The Tornando had never had such a bumpy landing. Eggman was clearly expecting its arrival and aimed all of the carriers cannons at the plane. Tails weaved expertly between the hail of bullets and aimed for the landing strip. From its right wing Sonic peeped his head over the side in time to see the two cannons immediately in front of the plane explode. Rouge and Shadow had landed first and managed to take out the massive guns. Sonic would have to wait to thank them though, as the tornados wheels slammed into the long tarmac strip the carriers hangar doors slid open to reveal the gloating figures of Dr Eggman and his cronie Starline.
"Thanks for the warm welcome." Sonic called as he leapt off of the wing and strode towards the evil doctor. Behind him his friends assembled and fell in line.
"Well I wanted to ensure you had the best seats in the house for my weapons debut." The old man crowed.
Sonic clenched his fists but kept his voice calm.
"Shut down the weapon Eggface. It's over! We've freed the kids from your machines and you don't have enough badniks left to keep control."
"Maybe not badniks." Eggman conceded. "But I know a not so jolly old robot who's definitely put you on his naughty list."
Sonic tutted. "Robosanta? I creamed that thing yesterday."
Eggman threw his head back with loud guffawing laughter. Sonic felt the tension rise as his friends got into their fighting stances behind him. Something was moving behind Eggman and Starline. Something big.
"Oh he was just a warm up Sonic." The doctor said with an evil glint in his eye. "Think of him as the mall Santa. THIS is the real deal. Meet Mega-Robosanta."
The robot had to crouch to fit under the hangar door. It was enormous. Sonic wondered how the carrier was able to stay in the air with the monster robot on board. It must weigh a ton.
On the face of it Mega-Robosanta seemed to be an upscaled version of its regular counterpart but Sonic and his friends soon realised this creature had a few more tricks up its red sleeves. It swung a giant sack off of its back and aimed the opening at Sonics crew. Large square presents wrapped up with bows shot from the sack and landed at the feet of Sonic and his friends. Sonic could hear ticking.
"Bombs!" Knuckles yelled.
The red echidna lifted the present at his feet and threw it hard over the side of the carrier. It exploded instantly. Sonic backfliped away from the one in front of him but was thrown by the blast as it went off. Tails caught him in mid air and settled him down. The group dove for cover as Mega-Robosanta continued to launch presents at them.
"Ho-ho-ho!" Egman boomed. "You know it's not fair to gang up on Saint Nick like this. What do you say we even the numbers out Starline?"
The Platypus laughed and pulled a remote from his pocket. He handed it to his superior who pressed the comically large red button in the middle.
"Now Dasher! now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On Comet! On Cupid! On Doner and Blitzen!" Eggman yelled in delight as eight metal raindeer Shot from the hangar behind him and flew through the air above the heroes.
Starline turned to Eggman. "Aren't we missing one?"
Eggman counted theatrically on his fingers whilst the metal reindeer charged at Sonic and the others.
"A yes!" He exclaimed eventually then burst into song. "Rudolph with your nose so bright. Wont you slaughter Sonics friends tonight?"
Eggman and Starline turned back into the hangar. As they walked away the largest of the reindeer flew out over their head. This one had an ominous flashing red nose.
Sonic decided to aim for the big guy and leave the reindeer to the rest of his crew.
Above him he Silver grabbd Blitzen with his telekinesis and slammed it into Doner. Sparks rained down over them all.
Tails was on top of Dasher, trying to rip the reindeer's head off and Blaze was doing her best to melt Comet.
Sonic dodged the exploding presents and made his way closer to Mega-robosanta. He felt movement either side of him. Shadow and Knuckles had joined him.
"How did you take out the other one?" Shadow asked.
Sonic shrugged. "It was already in a bad way." He explained. "Amy had given it a hammering."
The black hedgehog tutted. "So you just let your girlfriend do all of the work?"
"NOT. MY. GIRLFRIEND." Sonic grunted hitting Mega-robosanta in the chest with three consecutive spin dashes.
"It didn't look that way when you were locking lips with her." Shadow teased as he hit landed on the robots shoulder and kicked it hard in the head.
Knuckles eyes widened and a stupid grin spread across his face.
"What?!" The echidna demanded.
Mecha-robosanta swiped him in the side but Knuckles retained his goofy smile.
"It was CPR!" Sonic protested as he hit the robot in its sack. "It was a medical procedure!"
"Playing Doctors and nurses?" Shadow grunted from on top of the robot. He was clearly enjoying this.
"Can you guys quit it?" Sonic moaned.
Behind him Tangle was using her tail to slam Cupid into the ground. "What's going on?" She called.
"Sonic and Amy kissed!" Knuckles replied. He sounded like an old woman gossiping about her favorite soap opera.
"Awww!" Tangle cooed. Whisper shot Sonic a thumbs up.
He was dying inside.
Driven by embarrassment and a desire to get things over quickly Sonic span at Mega-robosantas arm. As predicted the faux Santa countered and sent him flying backwards into Blitzen. Sonic used the momentum to smash into the seven other reindeer leaving only Santa and Rudolph fighting.
"Sonic!" Tails called, pointing up at the remaining reindeer. "Look at his nose."
"Yeah yeah, It's so bright." Sonic said dismissively.
"It's flashing." Tails pointed out. "Very quickly!"
"It's going to blow." Rouge warned.
Sonic could indeed see that the metal Rudolph's nose was flashing quickly as though counting down on a timer.
"Crud!" Sonic swore.
He turned to Knuckles and Shadow. "When you two have finished mocking me could you line the big man up for me?"
"Oh I'm never going to be done mocking you for this." Knuckles called in delight as he ran to mega-robosantas side.
"Great." Sonic muttered.
He turned to the red nosed reindeer and waved his arms for its attention.
"Hey Ruddy!" He called. "You sick of everyone laughing and calling you names yet?"
The reindeer landed a few feet from the Tornado and stamped its feet impatiently as though waiting to charge. Everyone else backed out of its way. Sonic locked eyes with the brute. After what felt like a lifetime it charged at him.
The reindeer was quick but Sonic was quicker. He leapt into the air as it reached him and vaulted over its back. He kicked off of the robots rump, propelling it forwards even faster than before. It slammed hard into mega-robosanta who was being held still by Knuckles and Shadow. The echidna and hedgehog jumped out of harms way as the two metailic creatures collided. There was an ominous beeping then..
Bits of robot were falling everywhere as Rudolph and Santa exploded.
Tangle and Tails high fived and started to cheer.
"Come on." Sonic urged the others. "There's no time to lose."
"What's the rush?" Shadow asked sardonically. "Got a hot date?"
With his cheeks burning Sonic led the way trough the hangar. Knuckles was laughing so hard he had to clinging on to Rouge for support.
Eventually they all made their way to the large chamber at the center of the carrier. The sight of the master emerald hooked up to a complex, twisted maze of wires soon wiped the smile off of the echidas face.
The emerald was glowing brightly now. They didn't have long to stop it. On the other side of th room Eggman and Starline were cornered but clearly not giving up so easy. In front of them Orbot and Cubot were pressing buttons on a panel.
"Shut it off." Sonic called. "Now."
Eggmans laughter was hysterical now.
"It's too late rodent!" He screeched. "There is no shutting it down now."
"We'd love to stay and watch you try." Starline smiled. "But I'm afraid things are about to get a little dangerous around here and as superior minds the doctor and I have a responsibility to survive."
Cubot pressed a button on the panel and metal casing shot up around the evil group.
"Toodles!" Eggman laughed as their makeshift escape pod was jettisoned out of the carrier. Shadow took a step after them but Sonic grabbed his arm and motioned towards the emerald.
"Any ideas gang?" he asked.
Tails shook his head sadly. "It could takes weeks to work this machine out."
Shadow folded his arms. "We could smash the emerald."
"No!" Knuckles and Rouge shouted in unison.
Sonic turned to Tails who seemed to consider it.
"We could but when it smashes the shards will rocket off into hundreds of pieces." He explained. "It would tear holes all over the carrier and send us crashing down into the mountains."
"But away from the town?" Sonic checked.
Everyone was silent as the magnitude of what he was saying sank in. This was now a suicide mission.
"I want all of you to head back to the town." Sonic explained. "Get the people out. Grab the Chaotix… and Amy. Save them and yourselves."
No one moved. It was Tails who spoke first.
"I'm not saying it will work but there's a chance I could land the carrier in the field if the damage isn't too bad."
Blaze considered this. "I could try soldering the holes shut as you land."
"And I'll try to hold her steady with my powers." Silver added.
Sonic looked at his fiends. He knew there was no point in arguing with them. They were all in this until the end.
"Ok Fine." He said quickly." Tails get to the cockpit. Everyone else try and plug the holes."
The others nodded. Sonic turned to Knuckles.
"You ready?" He asked.
The Echidna looked far from happy. "This isn't fair." He grumbled.
"Call it karma for mocking me." Sonic smirked.
Together he, Knuckles and Shadow shot into the emerald causing it to smash into hundreds of tiny pieces. They instantly scattered.
The ships warning lights flashed red and the whole carrier juddered. Sonic and the team had no time to stop. Silver and Blaze shot through the largest hole and began patching it up from the outside. Inside Sonic and the others tried to cover the holes with anything they could. As Sonic shot from gap to gap he had an overwhelming feeling that this was it. He was going to die here with his friends.
He thought about them all and what they meant to him. Although his life had been blighted by battles with Eggman he had always been lucky to have so many good people with him. If he died today he would have almost no regrets.
The carrier seemed to pick up speed and they were all thrown forwards down a steep incline. Looking over Sonic could see his friends huddled together. Knuckles had a protective arm around Rouge, Tangle held Whisper in an embrace. His eyes locked onto Shadow who finally nodded his approval to Sonic.
"BRACE!" Tails yelled over the tannoy.
This was it. Sonic closed his eyes and thought of his one regret.
"Amy." He whispered to himself.
Everything around him went dark.