Back at the resistance base, Knuckles was standing in front of the large computer monitor as he was pacing back and forth. He was trying to think of the resistance's next action. All he said was that they had to get to work. That wasn't even a plan at all. He had to think of something.
"Ok, so what can we do to turn the tides in our favor? Just going around and fighting isn-" He said to himself before he heard a beeping sound coming from the monitor, which made him turn to it.
"An incoming transmission?" He said as he walked up to the screen and pressed the keyboard. As he did, Rouge's face was on the computer, though there was static.
"Rouge. What news do you have for me?" Knuckles asked.
"You're gonna like this one boss. In fact, it might be enough to make you kiss me." Rouge teased as Knuckles became slightly flustered and turned away.
"J-Just tell me already." He responded in a pouting tone.
"Ok. The signal here isn't good, so I don't know how long this transmission will last. Just listen up...."
In the main resistance room, the entire group was standing and getting prepared for their next mission. Suddenly, Knuckles burst through the door with a wild and excited expression. He started to pant heavily due to being out of breath as everyone turned to see him.
"Goodness, Knuckles, you're all panting like a wild dog! What's gotten into you?" Rarity asked.
"I've....received....great news! Sonic is alive!" Knuckles blurted out.
Hearing this made the everyone stop what they were hearing as they all heard what Knuckles said. His words were like a torpedo had just hit the base.
"Seriously?! That's amazing!" Silver exclaimed before the entire room was filled with smiles and looks of happiness and relief. Sonic wasn't dead after all. The resistance then began to slightly cheer and had a small celebration due to the reveal.
"It's about time we got some goods news around here." Sunset happily said.
"He's alive! Thank goodness, thank goodness!" Amy excitedly repeated as Pinkie watched her with a grin.
"See, told you that you have to always look on the bright side." Pinkie told her.
"I knew that Sonic would never go down!" Rainbow Dash stated with a fist pump.
"Oh boy, wait till the people hear this!" Charmy stated with glee.
"Trust me, words can't express how good it is to hear that my bro is alive, but we have to know, where is he?" Manic asked as Knuckles regained his composure.
"According to the intel I got, he's being held captive in a space station." Knuckles explained.
"Space. That makes perfect sense. No wonder we weren't able to find him wherever we looked. The one place we didn't have access to." Vector stated.
"That is quite clever of him to keep his space stations hidden. I'll give the doctor that." Espio noted as he put his hand on his chin.
"If he's being held prisoner, we have to go save him!" Amy insisted.
"Of course we do! That should be our number one priority now." Rainbow DasH added.
"Um, I want to save Sonic as much as all of you, but we don't have a way to get to space." Fluttershy brought up.
"True we don't, but Eggman does......." Knuckles replied with a sly smile as he looked at the resistance. Everyone knew what he meant by that.
"Now yer speakin' my language." AppleJack said as she held up her fist. "Come on y'all, let's go get Sonic!"
Knuckles had a taken a squad from the resistance in order to take one of Eggman's shuttles. The location was located in the frigid north in a port that housed the doctor's ships with a dark sky. It was an industrial area with no natural environment and was built out at sea. Yellow and gray metallic structures emerged from the sea, giving the appearance of an oil rig. Many of them were high-tech factory based chemical plants glowing orange along with giant cranes. There were many pipes, ducts, and containers in different shapes as they transported blue chemicals. Between the structures were yellow and black roads, yellow and blue tubes, and train tracks. There were many shipping containers located. Some areas were covered in snow and above, many of Eggman's ships were floating. When the resistance arrived, they had decided to split up in order to take different routes to find a shuttle. In one area, the Chaotix were making their way throughout the plant as they moved across the tubes.
"All right boys, let's find a shuttle!" Vector declared.
"I have an idea, how about the first to find it becomes the new leader of the Chaotix! I'm gonna win!" Charmy declared as he flew on ahead, much to Vector' surprise.
"Hey, get back here! That's not happening Charmy!" Vector yelled as he increased his speed, while Espio sighed.
"I hope I don't have to end up babysitting." He muttered under his breath as he moved ahead.
The Chaotix moved across the port's platforms, where they were greeted by a series of Egg Pawns in their way. Espio released a series of ninja stars, taking a few robots out while using his strength, Vector smashed through the robots with his fist. Charmy held out his wrist and fired a series of stingers like darts from his wristbands, knocking the robots down.
"Too easy!" Vector stated cockily.
"Yay, I'm still in the lead!" He then heard Charmy say. "When I win, I'll rename us the Charmys!
"Never!" Vector denied as he furiously pursued his younger teammate with Espio not too far behind.
The three of them moved forward through the plant, taking out any enemies that got in their way before they found themselves in front of a rail and began to grind on it, with Vector in the lead.
"No fair!" Charmy complained. "There's only one route for us to take!"
"Ha, maybe better luck next time." Vector responded.
The Chaotix continued to grind on the rail before they found themselves on another platform. In front of them, they noticed a large freight train coming ahead, though the issue was that there were no more platforms for them to use.
"It's a good thing I always think ahead." Vector said. "Boys, take out the sling rings."
The three of them all pulled out a golden hand-sized ring as Charmy then flew above Vector and Espio and held his ring down. It connected with Vector and Espio's rings, making all of them attached to each other with a star like-band. The Chaotix now flew with Charmy leading.
"Now I'm never gonna win." Charmy muttered with displeasure.
"Focus, Charmy! We don't want you dropping us!" Vector instructed.
The Chaotix flew across the plant as they noticed a freight train coming ahead, which they flew past with no problem.
"See? We got nothing to worry about." Charmy said, not paying attention to his surroundings.
Suddenly, the Chaotix heard the sound of an oncoming train...which they were in the path of! All of them formed alarmed expressions as Charmy panicked.
"Charmy, get us up now!" Vector screamed as Charmy quickly rose higher and higher as they narrowly avoided the incoming train. Ahead, they noticed a pathway for them, causing Espio and Vector to let go of their sling rings as they landed on it. They were then joined by Charmy, who wore a nervous smile as Vector gave him a glare.
"What did I say about focusing?!' Vector snapped.
"Well...we made it out...."Charmy answered sheepily.
Before Vector could say any more, Espio cut him off.
"Speaking of focusing, we have a shuttle to find." Espio reminded his two teammates. "Let's go."
The Chaotix were deeper in the plant as they moved ahead. Any of Eggman's robots that got in their way they were able to take out pretty easily. They found themselves running on a tube once more, which took them to the upper part of the plant and led them to a rail track once more, which had 3 different routes, much to Charmy's pleasure.
"Yaaay! I can still win!" Charmy happily said.
"Oh no, you don't!" Vector yelled.
Grinding on the rails, The Chaotix then saw the launch pad in front of them and next to it, a giant orange space cruiser. They had reached their goal.
"Yes, we made it first!" Vector said as the three of them jumped off the rails and landed on the ground at the same time.
"Wait, so who won? We all arrived at the same time." Charmy said.
"In that case, I guess we all won and as a result, the team dynamic doesn't change." Vector decided as Charmy frowned.
"Hey, that's not how it works!" Charmy protested.
"We should alert our companions." Espio said as he brought his wrist.
"Espio here, we've found a shuttle. Meet us here." Espio informed the others.
"You did? Good job! You heard him, everyone, let's go!" Knuckles instructed.
"Okely, dokely...wait, I think my tongue is thuck on the ice!!" Pinkie said, leading to a series of groans.
"She makes you look like a grownup, Charmy." Vector dryly said.
"Thanks...wait...hey!" Charmy replied.
"I find it odd that the Doctor wouldn't have any kind of higher security for his launch base." Espio said as he looked around. "Don't let your guard down just yet. I sense something."
"What? I don't see anything." Vector said.
Just then, the three of them noticed a green swirl heading down towards the platform in front of them. When it landed, the Chaotix got a better look at what it really was. It resembled one of Eggman's robots, but was decorated like a ninja. It was wearing a green ninja outfit with a yellow triangular cross pattern chest piece. Its torso was black, it had red eyes, grey appendages, and green ninja shoes along with a green scarf. It was standing on one foot and was in a ninja stance. This robot was known as the Heavy Shinobi.
"Wow, a real ninja!" Charmy gushed with his hands on his face, which made Espio turn towards him with a not so impressed look.
"I was hoping your hunch could be wrong for once, Espio." Vector grumbled as the Chaotix got into fighting position.
Vector went first and tried to punch the Heavy Shinobi many times, though the mech was too fast and nimble for him to hit. When Vector threw another punch, this time the Shinobi jumped over him and bounced off his head, sending him to the ground. While the Shinobi was mid-air, Espio threw a kunai, which the robot caught with two fingers.
"So cool!" Charmy uttered, making Espio lower his eyebrows in annoyance.
Espio then began to throw a series of ninja stars at the Shinobi. In response, the Shinobi retaliated with stars of its own, which were starfish-like robots. Espio's and the Shinobi's weapons clashed with each other many times, creating mini explosions mid-air. When the explosion cleared, Espio was nowhere to be seen as the Shinobi landed on the floor. It looked around but saw nothing. However, Espio had turned himself invisible and was sneaking up on the robot with a kunai in his hand, ready to slice it. Before he did, the Shinobi turned around and released a powerful karate chop, blowing Espio back and turning him back to normal.
"Looks like it's up to me to save the day!" Charmy stated as he flew up and fired a series of stingers at the Shinobi, who simply moved from side to side to dodge them easily. Charmy began to fire more rapidly but it was no use. The Shinobi then jumped up into the air in front of Charmy, taking him back. It then took a katana and came down to cut Charmy. Charmy held up his wrist to block it and when the blade touched them, he was frozen in a block of ice as he was sent to the ground. When he hit it, the ice broke and Charmy rolled on the ground to Espio and Vector and started to shiver as the Shinobi got back in its original stance and faced them.
"Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold." Charmy said with chattering teeth.
"Ok boys, round one, didn't go so well." Vector stated before he pounded his fist into his hand. "Let's show this creep why no one messes with the Chaotix."
"Eggman will pay for his mockery of the art of ninjutsu." Espio said with determination.
This time all three Chaotix charged towards the Heavy Shinobi. In response, the Shinobi jumped back and threw it's starfish shurikens at the team. They split apart in order to avoid them as the shurikens stuck to the floor. They were going to regroup to attack the Shinobi before the shurikens suddenly split apart, releasing a barrage of needles towards them.
"Get down!" Espio instructed, making the Chaotix take to the floor, narrowly avoiding the spikes as they were shot everywhere.
The Shinobi then went towards the Chaotix as they rose from the ground with its katana. Luckily, Espio with his quick reflexes blocked the slash with a kunai, though it froze, forcing him to discard his weapon as he and the Shinobi jumped back. Espio then lunged at the Shinobi and released a series of kicks, palm strikes and karate chops the Shinobi blocked with one hand. As this happened, this gave Vector an idea.
"Hey, Charmy. Fly up and give Espio a hand." Vector told him. "I think I have something which might work."
Charmy did as he was told as he flew up and fired his stingers at the Shinobi, who blocked them with his katana using his other hand. The Shinobi was now fending off both Espio and Charmy's attacks. Due to this, it was quite preoccupied. Espio and Charmy continued their assault, keeping the Shinobi on guard. When it deflected both of their hits for the last time, it jumped into the air as a green swirl. As it did, Vector came down and smashed the robot in the ground with much force, leaving it stunned when it rose up from the impact.
"He's open, let's hit him, boys!" Vector yelled.
Charmy fired his stingers once more, hitting the Shinobi and forcing it back as Vector tore into it with a flurry of punches, sending it away. Espio then came in front of it and did a body flip, creating a small vortex with transparent leaves that flung the Heavy Shinobi in the air. When it came down, Vector released a strong punch, Charmy a blow from his stingers and Espio a powerful palm strike as they smashed the robot away from them, sending it sprawling on the floor with heavy damage. The Heavy Shinobi began to glitch out for a while before it shut down completely.
"Yeah, we did it!" Charmy cheered.
"That's how a real shinobi fights." Espio declared as he folded his arms.
"Good job, boys. We've secured the launch pad for the others." Vector proudly stated.
Just then the Chaotix were joined by Silver, Knuckles, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and AppleJack, who stopped in front of their tracks as they noticed the damaged Heavy Shinobi in the background.
"What the hay happened here?" AppleJack questioned as she scratched her head.
"Nothing to worry about, just a little guard we took care of." Vector dismissed.
"There's no time to lose. We need to hurry and save Sonic before more of his kind show up." Espio cautioned.
With that said, the Resistance squad rushed towards the entrance to the ship, which was a large red shuttle and prepared to enter it in order to carry on their mission.