Chapter 10: Robotnik's Assault
Knuckles wasn't sure how far he walked since he left G.U.N. Fortress. It felt like he had been walking for hours. He was hungry and exhausted. Seeing a nearby city, he decided to enter it. Little did he know, it was the same city where Robotnik stole the cat.
The first thing Knuckles decided to do was to search for some food and water. He located a nearby grocery store and entered.
He bought grapes and a few water bottles.
He then left Safeway and continued walking down one of the streets.
The Master Emerald signal is getting stronger. I must be getting close to Angel Island. I sure hope the Master Emerald is okay.
--
On the outskirts of the city, Robotnik was stationed inside his latest war machine, the Egg Walker. The doctor had finished repairing it a week after the ARK incident.
The Egg Walker was Robotnik's hovercraft with two bulky mechanical legs attached to it. A vulcan cannon was attached to the right side of the machine, while a pole with a laser blaster on top was attached to the left side. At the front of the craft was a green circular laser lens around one foot in diameter.
To make a long story short, the Egg Walker was heavily armored and had a lot of fire power.
Robotnik then saw Metal Sonic approach him.
"I just finished hacking into the city's main data base." The mechanical hedgehog reported. "Aside from some rumors, no one is aware we came here before."
"Excellent." Robotnik grinned. "The element of surprise is ours then."
"However, a military base is located a few miles away from the city." Metal Sonic said.
"Wont make much of a difference." Robotnik shrugged. "Our goal is to retrieve the chaos emerald, not take over the city."
"We should go over the battle plan first." Metal Sonic said.
"I will strike first, wrecking havoc upon the city. While all the attention is focused on me, you will sneak in and locate the chaos emerald. Once that's done, we'll flee the city before reinforcements arrive." Robotnik explained. "Now that we got that out of the way, let's get to work."
The duo began to approach the city.
--
Officer Larry was patrolling the streets in his police car. Everything seemed normal and his shift was almost up. Everything was going well, until he saw a rocket head towards his direction.
On instinct, Larry got out of his car just in time before it blew up.
"What the…" He trailed off as he saw a deranged scientist in a two legged mechanical walker thing blasting stuff at random.
Larry recognized him as Dr. Robotnik, the world's #1 criminal on the wanted poster.
He quickly radioed the police station.
"This is Officer Larry reporting, I just found Dr. Robotnik." Larry reported.
"Roger that." Came a feminine reply. "Please confirm his coordinates.
"He's wrecking havoc down U.R. Doomed St., Lieutenant." Larry said. "Oh crap! he spotted me."
"Larry get out of there now!" The Lieutenant shouted through the connection.
Larry ran, Robotnik followed firing bullets and rockets.
Larry ran in zigzags and use nearby cars for cover to avoid being hit.
Crud, he's gaining on me. Perhaps if I fire at him, it'll slow him down.
Larry tuned around and pulled out his automatic revolver. He aimed it at Robotnik and fired.
Robotnik snickered as an energy shield surrounded his vehicle and deflected the bullet.
"Did you actually think your little pop gun could damage my Egg Walker?" Robotnik grinned. "I believe it's my turn now."
Larry's face paled, sweat dripped down the side of his forehead, his throat went dry. He turned around and ran like a rabbit. Robotnik didn't follow though. Instead, he began to charge up one of his weapons. The green lens at the front of the Egg Walker began to glow.
"FIRE POWER LASER!" Robotnik shouted as he slammed his fist on one of the buttons of his control panel.
The Egg Walker fired a bright massive laser beam that tore through several cars as if they were made of paper.
The last thing Larry heard was the laughter of the mad scientist before his world went white.
--
Robotnik looked at the spot where the police officer used to be. It was now a large crater.
Ho, ho, ho. That pathetic fool, who had the nerve to rat on me, is now floating around in atoms.
He then heard the sound of sirens.
"Oh well, let his buddies come." Robotnik grinned. "The more that come, the more I can use for target practice."
He saw multiple police cars approaching him. Robotnik targeted them and opened fire.
--
Rouge was inside a nearby tavern. She had come here to see a friend who was a specialist in determining the value of jewels.
"Yep, it's a real chaos emerald alright." Mike the beaver replied. "I'd say it's worth around one million dollars."
"I take it you don't have that kind of money then." Rouge replied.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't buy it." Mike answered. "A lot of people get killed over gems like that. I'd throw that away if I was you."
"Well, I'm not you." Rouge sneered. "Nice try, but I'm taking this to a regular jewel store."
"The sooner you get rid of that thing, the better." Mike shrugged. "There's a jewel store located at U.R. Doomed St."
"U.R. Doomed St.?" Rouge asked. "What kind of name is that?"
"No clue." Mike shrugged. "Anyway, it should be a few miles from this location."
"Thanks for the info." Rouge said. She then left the tavern.
The sooner I get rid of this the better, huh. Yeah right. That beaver was just trying to get my emerald without paying. The moment I throw it away, he'd take it. Might as well head to the jewel store and sell this. I can use the money to get extra jewels.
As she continued walking down the alley, she had the feeling she was being followed.
My bat senses are tingling. I knew it, Mike's following me hoping I'll toss the emerald away. Well, I'll show him.
"All right Mike, I know you're there." Rouge called. "I'm not throwing away the emerald, so you can take a hike."
There was no response.
"Probably just the wind." Rouge shrugged. She continued to walk down the alley.
A few seconds later, her ears sensed the sound of footsteps.
"Will you just give up." Rouge sighed. "You're beginning to tick me off."
There was no response, except for the sound of the wind.
Rouge decided it was just a squirrel and kept walking.
It's only a few miles. The trip should take me 15 minutes. Why do I keep getting the feeling I'm being followed.
Her ears detected the sound of metallic footsteps.
"All right Mike, this isn't funny anymore." Rouge growled. There was an eerie silence. This ticked her off even more.
"ALL RIGHT, GET YOUR FAT BUTT OVER HERE NOW!" Rouge shouted in frustration.
Metal Sonic deactivated his cloaking device and appeared out of thin air.
"My name isn't Mike." Metal Sonic coldly responded. "And my butt isn't fat."
"Who the heck are you?" Rouge demanded.
"I'll be your worst nightmare if you don't hand over that chaos emerald." Metal Sonic replied. "My master wants it."
"Your master…so Eggman built you." Rouge observed.
"Affirmative." Metal Sonic droned. "My code name is Metal Sonic, but you may call me Mecha."
"So your Sonic's copy." Rouge smirked.
"Watch your tongue bat girl." Metal Sonic growled. "Enough fooling around, hand over the emerald or else."
Rouge merely smiled. "Sorry dear, but these emeralds aren't for sale, especially to mad scientists like Eggman." Her smile widened. "You're in no position to threaten me." The two black wings on her back began to flap as she began to rise into the air. "Unless you can fly like superman, you cant catch me. Until then, farewell you cheap copy." She then flew away.
Metal Sonic's eyes glowed bright red for a few seconds. That bat had just crossed the line and he was going to teach her a lesson.
Metal Sonic activated a hidden jet pack on his back and flew after Rouge.
--
Back at G.U.N. Fortress, General Striver was analyzing the data he received from the ARK. The information amazed him. This data would help the army easily stand up against Robotnik's technology in the future. He could already envision the future, he'd easily defeat Eggman, become a hero to the world, and get elected President of the United States.
Just then, his thoughts were interrupted when a soldier barged into the room.
"Sir, we just received word that Dr. Robotnik is attacking a city in North America." The soldier reported.
"What's the name of the city?" General Striver asked.
"A City." The soldier replied.
"I know it's a city." The general growled trying to keep his cool. "I want the name."
"But that's the name of the city." The soldier said. "A."
"Oh." The general sighed. "What are the coordinates?"
"A few miles next to us sir." The soldier replied. "He's last been seen wrecking havoc at U.R. Doomed Street."
"Send the Laser Hunters and any other military robots that are available there." The general replied.
"Yes sir." The soldier saluted before leaving the door.
--
"I just finished fixing the Tornado." Tails announced.
"Awesome job Tails." Sonic gave him a thumbs up. "It's nice to know the Tornado will be ready once we find Eggman's location."
"Um, guys." Monica said. "I don't think you'll have to worry about finding him." She pointed to a nearby TV monitor. "He's already here."
Sonic and Tails saw Dr. Robotnik on the TV screen. He was in his Egg Walker, blasting everything in his path.
"Ever since the ARK incident, the mad scientist, Dr. Robotnik, had been in hiding until now." The news reporter reported. "He has recently decided to attack A City. No one knows what his motives are, but we know this isn't good. Our police forces have already been massacred and our military isn't doing any better either. He was last seen wrecking havoc down, U.R. Doomed street. If you happen to be there, get away from the area."
"So he's at U.R. Doomed Street." Tails mused. "Sonic, you have to get down there right away before any civilians get killed."
"I'm already on it." Sonic ran out of the garage and sped down the street.
"I sure hope he's careful." Monica said.
"Careful?" Tails asked. "Sonic's never careful, he laughs in the face of danger. As a matter of fact, he enjoys the thrill of it."
--
"There's only one word I have to describe this scene." Robotnik sighed as several Laser Hunters fired at him, only to have their shots neutralized by his force field. "Boring."
With the push of a button, the Egg Walker fired a large laser.
Several of them were vaporized on the spot. Before the remaining Laser Hunters had the chance to fire. Robotnik blasted the rest apart with his Vulcan cannon.
"This is absolutely pathetic." Robotnik sighed. "Even the security at Prison Island was more challenging than this. Those idiots didn't even bother to upgrade their robots. I wonder how long it'll be before I face a real challenge."
"Not long at all!" Sonic appeared into view.
"Figures you'd show up as always." Robotnik grinned. "It appears that wild goose chase didn't slow you down."
"Considering the fact that I've been to the ARK before, the search didn't take long." Sonic replied. "Oh by the way, your present back at the pyramid base sucked."
"Oh, what a shame." Robotnik targeted Sonic. "Sorry to disappoint you, but Eggman Empire products have a no return policy." He then fired several laser blasts at Sonic.
Sonic quickly jumped out of the way as the laser blasts vaporized a brick wall of a nearby building.
Before Sonic had the chance to taunt the mad scientist, Robotnik immediately fired some rockets at him.
Sonic simply sidestepped the rockets. "Heh, you missed me by a mile." Sonic smirked. "I guess your getting a bit rusty, especially when you are using an old school machine like the Egg Walker."
"You forget one thing Sonic." Robotnik replied. "I only fought Tails with the Egg Walker, not you. Thus making it the first time I fought you with it. Oh, and by the way I didn't miss, those rockets are programmed to home onto their targets."
Sonic looked behind and saw the rockets approaching his direction. He quickly took off as the rockets followed in pursuit. Sonic ran and ran but the rockets kept following him.
Shoot, these missiles keep following me. There has to be a way to shake them off. Time for me to do some fancy maneuvers.
Sonic ran directly towards a nearby building. Just he was about to hit it, he jumped and began running up the building. The missiles crashed into the building, blowing a hole through the wall.
Sonic then did a u-turn, ran back down the building, jumped and ran along the ground and headed towards the Egg Walker.
He then curled into a ball and spindashed towards the Egg Walker.
Robotnik snickered as he saw Sonic spindash towards him. Just as Sonic was about to score a direct hit, a force field surrounded the Egg Walker causing the blue hedgehog to bounce off it.
"What in the world is this?" Sonic landed on his feet. He then realized what was going on when he saw the energy shield. "That shield, it looks like the same one Mecha used."
"Correct. The energy shield you see before you is the same one that I installed into Mecha recently." Robotnik grinned. "The force field is projected by a shield generator installed within my Egg Walker. With my latest invention, you have no hope of defeating me. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha."
--
Rouge flew above the buildings of the city. She wasn't sure which street was, U.R. Doomed St. though.
Perhaps, I shouldn't have flown too high. Oh well, at least I lost that robot. Just looking at him gives me
the creeps.
Just then, she heard the sound of humming engines. Curious to know what it was, she looked back.
Her eyes widened in horror as she saw what it was.
No way, it can't be. There's no way he should be able to fly.
Heading her direction was an enraged Metal Sonic.
Rouge flew as fast as her wings could allow her.
However, since Metal Sonic could travel up to Mac 2, he was gaining on her.
Rouge reached into one of her belt pockets and pulled out a laser gun. She began rapidly firing lasers at the robotic hedgehog.
Metal Sonic easily evaded the lasers. He then aimed his wrist (which had a hidden laser blaster on it) at Rouge and fired.
Rouge had to fly in bizarre flight patterns in order to avoid those deadly shots.
Crud. This isn't good. Every time I avoid those lasers of his, he keeps getting closer. I better lose him quick before things get ugly.
Just then, Rouge got an idea. She began to fly downwards. Metal Sonic followed pursuit. Rouge continued flying towards the ground, just as she was about to slam into the street below, she swooped back up. She smiled as she heard Metal Sonic zoom right past her towards the ground.
Hah, that's got to teach the tin head not to mess with Rouge the Bat. I guess I should- what the…
Rouge heard the humming of engines again. She looked down to see Metal Sonic flying straight up.
"Nice try." He hissed.
Uh oh, It looks like his AI level is high. Eggman must have taught him not to fall for that trick. My best hope now is to try a direct attack.
Rouge stopped flapping her wings and began to fall towards Metal Sonic feet first. She placed her feet together and began to spin at a fast velocity.
"DRILL KICK!" Rouge shouted.
If Metal Sonic had been organic, he would've smirked. He stopped Rouge's attack by grabbing her foot, then spun her around in a circle and hurled her into a nearby building.
Rouge crashed through a window into a large conference office and landed onto a large table causing all the humans seated around it to gasp in surprise. The moment they saw Metal Sonic fly into the office, they all screamed in terror and ran out of the office.
"Counter this attack you hunk of metal!" Rouge fired her laser gun at Metal Sonic as he landed on the table.
However, Metal Sonic didn't dodge. Instead, he activated his force field which neutralized the lasers.
"As you can see, your attacks can't damage me." Metal Sonic droned. "Care to give up the emerald now?"
"No, it's mine! Mine, I tell you!" Rouge growled. "I'm not giving it up that easily, especially to a mechanical fake."
She ran up to Metal Sonic and delivered a kick straight at his stomach but it was deflected aside by the energy shield.
Metal Sonic kicked Rouge in the stomach knocking her on her back. Before Rouge had the time to recover, Metal Sonic grabbed her by the neck and lifted her into the air.
"I could kill you on the spot right this instant, but after all the insults you gave me, that would be too easy." Metal Sonic said. "Hmm, I wonder which painful way I should finish you off."
Then a very cruel solution appeared into his robotic brain. Instantly, he sank all five of his razor sharp fingers into Rouge's left wing, puncturing the membrane.
Rouge screamed in pain, but Metal Sonic ignored it as he punctured the other wing. Rouge's scream intensified. Metal Sonic patiently let her calm down.
"I wonder if you could still fly with clipped wings?" Metal Sonic mused.
Rouges eyes widened. "You wouldn't." She gasped.
"Try me." Metal Sonic dragged Rouge to the window. "Be sure to say Geronimo for me."
He then threw her out the window. Rouge's heart stopped as she saw the ground getting closer to her.
--
"FIRE POWER LASER!" Robotnik slammed his fist on a single red button on his control panel.
The Egg Walker fired a very large laser at Sonic. Sonic got out of the way just in time as the laser pierced
through a nearby building.
"Hey, watch where you aim that thing." Sonic said. "Those buildings are expensive to build."
"I'll try to be more careful." Robotnik replied sarcastically, he then fired more rockets at Sonic.
If I could get around that barrier of his, this fight would be easy. Hmm, he said it was the same type Mecha had. Ah ha, when Mecha fired a large laser at me, it drained the energy for his shield. Perhaps…
"Yo, Eggy. I Bet you can't hit me with that FLOWER LASER of yours." Sonic taunted.
"It's POWER LASER you fool!" Eggman angrily slammed his fist on the red button.
The large laser was fired once more, however Sonic was prepared for this. He quickly ran to the side and began to run towards the Egg Walker diagonally.
Robotnik already knew that Sonic was preparing to attack him, so he tried to activate hi shield. The shield wouldn't activate though. Robotnik realized that the shield wouldn't activate as long as the laser was firing. He frantically tried to shutdown the laser, but it was to late.
Sonic spindashed straight into the Egg Walker denting its right leg and doing some damage to the main body.
Robotnik then saw some text appear on a little monitor above the control panel.
Damage to shield generator critical. Barrier shield malfunction.
"Looks like your latest invention has a few flaws in it." Sonic flashed his trademark grin.
"SILENCE!" Robotnik barked. "I'll destroy you."
The Egg Walker then began firing laser blasts at Sonic. Sonic easily evaded them and spindashed into the right leg damaging it further.
Enraged, Robotnik fired homing rockets at Sonic. However, the blue hedge was too fast for Robotnik to get a lock on.
Sonic ran at the Egg Walker again and spindashed towards the main body. This turned out to be a mistake. As Sonic was about to score a direct hit at the laser lens on the main body, the laser lens slid open to reveal a hole, a boxing glove popped out of the hole and struck Sonic knocking him out of his spindash.
While Sonic was dazed, Robotnik used this opportunity to have his Egg Walker give Sonic the biggest kick in his life (pardon the pun).
Ever wondered what if felt like to get hit by a wrecking ball. That's what it felt like for Sonic. That kick sent him flying a few feet until he struck a nearby stop sign.
"That…wasn't…fair." Sonic wheezed.
"All's fair in love and war Sonic." Robotnik grinned. "I've been waiting a long time for this moment. Enjoy your last moments as I have my Egg Walker crush you beneath its foot."
Before he could though a cat jumped out of nowhere, jumped into the Egg Walkers cockpit, and began clawing at Robotnik.
"Arghh! Get of me you stupid cat!" Robotnik growled.
While Robotnik was busy trying to get the cat of the cockpit, Sonic got up. Ignoring the pain, he ran at the Egg Walker and curled into a spindash.
Robotnik finally was able to throw the cat out of the cockpit.
"There now to take care of- Oh crud." The doctor's eyes widened.
Sonic spindashed into the Egg Walker's right leg severing it from its body. Robotnik quickly pushed a button labeled EJECT.
The hovercraft hovered into the air and detached it's remaining leg, letting it crash into the ground.
"Ho, ho, ho." Robotnik laughed. "An excellent fight indeed. I should've figured you'd be able to bust up
my war machine as usual."
"That's odd. Normally you get mad whenever I defeat you." Sonic scratched his head in confusion.
"You mean you haven't figured out why I even bothered attacking the city in the first place?" Robotnik asked. "Ho, ho, ho. That's really funny."
"Of course I know." Sonic said. "You wanted to takeover the city."
"If that was true, I would have attacked it with an army of robots." Robotnik replied. "The reason I bothered attacking was to serve as a distraction."
"A distraction?" Sonic asked.
"While we were fighting each other, Metal Sonic sneaked into this city unnoticed and tracked down the chaos emerald." Robotnik explained. "He's probably found it by now."
"You are searching for the seven chaos emeralds again?" Sonic asked.
"Nope, just one." Robotnik answered. "I only need one chaos emerald to rule the world this time."
"One?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I knew you're a mad scientist, but this is just nuts."
"You'll find out why soon enough." Robotnik smiled. "Well, I should be going. The reinforcements will be
arriving here soon enough. Until then, farewell."
Robotnik flew away in his hovercraft. Sonic was exhausted and injured, so he didn't bother following him.
The cat that ambushed Robotnik walked up to Sonic. The cat smelled like it had come from the sewers. On closer examination, it had three black stripes on it's back. Sonic immediately recognized it.
"Hey, you're the cat I chased through the sewers." Sonic said.
"Meow." The cat began to lick one of Sonic's wounds.
Just then Amy came into view.
"Oh no, please don't be dead." Amy said.
"I'm fine." Sonic groaned. "It's only a scratch."
"SCRATCHES DON'T BLEED LIKE THAT!" Amy shrieked. "Your covered in cuts and bruises." She calmed down a bit. "Luckily for you, I got a first aid kit with me."
"I look that bad huh." Sonic sighed. Assuming Amy was over exaggerating, he began to walk away but his left leg began to hurt.
"Stop walking away!" Amy shouted. "You are making your leg bleed. Just relax and sit down so I can patch you up."
"Very well." Sonic sighed and obediently sat down.
"As soon as I heard the news, I tried to get here as fast as I could." Amy began patching up Sonic's leg. "It appears I was to late though."
"Wouldn't have made much of a difference if you made it." Sonic replied. "Eggman upgraded his machine with a barrier. Your hammer wouldn't have put a dent. That cat saved my life though." He pointed at the cat.
"Oh I recognize that cat." Amy said. "That's a cat from the alley. It likes to play tricks on other people. The cat doesn't have an owner though. Trust me, I already searched very thoroughly for the owner."
She then finished patching up Sonic's wrist.
"There, all done." Amy smiled. "Both your leg and wrist are patched up."
"Good." Sonic stood up. "I guess I should head back to garage to see Tails. Apparently the plan to find Eggman turned out to be a flop." He then looked at his wrist.
Sonic's eyes widened.
"Is there something wrong Sonic?" Amy asked.
"Amy I know your fond of pink." Sonic said. "But I never knew you were a pink fanatic." He showed her his bandaged wrist.
The bandages on his wrist were pink.
"But these bandages should heal your wounds in a few hours." Amy protested.
"I don't care." Sonic snapped. "I don't like pink, especially when it's on me." He then sighed. "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."
--
Rouge's left arm ached..
I sure hope I didn't end up breaking it.
She then opened her eyes. She had landed in a nearby alley.
She then tried to stand up. The ground felt uneven. She looked down and saw she had landed on a pile of garbage bags that broke her fall.
Disgusted, she quickly got off them. At that moment she heard the sound of humming engines.
Uh oh, it must be the robot. I better find a spot to hide fast.
Normally, Rouge wasn't fond of garbage. However, since her life was endangered, she hid under the bags.
Ew, gross. I can't believe I'm doing this. I sure hope he isn't searching for me.
As Metal Sonic hovered to the ground, he detected chaos energy coming from the garbage bags.
"It's useless to hide from me." Metal Sonic said. "That chaos emerald is giving away your position."
There was no response. Metal Sonic walked towards the pile of garbage bags. Either Rouge was hiding, or the chaos emerald was hidden there.
Rouge knew that attacking Metal Sonic head on would prove useless, since the robotic hedgehog had that barrier.
However, there was only one attack she hadn't tried yet. It involved using the power of a chaos emerald. She didn't bother using it before because it would drain a lot of energy from her. However, since nothing else seemed to break the robots shield see might as well give it a shot.
She then began to charge up chaos energy for her attack. When she was fully charged up she jumped out of hiding.
"BLACK WAVE!" She shouted as she unleashed a black ball sphere of chaos energy from her palm.
Metal Sonic activated his shield, but it didn't do him much good. The attack went through his shield, tore straight into him, and short circuited his shield generator.
"You'll pay for that." Metal Sonic hissed before lunging at her.
"Oh, I don't think so." Rouge rushed toward the robot.
Rouge was very skilled at kick boxing. Since Metal Sonic didn't have the barrier to protect him anymore, he received several hits.
However, Metal Sonic was designed to be an assassin bot, thus making him the perfect killing machine. Even though he had several hidden weapons, Metal Sonic preferred hand to hand combat.
Ignoring the dents he received, he continued slash and punch at her. Rouge continued her assault while evading the blows.
However, Rouge was already exhausted from the aerial combat she had with Metal Sonic earlier. On the other hand, Metal Sonic wasn't tired at all. Aside from the destroyed shield generator, he was ready to continue fighting. Then, it happened.
Rouge accidentally miscalculated one of her kicks, allowing Metal Sonic to grab her foot and swing her into a nearby brick wall.
The battle went downhill from there.
--
"Man, this city is a maze." Knuckles muttered as he walked down one of the alleys. "I wonder where I am now."
He then heard a loud thud. Curious, Knuckles decided to check it out. What he saw made his heart stop.
Metal Sonic was beating the living daylights out of Rouge.
Impossible, I thought Sonic destroyed him. Eggman must've rebuilt him.
Metal Sonic just finished stomping on Rouge's back. He was about to kick her, when Rouge raised her hand in surrender.
"Speak your peace, bat girl." Metal Sonic droned.
"If I give you the emerald, will you let me go?" Rouge asked.
Metal Sonic thought about this. Then made up his mind.
"Affirmative." Metal Sonic confirmed. "I'll cease my assault in exchange for the emerald."
Rouge threw the chaos emerald at Metal Sonic. The robotic hedgehog caught it.
"Master Robotnik will be pleased." Metal Sonic held the emerald in triumph.
"Whatever." Rouge muttered.
"However, I'm going to kill you anyway." Metal Sonic aimed his laser blaster at Rouge.
"WHAT!" Rouge's eyes widened in horror.
"I don't let people with loose tongues off that easily." Metal Sonic said. "Goodbye-kzzt."
Knuckles jumped out of hiding and punched Metal Sonic at the side of the head, sending him flying into a brick wall.
"Pick on someone your own size." Knuckles growled in anger.
"Hmm, aren't you supposed to be guarding the Master Emerald at Floating Island?" Metal Sonic asked. "Leave now, you are interrupting a murder."
"Exactly." Knuckles crossed his arms. "I'm here to stop you."
"Dare interfere and you can join her fate." Metal Sonic hissed. "I highly suggest you mind your own business and go back to your island."
"Protecting innocent victims from the likes of you is my business." Knuckles retorted. "It may be my duty to guard the Master Emerald, but that doesn't mean I have honor. Speaking of which, I believe you agreed to leave Rouge alone if she handed you the emerald. Going back on your word is dishonorable."
"Honor is for pathetic weaklings." Metal Sonic growled. "Now die."
Metal Sonic tried to slash at Knuckles with his claws. Knuckles easily evaded the attack and gave the demented robot an uppercut followed by a punch in the stomach sending him crashing into a brick wall into the air to evade the lasers,.
Metal Sonic tried blast Knuckles with a laser blaster. The red echidna jumped into the air.
"Using a laser blaster is also dishonorable too." Knuckles glided towards Metal Sonic and kicked him with both feet sending him crashing into another wall again.
Metal Sonic scanned himself. He was dented in several areas and his systems were working at 25 percent capacity. Apparently the battle with Rouge and Knuckles had damaged him. If he kept on fighting, he'd probably end up back into the scrap yard. He then computed the best solution was to retreat
"I won't forget this." Metal Sonic hissed as he teleported away.
"Are you okay?" Knuckles asked.
"Bruises aside, I'm fine." Rouge answered. "I was pretty lucky not to get slashed by his claws."
"You're lucky that you survived." Knuckles replied. "Not many people who face Metal Sonic live to tell the tale."
"Yeah, I just figured that out." Rouge sighed. "However, little did that idiot know, I attached a tracking device to the chaos emerald."
"My, you're a sneaky bat to the end." Knuckles said.
"Yeah, kind of ironic." Rouge smiled. "It turns out Metal Sonic's attempted execution wasn't dishonorable after all."
"Oh, I was just messing with him about that." Knuckles smirked. "I'm just your average guy who has some morality. Trust me, if honor was the only thing I cared about, I wouldn't bother to help Sonic and his friends fight against Eggman on occasions."
"Heh, I already knew that since the ARK incident." Rouge smiled. "Speaking of which, I need to find a computer. Normally, I'd use the ones at G.U.N. Fortress, but that's too far away and Metal Jerk clipped my wings. It'd have to be one of the computers in the city."
"You could use Sonic's computer." Knuckles suggested. "I'm sure he'd like to know where Eggman is."
"Sonic's here?" Rouge asked.
"Yeah, I saw his plane parked in a garage earlier." Knuckles replied. "I can show you where it is if you want."
"Please do." Rouge nodded.
They then left the alley.
--
"I wonder if Sonic's alright." Monica said.
"I'm sure he's fine." Tails assured her. "There, just finished switching computers, now the Tornado can go into walker mode. I can now help Sonic fight Eggman."
"Already sent him packing." Sonic entered the garage with Amy.
His leg was wrapped in a pink bandage, while another pink bandage covered his wrist.
"Don't even think of laughing." Sonic flatly stated.
"I take it Amy did that to you." Monica observed.
"Yep." Amy proudly announced. "Sonic got injured in his battle against Eggman, so I patched him up."
"With pink bandages?" Tails raised an eyebrow.
"Oh knock it off." Amy sighed. "It's just pink. What's the big deal?"
"It saps away my strength." Sonic said.
"Yeah right." Amy said. "I have you know not everything in my house is pink."
"Like what?" Sonic asked.
"My teddy bear." Amy said.
"You sleep with a teddy bear?" Tails asked. "Seriously Amy, you need to grow up."
"Whoa easy there." Monica said. "There's no need for an argument among friends." She then turned her attention to Sonic. "Were you able to find Eggman's location?"
"Afraid not." Sonic sighed. "He left before I could question him."
"Luckily for you, we know his where he is." A familiar voice said.
The group turned around and saw Rouge and Knuckles standing at the doorway. However, Rouge is what caught their attention. She was covered in bruises.
"What happened to you?" Sonic asked.
"I had a little encounter with Metal Sonic." Rouge said. "But that's not important right now. At this very moment, Mecha has a tracking device on him. I need your computer to locate him."
"So if we find Mecha, we find Eggman." Sonic realized.
"That pretty much sums it up." Knuckles nodded.
"You can use mine at the corner." Tails pointed at the computer.
"That should do." Rouge walked to the computer.
She then plugged one of her gadgets into the computer and began typing. A map of the world appeared on the monitor. A few minutes later, she found the location.
"That's odd, I never heard of that location before." Rouge frowned.
"Let me see." Sonic stepped in front of the monitor. His eyes widened.
"Sonic, what's wrong?" Monica asked.
"It can't be...impossible…we destroyed it." Sonic shook his head in disbelief.
"What's the name of the location?" Tails asked.
Sonic spoke only one word that made everyone in the room gasp, except for Rouge and Monica. "Robotropolis."