Chapter Twenty-Eight: Everything Comes Crashing Down
When everything got drowned out by a shrill beeping noise, Eggman wasn't sure whether they had won or should prepare for the end of the world.
The way things were going, it was probably neither. But that sure as hell didn't stop him from hoping to whatever higher powers he thought existed that whatever the others were doing in there was working.
Metal Sonic bared his teeth, hissing so loudly that Eggman would have covered his ears if he hadn't been focused on holding on as tightly as possible.
"I… will not be beaten… by the likes of you," he cursed as the beeping grew in pitch, volume, and frequency. Not willing to accept defeat, he used one of his remaining appendages to swipe at Eggman, barely missing.
As Eggman dodged more blows, the beeping began to take on a more familiar tone: the noise he'd programmed Metal Sonic to emit whenever an important system failed. At first, Eggman was filled with a potent combination of joy and despair- joy that they'd almost certainly won and despair for the destruction of his dearest creation. Once he realized what that would lead to, though, it got replaced by sheer terror.
Tails' screaming suddenly filled the air. Some of it was just terror-filled, mindless yelling, but when he was able to form words, he shouted, "I think I got him!"
When Eggman risked looking down, he witnessed an astonishing scene. Metal Sonic held fast to all three of them, and Tails was the only one who appeared to be conscious. Sonic and Rouge just dangled in the machine's grasp, limp as rag dolls.
Eggman, despite having the possibility of three of his greatest rivals being eliminated in one fell swoop, chose not to take it. The odds of him surviving without their help weren't great, and if he returned alone, Shadow would probably think he had something to do with their deaths and pound him to smithereens. Thus, he shouted down to Tails, "We need to get out of here! Metal Sonic isn't exactly waterproof, and I think you know what happens when electrical things get wet!"
Tails shuddered a little, even if his movements were constrained by Metal Sonic. Dying at all wasn't going to be enjoyable, but in terms of ways to die, death by electrocution was definitely in the bottom ten.
"Okay," Tails yelled back, "but what am I going to do about Sonic and Rouge? Even if Sonic was conscious, he can't swim, and I doubt swimming is a strong suit of Rouge's, either."
The beeping got louder, forcing Eggman to strain to hear anything Tails said. At the same time, Metal Sonic started roaring as many curses as he knew, trying to throw off his enemies in some bizarre final stand. Eggman began to notice more and more appendages of his just dangling uselessly as Metal Sonic's systems continued to fail.
Suddenly, the limb holding Tails unclenched, and he fell towards the ocean. Then Rouge's. Tails spun his namesakes like crazy, moving over to try and catch Rouge. He didn't exactly succeed in this regard but managed to slow her impact velocity from excruciating to merely painful. It also jolted Rouge back to consciousness, as she visibly shook her head before yelling things that Eggman was too far away to hear.
By now, the noise had reached such a volume that Eggman seriously worried that they'd all go deaf if this kept up much longer. It was even enough to jolt Sonic out of his stupor, causing him to jerk his head around in a frenzy before screaming something unintelligible.
Then the limb holding Sonic released him, sending him plummeting as well. While he'd never been a fan of water to begin with, he at least had the sense to try and rotate himself so he'd land feet-first. It successfully minimized the impact, but it also had the horrifying side effect of Sonic disappearing below the water level and not resurfacing right away as the other two had.
Rouge dove under to try and save him, leaving Tails alone. Eggman sucked in his stomach as much as possible and prepared to jump down to join them.
Metal Sonic screamed at the top of his voice, not even coming up with words, just pure, unadulterated rage, before yelling, "I… will never…"
Then, a sudden silence took over the world as the last of Metal Sonic's systems stopped working.
Including the ones controlling his thrusters.
Eggman threw himself off just as Metal Sonic started plummeting toward the water below. Tails had put a little distance between him and Metal Sonic's landing spot, but Eggman still had no idea about the whereabouts of Sonic or Rouge.
Someone was screaming now.
It might have been him.
Before he was ready, he hit the water, and everything went silent again for a brief, blissful moment as he began clawing for the surface.
That is, until Metal Sonic followed him with a world-shaking boom. Small waves raced outwards from his landing sight as he began to sink. Eggman kept trying to swim upward, but it felt like something was weighing him down- for a terrifying handful of seconds, he couldn't get any closer to air no matter what he tried.
Suddenly, bolts of electricity began erupting from Metal Sonic's now-inactive form, several striking Eggman, causing him to seize up for a second before forcing himself to push harder and rocket to the surface, wanting to avoid the painful sensation of being shocked in water as much as possible.
Tails was somehow afloat amid the wreckage, but Sonic and Rouge still hadn't resurfaced. Tails looked like he'd been shocked as well- his eyes were wide with fear and pain and his teeth were clenched tightly.
In between violent jolts of electricity, Eggman managed to yell, "Do you see Sonic and Rouge?"
"No," Tails replied, his voice full of fear.
After another nasty shock, Eggman slipped underwater for a moment to search the area for Sonic and Rouge, but that effort failed. Not only did the saltwater sting his eyes so badly that he could barely see, but the area was cluttered with detached robot parts and other debris and the water was hard enough to see through to begin with. And one vicious surge of electricity later, he'd launched himself back into the open air in the interest of not having his mustache fried to a crisp.
The first thing he heard once he cleared his head was Tails shouting, "Where are they?"
"I don't know, for all I know, they're-"
But before he was able to conclude that sentence with "dead," Sonic and Rouge broke the surface in a burst of steam and sparks. As the two of them vaulted over Eggman's floating form, he noticed something he didn't expect- Sonic carrying Rouge up, and not vice versa.
The two of them landed right next to Tails, splashing him a little but otherwise not creating much of a disturbance. Sonic started sinking a little, but Tails grabbed him before he got too far, keeping him from going any further. Between that, Rouge's renewed efforts to stay afloat, and the natural density of saltwater, Sonic managed to get back to the surface and stay there.
Tails didn't appear to want to make a move, so Eggman took the initiative here. "What- how did you do that?"
Sonic didn't respond, probably out of tiredness, but Rouge had enough energy to at least answer the question. "Apparently, Sonic can jump underwater just as well as he can in air. He just used pieces of Metal Sonic to vault us to the surface before we both drowned."
"If it worked, that's all that matters," Eggman said. Immediately afterward, he noticed that the jolts of pain were starting to die down as Metal Sonic's electrical power dispersed through the ocean.
Tails managed to summon the energy to talk. "Well? We defeated the bad guy, but now we're stranded in the middle of nowhere and have no way to contact anyone. What do we do now?"
Eggman thought long and hard about that question. Even if the threat had been neutralized, their strength was limited and they had no way to increase it. They wouldn't be able to float forever. Unless they could either get to some kind of solid ground or find someone who could do that for them, it wouldn't be long before they joined Metal Sonic on the ocean floor.
Craning his head around, he saw nothing but water on all sides. Thus, he concluded that trying to reach an island wouldn't be feasible. Sonic couldn't swim, and even if the others had basic knowledge of how to do that, they were nowhere near trained enough to get to the nearest island, even if they had an idea of where the nearest island was (which they didn't).
His opinion, as pessimistic as it was, seemed to be the best option, so he voiced it to the others.
"Looks like all we can do is wait."
Originally, Shadow thought that in the event of Metal Sonic getting to the mainland, he'd just be more fodder that'd go down quickly. But when Shadow's employers requested that he join them on the mainland, he knew he would have to suck it up and teleport there.
He didn't enjoy teleporting and knew it could destroy the space-time continuum if he did it wrong, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
He'd stayed still for quite a while to build up energy before doing it, but that didn't stop it from bringing quite a bit of agony. Bright lights flashed in seizure-inducing patterns, air that was somehow both freezing and burning whipped past his body, and dizziness took over as he tried not to lose the meager meals he'd eaten that day.
As always, it didn't last too long, which was a good thing. The visions faded, and soon Shadow was on a weather-beaten dock, surrounded by both coworkers he knew well and people he'd never seen before.
One of the ones he knew, a petite but fiery rabbit named Vincent, quickly marched up to Shadow. "Good thing you could make it here, Shadow. We're treating this like Metal Sonic will be here any minute."
"I'll do the same," Shadow said, taking a position where there seemed to be a noticeable gap between people; a stretch near the end of the dock. He saw nothing in the distance, but for all he knew, Metal Sonic could be flying way out to the side to try and avoid a confrontation with any threats. (They'd planned for that by spreading their workers on a forty-mile stretch of the coast, but since this was the closest point on the mainland to Bygone Island by distance, this area was the most heavily guarded.)
Seconds ticked by. The tension only rose. No one lowered their weapons or took their eyes off the ocean for even a second.
Then, on the horizon, Shadow saw smoke. Not much of it, and it was clearly far away, but it was there, a thin, dark gray wisp against a bright blue background.
It was the first sign of action he'd seen in his entire time there, so he made it clear to the others. "Looks like something's going on out there, I'm seeing smoke!"
Those words were relayed down the line until everyone knew about it, then someone shouted back, "Well, what should we do about it?"
"Send a couple of people to look, but keep the rest here in case it's a decoy," Shadow said authoritatively.
Once more, everyone made sure everyone else had heard it before a response was formed. "Makes sense. We brought a helicopter here for a damn good reason, and it looks like now's the time to use it!"
With that, a commotion started stirring. One of the two pilots they'd brought along (them being the replacements for the ones Sonic had murdered a few days ago) got one of the helicopters up and running, the noise of its blades shattering the silence. A few others got in to provide backup in case the helicopter was attacked, and then the thing lifted off, heading in the direction of the smoke.
Shadow was not among them, but he did watch the helicopter as it left, tracing its path as it faded to another gray smudge on the horizon.
Sonic was close to passing out from fatigue when he first heard- and saw- the helicopter.
The four of them had moved into an awkward formation to try and stave off their demise for as long as they could. Sonic, the only one who couldn't swim, and Tails, who had gone unconscious from the shock of the past ten minutes, were now being supported by Rouge and Eggman, who soldiered on through their weariness, although both of them looked like they hadn't slept in weeks.
With one arm, Sonic began desperately waving while shouting at the sky. "Hey! Down here! We need help!"
Rouge and Eggman quickly joined the chanting, and whether they had been heard or just through some good luck, the helicopter slowed down and eventually stalled almost directly over them before settling into a hover about fifty feet above their heads.
Suddenly, a rope ladder was thrown out of the side, and someone's head stuck out of the window it came from. That someone proceeded to yell, "Are you capable of climbing this?"
"Only one way to find out," Sonic said. But before he could start, Rouge grabbed his arm.
"I'll bring Tails up," she said. "Trying to climb a ladder with one arm free and dead weight while looking and feeling this terrible is just going to get you hurt."
Sonic smiled weakly. "Makes sense," he said, letting go of Tails' slumped form as he began to climb. It was far from easy, but for once he was doing something he was somewhat used to, which helped a lot. Shaking and quivering, he managed to pull himself into the helicopter, joining those already inside.
He stuck his head out to watch the progress of the others. Rouge, carrying Tails, came next, using her wings to steady herself on the way up and provide some lift. Without much trouble, she got both herself and Tails in the cockpit, making sure to set Tails down on the floor when she was done.
Eggman came last. To say he looked graceful on his way up was a preposterous lie, but whatever he did still got the job done. Just like that, no one was left outside.
Now that they were all here, the pilot turned his head before beginning to ask questions. "Uh, two things. One, should we still be worried, and two, what happened to Metal Sonic?"
"One, no," Rouge said, trying to finish before Sonic interrupted her.
"And two, at the bottom of the ocean, thanks to Tails," Sonic said, gesturing to him even though he was still curled up on the floor. "We all helped, but without Tails being here, we would have never managed to defeat him. I'm not sure what he did, but whatever it was, it worked."
"Well," the pilot said, "That's the best news I've heard in quite some time. Guess I should radio back to base." With that, he pressed a couple of buttons, causing the in-helicopter speakers to blast a loud, staticky hiss.
Then, words started coming out of it, those words being, "Commander to Pilot, what's your update on the situation?"
"Neutralized," the pilot said. "The smoke came from Metal Sonic, and he's done for. Everyone in the area has been evacuated, and we're returning to base."
"Roger that," the commander's voice echoed before the speakers went silent once more.
Sonic and the others didn't have the energy to cheer, but they most certainly would have in any other scenario. They'd done it. Another villain incapable of ever threatening anything again. The day saved once more. Them returning home again.
Resting on the slightly vibrating floor of the helicopter, the steady thrum of the blades creating a low, soothing thrum, and with the others safe from harm, Sonic finally allowed himself to pass out, curling up in a ball in the center of the helicopter.
Since Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks weren't capable of teleporting and Shadow wasn't willing to risk bringing all of them that far, they remained on the island, watching from a strip of rock on the easternmost point of the island.
None of them moved or talked. Hell, even blinking and breathing seemed like luxuries, the way things were going. Every second that the flying machine didn't return was another second of growing despair.
Then the phone which Amy had taken from Sonic's cottage rang. Without hesitation, Amy answered it before the first ring even finished, slamming the thing against her ear.
"Hello? Who's there?"
Then, the response came. And it was two of the best words that she had ever heard in her life.
"It's over."
Review Zone, Act XXVII:
-Linz2: Thanks, once more, for taking the time to leave a review! I'm not sure what exactly you guessed would happen after the last chapter, but I'm guessing it was probably something along these lines.
-Saul'keth: Thanks, once more, for taking the time to leave a review! Well, now you know. And sorry about the censors eating part of your review- this site strips out anything that could even remotely resembles a link (Hence, why this story is named Horror-exe: Rebirth and not Horror . exe: Rebirth [minus the spaces, of course]). Don't worry, I figured out what you were trying to say.