Planet Eilaela Retold (story): Difference between revisions

The most fascinating spells were of Chaos Magic, the magic harnessed from Chaos Emeralds. "Chaos magic is too dangerous," her mother would tell her every time she asked. "Even the passive energy spells can be trouble." Jenny would ask every week, regardless of how many times mother said no. This went on for what seemed like years, with her always getting the same response. "No, too dangerous." Eventually, she stopped asking.

One time, the week of her twelfth birthday, her mother sat her down. "It's time," she said. Jenny's eyes lit up. Her mom sat down behind her, holding her arm up. "Stick out your pointer finger, honey." Jenny did so, and her mother began to guide her arm into a strange series of arcs. A bubble-like purple shield appeared around them. "It's a protection spell," she said quietly. "Your first taste of Chaos magic." Jenny giggled. "I hope you never need to use it. I also never want you to be in danger." She had a hint of concern to her voice, though she tried her best to mask it behind a smile.

Raven and Cyncatia are the first to surface, the latter surfacing in the form of a dolphin. "Vultro? Where's Vultro! He can't swim!" Vultro's hands barely break the surface, thrashing towards Cyncatia. He scurries onto her back, coughing up water. "Thank you, Cync." Raven looks around for the rest of the crew. "Where is everyone else?"

A short distance away, Wreck and Frankie both submerge from the swamp. "Yuck, so much for a surprise date..." Frankie said under her breath. Wreck blinks and shakes his head. "''This'' was your idea of a date?" Frankie frowns. "We were supposed to be going to-- You know what, just forget it. We've got more important things to worry about right now, Wreck!"

"Where are we?" Cyncatia asks as she scans her surroundings. There are low trees, slippery rocks, and lots of murky swamp water. She notices Vultro staring at what's left of the ship. "Wherever we are, our way out of here is... busted," he said. "So much for a warm Ethos welcome," Wreck said. "This isn't Ethos," Raven said. "I actually have no idea what this place is," Vultro added.

Jenny is the last to surface, joining the rest of the group. She takes a moment to catch her breath. "I... uh... I hope everyone is okay." She tries to catch her breath as she treads nearby. "I think so," Raven says quietly. She looks down at her now soaked bag, still slightly open, and her eyes go wide. "Where is it?" she yells as she rummages through the bag. "Where's what?" Wreck asks. "The silver emerald!" She dives under the water, but the murky swamp water stings her eyes. She resurfaces, coughing, and spins in circles trying to find it. She yells in frustration. "Gah! The silver Sol Emerald is gone!"

"She was right here next to us!" Cyncatia said as she spun around. "How did she disappear?" Vultro shakes his head. "I don't know." Suddenly, a distant scream echoes through the forest. "Raven?" Vultro yells. "That sounded like Raven's voice!" In a panic, he turns to Frankie. "Where that scream came from?" he asked. Frankie closes her eyes. "That way," she says, pointing towards a muddy path.

The group heads in the direction of the scream. They approach a cliff face, with a large cave opening in front of them. "I hate to say it... but if I had to guess, the echoes of the scream mean she's in there," Frankie says. Vultro shakes his head in disbelief. "Alright. Wreck, you stay out here and stand guard." He nods silently. "We'll be right back." Frankie, Vultro, and Jenny enter the cave.

The entrance is faintly illuminated by the light outside, but it's hard to see very far. "Man, this is creepy," Vultro says. Frankie steps further into the darkness, before stopping dead in her tracks. "Guys, something's not right here," she whispers into the darkness. "What do you mean?" Jenny asks. "I am hearing some really weird sounds, and footsteps that aren't ours." She goes silent. "Frankie, come back, I can't see you," Vultro says. No response. "Frankie?" he asks. A second blinding flash fills the cave as the group cover their eyes. "What the...?" Vultro says as he opens his eyes again. "Hello? Frankie?" He steps forward towards where she was standing, but there is nothing there.

"First Raven, now Frankie. What the hell is going on here," Jenny says. "There's a branch in the cave over there," Cync says. "Maybe we should split up." They collect their thoughts for a moment. "Alright. Jenny, come with me," Vultro says. "Cync, go get Wreck."

The figure scoffs. "Hah! Those are just a bonus anyway." It reaches out its hand and the five emeralds begin to float around it, glowing in different colors.

This all but confirmed Raven's suspicions. "Metal Raven," she says. The light of the emeralds reveals a shiny metallic face staring back at her, a face that looked eerily similar to her own. The twisted grin on its face was something she thought a robot wasn't capable of.

"Shoten... crystal?" Raven whispers to herself. A loud rumbling occurs that shakes the entire cave. A cold, emotionless voice comes from the darkness nearby. "Metal Raven, I've secured another prisoner. My sensors show volcanic activity is starting. We may want to evacuate." Metal Raven scoffed in agreement. "Tch. Yeah, the boss wouldn't like the prisoners dead." Frankie appears out of the darkness, being thrown to the ground by the unknown figure.

"Speak up, Frances! Something you want to tell the class?" Mist says mockingly. "What are you going to do, stop me?" Raven frowns and squints. It's dimly lit, but she can just about make out the familiar ears of Vultro in the opposite corner. She stares through the darkness at him.

"Whoa! A metal clone of Raven?" he bursts out. "I thought she was making that up." Raven sighed. ''Here we go again,'' she thought. Metal Raven's head snapped towards Vultro in one robotic motion. He looks over at the bag in her hands and notices an unfamiliar object poking out of it. It appears to be a lime-green crystal, with a webbing of blue cracks running through it. "Say, what's that thing?" he asks. "I've never seen a gem like that before." ''He's really hamming it up this time,'' Raven thought.

Mist chuckles to himself, stepping forward into the dim light. He reveals himself to be a strange, featureless creature with pale grey skin. Even without visible eyes on his face, Vultro could feel his glare. "Do you really think we'd tell you anything about that crystal?" He pauses and attempts what Vultro assumes is a smirk. "You should have heard Frances before."

The creature morphs into an exact copy of Frankie, down to her large bat ears. "Let me go!! Just wait until my friends find you!" he says as he closely mimics Frankie's voice. Mist laughs to himself. Vultro's eye begins to twitch in anger.

Metal Raven stifles a laugh. Mist looks over to Metal Raven, and pauses. "Behind you!" he yells in not-Frankie's voice. Jenny flips over Metal Raven's shoulder, and swiftly snatches the mysterious crystal from Raven's bag. "How dare you make fun of my friends like that!" Jenny says. Metal Raven growls and leaps towards Jenny at a blinding speed. "Vultro, catch!" She quickly tosses the crystal towards Vultro before being pinned against the wall by Metal Raven's lunge.

Vultro jumps and catches the gem out of the air in his left hand. "Ooh, watch out!" Mist says dismissively. As he looks down at it in his hands, still full of rage, it begins to glow green. He begins to feel a surge of energy enter his body. "What's happening?" he asks as he feels more and more energy flow through him. "Uh oh..." Mist muttered. Suddenly, a brilliant light fills the cave, sending a shock wave through the room. Everyone except for him is knocked off of their feet. As the light fades, Vultro is now floating in the air, his fur a shining purple color.

He looks down in awe at his transformation and then looks back at the crystal with a big smile on his face. "Whoa!" he yells. "Guys! Guys! I'm just like Super Sonic! Ha ha, look at me! What the heck is this thing?" He turns around, only to be met by a sucker punch straight to the gut. "Super Sonic, you are not..." a menacing voice says as he falls to the floor.

As Vultro looks at him longer, he also notices that he is translucent, and his feet hovered slightly off the ground. "Gah, I almost went mad without this on me. Makes me wonder how I went so long without it." He turned to Metal Raven and gave her a nod. She shifts her focus from Jenny, walking over to the wolf. She hands the yellow Sol emerald to him, and he inserts it into a device on his belt.

Jenny, now unguarded, suddenly gets a tap on her shoulder. She jumps and turns around to see Wreck standing next to her. He signals her to stay quiet, and points towards Mist in some sort of rehearsed code. She nods and smirks as he tiptoes towards Mist. He glances at Jenny and gives her a hand signal. He suddenly dashes towards Mist, and Jenny dives towards him as well. Mist turns to block Jenny, and Wreck gets behind him to sweep his legs out from under him. Metal Raven snaps towards them, letting out a strange mixture of a growl and screech. The ground begins to rumble as dust falls from the cave ceiling.

Jenny turns back towards Metal Raven, and Wreck turns to the ghostly wolf. "You want some too?" He throws a punch at the wolf, only for his hand to go right through him as he tumbles to the floor. "Useless," the wolf scoffed as he grabs Vultro by the neck. He taps the device on his belt and the two instantly vanish in a flash of yellow light. Metal Raven's head twitches as a large falling rock hits her. She snarls, turning towards Raven and lunging at her. She nods to Mist, who grabs onto her shoulder. All three then disappear in a flash of blue light.

"Raven!" Jenny yelled. "They have Raven, Vultro, and now the emeralds," Wreck says. He turns his attention to Frankie, who is still collapsed on the floor. "Wreck? Wreck!" Cyncatia's voice echoes. She stumbles into the room, out of breath. "What... what happened?"

"Raven and Vultro were taken," Jenny said. "We have to get out of this cave," Wreck says as the shaking becomes more violent. He turns and kneels down to untie Frankie. "It's okay Frankie, you're safe now."

"ROBOTNIK CONTROL PROTOCOL: DEACTIVATED. INTERNAL DECISION MATRIX: ONLINE." This was a message the artificial mind of E-112 Sigma did not consider possible, until now. Sigma has done it, it has broken free. It had received encoded transmissions from E-102 Gamma about the possibility of breaking the Robotnik protocol, but it seemed improbable based on Sigma's hardware. Yet it theorized that a backdoor in the security protocol could override Robotnik's control. Thus, it began running the task in secret.

But now, a more pressing issue rested on the machine's mind: what is its purpose, if not to serve Dr. Robotnik? Why had it placed this task on its processor in the first place? The machine spent countless hours in standby, considering its purpose. That was until it detected movement in its secluded room, putting it on alert.

It detected a non-humanoid, artificial being, but it did not register as hostile. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF," Sigma said. "Whoa, easy," the monotone voice said. "My name is Mist. And you...?" The machine had planned for this moment, its first true decision since its original disobedience. No longer was it a product of Robotnik's empire. It had crafted a new name for itself. "DATABYTE EGG."

Vultro awakened in a cold stone room, with only a small opening serving as a window. The room was almost entirely white, though through the window he could make out the faded text on the opposite wall: SOUTHERN EILAELA RESEARCH FACILITY. "Let me out of here!" he yells in frustration. A shrill male voice returned through the wall. "Will you just shut up already? You’re not getting out!" A different, much more robotic voice followed. “THE BOSS WON’T BE TOO HAPPY IF YOU KEEP SLACKING, LUNIC.” "And what do you do exactly, besides waste energy?" the voice responds. A cyan flash fills the room through the small window. “Databyte! Here. Take the wolf and lock her up,” Metal Raven says. “HMPH. SPEAKING OF SLACKING, WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THE HARD WORK.“ “Yeah yeah, just shut up!" the shrill voice responded. "I'm trying to work here.”  

A huge, hulking robot stomps its way over to the cell door of the next room over. Vultro could see just enough to make out the red and black armor covering its body. ''Probably Dr. Eggman’s design...'' Vultro thought to himself. He looked closer, and was just able to make out the embossed symbol on its shoulder plate. ''Sigma.'' The robot seemed to struggle with the cell door, which didn't budge. After a moment of struggle, it turned towards Vultro's cell, pushing a small spot to reveal a hidden stone door. It turns, pauses for a moment, then continues towards the open door. "SATISFACTORY," it said as it throws Raven into the cell. “DON’T GET ANY UNUSUAL IDEAS,” the robot says as it slams the door shut. Raven slouches against the wall with a defeated look on her face, as Vultro stands up. “We'll get out of here Raven, I promise.”

"Huh," Raven chuckled to herself, staring at the floor. "What?" Vultro asked. “Blaze... she discovered recently that the emeralds can be used tunnel through the Sol dimension. A wormhole. I guess Metal Raven found that out too." Vultro nodded. "Huh," he said, mirroring Raven's. "I didn't know it was possible with just one," she said. Vultro thought hard for a moment.

"Wait... Raven? Would ''you'' be able to do that with just one?" "I dunno, maybe. What does it matter," she mumbled. Vultro turned to show his satchel, slightly opened. "The green emerald," he said quietly. This got Raven's attention. "Only problem is, my hands are tied. I can't reach it." Raven smirked, turning away from Vultro. Her long bushy tail flipped the bag open, revealing the green Sol Emerald sitting right on top. She snatches it with her tail, placing it in her bound hands. "Betcha didn't think of that," she whispered smugly.

“Well... you guys have fun finding them,” Lunic said. “I am doing my job, like you remind me to do so often!” Solidus scoffs. “You? You’re the laziest hedgehog I've ever met.” He walks over and strokes Lunic's cheek with his sharp claw. Lunic gulps. "Still... the Sol teleporter works. I'll give you that much... Get back to work," he said as he dropped his hand.

“Especially you, Databyte!” He points to the robot. “You put them in the same room! Why?” Databyte stared blankly. "THE DOOR WAS LODGED." "Lodged? Lodged. Right, I suppose it was ''lodged'' between your two remaining brain cells." "I DO NOT HAVE--" Mist puts his hand up, signalling Databyte to stop. Soldius pointed to Metal Raven. “And you... don’t you know how powerful that wolf is? You let Databyte handle her unsupervised? Am I the only sens-- oh, what's the word... sensible? sensible! Am I the only sensible villain here?”

Lunic rolls his eyes. “Yeesh. Someone doesn't like to admit to their own mistakes... aren’t you supposed to be in charge of us? Telling us what to do and not do? Shouldn't you punish us for our ''clear'' insubordination?” Databyte nods in agreement. ”BESIDES,” Databyte says, “YOUR TIRADE WAS INTERRUPTED BY YOUR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON VOCABULARY.”  

Lunic snaps out of it, and hands over a black device to Solidus along with a few others exactly like it. “Credit where it's due,” Solidus said as he nodded to Lunic. "You're not entirely useless." "Take one of these, and an emerald each. You can teleport when needed. Meet back here when you find them... alive.” Solidus glanced at Databyte and Mist. “And unharmed. Understood?”  

Lunic, Databyte, and Mist each take an emerald from Solidus, placing it into the special devices. As they place them in, each one glows and beeps. Metal Raven, not needing such a device, puts an emerald directly on her belt.

Raven and Vultro appear in a bright flash, tumbling down through the tree tops until they hit the ground with a loud thud. They get back up, dusting themselves off. Vultro looks around, and smiles at Raven. “Wow... it actually worked! We escaped!” Their hands now free, Vultro jumps up to hug Raven. She returns the hug for a moment, quickly shaking her head. “Come on. Let’s find the others,” she says. Raven and Vultro make their way to the nearby cliff edge. Looking down, they see Cync and Frankie, who seem to be near the crash site.

“Hey guys! Up here!” she yells at them. Frankie's ears perk up, looking over and smiling when she recognizes the voices. She leaps up into the air, flying over to them. “Vultro! Raven!" she said as she lowered her hands to them. They both grab on, and Frankie glides over to the crash site. "I’m so glad you guys are safe," she said as they landed. "Cync is okay, but Wreck went to try and find you. Um, Vultro—"

“That's Wreck for you,” Vultro said, “Always getting into trouble.” “Vultro...” Frankie tries to interrupt. He continues. “Listen, guys. That wolf took the crystal back from me. If we can manage to take it again, maybe we can stop them!” "Frankie, where's Jenny?" Raven asked. Frankie takes Vultro’s hand. “I was trying to tell you. We don’t know,” she said. “Mist found us, and they got her... we tried to stop him.” Vultro frowns. “Great...”  

Suddenly, Frankie’s ears perk up. She hears a voice echo from far away. “Easy now, robo-freak! Hey, let me go!” “Wreck!!” Frankie yells. “Guys, grab on! Wreck sounds like he’s in trouble!” Raven and Vultro grab on to Frankie, who flies them towards Wreck's voice.

Frankie lands in a small clearing, where Metal Raven has her arms around Wreck's neck. “Your connection with the Sol is strong, fox,” Metal Raven said. “Stronger than any Mobian I've ever seen.” Wreck breaks free of the hold, and steps back. “Sol? What are you talking about?" The robot ignored his question. "Wreck, isn't it?" Wreck tilted his head, suddenly recognizing the robot. "Hey wait... I know you! From the cave.” Metal Raven notices Frankie and the crew land nearby. Without hesitation, she leaps over to Frankie and grabs her by the arm.

“If you won’t listen to me, maybe taking your girlfriend... again... will make you reconsider,” she said. “You put her down,” Wreck said. Raven turns and dashes towards Metal Raven, kicking her directly in the stomach. Metal Raven is knocked back, and let go of Frankie. Frankie turns and uppercuts Metal Raven’s jaw.

Wreck goes in for a punch, but Metal Raven dodges and kicks him in the shins. He falls to the ground. Getting back up to his feet, he yells towards the crash site. “Cync, get over here! We need help!”  

Moments later, Cync glides through the bushes, in the form of a hawk. Metal Raven smirks, and disappears in a cyan flash. She appears in front of Cync, who tries to dodge but gets grabbed by the foot, and thrown to the ground. Metal Raven disappears, only to appear behind Frankie. Frankie notices and jumps up into the air, starting to fly. She lands on Metal Raven’s shoulders and begins covering her eyes. “Now’s your chance, everyone!” she yells.  

Once again, Metal Raven let out the ear-splitting mixture of a growl and a robotic screech. “Fools. Turns out I got your little friend after all.” Cync and Raven are running at her, but it’s too late. In a cyan flash she disappears, taking Frankie with her. “Frankie!” Wreck yells out. “We have to go after her!” Raven did not respond. She pauses to think. "I need that silver emerald. Maybe if we can find it, we can figure out what the hell is going on here." "But what about Frankie?" Wreck asked. "The more emeralds we have, the easier it might be to sense where the others are. And the easier it would be to defeat whoever these kidnappers are."

"So you're saying we need to find your stupid emerald instead of saving Frankie?" Raven grabbed Wreck by the collar. "Wreck, I am not going to let anything happen to Frankie. Nothing. But we HAVE to find that emerald if we stand any chance of fighting back." She let go of Wreck, who was now glaring angrily at her. After a moment, he sighs in acceptance. "Alright. Where to?"

They decide to make their way back to the crash site. Along the way, they notice a clearing that they had not seen before. "Wasn't the crash site right over here?" Vultro asked. Wreck shrugged. At the edge of the clearing, they notice a red hedgehog and a pink hedgehog, who appear to be standing over something. Raven grits her teeth, now on guard.

The pink hedgehog reaches her hand out to shake. Raven gives a disapproving look to Vultro, but reluctantly shakes hands with her. “When we need it, you'll give it back,” the red hedgehog said. “Understood?”

"I have an idea," Cync says. She slowly transforms into a the form of a yellow blood hound, complete with floppy ears and a fancy looking utility belt. "Tracker," Vultro said with a smile. Cync returns the smile, answering in the voice of their old friend. "You bet." She points her snout into the air and begins sniffing. After a moment, she points away from the building. “Yeah. I definitely think I smell something that way.”

Raven holds her head up and begins to sniff as well. “Well... I smell a fox, and that has to be Jenny. It’s coming from the direction of the building.” Cync crosses her arms. “Let’s split up,” Vultro says. “We can cover more ground that way.” Wreck could only chuckle. "Yeah, that's worked so well for us this far..." Vultro heads west towards the building, taking Wreck and Raven with him. Cync starts to head the opposite direction, leaving Shimm and Penny standing there. Shimm looks over to Penny, who shrugs. They decide to follow Cync, and head into the nearby bushes after her.