Sonic Ballistic

by Shblue

A few years after Sonic & Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik returns with a raging yet calculated vengance to conquer Mobius and punish Sonic forever. What seems like an ordinary adventure at first will slowly transform and change everything Sonic knows about being a hero. - Childhood fangame idea reimagined as a hardcore epic, and depicted in text. Finished 2010, uploaded here first.

4. Sonic Ballistic, Part 3

Part 3

Great Glacier [Act 1] (3/14)

Freezing darkness. Sonic wakes to a bitter cold clinging to nearly every inch of his skin. He tries to spindash but his muscles are too numb, so he swipes his hands around before pushing them against the packed snow below, pushing himself up. He frees his legs, one at a time. He then looks up and clears snow out from overhead. He climbs out and finds himself in an ice cave. Yet above him unset snow drifts down a cracked hole in the ceiling, which from its size and shape he supposes he made himself on impact after he lost consciousness in the air.

He shivers. He walks down the cave to its entrance, his vision obscured by a whirling block of white snow, howling with bitter frigidity. He curses his luck, rubbing his hands and jogging in place. Sudden, piercing hot pain shoots through his blood and shocks his senses awake as the frostbite thaws away. He tries to distract himself by recalling the battle with Mechanix and Robotnik.

He thinks, "There's no way he died there. No way. If he survived our last space battle... It's far from over. He already has 3 Chaos Emeralds, he said. I have to double my pace and get the rest quickly... He's serious now. He's serious and frickin' insane. He must be on the move right now... seeking the Emeralds, gathering his forces, preparing some new super-weapon... hmm... If he's playing smart now, he'll do whatever he can to keep me from getting the Emeralds. It's cool, though, I'll do what I do but just not underestimate him this time."

The blizzard continues roaring. Sonic inhales frosty air that chills his cheeks and throat. He exhales a thick white cloud. "Now that Tails is safe, I can go all-out. I won't let Robotnik win... I won't even let him escape. Now..."

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It's night and there's a blizzard. Visibility is low, about a half-length of the screen in a diameter centered on Sonic.

The blizzard winds change rapidly and randomly, even coming to a steady halt for a few seconds. The steeper the gradient of the slope Sonic is on, the weaker any winds are that come from behind him, stopping at 50 degrees. The winds push Sonic even at his top speed, so it is important to keep track of them, especially in dangerous areas. His speed is halved if he runs against the wind.

There are no enemies here.

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Sonic runs out of the cave across the ragged snow-covered hills and rocks of the mountain ridge. He scrambles around, crossing precipitous ledges and leaping over deadly chasms. The ledges are actually more dangerous, as there are unstable rocks holding up snowdrifts that will unleash avalanches and rockslides onto him if he carelessly hits the rocks on his way (they can be identified by their irregular positioning, often standing alone at an angle.

In the flatter areas are long cracks in the ground that Sonic may find no other recourse but to explore to progress. The hairline cracks lead to tunnels criss-crossing thin underground ravines, all with walls of blue and white ice (there is a slight resemblance to Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3, albeit with less geometric patterns). Sonic is free of the bothersome wind and snow, but instead has to deal with slippery ice. While a small concern for regular jumps, the lack of traction makes wall-jumping more difficult, requiring no delay in each separate wall-jump as Sonic slips down the walls. He needs to deal with this as he explores the ice caves, as well as in some of the steep cliffs aboveground.

Sonic learns through exploration rather than direct sight that the mountain he's on is an island in the sky, or almost one anyway, as all but one of the mountaintop's edges lead to falls to the death with no escape. There is but one path: up. Sonic climbs through the wild blizzard and the perilous snow and ice until he finally breaks through the deep fog of the cloud layer. He continues his ascent until he reaches the summit, and there he stops under the sky of dawn.

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In the distance are other mountain peaks breaching the cloud layer. But the moon now sinks over the edge of the earth and a glow of blue light spreads out from the other side. The clouds move away and dissipate as morning returns to Mobius. He sees beyond the nearby white caps the bumps of shorter mountains in a familiar red color. He looks up and squints, trying to see the thin strings of floating platforms making the air base he was at some 8-12 hours ago.

Sonic thinks to himself, figuring out what's next. "Good, I'm not that far. I'll keep going this way, pass that volcano, and I should be at Grand City by noon. Tails should be there and we can find the Emeralds with the Tornado. If not, I'll get someone else... I can't rely on my speed alone this time to stop Robotnik."

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[Act 2]

There are enemies here.

Sonic starts out on the summit as light and warmth bloom from the world again. But almost immediately the snowy ground drops in angle underneath him and gravity takes away his self-control. He blasts through ice caves, zips through loops and flies up and off curved slopes. He is at top speed and stays there, but while fun it's also dangerous. There's little time for warning and even less room for slowing down on the steep inclines and jagged crags with their spike-like rocks and deadly abysms requiring quick-witted jumps. It's an intense ride for a minute and a half before Sonic passes the timberline.

Running down the more gradual gradient of the lower mountain, he hops down rock gardens and runs through pine trees before coming to a snow-covered log cabin on the edge of a cliff. Although he can jump over it and move on, if instead he plows through the wooden door he'll find a snowboard leaning against the wooden rail of a veranda. He lays it down, snaps its belts over his shoes, and jumps over the edge, falling down the cliff.

Board or no board, Sonic drops on the top of a gigantic glacier, sapphire blue. He slides across the ice, avoiding the seracs and moraines (which will throw him off the snowboard if he hits it on one, but will run across them normally), jumping over the crevasses and fallen tree logs, and dropping down the icefalls. Being ice, it is only barely possible to barely slow down on foot; however, at parts there is snow accumulation. Some snow mounds are fresh and will simply slow Sonic down (safely of course) as he plows through, but there are packed mounds which take ramp-like shapes that shoot Sonic into the air for a moment or a few as he continues his rapid descent.

The glacier slims away and Sonic detaches himself and jumps off the snowboard if he's still on it before he comes back to lukewarm ground. As he goes down the rest of the mountain, he sees before him the very same volcano he explored at the very beginning of his journey. This time, he faces its lee side and dashes from pines and broad-leaved trees through a flat shrubland with a few riparian interruptions.

Just before Sonic reaches the large red mountain, he sees a dynamite explosion at its base. As the smoke clears and he runs closer, he sees a large group of robots around a tunneling machine angled down towards the crater's deep bottom. Wondering what the intention was to return here, a glint of green light sparkles off a Chaos Emerald being held by an Egg Robo among many others. Just then, they notice Sonic in turn and speed off to intercept him.

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[Act 2 Boss]

In the dusty fields at the volcano's edge Sonic fights the Egg Robos. This is similar to the boss battle at Blue Hill with its successive waves of enemies, but the Chaos Emerald adds a new challenge. Whichever Egg Robo holds the Chaos Emerald has increased power in attack strength and defensive endurance. That is, an Emerald-wielding Egg Robo is twice as strong and takes four hits rather than just two without it. When it is defeated, another will rapidly move to retake it and any others will gather to get in Sonic's way. In addition, there are two new types of Egg Robos: the Egg A-Robo and the Egg S-Robo.

Egg A-Robos are armored, taking four hits before destruction. Their movement and attack speed are much slower than normal Egg Robos and they cannot fly.

To compensate, their attacks are stronger:

- their pulse cannons fire pulse balls which are twice as large (but 1.5 times as slow),

- their punches can rocket out to medium-range before slowly returning by chain-links (similar to the Death Egg guardian),

- and their rocket launcher fires ten quick homing missiles that self-detonate after two seconds if they do not impact Sonic or the ground (or other Egg Robos by accident).

With a Chaos Emerald, their attacks are almost at normal speed, they fire twenty homing missiles instead of ten, and they take eight hits.

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Egg S-Robos have even less armor than normal Egg Robos, taking just one hit each, but this frees them to move at high speed (which is slightly below Sonic's top speed).

Their attacks are generally weaker but faster:

- their pulse cannons fire very small shots which rapidly dissipate, but discharge at a rate of five per second,

- their punches are almost too fast to predict but only occur at point-blank range,

- and they can only launch one slow missile, which doesn't home in on Sonic but instead has twice as large an explosion radius and self-detonate after 1 and a half seconds without impact.

With a Chaos Emerald, their pulse shots are larger but still slightly smaller than normal Egg Robo shots, their missiles move at standard speed, and they take two hits instead. Their punches remains the same.

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As mentioned, the battle proceeds in waves, with the Chaos Emerald in enemy possession throughout.

Wave 1: Three Egg Robos

Wave 2: Three Egg Robos

Wave 3: Two Egg Robos and one Egg A-Robo

Wave 4: Four Egg Robos

Wave 5: Two Egg A-Robos

Wave 6: Four Egg Robos

Wave 7: One Egg Robo and two Egg S-Robos

Wave 8: Three Egg S-Robos

Wave 9: Five Egg Robos

Wave 10: One Egg A-Robo and two Egg S-Robos

Wave 11: Three Egg Robos and two Egg A-Robos

Wave 12: Five Egg Robos, one Egg A-Robo, and two Egg S-Robos

The total count being thirty-three Egg Robos, seven Egg A-Robos, and nine Egg S-Robos. After defeating them all, Sonic picks the Chaos Emerald off the ground and runs down the drilled tunnel.

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Violent Volcano [Act 1] (3/15)

The tunnel breaches a large diagonal vent lit by torches in a different manner and with brighter flames. Sonic runs down the straight slope until he breaks through a series of fragile stone walls back into the underground temple complex. Specifically, he is in a large hallway with big tetrahedral columns partly sunk in a bed of slowly moving ribbon lava falling from the ceiling. The floor is lava but there are enough platforms of rock and temple architecture to cross the sea of fire alive. The drilling machine sizzles and pops on the side, the lava slowly melting through its dense metallic armor. He reaches the other side of the hallway which is angled up on a slope out of the lava. A slab of stone blocks a passageway.

Sonic breaks through the rocks and enters the other unexplored side of the Torch Temple ruins. He runs down a small corridor of snug solid stone and triangular walls cut at angles steep against the earth. They stretch through the deep earth, connecting hallways and large chambers such as the atrium and mess hall, brightly lit with cauldrons of fire on the angled walls. There is some rubble and badniks in the way. He explores hypostile halls and comes to a protected inner shrine of marble and semirare stone. It has polished stairwells on the side of wide empty floors, all lit by pleasant blue lanterns. Following the simple path, Sonic jumps through a circular stone portal into the topmost chamber of the ruins.

The walls stretch out in a dome above a gently sloped basin. There is a large bronze bowl of bright but heatless fire blazing out light. Its function is to clearly illuminate the tightly laid ancient mosaic on the circular wall. In regular intervals stand black stones to which many things are struck against, their forces being not resisted but multiplied, jar water into rivers, sword strikes into thunderclouds, and flames into conflagarations. Of 4 corners they stand 3, the last facing opposite all of them being a crowd of people kneeling and praying towards a river of onyx stones rising up the walls speckled across the ceiling as the stars. And painted in against the center of the dome was a single glowing echidna form.

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There is a series of explosions followed by rumbling which did not end, and only increase in volume. Before Sonic even has the time to leave the room a crack reaches out and splits the room in half, flicking the room's light to and fro. The half Sonic's on reclines into the chamber below for a short moment, tipping the bowl of fire over but not quite due to its size. The rumbling suddenly jolts loud and closeby before explosions tear through the walls in both the upper chamber and the one below. A magma river blasts into the floor, throwing the bowl of fire the other way against the ceiling. Sonic crouches down and hangs on as the semicircular floor blasts sideways and angled against the force of the flow. A second magma river bursts out just as he is pushed out of harm's way, only to have it boost his platform's speed towards the wall. However, the floors continue to collapse and so Sonic finds himself riding down the opening cavity of the collapsing central section of the ruins. As his platform slides down slopes and across flat stretches, Sonic must keep centered while avoiding falling parts of the walls and ceilings like stone blocks and columns. A few hapless badniks might fling hopeless attacks or try to save themselves by catching a ride.

The corridors and hallways rapidly shrink in size until Sonic returns to the first half of Torch Temple. His platform will run into a more solid one as almost all of the rooms are now filled with lava and toppled debris to use for jumping. All of the sealed doorways are now open and Sonic must explore these unfamiliar areas instead. The entire cluster of rooms on the lowest floor next to the obsidian cavern at the end of Torch Temple's Act 1 is filled with lava, so he has no choice to go the old way.

Lava bubbles, spurts out of geysers, flows in streams and falls in lava falls out of walls and ceilings as he moves on. He reluctantly destroys columns supporting lava aqueducts and parts of the rock ceiling, running away from the crushing/burning death without stopping. Chased by a surge of lava, he runs through circular-bored torch-lit tunnels. They connect to a small shrine set between two colonnades with most of the floor covered in lava. He swiftly leaps from platform to platform as they are engulfed behind him. Clearing the shrine on the last patch of stone floor, he enters another tunnel only to find it immediately comes to a dead end. That is, until he spots a tiny hole in the wall and spins through it. The tube zig-zags and then spirals down through the rock.

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There are almost twice as many badniks in these rooms.

It opens out from the tall edge of a wall in a different ruins complex. He falls and starts running down the narrow, darkened corridors, lit by small basins of fire at waist-level. The hallway leads to a room with large walls filled with alcoves holding hundreds of stone coffins. As he runs by, the great numbers are replaced by a single highly decorated niche where the figure of an echidna leader of some sort stands in image on a large sarcophagus.

He comes to the edge of the crypt. A doorway drops into finds a sloped corridor and Sonic follows it downward. It starts turning counter-clockwise in even intervals as it drops down, and the interior wall opens up horizontal windows to reveal an interior chamber. Laid in the walls are elaborate winged and armored statues standing over bejeweled sarcophagi. The torches are small here, casting sharp dark shadows across their forms. Despite his quick descent speed due to the constant steep angle of the floor, Sonic quickly runs into a long concatenation of badnik forces. A few come falling down behind him as well.

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The square spiral slope suddenly stops and is flat. The passage opens into the bottom of the interior chamber, a rather wide space teeming with badniks and Egg Robos. Just as he enters the room, they all suddenly stop moving. After a brief chilling moment, the sarcophagus closest to ground level starts shaking on its own, and does so in an uncannily gentle way. Its cover automatically and slowly slid open. After a moment, an Egg Robo with a radio antenna sticking out of its back flies flies above Sonic.

All of the robots deactivate, the lights in their eyes fading out. All but one of the Egg Robos fall over, that one floating in the air. The light on its antenna blinking red.

The floor explodes and lava starts bursting out of the center. Sonic quickly turns around and dashes up the spiral as lava splashes and melts all of the robots on the ground. It quickly fills up and chases him on the ascent, and then lava starts to blast out of more sections of the interior chamber's walls. The lava only rises faster. And then he looks up through the open windows and sees a wave of lava coming down the spiral. Sprinting, he spots a tunnel blown out of the exterior wall. Fortunately, only small puddles of lava are left. He throws his legs against the ground and gives it his all to stay alive and lukewarm.

Before he can catch his breath, he comes to the open edge of the tunnel. It looks over a gigantic underground cavern filled with churning lava. Looking back, he sees the rolling breaker of fast-moving lava rise and run at him. He jumps.

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He falls. He turns around to see the wall from where he came from and sees its part of the surface of a giant stalactite. It falls back into the wavy hot air, as his ears are met by the orchestra of hundreds of lava bubble pops over the deep hum of shifting melted earth. He takes a sweeping glance across the ceiling, seeing huge stretches of rock, stone and even reinforced steel in the style of Biomech Base set in the vast walls. The mountainous slopes of rock recede in darkness against giant blankets of smoke through drippy mirages. The heat blasts into Sonic and he starts to sweat profusely. He then rolls over, looking at the lava. The platforms speckled across its semi-stable surface are large stalagmites and scattered flotsam, mostly rocky but partly metallic. Sonic sees he's dropping towards one of these and starts a light spin ball roll. He slams into the ground and takes the force of the drop, and finally takes a deep slow breath as he rises back to his feet. He coughs harshly, having felt the air choke him with furious heat and bitter taste.

Looking across the sea of fire, Sonic deduces he's in the central magma chamber of the volcano. Watching it still further, he concludes it is getting active and he is in extreme danger. Large chunks of rock blast out from the surface and powerful geysers end up raining chunks of fire across wide areas. The surface of the lava forms waves with the constant splashes which can wash down floating platforms. Sonic takes the challenge and runs and jumps with it, as he will certainly die if he stayed still instead. After crossing a short length, Sonic starts to realize there is a steady rhythm to some of the magma explosions, which he had a suspicion about due to coming out of rocks above the lava at times.

He reaches the wide open center of the lake where the noise is loudest, and finds in the middle a large lava submarine robot with heavy black steel armor covered in hundreds of sharp thin spikes. It's constantly firing out rocket-propelled grenades randomly around the entire lake. Sonic braves the final waves of fire and comes into close range. The robot gets alert and stops firing, for a second.

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[Act 1 Boss]

The submarine robot starts to move through the lava away from Sonic. It is trying to reach a medium range where it can strafe away from him while constantly attacking. However, it is always constantly attacking.

Its attacks are:

- charging at Sonic to hurt and knock him into the lava, crushing the platforms beneath him, or

- - - (Sonic can always jump over it to the next one. Also, if a platform is too sturdy, like a large stalagmite or a piece of wall from Biomech Base, it will slam into it and have to reverse and turn around)

- or firing out its endless supply of RPGs.

- - - low and straight, forcing Sonic to jump over them,

- - - in a high arc, raining down from above and exploding the lava beneath him,

- - - into the ceiling, dropping down rocks, metal walls, metal scaffolding, and rarely lava falls.

Like the boss from Lava Reef Zone Act 2 in Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic cannot attack directly but must use the enemy's own explosive weapon it. While Robotnik strangely let his own mines spill onto his Egg-o-Matic, this robot actively moves away from its live-fired ammunition. Sonic must attack the multi-rocket launcher itself. After eight hits, the launcher breaks on itself, blocking the cannon tubes. It quickly moves away, but the very next time it tries to fire a volley of missiles, they all collide on the inside instead, tearing the submarine and its armor to pieces in a chain of explosions.

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[Act 2]

Enemy presence is minimal.

The robot continues to explode as it sinks into the lava, when suddenly its entire stockpile of rockets explode. Sonic watches from the distance as a huge ball of fire and lava pops in the center. It drops and resounds through the lake, the force of the boom shaking Sonic at his feet and throws a push against the entire chamber. A great rumbling begins and continually increases in volume as it starts to shake the entire volcano. The magma starts churning rapidly and Sonic has only a few seconds to cross to the wall of the chamber while parts of the lava lake are still relatively flat. There he finds solid ground and ledges onto which he can jump and climb away from the slowly rising lava. He climbs and climbs towards the ceiling and finds another tunnel open in the walls and leading up and out.

Again Sonic enters and traverses the ruins, avoiding the constant threat of lava on the floor and pouring out of walls and the ceiling. And now the overall level of lava is rising and large sections of rooms will fall apart as the volcano shakes. In between circular tunnels and the orthogonal lava-filled ruins are a few narrow vertical fissures and vents he can use to rapidly ascend, although some of them require consistent wall-jumping.

The final such vent leads to the inner side of the volcano crater burning brightly under the glaring late morning sun. He slips down the steep walls and jumps over a small quick wall of lava splashing out. He lands on a large mass of cooled rock resting on the rock above a huge hole directly above the central magma chamber. He can hear the sound of the lava rising quickly up towards the crater. Sonic sighs, and just as he is about to spindash to roll up the crater wall, a black silhouette rises over the crater wall and drops down, falling in front of Sonic.

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It's Knuckles!

"Knuckles?! What are you doing here now, why?! The volcano's gonna explode!"

"Yeah and I wonder why, Sonic! You like exploring so much, huh? Raiding my people's graves! Destroying ancient invaluable ruins!"

"Knuckles why would I do that. Why! It's Robotnik who's doing that! Stop being stupid, I'm gonna-"

"Listen to me, you lying punk! I found a scroll in the Sky Sanctuary. It was the chronicles of the ancient echidna people, my ancestors, the Zexesh. They were once the true masters of Mobius, long before your kind! Now, I am no longer the lone protector of the Master Emerald, duty-bound to just the Floating Island, no. No, I am the inheritor of the greatest legacy the world has ever known! You're going nowhere, Sonic. I'm gonna beat you down. Your willful defilement of my people shall no longer go unpunished!"

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[Act 2 Boss: KNUCKLES]

Knuckles first fights just as he did in the Hidden Palace battle near the end of Sonic & Knuckles (Sonic's story).

As the fight goes on, the magma builds up beneath them and the rock starts to rise up the crater.

His initial attacks are that:

- He can spindash,

- duck to defend from spin attacks,

- glide (this time he aims to glide into Sonic instead of simply move over him)

- and punch (this time he will follow up with a 3-punch combo if the first punch connects).

However, he is slightly quicker in his movements.

This time, Knuckles brought some power rings with him. He'll have a number of them that's randomly between 20 and 35 rings. If he is hit, he loses 20 rings and will try to recollect as many as he can. This makes him vulnerable, and Sonic can always use more rings himself. Once Knuckles is ringless, he'll take four hits before gliding away for a short breather.

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As Knuckles falls back, Sonic tells him, "Knuckles, you're being really stupid. Your ruins are in a volcano. And what's more, Dr. Robotnik started this current eruption. Stop being crazy and let me get the hell out of here!"

Knuckles leers. "You're inogminious, you cowardry swine. I will kill him just the same. I will destroy the volcano too. Now, fear, and die in flames."

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The fight continues. Knuckles changes his attack pattern.

He launches long targeted offenses punctuated by short rest periods. He runs, spindashes and glides towards Sonic and throws attacks whenever Sonic is close enough. This is his new list of attacks:

- the lead-in punch as before,

- normal spindash,

- a spindash followed by a jump and spin attack at Sonic,

- normally jumping and spin attacking, that is while standing still or running,

- holding back a fist while starting to run, and then throwing a powerful punch forward that will send Knuckles sliding along the ground,

- a quick uppercut whenever Sonic jumps near him,

- and dropping after gliding when right above Sonic so as to slam down a hammer punch.

He takes another eight hits.

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The volcano erupts. The large rock platform is split into pieces and other pieces of rock fly out from beneath it, immediately followed by giant mounds of blasting lava. Sonic is sent flying in the air but lands on a flying piece of rock. He must now think quick to escape the pyroclastic explosion. He needs to jump across the hurtling rocks one at a time to keep from falling into the wall of exploding lava just beneath him.

Knuckles is right there, jumping across the rocks just the same. Sonic is alarmed, somewhat scared, and somewhat excited. Knuckles is quicker at free navigation however and rapidly finds secure spots above Sonic's position from which he launches mid-air attacks in the middle of their eruption escape. He jumps hard off the rock he's on, punching through every flying rock in the way, in order to punch Sonic and knock him helplessly into the lava to burn and disintegrate. Sonic can always evade by continuing the free platforming, but if he waits too long neither of them can possibly escape the lava. To be precise, Sonic has about 10 seconds to hit Knuckles just once. If he fails, the lava catches up to the rocks and they both die.

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He succeeds. He thwacks Knuckles good, sending him and even himself flying out of the eruption. Hurtling through the air, Knuckles is spinning and moving twice as fast. Sonic untucks in the air, still flying up from the inertia, and he looks at Knuckles.

"Him, too... Just like Robotnik, he's gotten so crazy..."

Knuckles then crashes into the cockpit of a flying plane as an increasing number of other planes and airships fly past them. Surprised, he turns around and sees a massive air fleet blanketing the sky. In perfect formation they smoothly fly around the volcanic eruption, looking like a steady stream of silver fish swimming through the sky. A medium-sized fighter plane approaches and Sonic lands on its wing. He feels his traction and carefully crawls to the front where he breaks through the cockpit. In doing so, he also destroys the Egg Robo piloting it.

He turns around and looks out as the plane keeps steady, on auto-pilot anyway as Sonic suspected. Then over the robotic language beeps of the air fleet computers' radio communications, a brief jingle ends with words in the voice of Dr. Robotnik.

"Enemy anti-air has been repositioned. Air Squadron 32, change trajectory to sectors E4 through G10. Change bombing pattern to parabola type. Ground Squadrons 15 through 22, keep contact and prepare advance from sector K2."

"Now remember this you obsolete models, the primary objective is to draw all enemy targets away from Mechanix and me! Until my command, that is all. Any pieces of scrap that execute ANY future objectives before mission completion will be destroyed. Kill the Mobians, raze Grand City! But do not kill Sonic until the mission is completed!"

The transmission ends. Sonic breathes. "Of course he came back from that last fight. He's not even stopping now. And if he's still going with stuff at this level, then he must be planning something really, really powerful..." Sonic lets the idea drop in his mind as he remembers what Tails taught him about flying planes. He slowly accustoms himself to the controls. Ready, he smirks. He says, "Let's be serious then. Bring it," hits the afterburners and blasts off towards the center of the air fleet.

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Egg Tempest [Act 1] (3/16)

Sonic ejects and the jet flies straight into another. They fuse into an exploding fireball that falls into the distance. Sonic flies and pierces through a ship or two more before landing on the tail end of a large flying battleship. He runs up the fuselage which has a few automated turrets firing energy pellets back at him. He destroys what he can but keeps moving. He can choose to break through the cockpit and destroy the pilot and controls, forcing the plane to sharply lose altitude and crash. Whether he does or not, he must jump to another small fighter jet and start island-hopping at high speeds. He'll start facing badniks who brave the tremendous winds to try and take Sonic out. A few are basically flying vehicles anyway. Sonic may have to move forward by chain bouncing off of enemies in a few places. Should Sonic miss a jump, he'll find two to three more layers of flying 'platforms' and enemies to break his fall.

The small plane-island chain ends behind another battleship, this one different in design - a bomber. The plan is the same, except this time if the controls are destroyed the plane will explode only a moment after the nose dips. The explosion is gigantic and expansive, a fireball that grows in 3 seconds to twice the bomber's size. Sonic moves diligently to avoid getting hurt.

Just as he is getting used to this environment, an audio signal is broadcast to all airships. "Squadron 14, break ranks and terminate Sonic the hedgehog! All other forces double speed!"

The signal ends. All nearby vehicles start turning into wide loops on trajectory to target Sonic as he jumps from plane to plane. They'll shoot machine guns and even fire missiles at their own allies if it will stop Sonic. The 'platforms' themselves resist him: the fighters roll whenever he jumps on them, and the larger battleships rise or fall to brush Sonic off from the pressure of wind. Many badniks start coming out to attack from the ships he jumps on and from air transports dropping by. Egg Robos with enhanced jetpacks launch up from behind, firing at Sonic with cascading waves of energy bullets and missiles with large explosion radii. To survive, Sonic stays on the move, focused on every jump as it comes and goes, with the safe road is constantly slipping out from under his every step.

There's no pause and the tension starts to drag. It's a death trap opening its jaw wide when suddenly ships in the background burst into smoke and flames and drop out of the sky. The Tornado zooms by! Tails flips around and first cuts down attacking enemy fighters before sharpshooting the smaller badniks directly ahead of Sonic. The encouraging tide quickly crests and withdraws as Robotnik reinforces the enemy fighters. Enemy badniks come now in teams intent on surrounding and stopping Sonic for as long as it takes to make him fall and die. Tails starts to get hounded by his own foes but helps Sonic whenever he frees himself. Sonic, for his part, does what he does best, even if it's in the sky.

Sonic escapes the edge of the battlefield to land on the long deck of the air fleet's flagship. He runs pass structures armored in riveted steel, giant iron chains, and plows past rows of defense turrets and badnik guards. An alarm goes off to no surprise. Before long, he comes to slope leading under the deck to a large blast door. As he approaches, it rolls open to reveal a large cargo hold within, lit by bright, industrial orange lights. Sonic slowly walks closer, feeling uneasy and paranoid. The feeling only builds with each step, and with only two steps he turns around to see Egg Hunter jetting right towards him with fist out-stretched. He grabs it just in time and jumps off the ground as the force of Egg Hunter's punch throws him towards the wall of the hold. Sonic flips around, lands on the wall, and jumps right back!

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[Act 1 Boss]

Sonic wonders if at Quickened Quay Egg Hunter was really trying to kill him, because now it seems to have returned to its original task of destroying Sonic. He puts those thoughts aside for now.

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The blast door shuts behind Egg Hunter, locking the two together. For the first six hits, the cargo hold stays where it is, but on the seventh the floor suddenly shifts and machinery starts rolling into motion in the background. The hold is actually much larger and this room is only the main elevator. As it slowly descends the walls open behind metal grating to reveal a very large multi-floor cargo room holding hundreds of giant iron crates and all sorts of robotic military equipment. A large metal gate blocks off the path however.

The hangar is filled with stacked corrugated metal boxes that Sonic can jump over and across, as well as hide behind, under and sometimes in.

Egg Hunter can now fly indefinitely in the air and is slightly faster in general. It sticks to its previous attack plan with two new additions:

- Egg Hunter's combination attack is now 7 attacks long.

- It has a machine gun that he will fire at Sonic in short bursts. It's most easily avoid by ducking out of fire behind the crates. Egg Hunter dislikes camping however, and will fire a S-Robo missile at his position. It will certainly blow up the crate, but the fire and shrapnel will catch Sonic too if he does not evade quickly enough.

He is a fairly predictable opponent now, but still moderately difficult to defeat. Sixteen hits end the battle. The gate opens and Egg Hunter flees in a second.

.

.

[Act 2]

Sonic runs through the cargo area as harmless worker robots push dollies and drive forklifts in the background. He runs through a tight doorway into a series of small but long inner hallways. It resembles the inside of a sea battleship with pipelines and bundled wires running down bare iron walls. Bright fluorescent lights cast yellow and red from the hall and from the many passing rooms of compressed size and functionality. The rooms are only slightly larger than those in the Flying Fury, and they are often filled with robots alerted to Sonic's presence. Sonic plows through them and the rooms at his typical high speed, but the air battleship is atypically large for either a plane or ship. Its size is comparable to that of the Flying Battery or the Flying Fortress. Sonic finds the path waving and spinning around, running into elevator shafts and the occasional large interior spaces such as the platform-heavy service rooms. Every now and then, he reaches the sides of the ship and a hatch breaks open to the open sky outside. Catwalks run alongside the ship's sides but the heavy wind and scattered positioning of the separate catwalks are dangerous limits Sonic keeps his mind on. But these segments are relatively short and few in between.

After a while of wreaking havoc inside the flagship, Sonic battles his way back to the top decks. He avoids turret fire and heavy badnik presence, jumping from deck to deck on his way to the helm. He then passes by piles of charred rubble and burning craters and follows the sound of slams and booms shortly ahead of him.

He spots Knuckles, who hears his footsteps and turns around to face him. Without a word he comes swinging at Sonic, who simply jumps over his head and continues on. Knuckles chases him but the constant enemy presence drags him behind despite his strength. Sonic keeps going, passing the constant hail of turret fire before coming to a giant ship cannon blocking his way. Before he can come close to inspect it, rockets whizz through the air and blast apart chunks of metal, causing the cannon ammo to react and explode as well. Tails then zips by overhead and Sonic makes the final climb towards the control tower. He runs up the suspended steel steps that circle the rectangular walls and arrives in the cabin at the helm.

The room is darkened against the slim ribbon window at front with the walls instead covered with LEDs sparkling across dense blocks of computers and manual control panels next to neon animated graphs and diagrams. There is a thin monitor hanging from the ceiling and suddenly it brightens with light and an image.

.

Robotnik.

"Before you say a word, this is a pre-recorded message. I knew you would come exactly here, down to this exact time." Sonic narrows his eyes. "Yes, that means I knew you would stop the Flying Fury and even defeat me and Mechanix. If you were smart, you would be terrified for your life right now because of how smart I am," Robotnik says and Sonic laughs at it.

"But you're stupid and will continue to attack, thus you are here, as is too obvious to even calculate. So let me direct you to our next meeting so you can follow along as usual like a nice, predictable soldier of mine, Sonic the idiot. I am staging an assault on Grand City and intend to infiltrate the secret high-security laboratory of the global Mobian government's headquarters at the Fourth Building. If all the Mobians die or are captured and roboticized, that goal would be secondary. Now-"

Knuckles suddenly appears out of nowhere gliding through the air at high speeds and punches through the monitor, breaking it off the ceiling and sparking on the floor. He turns around and marches violently, kicking his feet down with each step.

"You cowardly mold slime, I should have squished you instead of tried to chastise your sinful nature. An honorless fiend like you knows not the light of righteousness."

Sonic laughs but curls his hands into fists and strafes around Knuckles' steady march. "Don't be crazy, Knuckles. Crazy is bad. We are minutes away from global war between Mobius and Robotnik, and you want to kill me because I touched some old stuff your people built."

Knuckles grinds his teeth. "I know about Robotnik. Mechanix the holy shall destroy him in time. You are the greater threat. You must be destroyed now!" He then dashes and twists his body back, his bent arm preparing to launch his spiked fist straight into Sonic's face. Sonic jumps at once and just in time, with the speed and power of Knuckles' punch heating up the air, which he was just breathing, into a brief but hot white ball of fire

When Sonic falls on the other side of Knuckles, he suddenly looks up and behind him, startled to see Robotnik's face again on a monitor on the other side of the room, hidden from Sonic when he first walked in. With the start of his voice, Knuckles turns around too.

"Knuckles, my dear friend, you did not let me finish speaking. Now, as I was saying... die."

A large explosion shakes the ship, bursting out the middle of the deck and cracking the ship in half. The two stare as a chain reaction sends strings of exploding fire up and down the line of the whole flying battleship, tearing apart turrets and landed fighter jets. The ship's attitude turns earthward and reveals through the thin ribbon window the ground of the familiar gentle river valley where stands the great megalopolis of the collective cooperating Mobian species, Grand City. Sonic's alarmed to see columns of smoke and flashes of light splash randomly and often all around the city, but it quickly falls out of view. As the ship continues to tilt over and fall, the wide fields of verdant grass turn up from below the city and show how filled they are with the great gray metallic masses of Robotnik's ground army marching in. Without waiting any longer, Sonic jumps through the window as Knuckles shouts, "Hey!" behind him.

.

Sonic is falling through the open sky, past the layered air fleet formations through a layer of clouds. He hears the shrill whine of a diving biplane and drops out of the floating fog with his feet resting on the upper wing of the Tornado. He looks at Tails who doesn't look back, focused on the trajectory ahead with a serious expression.

"Sonic, I already told the Mayor about Robotnik's invasion. I just barely reached the Tornado in time early enough to let him start a working defense."

Tails takes a breath and gulps. "If Robotnik is really serious like he really seems to be now... he's not going to stop even if we beat his plans. Not anymore. He's going to keep on preparing worse and worse attacks on Mobius until we can't keep up anymore. And if this one is a full-out war, then there's no way we can stop whatever he's planning to do next!"

Sonic lets out a syllable of agreement and breathes in, taking in the reality of the fight now that he has a moment. This is different from every other adventure he went on in the past. His heart throbs, his throat tightens, his facial muscles forget to relax. He imagines Robotnik winning. He imagines those consequences. Robotnik's brutality... that level of genius perverted to such evil... the image of his success crushes the soul with the tightness of a vise. The concept of the immensity of such darkness began to pull on Sonic's mind and heart, with a strength such like the undertow would be of a singular tidal wave standing on top of a billion litres of blood. Under this weight Sonic forgets to breathe, but he then sees himself within such vivid fear and is startled by his own imagination. It was only his imagination after all. Just a flash brought on by the new level of pressure.

Sonic breathes out. He relaxes and from the darkness dashes out shining with confidence and energy, saying, "Then let's do it, Tails. Let's go to the next level and get serious ourselves! Robotnik is heading to the basement of the Fourth Building. He's already expecting us there. But we'll beat whatever he's got waiting for us and corner him once and for all!" Tails turns his head with a radiant smile and shouts out, "Yeah! It's about time we got serious, too!"

The varied darkened hues of shingled roofs pass by below in rows straight and curved. The Tornado passes over the boarded-up, abandoned family homes of the Grand City suburbs. And over the rush of wind is a cacophony of rapid pops and blasts and nearly constant rumbles. The war has already begun.

Tails looks up and curses under his breath. "I don't know when those aircrafts got here, but I can't let them harass the ground defense and they won't let you stay hanging on my wings. You got to continue on foot, Sonic! I have to help out but I'll meet up with you later!"

Sonic nods. "Gotcha. Do what you gotta do!"

He then leaps off the wings and Tails kicks the afterburners, pulling back up into the sky. Sonic whips through the air and drops rolling on the asphalt of a local highway leading into town. It is now high noon and the reddened sky is darkly cloudy.

.

.

Grand City [Act 1] (3/17)

Sonic starts out in the suburbs, running down two-lane streets between townhouses and groves. He vaults over benches, fire hydrants and passing cars. He runs through the ruins of small parks and rides the mostly vacant hilly roads. He fights badniks in small numbers at first, but farther ahead groups of 5 to 10 occupy Mobian residential blocks where they slow Sonic down with heavy resistance. He can pass these areas easily by either being on the rooftops or rolling through the storm drains underground.

Sonic runs through several buildings on his way downtown. The first is a large public school where hundreds of Mobian kids are guarded by lines of armored soldiers. Sonic runs from the gymnasium and through the hallways and several classrooms. As he does so, the school is attacked a few times by waves of robot enemies. The Mobian soldiers shoot them down so Sonic keeps on moving and soon leaves through the protected front entrance.

He'll then go down roads filled with police cars and roadblocks, requiring a bit of jumping although the police are friendly. He goes through a strip mall towards a small local bank surrounded by a police cordon. As Sonic arrives, SWAT forces break in through the back entrance and ambush an armed group of bank robbers. Surprisingly, they're Mobian, but Sonic can hit them and knock them unconscious on his way through.

It's uncanny as the town is sharply demarcated into areas of heavy Mobian protection, badnik occupation, and complete abandonment which are the creepiest areas of all. He goes through a small complex of office buildings and parking lots, crosses some woods and finds the buildings and roads larger in size.

He enters a hilly apartment complex and runs past hundreds of fleeing civillians, yelling and flinging their arms for their lives. And under the midday sun, a blinding flash explodes off large chunks of the interior into the now-smoky air, and the thunderous report shook Sonic's ribcage before receding into a sea of terrified screams. Another building blows up just the same, and then another, and another. For the most part, Sonic does not see the ones who haven't already escaped. Instead, he focuses on the cause. Then he sees it. A bipedal mech walks forward with heavy, consistent foot-plods, holding the connected weight of its shifting body and various many rocket launchers. Steam shoots out of holes and cracks in its sturdy frame. Sonic attacks.

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[Act 1 Boss]

Its weak point is its glass head sitting on the front of the body.

Its attacks are:

- very rapidly firing thirty tiny missiles that shower on Sonic's position with small explosions from its shoulder-mounted rocket launcher,

- firing a napalm which leaves a large residue fire from a mortar on its back,

- firing a single large missile from the bazooka under the body, which slowly accerlates to a high top speed before crashing in a large explosion

- and firing two sets of five fast homing missiles from the missile launcher in its 'arms'.

After it finishes an attack, it quickly switches to another faster than most previous bosses. Despite its tremendous offensive power, the mech can only slowly move in a straight line forward, or backward at an even slower pace. It is destroyed in eight hits.

.

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[Act 2]

The road leads to the entrance of an underground railroad station. Sonic runs down a few stairwells through a dirty tiled hallway and jumps over the ticket gate, beating any enemies in his way. He then runs up the still-active escalator to the station platform where he then jumps onto the railroad itself. He picks up speed on the straight path and follows it from station to station.

At one of the stations he sees the platform lights blinking and quickly jumps back up to avoid an oncoming train coming from behind. It comes to a stop and the doors slide open, letting loose a flood of badniks. Sonic avoids them by jumping on the train, which starts moving again before long. It goes on rolling down the iron line, passing through dark tunnels lit only by swiftly passing maintenance lights. Enemies on-board break through the windows and clamber onto the roof to slow Sonic as he moves towards the front car of the train. After a brief fight reaching it, the track breaks out into sunshine as the railway follows a causeway over a river and into the city. Passing warehouses and factories get replaced by apartment buildings and tall office buildings.

Just as he can relax and enjoy the view, a bomb in the rail explodes beneath the train, sending the car that Sonic's on flying into the air. The other cars drop into the burning hole behind, which catches the front car and yanks it back like a whip. Sonic already jumped off however, and falling past the rail he drops onto the city streets.

Dashing down the road, through narrow alleyways and even a few streetside stores, Sonic witnesses heavy damage and encounters heavy enemy resistance. The road pocked with craters, whole blocks ablaze, and no Mobians in sight. The road dips through a long tunnel before rising and merging with a highway that leads to a short suspension bridge connecting to the downtown area. The air rages with gun reports and explosions and Sonic holds back his tension as he runs down the main boulevard. As soon as he arrives, artillery shots whine in and tear up the asphalt all around him.

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[Act 2 Boss]

Sonic has fallen into the heavily fortified rear position of Robotnik's sieging force. There is no single leading enemy but many multiple teams holding spots all down the road. At the end is a large roundabout, in the center of which is stationed the artillery cannons. Sonic makes way for them as they continue to bombard him.

The artillery shells are the most dangerous threat as their blast radii are quite large and they land less than a second after Sonic hears them coming. Furthermore, they are accurately fired, so Sonic must constantly keep running or risk being blown apart. As he navigates the craters and mounds of rubble laying across the road, he encounters pockets of badniks that threaten to slow him to be vulnerable to the artillery. Fortunately, some of the concrete slabs offer protection from both types of fire, letting Sonic catch his breath before continuing his charge.

Shortly before Sonic reaches the roundabout he penetrates the inner range of the cannons and can demolish the weaker enemies at ease. Guarding the cannons are 3 Egg A-Robos. As for the cannons themselves, there are three of them which break from three hits each, for a total of nine hits to clear the area.

.

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[Act 3]

Sonic arrives at the central plaza of Grand City, surrounded by glass skyscrapers covered with giant signs and neons lights, the majority of which are broken. All structures alike, from the most famous buildings to the pettiest trash can, bear the mark of war. The air burns with noise and sulfur, and now the sound of men and women screaming their rage arise in chaotic symphony.

It's a war zone. There are just too many enemies to fight, advancing in from every street and out of every building, some groups organized up to the hundreds. Even Sonic would be toast if it weren't for the Mobian Army fighting back in equally great numbers. No matter where Sonic is to try and help them whittle down the enemy forces, they keep reinforcing themselves in the same numbers with the timing of a veritable war machine. The only thing Sonic can really do is keep himself alive as he clears himself a path through the city.

But it isn't enough to keep track of just the countless ground forces, for the Egg Tempest begins to arrive, beginning its merciless hail of bombs and bullet fire upon friend and foe alike. He beats platoons of Egg Robos, including A-types and S-types. He finds a powerful foe in the newly seen two-story battle mechs that take four hits to destroy each and hold both rapid-fire conventional weaponry and explosive rounds. Just after they arrive on scene, the Mobians reinforce their troops with mechanized infantry, turret-mounted jeeps, and small tanks. This draws enemy air fire, only for those fighters and bombers to be dropped out by mobile anti-air guns and reinforced air support. Despite this, the battle continues to go neither way as Robotnik's army continues to pour in from all sides over the wreckage of their tin kin.

.

Just as Sonic turns another street, he comes to a dead halt in front of a mech identical to the Act 1 Boss waiting in ambush. It's just about to assault him when a ball of fire bursts out through its center, causing it to be torn apart in a giant explosion the shatters all the windows on the street. As glass rains, the fireball burns out and Knuckles the echidna drops onto the street. He pulls up his smoking dukes and scowls at Sonic.

Just then, an Egg Robo holding a Chaos Emerald dashes past the both of them. Before Knuckles can get a word in, Sonic gives chase and leaves him behind. By the time Knuckles finishes yelling out his anger, his voice is already extinguished by the noise of battle.

.

Sonic accelerates to keep track of the Robo, whose speed is energized by the Emerald. Zipping through the battlefield, he suddenly finds himself running up the side of a building. He lands on the roof and starts jumping across the rooftops to keep the chase hot. The air battle is more visible now, in the background. Flak and smoke dot the airspace like popcorn clouds as bullet fire dash across the blue sky, and in all the space between are the clashing air forces of Robotnik and Grand City. Sonic leaps across fire escapes and takes shortcuts on the skyways connecting the top floor of tall buildings.

He finally catches up to the Robo which stopped at the edge of a rooftop with no shorter building anywhere nearby. It seems trapped so Sonic approaches it, but this only forces it to suddenly run again and leap over the edge. Without a second thought, Sonic runs too and jumps over. Just as he starts to fall, he sees the burning exhaust of the Robo's jetpack shoot up in front of his eyes. He continues to fall, accelerating towards the cement pavement ten stories below.

Before fear even has a chance to arise, the Tornado swoops in at a steep angle and catches Sonic once again on the top of the bifoil, and pulls up out of a dive to a straight path in between the city's skyscrapers.

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[Act 3 Boss]

The Tornado evens out. Tails already knows to follow the Egg Robo and does so adeptly, breezing through the slim passes of the city skyline.

At this point, the full brunt of the Egg Tempest arrives, both air and ground forces. The fight dramatically intensifies all around the city that Sonic can see from their altitude. From enemy demolitions, bombings and even crashing planes come sequences of many new explosions. Buildings citywide flash from ground floor to rooftop before collapsing into gigantic pillars of dust and rubble. The sky burns red with fire and black with smoke.

The player controls the Tornado for the time being. It is constantly moving straight and automatically rolls through tight spots in the city, but the player can make it move forward, backward, up and down relative to this frame (as in Sky Chase Zone in Sonic 2). Button 1 now fires the Tornado's machine gun.

Tails chases the Egg Robo no matter how many sharp turns and loops it takes to shake him off. Whenever he gets a chance to target it square-on, he lets loose the machine gun on it.

There are two main threats in the meanwhile:

- The small floating robots Sonic bounced off of when he was last in the Egg Tempest have returned. They attack by shooting out small energy beams parallel to the ground, but each are easily dispatched by bullet fire.

- The Egg Robo itself attacks by turning around and using the Emerald to fire 3-second long large beams of energy. It first fires straight back regardless of where the Tornado is, vertically compared, but then learns to move up and down itself to target the Tornado more squarely. As it weakens, it fires more beams after each other, but this also prolongs its cooldown period in between.

The Egg Robo is rather sturdy and can withstand a cumulative 6 seconds of bullet fire before its energy drive shorts out. It then slows down and falls in range for a brief moment, allowing Sonic to safely jump from the Tornado, hit it, and bounce right back on the wings.

After four direct hits, it changes its beam attack:

- The energy beam now splits into two smaller spiraling beams that spin around each other, forming a double helix. Trying to evade it completely is risky due to the time and space required, so instead Tails flies in the space between the beams.

After four more hits, or eight direct hits in total, a fire breaks out of the Egg Robo's armor and catches its jet pack. The explosion sends it rocketing forward, crashing into the tallest skyscraper of the city.

.

"Sonic! That's the Fourth Building!"

There are hundreds of badniks at ground level, all fighting off Mobian forces who try to attack with desperate heroic gambits. As Tails spirals the Tornado around the tower, Sonic sees the Egg-O-Matic sitting on the roof plain as day.

"He's already here! Damn it!" Sonic curses.

Tails looks at him concerned. "We can't let him get that Emerald, Sonic! Things are already way too crazy!"

Sonic breathes in slowly. "That can't be why he's attacking Grand City. It doesn't make sense. He's endangering himself. Even though he's serious now? Could Mechanix really be that strong?"

Tails jumps with a realization. "It's a trap, Sonic! He's cornering himself so he can corner you!" Nevertheless, he pulls in close to the roof of the Fourth Building.

Sonic pats Tails on the shoulder and smiles a dark smile, knowing Robotnik's deep wickedness which he had not seen. No, not yet. He sees Tails' pained expression, both questioning and listening, and waiting. This evokes a profound sadness in Sonic for some reason, as if he'd never see him again. Still, Sonic tries to say what he had wanted to say. "We can't be scared, Tails. No matter how scary it gets. We must never stop fighting. This is the final battle, Tails. The whole world is fighting with us!"

Sonic then turns and jumps off as the Tornado passes by the building's roof. Tails calls out for him as the Tornado zips him away. Sonic lands but continues to watch Tails fly, now suddenly intercepted by a squadron of enemy fighters. In the next moment, Tails is lost in the battle, his plane one among a thousand. Sonic reflects on this, his eyes unfocusing, staring out into the fiery distance. His heart beats on the feeling of Tails flying his best in a deadly fight for survival. He feels a buoyant pride pulled down by tendrils of nebulous fear and doubt. Tentacles of darkness wrapping around him, Tails, everything he thought he knew. And they came from one man, one, single mad man. This feeling of incredible wrath, that feels like the gravity of a planet about to collide with Mobius, tugging ever so gently at the moment, even as reality stands sturdy. Sonic buckled, thinking, "I don't know how I know this... but something really bad is going to happen." He then takes a breath and dashes across the roof.

.

.

[Act 4]

Sonic breaks through the rooftop door and rolls down the stairs to the top floor. The Fourth Building has 70 floors to ground level. Each floor has long hallways and large office rooms containing patrolling enemy robots and fortunately no civillians. The floors are connected by narrow stairwells and broken elevator shafts. Sonic descends.

At the 63rd floor, Sonic finds sprinklers and a fire alarm going off. He finds the wreckage and remains of the Egg Robo. The Chaos Emerald, however, remains missing. So he continues dropping down stairs and shafts towards ground level.

At the 47th floor, the interior and increasingly the exterior bear marks of battle damage. At the 35th floor, the damage is so extensive that several sets of floors have collapsed for the most part, leaving bear fragile platforms and steel girders for Sonic to jump down from. Although he could try to fall through them all, there are also an increase in hazards: namely, sharp rubble and fires.

At the 20th floor, Sonic finds a working elevator, enters it, and rides it down all the way to the ground floor. The doors slide open to the great lobby, crowded with badniks and Egg Robos including S-types and A-types. Sonic is stunned, but quickly notices how none of them notice him. So he sneaks out of the elevator and coolly walks to the center of the room. Tempted to reflect on the facility, he decides instead to relax and look around for a special elevator to the basement. After about a second and a half, a cold finger taps him on the shoulder.

An Egg Robo stares right back at him, along with every badnik and Robo behind it. The realization branches and fills the room, and adrenaline rushes to Sonic's head forcing his now forced cool to explode away in feet thrown at the floor. His previous position is now a burning crater. He jumps and starts bouncing off robot heads in front of a dense wave of energy shot crossfire. He lands on the floor and quickly charges a spindash through tens of robots at a time. But he has alerted the entire bodyguard force, all the thousands that not even the Mobian Army could make a dent in. So Sonic runs away, or more precisely, ahead.

Behind the pile of splintered wood that was once a reception desk, there is a tunnel burnt through what was once a hallway, leading to a giant hole in darkness lit only by occasional sparks of electric arcs, which was once a secret elevator shaft. Sonic goes there without a choice, really, unable to survive an attempt at routing the robots. He jumps down.

He arrives in a hangar of sorts, with heavily reinforced walls, floors, and ceilings, integrated with electronics and simple robotics in a way that suggested a top secret hi-tech laboratory of the world government. He follows the fairly linear path, passing bright energy and light tubes in an octagonal tunnel into a large square corridor. Directly afore is a five-foot thick blast door with a huge hole in the center, revealing a series of other doors just the same. He runs forward and jumps through each of the holes. After about six such doors, Sonic finally finds Robotnik, Mechanix, and a small bipedal robot. It holds that Chaos Emerald!

.

.

Mechanix stands facing Sonic but at the side of the room, turning with a nonstop glare as Sonic slowly comes to a halt before the final blast door. Robotnik is facing a control panel by the wall, his back facing Sonic. The minor robot jogs up to Robotnik's side and drops to its knees, raising the Chaos Emerald at the same time.

"Oh, another Chaos Emerald." Robotnik grabs it without looking and immediately pockets it.

The robot turns to leave, only to be instantly ambushed by Sonic dropping down in a spinball. Sonic bashes its head in, bouncing off as its body explodes in reaction, and falls directly behind Robotnik. He doesn't turn around. Sonic remembers how Mechanix blocked his path before. He thinks, "It must be much faster now. If I attack, I'll definitely lose Robotnik again. I just got to act cool, use this free space. Even if that may be what he wants..."

"So what's the real plan here? What's more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds, or Mechanix even?" Sonic asks.

Robotnik looks to be replacing the connections of the physical hardware. He seems to finish but still doesn't turn around. Instead, he says something.

"Do not underestimate Mechanix. In all of this spiteful, disgusting world, Mechanix is the only thing pure enough to actually inspire me. Considering I am the most intelligent man of Mobius' history and my word is truth itself, this cannot be forgotten.

He smiles and turns, looking straight at Sonic in his eyes. For an instant, Sonic flashes back to the incident in Biomech Base, when he saw those damned eyes after all they just did to him. Robotnik expected Sonic's hesitation, and continues speaking.

"You will see what will happen. You are the only damned thing cursed enough to receive any serious consideration as a threat by me. In fact, this entire process is dedicated to your total and most complete destruction, even though we speak face to face now. Indeed, it's by my will that this moment occurs."

Unmoved by Robotnik's tricks, Sonic decides to advance. Mechanix stands still, still facing him.

"Where's the mayor?" Sonic asks.

"If you were smart, you would understand your only focus should be Mechanix. But you are not, and so I shall say that the mayor is simply behind this very last door itself, at the farthest corner of your peoples' most top secret base, hiding in petrified fear of my eminent arrival."

"This is overkill, even for you Robotnik. Attacking everything in sight, trying to destroy the world over and over again, taking delight in pomposity and torture. I'm surprisingly kind of worried for you."

"Fool. You are cursed to be blind of the truth. You will never understand anything, no matter how earnestly you try. All of this is an illusion, another tactic. Every Apocalypse was meant to be destroyed."

"What?!" Sonic was partly startled and partly incredulous.

"You could only ever destroy the Death Egg by yourself. The Flying Fury required Tails. The Egg Tempest requires the Mobian military. By the very next Apocalypse alone, you are destroyed. It is futile to continue, but you have been deluded into self-conviction and will destroy yourself."

"Whaaat the heck are you talking about, Robotnik?" Sonic laughs. "Maybe you thought this all out, but man, I've been defeating you every single time! Every single time! And it's futile for me? But seriously, even if you come at me with Mechanix who you're so proud of, with it having all seven Chaos Emeralds, it doesn't even matter! I'll destroy it just the same. And this time, once your plan's exhausted and Mechanix's done, I'm not letting you off in good faith this time. I'll wait for as long as you need to go on, until there's nothing left but you alone, and then I'll take you down personally, myself." Sonic confidently grins at the end.

Robotnik stares. He starts to cackle and then bursts out laughing. Sonic can't tell if it's forced or not.

"Hahahaha! This is why I haven't killed you. It's just so amusing right now. As I expected, you have not even the faintest iota of an idea about what will happen to you. It's just so grand." He wipes a tear from his eye and lets out a few more chortles. "You think I still have a gun to your head when even when I really did have a gun to your head, it was just a card game. I wait. You only think you're waiting. But as always and now more than ever, you follow my script to the letter. Ahehhaha."

From the moment Robotnik kidnapped Tails, Sonic has had a microscopic but real doubt that Robotnik was actually entirely sincere and that indeed he was completely out of his league now. Since that time on Blue Hill, Sonic has since witnessed the phantom of a world-destroying monster in every new way that Robotnik has changed from his much friendlier appearance in years past, strange as it is to think like that. The core room in the Death Egg was what really made it seem chillingly possible. And now he wonders on it again, for the briefest moment, simply by the way that Sonic and Robotnik talked past each other, even when they both were trying to speak directly. It was as if two radically different worlds were about to collide. And the feeling, that subtle feeling of gravity, of impending doom, resonated from the simple idea that it was Robotnik who was actually correct this entire time.

Before Sonic can shrug off these rapid thoughts himself, the blast door itself clunks and slams loudly, unlocking and gradually opening. Sonic peeks inside only to find yet another hallway and no mayor or anything else, although at least it's the one hallway that directly leads to the basement complex relatively close in the distance. Robotnik started to walk through the opening doors and Mechanix started to follow. Sonic still felt his glare, and wondered if that was what was making him spike in paranoia these past few minutes. He plans to try and bash Mechanix into Robotnik, catching him in the crossfire to wound him before he moves on. Just as Mechanix steps in front of him, Robotnik speaks.

"Your government hid a Chaos Emerald down here. After that, Mechanix only needs two more Emeralds before he accesses his godly powers. I suggest you stop listening and make your move now."

Sonic rushes towards Robotnik before he's done speaking. He doesn't hear what he said as he instead shouts out loud, "Two? You're overestimating yourself!"

Mechanix then suddenly strikes Sonic in the shoulder before Sonic could see it even turn around, sending his right arm flinging into the air, knocking out the Emerald he had stored in his glove. As Sonic flinches, clutching the sharp burning pain with his other hand, Mechanix runs to catch Sonic's flinging Emerald, and even catches the one that Robotnik had thrown at the moment of impact, behind Mechanix and out of Sonic's view.

Sonic turns around to see Mechanix thrust two Chaos Emeralds into an opened compartment in the bottom of its chest. They are attached into place and then glow so bright as to illuminate through most of the rest of Mechanix's body. He removes his hands, the compartment closes, and the solid shapes and structures of his body start rotating and shifting, reconfiguring into entirely new shapes and structures.

In less than 9 seconds, Mechanix takes on a new form. The blockier shapes of the Adept form have divided and rearranged themselves into a sleeker structure with an overall smoother surface. The runic inscriptions marked across his body then burn in finer detail and greater length to create loops and circles across its appendages.

This transformation is very bright and even loud, being as distracting as small fireworks mixed with a life-size, self-solving mechanical puzzle. So Sonic forgets about Robotnik for 6 seconds and turns to find him sprinting down the hallway, on the verge of being out of range. Robotnik shouts back, "If you want to die PAINLESSLY, THIS is your final chance! Hahaha! As if you have the will to decide!" His voice is a far echo by the time he commands, "Mechanix engage!"

But Sonic's attention is already caught on Mechanix, whose eyes glow on recognition of its command. It raises its arms and spreads its standing to a battle position!

.

.

[Act 4 Boss : MECHANIX LV.3 [ 'EXPERT' : ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ] ]

Mechanix is even faster than before. His average speed can be faster than Sonic's at every point, still including Sonic's top speed. He moves around almost constantly, running across the walls and the ceiling, and having a tendency of jumping off the ceiling to rapidly ambush Sonic. He will avoid any of Sonic's attacks any farther than close range or a well-timed spinball dash[ jump]. He aims most of his shots directly at Sonic's position with challenging accuracy. The most marked change is that now Mechanix will combine his different attacks into various patterns that make them effective combination attacks. nearly instantly switches between the following attacks in patterns effective for laying combinations on Sonic.

- His left arm's laser cannon that fires flashing rods of energy is now rapid-fire, firing 20 shots in 4 seconds. This replaces the lock-on attack.

- His right arm's laser cannon charges for two more seconds (for four seconds total), but it fires a beam twice as large.

- The slice attack is followed with 4 more cuts and slashes, doubling its former range. The initial dash is nearly twice as fast, but he slows dramatically after the first slice.

- In fact, all of his dashes are now nigh-instantaneous. This applies to the attack-less dash as well as to the midair dash. The midair dash attack only follows with 1 more midair slice attack.

- He can now thrust both his palms in rapid succession, firing forward much more crescent air blades, each of which are moderately faster on their own.

- His thrusting energy attack is instantaneous, marked only by a preceding flash of light. It is twice as strong as before and can easily rid Sonic of his remaining rings. In addition, even if Sonic evades the initial dash, Mechanix will curve around at the tail-end to catch him unawares if possible, although he loses a lot of speed and power.

He also has several new attacks:

- Using the right laser, while running around the room, Mechanix may start firing a continuous laser beam that forces Sonic to do run around the room just the same to stay ahead of the rotating beam. This can be done with well-timed wall-jumps or by keeping near top speed and jumping up right at each surface's edge.

- Using the left laser, Mechanix can stop himself suddenly in the ceiling by slamming his feet through it. There, he showers Sonic with rapid-fire lasers from wall to wall. Sonic must accurately judge his spacing as he barely slips through all the projectiles.

Mechanix must feel twenty-four hits before he falls.

.

.

A blast of light launches Mechanix far backwards in the tunnel, tumbling over himself and hitting the walls. Sonic gives chase, but before he knows it Mechanix had turned around, kneeled on one knee, still flickering with arcing electricity, hypercharging its right arm cannon. Sonic is stunned, only to see a sheen of golden light flash in front of him, suddenly then burning white for a few seconds. Meanwhile, the sound of something like a flamethrower roars and shoots of smoke blow past the walls to his sides. The energy shield shrinks and fades out, leaving Sonic to choke on smoke when he hears a familiar voice.

"Sire!"

He turns around and squints, seeing a gray echidna with glowing power rings standing brightly in the sooty cloud.

"Zaga?" Sonic asks. The smoke already starts to clear, sucked out a pair of out-vents shortly ahead. Indeed it's him.

"The current quickens. It seems Mechanix is already near his final transformation."

Sonic gestures with his head to chase Mechanix and Zaga nods. They both start running down the corridor.

"I explored a portion of your world since we last met. Allow me to relate, my friend, that it is very painful to know my eon has ended. Yet it is thrilling, enrapturing, to explore the world of the distant future. It is marvelous. I feel a form of the spirit of my own people breathe in yours just the same, and I only wish I will have the time to get to know them."

Sonic, who was focusing on the doorway ahead, turned his head and looked at Zaga's expression. "Is Mechanix really that powerful?"

Zaga looked him straight in the eye. "I fought him just like you did in my time, thought of him just like you did. It is a vast and catastrophic underestimation to consider his power any less than finite. I know that now."

Sonic was about to say something and throw in his opinion, but Zaga adds, "There is something I learned underground, in the records of a few ruins... Some time after I was sealed, the Chaos Emeralds were created. Mechanix was released then, long before Robotnik discovered him. That's all. The written records ended there. He obliterated my people, leaving nothing but ruins. To think he was created to save the world..."

"Someone managed to reseal him, though! Cheer up, man!" Sonic says enthusiastically. Zaga looks up at him, partly in a moment of surprised insight and partly still terrified at reckoning Mechanix's power. Sonic decides to change the subject and suddenly remembers, "Hey, I never told you my name did I, Zaga?"

"I'm Sonic the hedgehog, the fastest thing alive, legendary hero of Mobius!" He grins, pumping his arm.

Zaga somehow catches his enthusiasm. His face brightens up until he answers back, "I am Zaga, legendary hero of the Zexakal!"

"C'mon, Zaga! Two legendary heros can take on anything!"

.

.

Locked Lab [Act 1] (3/18)

There are no enemies or rings in the level. Zaga follows Sonic throughout the level.

There will be large areas connected by narrow corridors, although this may occasionally invert with small rooms being connected by large hallways. All of the surfaces will be plated with a polished metal, with some walls having advanced electronics and piping routed next to long lines of light tubes at the bottom and top corners.

The small rooms are mostly labs, for various disciplines including medicine, chemistry, and physics. Some contain large and elaborate observation machines, some even have sealed containment areas. They are all filled with various electronic equipment, each room having three computer consoles at least. The large areas are largely for storage or transportation such as the lumbering freight elevator.

After a minute and a half, the main lights just flick off to the quieting hum of the generator. The base is still lit by independently powered lamps, such as from lab machines, and the emergency lighting of neon tubes head-level on the walls. But shortly after the blackout, the silence is broken by the forceful metallic slams of a series of doors ahead and behind him. There is always a security clearance identity scanner on the wall nearby that can recognize Sonic's appearance and open the door for him. These glow green.

They finally come to a large freight elevator with the platform down at the bottom and not coming back up. Sonic jumps down followed by Zaga, and they hop on and off the various platforms in the shaft walls. They take a running jump off some venting and land on the lower floor. The elevator platform, it seems, is slammed and crumpled into a hole in the bottom of the shaft, hence the running jump.

They come to a dark security room filled with destroyed doors, cameras, and even defense turrets. The wall around the door is still glowing from being scorched. The next room is a computer room but most of them are rent into scrap across the floor. Of the ones that remain, only a handful are still on. All of those except one display nothing but static. The one that does not has a simple text summary of an experiment.

.

Sonic looks at the monitor. "Robotnik wanted to see this one."

Zaga gives it a glance but shakes his head and says, "Sonic, we must destroy Mechanix now. He is already far too powerful."

"Give me a second, man. If I don't learn what Robotnik's up to, it's going to get in the way of destroying Mechanix."

Zaga takes offense and his mood gets an itch. Sonic notices his expression change but doesn't stop staring instead. Zaga takes a quick full breath and states, "I will continue ahead, then. Be quick, Sonic." He then takes a moment, nods, and turns to run back on track.

Sonic turns around and reads:

"Experiments have discovered a very interesting phenomenon related to the fragment. Analysis of the microscopic topology indicates that it was once a piece of a larger whole. This is similar to earlier analyses of mini-fragments which have been cut from the main piece and share the same topology. The mini-fragments also displayed a very slight, but measurable attraction to other mini-fragments and especially to the main rock. The main fragment itself displays an attraction towards a specific destination which is currently being measured. This attraction, strangely, varies in force between gravitational to electromagnetic... The current hypothesis is that all of the pieces are connected in an extra dimension or perhaps several, so that even if the structure is altered in our three dimensions, it is a surface imperfection on the whole material. It is high authority's command that we investigate the source with maximum discretion under risk to international security. There is now in effect a zero tolerance policy on all acts of insubordination. "

"A rock, hmm?" Sonic says, rubbing his chin.

He looks at the screen, starting to zone out. "Hmmmm," he hums to himself in thought.

"Hmmmm," he hums as he runs on.

.

.

[Act 2]

The rooms are now much darker and completely filled with machinery. Sonic will enter several rooms with lit monitors and will read what they say. They are as follows:

"The research teams have come back from the excavation site where they found the fragment. Although they have informed the mayor of the archaeological find, they have come back without additional pieces. The energy resonance is completely absent in the underground city."

"The fragment has a very interesting property. All energy that is directed at it is radiated in several multiples the amount. The multiples vary and change but it is always over twice the amount and it seems to have an upper bound as well. There is no explanation as to how the energy is amplified with the same concentration, but this information has sent the experiments and scientists into the highest security zone of the government laboratory. Further results will be mentioned as they come."

"The creature is not responding to any stimulus, provoked by energy or otherwise. The fragment which was removed from its carapace seems to have been a core component of its structure. Indeed, energy levels within the creature dropped to base level within seconds. What is especially astounding is that recent analysis of the creature's shell reveals it has been active for approximately twenty thousand years."

"Today the reconnaissance squad was sent to investigate a strange energy signal emanating from an underground location several hundred miles from Grand City. Using drilling equipment, they found that the signal came from a very large cave within the earth. What they found was remarkable: an ancient city perfectly intact. We do not know yet how old the city is, but none of its architecture resembles any civilization that has ever existed on Mobius. By chance, one living creature made its home there, although it could be more accurately described as an artificial being. It attacked the squad, but they managed to subdue it and bring it back. We are most excited about this opportunity!"

From the final monitor, Sonic will run past the room where the Chaos Emerald was held and through a long corridor. He'll catch up with Zaga.

.

"Sonic, Mechanix is just ahead. Are you ready?"

"Definitely. I'm not going to hold back no matter what they have in store for us. No more excuses! I'll make them both crash into the ground!"

They move through the corridor and enter a wide area. It is absolutely dark, without any emergency lights on. However, in the distance, Sonic sees two glowing eyes pierce the shadow.

"Mechanix!"

A cackle comes from where the eyes are.

"You chose to live, then? Oh, you fool."

Sonic recognized the voice.

"Robotnik! Even if you have some kind of drilling machine to free you from underground, I'm not going to let you get away, no matter what! There's nowhere you can run away to anymore! Give it up!"

He cackles again.

"Haha. Is that so?"

A switch is heard to be flipped. Slowly, a hum starts to rise. High pitched electric buzzing and mechanical squeals join in. The orchestration rises in volume as a circle of light appears. It is several stories tall, and the circle is frequently disturbed by rotating mechanical parts. The light brighens the entire room, and the silhouettes of Robotnik and Mechanix fade into detail. A third figure stands between them, a somewhat small man, trembling. As the light reaches a visible stage, Sonic sees that Robotnik has a gun cocked at the man's head. Sonic recognizes the man instantly.

"The mayor!"

"That is correct. As I said before, you can do what you want with him. Go ahead and spindash through him, if you want. I only needed him because you showed up and delayed Mechanix. Eliminating his bodyguards was simple enough by myself."

Sonic didn't believe it.

"Eliminated?"

Robotnik gestured behind Sonic, and he turned around to see the walls which spread out from the entrance. The light blue light of the giant circle illuminated them, the bodies of the mayor's guards slumped lifelessly against the walls. Sonic couldn't say anything.

"I see you have with you an Old Mobian. Hm. The warrior Zaga, are you not?"

Zaga was nonplussed.

"I do not care what you know. You look nowhere near as strong as Mechanix. If you stand in my way, I will kill you in one attack."

"Haha. You have made quite a simple response for someone like yourself. I know everything about you, Zaga, and you have not changed since those ancient days, I am sure. Very interesting! I am already incorporating you into my master plan. You should be grateful."

Sonic stepped forward.

"Enough with your ravings, you damned mad man! What do you need that fragment for?"

"This?"

Robotnik pulled the fragment out, a black rock that was the size of his finger. Zaga fidgeted.

"What do you think keeps Zaga alive? You read that report, did you not? He is twenty thousand years old!"

"He was sealed away! What does that matter, anyway?!"

"Fool! What does being sealed matter? His biological processes should have stopped functioning within weeks! As if he was not old enough in his own time! He, as well, holds another one of these fragments, within himself!"

Sonic didn't look to Zaga, but he was slightly bothered. Robotnik continued.

"These fragments absorb the energy around them and emit them in several times the amount. Electrical, mechanical, chaos energy, and even life energy are multiplied by its power. Someone with a fragment inside of them could live for many multiples their usual life expectancy due to its power. However, there is a limit to these weak pieces."

Robotnik snapped the fragment in half and throws it to Mechanix. As soon as he catches it, it shatters into dust.

"Mechanix's resonating energy from the Chaos Emeralds! With too much input, it is worthless. There is so much raw power that it destroys itself! The Old Mobians realized this."

Sonic then looked at Zaga for a response. Zaga grew more unsettled.

"These fragments were what changed them from primitive tribes to a unified, sophisticated civilization. However, they desired ever more power. They spent generations focusing thousands of pounds of the rock into one point, and they were successful. They created the Black Emerald."

Zaga shouted.

"How do you know all of this!? Our civilization was destroyed!"

"I am the most intelligent being that has ever existed. Decoding all of the facets of what remained from your cities took only a few seconds of a passing glance. I know more about your world than you could ever know..."

The mayor squirmed, but Robotnik strengthened his hold and pushed the pistol harder on his head.

"...such as how the Black Emerald's overuse led to it being shot out into space to some place no one knows. Of course, the fragments were still around. Since then, however, they disappeared. Without any energy to feed off of, they lose anything indicating that they are different from any other rock. Those creatures in Ka'ralei, they continue to live because of those fragments."

"The hell does it matter? Put down that gun!"

"You will listen to what I have to say, hedgehog. Do you think I will not pull the trigger again?"

Sonic gritted his teeth and made no response.

"These fragments have an additional property. All of them are connected to each other. They give away each other's location. Using the fragment, I will locate the Black Emerald and it will be another card in my hand."

Sonic quickly replied.

"There were plenty of fragments in Ka'ralei! Why did you need to come here? Why did you need to kill so many people for something you don't need?!"

"Oh, I took some of those too. Better accuracy is always a plus, of course. I need the Chaos Emerald, anyway."

Sonic growled. Robotnik was quiet.

"Is that it?! Is that all you need to explain, damn it!? I'm sick of having to listen to you!"

"Oh yes. Go ahead and attack me now."

Robotnik pushes the mayor, who stumbles forward and falls on his side. Sonic quickly dashes forward. Mechanix blocks his path in an instant. Robotnik snickers.

"Oh? Where is your speed?"

"Damn it! Mechanix should barely be able to move!"

Zaga walked towards the two, as the mayor quickly got on his feet and ran.

"With enough energy, the damage Mechanix suffers can be reversed. However, in such a short time, it would require incredible amounts-"

Robotnik interrupted Zaga as Sonic leaped back from an attack by Mechanix.

"The Chaos Emeralds. Yes, hedgehog, he has six now! Do you think your spines can leave a mark on a being who has six different access points to infinite energy?! And Zaga, do not speak as if you do not know them, fool. You know why I seek them out!"

"No, I do not! I have never heard of such a thing. It is true I have a Black Rock, but our entire civilization was built on Black Rocks. I did not know about the Black Emerald, however..."

"Haha! Yes, yes! Of course you do not. I see, I see. This is very interesting, indeed. However, enough talk. My diversion will only last so long. I must get going quite soon."

Sonic was looking at Zaga, concerned about the way he was talking. Hearing 'diversion', he quickly turned around.

"Diversion?!"

"Yes, hedgehog. Yes, I can see you know what I speak of. The Egg Tempest is just a way to distract the attention of the world, to give me more time. As soon as I exterminate both you and Zaga, I will find the last Chaos Emerald and give it to Mechanix. Then, with his true power and the Black Emerald, I will destroy the entire world personally, decimating each city, killing each person, each woman and child, until I have a blank slate to erect my Robotnikland. Then... then... at that time... I can finally..."

Sonic snaps, and yells.

"All of this slaughter, destruction, and mayhem! I can't take it anymore! I'm sick of this, I'm sick of you! I don't care what's right or wrong, I'll kill both of you!"

He rushes forward, blinded by anger.

.

[Act 2 Boss : MECHANIX Lv. 4 [ 'MASTER' : ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ▿ ] ]

Mechanix will of course, have the same attacks as just before, but he is even stronger.

- His speed is now twice as high as Sonic's.

- All of his attacks are quicker and larger.

- His slice attacks lead into a 6-slash combo.

- The dash is barely able to be seen.

- He can combine attacks, such that his thrust palm attack can be mixed with his laser cannon.

- Along with running on every surface in the room, he will be able to hover for three seconds before falling.

The most dangerous aspect of the fight is how fast he is, which will require Sonic to react within a second's notice whenever he changes attack patterns. Both Sonic and Zaga will be fighting, which lowers the difficulty in the fight to a bearable amount. Mechanix will take twenty-four hits before falling.

During the fight, Robotnik will move to the other side of the giant metal circle, which is only slightly lit up by the ambiance. Neither of them will be able to reach him, however, as he enters a chamber within the ring that is locked by a door.

.

Mechanix buzzes as electric arcs whip around his body. Sonic starts spindashing when a shockwave knocks him on his side. Looking back, the giant ring glows bright, its center starting to fluctuate like heat waves in a mirage. Robotnik walks through a glass-windowed compartment on the ring's lower edge. Sonic doesn't look at Zaga.

"Zaga, destroy Mechanix. It's finally time..."

Sonic doesn't waste any time and spindashes towards Robotnik.

Robotnik is startled, and fires his gun at Sonic. However, Sonic avoids the bullets and zooms close. The gun Robotnik holds runs out of ammunition, and he quickly pockets it. As Sonic comes close, Robotnik grabs his limbs and quickly bends his own back. Sonic swings into the air, completely surprised, and Robotnik turns his legs. Sonic feels himself falling, and Robotnik lets go. Sonic slams his head into the ground and tumbles away. His eyesight blurs and wobbles, and he stumbles on his arms and knees.

"Fool. I have long since recognized that you could attack me directly. I have trained myself just in case of such a scenario. Similarly, should I ever need to go on my own offensive, I also trained myself in firearms."

He loads a new cartridge into his pistol, and aims it at Sonic as he finally gets on his feet.

"Put that gun away... fight me man to man, you coward!"

"I do not play by your rules, hedgehog. I play by mine."

The area inside the ring starts to spin, a cloudy form appearing. The machine gets louder and brighter.

"They have long been experimenting with teleportation technology. It is an impressive work, although incomplete."

The cloud mixes in color and intensity, rapidly swirling and spinning like a whirlpool suddenly ripped into pieces.

"It will not send you anywhere near this city. Or near this planet."

The machine's din turns into both a piercing screech and a rumbling hum. The lines of the cloud blur in movement so quick and violent they seem to be superimposed on each other.

"Or near this reality. Perhaps, it will even kill you."

Sonic looked at Robotnik with a grim face.

"I don't care."

He runs toward him at the fastest speed he can manage while Robotnik calmly walks towards him. Just as they meet, Sonic leaps and pulls back his fist. As he falls towards Robotnik, he fires the gun. Sonic yells, goes limp in mid-air, and collapses right in front of Robotnik's feet. The bullet had shot through Sonic's stomach. He groans in agony, clutching the wound. Robotnik lowers his gun.

"In the end, you are a hedgehog. Without your speed, you are no great being."

Robotnik pulls back his leg and thrashes Sonic right where he shot him. Sonic rolls across the floor, towards the machine. Its noise floods the room.

"Without your friends, you are no great hero."

Robotnik pulls back his leg again and kicks him straight in the wound. He tumbles over himself, too much in pain to move his hands over it. The noise rings in his ears, and his eyesight begins to blur again.

"Without your attitude, you are no great hedgehog."

Robotnik kicks him again and he slides into the hot metal of the giant ring. The light casts his own shadow ahead of him, as if it was pulling out of his body. He can't breathe. All he hears is that unending scream of the machinery. His eyesight falls back and forth and Robotnik's figure is a ghostly shape standing tall above him.

"You're just an animal!"

He heaves Sonic up with both hands, and Sonic sees Robotnik's face up close. From such proximity, through those dark goggles, he can even see his eyes. They stared at Sonic with an impossible ferocity. Then, Sonic was in the air, and he felt the air around him leaving him behind. The air disappeared, and his eyes only saw white. His ears only heard the noise, which covered every pitch and was the only thing in his head. He fell into the noise, and sank into it. As he slowly fell, the noise, too, left him. His ears stopped ringing. He couldn't see anything anymore. He couldn't even hear his breathing. He vanished.