Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic. I own squat. Get used to it.

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Sonic dodged another highly-powered laser beam and demolished the attacking robot by smashing its head. As its carefully made parts flew to the floor, the hedgehog moved on at an incredible speed. He's not getting away THIS time, he thought to himself grimly. I'll make sure of that!

Dozens of rooms, doors, and bots flew by in barely distinguishable blurs of color until he stopped in front of a steel door. Curling into a ball, the flame ring radiating with power, he broke through and ran out of the spin until he could stand on his feet. The room was large. Highly technological equipment and control panels for tools and laser beams filled it. It was all steel, and cold. Every breath Sonic panted from the run came out in puffs of smoke. i Perfect space for fighting when I find that creep.

"SONIC!"

The blue hedgehog whirled around to see Tails, Knuckles, Rouge, Sally, and Amy rushing in, their weapons poised and ready for use. "Tails," he responded. "What's the status on what's left of Egg's lab?"

"Nothing left but dust." Tails smiled playfully.

"Huh, I made sure of that myself!" Knuckles growled, cracking his knuckles.

Rouge chuckled at his ego. "What about you?" she asked Sonic, "Find him yet?"

"He's hiding in here somewhere; I can feel it. When I ran past, I sensed a disturbance in the motion particles surrounding the room before they reorganized themselves." Sonic's green eyes were already scanning the room for the fat idiot. "Man, what's with evil geniuses and world domination?" He sighed. Not that he minded, because saving the world was fun.

Amy gave that giggle he knew too well. "They ARE evil geniuses, Sonic," she chided.

"Well, we're not gonna find this guy unless we look now," said Sally, observing the area as well.

"Ooookey dokie then--Tails and Sally you come with me. Knuckles, Rouge, and Amy head for the back of the south end of this room. He's NOT getting away without a couple a bruises!"

The teams set out, hunting for their egg-shaped 'friend'. Knuckles and Rouge sticking close; their instincts ready for the unexpected. Amy fell into step behind them, letting the couple be together. With soft, gentle glances, the pink hedgehog looked around her. Her mallet was out and ready, but her face was innocent and, despite the situation, quite serene. The inventions around her were quite interesting anyway. They included holographic imagery devices, lasers, guns, rays, transportation units, communication links; the classes of technology didn't seem to end.

One piece of machinery however, stood out among all the others to her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about it that made her quills stick up. "Knuckles," she began.

"Quiet!" Knuckles hissed, oblivious to the quills that were getting sharper with uncertainty the longer she stared at it.

Rouge looked to Amy, saw her change in appearance, and followed the younger one's gaze. "What is it Amy?" The beautiful bat asked softly. "Something's wrong you idiot!" She snapped to Knuckles; then turning back to Amy, she demanded gently: "Tell me Amy."

Then, before Amy could breathe a word of her premonition, the laser started to move. "SONIC!" Amy screamed. "It's Eggman! He's in that laser!"

Sonic was there before she could finish her sentence. "There you are you creep!" He yelled. The group came together as one and stood before Dr. Robotnick. Their faces were grin with determination and eyes filled with defiance. "Come out and fight!"

Maniacal laughter filled the steel lab. "I'll give you a fight you nasty little pests." Came the voice inside the machine. "I'll send you to the next life!" As he said this, the laser began to glow blue with ferocious energy. Sonic saw the motion energy particles reorganizing and moving faster and faster around it.

"Guys, be ready to dodge!" Tails called out, his computer eyeglass spinning with code. "This thing is especially designed to keep up Sonic's speed so be careful." Sonic bent into a fighting position and did the thing he usually did: he energized with the light speed dash and attacked.

"Fool!" Cried Dr. Robotnick, maneuvering out of the way with speed. "You think I wasn't prepared for you?" Then, while the wheels of the machine crushed Sonic's leg, Eggman's laser aimed directly at the team. "PERISH!" He yelled, pulling forward and fired.

What happened next was totally unexpected and unstoppable. Knuckles grabbed Rouge and leaped out of the way of the blast. Tails made a grab for Sally and Amy, but his grip was not strong enough, and Sonic's eyes widened as in slow motion Tail's let go of Amy's hand. With shock and anger at anger for crippling his leg, Sonic felt himself challenging the particles of motion. And, defying all logic, he ran to shove Amy out of the way. He ran as he never ran before and with a smirk of victory he grabbed Amy...

Too late. The blast hit them both, and both felt the heat and electricity, the burning through their bodies. Sonic never experienced such pain in his life--"Oh," was all he could gasp in surprise as suddenly it stopped.

Then, in the next second, they were vaporized.

Gone in that single instant of time, gone, forever.

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