Episode 22: Freedom Fighter Island Training

Over the Atlantic Ocean, the Spirit of Freedom was flying over the ocean. Inside were Sonic, Tails, MC, the Young 6 and Dulcy. MC was piloting the Spirit of Freedom.

"So, where are we going this time?" Gallus asked.

"To a place where all us Freedom Fighters go to train when we need extra training," Sonic answered. "An island personally created by MC himself."

"It took me a full 24 hours to create the entire island," MC said. "This place is where all of us Freedom Fighters train when we need to."

"Meh, I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle," Smolder said. "After all, with our powers, there's no way this training session will be a challenge."

"That's what you think, Smolder," Tails said. "In case we get into a problem that cancels out our powers, we train here just in case without using our powers. And Sonic is the most impatient of this one."

"Island Training with no powers?" Ocellus asked.

"That's right, Ocellus," Sonic said. "We all have to be prepared for whatever happens. All the other Freedom Fighters had done this. Of course, when Antoine and Mutt finished it, they ended up sleepwalking when we were camping at the end."

"Land ho!" MC said. An island was coming into view and the Spirit of Freedom was heading right towards it.

The Spirit of Freedom landed at the dock of the island they were heading to. The island had a mountain that was at least 1000 feet high over the water. Sonic, Tails, MC, the Young 6 and Dulcy exited the Spirit of Freedom. Sonic, Tails, the Young 6 and Dulcy were wearing backpacks.

"Whoa," Gallus said. "We're supposed to climb this mountain?"

"More likely to go up the path that leads to the top," Ocellus said.

"This is so exciting!" Silverstream said. "I can't wait to..." She put her left hand on the spot where her seashell necklace was, but it wasn't there anymore. "Huh?" She then gasped. "Where's my necklace?!"

"It's right here," MC said. MC was holding up Silverstream's seashell necklace. "You're gonna have to complete this training without magic. Or powers. Or even flight."

"Seriously?" Smolder asked. "We have to go up there without using our powers?"

"C'mon, Smolder," Dulcy said. "This shouldn't be too much of a problem. They want us to be prepared for anything."

"Plus it'll give Dulcy a break from crashing into everything every time she flies," Gallus said.

"Yona thought Yona was most clumsy creature among group, but Yona proven wrong," Yona said.

"But at least we won't have to worry about that for today," Sandbar said. "So, are you gonna lead us through this place MC?"

"No, I'm not," MC said. "Sonic and Tails are. I'm gonna be waiting for you up on top of the mountain, setting up camp for tonight. I'll see you all when you get up there." MC then turned around and walked back into the Spirit of Freedom. The door started closing. The Spirit of Freedom then started up and it started ascending.

Sonic, Tails, the Young 6 and Dulcy watched as it ascended up to the top of the island. Sonic then said, "Okay, all of you. There's our rendezvous point. We're gonna meet MC up there, without using our powers."

"So we should start walking," Tails said. "Let's get going." Then they all started walking up the path to meet with MC at the top of the mountain.

They all walked up the path to the top of the mountain. Then they reached their first obstacle. It seemed to be a small tunnel with holes on the sides and tiles with animals on them.

"Whoa," Sandbar said. "Sweet tunnel."

"This is the first challenge," Sonic said. "You have to get through this tunnel without getting hit."

"Hit by what?" Smolder said walking into the tunnel. She then set her right foot on one tile and it sank. Just then, a dart came out from the left side of the wall, almost hitting Smolder's left arm. Smolder stepped back at the incoming dart when it happened. "Got it."

"What was that?" Ocellus asked.

"Parallelization dart," Tails answered. "Don't worry, it'll only last five minutes."

"So, we're gonna have to use our smarts to get through this, huh?" Ocellus asked. "Well, I am the smartest out of the seven of us."

"Yes, you are, Ocellus," Tails said. "Let's see what you got."

Ocellus kneeled down and looked at the tiles on the ground. Seeing a bunch of different animals on them. Lions, tigers, bears (oh my), panthers, elephants, mice, monkeys and zebras.

"Okay, there are animal tiles here," Ocellus said. "Predators and prey animals. Smolder, which tile did you step on?"

Smolder walked over to Ocellus and kneeled next to Ocellus. She then put her right hand on the tile she stepped on, which was one with a panther, saying, "This one." The tile sunk and a dart came out of the right wall, going across from them. "That was close. Again."

"Wait a minute," Ocellus said. She then put a hand on a tile with an elephant, but it didn't sink. "The prey animals are safe. The prey animals are safe!"

"That's it," Tails said. "There you go."

"Okay, everyone," Ocellus said. "Step on the tiles that have elephants, mice, monkeys and zebras." Then Ocellus stepped on the tiles that had those animals she mentioned. The others followed her by following the same path as Ocellus. Eventually, all of them made it through.

"Good job, Ocellus," Sonic said. "Now, let's move on." Then they continued up the path some more.

Then they came across a bog. The path was going through the muck in front of them, and large stone footings above the muck. And it was giving some kind of odor.

"Sheesh!" Smolder said. "This place stinks!"

"Is this the next obstacle?" Gallus asked.

"Yup," Sonic said. "This is one of the most challenging parts of this island. Especially with all this Mega-Muck."

"Mega-Muck?" Yona asked. "What's Mega-Muck?"

"It's a very sticky substance that's even able to stop super speeders cold," Sonic said. "It was able to stop me. It's part petroleum, part quicksand, part clay mud."

"Yikes," Gallus said. "Wouldn't want to get trapped in there." He then leaped towards one stone floor that was above the Mega-Muck. "See? This isn't so bad." He then saw a plank of wood. He grabbed it and reached over to the beginning so others could cross. More likely, Yona.

"Smart thinking, Gallus," Sonic said. "You and Silverstream are the most agile, so you can make the jump across the muck to bring the others across."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Silverstream said. She then jumped across the muck towards another platform. Eventually, they made it passed the obstacle.

They continued up the path and they saw a river with a large canoe at a dock.

"Canoe paddling?" Yona asked, getting scared.

"What?" Tails asked. "You afraid of boats?"

"Last time Yona was on a canoe, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were with us and we crashed into a spire," Gallus said.

"And Yona can't swim," Sandbar said.

"Well, we're gonna have to go across the river," Sonic said. "Believe me, I can't swim either. I had to get across this river... because of that." Sonic pointed down the river where a current was heading. Down the river was a waterfall.

"Yikes!" Yona said. "Okay, Yona try best."

"All we have to do is cross the river," Sonic said. "Let's go." Then the eight of them put on their life preservers, then they got into the canoe. Sonic was in front with Smolder, Tails was behind with Ocellus, Gallus was in the third row with Silverstream, Sandbar was in the fourth row with Yona and Dulcy was in the back, manning the rutter. As they all sat down, they started paddling.

"That's it, all of you," Tails said. "It's all about working together."

As they were paddling, the current was pulling the boat. Everyone with a paddle was trying to stroke as hard as they could.

"Whoa!" they all shouted.

"The current's too strong!" Sonic said. "It wasn't this strong the last time we went across!" Then they all started screaming as they were being pulled down the current towards the waterfall.

Sonic, Tails, the Young 6 and Dulcy were screaming as they were being pulled by the current towards the waterfall. Yona then grabbed Sandbar's oar and she started paddling, and she was doing it quickly. Dulcy held onto the handle that controls the rotor and turned the boat towards the other side of the river where they were supposed to go. Eventually, they made it to the dock. Sonic and Tails jumped out of the boat and tied off the boat to the dock.

"Whoa, that was close," Sonic said. "We're gonna have to talk to MC about that."

Tails chuckled and said, "Yeah." Then the Young 6 and Dulcy got out of the boat and they continued up the path.

They eventually made it to a rock wall. Sonic, Tails, the Young 6 and Dulcy looked up at the rock wall. And on top of the rock wall was only one pulley system for a rope.

"A rock climbing wall," Smolder said. "Interesting."

"And look," Dulcy said. "There's an elevator for all of us to get up there."

"But the controls to the elevator are up there," Gallus said. "We can't use our powers to get up there."

"Then we use this," Sandbar said, grabbing a harness that was connected to a rope. "Here, someone strap this on me." Tails ran over towards Sandbar and helped get the harness on the pony. He eventually got it on him. "Okay, now someone pull on the rope to get me up there." Yona then grabbed the other end of the rope and started pulling Sandbar up as he was pulling himself up on the rocks.

"Did you have a flying guy install those rocks on this wall?" Smolder asked.

"Actually, it was all MC that installed these rocks," Sonic said. Smolder got a surprised look.

"Oh, right," Smolder said. "Gray fox are great climbers. I learned that from Fluttershy's animal class. But I thought that they only climbed trees."

"That's the normal ones," Sonic said. "MC's a lot different than those ones."

Sandbar continued climbing the rock wall to get to the top and eventually reached the top. He then unstrapped himself and went over to the controls of the elevator and sent the elevator down. The girls got into it and then Sandbar sent it back up. Then the girls got out of the elevator and sent the elevator back down so Gallus, Sonic and Tails could get into it.

Later, the group continued up the path and they came towards a tunnel.

"Okay, guys," Sonic said. "This place is to test our other senses besides sight."

"Such as sound or touch, huh?" Gallus asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Sonic said. "So let's..." Just then, a weird sound came in from the tunnel. They looked into the tunnel and a bunch of red eyes came from the darkness. Then the ones who had those eyes came out, and they surrounded them.

"Cockatrices!!" Ocellus shouted. "Everyone, shield your eyes!" Then all of them, except Silverstream, closed their eyes.

Gallus opened his eyes and saw Silverstream heading towards one cockatrice and shouted, "Silverstream, no!" He then got confused. "Huh?" Silverstream turned around and saw a cockatrice on Silverstream's right arm, and she was scratching its neck with her left forefinger.

"Silverstream, you can tame cockatrices?" Smolder asked.

"I actually tamed this one and she's a good friend," Silverstream said. "This is Edith. She helped me a few years ago when I was studying cockatrices."

"Wow," Sonic said. "So, can all of these guys..." Edith looked around and squawked. Then all of the cockatrices moved away from the group and hid in the bushes. "Okay, let's get going."

"Thanks, Edith," Silverstream said as Edith was flying off her arm. Then Sonic, Tails, the Young 6 and Dulcy headed into the tunnel. As they were going through the tunnel, all anyone could see was each others eyes.

"Whoa," Tails said. "It's darker than I thought here in this tunnel."

"Yo, Smolder, is it possible for you and Dulce to use your fire to give us a little light?" Gallus asked.

"No way," Smolder said. "We're not allowed to use our fire. It's a part of our powers."

"He's right, Gallus," Dulcy said. "We're trying to get through this place without using our powers."

"So what do we do?" Ocellus asked.

"Wait a minute," Dulcy said. "Hey, Smolder, when we were baby dragons, remember that game where we had to go through an underground cave blindfolded?"

"Oh, yeah," Smolder said. "Blind Dragon Maze! That was awesome!"

"What's the point?" Sonic asked.

"The only way we could get out is to find out where to go by roaring," Smolder said. "For example..." Smolder then roared and her roar echoed off the walls. "We roar in different locations to see which way to go."

"Going through the tunnel by using echo location!" Tails said. "That's genius!"

"Lead the way, you two," Sonic said.

Smolder and Dulcy took turns roaring at the walls until the echo ended. The timing of the echoes were different every time they roared. Eventually, they made it to the end of the tunnel and went out.

"That... was awesome," Sandbar said. "You helped us get out of there."

"Looks like there are some things that Dragons do that are useful," Sonic said. "Hopefully, MC has set up camp by now. Let's get up there." Then they all continued up the path.

As they were heading up, they were all having a chat.

"I still can't believe you did all of that before Prince Rutherford came down from Yakyakistan," Sandbar said.

"Yeah," Yona said. "Yaks love smashing things for fun!"

"Just like when Smolder likes having secret tea parties," Dulcy said. That made Smolder blush. Her entire face turned red.

"Wait, what?!" the rest of the Young 6, except Ocellus, asked, looking at Smolder.

"That was supposed to be a secret!!" Smolder said, looking up at Dulcy.

"You like tea parties?" Gallus asked, looking at Smolder.

Smolder sighed and said, "Yeah. Fine. I admit it. Ever since I started attending the School of Friendship, I didn't mind doing it."

"That would explain why you were wearing makeup when we came to pick up Cream and Cheese," Sonic said.

"And that outfit your reflection was wearing when we were opening up the boutique back in Station Square," Tails said.

Smolder groaned and said, "I really didn't know what to say to you guys."

"Hey, it's okay," Sandbar said. "We all have different aspects."

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Take Amy for example. She's not only cute and sweet, but she's also quite strong and doesn't get pushed around."

"Good example," Smolder said.

"And there's also MC," Tails said. "He was born to be a king, but his kingdom was destroyed. He would've ended up as a snobby Prince like a certain white unicorn that had his royal status removed."

"Who later got arrested for trying to destroy the school," Smolder said. "Cream, Cheese, Lynol and I took him and the Flim Flam Brothers. And that was before you guys came back that day." Just then, the sound of someone screaming came from the top of the mountain. They all looked at each other and then they started running up the path to the top, Sonic running at normal speed for the others could catch up.

At the top of the mountain, MC was in a fight with a bunch of people in full body armor trying to take him down. They came out of a hexagon portal that opened up to the right of the Spirit of Freedom.

"C'mon!" MC said. "This is the personal training island of the Freedom Fighters."

"By the order of FS and the Secret Society, you must be taken away from this universe for it to survive," one of the armored creatures said.

"Over my dead body," MC said. "And that's gonna be hard since I can't be killed."

"We'll see about that," the same creature said. He then brought out a night stick with an orange light at the end, electricity coming out of it.

"Bring it on, suckers," MC said. He then got into a defensive stance. Then the armored creatures charged at him.

The armored creatures charged at MC, but MC ran towards them and slid underneath, tripping some of them and dog piling on top of each other. Then the one who spoke earlier got up and looked at MC.

"You shouldn't have done that," the armored creature said. "We got you up here, all by yourself."

"He's not by himself," came Sonic's voice. The armored creatures looked towards the voice and saw Sonic, Tails, the Young 6 and Dulcy standing there.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" the leader of the armored creatures said. "Wait a minute. This place cancels out powers. They can't defend themselves without their powers."

"This place doesn't cancel powers," MC said. "We use this place to train by using our natural abilities. We don't use our powers unless it's really necessary. Like this for example. Okay, guys, time to use your powers!"

Then Sonic started running around using his super speed, Tails, Gallus, Smolder, Silverstream, Ocellus and Dulcy started flying up. They then dive-bombed towards the armored creatures. Yona charged at some of the creatures, sending back through the portal that they came in from. Sandbar then grabbed one of the armored creature's nightsticks and pointed it towards the chin of that creature, tazing it. Then the creature fell down.

"Take that," Sandbar said. He then headed for some other creatures and did the same.

Dulcy then took in a big breath and started blowing on some of the armored creatures, all of them covered in ice. Then they were picked up by the other flying creatures of the Freedom Fighters and they were thrown back into the portal. All that was left in from the armored creatures was the captain.

"This is impossible!" the captain said. "You shouldn't have..."

MC grabbed the captain by the neck and said, "Tell Opaline that whoever you guys are, it was a mistake for you to come after me like that."

"Wait, what?!" the armored creature asked. "We don't work for..." He didn't get to finish before he was thrown into the portal. It then closed after that happened.

"That... was weird," Sonic said. "Who are those guys?"

"Don't know," MC said. "They just came out of a portal and tried picking a fight with me. Big mistake."

"Major mistake," Sonic said. He then looked around, seeing the camp was messed up from the battle. "How about we... fix up our camp?"

"Yeah," MC said. "C'mon, all of you. We've got camp to reset." Then they all spread out to fix up the camp.

Somewhere in another universe, FS, the alternate version of Sonic from another universe, was training with some holograms, using his brand new blades to slash them in half. He also was trying out the new orange blades, as he stabbed one hologram and made it fall "painfully" on their knees. It is true the hologram felt no pain, but these blades were made to neutralize powers, and it seemed to work.

FS looked at the blades and inspected them. Having a bunch of Tails working for him was not only a big advantage, but it also meant they could all put their heads together to come up with something as brilliant as this.

"So?" The alternate Twilight's voice spoke, the one that is an actual pony, as she approached him once he was done training. "How are your new toys?"

"Better than anything I expected." Future Sonic said, retracting the blades back into his bracelets. "These beauties will come in handy to deal with Sarah and Michael alike. I just hope I won't have to deal with the latter's friends..."

"Yeah, I may have to disappoint you in that regard, boss..." The alternate Nicole said as she appeared in front of him. "MC has been spending a lot of time out of the mansion, so you may have to deal with his friends first after you deal with his mother... Yay?"

"...Not yay..." Future Sonic rolled his eye and shook his head. "Then again, foolish of me for expecting this to be an easy task like the others once I got the proper weapons to deal with Michael."

"You're the one that's been remarking the most how difficult it'll be to get to him, Sonic." The alternate Twilight reminded him. "You have the proper weapons to deal with him, true, but you'll have to get through his mom and trained friends to reach him and bring him over."

"I'm aware of that..." Future Sonic said, as he then approached his office, stood over a platform and then touched some buttons, making several digital screens show up. "But first, I gotta wait for him to deal with the Opaline of his universe. Once she's out of the map, the hunt will begin..."

Back in the main universe, Sonic, Tails, MC, the Young 6 and Dulcy were surrounding a campfire, all of them eating dinner. There were chili dogs, salads, and rolls.

"Sonic, is there something besides chili dogs you eat?" Smolder asked.

"You kidding me?" Sonic asked. "I've been eating chili dogs since I was a baby." He then stood up. "There's nothing in the world that can..." He had his back towards the fire and standing in front of Smolder. As that happened, he farted into the fire, sending some fire to the other side, making Gallus, Silverstream and MC lean back.

"Watch it, Sonic!" MC said.

"Hey, sorry, MC," Sonic said. "You two as well, Gallus and Silverstream. Also, it's not like you haven't farted before."

"Yeah, that's true," Gallus said. "Everyone farts."

"Usually, I do it when I'm in the water," Silverstream said.

"I haven't farted in five years," MC said. Then everyone there looked towards MC in shock.

"You haven't cut the cheese... in years?" Gallus asked.

"How did you keep that in for years without exploding?" Tails asked.

"You don't wanna know," MC said. He then looked up at the sky.

"Sometimes, I don't get you, MC," Sonic said.

"You'll get used to it," MC said. He then looked at his wrist and said, "We should get to sleep. We leave first thing in the morning." Then they all got up and started putting their food trays into garbage bags, then they headed for their tents to get to bed.

Author's Note

Next Episode:
Cruisin' For a Future-in'...

Part of this chapter was written by BronySonicFan for his Sonic X My Little Pony: The Final Act story.