Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic, Sally, Rotor, Tails, Bunnie, Antoine, Robotnik and all the rest. No, not even Knothole…

The 'Sonic the Hedgehog: In Castle Robotnik' book is a Sega owned copyright, published by Virgin Books and written by Martin Adams.

---Cue Special Sonic Unlimited Opening Theme: Sonic CD – Sonic BOOM---


CHAPTER 21: Robotnik Eggscapes!

Unknown Location / Castle Robotnik / South Island / 04: 45 AM

"We can leap across from here," Sonic panted to Tails as they hung precariously at the top of the elevator chains. They were fifteen metres above the elevator now and it seemed like an awfully long drop.

The fox twirled his tails into action and zipped on over to the ledge by the elevator doors to the top floor. "How are we going to open them?" he said, keeping careful hold of NICOLE.

"This, little dude is a time for deeds of super-bodacious heroism!" Sonic cried. Whipping himself into a Super-Spin from a standing start – and let us tell you, that isn't easy even for a hero of the stature of Sonic, so don't try this at homes, kids – he smashed into the doors. For a horrible split-second it looked as if they would get dented a little and a tiny, insignificant little hedgehog was going to bounce right off them and hit the elevator roof far, far below. Then they swished open, Sonic hanging onto one of them and scrabbling on the floor beyond in an instant.

"We're in," he gasped. "Cowabunga, but that was a radically close call. Now let's find that eggy ratfink Robotnik and put a stop to all of this madness once and for all the marbles."

The top of the castle was more like the dungeons of the underground levels than anything they'd seen on the unforgettable LEVEL 5. Cold stone walls held the familiar torches, but they weren't burning and there was very little light by which to see. So Tails opted to use NICOLE's main screen as a improvised torch [not that even that helped very much].

"Huh, just bogus imitations," Sonic sniffed disdainfully as he examined one of the torches. "It's actually lit with an electric light bulb. How naff can you get?"

"Not to mention lazy," Tails murmured, to which NICOLE chimed in agreement.

"Though, that means that the power isn't turned on up here either," Tails reasoned. "That's interesting. So NICOLE was right, this is an electrical breakdown!"

Sonic's eyes gleamed. "And that'll mean that Robotnik's alarms and traps may not be working properly! Hey, is this Lucky Day City or what? Let's find him and the others fast!"

He sped off along the passages, kicking open doors, ignoring the networks of laboratories that didn't have Robotnik [or their comrades] in them. Booming shouts and multiple battle cries finally drove them to one big, metallic crimson door at the end of the passage. At last, after a great deal of door kicking, neck craning and sub frequent corridor zooming, they had found the master laboratory.

"Well, this was, unexpected," Sonic said lamely, joining Tails in double-blinking his eyes at the scene before him.

Robotnik was standing on the far side of the room atop some moving wall platforms, shooing away the angry southern belle below with frantic gestures, about to clamber into his trusty Egg-o-Matic from a hatch that had been opened in the wall.

"Get on down here ya old Robuttnik! Ah don't have all day to kick your ugly ass! " Bunnie shouted in fury.

"Get away from me you demented freak! None of you can stop me now! None of you! Not even that wretched hedgehog. Ha ha haaaa!!!" the deranged lunatic shouted into the stormy calamity above them, now comfortable in his Egg-o-Matic.

Sonic and Tails then tilted their heads around to the middle of the room where a lone Robian was tied up, no wait, that was no Robian! It was Eggor, or more to the specifics, Snively in a robot armoured suit! Man, what a dweeb, Sonic thought. At least Sally, Rotor and Antoine managed to deal with snot-face, though, he thought, nodding his approval to them all.

"Sonic!" Sally cried, running over and throwing her arms around him, holding on just a little bit longer than usual.

"Hey… Sal," he croaked out, visibly trying hard to keep his facial colours cool.

"And Tails! How are you sweetie? You're not hurt are you? Sonic hasn't been overfeeding you again has he?" the princess said in a frantic motherly tone, all the while whilst ruffling his head hairs and holding him gently to her chest. The last retort was glared Sonic's way, causing him to fidget awkwardly. Tails muttered inaudible things, as you do when stuck in a motherly wrestled hug, so it was up for Sonic to save his own bacon.

"Well… You know how it is, Sal… We kinda needed all the food we could muster to get through this place and–" he began, seriously.

"NICOLE!" Sally shouted, cutting Sonic off, and causing him to sigh. "Wow, I can't believe they found you! Just where did that no-good Snively take you to earlier?" Sally enquired, having not been without NICOLE at her side for such a period of time since, well, they'd met. 'Everyone needs a friend' she'd said back then, and that was certainly true now, now that they were all together again.

As the supercomputer vowed to tell her Princess what she knew of that mysterious room she'd been held in, Bunnie, calmed down from her brief brush with Robotnik, came sprinting over to the duo, smiling wildly.

"How ah ya'll doin' sugah hog?" Bunnie directed Sonic's way, giving her a 'Good thanks, a rough few days though' and a thumbs up in return. "And haws mah lil sweet bunches?" An adorable nickname which was obviously directed at Tails, who in return pretty much repeated the same quick tale as Sonic did to his 'Aunt Bunnie', albeit including the heinous mutant spider details. Bunnie visibly shuddered at that one, but still her fighting instincts kicked in as she vowed to kick any mutant spiders whom came their way ever again.

Antoine, however, didn't look too pleased to see them from the disdain looks he was passing in a certain blue hedgehog's direction [he didn't really care that much about the 'pup' he referred Tails to at this point].

"It took you foueels long enough didn't it? It's only been, like, 3 DAYS of entrapment!" The coyote's sarcasm dripped like honey in a bee's hive [it was that obvious], his arms crossed over his chest and his pointed nose aimed sky-high.

"Ahem… O furry ones!" a distant [and somewhat desperate] cry came. Everyone ignored it, as they had done for the last few minutes now.

"Well Ant, I'm sorry if you can't keep your richly whites from twisting for just under 2 days," Sonic cheekily, although visibly abit agitated, retorted back, holding us two fingers to further imprint the last detail in Antoine's feeble little mind [from Sonic's Point of View, not mine, what would I know? I'm only a human, but I digress…]

"Oi! Respect and listen to your elders you dastardly bunch of morons!" They ignored it again.

"Mi iz très angry right now, how d-dare you insult mi clothing tastes. At least I'm décent unlike y-you!" Antoine angrily spat back, the cerulean hedgehog grinding his gears [and tearing down his self-confidence, whether he'd admit it or not] once more. He then went into full-blown French spatting [very messy].

"Whiney whiner!"

"Showoff stupide!"

"Coward!"

"Porc arrogant!"

Sally, Bunnie, Tails and Rotor [yes he was there too, the dup had high-fived him earlier on, really] all sighed loudly, getting ready to witness Sonic V.S. Antoine: Round 125 [they thought?] Luckily, that one would have to wait for another day as…

*BOOM!*

When the smoke cleared seconds later, the culprit behind the sneak attack was revealed.

It was [or had been], a Bombot, and judging by the familiar laugh above them, it could've only been thrown at them by one person–

"Ha ha haaaaa!!!!" the [unsurprisingly] culprit, Robotnik cackled in his Egg-o-Matic above them. "That'll serve you pests for ignoring the likes of me! My genius will NOT be ignored!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever eggy man," Sonic muttered loudly, rolling his eyes.

"Bah! Whatever you freakish rodent! Now it's the time for all you to meet your maker! Ha ha haaa!!!" the lunatic cackled into the night where rain was lashing down and thunder rolled across the dark skies. Mobius was having another of its really bad nights. Its resident owls were meeting urgently to consider a proposed suicide pact.

"You are too late you wretched hedgehog! And your resistance efforts are at an end dear Princess and your fickle soldiers in arms too. Soon my master creation will be set loose upon Mobius and destroy all of your insufferable furries! Ha ha ha!!!" Robotnik wriggled with glee, sneering at them all in turn. It was truly a disgusting sight, like nothing so much as seventeen ferrets fighting inside a bean-bag.

It was then that the Freedom Fighters noticed that a certain someone was hooked and secured underneath the Egg-o-Matic craft.

"What he said, what he said!" Snively exclaimed excitedly, sans helmet.

Damn. Sally thought. He must've slipped away whilst Sonic and Antoine were having their daily hissy fit… She sighed. Men.

"Not so fast you bloated over-brained badnik!" Sonic yelled at him, but his flying and spinning were too late. Robotnik sniggered from his flying ship and nephew in tow sped off into the night.

"Where's that old Buttnik off to ya'll?" Bunnie yelled. "We've gotta keep an eye on him!"

"Good luck seeing anything in that, mi comrades in arms," Antoine moaned from behind her. Whilst he was being annoying again, Sonic and Sally both stubbornly agreed with him, as it was unusually darker than usual and teeming with rain. Sonic, Tails and Ritor kept an eye on the Egg-o-Matic anyhow. Unfortunately, it flew behind the Tower of Power and lost to anyone without super-sighted abilities [i.e. no one here].

"Heinous curses! The rat got away," Sonic growled. "Well, at least we might be able to find out what he's been doing here."

"Yes, we need to know how to help Antoine out…" Tails said, drifting off as he looked at the coyote in question for the first time since they'd entered the room. He blinked, and then blinked again.

"Wha-?" he said, mouth open wide. "You look perfectly… normal again?"

"Iz the pup insulting mi looks again like his no good prat of a friend now?" Antoine began angrily, stepping forward towards said two-tailed 'pup'.

"No, no!" Tails said, waving his arms about frantically. "It's just that, you look over the whole… vampire thing now? You're not pale or wart-covered it seems anyway. How'd you overcome it?" Tails enquired, intrigued as to the solution, his brain more eager for answers than usual [even if they were complexly numb to understand].

"Yeah," Sonic agreed. "And how did you bust on out chums? Have you been rampaging free for long?" Sonic asked in Sally's direction.

"I… You go first Antoine," the Princess gently offered with a small bow.

"No, no! Do go first, mademoiselle… Zay will be fine with you telling thee tale that needs telling," Antoine slowly romanced back, his puppy-dog eyes showing.

"Ok… If you're sure…?" Sally murmured anxiously in return, seemingly oblivious as to the coyote's gooey blue eyes on her. Either that or she'd learnt to block his efforts out by now, however long that was.

"I iz very sure. Go ahead my princesse," the wannabe swordsman coaxed, shooing her with his arms to get going.

Sally nodded. "As for us breaking out, we didn't do anything. We'd been huddled on that platform over there and kept in with a force field for the last day or so," she continued diligently as though it was a mission debrief, pointing over to where the platform now was. It'd been on a lower level of the tower previously and elevated up for the 'big movie climax'.

"We figured that it was something that you guys did," the resistance leader concluded, brushing a stray hair out of her eye-line.

The duo exchanged a look. "Nope. It was nothing we did, although…" Sonic drawled off, leaving Tails to fill in the only probable conclusion. "It must've been whoever caused this power-outage who disrupted the containment field."

"That makes good sense, Tails," NICOLE chimed in. everyone nodded at that and then Sonic and Tails turned to face Antoine, eager to hear of his [seemingly] recovery.

Aware of his audience, Antoine flinched. "I is what recovered mi," he boasted. Only to be met with blank faces by the duo.

Antoine visibly scowled at their lack of deduction skills, "I recovered naturally – zat iz what I meant!" he howled irritantably.

"Oh," Sonic said lamely. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place, rather than get your face all purple and bluey like that," he feigned innocently.

"W-why you little!" Antoine yelled, stepping forward, ready to clash verbally with the blue brute [his words not mine] once more. Heck if he needed to use his sword then he would…

Thankfully, Sally and Bunnie both stepped in and extended their arms out in order to prevent another pointless spat. They had far bigger fish to fry after all.

"Antoine ya'll dearly starting to TICK ME OFF," Bunnie hissed. The coyote flinched and whimpered pathetically.

"Heh," Sonic sniggered.

"You too show-off hog!" Sally said furiously. His mouth stayed still after that one, but a pout still played on his lip as he sulked. He was just so childish! And yet invaluable… What a cruel combination, the Princess moaned to her personal quarters, her mind itself.

The two alpha males reluctantly stood down at that point, their ears and eyes drooped low like a dog that had been told off by its benefactor master.

"Good call," Rotor offered Sonic as support [whilst Bunnie offered Antoine a small hug and whispered words of apology, and advice]. "Tis best not to get on the wrong side of the girls. I have known Sally [at least] pretty much my whole life, unlike you, Sonic," the walrus said, offering a friendly smile.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just old Ant-features... He's so annoying!"

I'm sure he thinks the same of you, Rotor thought inwardly. Deciding not to voice it out loud, not yet anyway, seeing they had unfinished business left to deal with.

"Yeah. He sure can, we all can potentially," Rotor finished. Everyone turned to face Sally and NICOLE whom the princess now held once more.

She suggested that they split up and investigate the workshop, despite the fading light. The most obvious thing in the workshop being a twenty-metre-length vast wooden slab. Robotnik must have felled half a rain-forest to make it, which they figured was just the horrid thing that odious bloated toad would do. Huge leather straps were bolted to it, with enormous buckles to secure them, as if to tie down something ginormous beyond the ordinary conception of your average hero-type dudes and dudettes. It certainly wet Antoine's brow at least, and even the strong-minded Princess and Bunnie felt a little uneasy being near the thing. Whatever had been in there just resonated a dense feeling of the unnatural. And considering what Sonic and Tails had put up with so far of Castle Robotnik's forces, this definitely sounded alarm bells.

"I don't believe this thing," Tails said. "What on Mobius can he have that's that flipping big? And what's more, where is it now?"

"At the bottom of the Oil Ocean Zone hopefully," Rotor murmured, not feeling particularly confident about this giant unseen foe, be it living flesh or cold metal.

Sonic, Bunnie and Sally meanwhile were looking disbelievingly up at a twenty-metre-high hatch in the wall just by the place that Robotnik and Snively had escaped from.

"Now that's ah big enchilada," Bunnie whistled.

"I think it got out through here," Sonic said. "It must have needed a dozen Egg-o-Matics to get it out."

"Unless it can fly," Tails volunteered.

"I don't, like, even want consider that possibility," Sonic said dryly. Everyone nodded in haste agreement, forcing Tails to shrug.

They searched the place as thoroughly as they could, but they found virtually nothing. All they did was turn up some doodles on scraps of papers with the heading 'Computer Laboratory' at the top of them. They couldn't make any real sense of them, and NICOLE reached the same conclusion shortly after. Whatever they were looking for, Robotnik knew damn well not to conceal it in this room, prey the likes of them discovering his nefarious schemes before he could get the chance to gloat and wobble with glee as he told them personally…

"Wait a minute. The computer laboratory is on the middle floor," Tails said. "That robot we passed went into it. We could check there. It's got to be our best chance, right?"

"Indeed so. Whose my little clever boy," Sally told him proudly as she ruffled his hair again. Sonic meanwhile had an even look on his face, as though he had something he was aching to say.

"You do know, that means climbing back down into the elevator. All of us."

"Yes, I suppose so. It'll be a bumpy ride but-"

"And then undoing the bolts in the door in the floor…"

"Well, at least we have a spanner now," Tails continued anxiously.

"And then climbing down to get back to the middle floor… With the likes of Antoine of tow…"

"Oh yes, mi iz coming with- H-hey!"

"Breathe in and out now, sugar-twan…"

"Yeah, there's that too…"

"And smashing open the doors there. It might not be so easy a second time around…"

"Yeah, okay… Wait. Bunnie could easily take out that door, or any type of door, you know that," Tails said with pride, looking at Sonic in surprise.

"Aww, thanks sweetie! No gates or doors are ah match for the likes of this fighting belle!"

"That's if we get down there at all, little bro," Sonic replied all smarmy like, but with his a quaint little smile now creeping to the ends of his face.

"Okay then clever clogs. Do you have a better idea?" Tails retorted, losing his cool [and not seeing the obvious playful ruse].

"Yeah, Sonic, do reveal your magic tricks for this audience," Sally teased, "We're waiting…" she said, tapping her foot impatiently on the stone floor.

"Sure," Sonic sniggered, seeing Tails flip his lid so easily and Sally this agitated was a prankster's golden delight. "I'm standing on a trapdoor," he said slowly. "Bet you there's a secret set of steps leading down to the middle floor beneath it," he chimed with a huge grin.

Rotor laughed. Antoine blinked. Bunnie smiled a knowing smile. And Sally and Tails facepalmed in disbelief at their sheer lack of tact, compared to Sonic's here and now. Now that was embarrassing.

Damn you, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sally thought.

Computer Laboratory / Middle Floor / Castle Robotnik / South Island / 05: 52 AM

Spielbot S was panicking. At any moment he was expecting a group of black robots to turn up and arrange an immediate funeral for him. The power had almost completely failed now, and he still hadn't found out anything about his predicament. He was so intent on scrabbling at the computer console that he didn't hear the dozen softly approaching footstep sounds until it was too late.

"Don't move. There's a loaded spanner at your back and I'm not afraid to use it. One false move and you're going to be dismantled by my good robot demolishing friend here," came a distinctly hedgehoggy voice.

"That's one kind way of putting it, sugah-hog," the breezy southern rabbit's response came, from back and right of Spielbot, or so it seemed anyway.

"All right. Please don't do that. I've got a wifedroid and three babybots to support," the robot pleaded.

"Don't you think you should have thought about them before you got yourself into this sorry mess? What are you doing anything?" the casual speaking Rotor said, from somewhere behind and to the left [you know the rest].

"I'm trying to find out why Dr Robotnik, world-famous super-genuis and brilliant movie director–"

There was at least four menacing growls from directly behind him. Spielbot changed his speech very hastily.

"–has ordered me to be melted down for scrap."

"Oh, really?" said Sally, and then she had a brainwave. "Oh, really! Well, what with the power failure here, you can't actually be melted down right now. We were sent to dismantle you instead. However, in the interests of discovering what the power failure and dealing with it, we might spare you if you provide us some important information."

Sonic was always impressed by how the Princess worked things. It was pretty admirable to be so brainy, he figured [not that he'd like to don the other shoe].

"What do you want to know?" Spielbot said. The thought of his imminent dismantling made him scared, and he couldn't concentrate properly. If he had he just may have turned around and not did what came next.

"Well, first we need to know about the Castle Robotnik movie so that we can help repair the damage," Tails said. What sounded like a hurried echo of 'What the pup said,' entered Spielbot's audio sensors thereafter. The whole argument wasn't enormously plausible, but he was too fearful by that point to think straight.

Spielbot began telling them everything they wanted to know, and a lot more besides. By the time he'd finished, if anyone had asked them to fill in a detailed questionnaire on their current mental state, the Freedom Fighters could only have ticked the box marked 'totally gobsmacked'.

Somewhere Outside The Scrap Brain Zone / South Island / 05: 52 AM

"My plate mail is going to rust in this," Sir Norbert complained as they trudged through the undergrowth. "Not to mention my weapon and shield here."

"That's never been anything to write home about," Bimbette said dryly. For an underdressed damsel she sure had a lot of bottle. "I wouldn't worry about it, Nobby."

A gleam of metal could suddenly be seen lurking in the undergrowth as a flash of lightning illuminated the dark dawn sky. A detachment of rats sneaked into the scrubs and ferns to surround whatever it was. The sound of rodent snarls and the whip of ropes being flung around metal told everyone that they'd caught something.

"Help me," pleaded the small robot they'd captured. It resembled one of Robotnik's Caterkillers, but its eyes were now glowing a dull red.

"A spy!" Capone snarled. "Let's do some improvised junking work, guys."

"No! Please! I'm just a helpless little cambot," the robot whined. "With infra-red lenses for night-time work or just plain dark times like these. Please don't do anything nasty to me, Mr Rat, sir."

"A cambot?" the directing robot said suspiciously. "What are you doing here?"

"Making a wildlife documentary," the cambot said.

"Oh yeah?" snarled the directing robot. "Who for?"

"Attenbot D, the infinitely famous documentary maker and winner of the All-Mobius All-Round Darn Nice Droid Award five years running," the cambot said proudly.

"Never heard of him!" spat Capone. The canary on his arm held a look of recognition, but it quickly faded and then she went back to her 'feigning over Capone' routine.

"This is an outrage!" the director said furiously. "He's trying to steal my movie, is he? We'll soon see about that. Where's his hide-out then?"

"Just over there," the cambot indicated with a flick of its round head. "See that tree that looks like a tree? It's actually a carefully constructed production complex with an array of sound recording devices, infra-red camera and–"

"Yes, I can imagine," the director said. It stomped off to the tree and hammered on it. A silvery blue metal head poked out and the distant sound of a commentary could be heard coming from inside.

"… and here we have the feral Mobius Rat, Rattus rattus Robotnikus, in a most unusual environment. These scavengers are most active in the night-time hours–"

"Scavengers?" Capone yelled furiously. "Who is this soon-to-be-an-ex-jerk?"

"That's Mr Attenbot D," the cambot said proudly. "Isn't he good?"

"– and they are noted for their frequent disposition to mindless violence," the Attenbot continued. He wasn't in the hut himself, but his commentary was being relayed through from a distant location.

"You're stealing my movie," the director said to the metal head that had poked out of the hideout door.

"Why don't you just run off and rust somewhere, little droid?" said the other robot contemptuously. "I've got an award-winning documentary to finish."

The director pulled its head off.

Capone gave it a whole new look of respect. "Now, that's the way to go," he yelled. "Wipe-out time, boys. Trash everything!"

A rodent crowd noted for its frequent predisposition to mindless violence set about the handful of robots left in the film-making hideout. After only a few seconds, there was nothing left intact, bar the one monitor showing the Attenbot, and Sir Norbert put his sword through that. Obviously, since the weapon and shield were made of [cheap] metal, and attached to the twerp on the other end, he got electrocuted, but then he wasn't the most intelligent squirrel around. Bimbette sighed heavily; she was surrounded by utter buffoons…

END CHAPTER


God damn it… I can't write Antoine at all [or French; I took German at school instead]. x-x

Bunnie's fun to write though; I liked the Tails nickname I managed to come up with.

I finished the 'Castle Robotnik Quartet' in record time [two chapters ago actually], so the DA links to that and 'Mummified Sally' and 'Psycho Bunnie' on my FF Profile Page now if you want a look-see / comment / fave them.

Oh and 'Attenbot D' is based off of David Attenborough, also famous for his global-spanning wildlife documentaries. I only realised the connection today whilst re-reading through this chapter, despite having had this book for at least a decade now [d'oh!]

I hope you like this little adaptation [with a few twists and stuff of my own thrown in] so far [especially those who had read the original book!].

I'll see ya sometime, somewhere next time folks. *smiley face*