Chapter 4:
"SoooOOoonnNnNnnniiIiIiCccc!" A voice, distant and eerily familiar. Sonic could not open his eyes. He tried to shake himself awake, but the nightmare persisted, and he could not move. "SsooOonnnNiiiIiccCc!" He felt something grab ahold of him, shaking him slightly. Who was there, trying to wake him?
"Sonic!"
His eyes finally snapped open, and he startled awake. Blinking fiercely he looked about him, still in a daze. Tails knelt beside him, a worried expression on his face. "Tails? What…what just happened?"
"That robot shot at you with some kind of red beam, but it doesn't seem to have affected you much. I got here only moments later, but you and the others were unconscious for some reason, and I couldn't wake you. What happened?"
Sonic put his hand on his head, trying to focus. "I had some kind of dream. No, a nightmare. It felt so real, like my worst fears coming true. I was completely trapped." He stood up slowly, breathing deeply to calm himself. The affects of the dream still lingered about him, the lonely and terrified feelings clinging close to his soul. Would they ever go away? He knew that they were not real, but still, he could not bring himself to look at Tails, fearing that he would not be able to protect his best friend anymore.
"I still can't wake up Shadow and Rouge. I hope that they'll be ok. But we have to get away from here. We're too close to the robot, and I haven't been able to analyze it to tell how to defeat it. We can use the Tornado." Tails tried to talk to him, but something was wrong with Sonic. He had never seemed so distressed or distant. Just what had happened during those moments of fearful sleep? "Sonic?"
"Yeah, you're right Tails. Let's get Shadow and Rouge to the Tornado, then you can fly them back to the city, and I'll handle this monster myself."
"Umm, ok. But after they're safe, I'm coming back to help. I won't let you down." Sonic knew that Tails wouldn't let him down. He feared that he would let Tails down. He had to keep him away from the fight.
Just as they were about to move there fallen comrades, the two suddenly stirred from there dreams. Rouge shot up abruptly, a startled cry escaping her lips. "Wait, don't go," she pleaded. Then she blinked and looked around, shaking her head. "What happened? Where's Shadow?"
"Calm down, Rouge. You're alright now. We're all still here." Sonic motioned over to Shadow, who was just now getting up. His expression was a mixture between confusion and pain, which he quickly changed back into his usual cold glare.
"We have to stop this machine before it uses that beam again," he said with absolute certainty. "It is clearly capable of making us realize our worst fears. If it reaches the city, they will not be able to escape and will be completely at its mercy." Stinging pains of guilt rippled through his mind, leftover affects from his own nightmare. He tried to brush them aside, but they lingered about him, and he felt more twisted and riddled with grief than he ever had. But, he was sure that he could cope with it, he had to ignore it, just like he always had, pushing his emotions so far down, that he would feel nothing at all.
"Wait, Shadow," Rouge protested. "How do you know that's what happened? How do you know that its target is the city?" But she felt far less confident voicing her opinions then she had ever had. Shadow's cold stare did little to improve her mood, and she was convinced that he was more cold and distant to her than ever. Oh, stop. Get a grip. Nothing has change. It was only a nightmare. But she failed to reassure herself, and she merely stared at the ground, defeated by her own fears.
Shadow crossed his arms, and turned to face the robot. "See for yourself. It's turning for the city now. We all had those nightmares after the beam hit. Obviously, the robot was responsible." Just as Shadow said, the robot's towering form began to advance towards the city. Very slowly, each giant leg carried the beast towards its target. "We have to act now."
Shadow, wait," Tails argued. "I haven't had a chance to examine it yet. We don't know how to stop it. If I can get close enough, the scanners on the Tornado should be able to tell us how to stop it. But," he trailed off, staring at his feet.
"But what, buddy," Sonic prodded.
Tails scratched his head. "Well, all of the power in the Tornado is currently wired into Hyper Mode. All of the energy is hooked up to the engine, even in its regular form. I'll have to get extremely close to the robot for my scanners to work."
"Do you think you can get close enough, with all the guns and cannons on that thing it takes war of the worlds to a whole knew level," Rouge said, concerned.
"Yeah, Tails, I'm with Rouge. It'll be impossible. We'll have to try a touch and go approach instead." Sonic was relived, in an empty sort of way, that the idea couldn't work. Maybe Tails would stay at a safe distance this time.
"Impossible or not, we have to try it. We're running out of time. We three will distract it so you can get in close enough. We have to act now." On the word "now", Shadow sped away towards the robot, which had just now reached the top of the crater.
"Shadow!" Sonic yelled. But it was too late. He looked back at Rouge and Tails, who were nodding in agreement. They had apparently sided with Shadow.
"Alright, kid. Make it quick, I've got better things to do with the rest of my day, like finding some delightful treasure." Rouge then took off, and flew fast after Shadow.
"Tails, you're sure this is a good idea? You must have a better way to scan this thing."
"Sorry Sonic, but I hadn't counted on being invaded by giant robots today. All I've got are my short range scanners. I can do this, it'll be easy." Tails turned and raced off, hopping into his plane and starting up the engines.
Sonic watched him take off and sighed. Get a hold of yourself. This is nothing. Tails can handle himself. You're awake now, the nightmare's over. Come on Sonic, let's do this. He raced off to join the battle.
Shadow and Rouge had already gotten its attention, and yellow laser blaster rays flew everywhere. Thankfully, the canons seemed to be long range weapons, so at least they were safe from those. Shadow dodged blast after blast, fast approaching one of the legs. He jumped up and used his spin attack to propel himself up the leg.
The heavy fire around him, though, prevented him from advancing very far, narrowly avoiding bullet after bullet. He landed back at its foot and summoned a tremendous blast of his own, Chaos Spear firing from his fingertips, rising up the leg and striking the guns it came in contact with. Shadow grinned, five or more guns exploding.
But his triumph was short lived. The destroyed guns were immediately replaced by more, seemingly materializing onto the surface. Shadow growled and fired another round of energy, but this time they were deflected by the new onslaught of weaponry. He side stepped away, still close enough to feel the energy racing into the air after striking where he had stood seconds before.
Shadow looked up, trying to find the Tornado, wondering just how long Tails was going to take. He could see the small plane beginning to make its way around to the back side of the robot, not flying anywhere near the head. I've got to keep it focused away from the Tornado. I'll have to give it something else to see. It must have a sensor in its eye. If I can make it up there, then I can keep it pointed away from Tails. Shadow had to get up to the top of the robot, but the heavy fire all around him would make it difficult. Regardless, time was running out, and he had to find some way up there, and fast.
On the other side of the robot, Rouge flew low, expertly avoiding the barrage of laser blasts. She executed stunning evasive skills, landing briefly at times to perform a series of round offs and hand springs, making her way as close to the metallic leg in front of her as she could. If she could reach the leg, then she could fly up it, using it as a shield to reach the first row of guns, and then take them out.
Reaching the leg, Rouge began a vertical assent, staying as close to the outside of the leg, nearly skimming the metal as bullets narrowly missed her, feeling the heat of them as she made her way up. Rouge saw that the moment was fast approaching when she would have to veer off from the safety of the leg, and she readied herself for attack.
With the first few guns nearly even with her, she made a sudden turn, spinning into her screw kick with lightning speed. The row of guns exploded in quick succession, her flawless attack destroying the whole segment, at least ten guns exploding behind her as she veered off and looked quickly back at her handiwork.
But, when the last destroyed pieces had fallen off, new guns, almost instantly, formed to replace them. Rouge was caught off guard, taking an instant too long to avoid the new barrage, and scrambled to get away, but there was just too many bullets coming at her, and she was completely off balance.
Rouge screamed in pain, a blaster bullet striking her left wing, and she began falling rapidly towards the ground. If she survived the landing, then the volley of raging bullets would surely do her in. She fell and fell, the ground fast approaching, and there was nothing she could do to stop herself. She held her hands in front of her face, as much to shield her from the impact as to avoid seeing it.
Suddenly, something slammed into her, and she was sent tumbling into a landing towards the leg, rolling for a long ways which helped break her fall. Rouge was not completely unconscious, but she could not focus on anything, only swirling images flashing before her eyes. She felt herself being lifted, and then she was being carried fast away, the ringing bullets pounding in her ears.
The next thing she knew, she was sitting with her back against a huge rock, sheltering her from the robots attacks, for the moment at least. She blinked and looked up at her rescuer. "Oh no, it's you."
Indignant, Knuckles crossed his arms and huffed. "I'm not too happy about seeing you either, you know. Next time I'll just let you fall."
In spite of herself, Rouge smiled. That irritating echidna had a nasty habit of showing up in the middle of a skirmish. "Now, now, don't get so sensitive. I would have made it on my own, but thanks anyway for your attempted heroism. I think it was a rather charming thing to do." Knuckles' faced flushed with exasperation.
"What do you mean 'attempted heroism'?" he fumed. "I just saved your life! There's no way in this world that you can deny that! "
"Alright, alright, you win. Just stop all that yelling already." Rouge stood shakily to her feet and glanced around the rock. The robot's guns were spaced just far enough apart to miss there hiding place. But even the slightest turn would send them into heavy fire. She turned back to Knuckles. "So, what are you doing here, besides vying for my affections?"
"Vying for? – You must be crazy!" Knuckles clenched his fists, waving his hand in her face. "Of all the insane ideas!" He turned abruptly away and began to stomp off.
"Oh come on, please tell me why you're here. Maybe we can help each other, hmm? What do you say?" Rouge knew she could get him to do anything. And, truthfully, she knew that he would be a big help against that robot, so she needed him to calm down a little.
Knuckles halted, rather begrudgingly, and crossed his arms. "Fine. I saw this thing fall from the sky, so I decided to investigate. Lucky for you, "he added with a rather smug glance back at her. Then he looked around the rock, and strained to see something at the far side of the robot. "Hey, isn't that the Tornado? What's Tails doing, anyway, and where is Sonic?"
Rouge quickly filled him in, and he cracked his knuckles. "Alright, just leave it to me. One distraction, coming right up." He gave her a smug little smile. "Try to keep out of trouble this time." Rouge crossed her arms and smirked.
"Hmph. You're the only trouble maker around here," she called as he ran off towards the robot. "As soon as my wing recovers, you'll see just how much I don't need your help!"
Knuckles snickered as he ran, pleased with himself. He always enjoyed getting on that bat's nerves. A volley of blaster bullets met him as he advanced towards one of the legs. He dodged the blasts skillfully, charging on ahead into the fire, never slowing his attack. He bulldozed into the leg, punching it with such force, that the vibrations rattled the air around him. He continued to bludgeon the leg with lightning fast and brutal punches, grunting from the effort. This should get its attention.
Knuckles paused for a moment to examine the damage he must of caused, but only a slight dent was all he had to show for his effort. He let out an exasperated huff, tearing into the robotic leg with renewed fury.
Suddenly, the ground shook next to him, and smoke rose from a large gash in the ground only feet away. "I guess I got its attention." Some of the canons above him had elongated, their barrels poised to take aim at him. Knuckles growled, not tampered by this new obstacle. He sunk his fists deep into the leg, and began climbing at a furious pace, reaching the row of guns and leaping off to smash them. He took them down with brutish force, and then glided down to the ground, a pile of broken metal landing after him.
"That should do it," he bragged, brushing his hands together. But looking up, he saw that his assault had been rendered pointless, new guns appearing to take the broken one's place. "What!?" Knuckles clenched his fists, glaring up at the new guns in a rage of disbelief.
"Pesky, isn't it?" Knuckles whirled around, not surprised in the least to see Sonic there. "I mean, you destroy them, and they just keep coming back. But there's gotta be a limit. We just gotta keep breaking them up, and eventually they'll run out. What'dya say, buddy?"
Knuckles smirked. "I suppose that's logical. Tails had better hurry up, though. We can't keep this up all day if our attacks are pointless. I just barely dented that leg, and I gave it all I got." He paused for a moment, and then felt his temper rising. "And don't call me 'buddy'!"
Sonic snickered. "Whatever you say, Knuckster." Then his voice changed to a more urgent tone. "Just keep up the attack, and stay away from the laser at the head. Trust me, you don't want to get hit."
With that, Sonic sped away into the barrage of laser fire, circling around the robot until he located Tails. The little plane had finally reached the back of the machine, and was now going in for the scan. "Come on, buddy. You can do it." Sonic watched him expertly dodging all of the smaller bullets near the center, going in uncomfortably close to the robot. The Tornado's little scanning ray finally came on, illuminating the iron shell with a bright red light.
Sonic leaped up and used his Homing Attack to jump from gun to gun, clearing dozens of them. He didn't bother looking back, knowing that new ones had already materialized and were already firing at him. Sonic raced off, finding a good point well away from the robot to analyze the situation. He could see Knuckles hammering away at one of the legs, and Rouge was above him attacking the guns on the middle row. A huge yellow blast of energy fired at the far side, and Sonic guessed that Shadow had just loosed some of his Chaos powers on the robot.
Sonic sighed. None of this would matter until Tails had found a weak spot. He looked up at the head, which was still pointing at the city. Maybe he could try a direct attack on the eye. That would keep it occupied, and just might be the weak point they needed.
He watched as Tails had finally stopped scanning, and began to fly away towards the forest. Sonic sighed in relief. "Phew. Good Job Tails. Let's see what you found." He was just about to run to the forest, when the giant head suddenly whipped around, its red beam blasting full force. Sonic looked in horror as the small plane was illuminated in its eerie ray.
"Tails!" Sonic raced towards his little buddy, knowing that he was now unconscious, suffering from an onslaught of nightmares. He had to reach him before it was too late. The plane could crash at any minute. "Hang on, Tails! Hang on!"