Author's Note: Now we have reached the beginning of the end...of the story, of course. It's been challenging, but finally we're almost there!
I do not own Sonic The Hedgehog. All rights belong to Sega.
Chapter 17: Destruction of the Interstellar Park.
No sooner had Sonic and Tails's ride finally arrived back at Tropical Resort where their adventure began, the two Mobians noticed a colourful commotion in the area where the blue hedgehog first saved Yacker and the two other aliens from the robots. When they approached in the middle, they saw hundreds of Wisps of all different kinds flying and dancing around happily. There were still some Nega-Wisps but they were slowly in the process of returning to normal now that their energy has been released.
From what the two adoptive brothers gathered, the aliens are celebrating their reunion and freedom. It made Sonic smile widely as their happiness was contagious.
"They sure look pretty happy." The cobalt teenager commented, with the two- tailed fox nodding in agreement.
"With all the generators destroyed, we can blow this joint and go home!" Tails said, beaming as he turned to his friend. "We did it, dude!"
Sonic smirked and playfully mocked while folding his arms. "We? Other than some back on the alien's planet, I don't remember you fighting any insane robots."
"True. Well, good job to you on inventing a translator that allowed us to speak to the aliens and figure out exactly what we needed to do so we weren't running aimlessly around the amusement park and looking like idiots." Tails replied, then realized what he said and giggled while playfully slapped his forehead and added jokingly. "Oh no, wait. That was me."
"Hmm, good point. You also saved me from drowning by making that cool Sea-Mask." Sonic nodded, smiling widely. "Definitely added on my "Favorite Inventions My Best Bro' Made" list. Though, you kinda forgot to mention that it can't be deactivated while underwater."
"Sorry. I was about to tell you but it slipped from my mind. Probably because of the restaurants Aquarium Park had." His younger brother sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
The blue hedgehog just chuckled, his expression very forgiving and not a single trace of annoyance or bad mood on his face. He gave the two-tailed fox a thumbs up while saying, "Well, either way, we can get out of this crazy place and go home!"
Before Tails could reply, a bunch of Wisps flew down and spun all around the two Mobians who beamed smiles, with the Cube, Hover, White, and Cyan being the happiness as they made absolutely adorable squeals. It warmed their hearts and beat in excitement as though they were feeling the rainbow energies within them.
"Looks like the aliens are happy to be going home too. I think we're in the middle of a party." Tails remarked.
"The middle?" Sonic replied, grinning in pure excitement as he began to dance himself in celebration. "We ARE the party! I think we're their guests of honor!"
"Totally!" The eight year old fox agreed, and while his adoptive hedgehog brother soon began breakdancing and cheering on as happily as he'd ever been, spinning on the floor like crazy, the younger Mobian flew in the air and laughed while playing with the Wisps.
"Yeah! Woo-hooo!" The cobalt hero exclaimed. He almost couldn't believe that he actually pulled it off, with the help of all of his friends he made here, and friends that were always with him. It had been challenging, but when has any of his adventures been not?
However, little did Sonic and his friends know, this wasn't the end. In fact, this was the beginning.
The beginning of the end.
Back in his secret lab, joined by all of his five minion robots who had barely managed to escape Omega's wrath, Eggman was in his own good mood. So much so that he felt like he was the victor as the power that filled up his cannon was almost completely full. Meaning that Sonic wasn't as victorious as the teenager thought he was.
Orbot was ignoring the evil man as always, Decoe and Becoe both had their hands on their backs with groans, Bokkun had a crossed bandaid on top of his head, and for once Cubot tried to look alert.
"Oh ho ho ho ho ho!" Eggman laughed evilly, grinning widely while twirling his finger around his mustache. "That fool Sonic thinks he's won because he's destroyed all my generators! Well, the mind control cannon is full enough for what it has to do."
He stood up from his seat dramatically, raising his palm into the air before clutching it, declaring. "I WILL have the last laugh!"
"Hip hip hooray..." Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun deadpanned simultaneously, their robotic mind more onto the damages they received from the rouge robot earlier than anything else, while Cubot applauded more enthuiastically at Eggman's resolve. However, Orbot seemed to be very confused.
"The last laugh? How is laughing last special? Isn't that like being the slowest to get the joke?" The red robot asked, genuinely serious and not getting the full idea.
"Yeah, I laugh last all the time! People look at me like I'm an idiot! Forgetaboutit!" Cubot exclaimed, still in the same voice as he had since their encounter with Tails, Shadow and Omega.
"That's because you ARE an idiot!" Eggman howled, turning around and glaring at the stupid yellow robot, and once again mentally asking himself why he built him in the first place.
An awkward pause.
"You talkin' to me?" Cubot asked thoughtfully.
"No, he's talking to a bird that flew in." Bokkun responded sarcastically, groaning in annoyance. "Who else could he be talking to apart from us!?"
"Yes, I'm talking to you!" Eggman shouted to the cube-shaped robot, getting more and more annoyed. "There's nobody else here, so I must be talking to you!"
"But we're here too, doctor." Becoe pointed out.
"For all we know, you could be talking to us." Decoe added.
"Silence, you two!" The fat man shouted which scared the wits out of them as they yelped with fright. He then turned his attention back to Cubot and demanded impatiently. "And why haven't we fixed your voice chip yet!?"
Cubot flinched, before exclaming. "Yo, quit bustin' my batteries here! I been workin' on it all day!"
"Huh?" Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun asked, dumbfounded, staring at their fellow robot in blank confusion, and apparently their creator shared it, though in more anger than anything else.
"What does that even mean!?" He shouted, before shaking and shaking his head while deciding to forget that he asked. "Oh, nevermind!"
Turning his attention back to his desk, Eggman hit a button which opened up underneath the controls, sending it down. It was replaced by a hideous looking purple control panel with a lever, as he declared more calmly. "In a few seconds it won't matter anyway, since the world will only have one thing on their minds."
"What's that, doctor?" Becoe asked, curiously.
The evil scientist chuckled darkly. "Heh heh...Me."
"HUH!?" The three older robots exclaimed with wide-expressions as they, Orbot and Cubot looked on in shock with gasps despite that they welcomed this idea. But the way how their creator had described it...Yikes.
Eggman ignored their expressions and pushed the switch...fully unaware that this plan was utterly ruined and that he would cause a terrible destruction because of two huge problems.
First huge problem: Outside of the Tropical Resort's center, the giant cannon began to stick itself out, surrounding the elevator and aimed directly over Mobius to hit it perfectly, much like the cannon used by the Chaos Emeralds to split the world apart two months ago. Back up blasters also emerged from the sides, and beginning to consume the energy of the zone itself that it began to lose power.
Unfortunately, due to the arm of the destroyed Rotataron still sticking on the side, purple sparks of electricity began to form and the energy stored was leaking even worse then before. Because just as the cannon was about to fire, the cracks grew so big that it started shooting up on the side of it.
Second huge problem: Back in the storage area where the now fully completely transformed Nega-Wisp Mother was still sleeping, while Yacker was nearly exhausting himself out of his energy in futile attempts to try and free his Mama, the energy began sparking on the connections outside of the glass dome of purple electricity, and as the smaller alien was reaching his limit, panting and almost passing out, he noticed the purple lights glowing brighter and brighter.
"$%#?" The curl-headed Wisp squeaked in confusion. But then as he saw that the sparks were beginning to hit the giant Wisp, his eye widened in horror as not only the power was starting to go out of control and beginning to hit the room and everything in it's path, which he had to quickly but weakly dodge to avoid in getting hit, his newly transformed mother began make moment.
His tiny heart stopping for a split second, Yacker could only watch as she began to move inside, a deep monstrous growl being heard from within. A dark, purple aura began to form on her body, and grew bigger and bigger as the damage from the outside was being felt on the inside of the room and becoming more and more violent. So much so that Yacker screamed as one purple spark, as large as both Sonic and Tails combined, shot up above him and creating a newly made hole leading to outside of the entire park.
Then as the corrupted energy began to form and damaging the room so much that it cause an electrical wind that began blowing everything away in it's path including the curl-headed Wisp who struggled to stay in place. Unfortunately since he used up so much of his energy that he couldn't fight it and was then blown away through the hole.
"$#%$##$!" Yacker screamed as he was somersaulting in mid-air out of control and blown out into space.
The Nega-Wisp Mother on the other hand, beginning to awaken, subconsciously began absorbing the corrupted energy rather than being hurt by it, welcoming it as the negative side of her began to emerge, and soon she would begin her rampage against everything.
Back outside as the damage was being done in the basement, the cannon was caught on fire, massive clouds of smoke began to rise, and then began to explode, with the stolen Hyper-Go-On energy flying everywhere and the only thing one the purple rays hit was the moon. The energy was soon sucking up everything and began to be consumed by the Nega-Wisp Mother from within as she began her destruction, by first slowly destroying Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park.
While she grew in negative, evil power.
Just as he thought things were looking up, Eggman and his minions could only watch in sudden growing horror and dismay as all of his hard work was destroyed in a matter of seconds. Mobius was still perfectly fine for now...but if things weren't controlled soon, that could soon change for the worst.
"No...NO! This can't be happening! It's backfiring! Impossible!" Eggman screamed in anger and devastation, turning around to pound his chair as he threw a massive tantrum over the situation. He then kicked it so hard that it went flying around the room and hitting Decoe, Becoe and Cubot with the latter two robots screaming, and Bokkun ducking just in time to avoid in getting hit himself.
"HOW!?" He continued to the ceiling above him, while his chair returned to it's original position, and the three robots spinning a bit before recovering, though the light-yellow and grey robots felt their eyes spinning as they groaned, seeing stars circle around their heads.
"My guess? Sonic." Bokkun stated simply, as though stating the obvious.
"Yeah, Yo. What do you mean impossible? Your plans have been crushed by Sonic for, like, ever. He stops you like it's his job or something. I can't remember a plan he didn't stop!"
"The only reason you can't remember is because you were made before he arrived yesterday." Decoe pointed out.
"He has a point, though. Sonic's always stopped Dr. Eggman's plans since day one." Becoe reminded his friend.
Eggman spun around to them and protested defensively the two robots that said that. "What are you two talking about!? He hasn't stopped all of them!"
"Name one." Cubot challenged.
"...Um..." The evil doctor murmured as he placed a hand under his chin in confusion and embarrassment as he tried to remember the time when Sonic didn't succeed in stopping him. The closest he could think of was when he caught the teenage hedgehog off-guard by stripping him of the Chaos Emeralds and splitting the world apart, but even then the young hero managed to put it back together and against all odds stopped Dark Gaia, and survived, so that didn't count as him not stopping Eggman's plans.
Bokkun sighed, muttering to himself as he knew that Sonic stopped all of Eggman's plans. "I beg to differ."
"Oh, dear." Decoe and Becoe both chorused with sighs.
"Way to pay attention, pal!" Orbot on the other hand praised Cubot, patting him on the back...a bit too hard which caused the stupidest robot to have a screech inside of him somewhere, but didn't even notice.
"Thank you!" Cubot replied with a thumbs up...and he and everyone else in room soon realized that his voice as changed...back to the way it was before yesterday...and as of before, it was still VERY annoying.
"Hey, my voice! It's back! All right!" He cheered happily and excitedly.
"Ahh..." Orbot sighed contently on the other hand, as though he was in love. "There's the sweet sound my auditory processors know and love."
"Oh no...!" Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun all groaned in dismay, while Orbot and Cubot shared a fist bump.
Eggman was in the same vote as the other three robots as he turned around, groaning in dismay as he slapped a palm on his forehead. "Now I remember why we changed his voice chip."
Then, recollecting himself as he now had thoughts of revenge and wanting to kill someone filling up his mind and rage, the evil scientist growled darkly while declaring. "No matter! I may have suffered a setback, but this thing's far from over!"
While turning back to his screen to remind himself of the situation, Eggman narrowed his eyebrows, gritted his teeth and clutched his fists which shook before plopping himself into his seat as he still had one last thing to do and this time he was going to do it right.
"I WILL CRUSH SONIC!" He growled, before ascending up into a tunnel in the ceiling, leaving behind his minions to fend for themselves.
A moment of silence while the room continued to shake violently.
"The man gets an A for effort, that's for sure." Cubot remarked, causing Orbot, Decoe, Becoe and Bokkun to shake their heads in exasperation.
Suddenly Decoe thought of something as dread began to fill his system. "Uh...aren't we forgetting something?"
The other robots glanced at him before looking at each other. Each one folded their arms thoughtfully as Becoe murmured. "Yeah, I got this scary, giant purple monster-alien in my computer system too-Wait a minute!"
As soon as he exclaimed the last three words, his, Decoe and Bokkun's eyes widened in horror while Orbot looked panicked-stricken as they all shared a horrified expression, the one memory filling up their minds that Eggman forgot about, one that was about to not just destroy the Amusement Park...but very possibly all six worlds.
"What, what is it?" Cubot asked, not yet realizing it yet.
"THE MOTHER-WISP!" The other four robots exclaimed in horror.
"...What about her?" The fifth robot inquired stupidly, still not getting it.
"If this keeps up, she'll wake up and destroy everything in her path!" Decoe screamed hysterically.
"Just like the doctor said!" Becoe added, panicking.
"WAAAAAH! WE'RE DOOMED!" Bokkun wailed, realizing that the end of everything was coming.
"...Who wants to suddenly hope that Sonic defeats the boss, takes the Chaos Emeralds and saves everyone while we make our daring escape?" Orbot asked nervously.
A moment of tensed silence.
"GOOD LUCK, SONIC!" All four robots screamed as they ultimately decided to put all their hopes on the heroic young hedgehog, before taking their leave through the door as their only way out, leaving behind Cubot who, realizing at the last second as usual, panicked and hurried after his companions.
"WAIT FOR ME!" He screamed, flying through the door as well.
Back in the Tropical Resort, the entire area began to shake very badly that Sonic and Tails both nearly lost their balance as they cried out in alarm. To make things worse, the lights started going out, the alarm started blaring, and the quake was quickly getting worse.
"Whoa! What the!?" The blue hedgehog exclaimed. As he looked around, the young hero saw dust and tiny rock fall all around, and all of the Wisps, feeling the quakes even when they were in mid-air, looking petrified with fear as they began screaming before fleeing for their lives.
'Okay, so things aren't as calm as I thought it would be.' He thought to himself as he felt the terrible feeling of dread surge up, his heart beating wildly as he just knew that something was disastrously wrong. "Hey, Tails?"
"Yeah?" The two-tailed fox almost squeaked in fear, looking over his shoulder at his best friend.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." The teenager stated, with a sweat-drop.
Tails sighed a bit of relief. "Oh, good. So it's not just me..."
Sonic nodded, grinning nervously. "When I feel the ground shake under my feet and see plumes of dust rising, rubble tumbling and aliens running for their lives...yeah, I get a bad feeling."
He turned to his little brother while gesturing at the path that leads to the elevator, and suggested somewhat jokingly. "So how's 'bout you and me make like Eggman's hairline and recede?"
"...Uh, this isn't joke time." The eight year old kit said, increasingly panicked. "This is running to the elevator time...!"
"Sorry, couldn't help myself. Just trying to lighten the mood a bit." The blue hedgehog shrugged sheepishly, before declaring. "We're outta here!"
"Yeah, running now!" Tails almost screamed as he whirled his two tails and took off via flight. Sonic followed for a bit before stopping and looked over his shoulder to gaze at Tropical Resort one last time, realizing that he would never see it again.
"Well...it's been fun while it lasted." The cobalt hedgehog whispered, before taking off after his best friend in high speed. At the same time, he could only hope that the rest of his friends made it back before them. Well, Rouge, Knuckles obviously, and hopefully Amy, Cream and Cheese too. Shadow and Omega on the other hand...Sonic hoped that they'd been way ahead of them as well.
The duo ran and flew as fast as they could all the way back to the elevator, taking a short-cut since the grind rails would take too long and neither one wanted to be around any much longer than necessary. All the while even though they knew that the aliens would be okay, the felt as though they were slowing down due to the increasing fear of not being able to make it, but Sonic was forcing it down, more concerned about his best friend's safety than his own.
Large pieces of the buildings and hover cars that lost power began crumbling and falling over, blocking parts of the pathway towards their exit. Tails screamed and flew out of the way as best as he could, while Sonic easily zig-zagged, avoiding the large debris and vehicles that crashed onto the road, sending huge clouds of dust flying everywhere. The alarms blared louder and louder, but the two Mobians were doing their best to ignore them.
"CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE! Repeat, CRITICAL SYSTEMS FAILURE! All attraction access is temporarily suspended. Please evacuate via emergency exit. THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Eggman's intercom blared.
They ignored that as well as they were quickly reaching the elevator, even as the area continued to crumble all around them. Their hearts pounding furiously in their chests, Sonic had better luck in doing his best to attempt to calm his down, while Tails was becoming more and more hysteric, fearing that they wouldn't make it on time even with their speed. It was like they were out running a furious, hungry giant monster that wanted to eat them.
Just as he thought they were getting close, an entire building began to topple over and was right over him, and Tails found himself right at it's landing point, quickly becoming exhausted through flight and fearing that he was about to be crushed. Sonic noticed as well and gasped in horror that his little brother was about to die.
'No no no no no no no!' He hysterically thought to himself, before running faster in every effort and hope to save his best friend. He couldn't lose him. Not now! Not his brother that he loved so much!
"AAAAAAHHHH! SONIC!" Tails screamed hysterically, trying to fly faster but found that he was slowing down, much to his dismay. So the only thing he could do was continue to fly while shielding his face with his arms, hoping that big brother would save him as well as bracing himself for the end.
"TAILS!" Sonic screamed, silently pleading to whoever was above to help him go faster and save his sweet little brother. 'Please let me save him, please let me save him, please let me save him!'
Making a daring and desperate leap, the blue hedgehog reached out and just when he thought he wouldn't make it for a split second, he successfully grabbed hold of the two-tailed fox into his arms and spin-dashed quickly before the crumbling building could crush them, and it crashed into the ground behind them, crumbling even more. Landing safely on the path in a crouch, Sonic wasted no time and continued to run with his best friend shaking in his arms, before Tails hesitantly opened his eyes and much to his relief found that he was still alive, carried by his older brother.
"Tails, you okay!?" The blue hedgehog asked frantically as he ran.
"Y-yeah. Just shaken...Thanks, Sonic. Thought I was a-a goner...!" The two-tailed fox replied shakily, holding on for dear life.
Sonic sighed in relief, glad that he made it in time and smiled down at his friend. "Hey, I'm your best buddy and big bro. You know that I'll always do my best to save you. If anything happened to you, I'd never forgive myself. I don't wanna lose you, 'cause I love you."
Tails smiled back as Sonic's own smile was contagious despite the situation they were currently in. "I love you too, big bro."
The blue hedgehog nodded, before focusing on getting himself and his friend out of the place and towards the elevator. They made through the entrance just seconds before it was blocked by more falling debris, but to their dismay the elevator wasn't there, and he was forced to skid to a stop as he and the two-tailed fox peered down the elevator shaft, and if their memory served them correctly, there was a docking bay in the middle of the Terminal Velocity halfway down.
"We'll never get to the elevator now!" The eight year old fox exclaimed in dismay.
Sonic said nothing at first, hoping that the Terminal Velocity did have the said baby, knowing that the elevator could be there. Given that there was no time to wait for it to come back up here, the fifteen year old hedgehog knew that they had no other choice. They have to jump and reach it that way.
"Yes, we will." He replied firmly, his grip on his friend tightening slightly as he prepared to make a very risky and reckless jump. "We're gonna meet it half way. We have to jump."
"WHAT!? Sonic, that's crazy!" Tails protested, his eyes widened in horror.
"I know, but we don't have a choice. It's either that, or we end up blown up into pieces, and I'm not gonna let us end up in the latter." Sonic replied, turning his serious gaze to his friend. "I promised that we'd be going home, and that's what we're gonna do, but we're gonna have to take the risk."
Tails began to shake and whimper, glancing down at the shaft, before gazing up at Sonic again as the latter nodded. "We'll make it. Trust me."
"...I trust you." The young fox nodded, and cling on while squeezing his eyes shut, silently pleading that they can make it and putting all of his trust into his adoptive brother.
"Just hold on." The blue hedgehog told him, exhaling deeply and just as the the ground shook more violently, he made the most daring jump of his life and turning around with his adoptive little brother held tightly in his arms to make it more easier.
Though when Sonic was about to turn around again and gain some acceleration when a gigantic part of the ceiling in the main elevator shaft collapsed onto the ledge where he'd just been standing on which shook the entire tower violently that he lost his balance and continued to free fall, the force of it blowing them further down and a bit out of reach of the main shaft, clouds of dust engulfing it.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Sonic and Tails screamed as they fell down rapidly towards the planet while holding onto each other for dear life. The blue hedgehog tried not to panic as he quickly looked for a way to get closer to the shaft race the rest of the way when to his annoyance Aero-Chasers appeared underneath them, ready to vaporize them as the trio of flying robots prepared their lasers.
Then, having another crazy idea, he turned to his friend in his arms and shouted, "Okay, buddy! We gotta get past them and get to the docking bay as safely as possible! But I'm gonna need your help!"
"How!?" The two-tailed fox asked frantically as he also noticed the robots.
"We're gonna do the double Spin Dash! But I need your flight afterwards!" Sonic quickly explained.
Tails was about to protest when he saw that the Aero-Chasers were getting rapidly closer and closer, and seeing that there was no way out of this, nodded as he tried his best to force down his fears despite that his adrenaline was at it's peak. "I'll do my best!"
"Wait for my signal!"
"Okay!"
The two surrogate brothers turned their attention back to their enemies that were about to fire. Sonic turned around and carefully let go of Tails but they latched hands onto each other, their arms and legs spread out.
"Ready, set, GO!" The blue hedgehog shouted, and he and his two-tailed fox companion curled up and performed a Double Spin Dash, forming into one in a mixture of blue and yellow, descending straight towards one and narrowly avoiding the lasers that came at them. They successfully smashed into one, bouncing to hit the other two while causing the machines to aim their attacks on each other and exploding.
Sonic and Tails both uncurled before the former signaled the other to fly them closer to the shaft rail while they continued to fall, the burning remains of the Aero-Chasers falling towards them. The younger Mobian nodded and despite being tired, foxed himself to repel his two tails and holding onto the teenage Mobian as long as he could while maneuvering towards closer to the shaft itself. The blue hedgehog began spinning his legs and once his feet touched it, he began running straight as though he was running on normal level instead of downward, he and his best friend slowly letting go of each other's hands.
By then the hero of Mobius and his best friend hurried downward, with Sonic running and Tails flying-falling as fast as they could only to see that the surface was quickly running out ahead of them along with poles and springs. The blue hedgehog glanced at his eight year old friend who nodded, thinking along the same lines. Tails grabbed hold of Sonic's arms and as they quickly reached them, the fifteen year old hedgehog leaped and they both spun and bounced along the springs before they successfully reached the other side. But they soon came across another problem.
From the gap between the pathway behind them as they rapidly and desperately tried to reach their destination, they heard huge metal roaring and looked over their shoulders, gasping in shock as, to Sonic's dismay, another giant dinosaur-robot hybrid like the one he'd encountered earlier, only this one's body was a mixture of Ankylosaurus's tail, it's neck like a brachiosaurus similar to the last one, including a T-Rex head, and it's arms and legs like a iguanodon was coming straight towards them.
"Either Asteroid Coaster's dead alien dinosaurs were always like that and that's were the bones came from, or Eggman has a thing in putting a T-Rex's skull on his robots to fit the theme!" The blue hedgehog exclaimed, yelping in alarm as he and Tails barely dodged it's crushing fists as it came after them. "Ugh! There's gotta something we can do to get this thing off our tail!"
"WATCH OUT, SONIC!" The two-tailed fox screamed out, pulling Sonic by the arm out of the way just as the giant robot nearly crunched him as it was somehow fast, especially since it's legs had wheels on them. It roared and continued to chase after them for a meal, though how a skeleton or a robot can eat...Neither one wanted to know.
"Thanks, Tails!" The blue hedgehog cried out with a smile, after sighing in relief giving his adoptive little brother a salute, which Tails returned with a thumbs up.
The two tried to go faster to escape, but their newest enemy wasn't intending on letting it's meals get away that easy. They screamed while repeatedly dodging.
"How the heck can a Robo-Dino-Skull be hungry!?" Sonic exclaimed with wide eyes. After he fought with the last one, he didn't understand how it could want to eat, and how Eggman managed to come up with something this insane.
"Either Eggman programmed them to eat meat, or these things-which I've never seen before, are just designed to crush their enemies and not actually eat them!" Tails suggested hysterically, panicking beyond belief.
"...I'm gonna go with the latter part." The blue hedgehog decided after thinking for a second, before looking up, or rather, down ahead, and saw that their destination was in front of them. But with the Dino-Skull trying to catch them, Sonic narrowed his eyes while Tails quivered in fear, the latter's heart almost leaping up into his throat.
"What do we do!?" The terrified two-tailed fox exclaimed as the Robot-Dinosaur-Monster was getting closer and closer, and the blue hedgehog knew there was only one thing they can do. It was risky, but he always took risks anyway.
"I'm gonna jump! HOLD ON!" Sonic shouted, grabbing hold of Tails once more, pulling him into his arms and chest and pushed himself off the shaft, letting them both free fall once more towards the midway point. The blue hedgehog curled himself and his best friend up into a ball as much as he could, silently praying that they can fit through and make it.
Tails screamed and held on for dear life, and he and Sonic screamed louder when they saw the Dino-Skull's jaw wide open and inching closer and closer towards them, ready to engulf the duo and crush them. At the same time, the teenager was expecting another hallucination of the Werehog in the same position like many times in the last two days, his heart pounding wildly with the intensed fear of the monster above them. To his surprise and relief, it didn't happen, which meant that the hallucinations are well and truly gone.
But that was the least of his worries at the moment.
The blue hedgehog pulled his adoptive fox brother closer as they squeezed their eyes shut, holding onto one another while bracing themselves for their possible end. Just as they were about to become trapped inside the Dino-Skull's mouth that was about to slam shut, Sonic and Tails unexpectedly managed to escape by falling through the narrow opening of the elevator station, while the Robo-Dino-Skull ended up smashing it's head onto the opening and destroying itself in the process upon impact, exploding into flames with a dying roar.
Sonic and Tails in the meantime hit the floor hard and rolled and tumbled while trying not to let go, with the blue hedgehog trying his best to soften his best friend's landing. Thanks to the gravity added to this place, it was like they were on normal level rather than facing downward, and eventually they came to a stop, with Sonic on his side while trying to catch his breath, the two uncurling as a result, with Tails held loosely in his arms, and ignoring the ear-killing alarms that filled the room.
"A-Are you okay?" The teenage hedgehog asked, pushing himself and knelt in front of his young fox friend after helping him sit on his knees. He didn't look worse for wear, just as shaken as he was when the eight year old was nearly crushed.
"I-I'm fine." Tails replied, trying to catch his breath as well. "Just didn't...expect to almost be...robot-dinosaur food..." He joked weakly, with a small smile.
Sonic chuckled lightly in relief, and gently patted his little brother on the head. "Atta boy."
Normally they would've shared a laugh, but the two Mobians knew that now wasn't the time as they still had to board the elevator that would safely carry them back home. The blue hedgehog stood up and extended his hand out to the two-tailed fox who eagerly took it, helping him up even though the youngest stumbled a bit, but Sonic steadied him, and felt him shake a little, so he pulled him gently close to him to calm him down.
"Shhhh, shhh...It's alright. I'm here." He whispered, carefully rubbing the back of Tails' head. Though in retrospect, the blue hedgehog was shaken himself, but he ignored it for the sake of his little brother.
The young kit tried to force himself to calm, and whispered back. "I don't think I'll stop shaking 'til we get home."
"Then I guess we'd better hurry then, huh?" Sonic replied, smiling a little, which made Tails giggle softly. The two adoptive brothers let go of each other and with smiles, nodded before hurrying over to the elevator.
Thankfully it was down in a small corridor as they raced through the larger room, even though Sonic matched Tails' running pace to help the latter keep up, and quicker than they expected, the welcoming elevator was right there waiting for them to carry of it's last passengers for the final time in it's short period of use.
"Time to bail!" The blue hedgehog announced as he and his two-tailed companion were just about to enter as the doors opened automatically waiting for them.
Unfortunately, their escape was delayed as the entire room shook violent that made the two best friends stop just in front of the doors. Hearing a crashing noise behind them, Sonic and Tails spun around and their eyes widened to see doors in the ceiling open from above. Out came a giant mech which disturbingly resembled to a Nega-Wisp with pointed spikes on the body, one huge one on top of the cockpit, red clear glowing eyes, a huge razor-sharp mouth, cannon that could fire spikes, small stubby legs on the front and sides, a long, skeleton-reptile like tail that looked like a scorpion's stinger, and two large metal tentacles that had ends that looked like pincers with huge mouths that looked like out from a vacuum cleaner.
The cockpit on the ground not only was located on the front just above the eyes facing downward towards the mech's mouth with a red arrow that looked like a nose, but it held the very last person they expected to see inside, looking very angry; scratch that, he looked furious. Beyond even. The very person Sonic had actually kind of hoped to avoid today, but deep down he knew that he'd have to face him eventually.
He just didn't expect it to be here.
"Is that...!?" Tails trailed off in shock.
Sonic was just in shock as his best friend, his heart skipping a beat as he exclaimed with his mouth slightly dropped open. "It can't be!"
"Leaving so soon?" The voice that belonged to none other than Eggman from within the cockpit as the hatch opened up to reveal the glass cockpit, and the evil man himself, sneered.
"Eggman...!" The blue hedgehog grunted, narrowing his eyes as he quickly fought down his shock and growing fear, replacing it with anger, bravery and calmness while standing protectively in front of Tails to keep him out of the insane villain's reach. He should've known that they wouldn't be leaving easily, but that tended to happen a lot lately.
"Ho ho ho ho ho! There are no lines, and I've saved the best rides for last!" Eggman declared, adding with a twisted, toothed grin. "...A ride to your utter defeat!"
Sonic rolled his eyes and stood calmly while replying in disappointment. "Gimme a break. I know you're trying to be clever with the whole amusement park pun thing, but it's coming off lame. Just say that you're gonna destroy us and stop embarrassing yourself."
That only made the evil scientist just as furious, throwing another tantrum as he pounded the dashboard. "Curse you, Sonic! Not only do you foil my plans, you foil my speeches as well! I've worked hard on them!"
"Ya'know, it would've been a bit more convincing if you didn't constantly remind people about your threats and mentioning about killing them as if they wouldn't care." The blue hedgehog said in slight boredom. "With speeches like that, it woulda just kept tourists away from this place."
"You little...!" Eggman growled, before deciding to just get on with it and growled. "No matter. I WILL destroy you, and I WILL be victorious! IS THAT BETTER!?"
"Like a million times better, thank you." Sonic replied with a smirk. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Do not lecture me, blue-boy! Your lives are about to forfeit!" The egg-shaped man hissed, announcing his latest creation. "Behold the Nega-Wisp Armor! This robot is special. He's powered by the energy of your little friends. He...is...INVINCIBLE!"
"Yeah, right. Like your other giant robots were?" The teenage hero deadpanned, while deep down he was horrified. He had thought that he freed all of the aliens and released all of the Hyper-Go-On power. How could he have missed this!? Were there still Wisps that were trapped in this thing? Fated to be used like...like the other robots earlier? Then more dreaded thoughts filled his mind.
What if Yacker's mother was inside this thing and he really hadn't found her or freed her yet after all? Or worse...what if the curl-headed alien himself was inside this thing.
'Yacker...!' Sonic thought with fear and worry. If his newest and closest alien friend was inside this thing...Oh, Chaos, he could already be a Nega-Wisp and trapped under Eggman's control! Possibly both Yacker and his mother.
Eggman this time decided to ignore this comment and grinned cruelly. "Anyway, I'd say that it's been nice knowing you...but it hasn't."
Sonic frowned deeply as he began to prepared him for battle, but paused as Tails, despite that he really should help his best friend in this fight, admitted in a whisper, his voice quivering slightly. "I have to admit, I'm a little scared. I don't think we can beat this guy."
The blue hedgehog's stomach dropped as he realized that he couldn't fight with his little brother at the risk of being mind-controlled again, or most likely get killed. Tails was a great fighter, but Sonic couldn't put him at risk anymore than he already had been. Glancing at Eggman's Nega-Wisp Armor, then at the Elevator, and finally at the two-tailed fox, he knew right there and then what he had to do. While he felt the reassuring side of him that he can make it home after this final battle, Sonic didn't want to sugar coat it since there was a chance that could very well die today.
But if he had to, and as much as he didn't want to kill his enemy, always hoping that the man could truly reform for real and learn from his horrible mistakes, the blue hedgehog may have to take Eggman with him. Either way, he wasn't going to let his friends get hurt by this twisted monster in an egg-shaped human disguise.
So Sonic forcefully pushed Tails into the elevator with all his courage to make sure that his little brother would get home safely along with everybody else.
"See you on the ground, buddy." Sonic told him with a soft smile, approaching the switch to close the doors manually.
"Huh!?" Tails stumbled backwards, and, quickly recovered, he realized what his best friend/big brother was doing, feeling his heart sink with sorrow and horror at the blue hedgehog's possible sacrifice.
The teenage Mobian's smile didn't falter, but his eyes did leak with tiny traces of tears as he whispered three, silent words loud enough for his little brother to hear, just in case. "I love you."
"Sonic! NO!" The two-tailed fox screamed tearfully, trying to reach the doors to rejoin him, but was too late as Sonic pushed the button and the doors quickly closed, trapping the eight year old inside and soon the elevator began carrying him away from his adoptive hedgehog brother, and safely towards Mobius.
"Just got one last thing to do!" Sonic shouted loudly, hoping that Tails would at least hear that to reassure him. He silently promised he'd be going home, and even though there was a chance that he wouldn't be able to, and this could be his first and last promise he'll end up breaking, the blue hedgehog knew it was right thing to do, and at the same time was determined to win and get home himself.
But first things first. Willing his tears to dry up, the blue hedgehog turned his attention to his enemy, his expression turning into a scowl with determination, anger and courage.
"And as for YOU..." Sonic declared as he dramatically pointed at Eggman, his other fist clutched tightly, then crouched into a fighting stance. "You've really gone and done it this time, Eggman! Now I'm seriously mad!"
"Bwahahahahaha! Oh, what's the matter, little hedgehog? Still upset that I have taken away the lives of those precious aliens?" The evil man taunted, still believing that the blue hedgehog still thought that the Wisps that he'd kidnapped were dead.
"Yeah, thanks for the reminder of using my accusation from yesterday to trick me for an hour into thinking that it was true." The cobalt hedgehog replied sarcastically. "I've learned the truth from my friend, Yacker, and I've seen what really happens to them! Sure it was my own fault for not believing you at first when you said that draining their energy doesn't kill them..."
Sonic paused as he tried to control his rage that developed, before yelling furiously while not going into a murderous rampage. "But it was still a horrible thing to see! It doesn't make any difference for what you've done to them! Death or transformation, both are equally bad!"
That annoyed Eggman as he grumbled. "Well, so much for using the accusation against you. I was hoping to play with your emotions and make YOU suffer with guilt, rage and sorrow, Sonic."
"Yeah, no thanks. I've already been through that for the last two months." The blue hedgehog replied, then shouted. "But either way, what you did to my home, and now having seen the aliens become corrupted by either going on a rampage or just losing their powers and all their abilities to feel anything, even their emotions...IT'S THE CRUELEST THING YOU'VE EVER DONE!"
"It's the cruelest, really?" The evil scientist scoffed, un-caring as usual, and smirked. "I've used little animals to help run my badniks, I split Mobius to rule it. At most, Hyper-Go-On draining is bad, but not true life-draining bad."
"I DON'T CARE!" Sonic screamed furiously, preparing himself to fight and strike. "What you're doing is still cruel, twisted and wrong, and I'm going to defeat you!"
"You can try." Eggman snarled, before pushing a button on his dashboard and then with the cockpit protectively sealed, the Nega-Wisp Armor smashed through the wall just next to the elevator shaft and began to fly away.
Sonic gritted his teeth before racing after him and jumping high, grabbing hold of the armor and held on tightly as Eggman controlled the machine to fly out of the room and somewhere in a not yet destroyed part of the Amusement Park.
The showdown between Sonic and Eggman was about to begin.
A/N: Okay, so this chapter had to be cut short in order to avoid in the last two/three battles to be split, but maybe we can count on reaching the elevator and the fights against the robots as the beginning parts of the final battles. Sorry that it's short, but at least we're almost at the ending.
See you later!