//------------------------------// // Chapter 17: The World Inside T-Pup Part 3 // Story: Friendships Unite!! // by Phantom-Dragon //------------------------------// After Rainbow Dash had jumped into a port, Twilight and Spike both jumped in after her, while the rest of the heroes took the other ports, with Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Polterpup jumping down in one port, while Spyro and Sparx went to the last one. Sonic and Tails meanwhile, were left waiting outside for their friends to come out. "So Tails," Sonic began. "What do we do in the meantime?" Before Tails could respond, they heard a hissing sound, and the boys looked up to see more swarms of flea-bots surrounding them. "Fight off some flea-bots!" Tails said as he fired another electric blast from his arm cannon. --- Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike The three friends found themselves in a digital rendering of Green Hill Zone. "Ok," Rainbow Dash began. "Now what?" she asked while looking around. "Perhaps I could be of assistance," a voice called out. The three friends turned around to see a lynx with jet black hair, markings on her face, wearing a purple dress with white trimmings, black pants, and shoes with matching colors with white colors at the toes, materializing. "You're Nicole!" Twilight gasped. "How observant you are," Nicole began. "And you are, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike. Tails had told me all about you." "Yeah, I'll say," Rainbow Dash said. "And I'm sure he told you how awesome I am." "I'm sure he did," Twilight replied. "But what I'd like to know is, how does an AI Program like you become somewhat a sentient being? I've read Sci-Fictional Novel about them, but to meet one up close that can actually...." "Enough with the Egghead stuff already! Let's just ace this test we're in already! The sooner we get it done! The happier I'll be when I get to the chance to kick Chrysalis's plot again!" Twilight sighed since Rainbow Dash was right. Then, she felt a gentle hand lifting her chin. "Don't worry Twilight," Nicole said reassuringly. "Once this is all over, we'll have the time to trade knowledge." Twilight smiled a little before they all got back to work. Nicole then explained, "In this test, you will all need to look for 5 of T-Pup's Memory Tokens. They are hidden around here in this rendition of Green Hill Zone. But beware, some of them are also guarded by the digitall copy of the enemies you've faced. Each of you must use your special abilities to find them." "Just one question," Twilight began. "What doe these Memory Tokens look like?" "They look like this," Nicole waved her hands in several motions, before she conjured up an image of a ring, rotating on its axis. "I'll be off to assist the other heroes. Good luck, my friends." And with that, Nicole disappeared into mutliple digital bits. "Ok, got it! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash said as she quickly flapped her wings, looking for the Memory Tokens. Twilight meanwhile used her spellbooks to chant a spell, as her horn projected a beam of x-rays as she scanned the ground for the Memory Tokens. Spike meanwhile was using some of his gem hunting skills to look for the Memory Tokens, when a digital version of one of Dr. Eggman's robots attacked him. Spike didn't hesitate to slash it with his Ghost Pirate Swords, before he breathed fire, burning the copy until it disappeared into multiple digital bits, before leaving behind a Memory Token. "Hey girls!" Spike shouted. "LOOK! I found one!" "I've found one too!" Twilight exclaimed, while levitating hers. "Same here," Rainbow Dash said as she hovered above them. "Only two more to go and we'll have a clearance from T-Pup," Rainbow Dash exclaimed. It took them some times, but after fighting several more renditions of Dr. Eggman's robots, and after some searching in both the air and sky, the trios were able to locate the last two Memory Tokens. Rainbow Dash got one after fighting a digital copy of Eggman's Buzzbomber, while both Spike and Twilight got another after destroyed a capsule that Twilight had located at the top of a shuttle loop. Then, a voice broke out: "Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Spike's Security Clearance granted. You all have T-Pup's trust." --- Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Polterpup Mario and his groups were in a rendition of Spagonia. Nicole had informed them of their assignment, right after she had informed Twilight's group, and before she teleported off to do the same with Spyro and Sparx. "Let's a-go!" Mario shouted as he and his group all jumped into action. Mario ground pounded a digital rendition of a Moto Bug, before he kicked a Coconut Badnik out of a tree and later climbed up the tree, until he reaches the top where he somersaulted off to reach the top of a bell tower. And there, he found the first Memory Token inside the bell. Luigi meanwhile, sucked another digital copy of a Moto Bug badnik, with his Poltergust 5000, which he then uses to fire the badnik into another, and they both exploded upon impact into digital bits. After that, Luigi began to use his Poltergust to vacuum the surrounding area, until he located a Memory Token from a nearby potted plant. Polterpup later came with a Memory Token in his mouth, which he had dug up earlier. "Good boy," Luigi said as he petted the ghost dog's head, which the dog responded by wagging his tail. Yoshi meanwhile swallowed a digital rendition of a Buzz Bomber which he used to chuck at a badnik before it bounced off onto another badnik, and it kept repeating the process with several more badniks. In the process, two more Memory Tokens appeared. After collecting all five Memory Tokens, a voice broke out saying: "Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Polterpup's Security Clearance granted. You all have T-Pup's trust." --- Spyro & Sparx "Ok, I got it!" Spyro said as Nicole teleported away. "C'mon Sparx. Let's rock n roll." Spyro and Sparx where in a rendition of Chun-nan, a Chinese themed location of Mobius. Spyro flapped his wings and took to the air, hoping to find more of the Memory Tokens from the air, along with Spike. Suddenly, a missile was fired and it narrowly missed Spyro and Sparx as it flew past them. They looked down to see three rendition of Dr. Eggman's Badniks called, Snail Blasters, perched at the top of a pagoda. The Snail Blasters fired several more missiles at the two heroes, as they started to fly around, avoiding the shots. Spyro then started to fly higher before he reached the peak of his flight, before he folded his wings to his sides and started to plummet back to the ground. As he started to come closer to the ground, he began to pick up speed, while avoiding all the shots fired at him. Then at the last second, he spread his wings and became airborne while shooting a fireball at the three badniks, and they all exploded into million bits. In the process, one of them dropped a Memory Token, which Sparx didn't hesitate to retrieve as he zipped past Spyro. Then, more troubles came for the boys as they spotted several more Badniks, flying ones, coming after them. A Buzz Bomber shot an explosive fireball from its stinger tip at Sparx, who was quickly shielded by Spyro, who countered by friing a giant fireball at the hornet, causing it to explode into a million bit. Then, a Balkiry came flying towards the dragon and rammed itself into him, sending him flying into the pagoda. Spyro got up and breathed another explosive fire ball on the badnik, causing it to explode. After that, more of the badniks began to fly after Spyro as he and Sparx flew out of the pagoda and a chase ensued. The Buzz Bombers all fired their attacks on the purple dragon, as he flies through the rendition of Chun-nan, with his dragonfly companion at his side. They quickly got hornets off their back, when they flew towards an incoming torii arch and they both barrel rolled in different directions, confusing their chasers, leading them to crashed into each other, and into the structures. But there were still several more of the flying Badniks as they continued their chase after the dragon and dragonfly. Spyro quickly located a Memory Token under another torii arch, and made a quick flap, along with Sparx, for the token, before they did a loop and flies over the arch, while the enemies all flew past under them. The Badniks didn't know what had happened until it was too late, as Spyro and Sparx then became the chasers. Spyro and Sparx both breathed several explosive fireballs at their enemies, and they all exploded into several more bits, and a Memory Token was dropped. "And now, we have three," Spyro said as he landed on a giant lilypad. "Just two more to go," Sparx said, before he screamed, "Spyro! BEHIND YOU!" A fish-like Badnik, Masher, jumped out of the water behind Spyro, snapping its jaws, as it flies after Spyro. However, thanks to Sparx, Spyro had the heads up and dodged out of the Masher's way, before he lunges forward and slashes his claws at the Badnik, cutting it as it disappears into several digital bits. Then, more fish-like Badniks, Bfishes and Chop Chop, jumped out of the water, attempting to eat the dragon and dragonfly. Spyro fought them off by firing several fire balls, kicking, clawing, and whipping with his tails at the fish Badniks, while Sparx was determined not to get eaten. Eventually, the fish Badniks had enough as they all disappeared into more bits, before a Memory Token fell from the sky and landed in front of Spyro. As soon as Spyro had picked the token up, smokes erupted out of nowhere, before a lynx, wearing a straw hat walked out, with a sword drawn. The lynx charged at Spyro at an incredile speed, slashing her sword at the dragon, who narrowly avoided them, but the lynx quickly did a roundhouse kick and sent him flying backwards. "Spyro!" Sparx called out. "You alright?" "Yeah," Spyro grunted. "I was caught off guard." The lynx jumped up in the air and attempted to stab the dragon with the sword, but Spyro quickly rolled aside before he charges at the lynx and rammed her, sending her flying a few feet away, but she was able to recover from the impact, and landed perfectly on her feet. Then, she sended several ninja stars at Spyro, who quickly jumped behind a digital copy of a foodcart, while Sparx quickly flew to the lynx and shot several fireballs in her face, blinding her. As Sparx was about to fly away, he felt something catching him by the wings. The lynx had caught him, but then Spyro came to his rescue as he flew at the lynx, spinning rapidly and whipped his tail at the lynx, forcing her to let his friend go, before he ended the fight with by slamming his tail on her, and she disappeared into several digital bits, and a Memory Token appeared. After Spyro collected it, a voice broke out saying: "Spyro and Sparx's Security Clearance granted. You both have T-Pup's Trust." --- Main Processor A blue box with a picture of Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike appeared in the main processor, followed by another blue box with a crowded picture of Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and Polterpup, along with a blue box with a picture of Spyro and Sparx. After completing their tests, the heroes all exited out of the ports to meet up with Sonic and Tails, both who are with Nicole. "Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash called out, "Anything happened while we're gone?" --- Flashback Sonic, Tails, along with some of T-Pup's anti-virus robots, were fighting off some flea-bots, while the rest of their friends were passing their tests for their clearances. "They just keep coming!" Sonic grumbled. "Then we'll just have to keep fighting them off, until the rest of our friends passed their tests!" Tails said, as he struggled with a flea-bot on top of him. Just as the flea-bot was about to fire its attack on the fox, an electrical surge cracked through the air and the flea-bot was destroyed. And there stood, Nicole. "Hey Tails!" Nicole said. "Hey Sonic! Got your hands full?" "No kidding," Tails replied. "Thanks for the save. Care to help us even the odds?" "No problem!" With that, a pink-magenta glowing pitchfork-like staff appeared in Nicole's hand as she swings it around cuts all of the flea-bots down to size. Then, she curls herself up into a ball and knocked them all down as if they were bowling pins, before she uncurled herself and whipped her hair at one of the flea-bot, as two strands of her hairs with electrical plugs at the end materialized, and electrocuted the flea-bot, causing it to explode. "Alright, Nicole!" Sonic and Tails applauded. --- Present "Omigosh! Omigosh! Omigosh!" Twilight squealed before she ran up to the holo-lynx. "Not only can you simulate feelings and features like that of a sentient being, but you are also able to use several different moves and techniques for combat!" "As much as I'm not big on egghead stuff," Rainbow Dash began. "I'll have to admit, you're one awesome cat, Nicole." "Thank you," Nicole beamed. "Anyway," Tails reminded. "Now that you've all got your clearances, let's keep going. And Nicole, you might want to come along, cause we'll need your help as well." "I'm always happy to help Tails." With that, the heroes, plus Nicole, both headed toward the forcefield that protected the entrance to T-Pup's head, and were all able to pass through, without any problem. Along the way, Twilight asked, "By the way Nicole. What were you doing inside T-Pup in the first place?" "Well, after you all left, I quickly linked myself up with T-Pup to gain acess. I tried to get here as soon as I could, but by the time I was able to locate you, you were all in the Main Processor of T-Pup. I'm sorry I couldn't have been able to help all of you anytime sooner." "Hey, don't worry about it, Nikki," Sonic began. "What matters is that you're here now, and you're helping us stop the Syndicate." "Anyway, we're here now," Tails said as he revealed everyone that they were all standing before the gateway to the inside of T-Pup's head. "This is T-Pup's head. The flea-bot should be right behind this panel." And with that, the heroes all entered as they stepped on an elevator as it takes them to T-Pup's head. Once inside, Tails began, "Ok, it should be in here somewhere! Remember we need to retrieve the transmitter unit from it so we can use it to trace the signal to Dr. Eggman's Secret Lab." "Gotcha!" Sonic said. "Confirmed!" Nicole added. "Yoshi!" Yoshi chirped. With that, the heroes slowly walked in, keeping a look out for the flea-bot. "I don't see any flea-bots in here, Tails," Twilight said. Tails was flabbergasted, "But I was sure that the flea-bot was here...." "Maybe it saw us coming and hightailed it outta T-Pup," Sonic said. Then, out of nowhere, a giant flea-bot lept down from the ceiling and landed in front of the heroes. "Aaaaaaaaaarrrhhh!" the heroes screamed. "I've said it before," Spyro began. "And I'll say it again, you can be wrong for a hot second." The giant flea-bot made the first move as it leapt forward, after the heroes, and sent a huge shockwave after the heroes when it landed. It then shot three explosive fireballs, which the heroes were able to dodge from. "C'mon!" Tails cried. "Let's capture that flea-bot!" Sonic immediately curled himself into a ball, as he spins in place and began to pick up speed. Then, he launches himself and made an impact on the flea-bot. The flea-bot was stunned for a bit, before it made a huge leap and stomped on Sonic, before it leaped away again. "Sonic!" Tails cried. "You alright?" "Yeah, I'm fine," Sonic replied, as Tails helped him up. The flea-bot in the meantime, was about to fire more fireballs, when its fire got extinguished by Ice Luigi. Luigi threw several more ice balls, before Mario came, riding on Yoshi's back with his hammer out. Yoshi ground pounded the flea-bot, while Mario leaped off the dinosaur's back and slammed his hammer hard on the flea-bot's abdomen. The flea-bot quickly lept away as it perched itself above an electric orb. "What's it doing?" Sonic asked, to which Tails responded by taking out his scouter. "The ball is obviously T-Pup's power source," Tails explained. "Oh no! That thing's trying to heal itself by leeching off of T-Pup's energy! We've got to stop it!" "Don't have to," Sonic replied, pointing at the flea-bot. "Cause Nikki's way ahead of us." And just as Sonic had said, Nicole materialized herself behind the flea-bot and with her weapon in hand, she attacked the flea-bot, catching it off guard as it jumped off from its perch and landed back into the battle with the heroes, who are not planning on holding back. Spike attacked as he breathed fire, with his Ghost Pirate Swords, flying out of his hand and slashing at the flea-bot. Twilight shot a magic pulse at the robot. Rainbow Dash landed several punches. Spyro reached into his bag and pulled out the Dragonfire Cannon and used it to give enough firepower to attack the flea-bot. The flea-bot tried to retaliate by firing more of its fireballs, but Mario and Luigi both swung their hammers together to deflect the fireballs back at the flea-bot, all the while riding on Yoshi. Sonic attacked it with his trademark homing attack. And Tails delivered the final blow, with a fully charge electric ball from his arm cannon. The giant flea-bot couldn't take anymore attacks from the heroes as it limped a little before it completely collapse before them. "Great work team," Sonic exclaimed. "Ok Nikki, work your magic." "Don't ever refer to my skills as magic," Nicole sighed, unhappily. "Whatever," Sonic said, rolling his eyes. "What's so wrong about magic?" Twilight asked. "Nicole has a bit of a history with magic before," Tails explained, before he decided to change the subject. "So Nikki, analysis?" Nicole was linking her powers with the flea-bot, before she answered, "I've got the coordinates for Dr. Eggman's lair." "Where is it?" the heroes all asked, besides Yoshi and Polterpup. "His lair is under the ruins of what was once his citadel; New Megaopolis. Apparently, he was upgrading his Death Egg Mark II into the Death Egg Mark III there. And by the looks of things, it's ready to launch at any moment. You must hurry and leave, right away!" "Sal! Amy! Get us out of here!" Sonic shouted on his communicator. --- Real World "Ok Sonic!" Sally began. "Now that you and the heroes, now know where Eggman and the Syndicate are, it's all up to you guys now!" "Please Sonic!" Amy added. "The fate of the entire world rests in your hands, claws, and hooves." "Don't worry," Sonic said proudly. "We'll stop the syndicate and save the day in a sonic-second!" "Make that Rainbow Dash-second flat!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "You're on!" Sonic replied as both he and Rainbow Dash both held a competitive look on their face. With that, they both ran off, out of Freedom HQ, and off into the distance. Tails embraced Nicole before he said, "Take care of everyone while we're gone, Nikki." Nicole nodded as Tails spin his two tails and flew after Sonic and Rainbow Dash. "All a-right!" Mario exclaimed. "This is-a it, a-Luigi! Let's a-go stop a-the Syndicate once and a-for all!" "Oh yeah!" Luigi replied, as he and Mario both climbed onto Yoshi's back. "Let's a-go!" Mario cried, as Yoshi chriped before it ran off into the distance with Polterpup following behind. "For Skylands!" Spyro said as he flapped his wings and flew after the heroes with Sparx. Twilight and Spike were the only ones left. Twilight and Spike both looked at each other before they nodded their head and ran after their friends screaming, "For friendship! For magic! For Equestria til the end!" "Which I hope isn't too soon," Spike added. Sally, Amy, and Nicole both stood and watched as the heroes disappeared off over the horizon.