Ultimate Sonic the Hedgehog Pilot Draft 2
Desert Hill Zone, 13:25, Dr. Eggman's Not So Secret Desert Base
In metal laboratory in the shape of an evil, sunglass wearing, mustache sporting, mad, evil, scientist, hedgehog heroine Amy Rose sighed.
"How did we end up like this?"
Next to her is close friend Miles "Tails" Prower, a twin tailed fox, tied together with an energy grapple.
"Just one big stupid mistake after another," he said with a hint of regret and self-derision.
The Freedom Fighters, world renowned heroes against tyranny and destruction, were suspended several meters in the air by indigo energy grapples that connected to metal cylinders connected to the ceilings. They were grouped in three groups of threes.
A few feet away from them is their friend Big the Cat, a 6-foot striped purple feline with a penchant for fishing, replied in a what sounded like a sleepy voice.
"That's hurtful."
"Sorry…I didn't mean it like that."
"Then how did you mean it?" asked Amy with a critical look that wasn't serious.
"I…" Tails began to explain himself but realized it may have been a lost cause. He looked away, closed his eyes, and sighed instead.
Tied next to Amy, the Freedom Fighters leader Sally Acorn chimed in.
"Now, now you three," she says fulfilling her role as team mom. "Don't be so hard on yourselves. Nobody's perfect. This could have happened to anybody."
From the other side of the room in a similar predicament, Rotor Walrus spoke.
"Yeah, but to be fair, not many people can say they ended up in the highly militarized strong hold of an international terrorist who also happens to be their mortal enemy."
On his left, Bunnie Rabbot (pronounced "Ra-boh" for some reason, I kid you not) added in her piece. She was positioned awkwardly underneath Rotor's armpit, which obscured the left side of her body.
"Ah mean some might. Sounds like the beginning of some joke."
On the opposite side, coyote Antoine D'Coolette provided his commentary.
"Es not a very funny joke."
Like all purely evil villains, the host interrupted their conversation with little empathy. A (fat) man sized UFO carrier drew in closer as Dr. Eggman added his slice.
"I respectfully disagree!"
The egotistical and hammy voice floated towards the Freedom Fighters in his signature Egg shaped flying mobile. We'll call it the Eggmobile for simplicity's sake, and because that's what they call it on the Sonic Wiki so it's got to be legit. Anyway, the balding toothy grin of the mad scientist joyously showed itself to his captured foes.
"I find it to be positively hilarious! Now, stop me if you've heard this one. A group of eco-friendly furry freaks gets a lead on that their intellectually superior and dashingly handsome nemesis has concocted another brilliant scheme…"
"Ah haven't heard it but Ah'd like to stop you anyway."
"Silence! Now, where was I? Oh, that's right." He floated towards Bunnie to complete the mocking phase of his malevolent scheme. "Eight Freedom Fighters and their pet walk into a weaponized base. The self-proclaimed heroes were acting on information that they thought would bring them one stop closer towards their goal of world peace, group hugs, and kumbayas. But little did they know, the source of their tip was none other than I, the brilliant and lusciously curvaceous Dr. Eggman! Who is always one step ahead of the competition."
Amy rolled her eyes.
"Oh please. Just blow my brains out already."
Tails spat out his words with belligerent derision.
"We knew it was you. The sender of the e-mail said "Totally not Dr. Eggman.""
Dr. Eggman turned around to look at his two foot sized robots, Orbot and Cubot, with a scowl of annoyance.
"Yes, thank you for that Cubot," he said sarcastically.
"Just fulfilling my function," replied Cubot modestly with a thumbs-up.
Orbot placed a palm on his face and sighed.
"That was clearly sarcasm," he said.
"Well you don't have to be so sarcastic about it."
Orbot placed a palm on his face and sighed.
Tails turned his head to his left as far as he could to face Sally.
"I told you to ignore those emails from those, quote unquote, "foreign princes."
"…Okay, I might have dropped the ball on that one. But I am a princess. It is my duty to consider the needs of my fellow future leaders of tomorrow."
Orbot then jumped into their conversation with no malice whatsoever. He raised an index finger like an NPC that detailed vital information.
"That's why you always designate certain types of mail as spam."
"Yeah," added Cubot. "And don't forget to delete the unimportant. Email can pile up almost as fast as -"
"Hey!" Dr. Eggman shouted. "Stop giving my mortal enemies helpful advice! Geez, can' an evil genius gloat with his hyperbolic and witty humor in his own inconspicuously face shaped lair without being interrupted?!"
"Your joke bites," spat out Bunnie with a bitter look.
"You tell 'em sister!" chimed in Amy.
"He bites," said Tails with an equally bitter look.
"He's certainly no Comedy Chimp," added Sally. "And that's a pretty low bar."
"Don't you mean a monkey bar?" said Antoine with the second smuggest look ever.
The Freedom Fighters roared with laughter.
A voice protruded from a rectangular device incased in a jar in the center of the lab. It belonged to Nicole, an A.I who has taken the form of a lynx to use as her avatar.
"He bytes more than I can process," Nicole shamelessly added."
The Freedom Fighter laughter erupted even louder.
Dr. Eggman stared at the unruly anthropomorphic that for some reason lacked the concept of respect.
"Thank you," he said calmly. "You're too kind."
"I thought it was funny," said Orbot.
"Meh," replied Cubot. "6/10. Too much water."
Dr. Eggman looked at Cubot like he was about to smack him.
After the laughter died out, tiny, timid rabbit tied next to Big spoke. Tied at her hip was her indigo, ice cream pet Chao Cheese.
"W-what are you going to do to us?" nervously asked Cream the Rabbit.
Dr. Eggman quickly floated over to the 6-year old, who was startled by his sudden enthusiasm.
"I'm glad you asked!" he said with a creepy, toothy grin.
Meanwhile, several dozens of miles away from the base and several dozens of miles above the ground, a red bi plane quickly cut across the sky at breath taking speed. From the passenger seat, an almost 4-foot red echidna sat with his legs on the front of his seat and his hands behind his back. He looked down at the scene over the side of his seat.
A slightly shorter blue hedgehog replied from the driver's seat.
"Really? What tipped you off?"
"…It's shape like his face?"
"That was sarcasm."
"You're sarcasm!"
"Anyway, this looks like a good drop off point. Putting the Tornado on auto-pilot. Why don't we make a house call to the doctor this time?"
"Now you're talking my language!"
"English?"
"Is that more of your "sarcasm?""
"No."
"Grr…"
Afterwards, the two fire forged friends jumped out of the plane and plummeted into a multistory free fall.
Back inside the base, Dr. Eggman floated towards the center of his base and continued his villainous speech.
"You see, there's no doubt that blue menace is going to find his way here one way or another."
Tails faux coughed.
"Faceshappedbase."
He faux coughed yet again.
"But little does he know…I've concocted a surefire plan poised to defeat him!"
"That's like…the fifth time I've heard you say those exact words. Noticing a trend here?"
Amy adds on to that.
"And it'll be like the thousandth time he won't commit to it. Noticing a trend here Eggman?" she said in a mocking tone of voice.
"Egad! Were you people raised in a barn or something?! How do you fair in conversations with each other?!"
"You'd know if you had friends."
"Mon Deu," Antoine said with a dire look on his face.
"Oof!" said Rotor as he closed an eye and crumpled his face.
"Yikes," said Sally with a mocking smile.
"Amy!" Cream replied in her soprano voice. "That's too mean!"
"He had a family!" cried Bunnie sarcastically. "…Ah think…?"
Tails stared at Bunnie from a distance.
"Too far."
Back outside, a fleet of Eggpawns and Eggfighters flew into the air and exploded with little gaps in between. The red and blue duo skidded to a stop at the metal teeth shaped door with Dr. Eggman's, a crude depiction of his face symbol on it.
The confident blue hedgehog spoke first.
"Get the door."
"You get the door."
"Let's both get the door."
"Wanna hold hands too?"
"Not in front of the kids."
"…Tell me that's more of your "sarcasm.""
"Shut up and punch. On three. One, two…"
Inside the base, fumes were emitted from the shiny scalp of Dr. Eggman.
"ANYWAY! I've built my ultimate death machine, and before you interrupt me again, no it's not a refurbished version of the Egg Robo! Not to mention, I've got a secret power source that will surely blow your minds! And with you Freedom Fighters incapacitated, even if he comes busting through that door right now, there's nothing any of you could do once I ground him to paste!"
"Is the secret power source Chaos Emeralds?" asked Tails.
"No…"
"Is it one Chaos Emerald?" asked Amy as if she were on a game show.
"What? No!"
"Is it another wood land critter?" asked Bunnie. She tried to turn to Antoine. "Why does he do that?"
"You are asking ze wrong person mon cheri," he replied.
Sally sighed.
"Why does he do anything he does?" she asked not expecting an answer.
"Look," Eggman said to regain control of the situation. "Regardless of what it may or may not be, with you Freedom Fighters incapacitated, even if he comes busting through that door right now, there's nothing any of you could do once I ground him to paste!"
As if on cue of plot convenience, the metallic entrance made a loud noise. The doors flew past the Eggmobile which sent it spinning rapidly. Dust covered the former entrance but seconds later, the perpetrators were revealed.
A red echidna stood with his spiked fist extended while a blue hedgehog slowly stood up from a crouching position.
"Knock, knock. It's Knuckles."
"And Sonic!"
Knuckles looked at Sonic as if he cut him in line and stole the last tray of pumpkin pie.
"What now?" Sonic asked annoyed.
"You stole my catchphrase," Knuckles said in a deadpan.
After gaining more control of the Eggmobile than he did he own life, Dr. Eggman raised an index finger to speak.
"…Uh, ahem. Archvillain in the middle of explaining his evil plan here. Some good exposition and foreshadowing going on…"
Almost interrupting him, Sonic put his fists on his hips and turned to face Knuckles.
"What? When have you ever said "And Knuckles"?"
"I've said it!"
"Yeah, to the Master Emerald, which by the way, you lost again. Good job by the way."
"Excuse me, but I'm trying to have an establishing villainous moment here. So if you'd pipe down and let me shoot you in the face, that'd be dand—"
Knuckles turns his entire body to face Sonic.
"I was peeing! I had my back turned! I can't help that!
"That's no excuse. In fact, you could have used that to your advantage. I read on the internet that echidnas have four—"
Dr. Eggman smashes his thin arms on top of the dash panel of the Eggmobile.
"That's it! I've had it up to here with being ignored! If you're not going to respect me in my own evil lair after I've robbed you and kidnapped your friends, then you're not welcome here! Egg Defense Unite! Mobilize!"
After Dr. Eggman gave that command, countless crackling white lights appeared in several sections of the base. Eggman robots, otherwise known as Badniks, surrounded Sonic & Knuckles in every direction. Several units ranging from Egg Pawns to Egg Flappers, Egg Knights, Egg Fighters to classic designs such as Moto Bugs and Crab Meats appeared. It was practically a Who's Who of Eggman robots.
"Wow," Sonic said with a smirk and a slick look at Tails. "Look at all those Eggman's robots."
Tails sighed exasperatedly.
"It was a dumb mistake. Let it go already."
At the drop of a ring, the robots charged red and blue duo from all directions. Sonic's first instinct was to sprint ahead. He elbowed an Egg Lance before instantly changing his direction and repeated the process twice. The third time he summersaulted into his famous Spin Attack and sent a few Moto Bugs into the air with loud metallic noises. In the few seconds it took for all of that to happen, that section was lit with orange fireworks filled with multicolored parts scattered about.
Knuckles held his arms out and swayed his body back and forth. Three Moto Bugs charged at him from different directions. But the moment they contacted him, they all flew backwards at high speeds and crashed into some Egg Fighters. Knuckles did not frighten them by showing his unmentionables. Simply put, that was the magnitude of the single jab he had thrown. With a delighted smirk on the side of his muzzle, Knuckles continued to sway back and forth with his hands closely in front of him.
With a blurring rotation speed, Sonic did a spinning jump a few meters into the air. In the noticeable time it had taken him to peak in height, several Egg Pawns armed pointed their laser rifles at him along with the Egg Flappers. The air was filled with orange beams of light for a few seconds. The after math was a downpour of diverse robot parts with names complicated enough to frustrate your local physics teacher. Sonic had redirected his trajectory downward and spun to the ground in a fraction of the amount of time that it had taken him to jump up. He leaned his upper body back to avoid an Egg Pawn that flew his way. He ignored it and ran to some defenseless Egg Pawns.
The sound of air breaking could be heard amidst the consecutive explosions. It did not matter how fast they came or how dense or spiked their shields were. One after the other, Moto Bugs, Egg Pawns and Egg Fighters were sent soaring in the opposite direction from whence they came at the hands of Knuckles massive spiked fists. As if performing some cultural dance, he shifted his body in several directions with quick and fluid foot work and threw jabs, crosses, upper cuts, and downer cuts. A massive Egg Fighter ran at him with all its might as it carried a shield that eclipsed its body in width. However, when it and Knuckles collided, they both flew backwards. The Egg Fighter had a spring shield.
Sonic ignored the screaming Knuckles that flew behind him and crashed into a bunch of Crab Meats and Coconuts. He leapt into the air again and ricocheted off several Badniks using Homing Attack, which is a Spin Attack that manipulates directional momentum through intense muscle control and speed. A blue line that made several loops followed him and depicted what seemed like leisurely scribbles a student would make during class.
"That's right Sonic!" Tails shouted with high zeal. "Hit 'em with your Homing Attack."
"Ahhhh," Amy said dreamingly as crudely depicted hearts popped around her head. "He can home on me any day."
"…Nobody needed to hear that," said Sally.
Eggman squeezed his right fist.
"Grrr…"
He pushed a button on the Eggmobile.
Eggman pointed furiously at Sonic with an exaggerated motion. More Badniks like Caterkillers appeared in a series of crackling white lights.
"Attaaaaaaaaaaack!"
Sonic back flipped into a landing and slid across the ground. He looked at his foe with a smile on the side of his mouth.
"Then what were you doing this entire time?"
After he said that, he swung his upper body backwards to avoid a lance. He grabbed it in the middle, whipped his body to rotate at high speed, and flung the poor Egg Pawn at his brethren to create a collage of orange explosions and smoke.
With his left arm, Knuckles threw a hook at praying mantis robot and knocked off its upper body in a dusty explosion. A tiny gray rabbit in a green bubble remained in its place. The bubble popped and it hopped to the side to avoid the surrounding carnage.
"Yeah Eggman. This…" he began in a relaxed voice. With the opposite arm, he grunted and then threw a downer cut at an Egg Fighter with enough force to lift his back leg off the ground. "…barely counts as a warm up!"
With swift acrobatics that would make a certain bird associated superhero blush, Sonic leapt, rolled under, slid, summersaulted, and sidestepped around various lances, bullet and laser fire, and chainsaw blades with precisions and ease. He casually talked as if on a coffee break rather than being in the middle of a high tech shoot out.
"Yeah, and then on top of that, instead of sending out tougher robots, you send out more grunts. Where's the boss battle? At least throw in a mini boss to keep things varied. Did age make you forget how to villain?"
"First of all," Eggman replied in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. "I'm not about to accept criticism on my villainy by someone who doesn't understand the complex factors such as the economics of henchmen to enemy ratios and not paying my taxes despite owning 70% of the planet. But I did hear one idea worthwhile coming from that smart mouth of yours."
"…Yeah, never say those two words in the same sentence again."
Eggman pressed a button on the Eggmobile's dashboard. Two rectangular sections sunk into the floor and raised up after a few seconds had passed. On top of those sections, Sonic's robotic doppelgangers Metal Sonic and the five-meter tall Silver Sonic appeared. They were both looking down as if deactivated.
With a toothy smile and his head resting on the back of one hand, he snapped his finger on the opposite hand. The deadly mechanized menaces raised their heads in unison. In a glimmer, their red pupils took shape before they dashed towards Sonic and Knuckles.
and Cubot held coffee mugs despite lacking the necessary mouths and digestive tracts to consume them.
Rotor looked at them as if ready to criticize.
"Why do you even have those? Don't tell me Eggman needs the extra energy. You can't be this much of a crackpot without an abundance of energy."
Orbot turned to Rotor with a poker face.
"We use these cups as a placebo to cope with the daily "pleasures" of working with the boss."
"Yeah," added Cubot. "And they help us feel better too."
"While we don't technically have stress sensors, the doctor's intense physical labor and emotional abuse make us overheat."
"Wait," requested Cream. "So you use something hot to make you feel cold?".
"Yes. That's how it works with organic creatures."
"But you're both robots," Tails said from a distance. "In organisms, that's just a reaction to prevent overheating. Logic would dictate that holding something hot would just make something that lacks and sympathetic nervous system hotter."
"Don't question fictional mechanics," Orbot said offhandedly.
Cubot lightly elbowed Orbot.
"I mean, don't question our creator's genius."
"Stop breaking the fourth wall!" shouted Dr. Eggman.
Sonic then crashed through a wall before crashing back inside. He did this two more times.
"Stop breaking my walls!"
Sonic sucked his teeth as he ran from Metal Sonic at high speed.
"Can't tell me how to live my life."
Sonic spin attacked the section where the laser rope protruded from that held Amy, Tails, and Sally together. Amy and Sally fell to the ground. Tails propelled his twin tails half way and flew to some Egg Flappers. Amy pulls out a massive red and pink hammer from her back I think, don't quote me on that, and ran ahead. Sally crossed her arms and swung them diagonally to her sides. A weird noise rang as rectangular laser beams extended from her wrist bands. She ran towards the center of the base while deflecting incoming laser fire. She lifted the jar and freed the rectangular personal device being held captive. She picked it up and placed it in her vest pocket while deflecting an orange line of light with her wrist blade.
A massive Eggfighter arched its upper body back and slammed it forward towards the ground. A massive echo of flesh being slapped by metal rang about underneath the bullet shower. Big held the Eggfighter's disproportionally small arms within his palms. The robot with a massive torso moved its stubby legs. Big did not even so much as slide while the massive machine seemingly dragged its feet in place. The large purple cat simply arched his own upper body backwards, swinging the several ton robot into the air with ease, slamming it onto the floor. The explosion however sent him flying several meters across the lab. He flew over a startled Antoine who ducked in retaliation.
Using Antoione's head as a launched pad with her right hand, Bunnie vaulted over her husband and extended her metal right arm. A round, glowing green energy shield protruded from her palm. The cylindrical rocket crashed into the barrier, enveloping them in a screen of black and orange. A few Moto Bugs, Coconuts, and Eggpawns gathered around and slowly proceeded. While cautiously moving forward, a green line of light swiftly darted through the air and smacked the Eggpawn in the center directly in the center of its face. A tiny explosion occurred before its body fell to its knees and then to the ground with a metallic thud.
The one next to it was catapulted in the opposite direction with a devastating flying kick from Bunnie's mechanical leg. The two Moto Bugs on its left frantically turned around and began to charge, however something appeared to have slipped between them, quickly halting their movements. At a diagonal direction, half of their bodies slipped off before they exploded. With sweat pouring down the side of his temple and a nervous smile, Antoine drilled his front leg into the ground and thrusted his sword forward at an oncoming Eggpawn.
Several badniks were noticeably fleeing from something. An Eggpawn tripped and fell on its legs. It then sat up on its back and waved its hands in front as a show of mercy. With a grunt, Amy swung her massive Piko Piko Hammer upwards with the form of a national professional golfer that has recently been arrested for a DUI. An Eggfighter wielding a chainsaw sword whipped its stubby arms down diagonally. The sound of metal scrapping away against metal was heard while orange sparks were flicked into the air. In the next moment, the Piko Piko hammer was bashed horizontally into the center of the Eggfighter, catapulting it several feet into the air before a large explosion took its place. Amy spun her body in anticipation of incoming badniks but two blue masses jetted around her with a massive amount of turbulence. She closed her eyes and kept her skirt down with her free hand.
As if children were fooling around with two laser pointers, Sonic and his robotic double Metal Sonic jumped, dashed and clashed around Eggman's base with acrobatics at 700 mph. They simultaneously spin jumped and launched themselves at each other using a Homing Attack. While traveling in circles, they chased each other in midair for a few seconds. A miniature tornado kicked up, pulling everything and everyone in the base towards their direction. With the sound of thunder, flesh and metal clashed at a speed far exceeding that of sound. The two blue masses bounced off each other, flipping backwards through the air. Afterwards, the tornado exploded, sending everything in the room in opposite directions.
The Freedom Fighters plus Knuckles as well as Eggman and his robotic forces were flung towards dense metal walls at freighting speeds. The sound of flesh smacking against it was drowned out by a chorus of explosions from badniks being smashed by a force of nature. The Eggmobile bounced of a wall before hitting the floor and then the ceiling several times like a pinball. As a defense mechanism, the Eggmobile automatically sprouted a highly durable round window that closed the top of it.
"I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaateeeeeeeee thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat hedgehooooooooooooooooog—whoooooooooooooooaah!" Eggman screamed at the top of his lungs while ricocheting at a rate far above the daily recommendation ricocheting rate for a human. Orbot and Cubot clung onto their creator's sides as for dear life, so to speak.
All in awkward poses, The Freedom Fighters with the addition of Knuckles were practically glued to the walls. Sally, Antoine, and Knuckles all had irritated expressions.
Knuckles spoke with a level of annoyance one would experience when dealing with a child who would refuse to eat their vegetables.
"A warning would have been nice."
Sonic ran around him, Rotor, Cream, Amy, and Tails while Metal circled in the opposite direction. Metal Sonic flung himself into the air with a Homing Attack and curved into the air in an arc. It used its feet to stop itself from totaling smacking into the dense wall. It looked up to see that Sonic leaping several meters downward at a diagonal angle. It followed thrusting its back engine at maximum speed but only for a slight second. Had it continued to do so, it would have helplessly crashed into the wall with no means of stopping.
Sonic replied in a defensive tone as if he was caught drawing on the walls in permanent marker as he jumped off the next wall.
"Hey, it's not entirely my fault! He started it!"
"You always do something like this," Sally said. "It's like your allergic to a 'heads up.'"
"I'm sorry. Who's totally saving your butts after you were duped by the most obvious evil trap in the history of evil traps?"
Sonic and Metal Sonic bounced off each other and the walls more times than one could reasonable count within three seconds.
Sally groaned, rolled her eyes and looked to the side as she started to slide down the wall.
"…You are."
With a jubilant cry, Sonic uncurled his body and swung his legs down onto Metal Sonic's head and the top of the jet thruster in its back. For a split second, he squatted and then forcefully shot up into the air into a flip. Metal Sonic's balance and trajectory were altered, uncurling it and sending it slamming into the floor with a loud crash.
"Bingo!"
After back performing several unnecessary tricks, Sonic landed after a few seconds of descent. White sparks crackled from the top of Metal's jet turbine and its torso. With only one working eye, it aimed its glowing menacing stare at its eternal foe as it struggled to get up.
The metal knives on fashioned as quills and fingers impaled the dense wall, leaving Silver Sonic immobile. Even with its powerful legs and jets at its ankles, Silver Sonic was not supported enough to free itself. Its legs bents several times as the wheels at its heels scrapped against the wall. The room would soon smell of wondrous odor of burning rubber.
Sonic slowly stood up and put the back of his hands on his hips. He smirked and turned his attention to the Eggmobile that finally regained control.
"Ready to call it quits Baldy McNosehair?" he said triumphantly.
The Freedom Fighters and their close associate Knuckles soon gathered around Sonic with various expressions and eagerness to fight.
"Well?" Sally asked. "Are you?"
But to no one's surprise, Dr. Eggman arced his head up and laughed.
"Quit? Ha! Don't ask such ludicrous questions."
Dr. Eggman's finger moved towards a big red button with the words "BOSS BATTLE" in white letters on the Eggmobile's dashboard.
"Sonic, my long-time adversary," he said in a particularly sinister tone. "When have you ever known me to quit?"
Afterwards, the entire base shook. The sound of metal parts vibrating off the metal floor was heard for a second. Tails, Amy, Bunnie, Cream, Cheese, and Antoine looked up with cautious expressions. Antoine's teeth could faintly be heard chattering. The room then shook again, this time notably longer. Rotor, Sally, Knuckles and Sonic held their hands up as their pupils stoically shifted around the room. They were facing in opposite directions to cover the widest area. The base shook for a third time, knocking everyone off balance. Big simply turned his head in all directions.
There was a long pause. For what would seem like an eternity, the entire base was inaudible. If one had enhanced hearing, perhaps they could hear a few hearts beating more rapidly with each passing moment. Still poised to fight, the Freedom Fighters and their running joke spawning companion Knuckles stood firmly. Whatever it was that was approaching it had made its presence known before it was even visible.
Eggman's smile slowly widened.
With a terrible noise of metal ripping, the ceiling of his base was slowly torn off by a giant white hand. Cream crouched down, shut her eyes and squeezed her ears with her hands and Cheese hugged her side as he trembled. Sally, Bunnie, and Amy all looked up with dropped jaws and wide pupils. Antoine did the same thing except his jaw literally hit the floor. Knuckles and Rotor wore frustrated expressions and Knuckles clenched his fists. Sonic simply frowned.
Dr. Eggman's laughter slowly raised from a low chuckle to the signature flamboyant maniacal tone that is reserved for only the vilest of men.
"Oi," Antoine said exasperatedly. "I do not like ze sound of zhat."
The sky was filled with dozens of dozens of armed Egg Flappers and bee shaped badniks. Even further back were massive airships spanning several miles in length and width. But the true menace was right above them. A giant face fashioned after the evil genius himself stared at the cornered heroes. Despite being several meters above them, it was still apparent that it was much larger than the base they stood in. It picked up Metal Sonic and placed it on its right shoulder and afterwards removed Silver Sonic from the wall with ease to place it on its left.
The Eggmobile floated into the air to join its final trump card. The window covering its top retracted back inside of it. Even though that was a tactical disadvantage and even though he had speakers installed, he did so with intention. He did it because it did not matter anymore. He had won. Most importantly, he wanted his mortal enemies to hear his true voice one final time.
"Meet my latest and greatest creation Sonic," Dr. Eggman said with a disgusting amount of, arguably justified, pride. "I call it the Egg Behemoth. But you can call it The End."
Dr. Eggman leaned forward so much, it looked like he could fall out at any moment. His gluttonous upper body wrapped around the edge of his flying chair.
"Of you."
As Dr. Eggman's laughter reached its apex, the Egg Behemoth's imitation glasses slowly lit up into a yellow hue.
"Any last words my most troublesome and worthy adversary?"
With no fear behind his words and no doubt in the people that stood beside him, Sonic simply grinned and said,
"Maybe someday."
Eggman's smile collapsed. This was supposed to be his victory. After years of dealing with defeat after defeat and setback after setback, this was the moment where he finally turned the tables and utterly and totally annihilated the pests known as the Sonic the Hedgehog and The Freedom Fighters, with Knuckles of course. They were outnumbered on all angles and outgunned as well. It would be a long drawn out battle that would surely end in their defeat. There was no doubt about it. Nobody would come save them at the last second. This was truly the end of the road for Earth's mightiest, copyright pending, heroes.
So why had that smug little turn of a hedgehog responded with a smile?
A moment ago, the faces of his friends were filled with anxiety and dread. But after hearing Sonic's declaration, their expressions morphed into something greater. It didn't eliminate those negative feelings but it would be the driving force behind their next actions: determination, passion, trust, hope. Even the 6-year old Cream and the faint of heart Antoine stood firmly ready with scowls of tenacity aimed at their many foes. If this was their final day, their final moment, they had come to accept that. But they were fighting for something so much greater than any one of their lives and they would give everything in their hearts and souls to defend it.
But no matter how fierce the foe, they would not allow anyone the satisfaction of an easy defeat.
The sound of Dr. Eggman grinding his teeth together made Orbot stick a hand out in concern but he stopped halfway. This was not simple frustration. This was fury. Unadulterated rage built up after years of antagonism and a thirst for vengeance that was ever so close from being quenched.
And it was armed.
The yellow in Egg Behemoth's eyes grew brighter. The armed badniks aimed the guns downward. The battleships several miles above did the same with their massive laser canons. The Eggmobile floated higher into the air.
"Fine. Have it your way," Dr. Eggman said fed up and with a bit of disappointment. "I did you the favor of allowing you dignity in your final moments, but it seems that you've always been foolishly brazen, even in the end."
While Eggman was talking, Tails turned to Sonic with a worried look.
"You do have plan, right?"
Sonic turned his head and immediately responded with a bit of offense in his voice.
"Of course, I do!"
Dr. Eggman realized he was being ignored again but he didn't care this time. He raised he right arm.
"Eggman Army," he solemnly said.
The inside of the laser guns on the badniks slowly began to glow yellow as well.
While still looking at the coming storm, Amy motioned a hand at Sonic.
"Uh, sweetie," she said in a worried expression. "Now would be a good time to use it."
"Wait for it…" Sonic lowly said.
The Egg Behemoth's eyes were a blinding white.
Sally turned to Sonic.
"Sonic!"
Sonic swung his head at Sally.
"DON'T RUSH ME!" he snapped back. "…Pffffft, ksssh, hehehehehe..."
Amy looked at Sonic with intense concern for his mental health.
"What could possibly be funny in this very dire moment?!"
"Don't say die!" Antoine squealed.
"…She didn't?" Rotor said with a puzzled expression.
"I swear to Chaos," Knuckles began. "If the last thing we hear is another one of your lame jokes, I'm punching you into nonexistence."
Dr. Eggman swung his arm down with all his might.
"FIRE EVERYTHING!" he shouted with every bit of strength at his disposal.
A bright yellow beam shot out of The Eggbehemoth's towards the towering rock formation where the base stood upon. The badniks released several speedy lasers in unison from all directions. A hail of missiles rained down from the armada that attempted to overthrow the heavens.
Despite all that, Sonic continued to cackle to himself. He turned to Amy as if he heard the funniest joke that ever has been or ever will be conceived. His cheeks were filled with a toothy and contagious (in any other circumstance) grin. He was barely able to keep his eyes open. He was on the brink of tears. He was hysterical.
He said one thing.
"Sonic…Rush."
After that, several miles of a beautiful oasis of rock and desert was drowned in an ugly, formless storm of orange and black.
The window to the Eggmobile protrude up once more.
Orbot and Cubot crouched into circular and square shaped cases and trembled.
Despite the fact that he had finally defeated his foes once and for all, Eggman did not reveal in his victory like he normally would. Instead, he watched. He observed. He paid great heed to the shower of fireworks that he caused before him. Even his own badniks were destroyed. Using the full power of a brain with an IQ of 300, he took note of every single detail of that formless destruction with chilling accuracy and speed.
He did not laugh. He did look away.
All he could see was an endless whiteness. An end. A new beginning. Everything he had been working for during these years of globe trekking had led to this very moment. He could see his future unfolding right before his very eyes.
For 23.79 seconds, Dr. Eggman stared indifferently into the white abyss without blinking.
Afterwards, although no one could tell, he closed his eyes.
He basked. He internalized.
Black clouds rose from the ground with a terrible stench. The stench of carnage. The stench of malice. The stench of hatred. The stench of defeat. The stench of victory.
All that remained was the Egg Behemoth and the two robot doppelgangers that stood on its shoulders, unaffected by the previous devastation along with a deep gaping, black crater spanning for miles.
Eggman remained silent for several seconds. He then opened his eyes and spoke.
"All forces, return to the mother ship. Ready the remaining fleet for invasion of the western hemisphere. This world must know its new leader has arrived."
The Eggmobile turned around and began to ascend. His air fleet, now out of ammo, slowly and unnoticeably began turning to the side. With a large noise, the Egg Behemoth slowly turned around and took a giant step.
There no emotion in his voice. In a way, it felt like a hallow victory. It was nothing at all like he imagined. Some people attain their goals and reach a state of stupor where they can die happy. Others feel an anti-climax that makes them wonder "Was it all really worth it?"
Dr. Eggman was neither. He had won. He had earned his rightful throne. There's no need to become excited over something you've owned for decades.
Orbot's head slowly raised as he opened an eye. He looked up.
"Uh…boss?" he cautiously said before standing up. Soon, Cubot followed.
Eggman did not even bother face them when he spoke.
"What now, Orbot?" he asked.
"Uh…"
But he didn't give his minion time to answer. Dr. Eggman swung his entire upper body around.
A lone towering rock formation stood tall amidst the smoke. It was not there prior. It could not have been. Nor could it have survived annihilation on such a massive scale. It was impossible for Dr. Eggman to miss something this massive. He had seen everything little detail, every tiny rock, every cactus, every cotton wheel vaporized before his very eyes. And yet…
Maybe he knew things would turn out like this. Maybe he was only pretending to be stoic so he could act surprised because he could not handle the outcome any other way. After all, he had seen everything. It was impossible for him to miss.
Regardless, Dr. Eggman's face shaped face shaped base stood perfectly intact as if it had bypassed all the damage aimed at it.
A rare chuckle was heard.
"Okay, I'll admit," Knuckles said with a smile.
And amidst the smoke stood the heroes who had declared war on the mad man hellbent on world domination.
"That was kind of funny."