Chapter #25: Big Boss Revealed!

"No! I'm not gettin' stuck in another stupid trap!" Knuckles yelled, and he rushed towards the barricaded doors and began pounding on them with his fists. He did make some dents, but didn't do any real damage that would break them open.

Suddenly maniacal laughter split the air, and everyone froze.

"Wha…Plankton?!" SpongeBob yelped. He knew that laugh better than anyone else, even Patrick.

"But Copper threw him in jail at Boston!" Jimmy said. Copper nodded his head to confirm this.

Plankton's voice came through the intercom system in the auditorium. "Ha ha! You fools! The Boss sent robots to break me out while you were busy storming the fortress!"

But then a certain robotic voice cut in, "Look who's calling whom a fool, microscopic organism! You gave away our location to the enemy!"

Ratchet glared at the balcony and cocked his N90. "Nefarious."

"Well, you turned the intercom on, so it's not my fault!" Plankton retorted.

A third voice broke in, "Shut up, both of you! Goof up any more, and The Boss will have our heads!"

Spike frowned. "That's Specter."

"It appears that they are all using the intercom," stated Clank.

"Where is he anyway?" Plankton complained. "He's supposed to come down and help us capture these troublemakers!"

Nefarious shouted, "There you go again! Turn off that stupid intercom!" There was some static, and then silence.

Copper blinked in surprise. "Big Boss himself is coming to deal with us?"

Sonic smirked and folded his arms. "I guess we made an impression."

Jimmy took out his Stun Club. "We're not afraid of Big Boss!" he declared. But then he looked at his cousin with uncertainty. "…Are we?"

The red-haired teen slapped his forehead and muttered, "I can't see how we're related."

Knuckles snorted. "I'm not afraid of anything."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Yeah right, and I'm Patrick."

Said starfish cut in, "No, I'm Patrick!"

The hedgehog glanced at him. "I was being sarcastic, Patrick."

"Who's Patrick?"

Knuckles stared at the pink starfish for a moment, and then whispered to Tails, "Is he always that stupid?"

The fox shook his head and replied, "If only you knew…"

Suddenly a pair of doors on the other side of the room opened, and about a dozen robots marched inside. But these were not the same models as what the heroes had been fighting since they had arrived. These were an older version…and a design that Tails recognized. His blue eyes widened, and he let out a yelp of shock. He backed up a step, but slipped and fell on his rear.

"Tails, what is wrong?" Clank asked.

But the fox didn't answer him. Instead he pointed and said, "S-sonic! Th-those are Egg Pawns!"

Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy gave a violent start and stared at the approaching robots. The hedgehog exclaimed, "Holy chilidogs! They are!"

"But what are they doing here?!" the red echidna said.

Suddenly Sonic stiffened. His green eyes widened for a moment, and then narrowed. "There's only one reason…" he growled.

A new voice finished for him.

"They're following their creator, of course!"

Out of the shadows of the other doors came a walker mech. Mounted on two sturdy legs was a cockpit shaped like an egg, with the top half open for the pilot. Said pilot was a human in a red suit; he had a large, bushy mustache, big nose, blue glasses, bald head, and goggles on his forehead.

At the sight of him, all but the four who knew him backed away, their faces showing revulsion. Tails and Knuckles gaped in shock, but Sonic tensed even more, with a look of hatred on his face. Amy gasped, and shrieked, "Dr. Eggman!" Then she hid behind the fox and echidna.

Spike blinked. "Dr. 'Eggman'?"

"Oh brother," Jimmy said, slapping his forehead.

SpongeBob thought it funny and did his laugh. But Patrick made a confused face and said, "Eggs can't be bad! They always taste good!" Ratchet clunked him on the head with his Omniwrench to shut him up.

"I'm gonna make a guess," the Lombax said while stepping forward and twirling his primary weapon. "You're Sonic's archenemy."

Dr. Eggman let out a laugh. "Ho ho! How right you are! You're intelligent for a furry alien!" The Lombax growled at this.

Jimmy asked, "Are you working for Big Boss too?"

"No, Jimmy," Sonic replied through gritted teeth. "Egghead doesn't work for anybody but himself. He is Big Boss."

The evil genius laughed again. "Right again, Sonic! For months I've been invading this primitive land and ruling it. I will admit, I would have lost if not for three fellow villains. I believe you've met them already."

Right on cue, Dr. Nefarious, Specter, and Plankton (who was piloting a mech much skinnier than Eggman's but as tall as Nefarious) entered the auditorium, wearing wicked grins. The rest of the group tensed.

Eggman gestured to them and said, "Together the four of us will conquer the world, and then the entire universe! We are The Evil Alliance!"

Copper curled his lip and gave a canine growl; the name was a mock-up of the Animal Alliance if ever he had heard one.

Dr. Nefarious stepped forward and pointed a cold claw at them. "When we are through with the pitiful resistance, you foolish squishies will kneel before our unstoppable alliance!"

Jimmy scrunched up his face in confusion. "'Squishies'?"

Clank frowned and explained, "It is an insulting name for organic life forms."

To confirm this, Ratchet, trembling in rage, pulled out his assault rifle and snarled, "Nobody calls me a squishie and lives to tell about it!" He moved forward, but the others stopped him. It took Knuckles, Spike, and Copper to hold him back. Nefarious just laughed at Ratchet's anger.

But then Eggman glared at them and snapped, "Enough talk!" He turned to his Egg Pawns and commanded, "Seize them!"

The robots charged forward to obey, and the heroes were faced with a split-second decision: fight or run. Knuckles and Ratchet made theirs very quickly; they ran towards their enemies to attack. Sonic, Spike, and Copper soon followed. Tails, Amy, and Jimmy were hesitant to join the fight, while SpongeBob and Patrick were just plain scared. After a while they opted to run for the opposite side of the auditorium, where the doors the villains had come through were still open.

But the villains weren't going to simply sit by and let Eggman's robots do the job. Specter drew out his double-bladed, red Stun Club and charged to meet Spike. Plankton fired weapons from the sidelines, and a few managed to stun the fighting heroes. Eggman pressed a few buttons to bring a giant claw with a thick extension cable out of his mech, and he tried to grab anyone who got too close to him.

Dr. Nefarious, however, wasn't focused on the fighters; he spotted the heroes running for the open doors and acted quickly. He brought out a remote control and pressed a button; a three-dimensional, holographic image of his butler appeared on it. "Lawrence!" he shouted. "Bring reinforcements and stop those squishies!"

Lawrence sighed. "Right away, sir."

The next thing Tails, Amy, Jimmy, and the sea creatures knew, more robots were pouring into the auditorium through the doors, blocking their escape. SpongeBob and Patrick immediately turned tail and ran a different direction, but Jimmy and Tails attempted to make a stand. Amy hesitated, and it was her ruin.

While the two boys were desperately fighting the robots surrounding them on all sides, the pink hedgehog backed away to find SpongeBob and Patrick. But when she turned around, she came face to face with Lawrence, who was holding a strange gun with a large barrel.

"I apologize in advance, miss; I'm just doing my job," he said, though with hardly any remorse in his deadpan tone of voice. Then he fired his weapon.

A heavy net shot out of it and fell over Amy. The force of it sent her rolling a few feet, tangling her in it even more. She gasped and struggled, but was trapped. Beginning to panic, she cried to Tails for help.

Tails heard, and he and Jimmy tried to fight their way to her. But the Egg Pawns had formed a barrier they couldn't break through, and they were beginning to tire. The fatal blow came when one of the robots knocked Jimmy's Stun Club out of his hand. Now defenseless, he was soon overpowered and wrestled to the ground. Realizing that he was out of reach of help, the fox took to the air to try and get to Amy, but a robot fired its plasma cannon and injured one of his tails. With a yelp, he crashed to the ground, and soon met the same fate as Jimmy.

With Tails, Jimmy, and Amy down for the count, the Pawns could now focus on the original fighters. The reinforcements moved to the scene, but there they met a much harder challenge. Sonic and Knuckles proved to be impossible to beat, since they were experienced in fighting that model of robot. Ratchet didn't have the same experience, but he had the weapons to make him a formidable foe. Spike was the easiest prey, as he was only armed with a simple club that only glowed and was shaped like a sword. Specter had also softened him up for them, so they had him cornered very quickly. Realizing this, the human called for help, and Knuckles came to assist him. Unfortunately for them, Specter was able to make quick work of him, using his agility and skill with his Stun Club, and had him knocked to the ground, too stunned to be of any help. Spike soon joined him on the floor, relieved of his weapon and held there by Pawns.

But Ratchet, Clank, and Sonic wouldn't give up or let down their guard. They remained on the offensive, attacking Plankton, Dr. Eggman, and Specter (when he joined their fight). The hedgehog used his speed to dodge their attacks and give his own; he mainly went for his nemesis, since he knew how to combat the mech (called the Egg Walker). The commando fired at whoever came too close to him, switching weapons whenever he ran out of ammo. On his back, Clank watched in dismay as weapon after weapon was discarded, and yet the robots and villains kept coming.

Finally the fight ended in a nasty turn of fate for the heroes. Eggman played a card he had hidden up his sleeve.

The evil scientist pressed a small button on his controls, and the giant claw suddenly began to change its parts around (like a Transformer toy). It backed into the cable, and then something else came out. It was a heavy, circular plate of metal with a few mechanical attachments. He pressed yet another button, and the contraption began to hum. Grinning, he maneuvered it over the Lombax and the robot. Clank saw it, and his green eyes brightened in horror; he knew what it was.

"Ratchet! Look out!" he cried, pointing at the device. His friend did heed his warning and looked up, but it was too late.

He cried out in surprise as his Omniwrench (his only weapon, as his others had run out of ammo) was suddenly torn from his hands and pulled upward onto the device. Then he yelled as he and Clank were pulled up. He pressed a button to remove Clank from his back, but that only let him fall a few inches; parts of his suit were made out of metal, and therefore magnetic. Then he was pulled back up.

"Stupid magnet," he growled; he would have folded his arms in a pout, but they were pinned to the surface of the magnet.

Sonic saw everything, and he stopped what he was doing to glare fiercely at his archenemy. "Eggman, you dirty cheater!" he snarled. Then he curled up into a spiny ball and propelled himself toward the magnet, trying to free Ratchet and Clank.

But Eggman anticipated this move and made his own. He pressed more buttons to release the magnet device, and it fell to the ground. Luckily for Ratchet and Clank, it landed with their side facing up. Plankton moved forward and used a crane in his mech to grab the device and bring it out of the fight. Sonic dove for them…and walked right into the trap.

What the hedgehog hadn't counted on was that the cable could still be used when a device on the end was removed. Using a small joystick covered in buttons, Eggman controlled the cable and moved it in front of Sonic, bringing it up to his chest. He rammed right into it, and began to fall on his back, but Eggman moved faster. In seconds the blue hedgehog found himself wrapped tightly in the cable, with his arms pinned to his sides. The cable was also around his legs, rendering them useless. He struggled, but his nemesis only applied more pressure. It was like being in the crushing coils of a python.

Sonic's face showed anger, but inside he was beginning to panic. He had been robbed of his speed and his arms, and was now at Eggman's mercy. He was in a bad jam, and he knew it. He squirmed harder and shouted, "Let go of me, you jerk!"

"Jerk? You've made better insults than that," the evil genius sneered with a gloating grin. "What's the matter, Sonic? Getting scared now that you're helpless?"

By now the other heroes had been gathered together in a bunch, and watched Sonic and Eggman with horror, especially Tails. It was rare to see Sonic a prisoner, and he usually kept his composure when it happened. Even when the Secret Police had caught him, he had been defiant and strong-willed. But now he was on the verge of panicking; it was hard to see for those who didn't know him enough, since he could hide his feelings well. But Tails could see it plain as day, and it terrified him.

"You won't take me alive, Eggman!" Sonic yelled, his voice taking on a desperate, high pitch.

The doctor's grin got even nastier. "How about if I take you barely alive?" He pressed one more button on his joystick.

Suddenly the cable came alive with electricity, and it gave its captive an intense shock. He screamed in pain, causing most of his friends to cringe and look away from the horrible display. Ratchet continued to watch, his eyes burning with hatred at the cruelty of it. Tails let out his own scream of "Nooooooo!!"

After about six seconds of electrocution, Dr. Eggman released the button to deactivate it. Sonic went limp like a rag doll, and his nemesis released him. He dropped like a stone, hit the ground, and lay there, unmoving.

"Sonic!!" Tails screamed again. He broke free from the Egg Pawns and rushed to his best friend's side. He turned him over, gripped his shoulders, and vigorously shook him. "Sonic, wake up! Say something! Sonic!" But there was no response, and he burst into tears and buried his face in the hedgehog's chest.

Ratchet, who had had enough, kicked his captor, Specter, in the stomach. The white monkey reeled from the blow, releasing him. The Lombax ran over to Tails and began searching Sonic for life signs. He felt one wrist, and then looked up at the sobbing fox. "Tails, he's got a pulse." Tails looked up at him, his blue eyes full of hope.

Eggman snorted. "Of course he's not dead; I said I would take him barely alive, didn't I?"

The alien commando whirled and gave him the fiercest glare he could muster. "You are the most evil, most heartless scumbag in the universe!" he snarled.

The evil genius returned the look, insulted. In retaliation, Specter knocked Ratchet down and whaled on him with his feet and double-bladed Stun Club.

"Enough of this!" Dr. Nefarious cut in. "Now that we have cowed the squishies, Boss, might I suggest a more permanent punishment for their meddling?"

Specter turned to the blue robot with a grin. "You mean to take them to the lab, don't you?" When Nefarious nodded, he chuckled wickedly and said to Eggman, "I think he has a good idea, Boss. Let's decide there what we should do with our enemies."

A similar grin spread across Dr. Eggman's face. "Very well. Cuff them."

The Egg Pawns forced each of the heroes, at gunpoint, to lean against the wall to be cuffed. Then they were cuffed together in a line by a chain. The only exception was Sonic, who was still unconscious. The robots gave him the cuffs, and also put a pair on his ankles; then they lifted him and carried him behind the end of the line. Once they were ready, the four villains led their prisoners out of the auditorium.

But, if they had done a head count, they would have realized that two people were missing. SpongeBob and Patrick had hidden behind some crates close to the platform during the fight, and had watched their comrades get captured one by one. The sponge gasped at the sight of his defeated friends, and wanted to help, but only when they were out of earshot did he get up from his hiding place.

"Our friends are in trouble, Pat. We've gotta help them!"

Of course, all Patrick said was, "Pancakes."