"Crap." That was never a good sign. Especially when it's the driver who is saying it. Sonic looked a bit panicked as he poked his head into the front of the van, which then lurched to a halt. "Crap what? Why did we stop?"

"The engine is dead." Tails said. Everyone piled out of the vehicle and the fox went to open the hood. He coughed and waved the smoke away before peeking inside and examining it. Shadow and Sonic were watching Tails, but Amy seemed to be staring off into the distance.

"We'll reach Robotropolis in a matter of days, but to get there in time we'll have to pass through Station Square." She said seemingly to no-one. "Robotnik already controls that city. We'll be walking targets."

Tails pulled his head out of the van and reported, "It could take hours to fix." Sonic clenched his fists. This just made things harder. "Hours we don't have. We leave the van." Amy raised an eyeridge in surprise before stating, "We have a week before Robotnik activates his machine. It took three days to reach the Floating Island. We would reach Robotropolis in four days with the van. That's a week. Without the van, we're doomed."

"The Robotropolis Resistance group is supposed to be doing their best to stall him." Tails said. Sonic grabbed Tails by the arm and walked away from the group. "And we're stalling if we stand here talking. Station Square is less than a quarter of a mile away. We'll split up and sneak through. I'll take Tails."

Amy walked over to the only other member and said, "Then I'll go with Shadow." Everyone nodded and took different paths into the city. Sonic had grabbed Tails and ran as fast as he could to the city, not wanting to waste any time. Shadow and Amy were taking the stealth approach. If they came in separately, nobody would think they were together.

XXX

"Swatbots everywhere. We're sure to be spotted." Tails said nervously before ducking back behind the building. Sonic smirked and grabbed the kit's arm again. "Then you're my prisoner." Tails looked scared and tried to pull away. Had Sonic finally given in and gone over to Robotnik's side? Sonic laughed. "Relax. It's a ruse. Pretend I caught you."

Once Tails had realized Sonic wasn't evil, they put their plan into action. Sonic tied Tails' wrists together loosely behind his back and walked up to one of the swatbots. Making the robotic tone in his voice clearer than usual he said, "High priority Resistance member captured. Requesting private transport to master Robotnik." His cybernetics and voice made it all the more convincing.

The swatbot turned to face the duo and replied, "Identification number required first." Sonic shut his eyes and searched his processor. Robotnik embedded ID numbers in the programming of every robot and roboticized citizen, so he was bound to have one.

"Identification number S06T23H91. Requesting private transport." The bot scanned Sonic and said, "Private transport granted. Head to terminal." Sonic nodded and pulled Tails back to the building they had been hiding behind earlier.

"Where's the terminal?" Tails pulled out a holographic map of the city and pointed to a place a few blocks from where they were currently situated. "Bots patrol the roads, so I'll have to be your prisoner again. Any citizens should be on their way to Robotropolis by now, so the city should be mostly empty."

"Good. Let's go." Sonic said, grabbing Tails and hanging the rope around his wrists again. "Just for appearances." They pair stepped out from behind the building and made their way to the terminal without any trouble. "This used to be the train terminal didn't it? Megalo Station." Tails nodded and they stepped aboard the train. That was when the trouble started.

XXX

"It's gone." Amy looked up at Shadow and smiled. "Good." She stood up and peeked out to make sure the swatbot was gone. He was right. The only bot there now was a street cleaner. "Then we go together. Have your blaster ready. They shoot on sight if they recognize you."

Shadow nodded and materialized his blaster. Amy looked at him in confusion and asked, "Seriously, how do you do that?" Shadow shook his head. "I'll explain later. Let's go." They stepped out into the street and were almost seen by the street cleaner before they ducked into an alleyway.

"That's a lot of robots. I don't think I've ever seen so many. Well, besides on the ARK." Shadow stated, watching the bots patrolling past. Amy scoffed. "This is light. I've seen at least double this many before."

Peeking out and looking back and forth, Amy then pulled her head back and said to Shadow. "There's too many now. I'll make a distraction. You head for the city limits to meet up with Sonic and Tails. They should be near Megalo Station."

Shadow shook his head and grabbed Amy's hand. Amy looked surprised. Why was he not letting her go? He closed his eyes and said sadly, "I already lost one girl to those robots. I don't think I can lose another." Amy smiled and covered his hand with her free one. "I understand, but we have no choice. I'll be okay. Go."

Shadow nodded and took off, skating as fast as he could to the train terminal. Amy grinned and walked out into the street in plain view of the bots. "Hey bolts-for-brains!" All the robots turned around to face Amy. One of them scanned her and said, "High priority Resistance member. Apprehend at all costs."

XXX

The trouble that started, was that all the bots in the city suddenly started firing. "What's going on Tails?" Sonic shouted over the noise. Tails peered out the window but shook his head. "I can't see! Too much crossfire!"

The train started to shake from all the commotion on the streets. Sonic immediately kneeled and placed both hands on the floor, activating the magnet mechanisms within his arms and legs. This held the train to the tracks and stopped the shaking. It also held him to the floor.

That was when the window was broken and someone jumped in. The intruder panted a moment before saying, "She said you would be near the train. She never said you would be inside it." Tails smiled. "Shadow! You made it!"

Sonic stood up and shrugged. "Easy transport to Robotropolis. Where's Amy?" Shadow frowned, looking like he didn't want to say. As if he was disapointed with himself. "She said she would be a distraction. I tried to stop her but she told me to go. That she would be fine."

"You mean my sister is still out there?"

"She said she would be okay! I didn't want to leaver her either!"

"Then you shouldn't have! I trusted you with her life! I'm starting to wonder why!"

CLANG. CLANG. "Open up! I'm alive! But not for long!"

Sonic heard the voice and quicly forced open the thick metal door, a feat not possible by normal mobians. The source of the voice was none other than Amy. Sonic gave her a huge hug, pulling her inside and forced the door shut again. "Thanks Chaos you're alive. I thought they'd shot you."

She gave a weak smile. "I'm fine. My plan worked. It's Shadow you should thank. If he hadn't left me we would've been spotted and captured. You said to split up. We just had our own version." Sonic scowled at Shadow, but said "Thank you." anyway.

The damage from the stray crossfire had shorted out the train's engine. Tails pulled a panel off the wall and hotwired it. The train sputtered for a moment but it started up. "This is Megalo Station's fastest train." Sonic laughed. "We're gonna make it!"


Author's Note:

There is something special about Sonic's ID code. If you didn't catch what it was, go back and look at it again. See if you can figure it out. ;)

Megalo Station is a place Tails mentioned in Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. I assumed from the name and the hover technology used in the game that it was a hovertrain terminal of some sort. Since Station Square in Sonic Adventure had an unnamed train station I decided to merge the two.