Fan Fiction / Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Marines Journey - The SHODAN crisis ❯ Chapter 60: On the ARK, and SHODAN on the planet, and shock horror, NO LOG! ( Chapter 61 )

The Marine's Journey

Chap. 60: On the ARK, and SHODAN on the planet, and shock horror, NO LOG!

By: Piccard

I'M BRIAN BLESSED!!! -Ahem- sorry, overacting again! Before I start this one, I want to admit one thing, I have not played either Sonic DX or SA2B! I got all my knowledge of it from magazines, the Internet and various friends (Sponge!). It might not have shocked you, but if you have any advice, (Or know anywhere (other than E-bay) in Britain where I can get it for cheap!) please let me know!

Dark: What about us?

(I wanted a rant!)

---------------------------- /\/**

Disclaimer: Somewhere out there, in a galaxy far, far away is someone who actually gives a damn!

Greetings friend? Your respect for me has grown, priest!

---------------------------- /\/**

On a dark corridor of the ARK, untouched by the ravages of Borg technology, there were eight flashes of blue light as the respective members of the alliance appeared and started looking around the bland grey corridors. "They haven't been here yet." Dark speculated as he looked down a corridor and into the blackness. Piccard ran a hand along the wall next to him and closed his eyes. "The borg queen is a long way off at the minute, as are the rest of the collective. I recommend we use this area as a central base." He noticed the faces of the others, "Look," He started as he moved away and into the middle of them. "I'm not in for the guns-a-blazing strategy as we go in." "So we gotta advance!" Chaos said as he fired a plasma round down a corridor and heard it impact with something. "Chaos you idiot!" The doctor shouted, "What if that was a drone?" "Relax," Chaos said as he leant against the wall opposite. "If that was a drone, don't you think that a group would be with him?" Suddenly, they heard clanking, and looked where Chaos had shot to see a group of eight drones heading their way, and from the green cylinders two had instead of arms, they guessed that they were going to be used for shooting. "You mean like them?" Tuvok speculated as he fired his phaser in a wide arc, bringing down two before they adapted and the Doctor whipped his out, (Phaser that is you sickos!) "For once, down with the Hippocratic oath!" He shouted as he fired repeatedly, only downing one before they adapted.

"My turn!" Chaos shouted as he pointed the plasma gun, but Piccard stopped him, "Don't bother, they had time to adapt to it already." Chaos grumbled as he lowered his rifle and Xerxes and Bio ran forward. "Let them eat melee!" Xerxes shouted as he bought his fist down hard, crushing one drone's head in as Bio sliced another in half, "We're up!" Dark shouted as he and R-396 both aimed and shot, each taking down one, and they were bought back to their senses by the sound of a shotgun unloading as the final drone bit the dust and Piccard turned to the group. "Never fire down a black corridor!" Chaos just `Hmphed' as Piccard continued. "The collective doesn't know we're here yet, but word might reach them soon that they lost eight drones to mysterious forces, so we have to go forward, now!"

There were some groans as the eight got up and started moving forward down the dark corridor. Silence hung in the air as they walked, and after a minute and a half, Chaos broke the silence. "Somebody say something!" He shouted, and he noticed everyone else stop and groan before Piccard pointed to a fork in the path. "Which way now?" The doctor said, and he noticed Piccard laying a palm to the wall as he closed his eyes and tried to sense where to go. "Are we supposed to believe that you can actually tell us the right way?" Tuvok said in his usual calm tone, and Piccard opened his eyes and smiled. "Down to the right, three drones are ahead." Piccard primed his shotgun and took off down the corridor before the others had time to react, they heard the sound of metal scraping and the splats of blood hitting the walls as they all raced forward and found Piccard standing over the three bodies. "It's been a while since I had a thrill from killing something." Piccard muttered, and Tuvok picked up on it. "I fail to see the need to kill for ones entertainment." He heard chuckling behind him and turned to see Chaos. "Lighten up chief! Have a bit of fun!" "Chaos," Dark said as he readied his pistol, "Trying to get Tuvok to have fun is like getting Piccard away from Amy, virtually impossible!"

Down at the mansion, the remaining members of the alliance (Tom, Jon, Anaetheron, Cybos and D'sparil) were out front just relaxing and talking whilst allegedly defending. "Jon," Tom started as he primed the grenade launcher, and Jon looked up from his video camera, "You called master?" "Settle down puppy, I wanted to ask why you bought that thing out." "Well," Jon said as he started walking back to the chair he bought out, "If SHODAN has anything new, then we can show Piccard when he gets back." "Smart lad," D'sparil said whilst doing the usual routine of running the duster up and down his staff continually. (Not innuendo, I just want to see how many people fall for it!) There was silence for a few minutes before a voice could be heard, "Somebody say something!" "Quiet Anaetheron, I'm thinking." Jon said. "My condolences, does it hurt?" Jon just gave the hell knight a weird look as Cybos opened his mouth to speak, but forgot what he was about to say as he saw a few green effluences and three figures appeared. "SHODAN, Avatar and god only cares." Cybos muttered to Anaetheron as the three walked forward. SHODAN walked prominently, the Avatar sulked a little, but the third stood tall, his black armour stood out against the grey road, he also had armoured trousers, brown boots and a helmet which only revealed a pair of bright green eyes. "Welcome SHODAN!" Cybos said, "We have no vacancies at the moment, so please f*** off!" She only chuckled as the figure in armour produced a black rifle out of nowhere and fired straight at them, but Cybos managed to counter just in time with a rocket. "Who's this clown then?" Cybos shouted, and they were all shocked when they heard a male voice, "Your worst nightmare, now you all die!"

Back on the ARK, The group turned down another corridor and R-396 couldn't help but scream at the sight before her. Half mutilated bodies littered the floor in black uniforms that had been lightly coated red with dry blood, and judging from the walls and parts on the floor, these men had died fighting the borg. "What the hell?" Bio shouted as the Doctor ran forward and started scanning them. "They were killed about two weeks ago from these scans." "Hmm," Piccard said as he reached down and wiped some blood from one jacket and saw three letters on it. "GUN? We'll have to ask the others about them when we get back." Piccard said as he started tapping things into a pad and they started walking again.

After another few minutes, Tuvok heard something further ahead and tapped Piccard on the shoulder. "I am hearing a group of life forms ahead." "With ears that big I'm not surprised!" Chaos muttered to Xerxes, and Tuvok only raised an eyebrow as he continued, "But none are approaching us." Okay everyone listen," Piccard started as they all gathered around. "The borg will not attack if they don't consider us a threat, so if we walk forward without firing at anything, we should get quite far." Piccard finished as he lowered his shotgun and started walking, with Chaos and the Doctor both at the back saying, "Why us?" "We're expected to walk through them, I want to see this!" Chaos said as they ran to catch up, and after walking through three groups without being seen, the Doctor turned to him. "You still want to see it?" "Shut it Doc!" Chaos shouted as he clenched his fists, but was unaware that he still had a finger on the trigger of his rifle, and as soon as he clenched, a stream of plasma shot down the corridor, killing one drone but the bolts were absorbed by the others. "Chaos you idiot!" Dark shouted as he readied his laser pistol on the over setting and aimed down a side corridor where drones were starting to materialise. "This keeps getting better and better." Bio said as he and Xerxes moved to the back and readied their blades and fists as a group appeared, and Xerxes didn't waste any time at all as he ran forward and crushed one's head into a pulp.

Back on the planet, the whole group were out to fight SHODAN's new weapon, which seemed to be leaving its toll. SHODAN and the Avatar had beamed back, but her new boy was ripping the hell out of anything that the sonic team and the remainder of the alliance could fling at it. "Damn you!" D'sparil shouted as the figure absorbed a lightning charge and whipped his arm round, flinging the warlock to the ground and sending his staff flying back into the mansion before he could react. "Oh dear, the warlock has no staff," The figure taunted as he aimed his rifle at the fallen warlock, who just looked on in horror. Suddenly the armoured figure was hit by a barrage of rockets, and he stalled momentarily as he turned to see Cybos and Anaetheron standing on the edge of the street. "The traitors!" He shouted as he fired black bolts straight at the two, and they managed to roll away before being hit, managing to send a volley of rockets and energy bolts straight at him, but he just let them hit, and the explosions did virtually no damage. "You'll have to do better than that!" He shouted as he ran forward, laughing manically with a fist poised above his head, and as Anaetheron looked up, he noticed that they were in deep shit. The figure wore gloves similar to Knuckles's, but instead of two tips, he had slits in the gloves, and three small metal claws protruded from them. "Prepare for a thrashing!" "I was gonna say the same thing to you!"

He turned and was immediately knocked down be a black blur that stopped and assumed a hedgehog shape. "So sorry, careless of me, I don't think!" Shadow shouted as he revved and sped back, but the figure just sidestepped, causing Shadow to barrel into the force field as the others ran forward. "Can't you fools see yet?" A roundhouse kick sent Sonic, Rogue and Tom back into the force field, "SHODAN is all powerful," Overhead kick sent Jon, D'sparil and Anaetheron crashing into a nearby Antoine and Elias, the five of them hitting the floor. "Your pathetic efforts won't stop us!" He retracted his claws and punched straight, sending Cybos back into a nearby wall, and after doing this, started to think. "I'm sure there's one I missed, but who?" "Looking for me?" He looked upwards and a gloved fist greeted him in the face, and after managing to regain his senses, he saw a certain guardian blocking his way.

Up on the ARK, the group had just finished dealing with the wave of borg drones, and were pretty knackered. "Chaos, lets have a new rule," Dark started as he took Chaos's rifle and holstered it behind Chaos's back. "You only hold it when we fight, got it?" "Will you knock it off?" Xerxes yelled, sick of the bickering, That and the fact that a drone got lucky and knocked his head around a bit. "God above," Piccard groaned as he checked his shotgun for damage. "If this keeps up, we'll kill each other before the queen." "Light, can I ask you a question?" Piccard turned and saw Bio leaning forward. "Try me." "Do you know if we are anywhere near the queen?" Piccard closed his eyes to think, and started to hum. R-396 took the opportunity for a break, and as she did, noticed a drone trying to creep up on Piccard, but she downed it with a nifty shurikan to the neck. "Stupid things." She muttered as Piccard opened his eyes. "She's down this corridor, but if we want to get there without any trouble, we'll have to run, drones are starting to get wary of us, and could sneak up when," He looked over his shoulder and saw the drone with a shurikan in it's neck. "I rest my case." He said as he turned and adopted a running stance. "Ready to race?" The others got into running positions, but Xerxes looked a little worried. "I didn't build this thing with speed in mind." "Don't worry about it X." Dark said as he readied himself, "You'll get there, and should have more of a chance to kill them, as we'll all be tired." Xerxes only nodded as the others started running as Piccard shouted, "Go!" And Xerxes noticed that Piccard dropped a tricorder, so he picked it up as he started running.

Back at the mansion, Knuckles was going full swing with the figure in armour outside of the mansion, and Knuckles was shocked by a number of things. Firstly the blades from the fists, secondly that whenever anyone tried to rush in, he sent them flying with a single hit, and lastly that whenever phasers were fired from the mansion itself, he just absorbed them. Suddenly, he delivered a powerful blow straight to the side of Knuckles's head, sending him sprawling to the ground some way away, and the figure started walking over as Knuckles pulled himself up and noticed a blue blur shoot past the armoured figure as Sonic suddenly stopped, holding something red that Knuckles's recognised in an instant. "An emerald?" "Forgot we had these didn't you?" Sonic said as he handed it over and held onto the orange one. Then suddenly the figure stalled as two bright flashes of light appeared, and when they subsided, the two figures were very different. Sonic had changed from blue to yellow and his quills were pointing upwards, and Knuckles was glowing a light pink as they both rushed forward at speeds that this figure hadn't even comprehended, and he screamed as the two forces barrelled into him.

He landed several feet away, and his eyes flashed with rage as he looked up. "Super Sonic and Super Knuckles." He said as he ran forward, "I was hoping I could face you." The duo ran forward, but he batted Sonic out of the way with a flick of the wrist as he met Knuckles head on. "Sonic!" He looked up from the floor to see Sally running in. "You okay?" "I've been better." He said as the princess helped him up. "Doesn't it seem odd to you?" "What seem odd?" Sonic looked forward to see the armoured guy actually managing to withstand super Knuckles and anyone that tried to help. "That he's obsessed with fighting Knuckles?" Sally looked down in thought, but then a minute later she noticed Sonic click his fingers. "I have it, but it's gonna be risky." "Have what?" Sally asked, and Sonic just smiled. "His identity, but I have to get that helmet off!" He said as his quills started flashing and he jetted forward, and the figure had little time to react as Sonic got a hold of the back of the helmet and ripped it off his head, and everyone looked on in shock. "YOU!" Knuckles shouted, but the guy just laughed as he vanished in a green light before an orange bolt hit his position, and Sonic looked up to see a shuttle landing in the road. "Tails," Sonic called, and the fox opened the door and leaned out, "You shouted?" "Get Piccard on a com link, he wont believe who we just had to face!"

Meanwhile, Xerxes was tiring as he noticed Tuvok looking out of a door, and as the Vulcan saw Xerxes he gestured for him to follow, and he did, into a room with the others. "What the?" He said in shock as he noticed a giant gun pointing out of the room towards a moon that was getting smaller. "Xerxes," He looked over to see Piccard, "Have you seen my tricorder?" "You mean this one?" The android said as he produced it, and as Piccard took it, he said, "You dropped it when you took off." "Thanks." Piccard said as he took a strange device from the floor and started scanning it. "What's that?" "This Xerxes is a central processor, every drone has one, and I'm trying." He stopped himself as he read the display and his head immediately snapped to get a view of the large gun. "We have to disarm that thins now!" Piccard shouted, and the others seemed to be confused. "Why Light?" "Well Dark, according to this, the ARK is on a course to the mansion, and when it gets there, it will charge this gun and obliterate everything down there." The others stood in shock as Piccard ran to a panel and started pushing buttons. "Don't just stand there, help me out!"

I'm gonna stop there as me wrists are giving me hell! Repetitive strain injury my foot, it's just god getting back at me for writing so much porn! But enough from my fascinating (Jon: Bollocks!) life, how was it? Good, bad, just plain awful? Please review, I'm as mad on reviews as I am on porn. (I need review aversion therapy!)

Piccard, logging out! /\/**