Warning: It hasn’t gotten ta da part wit sexual content, but it’ll sooner or later. Me just warnin’ U so don’t go yallin’ at me. Sonic, Sally, Tails, and Dimitri are copyright of Sega and/or Archie Comics and/or DIC productions. Everyone else is copyright of ME!

Emerald and Brass Chapter 2 By: Nin’nako Foxie New Day

The fawn looked up at the red and gray sky. It was pretty unusal for the city. Usually it was blue, or just cloudy. But this didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she stayed alive. She ran down the grimy and dirty street as she headed for the maze-like slums, where she lived. There, she could lose her pursuers easily. There she could lose her life at any moment. Still there was shelter from the guards and hovercrafts that pursued her.
Clutching her stolen bundle, she ducked into an alley way, then into an even smaller alley. Hiding beside a pile of old metal scraps, she leaned against the wall to catch her breath. Suddenly, she heard a sound. Looking to her left she saw two guards coming at her. She turned to run, but another guard was coming from her right. She was trapped.
The three guards grinned fiendishly. Two of them were wolves. The other a jackal. “Don’t worry,” laughed one of the wolves, apparently the leader of the group. “We’ll make it quick.” He drew his blaster. “Or maybe not.” With another laugh, he grabbed her and threw her onto the ground. The crow snatched away her bundle as the other wolf pointed his sword at her chest.
“Now, now. That isn’t a nice way to treated a lady like her,” said a voice from above.
“What the-” Snarled the leader. The jackal just laughed hysterically. “You find this funny, Ned?!” The jackal just laughed some more, and the other wolf whacked him on the back of the head, knocking his helmet over his eyes.
A blue hedgehog leaped down from the top of a nearby building. He landed behind the guards, folding his gargoyle wings on his shoulders. Then, with incredible speed he trashed to guards before the fawn could given blink. A split second later, he offered his hand to her. With a little hesitation, she took it and stood up.
“You all right?” He asked.
“Yes, thank you,” she said cautiously, eyeing him. Then she gasped. “You’re Sonic the Hedgehog!”
“The one and only,” he laughed.
“What are you doing here?! It’s not safe here. I mean the guards are always on alert for you,” she said.
“Ha! I laugh in the face of danger!” He eyed the bundle that she picked up. “Weapons?”
“Um...yeah,” she murmured.
“Well, you better get to where ever it was that you were going.” Sonic pulled his hood back on the cover most of his face, then turned to leave.
“Wait!” The fawn called out. She kissed Sonic on the cheek, then ran the other direction.
Sonic grinned then walked out into the streets. He walked towards the market place, keeping his head down. All around him were buildings that looked medieval. In fact, the whole city as like that. Even the clothing was now a cross between medieval style and armor. Snively, now called Chaonen, hadn’t lied when he said that the destruction the Freedom Fighters had caused many years ago was quite useful to him. The city was now called Darkintis. Sonic had no idea were that name had come from. There were still some robots in the city, but most were now living citizens.
He turned the corner and entered the market place. It was busy as usual. With people bustling about buying, haggling, or stealing the things they wanted. In a more open area he spotted the shop that he was looking for. It was tiny and squeezed into the corner. Cheap jewelry were displayed in the windows. Entering, he waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the interior. Behind the counter was an old badger.
“How may I help you sir?” The badger asked. “I have many fine specimens of exotic gems form around the globe.” He gestured to the display cases. Sonic could tell that most of the things were fakes. He also noticed the small crossbow strapped the badgers wrist.
“All I need is for you to fix this necklace. “Sonic handed the old and tattered necklace to the badger. The clasp had been torn off and it need a new chain.
“Hmm,” the badger muttered, looking carefully at it. “I suspect that you’ll need a new chain?” He reached below the counter and placed a tray, with many different types of chains on it, before Sonic. Sonic chose a silver chain that suited his purposes and gave it to the badger. They haggled over the price for a moment, finally settling on 50 silver pieces, in Sonic’s favor.
As the badger fixed the necklace, Sonic looked around the shop. He was the only one. But by the condition of the floor he could tell that many people came into this shop. Most of the display cases held jewelry and gems, but some held uncut specimens that were actually real and in fabulous on condition. It seemed the farther back in the shop, the better the quality. The front window was probably just a rouse not attract too much attention, but a good buyer would know. He saw a sapphire necklace with gold dolphins weaving around it. A picture of Queen Sally Alicia Acorn wearing it brought a smile to his face. But the Freedom Fighters couldn’t afford this kind of luxuries.
“Sir,” the badger said. “Your necklace is finished. That ‘ill be 2 silver pieces.” Sonic first examined the necklace, and when it met his standards, paid the badger and left the store. He slipped the necklace into his pouch and headed for the Green Barrel Pub. There weren’t too many people now and he longed to just juice there, but that would attract unwanted attention.
Sonic pushed open the doors and walked. He spotted Sally in the corner seated at a table for two farther away from the other tables. “Hi Trish gal, got a present for you,” Sonic grinned handing the necklace to her.
“Oh Nik, how lovely,” she giggled taking the necklace. She quickly slipped the necklace into her own pouch when a serving girl came by. This was all a cherade of course, so no one would recognized their names or guess to purpose of the necklace. They talked to each other in low whispers, Sally giggled every now and then so it seemed like they were whispering sweet nothings in each others ears. But the topic they were discussing was serious. The necklace was a spying device. The crystal in the necklace was really an extremely small and camera. This would be given to Draca the dragonian, one of the key Freedom Fighters posing as a palace guard of Chaonen’s. She wasn’t the only agent they had in the city. Chita The Cheetah was posing as a patrol guard. But since Draca was mostly in the palace, she would be given the necklace. The two were the only Freedom Fighters that Chaonen had never seen, so they were the only ones that could do it. They quickly switched to a more happier subject when the serving girl came with there orders.
After finishing their meal the left the pub and walked to the edge of the Great Forest, not too far away. Tails was leaning against a tree waiting for them. He had a pack full of supplies that he had purchased that the Freedom Fighters needed but couldn’t make themselves. “Hi Sonic. Hi Sally,” he said cheerfully.
“You seem quite cheerful,” said Sally. “Why is that?”
“I just got the best deal anyone could possibly have on these supplies,” he said. “The merchant seemed really desperate to get rid of all of his stock.”
“He probably has to flee the city,” smirked Sonic. “Now are we going to just stand here, or are we going back to Knothole?”
“Right,” Sally said, she wrapped her arms around Sonic’s neck. Then they zoomed deep into the forest with Tails flying close behind. The trees at the edge of the forest weren’t very healthy, giving the forest a sickly look form the outside. But the deeper they went the thicker, healthier, and greener. Soon they came to the secret entrance of Neo-Knothole. They third Knothole Village in the war. The first one had been located in the Great Forest, but not as deep in as this one. The second Knothole was on the Floating Island when the original had been destroyed. Then the Floating Island had fallen into the sea when Chaonen had destroyed the Chaos Chamber which held the legendary Chaos Emerald. Now Neo-Knothole was much like the original Knothole but much deeper underground. It was protected form Chaonen’s sensor, but they needed air pumps to circulate air that far underground, and generators for power.
They were greeted by Lacoria, Dimitri, Zack, and Zack’s nanny Amy Rose. Most of the Freedom Fighters had died 9 years ago on that tragic night, Now called the Lost Night. Ivy was relocated in the Downunda, and was their main communicator. Penzan had been killed awhile back, and Draca and Chita were spies in the city.
“Get the supplies, Tails?” Dimitri asked.
“Yep, here, catch.” Tails tossed Dimitri the pack. But instead of catching it., Dimitri pointed at it and a green glow formed around it, making it float. This was just some power that Dimitri had retained from when he was Enerjak. Thankfully, Knuckles had helped him change back to his old self.
“If that’s all, then I’m going to get a chilidog,” said Sonic.
“But Sonic,” sighed Sally, “you just ate.”
“Well excuse me if I have an uncontrollable crazing for chilidogs,” retorted Sonic, and with a burst of speed, he ran to the kitchen. Then coming back in a few seconds with two chilidogs in his hands.
Sally sighed then turned to Dimitri. “You’ve got everything you need right?”
“Well, not exactly,” said Lacoria softly. “We still need one more thing to create a more clean and longer lasting source of energy for the generators. But the thing we need is on the Little Planet. And only found in the Stardust Speedway Zone.”
“Then we’ll need to go get it,” said Sally. “It doesn’t sound too hard. Sonic and I can go get it tomorrow.” She yawned. “After a good night’s sleep that is.”
“Good night then your majesty,” Amy Rose said, bowing. She took Zack’s hand. “Come on Zack, you need to go to bed too.”
“But I’m not tired,” he yawned.

The next morning Sonic woke up early. He leaped out of bed and got dressed, then quickly packed his backpack for the mission today. Alone with Sally at last, he thought, and not in the stinkin’ city.
In the Dining Room, Sally was just sitting down at the table with Dimitri, Lacoria, and Tails. “Good Morning to ya,” Sonic said, grabbing his food and sitting down with them.
“ ‘Morning, Sonic,” they said in unison.
“Ready to leave, Sonic?” Sally asked.
“Ready to juice at anytime,” Sonic replied.
“Good. We’ll be leaving in half an hour,” Sally said, finishing her breakfast then getting up to put the dishes away.

In half an hour, Sonic met Sally at the entrance of Knothole, ready to go. They set out towards the Little Planet, confident that they would complete their mission. The first Zone they had to cross was Palm Tree Panic. It wasn’t too much of a challenge. Few bots here and there. Nothing out of the usual for a zone.
Then came Collision Chaos. Sonic could remember this place from when Robotnik was still in control, and had kidnapped Amy Rose and Tails so he could lure Sonic to fight Metal Sonic. He sighed, wishing that times could be as carefree as it had been those many years ago. He absentmindedly kicked a piece of scrape metal. Wait a moment, he thought. Collision Chaos was not the kind of zone where pieces of metal usually laid around.
“Sonic,” said Sally. “Look!” She pointed to what look like a wreckage of some kind of ship. “What is it?” Sonic say a door on the side and kicked it open. The interior made up his mind that is was definitely some sort of aircraft. The pilot seat was empty, everything else looked like it had blown up. “Nicole, scan the interior of this craft,” Sally said opening her computer.
“Scanning, Sally,” Nicole replied.
“What is it?”
“Accessing onboard computers.” After a moment Nicole said, “Spacecraft, Code name: Yagema. Original destination: Unknown.”
“Cool, aliens,” laughed Sonic.
“Sonic, hush,” Sally said. “Nicole, where did it come from and who was the pilot? Does this pose a threat to us?”
“Area of origin: The Quezactlioh System. Pilot species: unknown, nomade,” Nicole replied
“Hey, Nicole, if this is an alien ship, then how come you can understand the computer files?” Sonic asked.
“This ship is equipped with a universal translator,” Nicole said, then added a ,”DUH!”
“Nicole!” snapped Sally. “What happened to it?”
“The last transmission was: ‘I’ve been hit. Just lovely, yeah sure they just won’t give will the-’”
“Hmmm, well that was odd,” said Sally, thoughtfully, “then it should pose no threat to us. Maybe we could use some of this wreckage material.”
Sonic and Sally quickly searched the ship, but found nothing that they could use. “That was a waste of time. Come on, we need to get going,” said Sonic, tapping his foot impatiently.
“You’re right,” sighed Sally, “let’s go.”
Suddenly, a panel slipped open in the wall. Sally cautiously looked inside. “I wander way it opened all of a sudden?” Sonic started tapping his foot again. She turned and glared at him. Then looked down at his foot. She stared harder, then saw a small marking on the floor. “Sonic, you must of accidentally opened it with your foot tapping.”
Sonic ran over and looked inside the compartment. He reached in and took out a long staff of some sort. It was pointed at one end. The other end had a crystal on it. “What’s this?” he asked, scratching his head.
“Wait, Sonic. Do you hear that?” Sally asked in a hushed voice.
Sonic listened. Then heard the unmistakably sound of Combots coming. “Shoot, we’ve got to get out.” They ran outside, but then found themselves already surrounded on all sides.
“Surrender at once!” commanded the lead Combot.
“Let me think about it for a moment,” Sonic said. Then shouted, “No!” An instant later, two Combots were down. Then two more, burned through by Sonic and Sally’s laser blasters. But more were advancing, more then they could handle. Suddenly, a combot lunged forward and grabbed the staff that Sonic had taken from the ship. “Let go, ya stupid bot!”
Sonic twisted away form the bot. He felt the staff twist also, then a blast of energy shot from the crystal into the bot and through two others behind it. This gave Sonic and idea. He pointed the staff at some more Combots and twisted the staff. They too were destroyed. “Ha! Take that ya tin heads!” He laughed. I wonder what this does? Sonic thought seeing another part of the staff he could twist. So he did, but it didn’t move. He twisted with all of his strength, thinking it was stuck. The crystal started to blink and make blinking sounds.
“What did you do, Sonic?” Shouted Sally, still trying not to get killed. “It sounds like a bomb now!”
“Uh oh,” Sonic said, tossing it at the rest of the bots. Then he grabbed Sally’s hand and ran. They were suddenly flung several feet by the force of the explosion. “Sucker really packs a punch.” Sonic stood at the edge of a huge crater, every bit of the bots had been demolished, including the ship.
“I’ll say, come on,” said Sally, grabbing Sonic’s arm, “let’s get out of here before more Combots come.”

Tidal Tempest was definitely a breeze. Water water everywhere so... aw who cares! They’ve got an aquamancer!

Gems of all sorts dominated the Quartz Quadrant. One could truly lose himself in the uncountable facets of the gems. Light reflected off the gems casting rainbows everywhere one looked. It was impossible not to be taken in by all this natural beauty.
Slowly the two Freedom Fighters made their way through this beautiful, but deadly Zone to those who let down there guard. Even the gems could prove deadly. They were now in a more poorly lit section of the zone. They had to pause for a moment to get their bearings. Sonic kept a lookout as Sally consulted Nicole on the located of the portal to the next zone. She glanced up several times, looking in all direction. Her gazed then focused on a large gem stone sticking out of the ground. She walked over to it.
“Whatcha doin’ ,Sal?” Sonic asked.
“This shouldn’t be here.” She kicked it suddenly. Immediately, metallic arms and leg shot out from the gem. It stood up, then a panel opened up, revealing an electronic eye. “Ha!” shouted Sally, as Sonic quickly pulled her behind some gems. The bot opened fire on them, but only hit the gems. “I knew something was wrong.”
Sonic aimed his blaster at the bot and shot it. But the shot ricocheted off the bot’s gem armor, then off of all the nearby gems. “Whoa, heads up Sal!” Sonic shouted. Sally let out a yelp as the shot bounced off a gem by her, cutting off the tip of her waist long hair. Suddenly, there was a clang, then silence. Sonic looked at the bot again, but now it was on the ground with smoke coming out of its shattered eye.
“Sonic,” growled Sally, looking at her hair.
“At least I got him,” Sonic laughed back.
Sally scowled at him then continued down the path that the bot had been blocking. “Come on! The portal should be up ahead somewhere.”

Wacky Workbench. A rather silly name, but like any other zone, had its dangers. Lots of electrical machines and bumpers. And everybody knows that electricity and water don’t mix... Another reason to have an aquamancer around.

“This has been a real breeze,” said Sonic as they entered the Stardust Speedway Zone. “Now all we need is to find the supplies, then we’re out of here.”
“Not quite.”
Sally and Sonic spun around. Flying 5 feet off the ground was a metallic hedgehog.
Metal Sonic.

End of chapter 2

Part 3 preview: It looky like Sonic met an old enemy. On the Startdust Speedway too. Hmm. Maybe somethin’ will happen. N-E ways, da Freedom Fighters gain an unlikely allie, but things are just gonna get worse... Heehee =^.^=