Chapter 10

The Battle for Angel Island, Part 2

Neo Metal Sonic's stronghold, Angel Island

"Well? You came here to stop me, didn't you?" Neo said, the golden aura flowing around him. "Step right up."

"I'm gonna kick the smugness out of you, Metal!" Sonic said, wiping his nose. And then he muttered, "As soon as I figure out how…"

"An upgraded Metal Sonic and he is 'super,' too?" Knuckles said, his expression remaining fierce. "THAT'S CHEATING!"

"Such a disappointing choice of last words," Neo said, summoning a ball of energy in his hand. He hurled the ball at Sonic and Knuckles, but both of them dodged it.

"Kunx!" Sonic called. "Secure the Master Emerald so he can't draw power from it! I'll keep him keep him busy!"

"Are you nuts?!" Knuckles cried. "He'll crush you!"

"Only if he catches me first!" Sonic cried.

Just then, Neo appeared right before them. He seized their heads and plowed them along the floor of the altar, before knocking their heads together and throwing them against a pillar.

"I thought you were going to distract him?" Knuckles said, snuffing out a fire on his tail.

"Just getting warmed up, that's all," Sonic said, through gritted teeth. I hope everyone else is doing better than us right now…Sonic thought.

X

Meanwhile, the rest of the group were doing significantly better than Sonic and Knuckles. Tangle was trying to yank one of the turrets of a Sawfish over to another, while several Spinas converged on their position.

"Nnngh! Cover me!" she called to Whisper. "I'm gonna turn their big guns against them!"

Whisper then tossed several small shards of glass into the air, and then fired her Wispon. The blast ricocheted off each of the blasts, taking out all of them at once.

Tangle then got the gun pointing at the Sawfish's vulnerable midsection. She fired the gun, and it hit the ship in the middle, causing the entire thing to go up in flames. "Whoo!" she cried.

Meanwhile, the Chaotix were handing things well. After setting a Mako gunship ablaze, Vector turned his attention to pulling up a section of the metal sheeting, while Espio sliced through an Egg Pawn with a ninja star, while Charmy impaled one using his stinger. Rouge was also dealing with several Egg Lancers, but she dispatched them easily by dropping her custom made fragmentation detonators on them.

"We're not making a lot of headway!" Tails cried, swatting an Egg Pawn away with his tails.

"But we're not losing, either!" Amy cried, bashing an Egg Pawn with her hammer. "Keep it up!"

"We need to work smarter, not harder!" Tails cried, spinning his tails rapidly together. "I got an idea! Cover me!"

"Resistance! Form up on Tails! He has a plan!" Amy ordered. She then connected to Blaze. "Blaze! Are you doing okay?"

X

Meanwhile, Blaze was holding her own against the other wing of the Egg Fleet. "I'm holding my own," she said. "I'll join you all soon." She then weaved through the flak from the Egg Fleet while she considered her thoughts. The enemy can't harm me, but in this form, they can slow me down. I can only maintain it for so long…

She began to fly up away from the barrage of cannon fire. …and I am running out of time. I have to finish my part of the plan-now.

She began to form a fireball in her hands. "I must be careful not to harm the island…" she said to herself. She let the fireball grow bigger and bigger, until it was about the same size as the island itself. She then hurled the ball through the wing, severing it, and dislodging the entire Egg Fleet, also taking out all of the ships that were on airborne defense. The part that held the wing in place also melted away and fell into oblivion. Blaze then landed back on the island just as the Sol Emerald's power expired and transformed her back into normal. "It is done," she said, sweating hard and holding on to a palm tree. "And so am I…"

X

Windmill Village

Mr. Tinker was happily singing to the kids as he plucked on a small guitar and the kids were enjoying his rides. A banner saying "Eggman Land" was posted at the top of the barn, in front of a small hay maze.

"Just follow your dreams wherever you go!/ You're perfect in every way!/I love to construct, and make things go!/There is no obstacle that stands in my way!/I am-! (1)"

"Eggman?!" a voice called.

"Oh! Gracious! You startled me!" Mr. TInker said, turning around and saw who his new guests were: Two skunks, one while and tall, another one short with darker fur. "No, no, I get that a lot. But my name is Mr. Tinker."

He then smiled at the two nervously. "Y-you're welcome to come in. the only price for admission is a s-smile!"

"Un-huh," the smaller skunk said. "The doc said you might be a little 'off.' You're coming with us, old man."

"I-I'm not sick though…" Mr. Tinker said. Suddenly, the big skunk yanked him up and held him tightly, refusing to let him go, while the other one ripped all of the strings from his guitar.

"You thought you had a choice in the matter?" the white skunk said. "That's funny."

"No! Put me down!" Mr. Tinker screamed. "HELP!"

X

Back on Angel Island…

"I can only hold so much of a time, you know!" Silver called. Following Amy's order to cover Tails, Silver had followed him on his part of the plan: To secure a getaway vehicle and also lend them a hand at finding a big gun to help them in the fight. He saw that a Mako gunship was nearby, and it was their best chance. After getting to the bridge of the craft, he had been furiously hacking his way to get the craft operational before they were ambushed by a horde of Egg Pawns. He finished the hack while Silver crushed the remainder of the Egg Pawns in one strike. "And, ignition!" he called, pulling down on a lever. The Mako then rose out of the metal sheeting, and then Tails turned the guns on the fleet, as the strike team moved to clear the fracturing sheet. Whisper used her Wispon to fly towards the Mako, and Charmy lifted Espio up.

"Hey!" Tangle called, seizing one of Vector's legs with her tail. "Watch where you're flying!"

"Good idea," Rouge said. "A little more of a heads-up would have been nice."

"Well," Amy said, "he was practically raised by Sonic, and he's not known for his patience." She looked at the falling wreckage of the Egg Fleet. "Ha! Looks like we didn;t need Shadow's help after all!"

"I'm still going to chew him out for bailing to do his thing," Rouge said, lowering Amy onto the bow of the Mako, while Charmy did the same to Espio.

"Good!" Amy said. "I mean-why?! We had a plan!"

"And you did a very good job implementing it," Rouge assured her, as Tangle's tail shot up and clamped to the bow.

"Where is he?" Amy said, facepalming herself.

"Knowing Shadow?" Rouge said. "Seeking out the strongest threat he can get his hands on." Just then, Tangle came flying up from below, and she flung herself and Vector onto the hull of the Mako.

"Well, I guess Sonic and Knuckles having backup isn't a bad thing, Amy said.

"Provided that they don't trip over themselves trying to show each other up," Rouge said.

"Woo! Made it!" Tangle called, flopping to the deck.

X

Meanwhile, in the Master Emerald altar, Sonic was dodging attacks from Super Neo while Knuckles made a mad dash for the Master Emerald. Just then, Neo appeared in front of him. "Aw, you almost made it this time," he said sarcastically. He then slapped Knuckles off the altar and he impacted Sonic, knocking him over. "I am disappointed. Truly," Neo said. "You're defeated, and I didn't even need to unleash my final form-"

Just then, Shadow came teleporting in, and impaling Neo in the chest with Sonic assumed was a Chaos Spear, one of his many Chaos empowered attacks.

"Shadow?!" Knuckles cried, getting off Sonic, knowing that Neo was essentially harmless in his Super form. But that Chaos Spear channeled so much power into Neo's central processing unit, that he reverted out of his super form and back into his normal form.

"What…?" he said, looking at his hand. Shadow then punched him in the face, and Neo retreated up the steps, taking blows from Shadow, before he powered on his jet shoes and sent him back into his throne. He then went to finish him off, but Sonic reached out and stopped him.

"Wait!" he cried. "He'll copy your biodata!"

"So?" Shadow said, bored. "It wouldn't be enough for him to transform."

"He'd still get your powers, and become that much stronger!"

"Tch. Afraid?"

"MOVE SO I CAN GET TO THE MASTER EMERALD!" Knuckles shouted, shoving them both aside.

But as they ascended the altar, Neo was suddenly wrapped in a blue haze. "Did you not hear, Shadow? Or merely forget? Dr. Eggman upgraded me to this form. He removed that pesky limitation you counted on. You have given me the final piece. All I need is Sonic's biodata, your biodata as the Ultimate Lifeform…" He suddenly showed them a new face, a dragon-like hedgehog mix with two glowing eyes, arranged in a vertical position. "…AND THE MASTER EMERALD ITSELF!" he roared.

"Way to go, Shad. Thanks for all the help," Sonic said, sarcastically, as Shadow looked on dumbfounded and Knuckles tensed up.

"This isn't over!" Shadow said, trying to impale Neo with another Chaos Spear which Knuckles tried to punch through the blue aura, which turned out to be a shield of sorts.

"Uh…guys?" Sonic called. "I think a tactical retreat is in order."

As he said that, the blue aura expanded, crushing the contraption built over the Master Emerald, and the walls of the statue. They got out of the structure as it collapsed under the pressure until the whole thing was surrounded with this aura.

"Well, on the bright side," Sonic reassured Knuckles, "you got your shrine back." The entire island then rumbled suddenly, as if something had been disconnected from it.

"What now?" Shadow asked.

"The Master Emerald has been cut off from Angel Island!" Knuckles informed them. "Without its power, we're all going to fall into the ocean!"

Behind them, the blue aura suddenly dissipated, and in its place, was a hideous beast: a dragon-like entity of massive size, dwarfing even the Master Emerald's shrine. He has head armor similar to Neo Metal Sonic's, but with its quills combed more backwards, and it had two red eyes with black sclera aligned vertically on his face. Also, instead of a muzzle, it had a mouth with sharp teeth and red gums. It also had a long gray neck, a chest resembling a blue jet engine with a yellow and black intake, a thin gray spine for a torso section, and a blue pelvis that the Master Emerald is embedded in. Attached to its pelvis are four long, knife-like "legs". He also has a long purple and lavender-striped tail with two axe-like blades at the tip. Also, attached to both sides of its pelvis is a blue fin-like section, each one having three gray metallic wings with long knife-like feathers attached to them. It also had two arms, each of which is mostly made up of a gray cable with a thick blue gauntlet at the end. It also had four-fingered, round dark gray hands with knife-like gray fingers. Also, around each of its shoulders are two blue fin-like sections. Those fins closest to its torso also have three long gray spikes protruding upward from each of them. On its front plate, rested the Master Emerald. Its head threw back wards, it opened its gaping maw, and it let out a monstrous roar, felt by everyone on the island to the crew on the Mako gunship.

"NOW SONIC, MY LOATHSOME COPY!" the thing yelled. "BOW BEFORE YOUR MASTER OVERLORD!"

Author's note:
(1): A parody to the song "E.G.G.M.A.N." from Sonic Adventure 2

Next time: Everybody vs Master Overlord!