A/N: You have no idea how hard the Egg Mobile-S was to adapt.

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fanfiction. Sonic the Hedgehog and all properties belong to SEGA. I only own Reiko and her parents, and the extended lore of the Chaos Emeralds since that's mostly up for interpretation anyway. Please support the official release.

Arc 03: Spring Yard

Chapter 09: Escaping the Spring Yard

Sonic dashed through the city streets, always slowing down to allow the Badniks to catch up. Thankfully the plan had worked and the prison was being transported by three more SWATbots. He couldn't help but feel sorry for the prisoners, being dragged and thrown around like that.

He rounded a corner as the SWATbots fired on him, narrowly avoiding the lasers that were being fired relentlessly. Sonic looked behind to see around six blue ball robots pursuing him closely. No doubt Eggman was trying to copy Sonic's speed again. The ball-bots, Rollers as Sonic named them, tried to ram into him. He leaped over one, sending it sailing into another, the explosion catching another by surprise. The SWATbots and Spikes continued after him, but Sonic merely chuckled.

"You're making this way too easy!" He quickly dodged a set of spikes fired by the Spikes robots. "Seriously, who taught you guys to shoot?"

Sonic rounded a corner, the convoy following, prisoners being rattled around everywhere. He looked at the rooftops and spotted Reiko as she began to leap over them. He prayed that she would get there in time. Sonic ducked under a Roller that had powered up a makeshift ramp. It landed with a thud and rattled around. Sonic quickly jumped on it, releasing the animal inside. It scurried away from the path of the other Badniks.

Sonic sped down the street, seeing the park up ahead. He glanced at Reiko, who was in place with the detonator. Chuckling, he hopped onto a bench and smirked at the robots. The convoy pulled up as its leader stepped forward- a SWATbot with a red helmet.

"-Bzzt- There is nowhere to run to, hedgehog," it said in a monotone voice. "Surrender yourself to the Eggman Empire."

"I have a better idea," Sonic chuckled. "Yo! Reiko!"

On the rooftops Reiko activated the dynamite. The foundations of the watchtower shattered, wood flying everywhere. The makeshift structure fell slightly then toppled over on to the street in a tangled mess, crushing several SWATbots in the process. Reiko gasped in shock.

"Don't worry, SWATbots don't have animals in them!" Sonic yelled.

Reiko nodded slightly then jumped down to him. The leader pointed a laser at them. "Seize them!" It ordered.

"Split up!" they both said together.

The mechs fired on the pair of them as they went in opposite directions. Reiko hopped on to a bench, leaping to an overhanging ledge and clambering up. Ducking down she observed the scene; seven SWATbots and ten Spikes. She dashed off, jumping off the adjacent wall and landing on the shoulders of one of the SWATbots, and began to punch its head. She managed to get the SWATbot to fire on the Spikes in its confusion.

Sonic, who had been dealing with a two other Spikes, watched a SWATbot take aim at her. He rushed over, jumped and kicked the SWATbot before jumping on its head. Sonic then whipped round, running at full speed and rolling into the last three Spikes and then straight into the legs of the SWATbot Reiko was beating. It toppled, Reiko rolling to the side.

"Sorry!" Sonic apologized, stamping on the SWATbots head. "Four more left. Two apiece?"

Reiko nodded, focusing on her two. Evidently they were resilient, but judging by the fact that their aim was virtually non-existent, they probably weren't as threatening as they looked. Heh, they were probably pretty dumb too. The two fired at her as she ran to them. As she got closer, the one on the left brought its laser arm down on her. She quickly grabbed it, watching the barrel of the weapon light up. On instinct she pushed it up, causing the SWATbot the shoot the second one, which shot its assailant on instinct.

"Two down!" she shouted. "I'll get the prisoners."

"Sounds like a plan!" Sonic shouted back, literally running rings around the last two SWATbots, launching into one and then careening into the other. He dashed to the prisoners as Reiko made it to them. "I thought you said you had these?"

"We can't all move at 75 miles per hour," she chuckled, unlocking the door.

The prisoners slowly and timidly got out of the metal jail cart and began to thank Sonic and Reiko. While Reiko talked with the prisoners Sonic looked in the cart. At the very back, in a small glass case was a glowing silver Chaos Emerald. He grinned and punched the glass, breaking it. He picked it up, feeling the smooth, weightless gemstone in his hand.

Danger...escape!

Sonic blinked as those two words whispered in the back of his mind, making him worry. Reiko popped her head round the doorway.

"You got the Chaos Emerald?" she asked.

Sonic nodded. "I think we need to be making tracks and fast."

Reiko frowned, confused. "Why?"

"Call it a hunch, but I think Eggman knows we're here and he's on his way."

The chinchilla nodded as Sonic left the cart. He walked to the escapees, a mixture of wolves, cats, birds, crocodiles and foxes. One of them, an elderly woman, stepped forward. "W-what do we do now?"

Sonic looked at Reiko. "What's the quickest route out?"

"The bridge," she said. "Once we're across there's nothing but forest and fields until Star Light City."

"And it doesn't sound like a place to get stuck on. Come on."

"And now you've probably jinxed us," Reiko sighed, helping the prisoners over Eggman's barricades.

-*G: S1*-

The bridge was a mixture of stone and metal, covered with neon lights and those random greeny-blue blocks on the sides. The burnt shells of cars littered the way and small, destroyed barricades were stationed periodically along the bridge. The group had made it to the bridge with relative ease, too much ease now that Sonic thought about it. And now he just wished to get these people out of the city as fast as he could.

They quickly began to cross, Sonic running ahead with the faster adults and the children while Reiko helped the few elder prisoners across. The area was deathly quiet and there was a fearful atmosphere hanging over them.

"Sonic, I don't like this," Reiko said, helping a man over some barricades.

"Keep calm, we're nearly halfway."

"And that is as far as you will get!" came the voice they had been dreading.

In his Egg Mobile, now equipped with two spike launchers, Dr Eggman descended, grinning maliciously.

"I see you've been busy, rodent," he said.

"It keeps me in shape," Sonic chuckled, urging the frightened escapees to keep going. "Unlike the sitting around in floating eggs you do."

The mad scientist frowned. "Regardless, your little adventure ends here."

(Fight and Away- KH 1.5 OST)

Egg Mobile-S

Eggman immediately went on the offensive, strafing the ground with spikes. Sonic quickly moved the people he was escorting out of the way as the spikes exploded violently, leaving large holes in the bridge. Eggman swerved the pod round and aimed at Reiko and the elderly.

"Y-you wouldn't dare!" Reiko yelled, standing in front of them in a vain attempt at stopping him.

"Oh, I think I would," Eggman said coldly.

Just then Sonic Spin Jumped into the machine as Eggman fired, sending the spikes all over. Bounding off and running along the edge of the bridge, Sonic rounded the group of elderly prisoners and jumped at Eggman again, sending the machine spinning round.

"Reiko, I'll keep him busy, go!"

Reiko nodded and helped the prisoners get across. Eggman regained control of the Egg Mobile and set his sights on Sonic.

"Fine. If you want to die first, I won't keep you waiting," he said, firing again.

Sonic jumped as the explosions demolished the part of the bridge he was standing on. He landed on Eggman's control console, making it spark a little, before jumping back to the ground.

"You need to do better than that, Eggy," Sonic chuckled.

Eggman growled and sent another volley. Sonic dodged down and they went careening into the bridge, narrowly avoiding Reiko and the prisoners.

"C'mon," she said helping up a male fox. "Nearly there."

"Thank goodness I'm nearly deaf, eh?" he chuckled.

Meanwhile, Sonic continued to run around, having to push further up the bridge to avoid falling. Another volley was launched, catching some of the cars and causing them to explode.

"Stand still so I can shoot you!" Eggman shouted, frustrated.

He launched another volley at the hedgehog, catching him in the edge of the resulting explosion. Sonic slowly stood up, arm burned and bleeding a little. Eggman laughed triumphantly. "Not so tough now, Sonic!"

Sonic chuckled a little. "Yeah. Got hit once out of how many attacks?"

Eggman fumed. "We'll see how cocky you are when I'm scraping you off the road."

He moved in again, strafing the ground. Sonic ran at full pelt and jumped, narrowly missing the shot. He collided with the Egg Mobile, making a large dent in the front of it. Sonic shimmied around the side while Eggman tried to shake him off. Wincing at the pain in his arm he reached up and managed to break one of the launchers. He couldn't help wonder how such a powerful looking machine could be so flimsy.

"Stop breaking my machines!" Eggman shouted, lunging for him. Sonic ducked, then jumped on to Eggman's head, leaving spines in it. "Hey!"

"Sorry, Eggy," Sonic grinned, dislodging the second launcher before jumping off and striking a victory pose. "And that's three-nil to me!"

"This isn't over..." Eggman growled. "I will have the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic. Mark my words!"

With that Eggman flew his smoking Egg Mobile away, leaving the injured Sonic to cross the bridge.

"Sonic!" Reiko shouted, coming back from help the prisoners hide. "Are you..." She spied his arm. "Oh, my word, you're hurt!"

"It's nothing," Sonic said, flexing the injured arm and wincing. "Ok...maybe not."

"There's a doctor's building on the way out, maybe we can fix it up."

Sonic nodded and together they exited the city.

Bestiary:-

Roller: Dr Eggman's fastest Badnik model at this point, Rollers are based on armadillos and, as such, usually spend their time rolling into enemies making them particularly frustrating on the steep slopes of the Spring Yard when you're running along, admiring the view and then, BONK! Roller to the face. Due to the colour scheme (when it's rolled it looks like Sonic's rolling attack) and speed based attack pattern this Badnik could be considered Eggman's first known attempt at building a mech that could copy Sonic's speed.

Egg Mobile-S: The Egg Mobile-S. A simple, yet frustrating machine to those playing the Genesis game, the Egg Mobile-S had a single spike underneath and tore up the bridge you fought on. This Egg Mobile-S was equipped with launchers that fired exploding spikes, since, when you're in a 3D space is hard to make a single spike threatening. A deceptively deadly machine, if Sonic wasn't fast enough, he'd end up in the pit below. Heck, even if you BEAT the thing Sonic could still end up in the pit below. Darn you, Eggman. Your genius is matched only by your malevolence!