A/N: As we draw towards the conclusion of the first episode of Sonic Journeys, I'd like to take this moment to thank all of you who've supported me throughout the story. Really, it means a lot to me that you like this story so much.
Having said that, there's something I need to address. I know I've already spoken about it, but some people don't seem to listen, so here goes: I know you're excited to see what the future of this series holds, but PLEASE, keep in mind that this is MY Sonic fanfic series. As such, this is MY retelling of the official series, and consequently, things may be different from how you want them to turn out. If you don't like it, then write your own retelling of the Sonic series. I'm not saying this to be mean; I'm just saying that this is how it is.
That aside, enjoy this chapter!
Fortunately for Sonic, his jump from the Tornado bore fruit: he managed to land on one of the rear fins of the giant warship, which was golden in color. He took a brief pause to think about Tails.
(You can do it, little buddy!) thought Sonic. (I hope…)
Sonic continued to run on the outside platforms of the ship, eventually encountering another new robot, which resembled a chicken and was manning a laser turret. Again, this lackey was a piece of cake for him to destroy. He did, however, get a rather nasty surprise when he encountered two SWATbots, only these were equipped with jetpacks and each packing dual blaster pistols. They were a bit far out for him to jump and destroy, so Ol' Blue simply kept running and dodged their blaster bolts as best as he could. Along the exterior of the warship, he fought more chicken turrets, but he also encountered automated laser turrets mounted along the sides of the warship. Sonic avoided these because jumping up and hitting one did no damage for some reason.
"Well, that sucked!"
Sonic kept moving, hoping to find a way into the warship. He ended up climbing atop the ship, and after actually managing to destroy a couple of jetpack SWATbots that had carelessly flown into his path, he found a silver hatch on top that looked big enough to fit him, so he busted it open with a Homing Attack and dropped in, entering a small corridor.
"Still no word from Tails. I wonder…"
Sonic put his hands in his jacket pockets and felt what he thought was a plastic bag in one of them. Upon pulling it out, he discovered it was one from Chemical Plant Zone and that he still had a Semtex charge left.
"How'd this get in there? I didn't know I still had any left!" Sonic stroked his chin. "Let's see…if I can find where the fuel is, that should turn this ship into a giant fireball!"
Sonic looked around for a bit before deciding that the fuel tank was somewhere in the middle of this ship, not thinking about the possibility of multiple fuel tanks. Having gotten his bearings, he ran towards the front of the ship, encountering a few SWATbots, but nothing too serious. Judging by two signs that he spotted, which read "DANGER: EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE" and "NO SMOKING", he deduced that he found where the fuel was, so he opened the nearby hatch and found the fuel tank. Then, he turned the detonator on. This time, Sonic pressed enter when "TIME" showed up, figuring that he didn't need to synchronize it with multiple charges.
"Five minutes oughta do it!" Sonic planted the charge. "Tails will be back before then…right?"
Sonic exited the fuel room. On the way out, he got another nasty surprise: a robot that resembled him, only slightly taller, dull gray in color and noticeably bulkier. Sonic smiled.
"Hey there, good lookin'!"
The fake Sonic didn't speak. Instead, the center spines on the back of its head started spinning around like a giant deadly sawblade, even making a sound comparable to a giant circular saw. Then, using two jets on its back, it charged at the real Sonic. However, True Blue jumped out of the way, and as his robotic doppelganger attempted to come back around, he jumped and scored a couple of hits on it.
"Is THAT what ya call Sonic Speed?" said Sonic. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that!"
The fake Sonic ignored its organic opponent's taunt and revved up for another attack. This time, it curled up into a metal ball of death and charged at the real Sonic, who jumped out of the way once again and scored a couple more hits once it had uncurled.
"That was the LAMEST Spin Dash I've ever seen anyone do!"
Even if it was, the fake Sonic gave it another shot, which its inspiration dodged yet again. This time, it turned around and attempted to have another go at the real Sonic, who refrained from jumping because his Hedgehog Sense told him not to. Sure enough, while still curled into a ball, the fake Sonic bounced up into the air, right over the real Blue Blur's head. Big Blue laughed it off.
"You're one ugly mutha!"
With one valiant charge, Sonic jumped at his fake yet again, and with a couple of mighty hits, he destroyed it. He then dusted his hands together.
"There can be only one!"
Having disposed of his robotic doppelganger, Sonic proceeded a little further before reaching a cavernous room, which he thought could be a weapons bay or something of that nature. However, his Hedgehog Sense told him that something was a little off about this area. Then, a large garage door retracted, and of all the nasty surprises that Ol' Blue had gotten, those were small potatoes compared to what he was facing: a giant robot that bore a resemblance to Robotnik.
"Is this your grand finale, Robuttnik?"
"Why heavens, no, Sonic! It's YOURS! Mecha Sonic may not have been up to snuff, but my Egg-O-Matic Wing Fortress Robot is…and it's going to snuff you!"
"Looks pretty impressive, but ya know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall!"
"And your pitiable ego is going to fall much harder than my grandest creation ever will!"
With another evil laugh, Robotnik put the Wing Fortress Robot in gear and slowly lumbered towards Sonic, who crossed his arms and tapped his foot.
"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'mmmmmmmmm waaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnng!"
"FINE!" said Robotnik. "If you wish to continue with your grating overconfidence, then I'll make sure it'll be your LAST act of defiance!"
With that, Robotnik activated the jetpack on the back of his Wing Fortress Robot and propelled himself up in the air for a brief moment. Sonic looked up at it briefly before dodging out of the way. The robot came down with a sickening thud, but rather than use that moment to question physics, Sonic ran up to it and delivered some Homing Attacks to it.
"Man, how did ya not punch a giant hole in the floor!?" said Sonic.
"Quite simply, my Wing Fortress is built with the toughest and lightest alloys that I could ever conceive!" said Robotnik. "Now enough talk, it's time to end you!"
This time, Robotnik fired one of the robot's spiked hands at Sonic, who simply dodged it. Once the hand was retracted using a high strength cable, the Doctor fired the other hand, which also failed to hit Sonic. The Blue Blur charged at the robot and delivered a few more good hits to it. Robotnik attempted to stomp out Sonic again, but again, he failed to do so. Big Blue struck the robot a few more times, and even though it was cracking quite a bit, he didn't seem to be doing too much damage otherwise.
"Give up, Hedgehog! Your planet is doomed! Soon, my Eggman Empire shall extend beyond the borders of that inferior Kingdom of Mobius!"
"Not while my heart's still beatin'!"
"Sonic, are you still alive?" said Tails. "Over."
Recognizing that trying to battle Robotnik and talk to Tails over the radio at the same time would be too dangerous, Sonic gave himself a bit of distance between him and the Wing Fortress Robot.
"Tails, I'm glad you're still alive, but I'm in the middle of a really important fight right now! How's the Tornado?"
"I managed to land it safely, but I'm still not done with the repairs."
"Well get it fixed and flyin' ASAP! I can't explain why, but just do it! Sonic out."
"I'll do my best! Tails out."
Sonic put his radio away, but in doing so, Robotnik caught him by pinning his arm against the wall with the robot's spike hand, though Sonic's arm was merely caught between the spikes rather than being impaled. Ol' Blue struggled desperately to free himself, but it was no use.
"I've got you again, Sonic, and this time, you're not getting away! Any last words?"
"Yeah…hasta la vista, Robuttnik!"
In a desperate move, Sonic attempted to Spin Dash out of his predicament. He nearly dislocated his arm in doing so, but the force of the attack was sufficient to dislodge him from his makeshift shackle.
"CURSES!" Robotnik pounded on the robot's control panel. "WHY CAN'T I KEEP THAT HEDGEHOG DOWN!?"
While still rolling, Sonic jumped and struck the Wing Fortress Robot again and did so for as many more times as was feasible. Having retracted the hand that once held his foe down, Robotnik attempted to pound Sonic again, but missed, so Sonic was able to score even more hits. Soon enough, the Wing Fortress Robot's limbs exploded, and the body came down with a sickening thud.
"Happy trails, jive turkey!" said Sonic.
A hatch on the robot's head opened, and Robotnik emerged, having suffered a few bruises, but was otherwise physically unhurt.
"Sonic, this does not end here! With my Eggsoskeleton, I will achieve speeds that you can only dream of!"
Sonic laughed. "This oughta be good!"
Much to Sonic's surprise, Robotnik ran away, and true to the Doctor's word, he was going quite fast. Naturally, the Blue Blur just had to follow. However, Robotnik's Eggsoskeleton ensured that he stayed just out of Sonic's reach long enough to reach his Eggmobile.
"So long, Sonic! Enjoy your doom!"
Robotnik flew away, and in that moment, Sonic realized that he hadn't exactly been keeping abreast of the time left on the charge he set in the fuel room. Knowing this, he pulled out his radio and called Tails.
"Tails, how are those repairs comin'? Over."
"I've finished the repairs and I'm coming up on the warship now! Tails out!"
"OK, be quick about it! Sonic out!"
Sonic went over to the bay where Robotnik had kept his Eggmobile and waited for Tails. True to his word, the Two-Tailed Wonder was just near the Wing Fortress in pretty much no time at all. Sonic leaned out of the bay and waved to Tails, who attempted to match the Wing Fortress' speed. Gritting his teeth and holding his breath, Sonic made what felt like the longest jump of his life. He slid a little when he landed on the Tornado's upper wing, but he managed to grab on and pull himself up on his feet. Tails descended and made a fair bit a distance away from the Wing Fortress before the charge that Sonic placed detonated, causing the fuel to go off, which set off a chain reaction that took out other fuel tanks in the Wing Fortress and caused it to go down like a lead zeppelin. After hearing the sound of the explosion, Sonic decided to celebrate by playing a few bars of "Whole Lotta Love" on air guitar.
"What was that?" asked Tails.
"I had one more bomb left, so I figured I'd put it to good use!" replied Sonic.
"Amazing! You did it, Sonic!"
"We did it…man!"
"But what about Robotnik?"
"We may have stopped his greatest weapon, but I think he's got a couple more aces up his sleeve! Let's fly, Sly!"
And so, Sonic and Tails kept flying, ever in pursuit of Robotnik and even more hopeful in their quest to save Mobius.
Meanwhile, Robotnik, having heard the blast, looked behind him long enough to see his Wing Fortress going down.
"I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!" shouted Robotnik.
ANNOUNCEMENT: I'll be taking a few weeks' break from submitting stories because I have a number of works I wanna get caught up on. I promise I'll be back soon, though!
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.