Chapter 2: Nega Skyforce Zone

"U–unbelievable! How did he get his wh–whole fleet here?!"

Sonic had witnessed the entrance of Dr. Eggman Nega's fleet, and the other good doctor was stunned. Not surprisingly—true, Eggman had built a portal and set the coordinates for the negative doctor's home, but he didn't even think it could transport a bug, let alone a war fleet as massive and magnificent as the one they now beheld. But it was still there, and it still needed to be eliminated.

"Calm down, doctor. We have the X Tornado Mk. II, after all." Shadow was visibly impressed, but he was still not fazed too much by the inevitably daunting task before them. "You could probably even fly the Eggmobile out there and survive."

"I'm just alarmed he could get his whole fleet here," Eggman explained as he overlooked the opposition. "In fact, I bet he probably only has skeleton crew… What I'm worried about is that flying missile salvo over there." The good doctor pointed at what indeed look like a black aerial missile launcher, with the term D.I.R.E in gold on the sides. Especially alarming were the facts that a) the largest faces of the hexagonal prism of a space warship each had at least six dozen large concussion missiles, b) its external surface was so thick and heavily shielded that it didn't look like anything could penetrate it, and c) there was a colossal laser cannon on its front face that looked like it could take down Eggman's O.C.E.A.N battleship in one shot. "I'm sending a message to Tails. Maybe Sonic could—"

"Have you forgotten, doctor?" Shadow asked, offended. "I can do all that Sonic can."

"No, I have other plans for you," Eggman said, his tone cryptic.

"What is it, Eggman?" Tails' voice requested, interrupting Shadow's briefing.

"I want Sonic to take on that Nega D.I.R.E vessel. Looks like a flying missile launcher—"

"Sure thing, Doc!" Sonic's voice interrupted. "So long as Tails can take me over."

"I can do that, Sonic. Just get in the Tornado," Tails instructed.

"Eggman out," the good doctor finalized.

••••••••••••••••••••••••

"Sonic, I can't get any closer to the D.I.R.E, or it'd gun us back down to planetside," Tails murmured nervously. "Try taking those weapons platforms down."

"Sure thing, lil' bro!" Sonic confirmed as he leaped out of the X Tornado Mk. II and onto the first weapons platform.

Three black cannons were firing out of gold barrels, each manned by black–and–gold versions of Egg Pawns. Sonic obliterated both the cannons and the Nega Pawns in the span of a few seconds. Collecting five–ring item boxes from each of the cannon ruins, Sonic hopped onto a nearby grind rail. As he ground along the numerous rails, defeating robots along the way, a strange thought popped into his head.

If Eggman Nega's here… then it'll only be a matter of time until--

His thoughts were interrupted as he hit a spring at the end of a grind rail, sending him hurtling into the cargo hold of one of the negative doctor's fuel ships. There was little light—not that that was much different from the rest of space—and the hold was tiny, like the rest of the vessel, but Sonic could see into the nav room, where a robot was looking at a screen. Said screen had a bunch of small technical gibberish that Sonic couldn't make out, but clearly visible was the text:

Destination: Direct Imperial Rebel Eradicator

The D.I.R.E, Sonic thought to himself. Victory, thy name is spring.

The unmistakable sound of a large hatch being opened was soon heard, and further darkness overtook the fuel ship. Within seconds, a black Nega Pawn Mk. II pulled down the ramp leading to the cargo hold. The pawn was history.

Sonic shot around the silver hangar and into a pulley-like hook, which lifted him up and onto another level of the space dock. Darting through three inactive pistons, Sonic took another winch up and out of the hangar.

Daunting, Sonic thought as he took in the weapons deck.

Several periscopes were on the brown ceiling and floor, each one manned. Just three Nega Pawn Mk. VIIIs patrolled each mahogany wall, but seventy-four targeting computers were mounted on two of said walls. Seventy–four targeting computers each, that is. They must be for the missiles, Sonic thought to himself.

Naturally, there was a network of catwalks that led around the massive warship, and Sonic was now facing one of said catwalks. Launching off of the silver hook, Sonic landed on the catwalk in front of him. Hurtling around it, he had grabbed another winch when he heard the sound.

The very menacing sound.

The siren.

Whooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeoo resounded throughout the weapons deck. The Nega Pawn Mk. VIIIs all cocked their blasters, and as the deck security steadily cranked to life, Sonic realized that it had been very still before this. Not hesitating, Sonic jumped off the winch and onto the second level...

...and watched annoyedly as parts of the catwalk crumbled around him.

Great, another one of these platforming bits, Sonic thought. Ah well... here we go...

Sonic cautiously leapt into the ring that hovered over one gap, and immediately jumpdashed forward into two other rings and onto one of the stable bits of catwalk.

Or at least, one of the I-thought-it-was-stable bits. But a familiar shaking alerted Sonic to the fact that the catwalk bit was going to crumble soon.

Not wanting to return to the first level, and knowing full well that said level could give out under him, thus killing him when he hit the hangar floor, the cobalt speedster glanced around, searching for a way out in relative panic. Five golden rings floating in the air were all that Sonic needed. Soaring through the air, Sonic whipped into a ball just as the rings seemed to approach him. His Power Shoes did the rest, zapping him through the ring line faster than an average human could blink.

He didn't hesitate to jumpdash into a railing on a stable--and this bit was, in fact, stable--corner of a fairly long piece of catwalk. The blue blur ground unsteadily for a few moments, and then jumped off onto the catwalk, immediately leaping back up into the air. Realizing that nothing had happened, Sonic jumpdashed forwards, not realizing that he would meet another winch until he felt himself steadily rising. He didn't raise any complaints.

Third level, with 23 rings, Sonic thought as he rose up on the winch. How many levels are there, anyway? The hedgie craned his neck to see. I'll need to get to the fifth level, eh? Crap... I was hoping for something easy. The sooner I beat that doctor into an unrecognizable blob of negative yolk, the better.

A loud BLAM interrupted our hero's thoughts as a black-and-gold piston crashed down from the ceiling and forced part of the catwalk to fall away.

I guess I'll just have to hurry, Sonic thought to himself as he flung himself onto the catwalk.

BLAM! The piston crashed down again the instant Sonic landed. The cobalt wonder of Mobius yelped in surprise as the ground right in front of him fell away.

I'm REALLY gonna have to hurry, aren't I? Sonic thought to himself as he jumpdashed onto the bit of catwalk that remained after the piston attacks. As he heard another BLAM behind him, the hedgehog didn't bother to watch the catwalk behind his original position fall to the second level.

So it's a pattern, eh? Sonic realized. But that means that I'm next!

The hedgie's epiphany didn't go without action following its theme, as Sonic revved up into a spindash...

BLAM and Fssew resounded side-by-side as Sonic released his spindash, just as the piston blew that catwalk piece he was on back down to the second level of the hangar. The blue blur wasn't idle as he snatched the hook on the third level's winch. Fourth level, 23 rings, Sonic thought. What platforming surprise does that negative bastard have for me now?

Much to Sonic's pleasant surprise, all that awaited him on the last level of the D.I.R.E. weapons deck before the turbolaser he would have to shut down were six of Eggman Nega's Nega Pawn Mk. VIIIs. Sonic did away with them in a few seconds.

"PLEASE tell me you've upgraded your robot designs, Neg," Sonic said aloud as he rode the winch up to the fifth level, which, much to Sonic's surprise, was a hexagonal platform. "This is gonna be boring if I have to keep trashing these cheap filmmakers."

Much to Sonic's horror, the negative doctor seemed to respond to his taunt. The six remaining robots were all alerted to the threat, and in response, they all disassembled themselves. Sonic would have laughed out loud had he not seen their parts reconfiguring. He waited to see what the result of the parts would be.

The 'result' was a large, bug-like robot in black and gold, at least twice Sonic's height. It's head looked like a sideways obsidian teardrop, with gold streaks on the top and bottom. It had the twelve photoreceptors from the normal robots, and it unnerved Sonic to think of how well it would be able to sense his movements. Two half-teardrops, with gold lining on their tops, served as horns. Underneath that, a column of spare gears, as cliché as that sounded, served as a neck. Its body was a column, also, made of two bodies from the Nega Pawn Mk. VIIIs, complete with the black-and-gold color schemes. It had thick black legs, and its arms were just as thick, with gold elbowcaps. Three laser cannons were mounted on each arm, and Sonic could guess that they were pretty powerful, with a good firing rate. On its back were two other Nega Pawn Mk. VIII bodies, each one spouting fire.

Apparently, the bug-bot had kept its vocoders, for it warned in a metallic voice:

"N-101 Beta battle mode initiate. Target: Not Present."

Sonic relaxed a little and started towards the turbolaser.

"Action: Eliminate all life forms present."

"Gimme a break!" Sonic complained. "You destructive robots are always after me. And the N-Series! Who'll be next? Stalker N-100 Alpha? Traitor N-102 Gamma? Disgruntled guard N-123 Omega? The N-Series! How unoriginal do you get?" (insert Crush 'Em All from SA2 if you want)

Sonic tried a homing attack on N-101, but the mantis-thing fired at him in mid-homing attack. As the cobalt wonder scrambled for his rings, the mantis-thing flew up to the ceiling and decided to rain blaster bolts down on Sonic. Fortunately, Sonic was able to dash around them, but he decided to try something a little daring and go for the turbolaser, and as he did, N-101 rammed into him. Cursing in frustration, Sonic collected 12 rings before he decided to try a different tactic.

As N-101 lowered, Sonic whipped around in circles as fast as his legs would take him, which, as one would imagine, was pretty damn fast. The robot caught on, though, and fired its laser continuously in Sonic's path. Unable to brake, Sonic ran straight into N-101's attack.

Collecting nine rings, Sonic watched annoyedly as his opponent took to the skies again. "You wanna come down here and fight, bug? All I can eat with you up there is your dignity!"

The N-series robot seemed to glare at the hedgehog down below. This wasn't the calculated response! Analyzing the electron signals it had picked up, it made out its target's taunt.

"Why don't you eat my lasers, then?' the bot requested.

Sonic dodged every one.

N-101 was furious now. Target deviates from standard reactions in most instances. Expanding attack databanks. Target set: all. Target weakness: unknown/none. Options: •fire all weapons •activate all security measures •eliminate arena Select: •eliminate arena Action: eliminate arena

The negative mantis descended, aiming its weaponry at the ground beneath it, jets flaming furiously.

Jets... Sonic thought. That's it! It's perfect! I'll need damn good timing, though. Let's hope I still have it in me!

N-101 Beta had shot a hole in the arena around itself already when it realized that the target had disappeared from all of its photoreception. It didn't even have time to activate its radar before its jets were knocked off its back. Alert! Major damage in sections five and six. Damage currently at 76.385. Status: Critical. Jet boosters no longer present. Fatal Error! Cannot sustain aerial status... Those were the last processings of N-101 Beta Mk. I, as immediately afterwards, it hit the hangar floor with a CRASH sound (not a CRASH onomatopoeia).

Sonic had sliced through five different-colored power supplies before the unmistakable sound of whooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeooeeoo cut through the air. Before Sonic could react, he had been sucked into the turbolaser and fired out in a tiny escape pod towards Space Colony ARK.

The blue blur could still make out the crimson maelstrom of Chaos energy inside the spherical domain.

---------------End Chapter 2: Nega Skyforce Zone---------------

A/N: So, yeah, you don't have to review, it'd just be nice... REALLY nice.

If you do, please leave a rating out of 10 and where I could improve, as well as what you liked, if there IS anything you liked (unlikely). Oh, and be nice. It gets better. Next zone is ARK Warbase Zone, BTW.