Sonic won the second race. Everyone hated admitting it, but he won. He was not quiet about his victory either. He spent the whole journey back bragging about his speed and style.
As the group made it back to the village, passing through the treeline, they dropped their boards. Robots were everywhere, terrorizing the villagers! Sticks was already at the scene, defending the villagers as best she could from the horde.
Gwen gritted her teeth, taking a small step back. The sight rocked something in her that sparked up fear.
Sonic looked over the group. "Let's go!" He ordered, and bolted off in the blink of an eye. The group of fast to follow, all the group but Gwen.
Gwen hung back. She paled as she stared at the enemy. Everyone was already smashing badniks. Everyone but her and-
"Are you coming?" Amy called, having stopped halfway to the battle. She watched as Gwen nervously scooted in place. Amy sighed. She knew putting another person on the team was a bad idea. Not that she did not like Gwen. Amy very much did like her, as long as she did not chase after Sonic. However, she was just so unprepared. She clearly had not had a lot of fighting experience like the team. When Gwen did not move, Amy walked back to her. "Gwen, you're part of the team now."
Gwen looked away - embarrassed and ashamed.
"I don't mean that you have to fight." Amy clarified, Gwen looked up at her, confused. "I mean, we'll keep you safe. We're a team – that's what we do. We work together. So, come on and smash some bots!" Amy smiled and ran back off to battle.
Gwen watched her. A look of confidence crept on to her face. Man, Amy is encouraging. She thought. I... I can do this! But surely I don't have the speed or agility to fight effectively... Gwen looked at her hoverboard. She smirked, realising the solution to her problems was right in front of her. She leapt on to the board and sped into battle.
The moment Gwen entered the danger zone, she found lasers and blades being thrown her way. She kept her metal arm in front of herself. Somehow, she was now beginning to appreciate being part robot.
While speeding past a mantis bot, it slashed down at her with its arm-blades. Gwen flung up her metal arm to defend herself. Sparkles flew as she passed by – metal grating on metal - then she grabbed the bot, ripping off one of the blades. She armed her squishy left arm with the weapon, then gripped the bot with her metal arm and slung it into a motobug.
Sonic smashed into a beebot, briefly uncurling as he recoiled to give Gwen a thumbs-up and a wink to let her know she was doing just fine.
Gwen laughed, returning a thumb-up. Her smile slipped when she realized how corny and outdated the gesture was, but she shrugged it off. That did not matter when nobody actually cared, so her grin resumed as she circled her next opponent.
In the meantime, Amy smashed a motobug to Knuckles with her hammer. Knuckles then crushed it into a ball and bowled down a line of crabmeats. He bashed his fists together.
"Strike!" He announced, then began chasing down the next nearest bot.
Sticks let out a war cry as she leapt onto a beebot. The beebot buzzed about, trying to fling the badger off, but Sticks clung to it like her life depended on it. She pulled out her boomerang, bashing the bot's head until it fell to the ground a sparking, twitching mess.
Tails hovered above, until he found the right moment to grab a scorpion bot by the tail and used its frantic blasts to shoot other bots on the field.
With the whole team bashing bots, the battle was over within just a couple minutes. The six heroes stood in the middle of the battlefield, piles of junk surrounding them as Eggman hovered in front of the carnage in his Eggmobile.
"Oh, phooey!" He slammed his hands into the control panel, causing the machine to wobble.
"It's over, Eggman." Sonic folded his arms. "Give up."
"But wait, why are you attacking us now? We're working together on the dimensional transport machine!" Tails frowned.
"Just because we work together in our spare time doesn't mean I'm going to pass up the opportunity to overthrow the village!" Eggman huffed. "Now prepare for your doom, Sonic!" He pointed an accusing finger at the Blue Blur. "You will now be destroyed... by Grapplebot!"
At the call to battle, a large claw smashed into the ground in front of the group. A large, yellow robot followed the arm as if it were being reeled in and landed with a crash. Instead of legs, it had treads and its box-like body was sprouting tens of mobile claw-arms that swayed like worms poking out of the ground. There was no discernible head to speak of. Gwen looked up at it, her mind momentarily going blank at the shock. She had never seen a bot quite so strange, nor did she expect one so large to move as fast as it did! She quickly moved when a second claw came crashing down where she was.
"What is this thing?!" She wailed, fleeing on her hoverboard as the claw pulled back from the ground and turned to chase her.
"I told you already!" Eggman snapped. "Are you deaf? It's Grapplebot!"
"Gaaah!" Gwen yelled as it grabbed her leg and retracted its arm, dragging her across the ground then dangling her upside down. "Let go! Let go!" She bashed her fist against it in a struggle to escape.
Amy looked at Sonic, ready to swing her hammer. "Sonic, we've got to get her down from there!" She demanded, her tone bossy.
"Anytime now would be great, guys!" Gwen yelled as she was pulled into the hole where the bot's arm came from. However, she gripped the side of the opening, fighting against the tug on her leg. Her metal fingers put dents in the coat of the bot with how hard she gripped.
Sonic glanced at the others, "Keep it occupied. Tails, find out how we can put this thing down for good!" With that command, he leapt up onto the arm of the bot that was aimed for him, running along it to the main body as other claws attempted to grab him, but only succeeded in tangling themselves up.
Amy, Knuckles and Sticks got to work smashing, ripping and taunting the arms while Tails twisted up his tails, then began flying around the bot, inspecting everywhere he could for signs of weakness.
Sonic leapt from the arm to the hole Gwen was gripping to. He gripped the side and pulled himself up with a grunt. He looked at Gwen, briefly considering his options. He would not be able to pull her out. He had it through his skull now that she was just too heavy. He looked at the inner mechanisms of the bot. It was mostly made up of a large container, presumably to capture the gang in. He looked down at the arm that was gripping Gwen. He looked at her. "Hold on!" He yelled over the inner whirrings of the bot and the battle outside, as he thrust himself into the machine. In the air, he curled himself into a ball and crashed down on the arm, spinning against it. He kept spinning and spinning and it soon began to dent. He pushed himself to go faster, and broke through the arm of the claw.
Gwen yelped at the tension from her leg suddenly disappeared. She slammed against the wall of the bot and pulled herself up slightly. She looked down to see Sonic up getting up, holding his head and looking rather dizzy. "Thanks, Sonic!" She called back. She pulled herself out of the small slot and dropped down onto the treads, landing on her feet. She ran with the treads for a few moments before realising she was not going forward nor back and that she could simply jump off. She hoped no one saw her moment of foolishness as she jumped off the tread.
Tails paused as he caught sight of a panel on the top of the bot between all the arms. He flew down to get a closer look, but the claws lashed out at him. "Ahh!" He cried, flying back. He hovered down to Amy as he pulled out a screwdriver. "Amy! I need your help! I think there'll be a way to shut down this thing from the top, but I can't get past all the arms!"
Amy looked at Tails and nodded. "Right, on it!" She said as the crushed a claw going for her face. "Knuckles, I need a boost!" She called. "And boost Sticks too!"
Knuckles ran over and grabbed Amy in one arm. Sticks bounded over and leapt into the other. Knuckles reared back his arms and flung them to the top of the bot. "Homerun!" He cheered himself on.
After landing, Amy and Sticks pressed themselves back to back as they smashed, crushed and tangled the arms. When there was enough room to land, Tails settled himself on the bot with them, unscrewing the panel he had seen before. Below it sat a number of coloured wires. He frowned as he inspected them.
"When in doubt..." He started, pulling out some wire clippers, "Snip 'em out!" He finished, cutting all the wires at once.
The bot froze. All at once, the arms dropped to the ground like deafening, steel rain. Gwen backed off, just out of reach for any of the arms to hit her. Sonic leapt out of the bot, admiring the team's handiwork. He grinned, looking at Eggman.
"Got anything else hidden in your folds, Egghead?"
Eggman was fuming. "Blast you, you stupid hedgehog!"
Amy walked to the edge of the bot with sticks, and Tails. "Hey!" She yelled, offense having been taken.
Eggman growled louder, "Fine! Blast you hedgehog and friends! I'll get you next time!" He hissed.
"Yeah, yeah." Gwen chuckled. She looked at the mantis blade she had. She looked at Eggman. She grinned, lobbing the claw at his machine. It stuck into the bottom, sparks flying out everywhere.
Eggman wailed and leapt from the machine just at it exploded, chunks of it falling to the ground. "I'll get you for that!" He cried, running away on foot. While Gwen, in the back of her mind, still felt like she should throttle the fat man, she did find it satisfying to blow up his contraption and watch him flee the scene.
Sonic stepped over to Gwen, clapping her on the back. "You did good!"
She looked at him and set a hand behind her head. "You- you think so? That second part I really just got captured."
"Nah." He folded his arms, "You were bait."
Amy came over, having made her way down from the robot. "And in the first half you did really good job."
"And did you not see the way you kicked Eggman's butt at the last second?" Tails hovered down, landing as light as a feather.
Gwen smiled with all the encouragement from the team. She nodded. "Right! Yeah." She held her head high and set her hands on her hips. "I did good."
Amy smiled. "I think, to celebrate Gwen's first battle against Eggman with us, you should all come round to mine! I'll cook up something good."
Gwen's eyes shot open and she grabbed Amy. "Really? Food?"
Amy gently pushed Gwen off, "Y-yes, food."
Gwen laughed, almost crying. "Yes! Something exists in this world that isn't Meh burger!"