get back." Vector commanded roughly.
As soon as Mighty and Knuckles had moved from the robot, Vector charged into it, forcing it through the door a few inches. Stepping back, he charged into it again. On the third attempt, both Knuckles and Mighty helped, which gave enough power to finally force it through fully.

Krona admired the strength of them, and quickly rushed through the entrance with two containers of chao as soon as the three had cleared it. He stood looking around for the transport he had heard Charmy say he had. The scraping of containers and hurried footsteps told him the others had followed.
Vector was back on his communicator, asking where Charmy was. For an answer the transport had rounded the remains of the robot, landed roughly, and clanked its door open.
"Wow, that won't be working any more," Charmy said as he came flying out.
"The transport or the door?" Vector asked.
"Well, I'd say the transport would be good for one more trip."
"That's all it needs to do. Everyone! Load every container up quickly!"
At the end of these words, a strange screeching echoed throughout the base. Everyone looked around wearily, and Krona couldn't help but think that maybe the engines had finally given out. Or at least one of them, as he noticed the floor was turning from flat to a slope. Working together, all nine containers were loaded into the transport, and after a rocky few moments, each member of Team Chaotix as well as the two brothers were inside as well.
The transport shook slightly as it lifted from the ground and righted itself. Blasting out of the hangar, the transport didn't seem to be faring any better than the base. It was listing to the right, and Vector had to work hard to keep it upright.
Krona was thankful they were out of the base, but felt saddened by the fact he didn't have his sister beside him. He knew Zoin was also thinking the same thing. And perhaps he, like Krona, was also thinking this.
Sonic will save her.