The C.U.B.E
Chapter 1: The Egg Spider
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to SEGA or any of its characters…
"Ha! Take THAT!" Sonic yelled as he blew up one of Eggman's robots with a Spin Dash. "You just got served… in a bowl… with a spoon!"
"Dude, Sonic…" Knuckles commented with a look of boredom on his face. "That's the tenth time you've said that – and yes, I have been counting! Can you at least come up with a new joke?"
"Not to complain or anything…" said Tails casually while hovering in midair beside them and Amy. "But he's not wrong. You might want to-"
His remark was interrupted by Amy. "Well, I don't care if it's getting old. I think it's adorable!"
"Ok then, I'll change it," Sonic spat out. "While I think of something, let's just figure out a way to open this big door thing. Eggman's behind it. I know he is." His attention focused on a massive red lever positioned on the wall about ten feet above the door. This was just one of the many chambers in the so-called Egg Palace, Eggman's newest fortress built in the clouds. Of course, Sonic and his friends were there to trash it and defeat Dr. Eggman.
"Tails, this is all you. Get up there and pull that switch."
"Aye aye!" Tails yelled down at him, already at the top of the room next to the lever. "Uhng!" With a grunt, he yanked the switch. To Sonic's delight, the metal door in front of him creaked open.
"Ok, guys, you ready?" Sonic said with a serious look on his face.
"Huh?"
"What lies at the end of this hallway could possibly be our most difficult challenge yet."
"Oh, come on. It can't be that hard. We'll crack that Eggman right open!" Knuckles yelled as he pounded his fists together.
"Oh, but it can," Sonic replied. "On the other side of this door could be our worst nightmare! We have to be careful, on high alert at all times…"
"Come ooon, Sonic!" Amy groaned. "It's not like we're going to lose!"
"I know!" Sonic cheered with a smile. "Just doing it for dramatic buildup." He bolted into the dark corridor, only to feel the ground sink beneath his foot.
"What the-"
It was a trap! The floor tile that he had stepped on pressed into the ground, causing the door he had just entered through to slam shut behind him, separating him from his friends. An alarm sounded and a red light started flashing above him. A tile broke off the wall and started gushing water, causing the corridor to start to fill up.
Sonic slapped his head. How could he have fallen for that? He was always setting off Eggman's traps and now he was stuck in this room filling up with water, which actually WAS his worst nightmare. He sank like a rock in water, and it didn't help that he was less than four feet tall.
He snapped out of his thoughts only to realize that the water level was now up to his chest. That was fast! He had to be quick if he wanted to avoid drowning. Of course, he was the fastest thing alive. As fast as he could, he dashed to the other end of the hallway to see if there was an exit. Of course, the water slowed him down, and by the time he got to the end of the corridor, the water was at his neck. All he found was a door with a computer screen built into it with a touch keyboard. It read:
INSERT PASSCODE: _ _ _ _ _ _
"Hmm, let me think," Sonic sarcastically muttered to himself. "Eggman?"
INSERT PASSCODE: E G G M A N
ACCESS GRANTED! :P
Sonic quietly chortled to himself as the wall opened up into a huge circular chamber with a platform in the middle, letting the water splash into the seemingly endless pit in front of him. As soon as he had the chance, he kicked off the ground, shooting himself to the center platform. As he landed, a shadow formed on the ground, followed by a giant machine controlled by none other than Eggman himself. The contraption was just like a spider, with eight metallic legs sticking out of a sphere containing the cockpit. Eggman was positioned in a seemingly comfy chair with his hands hovering over numerous buttons lining the inside of the machine.
"Sonic the Hedgehog!" Eggman yelled. "We meet again!"
"Don't start that 'it ends here' kind of stuff with me, OK? We both know who's going to win! Oh, and by the way, 'Eggman' is not a good password."
"I wouldn't be so sure about the winner here! This Egg Spider is nearly indestructible!"
"You always say that, and then I start fighting you, and then you come close to killing me and then I transform into my epic Super Sonic form of epicness and cream the socks off of you."
"Well, you don't have the Chaos Emeralds with you now, do you?"
"No…"
"Alright then, it's fair game! My Egg Spider shall crush you into smithereens!"
"Creative name…" Sonic muttered under his breath.
"I heard that!" With that, Eggman opened a hatch on the Spider and shot a laser out of it. Sonic casually hopped out of the way and returned with a punch. He hurt his hand bad.
"Ow…" he whispered. "I gotta remember I'm not as strong as Knuckles…"
As Eggman replied with a "Ho ho ho ho ho," Sonic leaped up and kicked him in the face. "OW! NOT FAIR!" Eggman shouted while clutching his nose. "You'll pay now!" He pushed a button in the cockpit, extending the back of the machine over his head and concealing himself inside the sphere. He was now safe from Sonic's attacks. The Spider leaped away from Sonic and latched onto the wall. Sonic could hear a "Wave one! GO!" from inside the creation.
About a dozen robot minions dropped from the sky (don't ask how) and started ambushing Sonic. Dodging multiple energy blasts from the robots as well as the Egg Spider itself, he performed a stylish double front flip, did a somersault upon reaching the ground, and kicked a nearby robot up into the air from below. He then jumped off the ground, grabbed it, and slammed it into a couple of other henchmen standing below him. He snatched one of the laser guns from a broken robot and started to blast the others with it.
"Wow," Sonic said to himself as he decapitated a robot with a laser blast. "I never knew I was that flexible." Once all of the minions were deceased, the Egg Spider jumped off the wall and back to the center platform. Immediately upon its return, it swept a leg across the battlefield, knocking Sonic off his feet and launching him off the edge of the platform. As he was just about to fall, he grabbed on to the ledge.
The Egg Spider slowly drifted to the edge of the platform where Sonic was hanging. It lifted one of its pointed legs and positioned it over Sonic's head.
"Any last words?" Eggman asked from inside the machine. "How about 'Ooh, Eggman, you're so smart and powerful and a lot cooler than me, too! You're so awesome! Can I help you build Eggmanland?'?"
"That's... not… what I was… going… to say…" Sonic grunted.
"Well, it's what you should say if you want me to spare your life."
"…Never…"
"OK, have it your way!" As the sharpened foot was just about to penetrate Sonic's head, they both heard a shout:
"KNUCKLES SMASH!" Knuckles yelled as he dropped from the ceiling and swung his fist down on the Spider's leg, breaking it off. He was accompanied by Tails and Amy, who helped Sonic up.
"Nice timing, guys!" Sonic congratulated. "Great for that dramatic buildup."
"Well, we learned it from the master," Tails replied.
"Grr… I almost had you…" Eggman growled as he recovered from Knuckles's 'Knuckles Smash'. "Well, I still have seven more legs…"
"Tails! Scan!" Sonic yelled as he sprinted to the other side of the battlefield.
"Got it!" Tails yelled as he whipped out a hi-tech pair of glasses and stared at the Spider. While dodging Eggman's attacks, he stated, "Okay… Wow, that thing's got some serious armor! It's immune to almost all of our attacks!"
"Well, apparently not the Knuckles Smash…" Amy replied as she ducked under an incoming fireball.
"Yeah, well, its legs are the weak point," Tails muttered. "We could take those out easily, but even when they're all gone, it'll still be nearly impossible to get the body with Eggman inside. Also, it looks like it gets a new weapon every time one of its legs is cut off."
"Let me guess…" Amy yelled as she protected herself from a barrage of fireballs with her hammer. "The first one's fireballs?"
"Uhh… yeah… followed by poison jets, smokescreens, shruikens, bombs, some sort of wind power, and then… well… it doesn't say what the last one is…"
"Great!" Knuckles shouted. "It's probably a nuclear weapon of some sort…"
"Let's just work on getting the legs now and survival later… UNGH!" Sonic cried as he broke another leg off the Egg Spider. "There! Only… six more to go… Why do spiders have so many legs?"
"SONIC!" Knuckles and Amy yelled simultaneously. "Why do that? He's going to kill us!"
"Well," replied Tails. "If it gets stronger when we cut off its legs, that's obviously how we destroy it. And by the way, careful of the poison jets. We can step on it since we're wearing shoes, but if it contacts our skin, it could be fatal…"
"Fatal?" Knuckles shouted as he leaped away from a stream of poison. "That doesn't sound good… Wait a second! I know a way we can deal with this thing without having to cut its legs off! Amy, give me your hammer!"
"What? Why?" Amy screamed at Knuckles as she hid her weapon behind her.
"Well, with your powerful mallet combined with my strength, I can knock this thing off the platform!"
"Come on, Amy, fork it over!" Sonic requested as he drifted around the Spider in an attempt to dodge an attack.
"Fine, only because Sonic told me to…" Amy whimpered. She hesitated, and then shoved her hammer directly into Knuckles's stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
"OOF!... I don't… think… Sonic… would like that…" Knuckles gasped while clutching Amy's hammer with one hand and his stomach with the other. Amy just let out a snort and turned away.
Knuckles slowly stood up and accelerated toward the Egg Spider while acrobatically dodging multiple fireballs and jets of poison. With all his might, he pounded it with the hammer so powerfully that it made everyone's jaws drop. The impact not only caused another one of its legs to fly off and almost take out Sonic's head, but it also forced the Spider to skid all the way across the battlefield and right off the edge.
"YES!" Knuckles cheered.
To his horror, however, the Spider had used its remaining five legs to suspend itself between the outer wall and the edge of the platform, and it was now pulling itself up to safety.
"#$!" Knuckles yelled while slapping his head.
"Ooh, I hear language!" Amy replied. Knuckles grunted and gave Amy's hammer back to her.
"Try to attack me after this!" Eggman called out as the Spider released a small white pellet from its body. Upon impacting the ground, a giant cloud of smoke that covered the entire battlefield was formed, obscuring everyone's sight except Tails, who flew up above the smoke. He waited for an opening where he could attack, but he couldn't see anything that was happening.
Of course, that changed when the Spider swung a leg across the battlefield and knocked Knuckles directly off the edge. As Tails flew down to save him, Sonic and Amy tried to clear the smoke. Sonic tried Spin Dashing and Amy tried swinging her hammer around. She hit Sonic in the face.
"OW! Watch it, Amy!"
"Sorry!"
Tails then flew back onto the platform with Knuckles. A fireball flew directly at him, but he ducked just in time. Knuckles then picked up Tails and hurled him to where the fireball came from. Tails flew ten feet, skidded across the ground, hit a fireball, and then took out two of the Spider's legs. It now had three legs left.
"Uggh…" Tails groaned. "Was that really necessary?"
"Well, yeah!" Knuckles replied. "We took out two of its legs!"
"AHG!" Tails yelled as he rolled to the side in order to dodge an incoming shruiken. He instantly jumped up. "That thing could have taken my head off!" he shouted to Eggman.
"Hello? Villain!" Eggman shouted back.
The Egg Spider then leaped upwards and sent wave after wave of bombs and shruiken after the heroes. Sonic used his super speed to dodge them, Tails flew above Eggman to not get hit, Knuckles punched everything aside, and Amy blocked the weapons with her hammer.
As soon as he had the opportunity, Sonic leaped into the air and kicked another leg off of the Spider. It flew across the room and hit Tails.
"Uggh…" Tails moaned. "It's just not my day…"
The Egg Spider returned to the ground and closed itself in a ball of wind. After a couple of seconds, it shot out in all directions, throwing everyone backwards. Sonic flew off the edge, Tails was thrown next to Sonic and caught him, Knuckles grabbed on to the outer wall and climbed to safety, and Amy grabbed on to the edge of the battlefield before she could be chucked off.
Once Sonic and Tails recovered, Eggman sent a wave of bombs after them. Tails caught one and threw it back at the Spider, but it missed. Sonic effortlessly dodged them.
Meanwhile, Knuckles climbed up to the center of the ceiling and pushed off. He then dove straight into the Egg Spider's body. It didn't do any damage to the Spider itself, but it forced another one of its legs off.
"HA! Only one more left!" Knuckles yelled as he returned to the ground. "So Tails, what's the last weapon?"
"I still haven't found out yet…" Tails moaned. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."
"Time for my secret weapon!" Eggman stated. "I can only use it once, so I've got to make it count!"
"A one time use?" Sonic questioned. "That doesn't sound good…"
The Egg Spider positioned itself in the center of the battlefield. A hatch in the ceiling opened up and released a miniscule black speck into the air, barely the size of a marble. No one knew what it was. No one, that is, except for Tails, being the smartest one in the group.
"Dark matter!" Tails cried. "Everyone get to the edge of the platform!"
Seconds later, the tiny blob of dark matter extended outward so fast that it seemed like an explosion of blackness. It sent a shock wave through the air and seemingly shook the entire world. A black hole that was slightly smaller than the battlefield was formed and the pull was so great that everyone had to grab on to the outer edge of the arena in order to avoid being sucked to their doom. Tails tried to yell, "Just hang on! This thing will subside eventually!" but no one could hear him because the sound waves were being pulled into the hole of nothingness. Small segments of the platform, walls, and ceiling around them were breaking and being forced into the trap. No one thought that they would survive. They couldn't even breathe. The edge that they were holding onto was the only thing between them and their horrible death. It seemed like the end of the world…
However, the black hole eventually did go away after what seemed like hours. Everyone fell to the floor, panting with exhaustion, cuts and bruises all over them from where debris had struck them. Everyone was missing patches of fur and Amy's clothes were torn. Her hammer was also missing. They stood up and looked around. About half of the battlefield was gone. The ceiling was open and all of the walls had enormous holes in them, on the verge of collapsing. Tiny black specks of dust were scattered everywhere, especially in the center of the arena where the black hole was formed. The Egg Spider, which was clutching onto one of the walls, now returned to the battlefield.
"Wow… that… was… close…" Knuckles panted.
"Tell me about it…" Tails grunted. "I didn't think I could make it. Look at my fur! Clumps of it are missing! I'm glad my entire head didn't rip off…"
"Well…" replied Amy. "That's a pleasant thought. But look at me! My clothes are ruined! Look at this black dust everywhere! And my hammer…"
"I guess we should consider ourselves lucky…" Knuckles sighed.
"WAIT!" Amy yelled so suddenly that it made everyone jump a foot in the air. "…Where's Sonic?"
After a long pause, Tails and Knuckles scanned the remains of the platform. Sonic was nowhere to be found. Not even a trace of him was left. Tails looked at the edge of the battlefield that Sonic had been hanging on to only to find out that the chunk of platform was gone. It had been thrown into the black hole…
"He's… gone…" Tails whispered. "Dead…"