Sonic and the Freedom Fighters
Chapter 20: The Death Egg, Part 3/Escape Plan
DISCLAIMER: The following is a non-profit fan-based work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this story, unless specified otherwise, belong to SEGA.
-Angel Island-
The floating island continued to plummet out of the sky and towards the sea underneath, the risk of devastating the nearby port town too great to ignore. As it fell, the portal formed by the Warp Ring opened up and allowed Knuckles through, carrying the Master Emerald as he landed next to the shrine. Wasting no time, the echidna hurried over and placed the Master Emerald in its rightful place, and it began to glow. Within seconds, the island slowed its descent before stopping, the power of the Master Emerald allowing it to rise back into the sky. With a sigh of relief, Knuckles turned around and looked over to the Death Egg, the ominous, metallic fortress vaguely visible in the distance as it had been moved to a safer location, safe in the knowledge that the others could handle whatever came next...
-Death Egg's Core-
The Freedom Fighters, meanwhile, remained in a defensive stance as Eggman's Egg Dragon towered over them, its eyes glowing with a sinister light as it crawled its way into the room.
"Quite the bold move, moving the Death Egg away from the city to crash it." Eggman's voice sounded from the mech's speaker. "Though I must admit, I really don't appreciate you making all my hard work go to waste."
"No need to thank us." Sonic snarked. "Besides, you might as well throw in the towel while you still can. You've got no Shadow Androids, no Master Emerald, and in about... a couple of minutes, you'll have no Death Egg."
"True, but fortunately, I prepared for this situation," Eggman responded, sounding almost unnervingly calm. Within the mech's cockpit, he pressed a button on the control console in front of him.
"SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE INITIATED. THREE MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION." An automated voice sounded from the mech, eliciting a shocked reaction from the Freedom Fighters.
"Self-destruct?!" Cream echoed fearfully.
"That's right! In three minutes, this place will be blown to pieces." The doctor replied. "Call it a little insurance policy - specifically, ensuring you rats go down with this fortress!" He continued. In response, Bunnie quickly fired a shot from her arm cannon into the mech's optic before racing past it and through the exit, the rest of the group following her. The mech recovered in time to slam its tail in front of the exit, though the only one hindered was Sally, who was sent flying back from the attack before landing safely, the underside of her Extreme Gear damaged and rendering it inoperable. Hissing in frustration, she dodged another swipe of the mech's tail, only to be left vulnerable as the Egg Dragon unleashed a stream of green flames from its mouth. Before it could connect, however, she was saved by Sonic, who had raced back from the corridor and caught her, the flames striking the back wall of the room and hole of melted steel. As this happened, Tails stopped and turned around to see them, Sonic carrying Sally protectively in his arms, a gesture that brought back memories for both of them.
"Sonic! Sally!" He called out in worry.
"Don't worry, we'll catch up! You guys get to the hangar! And tell Rotor to get the Chaos Emeralds ready!" The blue hedgehog replied before racing through the hole created by Eggman's attack, narrowly evading another stream of flames as he raced through the next corridor, while Sally activated her communicator and began to contact Rouge and Rotor.
"Eggman's triggered the Death Egg's self-destruct sequence! We have less than three minutes until it explodes! Rotor, get the jet ready for evacuation! Everyone else, get to the hangar, quickly!" She quickly yelled before cutting the communication. Sonic sped through the Death Egg's dimly lit corridors, weaving through the remnants of Eggman's forces.
-Death Egg - 5th Floor-
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the 5th floor of the Death Egg, the deactivated body of Metal Sonic slowly reactivated, his eyes lighting back up as he slowly clambered to his feet, his body still damaged after his fight with his organic counterpart. Before he could analyze his surroundings, the words "ALERT: SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED." appeared on his HUD, accompanied by a timer counting down from two minutes and thirty seconds. The robot immediately used what energy he had left and began to quickly escape the doomed fortress.
Sonic and Sally, on the other hand, continued to race through the 5th floor, speeding towards the way down to the 2nd floor. As soon as they spotted and headed towards it, however, the Egg Dragon immediately crashed through the wall in front of them and blocked their progress. The hedgehog stopped and turned on his feet, carrying Sally with him and running through another corridor as the mech chased them, destroying the walls of the Death Egg in the process. Sonic managed to make a sharp turn to avoid the mech's powerful flames, forcing the mech to crash into the corner and force its way through. This gave Sonic an idea, as he began to pick up speed and look for a window, finding one nearby and rushing towards it, the Egg Dragon in hot pursuit. Before the mech could close in on them, Sonic sped to the right and left the Egg Dragon to crash through the window and out of the Death Egg. With Eggman now shaken off, Sonic raced along the path as he looked for an alternative exit.
"Alright, there's gotta be some sort of elevator shaft somewhere. If we can just find it-"
"Uh, Sonic?" Sally interrupted as she looked outside. Sonic turned to see what had gotten her attention and noticed the Egg Dragon, its wings now unfurled and radiating jets of energy, while the body had been converted into a sleeker, more aerodynamic form, its hind legs tucked into its lower body and its tail appearing to have lengthened.
"Of course it can fly." The hedgehog sighed in annoyance as the Dragon fired a volley of javelin-like energy missiles at the pair. Sonic narrowly avoided the barrage as they crashed through the windows and exploded on contact with the walls, the blue hedgehog staggering a few times as a result of the blasts, and being forced to dive to the side to avoid a direct hit from one of the missiles, sheltering Sally protectively as the Egg Dragon sailed past.
"You okay?" Sonic asked once the assault had subsided.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She responded, looking over at the wall and noticing a door for a cargo elevator. "Over there!" She shouted. Sonic got back up and rushed over to the door, examining it before backing up a bit.
"Hang on tight!" He warned as Sally readied herself. Once she did, Sonic charged up a Spin Dash and tore through the door, racing down the elevator shaft until he reached his destination and charged through another elevator door, landing on the 3rd floor of the Death Egg. Wasting no time, the hedgehog quickly dashed in the direction of the hangar.
-Death Egg Hangar-
Meanwhile, at the hangar, Antoine and Rotor were anxiously waiting for their teammates to arrive, surrounded by the broken forms of various robots that they fended off while protecting their transportation. The door at the side of the room suddenly opened, allowing the rest of the group, except Sonic and Sally, to enter and immediately rush inside of the jet, which had been prepared for an immediate take-off.
"Where's Sonic and Sally?" Rotor asked as Tails approached him.
"Eggman attacked us and we got separated. He wanted you to have the Chaos Emeralds ready when he gets here." The young fox replied. Rotor immediately pulled out the bag containing the Chaos Emeralds, and as if on cue, Sonic sped into the hangar with Sally in his arms, setting her down once he stopped.
"Awesome. Thanks, Rotor." He said, taking the Emeralds as Rotor handed them to him. "Alright, there's not much time 'til this place blows, so you guys need to get outta here. I'm gonna go deal with ol' Nosehair." He continued as he began to walk away.
"Hey, wait-" Sally called out, prompting Sonic to turn back with a smile.
"Take it easy, Sal. I got this." He assured her. Before she could reply, Rouge poked her head out of the jet's seating area.
"Uh, guys? Not to interrupt your little moment, but we've got to watch the clock!" She reminded them somewhat impatiently. Sally stared for a few seconds before turning back to Sonic.
"Be careful." She pleaded as she rushed onto the Tornado. The two planes then stared up and flew out of the hangar, leaving Sonic alone on the hangar. Grinning with confidence, he took a few steps back before running towards the edge and leaping off, diving off the Death Egg and descending rapidly. He opened the bag as he fell and the Chaos Emeralds, now released, began to surround him in a circle, filling his body with their power. Crossing his arms as their power flowed into him, the Emeralds themselves eventually allowing themselves to be absorbed, the hedgehog eventually spread his arms wide and unleashed a wave of power. His blue fur turned to a brilliant gold colour, his eyes turning from green to red, and his quills turned upwards, all while his body became wreathed in a power golden aura. With his body now brimming with Chaos Energy, he began to fly away from the Death Egg, curving around until he was a safe distance from the fortress, watching it for a few seconds until it suddenly exploded, gigantic chunks of flaming metal flying in nearly every direction as they began to fall towards the ground. Sonic smiled, knowing that they had prevented anyone from getting hurt by Eggman's actions and all got out alive, before noticing something out of the corner of his eye, looking over to spot a distant escape pod, followed closely by Metal Sonic, undoubtedly retreating back to Eggman's base.
"Now, where did Eggy disappear to...?" Sonic mused to himself. Almost instantly, the Egg Dragon lunged out from the clouds behind him, mouth wide open. Thanks to the hedgehog's enhanced reflexes, he managed to avoid the attack before the mech could crush him in its jaws. The empowered hedgehog zoomed around and stopped behind the Dragon, arms folded.
"Gotta be honest, Egghead, never pegged you for a dragon lover. You look more like the baby canary type." Sonic taunted as the Egg Dragon turned to face him.
"Make all the jokes you want, Sonic! But if you could even begin to fathom the pinnacle of my Egg Dragon's power, you wouldn't be so carefree!" Eggman retorted. "This machine is the ultimate vessel for my newly perfected Chaos Conduction System. What you experienced with the Egg Titan was merely a precursor to this."
"And I'm guessing you did something similar with Metal Sonic and those Shadow Androids." The hedgehog surmised. "Well, we took them out, no sweat. You really think your overgrown robo-lizard can do the job?"
"I simply consider this my creation's ultimate test. And if it can trounce you, imagine what it can do to the rest of your feeble friends!" The doctor replied.
"Well, it's a shame you're never gonna find out. Because that tin can's not gonna last long enough to try it." Sonic responded, glaring at the mech as he readied himself for battle.
"You might talk a good game, Sonic, but I'm afraid that today, it's game over for you!" Eggman taunted, his mech instantly firing out a shot of Chaos-powered flames, which Sonic quickly avoided. The two then shot through the skies at blinding speeds, colliding frequently and with devastating force. The Dragon then suddenly charged at Sonic, the hedgehog nimbly dodging as he dashed and struck the body of the mech in several areas, looking for a weak point. One spot on the mech's back, just below its neck, received a small but noticeable dent as Sonic struck it, and the hedgehog stopped his assault for a second, aiming for that area. Before he could, though, the Dragon's tail swatted him out of the way. Sonic managed to right himself in time to see the Egg Dragon fire a round of missiles - the same ones from before - into the air, which then homed in on the hedgehog, who darted through the air to avoid them all. He managed to evade the attacks for the most part, but two missiles collided with each other and exploded, knocking him back a fair bit.
"Hmm... tougher than I thought. Must be because of the Master Emerald's energy." Sonic said to himself.
"I don't care how long it takes, I will defeat you! Even without a full supply of Chaos Energy, this machine can keep running at maximum for 48 hours at its current level!" Eggman gloated from afar before the Egg Dragon suddenly fired another volley of missiles as it flew down and disappeared into the clouds. Sonic avoided the attack and looked around, waiting for a sign that the mech was about to attack. Before long, the Egg Dragon emerged behind him and attempted another biting attack. Sonic reacted quickly enough to avoid the mech's jaws, flying away to better evade its next attacks.
The Egg Dragon's head lowered, revealing a pair of cannons on its back, which began firing powerful lasers at the hedgehog. Sonic weaved through the attacks, knowing that he would have to end this battle quickly, or else the Dragon would outlast his Super Form. The hedgehog circled around faster than the dragon could keep up and struck the mech's weak spot, tearing off a chunk of its armour and revealing the Chaos Core within. The hedgehog grinned as he sped forward, aiming for the exposed Chaos Core within the mech's body. But before he could strike, a cloak of green energy suddenly enveloped the mech, repelling the empowered hedgehog and sending him flying back before he righted himself, staring at the mech in shock.
"The heck?!" He exclaimed, watching as the mech remained covered in a green field of energy.
"Good luck breaking through now!" Eggman gloated, the Dragon firing another volley of missiles at the hedgehog. Sonic darted through the air to avoid the attack, soaring around the mech's back. As he looked back at the Egg Dragon, he noticed that the protective cloak of Chaos Energy surrounding the mech's body had opened up around the missile launchers, forming holes large enough for them to pass through.
"Hey, wait a minute..." He muttered as he avoided the missiles, trying to figure out how to bypass the barrier. The gaps that opened up when the mech fired its missiles were too small for him to pass through, so he would need to find one that was big enough to break through. And then it hit him - the cannon in the mech's mouth would provide a sufficient opening, but that would require the hedgehog to face the Dragon's powerful flames head-on.
Once the missiles had all missed or detonated, Sonic came to a sudden stop and began charging up for a powerful dash. Eggman, seeing an opportunity to finish off the hedgehog while he was vulnerable, began charging up the Dragon's flame cannon, not aware that this was exactly what the hedgehog was counting on. The two unleashed their attacks at the same time, the empowered hedgehog struggling against the stream of Chaos Energy-powered flames as they pushed him back, shielded by his own Chaos Energy. Sonic winced as he struggled against the onslaught, desperate to defeat the mechanical monstrosity before him.
The hedgehog put as much power as he could into his attack, and began piercing through the stream of flames, rocketing straight towards the opening of the cannon. Eggman had no time to react before Sonic shot straight into the mouth and tore through the interior. It wasn't long before he reached the mech's chest and smashed through the protective armour of the Dragon, tearing out the mech's Chaos Core as he did so. The empowered hedgehog crushed the device in his hand as the mech began to convulse and spark. Deciding to cut his losses, Eggman reluctantly ejected his Egg Mobile from the Egg Dragon's cockpit and attempted to fly away when small explosions occurred across its body, sending Eggman rocketing away uncontrollably.
"Aagh! I'll get you for this, hedgehooog!" Eggman yelled as he flew away, leaving the Egg Dragon to fall into the clouds below, exploding in a massive burst of energy once it was out of sight. The hedgehog watched and sighed in relief, before turning around and flying at blinding speed, aiming to catch up to his friends before the transformation wore off...
Meanwhile, the Tornado and the Freedom Fighter Jet flew through the skies as they headed home, the Freedom Fighters waiting anxiously for Sonic's return. Sally, in particular, had a worried look on her face as she sat on the wing of the Tornado, concerned for Sonic's safety, something Tails noticed even with her back to him.
"He's going to be fine, Sally." Tails assured her. Sally continued to look ahead, trying not to worry about him, when her attention was caught by the sound of a sudden distant explosion. She turned her head to the direction the noise was coming from, seeing a large explosion of green light in the distance.
"Is that...?" Sally muttered to herself, before another flash of light - this time gold instead of green - appeared, seemingly heading in their direction, rushing past the Tornado. Sally followed the streak of light as it suddenly slowed down, allowing the Tornado to catch up, and Sally gasped in astonishment as she realised who it was, while the rest of his friends saw him from the jet and cheered triumphantly.
"Sonic?" She asked, completely taken aback at the hedgehog's gold-coloured form.
"What do you think, Sal? How do I look?" The empowered hedgehog asked jokingly, causing Sally's amazement to be replaced with amusement.
"And just when I thought your ego couldn't get any bigger." She snarked. "So, this is what you needed the Chaos Emeralds for."
"Yep! I figured if Eggman was gonna use the Master Emerald's power against us, I might as well even out the playing field." Sonic replied, flying over and landing onto the wing of the Tornado. As he did, his body began to get brighter before a flash of light emanated from his body, and the hedgehog's fur and quills returned to normal. The Chaos Emeralds suddenly appeared around his body before suddenly flying away, falling down to the ground below, and Sonic was left to fall to his knees in exhaustion.
"Are you okay?" Sally said as he helped him up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Sonic said as he got back to his feet, taking a few seconds to catch his breath. Once she was sure he was okay, Sally turned around to look at where the Death Egg used to be.
"We did it..." Sally muttered. Though she never doubted her team for a second, she was still amazed that they were able to overcome the odds.
"What about Eggman? Did he escape?" Tails asked.
"He got sent flying when that overgrown toy of his bit the dust. We probably won't be bothering us for a while. And if he does, we'll just take him down together." Sonic replied, turning to Sally and extending his closed hand to her. Sally immediately recognized the gesture; it was their special handshake from years ago. "Just like old times, right?" He asked. Sally smiled in response.
"Yeah. Just like old times." She said warmly as the two performed the handshake - bumping each other's fists, then spinning their index and pinky fingers together, before culminating in a thumbs up from both of them. The two smiled at each other before Sonic faced the clouds ahead.
"Alright, guys. Let's go home and celebrate!" Sonic cheered, raising a fist into the air as the team headed home. Sally smiled as she sat down on the wing and reminisced.
After three long years, the Freedom Fighters had finally reunited, forming some new allies in the process. And now that they were, they would face any challenges the same way they always had; together.