Chapter four: Lots of gears and evil copies

Arriving at the main entrance was not a pleasant sight. The doors had been completely blown off, leaving rubble scattered all over. Steam rose into the sky from within the pyramid. Even worse, bodies laid strewn about, soldier's bodies. The Tornado landed, all three heroes hopped out and rushed over.

" Oh no! What happened to them?" Tails asked. Beckler inspected the bodies. From his time in the military, he knew that these injuries were fatal. Seemed like they weren't breathing either.

" I'm not sure. But if I'm gonna be brutally honest. They aren't alive. Must've been my father." Beckler said grimly. Sonic and Tails stared at him.

"Your- you mean Infinite? The one we heard on Eggman's communicator?" Sonic asked. Beckler nodded. Judging from the last time they had fought Infinite, those new powers could easily have taken out mere military men.

" Let's just hope Team Two got out safely." Tails said, looking at the ruined entryway.

" Yeah. But that just means we have to go in and finish their job!" Sonic declared. " Their mission was to detonate the weapons bed right? So we'll just run in and do that ourselves!"

The group ran inside, hopping over pieces of fallen rails, gates and pyramid chunks. They soon found out that the whole interior was filled with huge rotating gears. Dozens of them in every direction, all moving in harmony to help manufacture Eggman's weapons.

" Woah! This place is like some kind of playground for mechanical stuff! If we want to continue forward, we'll have to cross these gears!" Tails announced. Sonic scratched his right ear.

" Alright, no biggie. Should be more fun if anything!" He leaped onto a gear directly in front of them. It moved a little but otherwise seemed stable.

" Come on! These things are harmless!" He yelled up from the gear. Beckler braced himself for more platforming.

" Ok then. Here goes nothing!" He jumped onto the gear and landed next to Sonic. Tails flew overhead.

" If we continue forward, the bed should towards the middle of the pyramid!" He shouted down. Sonic raised an eyebrow.

" How do you know?" He asked. Tails put up his hands.

" Sonic, you should know by now that I'm good with mechanical things!"

" Well, that is true. Alright, follow Tails Rookie! And keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

Turns out, something suspicious would find its way to them. The team platformed across more gears, Beckler occasionally had to use his Hookshot to grind around thin parts of scaffolding. Sonic zipped around and ran on the sides of them. Tails flew in and out gears, making sure they stayed on course. At some point, they reached a long metallic road leading to a drop-off.

" Down there is the weapons bed!" Tails said excitedly.

" Well let's go then!" Sonic dashed forward. Beckler was about to follow when a black blur smashed into him. Sending him careening against the gated wall. Sonic got up quickly, though he was clutching his side in pain.

" Ow. What was that?" He muttered. Standing in their way was… Shadow?

" What?! Shadow! What do you think you're doing?!" Tails yelled. But he didn't answer. Beckler noticed that his eyes weren't like the normal one he'd talked with. They were pure red, unnaturally red. It stared at them with a blank expression, battle ready.

" Wait. I don't think that's the real Shadow. But then where did-" Beckler was cut off as more Shadow's appeared.

Five more copies blinked into existence, surrounded by a faint red light. Not only that, but more copies emerged. Not just of Shadow, but of two different kinds of robots as well.

" No way! Is that, Omega and Mecha Me?" Sonic said in surprise. Multiple forms of a bulky red and black droid and a robotic, muscular looking version of Sonic filled up the hallway. They all had that same set of red eyes. Like mindless minions.

" Where did they come from?" Tails asked.

" I made them. Not a surprise considering how incredible this power is!" A black figure in grey armor covered in a thick red mist floated down above the clones. He had one eye, long white hair, and a fluffy tail. Beckler's father.

" Infinite?! You did all of this?" Sonic asked, motioning towards the sea of enemies. " How?"

Infinite readjusted his mask.

" That is my business and not yours! The other group fell like dominoes to my power. And so shall you." He stuck out his arm toward the heroes.

" Get them!" Infinite ordered. At once all of the clones surged forward, lusting for blood.

Sonic got into his battle stance.

" You guys ready? This could be fun!" Beckler and Tails readied themselves. Tails got out his pistol and Beckler switched his arm cannon to flame mode. Sonic sped toward the crowd, he dove into a spin dash and smacked into a shadow clone. It tumbled back, toppling over omegas and mechas. Sonic leaped straight up and smashed back down on the pile, eliminating them. They burst into more red blocks as they died. Sonic got up and kicked a nearby omega, spin dashing it in the stomach, piercing through it.

" They aren't that tough, we got this!" He announced. Tails flew up above, head-shotting multiple targets below him. Beckler swung up and landed in the middle of a group of clones. He swiftly spun around in a circle, firing his flamethrower. Soon Beckler had become a flaming tornado of death, melting everything within a few feet of him. Infinite watched from above.

" No matter. I can summon more." He began to raise both arms. Sonic punched a mecha twice, spin attacking it into the ground.

He glanced up at Infinite.

" Oh no you don't!" He shouted. Sonic ran over to him, jumped up, spun around and homed in on Infinite. But Infinite saw it coming. He held out his hand and trapped Sonic mid-air in a red block. Sonic struggled to get free, but he couldn't.

" Hey! What's the big idea? I can't get out!" He cried. Beckler ran over and aimed his arm cannon, switching to singular shot mode. He shot Infinite in the chest, causing him to stagger and drop Sonic. Sonic landed on his feet.

" Thanks Rookie!" He said. Infinite wiped his stomach.

" Grr. No big deal." He disappeared. Sonic put up a fist.

" Come back! He's gone!" He exclaimed. Tails flew down to them.

" Don't worry about him, now's our chance to reach the weapons bed!"

" You're right buddy. Fly Beckler down there." Sonic replied. He zoomed ahead and jumped down a large square hole leading to the bed. Beckler held onto Tails and they followed suit.

Once all three heroes had landed, Beckler gasped. There were hundreds of planes, robots, huge arc cannons and multiple other types of weaponry.

" This is a gigantic collection!" He said breathlessly.

" Don't get too attached. I'm gonna head over to the control room to blow this baby to smithereens!" Tails exclaimed. But just before anyone could move. Four big red walls surrounded them. Infinite materialized outside of it.

" You are not going to ruin this facility. Now die." The walls closed in. Sonic pounded on them, they couldn't get out by brute force.

" Sonic! I have a plan!" Tails yelled. The two looked at each other. Tails motioned up the walls and out towards Infinite. Sonic nodded. They had made a silent plan.

" Ok, whenever you're ready pal," He said. " Rookie stay put."

Tails flew over and grabbed Sonic. They quickly flew up and out of the trap. Tails threw Sonic at Infinite. Sonic curled in a ball smacked into him, they both fell to the floor. The walls around Beckler dispersed. Tails shot a laser at Infinite who somehow turned the projectile around, causing it to hit Tails. He fell out of the sky.

Beckler caught him and propped him up.

" Are you ok?" He asked. Tails clutched his head.

" Yeah. But make sure Sonic is fine!"

" Right!" Beckler rushed over to Sonic and Infinite. He stopped. Infinite had Sonic in another block. He summoned a wave of red energy and slammed it into Sonic, who fell on the ground writhing.

" So weak, YOU are the world's savior? Pathetic" Infinite loomed over Sonic, ready to strike him down. Beckler fired at him. A bullet hit his arm, staggering him backward. He looked at Beckler.

" So, Beck. It seems we are here, fighting yet again. Why do you fight for these fools? Join me, we can tear apart these worthless animals. Come rule with me!" His one red and yellow eye seemed to stare into Beckler's soul. Beckler had to try his best not to shake. This wasn't the father he once knew.

" I don't know what happened to you, but I am never going to help you. You've hurt so many innocent people. People that you wanted to protect!" Infinite raised his arm.

" It seems you are still corrupt. Fine. You are no longer a son of mine if that is the case! Now you will perish." Two streams of energy shot towards Beckler. But he was fast. Beckler launched his hook shot and swung wide around Infinite. He swung behind him and kicked him in the back with both legs. Beckler landed on his father, managing to pin him to the ground.

" You have NO idea of what you've done to me! You left me all those years ago, forced me to suffer from no parents. Everyone laughed at me! I didn't know where you'd gone. I'd hoped that eventually you would come back and be the dad I remembered," Beckler shouted at Scir, tears streaming from his face." But you never came back. And now I find you like this. To be honest I'm glad you don't consider me your son. Cause I wouldn't want to be yours anyway, not anymore." Beckler tried for a punch, but Scir disappeared a flash of red. He was gone. Beckler sat there crying, drops of tears hitting the metal floor. Sonic and Tails came over. Sonic put a hand on his back.

" Wow, Rookie. I know it can be hard. I personally can relate to lost parents. But you've done extremely well!" Sonic looked at Tails

" Tails, go do your thing in the control room. Let us know when we need to leave." Tails nodded and dashed off.

After a few minutes later, Beckler managed to calm himself down as Tails flew back toward them.

" Guys! We need to go! This place is gonna blow!" He said quickly. They dashed out a back exit of the pyramid and reached the Tornado. Just as they got into the air, Beckler looked back. The pyramid exploded in a brilliant red and orange mash up. He got deja vu from his last mission aboard the Zeppelin.

" Guys! I just got orders to meet up with another team at the final base!" Tails said from the cockpit.

" Alright then. Let's get over there!" Sonic declared and the Tornado blasted off.

Hi guys! Beckler here! Things got pretty emotional inside the pyramid. I can't believe that my dad would turn into something like that. Honestly, I don't want to think about it. Hopefully this other team can join us and we can destroy the final base blocking the Death Egg! That way we can try and end this for good.