Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite!

Chapter 62: Ape Escape!

Neo Prison Island, within the forest

Sonic was speeding through the forest at a furious pace. He ran through bushes, jumped against tree trunks and swung on vines. He had to find the location of the G.U.N base that held Donkey Kong captive. It was somewhere in the middle of the forest, but where exactly?

"This base is hidden really well." Sonic said to himself as he continued running. The forest was massive in size, and the many trees blocked the distant view. How was Sonic supposed to find a single army base in a sprawling area like this?

Suddenly, Sonic heard a noise come from behind him. He looked back to see two G.U.N Beetle robots flying towards him. They both aimed their guns towards Sonic and shot at him. Fortunately, Sonic was quick and dodged the attacks. He flipped in the air and did a Homing Attack on the two robots, wiping them out with ease.

The hedgehog didn't have the time to stop and check his surroundings. At the same time, he was being chased by G.U.N's many robot fighters. They were determined to find Sonic and eradicate him for breaking onto the island.

A buzzing noise suddenly emitted. It was coming from Sonic's radio. He answered it. "Yo, what's up Mario?"

"I'm-a checking to see how you're doing right now." Mario spoke from the other end. Right now, Mario was circling above the island in Tails' Tornado-3. "The last time I saw, you were at the harbor and destroyed all of the defense robots there. Good job by the way!"

"Thanks," Sonic answered. "It was nothing too difficult. I'd say Eggman's robots put up more of a challenge than G.U.N's!"

"Haha! I'm-a take your word on that," Mario chuckled. He looked back down on the island, seeing the G.U.N base sticking out like a dot in the middle of the vast forest. "The base is right in the middle of the island. Be careful though, I just saw a swarm of G.U.N agents run out. They're looking for you."

"I can handle a bunch of agents." Sonic assured the plumber. "The only problem I have is finding the base. I'm having a hard time scouting it through these trees and bushes."

"...Maybe we should have dropped you right above the base, instead of at the coast of the island." Mario told him. Sonic shook his head, feeling stupid that they didn't follow that plan instead. "Anyway, if you need me, I'll be right here, waiting for your call."

"I will." Sonic said, shutting off his radio. He suddenly quickened his pace through the forest. Wherever he was, it was either getting him closer to the G.U.N base, or farther away. How was he supposed to know? He didn't have a map with him. The best thing he could do was push forward.

Out of no where, a yellow bolt of energy was shot at Sonic. It missed him by a few inches, but the blast caught Sonic off guard, causing him to trip and tumble forward, landing against a tree trunk. He groaned in pain and quickly got up.

"What was that all about?" Sonic grumbled to himself. He looked around him, seeing no one else nearby. Suddenly, another bolt of yellow energy shot at him. Sonic jumped out of it's way. He looked up to where the attack was launched. Up in the trees, hidden behind the branches, was a figure hiding.

"Hey! Don't be a wuss and show yourself!" Sonic shouted. The figure jumped down from it's location and landed a few feet away from Sonic. He was surprised to see who the figure was. "Whoa! Well if it isn't Shadow! Long time no see pal!" He grinned and waved at the hedgehog. Shadow simply gave him an emotionless stare.

"Seems like even after your disappearance, you're still the cocky, annoying guy I remember." Shadow said, crossing his arms. Deep down, he was pleasant to see his rival once again.

"Glad to see you missed me." Sonic said, walking up to Shadow. "Sorry if I left unexpectedly. It's not like I had a choice."

"I'm not interested in what happened to you," Shadow spoke. "I'm here to ask what you're doing breaking into G.U.N's island and destroying all of their defense forces for no apparent reason."

"Look, all I'm doing is trying to save a friend of mine," Sonic began explaining to Shadow.

"Wait...you're saying that crazy ape is your friend?" Shadow asked, giving him a confused look. "Since when was this?"

"Oh, no big deal." Sonic said. "It only happened after I disappeared. You know what happened, right? A huge portal sucked me in and on the other side was a whole new world totally different than ours! It was awesome!" Shadow could only look at Sonic with a dumbfounded expression.

"...have you gone crazy as well?" Shadow asked him, slowly backing away from Sonic. The hedgehog shook his head. assuring he wasn't going crazy. Shadow was now suddenly interested in Sonic's story. "So, there really is more to that gorilla than I thought. All I assumed was it being another pathetic creature."

Sonic wasn't Shadow's favourite guy to be around with, but he knew that Sonic had good reasons for doing whatever he did. "I don't know why you're attacking G.U.N.'s base, or why that gorilla is so important to you right now. But if I want to know the full truth, I have no choice but to help you."

Suddenly, a whole army of G.U.N Hunters popped out from behind the trees and surrounded the hedgehogs. They pointed their guns towards Sonic and began to charge their lasers. Sonic and Shadow had their backs against one another.

"Listen Shadow! I'll explain my story later. Right now, we need to save my friend from G.U.N!"

"...fine. I'll do what you say, but only because I want to know what happened when you disappeared." Shadow reluctantly agreed. He and Sonic clapped hands and began attacking the army of G.U.N Hunters. The robots quickly fired their lasers, but they weren't fast enough to hit the hedgehogs. The two destroyed the army of robots with their barrage of Homing Attacks.

"You're story better be worth getting in trouble by the government." Shadow warned Sonic. "There's no chance we'll get off clean after destroying half of G.U.N's robots."

"Eh, either way, they can just make more." Sonic joked. He looked around the forest. "Mind if you lead me to their base now?" Shadow nodded and motioned Sonic to follow. The two hedgehogs sped through the forest, heading towards the G.U.N base. It wasn't long until a loud thud was heard behind them. The two looked back to see a huge mechanical walker sporting a machine gun and missile launchers. It was G.U.N's Bigfoot machine.

"Hey! I remember that robot!" Sonic exclaimed. "Man, do I miss the good old days."

Suddenly, Bigfoot shot out it's missiles at both hedgehogs. The missiles missed the hedgehogs, instead creating a large explosion behind them, destroying parts of the trees and bushes caught in the deadly explosion.

"Watch out. They've upgraded their Bigfoots with a laser blaster." Shadow warned Sonic, pointing to the new laser gun installed at the tip of the front. As if on cue, the Bigfoot began to hover in the air and shot down a powerful purple laser down towards the ground and headed towards Sonic and Shadow.

"Pssh! That laser's too slow to catch up to us!" Sonic teased. He ran towards Bigfoot and jumped high into the air. He shot himself at the cockpit with a Homing Attack, damaging the Bigfoot. The robot stopped firing it's laser and shot it's plasma cannonc at Sonic, surprisingly hitting the hedgehog. Sonic landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Whoa! That hurt." Sonic held onto his chest. "This robot may be tougher than I thought."

"Let me handle this." Shadow said. He skated towards the Bigfoot and jumped into the air. He charged a yellow ball of chaos energy in his hand and shot a powerful bolt towards the Bigfoot cockpit. "Chaos Spear!"

The attack hit Bigfoot, damaging the robot further. It still wasn't enough to take down the robot. Suddenly, a blue energy field of electricity surrounded the robot. No physical attacks could harm the robot anymore.

"Hey! I don't remember this part!" Sonic shouted in surprised. He didn't like the looks of the electric shield. There was no way he was going to land a hit on the robot without painful shocking himself.

"Hmph! They think they can stop us with a shield? Pathetic!" Shadow growled. He began to charge up another ball of energy in his hand, only this time, the ball was bigger and it gave off a purple light. He shot the much more powerful Chaos Spear at Bigfoot. Unfortunately, it didn't appear to do any damage, which surprised Shadow. "What is this nonsense? How did it survive my attack? It should have destroyed the robot by now!"

"Man, this guy may take awhile to take care of." Sonic shouted. The two had no idea how to damage the Bigfoot. They seemed hopeless, and they had the urge to run away. Luckily, Sonic came up with a plan. "I have no choice but to call Mario for help." At first, he was going to call Mario to help them defeat Bigfoot, but how could the plumber come if he didn't know where they were on the island? Suddenly, Sonic came up with another plan.

"Mario! I need you to go and break into G.U.N's base yourself. My hands are tied right now, so it's all up to you."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I can't break into the base myself! That's-a too dangerous for me!" Mario complained. Sonic reminded him of one of the functions Tails taught him about the Tornado-3: the Cyclone Walker. It had more than enough firepower to destroy a full army of robots. It was all Mario needed to help rescue Donkey Kong.

"His fate is all in your hands Mario." Sonic told the plumber. At first, Mario hesitated, but he agreed to break into G.U.N's base himself. Sonic hung up the radio and quickly turned to Shadow. "Come on, I've got someone else handling my ape friend. We have all the time for ourselves to take care of this Bigfoot."

Shadow nodded. He wasn't sure what Sonic was talking about, but all they could do now was destroy Bigfoot. The robot was now walking towards them. Nodding to each other, Sonic and Shadow charged at Bigfoot, ready to attack.

Above the skies of Neo Prison Island

"Mamamia! What kind of chaos has Sonic gotten himself now?" Mario pondered to himself. Sonic couldn't rescue Donkey Kong anymore for some reason, so he threw the job onto Mario. The plumber was reluctant. It was his first day controlling the Tornado-3, and already he had to use the advance features on it.

"I'm-a hope I can do this." Mario said to himself. He looked down below the island and focused his eyes on the G.U.N base. He held his breath and slammed a button on the control panel of the Tornado-3.

The monoplane suddenly began changing shape. It sprouted a lock-on Laser Blaster from behind the seat. It's wings shifted into walker legs that had the ability to hover with it's Boosters. The monoplane still retained it's Bazooka Cannon at the front.

The Tornado-3 had transformed into the Cyclone Walker!

"AAAAHHHHH!" Mario screamed as the Cyclone began falling towards the island. Since it's wings were gone, it lost the ability to fly. Mario desperately looked over at the control panel and found the button he wanted. Slamming onto it, the legs of the Cyclone crouched and started up it's Boosters, allowing Mario to slowly descend. The Cyclone landed in front of the G.U.N. base. At the moment, all the agents had been deployed around the island to find Sonic, leaving some of the robots to defend the base.

"Donkey Kong is somewhere inside." Mario said to himself. He stared at the base, overwhelmed by it's huge size. He quickly turned his hesitation into determination. Holding tightly onto the joystick of the Cyclone, he aimed at the front doors of the base. "Let's-a go!"

Mario controlled the Cyclone's Bazooka Cannon to shoot down the base. With a few shots, the door was broken down. Mario walked the Cyclone inside the base as the sirens began to wail outside. A robotic voice began shouting aloud yelling: "INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!"

As the Cyclone walked through the hallways, a group of G.U.N Beetles appeared out of nowhere and aimed at the walker. Mario quickly activated the lock-on mechanism and aimed at the robots. He turned on the Laser Blaster and shot a barrage of lasers at the beetles, quickly destroying them.

"Wow! That was kinda cool." Mario exclaimed. Now filled with courage, he piloted the Cyclone deeper into G.U.N's base, destroying everything in his path with the Laser Blaster. Mario felt invincible. With the touch of a button, he could blast away the robots with ease.

"I'm-a going to rescue Donkey Kong in no time at all!" Mario exclaimed in enthusiasm. As he rushed the Cyclone through the hallways, large metal doors suddenly popped out in front of him to hinder his progress. This was no problem for Mario, as the Cyclone's Bazooka Cannon easily shot down the doors. Mario continued infiltrating the G.U.N base until he came across a large, empty steel room.

"Where do I go next?" Mario said to himself. The only exit in the room was the hallway he had come out of. Suddenly, the floor under him began to split in two. Quickly reacting, Mario used the Cyclone's Booster to float back onto one of the sliding floors. Out from the floor jumped out two large G.U.N Battle Robots. Each were armed with their own Bazookas.

"Uh-oh, this could be a problem." Mario gasped. This was a two-against-one. The plumber felt like it was unfair, but hey, life was unfair, right?

The two Battle Robots aimed their Bazookas at Mario and launched a rocket at him. Mario steered the Cyclone out of the way, dodging the large explosion the missiles made. Mario counter-attacked by shooting at one of the robots with the Cyclone's Bazooka Cannon. Surprisingly, the shots weren't working, and only seemed to deflect off the Battle Robot.

"Hey! Whatever you're doing, you're cheating!" Mario yelled in frustration. Deciding to take a different approach, Mario used the Cyclone's Laser Blaster to try and damage the robots. The lasers blasts hit both robots spot-on, yet it didn't appear to do any damage. Mario scratched his head in confusion. "Why won't these guys take any damage? Are the Cyclone's attacks not strong enough?"

One of the Battle Robots took the opportunity to shoot it's Bazooka at Mario. The missile hit the front of the Cyclone, greatly damaging the mechanical walker and destroying it's Bazooka Cannon.

"Aww man! Tails is not going to be happy when he sees this!" Mario gasped. "That Bazooka missile was really strong. Hmm...I wonder." Mario had just come up with an idea. Swiftly, he piloted the Cyclone between the two Battle Robots and whistled at them, getting their attention. "Hey! Look at me! I'm wide open for an attack!"

The two Battle Robots aimed their Bazookas at Mario and shot out their missiles. At the last second, Mario used the Cyclone's Boosters to jump high into the air, dodging the two missiles. The missiles head towards each other, but narrowly missed, and instead, hit the opposing Battle Robots, destroying them in the process.

"Yahoo! I did it!" Mario cheered for himself. He patted himself on the back, happy he defeated the robots, even at an unfair disadvantage. While he was celebrating, a group of G.U.N Hunters ran into the room, surrounding Mario. The group of robots were lead by a mysterious bat character Mario had never seen before.

"You! What's your problem?" Rouge shouted at Mario. She was flying in the air, looking at Mario at eye level. "Do you know how much damage you've caused because of your crazy behaviour?" Rouge was

"I don't think it's crazy," Mario explained to her. "I'd think of it more as a heroic."

Rouge was confused at first, and was further going to berate at Mario when she recognized the machine he was piloting. "Hey, wait a minute. This looks like the machine Tails once used before. How in the world did you get this?"

"I stole it." Mario joked.

"Ahah! So you really are the bad guy. " Rouge assumed. Mario rolled his eyes, surprised she didn't get his sarcastic remark. "It's not that I hate the bad boy type, but you just don't have the looks that appeal to me."

"Hey! Are you saying I'm-a ugly?"

"Well, I guess if you say it, I suppose so."

Infuriated, Mario aimed the Laser Blaster towards the whole army of robots surrounding him and shot a barrage of lasers around viciously, destroying each and every robot in sight. Rouge had to take cover by flying towards the roof of the room, avoiding the laser blasts range. Mario then piloted the Cyclone out of the room, resuming his search to find Donkey Kong.

"Geez, someone seems to be sensitive about their looks." Rouge groaned, flying back to the ground. "Can't blame me for having such a repulsive look. The best thing about him was his moustache."

Mario began fighting his way through the upper levels of the G.U.N base. Without his Bazooka Cannon, Mario had to rely on the Cyclone's Laser Blasters. Even without the weapon, Mario had no problem destroying the robots that came in his way. After fighting through hordes and hordes of G.U.N robots, Mario came across a large window that peered into a room.

"What seems to be in here." Mario wondered. He made the Cyclone crouch so he could peer inside the room. It was the laboratory room, which held many control panels and computers screens around the walls. The room was empty, probably because everyone had to evacuate the building from Mario's sudden attack. In the middle of the room, was a large glass tube. Inside it, was a sleeping gorilla. Mario instantly recognized his friend.

"Donkey Kong!" Mario shouted. Taking action, Mario used the Laser Blaster to destroyed the laboratory's window. He climbed the Cyclone inside and walked towards the glass tube. Mario jumped out of the Cyclone and knocked onto the tube. Donkey Kong slowly woke up and was relieved to see his friend.

"Mario!" Donkey Kong exclaimed in joy. Unfortunately, Mario couldn't hear what Donkey Kong said, since the glass was soundproof from the outside. Luckily, Mario didn't need to hear what Donkey Kong said to know how happy he was to see him.

"Don't worry, I'm-a get you out of here." Mario said to him. Climbing back into the Cyclone, Mario used the Laser Blaster to destroy the glass tube. The lasers easily shattered the glass. Donkey Kong climbed out and began pounding his chest, roaring in triumph for his freedom.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Donkey Kong said. He went up to Mario and gave him a big gorilla hug, squeezing Mario in the process. "Thanks for saving me."

"Anytime, my friend." Mario said. He climbed back into the Cyclone. "Come on, I'll explain what's been happening once we get out of here."

"Are our friends alright?" Donkey Kong quickly asked. Mario nodded to the ape and began walking out of the laboratory. Donkey Kong cracked his knuckles. Free from his glass imprisonment, he was ready to pound a bunch of robots into scrap metal. "It's time to show these guys what I'm made of!"

Neo Prison Island, within the forest

Sonic and Shadow were vigorously fighting against G.U.N's Bigfoot. But whatever attacks they threw against the robot, it seemed to backfire against them due to the robot's electricity shield. The two hedgehogs felt hopeless. Even Shadow felt overpowered.

"GAH! Pathetic robot! Hiding within a shield of electricity! Such as coward!" Shadow growled in anger. None of his chaos attacks could pierce though the electric shield. Shadow took out his Chaos Emerald and began to ponder what attacks he could use against Bigfoot.

Sonic had dodged another one of Bigfoot's missiles when he saw Shadow holding a Chaos Emerald. Suddenly, he came up with a plan. "Shadow! Throw me the Chaos Emerald!"

"Why? You don't know how to fully use the power of the Chaos Emerald. What good would that do?" Shadow asked. Sonic told him he had no time to explain. Doubtful of Sonic's potential to win, Shadow threw the Chaos Emerald to him.

"Let's see if this works." Sonic said to himself. He concentrated all his energy into a familiar power-up he once possessed. The Chaos Emerald began to glow. A sudden burst of energy blew up inside Sonic. His body began to glow in rainbow-like glow. His whole body began to sparkle in bright light.

Sonic was now Rainbow Sonic!

"What the-I've never seen this sort of power before!" Shadow said, surprised. He had no idea what kind of power Sonic had suddenly released from the Chaos Emerald.

"It's time to finish this." Sonic said. Staring at Bigfoot, Sonic prepared a Rainbow Spin-Dash. Sparkles began to shroud around him. Sonic quickly shot himself towards the Bigfoot, with a rainbow apparition appearing behind him. His Rainbow Spin-Dash pierced through the Bigfoot's electricity shield and through the Bigfoot robot itself. It created a hole through the interior, destroying Bigfoot. The robot stood there for a minute and fell to the ground, creating a loud thud.

"That was...amazing." Shadow said, still surprised. He looked back to Sonic, who was standing on a boulder. He powered down from his Rainbow transformation. "Sonic...how were you able to possess that kind of power?"

"I kind of learned it when I disappeared into the 'other' world." Sonic explained to him. Shadow was slowly beginning to understand Sonic's situation. He must've had a good reason to break into G.U.N's island to rescue the gorilla he and Rouge captured. It must have had some sort of importance, but Shadow still did not know fully what was going on.

"Come on, you still need to explain to me what happened to you." Shadow reminded him. "But only after I help you." Shadow motioned Sonic to follow him to G.U.N' base. After speeding through the forest, they finally reached the entrance. At the same time, Mario and Donkey Kong had just broken out.

"Take this!" Donkey Kong shouted as he jumped out of the base, smashing a G.U.N Beetle into the ground at the same time. He roared in victory. Mario walked the Cyclone out of the base. He quickly noticed Sonic outside of the base.

"Sonic! Hey! You made it!" Mario greeted him.

"It seems like you already have things take care of." Sonic said. He walked up to Donkey Kong, who was surprised to see Sonic.

"Hey buddy! I can't believe it's you!" Donkey Kong exclaimed, giving the hedgehog another one of his gorilla hugs. Sonic could only grin to see his friend again. Donkey Kong put the hedgehog down and quickly noticed Shadow watching them. He growled at him. "What's he doing here!"

"Don't worry, he's okay." Sonic assured him.

"Who's he?" Mario asked. Donkey Kong explained to him he was one of the people that captured him and took him to the government. He also explained a bat person was aiding him. Mario remembered the bat person he encountered in the base. "So those were the ones that captured you. Why would they do that?"

"Look, everyone makes mistakes," Sonic tried to reason with them. He looked back to Shadow, who reluctantly nodded his head. "I'm sure if they knew who you guys really were, they wouldn't have captured you in the first place."

Donkey Kong walked up to Shadow and stared at him, still unsure of him. "Are you sorry for what you did?"

"...sure." Shadow said, trying to feel sorry. "...I'm...I'm sorry for what I did to you. I was...stupid?"

"Okay! I accept your apology!" Donkey Kong exclaimed. He grinned and gave Shadow a gorilla hug. Unlike the others, Shadow wasn't all into getting hugged by a gorilla. He thought it was 'too weird'. But nonetheless, he had no control of what Donkey Kong could do, so he allowed the hug. Even though he hated it.

Everything seemed to be well, when suddenly, another whole army of G.U.N robots appeared to surround the heroes. This time, the whole army was much bigger than what the heroes encountered earlier. There were even two Bigfoots there.

"Halt! All of you are surrounded and must surrender!" One of the agents in the Bigfoot shouted through an intercom. The heroes were determined to not get captured and were about to attack when Rouge ran out of the base.

"How in the world did this all happen?" Rouge yelled. She was surprised to see a whole bunch of robots surrounding the heroes all of a sudden. She noticed Shadow as among the heroes. "You too Shadow! What's gotten into you! Someone has some explaining to do."

"If you allow us, let me explain what's been going on." Sonic told her. "Call off all these mercenaries and find us a private place to chat. You'll understand."

.

..

...

To be continued!

The heroes have saved Donkey Kong! But they still need to escape from Neo Prison Island. Will they be able to talk their way out of this one? Stay tuned for the next chapter of Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite!

A/N: I apologize if this chapter seems a little long. I was so into writing the plot that I didn't notice I exceeded my usual 4,000 word limit I put on to myself. Nevertheless, I think this chapter turned out pretty epic. There's action, there' surprising twists, all that kind of stuff you usually see in my story.

I thought it was a cool idea to let Mario use the Cyclone to break into G.U.N's base to save Donkey Kong. You usually see Tails doing that kind of stuff with machines, but allowing someone to do that kind of think who isn't familiar in that territory seemed more interesting for me to write.

This chapter was supposed to end with the heroes already leaving Neo Prison Island, but again, since I wrote too much this time, I had to bump it into next chapter. That's kind of a good thing, since I didn't really have much of a plot for the next chapter. A hint though, I'm about to reveal a huge plot device next week. That's something you should be looking forward to.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all your support. You guys are the best! Don't be shy to leave a review. I like reading what you guys have to say about my story. It helps motivate me in writing the next chapter. Also, if you didn't notice, I've finally took the time to update some of my stuff on my profile. It also reveals the titles for the next 7 chapters. Be warned, it may spoil you a little bit about what may happen next. Bye for now!

-Azurixx

~I do not own any Mario or Sonic related material. They are the sole property of Nintendo and Sega, respectively~