"This isn't what I had in mind!" Lilac cries, clinging on to the top wing of a red biplane as tightly as she can.
"What are you talking about? This is awesome!" Carol replies from the pilot's seat.
"Not from up here it isn't!" Lilac counters.
"Afraid of heights?" Carol teases.
"Of course not!" Lilac retorts. Falling to my death, on the other hand…
"Heads up!" Carol warns. "Bogeys, twelve o'clock!"
Lilac looks up to see three red plane robots with sharp beaks as noses flying directly at the biplane. With a yelp of surprise, she throws herself flat on the wing, allowing the plane robots to pass harmlessly overhead.
"More coming!" Carol alerts. "You're gonna need to pop a few of 'em!"
"You gotta be kidding me!" Lilac calls back.
"Don't worry, I won't let you fall!" Carol promises.
Lilac swallows hard. OK, let's do it to it.
Over the next minute or so, Lilac and Carol battle through an armada of flying robots consisting of not just the red plane robots, but also bulbous bombers and turtle‑shaped hovering platforms that shoot energy projectiles. Lilac does her best to swallow her fear and bust as many badniks as she can, but more often than not, Carol's surprisingly capable flying skills are relied on more.
Eventually, after a seemingly endless wave of attackers, the robots stop coming.
"Phew!" Lilac sighs in relief, allowing herself to relax. "Thank the Ancients that's over!"
Carol's ears twitch. Curious, she looks over the side of the cockpit. "Erm… Lilac, there's a massive airship below us, and it's getting closer."
Despite herself, curiosity gets the better of Lilac, and she carefully moves to the wing tip to get a look. "Woah…"
The girls watch as the airship ascends past them, propelled upwards by banks of rocket thrusters.
"That must be the madman's flying fortress," Lilac concludes.
"How do you know that?" Carol asks.
"Who else would build something like that?" Lilac asks rhetorically.
"Uh‑oh," Carol remarks. "More badniks."
Lilac returns to the centre of the wing, ready for next wave of enemies. Mercifully, it's a much smaller wave, and the girls make it through unscathed.
"Think you can catch up to that thing?" Lilac asks, referring to the airship.
The world fades to black.
"Looks like I don't have to," Carol observes, noticing that they're now directly behind the airship, and approaching what looks like a landing platform at the tail of it.
"Look out!" Lilac cries, ducking as several laser bolts are fired at the biplane.
Carol tries to avoid the lasers, but it's too late: one of them hits the biplane.
"I can't hold her!" Carol cries. "Lilac, jump!"
"But‑"
"Just do it!"
Lilac jumps from the wing and lands on the end of the rear landing platform, where she watches Carol and the biplane begin to plummet, eventually disappearing through the cloud layer. "Carol…" Wait, why am I worrying? She'll appear in a moment or two.
Lilac looks to the sky, waiting for Carol to arrive. However, after a minute, there's no sign of her. Guess I must do this alone… Carol, wherever you are, I hope you're OK.
"Stupid plane! Level out!" Carol grunts, desperately trying to regain control of the stricken biplane. But it's no use: the plane continues to plummet, smoke pouring from its damaged engine, the ground rushing up to meet Carol with terminal violence. However, the wildcat‑cum‑kitsune doesn't surrender, and eventually wrestles control just in time to land without crashing, the biplane skidding to a halt abruptly.
"Ow," Carol sighs, relieved she's safe. "I'm gonna be feelin' that in the mornin'."
After a few moments to calm her nerves, Carol's thoughts turn to Lilac. I hope she's alright up there, and that she'll be able to figure out what to do. It's all up to her now. Unless…
Carol hops out the biplane and looks around her improvised landing site. "Wow, that's a lot of scrap metal I missed! I wonder if there's anything useful here…" After a couple of minutes rummaging through the scrap, Carol finds a liquid‑fuel rocket booster: a quick check shows it's still full. "Who throws something like this away?" Suddenly, an idea occurs. "I know just what to do with it!"
A couple of minutes later, the rocket booster is attached to the bottom of the biplane, and linked to the plane's controls. Confident the rocket will work, Carol quickly repairs the propeller engine (the damage thankfully limited to the intake manifold), then clambers aboard and takes off, setting course for the Wing Fortress.
"You don't see that bit in the game!"
Meanwhile, on the Wing Fortress itself, and unaware of Carol's fate, Lilac decides to stop wasting time. OK, you can do this. You've done solo missions before: this is no different. Well, apart from being in a fake world and a mile above the ground. And with me being a hedgehog instead of a dragon. Oh, who am I kidding? This is totally different! It couldn't be more different if it was an alien warlord trying to steal the Kingdom Stone! Lilac takes a deep breath. OK girl, calm down. You may not have dragon powers, but you still have your training. Use it, and you'll be fine.
With renewed resolve, Lilac steps onto a launcher, is propelled at high speed along the length of the landing platform, and slams face‑first into the fortress's rear bulkhead. A moment later, she slides down the bulkhead and lands in a crumpled heap at the bottom of a short access shaft. Ow…
Lilac picks herself up, dusts herself down, and continues following the accessway across, down, and back again. After floating over a couple up large fans, she lands on a platform just in time to avoid an egg being fired at her. What the… Was that an egg? A quick look ahead reveals the shooter: a chicken robot in a turret. Stifling a giggle, Lilac pops the badnik, the innocent creature trapped inside hopping away happily, right off the edge of the platform and into mid‑air. Did it just jump to its death? Why would it‑ oh, wait, game logic. So, it's probably going to be fine. I hope.
Lilac reaches the end of the platform and halts in total disbelief. No way. This cannot be the way I must go, surely? Hanging onto rails below a massive airship a mile in the air, rocket engines just feet away? Who in their right mind would dare do this? Lilac takes a deep breath to steel herself. But I have no choice.
Lilac jumps and grabs the first rail, then makes the mistake of looking down. With a squeak of terror, she screws her eyes shut and hugs the rail. Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea. But there's no other choice. Slowly, Lilac opens her eyes. Doing her best to ignore the colossal and fatal drop, she spots a moving platform getting closer. At the right moment… Lilac picks her moment: to her great relief, she lands square in the centre of the platform, which then carries her past the rocket exhausts. Wow, that's hot!
Past the rockets, Lilac jumps to the next rail, then rides another platform to a third rail. Two more moving platforms later, Lilac is back on the fortress itself, where she takes the chance to recover her wits. Never felt so afraid… Heart's doing two hundred a minute… I am an idiot for trying that!
After calming herself enough to drop her heart rate to around one hundred twenty, Lilac rides another moving platform to the next level up. Forced to head back towards the rear of the ship by a brace of large propellers, she dispatches three more chicken robots with ease, the sole turret she passes unable to react to her presence in time to attack her. Soon, Lilac arrives at the next major obstacle: a quartet of thin platforms that alternate between vertical and horizontal. Another section where, if I fail, I plummet to my death? Lilac peeks over the edge of the platform. No, but if I mess this up, I'd have to do that bit under the ship, and I'm never doing that again!
Lilac watches the platforms alternate until she's sure of their pattern. Confident she'll succeed, she hops from one to the next, and reaches the top of the ship's hull. At last! Relative safety! Turning back towards the front of the ship, Lilac quickly comes across a lamppost, which she hugs tightly. I won't have to do any of that again! I love you, lamppost. With renewed calmness, Lilac continues towards the front of the ship, remaining in good spirits as she dispatches chicken bots and avoids turrets. Eventually, she reaches an area about halfway up the ship that's still under construction. Unable to proceed further, Lilac explores other options, and finds a way into the ship itself. About time!
The next moment, Lilac is blown out a side hatch and down the side of the ship. Screaming in terror, Lilac grabs desperately at anything she can get a hold of, eventually grabbing the edge of a silver panel that gives way after just a few seconds. Lilac manages to grab another panel, but that also gives way, as does a third. But luck decides to favour Lilac when she's blown safely back inside the ship.
Lilac lies on her back, panting heavily, her eyes wide with terror, her limbs shaking as the adrenaline slowly filters out of her bloodstream. For a full minute, coherent thoughts refuse to form as her brain attempts to process what just happened. Eventually though, Lilac calms down enough to return to her senses. That was… That was terror incarnate.
Lilac slowly gets to her feet and moves to the rear of the platform she's on. Looks like I'll have to stay in front of the propellers, unless I want to repeat most of this level. And that's not happening. So, it's the conveyors or nothing.
Lilac rides the conveyors down to find a series of seven hatches along the side of the ship that regularly open and close that she must use to continue through the level. Gotta go fast: if I don't, I die. Lilac watches the hatches as much as possible while hopping from platform to platform on the conveyor, then picks her moment. Hopping from hatch to hatch, landing on the first just as it opens, Lilac makes it across the long distance just in time, where she is greeted with her new most favourite thing in all existence: a lamppost with a yellow base and a red orb on top.
Lilac hugs the lamppost with all the tenderness one would hug an old friend. "I'm so happy you're here," she murmurs. A few moments later, Lilac realises how weirdly she's behaving. Unable to hold back a deep blush, even though there's no‑one around, Lilac lets go of the lamppost, clears her throat, and immediately walks onto a launcher that sends her flying across a gap.
Quick reactions allow Lilac to avoid hitting a launcher that would have sent her straight back. She then allows momentum to carry her to a set of four platforms orbiting a central point, where she takes a moment to get her bearings. Well, I'm going in the right direction. Also, the front part of this ship isn't connected to the back part? How does that even work? I'll ask Carol later. I hope she's OK.
Mercifully for Lilac, the route to the front of the ship is relatively simple, and free from danger, although the route is a little convoluted. At the front, Lilac grabs the lamppost and runs a full circle around it before continuing to a hatchway. This must be the way to the cockpit. Lilac breaks the hatch open and drops into the ship.
"So, you finally made it," the madman greets from the far end of the corridor. "I've been waiting for you, rodent!"
"I'm not a rodent!" Lilac yells back. "I'm a dragon!"
"You look more like a hedgehog to me, rodent," the madman retorts.
I forgot I'm a hedgehog… How could I forget that? "I'm still not a rodent!" Lilac insists. "I'm an erinaceid!"
"Whatever you say, rodent," the madman mocks.
This is going nowhere. "Why do you keep attacking us?" Lilac demands.
"Because you keep interfering with my plans," the madman answers tersely.
"If you didn't trap innocent creatures in those robots, we wouldn't have to interfere!" Lilac declares.
"That is but a small part of a far grander plan," the madman boasts.
"I'll take this airship down too if I have to!" Lilac promises.
The madman laughs at the idea, surprising Lilac. "You still don't understand the greatness of my plan," he mocks.
"Humour me," Lilac demands.
"My plan is to subjugate the world using my greatest creation, my battle fortress space station, the Death Egg!" the madman informs. "Everyone will bow to the greatness of Doctor Eggman!"
Lilac blinks a few times, then bursts into laughter. "Your name is Eggman?" she sniggers.
"Silence, rodent!" Eggman commands.
"If you say so… Eggman!" Lilac chuckles.
"Just for that, my first target will be that brat of a fox who follows you around!" Eggman promises.
Lilac stops laughing immediately. "No‑one threatens Carol!" Sash barks, charging directly at Eggman, only to hit a powerful forcefield.
"Foolish rodent," Eggman mocks. "Do you think I would leave myself undefended?"
"Drop the force field!" Sash demands.
"I have a better idea," Eggman replies. "Since you are now trapped, let's play a game I like to call 'Rodent versus Laser'."
Sash looks behind her to see she is indeed trapped between two forcefields. This isn't good. A noise from above draws her attention upwards, where she sees a dome emerge from the ceiling and start to move back and forth between the forcefields. A moment later, a hatch opens, and three small platforms with spikes on the bottom emerge and begin moving erratically between the forcefields, covering almost the full height of the corridor. This is very not good.
"Say goodbye, rodent!" Eggman gloats as he watches.
"Not a chance!" Sash retorts, a plan of attack forming in her head.
The dome stops moving, and twin shutters retract to expose a smaller orange dome underneath. As the sound of the laser charging builds, Sash takes the opportunity. Using the small platforms, she leaps up to the orange dome, striking it solidly. Before she can score a second hit, the laser fires, Sash rolling out the way just in time.
The shutters close and the dome starts moving again, stopping several seconds later. This time, Sash is better prepared, and she scores two hits before the laser fires.
"No, this cannot be!" Eggman protests.
But Sash isn't listening. Allowing her Red Scarf training to surface, she scores another two hits when the dome stops a third time, then destroys it with three rapid hits on the fourth. The dome and the platforms explode, causing the forcefields to fail.
"Now to deal with‑" Sash begins, stopping when she sees Eggman has disappeared. Where did he go? Sash walks to where Eggman was to find that he has descended a lift shaft and disappeared. You're not gonna get away from me that easily!
Sash drops down the shaft and lands on the platform below to see Eggman in a shuttlecraft, about to take off. "Stop right there Eggman!"
Eggman ignores Sash and launches the shuttlecraft.
"Get back here!" Sash yells, running to the end of the platform. But it's too late: Eggman makes his escape.
Just then, a familiar red biplane appears in front of Lilac. "Need a lift?" Carol asks, a massive grin splitting her face in two.
"Carol!" Lilac exclaims with relief, jumping onto the top wing. "So glad to see you're alright!"
"Likewise," Carol replies. "Now hold on: I gave this old crate a bit of a boost."
Lilac takes a firm hold of the wing. "Let's do it to it!"
Carol sighs in amusement, and fires the rocket booster.
The biplane surges forward, Lilac clinging on as hard as she can. Soon, the girls catch Eggman's shuttlecraft, but the doctor counters by accelerating. With speeds matched, both craft gain altitude together.
"He's heading into space!" Carol concludes.
"I know!" Lilac replies. "Keep pushing!"
"But this plane won't work in space!" Carol informs. "You'll have to jump!"
"But‑"
"You have to jump, otherwise we can't finish the game!" Carol explains.
Darn it! Lilac takes a deep breath, jumps as hard as she can, and grabs hold of Eggman's shuttle. This is insane!
"Go get him, Lilac!" Carol calls, the biplane unable to climb higher. "And come back to me," she adds quietly, watching the shuttlecraft climb into orbit.
Suddenly, all of Carol's memories of the game come flooding back. The sudden influx of information briefly overwhelms her, but she regains control quickly. "Finally!" she exclaims. "I can remember‑"
Carol's blood turns to ice. "Lilac! The final boss takes twelve hits!" she yells desperately.
But Lilac is too far away to hear.
The world fades to black.