Spoilers for parts of Sonic Frontiers...
Part 1
Part 7 WIP
Eggman howled with victorious laughter as he flew into the relative safety of his fleet.
However, it wasn’t long before he started to notice the explosions. He also noticed the two concentrated beams of red energy burning through the air, like the world’s most dangerous beam lights.
The doctor’s laughter faded into a concerned whine as he steeled a cautious glance behind him. He caught a brief glimpse of his possessed nemesis zipping around at his usual speed.
Eggman couldn’t deny it made him almost nostalgic. It was like he was in space again, leading Super Sonic through the rest of his fleet into a trap designed specifically to capture him and retrieve the emeralds. Only this time, the comforting blanket of a plan wasn’t a safety net he could fall back on.
The bolt of red stopped for a split second.
With an instinctual jerk, Eggman swerved the eggmobile to his left. Two lazers of humming, neon purple energy buzzed past him. The narwal themed airship in front of him took the hit and erupted in a great ball of flames. The human gulped.
“Eggman, keep him distracted, I have a plan,” came in Tails static voice from Eggman’s earpiece. It was a miracle it was even heard at all.
“What does it look like I’m doing!” Eggman squawked, swerving his eggmoble hard right to avoid another electric blast. The doctor nervously eyed the singed side of his eggmobile for a split second, “Whatever you plan on doing, do it faster!”
…
On the ground, the other two were helping Tails rummage through the stack of metal crates of Eggman technology and supplies. They had begun to set up an impromptu computer, something neither the red or pink creatures could really wrap their head around.
“So, what’s the new plan?” Knuckles asked, eyeing the lightshow in the upper atmosphere with the appropriate caution and slight awe. He flinched when three giant fish like battleships exploded in quick succession. The sudden judder in his muscles made Knuckles painfully aware of how much he ached.
“The ancients thought ahead, they had a backup plan for if the three titans somehow got destroyed, in the form of the towers,” Tails explained, sliding the metal tongs of two clumps of wires into the ports of a giant keyboard. The keyboard was sitting in a foldable metal table, its thin legs standing surprisingly strong as more and more pressure was piled on top of it.
“Alright?” Knuckles asked, eyes still fixed on the sky.
“Which means that, if we’re lucky, they might have made some type of backup program encase it did get out.”
“Wait, I thought… Sage told us sealing him in cyberspace wouldn’t work?” Amy questioned, pulling out a folded swivel chair that looked big enough to hold ten large bags of potato’s. She took a moment to look at it questioningly, wondering whether Eggman really needed a chair that big or if he just wanted to sit on throne sized seats.
The fox connected another clump of wires into the cyberspace portal, the custom gear shaped metal plug slotting perfectly into its base.
“Not… permanently no but it should buy us some time.” Tails flicked three switches and pressed a big black button. The machine whirred to life, two holographic screens flickering on above the keyboard.
Amy unfolded the chair and pushed it in front of the computer.
Tails fell into the chair, flexing his fingers. “And If not, I’m going to have to program one from scratch.”
...
Eggman beelined it to the tankiest ship in his fleet, weaving in and around the ships moving in to shield him against the lazers zapping mercilessly through the air. The ship in question was a humongous whale shark inspired vessel, wider than most skyscrapers and heavier too, only kept afloat by an ungodly amount of fossil fuel that would make any environmentalist pull their hair out.
The metal sphere narrowly dodged another pair of lazers. He pressed on, resisting the urge to pound his console in fearful frustration. The great Doctor Eggman, fleeing like a coward, again! He simmered furiously. He couldn’t even…
An alarm blared a loud “wahh”, on his console. Eggmans head snapped to the side. One of his airships was hurtling towards him, smouldering with red flames.
He let out a very unsophisticated “Gahhh!” pressing south hard on his controls. The metal egg pod dipped suddenly.
A grating scraping tore across the top of his glass dome. One of the smouldering wings had caught the top of the egg mobile. Its legacy left behind by the charred scratch now engraved into the glass. The sound may have deafened him, were it not for his metal headphones that automatically did their best to cancel out much of the screech.
A metal docking hatch opened on the whale shark ship and Eggman shot for it. His momentum wabbled as he dodged yet another lazer blast. He made it in, side of the Eggmobile clipping the side of the docks entrance, a chunk of metal peeling off. The man dove from the craft, hitting the ground with an undignified groan. He flinched away at the loud crunch that echoed from the far side of the dock seconds later. Eggman didn’t spare a glance at the broken hunk of metal that might have been his resting place had he not ejected himself, instead focusing on dashing to the exit, slamming his fist on a big black button outlined in yellow and black strips. The ship suddenly lit up in blaring alarms, red lights flashing, as he booked it through the door. It closed with a heavy clonk behind him.
Something loud cracked behind him as he ran through yet more doors, each one closing with a heavier thunk. The Docters brain was running a mile a minute, desperately recalling the safest route to another dock and a spare eggmobile. The further away he got, the quieter it became. It made the hairs on his mustache stand on end.
The man slowed to a stop, leaning on his knees and panting. The sound of his gasping breaths echoing off the soulless metal walls of the tunnel. The longer there was no sound, the more the doctors skin began to crawl.
He lifted a shaking hand up to the radio in his headset, missing the button his first attempt at pressing it. “Tails,” he called into his radio, “Just what are you up to?” he demanded, his voice came out much feebler than he preferred and he cleared his throat sharply.
“Just keep it busy,” came the hurried, reedy voice of the fox.
“It’s gone quiet up here,” Eggman admitted with a cautious mumble, “has it…”
“He’s not returned to the island, if that’s what you’re asking,” came the reply.
Eggman hummed in nervous acknowledgement, releasing the speaker button. Eggman pulled out a wire from his back pocket, plugging it into an open space in the wall. He attached the lead into a small tablet like device he pulled from his coat. The screen of the device flittered to life. The top view of the room he was in popping up; the feed relayed from the camara on the wall, showing his bald head and bristled mustache. Eggman took a moment to smooth down his facial hair before tapping the screen. The feed flickered to the room he knew was the dock he had entered. The view of the room flashed red every few seconds: lighting up the space. It took a few seconds to make out but there was a giant hole in the wall, great cracks leading from the hole and into the runways.
Eggman clenched his fist.
He swiped the screen to the right, turning the camara, the door he had entered through was intact, much to his surprise. Had it not followed him?
“Tails are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Tails responded, bordering on curt.
“What’s going on up there Eggman?” Came the distant voice of Knuckles. “The explosions stopped…”
“I don’t know,” Eggman grumbled, flickering through more camaras, the control centre, the engine, the massive spare robot part room.
“Come out come out wherever you are,” came a whispery call from above him. Eggman jolted, stumbling backwards and snapping his head around. His eyes fell on the metal bars that led into the darkness of a tunnel.
“What?” called the confused voice of Knuckles.
“The blasted thing is in the ventilation shaft,” he quickly yanked the cable from the port, shoving both bits of equipment into his coat and starting up his panicked sprint again. Seconds after he took off, the distinctive sound of tearing metal screeched behind him.
“All robots, report to storage chamber B10. NOW!” Eggman commanded. He burst into the next room, running past the broken robot parts and the line of mass produced soldier bots that had began filing into the room from three different entrances. Robots, armed to the literal teeth with guns, lazer cannons and various other deadly metal barrels. The door slammed behind him as he entered. The impact shook the ground under his feet and his arms flailed as he regained his balance.
“Robots! He demanded hoarsely, gasping for breath, “Attack!” A metal explosion went off behind him. Eggman saw tiny bullet sized metal shrapnel go flying past his face. He was still mid run when something lodged itself in the back of his left heel. It threw him off completely. The man fell flat on his face, sliding over the threshold of the exit with his gained momentum.
The door slammed shut behind him, just centremetres away from his boots.
“This had better be worth it, Fox.” he spat into the radio, unplanting his red face from the metal floors. The man tried to stand, jolting forwards when he tried to put pressure on his left ankle. He caught himself on his hands before he could face plant a second time. He had made it to the control room. A large white control panel sat at the centre of the ovular space, propped up on a purposely tall platform with five steps on either side.
Eggman sighed, suddenly regretting his architecture choices.
Eggman heard a seething hissing. He flipped onto his back. A chunk of the metal door fizzled and glowed a hot burning red. It formed the unmistakable silhouette of Super Sonic.
The human scrambled backwards on his back like a three legged spider, his immobile left leg dragging a streak of bright crimson across the spotless white floor.
In walked an unfettered red hedgehog, molten metal dripping off it like hot butter. Its fur and quills hissed, steam and smoke rising off it in thin spirals. Small, charred patches of purple fur fell out, floating to the floor in black, scattered clumps. The skin underneath, only visible for a moment as the fur almost immediately grew back. It took a moment to brush off a small clump of charred fur on its shoulder before turning its attention back to its target.
The hedgehog observed the cowering human for a moment. It chuckled.
Sonic’s face lit up, mouth spreading into a cocky grin, “What is wrong eggface, frightened of a little rodent?” called the thing, its voice warping into a Sonic like snark.
Eggman began to feel thick sweat crawling down the back of his neck. What he would give to have the real Sonic approaching him. He, at least, could be talked down.
“Sonic, you stubborn rodent,” he barked, dragging his tense and ragged limbs across the floor away from it, “I’ve fought you for years, your persistence is maddening. You refused to be commanded by anything before, not even by my brilliance. Why is this thing an exception?”
It paused, then smiled. “The ‘rodent’ doesn’t care doctor.”
“Get back!” he demanded, shuffling back on his bottom. He hit the opposite wall.
Eggmans hand finally reached the compartment behind him, yanking open the hatch and grabbing the lazer gun. The bowel expanded like a Venus flytrap. Eggman spammed the trigger, red shots of light rapidly shooting from the centre of the jaws.
The red hedgehog continued its walk, unfettered. Each shot that hit its target smouldering out like a doused flame, the rest flying uselessly by, melting little holes through the wall, beams of blue sky shining through.
…
Tails jittering fingers jabbed at the keyboard.
Amy tapped the tip of her boot against the ground nervously, hands clasped tightly to her heart. Her eyes followed along to the strings of code appearing across the screen in a vain attempt to understand anything.
Knuckles was pacing, agitated, back and forth through the grass. “Arg,” Knuckles growled, kicking up a clump of grass, “I should be doing something.”
A square panel the size of a thick, A5 book slid back on the metal cylinder, attached to the keyboard with trailing yellow wires. “Amy, I need one of your rings,” Tails told her, lifting his left hand from the keyboard to point at the hole while his right continued to type away.
“Of course,” Amy twisted a ring off her left wrist.
“I said stay back!” Shouted the radio. Tails flinched back, unhooking the radio from his ear, gently tossing it down next to the keypad.
Something on the other end crunched, a static howl erupted from the speaker.
All three creatures cringed. Amy’s face twisted in hesitant worry. The hedgehog quickly slid the ring into the hole, only half of it fitting inside.
“Foreign item, except? Y/N”
Tails quickly clicked a popup that appeared on the second, smaller hologram.
A loading bar appeared under the box.
“Good, now don’t touch it,” Tails turned his attention to the second screen, his hands became a blur on the keyboard, eyes flickering across the lines of blue lettered code as they appeared on screen.
The second voice spoke up from the radio, “This incarnation can only speculate the sentiment of mortal empathy.”
Knuckles found himself gritting his teeth.
“Natheless, Comprehension of imposed imprisonment is a shared abhorrence.”
“Come on...” mumbled The Fox, frantically hitting the back button ten times.
“And compensation is long since overdue.”
A tearing sound, like a knife scoring through leather, followed. The radio crackled and buzzed, struggling to receive the volume on the other side. Small moments of broken roaring cries occasionally snapping through the static.
Amy covered her mouth with a hand, reeling backwards. Her head turned to Knuckles.
“Tails!” He snapped.
Tails lent into the holographic screen, his nose a pennies width from it, “I need more time!” he hissed desperately.
A high whistling cut through the air. Knuckles head snapped towards the sound. A red something broke through the side of an airship, zipping through the air like a comet.
“I’ll keep it busy,” Knuckles shot off in the comet’s direction, tracking its fall.
Amy went to follow; Tails grabbed her by the arm. “No, I need you here.”
Knuckles shoes stopped dangerously close to the edge of the cliff face, skidding to a stop just in time.
The comet crashed into the ocean, knocking up a towering pillar of water that drenched the cliffside. It drenched Knuckles along with it. A slimy something smacked him in the face. He yelped and spluttered in surprise, batting away the silvery distressed fish. It gasped and flailed on the grass next to him. Knuckles wiped the saltwater from his face, his eyes staining with a red frame. He blinked hard, trying to clear the buzzing pain assaulting his eyeballs.
He got back enough of his vision to notice the fish. Knuckles frowned sadly. Still blinking frantically, he nudged it gently back into the water with the side of his foot. It landed back in the water with an unheard plop among the roaring of the waves.
A boom shook the ground. Through Knuckles’ blurred vision he saw a dim scarlet light illuminate the darkness below the waters surface. A few seconds passed and a slew of black shapes bobbed to the surface. Knuckles shook his head before squinting his eyes.
Fish. Dead eyed sea creatures, black charcoal burned to their scales.
Knuckles shoulders tensed. He growled, watching the corpses get tossed around in the waves. He made a fist, slamming it furiously into his other hand. He examined the water, eyes twitching, fiercely watching the waves, waiting for that thing to dare show its face.
Something else bobbed to the surface, small bits of something. He couldn’t see what.
Another rumbling caught his attention, it felt like someone burrowing in the rocks beneath him.
Crackle!
Knuckles leapt back, narrowly missing the shooting red ball of electricity as it shot from the earth beneath his heels.
The Echidna raised his fists, halting when he saw something in its hand: The glistening blue head of metal Sonic, dangling; loose wires fizzling from its base.
“Meddlesome machine,” it tutted lightly, flicking it away with its index finger. The metal ball shot horizontally over the cliff. It soon became a dot in the distance before it lost momentum and dropped like a rock.
The red hedgehog opened its mouth casually, letting loose a waterfall of seawater that cascaded out in one go. Knuckles grimaced in disgust.
“Your friend detests the ocean,” it commented, mouth still dribbling.
Knuckles leapt, aiming a punch. It grinned softly, disappearing just before the fist could contact. A blast of pain exploded in the back of his skull. Another strike to the chest sent him plummeting into the ground, creating a small chasm in the stone cliff face under him.
“You disappoint me, last of the echidnas, your friend believes you to be more capable than that pathetic display.”
Knuckles strained to open his eyes, a pounding headache beating at the back of his brain like a drum. Something caught the corner of his vision. The echidna smiled. With a grunt, Knuckles pushed himself from the rubble onto his knees, “Of course I am,” he chuckled, voice cracking. He heaved in a few breaths, quelling his headache, “But I’m just the distraction,”
A bright yellow ring descended over the head of the red hedgehog, closing in on its arms in a millisecond and swiftly yanking the hedgehog away.
“…What is this?” it questioned dully as it was quickly dragged across the island.
It turned its head, following the yellow rope dragging the ring, noticing the keyhole shaped structure ploughing towards it, the circle atop alit with a glitchy blue flame. The neon purple lights in its eyes spasmed.
“NO!” An eldritch screech boomed, its face twisting and stretching vertically like rubber. “We will not return to that accursed prison.” It screeched in desperation, legs flailing, thousands of voices morphing into one.
It burst to life with red electricity. Just as it entered the circle, the yellow ring binding it shattered.
The red hedgehog glowered down at the fox, neon purple slicing through icey blue. “YOU.DARE-”
But Amy had already ripped off her second ring, jamming it into the hole, Tails quickly slammed down his hand on a blue button. A second ring formed. It ensnared its neck, yanking it back.
The air fizzed to life with red sparks for a split second but was immediately quelled as a bright golden light engulphed the portal.
Tails and Amy shielded their eyes from the bright golden glow, stumbling backwards. The blinding light flickered, fading completely as the humming ancient technology quieted. The only sound left was the exhausted panting of the two friends, standing before the deactivated portal.
“Sorry Amy…” Tails breathed “I don’t think you’ll be getting your rings back,”. Tails shook from head to tails, his arms and fingers throbbing and sore from all the typing.
“Tails…” Amy wheezed, “That, is the least of my worries right now.”
A silent relief washed over the two. Both fell to their knees.
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