Chapter 9

Meanwhile, Gamma walked down a hall, following the evil doctor's orders. Eventually, he reached a trio of large doors at the end of the hallway. Confused, the robot couldn't decide which door to enter through.

He took a chance and tried the door on the left. He came across a sight that was not pretty. The room was dark, but he could see clearly. He stumbled upon a large pile of black and silver robot parts, belonging to a rather familiar robot. To his silent horror, he saw his brother, Beta, on a raised platform in the center of the room. The robot was hooked up to a large and torturous-looking machine. Drills, welding devices, and several other tools connected to large metal arms were working on the robot, outfitting Beta with newer, more advanced parts. He looked completely different than he used to be. Gamma stared at him for a few minutes, only saying his name once. "Beta?"

Gamma then backed out of the room, leaving it undisturbed. He chose not to dwell on this experience, and just carry on with Eggman's orders. He then tried the door on the right, and to his luck, it led him into the prison hall, where Amy and Bluebird could be seen in a large cell. The noise from the battle above scared Bluebird, and Amy held him close, and it was all she could do to console him.

"Don't worry, Bluebird," Amy said in a comforting tone. "Sonic will rescue us sometime. Everything will be okay. He has always been there for me, and he's never let me down before."

At that moment, Gamma walked up to her cell and stuck his missile launcher through the bars. He faced Amy, who was not happy to see him. "What do you want?" she angrily snapped.

"Give me the little bird," Gamma commanded.

"No way!" Amy fiercely objected.

"You must," Gamma calmly replied. "The doctor commands it."

Once again, Amy refused, especially since this order came from Eggman, the one person she hated with all of her heart. Her strongly protective instincts over Bluebird were puzzling to Gamma.

"No... not possible. Illogical. You have feelings for something you know nothing about," Gamma said.

Amy could sense the confusion behind Gamma's words. She had a feeling that Gamma was different from Eggman's other, mindless robots. She tried to talk him into changing his desire for everyone's well-being.

"I can tell that you're different. Any other robot would have just snatched Bluebird out of my hands, but you... Could you just let us out of here, please? I would be so grateful if you could."

The robot was taken aback by Amy's request. "Against regulations. Must obey Doctor."

Amy firmly stood her ground and didn't back down. "I see that you have a heart under that metal frame of yours. You do not belong with Eggman. If you let us out, you can help us take him down."

The robot was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. He wasn't sure whether or not to help Amy, the only being who showed him kindness, but doing so would go directly against Eggman's orders, putting Gamma at risk of dismantlement.

Seeing the turmoil within Gamma, Bluebird fluttered out of Amy's hands and flew straight at Gamma's face. The robot stared into the bird's big brown eyes, and memories of his brothers' cruel demise flashed in his mind. He couldn't take it anymore.

"System overload! System overload!" Gamma cried, clutching his head.

"What's wrong?" Amy worried.

"Go!" Gamma said. He aimed his missile launcher at the lock on the door to Amy's cell, blasting the door open. "It is too dangerous here! Leave now!"

Amy stepped out of her cell and turned towards Gamma.

"You really aren't like any of Eggman's other robots. Maybe we can become friends. Thank you. We'll never forget you," Amy warmly and gratefully thanked him before turning away and fleeing from the prison hall.

Gamma didn't move an inch. He wondered if he had really done the right thing, and he feared what Eggman would do if he found out. In that instant, the mysterious red light appeared in front of Gamma.

"A robot with a warm heart," it said. "I shall present you with this gift. Use it well."

With a glowing light, Gamma's missile launcher turned into a multi-barreled missile blaster that seemed to resemble a Gatling gun. Gamma didn't seem too excited about his new advanced weapon, and he just watched as the red light vanished into thin air.

Meanwhile, Amy and Bluebird entered the cavernous main hall of the Egg Carrier after escaping from the prison hall. They saw the exit to the main deck at the far end of the hall.

"I think that's the way out," she told Bluebird, who happily chirped in response.

They started to head for the exit, but the mysterious light suddenly appeared and engulfed them both in a blinding flash.

Once the light cleared, they found themselves in the Mystic Ruins from thousands of years ago, like the others have before. They were standing in front of the Master Emerald shrine.

"What is this place?" Amy wondered.

They soon spotted Tikal standing just outside the shrine, near the large pool of water that surrounded the shrine.

"Who's that?" Amy asked. "She looks similar to Knuckles!"

Tikal approached a group of Chao who were playing together.

"So you're... the Chao," Tikal said.

Nervous, the Chao slowly backed away from the echidna. They feared she would harm them.

"No, don't worry, I won't hurt you," she said, trying to reassure them. Her feelings were slightly hurt.

Tikal's eyes showed a degree of sadness. She didn't have any friends, and she felt like an outcast in this highly experienced clan. One of the Chao seemed to sense this and he slowly advanced towards Tikal, patting her on the leg.

Tikal thanked the little Chao and held him close to her. Seeing that Tikal was completely harmless, he then waved to the others to come over.

"Does this mean that we can all be friends?" Tikal warmly asked the group of Chao.

In response, one Chao grabbed her hand, trying to drag Tikal towards the temple. The female echidna stood up and followed the group, coming to a stop in front of the shallow pool of water. The Chao began to sing, and the water in the pool resonated with each note. Tikal and the group of Chao observed the water, and then something began to rise up from it. Tikal gasped and backed away as a watery creature emerged from the pool.

Before Amy could make out exactly what it was, the bright light came down on her and she was returned to the Egg Carrier's main hall. She then noticed that there was a red-and-white feathered ornament in her hair. Before Amy could question what it was, the red light flew down and began to explain.

"This is the Warrior Feather," it told Amy. "It will endorse you with the strength and courage you need to overcome any foe that gets in your way!" The light then rapidly circled around Amy and vanished.

Suddenly, a series of explosions were heard, followed by a strong vibration of the ship. This was Amy and Bluebird's cue to hurry. Quickly, she ran for the exit and appeared outside, on the main deck of the Egg Carrier.

Suddenly, Decoe and Bocoe appeared, towering over Amy. They began to extend their hands.

"Gotcha!" they triumphantly said. Suddenly, Amy whipped out her signature weapon, her red-and-gold Piko-Piko Hammer. This surprised the two robots and they slowly began to back away.

Things were about to get worse. She felt a tug on her hammer, and she turned to find Eggman standing behind her.

"Where do you think you're going, Amy?" Eggman cackled.

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught everyone's eyes. Sonic and Tails showed up heroically in the sky. Tails was flying while holding Sonic's hands. He then released Sonic, who dropped down onto the floor in front of Amy.

"You did come," Amy cried, her eyes welling up with tears of happiness. "Get out of my way!" She summoned all of her strength, yanking her hammer out of Eggman's hands and swung it right at him, knocking the evil doctor down to the floor.

"Sorry, Eggman, your party is over," Sonic said.

Eggman got back onto his feet. "Actually, Sonic, the party has just begun."

Decoe's chest opened up and a long robotic arm appeared, snatching Bluebird out of Amy's grasp in the blink of an eye.

"No, Bluebird!" Amy cried.

"Give him back to Amy right now!" Sonic demanded.

"Boys, keep your eyes on the little bird!" Eggman told his henchbots.

"Yes, Doctor!" Decoe and Bocoe said at the same time.

Eggman then grabbed the bird out of Decoe's grip. As the bird struggled to free himself, the doctor grabbed his locket and flipped it open. To everyone's surprise, a cyan-blue chaos emerald popped out.

"Look!" Tails exclaimed in surprise. "It's a chaos emerald!"

"Lucky me," Eggman laughed. He then showed a little bit of mercy and released Bluebird, who flew back to Amy. That moment was short-lived, however.

"Gamma," Eggman called into a small microphone. "Report to the main deck immediately!"

Gamma was still in the prison hall, and he hadn't moved an inch since his encounter with Amy and Bluebird. Reluctantly, he complied with his master's orders and made his way out onto the main deck, revealing himself to the entire group.

"What is your wish, Doctor Eggman?" Gamma asked.

"It's you!" Amy exclaimed in surprise.

"I have a new and very easy assignment for you," Eggman said to his minion. "I'll give you a chance to have some fun with more target practice. See this little blue hedgehog?" Eggman pointed to Sonic. "Eradicate him at once."

"Yes, Doctor," Gamma complied.

"No! Don't!" Amy cried.

Promptly, Eggman, Decoe, and Bocoe jumped into the Eggmobile and fled the scene, leaving the heroes to face Gamma.

"Give it all you got. I love having fun with robots," Sonic said.

Gamma walked over to Sonic, who was dwarfed by the robot's tall stature. They turned to face each other. Sonic was completely unaware of Gamma's friendliness towards Amy.

"Please, stop!" Amy begged, rushing in between them. "It's Eggman that's making him act this way! He's really nice, Sonic!"

Gamma didn't heed Amy's words this time. He pointed his new missile blaster at Sonic and fired three small missiles, but the blue hedgehog simply jumped high into the air. The missiles crashed into the deck, blasting a large hole into it. Gamma then activated his jet pack and blasted into the air, following Sonic. The hedgehog dropped down, landing on the surface of the deck. Gamma stayed airborne, and tried to lock onto Sonic with his targeting laser. The speedy hedgehog effortlessly avoided his sights.

"Too slow!" Sonic boasted.

Gamma released several missiles that were all aimed at the surface. He did this hoping that one of them would hit Sonic. The missiles crashed into the deck, destroying everything they landed on. Tails quickly ducked Amy and Bluebird to the ground as the missiles exploded all around them. From Gamma's vantage point, Sonic couldn't be seen anywhere in the cloud of smoke. The robot waited for the smoke to clear away, but Sonic quickly emerged, flying out of the smoke in a rolling spin.

"You're going down, robot!" Sonic declared. The hedgehog landed on a narrow ledge, and flew straight at Gamma, striking him in the back. The robot was knocked out of the sky and he landed on the ground with a loud, metallic clang.

Sonic landed on the ground, and he saw Gamma's damaged body try to pick itself up off the floor. The hedgehog then began to run towards Gamma for the final death blow, but the unexpected happened. Amy darted in between Gamma and Sonic, refusing to move. Sonic was forced to skid to a stop.

"Leave him alone, Sonic," Amy ordered with a stern look on her face.

"This doesn't concern you, Amy," Sonic told her. "He's an Eggman robot. Stay out of my way!"

"You can't hurt him!" Amy cried. "This robot's different. He set us free!"

Sonic looked into Amy's eyes, seeing the seriousness that was in them. He then smiled and said, "Ok, Amy, if you say so. A friend of yours is a friend of mine."

Amy smiled at Sonic, and tensions diminished for a moment. Suddenly, the Egg Carrier began to violently quake.

"Guys, the Egg Carrier!" Tails screamed. "I have a feeling we're beginning to lose altitude!"

Sure enough, the Egg Carrier was slowly but steadily falling through the clouds, due to the heavy damage that the ship sustained from the battles. The time for fun and games was over.

"We're losing time," Sonic said. "Tails, get Amy and Bluebird off the ship now!"

"But what about you, Sonic?" Amy worried.

"Don't you worry, Amy," Sonic reassured her. "I'll find Eggman and finish him off once and for all."

Tails was worried about such a sudden and drastic course of action. "But, Sonic..." he began to object.

"No time for arguing, Tails. I'm counting on you to keep Amy and Bluebird safe," he told Tails. "You're my right-hand man. I trust you."

"Mr. Robot?" Amy worried, kneeling next to Gamma. "Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"Get moving, Tails!" Sonic yelled. "I'm off to settle the score with Eggman!" With that, Sonic zoomed off to look for Eggman.

"He's really hurt," Amy told Tails.

"We don't have much time!" Tails told Amy.

Gamma quickly healed from his injuries and woke up.

"Hey," Amy said excitedly. "You're alive!"

Gamma was befuddled by Amy's concern for him. "Why are you helping me?"

"I told you earlier that we can become friends," Amy replied.

Tails then called Amy over, and he took Amy's hand and flew up into the sky. Hovering above the Egg Carrier, Amy turned back to her new robotic friend with some final words of wisdom.

"Remember, you are free from Eggman now! Live your life however you want to. Goodbye, Mr. Robot! I won't forget you!"

After those last few words, Tails and Amy flew further and further into the sky and eventually vanished from sight.

Gamma looked in the direction they were flying and said, "Bye... friend." With that, Gamma started his jet booster and took off in the opposite direction.