Chapter 47: Another showdown with the doctor, and his assistant
By now the grey sphere around JetStream's home has covered almost the whole structure, leaving them with no good place to hide except behind the concrete wall like fences around them, so they decided to take cover there, "Are we going to wait for him?" Knuckles asked.
"It's rather rough to stay out here, but I have faith in what he's doing." Sonic stated, Tails smiled at it.
"Alright, if ya say so." Knuckles rolled his eyes, looking up for Eggman, he jerked a little and turned to Sonic and Tails.
"Get down!" he whispered as Sonic and Tails ducked without hesitating.
"What is it?" Sonic asked quietly.
"Eggman, he's right above us." Knuckles answered.
"You think he could be searching for more, of whatever he's looking for?" Tails wondered, after a pause, Sonic and Knuckles shrugged. Eggman was looking over the horizon, grey spheres covering every block you could see, it was beautiful to his old eyes, he stopped suddenly. He saw something shift below him, he loomed over his mobile to get a better look.
"Ah-ha!" he turned to the Time Eater, "Go get 'em!" as the doctor commanded he went after the sitting ducks, Tails looked up again just in case.
"Hmm, ah-Ah! We gotta move!" Sonic and Knuckles looked up.
"Ah, jeez!" Sonic grabbed Tails's left arm.
"Com' on, Tails." Knuckles followed next to him as they bolted out of the way.
"Sneak attack, eh?" Knuckles remembered how dirty Eggman was just as the Time Eater pumbled itself into the ground. Just as the Time Eater was rising from where it once hit, they all heard grass being rustled.
"I'm not too late!" followed right after, Tails turned around and was glad to see him.
"JetStream!" even to the point where Tails hugged him.
"Oh, hi, Tails..." Tails let the hug go, only to realize JetStream had some circular glow around him.
"What's this?" JetStream looked to Tails.
"I've figured it out. How to get rid of those grey spheres." Tails shared the same expression.
"That's great, now we can finally help other ponies around here." Eggman good behavior in evil widened.
"Not on my watch!" the Time Eater prepared for another sphere, Sonic looked over to them.
"Guys, get out of the way!"
"No!" JetStream rose his head in confidence, "I'll prove it to him." he smiled. Tails stood next to JetStream, if this didn't figure to work, he wouldn't let JetStream stay alone. Sonic decided to let JetStream go, he seemed to know what he was doing. The Time Eater launched the grey ball, as JetStream saw it he closed his eyes and synced with the Emeralds as they started to glow. Red, yellow, purple, green, cyan, blue. The last one, the white Emerald, didn't glow, as the glow around JetStream was white when the last one finished, and before they knew it, the grey sphere struck Tails and JetStream. For a moment they were still, like how they'd see everypony else. Eggman's smile grew with every passing second, but then it cracked and shattered as he saw that pony shift. With his eyes closed, JetStream shook his head and opened his eyes, what he saw amazed him, "Tails... It worked..." Sonic and Knuckles couldn't hear what there were saying, as the spheres slowed time, sound couldn't reach from the outside. Tails opened his left eye first, he gasped.
"JetStream..." he looked over to him, he was smiling.
"It worked." JetStream and Tails gave smiled in relief, "Now let's get out of here." Tails made a fist.
"Right." JetStream nodded. Sonic and Knuckles were relieved that they were moving, it was a sure sign that they are okay. With the globe of light surrounding JetStream, he started taking steps in front of him, as the globe moved along with him, where they were, wasn't where the grey sphere was anymore. JetStream soon walked all the way out of the sphere, Tails followed behind him.
"I'm back." JetStream smiled, he walked to the house, "I'm bringing you back." he told himself, he took a deep breath, only to realize that the Emeralds glow were faintly vanishing, 'No, not now!' the glow was gone just as soon as he reached the sphere surrounding the house, "..." his neck dropped, Eggman laughed at his attempt.
"Congratulations! I'm surprised you have even considered to make it thus far, too bad it's as far as you'll come." he smiled as the Time Eater prepared one more before firing. Despite the danger, something caught JetStream's eye, after so long the sun finally popped out of the clouds, he could feel a slight wind.
"I guess it's the last I'll feel..." he said turning around to the Time Eater as it launched the final sphere he'll ever see, his friends watched in horror. JetStream stuck his muzzle into the air and closed his eyes as soon as the sphere landed down on him.
"No, JetStream!" Tails ran over, and Sonic and Knuckles walked up to Tails as Eggman laughed.
"I'll deal with you three later, I still have more ponies to deal with." Eggman flew off with the Time Eater, they'll see him again anyway. Tails fell to his knees, thinking he was going to tear up again.
'JetStream...' Knuckles and Sonic looked at each other in firm sadness.
~~~Chapter End~~~