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You Have Selected the Following Teams:
TEAM GLORY HOUNDS (Shadow and Antoine)
-You've unlocked a Bonus Song: "All Hail Shadow"!-
TEAM TORIYAMA (Sonic and Monkey Khan)
-You've unlocked a Bonus Song: "His World (Crush 40/Orchestra Mix)"!-
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NOW LOADING…
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38. "Who Puts Snare Drums in a Steam Factory? Seriously!"
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Iron Dome Zone, formerly Machine Labyrinth Island.
A steam-powered factory covering an entire island; no wonder there were always dark clouds in the sky of this forbidding place- those clouds were pollutants.
Upon landing on shore, which wasn't much of a shore anyway due to the metallic covering of the earth, Bunnie was particularly overwhelmed from the smog and coughed up a storm. "Ugh! Ack! …Don'tcha jest love this 'fresh air?'" she asked Antoine sarcastically.
"Oui," replied the coyote. "About as much as we love, how Sonic would say, Ro-butt-nik. Yes?"
"Good one, Ant!" smiled the blue hedgehog who was in earshot. "I'll write that one down."
The green boat parked further up shore, looking as though it were a ghost ship as no riders were visible. But soon Valdez and his troop of chameleon ninjas faded into the scene. "We will disarm the Badniks," said Valdez to Sonic. "We'll leave the Raiju to you." Then he and his fellow chameleons vanished into thin air again.
The heroes found the main gates to the factory unlocked and easy to push open, which made Blaze's fur stand on end. "I don't like this," she murmured. "It's too easy."
"Maybe Valdez and the others unlocked the door already?" guessed Sonic with a shrug.
Upon investigating the main hall of the factory, the team came upon an odd sighting: A large silver dome with a large yellow switch on its top. Sonic recognized it immediately; "Oh hey, look! It's a capture capsule."
"Capture capsule?" blinked Sally.
"Yeah," smiled Sonic. "Me n' Tails used to unlock these things all the time. Eggman would trap our little woodland friends in there, then we'd come in and push that button on top and they all went running for freedom."
Tails scratched his chin. "Why would the Raiju leave one of these here?"
"Maybe they've trapped somebody," guessed Sonic with an angry glare at the capsule, "and locked them in that thing. Don't worry, I know how to fix it."
"Sonic, wait! I might be a…" gasped Sally, but he was already in mid-jump on his way to land on top of the yellow switch.
"Ta-da!" cheered Sonic as his body weight pushed down on the capsule's switch. But as he realized who really was inside the machine, he echoed with an embarrassed, "Ta-d'oh."
"YAH!" roared a gang of lynxes dressed in black with red bandanas and belts, as they came charging out of the capsule and rushed the heroes.
"The Raiju!" growled Blaze, but as she tried to summon a fireball she was drop-kicked by a lynx ninja.
Within seconds, the group was on the floor and bruised, while the lynxes dashed off into the Zone. Sonic jumped down and nervously asked, "Uh… You guys okay? You need a Ring Box, or something?"
"I need…" grumbled Blaze as she got back up, "…to KILL ME A NINJA!" As she said this, her body started to light on fire. "Sally, with me!"
"Got it," nodded the other princess, and they took off in a flash, one of them leaving a blazed trail.
Sonic snapped his fingers, "Monkey-butt! You're with me!"
"What? But, I thought you disliked me," replied a confused Ken.
"Yesterday's news; keep up with the times! Let's go!" The two of them hurried off after the girls.
Shadow couldn't help but stare at the emptied capture capsule in bewilderment. "It has its own release valve? …That's just stupid!" He then went in his own direction, with Antoine right behind him.
The others went in their own directions as well; Bunnie with Tails, Rotor with Knuckles, and Amy with Julie. And as for Fiona? She took one last look at the capsule as though she had discovered a clue within it, and ran down her own path.
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- IRON DOME ZONE -
-ACT I-
Selected Team: Glory Hounds (Shadow and Antoine)
Song: "All Hail Shadow" by Crush 40
Most of the zone was a monotonous bronze, with twisting air vent pipes and extra-long conveyer belts, with giant snare drums and winged jet packs scattered randomly throughout. There were two main levels: the interior, with its overlapping runways; and the rooftop, with steam-blowing fans and circular paths designed to spin runners out of control.
There were no Badniks to speak of this time, as planned by the chameleon ninjas. However, this place was now crawling with plenty of lynx ninjas, armed with spears, bo-staffs, and even small bombs.
"These ninjas act more like punks!" growled Shadow, still reeling from getting bum-rushed by the lynxes. "They've just messed with the wrong hedgehog." He skated up a long, steep hill made of chrome steel before reeling around a loop-de-loop that took Shadow flying over a ramp, followed by a long jump into a pile of hovering Rings.
Ring Count: 7
He then landed onto another steel runway, straight into an obstacle of lynx ninjas armed with spears. Shadow jumped onto their heads using a homing attack similar to Sonic's; they fell on their backs then disappeared. On the end of the runway came a wall with snare drums nailed to it; by jumping on them, Shadow ricocheted off in a diagonal angle upwards, onto the next platform.
On the higher plane of chrome, Shadow and Antoine faced off against two lynx ninjas who were running toward them at full speed, armed with short swords.
"Alez!" shouted Antoine as he jumped into play, swinging his sword at them until they fell in submission.
Antoine then dashed for a small hole in the wall that was part of a long, twisting air vent pipe that sent him spiraling in all directions and into the ground level. In his momentum, Antoine went spinning into a ball and bowled himself through a line of Rings.
Ring Count: 18
Getting back onto his feet, Antoine whipped out his sword again as three lynxes charged at him with spears in hand. One by one, they fell to his sword.
"Out of my way!" growled Shadow as he was tagged into play. He spin-dashed through a weak wall and landed onto a snare drum, which ricocheted him upward to another drum, then a third. He landed on a level of the factory where he could see the roof. Shadow then jumped from a ledge where he found a winged jet pack, and floated upwards through Rings and past lynx ninjas on their own winged jetpacks, toward the rooftop.
Ring Count: 24
Unfortunately for Shadow, the corner of the highest platform was blocked by a lynx who was spinning like a corkscrew. There was no way for him to counter the attack in time, and collided with the wildcat.
Ring Count: 0-4
"Augh!" shouted the hedgehog; while vulnerable, he and his tag partner only managed to grab four Rings.
"I shall avenge you!" declared Antoine; he was tagged into play and stopped the lynx's spin with his sword. He then double-slashed through the enemy, knocking him out cold.
Antoine then sped forward across the rooftop, avoiding the lynxes that jumped from out of nowhere in an attempt to drop-kick him. He then bounced from one conveyer belt to another, letting their movement give him extra speed as he flew through more Rings and past more jumping lynxes.
Ring Count: 15
On the last conveyer belt, there was a dark metallic hammer mechanism that tried to squish him in mid-run. Antoine just barely missed it, and took a ramp downward to the mid-section of the factory. On his way down, he flew across a loop-de-loop cluttered with Rings.
Ring Count: 25
"Out of my way!" shouted Shadow as he skated himself into play, just in time to knock a sword-wielding ninja on his back.
Shadow jumped across air vents that were puffing out enough steam to give him some air lift, before he spun into a pipeline that took him on a wild ride through the walls, and back down to the ground level. There, he encountered two more spinning ninjas; he couldn't counter them, but did manage to jump over them in time.
Shadow then spin-dashed across the floor, through a wall and across three more snare drums to the mid-section of the factory, where he found another winged jet-pack. He grabbed it, and it took him on a trip slightly upwards, where he found more Rings. While at the same time, some gliding ninjas on their own jet-packs poised hardly a threat, just an obstacle for Shadow to get across.
Ring Count: 37
As Shadow landed on a high platform, he tagged in Antoine because more annoying ninjas were coming their way. "En guarde!" cheered the coyote. Antoine made an impressive sweep attack through one, two, three, four ninjas that were spinning uncontrollably in his path. As a reward, some Rings started to fall from the sky.
Ring Count: 46
Before he could reach the Goal, Antoine's path was suddenly blocked by five ninjas armed with spears. All at once, they threw their spears at him. Any other hero may have had just one window of safety open to him; however, Antoine was armed with his own weapon, and so as he double-jumped he spun like a corkscrew in the air, knocking back three of the spears. The ninjas were then helpless against his sweep attacks. And from there, a quick spin-dash for the goal line.
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-ACT I: CLEARED!-
Ring Total: 46
Bonus Points: 5,000
Rank: A ( Good!)
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-IRON DOME ZONE-
-ACT II-
Selected Team: Toriyama (Sonic and Monkey Khan)
Song: "His World," Crush 40 mixed with Orchestra
"Trick ME with a capsule, will ya?" sneered Sonic as he dashed forward.
With a spin-dash, the blue hedgehog flew up a steep uphill climb leading into a loop-de-loop and a ramp that took him spiraling from one platform to another.
Ring Count: 18
Sonic then landed on top of a steam pipe that exhaled a puff of white smoke that gave him a bouncy lift to another puff of steam, carrying him to a higher platform where there were lynx ninjas tossing small bombs. Sonic used Homing Attack on them before their grenades could hit him- one, two, three and they were out.
"The honor is mine," mused Ken as he was tagged into play. He could have juped onto a jet pack to go upwards, but instead he used his faster lucky cloud. But as he lifted himself upward and across Rings, he was careful not to get attacked by the lynx ninjas that zoomed by on their jet packs.
Ring Count: 23
Ken landed on the rooftop of the factory, where there were spinning wheels and scattered conveyer belts. He used those mechanisms to gain speed so that he could easily clear the spinning ninja lynxes headed his way. Ken jumped onto a conveyer belt that was going in reverse; he wasn't fast enough to run across and so…
"Here we go!" smiled Sonic. He dashed across the conveyer belt with ease, then jumped onto a spinning wheel that shot him straight into the air where there were Rings hovering.
Ring Count: 29
As Sonic jumped onto another conveyer belt moving in reverse, he saw a differently dressed lynx, one wearing only blue boots and blue gloves with extra long nails on them. He was Lightning Lynx, a specialized ninja assassin. Lightning was sharpening his claws while standing on the other side of Sonic's reverse conveyer belt. Sonic had to double-jump across the platform just to get to Lightning, and when he did, the cat let loose a barrage of scratch attacks.
Ring Count: 0-3
"Darn it!" cursed the blue hedgehog, while his enemy wasn't letting up on the scratch attacks. Sonic tried to double-jump over the brown-furred nuisance, but his an invisible wall; he would have to fight in order to progress. So, as soon as Lightning tired from his slashing, Sonic used Homing Attack to smack himself in ball form into Lightning's head three times consistently. He then landed back onto the reversed conveyer belt, double-jumped, and used Homing Attack three times once again. This made Lightning fall over in defeat.
Sonic dashed past a trap door that pounded up and down on his path, and then went spinning straight down a corkscrew slide back into the factory's interior. He was still spinning when he came to solid ground, fast enough to get past the grenades that were being dropped on him from above.
Ring Count: 15
"This is my fight," declared Ken as he was tagged into play. He double-jumped onto his lucky cloud to soar up toward the gliding ninjas that were throwing bombs. With his staff, he whacked them out of the air like flies to a swatter. He was rewarded with a cluster of mid-air Rings.
Ring Count: 21
Ken then landed on a platform that collapsed, taking him straight down to ground level, where two more ninjas were spinning uncontrollably his way. Like Antoine before him, he was armed with a special weapon that stopped the lynxs' spins on contact. The monkey then did a spiral jump of his own, knocking them out cold one at a time.
Ken then dashed along the runway and into a wall where snare drums promised to bounce him left, right, left and right again, up to a higher plain. When he reached the top, he found a Ten-Ring Box sitting on top of a steam pipe.
Ring Count: 31
Once the box was smashed, the pipe let out a puff of steam that shot the monkey straight up. His only way of avoiding a dangerous fall was to grab ahold of a winged jet pack. As he started to glide, he noticed that he was soaring over a very long spike pit, and that this particular jet pack didn't have enough power to take him fully across. Another was waiting for him halfway; he jumped for it, just as a sneaky lynx was gliding his way with bombs in had. He avoided the attack, and glided safely across the pit while snagging more Rings.
Ring Count: 42
"Here I come!" shouted Sonic as he landed in front of Ken. He used Homing Attack to slam himself into an oncoming ninja armed with a long spear. In his momentum, he zipped across the runway and up a steep hill, followed by a loop-de-loop and a ramp that lifted him onto a grind rail. The rail was rusty and causing sparks to fly from Sonic's sneakers, but what was more dangerous was the fact that bombs seemed to be thrown from all sides. Sonic had to jump from one rail to another, then back again, then to a third, to avoid getting smoked by those pesky grenades.
Ring Count: 60
He thought he was going to make it to the end of the rail, when a rogue bomb hit him from behind.
Ring Count: 0-8
"Come on," he moaned upon landing.
Then an eerie sound caught his ears; doors were slamming behind him, and one trap door was about to fall right onto his head. He would have to make a mad dash forward to avoid getting flattened by one… two… three… four, five, six, seven, eight-nine-ten-eleven-twelve doors! They were coming down faster with the longer he ran, but somehow he made it…
Shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-shoo-SHOOM!
…straight into a dead end, or so it seemed.
Suddenly, Lightning Lynx returned, this time armed with a spear. "This guy again?" groaned the blue hedgehog. "He just won't give up, will he?"
Lightning lunged at Sonic with his spear thrusting; Sonic jumped out of the way but Lightning was quick to move backwards to try and catch Sonic in mid-jump. Luckily though, he missed.
"My turn then?" asked Monkey Khan.
"This one's mine," insisted Sonic. While Ken's cloud certainly would have made things easier, Sonic felt that this brown cat was his own personal challenge. And so, he jumped over and over again, avoiding the spear thrashings, before using Homing Attack on Lightning's exposed head. After three consecutive head injuries, Lightning dropped his spear.
Enraged, the brown lynx came jumping at Sonic with his claws out, with extra ferocity in his stride. Sonic got hit by this attack…
Ring Count: 0-5
…but the room was small enough for him to recover a few Rings. And, while in his vulnerable state, Sonic let loose his Homing Attack on Lightning once more. One, two, three, four, five hits in a row.
POW! Lightning was K.O.'d at last, and instead of just falling on his back he fell down a small pit in the ground. After his fall, the right most trap door slid open, allowing Sonic to spin-dash straight into the Goal line.
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-ACT II: CLEARED!-
Ring Total: 5
Bonus Points: 5,000
Rank: B+ (Not Bad!)
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With the Zone cleared, the gang regrouped in the heart of the factory. Together they marched through the dark hallway, looking in all directions for their next target.
"Conquering Storm, Bride of the Raiju!" hollered Blaze. "We know you're here somewhere! Your horde is defeated and you're surrounded; come out and face us!"
Hiding in a corner where it was too dark to see her, the long-eared Raiju bride in a straw paddy hat stood by a computer laptop. Through the shadows, she grinned a wickedly fanged smile. "It's not over yet," her voice echoed across the walls. "Not by a long shot!"
She threw a switch.
SHOOM! A wall slammed down behind the heroes like a trap door, walling them from their exit. Soon afterwards, more walls came falling down from the ceiling, threatening to flatten the heroes.
"Spread out!" yelled Sonic, as he pulled Tails and Sally out of the way of a falling wall.
SHOOOM, SHOOM, SHOOM, SHOOM, SHOOM!
"…Guys?" whimpered Amy, as she felt trapped in a small space. "S-Sonic? Tails? Knuckles? Where are you?"
Monkey Khan was nearby; he hopped onto his lucky cloud to find a way over the new walls, but was unsuccessful.
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"Great," muttered Blaze as she dusted herself with Shadow and Bunnie nearby. "Another cheap trick."
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"Where'd everybody go?" wondered Knuckles aloud, with Julie-Su and Rotor standing by.
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Sonic, Tails and Sally looked to an open door to their left. "There's only one way out, and it's that way," he observed.
"It's likely to be a trap," frowned Sally.
"We don't have much choice," shrugged Tails. "We should just stick together 'till we rejoin the others."
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Clearly, Conquering Storm had no intention on reuniting the heroes; she was counting on them to be singled out and knocked off one by one. Her intentions were confirmed when she spoke into a small microphone: "Send in the clones."
In four pitch-black rooms, lights were turned on: A pair of red eyes, a pair of green eyes, a pair of yellow eyes, and one small red diamond.
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LOADING…
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