Hunting the Bounty Hunter

“Hunting the Bounty Hunter” (Volume 2, Story 23)

Sunday afternoon arrived at Katelyn’s house. She had returned from a classmate’s house after working on a project and to her relief, she had the house to herself. Without her parents or her siblings there to bother her, Katelyn decided to enjoy the moment while she could. She cooked some popcorn, got a big bottle of soda from the store, and sat down on the couch to play a video game. For at least an hour, she got to play on the Wii by herself.

After she finished her game, Katelyn turned off the TV and walked over to the kitchen to put her popcorn bowl in the sink and her empty soda bottle in the recycling bin. As she washed her hands, she heard her dog barking like crazy.

Sensing that someone was coming, she pulled out her sword. She remained quiet as she heard someone coming, but when she saw who came to her house, she lowered her sword.

“Hello Storm,” she said with a smile.

Storm however, didn’t look happy at all.

“Storm, what’s the matter? Is it Crush again?” she asked him.

“Uh… I think you should come to Mobius with me. Shadow wants to talk to you…” said Storm.

“What? Another mission? I just got the house to myself… But I’ll be there in a minute. Just let me feed my animals before I go. They haven’t had lunch let,” said Katelyn.

After feeding her fours cats, one dog, and tank of fish, Katelyn followed Storm to Mobius. He rode on his Extreme Gear while Katelyn flew behind him by using her powers to give herself the ability to fly.

However, Storm led her to GUN headquarters, not Mobotropolis or the Mushroom Kingdom.

“Huh? What’s going on?” she asked.

“Just follow me,” said Storm.

He led Katelyn through the agency and to the President’s office. The President was sitting at his desk, and Shadow was sitting in another chair, next to two empty chairs.

“Welcome Mister Storm, and Miss Staples. Please have a seat,” said the President.

Storm and Katelyn awkwardly sat in the empty two chairs.

“I pulled you in, Miss Staples, because of a case that has happened, and it affects you, Mister Storm, and Agent Shadow,” said the President.

‘I don’t like where this is going…’ thought Katelyn.

“Last night, a criminal that we had locked away on Prison Island somehow escaped, and about twelve hours she escaped, Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, E- 123 Omega, and Agent Rouge have gone missing. The fugitive who escaped is Bounty Hunter Jade the Wolf,” the President explained.

Bounty Hunter Jade. Katelyn remembered her for sure. She remembered how Bowser and Eggman hired that wolf and her team, the Black Snatchers, to kidnap Mario and Sonic and hand them over to them. After rushing in to help her friends, Jade and her friends also kidnapped her, because according to Jade, Katelyn was “worth something” based on her powers.

The gang was able to captured Jade and have her arrested, so how and why did she escape Prison Island?

“Because of these disappearances, I fear that Agent Shadow and Storm here are the next targets by Jade. I don’t know how it’s possible that she’s operating without her team, since her four henchmen are still locked up in our prison. We need to find them before harm comes to them, and that’s where you come in, Miss Staples. I have a mission assigned for all three of you,” said the President.

“But, we’re not agents like Shadow,” said Storm.

“Yeah, why should we be working with you guys? And please don’t say, ‘Because Rouge and Omega are missing,’ or ‘Because Jade is after you guys next,’” said Katelyn.

“Smart kid. I want you two to help out Agent Shadow because the captured people are your friends aren’t they, and you do want Jade back in jail and your friends safe. Am I correct?” said the President.

“I’m an adult now… but you’re right about me wanted to save my friends… Dang it I’ll do it…” said Katelyn, with an unamused look.

“I’m in to! I will help save Wave and Boss!” said Storm.

“Alright, you three will need to be disguised so that you can go undercover looking for Jade. Find Topaz, and she’ll help you with the disguises that we have for you,” said the President.

The three of them turned around and left the office. Once they were gone, the President whispered to himself, “Maybe I should’ve given the Rogue a heads up on that eagle…”

A couple hours later, the three friends left GUN headquarters to start their search for Jade. Like the President told them, Agent Topaz gave them some disguises to wear while undercover. They had to go undercover at a party at a mansion for someone that knew Bounty Hunter Jade.

If hating her disguise was one thing, then hating the party host was another thing for Katelyn.

She recognized the host as Bartleby, Sonia the Hedgehog’s ex-boyfriend. Katelyn remembered meeting him before when she came over to hang out with Sonic and Manic. Bartleby had come by to return something to Sonia, and he took an instant disliking to Katelyn. He called her something unproper, due to her hatred for dressing up, make up, and just being a tomboy in general. It especially ticked off Katelyn when he insulted her about her goal to become a writer.

“I hate this, and why did I get stuck with the girl’s disguise?” Katelyn grumbled. She was wearing an elegant dress that looked like what a girl would wear at a fancy tea party.

“Uh… because you are a girl…” Shadow grumbled back at her. He hated having to wear a tuxedo for his disguise. Storm, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be bothered by it. The one thing that all three of them wore was masks, because the party required masks to be worn.

“Oh look, there’s Bartl-butt…” Katelyn muttered when she saw Bartleby.

Storm snickered at her line.

“I hear you Kate. I hate him to. When I first met him, he started shouting rude things about me, but because he mistook me for being Sonia’s boyfriend…” Shadow muttered.

“Not to be rude guys, but can we stay focused on our mission? I want to find that jerk and rescue our friends,” said Storm.

The group walked together through the party crowd slowly, examining the people to see if they could find Jade.

“She’s a grey wolf, and she looked like she was about twenty or a little bit older than that…” said Shadow.

“What should we do if we see her?” asked Katelyn.

“Uh… I don’t think that will be hard…” said Storm.

He was looking over to where Bartleby was, and they saw Sonia’s ex-boyfriend talking to Jade, who unlike most at the party, didn’t wear a mask.

“That’s her alright…” Shadow growled as he saw Jade.

“What should we do?” asked Storm.

Before anyone could answer him, to their shock, Bartleby walked over to them with Jade.

“Um… I don’t recall knowing the three of you. Have we met before?” Bartleby asked them.

He sounded rude when he asked them that, which angered Katelyn. As much as she wanted to punch him in the face for all the rude things he told her during their first meeting, she didn’t. Instead, she said in a fake, terrible British accent, “I’m not going to dignify that with a response.”

Storm giggled when he heard Katelyn’s fake accent, which made Shadow want to smack him. But instead, the black hedgehog softly kicked the albatross on the back of his left leg.

“Say, I think I know you from somewhere…” Jade said, as she eyed Katelyn suspiciously.

Though she felt nervous, and was a terrible liar, Katelyn said in her bad accent, “You must be mistaking me for another lady.”

To her relief, Jade said, “Well… yeah, I guess I got a mix up.” With that, the wolf turned around and left.

Shadow and Storm kept their eye on Jade as she left for another room, but Katelyn couldn’t keep her focus on their mission. Bartleby stopped her by saying, “You look like that pathetic human friend that my ex-girlfriend mentioned. Her name was… Karen, I think.”

Katelyn turned her back towards him to keep her focus on watching Jade, and said, “I’ve heard that her name is Katelyn, and she can kick the ass of anyone who speaks a lie about her…”

Without speaking to Bartleby, she left with Shadow and Storm to follow Jade.

The three of them watched as Jade left the main party room to go to a quieter room of the mansion. Casually walking into the room by a butler, and pretending to get some food, the three of them made their way in. To their surprise, they saw Jade walking up to a familiar eagle.

“Crush?! What’s he doing here?! I thought he was locked up to!” Storm whispered.

“Maybe he busted out to,” said Shadow.

“Hold on guys: Wave and Jet are missing, and Crush has been after the Rogues forever. I think I get it now: Crush must have assisted Jade in their escape, and in order to pay him back, Jade must be hunting the Rogues. And she must have captured Rogue and Omega to, since she knew GUN would come for her,” whispered Katelyn.

“We gotta arrest them, but we have to figure out where they took our friends to…” said Shadow.

“I’m going to get closer. Back me up if something happens,” said Katelyn.

She swiftly walked over to Jade and Crush, pretending to be a regular party guest, sipping some wine as she made her way. Or, she pretended to sip the wine in her glass, because Katelyn not only wasn’t twenty-one yet, but couldn’t stand the taste.

‘Ugh! And I thought that coffee was disgusting to taste in my mouth…’ she thought.

She walked over and sat on a couch right by Crush and Jade. The two were whispering, but using her dream ability, Katelyn gave herself the ability to overheard the conversation.

“Alright, I have the hawk and swallow for you, but I think the albatross is here at this party. A guest that looks like him is here…” said Jade.

“Take him out with your gun, and that’s all I need from here. What do you plan to do with the bat and robot?” asked Crush.

Jade shrugged her shoulders and said, “Sell them to someone who finds them valuable. Besides, I really want to take that black hedgehog when I find him. I bet I can convince him to join me.”

Katelyn felt anger bubbling inside of her, but she remained seated. She could hear footsteps coming over to her, but it sounded like the person who was coming over was walking over to Jade and Crush.

“Ah Jade. There you are,” said Bartleby’s voice.

“Hello Bartleby,” Jade said calmly.

“Who is your friend here?” asked Bartleby.

“Crush. Crush the Eagle,” Crush said in a dark voice.

“Dark tone of voice. Oh sure, you’re not suspicious at all…’ Katelyn muttered to herself sarcastically.

“You may not be proper, but at least you’re better than some human my ex-girlfriend once introduced me to. She may look pretty, but she had glasses! And, she won’t do anything proper or look proper! The ridiculous girl said something about writing. Ugh! She should focus more on being something more proper for a girl, like a maid,” Bartleby complained.

That was it for Katelyn. She finally snapped at that point, after listening to all of Bartleby’s insults about her.

Losing control of herself, she got up and punched Bartleby in the face, and screamed, “I need my glasses to see! Writing is better than being a butt! And I ain’t a maid! I was born to get one!”

In the argument, she lost her mask, exposing her identity to Crush and Jade.

“You!” Crush growled at her.

Jade pushed Katelyn away from Bartleby and pointed her gun at Katelyn.

“NO!” cried a voice.

Storm jumped in the way and took the bullet. Katelyn screamed, thinking that Storm was going to drop dead on the floor. However, to her surprise, Storm changed to stone!

‘That’s right! Jade’s bullets turn people to stone, which is how she captured her targets!’ thought Katelyn.

“Prefect! Just as I thought…” said Jade.

Katelyn got on her feet and tried to strangle Jade, but the wolf grabbed her by her arm and tossed her over to a buffet table. The party guests screamed and ran away.

“And you… you’re worth something still…” Jade said with an evil grin.

She pointed her gun at Katelyn again. Katelyn quickly got up, but she wasn’t fast enough to dodge.

“Katelyn!” cried another voice.

This time, Shadow jumped in the way, and like Storm, he turned to stone.

“Shadow! Storm!” Katelyn cried.

Jade pointed her gun once more at Katelyn. Not wanting to turn to stone to, Katelyn quickly turned invisible and took cover by jumping up in the air. Still invisible, she hovered above Jade and Crush.

“Damn! Well, at least we got your target. And now, I’ve got all of Team Dark, so they should be worth a fortune…” said Jade.

Katelyn watched as a new set of henchmen that Jade hired appeared and took Shadow and Storm away, with Jade and Crush leaving with them.

“Oh man! I gotta call for back up,” Katelyn said.

She started to take out her phone and dial GUN for help, but she stopped herself.

“No,” she said. She got back on the floor by Bartleby and turned visible.

“I can rescue my friends myself, because I can do that. It may not be ‘proper’, but it shows that I’m capable of doing better things unlike a certain snob I know…” she said as she angrily glared at Bartleby.

Bartleby remained silent. Katelyn angrily kicked him in the stomach and said, “That was for the insults!” Then, she kicked him in the gutt and shouted, “And that’s for cowering on the floor and letting two criminals escape with my friends!”

With that, she ran off to chase Jade and Crush.

Shadow felt a dizzy rush in his head, when Jade finally unfroze him from his state of being stone.

When he woke up, his vision was a bit blurry. It took him a couple minutes to figure out that he was locked up in an empty room with Rogue and Omega.

“Rouge!” he said. He gave her a tight hug, which she returned.

“Shadow! Omega and I were worried that you were next! What happened?” she said.

“Storm, Katelyn, and I were assigned to find Jade and figure out where you and the Rogues were.”

After he finished his sentence, he realized that Storm wasn’t with him.

“Oh god, where’s Storm? And the other two!?” he said.  Crush was with Jade, and that meant that the eagle was going for his kill…

He looked around the room and saw Crush standing beside three familiar statues, as he was paying Jade some cash.

“Hey!” Shadow shouted, when he spotted them. He charged over to try to take out Crush and Jade, and rescue the Rogues.

“Wait Shadow!” shouted Rouge.

Shadow only continued to run, until he smacked right into something that he couldn’t see.

“What the heck?” he grumbled.

He pressed his hands against the invisible object, realizing that he must have smacked into either an invisible wall, or a glass wall. Shadow noticed that Jade turned to face him, and it looked like she said something, but Shadow couldn’t hear her. All he could see was her mouth moving.
“Wait, what?!” he shouted in confusing.

He, Rouge, and Omega watched as Jade pulled out a remote and pressed a button.

“I said, don’t even bother escaping. That wall is maxi glass, and it can’t be broken. In addition, as long as you’re in my ship, no one can use their powers!” said Jade.

Shadow gave her an angry glare, then he looked around the room that he and the rest of Team Dark were locked in. There was no air vent, or even a window. Now way out.

Shadow tried to think of another option. He looked at his right wrist and noticed that he still had his communicator on. He took a glance back at Jade and Crush, who were possible arguing about something and were no longer paying attention to him.

‘Good thing those idiots forgot to take my communicator…’ he thought. He started to type a message to Katelyn. ‘Wow… four bars in a room where you’re locked up with now powers…’ he thought.

Meanwhile…

Katelyn was running after Jade and Crush and saw them hiding in what looked like an abandoned warehouse.  Before she could take a single step into the place, she got a message from Shadow.

‘The place is rigged so you can’t use your powers. Be cafeful if you’re planning to break in- Shadow’ the message said.

“Can’t use my powers huh?” Katelyn said.

She pulled out the purse that was a part of her disguise from earlier and pulled out a special spy phone. “Good thing GUN gave me all of these cool gadgets to play with,” she said.

She pressed a button on her spy phone, and she turned invisible!

‘Okay, I gotta find that source, kill it and rescue my friends. But I need something to stall the kidnappers…’ she though.

She pulled out a couple Poke balls and let out some of her Pokémon: Pikachu, Piplup, Oshawott, and her new Pansage.

“Hey guys, I need you guys to do me a favor, can you guys run through the air vents in this building and make some noises to scare Jade and Crush?” she asked them.

“You got it!” said her Pikachu.

“This… is gonna be so fun…” Oshawott said with an evil grin.

Back in the room with the hostages, Crush and Jade were having an argument. Although they were shouting so loud, Team Dark couldn’t hear it since they were locked in a room that illuminated sounds to, and Team Babylon couldn’t hear them because they were still turned to stone.

“I told you to get the adult to! The one with the pirate hat to!” Crush shouted.

“Can’t you use the three I got you as bait and stop your complaining?!” Jade snapped.

Their arguemtn was cut short when they could hear some strange sounds coming from the air vents.

“What was that?” Crush said.

Jade grabbed a step stool and used it to climb up to an air vent on the wall. She opened it up, but found nothing in there.

“There’s nothing in there,” she snapped at Crush.

Before she could start climbing down, the same noise came from before.

“What the hell is going on?” Crush said.

Katelyn, still invisible, watched with an evil grin. She started to look around the room, using her spy watch to locate the generator that made it impossible for anyone to use their powers while in the warehouse. The watch pointed to a cabinet that was right by Jade and Crush.

‘Gotta get them away from there…’ she thought.

She spotted a lamp on a table a few feet away from the glass that locked up Team Dark in the other room. Katelyn pulled out a gun, pointed it at the lamp, and pulled the trigger. The bullet broke the lamp, alarming Jade and Crush.

“What the *car beep*!?” shouted Crush.

“This lamp just… exploded out of nowhere!” Jade shouted.

They ran over to the lamp, giving Katelyn the chance. She snuck over to the cabinet, carefully and quietly opened it, and placed the device that she needed to kill the power.

“Alright, we know you three are doing something!” Jade shouted at Team Dark.

“What’s that? Can’t hear you,” Rouge said sarcastically.

“I know you three are screwing with us!” Crush shouted.

“Oh, I’m the one who is, not them…” Katelyn said.

Jade and Crush turned around and saw her, because Katelyn turned visible.

Jade started to reach for her gun but out of nowhere, Katelyn’s Pansage jumped out and bit her arm. Crush tried to get his gun, but he felt something slash him on the back of his leg. Oshawott used Razor Shell to stop him.

Jade and Crush tried to attack Katelyn, but she jumped back, then shouted, “Now Pikachu!”

Katelyn’s Pikachu let out a mighty thunderbolt, zapping both Jade and Crush. The criminals passed out.

“Who says that a girl with glasses can’t be cool?” Katelyn said with a smirk.

A couple hours later…

Team Babylon and Team Dark was at Katelyn’s house. After the incident with Jade and Crush, Katelyn freed her friends and called for GUN to come in and arrest the two. The criminals were taken back to Prison Island and were placed into new cells that had heavier security.

Now that Jade and Crush were out of their hair, the group went over to Katelyn’s house for a bit. They decided to watch a movie and have dinner together. Katelyn cooked some pasta with Garlic bread for dinner, and the group watched a film called “Ferris Buller’s Day Off”.

“Man, this movie is hilarious,” Jet said with a grin

“I can’t believe that none of you have watched this,” said Katelyn.

“And I can’t believe that you haven’t fully watched ‘Grease’,” Rouge said.

“To shay. I know that watching only bits of it doesn’t count,” Katelyn said.

They heard the front door open.

“Katelyn!” called out her mother’s voice.

“Movie with my buds!” Katelyn called back to her.

Katelyn’s little brother came running and said, “Turn it down, I’m going to watch Minecraft videos on my computer.”

No one looked at him and only kept their attention on the movie.

“I mean it…” Conner said, with an annoyed look.

The end!

And till next time on “The Adventures of the Three Heroes”!