Chapter 21: Showdown
Amy was cornered by the green and red robot and tried to fend it off with the Piko Hammer. However, it managed to counter her swings pretty well and then the robot knocked the Piko Hammer out of Amy's hands and onto the floor several feet away from them. Before Amy could run for the Hammer, the red and green robot closed in. Then a laser was fired through the robot's head, causing it to fall. Behind the robot was Gamma, with smoke coming out of his laser-gun.
"Are you all right?" Gamma asked.
"Gamma," Amy said in slight shock while the baby bird clawed its way up to her shoulder. "You saved my life."
"Amy!"
Recognizing that voice, Amy turned and saw Sonic running towards her.
"Sonic!" Amy cried.
"Get out of the way!" Sonic responded. "I'm going to show that robot what happens when anyone threatens my friends!"
Realizing he was referring to Gamma, Amy stood in Sonic's path, causing him to come to a screeching halt.
"Amy, what are you doing?" Sonic said as he tried to get past Amy, but she blocked him.
"Don't hurt Gamma," Amy said. "He's the one who allowed me to escape the prison cell Dr. Eggman threw me into after capturing me."
"You were captured by Dr. Eggman? What for?"
"For a Chaos Emerald I found." Amy then clamped her hands on Sonic's shoulders, forcing him to stop moving. "I know what you're thinking, but Gamma is not like any of the robots you've fought before. He's smarter than they are, and knows right from wrong."
"But he's a robot," Sonic replied. "He only does what Dr. Eggman programs him to do. Now stand aside and let me finish him off."
"I won't let you," Amy said firmly. "You'll have to get past me to get to Gamma."
"Don't make me have to hurt you, Amy."
Gamma suddenly pushed Amy into Sonic's arms and shielded them both as two laser-shots came from above. One grazed Gamma's shoulder and the other went through his side. Sparks flew as the lasers hit these areas, but Gamma didn't move. From out of the sky came a robot that looked like Gamma but with black and yellow armor wielding a laser-gun in its left hand.
"Gamma, why are you defending the enemies of Dr. Robotnik?" The black and yellow robot asked.
"They are not our enemies, Beta," Gamma responded. "Dr. Robotnik is the enemy."
"How dare you speak of Dr. Robotnik in such a manner?! For that, you must be punished!" Beta then fired his laser-gun again.
Gamma managed to dodge the shots, and then he flew up towards Beta who in turn flew away.
When they were gone, Sonic let go of Amy who was blushing slightly. "Now you stay here while I go after Dr. Eggman. I'll let Tails know where you are."
As Sonic ran towards the bow of the Carrier, Amy waited. After a few minutes, she glanced in the direction Gamma went and the baby bird. It chirped mournfully tried to fly, but with little success.
"I'm sure you miss your parents, Lilly," Amy said, rubbing the bird's head. "Maybe we'll find them when we get off this crazy ship. But for now, there's a certain robot I owe a favor to."
Then with the baby bird Lilly on her shoulder, Amy took off in Gamma's direction.
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Surrounded by aircraft hangars on all sides, Gamma and Beta faced off against one another. They flew around in circles firing their laser-guns at each other, with some shots missing and others making their mark. Once the guns were out of ammo, the two robots resorted to physical force. But because they were both damaged from the laser shots, their movements were very stiff. Yet Gamma managed to make one finishing blow that sent Beta flying. After crashing into one of the hangars, Beta sank down onto the ground in a heap of broken metal and exposed wires.
"Beta, my brother," Gamma said limping over to Beta, where he extended his hand out to him. "Can you stand?"
"No," Beta responded, lifting his broken hand up. "But you won't either!"
Beta suddenly thrusted his hand through Gamma's chest, causing electrical sparks to fly everywhere. Gamma briefly cried out in pain, and then he fell onto the floor. His electronic eyes flickered for a few minutes before they went completely blank. The same thing happened to Beta, and the two robots fell apart. From the wreckage emerged two capsules that opened, and a fully-grown bird flew from each of them.
It was then that Amy appeared, and was horrified by the sight of the wreckage. She got down on her knees and started crying when Lilly suddenly started chirping. The two birds that flew from Gamma and Beta's bodies circled around Amy while Lilly tried to fly. For a few seconds, Lilly hovered and then she fell into Amy's hand.
"These must be your parents," Amy guessed.
Lilly chirped in response, and tried to fly again but the result was the same.
"Well, let me help you reach them." Amy swung her hand upward, which launched Lilly into the air.
At first, Lilly fell back down but then just before hitting the floor she miraculously flew upwards. Her parents circled around Amy once more, chirping happily, before they took off towards the sky. Lilly followed a little ways behind, but she managed to keep up with them. As the three birds left, Amy waved to them before they disappeared below the clouds. Behind her, Gamma and Beta's bodies exploded, causing Amy to duck for cover. When she looked back, all that was left of Gamma and Beta were a few charred pieces and blast-marks.
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Meanwhile, Sonic was busy fighting the new-and-improved Chaos. It had now consumed two more Chaos Emeralds, giving it six in total, as well as the tail that was attached to Froggy. He witnessed Dr. Eggman feed Chaos the frog, which caused Big to break free from the robots who guarded him and run toward the monster. Next, Big took out his fishing rod and threw it into Chaos' mouth which allowed Froggy to bite on it. Big then immediately pulled Froggy out and ran away as Chaos attacked Sonic. While Sonic did manage to hold his own, his kicks and spin moves hardly did any damage to the massive watery creature that now had a frog-like body and a curved tail.
"Feeling tired, Sonic?" Dr. Eggman said tauntingly. "Want me to have Chaos put you to sleep?"
"No way, Dr. Eggman," Sonic responded after another failed spin attack. "I'm not giving up just yet."
"I'm sure you wish you had the Chaos Emeralds now so you could transform into Super Sonic and destroy Chaos for good."
"Shut up! The only reason you're gloating right now is because you think you've got the upper-hand."
"But I do. I've got the Egg Carrier, six of the seven Chaos Emeralds, and Chaos to turn Station Square into Robotnikland which will be the starting point for my personal empire. Now what do you have that I don't?"
"Friends!" Knuckles said, gliding in from the left with both fists out.
He punched Chaos so hard that it fell onto its side, and then Knuckles proceeded to give it a series of pummels before Chaos whipped his tail. This sent Knuckles flying in Sonic's direction, but he managed to glide safely down to his feet. Chaos then righted himself up and charged at Sonic and Knuckles.
"Um, Sonic, do you have a plan?" Knuckles asked nervously.
"I think so," Sonic responded. "Just follow my lead."
The two dodged Chaos before he hit them, causing Chaos to fall off the side of the glass-floored arena they were fighting in. But a few minutes later, Chaos leaped back up on frog-like feet and landed back into the arena. While Sonic curled up into a ball and spun rapidly, Knuckles concentrated really hard and made metallic claws appear on his hands.
"Now launch me at Chaos as hard as you can!" Sonic yelled.
"I'll try!" Knuckles responded, and punched the spinning Sonic into the air with a strong uppercut motion.
The force of the punch allowed Sonic to not only blast his way through Chaos' body completely from above but also cause Chaos to fall apart. But before it had a chance to regenerate, Sonic ran around destroying every fragment of Chaos with Knuckles gliding over to help. Yet despite their best efforts, the fragments of Chaos came back together and formed a complete whole once more.
"This thing is too strong," Sonic said. "Not even our combined strength can defeat it."
"Wait a minute," Knuckles responded, reaching into his boxer-shirt pockets. "I think I have something that'll help us."
From the left pocket, Knuckles pulled out a small capsule-shaped device with blinking red lights on top of it.
"What is that?" Sonic asked as he and Knuckles dodged an attack from Chaos.
"It's a Freezer robot," Knuckles answered. "I found one while I was looking for Master Emerald shards, and was going to keep it as a souvenir."
"Does it still work?"
"I think so, but we only have one shot at using this to defeat Chaos."
"All right, just tell me what to do."
Once they got a safe enough distance from Chaos, Knuckles whispered the plan to Sonic.
After Sonic nodded, he walked over to Chaos. "Hey, fish-face! Wanna piece of me?"
Immediately, Chaos attacked, but Sonic dodged it. He ran circles around Chaos, causing it to get dizzy, and then the creature opened its mouth in an attempt to swallow Sonic. Then just before Chaos did, Knuckles activated the Freezer robot and threw it into Chaos' mouth. The monster swallowed the Freezer robot and then in a matter of seconds Chaos was completely frozen. In this time, Sonic and Knuckles attacked Chaos together with spin-dashes on one side and double punches on the other. As a result, Chaos shattered into multiple frozen fragments with the Chaos Emeralds flying off in multiple directions.
Dr. Eggman slammed his fist on the control panel of his Egg Mobile, which he used to watch the entire fight from a distance, and yelled, "Curse you, Sonic! You've ruined my plans once again, forcing me to take drastic measures!"
As he flew off, multiple robots appeared from hidden hatches and closed in on Sonic and Knuckles. Then a laser fired from a distance and shot down every single robot. Below the platform, Tails was riding inside The Tornado which had now replaced its wings with mechanical legs and large guns that were firing lasers. He strode into the arena and then pressed a button which caused The Tornado to change back into a plane.
"Tails, I didn't know your plane could transform," Knuckles said in awe.
"I told you I would let you be surprised," Tails responded. "Now let's get out of here before Dr. Eggman sends more robots after us."
"Where's Amy?" Sonic asked.
"Right here," Amy said, running towards them.
"I thought Tails picked you up," Sonic said as he got onto the plane's top-wing.
"I went to find Gamma, but he—
"Can we save the talking for later?" Knuckles interrupted, seating himself against the rudder.
As a new legion of robots closed in, Tails launched the plane into the air and flew it away from the Egg Carrier. Everyone hung on tightly as lasers fired all around them until they got below the clouds. Station Square stretched before them, and so Tails flew The Tornado towards the seaside cliffs a few miles from town. He pressed a button, which caused a runway to emerge from a ledge that hung above the waves.
Amy's eyes widened. "You built that?"
"Yep, just in case I needed to land The Tornado somewhere less conspicuous," Tails answered as he steered the plane onto the runway.
To be continued…