Chapter 11: Cracked Contrivance

As they gained on it, Knuckles asked Simy, 'So what's the plan, Simy?' who replies, 'Tails, you take Knuckles and Amy, and distract Eggman from above, me & Sonic are going to get Talulah and the Chaos Emeralds out from the core from below.' Sonic then says, 'Alright, let's go!' and Sonic & Simy pick up speed, while the Tornado 1.5 starts to climb. As Sonic & Simy got underneath it, Sonic points out and says, 'Let's use the rocks as ramps,' and Simy replies, 'Just what I was thinking, you get the Chaos Emeralds and I'll get Talulah.' Sonic gives a thumbs up and says, 'Got it,' and they ran up a sloped boulder and jumped at the end for a good take-off, and they aimed for the 'tail' of 'Y-25'. They got closer and closer, they reached out and successfully grabbed a 'tail feather' each.

Meanwhile, Eggman was in the cockpit, talking to Talulah through a video-chat, saying, 'How are you doing, my dear? Heh heh heh...' Through her screams, Talulah shouts back, 'ARGH! I SWEAR I'M GONNA KILL YOU! AND IF I DON'T, I KNOW SIMY OR THE OTHERS WILL, YOU...AGH...YOU...BASTARD!' Eggman calmly replies, 'Now, now, let's not get cheeky, your friends aren't getting out of that prison, and that's a guarantee...' but then Eggman spots the Tornado 1.5 above him. Amy shouts out the window, 'What was that about a guarantee of not escaping?' Surprised and angry, Eggman shouts, 'IMPOSSIBLE! HOW...BUT...HMPH, no matter, I'll just have to take you out myself...' but then an alarm went off in the Eggmans cockpit. Tails, Knuckles and Amy looked at each other with worried looks, which Eggman notices, and presses a button on the dashboard which turned on the core camera, and saw Sonic and Simy trying to destroy the power channellers. Sonic was trying to break the Chaos Emeralds out with his spin-dash, while Simy was pounding Talulahs with his feet, which annoyed Eggman. Talulah struggles to speak through the pain, but says to Simy and Sonic, 'UGH...I knew you'd get out of the base...AGH...but how did you...AGH...do it?' Sonic answers, 'Hard to explain, but it Simy did it,' then Eggman says over a tannoy, 'I don't think so, hedgehogs,' so he pressed another button, and a blasting shock wave emitted from Talulah and the Chaos Emeralds, which threw Sonic & Simy out of the core area and they crashed back to the ground with a hard impact, receiving new injuries, Sonic getting cuts on his quills, while Simy lost the metal plate in his chest, and the wound started bleeding again, but not as badly as before. But they ignored their injuries and pursued Y-25 again, this time jumping and aiming straight for the core.

Back at the cockpit, Knuckles jumped out of the Tornado 1.5 and punched the cockpit window, but it did nothing. Eggman laughs and says, 'Nice try, Knuckles, but this glass has been reinforced with rubber, making it tough AND absorbent to any hit, so go ahead, keep hitting it, do your worst,' but the alarm went off again, but only for a brief moment. Confused, Eggman activated the core camera again, and the Chaos Emeralds and Talulah were gone. This infuriated, but also scared Eggman. With a scared tone, he said, 'No, this can't be happening...' then Knuckles says in a gloating tone, 'HA! Ready to admit defeat, Eggman?' Eggman glares at Knuckles and says, 'That's not why i'm acting like this, now that the girl and the Chaos Emeralds are gone from the power channellers, who know what Y-25 will do now...' then there was a violent jolt and Knuckles was thrown off the window, but he quickly set himself up and glided back to the ground, where he met Sonic, who was holding Talulah & Simy, who was juggling the Chaos Emeralds. Talulah gave Sonic a kiss on the cheek, saying, 'Thanks for saving me,' and Sonic blushed, saying, 'Heh heh, no problem,' and he put her down. Then from the Tornado, Amy shouted, 'HEY, KEEP YOUR LIPS OFF MY SONIC!' as it landed next to them. Simy then says, 'Amy, right now, there's far more important matters than that.' Then Sonic says to Simy, 'Hey, you don't need to do that with the Chaos Emeralds, just let them go, they'll just float.' Simy looks at Sonic for a second before stopping the juggling, and the Chaos Emeralds moved to chest-level and slowly circled Simy, who says, Hmm...cool...ugh...' but then Simy fainted. Everyone gasped and tried to wake him up, then Tails said, 'It's the the metal plate in his chest, because it's gone, that wound is bleeding again, and he's lost too much and fainted.' Knuckles then says, 'Well, use the Chaos Emeralds, won't that work?' As everyone struggled to help, Talulah was starting to cry, saying, 'Simy, come on, please be OK...' then there was a loud clanging noise in the air, and everyone watched as Eggman ejected from the cockpit of 'Y-25' and parachuted to the ground. Amy and Talulah stayed by Simy as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles ran over to attack Eggman, but stop as a deafening screech filled the air. Y-25 had started acting crazy, flying in rapid circles, then it faced everyone and started firing missiles, so everybody scattered, with Knuckles carrying unconscious Simy. Eggman shouted to everyone, 'THIS IS THE EXACT PROBLEM I WAS TRYING TO TELL YOU ABOUT, WITH NO ONE CONTROLLING THE POWER OR THE A.I, Y-25 WILL GO HAYWIRE AND DESTROY EVERYTHING! IT'S YOUR DESIGN SIMY, IT'S YOUR PROBLEM...' and Eggman pressed a button hidden in his right glove and his Egg-Pod appeared, which he got into and fled. Amy then shouted back, 'EGGMAN, YOU DOLT!' Then Sonic shouted, 'EVERYONE BACK TO THE WORKSHOP, WE'VE GOTTA HELP SIMY!' and Simy was loaded into the Tornado, with Tails, Knuckles, Amy & Talulah, while Sonic ran. Along the way, Talulah was still upset, but Amy was comforting her, saying, 'Don't worry, he'll be fine, we'll bandage him up and hopefully...' but Talulah interrupted, saying, 'Hopefully isn't enough...*sniff*...when I see him move and i'm in his arms, then I'll be convinced...' and Talulah turned away. Amy looked at Simy's motionless body, thinking, 'I hope you pull through, Simy...all of us do...'