Characters (C) Respective Owners

Future Reign

by: Kiba Sniper

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Ch. 1: Past Calamities

"But Vectoooor!" Charmy Bee whined, crossing his arms with an adorable pout on his face. Sticking out his lower lip, he growled, "How come I have to stay here while you and Espio get to go on a super cool mission?!"

Vector the Crocodile sighed, rubbing his temples in aggrivation. The Chaotix had been hired to protect an expansive, unpowerful jewel created out of the world's purest crystal in Spagonia in the Pickle Lab. However, the jewel was being threatened by robbers of an infamous group known as the Babylon Rogues. The crocodile feared the young bee's safety, and Espio the Chameleon refused to bring him along.

"Charmy, let me explain this too you," Espio softly commanded, grating his teeth together to remain calm. "You were injured during the Metal Overlord incident by nearly having your arm blown apart if Vector hadn't recoiled with his fire breath. We're concerned with your safety, that is all."

"B-but we still stalled him!" Charmy futily argued, glaring at his detective comrade.

"Look, kiddo, I got a bigger mission for ya," Vector proclaimed, sneering.

"Huh? What is it, Vector?" Charmy eagerly demanded, hopping onto his desk with scattered papers everywhere. "Is it that mission where I go into the supermarket and spy on Lady Vanilla for you?"

His pale green complexion grew a course red, making him stutter. Everyone that even caught eyes could tell Vector had a crush on the older rabbit. However, Vanilla never seemed to notice his constant flirting, and she simply thought of him as a close friend. Vector grumbled, glaring daggers at the young bee.

"Actually, as much as Vector wishes for that to be true, it isn't the case," Espio stated, crossing his arms. "We've also been informed from Professor Pickle, our client in Spagonia, that the Babylon Rogues know of us being hired to guard the gem. They believe that the gem is still in his lab, but what they don't know is that we have the actual gem."

Vector nodded, presenting a beautiful silver crystal shaped like a triangle cut. It glittered in the dimming ceiling lights due to Vector forgetting to pay the electric bill several times. Charmy blinked, astounded at the glimmering crystal presented to him. Grasping the crystal, he tossed it in his hands gently.

"Wait, what do you expect me to do?" Charmy asked childishly, cocking his head.

"Ya see, Espy and I have decided to give you your first solo mission!" Vector jeered, rubbing his head gleefully. "Here's the plan, kid! You stay here with the jewel while Espio and I venture to Spagonia. Since we live in Station Square, we'll be half a continent away."

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Espio questioned, crossing his arms. "If not, you can-"

"Nuh-uh! This is so super awesome!" Charmy cheered, watching his reflection in jewel. "I'll protect the jewel! Does it even have a name?"

"Not yet," Vector admitted. He pointed over to their dusty kitchen where a small refridgerator that would usually be found in a college dorm lay in a desolate corner of the darkened room. "We'll be going in a few minutes, Charmy. You've got food for about one or two weeks since we won't be around. If you need anything, just call Lady Vanilla."

Charmy simply nodded, not even listening to a word Vector just said. This was the very first time Vector and Espio entrusted him with a solo mission. For him to take control and conquer. It was the first time for him to independant, and pride sweltered in his heart, burning like a fire chistled inside of him. Looking up to speak, he noticed that Vector and Espio were gone.

He blinked, rather surprised that he didn't hear them leave. Floating around, Charmy peeked through each room and found that their bags were gone, signalling their leave. Deciding that he was simply lost in his own world, Charmy than realized a very important aspect of his day: Just what was he going to do?

The young child looked around the house, feeling a draft swiftly thrash through the small abode. Gulping, Charmy flew into the living room and slumped on the lumpy, emerald couch with the jewel in his hand. Grasping the remote, he began to flick through channels until he found the news.

"This just in!" the anchorwoman, a brunnette fulmar with glasses and a business suit, cried with a hint of agony in her voice. "At the Pickle Lab in Spagonia, the infamous Babylon Rogues have surged in and suddenly left without stealing the crystal. Professor Pickle has suffered minor injuries along with his assistant. They previously hired the Chaotix Detective Agency-" Charmy beamed at their name. "-and they are travelling to Spagonia now. The gem they were searching for was made of the purest crystal, but it doesn't have any unnatural powers like the Chaos Emeralds. Reporting live at Pickle Lab, Spagonia."

Charmy stared at the news with a small gape. The Babylon Rogues had already struck, and the fake jewel wasn't stolen. Which meant that they were onto him. Frightened, he pinched the leather couch, ripping at part of the fabric off and a coil sprung. Confused, Charmy sighed and yanked at the coil until it slapped him in the nose. Yelping, he held his nose with one hand the jewel with the other.

Bolting into Espio's room, he found himself surronded by scrolls and ninja gear of all sorts. Charmy stared at the weapons, wondering why his lizard brotherly figure resorted to using them. Grabbing some sort of knife, he threw it at the wall where a dartboard was, and it simply bounced off. Ducking as it sprung backwards, he cringed when it stabbed into a lamp. Espio surely wasn't going to let him off the hook for that little mishap.

"So...if those Babylon Rogues know about the fake jewel, what'll they do now?" Charmy pondered aloud, clutching the jewel to his chest. "Oh, man! Now I wish I went with them or even knew what a Babylon Rogue was!"

Charmy flew out of the room and began muttering nonsense to himself when he skidded to a stop. Slowly flying back, he dashed inside their computer room. Espio insisted that they get a computer so that they could do more research, and so that Vector would stop nagging him about that accursed "Computer Room" on the Space Colony ARK. Booting it up, he entered the password that was simply "password" and logged onto the internet. Clicking on a search engine, Charmy typed in slowly Babylon Rogues and waited as hits came on. He clicked on the first one and immediately frowned when the computer lagged in loading.

Why did Vector decide on getting service from the phone company? Oh, yeah so that tax collector could stop calling us, Charmy thought, chuckling under his breath.

When the page finally decided to load, Charmy squinted his eyes at the tiny font and struggled to read. "Let's see...The Babylon Rogues are a group of bird robbers that specialize in Extreme Gear, a type of flying airboard. Hey, I want one! Anyway, the leader of the group is Jet the Hawk, muscle Storm the Albatross, and technical advisor Wave the Swallow," he mumbled, dragging his fingertips on the table. "Heh, they don't sound too bad."

However, he didn't read their list of achievements yet. Once Charmy had read about the Ex World Grand Prix, he gulped at the part where Wave detonated the bomb on Sonic's Extreme Gear. He continued reading, but when the Arks of the Cosmos incident got involved, he instantly knew who they were.

That green bird Jet smashed through our home with robots chasing him! he mentally groaned, rubbing his temple. I'm going up against a pyscho and his little cronies! Great!

Staring over to the gem, the black and yellow insect sighed. Tossing it around between his hands, he bit the inside of his mouth. Usually, Charmy wouldn't be worried about some measly birds, but after reading their history, he dreaded if they decided to drop a visit. Rocking back and forth in the swirling chair, the gem continued to sparkle. Charmy began to wonder if Vector and Espio were wrong about the gem. It continued to shimmer, but it suddenly dulled when he stopped throwing it around.

However, Charmy's attenae perked up. It twitched to the left, and he quickly turned in that direction to see a window. In the distance were three specks of green, purple and grey zooming towards their shack. He gasped, gazing back to the picture of the Babylon Rogues and realized something terrifying: They were coming, and he was facing this alone.

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Jet the Hawk was more than angry, and Storm the Albatross and Wave the Swallow knew. The emerald hawk dashed towards the shoddy detective agency, planning on ripping the so-called "detectives'" throats out. Cracking his knuckles, he grumbled under his breath, complaining about, well, everything.

"I can't believe we went all the way from freaking Chun-Nan to Spagonia to get ripped off!" Jet shrieked, throwing his hands up into the air. "I can't wait to get my hands on those dirty detectives!"

"I'm just pleased that foolish assistant revealed what really happened with the fake jewel," Wave admitted, trying to calm her leader down. "Jet, will you stop fuming? We have a mission to accomplish!"

"I know that, Wave!" Jet snapped irritably, rolling his eyes.

"Boss, I think Wave's right on this one," Storm admitted lowly, not wanting to upset him anymore. "You gotta calm down if we wanna get the jewel. We can smash their faces in afterwards!"

"Et tu, Storm?" Jet gasped.

"Et what?" Storm repeated, blinking.

"Ugh, nevermind."

The Babylon Rogues halted right in front of the side of the Chaotix Detective Agency, surprised that it was so run-down. It was a pale yellow color with a chicken on their roof as a weathervine. A shoddy sign with a crack served as their welcoming mat with their name writting in black paint that seemed relatively new. Storm pointed out that their was a dock nearby, exposing the clear ocean. Jet commented that the agency made the sea pale to ugliness.

"Storm, bust the door down," Jet commanded. "We're going to have a little party."

Storm nodded, smirking. Reeling his fist back, he slammed it into the wooden door, and it came clear off it's rusted hinges. Splinters of wood scattered all over the place, filling the eerie silence. The Babylon Rogues dashed in with the boards, literally crashing the place. As Wave and Storm began to search for the actual crystal, Jet flew around the home quietly. Leaping off his board, he realized that there was a hum coming from a door painted black with a purple line with the word Espio in bright letters. In this case, curiousity got the better of avian, and Jet found himself slowly walking to the door. Wrapping his hand around the knob, he yanked the door open, finding nothing, but weapons.

"What kind of nutjob lives in this place?" he asked to himself, stepping inside.

"Surprise!"

Jet's head whirled around, and he stepped back. However, his foot suddenly tripped over something invisable, falling backwards on his head. Shaking his head in disbelief, he found himself staring at young bee child with the jewel in his hand. Sneering down at the shocked hawk, Charmy stuck his tongue out and flew out the window. Jet remained on the floor for a few moments, sucking in a deep breath before screaming with outrage. Glaring at the wire that Charmy tripped him with, he figured out that he set up a little trap. Clever, for a brat.

Storm and Wave both rushed in, boards under their arms. Helping Jet up, Storm gulped at all of the weaponry hovering around him, and he commented that obviously this house was run by madmen. Jet shook his head, and Wave asked what happened.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened! This little bee brat has the crystal!" Jet groaned, rubbing his forehead. "If we don't get that gem, we don't get paid by our client!"

"Speaking of which, our client seemed extremely anxious for us to get that crystal," Wave stated bemusedly. "Ever since the Eggman incident, Jet, I thought you'd be more responsible with who hires us!"

"Wave, this isn't the time for you to nag me! Can get going?!" Jet snarled, hopping onto his board.

Sighing, she shook her head at the arrogant hawk. Sometimes Wave wondered why he was even chosen to be the leader. Sure, their fathers worked together with Storm's uncle, but he was absolutely useless. He was lazy, obnoxious, but she had to respect him for getting such a revered reputation as the Legendary Wind Rider. However, she would never actually tell that to his face.

The Babylon Rogues were off, streaks of jade, violet and grey streaming through the streets. Jet growled under his breath, swearing to get that kid no matter what the outcome was. He ordered his team to split up with Storm and Wave going right and left respectively. Dashing straight ahead, Jet found himself leaving Station Square and going into a massive jungle known as the Mystic Ruins. Suddenly, he caught a twinkle of white in a large cave.

Charmy popped his head out of the cave he hid in. It was rather surprising to himself that he could fly such a long distance, covering at least ten to twenty miles on willpower alone. Sucking in deep breaths, the bee noticed a sliver of green that mismatched the color of rainforest. Suddenly, he found Jet's head turning, and they caught eyes. The hawk jabbed a finger at him, making Charmy shriek and dash off farther into the cave.

Glancing over his shoulder, Charmy's pants were drowned out by the sudden revving. Paranoid, frightened amber eyes caught with greedy, prideful teal ones. Swift wings that were always abuzz seemed heavy for the six-year-old, knowing that death was right on his stinger. Charmy darted through the cave, hearing the revving come closer and closer like he was flying from a starving lion.

"Give it up, you little pest!" Jet ordered, grabbing Charmy's stinger as he caught up. "Hand over the gem!"

"Over my dead body!" Charmy vowed, wildly slapping his hands around. One hit made connect with Jet's chest, forcing him to be released. "Nyah nyah! Can't get me!"

"Oh, yeah?!" Jet shrieked, pulling out two fans.

"...This could be a problem," the bee muttered as he started for a beam of light at the end of the tunnel. Clenching his eyes shut at the beam of light that could blind a man, he yelped and suddenly stopped in mid-flight. "Huh? No way! Angel Island right in sight!"

Also surprised by the light, Jet crashed into Charmy and sent both scattering. The jewel flew out of Charmy's pocket, landing on the small edge of the cliff. Both groaned, rubbing their heads at the collision before their eyes landed on the gem. Charmy's hand shot out for it, but Jet elbowed him away. Grasping the jewel in victory, Jet sneered down at him.

"Better luck next time, loser," Jet taunted, waving his finger at the fallen insect.

"I think you need the luck, Jet!"

A fist bashed into the side of Jet's head, nearly sending him over to edge. Knuckles the Echidna grabbed the crystal that flew out of his hands, grinning. Helping Charmy up, he asked if he was alright.

"I am, thanks to you Knuckles!" Charmy jeered, smiling brightly at the crimson guardian.

"What are you doing all the way out here with this birdbrain?" Knuckles asked, handing the jewel back to Charmy.

Explaining the charade, Charmy failed to notice Jet was struggling to his feet. Spitting, Jet grunted and slashed his fans at the back of Knuckles' head. However, Charmy called this out, and Knuckles grabbed the fans as he swivled around. The hawk lashed his foot at the echidna's unguarded chest, throwing him aside. Rolling over, Knuckles scrambled to his feet, but was pleasantly shocked to find Charmy fending for himself with his stinger. Jet took a stab at him with his fans, hitting Charmy square in the face. The crystal dropped to his feet as Charmy fell to the ground.

Grasping the gem before Knuckles could strike, Jet dashed off on his Extreme Gear right towards Angel Island. Fluttering to his feet, Charmy openly whined about his failure. Knuckles placed a hand on his shoulder, telling him not to worry. Pointing out that Jet was heading the direction of his home, Charmy was instantly perky and quickly demanded they follow. The bee flew off while the echidna glided off towards the floating paradise in the sky, hoping Jet wouldn't do anything stupid.

Angel Island flourished with shrubbery of all kinds. Emerald trees rose high over the island as clear rivers flew protected by the all natural weeds that grew inside the clean water. Flowers that would make Charmy go crazy seemed to reside everywhere, hued from each color of the rainbow. Jet stared down at his reflection, feeling a bit guilty over fighting a child eighy years his junior. Shaking his head in disgust, he stared at the crystal with an ill frown. Wondering why he felt so down about hitting a little brat of all people. Maybe it was just karma thrown back at him for nearly killing Sonic as they fought over the Arks of the Cosmos by hitting him straight off the roof in MeteorTech's Crimson Tower. Sighing, the hawk clutched the gem and began to think happier thoughts like how much that baby of a jewel was going to earn him.

Getting back on his Extreme Gear after slapping some water on his eyes to keep him awake, Jet darted off with his board. He wasn't exactly sure why, but there was a large temple crafted from the strongest stone that made the temple look golden. Awe stroked his feathers, matting them down as he saw a pulse of green light emitting from the top. Gently gliding up the steps, he found himself staring at he hunk of green emerald known as the Master Emerald.

It was utmost perfection as Jet slowly grazed his hand along the top. Suddenly, he cringed in pain as the emerald glowed darkly like it was refusing his touch. Frowning, Jet glared at the emerald, seeing only his dark reflection. Gulping, he swapped back to reality as his wrist started to beep. Looking down at his wrist was a small bracelet designed by Wave as a communicator.

"Jet, are you okay? Have you located the crystal?" Wave asked in a mechanized voice.

"Peachy, I just fought the brat bee that attacked with the Red Mutt of all people. Apparantly, I'm on his island now," Jet reported.

"Angel Island, you mean," she corrected.

"Whatever. I'll meet you guys back at the airship, so tell Storm that too. Over and out."

"Not over and out!" Charmy roared, dashing out of the woods with Knuckles staggering behind him.

"Doesn't that kid ever run out of juice?" Knuckles mumbled to himself. Looking up, his amethyst eyes widened in horror as Jet was leaning on his sacred emerald. "Get off the Master Emerald, you feathered freak!"

"I'll take it that this is my time to make a splendid escape!" Jet jeered as he sidestepped Charmy who had his arms out. "Now that I have the crystal...Where'd it go?!"

Charmy sneered at the frightened bird, holding up the jewel in his eyes. "Fell for it!"

"You dirty-!"

Knuckles grabbed Jet's arm, twisting it backwards. The hawk yelped as Knuckles forced him to the ground. Charmy noticed that the jewel began to vibrate in his hand, and it pulsed with a vibrant white. Nervously, he called Knuckles' name, but he was too busy fueding with Jet. Trying again only led to Jet hitting Knuckles' thick, gullible head with his Extreme Gear. Wouldn't Wave be proud to see Jet smashing around her lovely Gear? A third time was even more useless since the Master Emerald began to glow. It was enough for the fighting teens to halt their battle as the jewel levitated out of Charmy's hand and sunk straight into the Master Emerald.

"Aaagh! Vector and Espio are gonna kill me now!" Charmy screamed, clenching his hands to his face. "Knuckles, bring it back!"

"Yeah, Red Mutt! Get my money back!" Jet commanded, grabbing the emerald's side. "Maybe I smash this..."

"Don't you dare!" Knuckles quipped, shoving him away. Placing his hands over the Master Emerald, he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "Let me see what I can do. Does this jewel have any power?"

"None at all," Charmy said knowledgeably. "Our client, Professor Pickle, just said that it was made out of the greatest crystal, so I really don't get it."

That's a surprise, Jet thought sarcastically, crossing his arms.

Suddenly, the Master Emerald glowed, and Knuckles gasped. The echidna took a step back, eyes widening in fear. Charmy bit his lip, hiding behind Knuckles while Jet grasped the sides of his Extreme Gear in case he had to make a speedy gataway. Brightening up the sky to an emerald color, Knuckles, Charmy, and Jet each heard the same voice ringing in their heads.

"Welcome to your last."

Then, once those words left their heads, the emerald dulled. Jet sighed, thinking he was going crazy for a few moments. Than the Master Emerald glew so brightly that it nearly burned their eyes. Charmy cried out, clinging onto Knuckles' waist, but his voice was silenced by a sudden roar of wind.

Then were was absolute silence, and the three unlikely heroes had vanished.

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Well, my latest project that I hope you enjoy! What happened to Charmy, Jet and Knuckles? Why did the Master Emerald absorb that worthless crystal? Find out next time in Future Reign! Please, read and review.