Four 'Til Doomsday
Part 1:
He sat and brooded, staring at the walls of his cell. Twenty feet of solid steel isolated him from the outside world, except for one tiny slot for the trays of disgustingly organic food and water that he was forced to eat. The prison was deep underground, and patrolled by hundreds of guards. On his body, he knew were at least five separate tags and tracers that could track and immobilise him the moment he escaped. The Mobians had been much more careful than last time. Not even the world's greatest genius could escape from here.
But Doctor Robotnik was far greater than that.
"I do not believe it!" Sonic yelled at the hologram of Kintobor, as if it was his fault. "That cell was unbreakable! I wasted a whole hour being shown around to check it was unbreakable! He couldn't have escaped!"
Kintobor timidly managed: "I don't know how, but he's not in there."
"And why not?!"
Kintobor's image flickered, the computer equivalent of a cringe. "I'm sorry, Sonic, but he's gone and I can't track him. We activated all the homing devices and found he'd discovered and deactivated them all. He's been missing for at most five days."
Sonic hammered the keyboard, cracking it in two and causing sparks to fizzle from inside it. He'd worked for six years to stop the madman. Six years, and now he was free again.
"Got it," said Kintobor.
"What?"
"He'll be heading for his base. He may even be there now, depending on when he escaped."
"His base. he'll have all his robots back again. He'll be able to take over the planet again. The whole damn war is gonna happen again!"
"Yes. But he knows his enemy this time." "Right." Sonic was out of the door and down four flights of stairs before Kintobor's sensors registered the word. He exploded out of the door and onto the fields of the Emerald Hill Zone, not even stopping to grab Tails as he passed. "Robotnik's loose," he explained to the stunned fox as he ran. "and we've got to reach the Pyramid base before him. Else he's back in power and ready to start creating havoc again."
"But I thought that his cell was-"
"So did I!" Sonic shouted. "and I'm gonna make him so sorry it wasn't."
A blue and orange blur tore off the coast of the Emerald Isles and across the sea, too fast for gravity.
Robotnik struggled into the seat of his egg mobile with an expansive grin. The assortment of cars and boats he'd stolen were metal rubbish, hammily screwed together by unskilled ignorant Mobian hands. His trusty egg mobile was generations ahead of them. They didn't really deserve him as their ruler.
Although this one of the older models, and kept making odd pinging noises that he was certain it hadn't done last time. No matter- it would still get him to the Pyramid in a couple of hours. Once he was properly armed and fortified as befitted a world dictator, he could put into operation the machine he'd left there.
Robotnik cackled. Even Sonic wouldn't defeat this- and he knew that because he'd already proved it.
Friction howled in his ears, just the way he liked it to. The water was like concrete at this speed, so Sonic wouldn't sink if he didn't slow down. Actually, these were new shoes designed by Porker for just this purpose, but Sonic didn't need to tell Tails that. The fox hung in his slipstream, visibly impressed.
Behind them the Emerald Isles disappeared over the horizon. Ahead, the clouds darkened spitefully. "Crud," muttered Sonic, but it was lost to the wind. Tails was shouting to him, as if it was at all possible he hadn't noticed.
Less then a second later, they were surrounded on all sides by angry weather. A huge fist of a wave surged at them, the rest of the world blotted out by grey water. Sonic curled and spin-attacked, splashing the enemy down. Tails appeared next to him, concerned.
A vortex of surf opened ahead of them. The wind became deafening. Bullet-rain almost knocked him off his feet. Then there was just water pounding and spraying and spattering. Sonic skidded, span and launched into the air, landing in the middle of the whirlpool.
"Damn!" Liquid enveloped his feet and he went under. A moment later he erupted in a cloud of spray, legs running furiously. Fast as light, he dodged and ducked everything the sea could throw at him. Spin, duck, jump, land running, dodge, dodge jump, spin, duck, spin, land, spinjumpspinduckjump.
A huge, familiar sculpture of water arose as in front of him as he flew through the air. "Chaos-" Sonic y- and the tide smashed between his eyes. The world became a rapid flicker of images as Sonic struggled to stay afloat. "Tail-" he was sucked under again. "Glub. meet you at Rob- slosh glub."
He sank. The stupid shoes were useless once he was beneath the surface.
Robotnik cackled to himself. The egg mobile bobbed along merrily, swept along by the tide of black smoke it left behind it. He calculated two hours before he reached the base. The rest of the world would definitely know he'd escaped by now. The hedgehog would be on his way, once that computer of his told him where to go. But the computer was a pale mockery of Robotnik's genius.
He pressed a couple of buttons and issued a few commands to the microphone. The hedgehog had to get there before him, of course, for the plan to work, but a couple of surprises on the way wouldn't be amiss.
Tails burned over the forest, his head filled with troubles. He hated having to abandon Sonic, but the hedgehog had told him to, and they needed to stop Robotnik at once. Sonic would survive by himself- if water hadn't killed him when it killed Johnny, it couldn't kill him now.
He recognised the ruins of Metropolis City ahead of him and changed course into the wilderness. The woodland grew denser and wilder. Suddenly, ahead of him, a crater blew itself out of the wood. Tails looked in shock to see four evil looking robots rise up out of the ruins. Each one was about as high as one of the trees in the wood, basically humanoid in a clunky sort of way, covered head to toe in festoons of weapons. They floated on a haze of blue fire spewing from their feet and jetpacks.
He assessed the situation quickly. They looked tough, and pretty spin- attack repellent, but they could be defeated after a while. Except Sonic was twenty thousand leagues under the sea and he was on his own.
Part 1:
He sat and brooded, staring at the walls of his cell. Twenty feet of solid steel isolated him from the outside world, except for one tiny slot for the trays of disgustingly organic food and water that he was forced to eat. The prison was deep underground, and patrolled by hundreds of guards. On his body, he knew were at least five separate tags and tracers that could track and immobilise him the moment he escaped. The Mobians had been much more careful than last time. Not even the world's greatest genius could escape from here.
But Doctor Robotnik was far greater than that.
"I do not believe it!" Sonic yelled at the hologram of Kintobor, as if it was his fault. "That cell was unbreakable! I wasted a whole hour being shown around to check it was unbreakable! He couldn't have escaped!"
Kintobor timidly managed: "I don't know how, but he's not in there."
"And why not?!"
Kintobor's image flickered, the computer equivalent of a cringe. "I'm sorry, Sonic, but he's gone and I can't track him. We activated all the homing devices and found he'd discovered and deactivated them all. He's been missing for at most five days."
Sonic hammered the keyboard, cracking it in two and causing sparks to fizzle from inside it. He'd worked for six years to stop the madman. Six years, and now he was free again.
"Got it," said Kintobor.
"What?"
"He'll be heading for his base. He may even be there now, depending on when he escaped."
"His base. he'll have all his robots back again. He'll be able to take over the planet again. The whole damn war is gonna happen again!"
"Yes. But he knows his enemy this time." "Right." Sonic was out of the door and down four flights of stairs before Kintobor's sensors registered the word. He exploded out of the door and onto the fields of the Emerald Hill Zone, not even stopping to grab Tails as he passed. "Robotnik's loose," he explained to the stunned fox as he ran. "and we've got to reach the Pyramid base before him. Else he's back in power and ready to start creating havoc again."
"But I thought that his cell was-"
"So did I!" Sonic shouted. "and I'm gonna make him so sorry it wasn't."
A blue and orange blur tore off the coast of the Emerald Isles and across the sea, too fast for gravity.
Robotnik struggled into the seat of his egg mobile with an expansive grin. The assortment of cars and boats he'd stolen were metal rubbish, hammily screwed together by unskilled ignorant Mobian hands. His trusty egg mobile was generations ahead of them. They didn't really deserve him as their ruler.
Although this one of the older models, and kept making odd pinging noises that he was certain it hadn't done last time. No matter- it would still get him to the Pyramid in a couple of hours. Once he was properly armed and fortified as befitted a world dictator, he could put into operation the machine he'd left there.
Robotnik cackled. Even Sonic wouldn't defeat this- and he knew that because he'd already proved it.
Friction howled in his ears, just the way he liked it to. The water was like concrete at this speed, so Sonic wouldn't sink if he didn't slow down. Actually, these were new shoes designed by Porker for just this purpose, but Sonic didn't need to tell Tails that. The fox hung in his slipstream, visibly impressed.
Behind them the Emerald Isles disappeared over the horizon. Ahead, the clouds darkened spitefully. "Crud," muttered Sonic, but it was lost to the wind. Tails was shouting to him, as if it was at all possible he hadn't noticed.
Less then a second later, they were surrounded on all sides by angry weather. A huge fist of a wave surged at them, the rest of the world blotted out by grey water. Sonic curled and spin-attacked, splashing the enemy down. Tails appeared next to him, concerned.
A vortex of surf opened ahead of them. The wind became deafening. Bullet-rain almost knocked him off his feet. Then there was just water pounding and spraying and spattering. Sonic skidded, span and launched into the air, landing in the middle of the whirlpool.
"Damn!" Liquid enveloped his feet and he went under. A moment later he erupted in a cloud of spray, legs running furiously. Fast as light, he dodged and ducked everything the sea could throw at him. Spin, duck, jump, land running, dodge, dodge jump, spin, duck, spin, land, spinjumpspinduckjump.
A huge, familiar sculpture of water arose as in front of him as he flew through the air. "Chaos-" Sonic y- and the tide smashed between his eyes. The world became a rapid flicker of images as Sonic struggled to stay afloat. "Tail-" he was sucked under again. "Glub. meet you at Rob- slosh glub."
He sank. The stupid shoes were useless once he was beneath the surface.
Robotnik cackled to himself. The egg mobile bobbed along merrily, swept along by the tide of black smoke it left behind it. He calculated two hours before he reached the base. The rest of the world would definitely know he'd escaped by now. The hedgehog would be on his way, once that computer of his told him where to go. But the computer was a pale mockery of Robotnik's genius.
He pressed a couple of buttons and issued a few commands to the microphone. The hedgehog had to get there before him, of course, for the plan to work, but a couple of surprises on the way wouldn't be amiss.
Tails burned over the forest, his head filled with troubles. He hated having to abandon Sonic, but the hedgehog had told him to, and they needed to stop Robotnik at once. Sonic would survive by himself- if water hadn't killed him when it killed Johnny, it couldn't kill him now.
He recognised the ruins of Metropolis City ahead of him and changed course into the wilderness. The woodland grew denser and wilder. Suddenly, ahead of him, a crater blew itself out of the wood. Tails looked in shock to see four evil looking robots rise up out of the ruins. Each one was about as high as one of the trees in the wood, basically humanoid in a clunky sort of way, covered head to toe in festoons of weapons. They floated on a haze of blue fire spewing from their feet and jetpacks.
He assessed the situation quickly. They looked tough, and pretty spin- attack repellent, but they could be defeated after a while. Except Sonic was twenty thousand leagues under the sea and he was on his own.