War for Mobius

Chapter 20

When they had landed, the skies had been sunny and clear. Now the increasing speed of the wind, the black clouds growing overhead, and the chill that fills the air, Rotor knew this trip to the beach wasn't going to be the highlight of the trip.

The walrus adjust the yellow cap on his head and looks towards his team. Antoine nervously nibbles on what little fingernails he has left while Bunnie does a last minute check over her mechanical limbs.

It's kind of funny; Rotor thinks to himself, that the three of them usually ended teamed up on a job. Sure he'd done missions with Sal and Sonic, but this groups seemed to be his group, the one that always stayed the same.

"You ever notice we're usually teamed up together?" he asks the others.

The coyote and the rabbit look at each other and then back at Rotor.

"Now that you are mentioning it…" Antoine ponders.

"Yeah," Bunnie adds, "We do tend to get partnered up a lot."

"We must just work well together," the coyote suggests.

"That's true," the purple walrus nods, "We do always come out on top. Let's not let this job turn out any different. No unnecessary risks."

Bunnie and Antoine nod.

"Alright then, let's do it to it."

The trip the forest-to-jungle had both fascinated and annoyed Rotor. Angel Island had quite a few different environments upon its surface that seemed to meld perfectly though unnaturally. The walrus's scientific mind was torn between the illogical and nigh impossibility of such a layout, as well as being amazed and desiring to understand how the process worked and came to be.

These feelings briefly renew when the jungle suddenly becomes a sandy beach, though at a smaller scale.

The trio pauses and quickly ducks behind a large boulder to assess the situation.

"I count five workers bots," Rotor informs his team.

"Four SWATbots," Antoine adds nervously, "Two patrolling bird like badniks as well."

"And one mobian overseer," Bunnie spits, "Blasted Traitor."

Rotor can't help but agree with the cyborg's opinion. Understandably, there were many mobians that had no choice but to suffer through Robotnik's tyrannical rule. However those who willingly sided with the dictator were nothing but scum. All of them were bought off by promises of wealth and power. Both payments would be bled out of their fellow mobians.

"We should wipe that stupid look right off his ugly mug," Bunnie continues.

"No unnecessary risks," Antoine reminds her.

"Might be worth it," the cybernetic rabbit sighs, "I can't see any cave."

Rotor and Antoine look around. Sal did say it was in a cave right? Where could it be?

"We'll just have to keep looking," the walrus shrugs, "C'mon."

Staying close to the edge of the Jungle, Rotor's team slowly makes their way down the beach.

The waves were rising quickly, and Rotor wonders how high the waterline will rise.

"Hold up," Bunnie halts the group, "Look over there."

Up ahead sitting high on a cliff face sits a small opening in a wall of stone.

"Could that be it?" she asks.

"It is so high up," groans the coyote.

"Then let's not waste any time gawking at it," Rotor recommends, "The longer we wait, the easier we'll be spotted."

"Not if the weather interferes," Bunnie counters.

Checking to see if the close is clear, Rotor sneaks over towards the rock face. Climbing wasn't his strongest point, but there appeared to be no other way to reach the opening. It was risky, but so was searching for an alternate path. And with the enemy patrol nearby and the storm brewing, speed seemed like the better option.

Gripping tightly to a small rock, Rotor begins to heft himself up the cliff side.

"Good thing I'm not a big old fat guy or this would be really difficult," he groans.

"Don't be so hard on yourself sugar," Bunnie teases as she climbs past him with ease, "All that self-loathing will just weigh you down."

"Thanks," the heavy walrus grumbles trailing after her.

At the bottom the coyote attempts to grip the wall and pull himself up behind them. His hand slips and he ends up landing on his backside.

"Hey 'Twan," the cyborg calls from the entrance of the cave, "You might wanna stay down there and act as look out."

"But I can…"

"I'm sure Sal would be impressed if you hold the fort by yourself," Rotor adds.

Antione hops to his feet, "Do not think you can bait me into remaining down here."

"Technically I'm coaxing you to stay down there," Rotor corrects.

"Same thing," the soldier boy grumbles, "I remain down here only to assist the mission and not to win favors of my Princess."

"Sure hun," the rabbit rolls her eyes as she helps the walrus into the opening, "Whatever you say."

Rotor and Bunnie walk slowly down the tunnel of the cave. The walrus fishes into his tool belt and pulls out a small flashlight. He shines before them.

"Looks like the cave turns up ahead," he informs his compatriot.

She nods, "I'll check it out."

Rotor hands her the torch and she slowly tip-toes down the corridor. When she reaches the corner she pauses, takes a deep breath, and peaks around.

"Clear," she calls back relaxing.

Rotor moves up to join her, "What do you see?"

"Take a look," she returns the flashlight to him.

Rotor looks around the small room. It's a small chamber with a stone statue of a gem on a pedestal in the center. There is an inscription carved on the statues base, so he moves in closer to read it.

"What's it say?" Bunnie asks.

"I can't really make it out," admits Rotor, "Not entirely at least. What can make out is requiring us to prove ourselves worthy for something."

"Worthy?" she taps her chin, "Why and how?"

Rotor places his hand on the gem to use as support so he can stand when suddenly it flashes white. The light envelopes the room briefly. When it disappears, so has the two Freedom Fighters.

The hole in the side of cliff face lights up for a moment before fading away as quickly as it came.

"Rotor?" Antoine calls up towards it, "Bunnie?"

There is no reply. Swallowing his fear, Antoine reaches up to grab the handholds once again and pulls himself upwards.

Just before he can however, the coyote hears a light engine and flapping sound approaching. He lets go of the wall and dashes back to the jungle edge, ducking behind a tree. He watches the two bird-like badniks fly over and start scanning the rock wall.

Antoine gulps, drawing his weapon.

The colors spinning around nearly blind Bunnie as she tumbles downward. She reaches out to grab something, anything to stop her fall. There isn't anything to grab ahold of.

Finally she lands on her back. Surprisingly there is no pain.

She sits up and looks around, "Rotor?"

Suddenly he pops up, seemingly out of nowhere, right next to her, "Huh?"

"Where are we?"

"Uh…some sort of substance induced hallucination?" the walrus suggests.

They look up into the sky where what appears to be brightly colored fish swimming through air. Suddenly the sound of a small explosion detonates from nearby.

"I'll check it out," Rotor offers. He hops to his feet and walks towards the direction the sound had come from.

Bunnie hops up as well, moving in the other direction. Ahead lays a massive labyrinth. Stairs, slides, ladders, the maze was impossibly complex. Suddenly the whole thing rotates to one side, making the whole thing an even larger confusing mess.

She turns back towards where Rotor had gone, only to have the hefty mobian run right past her, grabbing her arm as he shoots past, and pulls her into the maze.

"Move, Move, Move!" he shouts as he keeps running.

"What's wrong?" Bunnie asks as she quickly runs behind him.

"Bombs! They're moving in our direction!" Rotor explains.

"What in blue blazes is this place?!" Bunnie groans aloud as she keeps pace.

The ground begins shifting beneath their feet. Bunnie, having witnessed the labyrinth rotate once before, grabs Rotor, punching the ground with her Robotic arm.

The maze rotates leaving the duo hanging from the wall by the cyborg's robotic limb.

"You have got to be kidding me…" the heavy-set walrus grits his teeth as he dangles in the air from Bunnie's arm.

"I can't hold on for much longer…" the rabbit whimpers, "Do you see a way out of here?"

The wall around her arm cracks. Her fingers gripping Rotor loosen. She holds her breath.

"There!" he calls out from below, "The Chaos Emerald!"

"W-what?" she looks down to her companion who points towards the gem. Suspended above a giant pit sits a large blue gem.

"Aren't emeralds green?" Bunnie whispers.

"Right now," Rotor looks up to her, "That's what you're worried about?"

"Don't make me drop you."

"Drop us now!" he shouts back.

If they hadn't done so many jobs together, she probably would have questioned him. However the trust they've built over time allows her to pull her arm from the wall and drop them without question. As they drop from the wall to the floor and explosion goes off right where they just were.

When Rotor's feet hit the ground he makes a mad dash for the wall on the other side. Bunnie follows suite. Even as she does she can feel the labyrinth shift and rotate again.

She barely manages to reach the wall before the rotation finishes, causing her to tumble the last couple feet.

"C'mon," the Rotor pants, as he hefts her back to her feet, "We gotta grab the emerald."

Once back on their feet, the walrus heads in the direction of the emerald. Bunnie follows scratching her head, "Shouldn't we be finding a path that we can grab it from, and not running towards it?"

"This place is too dangerous and crazy," he breathes heavily, "I have a better plan."

"Mind sharing it?"

"I can barely breathe as it is," Rotor groans, "I'll explain later."

Bunnie sighs. While she'd rather know what the plan was instead of running in blind, she'd also rather Rotor came out of this alive. The portly walrus was already done more running than he was used to, and he was used to running more than he was capable of.

He starts moving towards the opposite wall again, and again she follows. She is quite capable of outrunning him with her powerful cybernetic limbs, but since she was unsure of what the general plan was, and she didn't want to leave poor Rotor in the dust, Bunnie remains behind, following his lead.

The4y reach the wall just as the labyrinth begins to rotate just again. The problem is they've also reached the edge of the ground, or wall, near the abyss the emerald hovers above.

"Can you hold us in the corner?" Rotor asks.

"Briefly," Bunnie replies.

"Do it."

Again she punches the ground with her robotic arm into the brightly colored ground. Rotor gets a better grip on her arm. Soon they are suspended high in the air on the top corner of the wall.

"Get ready to jump on my mark," the walrus warns.

"What about the bombs?"

"Trust me, they're part of the plan," Rotor smiles.

"I don't think I like this plan," gulps the rabbit.

She pushes her legs up against the wall, ready to jump. Seconds pass, but to the Freedom Fighters it seems like hours. Sweat begins to drip from Bunnie's brow.

Just when she believes she can't hold them up any longer, Rotor shouts, "JUMP!"

With no hesitation, she kicks off the wall. Not even a full second of leaving it, a small spikey, black orb appears where she just was. It detonates nearly from the blast launches them towards the gem that levitates in the air.

Rotor scoops up the emerald up in his hat as they sail by. No sooner than when they emerald is in hands does the world flash white yet again.

The world once again spins around Bunnie, yet she holds tightly to Rotor. Finally after what seems like an eternity they land on the solid ground.

Real, normal ground.

It isn't painless like before, but the pain is nothing more than tripping.

She takes a moment to look around, "We're back in the cave."

No reply.

"Rotor?" the rabbit sits up.

The walrus slowly pulls the emerald from his cap, "As a child, it was my dream to find one of the legendary Chaos Emeralds…"

He turns to Bunnie and smiles, "And no one sits in my hands." His face beaming with excitement.

The cyborg laughs. An idea briefly pops in her head.

"Why the heck not?" she shrugs. Bunnie grabs Rotor by the shoulders and pulls him into a kiss.

The unexpected action causes Rotor to nearly drop the gem.

It isn't a long one, or even a very romantic one, but it would be one Rotor would never forget.

Rotor and Bunnie peak outside the cave entrance.

"You see Ant anywhere?" the walrus asks.

"Nope," the cyborg replies.

Without warning a sparking SWATbot drops from the above. It crashes down in a heap below, leaking oil onto the sand.

"What on Mobius!?" Rotor gasps, taken by surprise.

"'Twan," Bunnie whispers. She reaches up and grabs the rocks above and hauls herself from the cave. She begins climbing upward towards the top of the cliff face.

The walrus mumbles something about hating to climb but follows.

They reach the top rather quickly, faster than climbing up to the cave in the first place. Rotor wonders if it has something to do with the Chaos Emerald.

The legends he studied as a child hinted that those who wielded the emeralds were given great powers. Surely if that were true, the emerald could give Rotor the strength to climb the monstrous cliff face.

Apparently they do.

At the top they find Antoine fighting the two remaining SWATbots. There was another severely slashed up and damaged, likely beyond repair, lying off to one side. The coyote really seems at the top of his game.

Other than the fact that he's knees were shaking.

He swings his sword at the nearest SWATbot, slicing off the robot's arm. The other tries to grab Ant's arm but he steps back and out of reach.

It's a very dangerous move, as the two mechanical men slowly push Antoine towards the edge of the cliff.

The wounded SWAT charges the Freedom Fighter again. The Coyote steps to the side, slicing the torso of the attacker with his blade. The robot falls to its knees.

While this happens, the other aims the laser built into the back of its hand at Ant. It fires just as the wounded bot drops to its knees. The mobian barely reacts fast enough to deflect the laser bolt with his sword.

The still manages to knock blade from his hands. The sword spins through the air, landing just at the edge of the cliff.

Not wasting any time Bunnie and Rotor race over to assist their comrade in arms as he dives for the sword. Antoine barely manages to pull the weapon from the ground in time as the SWATbot that fired on him seemingly dives for him. Years of sword training instinctively take control of Antione, causing him to react without thinking. He ducks under the attacker while lobbing the bot's head from its shoulders.

The machine still attempts to grab the coyote, but without its head it simply misses. It falls helplessly over the hedge down into the rising waves below.

Antoine watches it disappear, slowly sinking beneath the waves, before turning to greet his friends.

He never feels the shot pierce through his chest. He doesn't even notice until he can feel the dampness on his uniform. Not until a growing red stain on the slightly worn blue appears does he comprehend what has transpired.

While he was focused on the immediate danger, the wounded SWATbot had risen back to its feet. Being left alone, it had time to carefully aim and takes the shot without interruption, while the coyote had been distracted.

It wasn't a lack of skill…

Nor a lack of courage…

But his accursed bad luck that would do Antoine Depardieu D'Coolette in.

It was only just after the shot had been fired, that Bunnie mashed the SWAT's head in with her cybernetic arm. Rotor races past the machine just as the shot hits Antoine's chest. The feeling in his legs disappears, and he tumbles backwards over the edge.

"My Princess…" are the last words on his lips as he splashes into the water down below.

Rotor watches helplessly as Ant vanishes beneath the waves. There is a strong desire to throw himself down there as well in a vain attempt to rescue his friend, but the walrus knows it is already too late. Even if he could find Antoine, he'd never be able to swim them both back to shore in this weather.

His hand falls to the pouch on his tool belt that holds the Chaos Emerald. All the power he had felt earlier has disappeared.

Once again the price to save Mobius was too high…