The Eggman Wars: Ch. 10
7:47 pm
Eggman's base:
"Sonic? Sooonic!" Amy called out in desperation, hoping that the blue hedgehog was somewhere nearby. She fearfully, yet nimbly jumped past falling chunks of debris, struggling to tread up the stairs she was currently climbing. "Where are youu..?" Amy called out again, cupping both hands around her mouth.
Yet no reply reached the ears of the pink hedgehog, leaving her with the feeling of helplessness and confusion. Just moments ago, she had been trailing Sonic and Galaxina, until the earthquake shook Eggman's base from top to bottom, dislodging what seemed like billions of bricks and scrap metal. As Amy finally reached the top of the steps, she proceeded to duck into a small corner, catching a temporarily break as she leaned over and rested, placing both hands on her knees and panting heavily.
"Ooh… There's no telling where everyone is through these conditions now…" Amy griped, aware of the fact that any minute now, the base could come tumbling down. "At least there's not as much as before…" She sighed, trying her best to peer through the haze.
As the falling of debris slowly fell to a decrescendo, Amy could see the destruction and the havoc the initial earthquake had caused. There were holes in the ceiling and floor where solid bricks used to be, and a light brown fog swirled around the air as a result of the dust fumes, making navigating through the base even harder and much more treacherous.
Amy chanced a peek out from her safe haven, having to blink her eyes several times as the dust made her eyes sting.
"I don't even know what's left of everyone after all that… But I'm sure they're alright." Amy reassured herself under her breath, taking a cautious step forwards onto what seemed like a solid brick.
Her foot touched the surface, which didn't give way under pressure, and she shifted her weight there while keeping her balance, scuttling around the edges once she passed. Amy didn't trust the footing of the middle of the hallway anymore, preferring to keep close to the walls where she knew the ground would be much more solid and reliable. As the dust started to clear away, settling on Amy's red dress, she made a face and tried to brush it off.
"Ooh.. I'm going to take a nice, long, hot shower after this is over! And then forget about Eggman for the rest of my life!" Amy declared indignantly.
Suddenly, she heard heavy footsteps nearby, signaling the presence of another individual. As Amy nimbly hopped from the edge to a sturdy-looking platform, she assumed it to be one of the Sonic gang, probably looking for her after she was separated.
"Hello?" Amy called out into the fog. "I-Is anyone there?"
Again, no reply met her ears except for the monotonous, slow footsteps that echoed off of the metal walls. A dim light suddenly flickered on overhead, lighting up the dusty haze, revealing a moving shadow a distance away from Amy.
"S-Sonic?" Amy asked, wondering why the figure didn't respond back. Just in case, she tightened her grip on her piko-piko hammer, feeling its smooth handle give her confidence again. "Is that you..?"
The dark figure suddenly took another step forwards as the dim light fell upon its features… Its strikingly similar, metallic features…
"Ahh!" Amy swung her piko-piko hammer at full force, hoping to catch a glancing blow into the body of Metal Raymond. The robot sidestepped, dodging the blow as Amy recovered and rose into a fighting stance.
"What are YOU doing here, you little creep?" Amy contemptuously spat, eyes alight with fury. Finally, something to take all her day's anger and frustration at Eggman out on…
"Do you know where someone by the name of Sonic is?" Metal Raymond stoically asked, crossing its arms, not intimidated by Amy's aggressive pose.
"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!" Amy shouted back, protective of her self-proclaimed boyfriend. In her mind though, she fearfully wondered where Sonic was as well.
"Fine!" Metal Raymond spat out. "I guess I'll just have to use you as bait to lure him!" It snarled, throwing a punch directly at Amy's face. However, she caught Metal Raymond's fist on the edge of her hammer, deflecting the blow. As the two combatants drew back, Amy countered with her own blow.
"Take that you slimeball!" Amy jumped up into the air, raising her piko-piko hammer over her head. She brought it crashing down at full force, missing Metal Raymond as it jumped away, obviously rattled by Amy's intensity and furiousness.
"Hmm… it seems like I have grossly underestimated you…" Metal Raymond pondered as Amy's hammer came into contact with the solid ground, stunning her hands and wrists from the impact. "But time is ticking, so I might as well end this quickly now." The robot nonchalantly decided.
As Amy tried to recover herself and picked up her hammer, Metal Raymond spun around and kicked the hammer back out of her hands. Amy tumbled backwards as Metal Raymond shoved her roughly, tripping and falling onto the cold ground.
As Metal Raymond readied to deal another blow to a defenseless Amy, she shouted at the top of her lungs. "SONICCC!"
Instantly, a blue flash zigzagged from around the corner behind Amy, and hit Metal Raymond at full speed. Metal Raymond flew into the wall, pounding a hole into it, while Sonic deftly jumped and landed on all fours, looking back to see if Amy was alright.
"Ames! Are you alright?" Sonic hesitantly asked the pink hedgehog.
"SONIC!" Amy picked herself up and ran over, giving the blue hedgehog a colossal hug. "I KNEW you would save me!"
"Err.." Sonic nervously smiled, cringing. "Of course I would…"
As Amy broke away from the hug, she asked. "Where were you? I called out your name several times, but you didn't answer before…"
"I think you might have passed us after the bricks started to fall down from the ceiling," Sonic tried to explain to a distressed Amy. "I told Galaxina to wait for you in case you were behind, and ran up ahead." Sonic replied, suddenly remembering something.
"Galaxina!" Sonic's heart dropped. Was she okay? He turned to Amy, deciding to ask her a favor. "Can you go back and see if Galaxina is alright? I still need to go ahead and search for Raymond, wherever he is…"
"Sure," Amy relented, "But be careful!" She gave him a quick hug, and bounded back the way she and Sonic had came. As Sonic looked after the fading, pink hedgehog, his thoughts were interrupted when the sound of rubble hitting the ground met his sharp ears.
"Huh?" Sonic snapped his head back as Metal Raymond emerged from the hole, seemingly unharmed. "You!" Sonic growled as his foe.
"Ah, I'm glad we meet again, Sonic the hedgehog!" Metal Raymond hissed, glad that it had finally found its primary target.
"You haven't met me yet! You obviously don't know who you're dealing with!" Sonic taunted, finally glad that the dust had settled. He took a few steps back as Metal Raymond pried itself from the wall.
"Oh? Confident are we?" Metal Raymond mocked. "Looks like we'll just have to introduce ourselves to each other again!"
"Yeah, let's!" Sonic shouted, spin-dashing right in the direction of Metal Raymond. However, it was accustomed to these attacks by now, and easily dodged the onslaught as Sonic harmlessly sped past.
"Can't you do any better than that?" Metal Raymond jeered. "It's getting rather boring quickly…"
"Yeah? Watch this!" In response, Sonic spun around and spin-dashed right at Metal Raymond again. However, as Metal Raymond sidestepped once more, Sonic threw his legs out, catching Metal Raymond by the chest. With no more forward momentum, Sonic dropped to the ground as Metal Raymond stumbled backwards from the blow, surprised.
Sonic quickly picked himself up as Metal Raymond recovered, and the two ran at each other at full speed. As the two almost made contact, Sonic dropped to the ground again, sliding like a baseball player. He caught Metal Raymond's feet, tripping it. The robot's feet were swept out from under it, starting a midair somersault due to forward momentum. As Sonic slid to the other side of the room, he looked back to see Metal Raymond land hard on its back.
But before Sonic could congratulate himself, Metal Raymond was up and running again, this time with its face full of fury. Sonic barely had time to jump out of the way as Metal Raymond's fist swung only mere millimeters away from his head. As the blue hedgehog jumped away, the robot ran after him, the two colliding together.
Metal Raymond reached out, managing to grab Sonic in a vise-like grip by his shoulder. Sonic struggled to break free, but Metal Raymond simply brought Sonic up, and flung him to the wall. As Sonic hit the wall, Metal Raymond was already there, delivering another punishing blow to his stomach.
Sonic fell to the floor, dazed, as Metal Raymond towered over the fallen hedgehog, taking the time to pick him up by his throat, lift him off of the ground, and start to slowly choke him.
"Y-You'll…. Never… defeat…. Us!" Sonic choked out, struggling to break free again. Yet Metal Raymond's grasp was too strong, and Sonic was too worn out to fight. He could slowly feel the air being drained out of his body like his life…
"Hey, over here!" Metal Raymond turned its head to be introduced to Raymond's fist. As Metal Raymond was knocked over, Sonic broke free, gasping for air on all fours.
"You alright?" Raymond asked Sonic in concern, seemingly having come out of nowhere.
"You… *pant* alive… *cough*" Sonic choked out, trying to massage his throbbing neck.
"Of course I'm alive, why wouldn't I be?" Raymond asked, confused, noticing the bad condition Sonic was in. "You should get back down to where everyone is to get medical attention. And you should also tell everyone the base could come down any moment so that we can all evacuate the area. It's too dangerous to continue attacking Eggamn!"
"W-What about y-you? I-I was supposed to f-find you!" Sonic spat out, worried for the safety of his friend.
"I'll be alright, don't worry. This one is personal anyways." Raymond reassured Sonic as the blue hedgehog nodded thanks and sped off to gather his friends away from Eggman's base. As Sonic left, Metal Raymond picked itself up, seething.
"Do you REALLY have the nerve to face me? How on earth do YOU expect to defeat me?" Metal Raymond demanded, scowling.
"Uh, easy," Raymond simply replied. "By not fighting you in the first place!" And with that, Raymond bounded after the direction Sonic had taken, aware of the fact that every second they stayed in Eggman's base decreased their chances of survival.
Raymond's fleeting form disappeared down the flight of stairs as Metal Raymond, making to go after his counterpart, received a call from Eggman.
"Metal Raymond? Are you listening?" Eggman's voice crackled through the com-link device on Metal Raymond's wrist.
"Yes boss…" Metal Raymond was still seething after letting Sonic and Raymond escape.
"Good. Did you find Sonic or Raymond yet?" Eggman asked.
"Bad news, they've managed to escape…" Metal Raymond muttered.
"Oh, that's fine. E-101 will make quick work of them anyways. What I want you to do is report to me immediately. As you may have noticed, this base is not going to hold much weight any longer, and we need to evacuate to a more, secure location at once!"
"Yes boss…" Metal Raymond shut off the link, staring down the stairs still.
"Yes, that's right; you heard Eggman… You had better run before our "little" friend hunts you down…" Metal Raymond cynically spoke, pausing just long enough, and then turning away to report to Eggman.
Downstairs…
A red-colored echidna was unsuccessfully trying to barrel his way up the staircase, despite the amount of debris that was blocking the way.
"Any... Minute… Now... There!" Knuckles victoriously crowed as he managed to pound a rather large boulder into a vapor of dust. "Hah! You're no match for the mighty Knuckles!" He proclaimed, taking a quick break to wipe his brow with the back of his fist.
"Err…" Cream fidgeted uncomfortably nearby; Cheese resting on her shoulder. "Don't you think it's going to take a while to break through all that?" She innocently asked, indicating at the remaining pile of debris.
"Too much? For me? Nonsense…!" Knuckles panted, trying to reclaim his composure. "We'll be out of here in no time!" He proceeded to turn his attention to the next boulder that obstructed his path.
"Umm... if you say so…" Cream hesitantly relented, sitting down on the windowsill and watching Knuckles uselessly waste his energy.
"Damn you Sonic…" Knuckles muttered to himself as he continued relentlessly pounding away at the boulder. At that exact instant, the wall on the right of Knuckles seemed to explode; bricks and debris flying everywhere as a blur of blue zoomed past a discombobulated Knuckles.
"DAMN YOU SONIC!" Knuckles repeated again, this time at the top of his lungs as he was sent flying into the very pile of debris he had been trying to break through. Sonic, meanwhile, halted.
"Did you hear something?" He casually asked Cream, and proceeded to wipe his ears from the dust.
Cream blinked. "I think you just killed Mister Knuckles."She informed an indifferent Sonic.
Sonic also blinked. "Knuckles was here?" At the same time from the hole Sonic had just created, Amy and Galaxina came rushing into the hallway.
"Hey Cream! I'm glad to see you're alright!" Amy caringly stated, giving the cream-colored bunny a gentle pat on the shoulder.
Cream smiled. "Don't worry, Mister Knuckles helped protect me!" She stated pleasantly.
"Speaking of which, where is that dummy?" Amy asked inquisitively, a frown reaching her face.
In response to her question, a mountain of debris started to shift, and collapse upon itself as Knuckles slowly emerged from the rubble.
"WHY? WHY ME?" Knuckles proclaimed to the heavens, raising his hands in a gesture of indignant innocence.
"Uh guys," Sonic pointed at a crazed Knuckles. "I think we should just leave him alone…" He stated, worried for the sanity of his companion.
"I can set his mind straight if you'd like," Amy suggested, drawing her piko-piko hammer out. "A little swing can go a long way into helping—"
"Er, I don't think that would be a smart idea actually." Sonic said as he tried to prevent Amy from hitting Knuckles on the head with her hammer. As he did so, Galaxina carefully made her way over to Sonic, wearing a worried expression.
"Did you find Raymond? Is he alright?" Galaxina asked hesitantly and fearfully.
Hearing her, Sonic paused long enough to choose his words carefully. "I believe the last thing he said to me was—".
"—That I'd be alright. Hey guys, miss me?" Raymond asked and grinned, climbing through the hole Sonic had created.
Suddenly, he was enveloped by a warm pair of hands around his body, and the slight pressure of Galaxina's head against his furry chest.
"Err… I missed you too…" Raymond softly confessed, blushing. "I'm sorry…" He hesitantly apologized.
Looking back up at Raymond, smiling as well, Galaxina softly replied back. "It's alright. We're back together, and that's all that matters…" She said, forgetting about everything wrong Raymond had done, and trying to remember why she loved him so much.
As the two hugged again, Amy managed a smile.
"Aww…" She whispered under her breath. "Why can't you be like that?" She turned on Sonic, who was edging away.
"Well... you know… now is not the time to be thinking about that!" Sonic exclaimed nervously.
"Sonic's right; we have to move fast if we want to stand a chance on getting out safely!" Knuckles admitted, crossing his arms. He gave Sonic a brief nod as the two started calculating on possible routes to safety.
"That reminds me, what about the Mobius Army?" Raymond asked, temporarily breaking away from Galaxina's embrace. "Where are they at the moment?"
In response, Sonic wordlessly turned to look at Knuckles.
"Hey!" Knuckles uttered innocently. "Don't look at me!"
"I thought you were the last to leave them," Sonic explained. "Are they still in the base?"
"I just told them to stay put and stay out of trouble…." Knuckles muttered, suddenly becoming interested in his shoes.
"Ah, never mind. We'll just head back towards the entrance, gather them, and head on out." Sonic explained his escape plan. "If we move now, we'll be able to clear the area without much trouble."
"So let's do it then!" Amy exclaimed, urging everyone to start heading back the way they came from. As the group started to run for safety, Knuckles suddenly remembered something.
"Wait!" Knuckles shouted, hesitating behind the others. As the group stopped, and looked back at Knuckles in confusion, he went on to explain. "Where's Rogue?" He asked worriedly.
"I didn't know you cared about her," Sonic pointed out with a hint of a smirk on his face.
Knuckles pouted. "I don't! I just… don't want anyone to get trapped in here! Because that would be awful! Although on second thought, she IS a bat…"
"At any rate, we don't have the time! Now let's go!" Sonic hurriedly shouted as the group continued their pace on towards the entrance of Eggman's base. As the ground started to tremble beneath their feet, and the walls seemed to close in on them, a huge explosion ripped through the hallway and threw everyone off of their feet, dazed.
Then, the floors seemed to open up, and everyone was sent falling down through the darkness; into the abyss.